KING'S 
AMERICAN DISPENSATORY 
TTY 
HARVEY WICKES FELTED M. D. 
ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY, PHARMACY, AND TOXICOLOGY, AND DEMONSTRATOR OF ANATOMY, 
IN THE ECLECTIC MEDICAL I NSTITUTE, CINCINNATI, OHIO; EDITOR OF LOCKE'S SYLLABUS 
OF MATERIA MEDICA AND THERAPEUTICS J PRESIDENT OF THE OHIO STATE 
ECLECTIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, ETC., ETC., ETC. 
AND 
JOHN URI LLOYD. Phr M., Ph. D. 
PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY, PHARMACY, AND TOXICOLOGY, IN THE ECLECTIC MEDICAL INSTITUTE, 
CINCINNATI,onio; FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF CHEM ISTRY AND PHARMACY IN THE CINCINNATI 
COLLEGE OF PHARMACY; EX-PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN PI IA RM ACEUTICA L 
association; author of the chemistry of medicines; drugs and 
MEDICINES OF NORTH AMERICA; A STUDY IN PHARMACY; 
ET1DORI1PA, ETC., ETC., ETC. 
ENTIRELY REWRITTEN AND ENLARGED. 
EIGHTEENTH EDITION. THIRD REVISION. 
/ 
IN TWO VOLUMES. 
VOI,. I. 
CINCINNATI : 
THE OHIO VALLEY COMPANY, 
317-321 RACE STREET. 
1898. AUTHORIZATION. 
Resolution passed by the National Eclectic Medical Associa- 
tion at the annual meeting, in Cleveland, Ohio, June 19, 1879: 
Resolved, That this Association adopt The American Dispensa- 
tory aS its STANDARD AUTHORITY. 
Alexander Wilder, M. I)., Secretary. 
"Authority to use for comment the Pharmacopoeia of the United 
States of America (1890), Seventh Decennial Revision, has been 
.granted by the Committee of Revision and Publication." 
Authority to print selections from the National Formulary, has 
been granted by the Council of the American Pharmaceu- 
tical Association. 
COPYRIGHTS. 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by 
MOORE, WILSTACH & KEYS, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, 
for the Southern District of Ohio. 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by 
MOORE, WILSTACH, KEYS & CO 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, 
for the Southern District of Ohio. 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by 
MOORE, WILSTACH & BALDWIN, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, 
for the Southern District of Ohio. 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the years 1870 and 1880, by 
WILSTACH, BALDWIN & CO. 
In the Oilice of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington 
Copyright, 1898, by 
THE OHIO VALLEY COMPANY. 
PRINTED AND BOUND 
BY 
THE OHIO VALLEY COMPANY, 
CINCINNATI. PREFACE. 
When the undersigned, in 1880, promised his venerable friend, Prof. King, 
to revise the pharmaceutical and chemical sections of the American Dispensa- 
tory if it became necessary, he did not underrate the magnitude of the under- 
taking, and when the publishers finally decided to issue the new edition he 
approached the task with apprehension. It soon became evident that the work 
was even greater than he had anticipated, and that the pharmacy and chemistry 
of the book could not be revised, but must be rewritten. In consequence, in 
addition to his own labors, almost the entire time of Dr. Sigmond Waldbott, 
Librarian of the Lloyd Library, has for a long period been devoted to biblio- 
graphical research. Had it not been for the care and patience of this gentle- 
man and the books of reference at his command, the efforts of the undersigned 
would have been sadly ineffectual especially in the matter of foreign chemical 
and historical data. The writer can not forbear adding that monetary considera- 
tions could not have induced him to undertake this enterprise, and that no 
material return whatever accrues to him from this publication. The exacting 
researches necessary have been undertaken on his part altogether as a work of 
love, his uttermost desire being to fulfil his promise and to credit the memory 
of Prof. King. If these objects have been attained, and the pharmaceutical 
and medical professions are also benefited by his efforts, he will be amply repaid. 
J.U. L. 
In addition to the entire medical section of this work, the undersigned has 
undertaken the portion embracing botany, botanical history, and botanical de- 
scription. Most of the material pertaining to the older Eclectic practice, found 
in former editions of this work, has been properly credited and retained. Many 
of the personal statements, and all of the uses, ascribed to special formulae of 
the late author, Prof. John King, M. D., have been retained intact; in a few. 
cases, where personality demanded, his initial (K.), or the full name (John 
King), have been appended. The aim, however, has been to modernize the 
therapy of the book, and with this object special pains have been taken, when- 
ever possible, to give fully and clearly the specific indications and uses of each 
remedy. A dispensatory must of necessity be largely a compilation. The uses 
of a remedy that is not approved by the compiler, but which is indorsed by 
many physicians, may consequently demand recognition which might properly 
be excluded from a work on materia medica intended to voice only the author's 
experience. The aim has been to avoid commending excessive doses, though, in 
order to conform to the views of some authorities, large doses of some remedies 
III IV 
acknowledgments. 
have been recorded. This is especially true of many compounds used according 
to old-style practice. 
The influx of a large number of new remedies, synthetic or otherwise, has 
necessitated reference to some of their reputed therapeutic properties. We have 
therefore ascribed to them such values as have been reported by physicians 
through periodicals, pamphlets, and other works. In this connection it may be 
stated that we have not neglected to record the uses of many semi-professional 
proprietary compounds and the patented chemicals now in considerable favor 
with many physicians, especially of the regular school. Concerning these reme- 
dies, our remarks, however, have been necessarily very conservative. 
Liberal use has been made of the various Eclectic Journals, State and 
National Transactions, and Eclectic Annuals. We have drawn freely from Web- 
ster's Dynamical Therapeutics; Scudder's Specific Medication, Specific Diagnosis, 
and Diseases of Children; Locke's Syllabus of Materia Medica and Therapeutics 
(Felter); and Watkins' Compendium of the Practice of Medicine. We also wish 
to acknowledge our especial obligations to the editorials of Prof. Bloyer, in the 
Eclectic Medical Journal and the Eclectic Medical Gleaner; the contributions of 
Profs. Freeman, Thomas, and Wintermute; the editorials of Prof. Ellingwood 
in the Chicago Medical Times, and the contributions of Prof. Fearn and others 
in the California Medical Journal. To these and all others who have directly 
and indirectly assisted in the therapy of the book, the writer herewith extends 
his sincere thanks. H. W. F. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 
The authors of the present revision of King's American Dispensatory take 
pleasure in extending the following especial acknowledgments and thanks: 
To the Committee of Revision and Publication of the Pharmacopoeia of the 
United States, for permission (through Dr. Charles Rice) to use the United States 
Pharmacopoeia for comment; to the Council of the American Pharmaceutical 
Association (through Messrs. W. S. Thompson and G. W. Kennedy) for per- 
mission to use formulae of the National Formulary; to Messrs. Fritzsche Bros, 
for the use of Powers' Essential Oils and Schimmel's Reports; to Prof. Attfield 
(Chairman of Committee), for permission to abstract from the British Pharma- 
copoeia; to Mr. Curtis G. Lloyd, for permission to use article on Coffee. For 
illustrative cuts credit is due William Wood & Co. (Johnson's Medical Botany 
of North America); Messrs. Parke, Davis &Co. {Pharmacology of the Newer Materia, 
Medico); D. Appleton & Co. {American Cyclopaedia); Messrs. Eli Lilly & Co. 
(Lilly's Bulletin); Messrs. Funk & Wagnails {Standard Dictionary); Messrs. 
Johnson & Johnson {Belladonna, by Dr. F. B. Kilmer);' Messrs. Frederick 
Stearns & Co. {Illustrated Catalogue); Dr. John King Scudder {Eclectic Med- 
ical Journal); J. U. and C. G. Lloyd {Drugs and Medicines of North. America), ACKNOW LEDG M E NTS. 
V 
and Messrs. Boericke & Tafel and Dr. Charles F. Millspaugh (Millspaugh's 
American Medicinal Plants). With deep appreciation do we recall the cordial 
manner in which the late Prof. Fliickiger extended the privilege of his publi- 
catiohs, a favor we gladly accepted and freely used. It would be impractical to 
attempt to mention herein all the journals and standard works, both foreign 
and American, that have been consulted in the preparation of this publication ; 
these when drawn from are especially credited in the text, but we can not forbear 
naming a few to which we are especially indebted : 
Prof. S. P. Sadtler, Handbook of Industrial Organic Chemistry. 
Husemann & Hilger, Pflanzenstoffe, etc. 
Prof. Henry Trimble, The Tannins. 
The American and English Pharmaceutical Journals. 
Archiv der Pharmacie. 
Jahresbericht der Pharmacie (Beckurts). 
Pharmaceutische Centralhalle. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
FIG. NAME. SOURCE. PAGE. 
1. Achillea Standard Dictionary (Funk & Wagnails), 19 
2. Aconitum napellus Drawn from plate in Woodville's Medical Botany (1790), 101 
3. Aconite Hower (cross-section) Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America, 102 
4. Aconitum Fischeri Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America, 107 
5. Root of Aconitum Fischeri Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America, 107 
6. Fruit of Actaea alba Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America, 108 
7. Fruit of Actsea spicata var. rubra... .Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America, 110 
8. Adiantum pedatum Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 114 
9. Adiantum capillus Veneris Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 114 
10. Adonis autumnalis Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 116 
11. zEsculus glabra Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 116 
12. Apparatus for preparation of Ethylene bichloride... .Sup. to American Dispensatory, 127 
13. Agrimonia Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 129 
14. Aletris farinosa Supplement to American Dispensatory, 142 
15. Bark of Alstonia constricta....; Supplement to American Dispensatory, 153 
16. Bark of Alstonia scholaris Supplement to American Dispensatory, 156 
17. Apparatus for preparation of Ammonium nitrate... Sup. to American Dispensatory, 181 
18. Ampelopsis quinquefolia Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 184 
19. Prunus Amygdalus Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 185 
20. Cashew-nut Supplement to American Dispensatory, 195 
21. Anemone nemorosa Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America, 199 
22. Crystals of Anemonin Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America, 199 
23. Anemone patens var. Nuttailiana (with fruit) Lloyd's D. and M. of N. A., 201 
24. Flower of Anemone patens var. Nuttailiana Lloyd's I). and M. of N. A., 201 
25. Pimpinella Anisum ..Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 210 
26. Antnemis nobilis Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 211 
27. Apocynum cannabinum Supplement to American Dispensatory, 226 
28. Apocynum androsfemifolium Supplement to American Dispensatory, 228 
29. Arnica montana Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 278 
30. Arisiema triphyllum Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 283 
31. Ferula foetida The American Cyclopaedia (D. Appleton & Co.), 285 
32. Asarum canadense Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 287 
33. Asclepias tuberosa Drawn by H. W. Felter, M. D.; plant from Dr. G. E. Davis, 289 
34. Asclepias, fresh root Drawn by H. W. Felter, M. D.; plant from Dr. G. E. Davis, 290 
35. Asimina triloba Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America, 298 
36. Crystals of Asiminine hydrochlorate. ..Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America, 298 
37. Citrus Aurantium Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 310 
38. Baptisia tinctoria H. W. Felter, M. D., 324 
39. Atropa Belladonna, flowering branch and fresh root... .Belladonna (Kilmer), J. & J., 331 
40. Belladonna leaf (cross-section) Belladonna (Kilmer), Johnson & Johnson, 332 
41. Belladonna leaf (surface-section) Belladonna (Kilmer), Johnson & Johnson, 333 
42. Mealy Belladonna root (cross-section) Belladonna (Kilmer.), Johnson & Johnson, 333 
43. Horn-like Belladonna root (cross-section) .. .Belladonna (Kilmer), J. & J., 333 
44. Woody Belladonna root (cross-section) Belladonna (Kilmer), J. & J., 334 
45. Belladonna root (cross-section) Belladonna (Kilmer), Johnson & Johnson, 334 
46. Berberis vulgaris Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 345 
47. Leaves of Berberis aquifolium Berberidaceae, by J. U. & C. G. Lloyd, 346 
48. Bidens frondosa Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 351 
49. Leaf of Peumus Boldus Supplement to American Dispensatory, 359 
50. Bryonia dioica The American Cyclopaedia (D. A. & Co.), 367 
51. Buchu leaves Frederick Stearns & Co.'s Catalogue, 371 
52. Cactus grandiflorus The American Cyclopaedia (D. A. & Co.), 374 
53. Coflea arabica Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 378 
54. Cannabis sativa Frederick Stearns & Co.'s Catalogue, 423 
55. Capsella Bursa-pastoris Supplement to American Dispensatory, 432 
56. Fruit of Capsella Supplement to American Dispensatory, 432 
57. Carduus mariana Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 447 
58. Carthamus tinctorius The American Cyclopaedia (D. A. & Co.), 452 
59. Eugenia aromatica Frederick Stearns & Co.'s Catalogue, 454 
VII VIII 
FIG. NAME. SOURCE. PAGE. 
60. Cassia marilandica Standard Dictionary (F. & W.k 457 
61. Castanea dentata The American Cyclopaedia (D. A. & Co.), 458 
62. Caulophyllum thalictroides Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America, 468 
63. Ceanothus americana.. Frederick Stearns & Co.'s Catalogue, 472 
64. Celastrus scandens Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 473 
65. Cetraria islandica The American Cyclopaedia (D. A. & Co.), 486 
66. Chamselirium luteum Supplement to American Dispensatory, 488 
67. Chelidonium majus The American Cyclopaedia (D. A. & Co.), 492 
68. Chelone glabra H. W. Felter, M. D., 494 
69. Chimaphila umbellata H. W. Felter, M. D., 496 
70. Chionanthus virginicus The American Cyclopaedia (D. A. & Co.), 500 
71. Cimicifuga racemosa (branch) Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America, 529 
72. Cimicifuga racemosa (fresh root) Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America, 529 
73. Cinchona Cahsaya Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 534 
74. Cinnamon plant (branch and bark) Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 558 
75. Clematis virginiana Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America, 561 
76. Cocaine crystals.. .Pharmacology of the Newer Materia Medica (Parke, Davis & Co.), 565 
77. Cocaine hydrobromate crystals Phajm. of the Newer Mat. Med. (P., D. & Co.), 565 
78. Cocaine hydrochlorate crystals Phariu. of the Newer Mat. Med. (P., D. & Co.), 568 
79. Coccus cacti The American Cyclopaedia (D. A.& Co.), 573 
80. Colchicum autumnale Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 578 
81. Fruit of Citrullus Colocynthis Frederick Stearns & Co.'s Catalogue, 585 
82. Conium maculatum The American Cyclopaedia (D. A. & Co.), 592 
83. Convallaria majalis Standard Dictionary (F. A W.), 596 
{1 | <* A W.), 598 
85. Coptis trifolia Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America, 603 
86. Corallorhiza odontorhiza. .• Frederick Stearns & Co.'s Catalogue, 604 
87. Cornus florida The American Cyclopaedia (D. A. & Co.), 608 
88. Maruta Cotula The American Cyclopaedia (D. A. & Co.), 613 
89. Crocus sativus (style with stigmas) Frederick Stearns & Co.'s Catalogue, 619 
90. Turmeric (long and short) The American Cyclopaedia (D. A. & Co.), 635 
91. Cyclamen europaeum Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 639 
92. Damiana. .Sup. to Amer. Disp. (From Mr. Wellcome's figures in Chicago Pharmacist), 645 
93. Turnera aphrodisiaca Supplement to American Dispensatory, 645 
94. California damiana Supplement to American Dispensatory, 645 
95. Aplopappus discoideus Supplement to American Dispensatory, 646 
96. Digitalis purpurea Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 652 
n- ( 1. Dioscorea villosa, var. glabra, ) a,,, „i a 
97' j 2. Dioscorea villosa, ' ) Supplement to American Dispensatory, 659 
98. Dracontium foetidum The American Cyclopaedia (D. A. & Co.), 663 
99. Drosera rotundifolia The American Cyclopaedia (D. A. & Co.), 664 
100. Solanum Dulcamara '.Frederick Stearns & Co.'s Catalogue, 667 
101. Echinacea (leaf) Eclectic Medical Journal, 671 
102. Echinacea (dried root) Eclectic Medical Journal, 673 
103. Epigaea repens The American Cyclopaedia (D. A. & Co.), 710 
104. Epilobium angustifolium ; Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 711 
105. Erechtites bieracifolia Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America, 714 
{1. Ear of rye, with ergot, I 
2. Ergot, a The American Cyclopaedia (D. A. & Co.), 7]5 
3. Ergotized rye, ) 
107. Eriodictyon glutinosum Supplement to American Dispensatory, 728 
108. Eucalyptus globulus (leaves and fruit) Supplement to American Dispensatory, 734 
109. Eupatorium perfoliatum The American Cyclopaedia (1). A. & Co.), 738 
110. Euphorbia Ipecacuanha Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 749 
111. Euphorbia pilulifera Pharmacology of the Newer Materia Medica (P., D. & Co.), 751 
112. Percolator Supplement to American Dispensatory, 756 
113. Cork Supplement to American Dispensatory, 756 
114. Fabiana imbricata Pharmacology of the Newer Materia Medica (P., D. & Co.), 846 
115. Fucus vesiculosus Standard Dictionary (F. & W.), 902 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. ABBREVIATIONS. 
Endeavor has been made to extend full credit in the text by means of abbreviations, 
most of which are self-explanatory. The following selective list may assist some readers: 
A. J. P., American Journal of Pharmacy. 
A. P. A., American Pharmaceutical Association. 
A. P. A. Proc., American Pharmaceutical Association Proceedings. 
Am. Hom. Pharm., American Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia. 
Amer. Hom., American Homoeopathist. 
Amer. Med. Plants, Millspaugh's American Medicinal Plants. 
Ann. de Chim. et Pharm., Annales de Chimie et de Pharmacie. 
Ann. der Chern, und Pharm., Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie (Liebig's Annalen). 
Arch, der Pharm., Archiv der Pharmacie. 
Attfield, Attfield's Chemistry. 
Av., Avoirdupois. 
B., Bigelow's Vegetable Materia Medica and American Medical Botany. 
B. A. A. S., British Association for the Advancement of Science. 
Bar., Barton's Vegetable Materia Medica of the United States. 
Ber. d. d. Chern. Ges., Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft. 
Bot. Reg., Botanical Register. 
Br., British Pharmacopoeia. 
Br. Phar., British Pharmacopoeia. 
Buchner's Rep., Buchner's Repertorium filr die Pharmacie. 
Buchner's Neues Repert., Buchner's Neues Repertorium filr Pharmacie. 
C., Christison's Dispensatory. 
°C., Degree Centigrade. 
Cc., Cubic Centimeter. 
Cm.. Centimeter. 
Chem. Ceutralbl., Chemisches Centralblatt. 
Chern. Ztg., Chemiker Zeitung. 
Coblentz, Coblentz's Newer Remedies. 
Com. Diet, of Inorganic Solubilities, A. M. Comey, Dictionary of Inorganic Solubilities, 1896. 
Compt. Rend., Comptes Rendus. 
Coxe, Coxe's Dispensatory. 
D , David Don, Linmean Transactions and Philosophical Magazine. 
D. and M. of N. A., Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America. 
Dub., Dublin Pharmacopoeia. 
Dymock, Dy mock's Vegetable Materia Medica of Western India. 
E. & K, Edwards and Vavasseur, Manual of Materia Medica, tr. by Tongo and Durand. 
Ed., Edinburgh Dispensatory. 
Ed. Med. Jour., Edinburgh Medical Journal. 
Ed. Duncan, Duncan's Edinburgh Dispensatory, 1830. 
Ed. E. M. J., Editorial, Eclectic Medical Journal. 
°F., Degree Fahrenheit. 
F. Sylv., Michaux's North American Sylva. 
Foltz, Dr. Kent O. Foltz in Webster's Dynamical Therapeutics. 
G., Gray's Botany of the Northern States. 
Gm., Gramme. 
Gen., Genesis (Bible). 
Ger. Pharm., German Pharmacopoeia. 
Imp., Imperial measure. 
Jahresb. der Pharm., Jahresbericht der Pharmacie. 
Jour, de Chim. Med., Journal de Chimie Medicale de Pharmacie et de Toxicologie. 
Jour, de Pharm., Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie. 
A'., Prof. John King, M. D. 
L., Lindley's Medical Flora. 
Lieb. Annul., Liebig's Annalen (Ann. d. Chem. and Pharm.). 
Lccke, Locke's Syllabus of Materia Medica and Therapeutics. By Felter. 
Lond., London Pharmacopoeia. 
Loud. Disp., Thomson's London Dispensatory. 
Man. of Bot., Eaton's Manual of Botany. 
IX X 
ABBREVIATIONS. 
Mat. Med. Western India, Dy mock's Vegetable Materia Medica of Western India. 
Matt., Matthew (Bible). 
Med. Flora, Rafinesque's Medical Flora. 
Mm., Millimeter. 
N. F., National Formulary. 
Nat. Form., National Formulary. 
Nat. Ord., Natural Order. 
P., Pareira's Materia Medica and Therapeutics. 
P. J. Tr., Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions (British). 
P. J. Proc., Pharmaceutical Journal and Proceedings. 
Par. Cod., Parisian Codex. 
Pharm. 1880, United States Pharmacopoeia of 1880. 
Pharm. Centralh., Pharmaceutische Centralhalle. 
Pharm. India, Pharmacopoeia of India. 
Pharm. Jour., Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions (British). 
Phil. Trans., Philosophical Transactions. 
R., Rafinesque's Medical Flora. 
R. A S., Roscoe and Schorlemmer's Treatise on Chemistry. 
Spec. Diag., Scudder's Specific Diagnosis. 
Spec. Med., Scudder's Specific Medication. 
Sullah. of Mat. Med., Locke's Syllabus of Eclectic Materia Medica and Therapeutics. 
By Felter. 
Sylva, Michaux's North American Sylva. 
T., Thomson's Chemistry of Organic; Bodies and Inorganic Chemistry. 
T. S., Pharmacopoeial Test Solution. 
Taylor, Taylor's Medical Jurisprudence. 
U. S., United States. 
U. S. P., United States Pharmacopoeia. 
V. S., Pharmacopoeial Volumetric Solution. 
Far., variety (botany). 
IF., Wood's Class Book of Botany. 
Webster, Webster's Dynamical Therapeutics. 
W7f.,Wittstein's Practical Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Wittstein's Organic Constituents 
of Plants. 
Wo., Woodville's Medical Botany. THE 
AMERICAN DISPENSATORY 
abies canadensis.-hemlock spruce. 
The bark and the prepared resinous exudate of the Abies canadensis, 
Michaux. (Pinus canadensis, Linne; Picea canadensis, Link; Tsuga canadensis, 
Carriere). 
Nat. Ord.-Coniferae. 
Common Names.-Hemlock, Hemlock spruce. 
Botanical Source.-This common forest tree seldom rises above 75 feet, with 
the trunk large in proportion, straight, and covered with a rough bark. The 
branches are brittle and nearly horizontal, with pubescent twigs. The leaves are 
about half an inch in length, linear, obscurely fine-toothed, glaucous beneath, in 
two opposite rows. The cones or strobiles are very small, ovoid, terminal, and 
drooping, with a few rounded, entire scales. The foliage of this tree is delicate, 
bright-green above and silvery-white underneath ; its timber is very coarse- 
grained-(G. W.). 
History and Chemical Composition.-The Hemlock spruce is a well-known 
indigenous tree, abounding in the forests of the Northern States and Canada. The 
tree is found in the same latitudes and elevations as the A. balsamea. It flowers 
in May. The juice or oleoresin, known as Canada pitch, or incorrectly as Gum 
hemlock (for a description of which see Pix Canadensis), oozes from the tree, with- 
out any incisions being made, and concretes upon its external surface; the bark 
is removed from the tree, cut into large fragments, and boiled in water. As the 
resin ascends to float upon the water, it is removed by skimming and thrown 
into cold water. It is then placed in a coarse linen bag, and boiled a second time, 
to remove its impurities-(Jour. Phil. Col. Pharm., Vol. II, p. 20). 
It is also collected by cutting into the live tree small cotyloid depressions, 
into which the oleoresin exudes and from which it may be easily collected. The 
bark contains a large amount of tannic acid, and on this account is extensively 
employed by tanners, who also use an aqueous extract of the bark known as 
''''extract of hemlock bark." It contains also a volatile oil, known commercially as 
oil of hemlock or oil of spruce, which may be obtained by boiling the boughs in water. 
This oil from the leaves, known also as pine-needle oil, has, according to Schimmel 
& Co. (Semi-Annual Report, Oct., 1893), a specific gravity of 0.907 at 15° C. (59° F.), 
and an optical rotation of -20° 54'; and its known constituents are pinene, bornyl 
acetate, and cadinene. Two preparations now largely used are Kennedy's White 
Pinus Canadensis and Kennedy's Concentrated Extract of Pinus Canadensis. The latter 
is red, and is used both externally and internally; the former is white, does not 
stain, contains alum and zinc sulphate, and is designed for external use only. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-A strong decoction of the bark of this 
tree is beneficial in leucorrhoea, prolapsus uteri, prolapsus ani, diarrhoea, etc., ad- 
ministered internally, and used in enema; it is likewise of service as a local 
application in gangrene, and in aphthous, and other oral ulcerations. 
The essential oil of this tree, the oil of hemlock, has occasionally been used 
by pregnant females to cause miscarriage, but serious effects are apt to follow 
therefrom. As a liniment this oil has been used in croup, rheumatism, and other 
affections requiring a stimulating local application. The essence (oil) of hem- 
lock is diuretic and highly stimulant. Dr. W. K. Everson states it to be a 
1 2 
ABIES NIGRA.-ABRUS. 
superior remedy in gastric irritation to allay vomiting in cholera morbus, etc. The 
dose is 5 or 10 drops in water, every 10 or 20 minutes, until relief is afforded. 
The alcoholic preparations of this drug usually pass under the name of Pinus 
canadensis. Such preparations are of much value where a mild stimulant and 
astringent is required, and especially in catarrhal disorders of the mucous tissues, 
with marked pallidity and relaxation. It is likewise of value in passive hemor- 
rhages, and is useful topically in scalds and burns. Tincture, 5 to 30 drops; specific 
Pinus canadensis, 2 to 10 drops, preferably in equal parts of water and glycerin ; 
the oil, 2 to 5 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-General asthenic state, with feeble diges- 
tion, vascular weakness, and pale mucous membranes ; broncho-pulmonary irrita- 
tion, with profuse secretions; coughs and colds; renal torpor; pyrosis and gas- 
tric irritation, with vomiting and diarrhoea; some cutaneous affections. Never 
to be used in inflammatory or sthenic conditions. 
ABIES NIGRA.-BLACK SPRUCE. 
The branches of the Abies nigra, Michaux, and the essence obtained from 
the same. 
Nat. Ord.-Coniferae. 
Common Names.-Black spruce, Double spruce. 
Botanical Source and History.-This tree grows in the northern parts of 
this continent, and in elevated situations in the Middle States, especially in the 
woods of mountainous districts. It is a pyramidal tree and attains the height of 
from 40 to 80 feet, having short, erect, rigid, very dark-green leaves. The cones 
are 1 or 2 inches long, ovate, reddish-brown in color, with their scales rounded, 
entire, wavy, and toothed at the apex. 
Action and Medical Uses.-An aqueous decoction of the young branches, 
strained and concentrated, forms the well-known Essence of Spruce, which enters 
into the formation of Spruce Beer, an agreeable and salutary summer beverage, 
possessing diuretic and anti-scorbutic properties, and valuable on board ships. 
Spruce Beer may be made as follows: Take of ginger, sassafras bark, and guaia- 
cum shavings, each, 2 ounces; hops, 4 ounces; essence of spruce, 10 ounces; 
water, 4 gallons; mix them and boil for 10 or 15 minutes, then strain. Add 10 
gallons of warm water, 3 quarts of molasses, and 12 fluid ounces of yeast, and 
allow it to ferment. While fermentation is going on, put the fluid in strong 
bottles and cork them well. 
Essence of Spruce is a viscid, molasses-like liquid, having a somewhat sour 
and bitterish, astringent taste. 
ABRUS.-ABRUS. 
The seeds and root of the Abrus precatorius, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Leguminosie. 
Common Names.- Wild liquorice, Indian liquorice, Jequirity. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 77. 
Botanical Source.-A twining shrub, bearing rose-colored papilionaceous 
flowers, clustered in long, one-sided racemes. The shrub attains a height of from 
10 to 15 feet. The leaves are compound, abruptly pinnate, borne on a short petiole, 
and are divided into from 20 to 30 linear or oblong leaflets of a pale-green color, 
glabrous, entire and obtuse. The fruit is a long, oblong, rhomboid legume, con- 
taining from 4 to 6 seeds. The pod is a little over an inch in length, and termi- 
nates in a short beak. 
History.-In India the root is official as a substitute for liquorice root, though 
Dymock (Mat. Med. Western India) denies the statement made by Ainslie and 
others that the root exactly coincides with that of common liquorice, and that it 
is sold for that drug in the Bengal bazaars. He states that the root bears but little 
resemblance to the liquorice root, but that the leaves are sweeter and may yield a 
fairly good extract. He further says that true liquorice root can be so easily col- 
lected and is so abundant as an article of commerce in Bombay that the substitu- 
tion of abrus forthat drug would be both inexpedient and expensive. This plant ABRUS. 
3 
is known in Bengal as gunj, gunja, goontch, kunch, and gurgonje, and is called ratti 
in Hindustan. Though varying slightly in weight, the seeds are used by the 
Indian goldsmiths as standard weights, 1 gunja being equal to about 1.84 gr. Troy. 
According to Dutt a gunja is equal to 2 grains of wheat, 3 of barley, 4 of rice, or 
18 mustard seeds. Abrus seeds are the agents by which the Chamar or "Native 
Skinner" caste of India carry on the felonious poisoning of cattle for the purpose 
of securing their hides. . This is done by means of small spikes, called sui (needles) 
or sutari (awls), which are prepared by soaking the awl in a thin paste of the 
water-soaked, pounded seeds, and then drying the weapon in the sun, after which 
it is oiled and sharpened upon stone, affixed in a handle, and then used to punc- 
ture the skin of the animal. 
Abrus has been used for centuries by the Hindus, who employ the seeds as an 
external application in skin affections, ulcers, and to excite artificial inflamma- 
tion in fistulse. Sanskrit authors mention both the white and red seeds, and 
describe the root as an emetic. Mahometan writers speak of its aphrodisiac 
qualities. As early as 1592 Alpinus found the Egyptians using the seeds for 
beads, and occasionally eating them, though they considered them unwholesome 
as food. It is asserted that Indian singers chew the leaves of the white-seeded 
variety for the cure of hoarseness. The seeds, under the native name of jeqxviriti 
or quequiri^ were introduced into modern medicine from Brazil, where they have 
long been in use among the natives as a remedy for pannus and trachoma. The 
shrub is indigenous to India and Brazil, and is naturalized largely throughout the 
tropics. The drug was introduced into England in 1862, where it excited but 
little attention until revived by DeWecker in 1882. 
Description-Semen Abri.-Crab's eye, Prayer beads, Jumble beads. Jequir- 
ity seeds are about one-fifth inch long, subspherical, hard, and of a glossy-scarlet 
color, with the exception of a black spot surrounding the hilum. They have a 
taste somewhat resembling common beans and are without odor. Dy mock men- 
tions white, purple, yellow, and blue seeds, of which only the white is common. 
Radix Abri.-The root is twisted, long, and cylindrical, varying from J to 1 
inch in thickness; reddish-brown externally, the internal or woody portion being 
yellowish. It is porous and breaks with a short, fibrous fracture. The bark is 
thin. The root has but little odor, that being somewhat disagreeable at first, but 
is bitter and acrid to the taste, afterward slightly sweetish, resembling, to a slight 
extent, that of common liquorice root. 
Chemical Composition.-According to Berzelius, a substance closely resem- 
bling glycyrrhizin may be obtained from the leaves and branches. The root con- 
tains both this principle and sugar. By treating the seeds with boiling alcohol 
Warden (1882) obtained an inert, white, crystalline body, slightly soluble in cold 
water, which has been named abric acid (C12 H24 N3 O). A mixture of proteid prin- 
ciples, of alight slate color, called abrin, was also obtained by Warden, of Cal- 
cutta, which, according to Buffalini (1886), is a violent cardiac poison. This body 
is found also in the root and stems. Rigaud and Dusart (1883) succeeded in get- 
ting an alkaloid from the seeds (thought, however, to be a decomposition prod- 
uct), which contain also a fixed oil, lecithin, and cholesterin. No irritating 
principle has yet been isolated from the seeds unless it should prove that two 
proteid bodies, one a paraglobulin, the other an albumose, are the active agents. 
According to Sattler the violent action of jequirity depends upon a "pathogenic 
micro-organism," developed in the infusion, which has the physiological property 
of vegetating upon the conjunctiva, thereby developing a ferment which is capa- 
ble of producing the artificial inflammation. Warden and Waddell, however, 
believe the activity to be due, not to a bacillus, but to a soluble ferment embodied 
in abrin, as they have found the latter substance to be much more active than the 
seeds. Abrin is probably the same body as Bruylant's and Vinneman's (1885) 
jequiritin. Moist heat is said to render it inactive. Whatever may be the exciting 
agent, it is known that the infusion used must be at least a day old, as the freshly- 
made preparation is totally incapable of producing the purulent condition known 
as "jequirity ophthalmia." 
Action and Medical Uses.-The seeds when taken into the stomach of man 
are said to be wholly inert. Large quantities of them are eaten by the Hindus to 
prevent fecundity. Half a seed rubbed in a little water, thrown into the thigh of 4 
ABSINTHIUM. 
a cat, caused the death of the animal in less than 24 hours (Warden). Jequirity 
kills the lower animals, acting somewhat like septicaemia, not unlike that pro- 
duced by serpent venom. An infusion of the strength of 1 to 20 instilled into 
the eye of a rabbit produced a violent inflammation, resulting in complete 
destruction of that organ and gangrene of the lids. A false membrane was created 
with much oedema and corneal ulceration. The salivary glands became swollen, 
destructive suppuration of the maxillary glands taking.place. Hypodermatic- 
ally injected under the skin of animals, it produced gangrenous abscesses, and 
when thrown into the blood induced "virulent tonical phenomena" (Carnil and 
Berlioz, 1883). The infusion applied to the human eye several times a day will 
in a few hours produce an active conjunctival irritation, followed w'ithin 20 hours 
by severe inflammatory action, accompanied with such great swelling and oedema 
that the lids can not be voluntarily separated. This is accompanied with pain 
and rise of temperature. On about the third day suppuration ensues and con- 
tinues copiously until about the eighth day, when it begins to subside. The 
whole period of action covers about two weeks, leaving the cornea somewhat hazy. 
Abrus is a dangerous drug, and is employed only in eye disorders requiring 
the substitutive action of a violent drug inflammation to overcome the existing 
pathological inflammation. For this purpose it is employed in scrofulous pannus 
and granular ophthalmia or trachoma. In the latter disease it should only be used 
in old cases. It should, however, be very cautiously used, and only after all other 
means have been exhausted, for it not only provokes violent conjunctival inflam- 
mation, but is likely to destroy the corneal structures. It has been used success- 
fully in ulcers and corneal abscesses. Stricture of the nasal duct has been reported by 
Murrell from the use of this drug. It is contraindicated, according to Dr. Kent 0. 
Foltz (Dynamical Therapeutics), in recent granular conjunctivitis exhibiting velvety 
surfaces or having but slight secretion, or when there is a corneal slough; also in 
dacro-cystitis and phlegmonous inflammations of the tear-passages. 
An emulsion prepared from the red hulls of 200 decorticated jequirity beans 
macerated in a small quantity of water for 24 hours and then triturated to a 
smooth paste in a mortar, adding sufficient water to make 800 grains of the 
finished product, was found of service by Shoemaker in the treatment of ulcers, 
lupus, and epitheliomatous growths. The emulsion was applied with a brush. 
Several modes of preparation of the seeds for use in ocular therapeutics are given, 
one of which is to rub in a mortar 9 seeds in an ounce of cold water, after which 
an ounce of hot water is added. Allow the solution to stand 24 hours and cool, 
and then filter. At Will's Eye Hospital, Philadelphia, 9 grains to the ounce are 
employed, with the addition of 4 grains of boric acid to prevent decomposition. 
Some oculists prefer to use abrus seeds in an impalpable powder. 
Related Drug.-Cassia Absus, Linn^, furnishes flatfish, shining-black, ovate-oblong seeds, 
which have been used in India like jequirity. A plaster prepared from them is used on 
wounds and sores particularly of the penis. For purulent conjunctivitis, the seeds are prepared 
by enveloping them in dough and placing within an onion and baking. One grain is em- 
ployed. Dr. G. Smith, of the Madras Eye Infirmary, declares it a dangerous and painful 
application to granular lids and other ophthalmias (Dymock). 
ABSINTHIUM (U. S. P.)-ABSINTHIUM. 
The flowering tops and leaves of the Artemisia Absinthium, Linn6. (Absinthium 
vulgare, Lamarck). 
Nat. Ord.-Compositae. 
Common Name.- Wormwood. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 156; Woodville, Med. Bot., 
22; Willdenow, Sp. Plant. III., 1844. 
Botanical Source and Description.-Wormwood is a perennial plant, send- 
ing up in the spring, from a stout rootstock, several bushy, herbaceous stems, 
somewhat woody at the base and from 1 to 4 feet in height. These die down as 
winter approaches, but the strong, woody base (above the root) remains several 
years, each year giving off new shoots. There are two kinds of leaves-radical 
and stem leaves; the former being from 6 to 8 inches long, the latter from 1 to 3 
inches. The stem leaves are nearly orbicular in outline and deeply incised, giving 5 
ABSINTHIUM. 
rise to that form of leaf known botanically as bi- or tri-pinnatifid. The flowers 
are borne in a paniculate raceme, are tubular, hemispherical, pale-yellow or buff 
in color, numerous and nodding. The whole plant, except the woody portions, 
is covered with a whitish, silky pubescence, giving to it a beautiful silver-gray 
color. To the touch it is exceedingly soft and velvety. The odor is strongly 
aromatic, being intensified when the herb is bruised; and to the taste the plant 
is intensely bitter, with a persistently bitter aftertaste. Cultivation renders it 
milder to the taste and less disagreeable to the sense of smell. The U. S. P. thus 
describes this drug: " Leaves about 5 Cm.[1.97 in.] long, hoary, silky-pubescent, 
petiolate, roundish-triangular in outline ; pinnately two- or three-cleft, with the 
segments lanceolate, the terminal one spatulate; bracts three-cleft or entire; heads 
numerous, about 3 Mm. [0.12 in.] long, subglobose, with numerous small, pale- 
yellow florets, all tubular and without pappus; odor aromatic; taste persistently 
bitter'/- (U.S.PJ). 
History.-Wormwood is distributed throughout various parts of Europe 
(being plentiful in the Crimea), Siberia, and the highlands and mountainous 
districts of Barbary. It is found also in Newfoundland and the United States, 
being naturalized throughout the mountainous elevations of the New England 
States. It is cultivated in gardens both in this country and on the continent. 
In Germany it is employed as a substitute for hops in the making of Wermuth 
beer, and used by the French in preparing the liquor absinth^, an alcoholic cordial 
containing the oil of wormwood and other aromatics, as melissa, anise, marjoram 
and angelica, in the form either of oils or extracts. The plant should be gathered 
during its flowering period, which is from June to September, the best time 
probably being throughout July and August. The woody stalks should be 
rejected. The dried herb fully retains its virtues, which are imparted to both 
alcohol and ■water. Wormwood steeped in vinegar and water has long been 
popular among the laity as a local application for injuries. 
Chemical Composition.-Braconnot (1815) found in this plant two azotized 
substances, one intensely bitter, the other insipid; a volatile oil, an intensely 
bitter resin, a green resin (probably chlorophyll), albumen, woody fibre, starch, 
potassium absinthate and nitrate, and absinthic acid, which, however, subsequently 
proved to be succinic acid. The plant also contains acetic and malic acids. The 
odor of wormwood is due mainly to a dark-green (sometimes yellowish or brown) 
oil, of an acrid taste, and possessing in a high degree the odor of the plant. It is 
known in commerce as Oleum Absinthii, or oil of wormwood. This oil consists 
principally of absinthol (Ci0 HJ6 0), which yields cymene, w'ater, and a resinous body 
when heated with chloride of zinc or phosphorus pentasulphide (Wright). A 
larger quantity of oil is obtained from the dried than the green plant, the amount 
being also diminished by circumstances of growth, yielding a lesser quantity 
when the plant is cultivated or when grown in warm regions (Zeller). By proper 
means it may be obtained colorless, and should be protected from the light and 
the atmosphere, which impart to it a darker hue and render it somewhat syrupy 
and viscid. The peculiar bitterness of wormwood is due to absinthin (Ci5 H20O4, 
Senger, 1892), a substance isolated in an impure form by Caventou in 1828. 
Mein (1834) obtained, it in white prismatic crystals. 
Absinthin.-Preparation: Precipitate a decoction of• Artemisia Absinthium 
with tannic acid in slight excess. Wash the precipitate in cold water and then 
digest with excess of litharge. Dry the mixture and exhaust the powder w'ith 
boiling alcohol, filter, treat with animal charcoal, filter again and evaporate. The 
residue assumes a crystalline form in time. If not pure it can be obtained nearly 
white by dissolving in alcohol, treating with animal charcoal, filtering and evap- 
orating again. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Physiologically both oil of wormwood 
and extract of absinth act upon man as nerve depressants. Less than drachm 
doses produced in rabbits and dogs tremors, spasmodic muscular action of a clonic 
character, intoxication, and loss of sensibility. Larger doses (from 1 to 2 drachms) 
produced violent epileptoid seizures, in some instances resulting fatally. Small 
doses administered to man act as a gentle stimulant, larger doses produce head- 
ache, while still larger doses induce cerebral disturbances and clonic hysteroidal 
convulsions (Lancereaux). Victims of absinthism are subject to disturbed rest, 6 
ABSINTHIUM. 
with disagreeable dreams, awakening in the morning with sickness and vomiting. 
A chronic intoxication ensues that is more fearful in its effects than that result- 
ing from the abuse of alcoholics. A conspicuous feature is the tendency to epi- 
leptoid attacks. Both physical and mental power is seriously impaired and the 
sexual system weakened to such an extent that virile power is lost in the male, 
while a premature menopause is a common result in the female. It is also said 
to produce a peculiar hypersesthesia, most marked in the integument of the hypo- 
gastrium. 
Absinthium possesses decided medicinal qualities, acting with considerable 
force upon the cerebrum and the sympathetic nervous system. It has been em- 
ployed with success for the expulsion of the intestinal parasites-ascaris vermicularis 
and lumbricoides. Previous to the introduction of cinchona it was largely employed 
in malarial intermittents, and was at one time a popular remedy for jaundice. In 
small doses it is a stimulant tonic, improves the appetite, and is useful in atonic 
states of the gastro-intestinal tract, as atonic dyspepsia, especially when due to 
alcoholic excesses, in flatulent colic, and in obstinate diarrhoea. Large doses are apt 
to irritate the stomach and increase the action of the heart and arteries. It has 
been employed with good results in amenorrhcea and leucorrhcea when due to debility. 
It is principally used, however, as a warm fomentation for sprains, bruises and 
local inflammations. For this purpose it may be steeped in water, or better in 
vinegar and water, and applied as hot as can be borne. It has also been advised 
as an external application in chronic affections of the abdominal viscera, either in 
the form of tincture, infusion, or poultice. Its tonic properties are marked. 
Combined with a fixed alkaline salt, it is said to prove powerfully diuretic. The 
oil is narcotic. Of the infusion (§i to Oj), 1 to 2 fluid ounces; of the oil, from 
1 to 5 drops; the powder, 10 to 20 grains. 
Related. Species.-A. tridentata, Nutt.; Sage brush. Hab. U. S., from Rocky Mountains 
westward. The wild sage is deserving of notice. In the western states it is reputed by physi- 
cians to be a good emmenagogue, and is in common use by the people as a remedy for putrid 
angina, arthritic rheumatism, and diphtheria. The oil, mixed with olive1 oil to form a liniment, is 
largely employed by them in erysipelas, contusions, sprains, and swellings (Ed. E. M. J., 1877, p. 
237). According to Dr. Roberts (E. M. J., 1877, p. 415) the oil is a valued remedy in flatulent 
colic, and the leaves used as a fomentation for abscesses promote the rapid formation of pus and 
impart such a healthy tone 1o the parts that the disease is quickly brought to a termination 
with the least possible destruction of tissue. An infusion is used by the Indians for colds, 
headache, and to expel intestinal parasites (Palmer). A. trifida, Nuttall, and A. arbuscula are 
dwarf species having like properties. 
A. filifolia, Torrey.-Called Southern wood in its habitat, IT. S. west of Rocky Mountains. 
Used by the Indians for tumefactions and bruises. Contains an essential oil valuable for lini- 
ments (Palmer). 
A. Ludoviciana, Nuttall; Western mugwort.-N. W. U. S., from Great Lakes to Pacific Ocean 
and southward. The fruit of this and the next species used by the Indians as an article of 
food. This species in infusion is supposed to promote the growth of the hair, and is employed 
by the Pah Utes to facilitate labor, and as a remedy for epistaxis (Maisch, Amer. Jour. Pharm.r 
Vol. LU, p. 69). 
A. Dracunculoides, Pursh.-Illinois to Pacific coast northward to British dominions, and 
southward to Arizona and Arkansas. Fruit used as food by the Indians. The bruised plants 
act as a topical irritant, and an infusion of them produces diaphoresis. 
A. Drancunculus, Linne; Tarragon.-Cultivated in southern Europe, Tartary, and Siberia. 
A bitterish, aromatic, anise-odorous plant, the volatile oil of which is-chiefly anethol (C10H12O). 
A. Maratima var. Stechmanniana, Besser; Wormseed.-Europe and Asia. In saline soils, 
along seacoasts and in salty marshes. Source of Santonin (Pharmacographid). 
A. Abrotanum, Linne; Southern wood; Old man.-Hab. southern Europe and western Asia. 
Cultivated in gardens in North America. Au aromatic bitter, with the odor of lemons, and is 
said to contain abrotine, a crystallizable alkaloid (Craveri). 
A. vulgaris, Linnd; Mugwort.-Europe, northern Asia and northern Africa. Naturalized 
and cultivated in the United States. The root, which contains volatile oil, tannin, and an acrid 
resin, is used for medicinal purposes in Europe. Emmenagogue and German remedy for hys- 
teria and epilepsy. 
A. Pontica, Linne; Roman wormwood.-Hab. central Asia and southern Europe. Used as 
a substitute for common wormwood, though not esteemed so valuable. 
A. frigida, Willdenow; Sierra salvia, Mountainsage.-Colorado. Probably contains some 
absinthin (F. A. Weiss, 1890). 
A Mc^ Qi Chinese Moxa. 
A. Abyssinica, Olivier; Tshuking, Zerechtit.-Abyssinia. The bitterish, aromatic flowers 
contain a bitter principle, tannin, and essential oil (Dragendorff). 7 
ABSTRACTA.-ACACIA. 
ABSTRACTA-ABSTRACTS. 
Fora period preceding 1880, a class of compounds known as powdered solid 
extracts came into more or less conspicuity largely through the efforts of manu- 
facturing pharmacists. 
Powdered extracts were made by reducing an ordinary solid extract by evap- 
oration to a concentrated condition, and then thickening the mass with a harm- 
less powder, or the respective powdered, crude drug, and then drying the mixture, 
or by drying the extract intact, as necessity prompted. 
The Pharmacopoeial Committee of 1880, aiming to supply a class of official 
preparations embracing the qualities of powdered solid extracts, introduced a line 
of similar preparations under the name Abstracta or Abstracts. 
These were made by evaporating percolates of the respective drugs, and in- 
corporating the residue of each with enough milk-sugar to bring to a standard, in 
which one part of the dried mixture represented two parts of the drug. 
Abstracts did not become popular, and neither replaced the commercial pow- 
dered extracts nor established themselves in the graces of the medical or the 
pharmaceutical professions. This failure was mostly due to the fact that the 
Pharmacopoeia is a follower, and seemingly can not create a trade-demand if none 
exists. At the same time it was found that some of the formulae were not practi- 
cal; for example, as when an attempt was made to dry the oily percolate of Nux 
vomica. The succeeding Pharmacopoeial Committee (1890) wisely dropped the 
list. 
ACACIA (U. S. P.)-ACACIA. 
"A gummy exudation from Acacia Senegal, Willdenow" (U. S. P.). The 
ooncrete juices of other species are also included under the commercial name 
Gum Acacia. 
Nat. Ord.-Leguminosae. 
Synonyms: Gum arable, Gum acacia, Gum mimosa, Gummi mimosas, Gummi 
arabicum. 
Illustration: Acacia Senegal, Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 94; A. vera, 
Willdenow, Spec. Plant, iv., 1805. 
Botanical Source.-The trees and shrubs yielding this gum are numerous, 
and all have leaves of the bipinnate variety and long spikes or globular heads of 
flowers, generally of a yellow color. They are more or less thorny, from the fact 
that the stipules are often transformed into spines. They all delight in dry, sandy 
situations, and will often be found where other shrubs and trees can not exist. 
The Acacia Senegal of Willdenow (A. verek of Guillemin and Perottet and 
Mimosa Senegal of Linne) is a moderate-sized tree, usually about 20 feet high. It 
has a crooked stem with a grayish bark, and is much branched, the limbs being 
scattered over or covered with a purplish or yellowish-green bark. The leaves are 
smooth and bipinnate, the pinnae in two pairs, with a gland between them. The 
leaflets are oblong-linear and arranged in eight or ten pairs. The spines are sharp 
and in two pairs. The flowers, which are small and yellow, are densely crowded 
on axillary, stalked, globose heads, usually two together. The fruit is a smooth, 
compressed, moniliform legume, of a light-brown color, and usually about 5 
inches long, containing about 6 flattish seeds. 
The Acacia vera, Willdenow (A. arabica of Willdenow; A. nilotica, Desfon- 
taines; Mimosa arabica, Roxburgh). A small, undersized tree or shrub, which 
occasionally, however, attains a height of about 40 feet, with a trunk from 3 to 
4 feet in circumference. The thorns are stipulary, sometimes long, sometimes 
short, or almost wanting. The flowers are small, yellow, and in globose heads. 
Each flower has a five-cleft corolla and numerous, distinct stamens. 
Botanical History.-The Acacia Senegal inhabits Africa from Senegal east- 
ward to Egypt. It is called Hashab, and yields the most valuable gum, that 
coming from Dejara, in Kordofan, being the best product. It is known as Hashabi 
gum. The gums yielded by this species are known as the Kordofan and Senegal 
gums. It constitutes large forests north of the River Senegal. 
Acacia vera (A. arabica). Near the Nile this tree is known as the Ssant or 
Sont, Egyptian thorn, or Egyptian gum arabic tree'. It inhabits Egypt, Arabia, 8 
ACACIA. 
India, and is found abundantly as far south as Abyssinia, and westward to the 
regions of the Senegal. It produces an inferior brownish or reddish gum. 
Jackson (Account of Morocco, 3d ed., p. 137) says : 
" Of the trees from which gum arabic is obtained, and which inhabit the 
southern parts of Asia and the upper portions of Africa, the A. arabica is the most 
common. Several species are said to yield the gum, and probably contribute to 
supply that found in commerce, but that above-named furnishes the principal 
part of it. The gum flows naturally from the bark of the trees, in the form of a 
thick and rather frothy liquid, and speedily concretes in the sun into tears; some- 
times the discharge is promoted by wounding the trunk and branches. The 
secretion is most abundant in dry, hot seasons, and among old stunted trees, espe- 
cially after a rainy season has softened their bark, and rendered it apt to split 
during the succeeding hot weather. The more sickly the tree appears the more 
gum it yields; and the hotter the weather the more prolific it is." 
Description and Tests.-The U. S. P. thus describes Acacia: "In roundish 
tears of various sizes, or broken into angular fragments, with a glass-like, some- 
times iridescent fracture, opaque from numerous fissures, but transparent and 
nearly colorless in thin pieces; nearly inodorous; taste insipid, mucilaginous; 
insoluble in alcohol, but soluble in water, forming a thick, mucilaginous liquid. 
Acacia should be slowly but completely soluble in 2 parts of water. This 
solution shows an acid reaction with litmus paper, yields a gelatinous precipitate 
with basic lead acetate T.S., ferric chloride T.S., or concentrated solution of sodium 
borate, and does not reduce alkaline cupric tartrate V.S. The powder is not 
colored blue (absence of starch) or red (absence of dextrin) by iodine T.S."- 
(U. S. P.f 
The best quality of gum arabic-that known as Kordofan gum, Turkey 
gum, or White Sennaar gum-is perfectly colorless, of a shining, conchoidal, 
vitreous fracture, opaque in mass, but transparent in small fragments, hard but 
pulverable, inodorous, and of a faintly sweetish and viscous taste. It is generally 
in tears, round or angular, and seldom larger than a hazel nut. The very pale, 
yellowish-white, yellowish-red, or brownish tears belong to the second quality, 
and may be rendered colorless by the action of sunlight, or when treated with 
chlorine water. The specific gravity is from 1.33 to 1.52. It almost invariably 
forms a white powder. 
Cold or hot water dissolves its own weight of gum arabic, forming a thick 
mucilaginous solution, and from which the gum may be obtained by evaporation, 
or by precipitation with excess of alcohol; the concentrated solution may be 
kept much longer than the dilute, which latter, especially in warm weather, 
undergoes the acetous fermentation. The gum is also soluble in solutions of the 
pure alkalies, lime water, and dilute acids. Alcohol does not dissolve it, neither 
does ether or the oils. When boiled with sulphuric acid an unfermentable vari- 
ety of sugar is formed; but with nitric acid it passes into mucic, malic, and finally 
into oxalic acid.-(Ed.) Treated with a solution of the neutral perchloride of 
iron, the mucilage of gum arabic becomes a light reddish jelly; with a solution 
of borax it forms a firm, colorless jelly, which is liquefied by powdered sugar; 
and, with a solution of sugar, it furnishes, by desiccation, a clear, hard, amor- 
phous mass. Its decomposition is readily effected by the strong acids. The 
gums known as Gedda, Jiddah, and Turic gums were varieties of Kordofan gum. 
Gum arabic does not deteriorate if kept dry, but its concentrated mucilage, 
after a long time, will become sour (acetic acid). Hot water is said to hasten 
this fermentation, if employed in making the mucilage. Dilute solutions of the 
gum become moldy. A few drops of sulphuric acid added to it-the solution 
being poured off from the resultant precipitate of calcium sulphate-is said to 
prevent this change-(Am. Jour. Pharm., 1872). 
Varieties-Senegal Gum.-This gum is one of the chief productions of the 
French colony of Senegal, being gathered by the Moors and negroes in the section 
north of the river of that name. It is gathered from November to July and 
shipped to Bordeaux, France, and some of it reaches America. It occurs in larger 
pieces than the Kordofan gum, and is often oblong or vermiform in shape. While 
some of it is colorless most of it is yellowish, reddish, or brownish in color. It is 
stated that it is sorted into several grades in America. Several species of Acacia, ACACIA. 
among them the A. Senegal, abounding in large forests, yield this gum. It breaks 
less easily, and seldom exhibits the fissures observed in the best variety, and while 
differing in appearance from the Egyptian gum, though being obtained, in part 
at least, from the same species, it does not exhibit different optical or chemical 
properties from those of the better variety. It was introduced by the Dutch, 
though its commerce is now controlled by the French. 
Morocco Gum, Mogador or Barbary gum.-This gum is derived from the 
A.nilotica, Desfontaines (A. arabica, Willdenow), and derives its name from the 
port (Mogador) from which it is shipped from Morocco. It is gathered in July 
and August in the provinces bordering on Morocco, and in part from Timbuctoo. 
This gum comes in moderately large tears, occasionally worm-shaped, vitreous 
within, and crackles when exposed to a warm temperature. It has a nearly uni- 
form, faintly brown, or dusky color, and is fissured externally. It dissolves com- 
pletely in water. 
Cape Gum.-Exudes spontaneously, from the A. horrida, Willdenow, or very 
common Doornboom tree of South African forests. It is produced as tears or 
fragments, of a pale-amber color. It is shipped from Cape Colony by way of the 
Cape of Good Hope, and is regarded as an inferior gum. 
Australian Gum, Wattle gum.-This gum occurs in large globular, trans- 
parent tears or masses, which are hard and of a pale yellow, amber, or brown 
color. It dissolves completely in water, producing a mucilage which is very ad- 
hesive, and less liable than other gums to crackle when dry. Tannin from the 
bark is apt to be present on this gum. It is the product of several species, among 
them A. pycnantha, Bentham; A. decurrens, Willdenow (A. mollisima, Willdenow), 
and A. homalophylla, A. Cunningham, the fragrance of the latter earning for its 
wood the name of " violet wood." 
India Gum, East India gum.-A gum has been introduced into commerce 
termed Gum of India, which is used for dressing cloths, etc. Being cheaper than 
gum arabic it is used to adulterate this gum, but it is unfit for pharmaceutical 
purposes. It reaches London in cases of about 535 pounds; the picking is done 
in France, where the whitest tears are mixed with gum arabic and gum Senegal. 
The method to detect this adulteration is to mix 30 grains of the suspected article 
with a pint of cold water, and allow the mixture to rest. In place of a homogen- 
eous solution, a thick, transparent, tenacious magma is obtained, insoluble in a 
large amount of water. Though called India gum it all goes from Africa to Bom- 
bay, and from thence is shipped to other parts. 
Su akin Gum, Savakin gum, Talca or Talha gum.-A very brittle gum, 
usually semi-pulverulent, obtained from the A. stenocarpa, Hochstetter-, and the 
A. Seyal var. fistula, Schweinfurth. It is composed of colorless and brown gums, 
mixed, and is collected near the western shore of the Red Sea and delivered at the 
port of Suakin, from which it derivesits name. It is sometimes partially insoluble, 
but gives a pasty magma with water. 
Sennaar Gum, Sennari gum.-A gum resembling Kordofan gum in beauty, 
but less valuable, is gathered on the Blue Nile and exported by the way of Sen- 
naar. This gum is known by the native term Hashabi el Jesire. It is quite com- 
mon in commerce. 
Mezquite Gum.-Dr. G. G. Shumard introduced to the profession a species of 
gum discovered in Texas and New Mexico, and which answers the purpose of 
gum acacia, forming a beautiful mucilage with water. It exudes spontaneously 
from the Mezquite tree, in a semifluid state, and hardens in a few hours, forming 
lumps of various sizes and colors, which whiten by exposure to sunlight, and 
finally become translucent and often filled with minute fissures. It is called Gum 
mezquite, mezquit, muckeet, musquit, etc. The tree from which it is obtained is the 
Algarobia glandulosa, Torrey and Gray (Prosopis dulcis of Kunth, or P. juliflora of 
DeCandolle). It is from 25 to 40 feet high. 
The tree yielding this gum is also found in California and Mexico, and 
south to Chili and the Argentine Republic. The uses of mezquite gum are 
identical with those of acacia. 
Hogg Gum, Doctor gum.-(Not Gum Hogg, or the East Indian Kathira, from 
Cochlospermum Gossypium, De Candolle).-This gum occurs in irregular fragments 
or tears, sometimes transparent and reddish in color, at other times opaque. It is 
9 10 
ACACIA. 
derived either from Rhus Metopium, Linne, or Moronobea coccinea, Aublet, possibly 
from both. Water only partially dissolves it. 
Chagual Gum.-From Puya lanuginosa, Molina {Pourretia lanuginosa, Ruiz et 
Pavon). Nat. Ord.-Bromeliaceve.-A Chilian product, of a thick, mucilaginous 
consistence, and acidulous character, and but partially soluble in water. Borax 
does not precipitate it from solution, but precipitation may be effected with ace- 
tate of lead. 
Admixtures.-Gum arabic is often adulterated with the inferior grades of 
gum, and in powdered form with starch or flour (which, however, will respond to 
the iodine test), besides fragments of dextrin. The latter may be detected by 
Trommer's test, which gives a precipitate of cuprous oxide upon standing. 
Chemical Composition.-Gum arabic is generally accepted to be a mixture 
of salts of calcium, magnesium, and potassium formed by the union of these ele- 
ments with arabic acid. The gum is chiefly composed of the calcium arabate. 
Arabic acid, known also as gummic acid, forms salts containing an excess of acid. 
It is considered identical with the metapectic acid of Fremy, and is obtained from 
a solution of the gum, acidulated with chlorhydric acid, by precipitation with 
alcohol. Before drying arabic acid is soluble in water, but after drying it becomes 
metagummic acid, and refuses to dissolve in either hot or cold water unless they be 
alkaliuized. Both gum arabic and arabic acid are known as arabin. Continued 
heating with dilute sulphuric acid changes arabin into sugar, while oxidation by 
means of nitric acid results in the production of mucic, oxalic, saccharic, and 
tartaric acids. Arabinose (C12 H22 On) is produced by means of dilute sulphuric acid 
from those gums which yield none or but little of mucic acid. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Gum arabic is nutritive and demul- 
cent, and exerts a soothing influence upon irritated or inflamed mucous tissues, 
by shielding them from the influence of deleterious agents, atmospheric air, etc. 
On this account it has been used in diarrhoea and dysentery, to remove tenesmus 
and painful stools, in catarrh, cough, hoarseness, gonorrhoea, ardor urinse, etc.-(Coze.) 
It may be given almost ad libitum in powder, lozenge, or solution, alone or com- 
bined with syrups, decoctions, etc. In acute diseases, where it becomes necessary 
to use the lightest and most readily digested food, there is no article, probably, 
equal to gum arabic. It may be used for this purpose by dissolving half an ounce 
of the powdered gum in 5 ounces of water, and sweetening with loaf-sugar, of which 
a tablespoonful may be given every 2 or 3 hours; in low stages of fever, in typhoid 
fever, and wherever a mild stimulant is required, 1 ounce of a saturated solution 
of camphor in sulphuric ether may be added to the above, and administered in 
the same way; it is diuretic, promotes the action of the absorbents, and does not 
materially increase arterial action. Equal parts of pulverized alum and gum 
arabic form a good preparation to check hemorrhages from small cuts, wounds, 
etc. Externally, the application of its solution to burns and scalds has proved 
serviceable, repeating it until a complete coating is secured. It is likewise much 
used for compounding pills, lozenges, mixtures, and emulsions; also for adminis- 
tering insoluble substances in water, as oils, resins, balsams, camphor, musk, etc. 
Mucilage of Gum Arabic.-To 4 ounces of finely pulverized gum arabic 
add, very gradually, a pint of boiling water, and rub the whole until perfectly 
blended. Dose, ad libitum. When gum arabic is adulterated with cherry gum, it 
is not easy to form a good mucilage; the cerasin of the cherry gum will cause it to 
be ropy. (For the official mucilage, see Mucilago Acacisef 
Related Products.-Flindersia maculosa, F. von Mueller ^Eleeodendron maculosum, Lindley). 
Nat. Ord.-Meleaceae. Spotted tree, Leopard tree. This tree of New South Wales and Ciueens- 
land is known by the above names on account of its spotted bark. The leaves are greedily 
devoured by sheep in times of drought. This tree exudes from the stems and branches during 
the summer months masses as large as pigeon eggs, of a clear amber-colored gum, having a 
pleasant taste, and which is eaten by the aborigines, and commonly employed by the bushmen 
for diarrhoea. It forms a good adhesive mucilage, and reminds one of a good quality of East 
India gum acacia. About 80 per cent of arabin, but no metarabin has been found in it-(J. H. 
Maiden, Useful Native Plants of Australia). The gum is known as Leopard tree gum. 
Cedar Gum.-A light-yellow gum derived from the Red cedar or Cedrella Australis of Queens- 
land. The tears swell and subsequently dissolve in water. It contains no resin, but of arabin 
68 per cent, and of metarabin 6 per cent-(P. J. Trans., 1890). ACETA.-ACETANILIDUM. 
11 
ACETA.-VINEGARS. 
These are official liquid medicines, formed with vinegar as a menstruum and 
charged by maceration with different medicinal principles. Many medicines con- 
tain active principles which are not readily taken up by water or alcohol, or are, 
perhaps, insoluble in them, but which are freely soluble in vinegar; others again, 
although soluble in water or alcohol, are not as efficient and energetic thus pre- 
pared, as when tinctured in vinegar; on this account, medicated vinegars are espe- 
cially useful in many instances. The vinegar of commerce is very apt to contain 
impurities and elements which lead to its decomposition; hence, when used as 
a solvent for pharmaceutical purposes, distilled vinegar or diluted acetic acid 
should be preferred. The solvent property of vinegar chiefly depends upon its 
acetic acid, which renders it more especially valuable in the preparation of those 
agents, especially alkaloids, which are soluble in this acid, or which are rendered 
more soluble by being converted into acetates. Medicated vinegars are not perm- 
anent preparations; and to prevent their spoiling too rapidly, a small proportion 
of alcohol is usually added to them, which, however, necessarily gives rise to 
some acetic ether, besides being sometimes liable to cause precipitation; if the 
same proportion of concentrated acetic acid be substituted for the alcohol, the 
formation of the ether may be avoided, and the medicated vinegar be preserved 
equally as well. It is better to prepare this class of compounds only as they are 
required. 
ACETANILIDUM (U. S. P.)- ACETANILID. 
Formula: C6H5NH.C2H3O. Molecular Weight: 134.73. 
"An acetyl derivative of aniline"-(U. S. P.y 
Synonyms: Phenylacetamide, Antifebrin, Antifebrinum, Acetylamidobenzene, Ace- 
tanilide. 
Source and Preparation.-Acetanilid was first made in 1852 by Gerhard. 
It is prepared by heating to moderate ebullition equal quantities of glacial acetic 
acid and pure aniline. This should be accomplished in a retort or flask fur- 
nished with a reflux condenser, and the operation continued until a small amount 
of the mixture cools to a solid when taken from the flask. The resulting mass 
is then subjected to distillation, acetic acid and water first passing over, and lastly 
the acetanilid, which is subsequently crystallized by treating with boiling water. 
It is obtained white by subliming the crude acetanilid. 
Description.-The Pharmacopoeia describes this comparatively new drug as 
follows: "White, shining, micaceous, crystalline laminae, or a crystalline powder, 
odorless, having a faintly burning taste, and permanent in the air. Soluble, at 
15° C. (59° F.), in 194 parts of water, and in 5 parts of alcohol; in 18 parts of 
boiling water, and in 0.4 part of boiling alcohol; also soluble in 18 parts of ether, 
and easily soluble in chloroform. When heated to 113° C. (235.4° F.), acetanilid 
melts. Upon ignition, it is consumed without leaving a residue. Acetanilid is 
neutral to.litmus paper"-(U. S. P,). 
It is also freely soluble in benzin, and sparingly so in disulphide of carbon. 
Tests.-"When agitated with colorless, concentrated sulphuric acid, in a 
clean test-tube, acetanilid dissolves without imparting color to the liquid. On 
heating about 0.1 Gm. of acetanilid with afewCc. of concentrated solution (1 in 4) 
of potassium or sodium hydrate, the characteristic odor of aniline becomes notice- 
able. On now adding chloroform, and again heating, the disagreeable odor of 
isonitril (which is poisonous) is evolved. On boiling 0.1 Gm. of acetanilid for 
several minutes with 2 Cc. of hydrochloric acid, a clear solution results which, 
when mixed with 3 Cc. of a 5 per cent aqueous solution of carbolic acid, and after- 
wards with 5 Cc. of a filtered, saturated solution of chlorinated lime (Calx chlorata'), 
acquires a brownish-red color, becoming blue upon supersaturation with ammonia. 
A cold, saturated, aqueous solution of acetanilid, added to ferric chloride T.S., 
should- not affect the color of the latter (absence of aniline salts and various allied 
substances}"-(U. S. P). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-In health the effects of acetanilid are 
less pronounced than in febrile states. Small doses of acetanilid produce a quiet- 
ing effect, and the renal and cutaneous secretions are augmented; blood-pressure 12 
ACETANILIDUM. 
is first elevated, then depressed, and cardiac action is decreased in frequency. 
Moderate quantities act as a vaso-motor and cerebral stimulant. Large doses pro- 
duce serious symptoms, powerfully depressing the nervous system and circulatory 
apparatus. Weakness, slight headache, tinnitus aurium, and general malaise, 
and often a sense of coldness, a peculiar cyanotic hue, collapse, convulsions, and 
death result from its immoderate use. Whether these symptoms are due to the 
patient's susceptibility or to impurities in the drug has not been definitely de- 
termined. It is claimed that the reduction of temperature when fever is present 
is due to its action in changing oxyhaemoglobin into methsemoglobin, and its 
consequent interference with oxidation, which produces the cyanosis. Very 
large doses increase the urea and uric acid in the urine, destroy the red corpuscles, 
decrease the alkalinity of the blood, and impart to the urine a deep-brown color, 
due to the liberation of haemoglobin from the blood. When death is produced 
both motor and sensory paralysis ensues, and the heart is arrested in diastole. 
Among other symptoms noticed from varying doses of the drug are profuse pers 
piration, rubeoloid eruption, anaesthesia, coma, failing respiration, and loss of reflex 
action. Even 5 grains have been charged with causing collapse in one case and 
death in another. The drug is eliminated by the kidneys, and should be avoided 
in all cases of fatty degeneration, particularly of the heart, kidneys, and liver. 
Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea have been attributed to this drug by some, while 
others deny such effects. 
Acetanilid was originally introduced as a remedy for pyrexia, and indeed by 
many its chief action is asserted to be antipyretic. It has, however, fallen into 
discredit in many quarters on account of the dangerous collapse and cyanotic 
condition which it often produces. It should have no place in fevers of a low or 
typhoid type, and we are admonished that while excellent results have been ob- 
tained in scarlatina, it should be carefully watched on account of the numerous 
instances of drug-intoxication observed from its use in children. Very little use 
is made of the drug by eclectic practitioners in febrile states, the exceptions, per- 
haps, being in puerperal fever, rheumatic fever, uncomplicated with cardiac disorders, 
and in erysipelas, in all cases to be used only when the temperature is excessively 
high. It may be used to control the hectic fever of phthisis. Acetanilid is of con- 
siderable value in acute inflammatory rheumatism, especially in those cases in which 
salicylic acid and the salicylates are said to be admissible, but fail to do any good. 
Here it contributes to reduce the swelling and alleviate the pain. It should not, 
however, be used in this complaint for any length of time, or in large doses. It 
is particularly useful when the rheumatic affection is ushered in with sharp and 
severe pain, in which case it should be preferred to opiates. Intense pain from 
muscular spasm is quickly relieved by it. 
Acetanilid finds more favor with us in disorders of the nervous system than in 
any other class of affections. It is decidedly antispasmodic and analgesic. Asthma, 
chorea, some cases of epilepsy, whooping cough, and bilious colic seem to yield to its 
action, while in various headaches of a nervous origin it appears to be of considerable 
value. In migraine, neuralgic and rheumatic headaches, sick headache, reflex headache, 
from uterine disorders, facial neuralgia, sciatica, neuralgias depending on changes 
in the spinal cord, neuralgia of tabes dorsalis, and the pains of locomotor ataxia, its 
beneficial results are gratifying, and it has, in some cases, supplanted morphine 
in these affections as a pain-reliever. Indirectly, by relieving acute and subacute 
pain, it acts as a hypnotic, or rather prepares the way for a refreshing sleep. It 
should be borne in mind that it is a dangerous drug in fatty degenerations and in 
dilated states of the cardiac ventricles. 
Locally, acetanilid has been recommended as a topical dressing for chancre and 
chancroid, and as an antiseptic for wounds. Here we have not found it of marked 
value. Dose: From 2 to 10 grains, in powder, capsule, or wafer, every 1 or 2 hours, 
until 3 doses have been taken; if used in febrile states, every 4 hours. We 
believe the small dose-even 1 grain-is as effectual as the larger doses when indi- 
cated. Great care should be exercised in its use. In cases of collapse, external 
heat, friction, alcoholic or ethereal stimulation, with sulphuric ether, strychnine, 
or atropine hypodermatically should be resorted to to sustain the breathing and 
circulatory organs. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Acute frontal and neuralgic headaches: ACETONUM. 
13 
diffused headache of a nervous origin; congestive and reflex headaches when not 
due to gastric disorders or faulty digestion ; sick headache ; acute pain, with high 
temperature, provided the heart and kidneys are in good condition. The small 
dose preferred. 
Related Drugs.-Various drugs are now upon the market which contain acetanilid in 
amounts reaching as high as 90 per cent. They are most generally antipyretics and analgesics, 
and figure largely as " headache cures." In some of them there has been detected sodium 
bicarbonate, caffeine salts, bromides, salicylic acid, and the salicylates. Some of these 
are now largely employed by the profession, and consequently should receive our attention. 
Antikamnia.-This is a proprietary drug, whose definite composition is at present un- 
known to the profession. It is prepared by the Antikamnia Company, of St. Louis, Mo. 
Pharmacists have no legal right to make any substance under that name, and physicians can 
not employ any other than the genuine. 
Antikamnia is a white powder. It also comes in tablet form. When dissolved in water, 
and in the presence of diluted acids, it effervesces. It is largely used as a substitute for mor- 
Ehine in painful states, particularly rheumatism, neuralgia, nervous headache, and dysmenorrhoea. 
•ose: 2^ to 5 grains. Larger doses have been recommended, but should be used with great 
care. 
Benzanilid, Benzanilide, Phenylbenzamid(e), Benzoylanilide (C6H5NH.C7H5O).-This com- 
pound is the result of the interaction of aniline, and benzoic anhydride, benzoyl chloride, or 
benzoic acid. It crystallizes in white, pearly scales, without taste or odor. It refuses to 
dissolve in water, is sparingly soluble in cold alcohol (1 in 58), and more freely in boiling 
alcohol (1 in 7). An eruption resembling measles has followed its use, and by continued use 
the medicine becomes less and less effective. The uses are much the same as for acetanilid, 
and the dose ranges from 1 to 12 grains. 
Bromacetanilid, Acetbromanilid (C(,H4BrNH.C2H3O).-The para-compound of this drug 
is known as antisepsin, and should not be confused with antiseptin and antiseptol. Neither 
should'it be mistaken for Asepsin, a name which has (improperly) occasionally been applied 
to it. Asepsin can be applied properly only to the product known also as " nascent wintergreen." 
(See Asepsin.) Antisepsin is produced by acting upon acetanilid with bromine, and forms col- 
orless crystalline needles, with neither taste nor odor. It fuses at about 165° C (329°F.). In 
water it is practically insoluble, sparingly soluble in glycerin, but more freely in alcohol and 
ether. Its chemical names are mono- or paramono-bromphenylacetamide, or paramanobromaceta- 
nilid. This drug is reputed antiseptic, antipyretic, and analgesic, and has been employed in 
pneumonitis, enterio fever, consumption, and locally as a dressing for wounds and hemorrhoids. 
From A to 1 grain, three times a day is the usual dose. 
Methylacetanilid (C6H5NCH3.C2H3O), Exalgin orExalgine.-This compound was first 
produced in 1874 by Mr. A. W. Hofmann. It may be prepared by slightly heating acetylchlo- 
ride and monomethylaniline, and subsequent crystallization from boiling water. It may also 
be prepared by the interaction of sodium acetanilid and iodide of methyl. Exalgine forms 
small, acicular, or prismatic crystals, tasteless, odorless, and colorless. It dissolves readily in 
boiling water, chloroform, alcohol, and disulphide of carbon. It dissolves with difficulty in 
sold water (about 1 in 60 parts), and in about 1 in 10 of ether. It fuses in open air at about 
100° C. (212° F.), but a couple of degrees lower when covered with water. 
Its dose ranges from A grain to 5 grains (in diluted alcohol), though 3 grains three times 
a day is as high as is usually administered. It is employed for neuralgias and in chorea. It 
produces poisonous effects, among which are noted disturbed vision, tinnitus aurium, emesis, 
headache, spasmodic muscular action, jaundice, and cyanosis. 
Antinervin, Salicyl-bromanilide,Salbromalide.-A proprietary drug, composed of bromo- 
acetanilid and salicylanilid. According to Squibb, it is a mixture of ammonium bromide, and 
salicylic acid, of each one (1) part, and acetanilid two (2) parts. It has been recommended in 
neuralgias in doses of from 5 to 15 grains. 
Phenolid and Exodyne.-Are compounds resembling antinervin in composition, the chief 
ingredient of which is thought to be acetanilid. 
Iodantifebrin, lodacetanilid (C6H4INH[C2H3O]).-Flake-like rhombic crystals, soluble in 
alcohol and glacial acetic acid, but scarcely soluble in water. Its physiological effects are 
slight, and it is not likely to prove of any value in therapy. 
ACETONUM.-Acetone. 
Formula: C3H6O. Molecular Weight: 57.87. 
Synonyms : Pyroacetic ether, Pyroacetic spirit, Acetylmethylide, Di-methyl-Ketone, 
^Kther pyroaceticus, Spiritus pyroaceticus. 
History and Preparation.-This substance is prepared by the dry distilla- 
tion of the acetates, and other substances, such as tartaric and citric acids, and 
from sugar and various other carbohydrates. It is produced in large quantities 
as a by-product in the making of aniline. To obtain it, either barium-, lead- (4 
parts with 1 of burnt lime), or calcium acetate (usually one of the latter two), is 
subjected to dry distillation in an earthenware retort, and treated fractionally with 14 
ACETUM. 
calcium chloride to free it from H2O. Acetone exists in small quantities in the 
blood, urine, and abundantly in diabetic urine. It is asserted that the odor pe- 
culiar to persons suffering from diabetes is due to the exhalation of acetone. To 
this substance is charged the pulmonary complications and coma in the latter 
stage of this disease. It is extensively used in the manufacture of chloroform, 
both in the United States and abroad. For this purpose it is distilled with cal- 
cium hypochlorite and water. It is converted into iodoform when acted upon by 
iodine in the presence of an alkali. 
Description-Boil. pt. 58° C (136° F.); sp. gr. 0.7921 at 18° C (64.4° F.). 
Acetone is a limpid, colorless liquid, readily inflammable, burning with a clear, 
luminous flame. It is miscible with water, ether, alcohol, and volatile oils in all 
proportions. Its odor is agreeable, ethereal or mint-like, and its taste sharp, burn- 
ing, and sweetish. It is principally valued for its property of dissolving fats, 
resins, gun-cotton, and camphors. 
J. U. Lloyd has shown that of all the ordinary neutral solvents, acetone 
stands conspicuous, in that equal bulks of others capable of mixing with any 
proportion of water form a transparent mixture with all proportions of glycerin, 
while equal bulks of acetone and glycerin separate the larger share of the glycerin. 
Prof. Henry Trimble has shown that acetone is the best solvent for tannins, and 
that it may be used in many manufacturing processes. His predictions are likely 
to be verified in commerce. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Acetone is soporific, intoxicating, and 
anthelmintic. From 15 to 20-drop doses, administered in sweet spirit of nitre, 
are recommended in gout and rheumatic complaints, and for the expulsion of worms 
from the intestinal tract. It was formerly employed to check the secretions and 
cough of pulmonary complaints. It is of but little use as a medicine. 
Related Compounds.-Acetal, Di-ethyl-Acetal (C6H14O2, or CH3CH [C2H5O]2).-Molec- 
ular Weight, 117.74. Sp. gr. 831 at 20°C (68° F.); boil. pt. 104° C (219.2° F.). A colorless liquid, 
produced by the oxidation of alcohol through the agency of sulphuric acid and manganese 
dioxide, and other means. Acetal has an agreeable odor, somewhat like alcohol, and a per- 
sistent, pungent, yet refreshing, taste. It is slightly soluble in water, but dissolves freely in 
alcohol or ether. It must be preserved from the atmosphere and oxidizers, which change ft to 
aldehyde, resulting finally in the formation of acetic acid. 
Acetal acts upon the brain, slowly intoxicating even to insensibility. It lowers blood- 
pressure, thereby acting as a hypnotic. Its hypnotic effects are followed by depression, heavy 
sensations in the extremities, and nausea. It kills by asphyxiation. It is but little used. Its 
hypnotic dose is from 1 to 3 drachms. 
Acetophenone, Phenylmethyl-ketone (C6H5.CO.CH3.), Hypnone.-This product was pre- 
pared in 1857 by Friedel, who obtained it by dry distillation of a mixture of acetate and ben- 
zoate of calcium. It was introduced in medicine by Dujardin-Beaumetz as hypnone. It is now' 
prepared by the interaction of benzoyl chloride and zinc-methyl. It may be obtained in white 
plate-like crystals, but the form generally employed is liquid hypnone. The latter is a highly 
refrangent, mobile liquid, pungent and disagreeable to the taste, and possessing a mixed odor 
of orange and bitter almonds, which is persistent. Though non-inflammable, it adds to the 
inflammability of substances saturated with it. Hypnone refuses to dissolve in water, remain- 
ing therein suspended as globules. It dissolves sparingly in glycerin and freely in alcohol, 
chloroform, ether, benzol, and the fixed oils. It dissolves iodine and bromine with ease, and 
when treated with chromic acid is resolved into carbon dioxide and benzoic acid. Its density 
is 1.032. It becomes solid at 14°C (57.2° F.), and fuses again at 20.5° C (68° F.). A convenient 
form of administration is in emulsion with peppermint water or syrup, or in oleaginous solu- 
tion, given in capsules. A syrup may be prepared with 1 drop of hypnone, 16 drops of alco- 
hol, and 100 drops of syrup of orange; an elixir with 1 drop of hypnone and 50 drops each of 
alcohol and peppermint syrup. It is regarded as a hypnotic, possessing, in rather large doses 
(6 to 8 drops), a slight anodyne action. There are several objections to its use, chief among 
which are its tendency to produce gastric disturbance, *its unpleasant taste, and the disagree- 
ably persistent odor it imparts to the breath, besides being dangerously depressant. It is not 
a reliable drug for pain, nor can much be expected of it when insomnia is occasioned by nerv- 
ous excitation. 
acetum.-Vinegar. 
Synonyms : Acetum britannicum (British malt vinegar), Acetum gallicum 
(French wine vinegar), Acetum destillatum (distilled vinegar), Acetum crudum. 
Source and History.-Vinegar is a dilute acetic acid, combined with foreign 
coloring and flavoring substances, and is prepared by the acetification of cider, 
malt, or wine, and by the oxidation of alcohol. It is the result of a fermentative ACETUM. 
15 
process, known as the acetous, by which certain liquids or infusions undergo a 
change, causing them to have a manifest sourness to the taste. Those fluids 
which are capable of acetous fermentation possess more or less saccharine mat- 
ter, as fruits, grain, etc. In order to effect an acetous fermentation a tempera- 
ture is required, ranging from 21° to 35° C. (70° to 95° F.), which is accompanied 
with the formation of a remarkable vegetable, of a fungous and microscopic char- 
acter, consisting of the mycelium of Penicillium glaucum, vegetating actively, and 
increasing by crops of conidia or gemmae. By some this vinegar-plant has .been 
named Torula aceti. During this process the alcohol of the previous vinous fer- 
mentation disappears, and its place is occupied by vinegar. According to Pasteur, 
this microscopic vegetation is the Mycoderma aceti (Ulvina aceti, Kiitzing), and 
that it is this agent and not the atmospheric oxidation that gives rise to the process 
of acetification. 
Preparation and Description.-Vinegar is prepared from many substances. 
In France red wines are principally employed; in Britain it is made from differ- 
ent kinds of malt liquor, cider, saccharine fluids, etc.; and in the United States 
from cider and whiskey chiefly. The Germans have a quick method of making 
vinegar, by mixing certain proportions of alcohol, water, and honey, extract of 
malt or ferment, and which, by a certain process is exposed to the atmosphere by 
distributing it over beech-wood shavings in a large vat, that it may have an ex- 
tensive surface for oxidation, and is thereby converted into vinegar in from 24 to 
36 hours. Vinegar is likewise made by several other processes, some of which 
require a comparatively short time for its formation. The surface of vinegar is 
frequently covered by moldiness (Mucor mucedo); a small fly (Musca cellaris) is apt 
to infest it; microscopic animals, called vinegar eels (Anguillula aceti) are common 
to vinegar containing mucilage and no sulphuric acid; and, on long standing, or 
when kept in open vessels, a gelatinous, vegetable substance, called the " mother 
of vinegar" (Mycoderma cerevisiae), is formed at the expense of the acid, rendering 
the vinegar turbid and weaker. These matters may be removed by boiling the 
vinegar, and then filtering it. 
Good vinegar has a peculiar and grateful odor, and an agreeable sour taste. 
Its color depends somewhat on its mode of manufacture; when prepared from 
malt liquors it is yellowish-red; when from wine it is pale or deep-red, depending 
upon the white or red wine from which it is made; and wflien from cider it is 
pale-yellow. The high-colored vinegars may be rendered colorless by filtration 
through charcoal, or by distillation in a glass retort. 
Adulterations and their Detection.-Crude vinegar contains a small amount 
of sulphates and chlorides. Consequently barium chloride, which precipitates the 
sulphates, is not a good testing reagent to detect free sulphuric acid in vinegar, 
but upon boiling the latter with calcium chloride a precipitate will show the 
presence of free acid, but not sulphates, in small amounts. When vinegar is free 
from sulphuric acid, acetate of lead has no action upon it. Copper may be 
detected by the addition of ammonia in excess, which renders the vinegar blue, 
nor should metallic copper be deposited on a clean, bright piece of iron immersed 
in it. Vinegar containing lead gives a yellow precipitate of iodide of lead, when 
iodide of potassium is added to it; when it is free from lead and copper, hydrogen 
sulphide causes no precipitate. When the mineral acids are present they may 
be detected, according to Chiappe, by producing a deep-blue coloration, with an 
aqueous or alcoholic solution of Paris violet (methyl-anilin-violet). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Vinegar forms an agreeable cooling 
drink in fevers, especially when the tongue is red and coated dark or brown; it 
diminishes inordinate vascular action, allays thirst, neutralizes excess of alkali, 
and increases the urinary discharge. In typhus, scurvy, and putrid diseases it 
acts as an antiseptic. In urinary affections, attended with a white sediment 
consisting mainly of phosphate of calcium and ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate, 
it has been recommended. In dysentery and scarlatina, vinegar, saturated with 
common house-salt, has been very beneficial. A large tablespoonful of the mix- 
ture must be added to 4 of hot water, of which a tablespoonful is to be taken, as 
hot as may be, every 2 or 3 minutes, till the whole is consumed. A similar prep- 
aration proved very effectual in the treatment of Asiatic cholera in Cincinnati 
during 1849-50, and has likewise been found beneficial as a local application in 16 
ACETUM. 
external inflammations, contusions, severe injuries to joints, swellings, etc. The 
vapor of vinegar, inspired with that from hot water from a proper inhaler, is of 
decided service in most varieties of laryngeal inflammation, tonsillitis, hoarseness, 
putrid sore throat, diphtheria, relaxed sore throat, and ulceration of the fauces; this 
inhalation will also be found of great utility in dryness and irritation of the pul- 
monary tubes during measles and other exanthematous diseases. Diluted, it is a 
favorite domestic remedy for fumigating the apartments of those ill of contagious 
diseases; it does not destroy the infection, but renders the atmosphere less dis- 
agreeable. Vinegar has been used as a gargle in the same affections of the throat 
and fauces. It has also been applied locally in some cases of ophthalmia, in epistaxis, 
several cutaneous diseases, and diluted with water has been used as an injection 
into the rectum in hemorrhoidal affections, and into the uterus in cases of uterine 
hemorrhage. Injected into the rectum it destroys ascarides, and as a lotion is 
said to be fatal to pediculi. Large doses of vinegar induce diarrhoea and impair 
digestion; small doses, however, favor digestion by stimulating the gastric and 
salivary secretions and aid in softening otherwise indigestible food. Vinegar is 
one of the best antidotes to poisoning with the caustic alkalies, as it is always at 
hand. It is also valuable, in weak dilution, to assist in removing particles of lime 
from the eye. It forms a valuable adjuvant to cooling lotions. The dose inter- 
nally is from 1 to 4 fluid drachms; as an injection, 1 or 2 fluid ounces, diluted 
with twice or thrice its bulk of water (see Acetum Destillatum'). 
Specific Indications and Uses.-The deep-red tongue, with dark or brown 
coating. 
Vinegar Preparations.-Acetum destillatum, Distilled vinegar, Acetum purum. 
Preparation and Description.-Take of vinegar 8 parts, place in a glass or silver retort, 
and distill over into a receiver of similar material 7 parts. Dilute the product, if necessary, 
with distilled water, till the specific gravity is 1.006. 
Distilled vinegar is recommended to be prepared from wine vinegar, chiefly on account of 
its aroma; and it should be prepared in glass or silver vessels, as lead or copper ones are ex- 
tremely dangerous from the poisonous salts liable to be formed, viz.: the acetate of lead or 
copper. It is a clear liquid, occasionally with a yellowish tint, and differs from dilute acetic 
acid in containing a small proportion of alcohol, acetic ether, and mucilage. Excess of alkali 
added to it, and the solution heated, gives a brown color to the liquor, with a dark precipitate, 
which is supposed to be the decomposed mucilage. When of good quality distilled vinegar 
is quite colorless, of a pure acetous odor, frequently somewhat ethereal, but entirely unmixed 
with empyreuma or other disagreeable taint, and is wholly evaporated by heat. It is ren- 
dered unfit for pharmaceutical purposes by the presence of metals or mineral acids. 
Distilled vinegar is used for the same purposes as above, and is the solvent to be employed 
in making the various medicated vinegars of opium, squill, colchicum, etc. Care must be 
taken, when using vinegar medicinally, not to obtain the spurious and adulterated articles, 
containing sulphuric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, copper, lead, etc. One part of acetic 
acid to 5 of distilled water forms a very good vinegar for culinary and medicinal purposes. 
Acetum aromaticum, Aromatic vinegar.-Several aromatic vinegars have appeared in vari- 
ous pharmacopoeias, some directing the use of oils to give the aromatic qualities, as in the 
formula of the German Pharmacopoeia, and others directing the tinctures of the aromatic herbs, 
as in the French Codex. The following formula corresponds to that of the German Pharma- 
eopoeia: Take 1 part each of the essential oils of cinnamon (Cassia), juniper, rosemary, pepper- 
mint, and lavender; 2 parts each of oils of cloves and lemon; 450 parts of alcohol; 650 parts of 
acetic acid, and 1900 parts of water. An alcoholic solution of the oils is first prepared, the 
acid, and afterward the water, added, and the ■whole allowed to stand (with frequent shaking) 
8 days, after which it is filtered. This gives a colorless, clear preparation, ■which will mix, 
without turbidity, with any amount of water. It has an acetous, aromatic odor. The Na- 
tional Formulary gives the following: 
Acetum aromaticum (N. F.), Aromatic vinegar.-Formulary number, 1: "Oil of lavender, 5 
cubic centimeter (0.5 Cc.) [8 TIP]; oil of rosemary, A cubic centimeter (0.5 Cc.) [8 TIP]; oil of 
juniper, A cubic centimeter (0.5 Cc.) [8 TIP] ; oil of peppermint, J cubic centimeter (0.5 Cc.) 
[8 HP]; oil of cinnamon (Cassia), A cubic centimeter (0.5 Cc.) [8 TIP]; oil of lemon, 1 cubic 
centimeter (1 Cc.) [16 TIP]; oil of cloves, 1 cubic centimeter (1 Cc.) [16 TIP]; alcohol, 175cubic 
centimeters (175 Cc.) [5 ng, 440 Tip]; acetic acid ( U.S. P.), 175 cubic centimeters (175 Cc.) [5 fl§, 
440 TIP]; water, a sufficient quantity to make 1000 cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fig, 391 TIPJ. 
Dissolve the oils in the alcohol, add the acetic acid, and lastly, enough water to make one 
thousand (1000) cubic centimeters [33 fig, 391 TIP]. Warm the turbid mixture, during several 
hours, ata temperature not exceeding 70° C. (158° F.), taking care that it shall not suffer loss 
by evaporation. Then set it aside for a few days, occasionally agitating, and filter"-{Nat. 
Form.). ... 
Acetum antisepticum, Antiseptic vinegar.-The French Codex directs an antiseptic vinegar 
prepared as follows: Take 15 parts each of Roman wormwood, rosemary, peppermint, sage, ACETUM CANTHARIDIS.-ACETUM LOBELI.E. 
17 
rue, lavender, and absinth ; 2 parts each of nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, garlic, and calamus; 
1000 parts of vinegar. Macerate the whole 10 days, and after expressing, add 4 parts of cam- 
phor dissolved in 15 parts of glacial acetic acid. Filter. 
ACETUM CANTHARIDIS-VINEGAR OF CANTHARIDES. 
Preparation.-Take bruised cantharides, 2 ounces; glacial acetic acid, 2 
fluid ounces, and a sufficient quantity of acetic acid to make 20 fluid ounces. 
Mix with the glacial acetic acid 13 fluid ounces of acetic acid; add thecantharides 
and digest fora couple of hours at a temperature of 93.3° C. (200° F.). After the 
mixture has cooled, transfer it to a percolator, and when the fluid has ceased to 
pass add to the residue 5 fluid ounces of acetic acid. After completion of the per- 
colation, press the residue, filter the fluid so obtained, and mix it with the perco- 
late. Finally, by the addition of acetic acid bring the product to measure 1 pint 
(Imp.). This agrees with the British Pharmacopoeia. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This preparation is a speedy blistering agent. 
Applied to the skin lightly it acts as a rubefacient. But if applied in successive 
layers with a soft brush, vesication results in from one to three hours. It is con- 
venient to apply to uneven surfaces where vesicating plasters are less likely to 
remain in contact. After application the blister should be dressed with simple 
ointment applied on cotton-wool, or soft linen. It is a painful application, and 
has been recommended for vesicating small areas in superficial neuralgias and rheu- 
matic parts. 
ACETUM IPECACUANHA-VINEGAR OF IPECACUANHA. 
Preparation.-Ipecacuanha (No. 20 powder), 1 ounce (av.); diluted acetic 
acid, q. s. for 20 fluid ounces (Imp.). After moistening the drug with a sufficient 
amount of the acid, macerate 24 hours, then pack the moistened powder in a per- 
colator, and gradually add the diluted acid until 20 fluid ounces (Imp.) are ob- 
tained. 
Description, Uses, and Dosage.-The foregoing process is in accordance 
with that of the British Pharmacopoeia, and yields a yellow-brown preparation re- 
taining permanently the emetic constituents in solution. A feeble, cutaneous ir- 
ritant and expectorant. The uses are those of Ipecacuanha, which see. The dose 
ranges from 5 to 40 minims. 
acetum LOBELIA.-Vinegar of Lobelia. 
Preparation.-Take of lobelia seed, in powder, 4 ounces; diluted acetic acid, 
2 pints. Macerate the lobelia seed with the diluted acetic acid, in a close glass 
vessel, for 7 days; then express the liquor, filter, and add to the filtered product, 
alcohol (or concentrated acetic acid), 1 fluid ounce. The whole amount of fluid 
thus procured should measure 2 pints. This medicated vinegar may also be pre- 
pared by percolation. 
History.-In this old eclectic preparation the alcohol is added to impede the 
decomposition, and as its quantity is very small, no objection can reasonably be 
made to its presence. We have known this preparation to retain its activity for- 
two years, when kept well corked and not exposed to the action of light. We use 
lobelia seed instead of the herb, as employed in the National Formulary (see Related 
Preparation). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Vinegar of lobelia is an emetic, nause- 
ant, and expectorant, and is a valuable relaxant, in spasmodic affections, especially 
in spasmodic and congestive disorders of the respiratory tract. It may be given to 
fulfil all the indications for which lobelia is administered. Externally, it forms 
an excellent application in several cutaneous diseases, as salt-rheum, erysipelas, 
poisoning by rhus, etc. Dose, as an emetic, from 1 to 4 fluid drachms, repeated 
every 15 minutes; as an expectorant, from 5 to 30 drops or more, every half- 
hour, in elm or flax-seed infusion. One part of vinegar of lobelia added to 1 part, 
by measure, of syrup, forms a very pleasant preparation for children. 18 
ACETUM OPII.-ACETUM SCILL.E. 
Related Preparation.-Acetum lobelias (N. F.). ( U. S. P., 1880). Vinegar of lobelia. 
Formulary number, 2: " Lobelia, in No. 30 powder, 100 grammes (100 Gm.) [3 oz. av. 231 grs.]; 
diluted acetic acid ( U. S. P.), a sufficient quantity to make 1000 cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 
fl^, 39111?]. Moisten the powder wuth fifty (50) cubic centimeters [1 fl^, 331.5 Tffi] of diluted 
acetic acid, pack it firmly in a conical glass percolator, and gradually pour diluted acetic acid 
upon it until one thousand (1000) cubic centimeters [33 fl§, 391 TT] of percolate are obtained" 
-(Nat. Form.). 
ACETUM OPII (U. S. P.)-Vinegar of Opium. 
Synonym : Black drop. 
Preparation.-" Powrdered opium, 100 grammes (100 Gm.) [3 oz. av., 231 grs.]; 
nutmeg, in No. 30 powder, 30 grammes (30 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 25.5 grs.] ; sugar, 200 
grammes (200 Gm.) [7 ozs. av., 24 grs.] ; diluted acetic acid, a sufficient quantity 
to make 1000 cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 T[P]. Macerate the opium 
and nutmeg in five hundred (500) cubic centimeters [16 fl5, 435 HP] of diluted 
acetic acid during 7 days, frequently stirring; then strain through muslin of close 
texture, and express the liquid. Mix the residue wuth two hundred (200) cubic 
centimeters [6 fl§, 366 HP] of diluted acetic acid to a uniform magma, and strain 
and express again. Mix and filter the strained liquids, dissolve the sugar in the 
filtrate, and pass enough diluted acetic acid through the filter to make the pro- 
duct measure one thousand (1000) cubic centimeters [33 fls, 391 HP] "-(U. S. P.). 
Assay.-" To assay this preparation, transfer 100 Cc. of it to a small capsule, 
add 4 Gm. of precipitated calcium carbonate, or such a quantity as will be suffi- 
cient to neutralize the free acid, and then proceed further as directed under Tinc- 
tura Opii. It should yield from 1.3 to 1.5 Gm. of crystallized morphine"-( U. S. P.). 
Description and Dosage.-This preparation, unfortunately known as black 
drop, now contains 10 per cent of opium, the latter containing from 13 to 15 per 
cent of crystallizable morphine. It is a dark-brown-red liquid, almost free from 
the disagreeable taste and odor of tincture of opium and less liable to nauseate the 
patient. The name black drop should be discarded on account of its liability to 
confusion with black draught. The dose is from 5 to 10 drops. 
ACETUM SANGUINARLffl.-VINEGAR OF BLOODROOT. 
Preparation.-Take of bloodroot, in powder, 4 ounces; diluted acetic acid, 
2 pints. Macerate the bloodroot with the diluted acetic acid in a close glass ves- 
sel for 7 days; then express the liquor, filter, and add to the filtered product, alco- 
hol (or concentrated acetic acid), 1 fluid ounce. The whole amount of fluid thus 
procured should measure 2 pints. This medicated vinegar may also be prepared 
by percolation. 
History.-In this preparation diluted acetic acid is used instead of distilled 
vinegar. When kept well corked and in the dark, it may be preserved for a long 
time, though it loses its dark-red color. It is an old eclectic remedy, but a formula 
is now* to be found in the National Formulary (see Related Preparation). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Vinegar of bloodroot is seldom used 
as an emetic, except in combination with other agents of this class. Its chief em- 
ployment internally is as an expectorant, hepatic, and alterative. As an external 
application it is useful in many cutaneous affections. Dose, from 10 to 30 drops, 
in some mucilage or syrup, and repeated 3 or 4 times a day. 
Related Preparation.-Acetum Sanguinarije (N. F.). (U. S. P., 1880). Vinegar of san- 
guinaria. Formulary number, 3: " Sanguinaria, in No. 30 powder, 100 grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. 
av., 231 grs.]; diluted acetic acid (U. S. P.), a sufficient quantity to make 1000 cubic centimeters 
(1000 Cc.) [33 H5> 391 HP). Moisten the powder -with fifty (50) cubic centimeters [1 fl^, 332 HP! 
of diluted acetic acid, pack it firmly in a conical glass percolator, and gradually pour diluted 
acetic acid upon it until one thousand (1000) cubic centimeters [33 fls, 391 HP] of percolate are 
obtained "-(Nat. Form.). 
ACETUM SCILL^l (U. S. P.)-VINEGAR OF SQUILL. 
Preparation.-"Squill, in No. 30 powder, 100 grammes (100 Gm.) [3 oz. av., 
231 grs.]; diluted acetic acid, a sufficient quantity to make 1000 cubic centime- 
ters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 HP]. Macerate the squill with nine hundred (900) ACHILLEA. 
19 
cubic centimeters [30 fl 3, 208 TH] of diluted acetic acid during 7 days, frequently 
stirring; then strain through muslin, and wash the mass on the strainer with 
enough diluted acetic acid, until the strained liquid measures one thousand (1000) 
cubic centimeters [33 fl^, 391 UlL Finally filter"-(U. S. Pf. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Vinegar of squill contains all the me- 
dicinal virtues of the squill. It is a clear, yellowish fluid, of a bitter acid taste, 
and possessing an acetous smell. It is sometimes employed as an expectorant in 
affections of the air vessels, and as a diuretic in dropsies caused by cardiac disease; 
but, on account of its tendency to decomposition, its principal use is in the prep- 
aration of syrup of squill. This preparation represents 10 per cent of squill. Its 
dose is from 15 to 60 minims, in some aromatic water. 
ACHILLEA-YARROW. 
The whole plant, Achillea Millefolium, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Compositae. 
Common Names.- Yarrow, Milfoil, Thousand leaf. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen., Med. Plants, 153; Woodville, Med. 
Bot., 15. 
Botanical Source and Description.-Yarrow is a common perennial plant 
from 1 to 3 feet in height, bearing dark-green, crowded, alternate, bi-pinnatifid 
leaves. The flowers, W'hich are grayish-white (occasionally 
rose-colored), are arranged in a flat-top, corymbose head. 
The odor is peculiar, being pleasantly and highly aromatic, 
somewhat resembling chamomile. The taste is sharp, bit- 
terish, astringent, and slightly saline. 
History.-Yarrow is a common wayside herb, and is 
also found growing wild in fields, pastures, and waste 
places throughout the central portions of North America and 
Europe. It flowers from May to October, during which 
time it should be gathered (preferably during July), and 
after rejecting the coarser stems, should be carefully dried. 
The weight, after drying, is but 15 per cent of the amount 
collected. The leaves are more astringent than the flowers, 
the latter being more aromatic than the former. The Amer- 
ican plant is said to be more valuable than the European 
species. Achillea was known to the ancients. Pliny states 
that the generic term, Achillea, was named from Achilles, a 
physician, who was one of the first to use a species of this plant as a vulnerary. 
Yarrow is sold by the native herbalists of India, like rosemary, where it is used 
as a bitter and in medicated vapor baths for fevers (Dymock). The Italians em- 
ployed it in intermittent fevers, and in the Scottish highlands it is made into 
ointment for wounds. According to Linnaeus the Dalecarlians used it as a sub- 
stitute for hops in the making of ale, believing it to impart to it intoxicating 
qualities. Both Stahl and Haller used this plant extensively. 
Chemical Composition.-Yarrow contains a reddish-brown, active, bitter 
principle called achillein (CaoH^NjChs), discovered by Zanon, in 1846 (Liebig's An- 
nalen\ and shown by Von Planta (1870) to be alkaloidal and identical with the 
achilleine of Achillea moschata. Zanon also found an acid which he named achilleic 
acid, and which was subsequently (1857) shown by Hlasiwetz to be aconitic acid. 
A small portion of a volatile oil, dark-green in color, may be obtained from 
yarrow by distillation with water. Milfoil also contains potassium and calcium 
salts, resin, gum, and tannin. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Yarrow possesses slightly astringent 
properties, and is tonic, alterative and diuretic, in infusion. Its use in chronic 
diseases of the urinary apparatus, is especially recommended by Prof. J. M. Scudder. 
It exerts a tonic influence upon the venous system, as well as upon mucous mem- 
branes. It has been efficacious in sore throat, hemoptysis, hematuria and other 
forms of hemorrhage where the bleeding is small in amount, incontinence of urine, 
diabetes, hemorrhoids with bloody or mucoid discharges, and dysentery; also in 
Fig. 1. 
Achillea. 20 
ACIDUM ACETICUM. 
amenorrhcea, flatulency and spasmodic diseases, and in the form of injection in 
leucorrhcea with relaxed vaginal walls. Prof. T. V. Morrow made much use of an 
infusion of this herb in dysentery. Given in half-drachm doses of the saturated 
tincture, or 20-drop doses of specific achillea, it will be found one of our best 
agents for the relief of menorrhagia. 
The active principle, Achillein, has been employed in France and other por- 
tions of Southern Europe, as a substitute for quinine in the treatment of inter- 
mittent fevers. It has also been employed by French physicians to restore arrested 
lochial discharges. 
Of infusion (§i to Aqua Oj), 1 to 2 fluid ounces; specific achillea, 5 to 30 
drops; volatile oil, 5 to 20 drops. All preparations of achillea are rendered more 
pleasant to the taste by the addition of a few drops of oil of anise. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-To relieve urinary irritation, strangury, 
urinary suppression; relieves irritation in incipient Bright's disease, capillary 
relaxation, leucorrhcea with relaxed and irritated vaginal walls, hematuria, 
gastric and intestinal atony, atonic amenorrhcea, menorrhagia. 
Related Species.-Achillea Ptarmica, Linn6. Sneezewort. Naturalized in the Eastern 
States, growing in hedges, thickets, and moist places. The leaves are remarkably distinct 
from those of yarrow, being lance-linear, sessile, acuminate and serrate. The flowers are 
white and arranged in a diffuse corymb. Sialagogue and sternutatory. 
Achillea moschata, Linn^. Iva, Musk milfoil. An Alpine plant having the odor of musk, 
largely used by the Swiss as a sudorific and for its healing qualities. It contains ivaol 
(CiaHooO), a bluish-green or azure, bitterish, mintlike, volatile oil (called Esprit d' Iva, at Enga- 
dine, where it is extracted); moschatine (C21H27NO7 ), a nitrogenous body; an alkaloidal princi- 
fle, achilleine (C20H38N2O15); and ivain (C24H42O3) a yellow, soft bitter, soluble in alcohol. 
Jpon boiling with dilute acids, achilleine yields, besides sugar, ammonia, and an odoriferous 
principle, achilletine (CnHnNOJ, a non-bitter, insoluble, deep-brown body. 
Achillea ageratum, Linne. Europe. This species has tufted, clammy leaves and a disa- 
greeable odor and bitter taste. Used occasionally as a medicine. 
Achillea nobilis, Linn£. Europe. This pubescent species has a stronger taste and odor 
than common milfoil, and is sometimes used for similar purposes. The Achillea nana, Linne, 
and Achillea atrata, Linne, both natives of Europe, are likewise employed medicinally, the latter 
especially for its stimulating effects in the early stages of fevers. 
ACIDUM ACETICUM (U. S. P.)-ACETIC ACID. 
Formula: HC2H3O2=C2H3O.OH= CH3.CO2H. Molecular Weight : 59.86. 
"A liquid composed of 36 per cent, by weight, of absolute acetic acid [HC2 
H3O2=59.86] and 64 per cent of water"-(U. S. P.). 
Synonyms: Acetyl hydrate, Hydrogen acetate. 
Source.-Acetic acid is the most extensively used organic acid, and is ob- 
tained either by the oxidation of alcohol and aldehyde, or by the destructive 
distillation of wood and carbohydrates in general. This yields an impure pyro- 
ligneous vinegar, which is subsequently purified. The greater portion of the 
acetic acid of commerce is now derived from this wood vinegar. As early as 1648 
Glauber was familiar with the fact that vinegar could be obtained by the destruc- 
tive distillation of vegetable tissues, but did not know that the substance so ob- 
tained was identical with the vinegar derived from alcoholic products. This 
identity was subsequently established (1800) by Vauquelin and Fourcroy. In 
1802 Thenard proved its existence in products of dry distillation of animal tis- 
sues. Stahl proposed in 1700 a method to obtain acetic acid from vinegar by 
exposing the latter substance to a freezing temperature, separating the ice from 
the stronger acid; another method he suggested was to neutralize with an alkali 
and to evaporate, then distilling with an equal amount of sulphuric acid. In 
1759 Count de Lauraguais obtained a crystallized acetic acid in a distillate of cup- 
rum acetate, then known as "copper spirit." The name glacial acetic acid was 
affixed to this substance by Lowitz (1793), who repeatedly distilled diluted acetic 
acid with powdered charcoal, and obtained thereby a crystalline acid by subject- 
ing the product to a low temperature. 
Preparation and Description.-In order to bring before the reader the pro- 
cesses of the production of acetic acid it will be necessary to allude to the produc- 
tion of crude pyroligneous acid by the destructive distillation of woody sub- ACIDUM ACETICUM. 
21 
stances. We shall then present the three commercial forms of acetic acid now in 
common use, viz.: acetic acid, glacial acetic acid, and diluted acetic acid. 
I. Acidum Aceticum Pyrolignosum. Acidum pyrolignosum. Pyroligneous 
acid, Pyroligneous vinegar. 
Preparation.-Crude pyroligneous acid is one of the principal products formed 
in the destructive or dry distillation of wood; i. e., in the process of subjecting 
the wood to a red heat in a closed vessel, so that the air has no access. This is 
done at present in closed iron retorts, much on the same plan as the destructive 
distillation of coal is carried on in the manufacture of illuminating gas. The 
vapors are condensed in suitable vessels, and the incondensible, gaseous products 
frequently conducted back into the furnace. The liquid obtained separates upon 
standing into two layers-an upper, aqueous, and a lower, tarry layer, the latter 
furnishing the material from which creosote is obtained by rectification. It con- 
tains benzene and its homologues, naphthalene, retene, phenol, cresol, phlorol, 
pyrocatechol, guaiacol and homologues, and empyreumatic substances. The 
upper stratum is the crude pyroligneous acid of commerce, and is separated by 
mechanical processes. It contains in aqueous solution formic and acetic acids 
and their homologues, including capronic acid, methyl alcohol, acetone, acetates 
of methylamine, phenol, guaiacol, furfurol, and empyreumatic substances. From 
this liquid are obtained commercially : Acetic acid, acetone, and methyl alcohol. 
The first step of separation is that of fractional distillation of the crude pyro- 
ligneous acid. The first part coming over (10 per cent) is the alcoholic part, called 
wood naphtha, and consists of methyl alcohol, acetone, and methyl acetate, also con- 
taining allylic and other alcohols; then distills the acid part, calledpunified pyrolig- 
neous acid or rectified wood vinegar, amounting to 75 to 80 per cent. It is a yellowish 
or colorless acid fluid, possessing a smoky odor, which may be removed by agitat- 
ing it with 2 or 3 per cent of benzin, and removing the latter by separation and 
distillation; then the aqueous residue will furnish an inferior table vinegar. 
The preparation of pure acetic acid from rectified wood vinegar will be described 
under "Acetic Acid." As to the quantities obtainable, 100 parts of wood yield 
from 20 to 35 per cent of gas, 3 to 9 per cent of tar, 35 to 45 per cent of crude 
pyroligneous acid, of which 3 to 9 percent are acetic acid, and 20 to 30 percent of 
charcoal. It has been found that the percentage of real acetic acid obtainable from 
diverse woods varies considerably; the bark yielding less than the wood, sound 
wood more than decayed wood, and stem woods yielding the greatest quantity, 
even more than the branch woods; foliage trees produce a greater yield of pure 
acid than needle-leaved species. Slow combustion is also conducive to a better 
yield. The average yield of acid liquor from 800 pounds of wood is about 300 
pounds, or 35 gallons. 
Description.-Crude pyroligneous acid is a dark-brown, sour liquid, of a 
smoky odor (due to furfurol [CjHiCh], Meyer), holding in aqueous solution 4 to 
7 per cent of acetic acid, empyreumatic oil, creosote, and pyroxylic spirit. 
II. Acidum Aceticum Glaciale (U. S. P.fi Glacial acetic acid; Radical 
vinegar. 
Preparation.-Pure sodium acetate (13| parts), in crystals, is carefully heated 
until the water of crystallization is completely driven off and the salt fused. 
The residue (nearly 8| parts by weight) is then reduced to a coarse powder 
and transferred to a retort. The retort is then carefully warmed in a sand- 
bath ; and to the contained salt is added from 9| to 10 parts by weight of strong 
sulphuric acid and intimately mixed. It is then distilled. The product, though 
containing some water, is glacial acetic acid. It may be obtained nearly free 
from water by distilling a portion and then pouring off the liquid, and finishing 
the distillation by repeating the operation. 
Description.-Glacial acetic acid is the strongest preparation of acetic acid, 
and is so named on account of its ice-like appearance when crystallized. Accord- 
ing to both the British and United States Pharmacopoeias, it should contain at 
least 99 per cent of absolute acid. Below 15.5° C. (60° F.) it forms flat, colorless, 
ice-like, rhombic crystals. If heated above this point it changes to a syrupy, 
colorless liquid, which may again be cooled to 10° C. (50° F.), and remains fluid 
unless a crystal be dropped into it, when it again solidifies. Acetic acid of any 22 
ACIDUM ACETICUM. 
form should not be kept in bottles stopped with rubber, as it is liable to be con- 
taminated by substances used in the vulcanizing of the rubber. Glacial acetic 
acid dissolves camphor, oils, both volatile and .fixed, gum-resins, resins, albu- 
men, and fibrin. In contact with the skin it destroys the epidermal tissues and 
even produces vesication. It is thus described by the U. S. P.: "Nearly or quite 
absolute acetic acid. A clear, colorless liquid, of a strong, vinegar-like"odor, and 
a very pungent, purely acid taste. When the acid is cooled to a temperature as 
near as possible to 15° C. (59° F.), but yet in a liquid form, its specific gravity 
should not be higher than 1.058, corresponding to at least 99 per cent of absolute 
acid. At a temperature somewhat below 15° C. (59° F.), the acid becomes a crys- 
talline solid. When crystallized by cold it becomes liquid again at about 15° C. 
(59° F.). At 117° to 118° C. (242.6° to 244.4° F.) it boils, evolving inflammable 
vapors. Glacial acetic acid corresponds in properties to acetic acid (see Aridum 
Aceticum), and should respond to the same tests of purity; but the tint produced 
by the addition of 2 drops of decinormal potassium permanganate V.S. to 2 Cc. 
of the acid diluted with 10 Cc. of water, contained in a clean, glass-stoppered vial, 
should not be changed to brown within two hours. To neutralize 3 Gm. of 
glacial acetic acid should require not less than 49.5 Cc. of potassium hydrate 
V.S. (each cubic centimeter corresponding to 2 per cent of the absolute acid), 
phenolphtalein being used as indicator"-(U. S. P). 
III. Acidum Aceticum (77. £ P.). Acetic acid. 
Preparation.-The acetic acid of commerce is derived from the action of 
sulphuric acid on pure sodium acetate, and indirectly from pyroligneous acid. 
Even fractional distillations of the latter acid, as pursued in obtaining rectified 
wood vinegar, will not completely purify it and chemical means must be resorted 
to in order to obtain pure acetic acid. Several methods are in vogue for this 
purpose. By the older method the crude pyroligneous acid was neutralized with 
milk of lime and the wood naphtha then distilled off; the remaining solution 
yielded upon evaporation to dryness a tarry residue of brown acetate of lime, con- 
taining only 68 to 69 per cent of pure acetate. By a later method, it is preferred 
to add milk of lime to the rectified wood vinegar (purified pyroligneous acid) and 
thus obtain by evaporation to dryness, a gray acetate of lime of much greater 
purity, containing 85 to 86 per cent of pure acetate. 
Free acetic acid is then liberated from the acetates by distilling them with 
sulphuric acid, or preferably with hydrochloric acid which is added in a 
quantity just sufficient to convert the calcium into CaCl2. It is also preferred to 
convert the calcium acetate into sodium acetate before distilling with acid, by 
the double decomposition of calcium acetate and sodium sulphate. The sodium 
acetate is then carefully purified by evaporation and repeated recrystallization, 
finally being fused in an iron vessel, stirred until dry, and gently heated to in- 
cipient carbonization, thus ridding it of remaining empyreumatic impurities, 
and pure sodium acetate results. By distilling this salt with about 35 per cent 
of its weight of sulphuric acid the acetic acid of commerce is obtained. The 
remaining smoky flavor and odor may be removed by passing it through animal 
charcoal, or distilling it with bichromate of potassium. 
Description.-Acetic acid of commerce is a solution of pure acetic acid in 
water, and according to the United States Pharmacopoeia should contain 36 per 
cent of the stronger acid. It should be clear, colorless, free from empyreuma, of 
a pure, intense sour taste, and of an acetous odor. Its specific gravity is about 
1.048 at 15° C. (59° F.) {U. S. P.). It mixes freely with water and alcohol in all 
proportions, and should volatilize completely without residue (U. S. P.f Acetic 
acid gives rise to a line of salts known as the acetates. The salts (most of them 
are soluble) in solution, upon the addition of a solution of ferric salts, acquire a 
dark brown-red color, which vanishes when hydrochloric acid is added. If acetic 
acid be neutralized (or even left slightly acid) with solution of ammonium hy- 
droxide and treated with the pharmacopoeial test solution of ferric chloride, a 
blood-red color results which may be discharged by adding to it an excess of sul- 
phuric acid. The quality and odor of acetic acid are developed with age. 
According to Dr. E. R. Squibb, a sample of the freshly distilled acetic acid tested 
by the odor would not be recognized as the same substance a few months later. 23 
ACIDUM ACETICUM. 
Many methods have been given for determining the amount of absolute acid in 
a given sample of the official preparation. The following test is accurate and 
will answer all practical purposes. Treat 200 grains of the acetic acid with a 
weighed excess of dry, pure calcium carbonate. Wash from it the calcium ace- 
tate thus formed, dry the residue, and weigh the insoluble carbonate. Multiply 
the loss in grains by three-fifths which will give the percentage strength of 
absolute acid. 
Tests.-" When the acid is slightly supersaturated with ammonia, the liquid 
should not have a bluish tint (absence of copper), nor should any residue be left 
after evaporating the alkaline liquid on the water-bath (absence of other fixed 
impurities). Acetic acid diluted with 20 volumes of water should neither become 
colored nor yield a precipitate with hydrogen sulphide T.S. (absence of lead, 
copper, etc.). Acetic acid diluted with 10 volumes of water should not yield a 
precipitate or turbidity with barium chloride T.S. (absence of sulphuric acid), or 
with silver nitrate T.S. (absence of hydrochloric acid). If a portion of the acid 
be just neutralized by ammonia, then mixed with some silver nitrate T.S., and 
warmed, the liquid should not turn dark-colored or deposit a dark-colored pre- 
cipitate (absence of formic or sulphurous acid). When the acid is slightly super- 
saturated by sodium or potassium hydrate T.S., the liquid should not have a 
smoky odor or taste. And if 5 drops of decinormal potassium permanganate 
V.S. be mixed with 2 Cc. of the acid previously diluted with 10 Cc. of water, and 
contained in a clean, glass-stoppered vial, the pink tint should not change at 
once to brown, but should change only gradually, and not become entirely 
brown, or free from pinkish-brown, in less than half a minute (limit of empy- 
reumatic substances). To neutralize 6 Gm. of acetic acid should require 36 Cc. of 
normal potassium hydrate V.S. (each Cc. corresponding to 1 per cent of the abso- 
lute acid), phenolphtalein being used as indicator" (U. S. P.). (See also Acetum 
Destillatum). 
IV. Acidum Aceticum Dilutum (U. S. P.).-Diluted acetic acid. 
Preparation: According to the British Pharmacopoeia, this form contains 
acetic acid 1 part, distilled water 7 parts, by measure. These proportions are 
to be preferred to those of the U. S. P., which directs a mixture of 100 parts 
of acetic acid to 500 parts of distilled water. The former preparation is about 
the strength of ordinary vinegar, and is to be preferred on that account inasmuch 
as it can be conveniently used in preparations where vinegar is directed, making 
a much finer preparation. 
Description: According to the United States Pharmacopoeia, "Diluted acetic 
acid contains 6 per cent, by weight, of absolute acetic acid. Specific gravity, 
about 1.008 at 15° C. (59° F.). It corresponds, in properties to acetic acid (see Acidum 
Aceticum), and should respond to the same tests of purity. To neutralize 24 Gm. 
of diluted acetic acid should require 24 Cc. of potassium hydrate V.S. (each Cc. 
corresponding to 0.25 per cent of the absolute acid), phenolphtalein being used 
as indicator"-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Applied to the skin glacial acetic acid 
will cause vesication followed by a painful sore. Acetic acid acts upon the integ- 
ument as a mild irritant unless its contact be prolonged, when it blisters and 
finally destroys the epidermis. Mucous tissues are turned first white and then 
brown by it. If a large dose be swallowed violent, burning, gastric pain with vom- 
iting ana diarrhoea results. Cases of fatal perforation have occurred from accidental 
swallowing of this acid. It reduces temperature and slows the pulse when taken 
in diluted form. Its continued use produces changes in the blood corpuscles, by 
its action on the alkalinity of the blood. When it kills it does so by arresting 
the heart's action. Convulsions and coma have preceded death when glacial 
acetic acid has been swallowed, and when not fatal it has produced gastro-enteritis. 
In cases of poisoning by this acid weak alkaline solutions should be immediately 
administered, followed by the use of milk and mucilaginous drinks. The stomach- 
pump should be employed to evacuate the stomach. 
I. Pyroligneous Acid. Fish and meats, fresh or salted, immersed for a 
few seconds in crude pyroligneous acid, acquire a smoky taste, and are as well 
cured as by the usual method of smoking, besides being preserved from "skip- 24 
ACIDUM ACETICUM. 
f>ers." Silliman found that if a quart of this acid be added to the pickling 
iquid when hams are packed in it, they would have as perfect a smoky flavor as 
if they had gone through the usual process of preparation by smoking. This 
acid is stimulant and antiseptic. The diluted acid may be used as a local appli- 
cation for arresting or preventing sloughing, for cleansing old or gangrenoxts sores, 
abscesses and burns, scalds, ringworms, tinea capitis, excoriated nipples, etc., and as a 
gargle in inflamed and ulcerated throat, and scarlatina maligna. Internally, in 
doses of from 10 to 30 drops, it is useful in all cases where an antiseptic is indi- 
cated. The pyroligneous tar forms a valuable irritating plaster. 
II. Glacial Acetic Acid. This acid attacks flesh and is too concentrated 
for internal use. It destroys the epidermis and may produce a painful sore. It 
may be used to destroy growths, such as warty excrescences, corns, and occasionally 
as a vesicant. This form of acid is one of our best agents for the cure of ring- 
worm. The parts should be touched with a hair pencil dipped in the acid. Ulcers, 
papillomata, lupus, epithelioma and nasal polypi have been successfully treated with 
it. It is an excellent application in scald head, though care should be exercised 
in its use not to produce an ulcerated condition of the scalp. M. Ricord speaks 
highly of this acid as a local application to venereal ulcers in the primary stage, 
to be applied as freely as any other caustic, and repeated as often as the condi- 
tion of the chancres may require. Under its influence the ulcer speedily assumes 
a healthy aspect and promptly heals. He believes that it neutralizes the vene- 
real poison, and thus obviates all danger of constitutional symptoms. 
III. Acetic Acid. Acetic Acid is well known for its property of pre- 
serving vegetable substances, such as pickles, etc. It is antiseptic, refrigerant, 
astringent, and excitant. Its volatility renders it efficient for inhalation in cases 
of fainting, suffocation, headache and hoarseness. A small quantity of acetic acid 
poured into the vessel containing the feces of typhoid fever patients, as well as 
those suffering from tubercular consumption and tubercular diarrhoea, will destroy 
the offensive odor arising therefrom. Acetic acid is claimed to be the only agent 
that will " liquefy and disorganize cancer cells." For this purpose a dilution of 
acetic acid has been applied to epitheliomata for the purpose of destroying the 
nature of the growths. This must be done, however, before the axillary or other 
glands have become involved. Fair success has attended this practice which is 
to be pursued only when the patient refuses to have the cancerous mass removed. 
Injected hypodermatically into nasal polypi, pure acetic acid has been found to 
quickly cause the tumors to shrivel and drop away. Should they suppurate and 
become offensive, deodorants, such as asepsin or borax, may follow its use to 
overcome the stench arising therefrom. Acetic acid 1 part, distilled water 2 parts, 
has been of service as an injection in gonorrhoea. 
IV. Diluted Acetic Acid. Diluted acetic acid is always an efficient anti- 
dote for poisoning by the caustic alkalies. If this be not at hand diluted vinegar 
(which is an impure acetic acid) is always to be obtained and should be employed 
in such cases. This acid applied to an urticarious eruption will usually allay the 
disagreeable itching. It checks moderate hemorrhages, consequently it may be 
given in hematemesis, and applied to superficial wounds and in the nose for the relief 
of epistaxis. It may be applied to ringworm when it is not desirable to employ 
the stronger acid. Used as a lotion it will prevent the occurrence of bed sores, and 
added to the bath will frequently be beneficial in reducing temperature in febrile 
conditions. Vinegar may be employed for the same purposes. Diluted acetic acid 
has been given to check the colliquative sweating of phthisical patients. Acetic 
acid is not often used internally, but when so used this form is selected and the 
indications below given are the guides to its use. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Deep redness of tongue and mucous sur- 
faces. 
Preparations.-Camphorated Acetic Acid. Half an ounce of camphor triturated 
with a little alcohol to reduce it to powder, and then dissolved in 6 fluid ounces of this acid, 
forms the Camphorated Acetic Acid of the Dublin Pharmacopoeia, which is a pungent stimu- 
lant when snuffed up the nostrils; as it is extremely volatile and corrodes nearly all common 
metals except gold, it should be kept in glass vials, with ground-glass stoppers. Henry's 
aromatic vinegar is merely an acetic solution of camphor, oil of cloves, lavender, and rosemary. 
Related Acids.-Acidum Trichloraceticvm, Trichloracetic acid. (CC13COOH). When 
chlorine acts upon acetic acid chloracetic acid in three modifications is formed accordingly as ACIDUM ARSENOSUM. 
25 
the hydrogen atoms are replaced with one, two or three atoms of chlorine, resulting respect- 
ively in mono-chloracetic, di-chloracetic, and trichloracetic acids, the latter of which is used in med- 
icine. It may also be prepared by acting upon anhydrous chloral w'ith fuming nitric acid-a 
process of oxidation. It forms colorless, very hygroscopic, rhombic crystals having a faintly 
pungent smell, and strongly reddening litmus. At 55° C. (131° F.) it fuses; at 195° C. (463° F.) 
it boils. Chloroform (CHC13) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are formed when it is decomposed by 
boiling with an excess of sodium carbonate. It has been used from full strength to 50 per 
cent solutions as a cauterant and is likewise used in urinary analysis as a test-reagent for 
albumen (Coblentz). As a cauterant it is said to cause less pain than the commonly employed 
caustics, and the pain (in mucous tissues) may be wholly obtunded by the previous applica- 
tion of cocaine. In its action it somewhat resembles nitric acid, penetrating deeply without 
much inflaming the surrounding tissues, and the small, dry, and smooth, white eschar soon 
falls off, exhibiting granulations, and the sore very quickly heals. Very little contraction takes 
place and the scar is inconsiderable. It has been employed for the removal of papillomata, 
lupus, vascular nxvi, warts, condylomata, and various neoplasms. To a limited extent it has 
been used to cauterize the mucous surface after the removal of exuberant growths of the 
middle ear (Foltz). A 20 per cent solution has been affirmed (Lanz) to cure obstinate gleet by 
cauterization. 
ACIDUM ARSENOSUM (U. S. P.)-ARSENOUS ACID. 
Formula: As2O3. Molecular Weight : 197.68. 
Synonyms : Arsenic, Arsenicum album, White arsenic, Arsenious anhydrid, White 
oxide of arsenic, Arsenious oxide, Arsenious trioxide, Arsenic trioxide, Arsenious acid. 
History and Source.-Geber was the first to mention white arsenic, stating 
that he obtained it by roasting the sulphide of arsenic. Albertus Magnus was 
the first to state that a metal-like substance was contained in white arsenic. 
The element is found native in the Hartz Mountains and in Hungarian and 
Bohemian mines, but occurs more frequently in combination with sulphur as 
realgar and orpiment, or combined with sulphur and iron as arsenical pyrites or 
mispickel. This form of pyrites may be found in the New England States, par- 
ticularly Connecticut and New Hampshire. It also occurs in combination with 
iron, cobalt, nickel, tin and silver (as arsenides). It is present, to a slight extent, 
in some mineral springs and in the ashes of certain plants. It has been found, 
according to Orfila, in the soil of cemeteries. 
Preparation and Description.-Arsenous acid is obtained on a large scale 
in Saxony and Bohemia, mostly as a by-product, in the roasting of arsenical ores. 
The vapors of the trioxide formed are condensed in the form of crude flowers of 
arsenic, a white crystalline powder. In the Silesian works at Altenburg and 
Reichenstein it is obtained in large quantities from the smelting of arsenical iron 
pyrites. The crude product is purified by repeated sublimation. 
The U. S. P. describes it as follows: " A heavy solid, occurring either as an 
opaque, white powder, or in irregular masses of two varieties-the one amorphous, 
transparent, and colorless, like glass; the other crystalline, opaque, or white, re- 
sembling porcelain. Frequently the same piece has an opaque, white, outer crust 
enclosing the glassy variety within. Contact with moist air gradually changes 
the glassy into the white, opaque variety. Both are odorless and tasteless. In 
cold water both varieties dissolve very slowly, the glassy variety requiring about 
30, the porcelain-like about 80 parts of water at 15° C. (59° F.). Both are slowly 
but completely soluble in 15 parts of boiling water. In alcohol, arsenous acid is 
but sparingly soluble, but it is soluble in about 5 parts of glycerin. Oil of tur- 
pentine dissolves only the glassy variety. Both varieties are freely soluble in 
hydrochloric acid, and in solutions of alkali hydrates and carbonates "-(U. S. Pf. 
The specific gravity of the transparent variety is 3.73; of the opaque, 3.69. 
It is brittle, breaking with a shell-like fracture. Tartaric acid increases its solu- 
bility ; it is insoluble in ether. It is incompatible with lime-water and decoction 
of barks generally. 
Tests.-The Pharmacopceial tests are as follows : 11 When heated to 218° C. 
(424.4° F.), arsenous acid is completely volatilized without melting. When 
thrown on ignited charcoal it emits an alliaceous odor. When its vapor is passed 
through red-hot charcoal, in an arsenic-tube, it is deoxidized, and metallic arsenic 
is deposited on the cooler portion of the tube as a mirror having a metallic luster. 
An aqueous solution of arsenous acid has a faintly acid reaction upon litmus 
paper. Silver ammonium nitrate T.S. produces in the solution a lemon-yellow 26 
ACIDUM ARSENOSUM. 
precipitate, which dissolves on addition of ammonia water; when this solution 
is heated, metallic silver is deposited (distinction from arsenic acid). Copper 
ammonium sulphate T.S. produces a bright green precipitate, which dissolves in 
ammonia water with a deep blue color. Hydrogen sulphide T.S. colors the solu- 
tion of arsenous acid yellow; if a few drops of hydrochloric acid are added, it 
precipitates lemon-yellow arsenic trisulphide, which should be completely soluble 
in ammonium carbonate T.S. (absence of antimony, tin, and cadmium). When 
arsenous acid is carefully heated in a dry test-tube of hard glass it should sublime 
without leaving a residue, and the sublimate should not at first show a yellow 
color (absence of non-volatile matter and of arsenic sulphide). If 1 part of arsen- 
ous acid be dissolved in 10 parts of ammonia water, with the aid of a gentle heat, 
the solution should neither leave an insoluble residue, nor show a yellow or other 
color; nor should the addition of a slight excess of hydrochloric acid produce a 
a precipitate (absence of metallic impurities, sulphides, etc.). If 0.1 Gm. of 
arsenous acid be dissolved, together with 1 Gm. of sodium bicarbonate, in 20 
Cc. of water by the aid of a gentle heat, it should decolorize not less than 20 
Cc. of decinormal iodine V.S. (corresponding to at least 98.8 per cent of arsenic 
trioxide) (U. S. P.). 
In addition the following tests for arsenic and its oxides are of importance: 
Marsh's Test: Take a Woulff bottle with double tubulature, provide each 
with a perforated cork; through one of these fit a funnel tube reaching to nearly 
the bottom of the bottle; connect the other tubulature by means of a bent glass 
tube with a horizontal wide tube containing a layer of pieces of caustic potash 
and one of calcium chloride, and by means of a tight-fitting cork add a narrower 
horizontal tube of hard glass, narrowed in one or two places and ending in a tap- 
ering jet bent upward. Place into the bottle some pure zinc, free from arsenic, 
and add through the funnel tube a mixture of 1 part of arsenic-free sulphuric 
acid and 5 parts of water. When all the air in the apparatus is displaced by the 
hydrogen gas (which is best ascertained by collecting the gas in a test-tube and 
igniting its contents in the flame of a spirit lamp) ignite the hydrogen issuing 
from the tapering end, and add through the funnel tube the liquid to be tested. 
If arsenous acid is present, AsH3 will be formed (arseniuretted hydrogen, arsin), 
which turns the otherwise faintly blue hydrogen flame a luminous, bluish-white 
color, and in burning produces white fumes of arsenous oxide. 
The following reactions will establish the identity of arsenic present: 
1. Hold a cold plate of porcelain into the flame of AsH3, taking the precau- 
tion to nearly touch the glass jet. AsH3 is then decomposed, and a black spot 
of arsenic is deposited upon the plate, soluble in solution of sodium hypochlorite 
(difference from antimony). The arsenic spots are also soluble in warm nitric 
acid. If a drop of AgNO3 be added, and a drop of aqua ammonite held over it, a 
yellow spot of silver arsenite or a red spot of silver arsenate is formed. Anti- 
mony under like conditions causes a black precipitation of silver and some anti- 
mony. 
2. Heat the tube through which the AsH3 passes by means of a spirit lamp; a 
mirror of metallic arsenic will be deposited in the colder parts of the tube. If 
afterward sulphide of hydrogen is passed over the metallic mirror, at the same 
time warming it, it is transformed into lemon-yellow, As2S3. (The corresponding 
antimony compound would be orange-red.) 
Marsh's test is especially available for the detection of arsenic in cases of 
poisoning, for which purpose the suspected organic substances are previously 
treated, under certain precautions, with strong sulphuric acid, later with nitric 
acid (Danger and Flandin), or preferably with hydrochloric acid and potassium 
chlorate (Fresenius and Babo). 
Reinsch's Test: If an aqueous solution of arsenous acid be boiled for 10 or 
20 minutes with one-tenth to one-sixth its bulk of pure hydrochloric acid, and 
fine copper gauze, or thin copper wire, the latter acquires an iron-gray metallic 
coating of arsenic. If now the coated copper be washed, dried, cut into small 
{>ieces, and then heated in a glass tube or reduction tube by the flame of a spirit 
amp, the metallic arsenic is volatilized, and sometimes yields a metallic ring; 
but in general it becomes oxidized, and yields a sublimate of minute octahedral 
crystals. The arsenous acid thus obtained in the tube should be dissolved in ACIDUM ARSENOSUM. 
27 
water and tested with hydrogen sulphide, ammonio-nitrate of silver, etc., or it 
may be tried by Marsh's process. In using Reinsch's test great care should be 
taken in ascertaining the purity of the copper, as arsenic is often present. 
When the arsenous acid is contained in organic substances, as stomach, liver, 
etc., these must be cut into small pieces, and boiled in water acidulated with hy- 
drochloric acid, until all the tissues are dissolved, or broken down into fine flakes 
or grains. Filter through calico, heat again to the boiling point, and proceed by 
Reinsch's process, as previously described. 
Bettendorff's Test: To a small quantity of the liquid to be tested add pure 
concentrated hydrochloric acid and an equal volume of a saturated solution of 
freshly-prepared stannous chloride in pure hydrochloric acid. The presence of 
arsenic is revealed by the production of a brown color or brown precipitate, the 
appearance of which is hastened by a gentle heat. 
Fleitmann's Test: See Reagents and Test Solutions. 
Action and Toxicology.-Arsenic in very small doses accelerates the circu- 
lation, and has a tonic effect on the nervous system. It enables one to take 
active exercise with but little fatigue, and without materially interfering with 
respiratory action. Certain arsenic-eaters among the Styrians become habitu- 
ated to its use, taking as much as 4 to 10 grains daily. They are careful, how- 
ever, not to drink water for some time after taking it. 
In large doses, arsenous acid is a most violent poison, producing in over- 
doses, nausea, vomiting, burning pain of the throat and stomach, soon extending 
over the whole of the abdomen. Although under certain circumstances, a large 
amount of arsenous acid has been swallowed without any serious effects, yet as 
a general rule, it is considered that death may be produced by 1 or 2 grains 
of it taken at a dose. A larger quantity may cause vomiting so quickly as to 
expel it from the stomach before its deleterious action fairly commences; and a 
distension of the stomach with food has prevented it from proving fatal. Yet 
there is much uncertainty in these matters, as experience has demonstrated. 
When emesis is caused by its poisonous action, the matters vomited may be 
bilious or tinged with blood, occasionally there will be no pain or vomiting. 
There is very apt to be a sense of heat, dryness, and constriction of the throat, 
with incessant thirst and great difficulty of swallowing. When the bowels are 
inflamed the abdomen is tense and hard, with loose, bloody stools, tenesmus, 
heat, and excoriation of the anus. The urine may be diminished or suppressed; 
pulse quick, small, feeble, and irregular; heart beating irregularly with palpita- 
tion; breathing laborious and often painful; tongue dry and furred; with 
frequently tremblings, cramps, and delirium previous to death; occasionally 
dark spots or an eruption on the surface will be present. The symptoms are by 
no means uniform, and will vary with different individuals; there may be faint- 
ness, or actual syncope, convulsions, paralysis, great prostration, coma, etc. In 
some cases death may ensue without any severe or well-marked symptoms. 
When arsenic is taken in small doses, continued fora long period, but acting as a 
slow poison, "there will be a gradual sinking of the powers of life, without any 
violent symptom; a nameless feeling of illness, failure of the strength, an aver- 
sion to food and drink, and all the other enjoyments of life." Among the many 
symptoms which have been observed in such cases, the following are the princi- 
pal: flatulence, heat or pain in the stomach and bowels, loss of appetite, thirst, 
nausea, vomiting, purging, or a loose condition of the bowels, with griping; the 
tongue furred, mouth and throat dry and constricted, and sometimes salivation. 
The pulse will be quick, small, and often irregular; a dry cough, with oppressed 
respiration; wasting of the body; very irritable stomach, immediately rejecting 
anything thrown into it. Headache, giddiness, wakefulness; irritation of the 
conjunctiva, the patient frequently complaining of a feeling like a hair or cob- 
web in the eye, with redness, swelling or pricking of this organ; the limbs pain- 
ful, feeble, trembling, subject to numb sensations, cramps, or convulsions. An 
eruption on the surface, falling off of the hair and nails; swelling of the face 
and feet, and gradual sinking of the patient, with consciousness perfect to the 
last, or perhaps coma, or delirium. Arsenic, whether taken internally or ab- 
sorbed from its external application to a wound, almost always occasions gastritis 
or gastro-enteritis. Beside the stomach and bowels, it also appears to exert a 28 
ACIDUM ARSENOSUM. 
specific influence over other parts of the system, as the heart, nerves, lungs, skin, 
etc., causing irritation, inflammation, and gangrene, as may be observed by an 
inspection of these organs after death. Applied to the skin, especially if the epi- 
dermis be removed, it acts as a powerful caustic. 
In the treatment of cases of poisoning by arsenic, the first thing to be done 
is to remove as much of the poison from the stomach as possible, either by 
employing the stomach-pump, or producing vomiting by tickling the throat and 
fauces with a feather or the finger, and emetic doses of sulphate of zinc, or sul- 
phate of copper. None of the nauseating emetics must be used, as lobelia, ipecac- 
uanha, etc., as they do not act with sufficient promptness, and favor absorption 
of the poison by their prolonged nausea previous to vomiting. To sheathe the 
stomach, and at the same time diminish the solubility of the arsenous acid, 
demulcents (as milk, white of egg, mucilage, syrup, etc.), and lime-water may be 
used freely; these likewise promote vomiting. If it is supposed that any of the 
poison hag entered the intestines, the best purgative for its expulsion is castor-oil. 
Antidotes should be administered as soon as they can be had; several have 
been named, as charcoal, and light calcined magnesia, swallowed in large quanti- 
ties. But the best antidote is, the recently made, pulpy, hydrated sesquioxide 
of iron (hydroxide of iron), prepared by precipitation with ammonia. It should 
be given to an adult in tablespoonful doses every three or four minutes, until 
the severe symptoms have ceased. Dr. Maclagan observes "that as far as chem- 
ical evidence goes, at least twelve parts of oxide, prepared by ammonia, and moist, 
are required for each part of arsenic." The hydroxide of iron may, however, be 
given in much larger amount, as it is completely free from any deleterious 
action; and the sooner it is given after the poison has been swallowed, the more 
prompt and certain will be its effects. It forms with the poison an innocuous 
salt, the ferrous arsenate. 
Any inflammatory symptoms which may be present, excessive pain, or 
great prostration, must be treated on general principles; and great care should 
be observed during convalescence, which is apt to be very tedious, to keep 
the patient upon fluids only, of a nutritious character, permitting no solids, 
until all danger of gastro-enteritis has passed. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Arsenic is a very positive medicinal agent 
when properly employed, and one capable of incalculable injury when injudi- 
ciously administered. As Prof. Scudder has very properly indicated, the dose 
should be very small, and the remedy should never be employed unless the indi- 
cations for its use are clearly present. That much of the discredit that has fallen 
upon this agent is due to its indiscriminate use in inordinate doses, we are fully 
satisfied. That it is a blood-maker, improves nutrition, and is a powerful vital 
stimulant, is well established, and it is in this direction that it has been used by 
Eclectic practitioners. From a series of experiments in dosage, Profs. Howe and 
Locke came to the conclusion that the most favorable and proper medicinal dose 
of Fowler's solution, the most commonly employed preparation, should be one- 
half drop. The conditions calling for arsenical preparations are a low condition 
of the blood with a tendency to the deposition of cacoplastic material-imper- 
fect albuminoids-caseous and yellow tubercular formations, tissue degeneration, 
and impaired nutrition. Irritability and erethism of the nerve centers, and 
particularly of the sympathetic system, always contraindicate its use. 
Arsenic has long been a remedy for malarial affections. In properly selected 
cases its action is admirable. These cases are those exhibiting torpor of the 
sympathetic centers with a general lack of nervous excitation. The malarial 
cachexia is marked and the periodicity irregular. The pulse is weak and com- 
pressible, limbs cold, tongue pale and without expression, and the tissues flabby. 
Added to these, in these disorders as well as in all cases calling for arsenic, we 
observe a muddy or dirty hue of the skin, and when a fold of the latter is taken 
between the fingers it retains the pinched-up form, very slowly returning to its 
natural condition, thus lacking that elasticity possessed oy the cutaneous tissues 
in health. Such conditions in adynamic typhoid states indicate arsenicum. In 
atonic diarrhcea with indigestion, in cholera infantum with marked enfeeblement, 
and frequent, thin, non-mucoid discharges, and in periods of great depression fol- 
lowed by hectic fever, arsenic exhibits its curative power, the indications above ACIDUM ARSENOSUM. 
29 
given being always present. Here it undoubtedly cures by its action as a nerve 
stimulant. R Fowler's solution, gtt. x; aqua, flsiv. Mix. Sig. Dose, a tea- 
spoonful every two or three hours. 
Anemia has been very successfully treated with small doses of arsenicum. 
It is adapted where the constitutional debility is marked, and the nervous forces 
greatly depressed. Webster asserts it of most value in chlorotic conditions asso- 
ciated with metrorrhagia and choreaic complications] also in the anemia of malarial 
cachexia, though in the latter instance he prefers the arsenate of quinine to 
arsenic itself. Rare cases of pernicious anemia have been benefited by it. Puer- 
peral and dyspeptic anemia sometimes yield to it. 
Howe, Scudder and others have pointed out the value of arsenic in tubercu- 
lar disorders. Prof. Howe used Fowler's solution and veratrum very extensively 
in phthisis. The arsenical preparation was usually prescribed as follows: 
R Fowler's solution, fl.sss; syr. lactophosphate of calcium, figvj. Sig. Dose, a 
teaspoonful 3 times a day every other day. Chorea and obstinate neuralgias are 
favorably impressed by arsenic. The former is most amenable when associ- 
ated with malarial cachexia, or with chlorotic anemia. Quite large doses are 
sometimes permissible in this condition, though as a rule, when indicated, the 
small doses succeed best. The neuralgias best met by it are those of a miasmatic 
type, especially when confined to the intercostal and fifth cranial nerves. In 
fact most neuralgias are more or less benefited by it, for the majority are due to 
genefal debility. In all these conditions where malaria forms a part of the 
trouble, the arsenate of quinine in 2x trituration acts nicely. Arsenic bromide 
seems to have some claim to efficiency in epilepsy, and has been recommended in 
diabetes mellitus. 
Excellent results have been obtained from the use of arsenicals in chronic gas- 
tritis with burning sensations and where the trouble is due to cutaneous eruptive 
retrocessions; in duodenitis; and in cholera infantum, during the last stages, the 
arsenite of copper relieves the intestinal pains, checks the discharges, and exerts 
its tonic effect. Semi-chronic dysentery with impaired vitality of the mucous 
tissues is favorably impressed with arsenic. In all these conditions the minute 
dose is to be preferred. 
It is in skin affections, however, that arsenic has had the widest application. 
Even when used indiscriminately its effects have largely been favorable, but 
brilliant results have attended it when specifically applied. Here the general 
indications above given apply, and the classes of disorders are those of a chronic 
nature of the squamous, vesicular, and tubercular types, and sometimes those of 
a pustular character. Long continued use of the small doses is necessary. The 
affections in which it has proved of value are eczema, psoriasis, lupus, lepra, pity- 
riasis, impetigo, ichthyosis, elephantiasis, pemphigus, warts, prurigo and lichen ruber, 
etc. Syphilitic manifestations are not much benefited by arsenic alone, though 
articular nodosities of syphilitic origin are said to have been benefited by it. 
Donovan's solution, however, is of benefit in secondary syphilis with the tongue 
small and unduly red. 
Applied externally, after removing the epidermis, arsenous acid is a pow- 
erful caustic, used in the treatment of cancerous ulcers, lupus or noli me tangere, epi- 
thelial cancer, onychia maligna and chancres; but its application requires the 
greatest caution, on account of fatal accidents which might occur from its ab- 
sorption, as well as from the erysipelatous inflammation it is apt to occasion. It 
is seldom employed for this purpose by reputable physicians, though it forms a 
large element in the "cancer cures" of so-called "cancer specialists." It has been 
applied in various forms, thus: 1. Arsenous acid, sublimed sulphur, of each 
1 drachm, spermaceti cerate 1 ounce; to be applied on lint, for 24 hours, and 
then to be removed-when the slough comes away, dress the ulcer with simple 
ointment. 2. Arsenous acid 2 grains, spermaceti ointment 1 ounce. 3. Arsen- 
ical paste (Rousselot's). Arsenous acid 1 part; red sulphide of mercury 16 parts; 
powdered dragon's blood 8 parts; applied over the ulcer. The French Codex 
prescribed 8 parts instead of one of arsenic. Various other forms, both for 
the internal and external use of arsenous acid, have been recommended by 
members of the profession. 
Arsenic is largely used in dental surgery to insert into dental cavities for the 30 
ACIDUM BENZOICUM. 
purpose of destroying the nerve pulp. It is a very painful application, though 
it is generally combined with creosote, or carbolic acid and morphine, which 
somewhat obtund the pain. From g\y to grain is inserted and covered in such 
a manner that it can not escape from the cavity. 
The dose of arsenous trioxide is from to grain ; in 2x or 3x tritura- 
tion, 3 grains 3 or 4 times a day; Fowler's solution, fraction of a drop to 5 
drops; liquor acidi arsenosi (1 percent), 1 to 5 drops; liquor sodii arsenitis (U. 
S. P.), 1 to 5 drops; arsenic iodide, to grain; Donovan's solution, 1 to 5 
drops; Clemens' solution (bromide of arsenic), 1 to 3 drops a day, well diluted, 
after meals ; arsenate of quinine, 2x trit., 3 grains 3 or 4 times a day. 
The administration of arsenicals must be at once stopped when they pro- 
duce swelling of the face and eyelids, with irritation of the conjunctiva, and 
disorder of the digestive organs. 
Specific Indications.-Skin muddy, dull, sallow or pallid, and inelastic; 
epidermis dry; irregular periodicity in malarial cachexia; squamous, vesicular, 
and tubercular skin affections ; deposits of low albuminous matter, yellow tuber- 
cle and caseous formations; impaired sympathetic innervation and general lack 
of nerve force; pulse soft and easily compressed; extremities cold; secondary 
syphilis with tongue small and increased in redness (Donovan's solution only) ; 
pallid, oedematous skin ; muscles flabby. Periodicity not cured by quinine; eyes 
dull; tendency to hemorrhage; tongue pale and expressionless. 
Preparations.-Fowler's Solution. (Liquor potassii arsenitis. Arsenical solution.) 'Solu- 
tion of arsenite of potassium, representing 1 per cent of arsenous acid. 
Donovan's Solution. (Liquor arseni et hydrargyri iodidi.) Contains 1 per cent each of 
iodide of arsenic and red iodide of mercury. 
Liquor Acidi Arsenosi. A 1 per cent solution of arsenous acid. 
Pearson's Arsenical Solution. Solution of arsenate of sodium. 
De Valangin's Solutio Solventis Mineralis. (Liquor arsenici chloridi.) A solution of 
chloride of arsenic. 
Asiatic Pills. Contain arsenous acid ^gr., black pepper J gr., mucilage of acacia q. s., 
to form a pill. (For preparation of above solutions, see Liquors.) 
Related Compound.-Smalt. Azure. Smalts.-Cobaltic oxide (impure) prepared by 
roasting native cobaltic arsenide, and fusing the product with potassa and sand. The result 
is a handsome blue glass, which, when powdered, is given the above names. It is used for 
•coloring glass, porcelain, etc., and in sign painting. 
ACIDUM BENZOICUM (U. S. P.)-BENZOIC ACID. 
Formula: HC7H5O2=C6H5COOH. Molecular Weight: 121.71. 
Synonyms : Acidum benzoicum sublimatum, Flowers of benzoin, Flowers of Benja- 
min, Flores benzoes. 
"An organic acid, usually obtained from benzoin by sublimation, or prepared 
artificially, chiefly from toluol. It should be kept in dark, amber-colored, well- 
stoppered bottles, in a cool place"-(U. S. P.). 
Source and History.-Benzoic acid is a characteristic constituent of many 
balsam-resins. It is contained in benzoin, storax, liquidambar, castoreum, bal- 
sams of tolu and Peru, and other resinous bodies. The principal source, however, 
is from gum benzoin, though on account of the scarcity of benzoin yielding profit- 
able quantities of the acid, Botany Bay resin is often used, and as a rule gives a 
larger yield than that obtained from true benzoin. There are two kinds of ben- 
zoic acid on the market, viz.: English and German. The former is obtained by 
sublimation of the above-mentioned gums; the latter from the urine of herbivor- 
ous animals and from coal-tar products. That made from benzoin only should 
be used by the druggist and doctor. 
Vigenere, as far back as 1608, described benzoic acid as one of the products 
resulting from the dry distillation of gum benzoin. Lemery (1675), and Scheele, 
just 100 years later, both recognized it as an acid, and the process of preparation 
given by the latter is essentially one of the methods used in its production at the 
present time. It was discovered by Baron Liebig, in 1830, in the products 
obtained by distilling hippuric acid, and obtained from that acid by the action of 
acids and alkalies by Dessaignes in 1847. 
Preparation.-Several modes of preparing benzoic acid have been given from ACIDUM BENZOICUM. 
31 
time to time. We shall only introduce here one dry and one wet method. The 
dry method, which is essentially that introduced by Mohr and adopted by the 
Pharmacopoeia of the United States in 1870, is as follows: Into an iron dish 
about 8 or 9 inches wide and a couple of inches deep is introduced about 1 pound 
of benzoin, broken into coarse fragments or coarsely powdered, spread uniformly 
over the bottom of the vessel. Over the top of the dish is evenly stretched a piece 
of coarse filter-paper and pasted to the edges of the container. A hat-like, conical 
receiver is then made of well-sized paper, a little larger at the base than the diam- 
eter of the dish to which it is then attached by pasting it securely over the rim of 
the vessel. The dish, with its contents, is then placed in a sand-bath and gently 
heated not higher than 145° C. (293° F.) at the beginning, gradually raising the 
heat until 200° C. (392° F.) is reached. The vapors of the acid, which are held 
in combination with the resin, are thus liberated by the heat, and ascending pass 
through the bibulous paper and condense on the inside of the conical receiver, 
all empyreumatic oils being absorbed by the paper diaphragm as the vaporous 
acid passes through it. The heating should be continued 3 or 4 hours or until 
the acid vapors no longer rise. Should the paper diaphragm become clogged by 
the melting of the acid in any watery vapor that may be present, it should be re- 
moved and a new one inserted in its place. It occasionally happens that by jar- 
ring, or by some other means the condensed acid adhering to the receiving-cap 
becomes detached and falls upon the filter-paper, and thus becomes contaminated 
with the empyreumatic products held by it and liquefies, thus impeding the fur- 
ther passage of the vapor. Should this occur the fallen portion should be resub- 
limed to rid it of impurities and a new diaphragm introduced. To prevent such 
an accident a layer or two of gauze or linen may be stretched above the paper 
division so that any falling particles would be caught by it, thus preventing its 
reaching the contaminated bibulous paper. A yield of about 7 or 8 per cent is 
realized by this method. By breaking up the fused mass left in the container and 
subjecting it again to sublimation an additional quantity may be obtained. An 
earthenware vessel may be used instead of an iron one, and the mass may be 
heated on a common stove-plate if desired, but great care should be exercised 
that the gum be not too strongly heated. 
Scheele's wet method consisted in boiling benzoin in water and milk of lime, 
separating the resulting calcium benzoate while hot by filtration, and precipitat- 
ing from the solution the benzoic acid by means of hydrochloric acid. The prod- 
uct is sometimes sublimed to give the appearance of the acid made by the dry 
method. This process yields about 13| per cent. 
A commercial grade known as German benzoic acid is prepared by mixing 
the urine of horses and cattle with an excess of lime, and evaporating the solu- 
tion to about one-twelfth of its bulk. The resulting calcium hippurate is then 
supersaturated with hydrochloric acid, liberating hippuric acid, which is purified 
by animal charcoal or other means. Hydrochloric acid is then added to the 
purified hippuric acid and boiled one-hali hour, when benzoic acid and glycocoll 
(CH2NH2COOH) result. Benzoic acid obtained in this manner has a fetid, urin- 
ous odor, and is purified by recrystallization or by subliming it with a small 
quantity of benzoin. Benzoic acid is also cheaply produced on a large scale by 
synthetic methods from naphthalin (Ci0H8), a derivative of coal-tar, and from 
tolulol (C6H5CH3), one of the products of the distillation of wood and coal and a 
constituent of commercial benzin. The greater portion of the artificial product 
is now prepared from tolulol by converting the latter into benzo-trichloride and 
heating this substance with water under pressure. The following reactions take 
place: C6H5CH3+C1«=C6H5CC13+3HC1. C6H5CC13+2H2O=C6HSCOOH+3HC1. 
Description and Tests.-" Benzoic acid occurs in commerce in white, or yel- 
lowish-white, lustrous scales or friable needles, odorless, or having a slight, char- 
acteristic odor resembling that of benzoin, and of a warm, acid taste; somewhat 
volatile at a moderately warm, temperature, and rendered darker by exposure to 
light. Soluble, when pure, in about 500 parts of water, and in 2 parts of alco- 
hol at 15° C. (59° F.), in 15 parts of boiling water, and in 1 part of boiling alco- 
hol. Also soluble in 3 parts of ether, 7 parts of chloroform, and readily soluble 
in carbon disulphide, benzol, fixed and volatile oils, but sparingly soluble in 
benzin. Benzoic acid volatizes freely with the vapor of water. On heating it to 32 
ACIDUM BENZOICUM. 
100° C. (212° F.) it begins to sublime. At 121.4° C. (250.5 F.) it melts, and at a 
higher temperature it is consumed without leaving a residue. The acid sublimed 
from benzoin has a lower melting point, and a greater solubility in water. Ben- 
zoic acid has an acid reaction. On heating benzoic acid gradually with 3 parts 
of freshly-slaked lime in a retort benzol is evolved. The acid is freely soluble in 
solutions of alkali hydrates. On carefully neutralizing such a solution, and add- 
ing ferric chloride T.S., previously diluted with 2 volumes of water, and neutral- 
ized, if necessary, by ammonia, a flesh-colored precipitate of ferric benzoate is 
produced. A solution of benzoic acid in pure, cold, sulphuric acid, when gently 
warmed, should not turn darker than light brown; if it is then poured into water 
the benzoic acid should separate as a white precipitate, and the liquid should be 
colorless (absence of readily carbonizable, organic matters). If 0.5 Gm. of the acid 
and 0.8 Gm. of calcium carbonate be mixed with a little water in a crucible, the 
mixture dried, gently ignited, and then dissolved in water, with the aid of nitric 
acid in slight excess, so as to obtain 20 Cc. of filtrate, the addition of silver nitrate 
T.S. to the latter should not produce much more opalescence (if at all) than is 
produced by the same reagent in a solution measuring 20 Cc. prepared by dissolv- 
ing 0.8 Gm. of the same calcium carbonate in water with the aid of nitric acid 
(absence of more than traces of chlorine). On warming 0.5 Gm. of the acid with 
5 Cc. of water and 0.5 Gm. of potassium permanganate in a test-tube loosely stop- 
pered and placed in a water-bath heated to about 45° C. (113° F.), then tightly 
stoppering and cooling the test-tube with cold water, upon removing the stopper 
no odor of oil of bitter almond should be discernible (absence of cinnamic 
acid)"-(C7 S. P). 
Benzoic acid is permanent at ordinary temperatures. If made from hippuric 
acid its appearance is often as fine, if not finer, than when produced from benzoin, 
but traces of a urinous odor can be detected in it. If the odor of benzoic acid 
resembles that of the sweat of horses it should be rejected. German benzoic acid 
is often a pure white, the object in later years having been to make it so that 
it will resemble that produced from the gum. Formerly the crystals produced 
by this process (artificially) were much the handsomest. It will be observed 
that though the Pharmacopoeia recognizes both the natural and artificial product 
its description of the acid is so constructed that it can apply only to the true 
product produced from the gum, thus practically ruling out the artificial acid. 
Benzoic acid gives rise to a line of more or less soluble salts known as benzoates. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Benzoic acid is destructive to bacterial 
forms of life, and equally as valuable as salicylic acid in arresting putrefaction. 
Infusion of gentian, orange, and buchu may be kept unimpaired for a month by 
the addition of | gr. to the ounce of liquid (Benger). In bulk or in concentrated 
solution it acts, even in small doses, as a gastro-intestinal irritant, consequently 
it should be administered in large quantities of water. It excites a general sense 
of warmth throughout the system, and materially increases the secretions of the 
skin and pulmonary mucous surfaces. It was formerly used, to a considerable 
extent, in broncho-pulmonary affections. Its principal use now, however, is in dis- 
orders of the urinary tract. It prevents and corrects ammoniacal and other varie- 
ties of fermentation of urine in the bladder and renders the fluid more acid. If, 
however, the urine be excessively acid its use, by dissolving it in water by the aid 
of a small amount of sodium phosphate or carbonate, renders it less acid and 
thereby relieves the irritability of the cystic mucous lining. It is a certain rem- 
edy for phosphatic gravel, and is said to be equally serviceable when vesical irrita- 
bility is due to excess of uric acid. Cystitis, when due to excessively alkaline 
urine, or to a urinous fermentation, purulent or non-purulent, is promptly bene- 
fited by this agent. Its action is purely local, and by thus acting as an anti- 
ferment it renders good service in nocturnal enuresis, dysuria, and urethritis when 
due to these fermentative changes. It is a good remedy for gonorrhoea when aggra- 
vated by ammoniacal or other putrid states of the renal secretions. It prevents 
the formation of incrustations, or calculi of ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate, by 
maintaining the acid quality of the urine. The enuresis of children and urinal 
dribbling of old persons, if due to excessive alkalinity, are greatly benefited by a 
couple of 5 to 10-grain doses daily. Prof. Scudder recommends it as a specific 
in "irritation of the sympathetic and spinal system of nerves with uric acid depos- ACIDUM BORICUM. 
33 
its" and as a stimulant for brain exhaustion in mentally-overworked individuals, 
with phosphuria-(Specific Medication). It is useful in rheumatism, but only in 
those cases showing markedly alkaline urine. It is believed to exert some influ- 
ence on jaundice, due to obstruction of the bile ducts with inspissated bile, and 
has restored to its normal condition urine that was loaded with chyle. Benzoic 
acid reduces the quantity of albumen in albuminuria. It is one of the ingredients 
of paregoric, and is also employed in making many cosmetic washes. The dose 
ranges from to 30 grains, the moderate doses being preferred to correct exces- 
sive alkalinity of the urine. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Excessively alkaline urine; phosphuria; 
vesical irritability, with alkaline urine; fermentative urine ; brain-fag, with phos- 
phuria; "irritation of the sympathetic and spinal system of nerves with uric acid 
deposits "-(Scudder). 
Derivative.-Benzoyl Tropeine (Ci5Hi9NO2.2H2O). Silky needles obtained by heating 
to 100° C. (212° F.) a mixture of tropine, benzoic acid, and dilute hydrochloric acid. It melts 
at 58° C. (136.4° F.); the anhydrous base at 41° to 42° C. (105.8° to 107.6° F.). Its compounds 
are not readily dissolved. Filehne (1887) found benzoyl-tropeine to effect a powerful local an- 
aesthesia, and like other tropeines the muscles of accommodation and the pupils were affected 
by it. He also found other compounds of benzoyl to produce local anaesthesia, benzoyl morphine 
being weakest, benzoyl quinine more powerful, while benzoyl triacetonalkamine was most active 
in this respect. 
ACIDUM BORICUM (U. S. P.)-BORIC ACID. 
Formula: H.fBO3. Molecular Weight: 61.78 
Synonyms: Boracic acid, Orthoboric acid, Acidum boracicum. 
Source, History, and Preparation.-This acid is found in nature in several 
species of plants, in the waters of the sea, and such mineral springs as Vichy, 
Wiesbaden, and Aix-la-Chapelle, as well as in several of the hot springs of 
America. It is found in nature in minerals, and especially in the niter regions 
of Chili and Peru, where it occurs as borocalcite. As a constituent of natural 
borax it has been discovered in enormous quantities in Borax Lake, California, 
and it also occurs in the same natural combination as tincal in the dried-up, 
saline lagoons or lake-beds of Thibet. Owing to the recent development of the 
borax industry along the Pacific coast, the major part of the boric acid consumed 
in the United States is now derived from the California deposits, while the greater 
part of the world is supplied from the extensive natural products from the vol- 
canic rocks of Tuscany and the isle of Volcano, of the Lipari group, north of 
Sicily, where free boric acid occurs naturally under the name of sassoline. 
On the volcanic mountain-sides of Tuscany are to be seen innumerable fis- 
sures which throw out jets of steam, called suffioni, charged with various gases 
and boric acid. Surrounding one or more of these crevices (also called suffioni or 
soffioni) may be seen either a natural basin or lagoon, or one constructed of 
masonry. Several of these circular lagoons are arranged on the mountain-side 
and made to connect with each other by a series of canals. Cold water from a 
mountain spring is then allowed to fill these basins, and receives the steamy 
vapors which either condense and flow into them, or else shoot up into them from 
the bottom. These jets constantly breaking into the water heat it and yield to it 
boric acid. This acid solution is then allowed to pass down the declivity into 
another lagoon and so on until, by receiving an added amount from each basin, 
it becomes saturated, when it is conducted into leaden pans, where it is evapor- 
ated to such an extent that when drawn off into wooden vats and cooled, it will 
deposit crystals of crude boric acid. This acid is then shipped to various 
countries where it is converted into borax either by boiling it with a soda solution, 
or fusing it with calcined carbonate of sodium. The latter method is usually 
employed. The medicinal boric acid is then made from the borax so produced. 
Boric acid was first made by Homberg (1702), after whom it was known as the 
" sedative salt of Homberg" (sal sedativum Hombergi). The medicinal acid may be 
prepared as follows : Take borax 10 parts, boiling water 24 parts. Dissolve the 
borax in the water and filter while hot. Alix with the filtrate 6 parts of chlor- 
hydric acid and allow the mixture to stand in a cool place for 24 hours. Collect 34 
ACIDUM BORICUM. 
the resultant crystals upon a strainer or in a funnel, wash them with cold water, 
and dissolve them again in 5 parts (by weight) of boiling distilled water, and 
allow the solution to stand for a few days. Re-collect the crystals, wash with cold 
water to free them from traces of foreign matter, and dry them in a moder- 
ately warm situation. 
Description.-Boric acid occurs, according to the Pharmacopoeia, in " trans- 
parent, colorless scales, of a somewhat pearly lustre, or, when in perfect crystals, 
six-sided, triclinic plates, slightly unctuous to the touch, odorless, having a faintly 
bitterish taste, and permanent in the air. Soluble at 15° C. (59° F.),in 25.6 parts 
of water, and in 15 parts of alcohol; also soluble in 10 parts of glycerin. Addi- 
tion of hydrochloric acid increases its solubility in water. When heated to 100° 
C. (212° F.), boric acid loses water, forming metaboric acid (HB02), which slowly 
volatilizes at that temperature. Heated to 160° C. (320° F.), it fuses to a glassy 
mass of tetraboric (or pyroboric) acid (H2B4O7); at a higher temperature the fused 
mass swells up, loses all of its water, and becomes boron trioxide (B2O3), which 
fuses into a transparent, non-volatile mass. From a boiling solution, boric acid 
readily volatilizes. The solution in alcohol or glycerin burns with a flame envel- 
oped with a green-colored mantle"-(U. S. P.j. 
Boric acid has feeble acid properties. It dissolves in the essential oils. "An 
aqueous solution (1 in 50) of boric acid colors blue litmus paper red, but yellow 
turmeric paper brownish-red after drying, even when the solution had been acid- 
ulated with hydrochloric acid; this brownish-red color is changed to bluish-black 
by ammonia water. A 2 per cent aqueous solution of the acid should not be 
precipitated by barium chloride T.S. (absence of sulphate); silver nitrate T.S. 
with nitric acid (absence of chloride); ammonium sulphide T.S. (lead, copper, 
iron, etc.); ammonium oxalate T.S. (calcium); or sodium phosphate T.S. and 
ammonia water (magnesium). No odor of ammonia should be evolved by heat- 
ing the acid with potassium or sodium hydrate T.S. In a solution of 1 Gm. of 
boric acid in a mixture of 1 Cc. of hydrochloric acid and 49 Cc. of water, 0.5 Cc. 
of potassium ferrocyanide T.S. should not at once produce a blue color (limit of 
iron). A fragment heated on a platinum wire (thoroughly cleansed by washing 
and heating until it no longer colors the flame), should not impart to the non- 
luminous flame a persistent yellow color (absence of sodium)"-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Though used for the destruction of 
roaches and other insects, boric acid is generally without any marked action on 
the higher animals. When absorbed, however, from local applications to raw 
surfaces, or when injected into the pleural sac of man (5 per cent solution) death 
has resulted preceded by vomiting, singultus, and collapse, some cases exhibiting 
general erythema of the skin and diarrhoea, followed by bloody vomiting and 
increased activity of the kidneys, finally ending in complete renal inaction and 
death. 
Applied to the cutaneous surface boric acid is wholly unirritating, and when 
an antiseptic and antipyic dressing for wounds is demanded it may be used with 
advantage. It is of value as a dressing for burns and scalds, a petrolatum ointment 
being the preferred form. Clothe dipped in a saturated solution may be contin- 
uously applied to dog bites. Certain aphthous conditions are benefited by its local 
application, and Prof. Locke directs for badly ulcerated diphtheria: R Boric 
acid 1 part; glycerin 30 parts. Mix. Sig. Apply locally. Ozena and other forms of 
nasal catarrh, as well as pharyngitis, are benefited by it. 
Owing to the property of correcting fetor possessed by this drug, it has 
yielded efficient results in modifying the fetid eructation accompanying ferment- 
ative stomach disorders, and by its chemical action it corrects excessive alkalinity 
of the renal secretions resulting in ammoniacal urine and its consequent cystic 
irritation. Mucopurulent secretions, such as accompany gonorrhoea, vaginitis, cys- 
titis, nasal catarrh, etc., are in a measure controlled by a solution of this acid. It 
is also one of the most efficient remedies for fetid perspiration, particularly of the 
axilla and feet. Its main use, however, outside of its application to wounds, has 
been in ophthalmic and aural practice. Though often an abused drug, if prop- 
erly used in well selected cases it gives admirable results. It is signally useful in 
irritable eyes with redness and itching, and for the various forms of conjunctivitis, 
with much secretion, it gives excellent results. Where the conjunctival surfaces ACIDUM CARBOLICUM. 
35 
are thickened and velvety and the secretions copious and watery, the acid in 
impalpable powder may be dusted upon the parts, though the practice should not 
be long continued lest unpleasant dryness of the membranes should result (Foltz). 
Phlyctenular conjunctivitis and corneal ulceration are well treated in the same man- 
ner. For ciliary blepharitis an ointment of from 5 to 10 grains of boric acid to 2 
drachms of petrolatum forms a soothing and effectual application. The ointment 
has also been successfully applied in certain skin affections. The acid is combined 
with Lloyd's ergot by Foltz (Dynamical Therapeutics) in all conjunctival disorders 
as follows: From 10 to 30 drops of the ergot are added to a solution of 6 grains 
of boric acid in 1 fls of water; of this 2 drops are instilled in the eye every 
2 or 3 hours. In ear diseases this acid has proved of great service. In purulent 
inflammation of the middle ear with turgid membranes and slight discharge, apply 
it with ergot; if the membranes be pallid combine it with iodoform ; if a mod- 
erately profuse, thin, acrid pus be discharged, calendula and boric acid give the 
best results. For polypoid growths and granulations it may be combined with 
salicylic acid and dusted upon the parts. In otorrhcea the powder should be fre- 
quently dusted upon the parts, ana excellent results have attended this proced- 
ure. The internal dose of boric acid is from 1 to 15 grains; for external use from 
a 1 per cent to a saturated solution, according to the parts to which it is to be 
applied. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Locally: Wounds; conjunctival disorders 
with velvety, thickened membranes and profuse secretion; otorrhcea; fetid per- 
spiration. Internally: Fetid eructations, ammoniacal urine. 
Related Product.-Glacialin. This is said to be a mixture of boric acid (6), biborate 
of sodium, and sugar of each (3) and glycerin (2) parts, and is employed to preserve foods and 
is used as an antiseptic. 
ACIDUM CARBOLICUM (U. S. P.)-CARBOLIC ACID. 
Formula: C6H5HO. Molecular Weight: 93.78. 
Synonyms : Phenol, Phenic acid, Phenylic acid, Acidum phenicum, Acidum phe- 
nylicum cry stall isatum, Phenylic alcohol, Hydrate of phenol. 
Origin, History, and Preparation.-Carbolic acid was discovered in coal- 
tar in 1834 by Runge, who gave it the name it now bears. It belongs to the 
class of phenols, substances closely allied to the alcohols, but having pronounced 
acid properties. Phenols are those derivatives of aromatic hydrocarbons, such 
as benzene, naphthalene, etc., in which hydroxyl replaces the hydrogen of the 
hydrocarbon ring. They form salts with alkalies, which are called phenates, or 
carbolates, or phenol alkalies, e.g., phenol potassium. The greater portion of the 
pure carbolic acid now in use comes to us from England and Germany. A 
large quantity of crude, and some nearly pure phenol is now made within 
the United States. Commercial carbolic acid is derived from the distillation of 
the heavy oil from coal-tar, known as dead oil, which when heated between 150° 
C. (302° F.) and 200° C. (392° F.) passes over as a brown oil and is then sub- 
jected to two rectifications, the resultant product being crude carbolic acid (acidum 
carbolicum crudum, or impurum). This product is then converted into sodium or 
potassium phenol by agitating it with a warm concentrated solution of caustic 
soda or potash. A solid crystalline mass results from which the supernatant 
oily liquid, containing hydrocarbons and other impurities, may be poured off. 
The sodium or potassium phenate is then subjected to a heat of 170° C. (338° F.), 
and a portion of the empyreumatic impurities is driven off, the remainder being 
separated by dissolving the salt in 10 parts of water. Hydrochloric acid is then 
added to supersaturation, upon which the carbolic acid separates in an oily con- 
dition. After washing the phenol with a saturated solution of sodium chloride, 
it is dried over calcium chloride, and distilled. That which distills over between 
180° and 190° C. (336° and 374° F.) is then subjected to a low temperature, when 
crystals are deposited, and after being separated from the adherent mother-liquor, 
are dried by expression. If further purification is desired, it may again be mixed 
with an alkali and treated as before. By this process cresol and several other im- 
purities (to which, however, the value of phenol is largely due) are separated. 36 
ACIDUM CARBOLICUM. 
Prof. Church (1871) proposed the preparation of pure carbolic acid by. dis- 
solving the nearly pure commercial crystals in 20 parts of water, by which a por- 
tion of it is dissolved, the undissolved portion retaining the foreign matter. 
Decant or siphon off the clear, aqueous solution, saturate it with sodium chloride 
when the phenol rises to the top as an oily layer, which may then be freed from 
its. water by distillation with lime, when crystals having a faintly aromatic odor 
are obtained. 
Synthetic Carbolic Acid.-A synthetic carbolic acid is now prepared, and has 
the advantage of being free from cresols and other homologous products. Ben- 
zene-sulphonic acid is first produced by moderately heating a mixture of fuming 
sulphuric acid and benzene. Neutralization with potassium carbonate then con- 
verts the acid into potassium benzene-sulphonate, and this when fused with caus- 
tic potash in large excess, yields potassium phenol and potassium sulphite. The 
phenol is then liberated from the potassium phenol and purified by distillation. 
Description.-Carbolic acid occurs in commerce in two forms which are 
described in the Pharmacopoeia as follows: 
I. Acidum Carbolicum Crudum (U. S. P.). Crude carbolic acid (Acidum 
carbolicum impurum).-"A liquid consisting of various constituents of coal-tar, 
chiefly cresol and phenol, obtained by fractional distillation" (U. S. P.). "It is a 
nearly colorless, or reddish, or brownish-red liquid, of a strongly empyreumatic 
and creosote-like odor; having a benumbing, blanching, and caustic effect upon 
the skin or mucous membrane; and gradually turning darker on exposure to air 
and light. The aqueous solution of crude carbolic acid has a slightly acid reac- 
tion on litmus paper. In an aqueous solution of the acid, bromine water 
produces a white precipitate. Crude carbolic acid should not be soluble in less 
than 15 parts of water at 15° C. (59° F.), and the aqueous solution should not 
have an alkaline reaction (absence of alkalies). If 50 volumes of the acid be 
thoroughly agitated with 950 volumes of water, in a capacious vessel, on allow- 
ing the mixture to separate, the undissolved portion should not exceed 5 
volumes, or 10 per cent by volume of the acid (limit of other less soluble con- 
stituents of coal-tar)"-(U. S. P.). 
II. Acidum Carbolicum (U.S.P.). Carbolic acid (Phenol).-"A constituent 
of coal-tar, obtained by fractional distillation, and subsequently purified. Car- 
bolic acid should be kept in dark, amber-colored, well-stoppered vials. Colorless, 
interlaced, or separate, needle-shaped crystals, or a white, crystalline mass, some- 
times acquiring a reddish tint; having a characteristic, somewhat aromatic 
odor, and, when copiously diluted with water, a sweetish taste with a slightly 
burning after-taste. Deliquescent on exposure to damp air. Soluble at 15° C. 
(59° F.), in about 15 parts of water, the solubility varying according to the 
degree of hydration oi the acid. Very soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, 
benzol, carbon disulphide, glycerin, fixed and volatile oils. Almost insoluble in 
benzin. When gently heated, carbolic acid melts, forming a highly refractive 
liquid. It is also liquefied by the addition of about 8 per cent of water. If the 
acid be* liquefied by a gentle heat, and then slowly cooled, under constant stir- 
ring, until it is partly recrystallized, the semi-liquid mass should have a tempera- 
ture (remaining stationary for a short time) not lower than 35° C. (95° F.). 
The acid should have a boiling point not higher than 188° C. (370.4° F.). A 
lower boiling point, or a higher melting point, indicates a purer or less hydrated 
acid. When heated upon a water bath, the acid should be volatilized without 
leaving a residue. The vapor of the acid is inflammable. Carbolic acid is 
faintly acid to litmus paper. The aqueous solution of the acid yields, with 
bromine water, a white precipitate which at first redissolves, but becomes perma- 
nent as more of the reagent is added, and appears crystalline when viewed under 
the microscope"-(U. S. P). 
Perfectly pure carbolic acid is permanent in the atmosphere, but should the so- 
called pure product contain a trace of water, then it speedily becomes deliquescent. 
It dissolves sulphur, resin, and copal, forming with the latter a brilliant varnish 
that remains soft for many months after its application. It is quite freely solu- 
ble in hot benzin. It coagulates blood, collodion, amd albumen, produces flakes 
in milk, and destroys the odor of cheese, rendering it soft and unctious, and 
added in small amounts to vegetable juices, prevents or checks fermentation. It ACIDUM CARBOLICUM. 
37 
combines with the metallic oxides, and reduces several metallic salts, especially 
those of copper and silver. Its alkaline salts are not very permanent, and have 
an alkaline reaction; water decomposes its potassium salt; all the soluble carbo- 
lates, as well as carbolic acid itself, communicate to pine wood moistened in it, 
and subsequently dipped in nitric or hydrochloric acid, a black-blue color as it 
dries. When heated in a sealed tube with ammonia it yields aniline and water. 
Nitric acid forms picric acid with it. A beautiful orange-colored dye, aurine^ is 
made by heating in a glass vessel to 126.6° C. (260° F.) a mixture of carbolic 
and sulphuric acids, and then slowly and carefully adding to it an amount of 
oxalic acid nearly equal to the quantity of sulphuric acid used; this having been 
done, the whole is thrown into cold water, and the resulting green, solid mass is 
well worked in boiling water to remove all excess of sulphuric acid. 
Dr. E. R. Squibb states that pure crystallized phenol or carbolic acid has 
a sweet and comparatively bland taste, and is nearly odorless, and that the 
■ordinary liquid article of commerce is impure, and owes its azymotic power to 
another coal-tar principle, cresol (see below), which has a smoky,dry, and pungent 
taste. He is therefore disposed to consider the rejection of cresol in the thera- 
peutical article as objectionable, and would prefer the impure article (the com- 
mercial liquid carbolic acid, or coal-tar creosote) in cases where the azymotic and 
antiseptic effects are required (Amer. Jour. Pharm., May, 1869, p. 259). Carbolic 
acid when pure remains clear; but when its homologues are present, e.g., cresol, 
it becomes colored, as with the fluid carbolic acid of commerce. Fabrini asserts 
that this coloration is caused by the formation of phenerythen,& coloring principle, 
organic in character,and produced by metallic particles suspended in the phenol. 
This pink, or reddish color, is especially apt to occur in the commercial product 
on exposure to light and air. This, howrever, does not impair its medicinal 
qualities. Carbolic acid is largely employed in fluid form, made by adding to 
the crystals from 5 to 10 per cent of wrater, when they readily liquefy and 
remain fluid. A convenient method is to combine equal parts of carbolic acid 
and glycerin, which mixture is readily soluble in water in all proportions. Dilute 
solutions of carbolic acid have a sweetish, smoky taste, followed by a slightly 
burning sensation. Phenol is largely consumed in the synthetic process of pro- 
ducing salicylic acid and other synthetic compounds, and is extensively 
employed in the making of dye-stuffs. The pure acid in crystals may be ren- 
dered fluid by placing the vial holding it in hot water, being careful, however, 
to guard against breaking the bottle. The odor of carbolic acid renders it very 
objectionable with many, but this may be overcome by adding a few drops of oil 
of lemon to it. 
Tests.-" On adding to 10 Cc. of a 1 per cent aqueous solution of the acid, 
1 drop of ferric chloride T.S., the liquid acquires a violet-blue color, which is per- 
manent; and on adding carbolic acid either to albumen or to collodion, coagula- 
tion takes place (difference from creosote). One volume of cold, liquefied carbolic 
acid (rendered liquid by the addition of 8 per cent of water) forms, with 1 
volume of glycerin, a clear liquid which is not rendered turbid by the addition 
of 3 volumes of water (absence of creosote or of cresylic acid). If 0.039 Gm. of 
carbolic acid be tested by the method immediately following, there should be 
required for its complete conversion into tribromophenol not less than 24 Cc. of 
decinormal bromine V.S. (each Cc. of the volumetric solution corresponding to 
4 per cent of absolute phenol)"-(U. S. P.). 
"Valuation of Carbolic Acid.-Dissolve 1.563 Gm. of carbolic acid to be 
valued, in a sufficient quantity of water to make 1000 Cc. Transfer 25 Cc. of 
this solution (containing 0.039 Gm. of the acid) to a glass-stoppered bottle 
having a capacity of about 200 Cc. add 30 Cc. of decinormal bromine V.S. 
(which is 5 Cc. more than would be required if the carbolic acid in solution 
wrere absolute phenol, the excess being added to promote the formation and 
separation of tribromophenol), then 5 Cc. of hydrochloric acid, and immedi- 
ately insert the stopper. Shake the bottle repeatedly in the course of half an 
hour, then remove the stopper just sufficiently to introduce quickly 5 Cc. of a 
20 per cent aqueous solution of potassium iodide, being careful that no bromine 
vapor escape, and immediately stopper the bottle. Shake the latter thoroughly, 
remove the stopper and rinse it and the neck of the bottle with a little water, so 38 
ACIDUM CARBOLICUM. 
that the washings may flow into the hottie, and then add, from a burette, deci- 
normal sodium hyposulphite V.S., until the iodine tint is exactly discharged, 
using towards the end a few drops of starch T.S. as indicator. Note the number 
of Cc. of decinormal sodium hyposulphite V.S. consumed. Deduct this from 30 
(the number of Cc. of bromine V.S. originally added), and multiply the 
remainder by 4. The product will, approximately, represent the percentage of 
absolute phenol in the carbolic acid tested"-(U. S. P.). 
Action and Toxicology.-Carbolic acid is destructive to insects and the 
lower forms of life. Locally applied to the skin of man it produces a burning 
sensation, followed by numbness, its continued action being anaesthetic. A 
peculiar whitish eschar is formed, which eventually becomes brown, and may 
terminate in a slough. To the taste it is hot, pungent, and sweetish. By coagu- 
lating the albumen of the tissues it produces, when swallowed accidentally or 
with suicidal intent, corrugated, whitish patches upon the lips, fauces, oesophagus, 
orifices, and folds of the stomach. It readily diffuses itself into the blood, pro- 
ducing pronounced effects upon the nervous system, as vertigo, pallor, and pupil- 
lary contraction. The circulation becomes feeble, the pulse either very rapid or 
abnormally slow, and breathing is impeded. Fatal results have been produced 
by injections of even weak solutions of this acid into the serous cavities, and 
many cases of death are on record produced by absorption from dressings of car- 
bolic acid applied to open wounds. When a fatal dose has been swallowed the 
individual quickly becomes profoundly unconscious, the skin is cold and livid, 
breathing becomes stertorous, the heart's action gradually grows feebler, and 
death ensues from respiratory paralysis. Vomiting is sometimes produced in 
man, and convulsions occasionally. Carbolic acid is principally eliminated by 
the kidneys, and the dark coloration of the urine produced by it should be a signal 
to stop its administration. Constant phenomena of poisoning by this agent are 
a minutely-contracted pupil, and the dark, greenish, blackish, or smoky hue of 
the urine. After death the blood shows imperfect coagulability. 
Carbolic acid poisoning is antidoted by solution of sodium sulphate (Glau- 
ber's salt). All the soluble sulphates are chemically antagonistic. Albuminous 
and demulcent drinks should be freely administered and the stomach-pump em- 
ployed. In cases of corrosive poisoning emetics should not be employed where 
the tissues are much destroyed, on account of the danger of rupturing the 
stomach. The stomach-pump is preferable. Atropine, carried to the extent of 
maintaining dilatation of the pupils, is said to be physiologically antagonistic, 
and should be employed to prevent collapse. Saccharate of lime, probably one of 
its best antagonists, may be used as a chemical antidote if sulphate of sodium is 
not at hand. Oils should never be given, as they increase the solubility of the 
poison. On the other hand, some recommend olive oil until the patient vomits. 
Or after the use of the stomach-pump it is advised to administer freely of olive 
or sweet almond oil, to which a little castor oil has been added. A mixture of 
flour and water and soap are recommended highly as simple antidotes. Solution 
of sodium or magnesium sulphate should be continued in small doses for several 
days to antidote any remaining traces of the acid. 
Among other toxic symptoms the following may present: strangury, stupor, 
vertigo, tinnitus aurium, deafness, formication, profuse perspiration, frothy sali- 
vation, a reduction of temperature, a characteristic intoxication and general anaes- 
thesia. The fatal dose of carbolic acid is not known. A six-months' old babe was 
killed by a quarter teaspoonful of the glycerin solution (1 to 5). An adult has 
been killed by 80 grains, while again individuals have recovered from large doses 
-6 drachms (30 per cent) in one case and ounces of the solution in another. 
The time necessary to kill ranges from 3 minutes to 4 hours. ' 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Carbolic acid is an antiseptic and azymotic, 
being a violent poison for vegetables and inferior organic bodies; it checks fer- 
mentation, prevents the formation of mold in vegetable infusions or juices, and 
preserves animal tissues from decomposition. It exerts an escharotic influence 
upon animal tissues when applied, undiluted, producing considerable pain, 
followed after a time by a white appearance of the part, severe inflammation, 
and after 15 or 20 days, by an exfoliation of the epidermis. It should never 
be employed in an undiluted state for ordinary use. But as a caustic, acting 39 
ACIDUM CARBOLICUM. 
superficially, it may be used in indolent or gangrenous ulceration, hemorrhoids, fistula 
in ano, syphilitic and other warts, soft chancre, carbuncle, and rarely in diphtheria 
and malignant sore throat. Its antiseptic power renders it very valuable as a local 
application in surgical cases accompanied with purulent, offensive, or other dis- 
charges; it is also said to facilitate the healing of wounds by the first intention. 
Two to three parts of carbolic acid to 100 parts of water, applied to necrosis, gan- 
grenous and other ulcers, modifies the suppuration and favors cicatrization. The 
cases to which it is best adapted are those in which the tissues are full and relaxed. 
It is contraindicated, as a rule, where the parts are dry, shrunken, or contracted. 
It is particularly applicable, as a local application, to gangrenous parts where the 
debilitation is dependent upon diabetes or chronic alcoholism. As a stimulating 
and deodorizing ointment for old sores and ill-conditioned ulcers, Prof. Locke rec- 
ommends: R Carbolic acid si; basilicon ointment §xvj. Mix. Apply: Its prin- 
cipal use, however, has been in the treatment of certain cutaneous affections, 
especially those due to, or accompanied with, animal or vegetable parasitical form- 
ations, as in pediculi, scabies, eczema, lepra, impetigo, tetter, pityriasis, lichen, psoriasis, 
erythema, dermatitis, etc., in which cases it is used in combination with glycerin, 1 
part of acid to 4, 6, 8, or more parts of glycerin. A very excellent application 
for several cutaneous affections is 1 part of carbolic acid to 4 parts of acetic acid 
and 15 parts of water. A weak solution of the acid in water forms an excellent 
topical agent for itching, whether due to urticaria or the skin affections above 
noted, to jaundice or to the parasitic skin affections. In fact, it is particularly 
useful in scabies, ringworm, and tinea versicolor, favus and " barbers' itch." Prof. 
Bloyer states that he has never failed to cure the latter trouble with it. If desira- 
ble to combine it with sulphur he recommends the following: R Carbolic acid 
gr. v.; sublimed sulphur gss; camphor gr. x; ung. zinci ox. gi. Mix. 
A dilute aqueous solution of carbolic acid (about 1 to 200) employed as an 
injection will destroy worms in the rectum; and injected into the vagina has 
proved beneficial in leucorrhcea, vulvitis in the young, endometritis, blenorrhoea, gon- 
orrhoea, gleet, fetid discharges, and ulceration of the os uteri. A solution of from 2 to 
5 grains to a fluid ounce of water, injected into the urethra, has cured gonorrhoea. 
It has proved decidedly useful in boils, whitlows, and abscesses, injecting it into the 
cavity of these after the pus had been discharged. Care must be had not to poison 
by absorption. For the purpose of anaesthetizing abscesses it may be applied to 
the crown of the lesions, when the pent-up pus may be painlessly liberated and 
at the same time deodorized. An excellent treatment for malignant pustule or car- 
buncle is to first anaesthetize the surface, and then incise and thoroughly curette 
the cavities, and finally destroy the remaining slough by another immediate 
application of the acid. This treatment is said to give but little pain and no 
shock, and is attended with neither hemorrhage nor putrid absorption. Hydrocele 
and hemorrhoids have been treated by injecting from 15 to 20 minims of a 25 per 
cent solution. For the former thuja is better, while for the second carbolic acid 
yields as fair results as other injection-fluids. As a post-partum vaginal douche 
carbolic acid is largely employed by midwives and by many physicians. 
In chronic purulent conjunctivitis a solution of equal parts of carbolic acid and 
glycerin, applied to the palpebral conjunctiva, has promptlv arrested the disease. 
An ointment (carbolic acid grs. xij to petrolatum gii) has been serviceable in trach- 
oma, and the ulcers attending traumatic keratitis may be cauterized with this acid. 
A 2 per cent solution is effectual in ophthalmia neonatorum, though not so safe as 
boric acid, and the pure acid applied to the stump after evisceration of the eye-ball 
appears to relieve the pain and stop heiporrhage (Foltz). External otitis with 
much swelling may be treated with a tampon soaked in the glycerin solution (1 
in 10) to relieve the pain and reduce the swelling, while in tympanic hyperemia, 
without effusion, the 15 per cent glycerin solution gives marked relief from pain. 
A solution of the acid in water, used as a wash immediately following coition, is 
supposed by many physicians to effectually prevent any consequent chancre. 
One part of carbolic acid to 100 parts of water, injected into the bladder, has been 
successful in cystitis, in which from prostatic hypertrophy or urethral stricture the 
urine putrefies in the bladder with formation of zoophytes, Penicillium glaucum, 
etc. In burns and scalds carbolic acid affords immediate relief, also in bites and 
stings of insects. In these accidents it Las been neglected. One part of the acid 40 
ACIDUM CARBOLICUM. 
to 6 or 7 or even 16 parts of olive oil, applied with lint, and covered with tin-foil 
or oil-silk, will be found very useful in cases of severe burns or scalds. 
Locally applied pure carbolic acid destroys warts and condylomata, and is of 
some benefit in cancerous affections. The glycerin solution (1 in 4), or equal parts 
of the acid and glycerin, may be applied to uterine cancer to relieve pain and 
control fetor. That strength should be used which best controls pain. In epi- 
thelioma it has been used full strength to destroy the growth. Warm the crystals 
to deliquescence and thoroughly apply to the bottom of the growth with a pine 
pencil. For rodent ulcers, poisoned wounds, and phagedenic chancre it may be used 
full strength, while to indolent ulcers and bubo the glycerin solution (1 in 4) should 
be applied. Toothache from decayed teeth with exposure of the nerve pulp is 
quickly relieved by inserting the acid upon cotton into the cavity of the tooth and 
retaining it there. 
An inhalation of carbolic acid is of value in pulmonary gangrene. As a 5 per 
cent spray it may be serviceable in coryza, putrid bronchorrhcea, influenza, nasal 
catarrh, ozena, ulcerated sore throat, chronic pharyngitis, pertussis, chronic bronchitis, and 
has even been recommended in phthisis pulmonalis as an auxiliary means of treat- 
ment; for this latter purpose a grain or two to an ounce or two of water is the 
strongest solution that should be used. Its use must be discontinued if faintness, 
giddiness, or trembling, with a weak pulse, should follow its inhalation. It is in 
some of these conditions that Dobell's solution (which see) containing this acid has 
such a wide application. Offensive breath arising from oral, faucial, or dental 
troubles or from diphtheria is corrected by this agent. It has proved very valu- 
able in dissections, the difficulty of preserving the subject being effectually over- 
come by injecting carbolic acid mixed with water, and it does not materially 
affect the appearance of the tissues. One drachm of carbolic acid dissolved in 1 
fluid drachm of alcohol and 2 fluid ounces of water, and sprinkled around a sick 
chamber by means of a spray instrument or otherwise, will be found a valuable 
disinfectant. Altogether it is a very efficient and valuable remedy, and in all 
cases the greatest dilution possible should be used that will have the desired 
effect, that the danger of toxic symptoms from absorption may be avoided. 
Internally, pure, crystallized carbolic acid has been advantageously employed 
in obstinate vomiting, in sarcinx ventriculi, gastric pain following meals, flatulency, 
diarrhoea from eating articles causing fermentation, scarlatina anginosa, typhoid 
fever, low grades of pneumonia, bladder diseases, cholera, cholera morbus and cholera 
infantum, tapeworm, and diabetes dependent upon liver disorders, offensive breath, 
etc. It is not, however, to be indiscriminately used, and is always contraindicated 
by a pinched and contracted condition and where the tongue is dry, long and 
pointed. It is specifically applicable (as pointed out by Prof. Scudder) where 
the tongue is broad and moist and the odor putrescent or cadaverous. On the 
whole it is none too desirable as an internal remedy, but when so administered 
the dose should be small. R Glycerin solution of carbolic acid (1 in 5), gtt. v to 
xxx; aqua fl^iv. Mix. Dose, a teaspoonful every 2 or 3 hours. The dose of the 
glycerin solution of carbolic acid (carbolic acid 1 part, glycerin 4 parts) is from 
1 to 10 drops well diluted. One drop, largely diluted, is the usual dose of pure 
carbolic acid. Locally any attenuation to full strength as indicated. 
Specific Indications.-Internal use-. "A broad, moist tongue; there is a 
cadaverous odor of the breath." External use: " Fullness and relaxation of 
tissues; whenever there is retraction, shrinking, and dryness it will prove 
harmful "-(Scudder). 
Related Compounds and Preparations.-Liquefied Phenol. Carbolic acid, to which 
10 per cent of water or glycerin has been added, the former being more generally preferred. 
Phenol Water, Carbolized water.-There are several formulae for the preparation of aqua 
carbolisata. The German Pharmacopoeia directs a solution of carbolic acid (liquefied), 33 parts, 
in distilled water, 967 parts, thus containing about 3 per cent by weight of the pure acid. The 
French Cod,ex directs two carbolated waters, one for internal use containing 0.1 per cent of phe- 
nol, and one for topical use containing 1 per cent. Used chiefly as a gargle and as a lotion in 
skin diseases. 
Sulpho-Carbolic Acid, Sulphonic acid, Aseptol, Sozolic acid, Sulphophenol, Orthophenol-sul- 
phonic acid. Formula: CgH4.OH.SO3H. Molecular weight: 173.64. Density: 1.45. Two 
or more sulphophenols result from the interaction of sulphuric and carbolic acids. The ortho- 
compound may be produced at a low temperature; the para-compound at a high heat. Sul- 
phophenol forms small needle crystals, which are deliquescent, but is usually found as a heavy, 41 
ACIDUM CARBOLICUM. 
syrupy fluid, of an amber or reddish color, and an odor recalling that of phenol. Water, glyc- 
erin, and alcohol dissolve it. Commercial aseptol contains about 33 per cent of the ortho-acid, 
and is a sub-caustic liquid of a pale yellow color. This drug has been used chiefly as an anti- 
septic in eye, skin, and bladder diseases. Benefit is said to be derived from its administration in 
pharyngitis and laryngitis of a diphtheritic character. It is recommended to be given largely 
diluted. It has been locally employed in pyorrhoea and in gingivitis, using from 1 to 8 or 10 
per cent solutions. 
Lister's Catgut Ligatures, Carbolated catgut.-Preserved in carbolated olive oil (1 part 
of phenol to 5 parts of oil). This is prepared by immersing catgut (200 parts) in a freshly- 
prepared mixture of phenol (200 parts) and a weak solution of chromic acid in water (1 part 
in 4000). The catgut should be macerated 48 hours and then placed in the carbolated oil. 
Chlorphenol, Monochlorphenol, Chlorophenol.-Formula: C6H4C1.OH. This very volatile 
liquid is prepared by acting upon carbolic acid (phenol), at a very low temperature, with 
chlorine gas. It was originally introduced from Italy as a remedy for tubercular phthisis. It is 
heavier than air, yet volatilizes with great ease, and so penetrating are its dense fumes that 
the pulmonary air-passages are readily filled by them. Antiseptic, as well as antitubercular 
properties are attributed to it. It is usually employed by inhalation, and has been used in 
tubercular troubles, ozena, bronchitis, laryngitis, etc. Locally, discharging ulcers, wounds, and glands 
have been treated with it. An inhalation preparation has been employed, consisting of an 
alcohol-eugenol-menthol mixture 3 parts, chlorophenol 7 parts. From 10 to 30 drops are to 
be daily inhaled. 
Pheno-salyl.-This is thought to be a mixture formed by melting together 9 parts of 
phenol, 2 parts of lactic acid, 1 part of salicylic acid, and part of menthol, the latter being 
added just as the acid liquefies. It is claimed for this preparation that its antiseptic qualities 
far exceed those of phenol or of salicylic acid. It was introduced by De Christmas. 
Acidum Carbolicum Iodatum (N. F.), Iodized carbolic acid (Phenol iodatum, Iodized phenol).- 
Formulary number, 4: " Iodine, reduced to powder 20 grammes (20 Gm.) [309 grs.]; carbolic 
acid, 60 grammes (60 Gm.) [2 ozs. av., 51 grs.]; glycerin, 20 grammes (20Gm.) [309 grs.]. Intro- 
duce the iodine into a flask, add the carbolic acid, previously melted, then the glycerin, and 
digest the mixture at a gentle heat, frequently agitating, until the iodine is dissolved. Keep 
the product in glass-stoppered vials in a dark place "-(Nat. Form.). 
Carbasus Carbolata (N. F.), Carbolized gauze.-Formulary number, 17: "Resin, in coarse 
powder, 40 grammes (40 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 180 grs.] ; castor oil, 5 grammes (5 Gm.) [77 grs.]; car- 
bolic acid, 10 grammes (10 Gm.) [154 grs.] ; alcohol, 225 grammes (225 Gm.) [7 ozs. av.,410grs.]; 
gauze muslin, a sufficient quantity. Dissolve the resin, castor oil, and carbolic acid in the alco- 
hol. Immerse in the mixture loosely-folded pieces of gauze muslin, allow them to become 
thoroughly saturated, then take them out and press out the excess of liquid until the weight 
of the impregnated gauze amounts to one hundred and seventy (170) grammes [6 ozs. av.] for 
every one hundred (100) grammes [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.] of the original fabric. Spread out the 
pieces horizontally, and as soon as the alcohol has nearly all evaporated fold and wrap the 
pieces in paraffin paper, and preserve them in air-tight receptacles. The impregnated gauze, 
when dry, contains about 2.5 per cent of carbolic acid. 
"Note.-The most suitable brands of gauze muslin for making carbolized or other antisep- 
tic gauze are those known in the market as ' Stillwater' or ' Lehigh E ' "-(Nat. Form.). 
Acidum Phenylo-Boricum, Phenylo-boric acid.-This white powder is said to be a power- 
ful germicide, preventing putrescence in less than al percent solution. It is very sparingly 
dissolved by water. Locally it has been used on venereal sores, and is reputed active against 
the cholera and other like bacilli. 
Boro-phenol.-A combination of phenol and borax, having a not unpleasant odor, and 
wholly dissolved by water. To be used as a disinfectant in all cases in which phenol is useful. 
Trichlorphenol (C6H2C13OH).-This is the chief substance produced when chlorine is 
made to act upon carbolic acid. It forms in needle crystals readily soluble in alcohol and 
ether. A glyceride containing from 5 to 10 per cent of trichlorphenol has been painted twice 
daily upon an erysipelatous eruption, with asserted benefit. Laurent discovered this body, and 
Yurinsky, of St. Petersburg, introduced it into medicine. 
Cresols (C7H8O) or (C6H4CH3OH).-The cresols may be obtained by the interaction of 
caustic potash and toluene sulphonic acid, though they are most generally obtained from that 
coal-tar distillate which passes over between 200° and 210° C. (392° and 410° F.). They are 
present also in beech-wood tar, and 'when present in carbolic acid, as they often are, the boil- 
ing point of the latter is raised while the fusing point is lowered by them. Theory indicates 
the existence of three cresols, viz.: ortho-cresol, meta-cresol, and para-cresol. The second is a dense 
liquid; the other two form colorless, prismatic crystals possessing the odor of phenol. The 
second has a boiling point at 201° C. (393.8° F.), but even at a very low temperature, -80° C. 
(-112° F.), does not become solid. The first fuses at 31°C. (87.8° F.), has a boiling point at 185°C. 
(365° F.), and is converted into salicylic acid by long continued heating with caustic potash. 
The third has its fusing point at 36° C. (96.8° F.), and its boiling point at 198° C. (388.4° F.), 
and if heated with potassium hydroxide becomes paroxy-benzoic acid. None of these forms 
possess toxic qualities to the extent of that possessed by carbolic acid, and all of them have 
powerful disinfectant properties and are destructive to low forms of life. Cresol(cresylic acid) 
has greater antiseptic properties than phenol (Delplanque), and diffused in the sick room has 
a palliative effect in whooping-cough. Several derivatives or compounds of the cresols are now 
employed, chiefly as external remedies. Of these may be mentioned the following: 
1. Lysol.-This product contains cresols to the extent of about 50 per cent, and is said 
to be produced by boiling tar-oils with fats and alkalies, or saponifying them with alcohol. It 42 
ACIDUM CARBOLICVM. 
is a transparent, brown, oily-appearing fluid, having a faintly aromatic or creosotic odor. Its 
density is 1.042. It is dissolved by alcohol, glycerin, chloroform, benzin, carbon disulphide, 
and water, with the latter forming a clear solution, producing a soap-like frothiness. Its 
saponaceous character causes it to impart a slipperiness to instruments immersed in it, thus 
making them difficult to handle. Though much stronger than carbolic acid, it is far less 
poisonous. It is largely employed in surgical and gynecological practice for its general anti- 
septic effects, as well as in various skin disorders, lupus in particular. It has been proposed as 
a gargle for offensive breath and as a local application to diphtheritic ulcerations. It has been 
employed in conditions presenting mucorrhoea, as leucorrhoea, gonorrhoea, nasal discharges, cholera 
morbus, dysentery, etc. Sick-room utensils and surgical appliances are deodorized and disinfected 
by it. For local application a 1 to 5 per cent solution is directed; for internal administration 
solutions of j of 1 per cent are employed. 
2. Saprol.-This is an inflammable mixture of the cresols in crude condition, together 
with petroleum, hydrocarbons, and pyridine bases. Even in 1 per cent solution it is said to 
be a powerful antiseptic. 
3. Creolin.-Creolin is a deep-brown, syrupy fluid having an alkaline reaction and a 
density ranging from 1.040 to 1.080. It is obtained from coal-tar by freeing the latter of its 
carbolic acid. It mixes in all proportions with absolute alcohol, fixed oils, and chloroform, is 
not dissolved by wood alcohol, and when mixed with water a milky, turbid liquid is produced. 
There are two chief preparations of creolin on the market, Pearson's (from England), and 
Artmann's (from Germany). The former is perfectly soluble in ether and in the cold, and 
particularly in the presence of ice, deposits naphthalene in hard, white crystals; the second 
is but sparingly soluble in ether, and contains less phenol than the English product. Both 
contain phenols in combination with soda, by the means of which the hydrocarbons present 
are probably held in solution. Pearson's contains 60 per cent of hydrocarbons; Artmann's 85 
per cent. While these preparations are considered non-toxic, it is nevertheless true that pois- 
onous symptoms, and even death have been attributed to their use, even in small amounts. 
A 2 per cent solution is charged with causing death when used as a post-partum intra-uterine 
douche, and 30 drops by mouth is said to have caused in an infant inflammation of the glottis, 
followed by death. In excessive doses it has produced unconsciousness, vomiting, and thirst, 
but no pain, and the urine was bloody and albuminous, with the odor of carbolic acid. Scar- 
latinoid and eczematous eruptions have been produced by it. A 2 per cent solution in doses 
of a drop or two produces a burning sensation in the mouth and naso-pharynx. It is, how- 
ever, said to be a very effectual deodorizer-even of more value than carbolic acid. Hard 
rubber and gutta percha are attacked by it, while such effects are not apparent on metallic 
instruments, though all instruments are rendered slippery and difficult to handle when 
immersed in its solution. It checks in a measure ammoniacal fermentation of the urine, and in a 
2 per cent solution has been used to wash out the bladder in ammoniacal cystitis. A 1 to 2 per 
cent solution as a wash or on gauze compresses, is reported effectual in subduing pain, check- 
ing bleeding, and limiting suppuration. Fermentative changes are checked by it. Putrefaction 
from retained placenta, etc., has been everconie by from 1 to 2 per cent solutions locally, 
though as before stated, death is reported to have resulted from its use as an intra-uterine 
douche. It may be applied on a vulvar compress to deodorize puerperal discharges. Gan- 
grenous and other foul ulcers, wounds, etc., may be dressed with a weak solution, though the 
healing of open, fresh wounds is said to be somewhat retarded by it. Skin affections, such as 
impetigo, eczema, etc., have received benefit from the ointment (2 per cent), while a solution of 1 
part of creolin in from 10 to 20 parts of alcohol is recommended for parasitic skin diseases. 
Leucorrhoea, gonorrhoea, acute and chronic dysentery are benefited by injections of a weak solution, 
while a spray (1 in 500) has given fairly good results in follicular tonsillitis, ulcerations of the 
pharynx, and fetid conditions of the nasal passages. The cough of consumption has been some- 
what palliated by such atomization. It has been used in ear and eye affections, but such a pro- 
cedure is not to be commended, and it is specially contraindicated in keratitis "with involve- 
ment of the iris and in chronic conjunctivitis. The internal use in gastro-intestinal disorders 
with fermentation, has received some praise. The internal doses are from 1 to 5 minims, 
preferably in capsules; externally, an aqueous mixture, ointment, and gauzes of from 1 to 2 
per cent strength. 
4. Sozal, Aluminum sulphocarbolate (A12[C6H4OHSO3]8) so-called, is produced by the 
union of paraphenol-sulphonic acid with aluminum as the base. It may be directly pre- 
pared by acting upon aluminum hydroxide with phenol-sulphonic acid. It occurs as a gran- 
ular powder composed of aggregations of small crystals. To the taste it is very astringent, 
and has a faint odor of carbolic acid. Water, alcohol, and glycerin dissolve it, forming 
permanent solutions. It is employed -where an astringent possessing antiseptic properties 
is required. 
5. Solutol.-A sodium cresylate solution of cresol, one-fourth of which is in a free 
condition, the remainder being in combination with sodium. Solutol is a powerfully disin- 
fectant and anti-putrefactive agent, being used for disinfecting water-closets, excrements, 
bedding, sputa, etc. It has caustic properties, and is said to be useful as an anatomical pre- 
servative. 
6. Solveol.-A concentrated, neutral, aqueous solution of cresol prepared by the inter- 
vention of sodium cresotinate. It has scarcely any odor, and is considered superior to carbolic 
acid as a disinfectant, being about 4 times as active. It is not caustic, and is free from the 
greasiness which some of the other cresol compounds, such as lysol and creolin, possess. One- 
half per cent solutions of it scarcely irritate. It is used locally, being well adapted for surgical 
purposes. 43 
ACIDUM CARBONICUM. 
ACIDUM CARBONICUM.-CARBONIC ACID. 
Formula: CO2=OCO. Molecular Weight: 43.89. 
Synonyms: Anhydrous carbonic acid,Carbonic anhydride,Carbon dioxide,Carbonic 
acid yas. 
Source and History.-Carbonic acid gas (the so-called carbonic acid) was 
observed in mineral waters as early as 1597, by Libavius, who regarded it as a 
volatile spirit; Von Helmont (1577-1644) called it gas sylvestre; Hoffman, who 
noticed its acid properties in natural combination in mineral waters, named it 
mineral spirit; Lavoisier in 1775 determined its composition. In former times this 
acid was also known as fixed air, acid vapor, and aerial acid. Carbon dioxide is a 
constant factor in atmospheric air to the amount of about .04 per cent. It is given 
off by the lungs in respiration and by the skin in perspiration, and taken up by 
plants in the process of " plant respiration." It is always formed during the 
combustion of organic matter, or carbon; it is also a product of vegetable decay, 
fermentation and decomposition of organic bodies. It is formed also by calcin- 
ing the native carbonates (as in the making of lime) and by the action of acids 
on carbonates. It is apt to form in the cellars of breweries and other places where 
large quantities of organic matter are undergoing fermentation. It exists in 
combination in many minerals and also in many mineral springs. The German 
Spring at Nauheim is said to liberate 3000 pounds of carbon dioxide daily. It 
is one of the constituents of the deadly "choke damp" of the mines. 
Preparation.-Carbon dioxide is prepared on a large scale by treating native 
carbonates, such as marble, etc., with diluted sulphuric acid. For laboratory pur- 
poses it may be conveniently prepared by treating pieces of marble with diluted 
chlorhydric acid. 
Description.-Carbonic acid, so-called, is not strictly an acid, but is rather to 
be considered as carbonic anhydride, which, when combined with a molecule of 
water, forms carbonic acid (H2CO3). Thus.- CO2-|-H2O=H2CO3. True carbonic 
acid (H2CO3) does not exist in a free condition, but is usually found in combina- 
tion with water, as in mineral springs, and by its combination with bases gives 
rise to the native carbonates, the calcium carbonate especially forming the back- 
bone of the earth. It is a weak, bibasic acid. The acid carbonates (bicarbonates), 
liberate carbon dioxide when heated. Soda water, the summer beverage, is a 
solution of carbonic acid (H2CO3) in water (see Aqua Acidi Carbonicifi 
Carbon dioxide (CO2) or carbonic anhydride, is an invisible, irrespirable gas, 
having a faint odor and a sharp, slightly acidulous taste. Its specific gravity is 
1.5245, and it is so much heavier than air that it may be poured from one vessel 
to another; it slightly and transiently reddens litmus; is not combustible, extin- 
guishes most burning bodies, and is reduced to a limpid, colorless liquid under a 
pressure of 36 atmospheres 0° C. (32° F.), which is practically insoluble in water 
and in fat oils, but is soluble in all proportions in alcohol, ether, oil of turpen- 
tine and carbide of sulphur. When the pressure is removed from the liquid 
carbonic acid the cold produced by the evaporation of one part is so great that 
another part freezes, forming a white, snow-like body (solid carbonic anhydride), 
which is a bad conductor of heat, and has the temperature-64.4° C. (-83.9° F.). 
Mixed with ether and placed under the exhausted receiver of an air pump, Far- 
aday obtained a temperature of 74.4° C. (166° F.). The metallic, alkaline, and 
earthy salts formed with carbonic acid are called carbonates. If a light be intro- 
duced into a well, pit, mine, or other place, it will burn dimly or be extinguished 
if this gas be present, and the air of such place will certainly destroy life if 
respired. The sparkling and effervescing properties of many kinds of wine, beer, 
cider, mineral waters, etc., are owing to the presence of carbonic acid gas. When 
carbon dioxide has accumulated in cellars or other places, so as to render them 
fatal to animal life, it may be removed by sprinkling about some aqua ammonias; 
this combines with the carbonic acid to form carbonate of ammonium, and fresh 
air rushes in to fill up the space produced by the condensation of the acid. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Carbonic acid gas is a narcotic poison inducing 
cerebral congestion and apoplexy (Taylor). To respire the pure acid is impossible, 
asphyxiation at once taking place. Diluted with air it is more or less respirable. 
According to Demarquay, air containing 25 per cent of carbon dioxide may be 44 
ACIDUM CHROMICUM. 
respired with but little discomfort; according to others, such proportions would 
be extremely dangerous. Water impregnated with this gas produces a pungent, 
prickly sensation in the mouth, nose and fauces, warmth in the stomach, and for 
a brief time cerebral excitation. Gastric eructations take place, and the gastric 
secretions are augmented and digestion stimulated. Sensibility of the skin is 
obtunded in a limb exposed to the gas. Immersion of the body, the head being 
free, into this gas induced successively prickling and heat of the surface, redness 
and sweating, quickened heart action, which was afterward retarded, throbbing in 
the head, dulling of the senses, difficult breathing, borborygmi and colicky pains. 
Inhaled in toxic quantities, besides some of the symptoms already observed there is 
a sense of constriction, oppression of the breathing organs, weight in the head, and 
pressure in the temples, headache, dizziness, singing noises in the ears, tendency 
to somnolence, great muscular weakness, the patient falling and unable to escape, 
unconsciousness, the breathing becomes stertorous, then ceases, as does the heart, 
which at first beats violently. A relaxed and flexible state of the limbs (occa- 
sionally rigid, and rarely convulsed) remain, as well as bodily warmth, though 
the patient appears dead. The countenance is usually leaden-hued, particularly 
about the mouth and eyes, though occasionally pale and placid, and death ensues. 
When one recovers, pain and soreness of the body and head remain for many 
days, while facial paralysis supervenes in some cases. When the amount of gas 
is great the person is suddenly prostrated and insensible, dropping where found, 
and totally unable to escape. Death quickly follows unless promptly removed 
to fresh air. 
Carbonic acid gas has been used with success in scrofulous ophthalmia, being 
directed upon the affected part in a small jet; it has also been directed upon the 
uterus and upper part of the vagina in dysmenorrhoea and ulceration of the cervix; 
passed into the rectum it has been found useful in ulceration of the rectum and 
dysentery; and in cancerous and other ulcers it forms a good application. This 
effect is due to its anaesthetic action. The jet should be continued from 3 to 10 
minutes upon the affected part, repeating it 4 or 5 times a' day. Formerly, 
phthisis, and diseases of the bronchix and larynx were treated by inhalation of this 
gas, and it has more recently been employed with asserted success in allaying 
the suffering and cough in laryngeal phthisis and in whooping-cough. It formed 
the basis of the Bergeon (1888) treatment for phthisis, a current of the gas being 
passed through a sulphuretted mineral water twice daily into the rectum, result- 
ing, according to its author, in the prompt alleviation and suppression of all of 
the active phases of pulmonary consumption. This treatment scarcely attained 
any popularity with the profession. Iced, effervescing draughts are very service- 
able in obstinate nausea and vomiting due to an irritable stomach. Flatulence is 
relieved by it, and saline medicines are retained by the stomach when adminis- 
tered in the carbonated waters. Undoubtedly the ease and comfort derived from 
the yeast poultice and other similar applications are due largely to the anaesthetic 
virtues of the liberated gas. Recent burns are said to be promptly soothed and 
rendered painless by this gas. In accidents arising from its inhalation, remove 
the patient immediately into the open air, and place him on his back with his 
head somewhat elevated, and pursue a treatment similar to that named in poison- 
ing by the inhalation of sweet spirit of niter. 
ACIDUM CHROMICUM (U. S. P.)-CHROMIC ACID. 
Formula: CrO3. Molecular Weight : 99.88. 
Synonyms : Chromic anhydride, Chromium trioxide. 
Caution : "Chromic acid should be kept in glass-stoppered bottles, and great 
caution should be observed to avoid bringing it in contact with organic substances, 
such as cork, tannic acid, sugar, alcohol, etc., as dangerous accidents are liable to 
result"-(U. S. P.). 
Preparation and History.-To 1 volume, or 100 measures, of a cold, saturated 
solution of bichromate of potassium add volumes, or 150 measures, of pure 
sulphuric acid, and allow the mixture to cool in a covered capsule or in a flask; 
the sulphuric acid unites with the potassium, setting free a deposit of beautiful ACIDUM CHROMIC!4 I. 
45 
deep-red needles of chromic acid. The liquid be >g drained off, these are laid on 
a porous brick to dry, covered with a glass bell-jar. According to Prof. J. U. 
Lloyd, these crystals contain considerable adhering sulphuric acid, which, how- 
ever, can not easily be separated. As high as 8) per cent of ootassium sulphate 
has been found in some commercial samples (Krau a). according to Krauch, 
Merck has put forth a chromic acid almost absolutely free from sulphuric acid. 
It must be preserved in very tightly-stoppered vials. Chromic acid was dis- 
covered in 1797 by Vauquelin (who also that year discovered chromium), and 
was first obtained by the sulphuric acid method by Fritzsche in 1839. 
Description.-Chromic acid occurs in beautiful deep, purplish-red, acicular, 
or quadrangular prismatic crystals, has a metal-like luster, without odor, deli- 
quescent in the presence of moisture, and consequently very soluble in water. 
Solutions of it vary from brown-red to orange-yellow, according to the degree of 
concentration. The acid is perfectly anhydrous. It is a powerful oxidizer, and 
should never be prescribed with any organic material (anything that will burn), or 
with any inorganic deoxidizer. " When brought in contact with alcohol, ether, 
glycerin, and other organic solvents, decomposition takes place, sometimes with 
dangerous violence"-(U. S. P.). It dissolves in ether, but with strong alcohol 
it becomes explosive, and the alcohol burns. With diluted alcohol it slowly con- 
verts the alcohol into aldehyde and acetic acid. It behaves similarly with hydro- 
gen sulphide, sulphurous and arsenous acids, and should not be heated or tritur- 
ated with glycerin or sweet spirit of niter, as a dangerous explosion may result. 
On account of the facility with which it gives up its oxygen to organic matter, it 
is a powerful decolorizing or bleaching agent. Dilute solutions give a red color 
to litmus paper, bleaching the latter on drying. "When chromic acid is heated, 
its color darkens, and finally becomes black, but is restored on cooling. At 192° 
to 193° C. (377.6° to 379.4° F.) it fuses to a reddish-brown liquid, which, on cool- 
ing, forms a dark-red, brittle mass (often enclosing cavities filled with crystals), 
furnishing a scarlet powder. Above 250° C. (482° F.) it begins to decompose into 
green chromic oxide and free oxygen, and, after protracted heating, leaves a resi- 
due of pure chromic oxide, which should yield nothing soluble to water. A 
solution of 1 Gm. of chromic acid in 100 Cc. of water previously acidulated with a 
few cubic centimeters of hydrochloric acid should not be rendered turbid on the 
addition of 1 Cc. of barium chloride T.S. (absence of sulphuric acid)"-(G. S. P.). 
Action and Medical Uses.-Chromic acid is exceedingly destructive to all 
lower forms of life. Small animals, such as mice, are entirely dissolved by it at 
a somewhat elevated temperature, not excepting even the bones, teeth, and hair. 
It coagulates albumen even more readily than nitric or carbolic acids or corrosive 
sublimate. Locally applied to the skinit is an exceedingly active corrosive, pro- 
ducing a deep eschar, which falls off in about 2 days, leaving a granulating 
base, which heals readily. By its contamination with foreign matter, as sulphuric 
acid, it is rendered painful in action, but when pure acts almost painlessly. If 
it be swallowed the same destructive action is observed on the tissues over which 
it passes, and perforation of the stomach may result. Alkalies, especially sodium 
bicarbonate and borax, and demulcents should be administered and the stomach 
pump employed. Stimulate by rectal'enemas if necessary. 
Chromic acid is recommended as an escharotic in the treatment of piles; the 
acid is to be applied freely over the whole of the diseased surface, and when prop- 
erly managed it will not spread beyond the prescribed limits. It occasions uneasi- 
ness for some hours, and sometimes acute burning pain-a slough passes away, 
and the tumor shrinks and becomes insensible. As soon as its erosive operation 
is finished, the acid passes, into a state of inert pulverulent sesquioxide. It is 
less painful than other caustics, and may be used to destroy morbid growths. It 
may likewise be found advantageous in cancer, malignant tumors, ulcers, cysts, 
poisoned icounds, bites of dogs, gangrenous and scrofulous ulcers, hospital gangrene, 
pharyngeal ulcers of a scrofulous or syphilitic origin, and to retracted and ulcerated 
gums in mercurialized and scrofulous individuals. Tumors of the larynx may be 
skillfully removed with it, as well as adenoid growths of the nasopharynx. 
Diluted it forms a good stimulant to old ulcerations. Syphilitic ulcerations and 
growths upon the tongue are to be treated with the acid (10 grains in 1 ounce of 
water). It is a prompt hemostatic. Urethral caruncle may be removed by it, and 46 
ACIDUM CHRYSOPHANICUM. 
uterine leucorrhoea has been stoppi d by its skillful intra-uterine application, care 
being taken that the acid is not used strong enough to induce a cervical stricture. 
One part of the acid to 4| parts of water forms a solution for removing syphilitic 
morbid growths, as warts, candylom ita, genital vegetations, phagedenic ulcers, papillo- 
mata, etc.; it may be applied 1 y means of a small glass rod, in all cases being 
careful not to allow it to act .upon the healthy tissues, nor to penetrate too 
deeply or extensively into tl • parts upon which its action is directed. It 
has also been recommended n oostirate granular conjunctivitis, but should be 
used with great care, that it may not prove destructive to the cornea especially. 
Granulations and polypi oj the middle ear may be removed with chromic acid, 
though it is inferior to salicylic acid for this purpose. Cauterization with chromic 
acid has been resorted to after the removal of cholesteatoma from the tympanum. 
Its use as a remedy for hyperhidrosis of the feet is not to be commended on account 
of the disagreeable after-effects that have often attended its employment. An 
aqueous solution of chromic acid of a pale-yellow color is used to harden and 
preserve nerve and muscle tissue, so that they may be cut into thin sections for 
the microscope. Pus, mucus, blood corpuscles, and other delicate structures for 
microscopic investigation may be preserved in a solution of 1 part of chromic 
acid to 20 of water. For topical use the pure acid or its aqueous solution only 
should be employed. It should be remembered that with glycerin and some 
other solvents it violently explodes. 
ACIDUM CHRYSOPHANICUM.-CHRYSOPHANIC ACID. 
Formula: C15HinO4. Molecular Weight: 253.39. 
Source and History.-Chrysophanic acid was discovered by Schrader, in 
1819, in the Parmelia parietina, Linne, a common wall lichen. He obtained it 
impure, and named it "resinous yellow of wall lichens." It was found in this 
lichen in 1843, and purified by Rochleder and Heldt, who gave it the name chryso- 
phanic acid, from its yellow color (Ann. der Chern, und Pharm. xlviii). Shortly 
after this, Schlossberger and Popping decided the coloring matter obtained from 
rhubarb to be identical. This coloring matter had been known under the names 
of rheine, rheumine, rhabarberic acid, rhubarb yellow, etc., names doubtless given 
to impure forms of chrysophanic acid, emodin, especially, being intimately asso- 
ciated with it. Each of these substances are dissolved by benzin, the chryso- 
phanic acid more freely. According to E. Bourgoin, chrysophanic acid is present, 
in small amount, in senna leaves, and may be obtained by extracting crude 
cathartin, with ether. It is likewise found in yellow-dock root, in small 
amount, and a prolific source of it is araroba (Attfield). 
Preparation.-Chrysophanic acid may be prepared from araroba, as follows: 
Mix in a flask 1 part of araroba, in powder, with 8 parts of benzin, and bring 
to a boil; filter while hot, and when the liquid ceases to pass, return the undis- 
solved matter to the flask, and add 8 parts of benzin; boil, and filter, as before. 
Mix the filtrates, and evaporate to dryness. Dissolve the yellowish powder in 
16 parts of boiling alcohol, filter, and add to the filtrate 32 parts of cold dis- 
tilled water. Allow this to stand for 24 hours, then separate the yellow pre- 
cipitate, by means of a muslin strainer, or filtering paper, and dry by exposure 
to the atmosphere. 
From Rhubarb, chrysophanic acid may be obtained by exhausting the 
coarsely-ground root with water, evaporating the solution to dryness, extracting 
the residuum with boiling benzin, then evaporating the benzin, and, finally, 
purifying the residue by solution in hot alcohol, and precipitation with water, 
the same as stated above, in procuring it from araroba. Thus obtained, it 
contains emodin, but is pure enough for all practical purposes. The yield from 
rhubarb is small. 
Description.-When pure, chrysophanic acid is in golden-yellow needles, 
but considerable of that at present upon the market is in the form of a brown- 
ish-yellow powder. Subsequent investigations showed it to be dioxymethyl 
anthraquinone (Ci5HinO4), while emodin was ascertained to be trioxymethyl 
anthraquinone (C15H10O5). ACIDUM CITRICUM. 
47 
Chrysophanic acid is volatile at high temperatures, is soluble to a slight 
•extent in cold, and a little more freely in hot water. It dissolves readily in alco- 
hol, ether, benzin, and glacial acetic acid, to which it imparts a yellow color. 
Cold sulphuric acid dissolves it without decomposition, and with the formation 
of a red color, from which solution water precipitates it in yellow flakes. It dis- 
solves in alkaline solutions, with the production of a beautiful red color, from 
which solution excess of acids precipitates it, and the liquid becomes decolor- 
ized. It has but little taste and no odor. Its fusing point is at 162° C. (between 
323° and 324° F.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Chrysophanic acid has been chiefly 
employed as a local application in certain cutaneous affections, as mentagra, 
eczema, herpes tonsurans, herpes circinati, psoriasis, acne rosacea, etc. It is generally 
applied in the form of an ointment, consisting of from 10 to 120 grains of the 
acid to 1 ounce of hot lard (360° F.), with which the acid must be thoroughly 
incorporated. The parts affected having been carefully washed, to remove 
fatty substances, and any existing scales (squamae) having been softened and 
carefully removed, this ointment is to be well rubbed in upon the parts, 2 or 3 
times a day. The strength of the ointment, and the number of applications 
per day, will depend considerably upon the amount of irritation occasioned, as 
it frequently gives rise to more or less irritation, or even inflammation of the 
skin. When applied about the face and head, care should be taken to protect 
the eyes from its irritant action. Its use is often objected to by patients, on 
account not only of its staining the clothing and bed-clothes a dull purple color, 
but likewise of its giving a more or less dark purplish tint to the skin, and a yel- 
low color to the hair, with which it comes in contact. Mr. Balmano Squire, of 
London, Eng., to whom we are indebted for a knowledge of this agent, states 
that a careful use of bleaching powder will remove the stains from clothing; and 
liquor potassic, considerably diluted with -water, will, it has been stated, discharge 
the discoloration of the skin and hair. While rubbing it upon the parts, the 
fingers may be protected from discoloration by wearing india-rubber finger tips, 
or by rubbing the stained parts with benzol. 
Internally, but little is satisfactorily known as to the effects of chrysophanic 
acid. In small doses, from 4 to 8 grains, it has occasioned vomiting and in 
doses of from 10 to 20 grains both vomiting and purging. The time of action 
varies from 4 to 24 hours after it has been taken, and persists, in many cases, 
for 2 or 3 days. Liquor potassae, taken subsequently to the dose of the acid, 
appears to increase its activity. Napier states that psoriasis yielded to half- 
grain pills of chrysophanic acid administered 3 times a day, after meals, con- 
tinuing the drug until its physiologial effect, gastro-intestinal irritation, was 
felt. Arsenic and various local applications had been used without produc- 
ing any good results. In one case as much as 9 grains in 24 hours were 
taken without deleterious effects. 
ACIDUM CITRICUM (U. S. P.)-CITRIC ACID. 
Formula: HjC6H-O7+H.2O=C.,H/OH)COOH)3.H.2O. Molecluar Weight: 
209.50. 
Synonyms: Acidum citri, Acidum limonum, Acidum limonorum, Acidum limonis. 
"An organic acid, usually prepared from lemon juice"-(U. S. P.). 
Source and History.-Citric acid of commerce is prepared from the juices 
of the lemon, the lime, and the bergamot. It was first obtained, in 1776, by Ret- 
zius, who distinguished it from acetic and tartaric acids. In 1784, Scheele first 
obtained it in crystalline form. In 1880, it was prepared from glycerin, and also 
from malic acid. Besides being derived from the sources named, it exists in a 
free or combined state as citrate of calcium or potassium in many fruit-juices, as 
of whortleberries, cranberries, gooseberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, 
red elderberries, currants, cherries, tomatoes, tamarinds, cayenne, and in the fruits 
of bittersweet and of a solanaceous plant of South America and Mexico, known 
as the "tomato de la paz" (Cyphomandra botacea). It is also present in Jerusalem 
artichoke, dahlia tubers, and in the rhizomes of red puccoon, and Asarum 48 
ACIDUM CITRICUM. 
europaeum. Both the tobacco plant and lettuce contain it. While abundant 
in the red elderberry the present supply is almost entirely derived from fruits 
of the orange family. England produces the acid on a large scale from Italian 
lemons and limes. It is also made from the sour oranges of Florida. 
Preparation.-The juice, if fresh'and from sound fruit, is first clarified by 
boiling, then strained and saturated to excess with calcium carbonate or milk 
of lime. If the juice be derived from decayed fruit, vinous fermentation is 
allowed to proceed instead of boiling it. The calcium citrate is then precipitated 
in hot water (being less soluble in hot than in cold water) and the supernatant 
liquid drawn off. The calcium salt is then washed with hot water to purify it. 
A slight excess of diluted sulphuric acid is now added to decompose the calcium 
citrate. By this process calcium sulphate is thrown out after which the citric acid 
solution is drawn off. The calcium sulphate is then agitated with either very 
cold or hot water, and the washings, together with the citric acid solution, are 
then heated by steam until of the consistence of syrup when it is crystallized in 
leaden vats. Crystallization is facilitated by the presence of sulphuric acid ; by 
redissolving the acid in a little water and purifying with animal charcoal, the 
commercial crystals will be deposited from the filtered solution. 
Description and Tests.-Citric acid is that acid whose sourness is typical of 
that of the lemon. It occurs in "colorless, translucent, right-rhombic prisms, 
odorless, having an agreeable, purely acid taste; efflorescent in warm air, and 
deliquescent when exposed to moist air. Soluble at 15° C. (59° F.), in 0.63 part 
of water, and in 1.61 parts of alcohol; in about 0.4 part of boiling water, and in 
1.43 parts of boiling alcohol; also soluble in 18 parts of ether. When heated to 
about 75° C. (167° F.) the acid begins to lose its water of crystallization; at about 
135°C. (275° F.) it becomes anhydrous, and melts between 135° and 152° C. 
(275° and 305.6° F.). When slowly ignited it is gradually decomposed without 
emitting the odor of burning sugar (difference from tartaric acid), and is finally 
consumed without leaving more than 0.05 percent of residue"-(U.S.P.). It 
reddens litmus and forms the line of salts known as citrates, of which the alka- 
line salts are freely soluble in water. Calcium citrate is soluble in cold, but not 
in hot water. The dehydrated acid when heated to 155° C. (311° F.) yields 
water and aconitic acid identical with that obtained from aconite, achillea, helle- 
bore, and other plants. 
The aqueous solution of citric acid spoils by keeping, forming acetic acid as 
one of its products. A solution of about the strength of lemon juice may be 
prepared by adding to one ounce of water about two-thirds of a drachm of citric 
acid. A portion of this added to water until sufficiently sour and then sweet- 
ened to taste, affords a fairly good substitute for lemonade. The addition of a 
small portion of lemon essence improves the taste. A solution of 1 part of the 
acid to 2 parts of distilled water will keep sufficiently long to be utilized at the 
"soda counter." Heated with caustic potash or with nitric acid, citric acid is 
converted into oxalic acid. 
"On adding 1 Cc. of an aqueous solution (1 in 10) of the acid to 50 Cc. of 
calcium hydrate T.S. (or so much more of the latter that the mixture has an 
alkaline reaction), the liquid remains clear. Upon boiling this for about one 
minute, it becomes opaque through the precipitation of calcium citrate, which 
redissolves on cooling. If 1 Gm. of the powdered acid be dissolved in 5 Cc. of a 
cold solution (1 in 3) of potassium acetate, the liquid should remain clear, even 
after the addition of an equal volume of alcohol (absence of tartaric or oxalic 
acid). On mixing 10 Cc. of a 10 per cent aqueous solution of the acid with a 
quantity of ammonia water insufficient to neutralize it completely, and adding 
to one-half of this liquid 1 Cc. of ammonium oxalate T.S., it should remain 
clear (absence of calcium). The other half, mixed with a few Cc. of hydrogen 
sulphide T.S., should not deposit a colored precipitate, nor acquire more than a 
faintly brownish-yellow tint (limit of metallic impurities). On treating 10 Cc. of 
a 1 per cent aqueous solution of the acid with 1 Cc. of barium chloride T.S. and 
a few drops of hydrochloric acid, the liquid should not show any turbidity 
within five minutes (limit of sulphuric acid). To neutralize 3.5 Gm. of citric 
acid should require 50 Cc. of potassium hydrate V.S. (each Cc. corresponding to 
2 per cent of the pure acid), phenolphtalein being used as indicator"-(U. S. P.). ACIDUM FORMICL'M. 
49 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Though fatal to rabbits, cats, and 
other animals, producing heart failure, violent tetanic convulsions, and finally 
death, it has not produced the death of man. Its continued use acts destruct- 
ively on the teeth. Large doses are irritant to the gastro-intestinal tract, and 
may act as a poison in this way. It is principally carried off by the kidneys, 
rendering the urine acid if the amount taken be large. The coagulability of the 
blood is retarded by it. This acid is used as a refrigerant and antiscorbutic, ren- 
dering the blood more fluid by lessening its coagulability. In all febrile diseases 
a sweetened solution of it will be found a very beneficial drink, especially in 
those cases where the tongue is coated brown, dark or red; it may be flavored with 
a few drops of the essence of lemon. It is likewise beneficial in scurvy (though far 
less effective than fresh lemon juice), acidity of the stomach and some peculiar forms 
of sick-headache. It has also been advised in gout and inflammatory rheumatism, 
but its liability to occasion gastric acidity, and increase of uric acid in the urine, 
are serious objections to its employment in these diseases, aside from the failures 
that have followed its use on many occasions. Prof. Scudder recommends lemon- 
ade or lemon juice in those cases only where the tongue is red and long and the 
inflamed parts show excessive redness. A lemonade powder, which will keep for 
years if preserved dry, is made by mixing together 4 ounces of powdered white 
sugar with 3 drachms of powdered citric acid and 2 drops of oil of lemon. 
Half a teaspoonful of this mixture may be dissolved in a tumbler of water for a 
beverage. The continued use of citric acid disturbs the functions of the digestive 
organs. M. Girard, Chief of the Paris Municipal Laboratory, claims that citric 
acid is an efficient purifier of polluted water, 1 grain of the acid being destructive 
to the micro-organisms in a quart of water. For this reason he advises the use 
of lemonade during epidemics. Locally it is useful in hypertrophied tonsils, elongated 
uvula, and genital pruritis. The dose of citric acid is from 5 to 30 grains; lemonade 
at will. 
Specific Indications.-Inflammatory rheumatism, showing excessive red- 
ness of inflamed parts and elongated, reddened tongue; scorbutus; febrile states, 
with red, elongated tongue. Lemon juice as an anti-rheumatic when the tongue 
is markedly red, papillae prominent, and usually thinly-coated white. 
Related Product.-Acidum Citricum Saccharatum (N. F.), Saccharated citric acid. 
Formulary number, 5: "Citric acid (U. S. P.), in very fine powder, six hundred and twenty- 
five grammes (625 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 6 ozs., 20 grs.]; sugar in very fine powder, three hundred 
and seventy-five grammes (375 Gm.) [13 ozs. av., 100 grs.]. Triturate the powders together 
until intimately mixed, ana preserve the product in well-stoppered bottles. 
"Note.-This saccharate, when dissolved in water with an equal weight of saccharated 
sodium bicarbonate (F. 341), will form a neutral solution, and it is introduced into this formu- 
lary for the covenient preparation of effervescent powders (F. 319). 
" This saccharate contains 62.5 per cent of crystallized citric acid "-(Nat. Form.'). 
ACIDUM FORMICUM.-FORMIC ACID. 
Formula: H2CO2=HCHO2. Molecular Weight: 45.89. 
Source and History.-This acid was first obtained by the distillation of ants, 
by Samuel Fisher (Lavoisier). A. S. Marggraff* examined it in 1749, and Ard- 
wissan and Oehrn, of Leipsic, in 1777, fairly establishing its identity as a definite 
compound. However, in 1802, Fourcroy and Vauquelin endeavored to prove 
that it was a mixture of acetic and malic acids ; but their opinions were refuted 
by Suersen and Gehlen. Berzelius (1817) first attempted to determine its compo- 
sition (Annals of Philosophy, ix, p. 107), by burning formiate of lead and chlorate 
of potassium in a glass tube, thus deciding that it contained oxygen, hydrogen, 
and carbon. Formic acid is found in certain caterpillars, and doubtless, the 
"bombic acid" Lavoisier mentions as being obtained from silk-worm larva that are 
changing to chrysalides, was impure formic acid. 
The "spirit of magnanimity," of Hoffman, was made by extracting red ants 
with spirits of wine. Later, Mr. F. Will has shown that the fluid in the hairs 
of a species of caterpillar, which causes inflammation of the skin when handled, 
and the poisoning by the sting of some insects, is due to the formic acid 
present. It has also been demonstrated that the stinging hairs of the nettle, 50 
ACIDUM FORMICUM. 
Urtica urens and Urtica dioica, contain this acid. Formic acid is also found in 
pine-tree leaves, and in the blood, bile, urine, perspiration, and muscular tissues 
of man. 
Preparation.-Formic acid derived its name from the fact that it was 
obtained by distillation of red ants {Formica rufa, Linne). Doebereiner discov- 
ered, in the early part of the present century, that it could be prepared artifi- 
cially by the distillation of tartaric acid, water, sulphuric acid, and black oxide 
of manganese. At present, it is known that many organic bodies yield this acid, 
when distilled with black oxide of manganese and sulphuric acid, or with chlor- 
inated lime, or with bichromate of potassium; but decidedly the best process is 
that based upon the principle discovered by Berthelot {Comptes Rendus, March 
1856), that oxalic acid and glycerin will produce it, when heated together. 
4 parts each of oxalic acid and glycerin are to be mixed with 1 part of water, 
and a heat of 100° C. (212° F.) applied 12 or 15 hours, or until the acid is 
decomposed. The residuum is now to be mixed in a still with its bulk of 
water, and distilled. It is then again mixed with the same quantity of water, 
and distilled, the operation being repeated, if the formic acid remains in amount 
to justify. In this process monoformate of glycerin is formed as an intermediary 
product, which, upon distillation with water, splits into glycerin and formic 
acid, as follows: 
C3H5(OH)3+C2O4H2=C3H5(OH)2O(CHO)+CO2+^^ 
C3H5(OH)2O(CHO)+H2O=C3H5(OH)3^ 
The distillates are to be mixed, neutralized with carbonate of lead, then evapo- 
rated to dryness, and distilled with sulphuric acid if desired pure; generally, 
however, the diluted acid is preferable. Another process was suggested by the 
Professors Rogers, in 1847, in which sugar was added to a solution of bichromate 
of potassium, and distilled, while sulphuric acid was slowly added. This requires 
.great care, however, as, according to our experience, if the acid is allowed to enter 
too rapidly, the reaction becomes very violent, and may occasion disastrous 
effects. Besides, if distillation is conducted beyond a certain point, sulphurous 
acid contaminates the distillate. 
Description.-Formic acid is represented by the formula HCHO2, thus a 
molecule contains the elements of water, H2O, and carbonic oxide, CO. It is a 
colorless, strongly acid liquid, when concentrated capable of removing the cuti- 
cle. It does not char when heated, even with sulphuric acid, but in the latter 
case splits up into water and carbonic oxide. It dissolves freely in water, gly- 
cerin and alcohol, and forms salts soluble in water. When ignited, the vapor 
burns with a blue flame. Its odor is pungently acid, and its taste a sharp, biting 
sour. The salts of gold, platinum, mercury and silver are reduced when heated 
with formic acid, and the metals deposited. Anhydrous formic acid crystallizes 
below 0° C. (32° F.), and, according to Attfield, boils at 105° C. (221° F.). The 
experiments of Jardin show that the molecule of formic acid is incapable of 
furnishing carbon assimilable to even the simplest cellular organisms, and solu- 
tions of formiates remain perfectly clear many months. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Formic acid applied to the skin 
acts as an irritant, and produces a violent, burning pain, and may vesicate. If 
kept in contact with the tissues, it will even cause ulceration. Gastro-intestinal 
inflammation and bloody urine were the results of its administration to rabbits. 
In man it acts as an excitant to the circulation, and increases the renal secretions, 
sometimes causing the passage of clouded, offensive urine. Moderate doses 
induce hurried respiration and rise of temperature, while larger doses cause rapid 
breathing, and lower the temperature. If administered at all, it should be 
largely diluted. 
Formic acid is rarely employed in medicine; it was, at one time, used exter- 
nally as a local irritant, in sluggish capillary circulation, in certain painful affections, 
and in enfeebled or paralytic conditions of the limbs. The German Pharmacopoeia 
has a "spirit of ants" [Spiritus Formicarum=Formic acid (2), water (26), alcohol 
(70)], used in chronic rheumatism, etc., in doses of from 10 drops to a fluid drachm; 
also as an external rubefacient. It may also be made by macerating, for 2 days, 
1 part of fresh red ants in 1| parts, each, of alcohol and water, and then distilling 
off 2 parts. It forms a clear, acid fluid, yielding feathery crystals when mixed ACIDUM GALL1CUM 
51 
withpart of subacetate of lead solution. Combined with ammonium (formiate 
of ammonium), the salt formed has been tried in chronic paralytic affections, and 
even in epilepsy, but without success; the dose is 4, 5, or 6 grains. 
ACIDUM GALLICUM (U. S. P.)-GALLIC ACID. 
Formula: HC7H5O5+H2O. Molecular Weight : 187.55. 
Synonyms: Trioxybenzoic acid, Dioxy salicylic acid. 
"An organic acid, usually prepared from tannic acid"-(U. S. Pi). 
Source, History, and Formation.-Though existing in a number of astrin- 
gent plants, the greater portion of commercial gallic acid is derived from nutgalls. 
Scheele (1785), who first obtained it pure, established its non-identity with tannic 
acid. The manner of formation of gallic acid from nutgalls has been a subject 
of much discussion and experimentation. Before investigations were begun it 
was believed to exist ready-formed in galls, but in 1833 Pelouze showed that the 
larger portion of it was derived from the tannin of the galls, and advanced the 
theory that this conversion was accomplished by oxidization by the atmospheric 
oxygen, by which carbon dioxide was driven off. The elder Robiquet (1837) 
showed that its conversion could be accomplished without the aid of oxygen and 
without evolving carbon dioxide, but that it resulted from a ferment called 
pectase. Wetherill (1847), and subsequently Mulder (1848), attempted to show 
that tannic acid differed from gallic acid only in the possession of a larger amount 
of water of crystallization. Liebig believed th6 change to be due to the libera- 
tion of a carbohydrate. In 1854 Strecker came to the conclusion that tannin 
was a glucosid, for by boiling it wdth diluted mineral acid he obtained a large 
amount of gallic acid and considerable glucose. This view was generally accepted 
for a long time, though opposed by the younger Robiquet (1854) and Hlasiwetz 
(1867), who advanced different theories regarding the supposed glucosid. The 
present theory is that advanced by Schiff (1871) and supported by others, that 
pure tannic acid be viewed as digallic acid (this being the first anhydrid of 
gallic acid), and that natural tannin is the glucosid of pure tannic, or digallic 
acid, for by the action of hot diluted mineral acids or a nitrogenous ferment upon 
it, digallic.acid and glucose are evolved. 
Preparation.-Considerable gallic acid is now made by the sulphuric acid 
process. The British Pharmacopoeia directs that 1 part of coarsely powdered 
galls be boiled for one-half hour with 4 parts (fluid measure) of diluted sulphuric 
acid and strained through cloth while hot. Crystals are deposited when cool, and 
are to be collected, treated with animal charcoal, and repeatedly crystallized. 
The method more generally employed is as follows: Take of finely-powdered 
nutgalls, 3 Troy pounds. Mix the galls with enough distilled water to form a 
thin paste and expose the mixture to the atmosphere by allowing the vessel to 
stand in a warm place for about 4 weeks, taking the precaution to see that it 
has at all times sufficient distilled water to maintain a thin, pasty consistence, 
and to stir the mass occasionally with a glass rod. A porcelain or glass vessel 
should be used for this operation, and in no instance should an iron dish be 
employed, as iron or the presence of iron salts give to the product a color very 
difficult of removal. After exposure of the mixture for the required length of 
time the pasty mass is to be expressed and the residue is added to 8 pints of 
distilled water and boiled for a short time, and filtered through pure animal char- 
coal while hot. Upon cooling crystals of gallic acid are deposited, which, if 
further purification is necessary may be again dissolved, treated with charcoal, 
and recrystallized. 
Description.-Gallic acid forms delicate " white, or pale fawn-colored, silky, 
interlaced needles, or triclinic prisms, odorless, having an astringent or slightly 
acidulous taste; permanent in the air. Soluble at 15° C. (59° F.), in 100 parts of 
water, and in 5 parts of alcohol; in 3 parts of boiling water, and in 1 part of 
boiling alcohol. Also soluble in 40 parts of ether, and in 12 parts of glycerin. 
Very slightly soluble in chloroform, benzol, or benzin. When heated at 100° C. 
(212° F.), the acid loses its water of crystallization (nearly 9.6 per cent). At 
about 222° C. (431.6° F.), it begins to melt, and at a higher temperature it is grad- 52 
ACIDUM HYDRIODICUM. 
ually decomposed. At a low, red heat it is consumed without leaving a residue. 
Gallic acid has an acid reaction "-((7. S. P.). 
Gallic acid is entirely sublimed when heated, yielding carbonic acid gas and 
pyrogallol (C6H6O3). 
Tests.-"If 5 Cc. of a cold, saturated, aqueous solution of the acid be 
treated in a watch-glass, with 6 drops of sodium hydrate T.S., the liquid will 
gradually acquire a deep-green color, which is changed to reddish or brownish- 
red by acids. Gallic acid neither colors nor precipitates pure ferrous salts, but 
forms a bluish-black precipitate with ferric salts. On adding to a cold, saturated, 
aqueous solution of gallic acid some calcium hydrate T.S., a bluish-white precip- 
itate will form, where the test solution is temporarily in excess, and will disap- 
pear on shaking. When the test solution has been added in excess, the precip- 
itate no longer dissolves, and the liquid acquires a tint which is blue by reflected 
and green by transmitted light, and becomes pink on the addition of a large 
excess of calcium hydrate T.S. (distinction from tannic acid). An aqueous solu- 
tion of the acid should not precipitate alkaloids, gelatin, albumen, or starch T.S. 
(difference from and absence of tannic acid) "-(U. S. P.). 
Solutions of gold, platinum, and silver salts, as well as those of the allied 
metals, are reduced by gallic acid or its salts, the solution of argentic nitrate con- 
verting gallic into tannic acid. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Gallic acid does not coagulate albu- 
men, and when ingested is quickly absorbed, and rapidly discharged by the kid- 
neys, over the secretions of which, as well as of the skin, it has a marked control. 
Gallic acid is much inferior to tannic acid as a topical astringent; but adminis- 
tered internally, it is more powerful as a remote astringent. Indeed, tannic acid, 
in its passage through the system, becomes changed into gallic acid. As a 
remote astringent, gallic acid has been found very beneficial in uterine, pulmonary, 
and nephritic hemorrhages, and all hemorrhages of a passive character. Menorrhagia 
has promptly ceased under its use. Give 5 grains in pill-form 3 or 4 times 
a day during the flow, as well as during the intermenstrual period. It is best 
adapted to chronic passive cases. It has also been found useful in night sweats, 
pyrosis, chronic mucous discharges from the bowels or bladder, and has some repu- 
tation in arresting the excretion of albumen in Bright's disease of the kidney, and 
assists in maintaining the patient's strength. In hemoptysis give 3 grains each of 
gallic acid and Dover's powder every 2 hours, and at the same time 'administer 
ergot by the mouth or hypodermatically (Locke). From 2 to 5 grains every 3 
hours controls bleeding from the nose and bowels during typhoid fever. As a 
remedy in diabetes insipidus it is asserted to arrest the polyuria by promptly con- 
stringing the relaxed renal capillaries. From 10 to 30 minims of the glycerole 
should be administered 4 times a day (Webster). Some cases of old, purulent 
conjunctivitis are cured by it, and it is of value in trachoma with soft, pasty gran- 
ulations. One part of gallic to 3 parts of tannic acid should be insufflated upon 
the parts twice daily (Foltz). It has given benefit in purpura. Costiveness is not 
produced by its use. Its dose is from 3 to 20 grains 3 times a day, or oftener; it 
may be used in the same form as the tannic acid; of the glycerole 5 to 60 minims. 
Its hydro-glycerin solution may be employed as a wash, gargle, or injection. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Passive hemorrhages with pulse feeble 
and extremities cold, skin inelastic and capillaries relaxed; hematuria with 
nausea, vertigo, headache, and dull aching in the region of the kidney; soft, 
pasty, granular conjunctivitis. 
ACIDUM HYDRIODICUM.-HYDRIODIC ACID. 
Formula: HI. Molecular Weight: 127.53. 
Synonyms : Hydrogen iodide, Iodide of hydrogen, Acidum iodhydricum. 
Source and History.-This substance was discovered shortly after the 
detection of iodine. The process for its preparation, recommended in Dana's 
Chemical Philosophy, 1825, by mixing moistened iodine with phosphorus, is 
almost identical with that offered in some of the more recent works. A solution 
of the gas was official in the U. S. P. (1860), being made from iodine, by decom- ACIDUM HYDRIODICUM. 
53 
posing hydrogen sulphide with iodine in the presence of water, thus: 2H2S+I4= 
4HI+S2. This formula, according to Naumann (Roscoe's Treatise on Chemistry, 
Vol. 1, p. 160), can not yield an acid of greater specific gravity than 1.56. 
Preparation-It may be prepared in practice by mixing 30 grains of pow- 
dered iodine with 5 fluid ounces of distilled water, and then passing hydrogen 
sulphide through the mixture, until the iodine has disappeared; saturate this 
liquid with iodine, and again decolorize, with hydrogen sulphide. Repeat 
the operation until 480 grains of iodine have been used. The liquid now con- 
tains much precipitated sulphur and some free hydrogen sulphide. Boil it 
gently, to drive off the latter impurity, then filter, and bring the filtrate to the 
measure of 6 fluid ounces, by washing the filter with distilled water. If an 
attempt is made to pass the hydrogen sulphide through water mixed with all 
of the iodine, the first action will be attended by a deposition of sulphur over 
the particles of iodine, thus protecting the enveloped particles from the action of 
the gas. This objection is overcome by taking advantage of the fact that iodine 
is soluble in a solution of hydriodic acid, and thus we successively dissolve the 
iodine, and then pass hydrogen sulphide through each solution. 
Description.-Hydriodic acid is a colorless, non-inflammable gas, possessing 
strong acid properties, and a suffocating odor. It fumes when exposed to the 
atmosphere, and has the sp. gr. (air=l) of 4.3737. Gay-Lussac demonstrated it 
to be composed of equal volumes of vapor of iodine and of hydrogen, by allow- 
ing it to remain in contact with mercury, whereby all of the iodine was absorbed, 
and the original volume reduced one-half. It is decomposed by heat, the iodine 
exhibiting itself as a violet vapor. Oxygen, chlorine and bromine decompose it, 
liberating iodine. Sunlight slowly decomposes the gas but does not affect its 
solutions if they be kept free from air. Faraday discovered that at 0° C. (32° F.), 
under the pressure of four atmospheres, it condenses into a colorless liquid. At 
-55° C. (-67° F.) it freezes to a clear, colorless, transparent mass, resembling 
ice. It forms salts with the vegetable alkaloids. 
Solution of hydriodic acid is the hydriodic acid of commerce. It somewhat 
resembles hydrochloric acid, but is less stable. It can not be kept for any length 
of time, as, by exposure to the air, oxygen unites with the hydrogen, forming 
water, and the iodine is liberated, which, dissolving in the solution, imparts to 
it a brownish-red color. This change may be corrected to some extent, by the 
addition of a small quantity of sodium hyposulphite, about £ gr. to the ounce 
of acid (Dunn, 1868). As soon as made, it should be securely sealed in small, 
glass-stoppered bottles, filled to the stopper, and placed in a cool situation until 
used. It has a pungently sour, styptic taste. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Dr. Andrew Buchanan, of Glascow, 
Scotland, introduced this acid as a medicine. He believed it to possess all the 
therapeutic virtues of iodine, without its irritant qualities. His views have, in 
a large measure, been substantiated by other physicians, and it is now given 
whenever the introduction of iodine into the system is required. Used in the 
form of a syrup containing 1 per cent of absolute acid, it is found to be very 
efficient in all forms of scrofulous diseases, and is much employed by members of 
the regular school of medicine in chronic catarrhal pneumonia and other chronic 
pulmonary complaints. It has served a good purpose in the spasmodic form of 
asthma in gouty subjects. Pulmonary indurations, following pneumonia, are 
reduced by it, and absorption of pleuritic deposits favored by the administration 
of the syrup. In this way a peculiarly effective action is obtained from the 
nascent iodine which is liberated in the system. In many cases its use should 
be preferred to that of the element itself. Should free iodine be liberated in the 
syrup, which may be known by its coloring the preparation yellowish or red, it 
may be overcome by the addition of a small amount of sodium hyposulphite, 
and if this be not at hand, the medicament may be administered in rice-water, 
or starch-water. By the latter method, by the action of these amylaceous sub- 
stances, the free iodine will be converted into an inert iodized starch. Syrup of 
hydriodic acid is recommended in periodic hyper aesthetic rhinitis, or hay asthma, 
and undoubtedly has some beneficial effect in this unpleasant malady. The 
acid may also be used by dropping 1 or 2 drops on a lump of sugar and admin- 
istering every 2 or 3 hours (Prof. Howe in E. M. J., 1884). It has been used 54 
ACIDUM HYDROBROMICUM DILUTUM. 
successfully in acute rheumatism, in scrofulous skin diseases, and in various forms 
of poisoning by lead, and in chronic arsenical poisoning. It has benefited cases 
of locomotor ataxia. It is a valuable remedy in some forms of muscular rheuma- 
tism, and in the latter stages of constitutional syphilis when the stomach will not 
tolerate the iodides or other antisyphilitics. Foltz finds it useful in specific 
phlyctenular disorders, interstitial keratitis, in syphilitic iritis, and purulent otitis 
media of specific origin (Dynam. Therapeutics). It has been used successfully in 
obesity. Its further action is that of iodine, to which the reader is referred. The 
syrup of hydriodic acid having the best reputation among practitioners for sta- 
bility and efficiency, is that made by R. W. Gardner, of New York City. The 
dose of the syrup ranges from 30 drops to siv. 
ACIDUM HYDROBROMICUM DILUTUM (U. S. P.)-DILUTED 
HYDROBROMIC ACID. 
Formula: HBr. Molecular Weight : 80.76. 
Synonyms : Hydrogen bromide, Bromide of hydrogen. 
"A liquid composed of 10 per cent, by weight, of absolute hydrobromic acid 
[HBr-80.76] and 90 per cent of water. Diluted hydrobromic acid should be 
kept in glass-stoppered bottles, protected from light"-(U. S. P.). 
Source and History.-This acid closely resembles hydriodic acid, and may 
be prepared in similar ways. Hydrogen and bromine do not unite at ordinary 
temperature, but the vapor of bromine will unite with hydrogen in a red-hot 
tube, containing finely-divided platinum; equal volumes combining to form 
hydrobromic acid (hydrogen bromide). It was obtained by Balard shortly after he 
discovered bromine (1826), but attracted little attention, excepting from experi- 
mental chemists, until within a few years past. It was generally prepared by 
gently warming a mixture of bromine, phosphorus, and water, or bromine, phos- 
phorus, water, and bromide of potassium; but either process is attended with 
danger. A very old process is by the reaction of sulphuric acid upon bromide of 
potassium, whereby hydrobromic acid and sulphate of potassium are produced; 
the process is defective, however, as formerly applied, from the fact that the dis- 
tillate contained sulphurous acid and free sulphuric acid; but investigations of 
Dr. Squibb have shown that this difficulty may be overcome, and, upon the 
authority of that careful experimenter, we present the following mode, as con- 
densed from his process (Amer. Jour. Pharm., March. 1878). 
Preparation.-Mix 7 parts of sulphuric acid with 1 part of water, and allow 
the mixture to cool. Dissolve 6 parts of bromide of potassium in 6 parts of dis- 
tilled water by means of heat, and pour into it the diluted sulphuric acid. We 
advise mixtures of sulphuric acid and water to be made by placing the water in 
an evaporating basin, and pouring the sulphuric acid, in a small stream, upon the 
side of the vessel, just above the surface of the water, stirring the mixture gently. 
Place the mixture aside, in a cool situation, for 24 hours, then decant the liquid 
into a vessel, and transfer the crystalline mass to a funnel stopped with cotton ; 
pour slowly upon it 2 parts of cold water, and allow it to drain into the reserved 
solution in the vessel; transfer this liquid to a retort connected with a Liebig 
condenser, and carefully distill 10 parts, or nearly to dryness; then add to the 
distillate 2 parts of distilled water. All the foregoing proportions are by weight, 
and the product will represent about 34 per cent of hydrobromic acid. 
The following table, by Dr. C. R. A. Wright (Chern. News, May 26th, 1871) 
will be of use in determining the percentage of hydrobromic acid in solutions of 
different specific gravity: 
Percentage of hydrobromic acid, 5 Specific gravity, at 15° C. (59° F.), 1.038 
" " " 10 " " " " 1.077 
" " " 15 " " " " 1.117 
" " " 20 " " " " 1.159 
" " " 25 " " " " 1.204 
" " " 30 " " " " 1.252 
" " " 35 " " " " 1.305 
" " " 40 " " " " 1.365 
" " " 45 " " " " 1.435 
" « u 50 « « « a 151& ACIDUM HYDROBROMICUM DILUTUM. 
55 
According to A. Bertrand (Compt. Rend., Ixxxii, p. 96), phosphoric acid may 
be substituted for sulphuric, when distilling with an alkaline bromide, thus over- 
coming the liability of the product to contain sulphurous acid. The composition 
of hydrobromic acid is represented by the formula HBr; the reaction which takes 
place when made from phosphorus, bromine, and water, being represented by the 
formula P-|-3Br-|-3H2O=3HBr+H3PO3; that when made from sulphuric acid 
and bromide of potassium, by the formula, 2KBr+H2SO4=2HBr4-K2SO4. 
Description and Tests.-Hydrobromic acid is a colorless gas, fuming in the 
air, and irritating to the lungs when inhaled. It condenses to a colorless liquid, 
at a temperature of -71.6° C. (-99° F.), and solidifies, to an ice-like mass, at 
-87.2° C. (-125° F.) (Faraday, Phil. Trans., 1845). Its diffusive power is that of 
hydrochloric and hydriodic acids (Graham). Aqueous hydrobromic acid is color- 
less, and imparts an acid taste. If very weak it becomes stronger, or if very 
strong weaker, by distillation, until the acid within the retort contains from 47 
to 48 per cent of hydrobromic acid. Hydrobromic acid evaporates completely, 
no residuum remaining; should sulphuric acid be present, a white precipitate 
will be formed, upon the addition of solution of chloride of barium. Should 
hydriodic acid be present its detection is rendered easy by exposing a quantity of 
the acid to the air. If it turns reddish or yellow, and gives a blue precipitate 
with starch-paste, iodine is present as a contamination. It is incompatible with 
alkalies and alkaline carbonates, with which it forms "bromides; " likewise, with 
plumbic, argentic, and mercurous salts, in solution, with which it forms precipi- 
tates of the corresponding bromides. 
Acidum Hydrobromicum Dilutum (JJ. S. Pf. Diluted hydrobromic acid.- 
The official acid contains 10 per cent of absolute acid, and is described in the 
Pharmacopoeia as-"A clear, colorless liquid, odorless, and having a strongly acid 
taste. Specific gravity about 1.077 at 15° C. (59° F.). Miscible, in all propor- 
tions, with water and alcohol. By heat it is completely volatilized. On distill- 
ing it water and weak acid first pass over. When the temperature of 126° C. 
(258.8° F.) is reached, an acid of 47.8 per cent remains, which may be distilled 
unchanged. With litmus paper it shows a strongly acid reaction. On adding 
an equal volume of chlorine water to diluted hydrobromic acid, bromine is liber- 
ated, and if a few drops of chloroform are now added and shaken with it, the 
bromine will dissolve in the chloroform with a yellow color (absence of iodine). 
Silver nitrate T.S. causes a yellowish-white precipitate, somewhat soluble in 
hydrobromic acid, insoluble in diluted nitric acid, very slightly soluble in 
ammonia water, but more soluble in stronger ammonia water. Copper sulphate 
T.S produces a deep-red color upon addition of sulphuric acid. On being kept 
for some time the acid should not become colored. Barium chloride T.S. should 
not produce a turbidity or precipitate (absence of sulphuric acid). If 1 Cc. of 
the acid be mixed with 1 Cc. of stannous chloride T.S. (see List of Reagents, 
Bettendorff's Test for Arsenic), and a small piece of pure tin-foil added, no brown 
coloration should appear within half an hour (limit of arsenic). To neutralize 
8.08 Gm. of diluted hydrobromic acid should require 10 Cc. of normal potassium 
hydrate V.S. (each cubic centimeter corresponding to 1 per cent of the absolute 
acid), phenolphtalein being used as indicator"-(U. S. Pf. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Hydrobromic acid can not be admin- 
istered internally, unless considerably diluted, on account of its powerfully cor- 
rosive qualities. Drs. D. C. Wade and J. M. Fothergill have found it efficacious 
in the headache that frequently follows the administration of quinine, as well as 
of ferruginous preparations. If given after the doses of the latter agents it pre- 
vents the sensations of fullness and pain that are apt to be occasioned by them, 
especially with those laboring under cerebral anemia This acid has also been 
found useful in all forms of nervous excitability, sometimes acting more efficaciously 
when in combination with quinine, which it readily dissolves. In nervous exhaus- 
tion from excessive use of tea, or alcoholic drinks, in hysteria from ovarian 
derangement, nymphomania, in sleeplessness from celibacy, in gastric irritability, in 
menorrhagia, and in the vomiting of pregnancy it has been administered with suc- 
cess. In association with quinine and digitalis it has been found of service in 
enfeebled and excited conditions of the heart; with spirit of chloroform and syrup of 
squill, it forms a pleasant and efficacious mixture in all coughs. It is a service- 56 
ACIDUM HYDROCHLORICUM. 
able remedy in nervous headache, and according to De Schweinitz is useful in that 
form of headache resulting from eye-strain. Hale recommends it in febrile disorders 
with marked irritability and restlessness, the tongue being red and dry. When 
considerable cerebral excitement exists from physical or mental overwork, or during 
febrile affections its internal administration will prove highly serviceable. Dr. E. 
Woakes and others have derived great benefit from its use in cases of tinnitus 
aurium, resulting from the use of quinine, and from congestion of the parts, espe- 
cially in those instances in which the tinnitus was of a pulsating, or knocking, 
character; doses of 15 minims of the acid in water were repeated every 4 hours. 
This acid appears to possess the therapeutical virtues common to the bromides of 
potassium and of sodium, although less persistent in its action; and unlike them, 
it possesses the advantage of not occasioning the troublesome acneiform eruption 
so often following their administration. Epilepsy, so frequently improved under 
the use of the alkaline bromides, is rendered worse by the administration of hydro- 
bromic acid. Hydrobromate of quinine has been found a much better form, in 
solution, than the sulphate, for subcutaneous injection. Dose of diluted hydro- 
bromic acid (U. S. P.) containing 10 per cent absolute acid, 10 drops to flsiij, in 
sweetened water if preferred; quinine hydrobromate grains 1 to 20. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Dry red tongue, headache from cerebral 
hyperemia, delirium, pyrexia, tinnitus aurium, and especially when resulting 
from cinchonism; dull pain in the abdomen, with fretfulness and peevishness. 
ACIDUM HYDROCHLORICUM (U. S. P.)-HYDROCHLORIC ACID. 
Formula: HC1. Molecular Weight: 36.37. 
Synonyms : Hydrogen chloride, Muriatic acid, Acidum muriaticum, Acidum chlor- 
hydricum, Acidum hydrochloratum, Marine acid, Chlorhydric acid, Spirit of salt, Spirit 
of sea-salt. 
"A liquid composed of 31.9 per cent, by weight, of absolute hydrochloric 
acid (HC1=36.37), and 68.1 per cent of water. Hydrochloric acid should be 
kept in dark, amber-colored, glass-stoppered bottles" (U. S. Pf. 
Source and History.-Hydrochloric acid was first made, and named the 
spirit of salt, by the monk, Basil Valentine, and its chemical composition deter- 
mined by Davy in 1810. It is found in nature, in a free condition, in volcanic 
gases, and in the gastric juice of mammals. In the form of metal salts, called 
chlorides, it exists in many minerals, the most conspicuous and useful of which 
is common salt, hence its large distribution throughout sea-water. Hydrochloric 
acid is manufactured on an enormous scale in England, as a by-product in 
the production of sodium carbonate and potash. When the English factories 
were first established, the importance of this substance was not recognized, and 
as large quantities of it were generated when common salt was treated with 
sulphuric acid, it was allowed to pass up the chimneys and go to waste. This 
escaping gas soon became a nuisance, disturbing all vegetation in the neighbor- 
hood for miles around, and legislative interference became necessary. Laws were 
passed by Parliament to compel the manufacturers to prevent the escape of the 
gas. The latter found that by bringing the gas into contact with water, it was 
absorbed, yielding an impure hydrochloric acid, and in this instance the prohib- 
itory law resulted in immense profit to those against whom the ordinance was 
passed. 
Preparation.-Crude hydrochloric acid is produced by the English manu- 
facturers, by allowing the gas which is evolved in the process of converting com- 
mon salt into sulphates, to be absorbed by water. The gas is passed through 
coke (packed in a long, upright cylinder) through which water is allowed to 
trickle, and the gas having great affinity for moisture, is dissolved in it. In 
order to obtain a purer product, the gas is allowed to pass through a series of 
stone receivers, the first one being empty to catch and retain any of the sulphuric 
acid or sodium sulphate that may be carried over. The other receivers are par- 
tially filled with water to collect and dissolve the gas after it has passed through 
the first receiver. To produce the gas, about 115 parts of common salt (sodium 
chloride) are saturated with 100 parts (by weight) of strong sulphuric acid. This 57 
ACIDUM HYDROCHLORICUM. 
mixture is heated in upright, cylindrical iron stills. At first about one-half of 
the HC1 is liberated, and acid sulphate of sodium formed, but on heating to a 
point considerably above 200° C. (392° F.), the remaining sodium chloride is 
decomposed by the acid sodium sulphate, thus yielding the full amount of HC1. 
The residue left in the still is then dissolved in water and crystallized as 
Glauber's salt, or it may be used directly in making sal soda. A yellow color 
of variable intensity given the acid produced in this manner, is due to ferric 
chloride, which is dissolved in it to a slight extent, or it may be caused by 
organic contamination present in the materials used. 
A purer acid for medicinal use, according to the British Pharmacopoeia, may 
be prepared as follows: take 48 parts of dried sodium chloride, 44 (80 by weight) 
parts of sulphuric acid, 36 parts of water, and 50 parts of distilled water. Put 
the sodium chloride into a glass flask holding at least one gallon, and upon it 
pour a cooled mixture of the sulphuric acid in 32 ounces of water. A three- 
necked bottle (provided with a safety tube) containing the remaining 4 ounces of 
water, is then to be connected to the flask by means of corks and bent glass 
tubing. Apply heat to the flask, when the disengaged gas will be forced through 
the tube into the bottle, where it is washed, and by means of another glass tube 
passed again into a second bottle containing the distilled water. 
Description.-I. Hydrochloric Acid Gas.-Specific gravity 1.2844. This 
is an irrespirable, colorless gas, intensely irritating to the broncho-pulmonary 
surfaces. Owing to its affinity for moisture, it gives rise to clouds of whitish 
vapor when exposed to the atmosphere. It is neither combustible nor a sup- 
porter of combustion. It reddens litmus and is strongly acid. Under a pressure 
of 40 atmospheres at 10° C. (50° F.), it condenses to liquid hydrochloric acid. 
II. Crude Hydrochloric Acid.-An impure, aqueous solution of the gas, 
of a yellowish to a yellow color, due to the iron present as an impurity. It should 
not contain arsenic, which is sometimes present as arsenic terchloride, derived 
from the sulphuric acid employed in making hydrochloric acid. Arsenic, if 
present, may be separated by adding to 10 parts of the undiluted acid, 1 part of 
stannous chloride. Metallic arsenic will be thrown down as a brownish precipi- 
tate, if the mixture be either heated or allowed to stand for a short time. Filter 
the liquid and distill. This method is a very delicate test, showing the presence 
of a millionth part of the arsenic (Bettendorff, A. J, P., 1871, p. 222). Copper 
and mercury also free it from arsenic, or the diluted acid may be treated with 
hydrogen sulphide, when arsenic-tersulphide will be precipitated. 
III. Acidum Hydrochloricum Dilutum (U. >8. P.). Diluted hydrochloric 
acid, Diluted muriatic acid.-" Hydrochloric acid, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) 
f3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]; distilled water, two hundred and nineteen grammes (219 Gm.) 
7 ozs. av., 317 grs.]; to make three hundred and nineteen grammes (319 Gm.) [11 
ozs. av., 111 grs]. Mix them. Keep the product in glass-stoppered bottles. Diluted 
hydrochloric acid contains 10 per cent of absolute hydrochloric acid. Specific 
gravity about 1.050 at 15° C. (59° F.). It does not fume in the air, and is with- 
out odor, but otherwise it corresponds in properties to hydrochloric acid (see 
Acidum Hydrochloricum), and should conform to the same reactions and tests. To 
neutralize 3.64 Gm. of diluted hydrochloric acid should require 10 Cc. of normal 
potassium hydrate V.S. (each cubic centimeter corresponding to 1 per cent of 
the absolute acid), phenolphtalein being used as indicator"-(U. S. P.). 
IV. Acidum Hydrochloricum (U. S. P.). Hydrochloric acid.-This is an 
aqueous solution containing 31.9 per cent of absolute hydrochloric acid. It is "a 
colorless, fuming liquid, of a pungent odor, and an intensely acid taste. Fumes 
and odor disappear on diluting the acid with 2 volumes of water. Specific 
gravity about 1.163 at 15° C. (59° F.). Miscible, in all proportions, in water and 
alcohol. On heating it, at first a stronger acid passes off. until, at 110° C. (230° F.), 
a liquid containing 20.18 per cent of the absolute acid remains (specific grav- 
ity about 1.102 at 15° C.), which distills unchanged, leaving no residue, if the 
acid was perfectly pure. With litmus paper it shows an intensely acid reac- 
tion, even after great dilution. Heated with manganese dioxide, it gives off 
chlorine "-(U. S. P.). 
Tests.-With silver nitrate T.S. it yields a white, curdy precipitate, insol- 
uble in nitric acid, but readily soluble in ammonia water, forming a colorless 58 
ACIDUM HYDROCHLORICUM. 
liquid (absence of copper). If 10 Cc. of the acid be evaporated from a platinum 
or porcelain capsule, not more than a bare trace of residue should be left (limit 
of non-volatile impurities). A few drops of chloroform, added to 1 Cc. of hydro- 
chloric acid diluted with 2 Cc. of water, should not become colored, either at 
once, or after the addition of a few drops of freshly prepared chlorine water, or of 
a granule of potassium chlorate (absence of iodine or bromine). If 1 Cc. of the 
acid be diluted with 5 Cc. of water, and 0.5 Cc. of zinc-iodide-starch T.S. added, 
no blue color should appear (absence of chlorine or bromine). On adding 1 Cc. 
of stannous chloride T.S. (see List of Reagents, Bettendorff's Test for Arsenic), 
together with a small piece of pure tin-foil, to 1 Cc. of the acid, no coloration 
should occur within one hour (limit of arsenic). If 1 Cc. of the acid be diluted 
with 5 Cc. of water, and a few drops of barium chloride T.S. added, no precipi- 
tate or turbidity should appear within one hour (absence of sulphuric acid), nor 
should the addition to this mixture of a few drops of decinormal iodine V.S. 
produce any turbidity (absence of sulphurous acid). When a few Cc. of freshly 
saturated hydrogen sulphide T.S. are poured carefully on top of an equal volume 
of hydrochloric acid, no color should develop at the zone of contact (absence of 
thallium, arsenic, lead, etc.). If 1 Cc. of hydrochloric acid be slightly supersat- 
urated with ammonia water, and 1 Cc. of ammonium sulphide T.S. added, 
neither a color nor a turbidity should appear (absence of iron, aluminum, etc.). 
To neutralize 3.64 Gm. of hydrochloric acid, diluted with 10 Cc. of water, should 
require 31.9 Cc. of normal potassium hydrate V.S. (each cubic centimeter corre- 
sponding to 1 per cent of the absolute acid), phenolphtalein being used as indi- 
cator"-(U. S. P.). It has been found that if the acid is reddish, selenium is 
present. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Hydrochloric acid, when adminis- 
tered in small doses, creates gastric warmth and quickens the circulation. 
Decided intoxicating effects may be induced by it, while salivation may result 
from its continued use. The concentrated acid is violently irritant and corrosive, 
though it does not attack flesh so energetically as sulphuric acid. A poisonous 
dose produces intense, burning pain, and the faucial, oesophageal and gastric 
tissues are discolored. The tongue is swollen and intensely red, with occasional 
whitish patches. Great restlessness ensues, with a dry, feverish skin, sunken 
features, dilated pupils, small, irregular, wiry pulse, collapse and death result- 
ing. Vomiting of bloody matter may occur, though more frequently only 
violent retching takes place. Whitish vapors may be evolved by mouth if the 
acid be recently swallowed. The acid may be identified if these vapors produce 
a flocculent, white material when brought in contact with ammonia water. After 
death the gastric tissues show marked evidence of intense inflammation. It is 
antidoted by the alkalies, preferably calcined magnesia. If possible, emetics and 
alkaline carbonates should be avoided, on account of their liability to rupture 
the already softened stomach by the over-distension occasioned by the copious 
liberation of carbonic acid gas. Chalk, whiting, soap, and oil are also antidotes 
to poisonous doses of hydrochloric acid, combating the gastro-enteritis in the 
usual way. According to Prof. Maisch, hydrogen sulphide is a direct antidote to 
the poisonous effects of the inhalation of chlorine. Concentrated hydrochloric 
acid is occasionally used as a topical application to cancrum oris, some obstinate 
ulcers of the tongue in certain syphilitic and mercurw-syphilitic diseases, in phagedenic 
ulceration, and also in chilblains or frost-bites. As a decalcifying agent it has been 
used in caries of the ossicles of the ear, as well as of the walls of the tympanum 
and external auditory canal, thus rendering their removal by operation less diffi- 
cult. Foltz applies it with a broom-straw. Internally it is always diluted, so 
as to reduce its specific gravity to about 1.038, and which may be effected by add- 
ing 1 fluid ounce of the strong acid to 3 fluid ounces of distilled water. The 
official diluted acid is usually prescribed. The diluted acid has been used as a 
gargle for elongated uvula, aphthae, and the sore throat of scarlatina. Internally it 
has been administered in typhus and typhoid febrile diseases, malignant scarlet fever, 
some forms of dyspepsia, and in torpor of the liver; also as a tonic in cases of phos- 
phatic urine. 
In the use of this agent we are governed by the specific indications, which 
are a deep-red mucous membrane, with a tendency to decay of the tissues; a. ACIDUM HYDROCYANICUM DILUTUM. 
59 
marked depravation of the body fluids, as is evidenced by the raw, slick, beef- 
like tongue, or the dark-red or dusky, dry and fissured tongue, and the tendency 
to dark, brownish coloration and deposits, as sordes, upon the lips, teeth and 
tongue. All the exudations have a dark color. The temperature may be high 
and yet sedatives fail to act. With these conditions the acid acts kindly, the 
temperature falls, and the way is paved for the administration of other indicated 
drugs. These conditions may obtain in low states of any of the fevers from con- 
tinued to typhoid. Hydrochloric acid is more often indicated in acute than in 
chronic diseases, and here it is that its effects of allaying irritation and acting as 
an antizymotic are marked. In digestive disorders it is especially applicable. The 
gastric juice itself contains this acid, and the cases requiring it are those in 
which the secretion of the natural acid is deficient. There may be nausea, vom- 
iting, pyrosis, and stomatitis; greasy yellow, or brown eructations, with a bitter, 
unpleasant taste; and the breath is pungent and hot. These, together with the 
characteristic coloration of the membranes, point clearly to its use, whether it be 
a simple indigestion or advanced dyspepsia. Intestinal indigestion, fermentative 
diarrhoea, catarrhal intestinal disorders of children, malignant dysentery, or any bowel 
disorder with deep-red membranes and tendency to blood disintegration, are 
alike improved under its use. Pneumonia, rheumatism, and diphtheria occasion- 
ally need hydrochloric acid. In phthisis it checks septic changes and acts as 
a tonic in the processes of digestion and assimilation. Purpura hemorrhagica, 
hepatic disorders, and erysipelas are benefited by it when indicated. Webster calls 
attention to the fact that when the dark-red coloration of membranes is due to 
cardiac complications or other conditions tending to imperfect decarbonization of 
the blood, the mere indication, "red coloration," does not hold good. As specific- 
ally employed, the dose of the acid (pure or diluted) should be such that the 
aqueous dilution should be pleasantly sour; it may be sweetened if desired. The 
dose of diluted hydrochloric acid varies from 10 drops to a fluid drachm, which 
should be added to 4 or 6 fluid ounces of water, and sucked through a quill or 
glass tube, to prevent its injuring the teeth. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Deep-red, dry and contracted tongue, 
with a brownish coating; tongue contracted, with a central brownish stripe, or 
with a fissured, brownish coat; sordes; membranes dark-red; or the tongue is 
dark or dusky-red, moderately full and slick, having the appearance of a piece of 
spoiled beefsteak; pungent heat of skin, slow digestion, and nervous prostration. 
ACIDUM HYDROCYANICUM DILUTUM (U. S. P.)-DILUTED 
HYDROCYANIC ACID. 
Formula: (Absolute hydrocyanic acid) HCN. Molecular Weight : 26.98. 
Synonyms: Prussic acid, Acidum hydrocyanatum, Acidum borussicum, Cyan- 
hydric acid. 
Diluted hydrocyanic acid is an aqueous solution containing 2 per cent, by 
weight, of absolute hydrocyanic acid (HCN=26.98) and 98 per cent of water 
(U. S. P.}. 
Source.-Scheele discovered this acid in 1782. It is contained in many 
trees and shrubs of the natural order Rosaceae, principally in the sub-orders 
Amygdaleae and Pomeae, where it is found in the seeds, barks, leaves and flowers, 
existing uncombined largely in the fluid portions of the plant. It is this acid 
which gives to the almond, and to peach seeds and leaves their pleasant and 
characteristic flavor. 
Preparation.-" Potassium ferrocyanide, in coarse powder, twenty grammes 
(20 Gm.) [309 grs.]; sulphuric acid, eight cubic centimeters (8 Cc.) [130 UL] ; 
water, sixty-five cubic centimeters (65 Cc.) [2 fl§, 95 UL] ; distilled water, a suffi- 
cient quantity. Place the potassium ferrocyanide in a tubulated retort, and add 
to it forty cubic centimeters (40 Cc.) [1 fls, 169 UI] of water. Connect the neck of 
the retort (which is to be directed upward), by means of a bent tube, with a well- 
cooled condenser, the delivery tube of which terminates in a receiver surrounded 
with ice-cold water, and containing sixty-five cubic centimeters (65 Cc.) [2 fl^, 
95 U[] of distilled water. All the joints of the apparatus, except the neck of the 60 
ACIDUM HYDROCYANICUM DILUTUM. 
receiver, having been made air-tight by means of well-fitting corks, pour into the 
retort, through the tubulure, the sulphuric acid, previously diluted with twenty- 
five cubic centimeters (25 Cc.) [406 UI] of water. Gently mix the contents of 
the retort and then heat it.in a sand-bath, so as to keep the liquid in brisk ebulli- 
tion, until about one-half of its volume has passed over into the receiver. 
Detach the receiver, and assay a small portion of the contents by the method 
given below. Then add to the remainder so much distilled water as may be 
required to bring the product to the strength of 2 per cent, by weight, of absolute 
hydrocyanic acid. Diluted hydrocyanic acid may also be prepared, extempo- 
raneously, in the following manner: silver cyanide, six grammes (6Gm.) [93grs.]; 
hydrochloric acid, five cubic centimeters (5 Cc.) [81 TTL] ; distilled w'ater, fifty-five 
cubic centimeters (55 Cc.) [1 426 UI]. Mix the hydrchloric acid with the 
distilled water, add the silver cyanide, and shake the whole together in a glass- 
stoppered bottle. When the precipitate has subsided, pour off the clear liquid. 
Diluted hydrocyanic acid should be kept in small, dark amber-colored, cork-stop- 
pered vials, in a cool place"-(U. S. P.). 
Wittstein gives the following formula for making diluted hydrocyanic acid, 
which forms quite a permanent acid, one that may be freely exposed to the light 
for ten or twelve weeks without any apparent change: to 16 ounces of distilled 
water add 4 ounces of ferrocyanide of potassium ; when dissolved, add a mixture, 
cold, of 12 ounces of alcohol, specific gravity 0.840, with 3 ounces of sulphuric 
acid. Let this mixture stand for 24 hours, with occasional agitation. By means 
of a strainer separate the crystalline precipitate, introduce the clear liquid into 
a retort which has an inch in depth of its bottom covered with clean quartz- 
sand, in order to check the thumping during the distillation, and distill off 20 
fluid ounces. Reduce the distillate to the proper strength by the appropriate 
tests. 
Description and Tests.-Concentrated or anhydrous hydrocyanic acid is 
not used in medicine. The medicinal acid is a clear fluid, having a peculiar, 
penetrating, diffusive odor, and a peculiar, rather disagreeable taste, both the 
"odor and taste resembling those of bitter-almonds"-(U. S. P.). It is very 
poisonous (on which account it should be tasted with great caution), is very vola- 
tile, imparts a slight red tinge to litmus paper which is not permanent, and is 
decomposed by the action of light, giving rise to a black substance, paracyanogen. 
Vials in which it is placed should be small, and of a dark-amber color, and well- 
stopped with cork. It should always be kept in a cool situation. " It is com- 
pletely volatilized by heat"-(U. S. P.). If the acid strongly reddens litmus it 
contains some other acid ; if it be sulphuric acid, a solution of nitrate of barium, 
which occasions no precipitate in the pure acid, will yield a white deposit of 
sulphate of barium, insoluble in nitric acid. If hydrochloric acid be present, 
nitrate of silver forms a white deposit of chloride of silver insoluble in boiling 
nitric acid, whereas the white cyanide of silver is soluble in nitric acid at 100° 
C. (212° F.). It is soluble in water, ether, and alcohol in all proportions. 
Hydrocyanic acid may be known: 1. By its peculiar odor; 2. by its forming 
Prussian blue when, after having accurately saturated it with caustic potash, a 
solution of sulphate, and of chloride of iron is added to it, and to the pre- 
cipitate thus procured some diluted sulphuric or hydrochloric acid be added; 
3. the white precipitate of cyanide of silver, caused by the addition of a solution 
of nitrate of silver, is soluble in boiling concentrated nitric acid; 4. a very deli- 
cate reaction is as follows: place a few drops of the suspected liquid upon a 
watch glass, add a few drops of ammonia and yellow ammonium sulphide, warm 
on a water-bath to decompose the excess of the latter; when the liquid is color- 
less, render faintly acid with hydrochloric acid and add some ferric chloride; a 
blood-red coloration of ferric sulphocyanide will appear if HCN was originally 
present. The following is Schonbein's test for the millionth part of a drop of 
hydrocyanic acid in water, or in vapor in the atmosphere: dissolve 3 grammes 
(46^ troy grains) of guaiac resin in 100 grammes (1543| troy grains) of rectified 
alcohol. Moisten enough filtering-paper in this solution to absorb the whole of 
it; the paper should remain white. Also make a solution of sulphate of copper 
1 decigramme (1$ troy grains) to 50 grammes (771§ troy grains) of distilled 
water. When it is desired to use this test, cut off a small strip of this paper, 61 
ACIDUM HYDROCYANICUM DILUTUM. 
moisten it with the solution of sulphate of copper, and place it in contact with 
the suspected fluid or vapor, and if hydrocyanic acid be present, the paper 
becomes blue instantly. 
Hydrocyanic acid is incompatible with the mineral acids, the salts of iron, 
the sulphides, chlorine, the oxides of mercury, of antimony, nitrate of silver, etc. 
Light decomposes it, hence it should always be kept in bottles that are darkened 
or covered so as to prevent the rays of light from passing into them. In using 
this acid medicinally, care should always be taken to procure the diluted prepara- 
tion. Scheele's medicinal hydrocyanic acid is stronger than the official diluted 
acid of the United States Pharmacopoeia, as 2 is to 5. A very weak hydrocyanic 
acid is less liable to decomposition than the stronger preparations, hence it is that 
such preparations as Scheele's (above) is unfitted for medicinal use, on account of 
the readiness with which it loses strength. Prof. J. U. Lloyd has shown that a 
hydrocyanic acid made with a portion of alcohol will retain its properties unal- 
tered and without apparent loss, for at least three years. "If to 1 Cc. of the acid, 
rendered alkaline by potassium hydrate T.S., a few drops, each, of ferrous sul- 
phate T.S. and ferric chloride T.S. be added, and the mixture then acidulated 
with hydrochloric acid, a blue precipitate will be formed. To ascertain the per- 
centage strength, mix in a flask (of the capacity of about 100 Cc.) 0.27 Gm. of 
hydrocyanic acid (obtained by distillation as above directed) with sufficient water 
and magnesia to make an opaque mixture of about 10 Cc. Add to this 2 or 3 
drops of potassium chromate T.S., and then, from a burette, decinormal silver 
nitrate V.S., until a red tint is produced which does not again disappear by shak- 
ing. Each cubic centimeter of silver nitrate V.S. used indicates 1 per cent of 
absolute hydrocyanic acid. After ascertaining the strength of the distillate, 
dilute it with distilled water so as to bring it to the strength of 2 per cent of 
absolute acid. Lastly, test the finished product again, when 1.35 Gm. of it 
should require, for complete precipitation, 10 Cc. of decinormal silver nitrate 
V.S."-(U. S. P.). 
Action and Toxicology.-Prussic acid is one of the deadliest of known 
poisons. In small doses it produces in man, salivation, faucial irritation, epi- 
gastric warmth, bitter, hot taste, dizziness, light feeling in head, tinnitus, pain in 
head, numbness, vertigo, dusky countenance, drowsiness, staggering gait, prae- 
cordial constriction, and the pulse either increased with palpitation, or decreased 
in action. From such doses ulceration of the mouth, and salivation have 
occurred. In poisonous doses its effects are very rapid. When a half ounce of 
the ordinary solutions (2 to 4 per cent) is taken, the symptoms usually commence 
with swallowing, or quickly thereafter. The symptoms are rarely delayed 
beyond one or two minutes (Taylor). Faintness, vertigo, or more commonly 
insensibility, at once take place. Then follow fixation and glistening of the 
eyes, with dilatation of the pupils which light fails to affect, flaccid limbs, cold 
skin with clammy perspiration, dusky, turgid countenance, hot head, convulsive 
breathing at long intervals (appearing dead during the intervals), pulse imper- 
ceptible, involuntary evacuations, respiration slow, deep, and gasping, usually 
convulsive, though occasionally sobbing or heaving, and if there be profound 
coma, the breathing is stertorous. Usually in fatal cases, relaxation rather than 
convulsions, is the rule, though in occasional cases convulsions, or rigidity with 
set jaws, have been observed. The eyes retain their peculiar luster after death, 
and the congested state of the gastric membranes, as well as the engorgement of 
blood in the deeper veins, with empty arteries, and the purplish hue of the skin, 
are among the post-mortem appearances. 
The smallest dose which has produced death is that equivalent to T9a grain of 
the anhydrous acid, or 45 minims of the official solution. Time, 20 minutes; a 
healthy, adult female. The • smallest fatal dose is therefore assumed to be 50 
minims of the solution [2 per cent] (Taylor). Taylor compares the death to 
that of lightning, the patient either dies quickly, or recovers altogether. Seven 
drachms of the solution killed a physician in four or five minutes; and a single 
drop of the pure acid in the eye or throat of a strong dog killed the animal in a 
few seconds. The strong odor of bitter almonds is given off from the poisoned 
patient before and after death. Death may result from either respiratory or 
cardiac paralysis. If death does not take place in one hour, the patient will 62 
ACIDUM HYDROFLUORICUM. 
probably recover. The effects of potassium cyanide closely resemble those of 
prussic acid. In cases of poisoning by hydrocyanic acid, there is seldom time to 
administer an antidote; but when life is not extinct, we may confidently rely on 
the antidotes we possess. The theoretical antidote is ferrous sulphate. The best 
is that proposed in the Lancet for 1844, Vol. II., p. 41, by Messrs. T. & H. Smith, 
of Edinburgh, viz.: In a fluid ounce or two of water, dissolve carbonate of potas- 
sium 20 grains, and cause the patient to swallow it; and, immediately following 
this, administer a solution of sulphate of iron 10 grains, tincture of chloride of 
iron a fluid drachm, in a fluid ounce of water. This will convert about 2 grains 
of the strong acid into an insoluble prussian blue. While these are being pre- 
pared, the symptoms already produced will be best combated by ammonia 
inspired from a sponge, or taken, diluted, internally; by chlorine water, used by 
inhalation, and internally, in teaspoonful doses, diluted with water; cold affu- 
sion, dashing the water or pouring it from a height, more especially on the head 
and along the spinal column; and also artificial respiration and electricity. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-When largely diluted (2 per cent), it has been 
employed in medicine as a sedative to subdue spasm, and allay nervous irritability. 
It has been used to relieve severe vomiting and purging, to check colliquative diar- 
rhoea, to cure pertussis and spasmodic coughs, asthma, hysteria, chorea, dyspepsia con- 
nected with morbid irritability of the stomach, etc.; also externally in several 
diseases of the skin. It has likewise been found beneficial in the cough of con- 
sumptives, cardiac palpitations, hypertrophy of the heart, and in difficult breathing. It 
is useful in angina pectoris, but not so valuable as amyl nitrite or glonoin. Minute 
doses relieve congestive headache. But, from its volatility, its variability of strength, 
and its proneness to decomposition, it will very frequently dissappoint the expec- 
tations of the practitioner, either by inducing fatal symptoms, or being wholly 
inert. The dose of the diluted acid is from 1 to 3 drops in water, mucilage or 
syrup. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-"Elongated and pointed tongue with red- 
dened tip and edges ; uneasy sensations in the stomach" (Scudder), nausea, vom- 
iting, gastric irritation and pain; vertigo; angina pectoris; cough of phthisis 
(palliative); gastric cough with scanty secretions. In the specific use of this 
drug, 5 minims of the official acid (2 per cent) are added to 4 fluid ounces of 
water, and teaspoonful doses of the mixture administered every 2 or 4 hours. 
ACIDUM HYDROFLUORICUM.-HYDROFLUORIC ACID. 
Formula: HF. Molecular Weight: 20. 
Synonyms: Hydrogen fluoride, Fluorhydric acid, Acidum fluor hy dr icuni. 
Source and History.-Scheele discovered an impure hydrofluoric acid in 
1771. It was subsequently obtained pure by Gay-Lussac and Thenard in 1808. 
Hydrofluoric acid is a derivative of the element fluorine, which occurs in fluor- 
spar (calcium fluoride) and other minerals, as for instance cryolite (Al2Fl12Na6). 
It is present to a slight extent in the bones of mammals, as fluoride of calcium, 
existing in human bone, according to Berzelius, to the extent of 2 parts in 100. 
It is also a constituent of the enamel of the teeth, and is found to some extent 
in both drinking and mineral waters. 
Preparation.-The greatest care is necessary in the preparation of this acid. 
It is recorded that Prof. Nickles, of Naples, lost his life from the accidental 
inhalation of hydrofluoric acid vapors. To prepare it, powdered fluor-spar may 
be gently heated with sulphuric acid in a lead or platinum retort, and the result- 
ant gas, which exhibits great avidity for moisture, may be conducted into lead or 
platinum receivers containing cold distilled water, the receptacles being kept very 
cool by immersion in a cold bath. Cryolite may be used in place of fluor-spar, 
but either should be free from silica. 
Description.-Hydrofluoric acid of commerce is a solution of hydrofluoric 
acid gas in water, in which it is extremely soluble. It is a thin, colorless, liquid, 
emitting exceedingly dangerous vapors. The gas (in the presence of moisture 
only), or the aqueous solution, actively attacks glass on account of its strong 
attraction for silica, with which it forms silicon fluoride (SiF4), and hydrofluosili- 63 
ACIDUM HYPOPHOSPHOROSUM DILUTUM. 
cates of the bases contained in the glass. For this reason it is extensively used 
for etching upon glass. To illustrate its action a piece of glass may be coated 
with wax or paraffin, into which a design is scratched with a needle, leaving the 
surface of the glass free where traced. The glass may then be laid face down- 
ward over a mixture of equal parts of powdered fluor-spar and sulphuric acid con- 
tained in a leaden vessel, and gently heated in the open air, being extremely 
careful not to inhale any of the fumes. The gas attacks the glass in those parts 
not coated with wax, and leaves, on the surface of the plate, an opaque impres- 
sion of the figure drawn. On account of this action on glass, it must be kept in 
leaden or rubber bottles. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This acid has an intensely irritat- 
ing action upon the respiratory organs, may produce spasm of the glottis, and 
has caused death. Allowed to come in contact with the skin, it powerfully cor- 
rodes it, producing a deep sore very difficult to heal, and exhibiting an intensely 
painful, aching sensation. The vesicles produced by it should be immediately 
evacuated and treated with a dilute solution of caustic potash. Even the vapor 
will produce painful sores under the finger nails. Fermentation and putrefac- 
tion are powerfully restrained by even so dilute a solution as 1 in 3000. From 
the fact that etchers upon glass seemed remarkably free from phthisis, several 
French physicians attributed their exemption to the use of this acid in their 
work. A series of trials was made to determine its usefulness in this complaint. 
A special chamber (22 Cc.) was constructed by Dujardin-Beaumetz in which he 
exposed consumptive patients to the vapor of 1 grain of the acid diffused from a 
leaden vessel by means of a water bath. Expectoration was lessened and the 
appetite somewhat increased, but beyond this no good results were apparent. It 
has been prescribed in phthisis, pertussis, asthma, and diphtheria, but without suc- 
cess; also in aneurism to slow the arterial action. Woakes claims to have cured 
seventeen out of twenty cases of goitre with it. Large doses, 15 to 60 minims, 
were given, largely diluted, 3 times a day. Other adjuvant treatment was also 
employed and particularly injections of iodine, and it is but fair to presume that 
much of the benefit was derived from the adjuvant treatment. The fluorides re- 
lieve pain without proving narcotic, quickly cause loss of appetite and gastric de- 
rangement even in very small doses, and speedily act as non-depressing emetics. 
ACIDUM HYPOPHOSPHOROSUM DILUTUM (U. S. P.)-DILUTED 
HYPOPHOSPHOROUS acid. 
Formula: HPH2O2. Molecular Weight: 65.88. 
A liquid composed of about 10 per cent, by weight, of absolute hypophos- 
phorous acid (HPH2O2=65.88), and about 90 per cent of water (U. S. P.). 
Preparation.-Hypophosphorous acid may be prepared from any of the hy- 
pophosphites which are soluble. The process of Moerk is as follows: Take cal- 
cium hypophosphite 69 parts, boiling water 450 parts. Solve. Crystallized oxalic 
acid 50.4 parts, boiling water 200 parts. Solve. Mix the two solutions, boil for 
one-half hour, cool, filter by means of cotton, and wash the precipitate with cold 
water. Finally evaporate the filtrate to 88 parts. This process yields a 60 per 
cent acid, and as diluted hypophosphoric acid of the Pharmacopoeia contains but 
10 per cent of absolute acid, it may readily be prepared by diluting the above 60 
per cent acid to the desired strength by the addition of distilled water. The 
National Formulary directs its preparation as follows: 
Acidum Hypophosphorosum Dilutum (W. F.), Diluted hypophosphorous 
acid.-Formulary number, 6: " Potassium hypophosphite two hundred and eight 
grammes (208 Gm.) [7 ozs. av., 147 grs.] ; tartaric acid three hundred grammes (300 
Gm.) [10 ozs. av.,25a grs.]; distilled water five hundred and eighty-eight grammes 
(588 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 4 ozs., 324 grs.]; diluted alcohol ( U. S. P.) six hundred grammes 
(600'Gm.) [1 lb. av., 5 ozs., 72 grs.]. Dissolve the potassium hypophosphite in the 
distilled water, and the tartaric acid in the diluted alcohol. Mix the two solu- 
tions in a flask, cork the latter well, and put it aside in a cold place during 
twelve hours. Then carefully decant the liquid into a funnel, the neck of which 
contains a pellet of absorbent cotton, or, if necessary, pass the liquid through a 64 
ACIDUM LACTICUM. 
filter, care being taken that it shall not suffer loss by evaporation. Weigh the 
filtrate, which contains 10 per cent of hypophosphorous acid, in a tared capsule, 
and evaporate the alcohol by means of a water bath, at a temperature not ex- 
ceeding 60° C. (140° F.). Then allow the liquid to cool, and add enough distilled 
water to restore the original weight of the filtrate. Preserve the product in well- 
stoppered bottles. 
" Note.-This acid is now official in the U. S. P.; but the formula is retained 
because it may be now and then convenient or necessary to make it. If a 50 per 
cent acid is required, the concentration may be cautiously continued until the 
desired percentage has been attained. A 50 per cent acid has a specific gravity 
of about 1.406 at 15° C. (59° F.)"-(Nat. Form.). 
Description and Tests.-The U. S. P. thus describes and gives tests for this 
acid: "A colorless liquid, without odor, and having an acid taste. Specific 
gravity about 1.046 at 15° C. (59° F.). Miscible in all proportions with water. 
When heated in a porcelain capsule, it evaporates, losing at first principally 
water, and becoming more concentrated. On further heating it decomposes, 
forming hydrogen phosphide which ignites, and phosphoric acid. The pasty res- 
idue finally reddens, ignites, and the last portions of phosphorus burn out at 
higher heat. From silver nitrate T.S. it reduces black metallic silver. When 
the acid is gently heated with copper sulphate T.S., a yellow precipitate of cop- 
per hydride falls, which rapidly assumes a reddish-brown color. The addition of 
hydrogen sulphide T.S. to the acid should produce neither a precipitate nor a 
coloration (absence of lead, etc.). If some of the acid be neutralized with 
ammonia water, separate portions of the liquid should not yield a precipitate 
with ammonium sulphide T.S. (absence of iron, etc.), nor with ammonium 
oxalate T.S. (absence of calcium); nor should more than a slight turbidity be 
produced by barium chloride T.S. (limit of phosphoric, sulphuric, oxalic and 
tartaric acids). Neither platinic chloride T.S. nor sodium cobaltic nitrite T.S. 
should produce more than a slight yellow turbidity in the diluted acid (limit of 
potassium). If 0.5 Gm. of diluted hypophosphorous acid be mixed with 7 Cc. 
of sulphuric acid and 35 Cc. of decinormal potassium permanganate V.S., and 
the mixture boiled for 15 minutes, it should require about 4.7 Cc. of decinormal 
oxalic acid V.S. to discharge the red color, corresponding to about 10 per cent of 
the absolute hypophosphorous acid. To neutralize 6.6 Gm. of diluted hypophos- 
phorous acid should require about 10 Cc. of normal potassium hydrate V.S. (each 
cubic centimeter corresponding to 1 per cent of the absolute acid), phenolphta- 
lein being used as indicator"-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Reputed tonic in nervous debility, 
though seldom if ever used, except in combination with other tonic mixtures 
and syrups. The dose ranges from 10 to 60 minims. 
ACIDUM LACTICUM (U. S. P.)-LACTIC ACID. 
Formula: HC3H5O3. Molecular Weight : 89.79. 
Synonyms: Isolactic acid, Oxypropionic acid, Ethylidene-lactic acid, Ethidene- 
lactic acid. 
"An organic acid, usually obtained by subjecting milk-sugar or grape-sugar 
to lactic fermentation; composed of 75 per cent, by weight, of absolute lactic 
acid [HC3H5O3=89.79], and 25 per cent of water"-(U. S. P.). 
Source and History.-Lactic acid is formed from milk-sugar by the process 
of " lactic fermentation " induced by the presence of casein. It is the acid prin- 
ciple of sour milk and is produced when vegetable and other tissues become 
soured, as in sauerkraut, or when beet juice, or rice-water are allowed to ferment, 
and it may also be obtained from refuse liquor produced in the manufacture of 
starch and the tanning of leather. It is found in natural form in the juice of 
the bittersweet (Solanum Dulcamara) (Wittstein), and occurs normally in some of 
the fluids of the body, notably the gastric juice; also in certain pathological con- 
ditions. That it exists in the gastric juice, however, is contradicted by Maly and 
others. This acid was first obtained from sour milk by Scheele in 1780. Berze- 
lius discovered it in a modified form in meat juices in 1807 and named it sarco- 65 
ACIDUM LACTICUM. 
lactic acid, which, however, has been shown to be a combination of paratactic and 
ethylenelactic acids. These acids are isomeric with the lactic acid of fermentation, 
but behave differently toward polarized light. The greater portion of lactic acid 
comes to us from Germany, though a considerable amount is now prepared in 
the United States. Alcohol, mannit, a gum, and several other acids may be 
obtained in making lactic acid. 
Preparation.-This acid is usually prepared by allowing milk-sugar to digest 
for a few weeks, in the sunlight, at a temperature of about 30° C. (86° F.), in a 
mixture of milk, rotten cheese, and chalk. The casein of the cheese induces 
lactic fermentation, the resulting acid being neutralized by the calcium com- 
pound, forming calcium lactate. The calcium salt is then crystallized, decom- 
posed with oxalic acid by which calcium oxalate is formed, and lactic acid is lib- 
erated. At no time should the temperature fall below 20° C. (68° F.), or rise 
above 40° C. (104° F.), for at the former the formation of the acid is retarded 
and at the latter a certain amount of butyric acid is produced. 
A more rapid process than that customarily followed, and one which gives a 
greater yield, is that of Kiliani (1882). Cane sugar is converted into invert sugar 
by dissolving in two hundred and fifty grammes (250 Gm.) [8 ozs. av., 358 grs.] of 
water, five hundred grammes (500 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 1 oz., 279 grs.] of cane sugar, 
and boiling it with ten cubic centimeters (10 Cc.) [162 111] of sulphuric acid. To 
this is gradually added four hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (450 Cc.) [15 fl§, 
104 TH.] of a solution of equal parts of sodium hydroxide and water. This is heated 
to 60° C. (140° F.), or 70° C. (158° F.), until it no longer reacts, or gives but a very 
faint greenish color, with Fehling's test solution. Sulphuric acid is then added to 
neutralization, sulphate of sodium crystallizes, and 93 per cent alcohol is added 
until the remainder ceases to throw down a precipitate. Then over a sand-bath 
one-half of the alcoholic solution is boiled and neutralized with carbonate of zinc, 
and, while boiling hot, filtered, added to the other half, and allowed to cool. 
Lactate of zinc at once begins to crystallize, requiring about 36 hours for comple- 
tion. The crystals are expressed and recrystallized. This salt is then treated 
with oxalic acid, and lactic acid results. When well-soured sauerkraut is boiled 
with zinc carbonate, lactate of zinc is formed. 
Acidum Lacticum Dilutum (Br.) Diluted lactic acid: " Lactic acid 3 fluid 
ounces (Imp.) ; distilled water, q. s. to make 1 pint (Imp.). Mix "-(Brit. Phar.). 
Description and Tests.-Pure lactic acid is colorless and odorless. The 
official preparation is "a colorless, syrupy liquid, odorless, of a purely acid 
taste, and absorbing moisture on exposure to damp air. Specific gravity, about 
1.213 at 15° C. (59° F.). Freely miscible with water, alcohol, or ether; insoluble 
in chloroform, benzin, or carbon disulphide. Lactic acid is not vaporized by a 
heat below 160° C. (320° F.); at a higher temperature it emits inflammable vapors, 
and is finally dissipated. 5 Gm., after combustion, should not leave more than 
0.05 Gm. of fixed residue. Lactic acid has a strongly acid reaction "-(U. S. P). 
Albumen is coagulated by it. Treated with nitric acid it yields oxalic 
acid. It gives rise to the lactates, and when treated with chromic acid, acetic and 
formic acids result. Heated to 150° C. (302° F.), it is converted into the anhydride, 
lactide (C3H4O2=concrete lactic acid), a crystalline solid. When painted upon 
substances it dries to form a smooth varnish which gradually absorbs moisture 
from the air. 
"On adding some potassium permanganate to a mixture of equal volumes of 
lactic and sulphuric acids, and gently heating, the odor of aldehyde will become 
perceptible. 10 Cc. of a 1 per cent aqueous solution of the acid should not be 
rendered opalescent by the addition of 1 Cc. of silver nitrate T.S. (limit of chlo- 
ride). 10 Cc. of a 10 per cent aqueous solution should remain unaffected by the 
addition of 1 Cc. of barium chloride T.S. (absence of sulphate), or by 1 Cc. of 
copper sulphate T.S. (absence of sarcolactic acid), or after supersaturation with 
ammonia by 1 Cc. of ammonium sulphide T.S. (absence of iron, lead, etc.). On 
adding a few drops of lactic acid to 10 Cc. of hot alkaline cupric tartaric V.S., no 
red cuprous oxide should be separated (absence of sugars). If a small portion of 
the acid be heated with an excess of zinc carbonate, the mixture dried at 100° C. 
(212° F.), and then extracted with absolute alcohol, upon evaporation of the 
latter no sweet residue should remain (absence of glycerin). On mixing equal 66 
ACIDUM LACTICUM. 
volumes of lactic and colorless, concentrated sulphuric acids in a small, clean, 
glass-stoppered vial, the mixture should not acquire a tint deeper than a pale 
straw-color (absence of more than traces of organic impurities). To neutralize 4.5 
Gm. of lactic acid should require 37.5 Cc. of potassium hydrate V.S. (each cubic 
centimeter corresponding to 2 per cent of absolute acid), phenolphtalein being 
used as indicator"-(U. S. Pf. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Lactic acid is a normal constituent of 
the gastric juice, and to its excess in the system has been attributed the cause of 
rheumatism; but whether it is the cause or a result has not yet been definitely 
determined. Very large doses are reputed hypnotic (Mendel). 
Lactic acid quickly dissolves oxalate of calcium and phosphate of calcium, 
especially that which is contained in the bones, and hence has been recommended 
in oxalic and phosphatic urinary deposits. It has not, until quite recently, been 
much employed in medicine in its uncombined state, but has been used in the 
preparation of lactate of iron and lactate of quinine. According to Pereira this 
acid was introduced into medicine by Magendie, who suggested its employment 
in dyspepsia and in phosphatic urine. It has more recently been advised in gout. 
The dose is from half a drachm to 2 drachms, in sweetened water, or in the 
form of lozenges. It is better to take the acid during or immediately following 
meals. Added to pepsin, as prepared for therapeutical use, this acid renders it 
still more valuable as a solvent of the food received into the stomach. Accord- 
ing to Bricheteau and Adrian, the false membranes of diphtheria, croup, pseudo- 
membranous bronchitis, etc., are soluble in a solution of lactic acid, forming a 
translucent liquid with almost imperceptible fragments of a gelatiniform sub- 
stance floating upon its surface and looking like froth, while acetic, citric, 
formic, and chromic acids have no such action. They recommend in croup, 
diphtheria, etc., a gargle composed of lactic acid 5 parts, water 100 parts, and 
orange syrup 30 parts; in conjunction with the use of the same, minus the syrup, 
in the form of spray thrown upon the affected parts. 
Lactic acid has been used topically in ulcerated states of the nasal fossae and 
in suppurative otitis, though in the latter disease the results are not commensurate 
with the irritation of the external canal which it occasions. In caries of the 
aural bony structures it has been advised, but it is open to the same objection men- 
tioned above. It fails to destroy dense granulations of the tympanum. Webster 
(Dynam. Therap.) declares it second only to acetic acid in obstinate tinea versicolor, 
and states that it does not attack the true skin. "Liver spots " and ephilides are 
said by him to be removed by the application of the concentrated acid, the pro- 
cedure to be repeated until the epidermis and underlying pigment are removed 
in such a manner as to avoid cicatrization. The lesions are then dressed with 
mild zinc ointment or a similar dressing. Epithelial excrescences, such as warts, 
horny growths, and tylosis of the palms and soles, are removed by the continued 
application of the acid with a camel's-hair pencil. 
The most important use of this remedy, however, is in gastro-intestinal affec- 
tions. Where an acid is indicated and the digestive powers are feeble this acid 
should be preferred to hydrochloric and other acids. It may therefore be 
employed in feeble digestion and even in advanced dyspepsia. It is a well-known 
fact that delicate stomachs that can scarcely retain any other food, kindly receive 
buttermilk and coagulated or "clabbered" milk, and this often forms an excel- 
lent means of administration. The irritable stomach with evident lack of, or 
but scanty secretion of gastric juice, clearly points to its use. Its action in infantile 
diarrhoea with a painful and irritable stomach and the passage of green evacua- 
tions is most positive. It should be given in water that has been boiled and may 
be sweetened if desired. The dose should be regulated so that the little patient 
receives from | to 1 drop at a dose. The dose of lactic acid may range from a 
half drop to a half ounce in 24 hours. The small doses, from one-half drop to 
5 drops, are those which act specifically. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Gastric irritation with thirst, deep-red 
tongue, and diarrhoea with green stools, itching skin, and cutaneous eruptions, 
especially when arising from gastric disturbances. 67 
ACIDUM NITRICUM. 
ACIDUM NITRICUM (U. S. P.)-NITRIC ACID. 
Formula: HNO3. Molecular Weight: 62.89. 
Synonyms : Aqua fortis, Azotic acid, Spirit of nitre, Acidum nitri, Aciduni azoti- 
cum, Spiritus nitri acidus. 
"A liquid composed of 68 per cent, by weight, of absolute nitric acid (HNO3 
=62.89) and 32 per cent of water. Nitric acid should be kept in dark amber- 
colored, glass-stoppered bottles "-((7. S. P.f 
Source.-This acid was known to the ancient alchemists as "Aqua fortis." 
It was prepared by Geber, in the eighth century, by distilling a mixture of niter, 
blue vitriol, and alum. Cavendish determined its composition in 1785. Nitric 
acid is present to a slight extent in a moist atmosphere, and particularly in rain- 
water falling during a thunder-shower. It is found in the fluids of some plants, 
and occurs in large quantities in alkaline combination where the oxidizing process 
of " nitrification " converts the nitrogen of decaying animal and vegetable tissues 
into nitric acid. In this silent but continuous manner large deposits of nitrates 
are formed in the earth, such as the " niter beds" of India and along the coast of 
Chili and Peru. Spring-water or surface well-water which has filtered through soil 
containing decomposed animal matter often contains nitrates in solution, and is 
unfit for drinking purposes. 
Preparation.-Nitric acid is generally procured on a large scale by submit- 
ting to distillation either nitrate of potassium or of sodium with sulphuric acid, 
in an apparatus somewhat similar to that used in the distillation of oil of vitriol. 
The sodium or potassium unites with the sulphuric acid to form a sulphate, 
while the nitric acid is liberated in the form of gas, which is passed into a vessel 
of water, this fluid absorbing it and acquiring acid properties. According to 
Deville, dry or uncombined nitric acid (nitrogen pentoxide, or nitric anhydride 
N2O5) may be obtained by decomposing dry nitrate of silver by dry chlorine gas. 
It forms large, brilliant, colorless crystals, belonging to the right-rhombic pris- 
matic system, which fuse at 24.4° C. (85° F.) and boil at 45° C. (113° F.). 
Description and Tests.-Nitric acid is met with of various strengths, as 
follows: 
I. Monohydrated Nitric Acid, Hydrate of nitrogen.-This, the strongest 
of the nitric acids, has been abandoned, owing to the difficulties attending its 
preparation, and to its instability. (For detailed description of it see Am. Disp., 
11th ed.) 
II. Crude Nitric Acid.-This acid is frequently called Aqua fortis, and is 
of two strengths-Single aqua fortis (spec, gr., 1.21) and Double aquafortis (spec, 
gr., 1.37). It is colorless, or yellowish, and is employed in industrial processes, 
and occasionally in preparing certain pharmaceutical preparations. 
III. Acidum Nitricum (U. S. Pf, Nitric acid, according to the United States 
Pharmacopoeia, contains 68 per cent of absolute nitric acid. It colors the skin 
and nails yellow, and if long enough in contact with the tissues it will produce 
deep and slowly-healing sores. "A colorless, fuming liquid, very caustic and 
corrosive, and having a peculiar, somewhat suffocating odor. Specific gravity, 
about 1.414 at 15° C. (59° F.). It boils at 120.5° C. (248.9° F.), and is completely 
volatilized. It dissolves copper, mercury, silver, and other metals with evolution 
of red vapors, and stains woolen fabrics and animal tissues a bright yellow. 
Heated with indigo T.S., it discharges the blue color of the latter. Even when 
highly diluted, it shows an intensely acid reaction with litmus paper. 
" If 1 Cc. of nitric acid be slightly supersaturated with ammdnia water, no pre- 
cipitate should be formed (absence of iron, or much lead); nor should the liquid 
assume a blue tint (copper); nor should the further addition of a few drops of 
colorless ammonium sulphide T.S. produce any coloration or precipitate (lead, 
iron, copper, etc.). On diluting some of the acid with five times its volume of 
water, a portion of this liquid, when gently heated and treated with freshly-pre- 
pared hydrogen sulphide T.S., should not show a colored precipitate (absence of 
lead, arsenic, copper) ; nor should any precipitate be produced in other portions 
of the diluted acid by barium chloride T.S. (absence of sulphuric acid), or by 
silver nitrate T.S. (absence of hydrochloric acid). If the diluted acid be shaken 68 
ACIDUM NITRICUM. 
with a few drops of chloroform, the latter should remain colorless (absence of 
iodine or bromine), even after introduction of a small piece of metallic zinc 
(absence of iodic or bromic acid). To neutralize 3.145 Gm. of nitric acid should 
require 34 Cc. of normal potassium hydrate V.S. (each cubic centimeter corre- 
sponding to 2 percent of absolute acid), phenolphtalein being used as indicator" 
-(U. S. P.). 
The presence of nitric acid or nitrates in a liquid may also be ascertained by 
carefully adding about one-half its volume of pure sulphuric acid, and when the 
mixture is cold, a layer of solution of ferrous sulphate; if nitric acid be present 
a purplish or brownish color will appear where the two liquids meet. 
IV. Acidum Nitricum Dilutum (U. S. P.), Diluted nitric acid.-Take " nitric 
acid, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]; distilled water, five 
hundred and eighty grammes (580 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 4 ozs., 201 grs.]; to make six 
hundred and eighty grammes (680 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 7 ozs., 431 grs.]. Mix them. 
Keep the product in dark, amber-colored, glass-stoppered bottles. Diluted nitric 
acid contains 10 per cent, by weight, of absolute nitric acid. Specific gravity, 
about 1.057 at 15° C. (59° F.). It corresponds in properties to nitric acid (see 
Acidum Nitricum), and should conform to the same reactions and tests. To neu- 
tralize 6.29 Gm. of diluted nitric acid should require 10 Cc. of normal potassium 
hydrate V.S. (each cubic centimeter corresponding to 1 per cent of absolute acid), 
phenolphtalein being used as indicator"-(U. S. P.). 
V. Fuming Nitric Acid, Acidum nitricum fumans, Nitroso-nitric acid, Acidum 
nitroso-nitricum.-This acid, which is produced when a less amount of sulphuric 
acid and greater heat is employed than is required for the production of nitric 
acid, is a mixture of HN03 with varying amounts of the lower oxides of nitrogen. 
It is a brownish-red fluid, giving off suffocating, brown-red fumes. It has a spe- 
cific gravity ranging from 1.45 to 1.50. In attempting to remove the stopper 
from the container great care should be observed that a portion of the acid is not 
forcibly expelled with the fumes. It should always be kept in a cool situation. 
A preparation, known as commercial nitrous acid is a weaker, though similar, acid, 
being colored red by nitrogen tetroxide in varying amounts, and consisting 
largely of nitric acid. 
Action and Toxicology.-Nitric acid internally in medicinal doses long-con- 
tinued, or in nitric-acid baths, may produce the following symptoms: Increased 
appetite at first and diuresis; white-coated tongue; mouth at first dry, and after- 
ward abundantly bathed in saliva, with loosened and aching teeth, and spongy 
and bleeding gums; the dental enamel may be corroded. Foul breath, fever- 
ishness, headache, dyspepsia, intestinal colic, general debility, and bowel disor- 
ders, particularly constipation, may follow. The fumes inhaled are fatal, producing 
congestion, hemorrhage, and oedema of the breathing passages, with dyspnoea as 
the chief symptom. Mr. Haywood (1854), an English chemist, lost his life in 
this manner from the breaking of a carboy containing nitric and sulphuric acids. 
He died in eleven hours. Two firemen (1890) lost their lives from inhaling the 
nitrous fumes from a broken container of the acid during a fire. The fumes 
from batteries charged with the acid may poison in poorly-ventilated rooms. 
When swallowed, without dilution, nitric acid proves fatal; the same means 
may be employed to counteract its effects, as named for hydrochloric acid. The 
smallest amount which has produced death is 2 drachms, death occurring in 
36 hours. Infants might be killed by a few drops, provided it came in contact 
with the larynx. The most rapidly occurring case of death took place in the usual 
manner in If hours; the slowest case died from exhaustion in eight months after 
its ingestion. Death usually results inside of 24 hours. (See Taylor, Med. Juris.). 
Fatal doses are immediately followed by intense, burning pain in throat and 
oesophagus, reaching to the stomach; gaseous eructations, abdominal swelling; 
violent emesis of fluids and solids, mixed with strongly acid, yellowish shreds of 
mucus, and dark-brown, altered blood. Great tenderness of the abdomen is felt. 
The oral membranes are soft and white, turning to yellow or brown. The teeth 
are also white or yellowish, and the dental enamel corroded. Viscid mucus fills 
the mouth, and swallowing or speaking is extremely difficult. The tongue is 
swollen and yellow, and the tonsils enlarged. Obstinate constipation ensues, and 
liquids increase the pain and vomiting. The pulse becomes quick, small, and ACIDUM NITRICUM. 
69 
irregular, the surface cold, and shivering takes place. A light stupor, from which 
the sufferer may easily be aroused, supervenes, and as a rule the intellect is unim- 
paired to the last. Should the fumes have been inhaled also, pneumonia compli- 
cates the case. After death the parts with which the acid came in contact 
exhibit shades varying from white to yellow and brown. The throat and trachea 
and lungs are congested and inflamed. The oesophageal membrane is yellow or 
brown, soft, and readily detachable in long shreds. The stomach shows the 
greatest damage, and though so soft as to break down under the faintest pressure, 
singularly no cases of perforation have yet been observed. The gastric membrane 
is partially inflamed, and exhibits patches of a yellow, brown, green, or black 
color. Such changes maybe observed also in the duodenum, though only redness 
may be apparent. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-As an internal remedy nitric acid has a wide 
application. Discrimination, however, must be exercised in its use. The condi- 
tions under which it exhibits its selective action have been thus pointed out by 
Prof. Scudder: "If the tongue, whether pale, rose-red, or deep-red, presents a 
violet haze, we have an indication for nitric acid. We will notice the same violet 
haze wherever the blood comes to the surface in the capillary circulation. I think 
we get the most decided results when the muco.us membranes are moderately red. 
Do not mistake the deep, solid purple of the mucous membranes we see some- 
times for this violet haze, for here the irritable stomach very frequently presents 
the red tip and edges of tongue, and sometimes elongated papillae"-{Spec. Med., 
p. 189). Bearing out these indications, it has been very successfully used in pneu- 
monia, continued and typhoid fevers, typhoid dysentery, and malarial headache. In 
chronic ague it has equalled cinchona in proper cases. Quinine sulphate dissolved 
in a few drops of nitric acid and diluted with water forms an excellent combina- 
tion in some malarial disorders. In stomach troubles "with irritability and enfeebled 
action it often benefits. Impaired nutrition, with slow and imperfect breaking 
down of effete matter and failure of excretion, often indicate nitric acid. Nitric 
acid has long been regarded refrigerant, expectorant, and antisyphilitic. A 
refreshing acidulous draught is formed by making a very dilute, sweetened, 
solution of nitric acid, which is useful in fevers, especially when there is a dispo- 
sition to prostration or putrescency; it has likewise been recommended in hepatic 
and syphilitic affections. Dr. Gibbs recommended the following mixture as very 
valuable in whooping-cough: Take of diluted nitric acid, 12 fluid drachms; com- 
pound tincture of cardamon, 3 fluid drachms; simple syrup, 3^ fluid ounces; 
water, 1 fluid ounce. Mix. For a child one or two years old, a teaspoonful may 
be given every hour or two, washing the mouth out immediately after with some 
alkaline solution to prevent the teeth from being injured. That it is a positive 
remedy for some cases of whooping-cough is well attested by many practitioners. 
The indications will lead to the proper cases. Undoubtedly its radical, combined 
with sanguinarine, forming the nitrate, plays an important part in controlling 
explosive coughs having their origin in some derangement of the medulla. A severe 
case of this kind of two years' standing, and for the relief of which the patient 
had taken a trip to Oregon and remained awhile, was promptly cured by one 
prescription, as follows: R Nitric acid, gtt. x; sanguinarine nitrate, gr. j; spe- 
cificdrosera, gtt. x; water, fl^iv. Mix. Sig.: A teaspoonful every 2 hours. Hope's 
mixture for diarrhoea and dysentery is composed as follows: Nitrous acid (or double 
aqua fortis}, half a fluid drachm; camphor water, 4 fluid ounces; mix, and add 
laudanum, 40 TIT. The dose is a tablespoonful every 2 hours. Ten or 20 drops 
of the acid added to a pint of water forms a useful wash for sloughing and other 
ill-conditioned ulcers, and in various chronic eruptions, porrigo of the scalp, etc. Con- 
centrated nitric acid has been used externally for several purposes, as the destruc- 
tion of warts, cauterization of poisoned wounds, stings, bites, and in phagedenic ulcera- 
tions, in which the acid should be brought in contact wjth the living surface. I 
have also found it very useful in removing pterygium, and ulceration of the os uteri, 
fistula in ano, syphilitic ulceration of the throat, etc., applied daily, or every 2 or 
3 days, by means of a pine wood portecaustic, first introduced to the profession 
by Prof. A. J. Howe, M. D. 
In the treatment of piles, nitric acid is said to be very efficacious; the small 
tumors may be destroyed by a single application of it, while the larger may 70 
ACIDUM NITROHYDROCHLORICUM. 
require two or three applications. If the tumors can not be extruded from the 
anus, a speculum must be used. The acid may be applied by a bit of sponge 
not larger than a grain of wheat, attached to a gold or glass probe. The severe 
pain which usually follows may be relieved by morphine, exhibited internally, 
and lard, or opiate suppositories applied locally. If too much acid has been 
applied, extending to contiguous parts, and causing unnecessary pain, it may be 
neutralized by applying a piece of sponge or cotton saturated with soda orpotassa. 
Some claim greater certainty for this method than by excision or ligation. 
For several years past I have used nitric acid as a local application to chancre. 
It must be applied while the chancre is in the pustular form and unbroken, and 
before the virus is acted upon by the oxygen of the atmosphere, and consequently 
previous to its absorption into the system. As soon as the pustule is discovered, 
the physician will open it and apply several drops of undiluted nitric acid to it, 
thus destroying the virus at once and curing the disease in a few minutes. The 
pain occasioned is hardly noticed by some patients. Sometimes, I subsequently 
wash the ulcer with the tincture of chloride of iron, which is one of the best local 
applications to a chancre. No other treatment is required, unless for the purpose 
of allaying the patient's fears. Since having introduced this employment of the 
acid to the profession, many have employed it, and with uniformly successful 
results (J. King). The improbable claim of curing albuminuria and " Bright's 
disease" (an uncertain complaint) with daily diluted injections of this acid per 
rectum is made by a Rochester, N. Y., physician. Upon the skin this acid is 
said to resemble thuja in its power over condylomata, anal fissure, and sores about 
the body outlets. Ringer declares that " small syphilitic warts and condylomata 
are painlessly and surely dispersed by the constant application of a dilute wash 
(1 or 2 drachms of diluted nitric acid to 1 pint of water)." Nitric acid applied 
with a broom-splint may be used to destroy large granulations and polypi in the 
tympanic cavity (Foltz). Nitric acid is never given internally unless very much 
diluted. Its dose is from 1 to 20 (strong acid) or 1 to 50 (diluted acid) drops in 
4 or 6 fluid ounces of water; it should be sucked through a quill or glass-tube, 
to prevent its injuring the teeth, and the mouth should be rinsed with an 
alkaline solution immediately after each dose. For its specific use Prof. Scudder 
directs: R Nitric acid, gtt. xxx; simple syrup, fls iv. Mix. Dose, a teaspoonful 
every 3 hours. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-The pale, rose-red, or deep-red tongue, with 
a violet haze, seemingly like a transparent color over red; usually with moder- 
ately red membranes (Scudder) ; harsh, explosive cough of medullary origin ; 
cases of imperfect waste with foregoing indications. 
Liquid Glue.-When nitric acid is added to a solution of glue it prevents it from forming 
a jelly, and makes what is called a liquid glue, which is very convenient for cabinet-makers, 
joiners, paste-board workers, toy-makers, etc., inasmuch as it is applied cold. The liquid 
glue is made by taking 2| pounds of good glue, and dissolving it in pints of water, in a 
glazed pot over a gentle fire, or, still better, in the water-bath, stirring it from time to time* 
When all the glue is melted, pour in, in small quantities at a time, of nitric acid specific gravity 
1.32, 7 ounces avoirdupois. This addition producesan effervescence, owing to the disengage- 
ment of hyponitrous acid. When all the acid is added, remove the vessel from the fire, and 
allow it to cool. This preparation preserves nearly all the primitive qualities of the glue, 
may be kept in an open vessel for years, without undergoing any change, and will be found 
very convenient in chemical operations ; gases may be preserved by it by covering strips of 
linen with it. 
ACIDUM NITROHYDROCHLORICUM (U. S. P.) 
-Nitrohydrochloric acid. 
Synonyms: Nitromuriatic acid, Acidum nitromuriaticum, Acidum chloronitrosum, 
Aqua regia, Aqua regis. 
Preparation.-"Nitric acid one hundred and eighty cubic centimeters (180 
Cc.) [6 n^, 42 Hl]; hydrochloric acid, eight hundred and twenty cubic centimeters 
(820 Cc.) [27 349 UTT Mix the acids in a capacious glass vessel, and, when 
effervescence has ceased, pour the product into dark, amber-colored, glass-stop- 
pered bottles, which should not be more than half filled, and keep them in a 
cool plaoe"-(U. 8. P.). ACIDUM NITROHYDROCHLORICUM. 
71 
Description.-"A golden-yellow, fuming, and very corrosive liquid, having 
a strong odor of chlorine. Completely volatilized by heat. It readily dissolves 
gold-leaf, and a drop of it added to potassium iodide T.S., liberates iodine"- 
(77. S. P.). This mixture should be made in the open air to allow the disagree- 
able fumes to pass off. It should be kept in a dark-colored, glass-stoppered bottle, 
and the patient directed to keep it away from fires and light. On account of the 
property possessed by this mixture of dissolving platinum and gold-the noble 
metals-it was named "aqua regia" or "royal water." Heat causes it to lose its 
chlorine, while light may convert its chlorine into chlorhydric acid. It should 
not be made in great quantities on account of its proneness to decomposition if 
long kept in stock; nor should it be prepared extemporaneously, for sufficient 
time must elapse for the reaction to cease, and on no account must it be put 
in bottles and stoppered before effervescence has subsided. It contains free 
chlorine and several chlorinated products, among them nitrosylchloride (N0C1, 
chloronitrous acid), a yellow-red liquid, decomposed by water into nitrous and 
hydrochloric acids. Nitrosylchloride has a low boiling point -5° C. (23° F.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Large quantities of this acid act as 
a corrosive poison like its constituents, and in poisoning by it like treatment 
should be instituted. Even small doses attack the dental enamel and gold fill- 
ings and produce gastric derangements. When used diluted as a bath, it is 
absorbed, increasing the hepatic and renal secretions, and producing a sense of 
burning in the mouth and fauces, and induces profuse ptyalism, redness and 
tumefaction of the gums, and buccal ulcers. Diarrhoea is occasioned by it also. 
It was introduced as a remedy for hepatic affections, the bath being preferred, but 
it is not now much employed in this manner. Small doses of this or the diluted 
acid are sometimes employed in hepatic calculi, hepatic fulness and tenderness, 
dyspepsia with constipation or slight jaundice, oxaluria, scrofula, syphilis, and skin 
diseases, but it probably possesses no advantages over its constituents, and is more 
likely to disorder the stomach and bowels. Bathing with a dilute solution of 
this acid, say 1 part of acid to 6 of water, is asserted to have cured several cases 
of obstinate constipation. Some prefer the stronger to the diluted acid. A prep- 
aration which was once highly lauded for the cure of corns, warts, cancers, etc., Dr. 
Bleeker's remedy, is said to be a compound of nitrohydrochloric acid and cobalt. 
Dose of nitrohydrochloric acid, 1 to 5 drops, highly diluted, after meals, and 
followed by an alkaline wash to protect the teeth. 
White Liquid Physic.-A preparation has been highly recommended, 
called White Liquid Physic, or Dow's Physic. It is made as follows: Take sulphate 
of sodium | pound, water 1| pints; dissolve,and then add nitrohydrochloric acid 
2 fla, powdered alum 68 grains. This preparation is used as a cooling purga- 
tive; also to allay nausea and vomiting-for colic, hepatic diseases, oxaluria, 
diarrhoea, etc. Given by some as a substitute for mercury. In intermittent fever, 
given in laxative doses, it has proved highly beneficial, especially when occurring 
in broken-down constitutions, and has cured the most obstinate cases of dysen- 
tery. Dose, 1 tablespoonful in a gill of water 3 times a day; or, in dysentery, 
given every hour, until it slightly operates the bowels, after which, every 3 or 4 
hours. In order to protect the teeth from the action of the acid, in this prepara- 
tion, each dose should be sucked through a straw, reed, or glass tube; and, imme- 
diately after the dose has been swallowed, the mouth should be rinsed once or 
twice with an alkaline solution. The above is the original recipe, and the addi- 
tion of sanguinaria, etc., are uncalled for. 
The White Liquid Physic as given by Dr. Scudder (Mat. Med., p. 185), is 
made as follows: R Sulphate of sodium Ib.ss ; water Ojss; dissolve the sulphate 
of sodium in the water, and add nitric acid §j; hydrochloric acid §j. This he 
regarded as one of the most efficient remedies in dysentery, used to produce at 
least one bilious evacuation, and afterwards continued in smaller doses. " It acts 
directly upon the liver, removes the constipated state of the upper part of intes- 
tinal canal, lessens the tormina and tenesmus, and speedily checks the dysenteric 
discharge " (Scudder). Dose, a tablespoonful every hour in sweetened water 
until catharsis ensues. 72 
ACIDUM NITROHYDROCHLORICUM DILUTUM.-ACIDUM OLEICUM. 
ACIDUM NITROHYDROCHLORICUM DILUTUM (U. S. P.)-DILUTED 
NITROHYDROCHLORIC ACID. 
Synonyms : Diluted nitromuriatic acid, Acidum nitromuriaticum dilutum. 
Preparation.-" Nitric acid forty cubic centimeters (40 Cc.) [1 fl^, 169 Til] ; 
hydrochloric acid one hundred and eighty cubic centimeters (180 Cc.) [6 fls, 
42 Til] ; distilled water seven hundred and eighty cubic centimeters (780 Cc.) (26 
113, 180 Til]. Mix the acids in a capacious glass vessel, and, when effervescence 
has ceased, add the distilled water. Keep the product in dark, amber-colored, 
glass-stoppered bottles, in a cool place "-(U. S. P.). 
Description.-"A colorless, or pale-yellowish liquid, having a faint odor of 
chlorine, and a very acid taste. Completely volatilized by heat. From potas- 
sium iodide T.S. it liberates iodine"-(U. S. P.). In this product it is now 
accepted that the nitrosyl chloride of nitrohydrochloric acid is decomposed, 
through the presence of water, into hydrochloric acid and nitrogen trioxide, 
which forms a solution of nitrous acid. Like nitrohydrochloric acid, it contains 
free chlorine, thus necessitating that it be kept cool in a dark situation. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Uses same as for nitrohydrochloric acid. 
Dose, 5 to 25 minims largely diluted with water, repeated 2 or 3 times a day, and 
followed by an alkaline wash to protect the teeth. 
ACIDUM OLEICUM (U. S. P.)-OLEIC ACID. 
Formula: HCi8H33O2. Molecular Weight: 281.38. 
Synonym : Elaic acid. 
"An organic acid, prepared in a sufficiently pure condition by cooling com- 
mercial oleic acid to about 5° C. (41° F.), then separating and preserving the 
liquid portion"-(U. S. P.). 
Source and Preparation.-This acid was first obtained by Chevreul in 
1821. It is a constituent of most fats, and of the non-drying fixed oils in the 
form of glycerin trioleate (triolein). It is obtained in large quantities as a 
by-product in the manufacture of candles. In this condition it is very impure, 
of a dark, reddish-yellow or brownish-red color (red oil), and at ordinary tempera- 
tures somewhat turbid. An early method of obtaining this acid was as follows: 
To procure oleic acid, treat oil of bitter almonds with caustic potash, and to the 
soap formed add hydrochloric acid; this separates the oleic and other acids. To 
the decomposed mixture add about half its weight of oxide of lead, and digest 
for 2 or 3 hours at a temperature of 100° C. (212° F.), by which means oleates 
of the fatty acids are formed. Ether is now added, which dissolves only the 
oleate of lead ; the ethereal solution is mixed with an equal volume of water, to 
which hydrochloric acid is added as long as is required for decomposition, and 
the mixture is then well shaken. The ether rises to the surface, holding the 
oleic acid in solution ; decant it and distill it off; there remains a compound of 
pure oleic acid with oxidized acid. By subjecting this compound to a tempera- 
ture of about -7.2° C. (19° F.), the pure crystals of oleic acid form, while the 
oxidized acid remains in solution. Wolff recommends the substitution of pe- 
troleum benzin in the place of ether. The method of Chas. T. George (A. J. P., 
1881) is to dissolve dry, white castile soap (30 parts) in hot water (100 parts) 
and then to decompose the solution with sulphuric acid (6 parts). After wash- 
ing the resulting oily layer with warm water, pow'dered litharge (2 parts) is 
added to it, and the lead oleate formed is dissolved, while warm, in petroleum 
benzin (10 parts). This solution is decomposed with weak hydrochloric acid 
(1 part with 12 of water). Evaporate the benzin, and oleic acid (15 parts) 
remains. 
Description and Tests.-Oleic acid is a tasteless, inodorous, colorless, oily 
fluid at temperatures above 13.8° C. (57° F.), but when once melted it does not 
solidify until cooled to 4.4° C. (40° F.), and when solid it does not melt until 
heated to 13.8° C. (57° F.) It is not soluble in water, but readily soluble in 
alcohol or ether, floats on water, and becomes brown by the absorption of ACIDUM OLEICUM. 
73 
atmospheric oxygen, with which it has a tendency to combine. It forms salts or 
soaps with bases. The oleic acid, as it occurs in non-drying fat oils, like olive oil, 
is chemically different from that occurring in drying oils, the type of which is 
linseed oil. Oleic acid, when in contact with nitrous acid, is converted into an 
isomeric solid compound called elaidic acid. 
Oleic acid is not decomposed when distilled in vacuo, but if heated in the air 
it decomposes, forming hydrocarbons, sebacic acid, and volatile fatty acids. When 
treated with fused caustic potash, decomposition takes place, with acetic and pal- 
mitic acids as a result. With sodium and potassium hydroxides it forms soaps 
known respectively as oleate of sodium and oleate of potassium, classed among 
hard and soft soaps. This acid is used in the preparation of the oleates, a class of 
external applications now used in considerable quantities. The United States 
Pharmacopoeia describes, as follows, the oleic acid that should be employed in 
pharmacy: "A yellowish or brownish-yellow, oily liquid, having a peculiar lard- 
like odor and taste ; becoming darker and absorbing oxygen on exposure to air. 
Specific gravity about 0.900 at 15° C. (59° F.). Insoluble in water ; soluble in 
alcohol, chloroform, benzol, benzin, oil of turpentine, and fixed and volatile oils. 
When cooled to about 4° C. (39.2° F.), oleic acid becomes semi-solid, and, on fur- 
ther cooling, congeals to a whitish, solid mass. When heated to a temperature of 
about 95° C. (203° F.), the acid begins to be decomposed, giving off acrid vapors. 
At a higher temperature it is completely dissipated. An alcoholic solution of 
oleic acid has a feebly acid reaction upon litmus paper. Equal volumes of oleic 
acid and alcohol, mixed at the ordinary temperature, should give a clear solution 
without separating any oily drops upon the surface (absence of fixed oils). If 1 
Gm. of oleic acid be heated with 20 Cc. of alcohol, 2 drops of phenolphtalein 
T.S. added, and then a strong solution (1 in 4) of sodium hydrate, drop by 
drop, until the liquid has acquired a permanent red tint and the acid is 
saponified; next acetic acid added until the red color of the liquid is just 
discharged, and the liquid filtered-10 Cc. of the filtrate mixed with 10 Cc. of 
other should not be rendered more than slightly turbid by the addition of 1 
Cc. of lead acetate T.S. (absence of notable quantities of palmitic and stearic 
acids) (U. S. R). 
Linoleic acid is used to adulterate oleic acid. It may be detected with potas- 
sium permanganate, which converts oleic acid into azaleinic acid, and linoleic acid 
into satiric acid. The latter does not dissolve in ether while the former does. 
As little as 1 per cent of this impurity may be detected by this salt (A. P. A. 
Proceed., 1890). Linoleic and ricinoleic acids constitute the fatty acids occuring 
in the drying oils. 
Use.-Used only in preparing the oleates. • 
Related Products.-Sulpho-oleic Acid. Sulpholeic acid (C17H22CO2HSO3H). This acid 
is formed when sulphuric acid reacts upon castor, olive, almond, or other fixed oils, provided 
the temperature be not higher than 50° C. (122° F.). To obtain the acid in an anhydrous 
state ether is employed to remove the oil not acted upon, and the crude product is treated 
with alkaline carbonates or hydroxides, treated again with sulphuric acid, and finally evapo- 
rated in pure condition from benzin, or from ether. The substances known as oleite, polysolve 
and solvine, are neutral salts of this acid from its combination with alkaline bases. Water 
dissolves these salts (sulpholeates) and they in turn may be employed to render many other- 
wise insoluble substances miscible with water. Sulphoricinoleic acid is the name applied to 
that prepared with castor oil. The sulpholeates mix with many organic substances. 
Sulphoricinic Acid. Prepared by acting upon castor oil at a heat not higher than 50° C. 
(122° F.) with from 30 to 40 per cent sulphuric acid. Upon adding water, the sulphoricinic 
acid together with some free oil, separates as an oily stratum, an aqueous acid solution under- 
lying. It is an active topical irritant. It, as well as its soluble salts are decided deodorizers 
and antiseptics. They have been used in ozena and like conditions. Salol sulphoricinate, 
creosote sulphoricinate, and naphthol sulphoricinate, have been employed as local medicines. 
Phenolum natrio sulphoricinicum is a yellowish liquid containing sodium sulphoricinate (80 per 
cent) and phenol (20 per cent). It is miscible in all proportions with water. A 20 percent 
solution has been recommended as a topical application in diphtheria. Skin and. mucous-surface 
affections, tubercular and otherwise, have been treated with it. 
Oleite (Sodium sulphoricinoleate} is a scarcely odorous, transparent, gelatinous fluid, soluble 
in water, alcohol, volatile oils, and chloroform. Its taste is acrid. It has extraordinary solvent 
powers upon many substances employed in medicine. It is non-poisonous internally or 
externally, and being soothing, is recommended as an ointment base. It is said to act kindly 
in cuts, scalds, bums, etc. 74 
ACIDUM OXALICUM. 
ACIDUM OXALICUM - OXALIC ACID. 
Formula: H2C2O4.2H2O. Molecular Weight: 125.7. 
History.-Oxalic acid was discovered by Scheele, in 1776, and it is found 
in the organic as well as in the inorganic kingdoms. In plants it is generally 
met in combination with calcium or potassium; rhubarb, Rumex acetosa, Oxalis 
acetosella, phytolacca, belladonna, etc., contain the acid or bin-oxalate of potas- 
sium ; rhubarb also contains oxalate of calcium, as likewise do many lichens, 
and in the human body it forms the mulberry calculus, a frequent form of 
gravel. In combination with calcium it is found in ginger, orris-root, squill, 
valerian, curcuma, quassia, and other drugs. As an ammonium oxalate it is 
present in the fertilizer guano. In the Cicer arietinum or chick pea it occurs in a 
free condition. It may also be formed artificially by the action of nitric acid on 
sugar, molasses, rice, starch, gum, wool, silk, hair, and many other organic com- 
pounds, which are free from nitrogen. Berthelot has obtained it synthetically 
from acetylene, ethylene, propylene, and allylene, by oxidation with permangan- 
ate of potassium. 
Preparation.-There are several methods by which oxalic acid may be pro- 
cured ; the following are considered among the best: 
1. Gently heat 1 part of pure starch with 8 parts of nitric acid of sp. gr. 1.200 
or 1.250. A powerful reaction ensues, with an evolution of red nitrous acid vapors; 
when this diminishes, heat must be applied, and continued until no more red 
vapors are given off; if sufficiently evaporated, a large quantity of crystals of 
hydrated oxalic acid are deposited as the liquid cools. These are dried on a porous 
tile, then dissolved in a little hot water, and pure oxalic acid is deposited as the 
solution cools. The mother liquor remaining after the first deposit of crystals con- 
tains much free nitric acid, saccharic acid, and other products. • 
2. Digest 1 pint of sugar dried at 100° C. (212° F.) with 8.25 pints of nitric 
acid of sp. gr. 1.380. Evaporate the mixture to a sixth, and leave to crystallize. 
This process requires but an hour or two, and yields from 50 to 60 per cent of 
handsome crystals. 
3. An ingenious and economical method of manufacturing oxalic acid from 
sawdust has been devised by Mr. Dale, of England. It is as follows: two equiv- 
alents of caustic soda and one equivalent of caustic potash are mixed together, 
dissolved in water, and the solution evaporated until it has a sp. gr. 1.350, when 
enough sawdust is to be stirred in to form a thick paste. This paste is heated on 
iron plates, being constantly stirred. At first, water escapes; the mass then swells; 
inflammable gases, hydrogen, and hydrocarbons are evolved, along with a pe- 
culiar aromatic odor. When the temperature has been maintained at 204.4° C. 
(400° F.) for an hour or two, this stage of the process is complete. The mass has 
a dark color, contains from 1 to 4 per cent of oxalic acid, and about 0.5 per cent 
of formic acid; the balance of the mass consists of an unknown substance, which 
is intermediate between cellulose and oxalic acid. The next stage consists in 
heating the mass till quite dry, being careful that no charring takes place; a 
gray powder is formed, containing from 28 to 30 per cent of oxalic acid, in com- 
bination with sodium and potassium. The gray powder is now wrashed on a 
filter with a solution of carbonate of sodium, which decomposes the oxalate of 
potassium, and converts it into oxalate of sodium, which is decomposed by boiling 
milk of lime, oxalate of calcium being precipitated while the sodium hydroxide 
remains in solution. The oxalate of calcium being placed in leaden vessels, is 
treated with sulphuric acid, which precipitates the calcium and leaves the oxalic 
acid in solution, which may be obtained in crystals by evaporation. The sodium 
hydroxide left in solution after the addition of milk of lime, may be recovered 
by boiling, and be again made use of with fresh sawdust. The same may be 
done with the potassium salt which filters through in the last stage. By this 
process 2 pounds of sawdust are made to yield 1 pound of oxalic acid. 
Description.-Oxalic acid crystallizes in colorless, transparent, oblique, quad- 
rilateral prisms with two-sided summits. The crystals are inodorous, have a 
strongly acid taste, faintly effloresce in a dry atmosphere, redden litmus paper, 
and when pure are completely volatilized by heat, and without becoming black- 75 
ACIDUM OXALICUM. 
ened. They dissolve in from 8 to 11 parts of water at 15.5° C. (60° F.), in their 
own weight of water at 100° C. (212° F.), and in 4 parts of alcohol; the addition 
of a small quantity of nitric acid to the water causes them to dissolve more 
readily. Nearly all the oxalates are insoluble in water, excepting the alkaline. 
Oxalate of calcium is insoluble, and hence oxalic acid is useful as a test for 
calcium, and is usually employed in the form of oxalate of ammonium ; if the 
liquor to be examined contains any free acid, this must first be neutralized, as the 
oxalate can only detect calcium in neutral or alkaline fluids. Oxalic acid reduced 
by hydrogen is converted into glycolic and acetic acids, and if the action be kept 
up sufficiently long the glycolic becomes wholly formed into acetic acid. 
Oxalic acid may be detected in any solution, by being entirely volatilized by 
heat; by yielding a white precipitate with nitrate of silver, soluble in nitric acid; 
and by giving a white precipitate with lime water, which is insoluble in water, 
readily soluble in nitric acid, insoluble in acetic acid, and which, when dried and 
heated to low redness, is converted, without blackening, into carbonate of calcium. 
Solution of sulphate of calcium produces a bluish-white precipitate with oxalic 
acid. Oxalic acid is sometimes contaminated with nitric acid, which gives a faint 
odor to it, and stains the cork of the bottle in which it is kept, yellow. If a very 
dilute solution of sulphate of indigo, containing the impure crystals, be boiled, 
the nitric acid present will decolorize the solution. On account of the resem- 
blance between crystals of this acid and of magnesium sulphate, the latter has 
been used as an adulterant. This resemblance has also led to cases of poisoning, 
the person believing the acid to be Epsom salts. The acid may likewise be used 
for removing iron-rust and ink-stains from linen, and is employed in calico print- 
ing as a bleaching and discharge agent. 
Salt of Sorrel, Salt of lemon, or Essential salts of lemon (acid or binoxalate of 
potassium), is well known to the laity as an agent to remove iron-stains, though 
oxalic acid is generally used now, and is often sold under these popular names. 
Action and Toxicology.-Oxalic acid and the oxalates poison the nervous 
system and the blood, producing, as well, gastro-intestinal lesions. A dose of 
60 grains killed a boy (Taylor). Again, by prompt treatment, two cases recovered 
after a half ounce had been swallowed. Death takes place in varying lengths of 
time, a circumstance that can not readily be accounted for. Some cases die in 
from 10 minutes to an hour. The above-mentioned boy died in 8 hours. The 
symptoms are an intensely pure, acid taste, burning of the parts over which 
the poison passes, intense pain, vomiting, especially a bloody material, an 
extremely feeble pulse, an inability to assume the upright posture, collapse, and 
stupor. These symptoms, with the rapidity with which death takes place, will 
point to oxalic acid as the cause. Still, persons have been known to live for 22 
days, death being produced by a slow poisoning. The post-mortem changes are 
a whitened oesophageo-gastric tract, though the stomach may contain a dark, gela- 
tinous liquid, appearing like disorganized blood. The mucous coats are softened 
and loosened, but, rarely perforated. The blood is excessively red, and in some 
instances oxalates have been found in the tubuli uriniferi of the kidneys. Koch 
regards it as a heart poison. The same lethal symptoms may be produced from 
salt of sorrel. Poisoning by oxalic acid, oxalate of ammonium, or oxalate of 
potassium, is best remedied by the speedy administration of chalk, suspended in 
water; when chalk can not be had, magnesia may be used; either of these forms 
insoluble oxalates. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This article, unless in great attenuation, is an 
unfit agent for internal administration, though it has been given in doses of 
three-quarters of a grain every 3 hours in diphtheria. Such a procedure is cer- 
tainly dangerous, and an infusion of sorrel, sumac-bobs, and similar substances 
containing the acid in combination, would even be hazardous. These infusions 
have, however, given excellent results in diphtheria and certain sore throats when 
used simply as a gargle. Webster {Dynamical Therapeutics, 175), praises the action 
of oxalic acid in lagging functions of the spinal cord due to over-exertion, thereby 
resulting in tensive pains, marked lumbar weakness, and insomnia. One or two 
grains of the 6x trituration every 4 or 5 hours, are recommended in these condi- 
tions. A solution of oxalic acid in water promptly removes iron stains. For a 
number of years past I have used a saturated aqueous solution of it as an external 76 
ACIDUM PHOSPHORICUM. 
application in cutaneous cancer, acne, scald head, and several forms of cutaneous 
disease, since which, on my recommendation, others have employed it with suc- 
cess in similar affections, sometimes alone, and again with a small portion of 
creosote added. The saturated solution, neutralized by caustic potash, forms an 
excellent application to discuss indolent tumors (J. King). 
ACIDUM PHOSPHORICUM (U. S. P.)-PHOSPHORIC ACID. 
Formula: H3PO4. Molecular Weight: 97.8. 
Acidum Phosphoricum (U. S. P), Phosphoric acid, Orthophosphoric acid. 
Acidum Phosphoricum Glaciale, Glacial phosphoric acid, HPO3=80 
Acidum Phosphoricum Dilutum (U. S. P.), Diluted phosphoric acid. 
The official phosphoric acid should contain not less than 85 per cent of 
absolute orthophosphoric acid, and the diluted phosphoric acid 10 per cent, both 
by weight. 
Source and Modifications.-When dry phosphorus is burned in the air or 
in the presence of dry oxygen, a white body, having the form of snow-like flakes, 
and the composition P2O3, is produced. This is phosphoric anhydride (metaphos- 
phoric anhydride, phosphorus pentoxide, or phosphoric oxide), and being very 
hygroscopic it unites with moisture with great avidity, becoming converted into 
a monobasic acid (HPO3)-glacial phosphoric acid or monobasic metaphosphoric acid. 
A second modification of P2O5, is the commonly employed phosphoric acid or 
normal or orthophosphoric acid (H3PO4). Glacial phosphoric acid dissolved in water, 
and nitric acid added to the solution until red fumes cease to be evolved (U. S. P., 
1870), will produce the orthophosphoric acid. The official acid is not now made 
in this manner, however, and, in fact, should not be so prepared on account of 
the impurities in commercial glacial phosphoric acid, but is produced from bone 
ash, which is principally a tricalcium phosphate (asaltof tribasicorthophosphoric 
acid). A third modification is that produced by carefully heating crystallized 
orthophosphoric acid to a temperature of 213° C. (415.4° F.), when 1 molecule 
of water is dispelled from 2 molecules of the acid, thus: 2H3PO4-H2O=H4P2O7. 
This product is pyrophosphoric acid (the bibasic diphosphoric acid). It is a sour, 
colorless, inodorless acid, and gives rise to the pyrophosphates. 
Preparation.-I. Acidum Phosphoricum, Phosphoric acid.-C. L. Diehl, Jr., 
recommends the following modification of the London process as a perfectly safe 
one : Into a French glass tubulated retort of 42 parts capacity introduce 12 parts 
of distilled water and 2 parts of phosphorus. Place the retort on a sand-bath 
and introduce through a funnel tube, fixed in the tubulure by means of a cork 
and reaching half an inch below the level of the liquid, 8 parts of nitric acid. 
Apply gentle heat, and watch the operation closely as soon as reaction commences. 
When the reaction slackens, add more nitric acid in portions of about one-fourth 
at a time. Should the reaction become violent, small quantities of warm water 
must be added until it is reduced to its ordinary action, which may be compared 
to the gentle boiling of water. The formation of frothy bubbles on the surface 
of the liquid is always the forerunner of violent reaction, and should be checked 
at once. I have found that if checked at this stage, a comparatively small amount 
of water would answer, but if allowed to react violently a much larger quantity 
of water will be required. After the phosphorus is all oxidized evaporate the 
acid in a porcelain capsule. As owing to the rapid disengagement of nitric oxide 
the liquid will froth up toward the termination of the process of evaporation, the 
capsule should have about three times the capacity of the acid when concentrated, 
and a little distilled water should be kept conveniently near, to add in case there 
is danger of frothing over. The operation should be conducted under a good fur- 
nace-hood, or else the beak of the retort should be introduced into a good flue, to 
carry off the vapors-Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1867, p. 138). 
II. Acidum Phosphoricum Glaciale, Glacial phosphoric acid.-Sulphuric 
acid and white-burned bones, of each, 1 part; water, 15 parts. Add the water to 
the acid and the bones to the solution, and digest until a smooth white paste of 
calcium sulphate is produced from the insoluble portion of the bones. Filter 
and wash with water; and to the filtrate, which contains phosphoric and sulphuric ACIDUM PHOSPHORICUM. 
77 
acids and solution of phosphates of calcium and magnesium, add aqua ammonise 
or ammonium carbonate to neutralization. Finally, filter again to separate the 
precipitate of phosphatesand evaporate. Completely drive off the ammonia from 
the phosphate of ammonium by heating the latter in a platinum crucible. Pour 
the melted acid on smooth iron surfaces, cool, and transfer the glassy masses to 
closely-stoppered bottles. 
This acid may also be obtained by heating mono-sodium phosphate to red- 
ness, which expels one molecule of water; the fused mass is then dissolved in 
water, and precipitated by acetate of lead. The lead precipitate is treated with 
sulphide of hydrogen, which decomposes the lead salt, forming a sulphide of lead, 
and leaving the acid free in the solution. Its dilute solution may be kept without 
change, but boiling converts it into ordinary phosphoric acid. The chemistry of 
the modifications of phosphoric acid was first definitely established by Thomas 
Graham in 1833. Ordinary phosphoric acid was discovered in tri-calcium phos- 
phate by Gahn in 1769, but was not isolated until Scheele obtained it in 1771. 
The solutions of the foregoing modifications present the following differences 
in reaction: 
With 
albumen. 
With calcium 
chloride. 
With barium 
chloride. 
W'ith argentic nitrate 
Metaphosphoric Acid, HPO3 
(H2P2O6, Rother). 
Orthophosphoric Acid, H3PO4 
(HeP2O8, Rother). 
Pyrophosphoric Acid, H4P2O7. 
Coagulation 
No effect... 
No effect... 
White pre- 
cipitate. 
No effect... 
No effect... 
White pre- 
cipitate. 
No effect... 
No effect... 
Gelatinous, transpar- 
ent precipitate. 
Yellow precipitate if a 
small amount of 
aqua ammonise be 
added. No precipi- 
tate with silver ni- 
trate alone. 
White precipitate if a 
small amount of 
aqua ammonia: be 
added. Its solution 
yields a precipitate 
with silver nitrate 
alone, which is in- 
soluble in excess of 
the acid. 
It will be observed that the three acids-metaphosphoric, pyrophosphoric, 
and orthophosphoric-are chemical combinations of phosphoric oxide (P2O5), 
with one, two, and three molecules of water respectively, thus: 
Metaphosphoric acid=P2O5+H2O=H2P2O6 (2HPO3). 
Pyrophosphoric acid=P2 0 5 -f-2H 2 O=H 4 P 2 O 7. 
Orthophosphoric acid=P2O5+3H2O=H8P2O8 (2H3PO4). 
III. Acidum Phosphoricum Dilutum (U. S. P), Diluted phosphoric acid.- 
Take "phosphoric acid, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]; 
distilled water, seven hundred and fifty grammes (750 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 10 ozs., 
199 grs.]. To make eight hundred and fifty grammes (850 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 13 ozs., 
430 grs.]. Mix them. Keep the product in well-stoppered bottles"-(U. S. P.). 
Description.-I. Acidum Phosphoricum (U. S. P.), Phosphoric acid.-"A liq- 
uid composed of not less than 85 per cent, by weight, of absolute orthophos- 
phoric acid [H3PO4-97.8], and not more than 15 per cent of water. The above- 
mentioned percentage (85) is that assumed for phosphoric acid in the formulas of 
pharmacopoeial preparations. Phosphoric acid should be kept in glass-stoppered 
bottles"-(17. S. P.). The Pharmacopoeia directs: "A colorless liquid, without 
odor, but having a strongly acid taste. Specific gravity, not below 1.710 at 15° C. 
(59° F.). Miscible, in all proportions, with water or alcohol. When heated the 
liquid loses water; at 200° C. (392° F.) it gradually begins to change to pyrophos- 
phoric acid. At a still higher temperature it is converted into metaphosphoric 
acid, which volatilizes in dense fumes, or forms, on cooling, a transparent mass of 
glacial phosphoric acid. The acid, even when largely diluted, has an intensely 78 
ACIDUM PHOSPHORICUM. 
acid reaction upon litmus paper"-(U. S. R). Although evaporated so as to 
become dense, this acid does not act upon animal and vegetable matter like sul- 
phuric and other mineral acids. 
II. Acidum Phosphoricum Dilutum (U. S. P.), Diluted phosphoric acid.- 
" Diluted phosphoric acid contains 10 per cent, by weight, of absolute orthophos- 
phoric acid. Specific gravity, about 1.057 at 15° C. (59° F.). It corresponds in 
properties to phosphoric acid (see Acidum Phosphoricum), and should conform to 
the same reactions and tests. 4.89 Gm. of diluted phosphoric acid should require 
for neutralization 10 Cc. of normal potassium hydrate V.S. (each cubic centi- 
meter corresponding to 1 per cent of the absolute acid), phenolphtalein being 
used as indicator"-(U. S. P.). 
Microscopic vegetative growths may spring up in diluted phosphoric acid if 
the preparation be kept for too great a length of time. This change may be pre- 
vented by the presence of a mere trace of chlorhydric acid. 
III. Acidum Phosphoricum Glaciale, Glacial phosphoric acid.-Pure glacial 
phosphoric acid is a soft mass, somewhat gummy in consistence, and requires the 
presence of some alkaline base, as sodium, to render it solid and glassy when cold. 
It requires a high temperature to fuse it, and volatilizes at a red heat. The com- 
mercial glacial phosphoric acid does not correspond to the former in its proper- 
ties, and is apt to be a very impure product, large quantities of sodium phosphate 
and other salts having been found in samples of it. It is chiefly made in Ger- 
many. The acid of commerce is in reality a mixture of metaphosphoric and 
pyrophosphoric acids, the proportion varying according to the manner of making 
it, whether the heating has been prolonged or not, or whether or not too high a 
temperature is maintained. The commercial product occurs in glass-like masses, 
transparent and deliquescent, and its solution in both water and alcohol has an 
acid reaction and is strongly acid to the taste. Its aqueous solution gradually 
changes to ordinary phosphoric acid, a change which is accelerated by boiling, 
or by the presence of nitric acid. The time required for this conversion of a solu- 
tion of 1 part acid to 2 parts of water is about 15 minutes (L. Thompson). 
Tests.-The Pharmacopoeia of the United States directs the following tests: "If 
a small portion of phosphoric acid be supersaturated with ammonia water, the 
addition of magnesium sulphate T.S. (or of magnesia mixture) produces a white, 
crystalline precipitate. If this precipitate be dissolved in diluted acetic acid, the 
solution yields a yellow precipitate with silver nitrate T.S. If a crystal of fer- 
rous sulphate be dropped into a cooled mixture of 1 Cc. each of phosphoric and 
sulphuric acids, no brown or brownish-black color should appear around the 
crystal (absence of nitric acid). If 1 Cc. of phosphoric acid be diluted with 5 Cc. 
of water, and the liquid gently warmed, it should not be blackened upon the 
addition of a small amount of silver nitrate T.S., or rendered turbid by mercuric 
chloride T.S. (absence of phosphorous acid). If 1 Cc. of phosphoric acid (in which 
nitric and phosphorous acids have previously been shown to be absent) be mixed 
with 1 Cc. of stannous chloride T.S. (see List of Reagents, Bettendorff's Test for 
Arsenic), and a small piece of pure tin-foil added, no coloration should appear 
within 1 hour (limit of arsenic). Upon adding to 1 Cc. of phosphoric acid a 
mixture of 3 Cc. of alcohol and 1 Cc. of ether, no turbidity should appear (absence 
of phosphate). After neutralizing a portion of the acid with ammonia water, the 
addition of ammonium sulphide T.S. should produce neither a color nor a pre- 
cipitate (absence of iron, etc.). After diluting a portion of the acid with 5 vol- 
umes of water, no precipitate should be produced, in separate portions of the 
liquid, by barium chloride T.S. (absence of sulphuric acid), or by silver nitrate 
T.S. (absence of hydrochloric acid); nor should any precipitate be formed, even 
after several hours, by the addition of an equal volume of tincture of ferric chlo- 
ride (absence of pyrophosphoric and metaphosphoric acids). 0.978 Gm. of phos- 
phoric acid, diluted with water, should require, for neutralization, not less than 
17 Cc. of normal potassium hydrate V.S. (each cubic centimeter corresponding to 
5 per cent of the absolute acid), phenolphtalein being used as indicator"- 
(U. S. P.f Another important test for phosphoric acid is that of molybdate 
of ammonium, made by dissolving molybdic acid in excess of ammonia, 
detecting even traces of it; when added in excess, it forms with this acid a 
bright yellow precipitate of ammonium phospho-molybdate of the composition ACIDUM PICRICUM. 
79 
2PO4(NH4)34-22MoO3+12H2O (Rammelsberg). However, the composition seems 
to vary according to conditions. If diluted phosphoric acid be neutralized with 
ammonia, nitrate of silver occasions a yellow precipitate of phosphate of silver. 
Arsenous acid is the only acid similarly acted on; and it may be determined from 
phosphoric acid by the action of hydrogen sulphide, which causes a yellow pre- 
cipitate with the arsenous acid, while it has no effect at all upon the phosphoric. 
Arsenic may also be detected by Marsh's test. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This acid produces the usual effects of 
the diluted mineral acids, but is milder and more assimilable. In addition, a mild 
intoxication, not unlike that produced by alcohol, is produced by doses ranging 
from 40 to 180 minims. Larger doses produce a feeling of inertia and drowsiness, 
which persists for some little time. Locally, when concentrated, it is irritant and 
mildly escharotic. By improving the appetite and digestion, it favors nutrition 
and growth. It has been used to check abnormal osseous secretions, to remove phos- 
phatic urine, to relieve spasmodic affections, and is frequently beneficial in the nerv- 
ous debility of persons advanced in years, in the thirst accompanying diabetes, in 
impotency, or feebleness of the sexual functions, and in fluor albus. That form of 
diabetes induced by mental disturbances, and in broken-down, nervous individ- 
uals, is the kind benefited by it. Functional deafness, from inner ear disorders 
with atony of the nervous system, is specially met by drop doses of the diluted 
acid every 3 hours. In eye disorders, with involvement of the deeper tissues with 
atony, it is a pronounced remedy. The indication is atony of the eye and its 
appendages. It is indicated in nervous atony of the lid and ocular muscles, 
tobacco or alcoholic amblyopia (with nux if indicated), and in the keratitis of en- 
feebled persons. Disseminated choroiditis has been cured by it (Foltz). Exter- 
nally it has been advantageously applied to indolent ulcers. From 1 to 30 drops 
may be given for a dose, mixed with an ounce or two of water, and this may be 
repeated 2 or 3 times a day. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Thirst; nervous and mental derangements; 
insomnia with atony; atonic nervous troubles of the eye and ear; functional 
deafness with debility. 
Related Acid.-Acidum Metaphosphoricum Dilutum (N. F.). Diluted melaphosphoric 
acid, Acidum phosphoricum glaciate dilutum, Diluted glacial phosphoric acid. Formulary number, 7: 
" Glacial phosphoric acid one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]; distilled water 
(enough to make one thousand cubic centimeters) (1000 Cc.) [33 fig, 391 Iff]." Dissolve the 
acid in the water without heat. 
" This preparation should be kept in a cool and dark place, and should not be prepared 
in larger quantity than may be consumed within a few months. 
" Note.-The resulting product contains about 10 per cent of metaphosphoric acid, provided 
the glacial acid was free from impurities. That which is sold in form of glassy lumps is usually 
of sufficient purity. The variety in form of round sticks is more or less impure, containing 
generally more than 15 per cent of phosphate of sodium. If this variety is alone available, a 
proportionately larger quantity must be taken, to be determined, if time permits, by an assay 
of the free acid present. If no special accuracy is required, about 115 Gm. [4 ozs. av., 180 grs.] 
of this variety of the acid may be reckoned to be equivalent to the quantity directed in the 
above-given formula. 
" Whenever pyrophosphate of iron (U. S. P.) forms one of the ingredients of a mixture 
containing diluted phosphoric acid, the official tribasic acid is unsuitable, as it produces with 
the salt a gelatinous precipitate. If a clear mixture is required the above preparation is to be 
usedin place of the official. The same may be done when phosphate of iron (U. S. P.) is 
prescribed, though the precipitate caused by the official acid in this case is not as bulky, and 
under certain conditions may not form at all "-(Nat. Form.). 
ACIDUM PICRICUM.-PICRIC ACID. 
Formula: C6H2(NO2)3OH. Molecular Weight : 228.57. 
Synonyms : Carbazotic acid, Nitrophenisic acid, Nitrophenolic acid, Nitropicric 
acid, Trinitrophenic acid, Trinitrophenol, Welter's bitter. 
Source and Preparation.-Picric acid is the product of the action of strong 
nitric acid on indigo, gum benzoin, coumarin, aloes, Australian gum, salicin, oil of 
gaultheria, phloridzin, silk, wool, leather, and other complex, organic substances, 
aided by heat, but is principally prepared from carbolic acid by the action of either 
nitric acid, followed by fuming nitric acid, or sulphuric acid and Chili saltpetre 80 
(nitrate of sodium). It is principally prepared from phenol, and the following 
formula is in frequent use: Take carbolic acid, 1 part; nitric acid, 3 parts; fum- 
ing nitric acid, 3 parts; warm the nitric acid and add the carbolic acid, drop by 
drop. This produces a violent reaction. After the violence of the reaction has 
abated, add the fuming nitric acid, heat, and evaporate the mixture, when picric 
acid will crystallize on cooling. Wash the product with cold water, and recrystal- 
lize with hot water or diluted alcohol. 
An old formula, showing the preparation of picric acid from indigo, is as fol- 
lows : Reduce the best indigo to a coarse powder, and digest it with ten times its 
weight of hot nitric acid, of specific gravity 1.430, added in small portions at a 
time. It dissolves with a copious emission of nitrous fumes, while it froths up 
very considerably. After the violent ebullition is over, raise it to the boiling tem- 
perature. Then add a little more concentrated nitric acid, continuing it, from 
time to time, as long as red fumes are disengaged. When the liquid has cooled 
there will be deposited a great quantity of yellow-colored, semi-transparent crys- 
tals; and if the process was properly conducted, neither resin nor artificial tannic 
acid makes its appearance. Wash these crystals in cold water and dissolve them 
in boiling water, and crystallize a second time. To obtain the picric acid quite 
pure, dissolve these crystals again in boiling water, and saturate them with carbonate 
of potassium; on cooling, crystals of picrate of potassium form. It is best to dissolve 
and crystallize them two or three times. When this salt is sufficiently pure, dissolve 
it in water and decompose it by nitric, hydrochloric, or sulphuric acid. When 
the solution cools, picric acid is deposited in beautiful crystalline plates. More 
of the acid may be obtained from the mother-liquors by a similar process. 
4 parts of indigo yield about 1 part of picric acid. Great care is necessary to 
obtain it free from indigotic and oxalic acids. 
Description.-Picric acid forms long, brilliant, whitish-yellow prisms with 
rectangular bases, which, in thin layers, are almost colorless. It reddens vegetable 
blues, and has an exceedingly bitter taste; it is fusible and volatile, and burns 
with a yellow flame, leaving a residue of charcoal. It is nearly insoluble in cold 
water, but soluble in hot water, alcohol, ether, benzol, chloroform, and petroleum 
benzin. It is not acted upon by chlorine, iodine, hydrochloric acid, nitro-hydro- 
chloric acid, or cold sulphuric acid. Concentrated sulphuric or nitric acids dis- 
solve it unaltered, and deposit it on the addition of water. Heated in an amount 
of water insufficient to dissolve it, the acid melts to a yellowish, transparent oil, 
which solidifies on cooling. Heated alone, the acid fuses to a yellowish oil; if the 
temperature be gradually raised, it may be partially sublimed; suddenly heated, 
it decomposes with explosion. It colors the skin, hair, and especially animal 
membranes, permanently yellow. It forms salts with bases, called picrates (car- 
bazotates), which also detonate in high temperatures. Gelatin is precipitated 
by its solution in water. Its alcoholic solution is a good reagent for detecting 
the presence of potassium in sodium salts; the picrate of potassium is sparingly 
soluble, and is deposited in minute yellow crystals, while the picrate of sodium 
is very soluble. It will stain wood, and is much used by dyers to impart a perma- 
nent yellow color to silk and woolen goods. If it be used with indigo, various 
tints of green may be obtained. Picric acid and its ammonium salt are now 
extensively used in the production of "smokeless gun-powder." A saturated 
solution will show the presence of albumen in urine. Into a test-tube containing 
the solution, drop the urine, and if it contains albumen, at the point of junction 
of the two liquids a white line will be observed (Gallippe, Ed. Med. Jour., 1873). 
More recently the picric acid test for albumen was modified by the additional use 
of citric acid (Esbach's solution, containing 2 per cent of citric and 1 per cent of 
picric acid). In the practice of medicine the name carbazoticacid is still in favor. 
The aqueous solution, 1 to 100, is used as a laboratory test for alkaloids, most 
of which, excepting morphine, cocaine, coniine, caffeine, hyoscyamine, aconitine, 
and theobromine, will be thrown down from weak acidulous solutions. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Picric acid and the picrates (carbazotates) im- 
part a yellow coloration to the skin of man, and to the urine and conjunctiva in 
both man and animals. Diarrhoea, intestinal sanguineous extravasation, flatulent 
accumulations, depression, loss of flesh and muscular twitchings were observed in 
a rabbit. 
ACIDUM PICRICUM. 81 
ACIDUM SALICYLICUM. 
This acid was formerly much used both internally and externally in various 
disorders, chiefly in intermittents, and intestinal worms. Picric (carbazotic) acid is 
tonic and astringent, the latter influence being effected by improving the general 
tone of the system. It has been efficaciously used in convalescence from acute 
diseases, cephalalgia, chronic diarrhoea, gastric irritability, dyspepsia, anemia, and 
intermittent fever ; in which last disease it was once considered a valuable substitute 
for quinine, and is especially efficacious in those cases of ague in which, from con- 
tinuous use, quinine has lost its effect. As the free acid is apt to occasion cramps 
in the stomach, the picrates of ammonium and iron have been found preferable. 
The picrate of ammonium and gallic acid, 1 grain each, with one-sixth of a 
grain of opium for a dose, may be repeated 3 times a day, in obstinate diarrhoea. 
By the use of these agents the skin and conjunctiva become temporarily colored, 
so as to closely resemble jaundice, and would deceive the keenest observer; the 
acid has been detected in the urine, even when this has been kept several days. 
Its intensely bitter taste is a bar to its use. The dose of the acid and its salts 
is from half a grain to a grain, repeated 3 times a day-(Moffatt, Crace Calvert). 
Webster suggests its possible curative action in pernicious anemia and leukemia, in 
2 or 3 grain doses of the 3x or 6x triturations every 4 hours. It is now chiefly 
used as a laboratory reagent. An alcoholic solution may be applied to burns. 
ACIDUM SALICYLICUM (U. S. P.)-SALICYLIC ACID. 
Formula: HC7H3O3. Molecular Weight: 137.67. 
Synonyms : Oxybenzoic acid, Ortho-oxybenzoic acid. 
"An organic acid, existing naturally, in combination, in various plants, but 
most largely prepared synthetically from carbolic acid"-(U. S. PS). 
Source and History.-In the year 1839, an article, from the pen of M. 
Piria, stated that by heating salicin, with mixtures of bichromate of potassium 
and sulphuric acid, an oily product was obtained, which he named hydruret of 
salicyle (since known as salicylous acid). When this substance was heated with 
caustic potash, the mass dissolved in water, and then treated with excess of 
hydrochloric acid, a white substance crystallized, which Piria named salicylic acid. 
Soon afterward, Cahours and Gerhard obtained it, by decomposing wintergreen 
oil. Kolbe and Lautemann (Ann. de Chim. et Pharm., cxiii.) succeeded in prepar- 
ing salicylic acid, by passing carbonic acid gas through carbolic acid, at the same 
time adding fragments of metallic sodium. The residuum was dissolved in water 
and an excess of hydrochloric acid added, when impure salicylic acid separated. 
Afterward, Kolbe found that by preparing dry carbolate of sodium, and heating 
it to the temperature of 100° C. (212° F.), gradually increased to 220° C. (428° F.) 
[not to exceed 250° C. (482° F.)], while at the same time a constant stream 
of carbonic acid gas is krpt passing through the retort, phenol will distill 
over, and disodium salicylate remain in the retort, thus: 2(C6H3ONa)+CO2= 
C6H4ONa.CO2Na+C6H5OH. 
This preparation was very impure, however, and it was not until after the 
year 1875 that, from this source, white salicylic acid became an article of com- 
merce. Rautert (1875) found that pure salicylic acid would distill with a current 
of steam, thus enabling chemists to easily purify Kolbe's dark-colored or yellow 
preparation ; and Dr. Squibb recommends this process in practice. At present, 
the bulk of salicylic acid found in commerce is prepared from carbolic acid. 
The following process, devised by R. Schmitt, was patented in 1885. Phenol- 
sodium is acted upon by a current of carbon dioxide (CO2) at ordinary tempera- 
ture, resulting in the formation of sodium phenyl carbonate as follows: C8H3ONa 
-|-CO2-C8H3O.COONa. This substance is then heated in closed vessels to a tem- 
perature of 120° C. to 140° C. (248° F. to 284° F.), an intramolecular change taking 
place, whereby monosodium salicylate (C8H4OH.COONa) is produced; from this 
salt salicylic acid is easily liberated by hydrochloric acid. Salicylic acid is like- 
wise found in the leaves of wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens), and in allied 
plants, as methyl-salicylate (C8H4[OH].COCH3). Cahours and Gerhard discovered 
it in the former about 1843. Cahours also obtained it while fusing a mixture 
of indigo and hydrate of potassium at high temperature; and Delandes, by a 82 
ACIDUM SALICYLICUM. 
somewhat similar action, upon coumarin. Distilled oil of meadow sweet (Spiraea 
ulmarid) readily yields it, as this oil is, mainly, salicylous acid (C7H6O2). Prof. 
E. S. Wayne obtained salicylic acid, from an oil, distilled from buchu leaves, and 
Prof. J. U. Lloyd (1877) from an oil, obtained by distillation from senega root. 
[This oil proved to be identical, in character, with oil of wintergreen]. Mandelin 
(1881) proved its existence in several species of violets. 
Preparation.-To prepare salicylic acid, dissolve, in an evaporating dish, 24 
parts of white hydrate of potassium, by means of a similar amount of distilled 
water, and raise the temperature of the solution to 82.2° C. (180° F.); then add, 
with constant stirring, 3 parts of oil of wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens'). 
When effervescence ceases, pour the solution into a mixture, composed of hydro- 
chloric acid, 4 parts, and distilled water 10 parts; stir well, and allow the mixture 
to remain in a cool place for 24 hours; then pour it upon a muslin strainer, 
drain the crystalline magma, redissolve it in boiling water, and crystallize by 
cooling; or, dissolve the precipitate in alcohol, and then reprecipitate, by the 
addition of water. Pure wintergreen oil must be employed in this process, be- 
cause, if adulterated with sassafras oil, as is often the case, much trouble will be 
experienced in purifying the acid. 
Description and Tests.-Salicylic acid separates from concentrated solu- 
tions, when rapidly cooled, in the form of small, crystalline tufts of minute 
acicular crystals. It is inodorous, but the'crude salicylic acid in course of prepa- 
ration, from wintergreen oil, possesses, from the presence of foreign matters, the 
peculiar odor of fresh willow bark, an odor familiar to those who have visited 
willow plantations, and have become impressed with the exhalation from freshly- 
stripped willows. When pure, this acid imparts, at first, a sweetish taste, which 
quickly becomes acrid and disagreeable. It sublimes, when gradually heated, 
but, according to Biel, after sublimation it has a tendency to spontaneously 
decompose into carbolic acid and carbonic acid gas. It unites with alkalies to 
form salts, the sodium salicylate being considerably employed in medicine. The 
dust of salicylic acid is irritating, if inhaled, exciting coughing and a sense of 
suffocation. In making solutions of salicylic acid in water, phosphates or acetates 
of the alkalies are often added, as salicylic acid is very soluble in these solutions. 
It is stated that a compound of borax with salicylic acid, Na(B.OH)2C7H5O3 
may be formed, and in practice, it is customary for physicians to add borax 
when desiring to make an aqueous solution of the acid. This solution soon 
acquires a bitter, unpleasant taste. The official acid is thus described: "Light, 
fine, white, prismatic needles, or a light, white, crystalline powder; odorless, hav- 
ing a sweetish, afterward acrid taste, and permanent in the air. Soluble at 15° 
C. (59° F.), in about 450 parts of water, and in 2.4 parts of alcohol; in 14 parts 
of boiling water, and very soluble in boiling alcohol. Also soluble in 2 parts of 
ether, 2 parts of absolute alcohol, and 80 parts of chloroform. When heated to 
156° C. (312.8° F.), the acid begins to melt, and is completely melted at 157° C. 
(314.6° F.) ; at a higher temperature it is gradually dissipated without leaving 
more than 0.6 per cent of fixed residue. The saturated aqueous solution has an 
acid reaction, and is colored intensely bluish-violet (in high dilution violet-red) 
by ferric chloride T.S."-(U. S. P.f 
Cresotic Acid, C8H8O3-, is a homologue of salicylic acid, and the properties 
of commercial salicylic acid are said to be often considerably modified by its 
presence. It is more soluble in boiling water, but likewise, produces the violet 
reaction with ferric chloride. This impurity, as well as phenol, is liable to 
be found only in salicylic acid artificially prepared from carbolic acid. That 
made from wintergreen oil may contain chloride of potassium, recognized by 
remaining insoluble, when the acid is washed with excess of alcohol. For 
medicinal use, the acid from wintergreen is often preferred by physicians. 
"On adding to a small portion of salicylic acid, in a test-tube, about 1 Cc. of 
concentrated sulphuric acid, then, cautiously, about 1 Cc. of methylic alcohol, in 
drops, and heating the mixture to boiling, the odor of methyl salicylate will be 
evolved. On allowing a saturated alcoholic solution of the acid to evaporate 
spontaneously in a glass or porcelain capsule, in a place protected from dust, a 
perfectly white, crystalline residue should remain (absence of iron, carbolic acid, 
or coloring matter). If 1 Gm. of the acid be dissolved in an excess of cold 83 
ACIDUM SALICYLICUM. 
sodium carbonate T.S., the liquid agitated with an equal volume of ether, and 
the ethereal solution allowed to evaporate spontaneously, the residue, if any, 
should be free from the odor of carbolic acid. On treating about 0.5 Gm. of the 
acid, in a clean test-tube, with 10 Cc. of concentrated sulphuric acid, no color 
should be imparted to the latter within 15 minutes (absence of readily carboniz- 
able, organic impurities). A solution of 0.5 Gm. of the acid in 10 Cc. of alcohol, 
mixed with a few drops of nitric acid, should remain unaffected upon the addition 
of a few drops of silver nitrate T.S. (absence of hydrochloric acid) "-(G. S. P.). 
Action.-According to MM. Chirone and Petrucci, animals subjected to the 
daily ingestion of this acid, rapidly emaciate, and lose much of their weight. 
With frogs and mammifers, it always diminishes the number of pulsations; in 
large doses it elevates the temperature of the body, and diminishes the number 
of respirations; in small doses it lowers the temperature. According to others, 
its use is apt to occasion more or less deafness, tinnitus, pain in the forehead, 
manual tremors, and accelerated respiration; and very large doses induce intense 
cephalalgia, tremors, excessive debility, hurried respiration, some lesion of the 
kidneys, and tingling sensations in the extremities, and, in some instances, rapid 
collapse, and cerebral symptoms, varying from those resembling cinchonism to 
nearly acute delirium. Sudden temporary amaurosis (Gatti) with recovery in 10 
hours, occurred in an individual to whom 125 grains of sodium salicylate had 
been administered. Dimness of vision, ptosis, and strabismus are not uncom- 
mon results from its use. H. Kohler states that it depresses the respiratory 
activity, and may even occasion death by asphyxia. Auger observes that its 
prolonged use in large doses, especially with women, is very apt to occasion 
nausea, vomiting, pyrosis, diarrhoea, angina, tinnitus, and even deafness, redness 
of the face, and slight congestion; and that, with inebriates, it may determine a 
furious delirium. These results, he adds, may sometimes be prevented or miti- 
gated, by administering it in milk, or in unleavened bread with a cup of milk. 
Pye Smith has observed that the urine of a patient who had been taking salicylic 
acid, gave the characteristic saccharine reaction, with the copper test; while 
Muller and others have found its sodium salt to temporarily, or permanently, as 
the case may be, cause the diabetic sugar to completely disappear. M. Gubler 
observes, that when the kidneys are normal the use of salicylic acid occasions 
diuresis, while, on the contrary, the urine is in diminished amount and even 
albumen is present in, more or less, considerable quantity, when there is a lesion 
of these organs. Salicylic acid imparts to the urine a characteristic olive-green 
tint. M. Bucquoy cites a case in which abortion, at the sixth month, fol- 
lowed the administration of this acid; and he also inquires whether the rapid 
deaths of certain patients, treated with this acid, and especially when the doses 
were large, may not be due to uremia, occasioned by its use. One or two writers 
have stated that the osseous system is affected by its use, and we are aware of 
several instances in which caries of the teeth occurred after a treatment with 
salicylic acid; but whether due to this acid is a question yet to be determined. 
Many of the serious symptoms following its employment have been attributed 
to an impure preparation ; yet as such symptoms have been observed, it behooves 
the medical practitioner, not only to be certain that he is employing the pure 
acid, but, likewise, to be careful in its administration, and to closely watch its 
effects, that he may be the better prepared to promptly remove any undesirable 
symptoms that may arise therefrom. The irritating action of this acid, upon 
the mucous membrane of the mouth, pharynx, oesophagus, etc., is said to be due 
to impurities; but the pure acid will occasion a dryness of the mucous mem- 
brane, followed by slight burning and increased saliva. 
If a solution of salicylic acid be sprayed upon plants they quickly die. 
Added to milk and beer it prevents organic changes by checking the fermenta- 
tive processes. If added to urine it will stop all putrefactive processes, and if it 
be ammoniacal, it will be promptly deodorized. Fermentation of urine within 
the bladder may be checked by the internal administration, or by injection, of 
solutions of this acid or one of its alkaline salts. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-The therapeutical virtues of salicylic acid are 
not satisfactorily determined ; while many physicians highly extol it, as possess- 
ing certain valuable properties, as many others, on the other hand, emphatically 84 
A( IDUM SALICYUCUM. 
deny this, and attribute the results following its employment to other causes. 
By various investigators, it has been claimed that salicylic acid is an antiseptic 
and germicide; by others, that it is a disinfectant, a deodorizer, an astringent, 
and an antipyretic. Kohler and some others consider it an antiseptic and germi- 
cide only when locally applied, because when taken internally it becomes united 
with an alkali, loses its antiseptic action, and produces effects similar to those 
following the ingestion of sodium salicylate. MM. See, Laborde, and others, 
state that the good effects following its internal administration are entirely due 
to its action as an analgesiant, and deny that it has any antiseptic, antipyretic, 
or antiperiodic action, when thus employed. Prideaux speaks highly of its effi- 
ciency in smallpox, when in combination with ammonium and sodium salts; his 
formula is a mixture of carbonate of ammonium, carbonate of sodium, each 5 
grains, salicylic acid 20 grains, water 1 fluid ounce; the dose is one-half, or the 
whole, of this solution, given every 4 or 6 hours. It is pleasant to the taste, 
unirritating to the intestinal canal, and modifies the disease so as to arrest it in 
its second and third stages, and also to prevent pitting, after recovery, in conse- 
quence of the absence of pus formation {Braithicaite's Retrospect, January, 1878, 
p. 188, from Med. Exam.). Letzerich states that upon the addition of salicylic 
acid to the diphtheritic organisms in the urine of children affected with severe 
diphtheria, and which consisted of bacteria, micrococci, and protoplasmic masses, 
the bacteria were destroyed, and the corpuscles of the plasmic substance became 
dim, presented a double margin, and apparently contained air-bubbles. He con- 
siders it a powerful anti-diphtheritic agent, and has successfully treated several 
cases of the disease, using a solution of the acid as a gargle, and applying the 
pulverized acid over the affected surface. Others, again, have derived no benefit 
whatever from its employment in diphtheria. But it is useless to continue these 
discordant statements, from which it will readily be seen that even its acknowl- 
edged partisans are not agreed as to its therapeutical virtues, and that our knowl- 
edge concerning its value is still very imperfect; and until more satisfactory 
information concerning its action shall be had, it will be advisable to employ it 
with great care and prudence, to closely watch its effects, and to at once suspend 
its administration whenever any unexpected symptoms appear, or when any 
doubt exists as to its influences upon the system, or any of its organs. Salicylic 
acid, and its salts, appear in the urine, partly free, partly in the form of sali- 
cyluric acid, in from 20 to 30 minutes after its ingestion, and may be known by 
the violet color produced when a solution of ferric chloride has been added to 
this fluid; also, by its deviating to the left the plane of polarization, from the 
presence of salicin. 
Salicylic acid, as well as its salts, as salicylate of sodium, of calcium, of lith- 
ium, of ammonium, of quinine, have undoubtedly been found of great value in 
acute articular rheumatism, rapidly reducing the temperature and the pulsations, and 
mitigating the pain, thus tending to prevent serious complications, allowing the 
excretory organs to eliminate any nocuous substance, and lessening the intensity 
and duration of the disease. As -with all remedies, failures may occur, chiefly 
owing to the treatment with the acid not having been commenced until after the 
existence of complications, or from want of perseverance in following up the treat- 
ment, as from the rapid elimination of the acid from the system, it requires to be 
frequently and persistently administered in order to be of any avail. The acid may 
be given in doses of from 5 to 10 grains, repeated every hour or two. Without 
doubt the drug is practically useless in chronic cases. Prof. John M. Scudder 
believed the drug useful in cases of acute, or sub-acute rheumatism, with but little 
febrile reaction, the tongue being full, moist, purplish, or leaden-colored, and 
where the rheumatic area exhibits local redness, with slight purplish discolora- 
tion, especially when pressed upon; as an antirheumatic he preferred 2-grain doses 
every 2 hours. According to Prof. F. J. Locke, it is always contraindicated by a 
pointed, red tongue. He prefers to use it in combination with potassium acetate. 
It has likewise been used in gout, to lessen pain and favor the elimination of the 
sodic biurate present in the blood in excess, but it should not be administered to 
gouty patients whose urine contains albumen; though Dr. S. J. Sharkey and 
some others doubt whether the medicine has anything to do with the presence of 
albumen in the urine, as this substance is encountered in the urine of rheumatic ACIDUM SALICYLICUM. 
85 
patients with high temperature; still, it is better to observe caution until the 
matter is settled definitely. In acute diseases, inter mittents, etc., it has failed as 
frequently as it has proved successful; and, indeed, doubts exist as to whether 
the successful results can be attributed to its action. It has been proclaimed 
useful in aphthae, thrush, lumbago, neuralgia, diabetes, hectic fever, etc., but further 
investigations are necessary before any reliance can be placed upon its use in 
these affections. As the rule, the administration of one of its salts is preferable 
to the pure acid, especially its sodium salt, on account of its more perfect solu- 
bility, its milder action, and its more agreeable taste. When salicylic acid, or 
any of its salts, is found to disagree with the stomach, occasioning uneasiness, 
nausea, or other unpleasant feelings, these may be prevented or mitigated by the 
administration of an aromatic tincture or infusion, with each dose. It is a good 
remedy in dyspepsia with yeasty fermentation. Given internally it removes 
lumbricoides, and by injection destroys the ascaris vermicularis. 
As a local application, a spray of solution of salicylic acid has been found 
serviceable in ozena, fetid bronchitis, chronic pharyngitis, aphthae, pulmonary gangrene, 
and other maladies attended with offensive odor, as bad breath from carious teeth; 
and it is a very efficient agent in fetid perspiration, especially of the feet and 
axillae. In phthisis its use should be extremely guarded, as it has even produced 
hemoptysis in the healthy man. In diarrhoea and dysentery, also in leucorrhcea and 
gleet, used in injection, it has proven useful, especially in removing fetor; in these 
cases it should be used in solution considerably diluted, as a strong solution is 
apt to be quite irritating. 
In diseases due to or attended with minute organizations (fungi), as diphtheria, 
parasitic cutaneous maladies, hay fever, coryza, etc., its application in solution, or in 
dry powder, has been productive of benefit; in ulcers, suppurating wounds, and 
gangrene, it forms a very useful dressing, though probably inferior to thymol, or 
carbolic acid. Prof. Scudder regarded this agent as an antipyic, and considered it 
one of our best antiseptic agents. He employed it in open wounds to prevent the 
formation of pus, and to correct offensive odors. Typhlitis and perityphlitis, with 
or without suppuration, are benefited by it. It is valuable in septicemia to cor- 
rect blood dyscrasia, and especially so in puerperal fever (Webster). Mixed with 
an ointment base, it has removed freckles, and combined with collodion and can- 
nabis indica, has been recommended for the removal of corns. On account of its 
corrosive action on steel, it is not a good agent with wrhich to cleanse surgical 
instruments. Dr. W. N. Mundy (Annual of Eclectic Med. and Surg., Vol. 1), is 
authority for the statement that this acid is an excellent local application for 
rhus poisoning, and that a saturated solution with collodion will cure ringworm, a 
second application being rarely needed. Prof. A. J. Howe valued it in pruritis 
ani and rectal fissures. Lithium salicylate has given good results in chronic cystitis, 
and calcium salicylate has been highly praised for its action on syphilitic chancre. 
Foltz reports good results in the scaly and exudative forms of eczema of the 
eyelids by the use of an ointment (salicylic acid [Lloyd's] grs. v to xx, petrola- 
tum §j), and also employed a 4 per cent glycerin solution to destroy the false 
membrane in diphtheritic conjunctivitis; while Webster regards it curative in rheu- 
matic ophthalmia and in myalgia of the ocular region (Dynam. Therapeutics'). 
While salicylic acid and the salicylates are excellent remedies when indicated, 
they should be very cautiously employed where there is any existing cardiac 
trouble. In fact, the main objection to the use of these drugs is their dangerously 
depressant action on the heart. They are also contraindicated in diseased condi- 
tions of the kidneys, and especially so if disintegration of the renal structures is 
taking place. Typhoid fever and typhoid states are not benefited by this acid or its 
salts, but on the contrary their action is often deleterious. The untoward effects 
of the salicylates are said to be somewhat mitigated by the administration of 
ergot. 
The following formulae have been given for the administration and applica- 
tion of salicylic acid; the solutions, it will be observed, are salicylates of the 
alkalies entering into them: 1. Salicylic acid, 30 grs.; citrate of ammonium, 40 
to 45 grs.; water, 4 fl§. Mix. Or, salicylic acid, 30 grs.; citrate of ammonium, 
15 grs.; rum or brandy, | fl^; distilled water, 2| fig. Mix. The dose is 
1 to 2 tablespoonfuls (A. Casson). 2. Salicylic acid, 180 grs.; carbonate of 86 
ACIDUM STEARICUM. 
ammonium, 90 grs.; water, 6 fls. Mix. Dose, a tablespoonful every 3 hours 
(J. A. E. Stuart). 3. Salicylic acid, 60 grs.; borax, 30 grs.; glycerin, flg. Mix 
the acid and borax with half an ounce of the glycerin, and heat until solution 
is effected, then add the balance of the glycerin. For internal and local applica- 
tion. 4. Salicylic acid, 30 to 60 grs.; white wax, 60 grs.; paraffin, 120 grs.; almond 
oil, 2 drachms. Mix, melt, and rub up in a heated mortar. Spread on strips of 
muslin or fine linen. This is an excellent antiseptic application, and also useful in 
eczema,rodent ulcer, etc. (Lister). 5. Salicylic acid, 10 grs.; borax, 6 grs.; water, 6 fl^. 
Mix, heat, and while the solution is hot, saturate clean cotton with it, and allow 
it to dry. This cotton forms a valuable dressing for surgical purposes. 6. Sali- 
cylic acid, 10 drachms; pure olive oil, 16 ounces. Mix, heat, and rub in a heated 
mortar. Lint or cotton saturated with this oily solution, forms a very satisfactory 
application to burns, scalds, eczematous affections, etc. Antirheumatic dose: 2 
grains, in pill or capsule, every 3 hours, until 20 grs. are taken. Lotion: Sali- 
cylic acid, borax, aa oj; aqua, Oj. 
Specific Indications and Uses. - Antirheumatic; rheumatic pain, with 
but little fever; sub-acute rheumatism. Tongue, broad, full, purplish, or leaden- 
colored, showing spots where the fur is detached; chronic catarrh of mucous 
tissues. 
Related Products.-Acidum Salicylaceticum, Salicylacetic acid.-Salicylacetic acid is 
obtained by heating 169 parts of dry sodium salicylate with 100 parts of a 40 per cent solution 
of caustic soda. After the mixture is cold add to it 130 to 140 parts of sodium monochlor- 
acetate, heat to 120° C. (248° F.), and then neutralize the mixture with diluted hydrochloric 
acid. It is insoluble in ether, which removes from it remaining traces of salicylic acid ; and 
it is generally irresponsive to the common solvents. It is antiseptic, forming also an antiseptic 
salt when combined with antipyrin. 
Cresotic Acid, Cresotinic acid, Homosalicylic acid, Oxytoluic acid (C8H3CH3OHCOOH).- 
Many isomers of this acid exist, four of which are homologues to salicylic acid. Three of 
these are known as ortho-, meta-, and para-cresotic acids, according to their preparation from 
ortho-, meta-, or para-cresol, in the same manner as salicylic acid is obtained from phenol. 
Only the para compound is used medicinally, and that has been replaced by sodium cresotate. 
Paracresotic acid occurs in long prisms, fusing at 151° C. (303.8° F.), scarcely soluble in cold, 
but more readily in hot water, and easily soluble in alcohol, chloroform, and ether. Sodium 
cresotate is a fine, white powder, bitterish, but not unpleasant to the taste, and soluble in 24 
parts of hot water, the solution being permanent. Divided doses of from 60 to 90 grains 
have been given daily, and it is said to act better as an antipyretic and antirheumatic than 
salicylic acid. On the other hand, it has been charged with causing cutaneous erythema and 
dangerous collapse. 
Sulphosalicylic Acid, Sulpho-sulphonic acid, Salicyl-sulphonic acid (C8H3SO3H.OH.COOH). 
-Produced by acting upon salicylic acid with concentrated sulphuric acid. Colorless needles 
soluble in water and alcohol. A delicate test for proteids-fibrin, globulins, peptones, and 
albumen, r^iFo part of the latter being detected by it. A dense white precipitate falls, which, 
when boiled, dissolves and reappears when the solution is allowed to cool, if the substance 
be an albumose or peptone. With the other bodies the precipitate does not redissolve on 
boiling. 
Acidum Phenylo-Salicylicum.-An acid whose salts are said to be less poisonous than 
those of salicylic acid, and possessing the germicidal properties of the latter. A powder, 
whitish, readily soluble in alcohol, glycerin, and ether, and sparingly in water. 
Acidum Ortho-Amido-Salicylicum.-A nearly odorless, non-crystalline, grayish powder, 
feebly sweetish, and not soluble in alcohol, water, or ether. Has been used by Neisser {Inaug. 
Dissertation, Bern, 1892) in sub-acute forms of rheumatism, with apparent success. 
ACIDUM STEARICUM (U. S. P.)-STEARIC ACID. 
Formula: HC18H;!5O2. Molecular Weight : 283.38. 
"An organic acid, in its commercial, more or less impure, form, usually 
obtained from the more solid fats, chiefly tallow"-(U. S. P.). 
Source and Preparation.-Stearic acid may exist in limited quantities in a 
free state, and, together with palmitic acid, is present in the form of a glyceride in 
many of the oils and in most solid fats. It also exists free in the intestines when 
fats are undergoing digestion. It may be obtained pure by saponifying fats with 
an alkali, and decomposing the soap so formed with hydrochloric acid. The 
resulting fatty acids are dissolved in excess of alcohol and heated. The boiling 
solution is then acted upon with a strong solution of acetate of barium. The 
precipitate, after having been washed, is then decomposed with hydrochloric ACIDUM SULPHURICHM. 
87 
acid, whereupon the stearic acid separates, and is treated with alcohol, from which 
it is recrystallized. Recrystallization is repeated until the crystals melt at about 
70° C. (158° F.). 
Description and Tests.-"A hard, white, somewhat glossy solid, odorless 
and tasteless, and permanent in the air. Insoluble in water; soluble in about 45 
parts of alcohol at 15° C. (59° F.); readily soluble in boiling alcohol and in ether. 
Stearic acid when pure melts at 69.2° C. (156.6° F.). The commercial acid should 
have a melting point not lower than 56° C. (132.8° F.), and the melted acid 
should not become opaque and begin to congeal ata temperature lower than 54° C. 
(129.2° F.). If 1 Gm. of stearic acid and 1 Gm. of sodium carbonate be boiled 
with 30 Cc. of water in a capacious flask, the resulting solution, while hot, should 
not be more than opalescent (limit of undecomposed fat) "-(U. S. P.f 
Uses.-This acid, combined with sal soda (sodium carbonate), is employed 
in the preparation of glycerin suppositories. The stearate of zinc forms a pro- 
tective against fluids, and is useful as a dressing powder in pruritic complaints. 
ACIDUM SULPHURICUM (U. S. P.)-SULPHURIC ACID. 
Formula: H2SO4. Molecular Weight: 97.82. 
Synonyms : Hydrogen sulphate, Oil of vitriol. 
Source and History.-Sulphuric acid is the most extensively used of the 
acids, being consumed in enormous quantities in almost every branch of commer- 
cial industry. It was first prepared (about 1440) from "calcined vitriol" (green 
vitriol) by an industrious monk, Basil Valentine, of Erfurt, Saxony, and its com- 
position ascertained by Lavoisier, in 1777. The name "oil of vitriol" was given 
it by the former. Combined in mineral's, such as Epsom salts (magnesium sul- 
phate), heavy spar (barium sulphate), and gypsum (calcium sulphate), it is quite 
extensively distributed over the earth. Unlike nitric and hydrochloric acids, 
it can not easily be made from its salts, but is prepared almost entirely by the 
oxidation of sulphur dioxide in the presence of water, the dilute solution being 
afterward concentrated. It is sometimes, though rarely, found uncombined in 
nature, the waters of the Rio Vinagre of South America containing it in sufficient 
quantities to render it appreciably sour. It exists free in the salivary glands of 
certain mollusca and in the waters of a few mineral springs-the Oak Orchard 
Mineral Spring at Medina, N. Y., containing 14 Gm. to the liter. 
Preparation.-Sulphuric acid is made in enormous quantities by passing 
into lead chambers, supported in a wooden frame-work, vapors of sulphur dioxide, 
nitric acid, jets of steam, and a certain quantity of atmospheric air. The sulphur 
dioxide is obtained by roasting iron pyrites, or burning crude sulphur; and the 
nitric acid, from the action of sulphuric acid on sodium nitrate. By a series of 
reactions of these substances on each other, a diluted acid, known as "chamber 
acid," results. This product is too weak for most industrial purposes (its density 
being 1.550), consequently it is drawn off into leaden evaporating pans, and con- 
densed until its density reaches 1.750, when it begins to corrode the lead, and 
further concentration is carried on in glass or platinum stills. 
Sulphuric acid for medicinal use can only be purified by distillation in glass 
retorts. This is a dangerous operation, from the fact that the retort is liable to 
be broken by the excessive heat required to bring the acid to the boiling point, 
338° C. (640.4° F.). The glass retort must be imbedded to the neck in a sand-bath 
connected with a receiver, and heat applied. After about one-eighth or one-sixth 
of the acid has passed over, another receiver is connected in place of the former, 
which is removed, and the remaining distillate will then have the required dens- 
ity. No luting should be used to connect the retort and receiver, but a metallic 
hood over the former is advisable. To prevent bumping caused by the vapors, a 
few fragments of sharp-pointed glass, clay pipe-stems, or quartzite (Lembert), 
may be placed in the liquid in the retort, taking the precaution to replace them or 
add more as soon as their points become worn off. If possible, an acid free from 
arsenic should be employed for purification. Much of the English acid contains 
this impurity, on account of being made from iron pyrites, which contains it in 
considerable quantities. Acid made from Sicilian sulphur, however, is com para- 88 
ACIDUM SULPHURICUM. 
tively free from it, which is true also of much of the acid now made in this 
Country, though there have recently arisen factories in the United States, in 
which pyrites containing arsenic is employed. The removal of arsenic from 
sulphuric acid is carried out on a large scale according to either of the two fol- 
lowing principles: 1. Precipitating the arsenic as sulphide by means of hydro- 
gen sulphide, either in the concentrated, or preferably, the somewhat diluted acid. 
2. By volatilizing the arsenic as trichloride by means of hydrogen chloride gas 
conducted into the acid, which is afterward heated to a temperature somewhat 
above 134° C. (273° F.) to facilitate the expulsion of the arsenous chloride. If 
arsenic is present in the form of arsenic acid, this must first be reduced to 
arsenous acid, by means of sulphurous acid gas, or heating the acid with a little 
charcoal. 
Fuming Sulphuric Acid, Acidum sulfuricum fumans.-This acid is also 
known as Nordhausen oil of vitriol, from the fact that it was first made at Nord- 
hausen, in Saxony. It was prepared at an earlier date than ordinary oil of vit- 
riol. It is really a sulphur trioxide (SO3) dissolved in sulphuric acid, and is made 
by roasting ferrous sulphate (obtained from pyrites-bearing slate) to redness in 
earthenware retorts, and distilling. The acid fumes pass over, leaving ferric oxide 
in the retort. The latter is then sold as a polishing material, under the name of 
colcothar or rouge. 
Description.-I.' Sulphuric Anhydrid, or Anhydrous sulphuric acid (SO3), is a 
white, crystalline solid, which melts at 20° C. (68° F.), and boils near 35° C. 
(95° F.). It gives off thick fumes in moist air, and has so strong an affinity for 
the elements of water that when thrown into that fluid it hisses like red-hot 
iron, combining with the water to form oil of vitriol. It is prepared from the 
Nordhausen acid. It does not redden litmus unless moisture be present. 
II. Nordhausen Oil of Vitriol, is an oily fluid, usually brownish in color 
from organic impurities present. It gives off copious, white, irrespirable fumes; 
when cooled to 0° C. (32° F.) it congeals, forming white crystals of the composi- 
tion H2SO4+SO3, and melting at 35 °C. (95° F.). This compound is called pyro- 
sulphuric acid (H2S2O7), because it forms a number of stable salts. It boils when 
heated to between 40° C. (104° F.) and 50° C. (122° F.), yielding anhydrous sul- 
phuric acid. 
III. Commercial Oil of Vitriol.-Crude sulphuric acid is of a heavy, oily 
consistence, odorless, and colorless if free from organic matter. It is often, how- 
ever, of a yellowish or dark-brown appearance, due to the presence of such organic 
material as dust, cork, straws, etc.,afid will quickly disintegrate flesh. Even after 
much dilution it has an intensely sour taste. It should be free from arsenic if 
to be used for pharmaceutical purposes, but unfortunately this impurity, as well 
as lead sulphate, is frequently present. 
IV. Acidum Sulphuricum (U. £ P), Sulphuric acid.-"A liquid composed 
of not less than 92.5 per cent, by weight, of absolute sulphuric acid (H2SO4= 
97.82), and not more than 7.5 per cent of water. The above-named percentage 
(92.5) is that assumed for sulphuric acid in the formulae of pharmacopoeial prep- 
arations. Sulphuric acid should be kept in glass-stoppered bottles"-(U. N. P.). 
It forms "a colorless liquid, of oily consistence, inodorous, and very caustic 
and corrosive. Specific gravity, not below 1.835 at 15° C. (59° F.). Miscible in 
all proportions, with water and alcohol, with evolution of so much heat that the 
mixture requires great caution. It boils at 338° C. (640.4° F.). When heated on 
platinum foil it is vaporized without leaving a residue. Even after dilution with 
much water it shows an intensely acid reaction with litmus paper"-(U. N. P). 
Owing to its great affinity for water, sulphuric acid is so intensely corrosive 
that it will rapidly destroy the tissues. If a piece of wood or a lump of sugar be 
dipped into the acid it will abstract from it the elements of water, leaving behind 
a charred mass of carbon. When mixed with water a great amount of heat is 
developed, depending partly on the energetic chemical action, and partly on the 
condensation which takes place; on this account, when exposed to the atmos- 
phere, its absorption of moisture rapidly reduces its strength. It unites with 
water in all proportions, and the heat evolved is so great as to endanger the glass 
container, which may be avoided by adding the acid gradually. Water should 
never be poured into the acid, but, on the contrary, if a solution be required, the ACIDUM SULPHURICUM. 
89 
acid should be gradually added to the water, and, preferably, a porcelain dish should 
be used in which to mix it. Combined with bases, sulphuric acid forms salts 
called sulphates. 
V. Acidum Sulphuricum Dilutum (U. S. P.)-Diluted sulphuric acid. 
Preparation.-" Sulphuric acid one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 
231 grs.] ; distilled water eight hundred and twenty-five grammes (825 Gm.) 
[1 lb. av., 13 ozs., 44 grs.]. To make nine hundred and twenty-five grammes (925 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 275 grs.]. Pour the acid gradually, under constant stirring, into 
the distilled water. Keep the product in glass-stoppered bottles"-(U. S. P.). 
Description.-This is a thin, colorless liquid, having a pure, sour taste. 
" Diluted sulphuric acid contains 10 per cent, by weight, of absolute sulphuric 
acid. Specific gravity about 1.070 at 15° C. (59° F.). It should respond to the 
reactions and tests given under sulphuric acid (see Acidum Sulphuricum). To 
neutralize 4.89 Gm. of diluted sulphuric acid should require 10 Cc. of normal 
potassium hydrate V.S. (each Cc. corresponding to 1 per cent of the absolute 
acid), phenolphtalein being used as indicator"-(U. S. P.). 
Impurities and Tests.-Among the impurities liable to be found in sul- 
phuric acid are: Organic matter, which colors the acid brownish or black; arsenic, 
which may be detected by Marsh's test, or according to the U. S. P. test to follow; 
selenium, which, when the acid is diluted with alcohol, falls down in the form 
of a red powder. The presence of sulphuric acid in the smallest quantity, whether 
free or combined, is detected in solutions by the characteristic property of forming, 
with any soluble compound of barium (as the chloride or nitrate), a precipitate of 
sulphate of barium, which is not only insoluble in water, but also in strong acids, 
except in concentrated sulphuric acid; from this solution it is reprecipitated by 
water. Free sulphuric acid in dilute solution may be recognized, by adding some 
crystals of sugar and evaporating on the water-bath nearly to dryness, whereby a 
black or brown color is produced if sulphuric acid was present. Sulphuric acid 
reddens salicin, piperin, veratrine, phloridzine, oil of bitter almonds, etc. 
The U. S. P. tests for the purity of sulphuric acid, are as follows: "Diluted 
with 5 volumes of water, it yields, with barium chloride T.S., a white precipitate 
insoluble in hydrochloric acid. On mixing the acid, carefully, with 4 or 5 vol- 
umes of alcohol, no precipitate should be formed within one hour (absence of 
lead). If there be carefully poured upon it, in a test-tube, a layer of ferrous 
sulphate T.S., the zone of contact should not assume a brown or reddish color 
(limit of nitric or nitrous acid). In sulphuric acid, diluted with 20 volumes of 
water, no precipitate should be formed by the addition of silver nitrate T.S. 
(absence of hydrochloric acid), or of hydrogen sulphide T.S. (absence of lead, 
arsenic, copper); nor by supersaturation with ammonia water (iron); nor should 
the acid thus supersaturated leave any fixed residue on evaporation and ignition 
(absence of non-volatile impurities), nor yield any precipitate ort 'addition of 
ammonium sulphide T.S. (iron, thallium, etc.). 1 Cc. of sulphuric Acid, diluted 
with 5 Cc. of water, and cooled, should not at once discharge the color of 0.1 Cc. 
of decinormal potassium permanganate V.S. (limit of sulphurous or nitrous 
acid). If 1 Cc. of a mixture of 1 volume of sulphuric acid with 2 volumes 
of water be mixed with 1 Cc. of stannous chloride T.S. (see List of Reagents, 
Bettendorff's Test for Arsenic), and a small piece of pure tin-foil added, no color- 
ation should appear within one hour (limit of arsenic). To neutralize 0.489 Gm. 
of sulphuric acid, diluted with about 10 Cc. of water, should require not less 
than 9.25 Cc. of normal potassium hydrate V.S. (each 0.1 Cc. corresponding to 
1 per cent of the absolute acid), phenolphtalein being used as indicator "- 
(U. S. P.). 
Uses in the Arts and Pharmacy.-Sulphuric acid is very extensively used 
in almost every branch of the arts. In pharmaceutical operations it is the most 
universally employed of all acids, viz.: To liberate hydrogen from zinc and water; 
in purifying chloroform and other bodies, by extracting organic impurities; 
for drying gases and other bodies; in the preparation of many other acids; to 
refine paraffine and petroleum products; in preparing the aromatic sulphuric 
acid, the sulphates, sulphurous acid, oil of wine, sulphuric ether, alkaloids, 
pyroxylin, hides for tanning, chlorinated lime, phosphorus, soda, alum, persul- 
phate of iron; and in making solutions of indigo, etc. 90 
ACIDUM SULPHURICUM. 
Action and Toxicology.-The protracted use of diluted sulphuric acid, is 
exceedingly deleterious in its effects on digestion, and may give rise to diarrhoea, 
with consequent weakness and loss of flesh. It is at all times and in all condi- 
tions destructive to the teeth. It slows the pulse, increases the appetite, allays 
thirst, and checks excessive cutaneous excretion. Injected into the venous circu- 
lation, the strong acid coagulates and chars the blood. The pure acid destroys 
flesh, redissolving coagula, and penetrates deeply, carbonizing the tissues wher- 
ever it touches. If swallowed in any amount, death is almost sure to follow, as 
the tissues over which it passes are utterly destroyed. The symptoms are intense 
burning pain, escape of gaseous or frothy material, retching, and vomiting of 
shreds of tissue and dark, coffee-ground and bloody fluid, ami excoriation of the 
parts over which the acid passes, giving them a whitish appearance, as of parch- 
ment that has been soaked. This whitish hue subsequently changes to gray or 
brownish, and the mouth is filled with a thick, sticky mixture of mucus, saliva, 
and corroded tissue. Breathing, speaking and swallowing are very difficult, and 
the face assumes a livid or bluish appearance. If breathing be not obstructed, 
from injury to the larynx, the face is pale and the expression extremely anxious 
and indicative of intense suffering. Pain is increased upon the ingestion of 
fluids, and upon movement of the abdominal muscles. Exhaustion, great 
weakness, small, feeble, quick pulse, cold, mottled skin, bathed in clammy sweat, 
great thirst, obstinate constipation and convulsive movements, are also sympto- 
matic. The intellect remains unimpaired until death. If death is not immedi- 
ately produced, it may subsequently result from oesophageal stricture, or gastric 
inflammation and ulceration; in either case causing death by starvation. It 
should be antidoted with calcined magnesia, if at hand; if not, other alkaline 
solutions may be given. Emetics and alkaline carbonates should, if possible, be 
avoided, and the stomach-pump used with the greatest of care. Mucilaginous 
drinks, milk, albumen and soaps may be given after the antidotes if the acid 
swallowed be small in amount, or in a diluted form. After death, the parts are 
found corroded, and colored whitish, gray or brown-black, with ecchymoses. The 
stomach may be perforated, but if not, it is collapsed and its tissues contracted, 
the stain being black or brown over the entire surface, or merely in black streaks, 
according to the amount of food in the organ. The contents are of the same hue, 
and tarry in consistence. If perforation occurs, other neighboring organs may 
be attacked. Death from poisoning by this acid, usually occurs in from 18 to 24 
hours. The smallest dose which has killed is | drachm. A middle-aged man 
died in three-quarters of an hour from 3| ounces of the acid (Rapp). Again, 
death may result months or years afterward from the effects of the poison. 
If the,acid be spilled, upon the skin brown spots may appear, or the color 
of clothing ^ay be changed to red or yellow, or wholly discharged ; if the goods 
be black, a,^npist, reddish-brown stain is seen. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Externally, sulphuric acid has been used as a 
caustic, in ulcers and malignant growths, combined with enough saffron or sulphate 
of zinc to form a paste that will not spread beyond the part to which it is 
applied. It has been used in entropion and ectropion, to cicatrize the palpebral 
tissues in such a manner as to reverse the direction of growth. It is some- 
times used in the form of ointment. As an internal remedy, it is only used 
in a diluted form. Diluted sulphuric acid is an excellent tonic, exciting the 
appetite, promoting digestion, quenching thirst, and checking fermentation in 
the stomach, and is therefore used with success in morbid acidity, debility, and 
relaxation of the stomach. As an astringent, it is used in hemorrhages of a 
passive character, diarrhoea, chronic dysentery, Asiatic cholera, etc. As a refrigerant, 
it is very useful in checking the perspiration in hectic fever; and forms a pleasant 
acid drink, when sufficiently diluted with water, in continued fevers, and during 
recovery from exhausting diseases; as an antiseptic, it is beneficial in putrid 
febrile diseases. It is an effectual remedy in lead poisoning or painter's colic, as are 
all of the soluble sulphates. As a remedy for colliquative sweating, it is probably 
one of the best we possess. For this use the aromatic acid is generally preferred. 
Asa diuretic, it may be used in dropsies, and some forms of fever, but its use 
should not be continued too long, as it is apt to cause griping and looseness. It 
has likewise been advantageously exhibited in some cutaneous diseases, phosphatic ACIDUM SULPHURICUM AROMATICUM.-ACIDUM SULPHUROSUM. 
91 
calculous affections, dyspepsia, etc. Added to gargles, it will be found of service in 
ulceration of the throat and mouth, profuse salivation, etc.; and maybe used in the 
form of a wash in indolent ulcers, and several diseases of the skin. The dose of the 
strong acid is 1 or 2 drops largely diluted (water flgvj) ; of the diluted acid 5 to 
30 drops, well diluted in about 4 fluid ounces of water. Alkaline washes should 
follow to protect the teeth. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-The deep-red tongue; diarrhoea, with deep- 
red tongue and gastric debility ; colliquative sweats, with marked debility. 
ACIDUM SULPHURICUM AROMATICUM (U. S. P.)-AROMATIC 
SULPHURIC ACID. 
Synonyms: Elixir of vitriol, Elixir vitrioli Mynsichti, Tinctura aromatica acida, 
Mynsicht's elixir. 
Preparation.-Sulphuric acid, one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) 
[3fls, 183 Th.]; tincture of ginger, fifty cubic centimeters (50 Cc.) [1 fl^, 331 TR]; 
oil of cinnamon, one cubic centimeter (1 Cc.) [16 TR]; alcohol, a sufficient quan- 
tity. To make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 TR]. Add 
the sulphuric acid gradually and with great caution to seven hundred cubic 
centimeters (700 Cc.) [23 fl.?, 321 TR] of alcohol, and allow the mixture to cool. 
Then add to it the tincture of ginger and the oil of cinnamon, and afterward 
enough alcohol to make the whole measure one thousand cubic centimeters 
(1000 Cc.) [33 fis, 391 TR]. Keep the product in glass-stoppered bottles {U. S. P.). 
Description.-This forms a pleasantly aromatic, acid preparation, having a 
pale-yellow color. " Aromatic sulphuric acid contains about 20 per cent, by 
weight, of official sulphuric acid, partly in form of ethyl-sulphuric acid. Specific 
gravity, about 0.939 at 15° C. (59° F.). If 4.89 Gm. of aromatic sulphuric acid 
be mixed in a small flask with 15 Cc. of water and boiled for several minutes 
(so as to decompose the ethyl-sulphuric acid), and the liquid be then allowed 
to cool, it should require, for complete neutralization, about 18.5 Cc. of normal 
potassium hydrate V.S. (each Cc. corresponding to 1 per cent of absolute or 
about 1.08 per cent of official sulphuric acid), phenolphtalein being used as indi- 
cator"-(17. 8'. P.) The sulphovinic acid (ethyl-sulphuric acid) developed in this 
preparation gradually increases as the product becomes old. The corresponding 
British preparation contains only a little over 12 per cent of sulphuric acid, and 
has a density of 0.911. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This acid mixture possesses the same properties 
as diluted sulphuric acid, for which it is preferable, and generally substituted for 
internal administration. It is particularly applicable in colliquative sweating, and 
in gastric derangements. It may be given in doses of 5 to 30 drops, diluted with 
about 4 fluid ounces of water, and repeated 3 or 4 times a day. The teeth may 
be protected from the action of the acid, by taking it through a glass tube and 
employing thereafter an alkaline wash. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-The deep-red tongue; diarrhoea, with the 
deep-red tongue and gastric debility; colliquative sweats, with marked debility. 
ACIDUM SULPHUROSUM (U. S. P.)-SULPHUROUS ACID. 
Formula: SO2. Molecular Weight: 63.9. 
Synonyms: Sulphur dioxide, Sulphurous unhydride. 
"A liquid composed of not less than 6.4 p'er cent, by weight, of sulphurous 
acid gas (sulphur dioxide, SO2-63.9), and not more than 93.6 per cent of water" 
-(^ S. P.). . 
History and Source.-The ancient Greeks and Romans were acquainted 
with the characteristic bleaching and disinfecting properties of sulphur fumes, 
and, according to Pliny, they were employed for purifying fabrics. Stahl, in 
1697, differentiated the dioxide from oil of vitriol, and in 1775, sulphur dioxide 
was prepared pure, and investigated by Priestly (Roscoe and Schorlemmer). It 
exists in some mineral springs, in volcanic gases, and is formed whenever sulphur 92 
ACIDUM SULPHUROSUM. 
is burned in the atmosphere. Medicinal sulphurous acid, is a solution of sulphur 
dioxide in water, and has the formula, H2SO3. 
Preparation.-On a small scale, sulphurous acid is obtained either by acting 
upon sodium sulphite with diluted sulphuric acid, or reducing sulphuric acid by 
heating with copper turnings, or with sulphur, or more generally with charcoal; in 
the latter case the following reaction takes place: 2SO4H2-|-C=CO2-|-2H2O+2SO2. 
The process indicated as follows by the U. S. P. is representative: 
"Sulphuric acid, eighty cubic centimeters (80 Cc.) [2 fl§, 338 Til]; charcoal, 
in coarse powder, twenty grammes (20 Gm.) [309 grs.]; distilled water (1000 Cc.) 
[33 fl5, 391 hl]. Introduce the charcoal into a glass flask having a capacity of 
about five hundred cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 fl^, 435 hl] ; add the acid, and 
mix them well. Connect the flask, by means of suitable glass tubing, with a wash- 
bottle having a capacity of about two hundred cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fls, 
366 hl], which is filled to about one-third of its height with water. Through 
the stopper of the wash-bottle pass a safety-tube, which should reach nearly to 
the bottom of the bottle, and connect the latter, by means of glass tubing, with 
a bottle having a capacity of about fifteen hundred cubic centimeters (1500 Cc.) 
[about 50 fl3], and containing one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl5, 
391 hl] of distilled water deprived of air by being boiled shortly before use. The 
tube should dip about 25 Mm. below the surface of the distilled water. By means 
of a second tube, connect this bottle with another containing a dilute solution of 
sodium carbonate, to absorb any gas which may not be retained by the distilled 
water. Having ascertained that all the connections are air-tight, apply a mod- 
erate heat to the flask containing the sulphuric acid and charcoal, until the evo- 
lution of gas has nearly ceased, and during the passage of the gas keep the bottle 
containing the distilled water at or below 10° C. (50° F.) by surrounding it with 
cold water or ice. Finally, pour the sulphurous acid into dark, amber-colored, 
glass-stoppered bottles, and keep them in a cool place, protected from light "- 
(U. S. PJ). 
In the preparation of sulphurous acid on a somewhat larger scale, Prof. J. U. 
Lloyd has, to great advantage, replaced the glass apparatus by a cast-iron retort 
of about 2 gallons capacity. 
Description and Tests.-I. Sulphurous Anhydride.-Sulphurous acid 
gas is colorless, irrespirable, having the odor of burning sulphur, and an acid 
taste. It is very heavy, having the specific gravity 2.2112, forms an anhydrous, 
limpid liquid at -10° C. (14° F.), and at a very low temperature it solidifies. 
Respired in a concentrated form, it proves fatal to life; if diluted, it causes cough 
and headache. It is highly destructive to all animals. Its reaction in aqueous 
solution is strongly acid. It extinguishes combustibles in a state of flame, and 
in case of burning soot in a chimney, a handful of sulphur thrown into the 
fire will promptly extinguish it if the draft be closed. It bleaches many 
vegetable and animal colors, and its vapor, from burning sulphur, is used to 
whiten straw, bleach silk, woolen goods, and isinglass-in fact, is used for bleach- 
ing where chlorine can not be utilized or would be injurious. Brewers use a solu- 
tion of sulphurous acid to cleanse casks that have been once used, and farmers 
make common use of the fumes of burning sulphur in purifying cider barrels. It 
is sometimes employed for the preservation of meats and canned fruits. It will 
remove fruit stains, and is employed by the pharmacist to bleach sponges. In 
combination with bases, its aqueous solution gives rise to the line of salts known 
as the sulphites. When dry, it shows no affinity for oxygen, but in contact with 
a little water it slowly combines with that gas, forming sulphuric acid. 
II. Sulphurous Acid.-Sulphurous acid of the U. S. P. contains 6.4 per 
cent of absolute acid. It is " a colorless liquid, of the characteristic odor of burn- 
ing sulphur, and of a very acid, sulphurous taste. Specific gravity not less than 
1.035 at 15° C. (59° F.). By heat it is completely volatilized. Litmus paper 
moistened with the acid is first reddened and afterwards bleached"-(G. S. P.). 
"On gently heating a few Cc. of the acid in a test-tube, the gas evolved will 
blacken a strip of paper moistened with mercurous nitrate T.S., but will not 
affect one moistened with lead acetate T.S. On mixing in a test-tube 1 Cc. 
of sulphurous acid with 5 Cc. of diluted hydrochloric acid, and adding a 
small piece of pure zinc, hydrogen sulphide gas will be evolved, which will ACIDUM SULPHUROSUM. 
93 
blacken a strip of paper moistened with lead acetate T.S. If to 10 Cc. of sulphur- 
ous acid there be added 1 Cc. of diluted hydrochloric acid, and afterwards 1 Cc. of 
barium chloride T.S., not more than a very slight turbidity should be produced 
(limit of sulphuric acid). If 2 Gm. of sulphurous acid be diluted with 25 Cc. of 
distilled water and a little starch T.S. be added, at least 40 Cc. of decinormal 
iodine V.S. should be required before a permanent blue tint is developed (each 
Cc. corresponding to 0.16 per cent of sulphur dioxide)"-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Organic matter is energetically attacked 
by this acid, which has a selective affinity for oxygen. Fungi, bacteria?, and 
other low forms of life, are destroyed by it. Pronounced irritation of the glottis 
is produced by inhaling sulphur dioxide, and the sensation of suffocation pro- 
duced is intense. The air passages may be violently inflamed by large amounts 
of the gas. Fatal cases from the burning of coal giving off a large amount of 
this gas, present a cold surface, livid countenance, purple lips, hands, and nails; 
short, quick breathing; quick, feeble, and small pulse; fixation of the pupils, 
and complete insensibility. Congestion of the brain, heart, and lungs is, as a 
rule, the chief post-mortem feature, like one who has been hanged (see Taylor). 
Sulphurous acid was introduced into medicine owing to its destructive 
influence upon inferior organic growths, whether animal or vegetable, and from 
its apparent azymotic property. It has been found very useful in typhoid or 
enteric and remittent fevers, scarlet fever, smallpox, measles, puerperal and surgical fevers, 
and in dysentery and pneumonia, both of typhoid type, in sarcinee ventriculi, and 
in pyrosis, checking the excessive secretion, stopping the vomiting, and lessening 
epigastric pain. Dr. H. Lawson has found the fluid of pyrosis to contain sar- 
cinae, torulae, huge clusters of leptothrix, and myriads of vibriones and bacteriae, 
which, by their presence, keep up the irritation causing pyrosis; the sulphurous 
acid checks these unusual processes by its parasiticidal properties. He advised 
from half a drachm to a drachm, 3 times a day, shortly before meals, largely 
diluted with distilled water. Yeasty fermentation calls for it. The sulphites of 
sodium or magnesium produce similar results, as they become decomposed when 
in the stomach, and give out sulphurous acid. 
To be of service in the foregoing disorders, as well as in those to follow, this 
agent must be specifically applied. The cases for it are those calling generally 
for acid medication; though it is not used as an acid, for its acid properties 
are feeble. Yet the general state of the system tends toward excessive alkalinity 
(redness), while, on the contrary, the alkaline sulphites are indicated in excessive 
acidity (pallid tongue and membranes). The characteristic condition for sulphur- 
ous acid, is one of a low state, with normal or increased redness of the tongue 
and membranes. The tissues are enfeebled, full and relaxed, and appear to have 
lost vitality; the pulse large and empty, the sensation under the finger being that 
of a large-calibred vessel with a small stream of blood. The secretions are nasty, 
dirty, and exhale, as well as the breath, a peculiar, sweetish, mawkish odor. The 
membranes are reddened and dirty, or muddy in color. The tongue is character- 
istic, being coated, over red, with a glutinous, nasty, yellowish-brown, or the coat- 
ing may be transparent; and, again, it may appear as if fecal matter had been 
rubbed upon it. In later stages a moist, glutinous, brownish fur may line the 
center of the organ. Occasionally the tongue is slick and shining, like a piece of 
raw beef. Dirty sordes upon the teeth and lips; and the saliva is increased in 
quantity, viscid, and mawkish. When externally indicated, as in erysipelas and 
like conditions, the tissues are deep-red, and appear to have lost vitality. The 
erysipelatous redness blanches more or less as the disease progresses, " sometimes 
in the center, sometimes at the border, sometimes in the deep structures, you 
seem to be looking through the superficial redness" (Scudder, Spec. Diag., 90). 
Wounds and abrasions seem to show a tendency to slough, and are bathed in dirty, 
sticky, unhealthy secretions. Added to these a depraved state with yeasty vomit- 
ing, and you have the uses for one of our most important antiseptics. 
Sulphurous acid has been largely employed as an external application in all 
cutaneous parasitic affections, and in which, before its application, the scabs have 
been removed, so as to have the diseased surface directly exposed to the agent. 
For this purpose it may be applied pure, or diluted with glycerin or water, of the 
required strength. The use of glycerin, however, should be guarded, as it often 94 
ACIDUM TANNICUM. 
acts as an irritant to the skin, as well as doing injury by abstracting water from 
the tissues, leaving them hard and dry. Tinea tonsurans, versicolor, and favosa, 
urticaria, scabies, ringworm, and purpura, are successfully treated with it. As a 
wash, or in the form of spray, it has been found effectual in thrush, diphtheria 
(with dusky coloration of membranes), follicular pharyngitis, clergyman's sore 
throat, chronic irritation of the larynx and vocal cords, weakness or loss of voice from 
the preceding cause, chronic bronchitis, pertussis, asthma, wounds, and ulcers. In 
these conditions it should be used internally also. Mucous patches, tonsillitis, and 
mercurial stomatitis, when having the characteristic indication, yield promptly to 
this acid. As an application to sloughing wounds and ulcers, with sticky, glutin- 
ous secretion, it is of marked value. Give it internally at the same time. 
Cures have been effected in several cases of extensive syphilitic ulceration of the 
throat and posterior nares, by the spray, repeated 2 or 3 times a day, of sulphur- 
ous acid, used of official strength, or diluted with an equal volume of water. It 
is equal, if not superior to carbolic acid, in efficiency, besides being free from the 
objections to the latter, as, its disgusting odor and its powerful, irritant action. 
Dr. James Dewar has found sulphur dioxide very efficacious in pleuropneumonia 
of cattle, chilblains, chapped hands, obstinate grease of the heels in horses, ringworm, 
molluscum, mange, lice, hospital gangrene, and as a disinfectant; having in all these 
difficulties made use of it in the form of sulphur fumigation, paying proper 
attention to ventilation of the apartment in which the cattle or persons are 
exposed to the vapor. He has even met with unexpected success in a case of 
supposed phthisis, with which several other eminent medical men were acquainted. 
We can not, however, subscribe to its alleged curative action in the last-named 
disease, though we believe it to be valuable in mitigating many of the unpleas- 
ant symptoms, and particularly in overcoming the sweetish, mawkish odor of the 
sputa and breath. As a decalcifying agent to assist in the removal of carious 
fragments from the aural canal and tympanum, it has found some favor. Dose, 
from 10 to 60 drops, well diluted. The acid must be fresh, and not remain long 
in contact with water. Dispense it in bulk. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Full, relaxed, dirty-looking tissues, with 
deep redness and sticky, unhealthy discharges; sweetish, mawkish odor of breath 
and discharges; saliva increased and viscid; tongue full, broad, atonic, normally 
red, with glutinous coat, either transparent or dirty-brownish, with effaced 
papillae; unhealthy, viscid wounds and ulcers; gastric derangements with yeasty 
fermentation. All the conditions are those of sepsis and debility. 
ACIDUM TANNICUM (U. S. P.)-TANNIC ACID. 
Formula: HCuH9O9. Molecular Weight: 321.22. 
Synonyms : Gallotannic acid, Digallic acid, Tannin, Tanninuni. 
"An organic acid obtained from nutgall "-(U. S. Pi). 
Source.-Tannin is a name applied to vegetable substances possessing acid 
properties and having an astringent taste, and which produce with iron salts a 
dark precipitate or solution, and precipitate albumen and gelatin. The tannin 
under consideration is produced from nutgalls, and to distinguish it from other 
tannins, is known as gallotannic or digallic acid. Tannic acid may be obtained 
from nutgalls (excrescence on Quercus lusitanica, Lamarck, var. infectoria, Nat. Ord. 
Cupuliferse, U. S. P.), from the leaves of the Rhus Coriaria, Linne, from some kinds 
of acorn cups, and from Japanese and Chinese galls. Allied tannic acids are 
also found in catechu, coffee, fustic, quercitron, pomegranate, kino, cinchona, tea, 
the oak, willow, elm, horse-chestnut, plum, pear, sumach, whortleberry, etc., in 
each instance possessing nearly the same properties, though their chemical com- 
position is different. Some of them form a dark-green color with the salts of 
iron, and a few form a gray color. Gallotannic acid produces a dark-blue, or 
bluish-black precipitate with ferric salts. Tannic acid was distinguished as an 
individual compound by Deyeux and Seguin, in 1793 and 1795, respectively. 
Gallotannic acid was found by Schiff, in 1871, to be an anhydrid of gallic acid, 
having the constitutional formula : COoH.CeH^COH^O.COCeHjCOH^. 
Preparation.-Allow sulphuric ether to percolate through a suitable quan- ACIDUM T ANN (CUM. 
95 
tity of powdered galls contained in a glass percolator, the lower ei d of which is 
loosely closed with a pellet of cotton. The liquor obtained in the receiver sepa- 
rates into two parts, and the ether must be allowed to percolate through the galls 
until the lower stratum of liquid in the receiver no longer increases. Pour off 
the upper layer, and evaporate the lower portion with a moderate heat, to dryness. 
It is stated that a much larger quantity of tannic acid may be obtained by 
employing a mixture of 16 parts of ether and 1 part of alcohol. The percolated 
liquid separates into two layers. The lower one contains the tannic acid, which 
may be obtained perfectly pure on evaporation ; the upper layer contains the 
gallic acid, coloring matter, and some tannic acid. The tannic acid in the upper 
layer may be obtained by evaporating the liquid to dryness, treating the residue 
with pure ether, until the lower of the two layers, into which the liquid separates, 
no longer presents a green color; and then separating it, adding, if necessary, a 
little alcohol, and evaporating. 
Description and Tests.-"A light-yellowish, amorphous powder, usually 
cohering in form of glistening scales or spongy masses; odorless, or having a 
faint, characteristic odor, and a strongly astringent taste; gradually turning darker 
when exposed to air and light. Soluble at 15° C. (59°F.) in about 1 part of 
water, and in 0.6 part of alcohol; very soluble in boiling water, and in boiling 
alcohol; also in about 1 part of glycerin, with the intervention of a moderate 
heat; freely soluble in diluted alcohol, sparingly in absolute alcohol; almost 
insoluble in absolute ether, chloroform, benzol, or benzin. When heated on plat- 
inum foil, the acid is gradually consumed without leaving more than 0.2 per 
cent of ash. Tannic acid has an acid reaction upon litmus paper"-(U. S. P.). 
The watery solution, exposed to the air, absorbs oxygen, and is transformed 
into carbonic acid gas, which escapes, leaving behind gallic and ellagic acids. 
Oils do not dissolve it. Tannic acid combines with a solution of animal gelatin, 
forming a white, curdy, insoluble substance, the tannate of gelatin; a piece of 
prepared skin introduced into a solution of tannic acid, absorbs the acid and is 
converted into leather. With the per-salts of iron, tannic acid and its salts 
strike a deep-blue, nearly black color, which is a tannate of iron, and the prin- 
cipal ingredient of ordinary ink. Ink stains are gal lo-tan nates of iron, and are 
readily removable by oxalic and citric acids, owing to the solubility of the iron 
basis. When potassium hydroxide is added in excess to a solution of tan- 
nic acid, tannoxylic or rubitannic acid is formed; if the mixture be boiled, 
instead of exposed to the air, tannomelanic or tannohumic acid is formed, a 
bibasic, dark, humus-like powder. Concentrated sulphuric acid dissolves the dry 
tannins, forming yellow solutions which, when heated, become deep-red, owing 
to the formation of rufi-gallic and meta-gallic acids. Potassium bichromate 
causes brown precipitates with the majority, if not all, of the tannins (Trimble, 
On Tannins'). Tannic acid precipitates most metallic oxides from the solution of 
their salts; is more or less completely precipitated from its solution by mineral 
acids, and gives, with those acids, compounds soluble in pure water. If tannic 
acid be treated with oxidizing bodies, as with nitric acid, chromic acid, chlorine, 
bromine, or the higher oxides, it is completely destroyed, under production of 
formic and oxalic acids. Acetate of lead added to a solution of tannic acid, pro- 
duces a white precipitate; tartar emetic gives a white precipitate, of a gelatinous 
character. When given internally, tannic acid will be found, when passed in 
the urine, to have changed into gallic acid. There is a substance formed in white 
wines, called glaiadine, which renders them turbid and disposed to mucous fer- 
mentation ; a solution of tannic acid will arrest this by coagulating the above- 
named substance. 
The U. S. P. gives the following tests: " The addition of a small quantity 
of ferric chloride T.S. to an aqueous solution of the acid, produces a bluish-black 
color or precipitate. On adding to an aqueous solution (1 in 100) of tannic acid 
a small quantity of calcium hydrate T.S., a pale, bluish-white, flocculent precipi- 
tate is produced which is not dissolved on shaking (difference from gallic acid), 
and which becomes more copious and of a deeper blue by the addition of a 
moderate excess of calcium hydrate T.S., while a large excess of the latter 
imparts a pale-pinkish tint to the solution. The aqueous solution of the acid 
produces precipitates with most alkaloids and bitter principles, and with test 96 
ACIDUM TANNICUM. 
solutions of gelatin, albumen, and starch (distinction from gallic acid). On dis- 
solving 2 Gm. of tannic acid in 10 Cc. of boiling water, and allowing the liquid 
to cool, no turbidity should be produced on diluting 5 Cc. of the solution with 
10 Cc. of alcohol (absence of gum or dextrin), or with 10 Cc. of water (absence 
of resin)"-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Tannic acid is a pure astringent. It 
has a bitter, astringent taste, and a constringing action upon mucous tissues. As 
a general rule it does not derange the stomach, yet it precipitates pepsin from 
the gastric secretions. It generally produces constipation, by contracting the 
intestinal vessels, thus diminishing the secretionsand retarding peristaltic action. 
It sometimes, and especially when long given, occasions gastric and intestinal 
pain, febrile phenomena, with thirst and eructations of gas, while the tongue is 
coated, and defecation tenesmic. It powerfully coagulates blood and albumen, 
and enters into the blood in the form of gallic acid. It probably controls hemor- 
rhage by acting upon the vascular coats. Erythema, dyspnoea, and a cyanotic 
condition have been produced by it. 
In view of its astringent power, tannic acid is very valuable in gastro-intes- 
tinal disorders, with undue acid, watery, or mucoid secretions, and accompanied 
with flatulence. In the various forms of non-irritative diarrhoea, without fever or 
inflammation, it is of marked utility. Chronic dysentery is asserted to be benefited 
by it. Tannic acid should never be given when there is fever or active inflam- 
mation. The diarrhoea and colliquative sweats of phthisis are controlled by it, the 
febrile condition here, if present, not contraindicating its use. It is effectual in 
uterine and cAber passive hemorrhages, and as a wash or injection to remove chronic 
mucous discharges, as in bronchial catarrh, gonorrhoea, gleet, leucorrhoea, etc. " Use it 
in hemorrhage, from abortion, or any passive uterine hemorrhage, with pain and 
nervous disturbance. Take 30 grains each, of tannic acid and Dover's powder, 
and divide into 5 or 10 powders, and let 1 be taken every hour or two until the 
bleeding is arrested. This will check the flow, provided there is no organic lesion " 
(Locke, Syl. of Mat. Med.f In this manner it is of much value in menorrhagia. 
Hematuria, hematemesis, and hemoptysis (by spray) are benefited if the blood is 
small in amount. If the hemorrhage be active in the latter case, the agent 
is too slow in producing its effects. It has likewise been recommended in 
diabetes, combined with opium, and to arrest excessive perspiration; also, in 
conjunction with morphine, in Asiatic cholera. Externally, it has been success- 
fully used in excoriations, prolapsus ani, piles, fissure of the anus or rectum, sore 
nipples, phagedenic ulcers, aphthous ulceration of the mouth, sore throat, severe saliva- 
tion, and in toothache, in solution with ether. Applied to nasal polypi, it is 
stated to have produced a rapid disappearance of the abnormal growths. In 
the form of ointment, it will frequently prove effectual in curing vaginal 
leucorrhoea, being introduced into the vagina on lint or cotton, and allowed 
to remain there, changing it every 3, 4, or 5 hours. In solution or powder, in 
the form of spray passed upon the affected parts, it gradually overcomes chronic 
mucous irritation or congestion, and has been beneficially applied in chronic nasal, 
faucial, pharyngeal and laryngeal mucous affections. Dissolved in 3 parts of muci- 
lage, it has effected cures in chronic granular conjunctivitis, corneal ulceration, and 
other affections of the eye. It may be used in ophthalmia neonatorum, with gran- 
ular conjunctiva (1 part in 10 of water); and in purulent conjunctivitis, with but 
little swelling and small quantity of secretion, use a wash of from 2 to 10 grains 
to 1 ounce of distilled water. In the early stage of trachoma, when there is slight 
roughness of the conjunctiva, the beginning of granulation, with injected and 
clouded upper part of the cornea, a glycerole (5 grs. to 1 fl^) dropped into the 
eye in 2-drop doses will allay the gritty sensation. In advanced trachoma, with 
soft, pasty granulations, it may be used in connection with gallic or boric acids 
(R Boric acid siij; tannic acid si; R Gallic acid si; tannic acid siij). It is 
of little value to destroy aural polypi, and when used in suppurative otitis media, 
as it sometimes is, it is objectionable in that hardened masses, difficult of 
removal, are formed. Its solution in glycerin is a powerful styptic. It may be 
employed in the form of a wash, by adding 5 grains to a fluid ounce of water; or 
in ointment, 1 part of the acid to 10 or 15 of lard. It is a valuable remedy, the 
only disadvantage being its tendency to produce constipation, which may be 97 
ACIDUM TARTARICUM. 
avoided by the addition of a small quantity of podophyllum resin, in cases wrhere 
this resin is not contraindicated. 
The glycerole of tannin is very efficient in sores occuring from the use of 
false teeth; and in ingrowing toe-nail, with fungous granulations, the pure acid is 
especially useful. It forms a good dressing for burns. Several cases of cholera in 
the collapsed stage have been cured by our physicians, by doses of 10 or 15 grains 
of tannic acid, repeated every 10 or 15 minutes, until the discharges ceased; and 
continuing it afterward at longer intervals, with other appropriate treatment. 
Tannic acid, as an internal astringent, sometimes leaves the tissues upon which it 
acts harsh and dry. Dr. Chausarel has proved that tannic acid is the best anti- 
dote against poisonous fungi, or mushrooms, etc.; 30 or 40 grains of tannic acid, 
dissolved in a pint and a half of water, may be taken in small glassful doses 
every 5 minutes; if too much time has not elapsed an emetic may be first 
administered. Tannic acid is one of the best antidotes against poisoning by 
strychnine, forming an insoluble tannate of strychnine; it may be given freely. 
Dose of tannic acid, from half a grain to 10 grains. Suppositories, consisting 
each of 12 or 15 grains of butter of cacao, and 3 to 5 grains of tannic acid, are 
valuable in some rectal and vaginal diseases, as anal prolapsus, hemorrhoids, abrasion 
of the vaginal epithelium, leucorrhoea, etc. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Relaxed states of the gastro-intestinal 
tract, with excessive secretions, and no fever or inflammation; soft, pasty or 
fungoid granulations; passive hemorrhages; leucorrhoea with vaginal relaxation. 
ACIDUM TARTARICUM (U. S. P.)-TARTARIC ACID. 
Formula: H2C4H4O6. Molecular Weight: 149.64. 
Synonyms: Dextro-tartaric acid, Dioxysuccinic acid, Sal essentiali tartari. 
"An organic acid usually prepared from argols"-(U. S. P.f 
Source and History.-Scheele first prepared this acid in 1769. Retzius, in 
1770, produced it in crystalline condition. Tartaric acid is a constituent of grape 
juice in the form of an acid tartrate of potassium, and is also contained in 
many other plants, as in the juice of the pineapple, tamarind, sorrel, mulberry, 
" sumach-bob," etc. The acid of commerce is produced almost exclusively from 
"crude tartar" or " argols," a refuse by-product in the manufacture of wines. For- 
merly the American market was chiefly supplied by European manufacturers, but 
at the present time nearly all of the acid consumed here is produced in the 
United States from argols shipped from European ports. 
Preparation.-This acid is prepared somewhat similarly to citric acid, by 
forming tartrate of calcium and decomposing it by sulphuric acid; this is gen- 
erally effected by adding an excess of carbonate of calcium to a solution of 
acid tartrate of potassium, which yields a precipitate of insoluble tartrate of 
calcium. The remaining salt in solution (neutral potassium tartrate), is then 
treated with calcium chloride, which decomposes it with the production of soluble 
potassium chloride and insoluble calcium tartrate, which latter product is then 
collected, thoroughly washed, and acted upon by sulphuric acid, which sets the 
tartaric acid free, and forms a precipitate of sulphate of calcium. To obtain the 
acid pure, it is evaporated, crystallized, redissolved in water, strained, and recrys- 
tallized three or four times. When prepared on an extensive scale, sulphate of 
calcium is substituted for chloride of calcium on account of the cheapness of the 
former. The colored crystals are treated with charcoal and recrystallized. The 
finest crystals are produced when there is a slight excess of sulphuric acid. 
Description.-Tartaric acid occurs in "colorless, translucent, monoclinic 
prisms, or crystalline crusts, or a white powder, odorless, having a purely acid 
taste, and permanent in the air. Soluble at 15° C. (59° F.), in about 0.8 part of 
water, and in 2.5 parts of alcohol; in about 0.5 part of boiling water, and in 
about 0.2 part of boiling alcohol; also in 250 parts of ether; nearly insoluble in 
chloroform, benzol, or benzin. When heated for some time at 100° C. (212° F.), 
the powdered crystals do not suffer a sensible loss of weight. At 135° C. 
(275° F.), the acid melts. At higher temperatures it is gradually decomposed, 
emitting the odor of burning sugar, and is finally consumed without leaving 98 
ACIDUM TARTARICUM. 
more than 0.05 per cent of ash. Tartaric acid has an acid reaction upon litmus 
paper"-(U. S. P.). 
Its aqueous solution molds on exposure, yielding acetic and butyracetic acids. 
Fused with hydroxide of potassium, it decomposes into acetic and oxalic acids 
and water. When gently heated, the crystals of tartaric acid acquire electrical 
polarity equal to that of tourmaline. Tartaric acid , possesses in a remarkable 
degree the property of turning the plane of polarized light to the right, which is 
increased by warming the substance, as well as by combination with bases. Nitric 
acid immediately decomposes it into oxalic and carbonic acids; chlorine does not 
decompose it. Tartaric acid gives rise to tartrates of two kinds, the neutral and 
aeid tartrates; with caustic potash and ammonia it forms neutral salts, easily 
soluble, and acid salts not easily soluble. When heated with sulphuric acid they 
are readily charred. Tartaric acid may be reduced to succinic acid by saturating 
its concentrated aqueous solution with hydriodic acid, sealing in a strong glass 
tube, and heating it for 6 or 8 hours, not to exceed the temperature of 120° C. 
(248° F.). Tartaric acid may be known by its sour solution, which gives white 
precipitates with solutions of caustic lime, baryta, strontia, and acetate of 
lead, the precipitated tartrates being soluble in excess of acid. Ammonium 
chloride dissolves the precipitate produced by lime-water. Sulphate of calcium 
gives no precipitate; a solution of chloride of platinum causes a black precipitate 
of metallic platinum. Most of the commercial tartaric acid is in the form of a 
white, crystalline powder. 
By the researches of M. Pasteur, the existence of four isomers of tartaric acid 
(dextro-tartaric) was established, all having the same formula, H2C4H4O6, but dif- 
fering principally in their behavior towards polarized light. These isomers are: 
(1) racemic, (2) laevo-tartaric, (3) meso-tartaric, and (4) meta-tartaric acids. 
1. Racemic acid (para-tartaric or uvic acid), occurs in the mother liquors obtained 
in the making of cream of tartar. It is optically inactive, being a compound of 
equal amounts of dextro- and hevo-tartaric acids, and has been resolved into its 
constituents by preparing a supersaturated solution of its sodium-ammonium 
salt and dropping into the fluid a crystal of the sodium-ammonium salt of either 
the dextro- or the kevo-rotatory acid, whereby this form of salt will crystallize out 
while the other form remains in solution. Mineral acids will then liberate the 
respective free tartaric acids from these salts. Racemic acid is best obtained by 
heating ordinary tartaric acid with 0.1 part of water, to 175° C. (347° F.), whereby 
it is completely converted into meso-tartaric and racemic acids. It crystallizes 
more readily than tartaric acid, into efflorescent, triclinic prisms, containing 1 
molecule of water of crystallization. Its acid potassium salt is by far more solu- 
ble than the salt of dextro-tartaric acid (cream of tartar); its calcium salt is 
distinguished by its being insoluble in acetic acid. 
2. Lmvo-tartaric acid, turns the plane of polarized light to the left, and has 
otherwise the general properties of the dextro-acid. 
3. Meso-tartaric acid, is formed when dextro-tartaric acid is heated to 165° C. 
(329° F.), with about one-eighth its quantity of water, for about 2 hours. It is 
optically inactive and can not be resolved into dextro- and hevo-tartaric acids. 
4. Meta-tartaric acid, is formed when dextro-tartaric acid is heated till it fuses, 
i. e., to 130° C. (266° F.). It is also dextro-rotatory, but differs from ordinary 
tartaric acid mainly in its deliquescence and that of its salts. 
Tests.-The U. S. P. directs the following tests for tartaric acid: "An aqueous 
solution (1 in 2) of the acid mixed with a strong solution (1 in 3) of potassium ace- 
tate yields a white, crystalline precipitate which is soluble in solutions of alkalies 
and in mineral acid, but insoluble in acetic acid. The aqueous solution (1 in 10) 
of the acid, acidulated with a few drops of hydrochloric acid, should remain unaf- 
fected by barium chloride T.S. (absence of sulphuric acid). Another portion of 
the aqueous solution (1 in 10) in which the free acid has been nearly, but not 
entirely, neutralized by ammonia, should not be affected by calcium sulphate T.S. 
(absence of and difference from oxalic and uvic acids). On supersaturating 10 
Cc. of the aqueous solution (1 in 10) with ammonia water, no turbidity should 
be produced in the liquid by ammonium oxalate T.S. (absence of calcium), nor 
should the further addition of 1 drop of ammonium sulphide T.S. produce any 
dark coloration or precipitate (absence of iron, lead, copper, etc.). To neutralize ACIDUM VALERIANICUM. 
99 
3.75 Gm. of tartaric acid should require 50 Cc. of potassium hydrate V.S. (each 
Cc. corresponding to 2 per cent of the pure acid), phenolphtalein being used as 
indicator "-( U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Tartaric acid in large doses is an 
unsafe agent, causing gastro-intestinal inflammation and death. The symptoms 
in man from 1 ounce largely diluted, were intense, burning pain in the fauces 
and stomach, persistent vomiting, and death in nine days, the effects being those 
of a corrosive poison. 
Tartaric acid is refrigerant, antiseptic, and antiscorbutic. It is used as a 
drink in febrile or inflammatory diseases, forming a cooling, refreshing, and agreeable 
acidulous draught. It is less costly than citric acid, and may be used instead of 
this acid to form an artificial lemonade. Tartaric acid enters into the composition 
of Seidlitz, as well as of soda powders. A colorless solution of sulphate of quinine 
has long been employed by physicians; it may be made by adding equal parts of 
tartaric acid and sulphate of quinine to as much water as may be desired. The 
dose of tartaric acid is from 10 to 30 grains dissolved in water or syrup. 
Related Preparation.-Acidum Tartaricum Saccharatum (N. F.), Saccharated tartaric 
acid. Formulary number, 8: " Tartaric acid ( U. S- P.), in very fine powder, six hundred and 
seventy-five grammes (675 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 7 ozs., 354 grs.]; sugar, in very fine powder, three 
hundred and twenty-five grammes (325 Gm.) [11 ozs. av., 203 grs.]. Triturate the powders 
together until intimately mixed, and preserve the product in well-stoppered bottles. 
" Note.-This saccharate, when dissolved in water writh an equal weight of saccharated 
sodium bicarbonate (F. 341). will form a neutral solution, and it is introduced into the formu- 
lary for the convenient preparation of effervescent powders (F. 319). This saccharate 
contains 67.5 per cent of tartaric acid "-(Nat. Form.). 
ACIDUM VALERIANICUM.-VALERIANIC ACID. 
Formula: HC5H9O2. Molecular Weight : 101.77. 
Synonyms : Valeric acid, Isopentoic acid, Isopropyl-acetic acid, Acidum valericum. 
Source and History.-Chevreul, in 1817, first obtained this acid from the oil 
of the dolphin {Delphinus giobiceps'), and named it delphinic acid. An identical 
acid was afterward found in the Valeriana officinalis, after which the name del- 
phinic acid was changed to valerianic acid. Besides being found in valerian, it 
exists in Sambucus nigra, Anthemis nobilis, Artemisia Absinthium, Angelica archan- 
gelica, Viburnum opulus, and other plants. Oxidized organic material yields it. 
The pure acid from valerian plant is seldom used in medicine, but in its stead an 
acid, prepared by the oxidation of fusel oil (amylic alcohol), when acted upon by 
sulphuric acid and potassium bichromate, is employed. So violent is the reaction, 
and so disagreeable the odor, that few care to make valerianic acid. 
Preparation.-The U. S. P. (1870) directed to take coarsely-powdered sodium 
valerianate, 8 troy ounces; sulphuric acid and water, of each a sufficiency. 
Three fluid ounces of the water are first added to the valerianate, and subsequently 
34 troy ounces of the sulphuric acid, and all mixed thoroughly. After standing, 
an oily acid layer rises to the top, which must be removed and agitated with 
small quantities of sulphuric acid until its density is below 0.950. This is put 
into a retort, distilled almost to dryness, rejecting that distillate having a density 
above 0.940. The remainder is kept for use. The rejected distillate may be redis- 
tilled, yielding an acid sufficiently pure to use in preparing the valerianates. 
Description.-Valerianic acid is a thin, colorless, inflammable, oily fluid, of an 
intensely disagreeable and offensive odor, and has an unpleasant, acrid, sour, 
burning taste. It has a strong acid reaction. With alkalies it forms valerianates. 
With alcohol, in which it is freely soluble, it formsan almost odorless solution, 
but if water be brought into contact with it, it instantly regains its disagreeable 
odor. It is freely soluble in water, chloroform, ether, and concentrated acetic 
acid. With the volatile oils and carbon disulphide it forms turbid mixtures. 
Camphor and some resins are soluble in it. Most of its salts are permanent and 
odorless when dry, but added to water (in which most of them are soluble) they 
develop the rank odor of the acid. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Experimentation upon animals showed Reiss- 
ner that this acid was strongly irritant to the skin and membranes, and that it 100 
ACONITINA. 
coagulated milk, albumen, and the serum of the blood. Quickened and enfeebled 
respiratory and cardiac action were noticed, with marked debility and paralysis of 
the extremities, followed by spasm and death. If death were slow, the kidneys 
were found congested, the urine bloody and turbid, and the bowels inflamed; if 
death resulted quickly, the gastric interior was pallid. This acid is only used in 
medicine in combination with bases forming valerianates. 
ACONITINA.- ACONITINE. 
Formula: C^H^NOn (Freund and Beck). Molecular Weight: 643.55. 
Synonyms : Aconitia, Aconitinum. 
Preparation, History, and Chemical Composition.-Wright's process is as 
follows: Exhaust powdered aconite root with alcohol, in which has been dis- 
solved 0.5 per cent of tartaric acid. Distill the alcohol to complete evaporation at 
a low heat or in vacuo. Dilute the extract so obtained with a like quantity of 
water, remove the oil and resin by filtration, add ether or petroleum naphtha to 
remove the remaining resin, and precipitate with excess of salt of tartar. Dis- 
solve the precipitate in ether, mix again with petroleum naphtha and evaporate. 
This process will yield a crystalline aconitine, having, however, a small amount 
of adherent amorphous product, not wholly separated by the potassium carbon- 
ate. Other methods, in which sulphuric acid and ammonia water are chiefly 
employed, yield an amorphous product. The chemistry of aconite and aconitine 
has been the subject of much controversy. That the mineral acids produce the 
amorphous form, and that tartaric acid does not decompose aconitine, were first 
shown by Duquesne], in 1872. Groves first obtained it in crystalline form. Wright 
(1875-1880) showed that aconitine could be resolved by heat or by saponification 
with an alkali into benzoic acid and aconine (C^H^NOn), an amorphous body, 
identical with acolyctine and napelline, and having a bitter, non-acrid taste. Aconine 
dissolves freely in water, alcohol, and chloroform, but is nearly insoluble in ether. 
Wright assigned to aconitine the formula C^H^NO^, and found its fusing point 
to be 183° C. (361.4° F.). Subsequently Dunstan and Ince, in 1891, gave it the 
formula C^H^NO^; fusing point 186.5° C. (367.7° F.). In 1894 and 1895, Freund 
and Beck pronounced aconitine to be an acetyl-benzoyl derivative of aconine, 
establishing for the latter alkaloid the formula C2,5H41NO9; hence, for the pure 
aconitine C^H^NOn., having a fusing point at 197-198° C. (386.6-388.4° F.). 
The results obtained by Dr. Freund seem now to be generally adopted as correct. 
Commercial aconitine has repeatedly been shown to be of various degrees of 
strength, and is a mixture of the foregoing alkaloids, together with pseudaconi- 
tine (C^H^NO^) and picraconitine (C31H45NO10), the former being capable of con- 
version into dimcthyl-protocatechuic acid (veratric acid) (C9H10NO4) and pseudaconine 
(C97H41NO9). [For a recent investigation in this direction, see Dohme, Proc. Am. 
Ph. A., 1895, p. 206]. 
Description.-The pure alkaloid has a slightly bitter, but acrid, taste, and 
dissolves easily in alcohol, ether, chloroform, and benzol. That made according to 
the British Pharmacopoeia, is a white, amorphous body, sparingly soluble in cold, 
more readily in hot water, and still more freely in ether and alcohol, but it is 
almost insoluble in benzin. It produces protracted numbness, preceded by 
tingling, when rubbed on the hands or skin. Pseudaconitine alone is often sold 
for crystalline aconitine. According to Dr. E. R. Squibb {Ephemeris I., 135), no 
aconitine should be accepted of which grain dissolved in 1 fluid drachm of 
water, and held in the anterior portion of the mouth (first well rinsed) for 
1 minute, which will not, within 15 minutes, produce a pronounced aconite 
sensation short of, but bordering on, numbness. Most of the commercial aconi- 
tine is now made by patented processes. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The effects of this drug are those 
mentioned under aconite, though greatly intensified, as it is a much more power- 
ful agent than the parent drug. The ointment or alcoholic solution, applied to 
the unbroken skin, produces tingling, prickling, and amesthesia. Neither redness 
nor heat are observed, however, from such use. Upon broken skin, intense burn- 
ing is felt, and when placed upon the ocular membranes violent irritation is pro- ACONITUM. 
101 
duced. It should never be used as an internal agent, its effects being such that 
its employment, when the drug is pure, is too hazardous. Owing to the variability 
of the commercial product the dosage can not safely be regulated. 
Dr. Turnbull introduced aconitine as an external agent in neuralgia and 
rheumatism, in the form of tincture or ointment. His ointment is composed of 
aconitine, 16 grains; olive oil, half a drachm; lard, an ounce. Mix. To be 
rubbed for several minutes over the affected part. The tincture is made by dis- 
solving 8 grains of aconitine in 2 fluid ounces of alcohol. In using these prepa- 
rations they should not be applied where the skin is broken or excoriated. Even 
as an external agent its use should be discouraged. When employed internally, 
as it has been by some physicians, the dose ranges from to grain; as a 
beginning dose not more than grain should be administered. We have 
known alarming symptoms to be produced by grain of aconitine. 
ACONITUM (U. S. P.)-ACONITE. 
The root and leaves of the Aconitum napellus, Linne. (Aconitum vulgare, 
De Candolle; Aconitum variabile, Hayne). 
Nat. Ord.-Ranunculaceae. 
Common Names.-Monkshood, Wolfsbane. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 5, 6, 7. 
Botanical Source.-Aconite plant is a perennial herb, having a simple 
stem (usually growing from 2 to 4, sometimes 8 feet high), and bearing palm- 
ately-lobed leaves; those low on the stalk being 
from 5 to 7-cleft, those higher 3 to 5-cleft. Each 
of these lobes is, again, from 3 to 5-parted. They 
are alternate, petiolate (the lower ones having 
long foot-stalks), and are deeply divided, and 
vary from 2 to 4 inches in diameter. Each lobe 
is toothed in such a manner that each tooth 
terminates in a lance-linear point. The leaves 
are stiff and somewhat smooth and coriaceous, 
the under surface being light, while the face of 
the leaf is of a bright, shining, green color. The 
flowers are large, attractive, and of a dark-purple 
or violet-blue hue (sometimes white) and are 
borne in a terminal raceme, with occasional clust- 
ers below, in the axils of the leaf stalks. The 
upper sepal is helmet-shaped and pointed, and 
the lateral sepals hairy on the inner surface. The 
fruit consists of from 3 to 5 capsular pods, con- 
taining numerous angular, corrugated seeds. 
Description.-Aconitum (U. S. Pf Aconite. 
Aconiti radix.-The root is prolonged into a 
conical tap-root, tuberous, and though smaller, 
has some resemblance to the common horse- 
radish root, for which it has been mistaken, 
and eaten with fatal consequences. At the top 
it seldom exceeds an inch in thickness, and 
is about 2 to 4 inches long. Externally, it is brown; internally white and 
fleshy. As found growing, there is usually a rhizome produced from a lateral 
bud from the tuber. At the extremity of this subterranean stem, another tuber, 
with a bud for the next year's plant, is developed. This second tuber, in the 
course of the year, develops a third tuber, so that when dug for commerce it is 
common to find at least two roots, connected by a short rhizome. Each root has 
several long, fleshy rootlets. The fresh root has a radish-like odor which is dis- 
sipated on drying. The dried root is thus described in the U. S. P.: 
" From 10 to 20 Mm. (f to | inches) thick at the crown; conically contracted 
below; from 50 to 75 Mm. (2 to3 inches) long, with scars or fragments of radicles; 
dark-brown externally, whitish internally; with a rather thick bark, the central 
Fig. 2. 
Aconitum napellus. 102 
ACONITUM. 
axis about seven-rayed; without odor; taste at first sweetish, soon becoming 
acrid, and producing a sensation of tingling and numbness, which lasts for some 
time ''-(U. S. P.). 
If of recent growth, it is whitish, internally, and compact, breaking with a 
short, clean fracture. If, however, the root be of the previous year's growth, it 
may be porous and of a dark-brown color within, and consequently of less value 
as a drug. 
Aconiti Folia.-Aconite leaves are often intermixed with some of the 
flowers, as well as leaves and blossoms of other blue-flowered species of the family. 
The leaves are smooth, coriaceous, somewhat rigid, glossy on 
the upper surface, having a sub-orbicular, or nearly cordate 
outline, which is deeply (3 to 5) cleft, producing long, nar- 
row, cuneiform segments, deeply incised, and presenting 
lance-linear teeth. The taste is bitterish and acrid, and gives 
the well-known characteristic tingling sensation of aconite. 
They have but little, if any, odor. 
History.-Aconite is abundant in the mountainous 
woodlands of various parts of Europe, especially in France, 
along the Pyrenees, and in the rocky heights in Germany 
and Austria, Denmark, and the Scandinavian peninsula, and 
is abundant in the Alps and the Himalayas, where, w'ith 
other species, it is found at a height of from 10,000 to 16,000 
feet (Pharmacographia}. It is plentiful throughout Siberia, 
and is cultivated to some extent in gardens, both in the 
United States and Europe, for its floral beauty. It is said 
to have been naturalized in portions of the British isles. 
Aconite tubers and leaves are frequently of very poor quality, 
and with foreign admixture as found in market, having been gathered without 
regard to season, Species, or quality, by the poor peasants while engaged in watch- 
ing the grazing herds. The shrivelled and decaying growth of the previous year 
is, as compared with the recent growth, relatively feebler. The aconites were 
well known to the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Chinese. It provided certain 
native tribes of the East with an active arrow poison. The root should be col- 
lected in winter or early spring; the leaves just before the blossoming period, or 
when the plant has but partially bloomed. The virtues of aconite remain intact 
upon drying, the whole plant being acrid and fully yielding its medicinal prop- 
erties to alcohol. Various other plant species are present as admixtures, and 
especially, according to Holmes (Pharm. Jour., 1877), are substituted the roots of the 
Imperatoria Ostruthium, Linne (European masterwort). As the latter tuber is 
aromatic, its detection is not difficult, though the roots somewhat resemble the 
aconite tubers. Good aconite is usually known by its characteristic benumbing 
taste. Aconite was introduced into modern medicine by Baron Storck, of Vienna, 
about 1762. 
Chemical Composition.-Besides mannite, cane sugar, glucose, resin, and fats, 
aconite root contains aconitic acid (H3C6H3O6), usually combined with calcium 
in the form of calcium aconitate. This acid is also present in a number of 
other plants. It occurs in plate-like or warty crystals, soluble in alcohol, ether, 
and water. The most important constituent, however, is the alkaloid aconitine 
(napaconitine, benzoyl-acetyl-aconine) (C^H^NO^, Wright; C^H^NO^, Dunstan and 
Ince, 1891; C34H47NOn, Freund and Beck, 1894), for a description of which and 
other constituents of aconitum usually present in the commercial alkaloid, see 
Aconitine. Aconite leaves contain, besides aconitine, gum, albumen, sugar, tannin, 
aconitic acid, an amorphous alkaloid, bitter to the taste, called napdline, which 
Hiibschmann found to be identical with a substance previously isolated by him 
from another species of aconite (Aconitum Lycoctonum, Linne), and named acolyc- 
tine, but considered by C. R. A. Wright to be a decomposition product of aconitine. 
The tubers also contain a small amount of napelline. 
Action and Toxicology.-Aconite is an energetic, acro-narcotic poison in 
improper doses, occasioning symptoms of gastric irritation, with great depression 
of nervous energy and brain. The usual effects of an improper dose of either 
the tincture or powder, are a prickling, or slight thrilling in the mouth and 
Fig. 3. 
Cross-section of an Aconite 
flower. 103 
ACONITUM. 
limbs, accompanied with a benumbing sensation, but without, as a rule, coma or 
convulsions. Several of the following symptoms will soon manifest themselves: 
Vomiting, perhaps great thirst, sometimes violent purging with painful spasms 
of the stomach and bowels, sense of great exhaustion, pale face, impaired vision, 
scarcely perceptible pulse, coldness of feet and legs, and coma, or delirium; and, 
from paralysis of the respiratory muscles, death follows. These symptoms may 
vary in different cases, though several of them will always be present. Gastritis 
and enteritis, with pulmonary and cerebral congestion, are exhibited upon a post- 
mortem examination. 
Locally, aconite and its alkaloid produce a prickling sensation and numbness, 
followed by an impairment of the sensory nerves, resulting in anaesthesia of the 
part. Both are very irritating to the Schneiderian membrane and conjunctiva. 
Aconitine produces the effects of aconite, though in a much more exalted degree. 
Taken internally, in small amounts, aconite occasions a tingling, pricking sensa- 
tion of the buccal cavity, fauces, and tongue, followed by more or less numbness. 
If not too large a quantity has been swallowed, these effects are overcome by a 
swallow of vinegar (Scudder). The tincture, in non-lethal doses, gives rise to a 
sense of gastric warmth and a general glow of the surface. Perspiration may be 
induced and the renal secretions augmented. Pyrexia is reduced when the pulse 
is frequent and feeble, if the drug be administered in minute doses. 
In maximum medicinal doses, it causes gastric heat, which extends through- 
out the general system, and occasionally the pricking sensations will be experi- 
enced, with, perhaps, benumbing feelings; or, these may pass over the whole 
system, with dizziness, more or less pain in the head, acute pains, excessive 
depression of the vital forces, with feeble circulation and respiration. Aconitum 
should never be given in sufficient quantity to produce these effects. A drop of 
a solution of aconitum in the eye causes the pupil to contract. Larger amounts 
induce toxic symptoms, the principal of which are increase of tingling and 
numbness, or thrilling of the mouth and extremities, excessive perspiration rap- 
idly lowering the body temperature, pupillary dilatation, dimness of sight, loss 
of hearing and the sense of touch, and diminished action of the sensory fila- 
ments supplying the skin. Muscular weakness is marked; trembling, and occa- 
sionally convulsions may ensue. Excessive depression comes on, and the power 
of standing is early lost. The feet and legs become cold, the face pale, and the 
patient has a tendency to faint. There may be violent burning in the stomach, 
with great thirst and disphagia, and vomiting and diarrhoea may occur. The 
pulse is weak, rapid, and almost imperceptible; acute, lancinating pain may be 
felt, and more or less delirium may result, though as a rule the intellect remains 
unimpaired. The manner in which aconite affects the nervous system is not yet 
definitely known. That it is a heart paralyzer, seems to be an accepted fact. 
Death may result from syncope, though usually it occurs from respiratory 
paralysis. The action of a lethal dose is rapid-toxic symptoms showing them- 
selves within a few moments. The treatment consists in keeping the patient in 
a recumbent position, with the feet slightly elevated. External heat should be 
applied, and stimulants (as brandy, ammonia, ether) administered. It is stated 
that digitalin previously administered, to animals, wholly prevented the toxic 
action of aconitine (Fothergill); hence digitalis is recommended to antidote 
aconite poisoning. Tannin (astringents) is said, also, to be an efficient antidote. 
Inhalations of nitrite of amyl were resorted to in one case with good results. 
Strychnine, atropine, or strophanthus may be cautiously administered. In no 
case allow the patient to arise from the recumbent posture, lest death suddenly 
take place from syncope. The stomach should, of course, be promptly evacuated 
with the stomach-pump, or emetics and artificial respiration resorted to, if neces- 
sary, for the prevention of respiratory paralysis. 
Medical Action, Uses, and Dosage.-Therapeutically, aconite is a special 
sedative, and, according to Prof. J. M. Scudder, is the remedy when there is diffi- 
culty in the capillary circulation, a dilatation and want of tone in these vessels, 
as it moderates the force and frequency of the heart's action, increasing the 
power of the heart and the tone of the blood-vessels, and hence is advantageous in 
asthenia and extreme debility ; it also has a tendency to lessen pain and nervous 
irritation. He considered it the remedy in cases where there is a frequent but free 104 
ACONITUM. 
circulation; where there is an active capillary circulation; and where there is a 
marked enfeeblement of the circulation, manifested by a frequent, small pulse, 
a hard and wiry pulse, a frequent, open, and easily compressed pulse, a rebound- 
ing pulse, or an irregular pulse. In congestion, especially of the nerve-centers, to 
relieve coma, and in diabetes insipidus, he associated its administration with bella- 
donna; with the bitter tonics in phosphuria and oraluria ; and with the mineral 
acids in night-sweats. While it acts upon the excretory organs, increasing excre- 
tion, yet it controls excessive activity of these organs, whether of the skin, 
bowels, or kidneys, and hence its value in summer complaint of children (Ec. Med. 
Jour., 1868, p. 430). 
With the small, frequent pulse, whether corded or easily compressed, aconite 
is a remedy of wide applicability in asthenic or adynamic states. Our old school 
competitors assert that aconite should never be given only in sthenic conditions, 
but their conclusions are evidently based upon the use of too large doses. Given 
in the minute dose, as employed by our physicians, it tends toward a restoration 
of normal action. With the characteristic pulse, its action in fevers is to reduce 
the temperature, generally in the proportion in which it controls the frequency 
of the heart-beat; if, on the other hand, the temperature be subnormal, as in the 
cold stage of fevers, congestive chill, or in Asiatic cholera, the minute dose increases 
the warmth of the body, giving volume and freedom to the pulse, and tending 
toward a normal circulation. 
"If we note its action in active inflammation, we notice that it lessens 
determination of blood, quiets the irritation, checks the rapid circulation in the 
capillaries where it is too active, and increases the circulation where it is sluggish. 
If, as we think, it acts upon and through the ganglionic system of nerves, we 
can account for all this by saying that it gives right innervation. I have been in 
the habit of saying that aconite was a stimulant to the heart, arteries, and capil- 
laries, because wrhilst it lessened the frequency, it increased the power of the 
apparatus engaged in the circulation " (Scudder, Dis. of Child., 42, 43). It must 
be remembered that our term sedative differs somewhat from that accepted by 
other schools. A remedy, such as aconite, which in minute doses will stimulate 
the vascular system to normal activity, and thereby reduce febrile states by cor- 
recting innervation, comes under our class of "special sedatives." As a special 
sedative, it is useful in all asthenic febrile and. inflammatory diseases, and, indeed, in 
all affections in which there is an increase of nervous, vascular, or muscular 
action with determination of blood to the parts. In scarlatina, inflammatory fever, 
acute rheumatism, peritonitis, gastritis, and many other acute disorders, it has been 
used with the most decided advantage. Added to cimicifuga, it greatly increases 
the curative influence of this agent in acute rheumatism, and more especially 
where there is a tendency to muscular spasm. " In cases of pure inflammatory 
rheumatism, independent of any organic lesion, and with no septic processes 
going on in the blood, aconite is an absolute specific " (Locke). By its beneficial 
action upon the sensory nerves, it is a remedy of marked value in various forms 
of neuralgia. In facial neuralgia, not due to carious teeth, it may be aided by 
piper methysticum (Webster), and is especially applicable when febrile phe- 
nomena are present. In rectal neuralgia, it may be used with aesculus glabra, 
eesculus hippocastanum, collinsonia, or hamamelis, as indicated; in visceral neu- 
ralgia, with sesculus glabra. Its action in neuralgias is not pronounced in most 
instances when administered alone, but it greatly aids the other indicated 
remedies, particularly where fever is a concomitant condition. Peridental inflam- 
mation is allayed by it. 
In simple fevers, aconite aids diagnosis. " If in twelve hours' treatment with 
aconite the patient is not well, or markedly improved, he has more than a case of 
simple fever" (Locke). In typhoid fever, it cannot arrest the disease, though it 
may be used, if clearly indicated, which we believe is rarely ; baptisia is a much 
better remedy here. Rheumatic and intermittent fevers are benefited by it, espe- 
cially when slight chilly sensations are repeatedly experienced. Gastric fever, 
with yellow-coated tongue, bad taste, and diarrhoea of undigested aliment, is con- 
trolled with aconite in small doses. Its action is marked in many inflammatory 
skin diseases. In erysipelas, when high fever is present, never omit aconite (Locke). 
In brain and meningeal disorders, it is frequently of marked advantage. Add to ACONITUM. 
105 
the characteristic pulse a hyperemic state of the superficial cerebral and menin- 
geal vessels, and your case is one for aconite. If there be great excitation, 
gelsemium will aid its action; if congestion, belladonna. Insomnia, from nervous 
erethism, points to aconite for its relief. Such a state, bordering upon convul- 
sions, sometimes depends upon teething and gastro-intestinal diseases. Mental 
perturbation, with fever, and a fear of impending disaster, with melancholia, is 
said to be relieved by aconite. Webster pronounces it "the pulsatilla of the 
febrile state." 
By its control over the sympathetic nervous system, and its influence on the 
circulation and temperature, aconite becomes one of the most important remedies 
in the treatment of respiratory lesions. If the temperature is high, it reduces 
it; if it be abnormally low, it raises it to its normal standard. It is the remedy 
for all asthenic inflammatory and febrile conditions, especially in their earlier 
manifestations. It is the remedy for hyperemia; it is the remedy for loss of 
tone in the capillary structures resulting in inflammation. Loss of tone in a 
part causes capillary stasis, which, if allowed to go on, results in congestion, and, 
continuing, ends in inflammation. Here aconite controls the circulation, allays 
the irritation, lowers the temperature, and re-establishes the secretions. It acts as 
a gentle stimulant to the sympathetic system, consequently it has a good influ- 
ence over irritation and inflammation in the parts supplied by it. Aconite is 
the remedy for irritation of the mucous surfaces. Acute catarrh, nasal and 
faucial, acute pharyngitis, and ulcerated tonsils, with elevated temperature, yield to 
aconite. It is the first remedy to be thought of in tonsillitis, spasmodic and mucous 
croup, and it is not without value in the pseudo-membranous form of croup. It 
may be used internally and locally. In spasmodic croup it allays the spasm, 
and the dyspnoea is quickly relieved. In tonsillitis it materially lessens the 
duration of the disease. It may be used early by spray, and given internally in 
small doses. Associated with gelsemium, it is of value in a large percentage of 
cases of " la grippe." In cases of acute coryza, it controls the febrile phenomena. 
In pneumonia, catarrhal or fibrinous, it is of signal value in the earlier stage to 
control the inflammatory process. It is good, though of less value, in the latter 
stage of the same malady, when bryonia is to be preferred. Its use in acute 
bronchitis and laryngitis gives good results. In pleurisy, it should be associated 
with bryonia in the earlier stage, with sharp pain, marked chill and high temper- 
ature, and the use of the latter agent should be continued to remove the effusions 
after the acute pains have subsided. It is one of the best agents to prevent acute 
catarrhal pneumonitis, as a complication of measles, and one of the best to control 
it in case it does supervene. The remedy should be administered in phthisis, to 
regulate the temperature, and is very valuable when new portions of the lung 
tissue are being invaded by the inflammatory process. It is said to give relief 
in asthma, with high temperature. Give the drug in small doses, frequently 
repeated, in acute disease; 3 or 4 times a day in chronic conditions. 
No remedies surpass aconite and belladonna in the exanthematous diseases, and 
very frequently no other remedy than aconite will be indicated in scarlatina and 
measles. Here the hot, dry skin, with vascular excitation, calls for the drug, the 
temperature falling as soon as the eruption appears, which aconite aids in bring- 
ing out. Recent amenorrhoea, due to cold, is amenable to aconite if the circulation 
and temperature be increased. Disorders of the menopause, with alternate chills 
and flushes of heat, "with rush of blood to the head," cardiac palpitation, dysp- 
noea, gastric fullness, and sense of distension in the bladder, with frequent 
attempts to pass urine, are relieved by the usual dose of aconite every half hour 
(Locke). In uterine hemorrhage, as menorrhagia, with hot, dry face and excited 
circulation, aconite will relieve. In cardiac diseases, it has been employed with 
good results when there is palpitation, depending upon irritation; and for heart 
spasm, with a feeling of suffocation and as if the heart's action would cease, it is 
a prompt remedy. 
Aconite is one of the first remedies for gastro-intestinal diseases, and especially 
the bowel troubles of children. All such disorders resulting from cold, or with 
inflammation, demand aconite as a part of the treatment. In aphthous conditions, 
with fever, associate it with phytolacca. It relieves gastric irritation, and may be 
associated with amygdalus, rhus, and ipecac. Diarrhoea, cholera infantum, cholera 106 
ACONITUM. 
morbus and acute gastro-intestinal irritation, usually yield to aconite and ipecac;, 
while in dysentery, aconite, associated with ipecac and magnesium sulphate, is 
very prompt in controlling the disease. It is often indicated in the diarrhoea 
of teething. 
A hyperemic, oedematous conjunctiva, with a feeling of burning and dryness, are 
the indications for its use locally and internally in inflammatory affections of 
the eye and its appendages. It shortens the inflammatory stage and allays pain 
in acute catarrh of the middle ear, though suppuration can not always be averted. 
The same result is obtained by its internal and external use in mastoid disease. 
Locally, aconite has been used in painful and neuralgic states, but is not much em- 
ployed in this manner by our physicians. The usual prescription is: R Specific 
aconite, gtt. ij to v; aqua, fls iv. Mix. Sig. Dose, a teaspoonful every | to 1 hour. 
Dose: Tincture of aconite, 1 to 3 drops; extract of aconite, 1 to 2 grains; 
fluid extract of aconite, £ to 1 drop; specific aconite to drop. The larger 
doses should seldom be employed. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-The small and frequent pulse, whether 
corded or compressible, is the direct indication; asthenic febrile state, with or 
without restlessness; chilly sensations; skin hot and dry, with small, frequent 
pulse; irritation of mucous membranes, with vascular excitation and determina- 
tion of blood; hyperemia; tonsillitis and laryngitis, early stage; simple colitis. 
Belated. Drugs and Species. - Aconitum Lycoctonum, Linne. This plant yielded 
Hubschmann two alkaloids, acolyctine (previously called by him napelline) in powdered form, 
and lycoctonine in crystalline needles. According to Fliickiger, it is identical with neither aconi- 
tine nor pseudaconitine. Wright regards lycoctonine as identical with aconine, and acolyctine 
with pseudaconine. Dragendorff and Spohn, on the contrary, state the constituents of this plant 
to be lycaconitine (C27H34N2O6.2H2O), and myoctonine (C27H3oN208.5H2o), the former of which, 
when boiled with water under pressure, splits into a volatile acid and lycoctonic acid (C17H18 
N2O7), and an alkaloid soluble in ether, lycaconine, and a second one, probably the acolyctine 
of Hubschmann, soluble in chloroform. Hubschmann's napelline is regarded by Mandel as a 
mixture of aconine and aconitine in variable amounts. The status of the constituents of the 
several aconites does not seem as yet to be well understood. 
Bishma, or Bikhma.- Wakhma. This variety is furnished by the Aconitum palmatum, Don. 
The tubers are very bitter, but non-acrid. They contain a non-toxic, bitter alkaloid. Wakhmai 
is reputed tonic. 
Japanese and Chinese Aconite.-This drug consists of the tubers of several species ol( 
aconite variously preserved, sometimes, it is said, in child's or cow's urine, or in vinegar, 01' 
dried and salted. They are poisonous in varying degree, those of the Aconitum Fischeri, Reich" 
enbach, being regarded as the most virulent. Aconitum Chinense, Siebold, and Aconitum Japan-' 
icum, Thunberg, as well as other species, amounting to seven altogether, are said to furnish 
this kind of aconite. An extremely poisonous principle, japaconitine (C66H8sN2O2i), has been 
isolated from Japanese aconite-tubers. It splits into benzoic acid and japaconine, when sapon- 
ified (see Aconitum Fischeri). 
Atis, or Ativish.-Atees, Utees, etc. The tuberous roots of the Aconitum heterophyllum, 
Wallich, a species growing in the Himalayan country, constitute the atis of East Indian 
medicine. It is employed in its native country as a bitter tonic and antiperiodic, and is used 
as a vegetable (G. Watt). Atisine, discovered by Broughton, is the active constituent, and is a 
non-toxic, intensely bitter alkaloid. Broughton gave it the formula C4eH74N2O5; Wright 
(1878) suggests C22H3iNO2 as being more nearly correct. Wacowitz (1879) found besides atisine, 
probably another amorphous alkaloid, sugar, mucilage, pectin, aconitic acid, starch, and a 
soft fat," which he thought to be a mixture of oleic, stearic and palmitic glycerides, and an 
acid resembling tannic acid. Pure atisine is white, amorphous, and exists only in minute 
quantities in the drug (Dymock, Mat. Med. of Western India). 
Bish, Bis, Bikh, Bikli, or Nepaul Aconite.-This variety is chiefly made up of the 
tubers of Aconitum ferox, Wallich, though Aconitum napellus, Aconitum palmatum, and other 
species probably contribute a portion. This variety is intensely acrid and poisonous. Its 
chief active constituent is the extremely poisonous pseudaconitine [fer aconitine} (C36H49NO12); 
and has also been termed, by Ludwig, acraconitine; by Wiggers, napelline; and by Fliickiger, 
nepaline. F. Mandelin (Arch, der Pharm., 1885) believes aconitine and pseudaconitine pharma- 
cologically the same, and regards them as the strongest of known poisons. He also regards 
japaconitine, aconitine, and benzoylaconine, as identical. Pseudaconine (C36ll49NOi2-i-H2O), a new 
base formed by the saponification of pseudaconitine, and aconine (C20H39NO11), one of the sapon- 
ification products of aconitine, are. regarded by the same investigator as either identical or 
homologous, and both poisonous, though less so than aconitine and pseudaconitine. Mandelin 
also believes that the difference in the poisonous effects of Aconitum ferox and Aconitum napellus 
depends wholly upon the relative amount of aconitine present in the two plants, and not upon 
any difference in virulence of the active principles of either. (See Dymock, Mat. Med. of West- 
ern India). Dymock states that Hindu authors mention "eighteen kinds of Bish, or poison," 
ten of which are too poisonous for medicinal use; also, that the word bish appears to have 
been applied " to any very poisonous root." ACONITUM FISCHERI. 
107 
ACONITUM FISCHER!.-AMERICAN ACONITE. 
The tuberous roots of Aconitum Fischeri, Reichenbach. 
Nat. Ord.-Ranunculaceae. 
Common Name.-American aconite. 
Illustration.-Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America, Pl. xvu. 
Botanical Source and History.-Though said to be the most active and 
poisonous of the species furnishing Japanese aconite root (Geerts, 1880), on 
account of its abundance in America and its likeli- 
hood of some day being the source of aconite for use 
in this country, we have taken the liberty to name 
this plant the American aconite. 
Aconitum Fischeri, Reichenbach, is found in the 
Rocky Mountain region of the United States; also in 
other sections of the world. The plant is particularly 
mentioned here on account of the fact that its chemi- 
cal properties are similar to those of aconite, and 
Prof. J. U. Lloyd, who has made an exhaustive study 
of the plant, prophesies that it may, at some future 
date, be an important source of aconite. In view of 
this fact, we extract from Drugs and Medicines of North 
America, by J. U. and C. G. Lloyd, a full botanical 
description of the plant: " This plant is quite com- 
mon along the banks of streams in the mountains of 
the Western States. It is generally found near the 
tops of mountains and in mossy and boggy places. 
It usually grows near the water or in it, but never 
where the water is not fresh. It grows at an altitude 
of from 7,000 to 11,000 feet above sea level. The stem 
is erect and about 3 or 4 feet high, although in some 
favored situations it attains a height of 10 feet. The 
stem is smooth, except on the upper flowering portion, 
which is covered with a short pubescence. The leaves are orbicular in outline, 
and deeply three to five-lobed; the segments are acute, and coarsely and sharply- 
toothed. The leaf stalks are 2 to 6 inches long* The flowers appear in August 
or September, and are borne in a terminal loose raceme. 
They have the usual odd aconite shape, and can be 
recognized at once. They are usually of a deep-blue 
color, but vary to nearly white in some instances. Some- 
times plants are found with bronzed flowers"-(Drugs 
and Medicines of North America). It is an extremely 
variable plant, having been found in several forms. 
Description.-The root of Aconitum Fischeri is de- 
scribed by the authors of Drugs and Medicines of North 
America as follows: " Our engraving (Fig. 5) represents 
the average size of the roots obtained by us. It will be 
observed that they are cylindrical and taper at the 
lower extremity. They are, as a rule, of greatest 
diameter about one-fourth the distance below the top, 
approaching, by a graceful curve, the constriction that 
separates the stalk from the root. The parent root pro- 
duces each season a small tuberous root (sometimes 
more) at the base of the stalk, which develops and 
increases during the season until it is of full size; then 
the stalk dies, the mother root shrinks and decays, the 
young root forms a terminal bud in anticipation of the 
coming season, and also begins to send out the new 
root. Our engraving exhibits these several phases, the 
old, contorted, shriveled root being upon the right; the 
succulent, plump, young root, fully developed, in the 
Fig. 4. 
Aconitum Fischeri. 
Fig. 5. 
Root of Aconitum Fischeri. 108 
ACTSEA ALBA. 
center, and with its terminal bud; the new root for next season upon the 
left"-{Drugs and Medicines of North America). The root closely resembles the 
aconite root of commerce, develops in the same manner, is bitter to the taste, 
and has the peculiar benumbing effect upon the tongue which is possessed by 
true aconite. 
Chemical Composition.-Prof. F. B. Power, at the request of Prof. J. U. Lloyd, 
has investigated the chemical properties of this plant, though owing to the lack 
of material at the time was unable to state definitely what the constituents were. 
He established conclusively, however, that the drug contained an alkaloid or 
alkaloids. Prof. Lloyd states, basing his views on the physiological investigations 
of Prof. Roberts Bartholow, undertaken at Prof. Lloyd's request, that the drug 
undoubtedly contains aconitine, associated with other proximate principles (see 
Drugs and Medicines of North America, p. 228). Paul and Kingzett have obtained 
from it an alkaloid, which has been named japaconitine (CegH^NzChi), a principle 
said by F. Mandelin {Arch. der Pharm., 1885) to be identical with benzoy laconine. 
It has a close resemblance to Wright's aconitine. By saponification, it is resolved 
into japaconine (Ca8H41NOi0) and benzoic acid. 
Action and Medical Uses.-American aconite has not been used to any 
extent in medicine, but in view of the fact that its constituents are probably 
similar to those of aconite, the drug should be studied to determine its action 
and therapeutical value. 
Related Species.-Aconitum uncinatum, Linn6, and Aconitum reclinatum, Gray, are also 
found in the Western States, but are unimportant. The last has not been chemically exam- 
ined, and is probably inert; the former has proved to be practically inert as a medicine. V. 
Coblentz, at the request of Prof. Llyod, examined it and found in it a glucosid, and a bitter, 
non-crystalline body of an alkaloidal character. Climate probably modifies the action of the 
aconites, as this species, in India, is poisonous and furnishes a portion of Bish. 
acTjEA alba -white cohosh. 
The rhizome and rootlets of the Actaea alba, Bigelow. 
Nat. Ord.-Ranunculaceae. 
Common Names.- White cohosh, White baneberry, Necklace weed, White beads. 
Illustration.-Drugs and Medicines of North America, by J. U. and C. G. 
Lloyd, Pl. xvm. 
Botanical Source.-Actsea alba is a perennial herb, having an erect stem 
about 2 feet high, bearing two large tri-ternate leaves, the leaflets of which are 
nearly oval, acute, serrate, and somewhat lobed. The flowers, 
which are handsome, showy, and white, are borne on a short, 
3ompact, oblong raceme with pedicles as large as the general 
peduncle. The petals are truncate at the apex, equalling the 
stamens. The fruit is a berry about the size of a cherry-pit, of an 
ivory white color, with an occasional tinge of red at the apex. 
These berries range from about 10 to 20 in number. 
Description.-The rhizome, which grows just beneath the 
surface of the soil, is about an eighth of an inch thick, fleshy, 
knotted, and has many fibrous rootlets. It weighs from 1 to 2 
ounces when green. Where the stem joins the rhizome there is 
an enlargement which is often nearly an inch in thickness. Sev- 
eral offshoots, from 1 to 4 inches long, are given off from the 
main root. When mature the rhizome is usually decayed at one 
end and growing at the other. The young rhizome is sweetish, 
but less so than the mature rhizome which, however, is not so 
acrid as the former, having but a very faint acridity. The sweet 
taste is persistent, that of the younger having been compared to 
that of glycyrrhizin (Lloyd, Drugs and Medicines of North America). 
The dried is darker than the fresh root, shrunken, very hard, and has a sweet 
taste. The drug loses three-fourths of its weight in drying. 
History and Constituents.-The cohoshes have received their name from the 
aborigines, who employed them as medicines. According to Barton they used 
Fig. 6. 
Fruit of Actseaalba. 109 
them for rheumatism, but depended more upon their topical than their internal 
action. They also employed them as emmenagogues and parturients. Actsea alba 
grows in the rich mold of rocky forests and hillsides throughout the Union, east 
of the Mississippi. Though pretty evenly distributed, it is nowhere an abund- 
ant plant. It blooms in May, about a week later than the red cohosh, and 
matures its fruit in July and August, several weeks later than the latter. It is 
frequently found as an adulterant among commercial lots of cimicifuga, but is 
not considered objectionable, as it undoubtedly possesses properties similar to 
those of black cohosh. 
William Dillmore (1874) found the plant to contain albumen, sugar, starch, 
gum, and extractive, but neither tannic nor gallic acids. (The A. spicata is said to 
contain tannin). Two resins were also obtained, one soluble and the other inso- 
luble in ether. Both, however, were dissolved by alkalies. The aqueous liquid, 
after precipitation of the resins from alcoholic solution, behaved like a solution 
of saponin. Prof. J. U. Lloyd {Drugs and Medicines of North America'), obtained a 
resin exactly like the purified resin of black cohosh, which was neither acrid 
nor bitter, differing from Dillmore's resin, which was probably obtained from 
a drug mixed with spurious roots. Lloyd also obtained a tincture having 
a pure, sweet taste, without either acridity or bitterness. Chemically, as well 
as in other ways, this drug differs but little from cimicifuga, but owing to 
its scarcity as compared with the latter, it will probably never take its place 
as a medicine. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-White cohosh is an active agent, and 
in large doses will produce violent emeto-catharsis. Grave irritation and gastro- 
intestinal inflammation have resulted from over-doses of the drug. It has 
been variously classed as alterative, emmenagogue, parturient, narcotic, purg- 
ative, and nerve stimulant. It specially acts upon the female reproductive organs, 
and favors waste and nutrition. The conditions in which it is useful are those of 
atony, and especially of nervous impairment. Atonic digestive derangements, with 
a low state of the nervous system, and chronic constipation, are cases for this drug. 
Its most decisive action, however, is in the disorders of the female organs. It is 
reputed a good partus preparator, and Dr. W. Fulton (see Specific Medication), 
accords it a first place in puerperal after-pains, and suggests its employment in 
uterine congestion and neuralgia. We would add here that it should be selected in 
debilitated states. It should be thought of in menstrual irregularities and other 
wrongs, as amenorrhoea, menorrhagia, and dysmenorrhcea. Those ovarian affections, 
attended with an unpleasant feeling and extreme sensibility to external touch or 
pressure, are asserted to be improved by its employment. Added to these may 
be headache, delirium, insomnia, and melancholia. When spasmodic diseases are 
due to menstrual wrongs-chorea, epilepsy, hysteria, and other convulsive attacks 
-the remedy is said to be curative. In leucorrhoea and uterine prolapse it should 
be used both locally and internally. In general its field of action is quite similar 
to that of cimicifuga. A peculiar pinkish hue of the part freely supplied by 
blood, usually associated with menstrual wrongs, is, according to Prof. Scudder 
{Specific Diagnosis), an indication for this drug, as well as for pulsatilla and 
helonias. 
Dose: Decoction so made as to represent about 30 grains of the root, at one 
dose. Specific actaea, 1 to 20 drops. For its specific application the following is 
preferred: R Spec, actaea gtt. xx.; aqua fl^iv. Mix. Dose, a teaspoonful every 
1 to 3 hours. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Atony of the nervous system associated 
with reproductive wrongs, headache, delirium, insomnia, melancholia, and con- 
vulsions; uneasy sensations in, and marked sensibility to the touch, or upon 
pressure, in the ovarian region; pinkish hue of the parts freely supplied by 
blood. Atonic states only. 
Related Species.-Acteea spicata, Linne. Baneberry, Herb Christopher. Elevated parts of 
Europe, Caucasus, and Siberia. Grows to a height of 3 or 4 feet, having bi- or tri-ternate 
leaves, an ovoid raceme of white flowers, and glossy-black, juicy berries. The rhizome is 
blackish-brown, and when fresh has a disagreeable, bitter, acrimonious taste, followed by a 
sweet after-taste. The odor is nauseous, but when dried the root is nearly odorless. It gives 
its properties to water and alcohol. The berries are poisonous, causing mental hallucination, 
ACT.EA ALBA. 110 
Fig. 7. 
ADANSONIA. 
gastric irritation, and even death. The green root is violently purgative, 
resembling black hellebore, but less so when dried, and has emmenagogue 
properties. A decoction used locally, destroys lice, fleas, and the itch 
insect. Hens and ducks are killed by the berries, but herbivorous animals 
eat the plant with impunity. It is sometimes found as an adulterant of 
black hellebore. 
Prof. Scudder {Specific Medication, 59), suggested its use in small doses 
(R Tr. actsea spicata gtt. ij, aqua fl 5 iv. Mix. Dose, a teaspoonful, in 
diarrhoea, dysentery, some forms of colic, and urinary diseases with tenesmic 
passages of urine. 
Actsea spicata, Linne, var. rubra, Aiton. Red cohosh, Red baneberry. 
This species inhabits the United States east of the Mississippi river, 
from Canada southward. It is almost identical in appearance with the 
Actsea alba, and they can hardly be distinguished from each other unless 
they are in fruit, though the latter flowers a week or so later than the 
red cohosh. The fruit of this variety (for it is only considered by botan- 
ists as a variety of the European species, Actsea spicata), is a glossy, 
cherry-red berry, of which the plant bears from 20 to 24. They ripen in 
early July. It was employed by the Indians under the name of red 
cohosh. It probably possesses similar properties to those of cimicifuga 
and the other actseas. Actsea spicata, var. arguta, Western United States, 
is another variety. 
Fruit of Acteea spicata, 
var. rubra. ' 
AD ANSONIA.-BAOBAB. 
The bark of Adansonia digitata, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Malvacese. 
Common Names.-Baobab, Monkey-bread tree, Sour-gourd tree, Cream-of-tartar tree. 
Illustrations.-Bot. Mag., Pl. 2791 and 2792. 
Botanical Source and History.-Adansonia digitata is a large tree of the west- 
ern coast of Africa and Egypt, sometimes attaining huge dimensions, being often 
25 feet in diameter, although the height is not nearly so great in proportion. 
It was formerly supposed to attain a great age, and Adanson, a French botanist, 
in whose honor the tree was named, estimated a tree on the islands of Cape de 
Verd to be over 5,000 years old, a point disputed by Bentham, who asserts 
that A. digitata is of rapid growth and comparatively short-lived. It is the bao- 
bab tree of travelers, and also known as monkey-bread, cream of tartar tree, and 
sour-gourd tree. The local name is Gowik Chentz or Ghuree Chentz. 
The leaves are digitate, and consist of five acute elliptical leaflets, resembling 
the leaves of our common buckeye. The flowers are very large and suspended on 
long peduncles; the calyx not having the peculiar involucre at its base which 
characterizes many genera of the Malvaceae. The style is long, exserted from the 
staminal column, and bears a 10-rayed stigma. The fruit, which is nearly a foot 
long, is divided into 10 cells filled with an agreeably acid pulp in which the 
seed are imbedded. 
The baobab tree belongs to the section Bombaceae, of the natural order 
Malvaceae, by De Candolle considered sufficiently distinct to form a separate 
natural order, which differs from Malveae (the typical form of Malvaceae) in 
having the calyx imbricated in the bud, and the staminiferous tube divided 
into five bundles at the apex; whereas the stamens of the Malveae are perfectly 
monadelphous. The fruit of this tree, which is cucumber- or bottle-shaped, is 
used by the natives for fishing-net floats and as water vessels. The native Afri- 
cans employ the cream-of-tartar-like or sub-acid, mucilaginous pulp as a remedy 
for dysentery, and poultice inflammations with the leaves. They also use to con- 
trol excessive perspiration a powder (called Lalo} of the dried leaves. Combined 
with buttermilk it is used in Bombay for its astringent effect in dysentery and 
diarrhoea, and the sub-acid pulp is given with figs by the Concans for asthma 
(Dymock). 
Description.-The bark is the part employed, and, together with the leaves 
and flowers of the tree, contains much mucilaginous matter. When fresh it is 
about five-eighths of an inch in thickness, brown, with a rough epidermis. A 
section shows the structure to consist of a mixture of pitted wood cells devoid of 
general arrangement. The cut surface of a trans verse section is mottled yellowish- 
green, and reddish-brown, uniting with the woody fiber of the trunk. ADEPS. 
111 
Chemical Composition.-The decoction of the bark decomposes rapidly, 
owing to the mucilaginous material present; however, this may be prevented by 
the addition of alcohol, or a small quantity of sulphuric acid. By treatment with 
alcohol, subsequently evaporating, then digesting with litharge, and extracting 
with ether, upon evaporating the ether white needles of an extremely bitter taste 
are obtained, named adansonin. These are fusible, dissolve in 6 parts of cold and 
3 of boiling ether, are soluble in alcohol, and but slightly so in water; they are not 
precipitated from their solution by alkalies, and chloride of iron imparts a greenish 
tinge to the alcoholic solution. Their formula is (Wittstein). Acid 
malate of potassium, glucose, pectin, and tartaric acid have been found in the 
pulpy substance surrounding the seeds. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-According to M. Duchassaing, the bark 
of this tree possesses febrifuge properties, and although devoid of bitterness, may 
be beneficially substituted for cinchona; since its introduction into our markets, 
no satisfactory report has been made of its virtues in this respect. The juice of 
the fruit is stated to be employed in its native country as a remedy in putrid and 
pestilential fevers; and a decoction of the nut, in dysentery. A decoction of the bark 
(1 oz. in 1 quart of water boiled to 1^ pints) is of a reddish color, somewhat resem- 
bling that of decoction of cinchona (Comp. Rend., xxvi, 1848, and Jour, de Pharm,, 
June, 1845). A pint and a half of the decoction may be taken in a day. 
adeps (U. s. P.)-lard. 
" The prepared internal fat of the abdomen of Sus scrofa, Linn^ (class Mam- 
malia; order Pachydermata), purified by washing with water, melting, and strain- 
ing. Lard should be kept in well-closed vessels impervious to fat, and in a cool 
place"-QU. S. P.). 
Synonyms : Prepared lard, Hog's lard, Axunge. 
Source and Preparation.-Lard should preferably be prepared from " leaf 
fat " obtained from the omenta, mesenteries, and kidneys of the common hog 
killed during the winter or early spring months. The fat should be thoroughly 
cleansed from extraneous material, as dirt, blood, etc., and the outer membranous 
portion of the leaf torn off, after which the perfectly fresh fat should be suspended 
in the air for a short time. It must then be beaten in a stone mortar until the 
fibrous, vesicular walls of the cells are broken and the mass becomes uniform 
throughout, and then heated in a water-bath to 54.4° C. (130° F.). Separate the 
remaining membranous parts, and strain through flannel or linen, after which it 
may be filtered through paper in a warm atmosphere. It should then be put 
into impervious containers, cooled, covered with waxed or varnished paper, and 
kept in a dark, cool, dry place, preferably a cellar, otherwise by the action of the 
atmospheric oxygen it will speedily become unfit for medicinal use. 
Description and Chemical Composition.-Lard used for medicinal purposes 
should not contain salt; when good it is white, somewhat translucent, of granular 
appearance, smooth to the touch, somewhat of the consistency of butter, having a 
faintly-sweetish taste, and a faint, but not rancid, odor; but by exposure to the air 
it absorbs oxygen, and acquires an unpleasant odor and rancid properties. It is 
bland to the taste. Water does not dissolve it, and alcohol but slightly ; ether, 
chloroform, benzin, benzol, and carbon disulphide are solvents of it, and so are 
the essential oils. The concentrated acids decompose it, and caustic alkaline 
solutions form soap with it, w'hen boiled together. " Specific gravity about 0.932 
at 15° C. (59° F.). It melts at 38° to 40° C. (100.4° to 104° F.) to a perfectly 
clear liquid, which is colorless in thin layers, and which should not separate an 
aqueous layer. At or below 30° C. (86° F.) it is a soft solid "-(U. S. P.). When 
melted it combines with resins, wax, and fixed oils, forming ointments, lini- 
ments, etc., as may be required. When heated in close vessels, it undergoes a 
process of destructive distillation, by which palmitic, oleic, acetic, and probably 
benzoic acids are formed, together with other less important modifications of its 
constituent fatty principles-i. e., glycerides of oleic, stearic, and palmitic acids; 
these are found in most animal oils and fats, whose hardness or softness is owing 
to the relative quantity which they contain of each of these principles (see Soap). 112 
ADEPS. 
Olein, or the Glyceride of oleic acid, is the liquid principle of oils, and is 
unknown in the native state. It is an oily fluid, devoid of color, taste, and odor, 
of specific gravity about 0.900, is partially dissolved by alcohol, but not by water, 
readily so by ether, and becomes solid at -6.6° C. (20° F.). It is convertible by 
saponification into glycerin and oleic acid. Its formula is C3H5.3(Ci8H33O2). It 
is said to be used to adulterate olive oil. 
Stearin (C3H5.3[C]8H35O2]), or Glyceride of stearic acid, is a crystalline solid 
somewhat resembling cetaceum, is sufficiently friable to admit of pulverization, 
freely dissolved by ether at 35.5° C. (96° F.), but is completely separated again 
on cooling, is insoluble in alcohol and water, melts at 62.2° C. (144° F.), and is 
convertible by saponification into stearic acid and glycerin. It may be obtained 
from lard or mutton tallow, by washing either of these with ether until they 
suffer no more loss; the stearin remains behind, and may be collected in flakes 
by boiling it in alcohol and then allowing it to cool. This substance should not 
be confused with the stearin used in the making of stearin candles, which con- 
sists mainly of free stearic and palmitic acids, to which some wax is added to 
prevent crystallization. 
Palmitin, or Glyceride of palmitic acid, is a solid constituent found in the oily 
portion of the fat. Its formula is C3H5.3(Ci6H31O2). When lard is subjected to 
pressure at the temperature of 0° C. (32° F.) palmitin and stearin may be sep- 
arated. The remaining fluid is then known in commerce as lard oil. Lard con- 
tains from 32 to 40 per cent of solid constituents. Margarin is a mixture of 
stearin and palmitin. 
By incorporating with lard, while hot, a small amount of benzoin or benzoic 
acid, and stirring until cold, rancidity is prevented. Poplar buds, various bal- 
sams, and some volatile oils have the same effect. Pure benzoic acid should not 
be used, but rather the ordinary acid prepared from the gum, which still retains 
balsamic qualities. 
Adulterations and Tests.-Lard is sometimes treated with common salt to 
prevent its becoming rancid. Again, for the purpose of yielding a whiter lard 
and to render the incorporation of water with it less difficult, salt of tartar is 
added to it by dishonest dealers. Boiling with water, and again fusing the 
lard, repeating the process if necessary, will remove these impurities. The 
most largely employed adulterant of lard, however, is cotton-seed oil. When 
heated, if the lard contains it, the foreign admixture may be detected by its odor. 
The U. S. P. indicates the following tests of the purity of lard: "Distilled water 
boiled with lard should not acquire an alkaline reaction (absence of alkalies), 
nor should another portion be colored blue by iodine T.S. (absence of starch). 
A portion of the water when filtered, acidulated with nitric acid, and treated 
with silver nitrate T.S., should not yield a white precipitate soluble in ammonia 
(absence of chlorides). If 10 Gm. of lard be dissolved in chloroform, and the 
solution mixed with 10 Cc. of alcohol and 1 drop of phenolphtalein T.S., it 
should not require more than 0.2 Cc. of normal potassium hydrate V.S. to pro- 
duce a pink tint after strong shaking (limit of free fatty acids). If 5 Cc. of 
melted and filtered lard be, while warm, intimately mixed, by agitation, in a 
test-tube with 5 Cc. of an alcoholic solution of silver nitrate (made by dissolving 
0.1 Gm. of silver nitrate in 10 Cc. of deodorized alcohol and adding 2 drops of 
nitric acid), and the mixture then heated for 5 minutes in a water-bath, the 
liquid fat should not acquire a reddish or brown color, nor should any dark color 
be produced at the line of contact of the two liquids (absence of more than about 
5 per cent of cotton-seed fats)"-(U. S. P.). 
Adeps Benzoinatus (77. S. P.). Benzoinated lard. 
Preparation.-"Lard, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lb. av., 3 oz., 120 
grs.] ; benzoin, in coarse powder, twenty grammes (20 Gm.) [309 grs.]. Melt the 
lard by means of a water-bath. Tie the benzoin loosely in a piece of coarse mus- 
lin, suspend it in the melted lard, and, stirring frequently, continue the heat for 
2 hours, covering the vessel and not allowing the temperature to rise above 60° C. 
(140° F.). Lastly, having removed the benzoin, strain the lard, and stir occa- 
sionally while it cools. When benzoinated lard is to be kept or used during 
warm weather, 5 per cent (or more, if necessary) of the lard should be replaced 
by white wax"-(G. £ P.). 113 
ADEPS LAN.E HYDROSUS. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Lard is emollient, and is a convenient article 
for the formation of ointments, plasters, and liniments. It is also used, without 
addition, to discuss tumors, by friction, or with cataplasm-(Ed.). Sometimes it 
is added to purgative injections, As an enema it is soothing in colitis. Being 
difficult of digestion it is occasionally used as a laxative for children. Good 
effects are obtained from it in inunction in scarlatina and other eruptive diseases, 
in which it allays itching and burning and improves the skin. Applied to 
the bridge of the nose with friction it alleviates the unpleasantness of coryza. 
When applied to blistered or excoriated parts, it will be apt to cause ulceration, 
unless it be free from rancidity, As a lubricating material for manual examina- 
tions and operations, it is preferable to petrolatum, as it does not readily mix 
with fluids. Many of the vegetable alkaloids are soluble in oleic acid (the red oil 
of soap and candle manufactories), and form with it useful and readily absorbed 
external applications. 
ADEPS LAN.® HYDROSUS (U. S. P.)-HYDROUS WOOL-FAT. 
"The purified fat of the wool of sheep (Ovis Aries, Linne; class Mammalia', 
order Ruminantia), mixed with not more than 30 percent of water"-((7. S. Pi). 
Synonym : Purified wool-fiat. 
Source and Preparation.-Sheep's wool contains about 45 per cent of a fat 
known as suint, which must be removed from it before it can be made into fabric. 
This fat, which was formerly known and used as oesypum, contains a variable 
amount of potash, probably from 15 to 35 per cent. Suint is obtained by evapo- 
rating to dryness, wool-washings; and by proper chemical manipulation, the 
potassium salts, combined with organic acids taken from the soil by the animal 
while grazing, and eliminated in the perspiration and adhering to the wool, are 
separated ; and it is estimated that thousands of tons of potash are yearly pro- 
duced from this source alone. When first prepared, wool-fat consists of about 
one-third fatty acids in a free condition, besides certain fatty-acid ethers of chol- 
esterin and glycerol. It is the cholesterin fats that enter into the commercial 
wool-fat. The process for making lanolin is secret. It has a characteristic, wool- 
like odor, is of a yellow-brown color, and though but partially dissolved by 
alcohol, dissolves readily in acetone, ether, chloroform and benzol. If this anhy- 
drous wool-fat be now mixed, by kneading, with water, not more than 30 per cent, 
it forms the Pharmacopoeial hydrous wool fat, or Adeps lanee hydrosus. 
Description and Tests.-"A yellowish-white or nearly white, ointment-like 
mass, having a faint, peculiar odor. Insoluble in water, but miscible with twice 
its weight of the latter, without losing its ointment-like character. With ether 
or chloroform, it yields turbid solutions which are neutral to litmus paper. 
Hydrous wool-fat melts at about 40° C. (104° F.). When heated on a water-bath, 
it finally leaves a residue amounting to not less than 70 per cent, which is trans- 
parent while melted, and, when cold, appears as a yellow, tough, unctuous mass, 
completely soluble in ether or chloroform, and only partially soluble in alcohol. 
A solution (1 in 50) of a portion of this mass in chloroform, when poured on the 
surface of concentrated sulphuric acid, gradually develops a deep-brown color at 
the line of contact of the two layers. When a portion of this mass is ignited, it 
should not leave more than 0.3 per cent of ash, which should not have an alka- 
line reaction on litmus (absence of alkalies). If 2 Gm. of the same mass are 
dissolved in 10 Cc. of ether, and mixed with 2 drops of phenolphtalein T.S., a 
colorless liquid results (absence of free alkalies), which should be decidedly red- 
dened by 1 drop of normal potassium hydrate V. S. (absence of free fatty acids). 
If 10 Gm. of hydrous wool-fat be heated, together with 50 Cc. of water, on a 
water-bath, until the fat is melted, there should result an upper, translucent and 
light-yellow, fatty layer, and a lower, clear, aqueous layer, which latter should 
not yield glycerin upon evaporation, and, when a portion of it is heated with 
some potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., it should not emit vapors of am- 
monia"-(JJ. S. P.). 
Chemical Composition.-Wool-fat is a mixture mainly composed of ethers of 
fatty acids, with cholesterin instead of glycerin as the basis. 114 
ADIANTUM. 
Action and Medical Uses.-The use of sheep's wool-fat is ancient, and 
accounts of such employment are handed down by Pliny in his Natural History. 
It was reintroduced as a therapeutic agent by Liebreich, in 1885. It is employed 
as a non-irritating and efficient ointment base, and possesses marked advantages 
over like bodies in that it may be mixed with aqueous mixtures and glycerin. 
It will take up double its weight of water and of glycerin. Lanolin does not 
become rancid, nor does it leave the skin as soft and pliable as some emollient 
agents. Much contention has been had as to whether it is absorbed by the skin 
more than other fats, and as to whether it has any superiority in causing the 
absorption of drugs by the skin. Stellwagon, Liebreich, and others believe it to 
be absorbed more rapidly than any other fat. As it is a sebaceous secretion, it 
undoubtedly tends to favor normal action of the skin. It has been preferred 
alone as a protective in mild affections of the skin, and as an unguent for massage. 
As a vehicle for salicylic acid, boric acid, iodine and the iodides, and a number 
of other agents, it has been largely employed in a great variety of cutaneous 
affections. 
Related Product.-Thilanin. Thilanine, Sulphurated lanolin, contains sulphur to the 
extent of 3 per cent. It is prepared by acting upon anhydrous wool-fat with sulphur, aided 
by heat. It has the consistence of hydrous wool fat, being a yellow-brown, unctuous body. 
It has been employed as a non-irritating dermic medicament. It is recommended for acute 
and subacute eczema of the face, scaly eczema of the extremities, and for the papulo-vesicular variety 
affecting the hands, as well as for other eczematous eruptions. Sycosis, acne, herpes, psoriasis, 
and dermatitis resulting from chrysarobin, are said to have been benefited by it. It is said to 
be particularly useful in itching conditions. It should be diluted with water or oils when 
applied to the scalp. 
ADIANTUM.- MAIDENHAIR. 
The whole plant of the Adiantum pedatum, Linne, and Adiantum capillus 
Veneris, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Filices. 
Common Names.-Maidenhair, Maidenhair fern. 
Botanical Source.-The American species of Adiantum is a delicately 
beautiful and graceful fern, growing from 6 to 15 inches high, with a handsome, 
polished, dark-purple or black stipe, forking 
at the summit; each branch so created sup- 
porting simple branches densely clothed with 
alternate, triangular, oblong pinnae. These 
are entire and veined on their lower margin, 
incised on their upper border, and fruit-bear- 
ing. The fruit dots are short, slightly cres- 
cent-shaped, and marginal, and covered by 
an indusium derived from the reflected mar- 
gin of the lobe. The fronds are erect and pre- 
sent a beautiful appearance. The leaves are 
slightly bitter, together with a faintly-sweetish, 
aromatic, feebly astringent taste. The odor is 
delicately aromatic. 
The European species is about 1 foot liigh, with a brownish or brownish- 
black stipe, pinnate above, and doubly or thrice pinnate below. The leaflets are 
irregular, wedge-shaped, obtusely incised, with the fruit dots in a marginal line. 
It is inodorous, with a sweetish taste, afterward slightly bitter, and feebly astrin- 
gent. 
History and Chemical Composition.-The maidenhair ferns contain a vola- 
tile oil, sugar, tannin, mucilage, and a bitter principle. The A.pedatum is a common 
fern in the moist, rich soil of the American woods, and is found also in Eastern 
Asia. The A. capillus Veneris is a native of Europe, but, according to Englemann, is 
naturalized in Florida, Texas, and Arkansas, and westward to California. The 
European species is used in preparing a syrup called Sirop de capillaire, which is 
popular in France and Germany as a mucilaginous pectoral. The plants yield 
their virtues to boiling water, and are used in decoction, infusion, or syrup. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Maidenhair is refrigerant, expector- 
Fig. 8. 
Fig. 9. 
Adiantum pedatum. 
Adiantum capil- 
lus Veneris. 115 
ADONIS. 
ant, tonic, and subastringent. In decoction it forms an elegant refrigerant drink 
in febrile diseases and in erysipelas, and is also beneficial in coughs, chronic catarrh, 
hoarseness, influenza, asthma, etc. It is likewise reputed efficacious in pleurisy, and 
in jaundice. The decoction or syrup may be used freely. These plants are highly 
valued by some practitioners, and deserve investigation. Doses: Decoction (sj 
to aqua Oj), dose, 1 to 4 fluid ounces. Infusion (sj to aqua Oj), dose, 1 to 4 
fluid ounces. Syrup (adiantum 1 part, boiling water 10 parts, sugar 19 parts; 
infuse, adding the sugar after the syrup has been strained), dose, 1 or 2 table- 
spoonfuls. 
Related Species.-Asplenium Adiantum nigrum, LinnA Black maidenhair. Habitat, 
Europe. Mucilaginous. Substituted for the true maidenhairs. 
Asplenium Trichomanes. Spleenwort. Europe. Also used to adulterate the true species. 
Neither of the foregoing have, however, the aromatic flavor of the genuine article. 
Asplenium ruta muraria, LinnA White maidenhair. Indigenous to both Europe and the 
United States. Used for the same purposes as the medicinal fern. 
ADONIS.-PHEASANT'S EYE. 
The whole plant of Adonis vernalis, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Ranunculaceae. 
Common Names.-Pheasant's eye, False hellebore. 
Botanical Source.-Adonis is a perennial herb growing from 12 to 15 inches 
high. The stem is branching, and the leaves many-cleft and sessile. The flowers 
are large, yellow, and attractive, with 10 or 12 oblong, spreading petals, slightly 
toothed at the apex. The fruit consists of numerous 1-sided acheniae. 
History and Chemical Composition.-This plant is indigenous to Southern 
Europe (being especially found in the Crimea) and to Siberia and Labrador. It 
is one of the very reliable spring flowers, and is found growing in elevated places. 
It was introduced into medicine by Dr. Bubnow (1879) as a cardiac stimulant. 
The doctor, who was a student under Prof. Botken, had observed its use by the 
Russian peasantry as a remedy for dropsy and heart diseases. Linderos (1876) 
obtained a yellow crystalline substance from the leaves and identified it as aco- 
nitic acid (C6H6O6). In 1882, Prof. V. Cervello isolated its supposed active princi- 
ple, which he named adonidine (adonidin'). Adonidin is a crystalline, non-nitro- 
genous glucosid, odorless, colorless, and intensely bitter. Ether slightly dissolves 
it, while it is wholly soluble in alcohol and water. It is practically insoluble in 
benzol, chloroform, and turpentine. According to Podwissotzki, who has more 
recently (1888) investigated it, adonidin is a mixture composed of adonitic acid,- 
adonidoquercitrin, adonidodulcit, and a couple of glucosids, one of which is the 
active constituent and named by him picradonidin. It is a very bitter, amor- 
phous body, dissolving in alcohol, ether, and water, and said to be a powerful 
cardiac poison. Tannin precipitates adonidin from aqueous or ethereal solu- 
tions. Adonis root is frequently employed to adulterate black hellebore (Helle- 
borus niger). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Adonis acts very much like digitalis 
and strophanthus. It stimulates the muscles of the heart, thereby increasing 
cardiac contractility, and causes contraction of the smaller arteries throughout the 
whole body, thus increasing arterial tension. It diminishes the frequency of 
the pulse and regulates the heart-beat. The remedy acts quickly, even quicker 
than digitalis, and is well tolerated. Diuresis is increased, probably by its action 
on the renal circulation. • Large doses paralyze both the heart and blood-vessels. 
Unlike digitalis, it is not cumulative. The drug should be cautiously used where 
there is gastro-intestinal inflammation. Adonidin in 3-grain doses every half 
hour, administered by mistake, produced violent vomiting and purging (Durand). 
Homoeopathic physicians speak highly of this drug in heart disease, and kidney 
affections. Prof. E. M. Hale recommends its use in endocardial inflammation, with 
valvulitis. It is adapted to those cases where the cardiac muscles are laboring to 
overcome valvular obstruction, or when there is danger of dilatation of the heart 
from weakening of the muscular tissues. Prof. Hale also intimates that it is 
valuable in secondary heart trouble, resulting from Bright's disease, being indicated 
by an irregular and intermitting pulse, showing weakened heart action, with 116 
ESCULUS. 
venous stasis and dropsy, it is valuable in cardiac dropsy. R Specific adonis, 
gtt. ij, every 2 or 4 hours. In chronic albuminuria, with scanty, light-colored 
urine and delirium, 5-drop doses greatly benefited the patient, and in another 
case it controlled uremic convulsions, which had been frequent, so that they did 
not again appear for two years, when the patient died (Wilcox). Prof. John M. 
Scudder said of it: "Its tonic action upon the heart is most marked." He 
recommended its use in heart strain from over-exertion. In one case its beneficial 
action was observed in one day. The remedy bids fair to take its place alongside 
of other drugs of the digitalis group in the treatment of all cases in which the 
latter are now so highly valued. Pallas attributes to the plant emmenagogue 
properties. The dose of the infusion ($j to aqua sxij) is a tablespoonful every 2 
hours in severe cases; every 4 hours in chronic disease. Specific adonis, £ to 3 
drops. Or, R Specific adonis gtt. x to xx, water £iv. Mix. Dose, 1 teaspoonful 
every 2 or 3 hours. Adonidin, A grain every 3 or 4 hours. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-As a heart tonic, to be 
used when cardiac action is weak, with but little blood in 
the arterial system, with low pressure and shortened diastole, 
and consequent venous fullness and stasis with increased 
pressure, feeble, irregular, and intermittent pulse; valvular 
insufficiency, with regurgitation, and dropsy ; vascular en- 
feeblement with passive, dull, congestive headache ; chronic 
congestion. 
Related Species.-Adonis xstivalis, Linn6. Europe and Asia. An 
almost glabrous annual, having a bitter, acrid taste, but scarcely any 
odor. Its blossoms are of a yellowish-red hue. A remedy for fatty heart. 
Adonis autumnalis, Linne. South Europe. Resembles the preceding 
in properties and appearance, except that it bears crimson blossoms. 
Both plants have the action and constituents of Adonis vemalis. 
Fig. io. 
Adonis autumnalis. 
^sculusOhio Buckeye. 
The bark and fruit of the ^Hsculus glabra, Willdenow. 
Nat. Ord.-Sapindacese. 
Common Names.-Ohio buckeye, Fetid buckeye, Smooth buckeye. 
Illustration: Gray's Gen. Illust., II, Pl. 177. 
Botanical Source.-A small, fetid tree from 20 to 40 feet high, the leaves of 
which consist of five ovate, or oblong, serrulate, acuminate leaflets, somewhat 
hairy underneath. The flowers are small and yellowish, 
and borne in a loose thyrsoid panicle. Each flower has 
four petals about half the length of its stamens, which are 
seven in number and curved. The fruit is a prickly capsule, 
containing the seed. 
History.-The Ohio buckeye is found growing along 
streams and river banks in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, 
Kentucky, Indiana, north to Michigan and south to Missis- 
sippi. It flowers in May and June, and on account of the 
unpleasant odor given off the tree is often called fetid buck- 
eye. The fruit contains an abundance of very fine starch, 
which it is surprising has not yet been introduced into 
commerce. 
Description.-The Nut (dry) of tEscuIus glabra does 
not differ essentially from that of the horse-chestnut, except 
that it is darker in color, a little smaller in size, is perhaps 
somewhat more globular, and has a much smaller hilum, 
the latter being not more than one-third or less than one-half as large as that on 
the horse-chestnut. It ranges from £ to 4 inch in diameter. 
Chemical Composition.-(See Hippocastanum and Gelsemium). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This agent influences the nervous 
and circulatory systems, having a selective affinity for the portal circulation. In 
over-doses it affects the cerebro-spinal system somewhat after the manner of nux 
Fig. n. 
.Esculus glabra. .ETHER. 
117 
vomica. Dizziness, fixation of the eyes, impairment of vision, vomiting, wry- 
neck, opisthotonos, stupor, and tympanites are among its effects. In lethal doses 
these symptoms are increased, coma supervenes, and death finally takes place. 
The dried powder of the nut inhaled causes violent sneezing. The action of buck- 
eye is similar to, but more powerful than that of the horse-chestnut (A. Hippo- 
castanum), though some think it less powerful than the latter in its effects upon 
the portal circulation. It probably acts more powerfully on the spinal than 
upon the sympathetic nerves. When an excited circulation, with frequent pulse, 
depends upon disorders of the respiratory and sympathetic nerves, it acts as a 
decided sedative. The difficult breathing of non-paroxysmal asthma, where the 
dyspnoea is persistent, but does not amount to a paroxysm, is markedly benefited 
by eesculus glabra, while in coughs, associated with post-manubrial constriction- 
a sensation of grasping and tightening-its action is positive. The latter sensa- 
tion without the cough quickly yields to it. Phthisis, bronchitis, etc., with dysp- 
noea and oppression, are palliated by it. Intestinal uneasiness and irritation, with a 
sense of contraction and colic-like pains in the region of the umbilicus, are indi- 
cations for its use. It is asserted valuable in intestinal dyspepsia with these symp- 
toms, and in hepatic congestion and chronic constipation. Its control over the portal 
circulation and its attendant disorders is pronounced, and as a remedy for hemor- 
rhoids depending upon portal derangements, it has attained a reputation. A 
sense of constriction in the rectum is the guide to its use. In female disorders, 
with tumid and enlarged cervix uteri, with too frequent and profuse menstrua- 
tion, it may be employed with advantage. Owing to its powerful action upon 
the nervous system the drug will repay study. It has been employed with 
asserted success in rheumatism and as a stimulant in paralysis. The dose of spe- 
cific fesculus glabra is from 1 to 5 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-A sensation of grasping or constriction in 
the post-manubrial space, or at the supra-sternal notch; cough of spasmodic char- 
acter, with but little expectoration; asthma, with continual dyspnoea, non-parox- 
ysmal ; tightness in the chest and about the heart; bronchial irritation with 
constriction ; sense of constriction, tightness or uneasiness in the rectum, accom- 
panied or not with hemorrhoids; intestinal irritation with constriction and colicky 
pains near the umbilicus. 
Related Species.-A£sculus pavia, Linne. Red buckeye. United States. Southern states, 
from Georgia and Virginia westward. A small shrub; or in the vicinity of mountains, a tree. 
Coloring matter, tannin, resin, and a peculiar crystalline body, were obtained from red buckeye 
by Mr. Bachelor in 1873, from the testa of the fruit; and a green or brown fixed oil to the amount 
of 5 per cent, cane sugar, and a little over 2 per cent of a peculiar bitter, acrid, poisonous glu- 
cosid, of a brown color, were obtained from the cotyledons, which are principally starch. 
According to F. Peyre Porcher, M. D., the roots of this tree were preferred to soap for cleansing 
and whitening blankets, woolen goods, colored cottons, and satins. The fresh nut made into 
a paste with flour, and also the bruised twigs of the shrub, were used in the swamps of the 
Santee to stupefy fish, so as to cause them to float that they might readily be taken. A decoc- 
tion of the nuts was recommended as a topical application to gangrene, and a strong decoction 
of the root held in the mouth was reputed a cure for toothache. An excellent starch, which 
does not become yellow with age, has been prepared from the fruit. It probably possesses 
the same properties as sesculus glabra. 
JSsculus flava, Aiton. Sweet buckeye, Large buckeye. Western United States and mountains 
of the Appalachian system, from Virginia to Georgia. Grows from 6 to 70 feet high, and has 
yellow flowers. 
jEsculus pamflora, Walter. Small-flowered buckeye. United States. Shrub, 2 to 9 feet high, 
with small, white flowers. 
AETHER (U. S. P.)-ETHER. 
Formula: (C2H5)2O. Molecular Weight: 73.84. 
Synonyms: ^Ether fortior (U. S. P., 1880), Sulphuric ether, ^Ether sulphuricus, 
Ethyl oxide, Hydrate of ethylen, Hydric ether, Naphtha vitrioli, Vinic ether. 
"A liquid composed of about 96 per cent, by weight, of absolute ether or 
ethyl oxide [(C2H5)2O=73.84], and about 4 per cent of alcohol containing a little 
water"-(U. S. P.). 
Preparation.-Sulphuric ether is prepared by the interaction of sulphuric 
acid and alcohol. From the latter, broadly considered, are thereby abstracted 118 
jETHER. 
the elements of water, resulting in the formation of ether, as- follows: 
2C2H5OH-HoO^fCaHj^O. The process, however, is somewhat more complex, 
and takes place in two phases. It was determined and established by William- 
son, in 1852. When alcohol and sulphuric acid are mixed, ethyl-sulphuric acid 
and -water are formed. This ethyl-sulphuric acid being then heated to about 
130° to 140° C. (266° to 284° F.) with a fresh portion of alcohol, is decomposed, 
ether being formed, and sulphuric acid regenerated. The reactions involved are 
expressed by the following formulae: 
C2H5OH+SO4H2=C2H5.SO4H+H2O. 
C2H5.SO4H+C2H5OH=(C2H5)2O+SO4H2. 
On this principle the present method of preparing ether is now carried 
out, known as the "continuous process" of Boullay. It consists in mixing 
together 2 measures of alcohol, specific gravity 0.830, and 1 measure of concen- 
trated sulphuric acid; the mixture is submitted to distillation in a capacious 
retort, which must be connected with an efficient condenser. Through the tubu- 
lure of .the retort a tube is introduced, which is in communication with a reser- 
voir of alcohol, designed to maintain a supply of spirit sufficient to keep the 
amount of liquid at a uniform level in the retort during the course of subsequent 
distillation. The temperature is then rapidly raised so as to maintain the 
mixture in steady ebullition. The liquid which passes over consists almost 
entirely of ether and water, mixed with a small portion of alcohol which has 
distilled over unchanged. This process may go on without interruption until a 
quantity of alcohol, about thirty times as great as that originally taken, has 
become converted into ether. Isethionic acid is gradually formed in the residue. 
The crude ether may be purified by agitating it with an equal bulk of water 
containing one-fortieth its weight of caustic soda in solution; the water com- 
bines with the alcohol, and the soda neutralizes any sulphurous acid that may 
have distilled over; the liquid separates into two layers, the upper one of which 
consists of ether, holding a little water in solution. The ether may be freed from 
water by allowing it to stand for a day or two upon quicklime, or upon chloride 
of calcium; it is then to be rectified by the heat of a water-bath, and condensed 
in vessels kept cool with ice-cold water. The purification of ether may be 
accomplished as directed by the British Pharmacopoeia, a process yielding a better 
product than the old U. S. P. process: " Take of ether, distilled water, of each, 
2 pints (Imp.); lime, recently burned, 1 ounce (av.); chloride of calcium, 4 
ounces (av.). Put the ether with 1 pint (Imp.) of the water into a bottle, and 
shake them together; allow them to remain at rest for a few minutes, and when 
the two liquids have separated, decant off the supernatant ether. Mix this with 
the remainder of the water, and again, after separation, decant as before. Put 
now the washed ether, together with the lime and chloride of calcium, into a 
retort, to which a receiver is closely attached, let them stand for 24 hours, then 
distill with the aid of a gentle heat. Specific gravity not exceeding 0.720"- 
(Brit. Phar.). 
Ether is obtained on a large scale, in the U. S. Naval Laboratory, by steam, as 
described by E. R. Squibb, M. D., in Am. Jour. Pharm., 1856, p. 385. Squibb's 
ether is an exceptionally pure product, and is often preferred for antesthetic 
purposes in this country. 
Description.-The name " sulphuric ether," is a misnomer, at least as far as 
regards composition, there being no sulphur present. The U. S. P. describes offi- 
cial ether as "a transparent, colorless, mobile liquid, having a characteristic odor, 
and a burning and sweetish taste. Specific gravity 0.725 to 0.728 at 15° C. (59° 
F.) ; or 0.714 to 0.717 at 25° C. (77° F.). Soluble in about ten times its volume 
of water at 15° C. (59° F.), with slight contraction of volume. Miscible, in all 
proportions, with alcohol, chloroform, benzin, benzol, fixed and volatile oils. 
Ether boils at about 37° C. (98.6° F.), and it should, therefore, boil when a test- 
tube, containing some broken glass and half-filled with it, is held for some time 
in the hand. Ether is highly volatile and inflammable. Its vapor, when mixed 
with air and ignited, explodes violently"-(U. S. P.). 
Pure ether, when freshly made, causes no alteration in the color of litmus or 
turmeric paper; but, by exposure, it absorbs oxygen, oxidizes slowly, and decom- 
poses, yielding aldehyde, glyoxalic, acetic and formic acids. By evaporation, .ETHER. 
119 
ether produces intense cold. Pure ether dissolves one eightieth of its weight of 
phosphorus; but if it contains alcohol, only one two-hundred-and-fortieth; it 
also dissolves a very small portion of sulphur, bromine, and iodine, but the solu- 
tions of the latter decompose by keeping. It abstracts bichloride of mercury, 
chloride of gold, bichloride of platinum, and the perchloride of iron, from their 
watery solutions. It dissolves most resins, pyroxylic spirit (wood alcohol), many 
fats, volatile oils, gallic acid, many of the vegetable alkaloids, urea, gun cotton, 
chromic acid, -oleates of heavy metals, tannic and many other organic acids, 
caoutchouc, phosphorus, bromoform, chloroform, iodoform, benzin, benzol (ben- 
zene), alcohols, iodides, bromides, chlorides, and some sulphides of metals. 
M. Grimault has given a method by which pure ether may.be gelatinized, or, 
if required, various substances may be dissolved in it, as camphor, cyanide of 
potassium, morphine, conine, etc. If 4 measures of pure ether are added to 1 
measure of white of egg, and the mixture be briskly agitated, the albumen will 
soon be seen to swell, and absorb the entire ether, forming a thick collodion, 
which soon becomes an opaline, trembling jelly, and does not separate into the 
two ingredients of which it is composed. Applied to the skin and covered with a 
band of cloth, or caoutchouc, it speedily causes redness without vesication; and 
when it begins to dry, a new layer may be applied if necessary. If the mixture 
be exposed to a water-bath at 70° C. (158° F.), an almost instantaneous solidifica- 
tion is obtained without the separation of ether. 
" Ether should be kept in well-stoppered containers, preferably in tin cans, 
in a cool place, remote from lights or fire"-(17. S. P.). It has also been shown 
by Schonbein that pure ether changes its properties when in contact with air or 
oxygen, and exposed to diffused light. Under these conditions, hydrogen per- 
oxide, ozone, aldehyde, and ethyl peroxide, are liable to be formed, and may 
become the cause of dangerous, spontaneous explosions (Krauch). There are in 
commerce, varieties known as "concentrated ether," and "washed ether." They 
should not be employed either in medicine or pharmacy, in consequence of their 
uncertain composition. The virtues of many agents containing vegetable oils 
and resins, may be taken up by ether in the form of tincture, when, by evaporat- 
ing the ether, the desired active product is left behind; this is the case with 
lobelia seeds, capsicum, Scutellaria, podophyllum, ptelea, stillingia, xanthoxylum 
berries, iris, and several other preparations. 
Tests.-Ether may be recognized by its striking physical properties, espe- 
cially its peculiar odor and taste, its complete solubility in alcohol, and its sparing 
solubility in water. If a mixture of ether and water produce a white color, oil 
of wine is present; the ether may be separated by distillation at a gentle heat. 
Absolute ether does not dissolve aniline-violet, according to Stephanelli, but 
gives a decided coloration if but 1 per cent of alcohol be present. The U. S. P. 
directs the following tests: " The color of light-blue litmus paper moistened 
with water, should not be changed when the paper is immersed in ether for ten 
minutes. Upon evaporation, ether should leave no residue. If 10 Cc. of it be 
poured, in portions, upon clean, odorless blotting paper, and allowed to evaporate 
spontaneously, no foreign odor should become perceptible when the last traces of 
ether leave the paper. When 20 Cc. of ether are shaken in a graduated tube, 
with 20 Cc. of water, just previously saturated with ether, the ethereal layer, 
upon separation, should not measure less than 19.8 Cc. (absence of an undue 
amount of alcohol or water). If 10 Cc. of ether be shaken occasionally, within 
one hour, with 1 Cc. of potassium hydrate T.S., no color should be developed in 
either liquid (absence of aldehyde, etc.)"-(U. S. P.). 
Action and Toxicology.-Ether taken by mouth has at first a sweetish taste, 
followed by great heat and pungency. In moderate doses it acts powerfully on 
the mouth, throat, and stomach, allays spasm, and relieves flatulence, without 
increasing arterial action. After the burning in the stomach has subsided, a 
cooling sensation, quickly diffusing itself throughout the system, is experienced. 
It first excites the cerebral functions, then depresses. In somewhat larger doses 
it causes intoxication. The heart's action is increased, the face becomes flushed, 
the surface warm, and in a very short time sweating takes place, similar to, yet 
less transient than that from alcohol, and quickly followed by a sense of content- 
ment and mental quietude, associated with a desire to sleep. Seldom does its 120 
.ETHER. 
effect last more than 1 hour, even when 2 fluid drachms have been swal- 
lowed. Individuals may become so accustomed to taking ether that large quan- 
tities may be consumed in a day. Intoxication from ether drinking is reported 
common in Ireland (British Med. Jour., 1890). Life has not been directly 
destroyed by ether as a fluid, but several deaths have resulted from inhalation of 
the vapor. (For the effects of inhalation, see Etherization). In very large doses 
it causes nausea, increased flow of saliva, giddiness, and suspension of sensation 
and voluntary motion. Locally applied, it produces rubefaction, and sometimes 
vesication, if its evaporation be prevented; but it acts as a refrigerant, occasioning 
a great degree of cold, when suffered to evaporate. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Ether is narcotic, stimulant, antispasmodic, 
refrigerant, and carminative. Its antispasmodic and stimulating properties 
render it efficient in spasmodic asthma, flatulent colic, hiccough, subsultus tendinum, 
cramp of the stomach, nervous headache, sick headache attended with double vision, 
photopsy, and nausea or vomiting, lowness of spirits, gastrodynia, hysteria, dyspnoea, 
palpitation, and gout of the stomach; it is also efficacious to overcome tbe painful 
spasms occasioned by urinary or biliary calculi, during their passage through the 
ducts or tubes; for this purpose it is frequently conjoined with oil of turpentine. 
As an antispasmodic, it will be found useful in all forms of spasmodic action, 
unattended by inflammation, as chorea, epilepsy, tetanus, etc. 
On account of its emulsifying properties when combined with fatty matter, 
as codliver oil, ether has been used to aid digestion, and tissue production, in 
phthisis. By stimulating the gastric and duodenal tracts, it secondarily influences 
the pancreatic secretion, which then readily acts upon tbe emulsified oil, making 
its digestion more perfect, and thereby adding to the nutrition of the body. 
When applied locally, as a refrigerant, allowing it to evaporate, ether is useful 
in nervous and other headaches, in external inflammations, strangulated hernia, etc. As 
a rubefacient, it may be employed in all crises where this effect is indicated, by 
checking its evaporation. The spray of ether, directed upon painful parts, has 
been used as a local anaesthetic, as well as for minor surgical operations. Sprayed 
upon the lumbar region, it eases the pains of labor; and uterine contraction, with 
the control of hemorrhage, may be accomplished by spraying it on the lower part 
of the abdomen. Applied by vapor, or upon a pledget of cotton, it relieves ear- 
ache, and combined with camphor and inserted into carious dental cavities, it 
controls toothache. Pediculi pubis are destroyed by it, and it is fatal to ascarides 
when used by rectal enema. Ether has been subcutaneously injected in sciatica, 
lumbago, and other neuralgias, in sudden syncope, and in the prostration following 
pulmonary and post partum hemorrhages, convulsions, and in chloral and opium 
poisoning, etc. The quantity injected should be from 10 to 15 minims, and care 
should be had not to inject deeper than the fascial tissues. When 1 fluid ounce 
of pure ether is well agitated, in a closed bottle, with 2 fluid drachms of white of 
egg, a tremulous jelly is formed, termed gelatinized ether, which may be spread 
on cloth and applied upon painful parts' to act as an anaesthetic. It should be 
covered with a compress or some body to prevent too rapid evaporation; and, on 
account of its want of permanency, should only be made when required for use. 
The dose of ether varies from 10 to 60 drops, which should be repeated at 
short intervals. It may be given in water by triturating it with a little sperma- 
ceti ; and is frequently combined with opium, ammonia, or valerian. Capsules 
of ether, or pearls of ether (Clertin), are prepared by inclosing 5 or 6 minims of 
pure ether in capsules made of gum and sugar; they afford a very pleasant and 
efficacious mode of administering this fluid. They should be freshly prepared 
every 10 or 12 months, as they part with their ether. Lortet has found these 
capsules useful in taenia. He gives at one dose 2 ounces of ether, followed in two 
hours by 1 ounce of castor oil. 
Etherization.-Ether (formerly under the name of Letheon) is very exten- 
sively employed as an anaesthetic agent, for the prevention and removal of pain 
and spasm, and whenever severe operations are about to be performed. While 
equally as efficient as chloroform, it is less pleasant to inhale, and not quite so 
rapid in producing anaesthesia. It is, however, much safer than chloroform, as 
death, when produced, results from respiratory paralysis, the heart continuing to 
beat after respiration has ceased. Such being the case, when respiratory action 121 
JETHER. 
fails, artificial respiration may be resorted to, whereas, with chloroform, death is 
produced mainly by cardiac paralysis, which is further beyond the power of the 
physician to remedy. Not more than 3| per cent of chloroform should be present 
in the inspired air, whereas the air may contain from 60 to 70 per cent of ether 
with safety. It occasions vomiting less readily than chloroform. On the other 
hand, it is very inflammable and cannot be so well used near lights, as is some- 
times required in obstetric practice. Here chloroform is to be preferred. Ether 
was the first agent to be used, as a general anaesthetic by inhalation, for the per- 
formance of great surgical operations. Under partial anaesthesia, Dr. John C. 
Warren, at the request of a Boston dentist, Dr. W. T. G. Morton, performed a 
severe surgical operation at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Oct. 15, 1846. 
On the succeeding day, Prof. Hayward operated upon a patient under full anaes- 
thesia. Dr. C. T. Jackson, of Boston, at once informed Dr. Warren that he had 
first imparted to Morton a knowledge of its value in the painless extraction of 
teeth, which was the use Dr. Morton had made of it. 
The phenomena produced by the inhalation of this anaesthetic are mainly 
as follows: When first inhaled, some faucial irritation is produced, as well as 
cough and shortness of breath.. The extremities prickle; exhilaration, with talka- 
tiveness, or laughing, crying, praying, or raging, with a sense of lightness, is felt, 
and gradually all the senses are blunted or perverted, that of pain being lost 
before that of touch. This is a good stage for slight operations, and for mid- 
wifery emergencies. Gradually consciousness is lost, and gradual muscular relax- 
ation, sometimes preceded by tetanic rigidity, takes place. The circulation and 
respiration are quickened, though the latter is somewhat shallower than when 
normal; warmth of skin with perspiration ensues, as well as contraction of the 
pupil. Continuing the inhalation, complete insensibility and muscular relaxation 
take place, the breathing becomes slow, deep, and even stertorous, the pulse slow 
and feeble, the pupil dilated, the cutaneous surface moist, cool, and livid or 
cyanotic. Stertorous breathing is the signal for withdrawing the anaesthetic, for 
then respiratory paralysis is approaching. The best stage for operating is that 
when muscular relaxation is complete, so that the arm, if lifted and dropped, will 
fall helpless, and when the conjunctiva may be touched without flinching on part 
of the patient. As to the method of administration, it may be used in a similar 
manner to that for inhaling chloroform (see Chloroformuni); about from 4 to 6 
minutes will be required before anaesthesia occurs, the patient generally inhaling 
the vapor from 1| to 2 fluid ounces of the liquid; it should be used in small 
quantities at a time, and any depression of the pulse, or spasmodic symptoms, 
and particularly stertor, occurring during its inhalation, indicate danger, and 
its further inhalation should be discontinued. Artificial respiration, stimulants, 
cold water to the head and spine, electro-magnetism, etc., are the means to 
overcome its unpleasant effects. To produce anaesthesia, chloroform is more 
commonly preferred, as it is pleasanter and more easily administered. For 
some time the A. C. E. Mixture (1 part of alcohol, 2 parts of chloroform, and 3 
parts of ether) was quite popular, but is now comparatively seldom employed. 
The practice of frequently inhaling ether, is dangerous, often causing inflamma- 
tion of the brain, or insanity. 
A peculiarity of ether inhalation, is the disposition to use indecent language 
and to say things of which the patient is afterwards heartily ashamed. Thus, 
the patient may become amorous, pugnacious, lascivious, or vulgar, and may 
reveal long-kept secrets. Roaring, and rushing sounds of wind, or rushing water, 
hysterical phenomena, cerebral and pulmonary congestion, acute nephritis, and 
even mania, may follow its use. Vomiting often occurs as an after-effect, and is 
quite persistent. Ether may be employed to anaesthetize patients about to 
undergo surgical operations, no matter how severe, and either it or chloroform is 
now universally employed for this purpose. Being adapted to the whole range 
of operations, it is unnecessary to enumerate them here. Not only is it used to 
produce anaesthesia and analgesia, but to overcome spasm and muscular resist- 
ance. For the latter purpose, it is of great value as an aid in reducing luxations 
and fractures. To mitigate the pangs of labor it is useful, but chloroform is pref- 
erable, as its vapor is not inflammable, and it may be used near lights. Besides 
the majority of the conditions for which it is internally given (see above), it 122 
2ETHER ACETICUS. 
maybe inhaled for the relief of dysmenorrhcea, hydrophobia, puerperal and other 
convulsions, whooping-cough, laryngismus stridulus, croup (spasmodic), mania, delirium 
tremens, etc. In puerperal eclampsia, it should be used to control convulsive action 
until appropriate remedies may be given. In the hysteria following child-birth, 
it is an excellent antispasmodic, as well as in infantile convulsions not depending 
"upon a morbid irritability of the nervous system with organic change" (Locke). 
Distressing after-pains are safely and quickly overcome by a few whiffs of ether, 
and the same procedure relieves nervous headache. Lead colic is relieved, both by 
the rectal enema of ether and by its inhalation. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Pain, or convulsive action, with feeble circu- 
lation, and cool, pallid face; headache, with enfeebled circulation. To produce 
anaesthesia, for the performance of surgical, gynecological and obstetrical opera- 
tions. 
tether aceticus (U. s. p.)-acetic ether. 
Formula: C2HsC2H3O2. Molecular Weight: 87.8. 
Synonyms: Ethyl acetate, Naphtha aceti. 
"A liquid composed of about 98.5 per cent, by weight, of ethyl acetate 
[CpH5C2H3Oo-87.8], and about 1.5 per cent of alcohol containing a little water " 
-(U. S. p.y 
Preparation.-Formerly, acetic ether was prepared by distilling a mixture 
of acetate of lead, sulphuric acid, and alcohol. At present, however, sodium 
acetate is generally employed instead of the lead salt. For this purpose it is 
previously deprived of its water of crystallization by the application of heat. 
The reaction takes place according to the following equation : 
CH3.CO2Na+H2SO4+C2H5OH=CH3CO2C2H5+HNaSO4+H2O. 
The process of the British Pharmacopoeia is as follows: "Take of rectified 
spirit, 32^ fluid ounces (Imp.) ; sulphuric acid, 32| fluid ounces (Imp.); acetate 
of sodium, 40 ounces (av.) ; carbonate of potassium, freshly dried, 6 ounces (av.). 
To the spirit slowly add the acid, keeping the fluid cool, and, the product being 
cold, add the acetate, mixing thoroughly. Distill 45 fluid ounces (Imp.). Digest 
the distillate with the carbonate of potassium for three days in a stoppered bottle. 
Separate the ethereal fluid, and again distill until all but about 4 fluid ounces 
have passed over. Preserve the resulting acetic ether in a well-closed bottle, and 
in a cool place"-(Brit. Phar.}. 
Description and Tests.-Acetic ether, as required by the Pharmacopoeia, is 
" a transparent, colorless liquid, of a fragrant and refreshing, slightly acetous 
odor, and a peculiar acetous and burning taste. Specific gravity, 0.893 to 0.895 
at 15° C. (59° F.). Boiling point, about 76° C. (168.8° F.). Soluble in about 8 
parts of water at 15° C. (59° F.) ; miscible, in all proportions, with alcohol, ether, 
fixed and volatile oils. Acetic ether is readily volatilized, even at a low temper- 
ature. It is inflammable, burning with a yellowish flame and an acetous odor. 
It is neutral to litmus paper. When evaporated in a capsule, acetic ether should 
leave no residue. If a portion be allowed to evaporate spontaneously from clean, 
odorless blotting paper, the final odor should not resemble that of pineapples 
(absence of butylic and amylic derivatives). When 25 Cc. of acetic ether are 
shaken, in a graduated tube, with 25 Cc. of water just previously saturated with 
the ether, upon separation, the ethereal layer should not measure less than 24.5 
Cc. (absence of an undue proportion of alcohol or water). When a small portion 
of the ether is carefully poured upon some concentrated sulphuric acid, no dark 
ring should be developed at the point of contact of the two layers (absence of 
readily carbonizable, organic impurities)"-(U. S. P.). 
Acetic ether is decomposed by acids and alkalies. When it burns, acetic acid 
is developed during the combustion. Acetic ether is always present in small quan- 
tity in wine vinegar, which owes its flavor to this compound. It is a good solvent 
for the essential oils, resins, pyroxylin, cantharidin, and other substances; mixed 
with an alcoholic solution of caustic potash, the mixture is immediately decom- 
posed into acetate of potassium, and alcohol. Acetic ether readily dissolves 
chloride of calcium, and forms a crystallizable compound with it, which yields 
the ether unchanged on the application of heat. One part of acetic ether, and 123 
3 parts of alcohol (80 per cent), form the Spirittts Aceticus xEthereus. Sulphur 
and phosphorus are both very slightly soluble in this liquid. Though not so 
inflammable as ether, it should not be kept near fire or lights. It should always 
be kept in a dark, cool place, in closely-stoppered bottles. In contact with the 
atmosphere, especially if moisture be present, free acetic acid will be produced. 
Acetic ether was first made, in 1759, by Lauraguais, who, to produce it, distilled 
alcohol with concentrated acetic acid. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Acetic ether is somewhat similar in 
its operation to ether, but is milder, more agreeable, and more diaphoretic. It 
has been used in nervoits fevers, putrid fevers, cardialgia, spasmodic vomiting, and 
asthenic affections of the stomach and bowels. By inhalation, it relieves nervoits excita- 
tion, nervous coughs, and syncope. Dose, from half a fluid drachm to 2 fluid 
drachms, in a sufficient quantity of water. This agent is less volatile and less 
inflammable than sulphuric ether. 
Related Preparation.-/Ether Formicicus. Formic ether, xEther formicus. Formula: 
C2H5CHO2. Molecular Weight: 73.83. Bucholz produced this ether in 1782. It is prepared 
by mixing with 88per cent alcohol (7 parts) dry formate of sodium* (8 parts), adding to the 
mixture in the retort concentrated sulphuric acid (11 parts); this creates sufficient heat to 
disengage the formic ether. If the distillate be acid, an equal quantity of water, holding in 
suspension magnesia or lime, should be added to it, and the mixture shaken. Finally, it 
should be treated with calcium chloride, from which it may be rectified. 
Formic ether has a specific gravity of 0.918 at about 17° C. (62.6°F.), and boils near 55.5°C. 
(132° F.). It is a limpid, colorless liquid, with a powerful odor, recalling that of bitter 
almonds. To the taste it is pungent. It is freely soluble in alcohol, wTood alcohol, volatile 
and fixed oils, and sulphuric ether, and less soluble in water (1 in 10). It is inflammable, and 
should be cautiously used near fire and lights. This agent markedly reduced the temperature 
(3i° C.) in animals, with signs of asphyxiation, and relaxation of the muscles, and anaesthesia. 
In man, only symptoms of drowsiness were produced by 90 to 105-grain doses (Byasson). It 
seems to be eliminated by the kidneys. 
-ETHER METHYLICUS. 
^THER METHYLICUS.-METHYL ETHER. 
Formula: (CH3)2O. Molecular Weight: 45.90. 
Synonyms : Methyl oxide, Methoxylmethane, Methylic ether, Methylene hydrate. 
Preparation.-This substance is produced by abstracting the elements of 
water from methyl alcohol: 2CH4O-H2O=C2H6O. It is prepared by heating a 
mixture of 1.3 parts of pure methylic alcohol and 2 parts of sulphuric acid, in a 
flask, gradually raising the temperature to 140° C. (284° F.). The gas is washed 
by passing it through a solution of caustic soda (Chem. News, Vol. 30). 
Description.-Methyl ether is a colorless gas, with an ethereal odor. It 
burns with a pale flame. Its specific gravity is 1.617, referred to air, or 23, 
referred to hydrogen, as the standard of unity. One great objection to it as a 
popular remedial agent, is the fact that it is gaseous at ordinary temperatures. 
Water dissolves 33 times its volume. Alcohol and methyl alcohol dissolve it more 
freely, while sulph'uric acid will dissolve 600 times its volunje, with increase of tem- 
perature. In the latter case, the gas is freely liberated upon the addition of water. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This gas, taken up to saturation, by concen- 
trated ethylic ether, at a temperature of 0° C. (32° F.), forms the anaesthetic fluid 
of Dr. B. W. Richardson, of England-methyl-ethylic ether. This compound, 
however, must not be confounded with that known also as methyl-ethyl ether, or 
methyl-ethyl oxide (see Related Compounds, below). As it is very volatile and 
highly inflammable, it should be at once placed into wTell-secured bottles and 
kept in the cold. According to Dr. Richardson, it is a rapid and perfectly safe 
anaesthetic, and more closely approximates what a true agent of this kind should 
be than any other yet presented to the profession. A drachm or two inhaled, 
effects anaesthesia quickly. It simply destroys sensibility, without interfering 
with will, consciousness, or muscular power, and without occasioning spasm, 
syncope, asphyxia, or any excitation of the nerve centers (Lancet, April 2, 1870). 
In consequence, however, of the instability of this preparation, and its by no 
means agreeable odor, it has not come into general use as an anaesthetic. 
Related Compounds,-/Ether Methyl-Ethylicus, Methyl-ethyl oxide, Methyl-ethyl ether. 
This compound is produced by the interaction of methylate of sodium and iodide of ethyl. 124 
.ETHYL BROMIDUM. 
the vapors from the retort being passed through a weak solution of soda, at a temperature 
of about 15° C. (59° F.) by which volatile impurities are separated, and the product condensed 
in cold receivers. It forms an exceedingly inflammable, colorless fluid, of an odor peculiar to 
itself. It boils at 11° C. (51.8° F.). It has had a limited use as an anaesthetic, and must not be 
confused with Richardson's anaesthetic, known by the same name-methyl-ethylic ether. 
Methylal (CH2[OCH3]2), MethyUn-dimethyl ether. This compound is the result of the 
action of a mixture of sulphuric acid and dioxide of manganese on methyl alcohol, and 
rendered pure by fractionally distilling the crude substance, and employing means to abstract 
therefrom the elements of water. It forms a limpid, colorless fluid, having a pungent, ether- 
like odor. It dissolves in water (1 in 13), alcohol, fixed and essential oils, and in ether. It is 
unaffected by alkaline bodies, but is decomposed by sulphuric acid. Its density is 0.855; its 
boiling point about 42° C. (106.6° F.). It was proposed by Dr. B. W. Richardson as a narcotic 
and anaesthetic. It has also been employed to relieve painful and spasmodic affections, as 
colic, angina pectoris, asthma, intestinal neuralgia, and tetanus. It has been successfully employed 
as a hypnotic for the insane. It may be given in 3j or 3jss doses in water or syrup, or orange 
flower water, largely diluted. It is but little used. 
2ETHYL BROMIDUM.-BROMIDE OF ETHYL. 
Formula: C2H5Br. Molecular Weight: 108.69. 
Synonyms : Hydrobromic ether, Monobromo ethane, Hither hydrobromicus. 
Source and History.-Bromide of ethyl was discovered by Serullas, in 
1827, who made it by acting upon phosphorus with bromine, in contact with 
alcohol. In 1852, Mr. E. Robin experimented upon birds with this agent, and 
was pleased with its action as an anaesthetic. He stated that it produced rapid 
effects, without any subsequent suffering or distress. In 1865, Dr. Nunnelly 
experimented further; and afterward, Dr. Rabuteau (1876) made some careful 
investigations regarding its action; while still more recently, Drs. Lawrence 
Turnbull and R. J. Levis, of Philadelphia, have brought the agent prominently 
before the medical profession, and to them belongs the credit of its more recent 
introduction into medicine. 
Preparation.-The original process for making bromide of ethyl was 
troublesome and dangerous. It was improved upon by De Vrij, bromide of 
potassium being decomposed in contact with alcohol, by means of sulphuric 
acid. This is the favored process at the present day, and we call attention to the 
two practical modifications of it given in the Amer. Jour. Pharm., May, 1880. 
The articles were written by Lawrence Wolff, M. D., and Prof. Jos. P. Reming- 
ton. We prefer that of Prof. Remington (given below), from the fact that he 
adds the alcohol slowly to a warmed mixture of the sulphuric acid, water, and 
bromide of potassium, although the formula of Dr. Wolff will give satisfactory 
results. 
Take of bromide of potassium, in crystals, 58 parts; sulphuric acid, 44 parts; 
alcohol, 44 parts; water, 28 parts. Introduce the mixed water and sulphuric 
acid (observing precautions regarding mixing sulphuric acid and water, given in 
article on Hydrobromic Acid) into a tubulated retort of 116 parts capacity, and 
when the mixture has become cool, add the bromide of potassium. Then place 
the retort on a sand-bath, and fix in its tubulure a funnel-tube, and connect the 
exit with a condenser; heat the mixture to 116° C. (240.8° F.), and then slowly 
supply alcohol until the 44 parts are consumed. The heat, during the reaction, 
must be maintained between 100° C. (212° F.) and 116° C. (240,8° F.), and be con- 
tinued after the alcohol is added, until it reaches 116° C. (240.8° F.), when the 
operation must be discontinued. The distillate, crude ethyl bromide, must be 
very carefully purified, as follows : Mix it with an equal bulk of distilled water, 
previously rendered distinctly alkaline with caustic soda or caustic potash, and 
agitate the mixture violently. After it has separated into two layers, marked by 
a clear line of demarcation, siphon the lower liquid into a retort, add a little 
chloride of calcium, and distill the mixture upon a water-bath. This distillate 
must be redistilled from a clean retort, by means of an expanded steam- or 
water-bath. 
Description.-Bromide of ethyl is transparent, colorless, volatile, has an 
agreeably ethereal odor, and a penetrating, sweetish taste. It is not inflammable, 
neither will it explode. Its specific gravity is 1.420 (Remington), and its boiling 
point 40° to 41° C. (104° to 105.8° F.). It dissolves freely in alcohol and ether, .ETHYL IODIDUM. 
125 
but is comparatively insoluble in water. It should, in all cases where intended 
for use as an anaesthetic, be perfectly volatile at ordinary temperatures, and, when 
evaporated from a clean glass or porcelain plate, by exposure, it should not leave 
a stain, and the plate should be devoid of all odor. 
Action and Medical Uses.-We have noticed the remarks of Drs. Lawrence 
Turnbull, and R. J. Levis, of Philadelphia, Pa., relative to the safety and efficacy 
of ethyl bromide as an anaesthetic. These gentlemen have employed this agent 
in a great number of cases without any serious accident occurring, and consider 
it fully as safe an anaesthetic as ether, decidedly more so than chloroform, and 
superior to either; but a pure article must always be employed. Dr. Levis states 
that its action is rapid, and that the patient quickly recovers from its effects. Its 
vapor is non-inflammable, and not irritating to the respiratory passages, influ- 
encing respiration but slightly, if at all; the circulation is not affected by it, 
except sometimes a slight augmentation in the rapidity of the heart's action, and 
perhaps a trifling increase of arterial tension or pressure. Nausea and vomiting 
are said to occur less frequently (more liable, according to Agnew, Terillon, and 
others) than with ether or chloroform, and its inhalation does not occasion 
cerebral anemia, or fatal syncope from cardiac depression, so frequently following 
the employment of chloroform. Clinically, several disasters have followed its 
use, and it is now practically abandoned. Minor operations have been performed 
under its use as a local anaesthetic, applied with an atomizer. 
Related Product.-Ethylene Bromide (C2H4Br2), This substance must not be mistaken 
for Bromide of ethyl. It is prepared by the direct combination of ethylene gas (olefiant gas), 
with bromine. It is a pale-brownish fluid, sweet, with a burning after-taste, and an odor not 
unlike that of chloroform. At 0°C. (32° F.) it congeals as a snow-like mass of crystals. It boils 
at 131° C. (267.8° F.). It possesses feeble and slow anaesthetic qualities. Inhalations of it 
may poison. Epilepsy has been successfully treated with it. 
7ETHYL IODIDUM-ETHYL iodide. 
Formula: C2H5L Molecular Weight: 156. 
Synonyms : Aether hydriodicus, Hydriodic ether, Iodide of ethyl. 
Source and History.-This preparation is now made by distilling a mixture 
of amorphous phosphorus, iodinu and alcohol. Gay-Lussac (1815) was the first 
to prepare it, producing it by distilling hydriodic acid and absolute alcohol, and 
setting the ether free with water. 
Preparation.-When ordinary phosphorus is employed, the process is as 
follows: Take 10 parts of iodine, 5 parts of absolute alcohol, and 1 part of phos- 
phorus. Place the alcohol in a retort and add a small amount of iodine; then 
add a small quantity of the phosphorus, from time to time, until the liquid 
becomes colorless; a fresh portion of iodine is then added, and then a fresh quan- 
tity of phosphorus, and so continued until all the iodine and phosphorus have 
been added. Cool the mixture thus obtained by immersing the bulb of the 
retort after each addition, in cold water, to moderate the action. After the reac- 
tion has terminated, the liquid is to be distilled by the heat of a water-bath, 
taking care that the iodine (as shown by its brown color) is in slight excess. 
The distillate should be washed with water, treated with chloride of calcium, and 
redistilled. The use of amorphous phosphorus, as suggested by Personne, in 
1861, is now generally adopted, the proportions used, and the procedure, being 
practically the same as indicated for ordinary phosphorus, except that the 
mixture of alcohol, phosphorus, and iodine, is allowed to stand for 24 hours to 
complete the reaction. 
Description.-Hydriodic ether is colorless, and has no acid reaction. Its 
odor is ethereal, its taste pungent, but less sharp than that of sulphuric ether. 
Its density is 1.9206 at 22.2° C. (72° F.); it boils at 71.1° C. (160° F.), and is not 
inflammable. When thrown on burning coals, it expands in purple vapor. It 
is not decomposed immediately by potassium hydroxide, nor by nitric or sul- 
phurous acids, but sulphuric acid decomposes it, and sets free a part of the 
iodine. The action of the air discolors it slightly, by liberating a little iodine, 
which may be readily removed by the alkalies, or mercury, a globule of which, 
thrown into the vial, is sufficient to retain the ether in a state proper for inhala- 126 
^ETHYLENI BICHLORIDUM. 
tion. Its density admits of its being kept under water, in which it is practically 
insoluble; but it is soluble in alcohol. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The physiological effects of this 
ether are stated to be : " After some inhalations, an impression of calmness and 
satisfaction announces that the hydriodic ether acts at first conformably with the 
sedative properties of the other ethers employed in medicine. The respiratory 
motions are carried on with readiness and fullness, advantageous to the circula- 
tion ; but the antispasmodic action of the ethereal vapor, which favors the 
absorption of the remedy, is soon followed by the influence of the absorbed 
iodine. The increase of vigor ceasing to be limited to the thoracic muscles, 
extends to the muscular system. The appetite is developed, the secretions are 
increased, the genital feelings become more sensitive, the pulse acquires fullness, 
and the vivacity of the feelings, and the activity of the intellect, prove that the 
impulse given to the other organs extends to the brain also. Such are the effects 
that 4 daily inhalations, of 10 minutes each, produced on Dr. Huette. As to 
accident, he never experienced anything but a little coryza, and frequently, when 
the vapor had been too concentrated, a slight feeling of pressure in the temples." 
He thinks that in many cases there will be an advantage in substituting the 
inhalation of hydriodic ether for the other preparations of iodine, observing 
that inhalation permits the fractioning of the doses to any extent, and causes 
the absorption of the medicine by more extended surfaces, more generally accessi- 
ble in all their parts, and better calculated for the absorption of the smallest 
medicinal atoms, than are the digestive organs (Am. Journ. Pharm., xxiii., 156). 
It has likewise been advantageously employed in inhalation by several physi- 
cians of this country in chronic diseases of the air passages, especially in mem- 
branous phthisis and bronchial affections. It is comparatively safe as a medicinal 
agent. 
Ethyl iodide is a powerful anaesthetic when inhaled, but it must be entirely 
free from phosphorus. It is a most valuable remedial agent, patients being able 
to bear a much larger quantity of iodine in this form than they possibly could 
bear in any other manner. It has been used internally with success in scrofulous 
diseases, by inhalation in diseases of the lungs and heart, and as a local application 
to painful and irritable ulcers, and scrofulous ulcers. Hydriodic ether is recom- 
mended by Dr. Huette, by way of inhalation, *as a remedial agent in several 
diseases, especially in pulmonary consumption, tubercular affections in many parts of 
the body, and where it is desired to saturate the system quickly with iodine. 
It appears likely to play an important part in medicine. Fifteen to 30 grains 
of the hydriodic ether are transferred, by means of a graduated pipette, into a 
little ground-stoppered bottle (3 or 4 Cc.) 1 to 14 inches high. The ether is cov- 
ered with a stratum of water about 2 or 2^ Mm. thick, the object of which is to 
moderate the evaporation; when the vial is applied to one of the nostrils, and 
the air contained within it is drawn by an inspiration. The ethereal vapor is 
sufficiently diluted with air before reaching the lungs. The evaporation of the 
ether may be accelerated by inclining the vial to one side, so that the continuity 
of the watery layer may be broken, and the heat of the hand may be applied to 
the same object. Fifteen or 20 inspirations suffice for the impregnation of the 
system with iodine, and a quarter of an hour after the cessation of the inhala- 
tions, iodine is found in the urine; and has also been found present 50 or 60 
hours afterward. Some prefer to have it in glass capsules, or " pearls," which 
hold 10 or 15 minims, and may be crushed in the handkerchief and inhaled. 
tethyleni bichloridum-Ethylene bichloride. 
Formula: C2H4C12. Molecular Weight: 98.68. 
Synonyms : ^Ethylenum chloratum, Liquor Hollandicus, Elaylum chloratum, Dutch 
liquid, Ethene chloride. 
Source and History.-In 1795, four associated Dutch chemists discovered 
that when 1 measure of alcohol was mixed with 3 of sulphuric acid, and heat 
applied, a gas was evolved, named by them olefiant gas (now known as ethylene 
or ethene), from its property of forming an oil-like liquid with chlorine. This tETHYLENI bichloridum. 
127 
liquid, for many years recognized under the name Dutch liquid, is ethene chloride, 
or bichloride of ethylene. 
Preparation.-To prepare it, connect a 32-ounce chemical flask, A (Fig. 12), 
furnished with a safety funnel, B, by means of glass tubes, with two 8-ounce 
wash bottles, C, C, one of which contains 4 fluid ounces of sulphuric acid, the 
other a like amount of solution of caustic potash. The second is connected, by 
means of a glass tube, with a glass percolator, D, covered with a sheet of rubber, 
through which the tube protrudes. The exit of the percolator is loosely inserted 
into the mouth of the bottle, E, w7hich contains 4 fluid ounces of distilled water. 
Fig. 12. 
Connect the 16-ounce chemical flask, F, with an 8-ounce wash bottle, G, 
which contains 4 fluid ounces of distilled water, and is connected with the 
percolator, D, by means of the glass tube, H, protruding through the rubber 
cover. Into the flask, A, place a mixture of alcohol 2 fluid ounces, and sulphuric 
acid 12 fluid ounces; and into the flask, F, place 1 ounce of black oxide 
of manganese and 6 fluid ounces of hydrochloric acid, previously diluted with 4 
fluid ounces of water. Apply heat now to the flask, A, by means of a spirit 
lamp, and, when the gas begins to flow, heat the flask, F, in like manner, and 
thus pass both gases (ethene and chlorine) simultaneously into the percolator, 
upon the sides of which an oily substance will form and trickle through the exit 
into, and settle to the bottom of, the distilled water. This is impure bichloride 
of ethylene, and must be agitated with water, then with sulphuric acid, and 
finally distilled. As the reaction progresses, the contents of the flask, A, may be 
slowly replenished, through the safety funnel, B, with a mixture of equal parts 
of sulphuric acid and alcohol. Finally, when the flow of gas ceases, or the 
reaction becomes irregular, suspend the operation, agitate the impure liquid 
collected in the bottle, E, with distilled water, then with sulphuric acid, and 
lastly distill it. 
Bichloride of ethylene may also be prepared by the process of Limpricht 
(1856), who made it by passing olefiant gas through a retort half filled with a 
mixture of 2 parts of black oxide of manganese, 3 parts of common salt, 4 parts 
water, and 5 of sulphuric acid. The retort being gently heated at first with a 
single red-hot coal. 
Description.-Bichloride of ethylene is a mobile liquid, colorless, inflam- 
mable, and possessed of a fragrant, ethereal odor, and a sweetish taste. It is very 
soluble in alcohol and ether, and only slightly so in water. Its specific gravity 
is 1.271 at 0° C. (32° F.), and its boiling point 85° C. (185° F.). Neither sul- 
phuric acid nor hydrate of potassium affects it. Bichloride of ethyl must not be 
confounded with solution of ethyl chloride (C2H5Cl),or the so-called hydrochloric 
ether (see below). 
Action and Medical Uses.-Bichloride of ethylene has been proposed as a 
much safer anaesthetic than chloroform, but it has not come into use on account 
of the excessive irritation of the throat and fauces attending its inhalation. It 128 
AGAVE VIRGINICA. 
is occasionally used locally, in spray or otherwise, to allay the sufferings in 
certain maladies, from pain, as in rheumatism, lumbago, neuralgia, etc. The anaes- 
thetic dose is about that of chloroform. 
Related Compounds.-Ethyl Chloride (C2HsC1), Hydrochloric ether, is made by passing 
dry hydrochloric acid gas into cold alcohol, and purifying the product by distilling the con- 
tents of the retort, washing the gas with a little tepid water, and condensing in a receiver 
surrounded with ice and salt. Ethyl chloride, or chlorethane, is a volatile, highly inflam- 
mable liquid, boiling at 12.5° C. (54.5° F.), and is, consequently, gaseous at ordinary tempera- 
tures. Water dissolves 10 per cent, and alcohol, at 21° C. (69.8° F.), dissolves 48.3 per cent of 
its weight. Ethyl chloride, or hydrochloric (or muriatic) ether, is occasionally employed in 
combination with an equal volume of alcohol, as a substitute for the compound spirit of ether, 
in doses of from 5 to 20 drops diluted with water, wine, etc. It has been used locally to anaes- 
thetize parts in minor operations. It must not be used near a flame, and its inhalation may 
depress the heart. 
Chloric Ether, is a name once applied to mixtures of alcohol, and from 5 to 18 per cent of 
chloroform. Afterward, it was prepared by distilling chlorinated lime with water and an 
excess of alcohol. It is seldom mentioned at the present day, and has properly become 
almost obsolete. 
Ethydene Chloride, Ethylidene chloride, Ethydene dichloride, or Monochlorinated hydrochloric 
ether (C2H4C12, or CH3.CHC12). Specific gravity 1.198. Boiling point 57.5° C. (135.5° F.). 
This compound, isomeric with bichloride of ethylene, is produced by acting upon ethyl 
chloride (see above) with chlorine, avoiding an excess of the latter. It has been tried as an 
anaesthetic, and though so far as physiological experiments go to show it is safer than chloro- 
form, clinical evidence does not harmonize with that of the physiological investigators, and 
consequently its use as an anaesthetic has been practically abandoned on account of the 
number of deaths occasioned by it. According to Brunton, its action upon the cardiac ventri- 
cles is precisely like that of chloroform. It is now generally accepted as being more danger- 
ous than the latter. 
AGAVE VIRGINICA.-FALSE ALOE, 
The root of Agave Virginica, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Amaryllidacese. 
Common Names : False aloe, Rattlesnake's master. 
Botanical Source.-A perennial, herbaceous, stemless plant, with a premorse, 
tuberous root. Leaves linear-lanceolate, fleshy, glabrous, and radical, with carti- 
laginous, marginal serratures. The scape, which is round, and from 3 to 6 feet 
high, bears sessile, greenish-yellow flowers, scattered in a wand-like spike, emit- 
ting a strong fragrance. The root (the part employed) is very bitter, and yields 
its properties to alcohol and water by infusion. 
History.-This plant is common to Pennsylvania and the Southern States, 
growing on dry or rocky banks, and flowering in August and September. In 
some parts of the country this plant is considered a valuable antidote to wounds 
by poisonous snakes, and is termed " rattlesnake's master." 
Action and Medical Uses.-False aloe is reputed laxative and carminative, 
and has been beneficially employed in obstinate diarrhoea, flatulency, spasm of the 
intestines, etc. 
Related Species.-Agave Americana, LinnA American aloe. Nat. Ord.-Amaryllidacefe. 
Tropical America; naturalized in Florida. Cultivated for centuries in Mexico (A. De Candolle). 
American, aloe, Maguey or Metl, also called Century plant, from an erroneous supposition that it 
blossoms only once in a hundred years, is the largest of all herbaceous plants ; it inhabits the 
warmer latitudes of the American continent, w here it flourishes as an evergreen, and is util- 
ized for hedges in southern Europe, where it is known as aloe. The agaves, from their 
resemblance to the aloe family, have been called aloes, as false aloe and American aloe ; but 
the agaves differ from the aloe in having entirely different properties, both chemical and 
medicinal, and also in the relation of the botanical parts, the ovary of the latter being 
superior; that of the agave, inferior. All agaves are natives of Mexico. The aloe, on the con- 
trary, is an Eastern plant. The leaves of the American aloe are long (4 to 6 feet), lanceolate, 
thick, succulent, and curved or reflected backward, and beset with marginal and terminal 
spines. The flowering scape may reach a height of from 20 to 40 feet, the plant blooming in 
its native habitat about once in a decade. 
The Agave Americana and other species, particularly A. pulque, are employed in Mexico in 
the manufacture of a spiritous beverage known as pulque. This is prepared by fermentation 
of the saccharine liquid, known as aguamiel (honey water), which exudes from the leaves and 
root when cut. Occasionally this "honey wrater " is evaporated to a honey-like, or syrupy 
consistence, and may be resolved into sugar. Distilled pulque is a brandy-like liquor called 
mezcal. The fibres of the leaves are made into thread and cordage, and are known as pita. AGR1M0NIA. 
129 
Gum maguey is analogous to gum arabic, though differing in the amount of calcium salts con- 
tained therein. It is partially soluble, the portion dissolving resembling arabin. The 
insoluble portion resembles bassorin. The pulp of the leaves, locally applied, acts as a rube- 
facient, somewhat like mustard. The fresh juice is said to act upon the kidneys and bowels, 
and also to promote menstruation. Dr. G. Perrin considers it a superior remedy in scorbutus, 
preferring it to lime juice, in doses as high as 2 fluid ounces 3 times a day (N. Y. Jour. 
Med. N. S. VIL, 181). 
Agave mexicana, Lamarck ; and Agave vivipara, Linne. These two species are closely re- 
lated to the preceding plants, and are natives of Mexico. 
AGRIMONIA -AGRIMONY. 
The whole plant of Agrimonia Eupatoria, Lin ne. 
Nat. Ord.-Rosacese. 
Common Names : Agrimony, Cockleburr, Stickwort. 
Botanical Source and Description.-Agrimony is a perennial herb, growing 
to the height of 2 or 3 feet, having stems but little branched, and covered with 
a soft, silky pubescence. The leaves are alternate, long, nearly smooth beneath, 
interruptedly pinnate, having from 3 to 5 or 7 oblong-ovate, coarsely 
serrated leaflets, between which are interspersed several smaller 
ones. The root is long, fibrous, and tapering, and of a reddish- 
brown color. It is much branched at the summit, producing num- 
erous heads. The flowers are small, yellow, and borne in a dense, 
racemose spike, from a half to 1 foot long. The calyx-tube is 
curiously fluted with 10 ribs, conical, and surmounted with red- 
dish, hooked bristles. Agrimonia has a bitterish, harsh, subastring- 
ent taste, which is somewhat aromatic, but unpleasant. This taste 
is strongest in the root. Its odor is aromatic, and especially is it 
more fragrant when in bloom. 
History and Chemical Composition.-Agrimonia is common 
in the United States and Canada, as well as in Europe and Asia. 
It thrives along roadsides, in old fields, and in woodlands, flowering 
from midsummer through September. The burrs attach themselves 
to the clothing as one comes in contact with them, hence the com- 
mon names, cockle-burr and stickwort. It is employed in domestic practice on 
the continent as a gargle. The aborigines and Canadians used the root in the 
treatment of intermittent febrile states. According to Linnaeus, a grateful bever- 
age was prepared by steeping the plant in whey. Porcher states that an infusion 
of the leaves and stalks, previously treated with a weak bismuth solution, perma- 
nently dyes wool a beautiful, golden color, and that tanners employed the flowers 
in preparing soft and delicate hides. French peasants use it as a substitute for 
tea. Agrimony yields its properties to water and alcohol. Tannin and a volatile 
oil are the only known chemical constituents, the latter being obtained by 
distillation. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Agrimony is a mild tonic, alterative, 
and astringent. A decoction of it is highly recommended in bowel complaints, leu- 
corrhoea, chronic mucous diseases, chronic affections of the digestive organs, profuse bleed- 
ings, of an asthenic character, certain cutaneous diseases, icterus, etc. A strong decoc- 
tion, sweetened with honey, is reputed curative in scrofula, if its use be persisted 
in for a length of time; and it has also been highly extolled in the treatment of 
gravel, asthma, coughs, and obstructed menstruation. Dr. D. C. Payne speaks highly 
of a continued use of a decoction of this plant in the treatment of erysipelas and 
scrofulous affections, to be used freely, in connection with diet and regularity of the 
bowels. It is also reputed to be valuable as a diuretic, and has been considered a 
specific in dropsy and in gonorrhoea. As a gargle, the decoction is useful in ulcera- 
tions of the mouth and throat. The astringency of the root renders it very useful 
in those affections requiring the exhibition of astringents. 
Specifically, agrimonia checks mucous profluvia, and gives tone to mucous 
tissues. Chronic bronchitis, phthisis, with increased secretions, and muddy, ill- 
smelling urine, humoral asthma, and chronic genito-urinary catarrhal states, are most 
benefited by it. Pain in the lumbar region is relieved b^ it. Cystitis, nephritis, 
Fig. 13. 
Agrimonia. 130 
and an irritable condition of the bladder, are met by it, as is painful renal con- 
gestion. Dose: A drachm or two of the pulverized leaves may be taken for a dose, 
or 2 or 3 fluid ounces of the decoction ; specific agrimonia, 1 to 60 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Deep-seated and colicky pain in the lumbar 
region, with uneasy sensations reaching from the kidneys to the hips and umbil- 
icus (renal colic); muddy, ill-smelling urine, and dirty looking skin; especially 
as a palliative in phthisis; cystic catarrh ; cough, with profuse, thick secretions, 
and pain under the lower ribs, extending to the renal organs; renal congestion ; 
cough, with dribbling or expulsion, of urine; irritation of kidneys or urinary 
organs, with cough. 
Related Species.-Agrimonia parviflora, Aiton. Small-flowered, or Sweet-scented agrimony. 
United States; Pennsylvania, southward and westward. Stronger scented than common agri- 
mony ; has smaller flowers, and from 11 to 19 pairs of densely crowded leaflets, with smaller 
ones interspersed. Has numerous resinous dots on the leaves, rendering it somewhat 
clammy. 
Alchemilla vulgaris, Ladies' mantle. Europe. An astringent, bitterish herb, once much 
used in diarrhoea. Accredited by the ancient alchemists with wonderful powers. 
AILANTHUS. 
AILANTHUS- AILANTHUS. 
The inner bark of the tree and root of Ailanthus glandulosa, Desfontaines. 
Nat. Ord.-Simarubaceae. 
Common Names : Tree of Heaven, Ailanto, Chinese sumach. 
Botanical Source.-Ailanthus is a large tree, with blunt, clumsy branches, 
which give to it an odd appearance after the leaves have fallen. The leaves are 
odd-pinnate, each consisting of from 10 to 20 pairs of leaflets and a terminal 
one. The leaflets are about 2 inches long, ovate, smooth, acute, and have 
a few blunt, glandular teeth at the base (hence, the specific name, glandulosa). 
The flowers are small, green, and collected in large terminal panicles. They 
are polygamous, or generally dioecious. The calyx consists of 5 united sepals. 
The petals are 5, small, green, and longer than the sepals. The stamens are 10 
in the male flowers, but fewer in the female. The pistil is surrounded at the 
base by a disk, and consists of from 3 to 5, 1-ovuled, free carpels, with united 
styles. The fruit is a flat, membranous samara, bearing a seed in the middle, 
and somewhat resembling the fruit of the ash. 
History, Description, and Chemical Composition.-Ailanthus glandulosa is 
a native of China, where it is known as "Ailanto," of which the German name 
" Gbtterbaum" is said to be a translation. "Tree of Heaven " is the name by 
which the tree is vulgarly known in this country. It is in common cultivation 
as a shade tree throughout Europe and the United States, and has become 
naturalized in many localities. It was formerly classified in the natural order, 
Rutaceve, but is now placed in that of Simarubaceae. It is allied to the genera, 
Quassia and Simaruba, from which it differs in the fruit being a samara. 
This tree is of rapid growth, and easily accommodates itself to any soil, thus 
being well adapted to cultivation; but it is objectionable on account of a fetid 
odor, which is mostly exhaled from the sterile flowers. The genus Ailanthus 
consists of 4 species, all large trees, and natives of Asia, none of which, how- 
ever, are cultivated in this country excepting the A. glandulosa. The recent root 
is white, hard and woody. It is covered with a white, fibrous bark, the outer 
part of w'hich is gritty, brittle, and yellowish, over which is a gray epidermis. 
The epidermis of the limbs and growing sprouts is smooth, shiny and brown, or 
yellowish. It is studded with numerous little eruptions which increase in size 
with age, until, when old, the bark is rough. Beneath this a green coloring 
matter is found in young specimens, while the bark next to the wood is white. 
In growing shoots the woody matter is thin, surrounding a yellowish-brown pith, 
which latter decreases in proportion with the growth of the shrub. Both the 
root and shrub have an acid reaction when fresh, and exhale a disagreeable odor 
when broken. For medicinal purposes, the bark of the small bushes and roots 
is to be preferred. Prof. Hetet, of Toulon, noticed the tree in the Journal de 
Pharmacie, in 1859, at which time it attracted attention in France, in consequence 
of its leaves having been suggested as food for a species of silk-worm. The 131 
AILANTHUS. 
bark of the tree was experimented with, and attracted some attention at that 
time as an emeto-cathartic and anthelmintic, but it seems to have quickly fallen 
into disuse. 
In the year 1875, Dr. H. L. True published an article in the E. M. Journal, 
which revived, among the Eclectic practitioners of this country, an interest in 
the therapeutical uses of the bark; since which numerous communications to 
medical journals have created a demand for it, the bark being supplied in abund- 
ance in most localities. In the later fifties, M. Payen analyzed the bark, and ' 
detected lignin, chlorophyll, yellow coloring matter, pectin, bitter substance, aro- 
matic resin, traces of volatile oil, nitrogenous matter, and some salts. Afterward 
(1861), Mr. Alonzo Lilly, Jr., made an examination, the result of which differs 
considerably from the above, as, according to this gentleman, the constituents 
are, starch, tannin, albumen, gum, sugar, oleoresin, and a trace of volatile oil, 
potash, phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid, iron, lime, and magnesia. 
The bark has a nauseating, bitter taste, and when recent, a sickening odor. 
Both the fresh and the carefully dried bark impart a deep-green color to alcohol, 
probably due to chlorophyll, the color gradually changing to yellowish-brown by 
age, the action of light accelerating the change. According to our experience, 
the bark contains a resinous substance, which, with the volatile oil, is extracted 
by alcohol, which agent will perfectly exhaust all the characteristic properties of 
either the fresh or dry ailanthus. According to the experiments of M. Hetet, 
the purgative property resides in the resin, while the volatile oil gives rise to the 
prostrating and other ill effects produced on those exposed to the vapors of the 
evaporating extract; and, probably, to a similar hydrocarbon, may be ascribed 
the sickening sensation experienced by many persons when inhaling the 
atmosphere vitiated by the emanations from an Ailanthus tree in blossom. 
M. Hetet's statement, that the resin is purgative, has been disputed; some even 
assert that the resin is inert. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The bark of ailanthus has been 
employed by Roberts, Dugat, and others, both in the recent and dried state, as a 
remedy for dysentery and diarrhoea; also in gonorrhoea, leucorrhoea, prolapsus ani, etc. 
Fifty grammes of tlie root-bark are infused for a short time in 75 grammes of hot 
water, then strained, and when cold, administered in teaspoonful doses, night 
and morning. To lessen the disagreeable impression following its use, as well as 
to mask its bitterness, it may be administered in sweetened orange-flower water, 
or in some other aromatic. Professor Hetet, of the Toulon Naval School, states 
in Jour, de Chim. Med., December, 1859, that the leaves and bark, in powder, or in 
the form of an aqueous or of an alcoholic extract, will remove tapeworm', but 
he found its action upon patients to be very disagreeable and nauseating, some- 
what like that occasioned by tobacco upon young smokers. Dupuis has also 
found it useful as a tamifuge. In the September number of the Eclectic Medical 
Journal, for 1875, p. 393, Dr. H. L. True, of Ohio, states, that from his observations, 
the bark is not poisonous, but produces vomiting, great relaxation, and a death- 
like sickness, which symptoms gradually pass away. He has successfully 
employed a tincture of the root-bark in cardiac palpitation, obstinate singultus, 
asthma, and epilepsy. Its use in epilepsy has gained in reputation. It should be 
studied for its action in sick and nervous headache, with nausea,and an indescrib- 
able burning sensation in the forehead. Webster states, "the remedy, in 2x dilu- 
tion, will cure malignant sore throat, ulcerated tonsils, and other tonsillar inflammations, 
marked by adynamia and persistency." He states that he has been pleased with 
it in putrid, malignant, typhoid scarlatina, with dusky, carmine eruption, high 
temperature, pungent surface, pulse small and extremely rapid, with thirst, 
delirium, and coma. The tongue is dusky, parched, and fissured; sordes upon 
the teeth; and the urine discharges involuntarily. Dose, 1 to 10 drops of the 2x 
dilution. His uses of the drug were derived from homoeopathy. Dr. True con- 
siders the presence of these trees in malarial districts to have a strong action, 
similar to that of the eucalyptus, in antagonizing those influences that produce 
intermittent#. The dose of the tincture is from 5 to 60 drops, repeated as often as 
required, or, from 2 to 4 times a day; specific ailanthus, 5 to 20 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Cardiac palpitation; spasmodic or epilep- 
tiform muscular contraction. 132 
ALCOHOL. 
Related Species.-Ailanthus excelsa, Roxburgh. Bark used in India as a powerful febri- 
fuge, tonic and stomachic, being used in decoction in dyspepsia. Leaves and bark in good 
repute as a tonic after labor, and the juice of the leaves and fresh bark employed by the 
Concans as a remedy for after-pains (Dymock). Daji found in it ailanthic acid, a reddish-brown, 
deliquescent mass, bitter, soluble in water, less so in ether and alcohol; insoluble in benzol 
and chloroform. 
Ailanthus malabarica, De Candolle. Habitat, Canara. Yields a fragrant resin called 
" mutteepal," which is powdered and administered in small doses, in milk, for dysentery and 
bronchitis. It is also employed as incense. The bark is tonic, febrifuge, and valued in 
dyspepsia (Dymock). 
ALCOHOL-ALCOHOL. 
Formula (Absolute, or ethyl alcohol): C2H5OH. Molecular Weight: 45.9. 
Synonyms : Ethyl alcohol, Ethylic alcohol, Ethyl hydroxide, Alcohol, Alcohol vini, 
Rectified spirit, Spiritus rectificatus, Vinic alcohol; Spirit of wine. 
Official Kinds.-I. Alcohol Absolutum (U.S. P.), Absolute alcohol. "Ethyl 
alcohol, containing not more than 1 per cent, by weight, of water"-(U. S. P.). 
II. Alcohol (U. S. P.)-Alcohol. "A liquid composed of about 91 per cent, 
by weight,or 94 per cent, by volume, of ethyl alcohol (C2H5OH=45.9), and about 
9 per cent, by weight, of water"-(U. S. P.}. 
III. Alcohol Dilutum ( U. S. P.)-Diluted alcohol. '.'A liquid composed of 
about 41 per cent, by weight, or about 48.6 per cent, by volume, of absolute ethyl 
alcohol (C2H5OH=45.9), and about 59 per cent, by weight, of water"-(U. S. P.). 
IV. Alcohol Deodoratum (U. S. P.)-Deodorized alcohol. "A liquid com- 
posed of about 92.5 per cent, by weight, or 95.1 per cent, by volume, of ethyl 
alcohol (C2H5OH=45.9), and about 7.5 per cent, by weight, of water"-(U. S. Pf). 
The foregoing " should be kept in well-closed vessels, in a cool place, remote 
from lights or fire"-(U. S. P.). 
History and Source.-The Bible frequently mentions fermented juices 
from various fruits, as the grape or pomegranate. However, the art of abstract- 
ing the alcohol from alcoholic beverages by distillation, was, in all probability, 
discovered by the Arabs in the ninth, or later centuries. The raw materials 
used in the making of alcohol by distillation, may be taken from three sources: 
1. Alcoholic liquids which have already undergone fermentation, e. g., wine, 
beer, cider. 2. Saccharine material which exists, for example, in sugar cane, or 
grape juice; from this, alcohol is generated by fermentation. 3. Starch-bearing 
material, of which an innumerable variety is available for this purpose, e.g., root 
tubers, such as potatoes, and such cereals as rye, corn, barley, wheat, rice, 
etc. With this class of material, the conversion of starch into fermentable 
sugars (maltose, or dextrose), is effected in the so-called mashing process, whereby 
the starchy material, after preparatory treatment, is acted upon by an infusion of 
malt, the active principle of which, diastase, converts starches into maltose and 
dextrin, at temperatures not to exceed 70° C. (158° F.). In rare cases, perhaps, 
the starch is converted into dextrose (glucose) by treatment with dilute sulphuric 
acid, at a temperature near the boiling point of water. 
Vinous, or Alcoholic Fermentation.-Fermentation, generally speaking, is 
a process of decomposition of more or less complex organic substances into 
simpler compounds, induced by the vegetative action of exceedingly small, living 
organisms, called ferments (to which belong, e.g., the yeast plants and bacilli). 
The action of purely chemical ferments, called enzymes, as, e.g., diastase in malt, 
or myrosin in black mustard seeds, etc., is analogous to, though not identical 
with, fermentation. Accordingly, we speak familiarly of acetic, lactic, butyric, 
putrid fermentation, etc. In the vinous fermentation, a solution of sugar, e.g., 
dextrose, is decomposed into alcohol and carbonic acid gas, under the influence 
of the yeast plant, of which there are several species, the most prominent of 
which is Saccharomyces (Toruld) cerevisiae. Dextrose,for example,is decomposed as 
follows: C6H12O6=2C2H6O-|-2CO2. This formula, however, illustrates the process 
only in a general way, as various circumstances tend to alter the above reaction. 
Pasteur has found among the products of vinous fermentation, about 0.6 per cent 
of succinic acid and 3 per cent of glycerin, as regular constituents. The most 
favorable temperature at which fermentation takes place, is from 15.5° to 32.2° C. 133 
ALCOHOL. 
(60° to 90° F.) ; at temperatures somewhat higher than 30° C. (86° F.), butyric 
and other kinds of fermentation are liable to set in. Not all sugars are directly 
fermentable. Cane sugar, for example, under the influence of yeast, first becomes 
converted into fermentable invert sugar (an equi-molecular mixture of Isevulose 
and dextrose). 
The part played by the yeast cells has not yet been completely elucidated, 
notwithstanding the advances made in this direction through the famous 
researches of Pasteur, Liebig, Naegeli, and others. Some contend that fermenta- 
tion is purely physiological, others, that it is a physical, and others again, that it 
is an essentially chemical process. Quite recently, E. Buchner demonstrated 
that a fluid obtained by expressing, under high temperature, moistened yeast, 
previously dried by strong pressure, is capable of producing fermentation. 
Preparation.-The bulk of commercial alcohol is, at the present day, derived 
from cereals and potatoes; in Germany, principally from the latter source. If 
potatoes are the raw material used, they are first steamed in suitable, ingeniously 
devised vessels, in order to gelatinize the starch grains. After cooling the mass 
to a temperature of about 65.5° C. (150° F.), it is subjected to the process of mash- 
ing, in large vats with steam fittings, by mixing the mushy material with finely 
comminuted malt, whereby, under the influence of the malt diastase, starch is 
converted into maltose and dextrin, the latter being subsequently converted into 
maltose by prolonged action. Then the temperature is reduced to 21.1 °C. (70° F.), 
and yeast is added, which starts the fermentation. Cereals are treated either in 
the same manner, or are merely crushed without being steamed, and are then 
subjected to the same treatment. 
The fermented mass contains, of non-volatile matters, fibers and husks, inor- 
ganic salts, protein bodies, peptones, fat, yeast, lactic and succinic acids; of vola- 
tile matters, alcohol, fusel oils, and traces of fatty acids, e.g., acetic acid, but not 
the higher acids, such as butyric, if the fermentative process was properly con- 
ducted. The alcohol may then be separated from the mash by fractional dis- 
tillation in a simple copper still with worm condenser, the distillate being 
repeatedly distilled or rectified, in order to get a stronger product. This process 
is still in use in the making of Irish whiskies. In recent times this rather 
primitive procedure has been replaced by the introduction of ingeniously 
contrived stills, especially the so-called column-stills, the construction of which 
has reached such a state of perfection that it is possible to obtain, with some of 
these, a strong alcohol of 94 per cent, by direct distilling from the fermented 
mash in a single operation ; the higher alcohols, as fusel oil, remaining behind 
for the most part. (For details see Sadtler, Indust. Org. Chern., 1895.) The alcohol 
resulting from the first distillation, unless obtained at once pure and of the 
desired strength by the use of the perfected stills aforementioned, must be sub- 
jected to redistillation, called rectification. As it is extremely difficult, however, 
to completely remove by fractional distillation certain impurities, especially the 
higher alcohols, propyl, isobutyl, and the amyl alcohols, collectively called fusel 
oils or grain oils, it has been found advisable to purify the raw spirit prior to recti- 
fication. This has been tried more or less successfully by chemical means, em- 
ploying oxidizing agents, as ozone, or silver nitrate; but a rather expedient and 
efficient method seems to be to dilute the spirit to a strength of about 50 
per cent, whereby the fusel oil is thrown out as an insoluble layer; the spirit 
is then filtered through' charcoal, and rectified (see Sadtler). Another efficient 
method is said to consist in distilling the spirit over fused acetate of sodium, 
employed in the quantity of 2 per cent. Another method, which seems prom- 
ising, is to shake out the fusel oils from the dilute spirit with mineral oils (Bang 
and Rufin). 
Commercial Forms.-Absolute alcohol. Mere rectification will not produce a 
liquid stronger than about 94 per cent, by volume. The remaining 6 per cent of 
water must be removed by chemical means; which is best accomplished by allow- 
ing the alcohol to stand over freshly prepared, unslacked lime, for several hours, 
then distilling from a water-bath, a process which should be repeatedly carried 
out. It is often preferred to boil the alcohol with unslacked lime for one hour, 
using a reflux condenser, and then distilling off the alcohol. This process, how- 
ever, is attended with some danger if the alcohol has more than 5 per cent ol 134 
ALCOHOL. 
water. Dehydrated chloride of calcium has also been used in preparing absolute 
alcohol. 
Alcohol of the U. S. P. contains 91 per cent, by weight, or 94 per cent, by vol- 
ume, of pure ethyl alcohol, and has a specific gravity of 0.820 at 15.6° C. (60° F.). 
This strength is obtained in the process of redistillation or rectification. 
Ardent Spiritous Beverages.-Holland gin, is obtained by distilling grain 
spirit with juniper berries. 
Rum, is made in the West Indies by fermentation and subsequent distillation 
of molasses derived from the sugar cane. 
Arrack, is the distilled product of the fermented juice of the palm tree, in 
Batavia, or is obtained from rice and millet, in China, by malting, fermenting, 
and distilling. 
Brandy, is the product of distillation of wines, or the fermented juices from 
such fruits as the apple or pear, called cider and perry. 
Genuine cognac, is a fine grade of brandy, the product of distillation of French 
wines. Its characteristic aroma is due to the presence of cenanthic ether (oil 
of wine). 
American whiskey, is prepared from malted corn and rye; either mixed grains 
are used (Kentucky bourbon), or malted rye alone (Pennsylvania whiskies). 
Irish whiskies, have a smoky flavor, due to the peat fuel used in the making 
of the malt. • 
Description and Tests.-I. Alcohol Absolutum (U. S. P.), Absolute alcohol, 
Anhydrous alcohol, Ethyl alcohol. Pure absolute alcohol is " a transparent, color- 
less, mobile, and volatile liquid, of a characteristic, rather agreeable odor, and a 
burning taste. Very hygroscopic. Specific gravity not higher than 0.797 at 15° 
C. (59° F.); or 0.789 at 25° C. (77° F.). In other respects, absolute alcohol has 
the properties, and should respond to the reactions and tests, of deodorized alco- 
hol (see Alcohol Deodoratumy'-(U. S. P). 
It boils at 78.3° C. (174° F.), and assumes an oleaginous consistence at -90° C. 
(-130° F.). It is very combustible, burning with a pale-blue flame, without 
smoke or residue, giving out a very intense heat, and producing carbonic acid gas 
and water. Chloride of sodium added to it will render its flame yellow; chloride 
of potassium, whitish violet; boric acid, ora salt of copper, green; chloride of 
lithium, carmine red; chloride of strontium, crimson ; and chloride of barium, 
greenish-yellow. A solution of barium hydrate in absolute alcohol, detects traces 
of water in absolute alcohol by yielding a precipitate when mixed with it. 
Dehydrated copper sulphate, which is white, turns blue with absolute alcohol 
when water is present. It mixes in all proportions with water, wood-spirit, and 
ether; heat is evolved when it is added to water, and contraction of volume takes 
place, which amounts to nearly 4 per cent when 53.9 parts of alcohol, and 49.8 
parts of water, are mixed, resulting in a volume of 100 parts, instead of 103.7 parts. 
One part of ether added to 2 parts of alcohol, forms with part of oil of wine, 
Hoffman's Anodyne Liquor. Partly on account of its affinity for water, it pre- 
servesanimal and vegetable tissues. It dissolves hydroxide of potassium and of 
sodium, certain metallic chlorides and bromides, the organic acids, camphor, vola- 
tile oils, iodine, urea, resins, balsams, etc. With nearly all acids it produces the 
compound ethers. Most oxygen salts with inorganic acids, excepting calcium and 
magnesium nitrates, starch, caoutchouc, the protein compounds, etc., are insol- 
uble in it. Of the fixed oils, castor oil is the most freely dissolved by it. It 
combines with many neutral metallic chlorides, as of magnesium, calcium, man- 
ganese, etc., taking, in these compounds, the place of water of crystallization. 
Sulphur and phosphorus are dissolved by it to a limited extent. Dry chromic 
acid introduced into a mixture of air and alcoholic vapor, causes an explosion. 
If a spiral piece of platinum wire be placed upon the wick of an alcohol lamp, 
and the flame be suddenly blown out, the platinum wire will continue to glow 
with a white heat, caused by the imperfect combustion of the alcoholic vapors. 
II. Alcohol (U. S. P.)-Alcohol. The alcohol of commerce possesses the 
above qualities (see Absolute Alcohol) in proportion to its freedom from water, as 
known by its specific gravity. The strength of alcoholic fluids, the sole ingredi- 
ents of which are alcohol and water, is determined in the spirit trade, under the- 
supervision of the U. S. Government, by taking the specific gravity by means of ALCOHOL. 
135 
hydrometers, also observing the temperature at which the specific gravity is 
taken. By the aid of tables, the actual percentage of the spirit, by volume, is 
then ascertained. Proof spirit, as defined by the U. S. Revenue Office, is a liquid 
containing 50 volumes of absolute ethyl alcohol in 100 volumes of spirits, this 
solution being called 100 per cent proof spirit. Its specific gravity is 0.9343 at 
15.6°C. (60° F.). If higher, the spirit is below proof; if lower, thespirit isoverproof. 
It is used in pharmacy to form tinctures, extracts, etc. The Pharmacopoeia gives 
the following description and tests: "A transparent, colorless, mobile, and vola- 
tile liquid, of a characteristic, rather agreeable odor, and a burning taste. Spe- 
cific gravity about 0.820 at 15° C. (59° F.); or 0.812 at 25° C. (77° F.). Miscible 
with water in all proportions, and without any trace of cloudiness; also miscible 
with ether or chloroform. It is readily volatilized, even at low temperatures, and 
boils at 78° C. (172.4° F.). It is inflammable and burns with a blue flame. It 
should not affect the color of blue or red litmus paper previously moistened with 
water. If 50 Cc. of alcohol be evaporated in a clean glass vessel, no color or 
weighable residue should remain. On allowing alcohol, mixed with one-third of 
its volume of water, to evaporate spontaneously from clean, odorless blotting- 
paper saturated with it, no odor of fusel oil, nor other foreign odor, should become 
perceptible. If 10 Cc. of alcohol be mixed in a test-tube with 5 Cc. of potassium 
hydrate T.S., the liquid should not at once become dark-colored (absence of alde- 
hyde, methyl alcohol, or oak tannin). If 20 Cc. of alcohol be shaken in a clean, 
glass-stoppered vial with 1 Cc. of silver nitrate T.S., the mixture should not 
become more than faintly opalescent, or acquire more than a faint brownish tint, 
when standing during six hours in diffused daylight (limit of organic impuri- 
ties, amylic alcohol, etc.)"-(£7. S. Pf. 
III. Alcohol Dilutum (U. S. P.)-Diluted Alcohol. "Alcohol, five hundred 
cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 fl^, 435 Iff]; distilled water, five hundred cubic 
centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 fl 5, 435 Til], Mix them. If the two liquids be meas- 
ured at the temperature of 15.6° C. (60° F.), the mixture, when cooled to the 
same temperature, will measure about 971 Cc. Diluted alcohol may also be pre- 
pared in the following manner: Alcohol, four hundred and ten grammes (410 
Gm.) [14 ozs. av., 202 grs.] ; distilled water, five hundred grammes (500 Gm.) [1 lb. 
av., 1 oz., 279 grs.]. Mix them. Diluted alcohol has a specific gravity of about 
0.936 at 15° C. (59° F.), about 0.937 at 15.6° C. (60° F.), and about 0.930 at 25° 
C (jno p j It should respond to the reactions and tests given under Alcohol " 
-(U. S. P). 
IV. Alcohol Deodoratum (U. S. P.)-Deodorized alcohol. " Specific gravity 
about 0.816 at 15° C. (59° F.), or 0.808 at 25° C. (77° F.). If 25 Cc. of deodorized 
alcohol be mixed with an equal volume of water and 5 Cc. of glycerin, and the 
mixture allowed to evaporate spontaneously from a piece of clean, odorless blot- 
ting-paper, no foreign odor should become perceptible when the last traces of the 
alcohol leave the paper (absence of fusel oil constituents). If 25 Cc. be allowed 
to evaporate spontaneously in a porcelain capsule carefully protected from dust, 
until only a moisture is left, no red or brown color should be produced upon the 
addition of a few drops of colorless, concentrated sulphuric acid (absence of 
amylic alcohol, non-volatile, carbonizable, organic impurities, etc.). In other 
respects, deodorized alcohol has the properties, and should respond to the reac- 
tions and tests, of Alcohol "-(U. S. P.f 
" Rules for making an alcohol of any required lower percentage, from an alcohol of any 
given higher percentage: 
I. By Volume.-Designate the volume-percentage of the stronger alcohol 
by V, and that of the weaker alcohol by v. 
Rule.-Mix v volumes of the stronger alcohol with pure water to make V 
volumes of product. Allow the mixture to stand until full contraction has 
taken place, and until it has cooled, then make up any deficiency in the V vol- 
umes by adding more water. 
Example.-An alcohol, of 30 per cent by volume, is to be made from an 
alcohol of 94 per cent by volume.-Take 30 volumes of the 94 per cent alcohol, 
and add enough pure water to produce 94 volumes. 
II. By Weight.-Designate the weight-percentage of the stronger alcohol 
by W, and that of the weaker by w. 136 
ALCOHOL. 
Rule.-Mix w parts, by weight, of the stronger alcohol with pure water to 
make W parts, by weight, of product. 
Example.-An alcohol of 50 per cent, by weight, is to be made from an 
alcohol of 91 per cent, by weight.-Take 50 parts, by weight, of the 91 per cent 
alcohol, and add enough pure water to produce 91 parts by weight "-(U. S. P.). 
Uses in Pharmacy and the Arts.-In the numerous official pharmaceu- 
tical preparations, alcohol, of various strengths, is a prominent constituent. 
Pharmacists also employ it as a fuel producing a high temperature during 
combustion without depositing soot upon bodies introduced into its flame. It is 
largely used in the arts as a solvent and preservative. 
Action and Toxicology.-Applied locally to the skin, alcohol first causes a 
cooling sensation, but if evaporation be prevented, heat and irritation follow, and 
inflammation may result if too long applied. The skin and the mucous mem- 
branes are hardened by it, and the latter corrugated, owing to its coagulating 
power over albumen, and the abstraction of water from the tissues. Some fat is 
also removed from the integuments. As it at first constringes the arterioles, it 
may act slightly as an anaesthetic. Taken into the stomach in small amounts, 
(usually of the various liquors) it augments the appetite and increases digestive 
power. Owing to dilatation of the arterioles, slight congestion of the mucous 
tissues takes place, and the buccal and gastric secretions are increased, but if 
continuously imbibed, this excessive secretion results in catarrhal conditions, 
and, continuing, may produce atrophy of the gastric glands and hyperplasia of 
the gastric connective tissue. Furthermore, pepsin is precipitated by it, allowing 
digestive impairment through the loss of that ferment. The inordinate outpour- 
ing of gastric mucus (gastric catarrh) causes fermentation of the fatty, starchy, 
and saccharine foods, resulting in sour stomach, heart-burn, pyrosis, and that 
peculiar retching and morning vomiting of the drunkard. 
Alcohol is believed to enter the blood before reaching the duodenum, and in 
that fluid it diffuses itself with great rapidity. The portal circulation is 
impressed, and greater hepatic activity follows, but finally, this over-stimulation 
leads to destruction of the liver cells, fatty and atrophic alterations taking place, 
while the connective tissue is increased. This hyperplasia, with consequent 
shrinkage of the cells, allowing contraction of the connective tissues, results in 
that shrunken, hardened, and nodular state of the organ, known as cirrhosis. 
These liver changes take place more rapidly than those of the stomach. Alcohol 
in small doses increases the heart's action and surface circulation; all the body 
functions are stimulated and better performed, and temperature is slightly 
elevated. Larger doses produce exhilaration and vascular excitement, and a 
mild intoxication. Still larger doses affect muscular power, causing incoordina- 
tion of movement (staggering), and the victim speaks incoherently and in a 
rambling manner-all the well-known phenomena of drunkenness. 
Upon the nervous system, the first effects are increased cerebral activity, ren- 
dering the senses more acute, and all the mental actions more energetic. These 
effects are shared in common with the increased functional activity of the econ- 
omy in general. In an exposed brain, turgescent and throbbing vessels have 
been observed as the effects of its first action, with dilatation of the vessels, and 
passive congestion as the secondary phase (Jacobi). In toxic amounts, cerebra- 
tion is suspended, and profound insensibility takes place; there is a feeble per- 
formance of the body functions, and the movement centers are poisonously 
impressed, resulting in complete muscular inactivity, stertorous respiration, and 
arrest of breathing and the heart's action. 
In large quantities, and continued daily, alcoholic liquors occasion intoxica- 
tion, nervous derangement, loss of appetite, mental imbecility, dyspepsia, indur- 
ated liver, granular disease of the kidneys, paralysis, mania, atheroma of the 
vessels, apoplexy, and death. The alcohol is absorbed, and may be detected in 
the blood, urine, breath, brain, liver, and other organs, producing permanent 
injury to them. The treatment of acute alcoholic poisoning consists in empty- 
ing the stomach by means of the stomach-pump, and cautiously applying 
ammonia gas to the nostrils; external warmth should be used, cold water 
applied to the head, and faradism employed to stimulate respiratory action. It 
is extremely difficult to differentiate acute alcoholic poisoning from apoplexy, ALCOHOL. 
137 
opium poisoning, cerebral concussions, and hemorrhage into the brain tissues. 
The pupil may be contracted or dilated ; unequal dilatation, however, is somewhat 
of a guide to intracranial hemorrhages. The odor of the breath will assist some- 
what, but can not be relied upon, as alcoholic drinking is so common that any of 
these conditions may take place after one has imbibed an insufficient amount of 
alcohol to produce toxic symptoms. A person "dead drunk" should be treated 
as if poisoned, and not allowed to " sleep off" the effects. 
After death from acute alcoholism, the gastric membranes are found intensely 
hyperemic, as are the meninges of the brain. The subarachnoidean spaces, and 
the cerebral ventricles, are filled with an effusion of serous fluid; and the right 
ventricle of the heart, and the great veins, are distended with blood. From 
chronic poisoning, hyperplasia of the connective tissue, as thickening of the 
stomach walls, cirrhotic liver, and fatty heart, and hardened and contracted, 
or fatty, kidneys as well as atheromatous vessels and sclerosed nervous struct- 
ures, are found. Taken into the system in moderate amounts (1 to 1^ ounces 
of absolute alcohol) alcohol is scarcely eliminated, but is destroyed by oxi- 
dation in the system, and imparts circulatory, nervous, glandular, and mus- 
cular force. It refreshes the exhausted system by yielding to it a force 
to be applied in the body functions, and in this way acts as food, though 
it is not known to contribute to the building of a single cell or fibre of the ani- 
mal structures. It also acts as food, in that it retards or checks tissue waste by 
partially preventing the excretion of carbon dioxide and nitrogenous material; 
and it even favors the formation of fatty tissues, as is shown by its pathological 
tendency to cause depositions of fat in certain organs. That the temperature is 
increased by moderate amounts is well known, as is the fact that large dose& 
depress the temperature; and this depression is more pronounced if fever be 
present. It may be concluded that alcohol serves as food, when it is used short 
of gastric impairment, does not over-stimulate, and is not in excess of what can 
be burned in the oxidation processes of the organism. In quantities in excess of 
those above mentioned, it is excreted by the lungs, skin, kidneys, etc. 
Contrary to popular notions, alcohol does not protect one from the influence 
of cold, as has been shown by the experience of Arctic explorers, and by the ease 
with which drunkards are frozen to death. Nor does it protect one from the effects 
of the heat. The facility with which topers are attacked with, and succumb to, 
epidemic disorders, proves conclusively the deleterious effects of its continued use, 
injuries do not heal so readily in the inebriate as in the temperate, and it is well 
known that chloroform is not well borne by them, nor can they as well withstand 
the shock of surgical operations. On the other hand, enormous amounts of 
alcohol may be ingested by those unaccustomed to it, when meeting with acci- 
dents, or suffering from the effects of hemorrhage, bites of insects and serpents, 
when suddenly depressed, and in convalescence from acute diseases. Infants 
and old people bear alcoholics well. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Alcohol is seldom or never used internally, 
except in dilution. Undiluted, it is a powerful irritant and poison, rapidly 
causing intoxication, and, if in large quantities, death. It is usually em- 
ployed in the form of wine, brandy, gin, beer, whiskey, etc., which, in mod- 
erate doses, act as diffusible stimulants, and are highly beneficial in prostrating 
diseases, and in cases where these kinds of stimuli are indicated. Brandy is 
said to be cordial and stomachic; rum, heating and sudorific; gin and whiskey, 
diuretic. There are very few cases in which alcoholic stimulants are necessary 
to be given, and those are seldom of a chronic character, or in which these fluids 
have to be used longer than a few days. The use of our small doses of con- 
centrated alcoholic preparations, and improved modes of treating diseases, have 
done much to set aside the dangerous and unscientific practice of indiscrimi- 
nately prescribing alcoholics. Exceptions to its non-use in chronic disorders, are 
cases of great debility with feeble digestion, such as the gastric debility of old age, 
and wasting of tissue, in phthisis. Here, as long as it favors digestion, acts kindly 
and prevents tissue waste, it is of marked value. If, however, it should occasion 
unpleasant symptoms, it wTill aggravate phthisis, a form of which is also known 
to result from alcoholic excesses. An ounce of brandy or whiskey may be given 
with milk, egg-nog, broth, or other liquid food; when cod-liver oil agrees with 138 
ALCOHOL. 
the stomach, alcoholics may be given with it. While in small doses it is a 
stomach tonic, it should not be employed in ordinary atony of the stomach, 
which other agents will overcome, on account of the danger of fixing upon the 
patient the alcoholic habit. Nor should those subject to neuralgic pains make 
general use of it; and for general, chronic adynamic states it is of less value than 
other agents. 
Alcohol is mostly employed in acute disorders. Its utility in delirium tremens 
is well established. It will aggravate cases dependent upon the direct and sud- 
den action of excess of alcoholics upon the gray brain-matter, but when it 
depends upon failure of the stomach to take and appropriate food, no remedy is 
more efficient; and opium and other stimulants assist its action. As long as the 
patient is able to take and retain and digest food, delirium will not occur. As 
soon, however, as gastric rebellion ensues, the stimulant must be given to allay 
the irritability and sustain the nervous powers. An ounce of whiskey, alone, or 
in milk, may be given every hour or two until the stomach will act without its 
aid. Give no more than enough to sustain the nervous system (Locke). In high 
fevers and inflammations, in those accustomed to the use of alcoholics, it is danger- 
ous to wholly withdraw the stimulant, and it may be given at intervals in small 
doses. In acute diseases it is never admissible where there is determination of 
blood to the brain, or where there is severe, darting headache of a throbbing 
character, suffusion of. the skin and eyes, and noisy or violent delirium. Nor 
should it be continued in any case where it increases the rapidity of the pulse, 
elevates temperature, or causes or increases dryness of the tongue. The condi- 
tion in which it is admissible, is that of prostration, as in low fevers, the pulse 
being soft and feeble. Small quantities should be frequently repeated. Thus, in 
typhoid, and other low fevers, where there is a tendency to fainting, with low, 
muttering delirium, and dry tongue, the patient will die unless stimulation is 
resorted to, and nothing is better for this purpose than alcohol. Add 1 ounce of 
brandy to 3 of milk and give frequently, as necessary. If it slows the pulse, 
rendering it fuller, calms the delirium, tends to moisten the tongue and promote 
sleep, it is doing good as well as acting as food; if it increases the symptoms, it 
is doing harm, and should be discontinued. 
In certain forms of vomiting, as of sea-sickness and pregnancy, alcoholics are of 
service. Give a glass of wine before rising from bed in the morning in the latter 
complaint. Insomnia and somnambulism, both when due to cerebral anemia, are 
benefited by alcohol. Refreshing sleep will follow its administration. Hyper- 
emia of the brain contraindicates it. Threatened inflammation of the internal 
organs from exposure or cold, causing suppression of the functions of the skin, 
is often averted by a hot toddy and putting the patient to bed. In this manner, 
threatened pleurisy and pneumonia may be prevented. In the exanthemata, when 
exhaustion threatens, alcohol may be resorted to. In the collapse of Asiatic 
cholera, it is called for, and is of value in some cases of traumatic tetanus. Large 
doses sustain the nervous system while undergoing the effects of serpent and insect 
bites and stings. It should also be locally applied. Alcohol may be made to act 
as an external stimulant or refrigerant, by merely applying it to a part, and pre- 
venting its evaporation by placing a compress of linen or muslin over it, to 
produce the first effect; or, by allowing it to evaporate, to produce the latter. 
With an equal quantity of water, it forms a good dressing for bruises, orchitis, 
arthritis, and other superficial inflammations. Cracked nipples, should be bathed 
with brandy and dusted with bismuth subnitrate (Locke). Applied to threat- 
ened bed-sores, it hardens the tissues and prevents excoriations. Dr. Christison 
recommends " a mixture of equal parts of rectified spirit and white of egg as an 
application to excoriations, from pressure, in fever and other exhausting diseases. 
It is to be applied frequently with a fine brush or feather, and renewed as it dries, 
till an albuminous coating is formed over the part." 
As a dressing to fresh wounds, alcohol, diluted, is of much value; and even in 
suppurative injuries, it corrects fetor and acts as an antiseptic, as well as to stimu- 
late granulation. Owing to its coagulating power over albuminous material, 
alcohol is a hemostatic in conditions in which the blood slowly oozes, as from 
abrasions. Aural polypi and unhealthy granulations of the tympanum, the result of 
long suppurative processes, are well treated with absolute alcohol. This it does ALCOHOL AMYLICUM. 
139 
by coagulating albumen and abstracting water, and may cause permanent dry- 
ness of the tympanic membrane. Foltz regards it a specific in tympanic cholestea- 
toma (Dynam. Ther.f The dose of alcoholics (brandy, whiskey, etc.) should not 
be such as to exceed H fluid ounces of absolute alcohol, except in serpent poison- 
ing, when more may be given. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Prostration, with soft, feeble pulse, hur- 
ried respiration, and irregular heart action; prostration, with dry tongue, low, 
muttering, or wandering delirium, tremor, subsultus, and insomnia; delirium 
tremens, when the gastric powers fail. Locally, to cholesteatoma of the tym- 
panic cavity (absolute alcohol). 
ALCOHOL AM YLICUM.-AMYLIC ALCOHOL. 
Formula: C.,HnOH. Molecular Weight: 88. 
Synonyms : Fusel oil, Oil of potato spirit, Corn spirit oil, Amyl alcohol, Pentyl 
alcohol, Grain oil, Amyl hydrate, Amyl hydroxide, Primary amyl alcohol. 
Preparation and History.-" Take of the light liquid, which may be 
obtained at any large distillery, by continuing the distillation for some time after 
the pure spirit has all been drawn off, any quantity. Introduce it into a small 
still or retort connected with a condenser, and apply heat so as to cause distilla- 
tion ; as soon as the oil begins to come over unmixed with water, the receiver 
should be changed, and the distillation being resumed and carried nearly to dry- 
ness, the desired product will be obtained. The liquid drawn over during the 
first part of the distillation, will consist of an aqueous fluid, surmounted by a 
stratum of the amylic alcohol. This latter, though impregnated with a minute 
quantity of water, should be separated and preserved, as being sufficiently pure 
for use"-(Dubf. It is usually prepared from fermented cereals, or potatoes, by 
distillation. 
Amylic alcohol was first noticed by Scheele, in the spirit obtained by distill- 
ing fermented potatoes, and was called Oil of potato spirit; since his time its gen- 
eral character has been more fully investigated by several chemists. It is now 
found not only in potato spirit, but among the products of alcoholic fermenta- 
tion generally, in which it exists in the or part. When alcohol is 
distilled from potatoes, toward the termination of the process a whitish fluid 
passes over, which, when allowed to rest, yields a deposit of amylic alcohol, com- 
bined with nearly equal parts of water and alcohol. This is washed several times 
in water, then placed in contact with chloride of calcium to remove the water, 
and distilled over again, in order to purify it. Alcohol and water pass over at 
first, but as the heat becomes elevated to 132.2° C. (270° F.), a clean receiver is 
substituted for the one just used, into which the pure amylic alcohol is received 
as it passes over. It is viewed as a hydrated oxide of amyl. 
Description.-Amyl alcohol is a limpid, transparent, very mobile, oily 
liquid, colorless, or of a light-yellow color, having a very nauseous odor, produc- 
ing stupefaction, and an acrid, sickening taste. Its vapor, when inhaled, causes 
cough and spasmodic dyspnoea, resembling asthma, often followed by vomiting. 
It produces an evanescent stain on paper; gives a bluish-white flame when 
burned with a wick, or heated to 55° C. (131° F.) ; boils at about 132° C. (269.5° 
F.); has the specific gravity 0.818; and absorbs hydrochloric acid gas largely, 
heat accompanying the process. It unites in any quantity with alcohol, ether, 
fixed and volatile oils, and concentrated acetic acid; is hardly dissolved by 
water, to which it imparts its odor, and the property of becoming beaded when 
shaken. Iodine, camphor, phosphorus, resins, fatty matters, sulphur, etc., are 
dissolved by it; and it combines with solutions of potash or soda without 
alteration. Heated with dry potash, it undergoes decomposition, evolving hydro- 
gen, and forming valerianate of potassium by absorption of oxygen. According 
to Pasteur, ordinary amylic alcohol consists of a mixture of two metameric 
bodies, one being inactive on polarized light, the other producing left-handed 
rotation of a polarized ray; these two alcohols can be separated. Fusel oil may 
be detected in alcohol by introducing the suspected fluid into a burette, diluting 
it with its volume of rectified ether, and an equal volume of distilled water; 140 
ALCOHOL METHYLICUM. 
slightly agitate and allow it to rest. The ether will float upon the surface of the 
liquid, holding all the fusel oil in solution. Separate the ether by the usual 
method,.allow it to evaporate spontaneously, and the fusel oil remains behind, 
known by its bad odor. Amyl alcohol of commerce contains from 20 to 30 per 
cent of common alcohol. By exposure to the atmosphere in the presence of 
platinum-black, slow oxidation takes place, with the formation of valerianic acid 
as the result. 
Hirsch (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1862) has proposed to remove alcohol from fusel 
oil by the following process: Shake fusel oil with an equal volume of saturated 
salt solution, repeat the operation, finally shaking out with pure water. Then 
distill the washed fusel oil with 3 to 4 times its weight of distilled water 
in a retort; the distillate will then consist of an oily layer of almost pure amyl 
alcohol, and an aqueous layer containing what little alcohol has remained unab- 
stracted in the preceding treatment. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Valerianic acid, and several medicinal valeri- 
anates, are prepared by the aid of amylic alcohol. It is also used in preparing 
amyl nitrite, artificial fruit essences, and in the production of certain proximate 
principles, alkaloids, etc., notably the cinchona alkaloids. Fusel oil is said to 
produce the peculiar nervous and dyspeptic symptoms of those accustomed to 
consuming large amounts of alcoholics; the rapid intoxication produced some- 
times, is likewise attributed to this body, occurring as an adulterant. Even in 
small doses, amylic alcohol induces a tensive pain in the head, while in excessive 
amounts, insensibility and profound narcosis result. The breath exhales a 
fruit-like odor. Among the poisonous symptoms are giddiness, staggering, head- 
ache, diplopia, unconsciousness, reduction in temperature, rigidity and subse- 
quent relaxation of the muscles, marked cyanosis, and death. In cases of 
poisoning by it, ether and other stimulants may be subcutaneously injected. 
Amylic alcohol, in very small doses, is a nerve stimulant. It has been used in 
phthisis, with negative results. The nervous irritability and weakness of habitual 
drunkards, is said to be relieved by small doses of fusel oil. 
ALCOHOL METHYLICUM-METHYL ALCOHOL. 
Formula: CH3OH. Molecular Weight: 31.93. 
Synonyms : Wood alcohol, Wood naphtha, Pyroxylic spirit (or alcohol), Pyrolig- 
neous spirit (or alcohol), Spiritus pyroxylicus rectificatus. 
Preparation and History.-This substance was first carefully studied and 
named by Dumas and Peligot (1834), though previously differentiated from ethyl 
alcohol by Philip Taylor, in 1812, and noticed still earlier by Boyle, in 1661. As 
a result of the destructive distillation of wood, several substances are obtained 
(as noticed under Acetic Acid), among them 1 per cent of crude pyroxylic spirit. 
When calcium carbonate is added to the aqueous liquor containing the crude 
product, the salt calcium acetate is formed, and upon distilling the solution, that 
portion passing over before a temperature of 100° C. (212° F.) is reached, con- 
tains the crude wood alcohol. The next step is its purification, which is accom- 
plished by saturating it with fused chloride of lime, forming thereby, with the 
crude spirit, a crystalline body, which is then distilled to allow impurities to pass 
over. To separate the pyroxylic spirit from the calcium compound, water is 
added, and the mixture again distilled, after which it is freed from the water by 
being left in contact with dry lime, and rectified. 
Description and Tests.-Anhydrous methyl alcohol, when pure, is a limpid 
liquid, colorless, has a pungent, burning taste, and a peculiar odor, somewhat like 
that of acetic ether and alcohol. Like alcohol, it burns with a pale-blue, though 
less luminous, flame. Alcohol, ether, and water dissolve it in all proportions, 
and its solvent properties are said to be the same as those of alcohol. It may be 
distinguished from acetone by its power of dissolving calcium chloride. It 
should be free from a smoky odor. Its boiling point is about 67° C. (152.6° 
F.), and it has a specific gravity of 0.8021 at 15.5° C. (60° F.). Its vapor 
occasions conjunctival irritation. Crude pyroxylic spirit is used largely in the 
arts and especially as a solvent for resins in the manufacture of varnishes. The ALETRIS. 
141 
methylated spirit of Great Britain is a mixture of alcohol, | parts, and pyroxylic 
spirit, | part. It is employed in laboratories in making ether, nitrous ether, and 
chloroform, and is used in the arts as well, for its solvent properties and on 
account of being cheaper than ethyl alcohol, the duty on which is heavy, unless 
to be used in the arts; then the duty is removed by the Government. But in 
this case the ethyl alcohol must be mixed with wood-spirit, so as to render it 
unfit for use in beverages. 
At present, an important use of wood alcohol is for the production of form- 
aldehyde (see Formaldehydum). Wood alcohol should not become colored by 
exposure to the air and light. It mixes with water in all proportions, without 
becoming muddy, and when pure has no action on paper stained with vegetable 
colors. It may be preserved without alteration in a vessel, though imperfectly 
corked; but when its vapor, mixed with air, is left in contact with spongy plat- 
inum, much heat is evolved, and formic acid is formed. It dissolves many salts, 
many resins, hydroxides of potassium and sodium, most essential oils, and forms 
crystalline compounds with chloride of calcium, barium oxide, and lime. The 
admixture of ethyl alcohol is recognized by the fact that concentrated sulphuric 
acid will, upon warming, liberate ethylene gas. In the absence of ethyl alcohol, 
the presence of acetone may be shown by its capacity of yielding iodoform upon 
warming with iodine and sodium carbonate. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The fumes of wood spirit occasion 
conjunctival irritation, nausea, anorexia, headache, and vertigo. It was the 
preparation recommended by Dr. J. Hastings as a remedy for phthisis pulmonalis; 
he incorrectly termed it Wood naphtha. Although it has no influence in effecting 
cures in this disease, it is frequently of service in relieving the cough and feverish 
symptoms which manifest themselves. As to its action in vomiting, Christison 
says, " I can amply confirm all that has been said of it as an antiemetic remedy 
in cases of chronic vomiting; for in cases of this affection, depending on both 
functional or organic disease, I have frequently seen the vomiting arrested, or 
greatly mitigated, by pyroxylic spirit." It has also been found of service in dysen- 
tery and diarrhoea, dyspepsia, catarrhal disorders, and for the expulsion of intestinal 
worms. The dose is from 5 to 20 drops, 3 or 4 times a day, mixed with a fluid 
drachm or two of compound tincture of cardamom and a fluid ounce of water. 
It may be substituted for alcohol in lamps for chemical purposes, and answers 
exceedingly well for making varnishes, as it is more volatile than alcohol. Bodies 
which contain much oxygen, are more readily dissolved by it than hydrogenous 
bodies. It has now been practically abandoned as a medicine. 
ALETRIS-ALETRIS. 
The rhizome of Aletris farinosa, Linne, gathered after the plant has 
flowered. 
Nat. Ord.-Hsemodoraceae. 
Illustration.-Strong's American Flora (exclusive of root), p. 65. 
Common Names: Blazing star, Star grass, Starwort, False unicorn root. 
Botanical Source.-Aletris is a small herb found in most parts of the 
United States. The common name is Star grass, but the term False unicorn is 
sometimes used. The name Unicorn root is more properly applied to Chamselir- 
ium (Helonias). Aletris is also known as Blazing star. The leaves are all radical 
and grass-like, from | to A inch wide, and from 2 to 4 inches long. They are 
smooth, entire, acute, and of a firm texture, and have from 6 to 10 parallel and 
quite prominent veins. The flowering stem is erect, from 2 to 3 feet high, and 
arises from the center of the cluster of root leaves. It has no stem leaves, but at 
intervals of about 2 inches, there are very small, linear scales, which may readily 
escape detection without a close examination. The stems are round and striate 
near the base, but angular above. The flowers are perfect, and in slender, 
terminal, simple racemes. They are on short pedicles, with small bracts at 
the base. The perianth is cylindrical, urn-shaped, white, with a yellowish 
tinge at the apex; wrinkled, rough and mealy outside, and 6-cleft at the sum- 
mit. The stamens are 6, small and included. The ovary is ovate, and tapers 142 
ALETRIS. 
Fig. 14. 
to a slender style, which is trifid at the apex. The 
fruit is a dry, many-seeded, acute pod, opening 
by 3 valves. 
History and Description.-The commercial 
drug, under this name, as found upon the market, 
is generally the rhizome of Chamaelirium (see 
Chamaelirium'). Strange as it may seem under 
these circumstances, the two roots have no re- 
semblance, are utterly unlike, and their appear- 
ance forbids admixture. We can not recall a single 
instance where Aletris farinosa was adulterated with 
Chamaelirium, and yet so universal has the sub- 
stitution of the last become, that Prof. King, in 
describing the root of Aletris (A?at?r. Disp., Sth ed., 
p. 78), has given a description of that of Chamae- 
lirium, and Strong's American Flora figures the top 
of Aletris with the rhizome of Chamaelirium. In 
this connection, we invite attention to our exact en- 
graving of the Aletris plant and root (Fig. 14), and, 
as a comparison, invite attention to the engraving 
of Chamaelirium (see Chamaelirium, Fig. 66). 
When dry, the root of Aletris farinosa is from 
| to 1 inch in length, seldom longer. It is sur- 
rounded and completely hidden by an intricate 
mass of fibers, remains of radical leaves and partly 
decayed matter. The recent growth of yearly fibres are white, and from 2 to 6, 
or even 10, inches in length. In texture, they are made up of a hard, durable, 
brown, woody center, over which are several layers of white, tissue-like epidermis, 
that peel off by age, and decay. Thus we find the lower portion of the dry 
rhizome of Aletris farinosa covered by a mass consisting of dead, brown, woody 
fibers of former years, from which the paper-like envelope has separated, together 
with white, recent rcotlets from which the white epidermis is still scaling; 
while intermixed, are the chaff-like remains of the epidermis, in various stages 
of decomposition. 
The radical leaves spring directly from the upper part of the growing end of 
the creeping rhizome. They contain numerous hard, round, woody fibers run- 
ning lengthwise with the leaf, and from year to year, as the succulent portions of 
the leaves decay, the fibers remain and hold the fragments of mealy leaf-matter; 
and thus the upper, as well as the lower portion of the primary root is perfectly 
concealed from view. The dried root proper is'about J of an inch in diameter 
just beneath the leaves, and tapers from this point to nearly | of an inch; very 
often the extreme end turns downward, and usually terminates abruptly. The 
surface is rough, scaly, and thickly covered with root fibers below, and leaf scars 
and leaf fibers above. Internally, it is soft, spongy, white or slightly straw- 
colored, the central portion being less firm than the outer. It is odorless, acrid 
to the taste, not bitter. Chamaelirium (Helonias), on the contrary, is very bitter. 
Physicians should insure the identity of Aletris when purchasing. There is 
no excuse for confusion, as the two plants (Aletris and Chamaelirium) are entirely 
different in appearance, the roots do not resemble each other, and are, to the taste, 
utterly unlike; and while Chamaelirium has a peculiar and characteristic odor, 
the Aletris is odorless. 
Action, Medical Uses and Dosage.-Owing to the confusion which form- 
erly resulted from the substitution of the root of aletris for helonias, erroneous 
statements have been made regarding the status of the drug in female com- 
plaints. The drug must be restudied to determine its true place in therapy. 
Enough is known, however, to place it among the simple bitter tonics and 
stomachics, and as such it is employed to promote the appetite and aid digestion, 
and flatulence, colic, borborygmi, etc. This root and its preparations are almost 
entirely . employed in dyspeptic conditions; while, in the abnormal conditions of 
the female reproductive organs, the chamaelirium is used. The dose of specific 
aletris is from 5 to 20 drops. 
Aletris farinosa. ALISMA.-ALKANNA. 
143 
ALISMA - WATER PLANTAIN. 
The leaves of Alisma plantago, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Alismaceae. 
Common Names: Water plantain, Mad-dog weed. 
Botanical Source, Description, and History.-A perennial, caulescent 
herb, growing in watery places, along streams, in marshes, and on the borders of 
ponds. Water plantain has long (4 to 6 inches), radical, oblong, or lanceolate 
leaves, subcordate at the base, cuspidate, or abruptly acuminate, and borne on 
long petioles. The flowers, which appear in July and August, are small, white, 
and numerous, and borne in a loose, whorled panicle on a scape, 1 or 2 feet high. 
The root is fibrous, and serves a Russian tribe as food. The American species 
is said to be a variety, and is known as Alisma plantago, var. Americanum, Gray. 
In odor, the root when fresh is said to resemble orris root, and has a sicken- 
ing, acrid taste. A pungent, volatile oil, and a resin, are its only constituents. 
Water plantain inhabits the North American continent, as well as Europe. The 
root was formerly considered efficacious in hydrophobia, but repeated trials have 
shown it to be impotent. The leaves are the parts used. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-An infusion of the dried leaves is an 
excellent remedy in urinary diseases; the leaves, dried and powdered, have been 
successfully employed in gravel, and other urinary affections. The indications 
are: " Irritation and uneasiness in passing water, frequent desire to micturate, 
pain in the loins, and involuntary muscular movement " (Scudder, Spec. Med.). 
Dose of the infusion, from 4 to 6 fluid ounces, 3 or 4 times a day; of the leaves, 
1 to 2 drachms. The fresh leaves, bruised and applied to the skin, irritate 
and redden it, and, not infrequently, will cause vesication. 
Specific Indications.-(See above). 
ALKANNA-DYER'S BUGLOSS 
The root of Alkanna tinctoria, Tausch; (Anchusa tinctoria, Linne; Lithosper- 
mum tinctoria). 
Nat. Ord.-Boraginacese. 
Common Names: Alkanet, Dyer's bugloss. 
Illustration : Artus' Hand Atlas, Vol. II., p. 438. 
Botanical Source.-This plant is a weak, hairy herb, about a foot high, with 
alternate, oblong, entire, bicuspid leaves. The flowers are small, and disposed in 
terminal racemes, usually in pairs, which unroll as the flowers expand. The 
calyx is 5-lobed, and the corollas funnel-shaped, with a red tube about the length 
of the calyx-lobes, and a blue, 5-parted limb. The fruit consists of 4 distinct 
nutlets, which are contracted, and not hollowed, at the base. 
History and Chemical Composition.-The Alkanet plant is indigenous to, 
and cultivated in the southern part of Europe. The roots of the cultivated plants 
are not so rich in the red coloring matter as are those grown in their native 
soil. The genus Alkanna is closely related to Anchusa and Lithospermum, and 
the roots of all three genera yield red coloring matters. Alkanet root contains the 
red coloring matter-anchusin or alkanet-red. To obtain it (Wittstein) the root is 
exhausted with water to remove gum and foreign coloring matters, then dried, 
ground, and percolated with alcohol. The alcoholic tincture is acidulated with 
hydrochloric acid, distilled, and evaporated to the consistence of a soft extract; 
this is exhausted with ether, water added, and, after agitation, the lower liquid 
separated. The ethereal solution is again washed with water, decanted, and evap- 
orated. Anchusin, is dark, red-brown, brittle, neutral, and volatile, subliming in 
violet-red vapors. It is insoluble in water, soluble in chloroform and alcohol, 
more soluble in ether and oils. Sulphuric acid dissolves it with an amethyst 
color; solution of alkalies, with blue. The other constituents- of the plant are 
unimportant. 
Description.-Alkanet root, as obtained in this market, is often worm-eaten, 
and of very inferior quality. It appears as fragments, mixed with entire roots 144 
ALKANNA. 
from 6 to 12 inches in length. They are dark purple externally, lighter within, 
pliable and spongy. The root is largely employed by manufacturers of pomades, 
hair oils, ointments, etc., for the purpose of coloring them. For these purposes, 
a solution of the alkanet-red is made by covering the crushed root with castor-oil, 
macerating, and straining; the deep red coloring matter is thus obtained, in solu- 
tion, and this solution is added to the oil or pomade until the desired shade is 
produced. 
Uses.-This root is rarely, if ever, employed therapeutically, though stated 
to possess emollient properties. Its chief use among pharmacists is for coloring 
certain articles. It is asserted that it is used to color adulterated wines. 
Other Coloring Agents.-Arnotta, Annotta, Annatto, Orellana, Orleana. These various 
names refer to the coloring principle of the pulp of the seeds of Bixa Orellana, Linne (Nat.Ord., 
Bixaceae), a medium-sized tree of the American tropical regions. The whitish, obovate and 
angular seeds are inclosed in deep-red pulp. According to Peckholt (A. J. P., 1859), the color- 
ing matter is obtained by soaking the bruised seeds in water (or allowing them to ferment in 
water), rubbing the pulp from the seeds by hand, passing the liquid mass through a sieve, 
and finally mashing the seeds and washing again with more water. The coloring matter is 
allowed to settle, then dried, and formed into cakes or cylindrical pieces. A coloring matter 
also remains in the water employed. Prime annotta is plastic, generally quite soft, having 
the red color of blood, becoming, when exposed to air, of a deep reddish-brown. When dry 
or old, it is brittle and hard. It has an unpleasant, saline, bitterish taste, and a peculiar 
sweetish odor. It is scarcely soluble in water, in which it softens, however, and to which it 
imparts a yellow color. Alcohol, fixed oils, ether, and alkalies dissolve it, an orange-red or 
deep-red solution being formed. Heat does not fuse it, and it is inflammable. There are two 
grades known in commerce-the French (flag annotta), the best for coloring purposes, though 
it possesses the most disagreeable odor, probably having been prepared by the fermentation 
process; and the Spanish (Brazilian), which is not unpleasant to the sense of smell. Annotta 
contains two coloring principles; one, discovered by Preisser, a non-crystalline, bright-red, res- 
inous body, called bixin (O15H18O4, Stein; C28H34O5, Etti); orellin, the second coloring body, is 
yellow, and soluble in water. Nitric acid colors bixin yellow, producing an odorous body 
resembling musk in odor; sulphuric acid colors bixin blue. Besides other compounds, annotta 
contains a terebinthinous body and a fatty acid. The seeds contain phosphoric acid, silica, 
and potassa (Ebert). Annotta is subject to adulteration, the agents employed being sand, 
chalk, gypsum, brickdust, red ochre, turmeric, and starchy bodies. The mineral impurities 
will refuse to dissolve in boiling alcohol. Annatto is employed to dye fabrics, especially silk, 
an orange-yellow fugitive color being imparted. In pharmacy, ointments and plasters are 
sometimes colored with it, while in the arts it is used to produce "butter color," for giving 
yellowness to butter and cheese. This preparation may be obtained by digesting annotta, 1 
part, until wholly disintegrated, in alcohol, heating with olive oil (or some other bland oil) 4 
or 5 parts, by weight. Another method is to add to olive oil (1 part), extract of arnotta (10 
parts). A small quantity of turmeric is added when the preparation is desired as a cheese- 
color. 
BrazilWood. Several South American and West Indian species of Caesalpinia yield 
this red dye-wood. There are two chief commercial kinds, (1) Pernambuco (Fernambuco) wood, 
the most valued, and the Brazil wood proper, from Cresalpinia Braziliensis and C. crista ; and 
(2) Brasiletto, from the West Indian and Jamaican C. vesicaria, of less value. Analogous to 
Brasiletto are the sappan, or samfen wood (from C. Sappan), and the Nicaraugua., or peach wood (C. 
echinata). Brazil wood was formerly used in medicine, but now has only a limited use in phar- 
macy, viz., to color tinctures. It is largely used in dyeing, and to some extent in preparing 
lakes and red ink. Its coloring matter is extracted by water. The wood has a faintly-sweetish 
taste, and practically no odor. Brazilin, or brasilin (CwHuOs), the coloring principle, is sulphur- 
yellow (colorless if absolutely pure) and crystallizable, sparingly dissolved by water, the solu- 
tion being clear, nearly colorless, and sweet. Acids do not affect the solution, but alkalies 
redden it. Ether and alcohol produce pale yellow solutions. Brazilin quickly becomes red in 
the sunlight, and more slowly in diffused light, hence it must be kept in the dark. The 
red color produced by exposure to light and air is due to the production of brazilein (C16H12O5). 
Onosma echioides, Lamarck. South Europe. A hairy, rough perennial, whose flowers, at 
first white, finally become yellow. The root, which is conical, and has a deep-red bark which 
is black on the outer surface, is used as a substitute for alkanna in coloring. 
Lawsonia alba, Lamarck. (Nat. Ord., Lythracese). Henna, or Alhenna, is produced from this 
plant, which is much esteemed by the inhabitants of India and other Oriental lands. Moham- 
med is said to have spoken of it as the " best of herbs." Innumerable conditions are said to be 
curable with it, among them headache, smallpox, leprosy, and " burning feet," a peculiar and obscure 
affection met with occasionally in India, etc. Dioscorides speaks of it as a plant " whose leaves 
dye the hair of an orange color." In Africa and Asia, and among the Mahometans especially, 
the custom is in vogue of dyeing the feet and hands orange-yellow, a practice said to have pre- 
vailed among the ancient Jews and Egyptians. The coloring matter, which appears like a 
brown-resinoid material, is a sort of tannin to which the name hennotannic acid was given by 
Abd-el-Aziz Herraory. 
Madura aurantiaca, Osage orange. Bark of root yields a yellow dye. Alexander King 
isolated from it moric and moritannic acids. ALLIUM. 
145 
allium (U. s. p.)-garlic. 
The bulb of the Allium sativum, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Liliaceae. 
Common Name:- Garlic. 
Botanical Source.-The garlic plant has a stem about 2 feet high, leafy 
below the middle. It terminates in an umbelliferous head of pink, red or whit- 
ish flowers, intermixed with bulbs, enveloped in a calyptriform, horned spathe. 
They appear in July, and are rather longer than their stamens. The leaves are 
acute, distichous, glaucous, and channelled above. The medicinal part is the 
very proliferous, clustered bulbs, many of which are invested in the same silvery 
skin. 
Description.-The bulb is compound, subspherical, covered with mem- 
branous scales. About 8 wedge-like, compressed bulblets, are arranged circu- 
larly around a central stem-base. The smaller bulbs are appressed laterally, and 
consist of succulent scales, enveloping a central, fleshy mass. Garlic has an 
acrid, warm taste, and a disagreeable, pungent, alliaceous odor. 
History, Action, and Chemical Constituents.-Garlic is a native of Sicily, 
and is indigenous in Asia Minor and Central Asia, but is cultivated in gardens in 
various sections of the United States and Europe. The bulbs of this plant are 
official; when removed from the ground some of the stem is left attached, so 
that after desiccation, by exposure to the sun, or in a warm room, several stems 
may be secured together, thus forming small bundles for sale. The root loses 
about one-half its weight by drying, but scarcely any of its smell or taste. Garlic 
should be used without being previously dried. Though changing color, garlic 
may be preserved in a closed jar with a small amount of alcohol for some length 
of time, without impairment of its virtues. All parts of this plant, but more espe- 
cially the bulbs, have a strong, offensive, very penetrating and diffusible smell, 
and an acrimonious, almost caustic taste; both of these properties are owing to 
an acrid, volatile oil, of a deep, brownish-yellow color (when crude), heavier than 
water, and possessing, in a strong degree, the odor and taste of the plant; sulphur 
is one of its constituents, the oil containing 6 per cent of a compound (C6H12S2) 
and 60 per cent of a substance (C6H10S2); the rest are higher sulphur compounds. 
Allyl sulphide does not occur in the oil (Semmler, 1892). When purified it is 
without color, not so heavy as water, and consists chiefly of a sulphur com- 
pound. Water dissolves a small amount of it, while in ether and alcohol it is 
readily soluble. In contact with the skin, it occasions violent pain, rubefaction, 
and frequently vesication. Garlic yields its properties to alcohol, vinegar, acetic 
acid, and boiling water by infusion. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Garlic is stimulant, diuretic, expec- 
torant, and rubefacient; it is used both for medical and culinary purposes. The 
medicinal effects above stated are owing to the absorption of its volatile oil, the 
stimulating action of which causes thirst, promotes the activity of the various 
excretory organs, as the skin, kidneys, and mucous membrane of the air-tubes, 
communicating its odor to their excretions. It has been beneficially used in 
coughs, catarrhal affections, pertussis, hoarseness, worms, and calculous diseases, during 
the absence of inflammation. Externally, it has been employed as a resolvent 
in indolent tumors, and as a counter-irritant in cerebral and pulmonary affections. 
When applied along the spinal column and over the chest of infants, in the form 
of poultice, it is very useful in pneumonia; and placed over the region of the 
bladder, it has sometimes proved effectual in producing a discharge of urine 
when retention has arisen from torpor of the bladder. Garlic juice, oil of sweet 
almonds, and glycerin, of each equal parts, mixed, and dropped in the ear, has 
cured several cases of deafness, due probably to-excessive cerumen, or to chronic 
debility of the mucous tissues of the organ of hearing. The dose of fresh garlic 
is 1 or 2 drachms; of the juice, a small teaspoonful. Large doses cause nausea, 
vomiting, purging and other unpleasant symptoms. The juice is often made 
into a syrup with sugar, by nurses, for coughs^ catarrh, and pulmonary affections of 
infants. The odor imparted to the breath by garlic and onions, may be very 
much diminished by chewing roasted coffee grains, or parsley leaves and seeds. 146 
ALLIUM CEPA.-ALNUS. 
Related Product.-Allyl Tribromide. A product closely related to oil of garlic may 
be produced by the interaction of bromine and allyl iodide. It has the composition. C3HaBr3 
(or CH2Br.CHBr.CH2Br.), and the name allyl tribromide or tribromhydrin. A product identical 
with rectified oil of garlic is produced by acting upon allyl iodide with sulphide of potassium 
in alcoholic solution. Allyl tribromide is a colorless, or pale-yellowish fluid, congealing with 
the appearance of a stearopten at 10° to 15° C. (50° to 59° F.). Allyl tribromide has been ad- 
ministered in 5-drop doses (in capsules) in infantile convulsions, angina pectoris, hysteria, asthma, 
whooping-cough, and similar spasmodic complaints. 
allium cepa.-onion. 
The bulb of the Allium Cepa, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Liliaceaj. 
Common Name : Onion. 
Botanical Source.-The common onion is a biennial garden plant, having 
a scape, which appears the second year, 2 to 4 feet high, being naked, smooth, 
straight, stout, swollen at the base, and fistulous, bearing at the top a round 
umbel of greenish-white flowers. The leaves are round and fistulous, of a shin- 
ing green color, acute, and shorter than the stem. The part employed is the 
bulb. 
Description.-The onion is a tunicated bulb, compressed or round, or oblong 
in figure, invested with a shining, thin, dry membrane, of a reddish or white 
color. It is less pungent to the taste than garlic, with some degree of sweetness, 
and a peculiar, well-known odor. Onion bulbs are of various shapes and sizes, 
usually globular, the layers being juicy. 
History and Chemical Composition.-This biennial plant is supposed to 
be a native of Hungary, but is now found in all parts of the world. According 
to Fourcroy and Vauquelin, onion contains an acrid, volatile oil, uncrystallizable 
sugar, gum, albumen, woody fiber, acetic and phosphoric acids, phosphate and 
citrate of calcium, and water. The oil is colorless, acrid, and contains sulphur. It 
was investigated, in 1892, by Semmler, who found it to be mainly composed of a 
sulphur compound, C6H12S2. A peculiar wine may be made by fermenting the 
juice of the onion. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Onion possesses properties allied to those of 
garlic, but in a milder degree, and the absorption of its oil and influence upon 
the system is somewhat similar to that of the oil of garlic. Onions do not agree 
with all persons, especially dyspeptics, in whom they favor the production of 
flatus, which, however, is a common symptom among all those who eat largely 
of them ; boiling, in a great measure, deprives them of this property. Sugar 
and onion-juice form a syrup, much used in domestic practice, for cough and 
other affections of the air-tubes among children. A roasted onion employed as a 
cataplasm to suppurating tumors, or to the ear in otitis, has proved beneficial. 
A saturated tincture of onions made with good Holland gin, has been found 
serviceable in gravel and dropsical affections. A cataplasm of onions pounded 
with vinegar, applied for a number of days, and changed 3 times a day, has been 
found to cure corns and bunions. 
Related Species.-Allium Porrum, Linn£. The Common leek. Allium Schcenoprasum, 
Linne. The Chives. Allium Ascalonicum, Linn6. The Shallot. The above species possess sim- 
ilar medicinal qualities, though less active. They have the characteristic odor, though milder, 
and are cultivated in gardens for the same purpose as the onion. 
ALNUS-TAG alder. 
The recent bark of the Alnus serrulata, Aiton. (Alnus rubra). 
Nat. Ord.-Betulaceae. 
Common Names: Tag alder, Red alder, Black alder, Smooth alder,Common alder. 
Botanical Source and History.-This shrub grows plentifully throughout 
the United States from Southern New England to the western border of the Great 
Lakes and southward. It occurs as clumps or thickets, along the borders of 
streams, rivers, ponds, and in swamps, attaining a height of from 6 to 15 feet. 
The stems are straight and the leaves smooth, somewhat coriaceous, obtuse, doubly 147 
ALNUS. 
serrate, round or blunt at the apex, and are accompanied by elliptical, obtuse 
stipules. Its flowers appear in March and April, before the leaves have expanded, 
and are of a reddish-green color. The pistillate flowers are borne in an erect, and 
the staminate, in a drooping, catkin. The fruit, which is ovate, often persists 
throughout the winter and gives rise to the name " tag alder." The bark is 
brownish-gray when fresh, and has an astringent, bitterish taste. 
Chemical Composition.-The bark contains tannin, oils, and resin. The 
first may be precipitated with gelatin. A lesser quantity is found in the leaves. 
Alnus is chemically antagonized by the mineral acids, alkalies, ferric salts, salts 
of lead and silver, and gelatin. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-To the taste tag alder is bitter and 
astringent. It powerfully increases retrograde metamorphosis and exerts a direct 
tonic action upon mucous surfaces, aiding digestion and assimilation. It is a 
true catalytic and a positive anti-putrefactive agent. Locally applied, the decoc- 
tion stains the skin. The drug stimulates the gastric mucous membrane and 
causes an increased flow of gastric juice. Applied to the mammae, the leaves are 
said to decrease the lacteal secretion. It is alterative, emetic, and astringent. 
This much neglected, but very important, remedy is a valuable agent in 
scrofulosis, especially in those cases marked by glandular enlargements and sup- 
puration. Prof. Scudder speaks of it as one of the most valuable of our indige- 
nous remedies, and points to its use in "superficial diseases of the skin and mucous 
membranes, taking the form of eczema or pustular eruption." Administered intern- 
ally and applied locally in these conditions, we may expect from alnus the best 
of results. Impetigo, prurigo, herpes, and scorbutus, are diseases in which alnus will 
be of great utility. In scurfy tetter of the scalp, in children, it is of much value. 
The happiest results are obtained from its use in successive crops of boils. It is a 
good agent in passive hemorrhages, particularly in hematuria, for which a decoction 
of the cones has also been used, and it is favorably mentioned for purpura hemor- 
rhagica. In marasmus of children, it is a much praised remedy. Combined with 
rumex crispus, and used locally and internally, it is a good drug in nursing sore 
mouth of mothers. Alnus is an important drug in indigestion and dyspepsia, when 
resulting from deficient secretion of gastric juice and debility of the muscular 
coat of the stomach. It may be associated with specific nux vomica. In diarrhoea, 
caused by or attended with deficiency of the gastric secretion, it serves an excellent 
purpose. It has been used with good results as an injection for leucorrhcea, and the 
leaves may "scatter" indurations of the mammary glands during the nursing period. 
Dr. A. D. Ayer reports many cases of periodical hyperaesthetic rhinitis (hay fever) 
cured by alnus. He recommends a distillate prepared after the manner of distil- 
late of hamamelis. The distillate is first used with an equal bulk of water and 
snuffed up the nostrils 5 or 6 times daily. It may be increased to full strength 
in a day or two. If desirous, it may be applied by atomization. At night the 
nose is smeared with the distillate combined with petrolatum. At the same time 
give internally: R Distillate of alnus, gtt. xv to xxx, in a little water, 1 hour before 
or after meals. Dr. Ayer also recommends this preparation in the acute stage of 
gonorrhoea, and as an antidote to rhus poisoning. The remedy is most effectual in 
infusion (fresh alnus bark, §j, aqua Oj); dose, a wine-glassful. Specific alnus, 
1 to 20 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-The specific use of this remedy is to 
improve nutrition and increase waste. It is of particular value in scrofula, with 
feeble vitality, and chronic skin diseases exhibiting scaly or pustular eruptions. 
Related Species.-Alnus glutinosa, Gtertner. (Betula Alnus, Linne). Europe. A tree 
about 30 feet high, the bark of which contains tannin, and is employed for the same purposes 
as the Alnus serrulata. Its bark is probably gathered indiscriminately with that of the latter. 
The wood resists water, and has been much used for posts and piles, for wet situations, the 
wood thus becoming very hard and durable. It was formerly employed in making water-pipes, 
pump-trees and reservoir conduits; in sculpture, turnery and cabinet-making; for making 
wooden household utensils, wooden shoes and koles, etc. Europeans have used the bark for 
tanning and dyeing, and a charcoal from its timber in preparing gunpowder (Hogg, Nat. Hist, 
of Veg. King ). 
Alnus viridis, De Candolle. Mountain alder. North America. This species is a shrub 3 or 
4 feet high, the bark of which is employed in dropsical complaints by a British-American tribe 
of Indians living in the vicinity of Hudson's Bay. 148 
ALOE. 
ALOE.-ALOES. 
The inspissated juice obtained from the leaves of several species of Aloe. 
Nat. Ord.-Liliaceae. 
Official Kinds.-I. Aloe Barbadensis (U. S. P.), Barbadoes aloe* (Curasao 
aloes'), Hepatic aloes. Derived from the Aloe vera (Linne), Webb; {Aloe vulgaris, 
Lamarck; Aloeperfoliata, var. vera, Linne; Aloe Barbadensis, Miller). 
II. Aloe Socotrina {U. S. Pi), Socotrine aloes, Zanzibar aloes. Derived from 
Aloe Perryi, Baker. 
Non-Official Kinds.-Aloe Capensis {U. S. P., 1870), Cape aloes, Aloe lucida. 
Derived chiefly from Aloe spicata, Thunberg, Aloeferox, Lamarck, and Aloe Lingua, 
Linne {Gasteria Lingua, Willdenow). Various other species probably contribute 
to this variety. A kind known as Jefferabad aloes enters the Bombay markets, and 
is thought to be derived from Aloe abyssinica, Lamarck. 
Botanical Source and History.-Aloevera (Linne), Webb, grows in the East 
Indies and Barbary ; is now cultivated in the West Indies, as well as in some of 
the southern sections of Europe. The stem is woody, simple, cylindrical, and 
short; the leaves fleshy, amplexicaul, first spreading, then ascending, lanceolate, 
glaucous-green, flat above, convex below, armed with hard, distant, reddish spines 
perpendicular to the margin, and a little mottled with darker color; the paren- 
chyma is slightly colored brown, and very distinct from the tough, leathery cuti- 
cle. The scape is axillary, glaucous, reddish, and branched ; the spike is cylin- 
drical-ovate. The flowers are at first erect, then spreading, afterward pendulous, 
yellow, and not longer than the stamens (L). This plant yields the Barbadoes 
aloes of commerce. 
Several species, formerly regarded as distinct, are now regarded as varieties of 
this species ; among them are Aloe littoralis, Konig; Aloe indica, Royle, and others. 
Aloe Perryi, Baker, the now recognized source of Socotrine aloes, resembles in 
habit the Aloe vera (Linne), Webb, but its leaves are shorter and the tube of the 
flowers is of a much greater length than the segments. The flowers are also 
borne on long pedicles and arranged in racemes much looser than those of the 
Barbadoes plant. The true aloes plant, and that from which the drug was form- 
erly believed to have come, is the Aloe socotrina, which inhabits the Island of 
Socotra. The stem is woody, straight, feet high, or more, and naked below, 
where it is strongly marked with the scars of leaves. Leaves amplexicaul, 
ascending, ensiform, green, curved inward at the point, convex below, rather con- 
cave above, marked with numerous small white marginal serratures; paren- 
chyma abounding in a bright brownish-yellow juice. The raceme is cylindrical 
and unbranched; flowers scarlet at the base, pale in the middle, green at the 
point. Stamens unequal, three of them longer than the flowers. 
Aloe spicata, Thunberg, or Spiked aloe, inhabits the southern parts of Africa, 
where it grows in sandy soil. The stem is woody, round, and about 4 feet high, 
and from 3 to 5 inches in diameter; the leaves are thick, fleshy, subverticillate, 
broad at the base, gradually narrowing to the point, full 2 feet long, channeled, 
distantly toothed, and dotted with a few white spots; their parenchyma is 
almost colorless. The spike is a foot long, and very compact; the flowers are 
scarlet, horizontal, campanulate, and filled with a purplish honey. The three 
petals are broader, ovate, obtuse, and white, with a triple green line; the sepals 
are narrower, and less concave. The stamens are much longer than the peri- 
anth (L). This plant (together with others above mentioned) furnishes the Cape 
aloes of commerce. 
There are several species which furnish medicinal aloes, but the three above 
named are supposed to yield the principal portion, although but two are now 
recognized by the U. S. Pharmacopoeia. The mucilaginous juice expressed from the 
parenchymatous tissue of the leaves has no remedial influences; but only that 
which is procured by incising the air-ducts of the leaves transversely, so that the 
juice may flow from them or, as stated by M. E. Robiquet, from the intercellular 
structure between them. M. Marais states that three distinct kinds of Barbadoes 
aloes have been found in commerce, two of which are probably obtained by sim- 
ple exudations of the juice from the incised leaves, while the third is the result ALOE. 
149 
obtained by boiling the plant in water and evaporating. These three kinds may 
be distinguished from the other species of aloes by a common property they have 
of giving a perfect emulsion when triturated with a little cold water. 
Cultivation and Preparation.-Of the method of obtaining Socotrine aloes 
little is known. In regard to Barbadoes aloes, the authors of the Pharmaco- 
graphia state: "In Barbadoes, where Aloe vulgaris [A. vera (Linne), Webb] is 
systematically cultivated for the production of the drug, the plants are set 6 inches 
apart, in rows which are 1 to 1^ feet asunder, the ground having been carefully 
prepared and manured. They are kept free from grass and weeds, but yams or 
pulse are frequently grown between them. The plants are always dwarf, never in 
the least degree arborescent. Almost all of those above a year old bear flowers, 
which, being bright yellow, have a beautiful effect. The leaves are 1 to 2 feet 
long; they are cut annually, but this does not destroy the plant, which, under 
good cultivation, lasts for several years. The cutting takes place in March and 
April, and is performed in the heat of the day. The leaves are cut off* close to 
the plant, and placed very quickly, the cut end downwards, in a V-shaped, wooden 
trough, about 4 feet long and 12 to 18 inches deep. This is set on a sharp incline 
so that the juice, which trickles from the leaves very rapidly, flows down its 
sides, and finally escapes by a hole at its lower end into a vessel placed beneath. 
No pressure of any sort is applied to the leaves. It takes about a quarter of an 
hour to cut leaves enough to fill a trough. The troughs are so distributed as to 
be easily accessible to the cutters. Their number is generally 5; and by the 
time the fifth is filled, the cutters return to the first and throw out the leaves, 
which they regard as exhausted. The leaves are neither infused nor boiled, nor 
is any use afterwards made of them except for manure. When the vessels 
receiving the juice become filled, the latter is removed to a cask or reserved for 
evaporation. This may be done at once, or it may be delayed for weeks or even 
months, the juice, it is said, not fermenting or spoiling. The evaporation is 
generally conducted in a copper vessel; at the bottom of this is a large ladle, into 
which the impurities sink, and are from time to time removed as the boiling goes 
on. As soon as the inspissation has reached the proper point, which is determ- 
ined solely by the experienced eye of the workman, the thickened juice is poured 
into large gourds or into boxes, and allowed to harden"-(Pharmacographia). 
In Cape Colony, according to Peter MacOwan, a goat-skin is spread in a shal- 
low depression scratched in the earth, and the aloe leaves are radially arranged in 
such a manner that the juice falls into the center of the skin. When filled, the 
juice is poured into an iron pot and boiled, great carelessness being manifested 
by the operator throughout the whole process (see Pharmacographia). 
Description and Tests.-Aloe Barbadensis (C. S. P.), Barbadoes aloes. This 
variety comes "in hard masses, orange-brown, opaque, translucent on the edges; 
fracture waxy or resinous, somewhat conchoidal; odor saffron-like; taste strongly 
bitter. Mixed with alcohol and examined under the microscope, it exhibits num- 
erous crystals. Mixed with nitric acid, it acquires a red color. Barbadoes aloes is 
not colored, or acquires only a light bluish-green tint on being mixed with sul- 
phuric acid and blowing the vapor of nitric acid over the mixture (difference 
from Natal aloes')"-( U. S. P.). Barbadoes aloes is not so bright and clear as the Soco- 
trine variety, is of darker color, more compact texture, drier, though not so brittle, 
with a stronger and more disagreeable taste, being intensely bitter and nauseous, 
with little or nothing of the aromatic flavor of the Socotrine ; it is extremely apt 
to induce hemorrhoids, and is principally used among veterinary physicians. 
Aloe Socotrina (U.S.P.), Socotrine aloes. "In hard masses, occasionally 
soft in the interior, opaque, yellowish-brown, orange-brown or dark ruby-red, not 
greenish, translucent on the edges; fracture resinous, somewhat conchoidal. 
When breathed upon, it emits a fragrant, saffron-like odor. Taste peculiar, 
strongly bitter. Almost entirely soluble in alcohol and in 4 parts of boiling 
water. The aqueous solution becomes turbid on cooling and yields a deposit. 
Mixed with alcohol and examined under the microscope, Socotrine aloes exhibits 
numerous crystals. The powder, on being throughly dried' on a water-bath and 
then heated to 100° C. (212° F.), should not cake. Mixed with nitric acid, it acquires 
a reddish-brown color. Socotrine aloes is not colored blue on being mixed with sul- 
phuric acid and blowing the vapor of nitric acid over the mixture (difference from 150 
ALOE. 
Natal aloes')"-(U. S. P.). It is hard and friable in the winter, somewhat plastic 
in summer, and growing soft between the fingers; easily pulverizable; and, when 
reduced to powder, of a bright, golden color. Aloes of superior value, whether 
from the Island of Socotra or not, are often commercially designated as Socotrine 
aloes-(Ed., Duncan). 
Aloe Capensis, Cape aloes (Shining aloes). Cape aloes has a glossy or resinous 
fracture, a deep-brown or olive color, with a greenish tint, a shining, smooth sur- 
face ; and thin scales of it are nearly transparent, having a ruby color. Its odor 
is more powerful and unpleasant than the Barbadoes aloes; its taste peculiar and 
bitter; and its powder is bright yellow, somewhat like gamboge, but having a 
greenish tint. The finer East Indian varieties are sometimes confounded with 
the Socotrine. 
Other Aloes.-Hepatic aloes is the name applied to a variety of Socotrine 
aloes at one time commercial in Europe. Tn this country Barbadoes aloes has 
been called by this name. Any of the opaque and liver-colored aloes have also 
been known under this term. Jefferabad aloes (already referred to) is inferior in 
taste and odor to the Socotrine and has a lustrous, pitch-black color. Natal aloes, 
from Natal, is of a pale brown-vellow or a brown-gray color, quite different from 
the other varieties. It is carefully prepared, but the plant yielding it is still 
undetermined. Moka aloes, is a disagreeably odorous, nearly black, opaque 
variety, prepared in Arabia. Caballine aloes (Horse aloes) was the term by which 
impure and fetid grades of various sources were formerly known in European 
commerce. 
Aloe Purificata (U. S. P.), Purified Aloes.-The following is the Pharma- 
copoeia! method for purifying aloes and a description of the product: Take 
"Socotrine aloes, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.] ; 
alcohol, two hundred cubiccentimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fi5,366 Til]. Heat the aloes by 
means of a water-bath until it is completely melted. Then add the alcohol, and 
having stirred the mixture thoroughly, strain it through a No. 60 sieve, which 
has just been dipped into boiling water. Evaporate the strained mixture by 
means of a water-bath, constantly stirring, until a thread of the mass becomes 
brittle on cooling. Lastly, break the product when cold into pieces of a conven- 
ient size, and keep it in well-stoppered bottles. The product is in irregular, brit- 
tle pieces of a dull-brown or reddish-brown color, and having the peculiar, aro- 
matic odor of Socotrine aloes. It is almost entirely soluble in alcohol"-(U. S. P.). 
Aloe should never be boiled for any length of time, as its medicinal virtues are 
thereby diminished. It is dissolved by alcohol, whether diluted or not. A clear 
solution made with cold water reddens litmus, gives a deep, olive-brown color 
with ferric chloride, is deepened in color by alkalies, is unchanged with gelatin, 
and forms a copious yellow precipitate with acetate of lead. Heat occasions 
fusing, frothing, charring, and ignition, burning with a crackling noise, and a 
dense smoke which has the peculiar aloetic smell. 
Chemical Composition.-The disagreeable odor and taste of aloes is due to a 
pale yellow, mobile, volatile oil, but minute traces of it existing in the plant. 
Aloes contains a resin, Resin of aloes, being that portion which separates upon 
cooling the hot aqueous solution of the drug. The chief body of interest, how- 
ever, is that announced by T. & H. Smith, of Edinburg, and called aloin. As it 
was first found in Barbadoes aloes, it is now known as barbaloin, since a similar 
but distinctly different substance was later found in Socotrine aloes, called soca- 
loin, and in the Natal variety, nataloin, all three being closely connected chemic- 
ally, but having each distinctive differences. The aloetin (aloesin, resino-amara 
[of Braconnot], or aloe bitter), the bitter extractive of aloes of Robiquet and other 
early investigators, was probably aloin in an impure, or at least modified, condi- 
tion. The official aloin is composed of barbaloin or socaloin (see Aloinum). 
Barbaloin (C^H^Or, Sommaruga and Egger, 1874), forms small yellow crys- 
tals, soluble in water, alcohol and ether (see Aloinum). Brilliant yellow needles 
of bromaloin may be produced with it by treating its cold, aqueous solution with 
bromine water, and recrystallizing from alcohol; chloraloin may likewise be pro- 
duced from it. A rapidly-fading crimson color is struck when treated to a drop 
of nitric acid. Heated with the same acid, it yields aloetic, chrysammic, picric 
and oxalic acids (Tilden). ALOE. 
151 
Socaloin (Cr,H16O7, Sommaruga and Egger), was observed by Pareira (1852) 
in the liquid Socotrine aloes, brought into England and isolated, in 1856, by T. B. 
Groves, who regarded it as identical with the preceding. Histed (1871) proved it 
to be distinct. It forms in small, tufted, yellow needle-crystals, soluble in abso- 
lute alcohol, water, ether, acetic ether, and methyl alcohol (see Aloinum). Heated 
with nitric acid an orange-red coloration ensues, and acids corresponding with 
those obtained from barbaloin are obtained. This form is also known as zanaloin. 
Tilden, in 1886, obtained from both kinds of aloin yellow crystals of alorxanthin 
(methyl-tetraoxyanthraquinone) by oxidation with potassium chromate and sul- 
phuric acid. 
Nataloin (C16H18O7, Sommaruga and Egger) was first isolated by Prof. Fliick- 
iger. in 1871, from Natal aloes. It forms thin, light-yellow scales, soluble, accord- 
ing to Fliickiger, at 15.5° C. (60° F.), in methylic alcohol (1 in 35), acetic ether 
(1 in 50), ether (1 in 1236), and in absolute alcohol (1 in 230). Water, hot or 
cold, very sparingly dissolves it. It is soluble in alcohol (60 parts). Picric and 
oxalic acids, but not chrysammic acid, are formed from it by treatment with nitric 
acid. This variety does not yield a bromine compound. 
If the formulae above given for the three varieties of aloin by E. von Som- 
maruga and Egger, of Vienna (1874), be correct, these bodies would seem to consti- 
tute an homologous series. 
The following beautiful tests for the three aloins were pointed out by Histed: 
"A drop of nitric acid on a porcelain slab gives, with a few particles of barbaloin 
or nataloin, a vivid crimson, but produces little effect with socaloin. To distin- 
guish barbaloin from nataloin, test each by adding a minute quantity to a drop or 
two of oil of vitriol, then allowing the vapour from a rod touched with nitric acid 
to pass over the surface. Barbaloin (and socaloin) will undergo no change, but 
nataloin will assume a fine blue"-(^Pharmacographia). 
The afore-mentioned aloetic acid has the composition C7H2(NO2)2O, and is 
orange-red, while chrysammic acid (Ci4H4[NO2]4 [OH]2O), occurs in laminse of a 
vivid golden-yellow color. It has an explosive property when heated. Needles of 
an indigo color of the sublimable body hydrochrysamide, are produced from the 
last-named acid by means of deoxidizers. The resin of aloes was found by Til- 
den and Rammell, in 1872, to be separable into two resins-one soluble by pro- 
longed boiling; the other insoluble. While both are nearly similar to barbaloin 
in composition, the first lacks the elements of water, being regarded as the anhy- 
drid of barbaloin. The insoluble resin is very similar in structure. 
Czumpelik (1861), by prolonged boiling of Socotrine aloes with an alkali, 
and Hlasiwetz (1865) with sulphuric acid, obtained para-cumaric acid (CfiH4[0H].- 
CH:CH.COOH.). This, when fused with potassium hydroxide, yields para-oxyben- 
zoic acid. Alorcinic acid was also obtained with these bodies by Weselsky (1872). 
By distillation of aloes with quick-lime, Robiquet (1846) obtained a yellowish oil, 
aloisol, an odorous body since shown by Rembold to be a mixture of xylenol 
(dimethylated phenol), acetone, and hydrocarbons. Aloes, distilled with zinc- 
dust, yielded Graebe and Liebermann (1868) anthracene (C14H10), and Liebelt, in E. 
Schmidt's laboratory, methylanthracene. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Tonic, purgative, emmenagogue, and 
anthelmintic. In doses of from £ grain to 1 grain, 2 or 3 times a day, aloes 
exerts a decided tonic influence, but is seldom resorted to for this purpose. As 
a laxative and purgative, its applications are unbounded; it acts more especially 
on the muscular coat of the large intestines, rather increasing their peristaltic 
motion than effecting copious, thin or watery discharges; and from its tendency 
to produce heat and irritation about the anus, it is extremely improper (except 
in minute doses in debilitated individuals) for persons disposed to or troubled 
with piles. When applied endermically to an ulcer or blistered surface, it purges 
as effectually and promptly as when taken into the stomach ; 10 grains used 
thus will purge in from 6 to 10 hours. Administered to nursing mothers it will 
purge the sucking child. It is commonly supposed to have no action on the jeju- 
num or ileum; and some imagine it to influence the duodenum, especially 
the mouths of the biliary ducts, causing an increased flow of bile and stimulating 
the intestinal canal, when that secretion is suspended, as in jaundice. It acts 
upon the uterus, promoting the menstrual flow, which is partly owing to the 152 
ALOINUM. 
stimulation of the organ, and the determination of blood toward it, occasioned 
by the medicine. It is said that 1 to 3 grains of extract of hyoscyamus, or hops, 
or 2 grains of ipecacuanha, mixed with the aloetic dose, will prevent its irritat- 
ing effect on the lower intestines. An increase of the quantity of aloes beyond 
the medium dose is not attended by a corresponding increase of effect. Aloes has 
been efficacious in constipation, dyspepsia, and ascarides; in this last instance being 
used in form of an injection, 10 grains to 3 ounces of water, for children. In 
chlorosis and amenorrhcea, it has often proved serviceable, and is used for this pur- 
pose in various combinations. In cases of delicate females, with loss of appetite, 
torpor of the bowels, and suffering, with suppression of the menses, the following has 
been recommended for the purpose of exciting proper ovarian or uterine action : 
Take of the best aloes, pulverized, asafoetida, pulverized, each, | drachm ; canthar- 
ides, pulverized, 20 grains; mix and rub well together w'ith a little soap, and 
divide into 20 pills. Of these give from 1 to 3, 3 times a day. If the patient 
be very feeble, some of the salts of iron may also be added. Injections of aloes, 
composed of from 10 to 30 grains dissolved in 2 or 3 fluid ounces of water, and 
thrown up the rectum daily, and continued for a week previous to the menstrual 
period, have sometimes proved effectual. For habitual constipation, aloes should 
never be given in cathartic doses. Debility and marked intestinal torpor point 
to its selection. R Aloes, gr. j ; powdered ipecac, gr. ss; extract mix vom., gr. 
Mix. Make 1 pill. Sig.: Give 1 such pill from 1 to 3 times a day, accord- 
ing to the condition. If the liver is active, less of aloes will be required than 
if it be torpid. A pill of aloin, belladonna, ipecac and strychnine, is much 
used in chronic constipation. There are some cases of piles, with marked relaxation 
of the rectal tissues, that are benefited by minute doses of aloes or aloin, and both 
are effectual remedies in rectal prolapse, due to debility. In both cases there is an 
associated condition of feeble innervation, in which case the minute dose tends to 
increase the nutrition of the nervous system. 
Aloes should never be given in inflammatory affections, in irritable, plethoric 
habits, in gastritis, enteritis, and, as a rule, where piles are present; nor to females 
liable to sudden uterine evacuations, nor during pregnancy. In hemorrhoids it 
may be given when modified by combination, or in the minute doses above 
referred to. Soap, or an alkaline carbonate, lessens its irritant action. The 
union of other purgatives with aloes often modifies its tendency to irritate the 
rectum. One grain of aloes with 2 or 3 grains of sulphate of iron will also mod- 
ify this action, and wrill produce as much effect as 2 or 3 grains of aloes. As a 
laxative, aloes will be found useful in habitual constipation, from intestinal torpor, 
jaundice, scrofula, hypochondriasis; and as a cathartic, where there is a tendency to 
cerebral congestion. Dose of aloes is from | to 10, or even 20, grains; and the most 
convenient form of administration is that of pill. It enters as a constituent into 
a great number of useful compound remedies. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-"Atony of large intestine and rectum, 
mucoid discharges, prolapsus ani, pruritis ani, ascaris vermicularis " (Scudder, 
Dix. of Children, 1882). Difficulty in evacuating the lower bowel. 
ALOINUM (U. S. P.)-ALOIN. 
" A neutral principle obtained from several varieties of Aloes, chiefly Bar- 
badoes Aloes (yielding Barbaloin); and Socotra or Zanzibar Aloes (yielding 
Socaloin)-differing more or less in chemical composition and physical proper- 
ties, according to the source from which it is derived"-(U. S. Pf. 
Preparation.-There are several methods of preparing this substance. One 
part of aloes may be dissolved in 10 parts of boiling water, the fluid portion 
decanted, and slightly acidulated with hydrochloric acid (Groves). Or the aloes 
may be previously made acid with sulphuric, hydrochloric, or sulphurous acid, 
and allowed to stand a half-day (Tilden). Then rapidly evaporate to 2 parts 
and set aside, that crystals may form. To purify, recrystallize from alcohol very 
much diluted. These methods answer well for barbaloin. Socaloin is best 
obtained by digesting for a day 1 part of aloes in 3 parts of alcohol, and then 
boiling the mixture on a w'ater-bath for 2 hours. Cool, filter, and allow crystals 153 
ALSTONIA CONSTRICTA. 
to form, which are to be washed with a small portion of alcohol and then dried 
(Plenge, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1884). 
Description and Tests.-Barbaloin, when pure, crystallizes in stellated 
groups of small, prismatic needles, whose purity is shown by the color, which 
should not deepen by exposure to the air in desiccation. Its solutions in the 
alkalies and their carbonates are orange-yellow, and the liquid absorbs oxygen 
upon contact with the atmosphere, which rapidly deepens its color. Boiled 
with alkalies or acids, it is speedily transformed into a brown resin. Corrosive 
sublimate, nitrate of silver, or neutral acetate of lead, do not cause its precipita- 
tion; concentrated subacetate of lead produces a precipitate of an intense yellow, 
soluble in excess of water, and becoming deeper colored on exposure. Cold 
fuming nitric acid dissolves it, without disengaging gas, forming a reddish-brown 
liquid; to which, if sulphuric acid be added in great excess, a yellow, pulverulent 
body is thrown down, which explodes when heated. By dry distillation, aloin 
furnishes a slightly aromatic, volatile oil, and a quantity of resinous substance. 
It forms crystallized compounds with bromine, but not with chlorine, although it 
combines equally well with the latter. The official aloin may be either barbaloin 
or socaloin, or both. (For the chemistry of these substances, see under Aloe). 
" Minute, acicular crystals, or a microcrystalline powder, varying in color 
from yellow to yellowish-brown, odorless, or possessing a slight odor of aloes, of 
a characteristic, bitter taste, and permanent in the air. Barbaloin is soluble at 
15° C. (59° F.), in about 60 parts of water, 20 parts of alcohol, or 470 parts of 
ether. Socaloin is soluble in about 60 parts of water, 30 parts of absolute alcohol, 
380 parts of ether, or 9 parts of acetic ether. When heated, aloin melts, and, on 
ignition, it is consumed without leaving a residue. An alcoholic solution of 
aloin is neutral to litmus paper. An aqueous solution of aloin is colored green- 
ish-black by ferric chloride T.S., and slowly precipitated by basic lead acetate 
T.S. On adding a minute portion of barbaloin to a drop of cold nitric acid of 
specific gravity 1.200, on a white porcelain surface, a crimson color will be 
developed. Socaloin will produce scarcely any color when thus treated. In 
alkaline solutions, aloin is rapidly decomposed; in neutral, or acid solutions, 
only slowly"-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The action of aloin is similar to that of 
aloes, except that this agent will produce the effects of aloes in about one-third 
as large a dose, and is said to be freer from irritant effects. Dose : to £ grain. 
ALSTONIA CONSTRICTA-ALSTONIA BARK. 
The bark of Alstonia constricta, F. Mueller. 
Nat. Ord.-Apocynacese. 
Common Names: Native quinine of Australia, Australian fever bark, Fever bark, 
Bitter bark, Alstonia bark. 
Botanical Source.-The genus Alstonia comprises about twelve species, 
seven of them being given in Bentham's Flora of Australia. Thevare milk bear- 
ing shrubs or trees, with large, entire, generally 
whorled leaves, and terminal cymes of white flowers. 
Alstonia constricta, F. Mueller, is a lactescent, smooth 
tree, found growing only in Australia, and has large, 
opposite, entire oblong leaves about 4 inches long, 
borne on slender leaf-stalks. The flowers are small, 
white, numerous, and disposed in corymbose cymes. 
The calyx is deeply 5-parted and has ovate acute 
lobes. The corolla has a bell-shaped tube, about 
twice the length of the calyx, and 5 equal spreading 
lobes. The stamens are 5, distinct and included. 
The pistil consists of 2 carpels, with a single style. 
The fruit consists of a pair of slender, smooth pods, 
from 3 to 8 inches in length, and containing numer- 
ous, flat, pubescent seeds, the upper margins of which 
are fringed with long hairs. 
Fig. 15. 
Bark of Alstonia constricta. 154 
ALSTON IA CONSTRICTA. 
Description, Chemical Composition, and History.-The bark is used in 
Australia as an antiperiodic. As found in commerce, it is in pieces varying in 
length from 6 inches to 2 feet, from 4 inch to 3 inches in thickness, and from 2 
to 4 inches in width. That from the young trees or branches is often curled, 
like cinnamon bark, until the edges meet, or even overlap. The accurate descrip- 
tion given by Mr. Chas. Mohr in the Amer. Jour. Pharm., August, 1879. is as follows: 
" The bark occurs in semicircular pieces of various length, about 4 inches wide 
and from to 2 inches and over in thickness, according to the more or less 
exuberant development of the corky layers. The rough outer bark is furrowed 
by more or less broad and deep longitudinal fissures, presenting in the cross sec- 
tion a margin correspondingly deeply indented by irregular, more or less wide 
and deep sinuosities. The exposed surface of the bark is of a dingy gray-brown, 
and of an ochre color where fresh layers of cork are exposed. This outer bark, 
forming far the largest part, shows in the cross section a mottled yellow and 
brownish color, resulting from somewhat irregular, concentric layers of a clear 
ochry-yellow, alternating with bands of a deeper tint. It is of spongy texture 
and friable. The middle and inner layers, about | of an inch in thickness, are 
compact and homogeneous in the cross sections, of a yellow color, and under the 
lens appearing punctate from the darker faces of the bast-bundles; of a fibrous 
structure, hard and tough, and on the inner side serrated by longitudinal ridges, 
caused by the impressions of the bast-bundles upon the cambial layer. The 
powder of the bark is of a dingy yellow, and possesses a faint, not unpleasant 
odor, and a lasting, purely bitter taste. The active principles are contained 
chiefly in the middle and inner bark." 
This bark is of a comparatively recent introduction, having been shown for 
the first time in this country at the Centennial Exposition, in the Australian 
department, where it was asserted by its exhibitors to be a remedy for malarial 
fevers. A Cincinnati gentleman, having had his attention strongly attracted 
toward these assertions, procured a specimen of the bark and, after investigation, 
having found it to possess therapeutical virtues, he ordered a supply from Aus- 
tralia, intending to introduce it as a proprietary medicine. Prof. J. M. Scudder, 
of Cincinnati, persuaded him, however, to give up his intention, and allow it to 
come before the medical profession under its true name, Alstonia constricts, the 
positive identification of which Mr. Charles Mohr effected through specimens 
sent by him to Sir Joseph Hooker. 
The chemical constituents have been investigated repeatedly. Alstonine 
(chlorogenine of Hesse), is the name given in Wittstein's Organic Constituents of 
Plants, for an orange-yellow, amorphous alkaloid, isolated by Mueller and Rummel. 
Mohr (1879) found a substance agreeing with that of M. and R. in all respects, 
and announced the probable presence of another proximate constituent; but 
want of material prevented a thorough examination. Oberlin and Schlagden- 
hauffen {Pharm. Jour, and Trans., June, 1879, from ''''Jour, de Pharm. et de Chimie"). 
report an analysis of the bark, and the isolation of two alkaloids: One, alsto- 
nine, in crystalline tufts, bitter, colorless, soluble in alcohol, chloroform, and 
benzin; insoluble in cold, but somewhat in boiling water; soluble in nitric, 
hydrochloric and sulphuric acids, without color, but which neutralizes acids, 
changes red litmus paper to blue, and the acid solutions of which produce fluor- 
escent (blue) liquids. The other, il alstonicine,'" is amorphous, and is obtained 
from the mother liquor after the production of alstonine. It somewhat resembles 
alstonine, but is not as soluble in boiling water, turns a red-crimson color with 
nitric, and greenish-brown with sulphuric and hydrochloric acids, and the acid 
solutions are not fluorescent. In 1880, Hesse established with certainty the pres- 
ence of the following three alkaloids: Alstonine (C21H20N2O4), identical with his 
chlorogenine of 1865 and the alstonine of Palm (1863); orange-yellow, not easily 
soluble in water,-easily soluble in alcohol, chloroform, ether and dilute acids, the 
solutions having blue fluorescence. Porphyrine (C^H^N.sOo), is white and non- 
crystalline; dissolves in concentrated sulphuric acid with purple color, the acid 
solutions-being fluorescent, with blue color. Alstonidine, less soluble in petroleum 
benzin than porphyrine. Hesse indicated the existence of other alkaloids besides 
those mentioned. All reports agree, however, that these proximate principles 
exist in very small amount. Doubtless, either the bark in substance, or the ALSTONIA CONSTRICTA. 
155 
tincture, or the fluid extract, will be the medicinal preparations employed; the 
most effectual being prepared from the inner bark. 
Von Mueller appears to have been the first person who made known the feb- 
rifuge properties of this bark, in 1870, in an address before the Industrial 
Museum of Melbourne; in 1874, in a published statement relative to certain 
select plants, he again remarks that the bark of A. constricta is aromatic, bitter, 
and regarded as valuable in ague; also as a general tonic. It was subsequently 
referred to as an antiperiodic, in 1876, by Dr. A. Cathcart, of South Wales. Its 
introduction to the materia medica of this country justly belongs to Prof. J. M. 
Scudder, M. D., of Cincinnati. It is said that English brewers substitute it for 
hops in the making of pale export beer, for, unlike the hops, it will not produce 
headache (Christy). A decoction of fever bark is sold in some of the English 
colonies as " bitters." 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The inner bark of Alstonia con- 
stricta is said to possess marked antiperiodic properties, while the outer bark is 
stated to have been efficacious in curing certain forms of rheumatism. Further 
trials are needed, however, before it can be ranked as a substitute for quinine, or 
other of the cinchona alkaloids, yet it has proved as efficient in intermittents. 
" Hesse attributes to alstonidine properties analogous at once to those of quinine 
and to nux vomica. The experiments of Bancroft and of Bixby prove that 
this drug is valuable as a tonic febrifuge, and more valuable as a febrifuge than 
as a tonic, while the Alstonia scholaris is more generally employed against 
dysentery" (Beringer, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1895, p. 167). 
Prof. King has used the bark in several cases with prompt and decided suc- 
cess; four of these cases were small children. The inner bark was given to the 
patients in a dose of from 4 to 8 grains, an hour or two before the expected chill, 
repeating the dose 2 or 3 times, each time anterior to the anticipated chill. 
Three doses were usually required; in one case, only 1 dose was given, and in 
two others, 4 doses were taken before the chills disappeared. The most 
marked influence was in an obstinate case, tertian, invariably attended during 
the attacks with gastric pain and irritability, and neuralgic pains in the superior 
extremities; the first dose afforded much relief, and since the third dose the 
patient has been entirely free from any symptoms of the malady, and has, for 
the first time in several years, passed an autumnal season without any chills, 
while neighbors were suffering more or less severely from them. Professor Locke 
has used it successfully in chronic intermittent, but thinks it not so efficacious in 
the acute forms. Prof. J. M. Scudder also had considerable success with it. He 
regarded it an excellent tonic and restorative when the secretions are depraved, 
the bowels irregular, tongue inclined to be dirty, skin dirty and sallow, and the 
urine depositing a sediment {Spec. Med., 69). Many physicians have reported 
favorably as regards its antiperiodic virtues, having successfully used it where 
quinine had failed. From the fact that it corrects depraved states of the blood 
in malarial disorders, Webster contends that it should not be termed an anti- 
periodic, but rather a corrective of malarial cachexia. Dr. John Fearn favors 
its use in chronic malarial poisoning, and gives as its specific indications : Tongue 
dirty, skin sallow, and urine turbid, with periodicity. Gastro-intestinal disor- 
ders, depending upon chronic malaria, such as lienteric diarrhoea, dysentery, and 
atonic dyspepsia, are reputed to be cured by it. According to Dr. R. E. Kunze, 
of New York City, this bark possesses slightly narcotic, cerebro-stimulant, anti- 
periodic, febrifuge, and tonic properties; he has used it with success in several 
cases of intermittent fever, though, from its peculiar effects in certain cases, 
he is rather inclined to consider its use contraindicated in " patients of a deli- 
cate and highly nervous organization." Among the patients with whom it 
has acted favorably, it not only checks the ague, but appears also to prevent 
its return, for the season, at least. The bark is very bitter,'and produces dif- 
ferent effects with different parties; among these effects may be named a per- 
sistent disagreeable taste, more or less nausea or a sense of disgust, dizziness, 
pain in the forehead and occiput, tinnitus, weight in the epigastrium, etc. 
With many, the only appreciable symptoms noticed are the unpleasant taste 
left in the mouth and fauces, and the prompt disappearance of the chills. The 
dose of the bark, which should be well masticated, is from 2 to 8 grains; but 156 
ALSTONIA SCHOLARIS. 
the more desirable form for administration and efficacy appears to be the pow- 
dered bark, in capsules, 2 to 5 grains every 3 or 4 hours; as a tonic, grain doses. 
Of the tincture the dose will vary from 10 to 60 minims every hour or two, and 
should be given on the days of the attack, commencing several hours before the 
expected chill. This is certainly an agent that should be thoroughly tested by 
the profession. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Chronic malarial cachexia and gastro-in- 
testinal disorders depending thereon, with dirty, sallow, or tawny skin, and dirty, 
pasty tongue; the urine is turbid and cloudy, with urinary deposits. Periodicity, 
with exacerbations, and remissions, or intermissions. 
Related Species and other Antiperiodics.-Alstonia spectabilis, R. Brown. Poele-bark. 
Java. Contains, according to Hesse, a much larger proportion of alkaloids than the other 
Alstonias. Yields echitamine and alstonamine (alstonine of Scharl^e). Wrightia antidysenterica, 
R. Brown {Holarrhena antidysenterica, Nerium antidysentericum, Linn^). Nat. Ord.-Apocynaceee. 
Conessi bark, Codaga pala, Tellicherri bark. A rusty-hued, spongy, bitter bark, formerly much 
employed on the continent in dysentery and diarrhoea, and still in use in India. Haines (1858) 
extracted an impure alkaloid from it, which Stenhouse afterwards obtained pure. The former 
named it conessine; the latter, wrightine. Its composition has been variously given, and the 
name kurchicine has also been applied to it. It is amorphous, white, bitter, soluble in alcohol, 
diluted acids, and ether. As obtained and put on the market by Merck, it forms delicately 
interlaced crystalline masses. Holarrhena africana contains a similar alkaloid, and is used in 
Africa as a remedy for dysentery. 
Picrorrhiza Kurroa, Royle. India. The root of this plant, known as kali kutki, is used in 
India as a mild aperient and bitter stomachic. According to Dymock (Mat. Med. Western India), 
it is a powerful tonic, and is of much value as an antiperiodic, its slightly laxative qualities 
rendering it doubly efficient. 
Echites species.-Several species of Echites are used in India and South America. They 
and their uses are as follows: Echites syphilitica, Linn£ filius. Surinam. Used in syphilitic 
disorders. Echites antidysenterica, Roxburgh, Echites pubescens, Buchanan, Echites longiflora, Des- 
fontaines, Echites Curura, Martius, and Echites insignias, Sprengel; bark used in dysentery and 
diarrhoea. Echites caryophyllata, Roxburgh; leaves used in arthritic febrile complaints. Echites 
malabarica, Lamarck; root employed in fevers, and leaves topically to carbuncles. 
ALSTONIA SCHOLARIS-DITA BARK. 
The bark of Alstonia scholaris, R. Brown. 
Nat. Ord.-Apocynace£e. 
Common Names : Dita bark, Devil tree of India. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 173. 
Botanical Source.--Alstonia scholaris (Dita bark), is found throughout 
tropical Eastern Asia and the Malayan Archipelago (Bentham). It is a large 
tree, with smooth, entire, thick leaves disposed in 
whorls. The flowers resemble those of Alstonia 
constricta, but differ in having corolla tubes about 
three times as long as the calyx, and shorter 
pubescent lobes. The pods are slender and over 
a foot long. Don says it is a native of the East 
Indies and the Moluccas; the bark met with in 
commerce comes from the Phillippine and neigh- 
boring islands, and is the portion used in med- 
icine. The local name of the bark is satween. 
As a remedial agent dita is old, having been men- 
tioned, it is said, by Rheede (1678), and Rumphius (1741). 
Description.-Dita bark is about | inch thick, and is found in market 
in irregular sizes from 1 to 2 inches wide, and from 3 to 6 inches long. Extern- 
ally it is of a mottled pinkish or brownish and white color, rather smooth, but 
marked by shallow fissures w'hich are raised upon the edges and scarcely extend 
through the corky layer. The cork, a very thin layer, represented by the dark 
edge of the section b of our engraving, is brown. Internally, the color of the 
bark is light, slightly striated with yellowish layers or grains. In texture it is 
granular and brittle, resembling wild cherry bark from old trees. The taste is 
slightly bitter, free from astringency, not unpleasant, and may be compared to 
the aftertaste of wild cherry bark, and in like manner the bark is gritty between 
the teeth. 
Fig. 16. 
Bark of Alstonia scholaris. ALTHJEA. 
157 
Chemical Composition.-According to Husemann, Scharlee, in 1863, pub- 
lished an article on the preparation of an alkaloid which he named alstonine. 
Gruppe found in it about 2 per cent of a substance which possessed febrifuge 
powers, and he named it "ditain." It was prepared, according to Hildwein, in a 
manner similar to that used in making quinine; it is not an alkaloid, but a mix- 
ture of substances, as was verified by Gorup-Besanez, who found it to contain a 
crystallizable substance possessing the properties of an alkaloid. Jobst and 
Hesse (1875), separated the true alkaloid, ditamine (Ci6H19O2), from the bark, as a 
white amorphous powder, slightly bitter, soluble in ether, chloroform, benzene, 
and alcohol, being alkaline in reaction from the latter solution. It forms 
soluble salts, with diluted acids, which are very bitter; it dissolves with a 
reddish color, in sulphuric acid, and yellow in nitric acid, turning dark green 
at first when heated, then orange-red, with evolution of fumes of the same color. 
It was obtained only in about 0.02 per cent of the bark operated upon, and on 
this account can never be expected to come into general use as a febrifuge. A 
second alkaloid, ditaine (crystallizable) was obtained by Harnack in 1877, for 
which Hesse, in 1880, found the formula C22H28N2O4, and changed the name to 
echitamine. Besides, Hesse discovered a brown amorphous alkaloid which he 
named echitenine (C20H27NO4). In addition, there are present oxalate of calcium, 
fatty acid, crystallizable acid, and several fatty resinous substances called: 
Echicaoutchin (C^H^Cb); echicerin (C3oH4802); echitin (C32H52O2); echitein (C42H70O2); 
echiretin (CajH^Oj). These substances closely resemble resins obtained from 
other sources. Doubtless, the bark, if employed in medicine, will be either used 
in substance or in the form of tincture or fluid extract, as the proximate princi- 
ples can not become of much commercial importance. 
History.-In Ceylon coffins are made of this light wood {Treasury of Botany). 
According to Drury, the name "scholaris" is derived from the fact that its planks, 
when sanded, were used by school children for tracing letters. It is largely used 
in India for skin disorders (Dutt, Hindu Mat. Med.), and as a febrifuge. Accord- 
ing to Graham, the natives have a superstitious reverence for this tree, believing 
that all the forest trees assemble once a year to pay homage to it (Dymock). 
This bark is largely used by the natives of India (where it is official in the Phar- 
macopceia), as a remedy for bowel disorders, and to restore the tone of the gastro- 
intestinal tract after exhausting sickness, as from fever (Maiden). Woolen and 
cotton cloths are dyed various shades of yellow with this bark (Baron von 
Mueller's Exhibit, Melbourne, 1866). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Dita bark has been efficaciously 
employed in malarial fever; it does not, however, appear to be as prompt nor as 
active in its influence as the alstonia constricta bark, requiring to be used in 
somewhat larger doses. Alstonia scholaris has some reputation as a remedy for 
dysentery (Bancroft, Bixby). Its alkaloid may prove more efficient should it 
ever become more largely and less expensively prepared. Dose of the fluid 
extract, 1 to 4 fluid drachms. 
ALTHEA (U. S. P.)-ALTHEA. 
"The root of Althaea officinalis, Linne "-(C. S'. P.). 
Nat. Ord.-Malvaceae. 
Common Name: Marshmallow. 
Illustrations: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 35; Woodville, Med. Bot., 
198. 
Botanical Source.-Althaea officinalis is a peculiarly soft and downy, hoary, 
green herb, having a tap-shaped, rather woody root. It has several erect, simple 
stems, from 2 to 5 feet in height, round, leafy, tough, and pliant; the leaves are 
ovate or heart-shaped at the base, of various breadths, plaited. 5-ribbed, unequally 
serrated, petioled, soft and pliable, and more or less deeply divided into 5 acute 
lobes. The flowers are large, in very short, dense, axillary panicles, rarely sol- 
itary, of a delicate, uniform, blush color. The involucre has 8, 9, 10, or 12 divi- 
sions. The 1-seeded fruit is formed of numerous capsular carpels, closely and 
circularly arranged around the axis. 158 
History and Description.-This perennial herb is found commonly on the 
banks of rivers, and in salt marshes. It is indigenous to Europe, and portions of 
Asia, in some parts of which it is cultivated in great quantities for medical use; 
and moist, sandy soils are preferred. It flowers from July to September. The 
whole plant, but especially the root, abounds with mucilage. Although the 
plant grows to some extent in the United States, the root is principally obtained 
from Europe for medical purposes, that which comes from Germany being much 
whiter but not so thick as that from the south of France. As found in com- 
merce, the root is in pieces 3 or 4 inches long, or more, roundish, about | inch in 
diameter, with a feeble odor and very mucilaginous taste. It should be chosen 
plump, and little fibrous; with a very white surface, well cleared of its yellowish 
epidermis, downy from the mode of dressing it with files; and possessing no 
moldy, acid, nor musty odor, and no acid taste. Sometimes it is met with divided 
lengthwise. The plant contains nearly 20 per cent of mucilage-(Ed., Duncan). 
Both the flowers and leaves are occasionally employed by the Europeans. The 
root should be gathered in the early spring or autumn of the second (not later 
than the third) year's growth, and only the fleshy portions retained, the older, 
woody roots being valueless. 
The Pharmacopeia of the United States directs that Althaea shall conform 
to the following description : " In cylindrical or somewhat conical pieces, from 
10 to 15 Cm. (4 to 6 inches) long, 10 to 15 Mm. (.039 to .059 inch) in diameter, 
deeply wrinkled; deprived of the brown, corky layer and small roots; externally 
white, marked with a number of circular spots, and of a somewhat hairy appear- 
ance from the loosened bast fibres; internally whitish and fleshy. It breaks 
with a short, granular, and mealy fracture, has a faint, aromatic odor, and a 
sweetish, mucilaginous taste"-(U. S. Pf. 
Chemical Composition. - Althaea-root contains starch, pectin, mucilage, 
sugar,, lignin, calcium phosphate, fixed oil, a viscid material, and asparagin (A. 
Buchner). Asparagin (C4H8N2O3.H2O), is a colorless, crystallizable body, without 
taste or odor. Ether and alcohol do not dissolve it, but it is extracted from the 
root with water, from which it may be crystallized by concentrating the solu- 
tion. Its reactions prove it to be amido-succinamic acid, having the formula: 
CO2N.CH2.CHNH2.CONH2. When boiled with acids or alkalies, it splits into 
ammonia and amido-succinic acid or aspartic acid (C4H7NO4). Asparagin is dis- 
tinguished by its optical activity, being laevo-rotatory in aqueous solution, which 
changes to dextro-rotatory by the action of acetic acid. Asparagin, when pure, 
is stable in solution, but is susceptible to fermentation in the presence of 
albuminoid substances, whereby it is converted into ammonium succinate. 
Asparagin was discovered by Vauquelin and Robiquet, in 1805, in the juice 
of the asparagus plant, and in the marshmallow root, as althein, by M. Bacon, 
in 1826. It is identical with agedoite, found by Caventou in liquorice root 
(Jour. de Pharrm., xiv., 177), and is found in many other plants, e. g., comfrey, 
dahlia, potatoes, the roots of Robinia Pseudacacia, etc. The mucilage (free from 
starch) of the root is extracted with cold water; the starch by boiling water. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The root of this plant, as well as of 
each of the below mentioned plants described as substitutes, is demulcent and 
diuretic, and may be used indiscriminately, the one for the other. They will be 
found valuable, in the form of decoction, in diseases of the mucous tissues, as 
hoarseness, catarrh, pneumonia, gonorrhea, vesical catarrh, renal irritation, acute dysen- 
tery, and diarrhea. In strangury, inflammation of the bladder, hematuria, retention of 
urine, some forms of gravel, and indeed in nearly every affection of the kidney 
and bladder, their use will be found advantageous. Much use is made of them 
combined with equal parts of spearmint, in urinary derangements. They are like- 
wise efficacious in gastro-intestinal irritation and inflammation. As the decoction 
soon decomposes, or becomes moldy or acid, it should always be made in small 
quantities, not more than 1 or 2 pints at a time, according to the temperature of 
the weather. Externally, marshmallow root is very useful in the form of poul- 
tice, to discuss painful, inflammatory tumors, and swellings of every kind, whether 
the consequence of wounds, bruises, bums, scalds, or poisons; and has, when thus 
applied, had a happy effect in preventing the occurrence of gangrene. The infu- 
sion or decoction may be freely administered. 
ALTHEA. 159 
A LT H.R A. 
Belated Species.-Althaea rosea, Cavanilles (Alcea rosea, Linne). Common garden hollyhock. 
Native of China. Cultivated for its beauty in gardens. The flowers, capsules, and root are 
used for similar purposes as the marshmallow. The purple flowers are preferred, a concen- 
uated infusion of which colors white bibulous paper a fast purple-blue, which is turned a blue- 
green by alkalies, and red with acids. The root contains a considerable amount of mucilage, 
and is sometimes used as an emollient and demulcent. 
Althaea taurinensis, De Candolle. South Europe. Use, same as of Althaea officinalis. 
Malva sylvestris, Linn£. Common mallow. This is a perennial, hairy herb, sometimes 
called High-mallow, has a tapering, branching, whitish root, and an erect, round stem 2 or 3 
feet high. Leaves alternate, deep-green, soft, downy, serrated, plaited, with 7 acute lobes, on 
hairy petioles; uppermost with fewer, but deeper and more acute lobes than the lower ones. 
Flowers large, numerous, of a shining purple, veiny, on simple, aggregate, hairy axillarv 
stalks. Calyx 5-cleft. Petals 5, inversely cordate, thrice the length of the calyx. Stamens 
indefinite, monadelphous. Pollen large, whitish. Ripe carpels reticulated at the back.- 
(L.-G.). 
Malva rotundifolia, Linne. Low-mallow, or Round-mallow, called by children who are fond 
of eating the fruit, cheeses; has a fusiform root and prostrate stem; leaves of a fine, delicate 
texture, roundish, cordate, or somewhat reniform, crenate, obtusely 5 or 7-lobed, on long, 
hairy petioles. Flowers pale-pink, deeply-notched petals, on aggregate, axillary peduncles. 
Fruit depressed-globose, composed of the numerous carpels arranged circularly (W.). 
The M. sylvestris is a native of Europe, and is naturalized in this country, growing abund- 
antly in fields, roadsides, and waste places, and flowering from May to October. The whole 
plant, especially the root, abounds in mucilage. The M. rotundifolia, a very common, trouble- 
some plant, growing around dwellings and in cultivated grounds together with other species 
of this genus, possesses similar properties, and they may be substituted for each other. The 
herb and flowers are inodorous, with a weak, herbaceous, mucilaginous taste. Water extracts 
their mucilage, and acetate of lead precipitates the solution. The root and seeds may be also 
used, as they contain much mucilage. The blue infusion, or tincture of the flowers, is turned 
green by alkalies, and red by acids, thus forming an exceedingly delicate indicator. Mallows 
possesses the properties common to mucilaginous herbs. An infusion forms an excellent 
demulcent in coughs, irritations of the air passages, flux, affections of the kidneys and bladder, 
etc. It may also be used in injection. The herb, bruised, forms a good emollient cataplasm 
to boils and inflammatory conditions of external parts. Low-mallows makes a good ointment for 
use on sores in horses. 
Malva vulgaris, Fries. (Malva neglecta, Wallroth). Europe. Together with leaves of M. syt- 
vestns, the source of German official Mallow-leaves. 
Abutilon Avicennas, Gsertner. (Sida Abutilon, Linne). Indian mallows. Velvet leaf. Indigen- 
ous to the Levant. Naturalized in Europe and the United States, where it is a common 
weed. Emollient and diuretic. Cultivated in China as a substitute for hemp. 
Hibiscus Moscheutos, Linne. (Hibiscus palustris). Marsh rose hibiscus. U.S. Marsh hibis- 
cus has a root very much resembling that of the Marshmallow, possesses exactly the same 
properties, and may be as effectually used. It is a tall, showy, perennial plant, growing in 
salt marshes, near salt springs, and on wet prairies, and flowers in August. 
Hibiscus virginicus, Sweat weed. Marshes along the Atlantic from New York southward. 
Has the mucilaginous properties of the Althaeas. 
Hibiscus esculentus, Linne. (Abelmoschus esculentus, Guillemin and Perrotett). (See Hibiscus). 
Abelmoschus moschatus, Moench (Hibiscus Abelmoschus, Linne). (See Hibiscus). 
Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis, Linne. China rose. The bark of the stem is reputed emmena- 
gogue, while the root is employed in the Eastern world like Marshmallow. It is a cultivated 
species. 
Hibiscus Sabdariffa, Linne. Africa. Red sorrel. Cultivated in tropical climes. It is 
known in the Mexico-Texan regions as Jamaica. The calyx, which contains mucilage, malic, 
tartaric, and possibly oxalic acids, in a free state, is the part employed. 
Sida floribunda, Peru. Contains an abundance of mucilage. The leaves, which are 
thickly beset with minute, stiff spines, are reputed a mechanical vermifuge (Martinet). 
Sida rhombifolia. Queensland hemp. Jelly leaf. Contains an abundance of mucilage, and is 
employed as a poultice and a remedy in respiratory complaints. 
Species.-Species Pectorales (N. F.), Pectoral species. Species ad infusum pectorale. Breast 
tea. (German Pharmacopoeia). Formulary number, 344: "Althaea, peeled, 8 parts; coltsfoot 
leaves, 4 parts; glycyrrhiza, Russian, peeled, 3 parts; anise, 2 parts; mullein flowers, 2 parts; 
orris root, 1 part. Cut, bruise, and mix them. Note.-Coltsfoot leaves are derived from 
Tussilago Farfara, Linne. Mullein flowers are from Verbascum Thapsus, G. Meyer. Infusum 
pectorale (pectoral infusion, or infusion of pectoral species), is made by infusing 1 troy ounce 
of the above preparation, in the usual manner, so as to obtain 10 fluid ounces of strained pro- 
duct "-(Nat. Form.). As the name of this preparation implies, it is employed by the Germans 
in various pulmonic complaints, attended with cough. 
Species Emollientes (N. F.), Emollient species. Emollient cataplasm. (German Pharmaco- 
poeia). Formulary number, 342: "Althsea leaves, mallow leaves, melilot tops, matricaria, flax- 
seed, of each, equal parts. Reduce them to a coarse powder, and mix it uniformly. Note.- 
Mallow leaves are derived from Malva vulgaris, Fries, and Malva sylvestris, Linne. Melilot tops 
are the leaves and flowering branches of Melilotus officinalis, Desrousseaux, and Melilotus altissi- 
mus Thuilliers"-(Nat. Form.). This is designed for the ready preparation of an emollient 
poultice for various inflammations, swellings, etc. 160 
ALUMEN. 
ALUMEN.-(U. S. P.)-ALUM. 
I. Alumen, U. S. P. (Aluminii et Potassii Sulphas). 
Formula: A12K2(SO4)4-|-24H2O. Molecular Weight: 946.46. 
Synonyms : Alum, Potash alum, Potassium alum. 
II. Aluminii et Ammonii Sulphas. 
Formula: A12(NII4)2(SO4)424H2O. Molecular Weight : 904.42. 
Synonyms: Alum, Ammonia alum, Ammonium alum. 
Source.-These salts are double sulphates of aluminum and an alkali man- 
ufactured from clay, from alum stone (alunite), from cryolite, and from aluminous 
schist, or alum slate, often containing pyrites. Common alum (potash alum) is 
chiefly found in volcanic countries, in the earth of which it exists naturally. 
Preparation.-Alum is prepared in several ways. Pipe-clay (aluminum sil- 
icate), which should contain but little iron, is calcined and then mixed with hot 
sulphuric acid until a paste-like magma results; the mixture then being exposed 
to the atmosphere, will be gradually changed to aluminum sulphate. If this be 
mixed with either sulphate of potassium or ammonium in solution, alum will 
be deposited in crystals. To render the combination of the acid less difficult, the 
clay is sometimes heated in a reverberatory furnace with from 10 to 20 per cent of 
charcoal or gas coke. Again, when alum-stone, which contains the elements of 
alum (potassium sulphate and aluminum sulphate), combined with hydroxide 
of aluminum, is roasted, thrown into piles, and kept moist for a number of 
months, it will be found to have been changed to alum, which may be readily 
obtained by lixiviation with water and then crystallized. This calcined alunite, 
or alum-stone, yields a very pure alum. To obtain it from aluminous schist, or 
alum slate, which is principally aluminum silicate (clay), containing iron sul- 
phide, bitumen, and lime and manganese in small amounts, the slate, if dense, is 
piled in alternate layers with wood or coal, and slowly calcined; or if the slate be 
not too compact, the roasting is dispensed with and the slate is at once subjected 
to the process of weathering. The shale is crushed, thrown into heaps, and 
exposed to the air for an extended length of time-sometimes for years. By oxi- 
dation, iron sulphide is converted into ferric sulphate and sulphuric acid, which 
acts upon the aluminum silicate, converting it into aluminum sulphate. The 
mass is then lixiviated. To the concentrated solution, while hot, is added potas- 
sium chloride (obtained from waste in soap-boiling, and from nitre works), which 
combines with the iron sulphate, yielding chloride of iron and sulphate of 
potassium. The iron salt remains in solution while the alum formed separates 
as a powder when the liquor cools. The alum is then purified by recrystallizing 
several times, the last operation being conducted in large retainers, which may 
easily be taken apart so as to detach the alum crystals. This process yields 
potash alum. If, however, ammonium sulphate be used instead of potassium 
chloride, ammonia alum is the result. The ammonium sulphate is usually 
obtained from the refuse of gas works. 
Alum is extensively made by treating the mineral, cryolite, with concen- 
trated sulphuric acid, applying heat to it, and then washing out the sodium sul- 
phate formed, with cold water. The resulting aluminum sulphate is dissolved in 
hot water, and to the solution is added ammonium or potassium sulphate. The 
alum is then crystallized. The only alum now recognized by the U. S. Pharma- 
copoeia is the potash alum. Both alums in commerce contain a variable portion 
of iron, not more than 8 per cent, which may be detected by potassium ferro- 
cyanide, which produces with the alum solution a bluish coloration. 
Description.-The official Alum (potassium alum), is thus described by the 
Pharmacopoeia: "Large, colorless, octahedral crystals, sometimes modified by 
cubes, or in crystalline fragments, without odor, but having a sweetish and 
strongly astringent taste. On exposure to the air, the crystals are liable to absorb 
ammonia, and acquire a whitish coating. Soluble in 9 parts of water at 15° C. 
(59° F.), and in 0.3 part boiling water; it is also freely soluble in warm glycerin, 
but is insoluble in alcohol. When gradually heated, it loses water; at 92° C. 
(197.6° F.), it melts, and if the heat be gradually increased to 200° C. (392° F.), 
it loses all its water of crystallization (45.52 per cent of its weight), leaving a 161 
ALUMEN. 
voluminous, white residue. The salt has an acid reaction on litmus paper" 
-(U. S. P). Its density is 1.724. A very strong heat expels its acid. Ether 
refuses to dissolve it. Alum in solution is precipitated by potassium and sodium 
hydrates; also by aqua ammonise and alkaline carbonates. The precipitate, 
A12(OH)6 (see Alumini Hydras), is easily soluble in excess of potassium or sodium 
hydrate, but not of ammonium hydrate, forming aluminates of these metals 
(Al2O4Na2 or A12O4K2), and may be reprecipitated by boiling the solution with 
ammonium chloride; also carbonic acid gas decomposes the aluminate. As the 
physical properties of both the ammonium and potassium alum are identical, 
a description of the one will answer for that of the other. The ammonium 
alum may be differentiated from the potassium alum by adding to it an 
excess of alkali and heating, whereupon ammonia gas will be evolved, which 
may be known by its odor. If the same be heated to complete redness, alum- 
ina is produced. If potassium alum be mixed with powdered charcoal and 
heated without access of air, in a flask or retort, an inflammable powder, 
capable of spontaneous ignition upon exposure to the atmosphere, is produced. 
This is known as Hamberg's pyrophorus, and is a mixture of charcoal, potassium 
sulphide, and alumina. A solution of alum dissolves the metals usually dis- 
solved by weak sulphuric acid. Ammonium alum has a density of 1.631 and 
contains 47.6 per cent of water of crystallization, which is completely expelled 
when heated higher than 205° C. (401° F.). 
Tests.-For Alumen (U. 8. P.): "The aqueous solution of the salt affords, 
with ammonia water, a white, gelatinous precipitate, which is nearly insoluble 
in excess of ammonia. Another portion of the aqueous solution yields, with 
barium chloride T.S., a white precipitate, insoluble in hydrochloric acid. When 
a saturated solution of thesalt is actively shaken with tartaric acid T.S., it affords, 
within half an hour, a white, crystalline precipitate. The aqueous solution of 
alum affords, with potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., a white, gelatinous precip- 
itate, which is completely soluble in an excess of the alkali, and this alkaline 
solution should not evolve the odor of ammonia, even when heated (distinction 
from and absence of ammonium alum). A 5 per cent aqueous solution of the 
salt should not be affected by hydrogen sulphide T.S. (absence of copper, lead, or 
zinc), and 20 Cc. of this solution should not at once assume a blue color on the 
addition of 5 drops of potassium ferrocyanide T.S. (limit of iron) "-(U. S. P.). 
Alumen Exsiccatum (U. S. P.), Dried Alum. (Alumen ustum, Burnt alum). 
Formula: A12K2(SO4)4. Molecular weight, 515.42. Preparation: Take "Alum, in 
small pieces, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av.,231 grs.]; to make fifty-five 
grammes (55 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 411 grs.]. Place the alum in a shallow porcelain cap- 
sule so as to form a thin layer, and heat it on a sand-bath until it liquefies. Then 
continue the application of a moderate heat, with constant stirring, until aqueous 
vapor ceases to be disengaged, and a dry, white, porous mass is obtained, weighing 
fifty-five grammes (55 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 411 grs.]. When cold, reduce the product 
to a fine powder, and preserve it in well-stoppered bottles "-( U. 8. P.). 
Description: "A white, granular powder, without odor, possessing a sweetish, 
astringent taste, and attracting moisture on exposure to the air. It is very 
slowly, but completely, soluble in 20 parts of water at 15° C. (59° F.), and 
quickly soluble in 0.7 part of boiling water. Its aqueous solution should respond 
to the reactions and tests of alum (see Alumen) "-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Alumen. Alum corrugates and con-, 
stricts the organic fibres, condensation probably being due to its power of coag- 
lating albumen. It contracts the capillaries and coagulates the blood, and is 
therefore very useful in passive hemorrhages. In large doses it may act as a gastro- 
intestinal irritant. An ounce in solution killed a man, severe gastro-intestinal 
burning and pain being experienced and inflammation induced. In doses of 
from 30 to 60 grains, repeated every 3 or 4 hours, alum exerts a purgative influ- 
ence; if these doses are repeated every 10 or 15 minutes, they will cause vomiting. 
From 5 to 20 grains, dissolved in some aromatic infusion, and repeated every 3 or 
4 hours, will exert an astringent-tonic influence. As an astringent, alum has 
been used in passive hemorrhages and immoderate secretions, as in diarrhoea attend- 
ing typhoid fever, night sioeats of exhausting diseases, passive bleeding from the lungs 
(best by spray), stomach, kidneys or uterus, fluor albus, etc. In the inflammatory 162 
ALUMINI HYDRAS. 
stage of gonorrhoea, it will often be found useful in solution with an infusion of 
marshmallow. In colic, it has been found very useful when given in large doses, 
especially in that form of colic to which workers in lead are subject. In spasm of 
the glottis and diseases of the throat, accompanied with membraniform exudation, it 
is advised in emetic doses. It should only be used in croupous complaints when 
the secretions are free and loose. As an anti-spasmodic, it appears to exert a 
beneficial influence in pertussis. In several affections of the throat, alum, in 
solution, may be beneficially employed as a gargle, or it may be finely powdered, 
and blown upon the parts through a quill or small tube; thus used it will be 
found valuable in sore throat, relaxed uvula, etc. In the form of powder spray it 
will be found especially useful in many chronic mucous diseases, as in congestion, 
catarrhal affections, chronic angina, thickening of the mucous tissue, etc. Its solution 
may also be used as a wash for ptyalism, and as an injection in ^Ze^and leucorrhoea, 
alone or conjoined with sulphate of zinc. It has likewise proved very useful in 
purulent ophthalmia of infants, and in the later stages of conjunctival inflammation. 
The crystal (pencil), once much employed in conjunctival diseases, is not much 
used at present. In colica pictonum, it may be given in doses of from 30 to 60 
grains, every 3 hours; it mitigates all the unpleasant symptoms of this disease 
more promptly and permanently than any other remedy. Singularly, it will 
relieve some cases of obstinate constipation. These cases are chiefly those in which 
there is marked atony, due to habitual distension of the bowels with gas. 
R Alum, grs. ij to iij; aqua, fl^iv. Mix. Sig. Teaspoonful every 2 hours. It is 
often used externally, either in powder or solution, to check bleeding from the nose, 
excessive menstruation, and to check the bleeding from cut surfaces; it may be 
applied on lint, or on a small piece of sponge if used in solution. From 4 to 10 
grains of alum to 1 ounce of water, is of sufficient strength for a collyrium. To 
use in the form of spray in faucial, tracheal, laryngeal, and nasal affections, a solu- 
tion of from 4 to 15 grains of alum to 1 fluid ounce of water may be used. I 
have found much advantage from the use of the following preparation in trouble- 
some cough, especially when attended with tickling or irritation of the fauces, 
larynx, etc.: Take of a saturated solution of alum, syrup of balsam of tolu, each, 
2 fluid ounces; camphorated tincture of opium, 1 fluid ounce. Mix. The dose 
for an adult is a tablespoonful 3 or 4 times a day, or whenever the cough is very 
troublesome (Prof. John King, M. D.). Vulvar pruritis, inflammation of the vulva in 
the young, and leucorrhoea are well treated with alum. In the latter complaint 
use a solution of borax one day, and one of alum the next (Locke). 
Alumen Exsiccatum. Dried or burnt alum, (Alumen ustum), is principally 
used as a mild escharotic, to destroy exuberant spongy granulations, known as proud 
flesh. It differs from alum only in the absence of water, being therefore more 
powerful, and may, like it, be used in form of powder spray. 
Alum Whey, is made by boiling alum with milk, in the proportion of 5 
grains of the former to every fluid ounce of the latter, and then straining 
off the thin liquor (C.). It may be given internally, in diarrhoea, etc., in doses 
of from ounce to 1 or 2 ounces. Externally, applied over the eye as a poultice, 
it is very serviceable in inflammation of that organ. 
Alum Curd, is prepared by mixing 30 grains of alum with the white of an 
egg. It is of value in conjunctival inflammations, and as an application to the face 
when poisoned by Rhus Toxicodendron. 
ALUMINI HYDRAS (U. S. P.)-ALUMINUM HYDRATE. 
Formula: A12(OH)6. Molecular Weight: 155.84. 
Synonyms : Aluminum hydroxide, Hydrated alumina. 
Source.-Aluminum hydroxide is found in ashes of cryptogamous plants, 
being most plentiful in certain lycopodiums. It occurs native in some rare min- 
erals, as gibbsite (A12[OH]6), and diaspore (A12[OH]2O2), the former in America, the 
latter in Europe. The alkalies and their carbonates precipitate salts of alumi- 
num from solution; in this way aluminum hydrate is prepared for medicinal 
use. It may be obtained from cryolite as a by-product in the manufacture of 
sal soda (sodium carbonate) from this source (see Sodii Carbonas). ALUMINI HYDRAS. 
163 
Preparation.-"Alum, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]; 
sodium carbonate, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.] ; distilled 
water, a sufficient quantity. Dissolve each salt separately in one thousand cubic 
centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fig, 391 Hl] of distilled water, filter each solution, and 
heat it to boiling. Then having poured the hot solution of sodium carbonate 
into a capacious vessel, gradually pour in the hot solution of alum, with constant 
stirring, and add an equal volume of boiling distilled water. Let the precipitate 
subside, decant the clear liquid, and pour upon the precipitate two thousand 
cubic centimeters (2000 Cc.) [67 fls, 302 1R] of hot distilled water. Again 
decant, transfer the precipitate to a strainer, and wash it with hot distilled 
water, until the washings produce not more than a faint cloudiness with 
barium chloride T.S. Then allow it to drain, dry it at a temperature not ex- 
ceeding 40° C. (104° F.), and reduce it to a uniformly fine powder"- (U. S. P.). 
This formula was essentially elaborated by Prof. J. U. Lloyd (see New Remedies, 
1879, p. 237). 
Description and Tests.-Aluminum hydrate is a light, amorphous powder, 
white, insoluble both in water and alcohol. It remains permanent in a dry 
atmosphere, and is without taste or odor. It readily and completely dissolves in 
sulphuric and hydrochloric acids, and in caustic potash and soda solutions, form- 
ing aluminates in the latter cases. It loses about 34.6 parts of water of hydra- 
tion when heated to redness (U. S. P.). Aluminum hydrate has the property of 
forming insoluble compounds with coloring matters, as for example, madder or 
cochineal; hence the use of aluminum salts in the preparation of lakes, e. g., car- 
mine lake 'prepared from cochineal, and as mordants in dyeing fabrics. " A 
solution of 1 Gm. of aluminum hydrate in 20 Cc. of diluted hydrochloric acid 
should not at once assume a blue color on the addition of 1 drop of potassium 
ferrocyanide T.S. (limit of iron), and should not give more than a faint cloudi- 
ness with barium chloride T.S. (limit of sulphate). When dissolved in potassium 
or sodium hydrate T.S., it should yield no precipitate with hydrogen sulphide 
T.S. (absence of zinc or lead); and when boiled with 20 parts of water, and fil 
tered, the filtrate should not leave more than a slight residue on evaporation (limit 
of alkali salts)"-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Absorbent, desiccant, and protective. 
Like the oxides of bismuth and zinc, it may be applied to inflammations, burns, 
and excoriations, and some of the diseases of the skin; it is likewise feebly astring- 
ent, and, like magnesium oxide, it may be used in acid states of the digestive 
organs resulting in diarrhoea and dyspepsia. Dose : 3 to 6 grains. 
Aluminum and Its Compounds.-Symbol: Al. Atomic Weight: 27.4. Aluminum or 
Aluminium. This is the metallic basis of the earth Alumina (Aluminum oxide, A12O3) and 
is widely distributed in the earth's crust, forming the basic part of common clay (aluminum 
silicate) and various double silicates containing potassium, sodium, and other metals, as, for 
instance, the feldspar or garnet group. The metal, however, is not readily obtainable from 
its compounds except by somewhat laborious processes. It was first isolated, in 1827, by 
Wohler, by melting together metallic potassium and chloride of aluminum under exclusion 
of the air. St. Clair-Deville, in 1854, was the first to isolate the metal in large quantities, 
obtaining it by the action of sodium upon sodium-aluminum-chloride, this salt having the 
advantage over aluminum chloride of being less hygroscopic. The metal obtained in this pro- 
cess was naturally very expensive. Bunsen, in 1854, was the first to prepare aluminum by 
the electrolysis of aluminum chloride, and in recent years the electrolytic separation of alum- 
inum has become the dominant mode of manufacture, the details of which are mostly kept 
secret. Aluminum may now be counted among the common metals, costing at present only 
45 cents a pound, while in 1879 one pound was as high as $20. 
Aluminum is nearly as white as silver, malleable and ductile in the highest degree. When 
worked it appears to become harder, and its tenacity probably approaches that of iron. It 
may be hardened, and again softened, by annealing. Its specific gravity is about 2.600. It may 
be melted and run out into the air without being sensibly oxidized. It is a good conductor of 
heat, and, when pure, is completely unalterable in dry or moist air. If not contaminated w ith 
metallic sodium, of wrhich it is liable to contain from 1 to 3 percent (Moissan, Drug. Circ., 1896), 
it will not become tarnished, and remains bright by the side of freshly cut zinc and tin, w bile 
the latter lose their brilliancy. It is not acted upon by hydrogen sulphide. Cold water has 
no action upon it, but boiling water oxidizes it slowly at 100° C. (212° F.). Nitric acid, either 
concentrated or diluted (Wohler), and diluted sulphuric acid, wdien applied cold are also said 
to be without action upon it. With hydrochloric acid it evolves hydrogen, and forms chloride 
of aluminum. When heated to redness in hydrochloric acid gas, dry and volatile chloride of 
aluminum is produced. It is also soluble in alkaline liquids. Aluminum is highly sonorous. 164 
ALUMINI HYDRAS. 
Great claims have been made for this metal, many believing it destined to supersede iron as a 
construction material; also that it will replace the metals now in general use in the making of 
household utensils. These enthusiasts, however, overlook the fact that it is soluble in aika- 
lies, forming aluminates, with the liberation of hydrogen. Were it to become a kitchen 
utensil, the constant use of soap and alkaline solutions in common use for the cleansing of 
such vessels would gradually dissolve the aluminum utensils. Again, if employed for cook- 
ing, the use of common salt (sodium chloride), which is a common necessity in nearly all cul- 
inary processes, would be apt to have a disintegrating effect upon the meta! (see e.g., data in 
Comey, Diet, of Inorganic Solubilities). It is, however, exceedingly useful in the manufacture 
of many ornamental articles, rivaling silver in its beauty. Its remarkable levity and freedom 
from oxidation renders it very valuable in the production of clocks, picture frames, etc. Some 
useful surgical and gynecological appliances are now made of this metal. Until recently, no 
method of soldering aluminum was known, but this now seems to have been accomplished. 
An alloy of zinc, tin, aluminun and phosphorus, is stated by Prof. J. Richards to make a good 
soldering material {Drug.Circ., 1894). An alloy, of golden color, known as aluminium bronze, is 
composed of copper 90 parts, aluminum 10 parts. Aluminum as a base gives rise to the alums 
and other medicinal salts. 
Aluminum oxide (A12O3).-This compound exists in the mineral Corundum, a substance 
almost as hard as the diamond, forming crystals of the rhombohedric form, and varying con- 
siderably in color. It has several modifications or varieties which are transparent and used 
as precious stones, their color, as a rule, giving them their distinctive appellations. Thus, we 
have the Sapphire (blue), the Ruby (red, by the presence of chromium), Oriental topaz (yellow), 
Oriental amethyst (violet), Oriental emerald (green). The well-known polishing powder, emery, 
known also as Lapis smiridis, or Lapis smyris, or Schmirgel, is a coarser modification of corun- 
dum. Alumina, or oxide of aluminum, in grain doses of the lx trituration, or 1 centesimal 
triturate, is indicated where the patient cannot pass the urine without great straining (Scudder, 
Table of Spec. Ind.). 
Alumini Acetas, Aluminum acetate (A12[C2H3O2]8 tH20).-This may be made by double 
decomposition of lead acetate and aluminum sulphate, when, by evaporation at a low heat, a 
styptic, gum-like product results, having acid properties. It may be prepared also by dissolv- 
ing hydroxide of aluminum in acetic acid (cold). A solution (impure) is made by adding an 
aqueous solution of 5 parts of alum to an aqueous solution of 6 parts of lead acetate. This salt 
is a valuable antiseptic and antiputrefaetive agent. In its general action it resembles alum. It 
removes the odor of foul secretions, as sweat, etc., and has been employed as an embalming 
liquid. Furuncles of the external auditory meatus have been aborted by it. It is a valuable 
deodorant in gangrene, besides preventing consequent pyemia. Aluminum acetate is used as a 
mordant in dyeing. 
Alumini Chloridi, Aluminum chloride (A12C16).-This salt is prepared from a solution of 
hydroxide of aluminum in hydrochloric acid, which, when carefully evaporated, yields crys- 
tals containing 12 molecules of water. The anhydrous salt volatilizes; the hydrated salt 
decomposes when heated. It is dissolved by water and alcohol. A disinfecting solution is 
made by mixing solutions of alum (2 parts) and anhydrous calcium chloride (1 part), and filter- 
ing. On account of its lack of odor, it is especially useful in the sick room, as its deodorizing 
property is similar to that of acetate of aluminum, for which it may be substituted. Alumi- 
num chloride finds a most useful application in organic synthesis (Friedel and Crafts). 
Chloralum.-This deodorizer and disinfectant contains aluminum chloride to the extent 
of 15 per cent. Copper and arsenic, alum, alkaline sulphates, calcium chloride, and hydro- 
chloric acid, are also ingredients. It has likewise been employed to check hemorrhages. 
Alumini Nitras, Aluminum nitrate (A12[NO3]64-18H2O).-This salt is deliquescent, and 
difficult to obtain in crystalline form. Twenty parts of nitric acid are employed to dissolve 
such an amount of aluminum hydroxide as will be yielded by 33 parts of potash alum, or 31.5 
parts of ammonia alum. This salt has been used in solution as an application to itching sur- 
faces, as pruritis vulvee. 
Alumini Aceto-Tartras, Aluminum aceto-tartrate. Aluminum acetico-tartaricum. - Take 
basic acetate of aluminum, 5 parts, tartaric acid, 2 parts, water q. s. Solve and evaporate to 
dryness. The salt thus formed is in almost colorless, shining masses, amorphous, soluble in 
water, insoluble in alcohol, has an astringent, sour taste, and a weak, vinegar-like odor. An 
aqueous solution of it has been employed as an astringent and antiseptic. Its action is simi- 
lar to that of acetate of aluminum. It is nonpoisonous, and has been employed in ozena and 
other offensive conditions. The aceto-glycerinate of aluminum has similar medical properties. 
Ultramarine.-An Asiatic mineral known as Lapis lazuli {lazulite), formerly furnished 
this pigment. Lazulite is a compound of aluminum and sodium silicate with sodium poly- 
sulphide. At the present time it is artificially produced by the ton, the color of the artificial 
product exceeding in beauty even that prepared from the mineral. Several colors are pre- 
pared, and known as white, green, violet, red, and blue ultramarines. Ultramarine is made by 
heating together a mixture of white clay with sodium sulphate and carbonaceous material in 
crucibles; a variety richer in silica is obtained by heating clay with finely ground quartz sand, 
soda, sulphur, and colophony in muffled furnaces; a blue product thereby at once results. 
The composition of the artificial product is not definitely known. The blue variety is largely 
employed in neutralizing the yellowness of paper, sugar, starch, and other materials. Ultra- 
marine was first observed, in 1814, by Tessaert, in the black-ash furnaces of glass works, and 
found identical with lapis lazuli by Vauquelin. It was first prepared artificially, simultane- 
ously by Guimet and by Gmelin, in 1824, the investigation being carried on at the instance of 
the French government, which offered a prize therefor. Ultramarine is easily distinguished ALUMINI SULPHAS. 
165 
from any other blue pigment by the fact that it evolves hydrogen sulphide when treated with 
acids, becomes discolored and deposits sulphur. 
Bolus, Bole.-This term has been applied to various argillaceous earths in times past. 
They are substances composed chiefly of aluminum silicate. All of them are unctuous to the 
touch, will adhere to the tongue, break with a shell-like fracture, and are soft enough to be 
easily scraped oft' with any cutting instrument. Though not soluble, they gradually form, 
with water, a paste-like mass. They have received different names, and are distinguishable 
by their colors, thus: 
Bolus alba, or Terra alba, Argilla, a white form, containing, in addition to aluminum sili- 
cate, magnesium oxide in small amount, as well as a very little iron. 
Bolus Armena, Armenian bole, Bolus rubra, Argilla ferruginea. Browmish-red in color, 
caused by the quite large amount of ferric oxide present. It received its name from Armenia, 
the country in which it was first produced. It is now found in various European localities. 
At one time this variety, and the one following, were highly prized under the name terrse 
sigillitie, so called from the fact that circular cakes of them could be impressed with a seal. 
Terra lemnia, Lemnian bole. Almost identical with Armenian bole, but containing less 
ferric oxide, being yellow in color. 
Bolus ]'eneta, or Venetian red, is an ochery body of a dull-red color, employed in painting. 
Creta rubra, Bed chalk, Reddle, Rubrica fabrilis. This occupied a place between red ochre 
and bole. It is of a deep-red color, is firm and dense in texture, will soil the hands, and leave 
upon paper a bright-red mark when drawn over it. Its red color is due to iron. It is some- 
times made into crayons and used to draw upon wood, stone, and other hard substances. All 
of the foregoing have been employed medicinally, being prepared by pulverization and elu- 
triation. Bole was employed by the ancient Romans and Greeks, but is very little used in 
medicine at the present time, though occasionally employed in Europe. It is astringent and 
absorbent. The dose is from 5 to 10 grains. Internally it has been used in relaxed conditions 
of the alimentary tract, in hemorrhagic states, and pulmonary affections. It was used locally in 
many conditions requiring an absorbent astringent. Armenian bole is sometimes used to 
color dentifrices. 
Terra Tripolitan a, Tripoli.-A whitish, pale-straw or yellowish-colored earth, sometimes 
even brownish or reddish, presenting a clayey aspect, though differing from clay in not form- 
ing a paste when rubbed w'ith water, and in having rough and hard particles. It is usually 
easily broken, and will often adhere to the tongue. It is employed in scouring and polishing 
metallic surfaces. A variety known as Venetian Tripoli is said to come from Corfu. Tripoli 
is sometimes artificially prepared by calcining argillites. 
Sienna, Terra di sienna.-A. smooth, glossy, clayey mineral, light in weight but very com- 
pact and fine in texture, having a yellow-brown color tinged with orange. This is Ran- sienna. 
When burned it is known as Burnt sienna, and has a red-brown color. Both varieties are used 
as pigments, the best grades coming from Italy. 
Kaolin, Fullers' earth, Porcelain clay. A white clay in the form of a powder, which 
appears unctuous when wet. It is nearly pure hydrated aluminum silicate, generally answer- 
ing to the formula Al2(SiO3)34-Al2O(OH)4, and is formed by the weathering of feldspar 
minerals. 
Pumice Stone, Pumey, Pumex.-A light, porous, stone-like substance, most of which 
comes from near Lipari. As it is found near volcanoes, it is regarded as a product of volcanic 
eruption, the spongy texture being produced by the presence of watery vapor in the hot, 
fluid lava. Pumice stone is of great value in the arts, being employed either whole or in 
powder, as a polishing substance for metals, glass, stone, and particularly in giving a smooth 
surface to painted wood-work, as to carriage bodies, etc. 
ALUMINI SULPHAS (U. S. P.)-ALUMINUM SULPHATE. 
Formula: A12(SO4)3. Molecular Weight : 342.06. 
Crystallized, A12(SO4)3.16H2O. Molecular weight, 628.9. 
Preparation.-This salt is prepared on a large scale from China clay, by 
roasting the clay and then digesting it in diluted sulphuric acid, the solution 
being permitted to stand until clear. It is then decanted from the insoluble 
matter (silica and undecomposed alumina), and evaporated until it thickens upon 
cooling. As thus prepared, it is often known as concentrated alum (alum cake), 
and is used mainly as a mordant, and also to give weight to paper. The com- 
position of anhydrous aluminum sulphate is represented by A12(SO4)3. The 
hydrated salt, A12(SO4)3-|- 16H2O, was official in the United States Pharmacopoeia 
(1870); the former process of which forms precipitated trihydrate of aluminum 
(A1H3O3, or A12[OH]6), by the decomposition of sulphate of aluminum and am- 
monium, by means of sodium carbonate; sulphates of sodium and ammonium 
remaining in solution, and carbonic acid gas being evolved. It is intended that 
the precipitated aluminum hydrate be freed from soluble sulphates by washing, 
then united with sulphuric acid, and the solution evaporated to dryness, whereby 166 
ALUMINI SULPHAS. 
crystallized aluminum sulphate, A12(SO4)34-16H2O, is obtained. Practically, it 
will be found that the water in which the salts (carbonate of sodium and the 
alum) are dissolved by the U. S. P. is insufficient, inasmuch as the solution of the 
alum may be troublesome to make, and when obtained, the two solutions are so 
concentrated that the hydrate is deposited in lumps, difficult, if not impossible, 
to free from contaminating sulphates by the subsequent process intended for 
washing. 
The formula of the U. S. P. (1870) has been referred to here because we think 
the process an objectionable one, and would present the following as an improve- 
ment upon it (see New Remedies, August, 1879, p. 237): 
Dissolve 4 troy ounces of alum, and the same amount of carbonate of sodium, 
each separately, in 4 pints of hot distilled water; pour the alum solution, in a small 
stream, with constant stirring, into the soda solution in a capacious porcelain 
dish, and bring the mixture to a fair boil. Then cool and pour the mix- 
ture upon a muslin strainer; when drained, return the precipitate to the dish, 
and mix thoroughly with a gallon of water, then strain, as before. Repeat the 
operation; then almost dissolve the gelatinous precipitate by means of diluted 
sulphuric acid, and filter the solution; evaporate it upon a water-bath, with stir- 
ring, until a dry salt remains. In case there is an excess of acid, it will be 
impossible to dry the salt; therefore we advise the use of not more than 1 troy 
ounce of sulphuric acid, thus insuring complete saturation. The excess of 
aluminum hydrate will remain upon the filter. 
Description.-" A white, crystalline powder, without odor, having a sweetish, 
and afterward astringent taste, and permanent in the air. Soluble in 1.2 parts of 
water, at 15° C. (59° F.), and much more freely in boiling water, but insoluble 
in alcohol. When gradually heated to about 200° C. (392° F.), it loses its water 
of crystallization (45.7 per cent of its weight). The salt has an acid reaction on 
litmus paper"-(U. 8. P.). 
Sulphate of aluminum prepared as above, may contain traces of the sulphates 
of sodium and ammonium, which, however, is not a serious objection, unless in 
larger amount than is possible with the process we have given. It crystallizes 
with difficulty, forming thin 6-sided crystals. According to Berzelius, it is soluble 
in 2 parts of cold water. It melts on heating, in its water of crystallization, and 
then swells, like alum, forming the anhydrous sulphate, A12(SO4)3. At a red heat, 
it decomposes, the residue being alumina. 
" The aqueous solution of the salt yields, with barium chloride T.S., a white 
precipitate insoluble in hydrochloric acid; and with potassium or sodium hydrate 
T.S., a white, gelatinous precipitate which is soluble in an excess of the alkali, 
but is again separated on the addition of a sufficient amount of the ammonium 
chloride T.S. A filtered, 10 per cent aqueous solution of the salt should not be 
affected by hydrogen sulphide T.S. (absence of copper, lead, or zinc), and should 
not become more than faintly opalescent within five minutes after the addition 
of an equal volume of decinormal sodium hyposulphite V.S. (limit of free acid). 
20 Cc. of a 5 per cent aqueous solution of the salt should not at once assume a 
blue color on the addition of 5 drops of potassium ferrocyanide T.S. (limit of 
iron). If 1 Gm. of the salt be gently heated with 5 Cc. of potassium or sodium 
hydrate T.S., the liquid should not evolve the odor of ammonia"-(U. S. P.f 
Action and Medical Uses.-Sulphate of aluminum is employed as a local 
application in cases in which a stimulating, astringent, or antiseptic action is 
required. From 4 to 6 pounds of the salt dissolved in 1 gallon of water, and the 
solution injected into the cadaver, in the usual way, will preserve it in the dis- 
secting room for from 18 days to 2 or 3 months, according to the tempera- 
ture of the weather (Gannal). A solution consisting of from 75 to 240 grains of 
this salt in 3 fluid ounces of water, has been found exceedingly useful as a top- 
ical application to old ulcers, and in leucorrhoea with offensive discharge. A saturated 
solution, and more especially when in combination with zinc oxide, has been 
employed as a stimulant or gentle caustic in tonsillar enlargements, polypus of the 
nose, affections of the uterine cervix, mother s mark, obstinate ulcers, chronic catarrh, and 
in other chronic diseased conditions of mucous tissues; it maybe applied every 
day in form of spray or with a camel's hair pencil. A "benzoinated solution of 
aluminum," diluted with from 25 to 64 times its weight of water, forms an excel- AM A RA NTH US.-A M BRA G RISE A. 
167 
lent application in chronic nasal discharges, in ulcerated conditions of the os uteri, as 
well as in offensive vaginal discharges; it may be used by injection, or in the form 
of spray. This benzoinated solution is prepared by dissolving 4 ounces of alu- 
minum sulphate in 8 fluid ounces of water, then adding recently formed gelatin- 
ous alumina to saturation, and finally adding 8 drachms of coarsely powdered 
benzoin-the best article of benzoin, that in the form of whitish tears, being used 
for this purpose. This solution is kept at a temperature of from 64.4° to 66.7° C. 
(148° to 152° F.), for 6 or 7 hours, being stirred from time to time until, when 
filtered, it has attained the specific gravity, 1.260. It is then set aside in a cool 
place for 6 or 7 days, until alum crystals are precipitated, and the solution has 
acquired a balsamic odor and taste, with astringency. 
AMARANTHUS- AMARANTH. 
The leaves of the Amaranthus hypochondr iacus, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Amaranthaceae. 
Common Names : Amaranth, Prince's feather, Lovely bleeding, Red cockscomb. 
Botanical Source and History.-An annual herb, with a stout, upright 
stem, growing from 3 to 4 feet high, bearing oblong, lanceolate, mucronate, green 
leaves, having either a red-purple spot, or tinged with purple. The flowers, 
which are bright-red, are compactly clustered on erect, compound racemes. 
The whole plant is dark-red, or reddish-purple, with long, plume-like clusters. 
This plant is a native of the Middle States, and is cultivated as an ornamental 
plant in gardens. It bears deep, bright-red flowers in August. The leaves, 
which are the parts used, are also red, and yield their virtues to water. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Amaranth is astringent. The decoction drunk 
freely is highly recommended in severe menorrhagia, and has also been found 
beneficial in diarrhoea, dysentery, and hemorrhage from the bowels. It has likewise 
been used as a local application in ulceration of the mouth and throat, in leucorrhoea, 
and as a wash io foul, indolent ulcers. It is scarcely used at the present day. 
Related Species.-Amaranthus melancholicus ruber contains 16 and Amaranthus atropur- 
pureus nearly 23 per cent of potassium nitrate (Boutin). Amaranthus caudatus contains oxalic 
acid. 
AMBRA GRISE A-AMBERGRIS. 
Synonym : Ambra cinerea. 
Source.-An odorous, fatty material, believed to be a morbid production of 
the Physeter macrocephal us, Linne, or Sperm whale. It is found in the intestines 
of the whale, where it is thought to be produced, and also excreted and floating 
in large masses upon the waters of the sea. A single whale has yielded over 700 
pounds of ambergris {Amer. Jour. Pharm., 18.59^. The manner of production of am- 
bergris is not definitely known, though it is supposed to be derived from the fatty 
matter of certain cephalopods consumed as food by the whale. 
Description.-Ambergris occurs in irregular, wax-like masses, of a grayish 
or grayish-brown color, streaked or mottled, and opaque. Its density is less 
than that of water; it becomes soft and waxy by the warmth of the hand, but 
when cold is friable. It is also inflammable, and when heated is almost com- 
pletely volatilized. Its odor is peculiar and fragrant. Ambergris has little or no 
taste. It is subject to adulteration, but may be distinguished by its physical 
characters. 
Chemical Composition.-The chief constituent (80 to 85 per cent) of amber- 
gris is ambrein (Pelletier and Caventou), a fatty body bearing some resemblance 
to cholesterin. It may be obtained in shining, white, needle-like crystals, odor- 
less and tasteless. According to an analysis by John, in 1818, it also contains 
coloring matter, balsamic substances, sodium chloride, and benzoic acid. 
Medical and Other Uses.-This substance has been employed as a stimu- 
lant to the circulatory and nervous systems. On account of its supposed selec- 
tive affinity for the generative apparatus of the female, it has been given in 168 
AMBROSIA TRIFIDA. 
hysterical disorders of a spasmodic character. Musk, castor, and like animal drugs, 
as well as valerian, have been frequently given in conjunction with it. It has 
likewise been employed in low grades of fevers. The dose is from 5 to 20 grains in 
substance, or in solution in ether. It is more generally used in the preparation 
of perfumes. Ambergris was formerly employed in cookery. 
Tinctura Ambrjs.-Finely triturate with well-washed sand 10 parts of ambergris; then 
macerate the powder in 100 parts of alcohol (80 per cent). This tincture is often employed in 
fixing the odors of delicate, volatile perfumes. 
AMBROSIA TRIFIDA.-TALL AMBROSIA. 
The leaves of the Ambrosia trifida, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Compositae. 
Common Names : Tall ambrosia, Great ragweed, Horseweed, Horse cane, Richweed, 
Wild hemp, Bitterweed. 
Botanical Source.-Ambrosia trifida is a rough, hairy, herbaceous, annual 
plant, with an erect, branching, furrowed stem, from 5 to 10 feet in height. Its 
leaves are opposite, from 4 to 7 inches broad, scabrous and hairy, with three large, 
deep lobes which are oval, lanceolate, acuminate, and closely serrated ; the lower 
leaves are often 5-lobed. The petioles are narrowly winged and ciliate ; racemes 
often paniculate. The flowers are mean and obscure, in long, leafless spikes, axil- 
lary and terminal. The fruit (fertile involucre) is turbinate-obovoid, with a 
short, conical-pointed apex, 6-ribbed, the ribs terminating in as many cristate 
tubercles. It has a variety called Ambrosia trifida, var. integrifolia. 
History.-This plant grows in low grounds and along streams, from Canada 
to Georgia, and west to Louisiana and Arkansas, bearing greenish-yellow flowers 
in August. It is much in use among farmers, for the "slabbers" in horses, effect- 
ing a cure in a few hours. It has a spicy, pleasant, aromatic taste, slightly 
resembling ginger, and imparts its properties to water. According to Rafinesque, 
the aborigines used it to make a sort of hemp and ropes. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This plant is slightly stimulant, 
astringent, hemostatic, and antiseptic. Useful in decoction as an injection in 
leucorrhoea, prolapsus uteri, chronic gonorrhoea, and gleet; also valuable as a collyr- 
ium, in ophthalmia, and as a wash or gargle-with its internal use also-in nurs- 
ing sore mouth. It will be found an excellent application to mercurial, and all 
other ulcers of a fetid or gangrenous character. As a remedy for mercurial saliva- 
tion, used every half hour as a wash, it is said to be prompt and efficacious. 
Internally, the decoction is useful in fevers, attended with a disposition to 
putrescency, diarrhea, and dysentery. It has been successfully employed in 
bleeding from the nose, and other hemorrhagic discharges, where the flow is small in 
amount. It has also been employed for the relief of after-pains, for hysteria and 
other nervous disorders. Dose of the decoction (tops §ss, aqua Oj) from 1 to 2 fluid 
ounces. 
Related Species.-Ambrosia artemisiaefolia, Linne {Ambrosia elatior), Roman wormwood, or 
Ragweed, has a slender stem rising from 1 to 3 feet high, much branched, and pubescent when 
young; leaves opposite, the upper alternate, twice pinnatifld, smoothish above, paler or hoary 
beneath; barren flowers small, green, in terminal racemes, or spikes loosely panicled; fertile 
ones sessile about the axis of the upper leaves; fruit obovoid, or globular, pointed, armed 
with about 6 short acute teeth or spines (W.-G.). It is sometimes called " hog-weed," as but 
few animals excepting the hog will eat it. Cows occasionally partake of it, and it imparts to 
their milk a bitter taste which remains in butter made from the tainted cream. When care- 
lessly gathered with wheat it also imparts to the flour of that cereal a bitter flavor, rendering 
it unfit for bread-making. Schimmel & Co., in 1894, isolated by distillation from the blooming 
plant, an essential oil, of deep-green color, and specific gravity 0.870. It has an aromatic, not 
unpleasant odor. Ambrosia trifida, subjected to the same process, did not yield any volatile 
oil. Ragweed is highly recommended as a fomentation in recent inflammation from wounds 
or injuries of any kind. Made into a salve by bruising the green leaves, and simmering 
them in spirits and cream, it is very useful in hemorrhoidal tumors, and some forms of ulcer. It 
may be used as a tonic after intermittents, and to alleviate mucous fluxes. Dose: Specific am- 
brosia artemisiaefolia, 1 to 10 drops every 1 to 4 hours. Infusion (tops 53s, to aqua Oj), 1 to 
2 fluid ounces. It is very common in all our fields, and would probably prove fully as 
efficacious, if not more so, than A. trifida. AMMONIA. 
169 
AMMONIA-AMMONIA GAS. 
Formula: NH> Molecular Weight: 17.01. 
Source, History, and Preparation.-Ammonia was unknown to the an- 
cients; it was discovered in a state of solution by Black, in 1756, and in the 
pure gaseous condition by Priestley, in 1774, who produced it by heating a 
mixture of lime and sal ammoniac, and collecting the ammonia over mercury. 
Priestley named it "volatile air." To the earlier chemists it was known as 
volatile alkali, in contradistinction to fixed alkali (caustic potash), and to marine 
alkali (caustic soda). The alchemists were acquainted with a volatile alkali found 
in the urine, from which sal ammoniac was obtained by Geber. Ammonia exists 
abundantly as the product of the decomposition of vegetable and animal matter, 
chiefly the latter. When hoofs, horns, bones, and other animal substances are 
subjected to dry distillation, ammonium compounds are formed. The am- 
monia thus obtained has the name, spirits of hartshorn. The atmosphere con- 
tains a small amount of ammonium in combination with carbonic acid gas as 
carbonate. It has likewise been found in snow. In rain water it has been 
observed in combination with nitric and nitrous acids. The soil contains it, and 
it is especially abundant in natural beds of ammonium chloride, resulting from 
the decomposition of nitrogenous bodies. Most plants contain ammonium in 
combination. The principal source of gaseous ammonia at the present day is 
the ammoniacal liquor derived from the manufacture of illuminating gas. From 
this by-product it is obtained on a large scale by distilling with milk of lime, 
and neutralizing the distillate with hydrochloric acid; or the ammonia gas result- 
ing from the distillation of gas-liquor is allowed to pass into diluted sulphuric 
acid, from which it is crystallized as sulphate of ammonium. This salt is purified, 
and in turn is made to yield ammonia, by decomposition with the caustic alkalies. 
It may be obtained from any of the ammonium salts by heating them with 
potassic, sodic, or calcic hydroxides. A common method is to heat sal ammoniac 
(ammonium chloride) with lime: 2(NH4Cl)+Ca(OH)2 = CaCl2+2H2O-I-2NH3. 
Ammonia may also be prepared on a commercial scale by heating together in a 
retort (glass or iron), sulphate of ammonium and calcium hydroxide. When 
nitrous or nitric acid is acted upon by nascent hydrogen, ammonia results (see 
Aqua Ammonite). 
Description.-Ammonia is a volatile, colorless gas, having a characteristic, 
pungent odor, and imparting an acrid, alkaline taste. It is irrespirable, causing 
spasm of the glottis when an attempt is made to inhale it. Under ordinary atmos- 
pheric temperatures and pressures it is a permanent gas. At --40°C.(-40° F.), 
it is condensed to a colorless liquid, or at 15° C. (59° F.), under a pressure of 7 
atmospheres, it may also be reduced to a very mobile, colorless liquid, lighter than 
water. At -75°C. (-103° F.), it freezes, forming white crystals. Its specific 
gravity is 0.59+. When ammonia is rendered liquid by pressure and then 
allowed to evaporate spontaneously in suitable vessels, an absorption of heat, i.e., 
an excessive cold, is produced during evaporation. An important technical 
application is made of this principle in the manufacture of artificial ice. 
Ammonia is strongly alkaline, turning red litmus paper blue, and turmeric 
paper brown. It is very soluble in water, the latter dissolving about 700 times its 
volume of ammonia gas, forming hydroxide of ammonium (NH40H). Alcohol 
absorbs it. With acids it readily combines to form crystallizable salts, which, 
when heated, are either sublimed or decomposed. In contact with gaseous acids, 
e. g., hydrochloric acid, it combines with them to form a dense smoke of white 
salts. It enters into the formation of many medicinal salts, and in solutions of 
definite strengths, it forms Aqua Ammonite and Aqua Ammonite Fortior. It burns in 
pure oxygen with the formation of water, nitric acid, and the liberation of free 
nitrogen. Animal structures are irritated and inflamed by this gas. Ammonia 
gas may be easily recognized by its characteristic odor, and by the black colora- 
tion it imparts to a strip of bibulous paper saturated with a solution of mercu- 
rous nitrate, a compound, Hg2NH2.NO3, being formed. An alcoholic solution of 
ammonia (10 per cent) forms the official Spirit of Ammonia (see Spiritus Ammonite). 
Action and Medical Uses.-(See Aqua Ammonia?). 170 
AMMONIACUM. 
AMMONIACUM (U. S. P.)-AMMONIAC. 
"A gum resin obtained from Dorevia Ammoniacum, Don "-(U. S. P.). 
Nat. Ord.-Umbelliferee. 
Common Names: Gum ammoniac, Gummi-resina ammoniacum. 
Botanical Source.-The Dorema Ammoniacum is a glaucous green plant 
resembling opopanax. Its root is perennial and large, from which arise smooth 
stems, 8 or 10 feet high, and over 1 inch in diameter at the base, having 
petiolate, somewhat bi-pinnate leaves, about 2 feet long; the pinnae are in 3 pairs, 
the leaflets are inciso-pinnatifid, with oblong, mucronulate, entire, or straightly- 
lobed segments, from 1 to 5 inches long, and | inch to 2 inches broad. 
The petiole is downy, very large, and sheathing at the base. The umbels are 
proliferous and racemose, being composed of partial, globose umbels, on short 
stalks, often arranged in a spiked manner. The flowers are white, sessile, and 
immersed in wool. The fruit, which is elliptical and compressed, is also buried 
in wool, and surrounded by a broad, flat edge (L). 
History.-From a want of correct knowledge of the plant furnishing this 
gum-resin, it was formerly considered a Ferula, but specimens of the Persian 
plant having been investigated by Don, he ascertained that, although it was 
somewhat related to this genus, yet it differed from it in several characters; he 
therefore gave to it its present name. The plant grows on arid, exposed situa- 
tions in several parts of Persia, and in the course of the summer it is replete 
with a lacteous, gelatinous juice, which is readily obtained. It prefers a soil 
abounding in silica. Mr. Jackson says: "It is remarkable that neither bird 
nor beast is seen where this plant grows, the vulture only excepted. It is, 
however, attacked by a beetle, having a long horn proceeding from its nose, 
with which it perforates the plant and makes the incisions whence the gum 
oozes out." Colonel Johnson states that "in the month of May, while the plant 
is soft, an insect of the beetle kind begins to puncture the stem in every direc- 
tion with his proboscis," etc. Captain Hart gives a similar account. But Fon- 
tanier asserts that it flows naturally, and is gathered in June. It is still sup- 
posed, however, to be sometimes furnished by other and dissimilar plants of 
Asiatic as well as African growth. It is asserted that in some places it is col- 
lected after the manner of obtaining asafoetida. Around the plant, imbedded 
in the soil, are often formed tears of the gum which have either exuded into 
the ground from the root, or have dropped from the punctured stems. From 
the fibrous root-crown an inferior quality of gum is made to exude, which is dark 
in color. Gum ammoniac is mostly gathered by the peasantry in July. Cake 
ammoniac consists of tears of the gum admixed with the inferior brown exuda- 
tion from the stem-base. 
Description.-Gum ammoniac is not a gum proper, but a gum-resin; it is 
met with in tears and in lump. The tears vary in size from that of a small pea 
to that of a walnut. The lump ammoniac varies in appearance according to its 
quality. The best kind iscomposed chiefly of tears agglutinated together, though 
foreign impurities are frequently present. Ammoniac does not melt, but softens 
by heat, even the warmth of the hand; at a red heat it burns with a white flame. 
It may be partly dissolved by water, forming a white emulsion, which, upon 
standing, precipitates a resinous portion, leaving the supernatant liquid clear. 
Alcohol dissolves more than one-half, the remainder being a resin, insoluble in 
this liquor; and the soluble white resin is precipitated by the addition of water 
to the alcoholic solution. Ether dissolves resin and volatile oil, leaving the 'gum. 
Vinegar forms a smooth, uniform emulsion with it, but does not dissolve it. Mr. 
Hatchett found it soluble in alkalies. The U. S. Pharmacopceia thus describes am- 
moniacum : " In roundish tears, from 2 to 6 Mm. to inch) or more in diame- 
ter; externally pale yellowish-brown, internally milk-white, brittle when cold, and 
breaking with a flat, conchoidal, and waxy fracture; or the tears are superficially 
united into irregular masses without any intervening, dark-colored substance. It 
has a peculiar odor, and a bitter, acrid, and nauseous taste. When triturated with 
water, it readily yields a milk-white emulsion "-(U. S. P.). 
Chemical Composition.-Ammoniac has been analyzed by Braconnot, Buch- A M M ON 11 BENZOAS. 
171 
olz, Hagen, Hirschsohn, Plugge, and others, and appears to consist of a large 
proportion of resin, with gum, bassorin, volatile oil, and water. The resin of 
ammoniac, amounting to 70 per cent, or less, is reddish or yellow, transparent, 
tasteless, but having the odor of the gum-resin ; is brittle, softens in the hand, 
melts at 54.4° C. (130° F.), and is soluble in alcohol, and in excess of carbon 
disulphide. Ether separates it into an insoluble resin, and a resin soluble in 
sulphuric acid, and fixed and volatile oils. Alkalies form a cloudy solution. 
Nitric acid converts it into a yellow bitter matter, soluble in hot alcohol and 
water, and which will dye silk a fine yellow color, without being affected by 
chlorine. The gum is reddish-yellow, transparent, brittle, somewhat bitter, 
soluble in water, from which it is precipitated by subacetate of lead, and is 
converted into mucic, malic, oxalic, etc., acids, by the action of nitric acid. 
The oil, which may be obtained by distillation of the gum-resin with water, is 
transparent, colorless, and lighter than water. It is yielded to the extent of J 
to per cent, has a specific gravity of 0.891 at 15° C. (59° F.), and boils between 
250° and 290° C. (482° and 554° F.), (Schimmel & Co., Semi-Annual Report, Oct., 
1893). The oil has dextrogyrate properties (Pharmacographia). Hlasiwetz and 
Barth (1864), obtained oxalic acid, resorcin, and a fatty acid of a volatile nature 
by fusing the gum-resin with caustic potash. It differs chemically from most of 
the allied gum-resins, in not yielding umbelliferon upon dry distillation. Neither 
does the drug contain sulphur. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Gum ammoniac possesses stimulant, 
antispasmodic, and expectorant properties, and is said to purge in inordinate 
doses, as well as to produce vomiting, colic, and cutaneous eruptions. It has 
been found especially useful in chronic affections of the respiratory organs, 
especially among the aged, or those in whom the expectoration is scanty, as 
in cough, asthma, etc., and has likewise been found advantageous in profuse mucous 
discharges, the result of weakness of the parts involved, as in bronchitis or laryn- 
gitis, catarrh, leucorrhoea, etc. It has also been advised in hysteria, but is inferior 
to some other of the fetid gum-resins, as asafcetida. Ammoniacum may be of ser- 
vice in small doses, in the headache resulting from disease of the frontal sinuses, in 
affections of the optic nerve, in catarrhal affections of the throat, nasal passages, eyes, 
ears and stomach, mucous diarrhoea, and in pains in the limbs accompanying 
disease of more or less of the mucous tissues generally. Applied externally in 
the form of plaster, it irritates the skin, frequently producing a papular erup- 
tion ; and has been employed beneficially in this way, as a resolvent, to indolent 
buboes, white swelling, tumor of the joints, chronic glandular enlargement, and other 
indolent swellings. The dose is from 1 to 30 grains, in pill or in emulsion. 
Related Species and Gum-Resins.-Dorema Aucheri, Boissier. Western Persia. This 
species is thought to furnish a portion of the gum ammoniac of commerce. The plant is 
known in the Kurdish vernacular as Zuh. 
Dorema robustum, Loftus. Western Persia. Yields a gum unlike that from Dorema Ammo- 
niacum, Don (Pharmacographia). 
Ferula tingitana, Linne. North Africa and extreme West Asia. It is known in Morocco 
as Keith, and its gum by the name Fasay. The latter is generally known, however, as African 
ammoniac. The gum differs from true gum ammoniac in having a comparatively weak odor, 
and in yielding umbelliferon (Hirschsohn). A peculiar acid, having the formula 'CioIlioOe, not 
present in the true gum, was obtained by fusing the Moroccan gum with caustic potash (Gold- 
schmiedt). As with the true gum, resorcin was obtained by fusion with caustic potash. 
African ammoniacum occurs in dense, large, dark masses, formed by the agglutination of 
whitish, fawn-colored, or light-greenish tears, some specimens containing a considerable 
amount of foreign admixtures. It has a persistent, faintly-acrid taste, and is principally used 
by the Mahometans as incense. 
Opopanax Chironium, Koch. Southern Europe, along the Mediterranean Sea. This plant 
is supposed to be the source of a rare and costly gum-resin known as Opopanax (see Opopanax). 
AMMONII BENZOAS (U. S. P.)-AMMONIUM BENZOATE. 
Formula: NH4C7H5O2. Molecular Weight, 138.72. 
Synonyms : Ammonias benzoas, Ammonium benzoicum. 
Preparation.-Mix equal amounts of ammonia water and distilled water, 
and dissolve in the mixture enough benzoic acid to bring to slight acid reac- 172 
tion. Then make the solution slightly alkaline by the addition of ammonia 
water and evaporate to dryness, occasionally adding a few drops of ammonia 
water. Two parts by weight of benzoic acid require about parts of ammonia 
water. Benzoate of ammonium can easily be crystallized, if the operator prefers, 
instead of evaporating the solution to dryness. 
Description.-The following description is that of the official salt: "Thin, 
white, 4-sided, laminar crystals, odorless, or having a slight odor of benzoic 
acid, a saline, bitter, afterward slightly acrid taste, and gradually losing 
ammonia on exposure to the air. Soluble at 15° C. (59° F.). in 5 parts of 
water, and in 28 parts of alcohol; in 1.2 parts of boiling water, and in 
7.6 parts of boiling alcohol. When strongly heated, the salt melts, emits 
vapors having the odor of ammonia and benzoic acid, and is finally com- 
pletely dissipated. The salt is neutral, or has a very slightly acid reaction 
upon litmus paper. A saturated, aqueous solution of the salt affords, with ferric 
chloride T.S., a flesh-colored precipitate, and when it is gently heated with 
potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., the odor of ammonia is evolved. If diluted 
nitric acid be added to a 10 per cent aqueous solution of the salt, a precipitate 
of benzoic acid is produced, which, when thoroughly washed, should respond to 
the tests of purity mentioned under Acidum Benzoicum, and the filtrate from this 
precipitate should not be affected by barium chloride T.S. (absenoe of sulphate), 
or by silver nitrate T.S. (absence of chloride)"-(17. & F.). This salt must be 
kept in well-stoppered vials. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This salt is a mild diuretic, some- 
what stimulant, forming hippuric acid with decrease of urea in the urine. It 
has been employed as a diuretic in cases of deficient activity of the renal organs, in 
chronic irritation of the urinary mucous membrane, in phosphatic urinary sediments, 
of which it tends to aid the solution, and in gout. Its uses are much the same 
as those of benzoic acid. It should be employed as indicated below. The dose 
is from 10 to 60 grains, in water, 2 or 3 times a day. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Scanty and pungent, dark-red urine, with 
thick deposits; urinary incontinence of the aged, with cystic irritation or sub- 
acute inflammation, and headache, drowsiness, pain in loins and limbs. A 2x 
trituration in doses of 2 or 3 grains is recommended for the urinary troubles of 
the aged. 
AMNONII BROMIDUM. 
AMMONII BROMIDUM (U. S. P.)-AMMONIUM BROMIDE. 
Formula: NH4Br. Molecular Weight : 97.77. 
Preparation.-Add a solution of carbonate of ammonium to a solution of 
bromide of iron, stirring constantly as long as a precipitate results, and until the 
ammonium carbonate is in slight excess. Filter the liquid from the magma and 
wash the precipitate well with water, adding the washings to the original filtrate. 
Lastly, evaporate the mixed liquids to dryness. Bromide of ammonium may 
also be made by saturating hydrobromic acid with ammonia water and evap- 
orating the product to dryness. 
Description and Tests.-"Colorless, transparent, prismatic crystals, or a 
white, crystalline powder, odorless, of a pungent, saline taste, and permanent in 
the air. Soluble at 15° C. (59 F.), in 1.5 parts of water, and in 30 parts of 
alcohol; in 0.7 part of boiling water, and in 15 parts of boiling alcohol. When 
heated, the salt volatilizes completely without melting. The aqueous solution 
of the salt has a slightly acid reaction upon litmus paper. When the aqueous 
solution is gently heated with potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., the odor of 
ammonia is evolved. If to another portion of the solution a little chloroform 
be added, and subsequently a few drops of chlorine water, and the whole agitated, 
the chloroform will acquire a yellowish or yellowish-brown color without a 
violet tint. If a few drops of diluted sulphuric acid be brought in contact 
with a little of the powdered salt on a porcelain plate, the salt should not at 
once assume a yellowish color (absence of bromate). A 10 per cent aqueous 
solution should not be affected by hydrogen sulphide T.S. (absence of metals), 
nor by barium chloride T.S. (absence of sulphate). 20 Cc. of a 5 per cent 173 
AMMONII CARBONAS. 
aqueous solution of the salt should not at once assume a blue color on the addi- 
tion of 5 drops of potassium ferrocyanide T.S. (limit of iron). If 3 Gm. of the 
salt, dried at 100° C. (212° F.), be dissolved in water to the measure of 100 Cc., 
10 Cc. of this solution, after the addition of a few drops of potassium chro- 
mate T.S., should require not more than 30.9 Cc. of decinormal silver nitrate 
V.S. to produce a permanent red coloration (absence of more than 1 per cent 
of ammonium chloride)''-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-According to Dr. Gibb, this salt is 
tonic, sedative, or antispasmodic, according to the quantity given, and the mode 
of administration. In large doses, frequently repeated, or given at intervals, it 
influences the entire mucous tract, affects all the special senses, and produces 
impaired sensibility of the various mucous outlets. In very large doses it produces 
poisonous effects analogous to those caused by similar doses of bromide of 
potassium. Though more irritant to the stomach, it is less depressing to the 
heart than the latter salt. It is more certain and reliable in small doses, caus- 
ing no diarrhoea nor diuresis, while its special properties are exerted sooner, 
and with less inconvenience. In small doses, more or less continued, it acts 
as a tonic and absorbent, and exerts its peculiar properties on the skin and 
mucous membrane; it possesses a soothing influence on the mucous membrane, 
and according to the strength and mode of its application, so does it diminish 
the sensibility; it improves the intellectual powers, increases the bodily capacity, 
and promotes healthy functions; when continued with a well regulated diet, it 
diminishes the weight of the body, causing absorption of fat in the economy, 
and arresting atheromatous changes. It has been found beneficial in corpulency, 
cutaneous diseases, glandular and other enlargements, scrofulous affections, scrofulous 
ophthalmia, and epilepsy due to certain causes. Bromide of ammonium is service- 
able in pertussis, in doses of 1 grain for each year of the patient's age, repeat- 
ing the dose several times a day. The cases in which it is valuable are those 
in which the cough is associated with epileptiform movements of the extremities, 
or where the movements of the chest are more or less convulsive. It is also 
employed in cases of nervous prostration, from sexual excesses or masturbation, 
accompanied with deranged sexual nervous power. Prof. J. M. Scudder (Dis. 
of Child., Spec. Med.), preferred this to all other drugs in epilepsy, though he did 
not claim it would cure all cases. He regarded the remedy as a nerve stimu- 
lant, and used it where the symptoms pointed to enfeebled cerebral circulation, 
and to relieve irritation of the brain and spinal cord giving rise to convulsive 
disorders. The cases were those of disordered innervation, the movements being 
epileptiform, or partially spasmodic, with enfeebled cerebro-spinal centers. Where 
the tendency was to repeated convulsions from slight causes, he employed it to 
relieve the predisposition; and when convulsions had already occurred, and had 
been checked by other means, he used bromide of ammonium to prevent their 
recurrence. Foltz (Dynam. Therapeutics') uses it in nervous deafness, and to relieve 
the tinnitus from the use of cinchona alkaloids; it is also a remedy for nervous 
twitching and jerking of the eyelids and ocular muscles. Ammonium bromide 
will promote sleep when insomnia is due to cerebral excitement (Locke). The 
dose is from 1 to 30 grains (1 to 5 grains for children), well diluted with water, 
which may be repeated 2 or 3 times a day; it is best taken dissolved in water. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Tendency to convulsions; epileptiform 
disease; convulsions when there is a return to consciousness; sudden movements 
of the body and limbs, jerking of tendons, facial twitching, with eyes turned 
upward; lack of ocular accommodation. Spasmodic or convulsive cough; 
whooping-cough. A minor indication is, small pulse with unusual pallor of the 
skin, though one is not to be guided by this alone. 
AMMONII CARBONAS (U. S. P.)-AMMONIUM CARBONATE. 
Formula : NH4HCO3.NH4NH2CO2. Molecular Weight : 156.77. 
Synonyms : Mild volatile alkali, Volatile salt, Sesquicarbonate of ammonia, Harts- 
horn, Sal volatile, Preston's salt, Smelling salt, Alkali volatile, Sal volatile siccum, 
Ammonias sesquicarbonas, Carbonas ammonicus. 174 
AMMONII CARBONAS. 
Source and History.-By distilling decomposed urine, Raymond Lully was 
the first to prepare this salt. Afterwards it was found that it could be obtained 
by distilling such nitrogenous material as blood, hoof, horn, and other animal 
tissues (salt of hartshorn), after which it wras purified with animal charcoal. 
Sal ammoniac and sal tartar were later employed by the monk Basil Valentine, 
but still later chalk was substituted for the potassium salt. The principal source 
of ammonium carbonate is coal-gas liquor, as described under Ammonia. 
Preparation.-Take of finely powdered chloride of ammonium, 1 pound; 
carbonate of calcium (chalk), finely powdered and dried, 1^ pounds. Mix them 
together thoroughly, and subject the mixture in a retort with a proper receiver 
to a gradually increasing heat so long as any vapors sublime-(Ed.). By this 
process calcium chloride is yielded, which remains in the retort, while ammonia, 
water, and carbonate of ammonium distill over, and the latter condenses in the 
cooler portions of the condenser as a white sublimate. This product is not the 
neutral carbonate of the composition CO3(NH4)2, but a mixture of equal mole- 
cules of hydrogen ammonium carbonate (acid or bicarbonate of ammonium) and 
carbamate of ammonium. The reaction resulting from the above operation may be 
thus expressed: 4NH4Cl+2CaCO3=NH4HCO3.NH4NH2CO2+2CaCl2+NH3+H2O. 
Its empirical formula would be represented by N3HUC2O3. 
Description and Tests.-Ammonium carbonate is in the form of "white, 
hard, translucent, striated masses, having a strongly ammoniacal odor without 
empyreuma, and a sharp, saline taste. On exposure to the air, the salt loses both 
ammonia and carbonic acid, becoming opaque, and is finally converted into fria- 
ble, porous lumps, or a white powder"-(U. S. P.). The valuable constituent of 
this salt is its volatile portion-that which makes up the carbamate of ammonium 
-and the change above mentioned when the salt is exposed to the air, is due to 
the escape of this substance. The remaining light, porous, friable masses or 
powder, which lack the ammoniacal pungency, consist of the bicarbonate of 
ammonium. Hence it will be seen at once that the product should be kept in 
securely glass-stoppered bottles, in a cool place, and not, as is often the case, in 
drawers and casks, if its full therapeutic properties are to be preserved. In mak- 
ing such preparations as Liquor Ammonii Acetatis, only the translucent lumps 
should be employed, as they alone contain the active medicinal agent, the 
ammonium carbamate. Ammonium carbonate that has decomposed, should be 
discarded. This salt is sometimes found to have a slightly pinkish color, due 
to iron present as an impurity. When condensed in a leaden receiver, small 
fragments or clippings of lead may be found adherent to the surface. 
Ammonium carbonate is "slowly but completely soluble in about 5 parts of 
water at 15° C. (59° F.); decomposed by hot water with the elimination of car- 
bonic acid and ammonia. By prolonged boiling with water, the salt is completely 
dissipated. Alcohol dissolves the carbamate (NH4NH2CO2), and leaves the acid 
carbonate (ammonium bicarbonate). When heated, the salt is completely vola- 
tilized, without charring. The aqueous solution possesses a strongly alkaline 
reaction, and effervesces with acids"-(U. S. Pf. It is incompatible with acids, 
caustic potash, or caustic soda, magnesia, alkaline carbonates, lime-water, chlor- 
ide of calcium, alum, bitartrate of potassium, bisulphate of potassium, bichloride 
of mercury, most salts of iron and lead, sulphate of zinc, etc. Combined with 
sulphate of quinine, in fluid or solid form, decomposition ensues, writh the forma- 
tion of sulphate of ammonium and quinine. 
"A 5 per cent aqueous solution of the salt, slightly supersaturated with acetic 
acid, should not be affected by hydrogen sulphide T.S. (absence of metals), nor 
by barium chloride T.S. (sulphate), or ammonium oxalate T.S. (calcium). A 5 
per cent aqueous solution, on the addition of a slight excess of silver nitrate T.S., 
and subsequent supersaturation with nitric acid, should neither assume a brown 
color (absence of hyposulphite), nor become more than slightly opalescent within 
2 minutes (limit of chloride). If 1 Gm. of the salt be slightly supersaturated 
with nitric acid, and the solution evaporated to dryness on a water-bath, it should 
afford a colorless and odorless residue, which, upon gentle ignition, should be 
completely volatilized (absence of empyreumatic or non-volatile matters). If 
7.84 Gm. of unaltered ammonium carbonate be dissolved in water to the volume 
of 90 Cc., 30 Cc. of this solution (containing 2.613 Gm. of the salt) should AMMON 11 CARBONAS. 
175 
require, for exact neutralization, 50 Cc. of normal sulphuric acid V.S. (each cubic 
centimeter corresponding to 2 per cent of the pure salt), rosolic acid being used 
as indicator"-(U. S. P.f 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Carbonate of ammonium quickly 
enters the blood, increasing its alkalinity, and is chiefly eliminated by the kid- 
neys and somewhat less by the skin and lungs. The renal, cutaneous, and 
bronchial secretions are augmented by it, and in health it is asserted to elevate 
the temperature somewhat. Moderate doses (5 to 10 grains) increase the force 
and volume of the circulation, with sometimes a sense of constriction or throb- 
bing in the head. In large doses it is a powerful irritating poison ; in small doses 
it is an energetic diffusible stimulant and antispasmodic. The effects of an over- 
dose are gastro-intestinal inflammation, pains in the abdomen, convulsions, nerv- 
ous derangement, and death. When fatal doses have been swallowed, the post 
mortem signs are gastro-intestinal inflammation, with pulmonary congestion and 
oedema. Ammonium carbonate should not be administered for any great length 
of time, for besides neutralizing the acid of the gastric juice and producing 
diarrhoea and like disturbances, it destroys the blood, with symptoms resembling 
scurvy, and increases tissue waste in a degree to cause pallor, debility, and emaci- 
ation. The antidotes to acute poisoning by this agent are diluted acids, with 
demulcents and protectives to allay the after-effects. 
Ammonium carbonate is stimulant, diaphoretic, and expectorant. In doses 
of 20 to 30 grains, it is emetic. Its stimulating properties render it useful in low' 
continued fevers, in which it acts without increasing the circulation or the cerebral 
functions. In typhoid fever it may be used where alcohol would irritate. It is 
also useful as an antacid in gastric derangement from dissipation, epilepsy, and sick- 
headache. As a remedy to sober drunken individuals, it is very prompt, but less 
efficient than the solution of the acetate; in delirium tremens, with cerebral 
anemia and weak circulation, it may be used to advantage. It has also proved 
of great value in certain cutaneous affections, psoriasis, lepra, etc. Combined w'ith 
guaiacum, it has been serviceable in chronic rheumatism, and has likewise proved 
beneficial in epilepsy, hysteria, chorea, scrofula, and other chronic disorders, more 
especially when these are attended with acidity and debility of the digestive 
organs. Full doses have been given to occasion vomiting in paralysis. " In 
broken dowm constitutions with greatly diminished vitality, wflien an antacid is 
needed, this is the best remedy known " (Locke's Syllabus, 215). Give 5 grains in 
sweetened water. It is especially serviceable in prostration from acute disease 
(Scudder, Dis. of Child., 39). It is a prompt agent, both internally and locally, 
to relieve the distressing symptoms from insect and serpent bites. Amenorrhoea 
and dysmenorrhoea, of asthenic character, are benefited by it. In lung diseases, 
wuth marked enfeeblement and bronchial dilatation, it is advantageous; and in 
the latter stage of typhoid pneumonia, it may be given in an infusion of boneset. 
Here it acts as a tonic and expectorant, lessening secretion, making expectoration 
easier, and sustaining the strength of the patient (Locke). Follow ing the specific 
indications below, it will be found valuable in many disorders, whether it be a 
commencing coryza, the exanthemata, or other conditions. Externally, ammonium 
carbonate is a gentle rubefacient, but is seldom employed as such. The dose is 
from 5 to 20 grains every 3 or 4 hours, in the form of a pill or dissolved in some 
aqueous vehicle. For its specific use, the dose preferred is from to 1 grain 
every hour. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Feeble pulse, imperfect surface circulation, 
pallid or dusky, cold skin, difficult breathing, restlessness and insomnia (from 
debility). As a stimulant where alcohol is inadmissible; broken-down consti- 
tution, with low vitality and acidity of the stomach; feeble heart, with aching 
sensations about the organ ; tendency to fainting and collapse ; distressing cough, 
with viscid, scanty and difficult expectoration, particularly in the aged. 
Smelling Salts.-Formerly ammonium carbonate was much used under the name 
of Smelling Salts, combined with some aromatic oil, as a stimulant in hysteria, fainting, headache, 
etc. An old and popular salt may be made as follows: Take oil of cloves, 1 fl3; oil of laven- 
der, 2 fl3; essence of bergamot, 5 fl3; liquor ammoniae, specific gravity 0.880, 1 pint. Mix, 
and make an essence. Fill the bottles with rough carbonate of ammonium, then add as much 
of the above essence as the salt will absorb. 176 
AMMONII CARBONAS. 
Related Compounds.-Hydrogen Ammonium Carbonate, or Bicarbonate of ammonium. 
(NH4HCO3), described on p. 174, is the white salt left when commercial ammonium carbonate 
is exposed to the atmosphere, or when the carbamate is separated from it by solution in alco- 
hol. About 8 parts of water dissolve it. When dry it does not give off the odor of ammonia. 
It sometimes occurs in crystalline condition " in Patagonian guano and in the purifiers of gas- 
works" (Lloyd's Chern.). It is without value as a medicine. 
Ammonium Carbamate.-This constituent of commercial ammonium carbonate is a crys- 
talline, deliquescent powder. It has the pungent odor of ammonia gas, and when heated in 
a sealed tube to 140° C. (284° F.), it is decomposed, water and urea'resulting. It may be pre- 
pared by bringing together dry carbon dioxide and dry ammonia gas, or by passing both gases 
into cold absolute alcohol. When this salt is left in aqueous solution it forms normal ammon- 
ium carbonate, thus: NH4NH2CO2-|-H2O=(NH4)2CO3. So that when commercial carbonate 
of ammonium is brought into watery solution, the latter contains some normal ammonium 
carbonate, and the remaining acid carbonate may be converted into the same by adding to 
the solution a little aqua ammonise. Such a solution is valuable as a reagent. 
Ammonium Embellicum (C9Hi3O2.NH4). This ammonium salt of embelic acid is a 
brick-red powder, soluble in diluted alcohol. In pills of 3 (children) to 6 (adults) grains, it is 
reported an efficient taenicide. 
Ammonium Borate, Ammonium biborate (2[NH4HB2O4].3H2O).-Dissolve in warmed am- 
monia water, specific gravity 0.960 (3 parts), boric acid (1 part, in excess), and allow the solution 
to slowly cool. Crystals form, which are alkaline in taste and reaction, and on exposure efflo- 
resce, with a loss of ammonia, changing gradually to the tetraborate. It dissolves in water 
(1 in 12). Dose : From 10 to 20 grains in liquorice water every hour. Highly praised in renal 
colic, calculus, and chronic vesical catarrh. 
Ammonii Uras, Ammonium urate (C5H3[NH4]N4O3).-An acid compound prepared by 
digesting uric acid in ammonia water, or by dissolving in solutions of other urates a sufficient 
quantity of ammonium chloride. It is present in most grades of guano. Ammonium urate 
is an amorphous, white powder, not very soluble. It has been used as an ointment (20 grains 
to 1 ounce) in chronic eczematous disorders. 
Ammonii Arsenas, Ammonium arsenate ([NH4]2H.AsO4).-Efflorescent crystals of an alka- 
line salt obtained by adding a solution of ammonia, or carbonate of ammonium, to strong 
solution of arsenic acid, and spontaneously evaporating the same. Half the ammonia is 
dissipated upon exposure to air. From 20 to 25 drops (in divided doses throughout the day) 
of a solution of 1 grain of ammonium arsenate in 1 fluid ounce of pure water, has been 
lauded in stubborn skin affections. 
Ammonium Salicylate, Salicylate of ammonium.-This agent may be prepared extempo- 
raneously in neutral solution as follows: ft Acid salicvfic, $ij; ammonium carbonate, 
grs. cxl; aqua menthse piperitte, figiv. Mix. The dose of this preparation is from 1 to 2 
fluid drachms every 2 hours. This drug comes highly recommended as an abortive of typhoid 
and remittent and allied fevers. It is classified as antiseptic, germicide, antipyretic, stimulant, 
and analgesic. Several observers declare it the best salt of salicylic acid. It is claimed that 
it will generally abort the above-named fevers, and should it fail to do so it will render their 
course much milder. It readily reduces temperature and holds it down. It modifies or 
checks the intestinal discharges, and yet when constipation is present, is said to operate as a 
laxative. The headache of these fevers is said to be promptly controlled, and sleep is favored 
by it. The skin and kidneys become more active under its use, and the urine assumes a paler 
hue, and if offensive, is partially deodorized. Prof. Webster {Dynam. Ther., 53) reports suc- 
cess with it. It deserves investigation. 
Guano.-This valuable fertilizer is composed of the wholly or partially decomposed 
excrements of various sea-birds, notably the penguin, inhabiting the western shores of South 
America, and the coasts of Australia and Western Africa. The bulk of the commercial 
guano comes from the islands of the Pacific opposite Bolivia and Peru (Galapagos Islands). 
Guano usually comes in the form of grayish or light-brown powder, intermixed with friable 
lumps. It may be amorphous or crystalline. It is hygroscopic, absorbing from 6 to 20 per 
cent of moisture, becoming "tacky." Its odor is very offensive, somewhat ammoniacal. 
Though sometimes of acid reaction, guano is usually alkaline. Besides moisture, it contains 
organic matter and salts of ammonium, notably ammonium oxalate and carbonate, tricalcic 
phosphate, and other alkaline salts, uric acid, and salts of the same, phosphates, sulphates, 
and chlorides of calcium, magnesium, etc. Guano is largely soluble in water. An alkaloidal 
substance, guanine (C5H5N5O), was found in it by Unger, in 1845. Nitrous acid, acting upon 
guanine, produces xanthine (C5H4N4O2), and this in turn has been converted into caffeine and 
theobromine (Fischer). Guanine is a constituent of pancreatic juice, and occurs as a crystalline, 
white powder, soluble in solution of caustic potash and acid media, but not in water, am- 
monia, alcohol, or ether. When burned, guano leaves from 25 to 40 per cent of a white ash. 
This disgusting substance has been administered internally in the form of a syrup, and 
was at one time applied topically, mixed with potter's clay, in various cutaneous disorders. Its 
irritating properties led to its abandonment as a medicinal agent. Its only use at present is as 
a fertilizer. 
Ammonii Molybdas, Ammonium molybdate ([NH4]2MoO4).-This is a salt of molybdic 
acid (H2MoO4) and ammonium, and may be prepared by dissolving molybdenum trioxide 
(MoO3) in aqua ammonite, and, by means of alcohol, precipitating the salt so formed. It is 
a valuable test reagent for the detection of alkaloids and of phosphoric acid. When am- 
monium molybdate, in the presence of nitric acid, is added to phosphoric acid or a solution of 
a phosphate, ammonium phosphomolybdale (11[MoO3].[NH4]3PO4.6H2O), is formed. AMMONII CHLORIDUM. 
177 
AMMONII CHLORIDUM (U. S. P.)-AMMONIUM CHLORIDE. 
Formula: NH4CI. Molecular Weight: 53.38. 
Synonyms : Hydrochlorate of ammonium, Muriate of ammonia, Chlorhydrate of 
ammonia, Sal ammoniac, Purified ammonium chloride, Sal ammoniacum, Ammoniae 
hydrochloras, Ammoniae murias, Chloruretum ammonicum, Ammonium hydrochloratum 
depuratum, Ammonium muriaticum depuratum. 
Source, History, and Preparation.-Chloride of ammonium is found native, 
especially in the neighborhood of volcanoes, and in the waters of some mineral 
springs. It was first prepared in Egypt from the soot of camel dung by sublima- 
tion. Geber obtained sal ammoniacum from urine. At present it is prepared in 
various ways, for instance, by the union of dry hydrochloric acid gas and dry 
ammoniacal gas; or by the double decomposition of sulphate of ammonium and 
chloride of sodium. The sulphate of ammonium is obtained principally from 
gas-liquor, as described under Ammonii Sulphas. In order to obtain ammonium 
chloride from the ammoniacal gas-liquor direct, the latter is distilled with lime, 
and the ammonia thus formed is conducted into diluted hydrochloric acid. The 
solution, when sufficiently strong, is evaporated to dryness and the sal ammoniac 
purified by sublimation. 
Description.-Ammonium chloride is usually sold in thick cakes, convex on 
one surface, concave on the other, colorless, translucid, tough, fibrous, permanent 
in the air if dry, but becoming slightly moist and unctuous to the touch if ex- 
posed to dampness; no odor, but possessing a pungent, saline, acrid taste.. The 
salt is sometimes tinged or streaked with red, due to iron. It is an anhydrous 
salt of the composition NH4C1. Its specific gravity is 1.520. When dissolved 
in water, cold is produced during the solution. It is not readily reduced to 
powder, but this may be accomplished by making a strong aqueous solution, 
heating it to 100° C. (212° F.), stirring it constantly until it is cold; by this 
process granulation of the salt takes place, and after thoroughly drying it, it 
may be easily pulverized. It is decomposed by sulphuric and nitric acids; 
also by hydroxides of potassium, sodium, barium, and calcium. The official salt 
is thus described: " A white, crystalline powder, without odor, having a cooling, 
saline taste, and permanent in the air. Soluble in 3 parts of water at 15° C. 
(59° F.), and in 1 part of boiling water, but almost insoluble in alcohol. On 
ignition, the salt is completely volatilized, without charring. The aqueous solu- 
tion of the salt is neutral to litmus paper, and affords with silver nitrate T. S. a 
white curdy precipitate, which is soluble in ammonia water. Another portion 
of the aqueous solution, when gently heated with potassium or sodium hydrate 
T.S., evolves the odor of ammonia. A 5 per cent aqueous solution of the salt 
should not be affected by hydrogen sulphide T.S. (absence of metals), barium 
chloride T.S. (sulphate), diluted sulphuric acid (barium), or ammonium oxalate 
T.S. (calcium). When acidulated with hydrochloric acid, the solution should 
not assume a red color on the addition of* a few drops of ferric chloride T.S. 
(absence of sulphocyanate). 20 Cc. of a 5 per cent aqueous solution of the salt 
should not at once assume a blue color on the addition of 5 drops of potassium 
ferrocyanide T.S. (limit of iron). If to 1 Gm. of the salt a little nitric acid be 
added, and the mixture evaporated to dryness in a porcelain capsule on a water- 
bath, a white residue should be obtained which, when more strongly heated, 
should be completely volatilized (absence of empyreumatic or non-volatile 
matters)"-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Chloride of ammonium, according to 
its mode of employment, is refrigerant, laxative, expectorant, diaphoretic, or 
diuretic. " It acts primarily on the intestinal canal, as an irritating stimulus" 
(Ed.). Its action upon the general system is to promote secretion and exhalation 
generally, soften and break down textures, check phlegmonous inflammation, 
lessen inflammatory effusions, and promote their re-absorption. It is said to act 
upon all the tissues of the system, producing the solvent effects accorded to mer- 
curials, but without their injurious consequences. If long employed, it may occa- 
sion gastro-intestinal disturbances, with coated tongue, anorexia, difficult digestion, 
pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and loss of flesh. It has a tendency to produce hemor- 178 
AMMONII CHLORIDUM. 
rhages, as epistaxis, hematuria, etc. In very large doses, it acts as a decided 
irritant, producing inflammation of the alimentary canal, and also coma and 
tetanic convulsions. In mucous diseases of the throat, nasal passages, and Eustachiav 
pavilion, it has been beneficially employed in the form of spray, of from 5 to 12-5 
grains of the salt to an ounce of water; or the impalpable powder may be used 
in the form of powder-spray, alone, or in combination with powdered extract of 
liquorice, etc. The vapor of chloride of ammonium passed into the inner ear, 
through the Eustachian tube, by means of an instrument for this purpose, has 
effected cures of chronic mucous diseases of these parts. As an external application, 
it is used in the form of plaster or lotion, as a stimulating discutient, and has 
been found valuable in chilblains," indolent tumors of all kinds, contusions, gangrene, 
psora, ophthalmia, sore throat, and in stimulating clysters;" and it is also very bene- 
ficial in hemicrania and other neuralgic affections, in which it may also be given in 
doses of a tablespoonful every hour, of a solution of 2 drachms dissolved in 6 
fluid ounces of water, and continued until relieved. When first applied, in solu- 
tion, the coldness will diminish the sense of heat and uneasiness of the part, and 
the subsequent stimulus will excite a more healthy action in the vessels. For 
these purposes a favorite lotion with some physicians is a mixture of 2 drachms 
of chloride of ammonium dissolved in 1 fluid ounce of distilled water, to which 
1 fluid ounce of tincture of conium is subsequently added. In erysipelas and 
erysipelatous inflammations, I have found the following mixture an excellent local 
application: Take of chloride of ammonium 1 ounce, distilled water £ pint; mix 
and dissolve, then add tincture of camphor 4 ounces, tincture of lobelia 4 ounces. 
To be shaken each time previous to bathing with it. It allays the burning heat 
and itching, and in many instances assists in preventing the further develop- 
ment or extension of the disease (King). As a gargle or in spray, it is often service- 
able in the chronic form of tonsillitis; use a solution of 1 or 2 drachms of the salt to 
about 2 or 2| fluid ounces of water, and 4 fluid drachms of alcohol. In fluor albus 
and gonorrhoea (as well as for a wash in scabies and ulcers), from 1 drachm to 
| ounce may be dissolved in 12 or 16 fluid ounces of water, and used as an in- 
jection. A solution (^ss in aqua fl§viij), is declared by Foltz to be the best agent 
for palpebral ecchymosis, and if applied early, prevents the discoloration (Dynam. 
Therap.). 
Internally, ammonium chloride has been recommended in all tuberculous dis- 
eases, in chronic pulmxmary affections, rheumatic face-ache, hemicrania, ischuria, chronic 
enlargement of the prostate, chronic rheumatism, chronic bronchitis, neuralgia, nervous 
headache, chronic dysentery, amenorrhoea, the result of deficient uterine action, and 
in all chronic diseases of mucous or serous tissues. In these cases we will 
be largely guided by the indications pointed out by Prof. Scudder-cases showing 
feeble capillary circulation, with dusky redness of the skin (not due to blood 
poisoning), the effacement of which is again slowly replaced by a return of the 
dark color. - The drug is a capillary stimulant, and as such is frequently of benefit 
in the exanthemata, to favor the eruptive process. In broncho-pulmonary dis- 
orders, it is a valuable remedy. It is a remedy for dryness and tightness in 
the throat, with sharp, violent cough. Throat disorders, especially when chronic, 
with a tight, rasping cough, precipitated by a titillating or tickling in the larynx, 
is promptly relieved by the following: R Ammonium chloride, $ij ; sanguin- 
arine nitrate, gr. j; spts. lavender compound, flsij; syrup, q. s. flsiv. Mix. 
Filter through cotton. Dose, 1 teaspoonful every 3 hours. It is also useful early 
in bronchitis, and the active stage of catarrhal pneumonia (1 to 3 grains every 2 or 3 
hours). Cough, associated with sluggish abdominal circulation and hepatic torpor, 
and subdued cough with scanty secretion, are met by ammonium chloride in 
small doses. It is asserted to relieve hepatic neuralgia-heptalgia-and to be of 
value in chronic catarrhal disorders of the intestinal tract. The pain attending 
biliary catarrh is also said to be controlled by it. Dose: From 5 grains to 4 
drachm is the dose, which may be repeated 3 or 4 times a day; it may be given 
in the form of a powder, mixed with powdered gum or sugar, or dissolved with 
syrup, mucilage, extract of liquorice, etc. In large doses it purges, but in small 
doses it rather constipates the bowels. It may be given for a long time without 
any inconvenience, but at last it impairs the digestive powers. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Dusky or dull redness (non-septic) of sur- 179 
face, easily effaced but slowly returning; cough, subdued, tight, rasping or tick- 
ling, with scanty secretion ; cough dependent on hepatic torpor and imperfect 
abdominal circulation. Locally to ecchymosis of the lids; also as a bath in 
capillary enfeeblement. 
AMMONII IODIDUM. 
AMMONII IODIDUM (U. S. P.)-AMMONIUM IODIDE. 
Formula: NHJ. Molecular Weight: 144.54. 
Synonyms: loduretum ammonicum, Ammonium jodatum. 
Preparation.-Place iodine, a sufficient quantity, into a dish, and add to it 
enough water to cover it, then add sulphide of ammonium, agitating from time 
to time, and continue the addition of the sulphide until the red color has dis- 
appeared ; boil, to drive off the excess of the sulphide, filter, and evaporate to 
dryness. This process yields a salt to which traces of sulphur obstinately adhere, 
and even when excluded from light, discoloration is liable to occur, with evolu- 
tion of free iodine. A formula has, therefore, been proposed by Mr. Jas. F. Bab- 
cock, which produces a salt absolutely pure, and which, if carefully dried, is said 
to remain white for a considerable period. The process consists in the double 
decomposition of pure iodide of potassium and pure sulphate of ammonium, 
forming iodide of ammonium and sulphate of potassium; it is as follows: 
Dissolve by heat, iodide of potassium, 5 parts by weight, and sulphate of am- 
monium, 2 parts by weight, in distilled water, 4 parts by weight. On cooling, a 
lame proportion of sulphate of potassium is deposited; and when the fluid is at 
15.5° C. (60° F.), alcohol (95 percent), 1 part by weight, is mixed with it, which 
separates all but about 1 per cent of sulphate of potassium, and the concentrated 
solution of iodide of ammonium, after evaporation, yields crystals of perfectly 
white iodide. Subsequent addition of alcohol will separate the whole of the 
sulphate of potassium from the mother liquor, which, on evaporation to dryness, 
will yield an additional quantity of the iodide. To give the best results, the 
evaporation should be performed in the dark, or in the evening by gas-light. 
The solution being very concentrated, will require but comparatively little 
boiling, and the precipitate of sulphate of potassium being crystalline, can be 
readily separated by filtration proceedings Amer. Pharm. Assoc., 1866, p. 245). 
This salt may also be produced directly by combining iodine with ammonia 
water. This mixture, however, should be prepared with the greatest of caution, 
as nitrogen iodide, an extremely dangerous explosive compound,is formed simul- 
taneously with the ammonium iodide. In this way the so-called colorless 
tincture of iodine is prepared. • The simplest and safest way of obtaining 
ammonium iodide is to neutralize hydriodic acid (IH) with aqua ammonise, and 
evaporate to dryness. This process is 50 per cent more expensive than by the 
older method (Lambert). Another process consists in preparing ferrous iodide, 
precipitating the iron with aqua ammonia3, and evaporating the filtrate to dryness. 
Another process was introduced by Rother (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1887), consisting in 
the double decomposition of calcium iodide with ammonium bicarbonate. 
Description and Tests.-Iodide of ammonium occurs as " minute, colorless, 
cubical crystals, or a white, granular powder, without odor when colorless, but 
emitting a slight odor of iodine when colored, and having a sharp, saline taste. 
The salt is very hygroscopic, and soon becomes yellow or yellowish-brown on 
exposure to the air and light, owing to the loss of ammonia and the elimination 
of iodine. Soluble at 15° C. (59° F.), in 1 part of water, and in 9 parts of alco- 
hol ; in 0.5 part of boiling water, and in 3.7 parts of boiling alcohol. When 
heated on platinum foil it evolves vapor of iodine, and volatilizes completely 
without melting. The aqueous solution of the salt is neutral to litmus paper, 
and, when gently heated with potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., evolves the 
odor of ammonia. If a little chloroform be added to 10 Cc. of the aqueous solu- 
tion, then a few drops of chlorine water, and the whole agitated, the chloroform 
will acquire a violet color. A solution of 1 Gm. of the salt in 20 Cc. of water, 
acidulated with a few drops of diluted hydrochloric acid, should not afford an 
immediate cloudiness or precipitate with 5 drops of barium chloride T.S. (limit 
of sulphate). A 1 per cent aqueous solution of the salt should not at once 180 
AMMONII NITRAS. 
assume a blue color with potassium ferrocyanide T.S. (limit of iron), nor, after 
being mixed with a little starch T.S., should it assume a deep-blue color (limit of 
free iodine). If 0.25 Gm. of the salt be dissolved in 10 Cc. of ammonia water, 
the solution then shaken with 19 Cc. of decinormal silver nitrate V.S., and the 
filtrate supersaturated with 5 Cc. of nitric acid, no cloudiness should make its 
appearance within 10 minutes (absence of more than about 0.5 per cent of chlo- 
ride or bromide)"-(JJ. S. P.). "Ammonium iodide should be kept in small, 
well-stoppered vials, protected from light. When deeply colored, the salt should 
not be dispensed, but it may be deprived of free iodine by adding to its concen- 
trated aqueous solution, sufficient ammonium sulphide T.S. to render it colorless, 
then filtering, and evaporating on a water-bath to dryness"-(U. S. P.). The 
coloring of the salt red by the liberation of free iodine, may be overcome by trit- 
urating the salt with a few drops of hypophosphorous acid, which combines with 
the iodine to form a product which does no harm, and at the same time the salt 
is freed from the irritating qualities it may possess when free iodine is present. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The action of ammonium iodide is 
somewhat analogous to that of iodide of potassium, its therapeutic effects being, 
however, more rapidly evidenced. It frequently produces diuresis, and also 
appears to have a well-marked and satisfactory influence in the reduction of 
glandular swellings. It has been very successfully employed in scrofula, constitu- 
tional syphilis, glandular enlargements, chronic rheumatism, phthisis pulmonalis, and in 
strumous disorders generally. It is of great value in the localized headache of syph- 
ilis, and is indicated in dull headache from strumous disorders and other causes, 
with feeble, sluggish circulation, dizziness, unsteady gait, and difficulty in con- 
trolling voluntary movements. The pain seems confined to a small area, as in 
inflammation, which may be covered with the finger tip. In pericranial headache, 
with cerebral excitement, it is also a good remedy. ' In secondary syphilis, it gives 
good results where the " tissues give the pinched and stringy sensation to the 
touch" (Scudder, Spec. Diag., 144). Foltz values it in syphilitic eye disease, with 
depression, giving 2 grains every 2 hours; also in syphilitic disease of the internal 
and middle ear, particularly in suppurative otitis media, he considers it one of the 
most useful of agents (Dynam. Therap.). The dose for an adult is from 1 to 3 
grains, repeated 3 or 4 times a day; it may be taken dissolved in water. A lini- 
ment made by dissolving | drachm of the iodide in 1 ounce of glycerin, and 
applied to enlarged tonsils by means of a camel's-hair brush, once or twice a day, 
has, in the course of three or four months, aided by internal use of the salt, 
effected their complete and permanent reduction. The same liniment employed 
in frictions, has been found beneficial in nocturnal syphilitic pains of the muscles 
or joints. An ointment (20 or 30 grains to 1 ounce of lard) has been efficacious 
in lepra and psoriasis, and in what is known as " camp or prairie itch fl applying 
about | ounce of it in frictions, twice a day. But a small quantity of this oint- 
ment should be prepared at a time, and kept in well-stoppered vessels, as the 
action of the air decomposes the iodide. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Localized pain in the head; dull pain in 
the head, with tinnitus aurium; vertigo; unsteady gait, and difficulty in con- 
trolling muscular movements; circulation feeble and sluggish ; pericranial head- 
ache, with cerebral excitement; secondary syphilis, with stringy,pinched tissues; 
syphilitic diseases of the eye and ear, with depression. 
AMMONII NITRAS (U. S. P.)-AMMONIUM NITRATE. 
Formula: NH4NO3. Molecular Weight: 79.9. 
Synonyms : Ammonium nitrirum, Nitrum flammans, Ammonias nitras, Nitrate of 
ammonia. 
Preparation and History.-Nitrate of ammonium (discovered by Glauber) 
has been known for a great many years, and was formerly termed nitrum flam- 
mans. It is readily prepared by adding ammonia, or ammonium carbonate, to 
diluted nitric acid, until the mixture becomes neutral, and then evaporating it 
slowly to crystallization. As found in the market, for the purpose of making 
nitrogen monoxide, it is in the form of a white, fibrous mass, in which case it is 181 
AMMON 11 PHOSPHAS. 
prepared by quick boiling until a portion will become solid when placed upon a 
cold porcelain slab. The mass is then allowed to cool, broken into fragments, 
and preserved in a cool place. As thus prepared it is known by the name fused 
nitrate of ammonium. This salt was of little interest until the introduction of 
nitrous oxide, when a demand for it was created. When ammonium nitrate and 
manganese dioxide in equal amounts are heated together, at the temperature 
of from 182° to 204° C. (360° to 400° F.), pure nitrogen is evolved, but above 
212° C. (420° F.), teroxide of nitrogen and oxygen accompany (Chern. News, Vol. 
XXXV). Dry ammoniacal gas is absorbed in large amount when passed, over 
ammonium nitrate, attended by liquefaction of the salt. At 0° C. (32° F.), half 
the weight of the salt will be condensed (Phil. Trans., 1873). When quickly 
raised to a high temperature, dry nitrate of ammonium decomposes into nitro- 
gen, water, and nitric oxide, whereas, when gently heated, in an apparatus, as 
illustrated below, it forms water, and nitrogen monoxide (N2O), or nitrous oxide. 
Fig. 17. 
Description and Tests.-This salt is thus described in the U. S. P.: "Col- 
orless crystals, generally in the form of long, thin, rhombic prisms, or in fused 
masses, without odor, having a sharp, bitter taste, and somewhat deliquescent. 
Soluble at 15° C. (59° F.), in 0.5 part of water, and in 20 parts of alcohol; very 
soluble in boiling water, and in 3 parts of boiling alcohol. When gradually 
heated, it melts at 165° to 166° C. (329° to 330.8° F.); at a temperature be- 
tween 230° C. (446° F.) and 250° C. (482° F.) it is decomposed into nitrogen 
monoxide gas and water, leaving no residue. The aqueous solution of the salt is 
neutral to litmus paper, and when gently heated with potassium or sodium 
hydrate T.S., it evolves the odor of ammonia. On heating the salt with sul- 
phuric acid, it emits nitrous vapors. A 10 percent aqueous solution of the salt, 
when acidulated with nitric acid, should not be affected by silver nitrate T.S. 
(absence of chloride), nor by barium chloride T.S. (absence of sulphate)"- 
(U. S. Pf. This salt should be kept closely stoppered. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Ammonium nitrate is employed 
principally in the preparation of nitrous oxide, or " laughing gas." It has rarely 
been employed therapeutically. Dr. Walter Coles (Am. Med. Times, November, 
1860, p. 311) has advised its use as a tonic, and for the purpose of introducing 
an increased quantity of oxygen into the system. It certainly has been found 
beneficial in cases of excessive debility from suppurating abscesses or ulcers, where the 
mucous tissues present a dark appearance, and has, apparently, been of service 
in several diabetic patients. The dose is from 5 to 15 grains, repeated 2 or 3 times 
a day. 
AMMONII PHOSPHAS - AMMONIUM PHOSPHATE. 
Formula: (NH4)2HPO4. Molecular Weight : 131.82. 
Synonyms : Phosphate of ammonia, Diammonium orthophosphate, Phosphas ammo- 
nicus, Ammonium phosphoricum, Ammonias phosphas. 
Preparation.-Pour syrupy phosphoric acid gradually into ammonia water 
until of slight acid reaction, then add ammonia water until it is slightly alkaline. 
Evaporate the solution to crystallization and dry the crystals by exposure to 
cool air. 182 
AMMONII PICRAS. 
Description.-Phosphate of ammonium forms large, transparent crystals, 
odorless, of a cooling, decidedly saline taste, insoluble in alcohol, and soluble 
in about twice its weight of water. In damp air it slightly effloresces through 
loss of ammonia, and when heated with hydroxides of sodium or potassium 
evolves ammonia. Normal ammonium phosphate occurs in guano. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This salt was recommended in 1846, 
by Dr. T. H. Buckler, for the cure of gout and rheumatism, and though the grounds 
upon which he commended its use are not tenable, yet the article has been found 
useful in these affections, and in some diseases of the urinary apparatus. The 
dose Varies from 10 to 40 grains in fluid ounce of water, and repeated 2 or 3 
times a day. 
Related Salt.-Ammonii Sodii Phosphas, Ammonium sodium phosphate, Microcosmic salt. 
Formula : (NH4)NaHPO4-|-4H2O. This salt has been obtained by the alchemists from evapo- 
rated urine ; hence the name, microcosmic salt, implying man, or microcosm, being contrasted 
with the world at large, or macrocosm. It is obtained by crystallizing a mixture of 5 parts of 
sodium phosphate (Na2HPO4) and 2 parts of mono-ammonium phosphate (H2NH4PO4). Mi- 
crocosmic salt occurs in transparent, monoclinic prisms, easily soluble in water. To the taste 
it is distinctly saline. When heated in the loop of a platinum wire, in a Bunsen burner, it 
first loses ammonia and water, leaving a residue of dihydrogen sodium phosphate, and when 
further heated, forms a clear, glass-like bead of sodium hexa-meta-phosphate, which dissolves 
certain metallic salts with characteristic colors, hence its application in blow-pipe analysis. 
Microcosmic salt occurs also in guano. 
AMMONII PICRAS-AMMONIUM PICRATE. 
Formula: NHiCgH^NC^sO. Molecular Weight : 245.58. 
Synonyms : Picrate of ammonium, Carbazotate of ammonium. 
Preparation.-Add 1 part of picric acid to 8 parts of distilled water, and 
bring the mixture to the boiling point. Then, with constant stirring, add aqua 
ammonias until in slight excess, and filter through paper while hot. Mix the 
filtrate with 8 parts of alcohol, and, when cool, strain, and dry the precipitate 
on blotting paper, by exposure to the atmosphere. 
The picric acid unites with ammonia in the foregoing operation, forming a 
dark orange-colored solution (picric acid dissolves with lemon-yellow color), from 
which the mechanical impurities are separated by filtration through paper. 
Owing to the fact that picrate of ammonium is almost insoluble in alcohol, and 
is soluble to a considerable extent in water, the alcohol is added, thus precipitat- 
ing a larger amount than could be obtained by crystallization. Another advan- 
tage derived from the use of alcohol, results from the fact that a common 
impurity in commercial picric acid is a resinous substance produced by the 
action upon carbolic acid of the acids employed in making the picric acid. This 
resin is held in solution by the alcohol, but precipitates with the picric acid if 
water only is used. 
Description.-Picrate of ammonium, obtained by the preceding formula, is 
in the form of minute lemon or orange-colored acicular crystals. It is intensely 
bitter, and imparts, in solution, a permanent yellow color to organic bodies, more 
particularly such as horn, the finger-nails, hair, etc. Solution of picrate of ammo- 
nium precipitates most of the solutions of alkaloidal salts, forming insoluble 
picrates of the alkaloids. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Administered for some time to cer- 
tain animals, it has occasioned a yellow discoloration of the conjunctiva, as well 
as of the urine; also diarrhoea, leanness, flatulency, spasmodic twitchings, etc.; 
and the globules of the blood, both the red and the white, become seriously 
changed in their character. With man, somewhat similar effects have been 
observed. 
At one time this agent was highly extolled as an effective remedy for inter- 
mittent fever, and was also suggested for the destruction of trichina in man, but no 
positive or satisfactory results have been derived from its employment in these 
cases. Its chief use at the present day is in the preparation of colors for staining 
in histological investigations. The dose is | to | grain.' On account of its intense 
bitterness, it should be administered in pill or capsule. AMMONII SULPHAS.-AMMONII VALERIANAS. 
183 
ammonii sulphas.-Ammonium sulphate. 
Formula: (NH4)2SO4. Molecular Weight: 131.84. 
Synonyms : Sulphas ammonicus, Ammonium sulphuricum, Sulphate of ammonia, 
Sal ammonium secretum Glauberi. 
Source, History, and Description.-This salt was discovered by Libavius 
(Roscoe and S.), but was first investigated carefully by Glauber. It is mentioned 
in the early works on chemistry as ammoniacal vitriol, vitriolic sal ammoniac, and 
Glauber's secrete sal ammoniac. It is found in certain volcanic districts, but is 
made in immense amounts from ammoniacal gas-liquor, from which the ammonia 
is liberated by lime, and then conducted into diluted sulphuric acid; after which 
this solution of impure sulphate of ammonium is strained and evaporated until 
the salt separates. The impure brown mass formed is then recrystallized. 
Sulphate of ammonium occurs in long, transparent, 6-sided crystals, which are 
isomorphous with potassium sulphate, and have a strongly saline taste. They 
dissolve in their own weight of boiling, and in 2 parts of cold water; insoluble 
in alcohol of less specific gravity than 0.850. Sulphate of ammonium is made 
in large amounts in this country, and is mostly consumed in the preparation 
of ammonium alum, aqua ammonise, and chloride of ammonium. It also enters 
into the composition of ammonio-ferric alum, and is used to make other prep- 
arations of ammonium, such as iodide of ammonium, and as a fertilizer. 
Medical Uses.-Sulphate of ammonium has not been employed as a 
therapeutical agent. 
AMMONII VALERIANAS (U. S. P.)-AMMONIUM VALERIANATE. 
Formula: NH4C5H9O2. Molecular Weight: 118.78. 
Synonyms : Ammonium valerate, Valerianus ammonicus. 
Preparation.-Pass ammonia gas into valerianic acid until the acid is satu- 
rated. Evaporate the solution to solidification and dissolve the mass in hot 
alcohol, from which the valerianate of ammonium separates on cooling. 
Description.-Owing to its unstable qualities, this salt should be kept in 
well-stoppered containers. The official salt should correspond to the following 
description: "Colorless, or white, quadrangular plates, emitting the odor of vale- 
rianic acid, of a sharp and sweetish taste, and deliquescent in moist air. Very 
soluble in water and in alcohol; also soluble in ether. When heated, the salt 
fuses, gives off vapor of ammonia and of valerianic acid, and is finally completely 
volatilized. The aqueous solution has an acid reaction, and, when gently heated 
with potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., it evolves the odor of ammonia. If a 
concentrated, aqueous solution of the salt be slightly supersaturated with sul- 
phuric acid, an oily layer of valerianic acid will separate on the surface. A 5 per 
cent aqueous solution, when acidulated with nitric acid, should not be affected by 
barium nitrate T.S. (absence of sulphate), nor by silver nitrate T.S. (absence of 
chloride). If a neutral solution of the salt be completely precipitated with ferric 
chloride T.S., the filtrate should not possess a deep-red color (absence of acetate)" 
-(U. S. Pf. R. Rother, in 1884, proposed to substitute for ammonium valerian- 
ate an evaporated mixture of this salt with ammonia and borax, in order to over- 
come the objectionable odor {Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1884, p. 313). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Small doses stimulate, and large doses 
of ammonium valerianate depress the functions of the spinal cord (Parke).' This 
salt has been highly recommended in neuralgia, epilepsy, headache, nervous irrita- 
bility, chorea, etc. The dose of the salt is from 4 to 10 grains 3 times a day; of 
Declat's solution (containing part by weight of the salt), from 1 fluid drachm 
to | fluid ounce, according to the urgency of the symptoms. For epilepsy, or 
other fully developed convulsive disorders, however, it is of no value whatever. 
Elixir of Valerianate of Ammonium is a preparation designed to disguise the disa- 
greeable taste of the valerianate, and for which several formulae have been pro- 
posed. One, about as useful as any, is as follows: Take, of valerianate of ammo- 
nium, 1 drachm; fluid extract of vanilla,^ fluid ounce; compound tincture of 184 
AMPELOPSIS.-AMYGDALA. 
cardamom, 4 fluid drachms; tincture of prickly ash berries, 2 fluid drachms; 
syrup of orange flower, 6 fluid drachms; water, 3| fluid ounces. Mix. The dose 
is a teaspoonful, to be repeated 3 times a day. 
ampelopsis-american ivy. 
The bark and young twigs, with leaves, of the Ampelopsis quinquefolia, 
Michaux (Vitis hederacea, Willdenow; Cissus quinquefolia, Persoon; Vitis quinque- 
folia, Moench; Cissus hederacea, Barton). 
Nat. Ord.-Ampelidacese. 
Common Names: American ivy, Virginian creeper, Five leaves, Woodbine, False 
grape, Wild wood vine. 
Botanical Source.-This is a woody vine, with a rooting, climbing stem, 
and quinate and digitate leaves composed of oblong, acuminate, petiolate, den- 
tate, smooth leaflets w7hich turn crimson in autumn. The 
flowers are inconspicuous, greenish or wrhite, and borne in 
dichotomous clusters; calyx entire; petals 5, distinct and 
spreading; ovary 2-celled, cells 2-ovuled ; style very short; 
berries dark-blue, acid, smaller than peas, 2-celled, cells 1 or 
2-seeded. 
History.-The American ivy is a common and familiar 
shrubby vine, climbing extensively, and, by means of its rad- 
icating tendrils, supporting itself firmly upon trees, ascending 
to the height of 50 feet; in the same manner it ascends and 
overspreads walls and buildings; its large leaves constitut- 
ing a luxuriant foliage of dark glossy-green. It is found in 
wild woods and thickets throughout the United States, and 
blossoms in July, ripening its small blackish berries in Octo- 
ber. The bark and twigs are the parts used. Its taste is acrid and persistent, 
though not unpleasant, and its decoction is mucilaginous. The bark should be 
collected late in the fall, after the berries have ripened. Bernays (P. J. Tr., Vol. 
VII, p. 80) reports poisoning by the leaves, with severe emesis, diarrhoea, collapse, 
and narcosis, with dilatation of the pupils. This plant is frequently thought to 
be poison vine {Rhus Toxicodendron). It differs from the latter, however, among 
other ways, in having 5 instead of 3 leaflets, so that any one may easily differen- 
tiate the two vines. It may be handled with impunity. [Compare with illus- 
tration of Rhus Toxicodendron]. Ampelopsin, one of the old " resinoids or concen- 
trations," is unworthy of consideration as a medicine. 
Chemical Composition.-Analysis shows that the leaves and berries have 
the same constituents, differing only in the latter not containing glycolic acid. 
Analysis of the leaves gathered in midsummer, revealed albumen, pyrocatechin, 
sugar, tartaric acid (free), bitartrate of potassium, and tartrate of calcium, while 
neither free tartaric acid nor bitartrate of potassium were found in the leaves 
collected in early autumn (September), but two additional substances, pectin and 
calcium glycolate, were detected. The analyses were made by Wittstein and 
Gorup-Besanez. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Alterative, tonic, astringent, and 
expectorant. Used principally in the form of syrup in scrofula, syphilitic affections, 
and wherever an alterative is required. It has also been recommended in dropsy, 
bronchitis, and other pulmonary complaints. Dose of the syrup or decoction, 2 to 4 
fluid ounces, 3 times a day; tincture, 10 to 30 drops, 3 times a day. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-In faulty nutrition, and scrofulous diath- 
esis, with sluggish lymphatic action. 
Related Species.-Ampelopsis Botrya, De Candolle. Habitat, southeast Africa. Diu- 
retic. Root employed. 
Fig. 18. 
A. quinquefolia. 
AMYGDALA-ALMOND. 
I. Amygdala Amara (U. S. P.)-Bitter almond. ''The seed of Prunus Amyg- 
dahts, var. Amara, De Candolle" (U. S. P.). (Amygdalus communis, var. Amara). AMYGDALA. 
185 
II. Amygdala Dulcis (U. S. P.)-Sweet almond. li The seed of Prunus Amyg- 
dalus, var. Dulcis, De Candolle" (U. S. P.). (Amygdalus communis, var. Dulcis}. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 99. 
Botanical Source.-The Prunus Amygdalus, or Almond tree, is from 10 to 
18 feet high, with a pale-brown, rugged bark, and dividing into many spreading 
branches. The leaves, which are borne on glandular petioles, 
are between 2 and 4 inches long, about 9 lines broad, lanceo- 
late, acuminate, thin, serrated, bright light-green, and glandu- 
lar near the base. The flowers are moderately large, pink or 
white, sessile, and in pairs, appearing before the leaves. The 
calyx is reddish, with blunt segments. The petals are variable 
in size, always much larger than the calyx, ovate, concave, and 
irregularly notched. Stamens spreading, about half the length 
of the petals. The ovary is wooly; the style simple. The 
fruit a leathery, hoary drupe, with the sarcocarp spontaneously 
cracking and dropping off the putamen. The stone is oblong, 
or ovate, acute, hard in various degrees, always rugged, and 
pitted with irregular holes. The seed is oblong, compressed, 
ovate, with brown testa, at the apex of which there is a broad, round, brown 
chalaza. The cotyledons are very large, and plano-convex. Both the sweet and 
bitter almonds are taken from this tree, of which there are several varieties-the 
sweet almond is obtained from the var. Dulcis, and the bitter almond from the 
var. Amara (L.). 
History.-The Almond tree is indigenous to most of the southern parts of 
Asia and Barbary, and is cultivated in many parts of Southern Europe. Accord- 
ing to Consul Mathews, of Tangier, the almond tree "is remarkable for the 
facility in raising it, for its hardiness in standing continued droughts, growing in 
the poorest soils, in the sands, gravels, and amongst rocks; ami finally for the 
abundance of, and high price which its fruit commands. * * * At the sixth 
year the almond trees commence to yield by far greater product than the expenses 
incurred in their raising and cultivation, owing to their rustic habit, requiring 
no care from the time of their planting to the long period which these trees live " 
(U. S. Special Consular Reports, Vol. XL, 1889-90). 
The varieties of sweet almond found in commerce are the Valencia, Italian, 
Barbary, and Jordan. The latter, which are the finest of the sweet almonds, 
come from Malaga. They are hard-shelled, though they are generally deprived 
of the shell before being put on the market. The Barbary variety is the smallest 
and cheapest. The soft-shell (paper shell) variety from Majorca of the Balearic 
Isles, is shipped from Valencia, and French and Italian ports on the Mediterra- 
nean coast. They are derived from Prunus Amygdalus, var. fragilis, De Candolle. 
The Jordan, or Malaga almonds, differ from all others in being much longer and 
of larger size. The bitter almonds are imported principally from Mogador, in 
Morocco. So far as the external appearance goes, they can not be differentiated 
from the sweet almonds, except the long Jordan variety. Almonds are now cul- 
tivated to some extent in California. The bitter variety is said to grow wild in 
Greece. The almond has been known from the earliest times, having been one 
of the presents carried 4°wn into Egypt by Jacob's sons (Gen., ch. xliii, v. 11). 
Among the bitter almonds the following are the chief varieties: the French, the 
best product; the Sicilian; and the Barbary, or least valuable kernel. 
Description.-I. Amygdala Amara (G. S. P.), Bitter almond. " About 25 Mm. 
(about 1 inch) long, oblong-lanceolate, flatfish, covered with a cinnamon-brown, 
scurfy testa, marked by about 16 lines emanating from a broad scar at the blunt 
end. The embryo has the shape of the seed, is white, oily, consists of 2 plano- 
convex cotyledons, and a short radicle at the pointed end, and has a bitter taste. 
When triturated with wTater, bitter almond yields a milk-white emulsion, which 
emits an odor of hydrocyanic acid"-(U. S. P.). 
II. Amygdala Dulcis (U. S. P.)-Sweet almond. "Closely resembling the 
bitter almond (see Amygdala Amara), but having a bland, sweetish taste, free from 
rancidity. When triturated with water, it yields a milk-white emulsion, free 
from the odor of hydrocyanic acid "-(U. S. P.). 
Chemical Composition.-Both varieties of almond contain oil; the sweet, a 
Fig. 19. 
Prunus Amygdalus. 186 
AMYGDALA. 
fixed oil (see Oleum Amygdalae Expressum); the bitter, a fixed oil (see Oleum Amyg- 
dalae Expressum), and a glucoside, called amygdalin, capable of splitting into 
hydrocyanic acid, dextrose, and benzaldehyde (see Oleum Amygdalae Amarae). The 
fixed oil may be obtained by expression; it is colorless, or slightly yellowish, 
sweet and bland to the taste. The essential oil, called oil of bitter almonds, con- 
sisting of benzaldehyde (C6H5CHO), and hydrocyanic acid, may be obtained from 
the bitter almonds by first depriving them of their fixed oil by expression, sub- 
jecting the residue to the action of cold water for some hours, and finally distill- 
ing the product. The reaction involved is as follows: Amygdalin (C^H^NOn) is 
converted, under the influence of emulsin (synaptase), a vegetable protein ferment 
present in the bitter and sweet almond, into dextrose, hydrocyanic acid, and 
benzaldehyde (oil of bitter almonds), as follows: C2oH27NOn-H2H20=CNH-|- 
2CfiH12O64-C7HfiO (Wohler and Liebig). Emulsin is non-poisonous, and is obtained 
in an amorphous state. Its activity upon amygdalin is destroyed by boiling 
heat. Another proteid body, which is likewise soluble in water, is present in the 
almonds. It was named conglutin, by Ritthausen, while Comaille denominated 
it amandin. It is to this body, and emulsin, that the emulsification of oil of 
almond in water is due. Amygdalin exists only in the bitter almond. On 
boiling amygdalin in alkaline solution, it splits up into amygdalic acid (C20H28O13), 
and ammonia. With diluted acids, amygdalic acid yields mandelic (phenylglycolic) 
acid (C8H8O3) and grape sugar. In 1895, E. Fischer succeeded in eliminating 
from the molecule of amygdalin one molecule of dextrose by acting upon it with 
an aqueous extract of beer yeast. He thus obtained a new glucoside (Ci4H19NO7), 
which closely resembles amygdalin, and splits under the influence of emulsin into 
the same products; it differs from amygdalin in melting point and solubilities. 
The integuments of almonds contain both cane and grape sugar, the latter pre- 
dominating, a green, resinous body, and a bitter, yellow principle having an acrid 
taste (thought to be a glucoside). Tannin has been found in the unblanched 
kernels. The almonds contain mucilage and protein matter, and yield in the 
ash, phosphates of calcium, potassium, and magnesium. Amygdalin is obtained 
also from many barks, flowers, seeds, and leaves of plants of the natural order 
Rosacea?, those of the sub-orders Amygdalese and Pomese seeming to yield it in 
considerable amounts. 
Amygdalin (C2dH27NO11), is obtained by freeing bitter almonds from their fixed 
oil by pressure and extracting the residue with boiling alcohol, evaporating the 
solvent and recrystallizing the residue. It is a crystalline body, has a sweetish 
bitter taste, is soluble in cold water (1 in 12), slightly soluble in cold, but easily 
soluble in hot alcohol, insoluble in ether. It is said to be poisonous, even in the 
absence of emulsin (Moriggia and Ossi). Its solution is laevo-rotatory. When 
crystallized, it contains three molecules of H2O, which is expelled when amygdalin 
is heated to 120° C. (248° F.). 
Seventeen grains of amygdalin dissolved in 1 ounce of emulsion of sweet 
almonds, furnishes 1 grain of pure hydrocyanic acid, an amount of acid equiva- 
lent to 50 minims of the official diluted hydrocyanic acid. The oil of Hitter 
almonds is a poison acting in the same manner as hydrocyanic acid, unless the 
acid be removed from it by shaking with milk of lime and ferrous sulphate 
(Liebig and Wohler). One drachm of it dissolved in 3 fluid drachms of alcohol, 
forms an " essence of almonds," much used by confectioners, perfumers, etc. The 
oil of bitter almonds has a golden-yellow color, an agreeable, prussic acid-like 
odor, and an acrid, bitter taste. It is combustible, burning with a white flame, 
its specific gravity varying from 1.060 to 1.070; soluble in alcohol or ether, and in 
water (300 parts); communicates its odor and taste to water, and yields foliaceous 
crystals of benzoic acid upon standing for a time exposed to the atmosphere. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Sweet Almonds. Triturated with 
water, sweet almonds produce a white mixture called emulsion or milk of almonds, 
which possesses a very remarkable analogy with animal milk; it contains a. great 
quantity of oil, kept in suspension in water by the presence of sugar, gum, and 
albumen, and is used as a demulcent and as a vehicle for other medicines. The 
oil, in small quantity, acts as a demulcent; in larger doses it is laxative. It is 
frequently employed in cough, diseases attended with intestinal irritation, and for 
mitigating the acrimony of the urine in calculous affections, cystitis, gonorrhoea, etc. AMYGDALES PERSIC A. 
187 
Externally the oil is sometimes used in lotions and cosmetics. The kernels have 
been made into a bread, as well as cakes and pudding, to take the place of 
wheaten bread in diabetes. Dose of the oil, 1 to 2 fluid drachms. 
Bitter Almonds.-Bitter almonds are sedative, and in large doses poison- 
ous. The toxic symptoms and treatment are those of hydrocyanic acid (which 
see). The oil of bitter almonds, or bitter almond water, is commonly employed, 
and may be used as a substitute for hydrocyanic acid. Dose of the oil, J of a 
drop to 1 drop, in emulsion, and cautiously increased. Seldom used. 
AMYGDALUS PERSICA.-PEACH TREE. 
The leaves, bark of twigs, and kernels of the Amygdalus Persica, Linne. (Per- 
sica vulgaris, De Candolle). 
Nat. Ord.-Rosacea?. 
Common Name: Peach tree. 
Botanical Source.-The common peach tree is a well-known medium-sized 
tree, with spreading branches and a brown, smooth bark. Its leaves are from 
3 to 5 inches long and about one-third as wide, bright-green, smooth, lance- 
olate, and serrate, with all the serratures acute. They are borne on short petioles 
with 1 or 2 glands. The flowers are axillary, solitary, subsessile, and of a beau- 
tiful rose-color, and have the odor of hydrocyanic acid. The petals are 5 in 
number, and the stamens 25. The fruit is a sub-globular, fleshy, tomentose, 
yellowish-drupe, tinged with purple, and contains an ovate, compressed, acute, 
stony putamen which is rugosely grooved and perforated on the surface. The 
seed enclosed by the putamen resembles the almond in odor, taste, and appear- 
ance (W). 
Description.-The leaves are lanceolate, finely serrate, from 3 to 5 inches 
long, smooth on both sides, short petiolate, and green in color. They have a 
bitter taste and faint odor of hydrocyanic acid. The seeds, though smaller, 
resemble almonds, chemically and physically. 
History and Chemical Composition.-The peach tree is commonly consid- 
ered to be a native of Persia. It is cultivated in all parts of the United States, 
where its fruit reaches a greater degree of completion and excellence than in any 
other country. Its height is from 8 to 15 feet, its fruit is large, being from 1 to 3 
inches in diameter, juicy, containing sugar, malic acid, etc., and of a delicious 
flavor. There are about 200 varieties of this fruit, of which probably one- 
third are clingstones, the flesh adhering to the stone, and the remainder freestones, 
or clearstones, the flesh free or separating from the stone. The kernels somewhat 
resemble bitter almonds, but are smaller, and, probably, possess similar medicinal 
virtues. They contain amygdalin. Hydrocyanic acid can be obtained from most 
all parts of the tree. Gmelin procured by distillation of the leaves a yellow 
volatile oil which was heavier than water, and contained hydrocyanic acid. The 
fixed oil of the seeds is used to adulterate oil of almond, which it resem- 
bles. It is known as "peach oil." A liquor known as peach brandy is distilled 
from the fermented fruit. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Peach leaves in infusion have been 
recommended in morbid irritability of the bladder and urethra, pertussis, ischuria, 
hematuria, and nausea, as well as in all inflammations of the stomach and abdomen. 
They act as a sedative in doses of a tablespoonful every hour or two, of the 
cold infusion; in larger doses they slightly act upon the bowels, and are said 
to have been useful in removing worms. Amygdalus is the remedy for irrita- 
tion and congestion of the gastric surfaces. It is a very valuable agent in 
gastritis to control the vomiting and allay the extreme irritability of the stom- 
ach. Cough depending upon irritation of the throat and bronchial mucous 
membranes, is amenable to it. Prof. J. M. Scudder has found the infusion useful 
in gastro-intestinal irritation, in cholera infantum with nausea or vomiting, in chronic 
diarrhoea and dysentery, in chronic hepatitis, in chronic bronchitis, and in dyspepsia 
attended with gastralgia and nausea. The cold infusion may. be freely adminis- 
tered. The kernels are similarly employed in the form of tincture, infusion, 
or syrup; 4 ounces of the kernels in a quart of brandy is asserted to form a 188 
AMYL NITRIS. 
powerful tonic in intermittent fever, and to be remarkably efficacious in curing leu- 
corrhcea-, dose, a teaspooniul 3 or 4 times a day. Both leaves and kernels give 
hydrocyanic acid, with emulsin. Poisoning like that from hydrocyanic acid has 
occurred from the ingestion of peach seed. Infusion (^ss of bark of twigs and 
leaves to water Oj), 1 fluid drachm to 1 fluid ounce. Specific amygdalus, 1 to 10 
drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Gastric and abdominal tenderness, irrita- 
tion, or congestion, with elongated, pointed tongue with reddened tips and edges, 
and prominent papillae, nausea and vomiting; intestinal and bronchial irritation, 
irritative cough; irritative diarrhoea. 
Related Species.-Eriobotrya japonica. Loquat. The leaves and seeds of this tree contain 
emulsin and amygdalin in amounts sufficient to produce toxic quantities of hydrocyanic acid 
(P.J. Trans., 1885). 
Heteromeks arbutifolia. Toyon. California. Contains hydrocyanic, tannic, and gallic acids. 
(D. D. Lustig, A. J. P., 1882). 
AMYL NITRIS (U. S. P.)- AMYL NITRITE. 
Formula: C5HnNO2. Molecular Weight: 116.78. 
Synonyms : Amyl-nitrous ether, Amylaether nitrosus. 
" A liquid containing about 80 per cent of amyl (principally iso-amyl), 
nitrite [C5HUNO2= 116.78], together with variable quantities of undetermined 
compounds. It should be kept in small, dark, amber-colored and glass-stoppered 
vials, in a cool and dark place, remote from lights or fire"-(U. S. Pf. 
Source and History.-Nitrite of amyl was discovered by M. Balard, in 1844, 
who gave an account of its chemical and physical properties. Chapman and 
Smith {Jour. Chem. Soc., 1866 and 1867), ami afterward Chapman {Pharm. Jour, 
and Trans., 1871), investigated it carefully. Tanner recommends that it be 
prepared by a process similar to that of Mr. Redwood for making nitrous ether. 
Maisch {Am. Jour. Pharm., 1871, p. 147), distills purified amyl alcohol with nitric 
acid. In all cases the operation requires the utmost care and attention, not- 
withstanding which by-products will be largely produced which will require 
careful elimination. 
Preparation.-The process of Prof. Maisch, as modified by him from Balard's, 
is essentially as follows: Mix pure amyl alcohol with its bulk of nitric acid in a 
rather large glass retort and heat gradually until the reaction commences, then 
remove the fire and allow the subsequent spontaneous distillation to proceed until 
the temperature reaches 100° C. (212° F.). This distillate only is reserved, as 
above that temperature considerable nitrate of amyl, and ethyl-amylic ether are 
produced. The reserved distillate is agitated with solution of caustic potash in 
order to remove free acids. The decanted liquid is carefully distilled, and those 
portions only that distill between the temperatures 96° C. (205° F.), and 100° C. 
(212° F.), are to be reserved. The yield is small. 
Tanner mixes 10 parts of amyl alcohol with 1 of sulphuric acid in a capa- 
cious glass retort containing some copper wire; 1 part of nitric acid is added, 
having been previously diluted with its volume of water. Heat is now applied, 
and distillation conducted until a temperature of 98° C. (208° F.), is reached; 
the heat is then discontinued, and when the temperature of the liquid within 
the retort has fallen considerably, another part of nitric acid is added through a 
safety funnel, and distillation conducted as before. The operation is repeated 
until the distillate rather more than equals the bulk of the amyl alcohol employed. 
This constitutes impure nitrite of amyl, and may be purified by the directions 
given in Prof. Maisch's process. 
Description and Tests.-"A clear, yellow or pale-yellow liquid, of a pecu- 
liar, ethereal, fruity odor, and a pungent, aromatic taste. Specific gravity, 0.870 to 
0.880 at 15° C. (59° F.). Almost insoluble in water; miscible,in all proportions, 
with alcohol or ether. In alcoholic solution it gradually decomposes with forma- 
tion of ethyl nitrite and amylic alcohol. It is very volatile, even at a low tem- 
perature, and is inflammable, burning with a fawn-colored flame. At about 
96° to 99° C. (204.8° to 210.2° F.), it boils, yielding an orange-colored vapor" - AMYL NITRIS. 
189 
( U. S.P.). When much diluted with ether and allowed to act upon sodium in excess, 
almost pure nitrogen is produced. If the nitrite be in large excess, monoxide of 
nitrogen (N2O), is evolved. It is converted by the oxidizing action of chromic 
acid into nitric acid, valerianic acid, and valerianate of amyl (Chapman and 
Smith). 
"If 1 Cc. of normal potassium hydrate V.S. and 10 Cc. of water be mixed 
with 1 drop of phenolphtalein T.S., then 5 Cc. of amyl nitrite added, and the 
tube inverted a few times, the red tint of the alkaline layer should still be per- 
ceptible (limit of free acid). On shaking together equal volumes of amyl nitrite 
and potassium hydrate T.S., the aqueous layer should not acquire a deeper tint 
than pale-yellow (limit of aldehyde). Amyl nitrite should remain transparent, 
or nearly so, when exposed to the temperature of melting ice (absence of water). 
If 0.26 Gm. of amyl nitrite, diluted with about 5 Cc. of alcohol, be introduced 
into a nitrometer, followed by 10 Cc. of potassium iodide T.S., and afterward by 
10 Cc. of normal sulphuric acid V.S., the volume of nitric oxide generated, meas- 
ured at the ordinary indoor temperature (assumed to be at or near 25° C., or 77° 
F.), should be about 40 Cc. (each cubic centimeter indicating about 2 per cent of 
pure amyl nitrite)"-(U S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Nitrite of amyl was introduced to the 
profession as an antesthetic, in 1863, by Dr. B. W. Richardson, of England; but 
from many experiments that have subsequently been made, it appears that 
unconsciousness does not follow its inhalation until its full effects have been 
experienced, and these effects are due to its absorption by the various tissues of 
the system. The blood becomes blackish or of a chocolate color, and the absorp- 
tion of oxygen, as well as the production of carbonic acid, are greatly lessened; 
and, after a time, from its continuous action, the blood presents a modification 
appreciable with the spectroscope, and the hemoglobin loses its faculty of crystal- 
lizing. From its action vascular and nnucous tissues present a dark appearance, 
the number of pulsations diminish and then increase, the capillaries dilate, arte- 
rial tension becomes greatly lessened, and the temperature decreases. Bader and 
Goodhart, at Guy's Hospital, found that 3 drops of the nitrite, on sugar, occa- 
sioned considerable dilatation of the retinal veins, and especially of the papilla 
of the optic nerve, so as to leave no doubt as to the production of a cerebral 
hyperemia. Nitrite of amyl likewise possesses a paralyzing influence on both 
nerves and muscles. Its effects, however, do not appear to be the same with all 
who inhale it; some are affected by a very minute amount of it, while others 
require large doses for inhalation, even to 40 drops. With some its action is suc- 
ceeded by nausea; others, again, will have their vision dimmed, or will be annoyed 
by a yellow cloud in the field of vision, yellowish and green sparks or rings, 
and persons around them will appear to be surrounded with a yellow cr dark 
tint. Occasionally, its inhalation is followed by pallor, great depression, and 
collapse. On these accounts, great care and prudence must be observed in its 
administration, and especially on the first occasion of its inhalation. With some, 
repetition of the inhalation appears to lessen its more serious effects; but a too 
prolonged inhalation should always be avoided, as it is apt to prove fatal. It 
should not be employed in seriops organic diseases of the heart or of the brain. 
The usual immediate effects from inhalation of the nitrite of amyl are those 
observed at first by Guthrie, viz., flushing of the face, throbbing of the carotids, 
and acceleration of the heart's action. Some patients, after its administration, 
complain of throbbing in the temples, fluttering of the heart, and a death-like 
sensation of breathlessness; others feel a tingling throughout tbe system, or 
cramp-like pains in the extremities. Dr. Richardson, who introduced nitrite of 
amyl as a remedial agent, considers its physiological action to be directly exerted 
upon the ganglionic nervous tract; that it paralyzes so that the nervous supply 
over the extreme vascular system is impaired; that this paralysis of the nerves 
travels from the periphery inwards, diminishes muscular contractility, followed by 
relaxation and dilatation of the capillaries. This effect of the article led Dr. 
Richardson to suggest it primarily as a remedy for excessive spasmodic action, as 
in tetanus, angina pectoris, etc., in which affections it has proved very successful. 
The action of the nitrite is curative only so far as it controls the spasms present 
-that is, it prevents death, and thus allows time for recovery, either from the 190 
AMYL NITKIS. 
natural powers of the patient's system, or from the employment of the proper 
hygienical and therapeutical measures. The various maladies in which it has 
been successfully employed, are, angina pectoris, for which it is the best known 
palliative, tetanus, uncomplicated neuralgia, spasmodic asthma depending more 
upon nervous derangement than upon organic lesions, spasms of the fibers of 
involuntary muscles, as in intestinal colic, epilepsy, hystero-epilepsy, nervous head- 
ache, due to anemia, in which it acts promptly, chorea, syncope, puerperal convul- 
sions, spasmodic pains in some of the more important organs of the trunk, trismus 
nascentium, and intermittent fever. While its inhalation may cure certain of these 
affections, it must be borne in mind, that, with many of them, a very prompt and 
material amelioration of the troublesome or painful symptoms are all that can be 
expected, as in epilepsy, eclampsia, hysteria, etc. In the sick-headache, and other 
disorders of the menopause, as flushes of heat followed by perspiration, cardiac 
palpitation, and great prostration. R Amyl nitrite gtt. xv, alcohol Hsj. Mix. 
Dose, from 1 to 10 drops on sugar, 3 times a day. Amyl nitrite is a good drug 
in cardiac dyspnoea from hypertrophy or anasarca. In obstinate whooping-cough it 
gives temporary relief. After-pains are said to be promptly checked by its inhala- 
tion. Dr. W. E. Saunders (Scudder's Spec. Med., 72), cuts short attacks of ague 
by the inhalation of 2 drops of amyl nitrite or 4 drops of a mixture of equal 
parts of amyl nitrite and oil of coriander. The inhalation is discontinued as 
flushing of the face and warmth take place. Strychnine poisoning is said to be 
antidoted by it, used to control the convulsive action. 
Chloroform contracts the capillary vascular system, and in several serious 
cases of narcosis following the inhalation of chloroform, the prompt employment 
of the nitrite of amyl as an antagonizing agent has been successfully resorted to. 
In seasickness, the nitrite has been used with much efficiency. It has likewise 
been advised in the collapsed stage of cholera, by Gamgee and others, but Dr. 
Brunton has stated, from a doubt whether it dilates the pulmonary capillaries, 
which are contracted in this disease, that he considers it should be used, if at 
all, in this disease, either internally or by subcutaneous injection, and not by 
inhalation; also in spasmodic asthma, when the arterialization of the blood is 
impaired. 
In the employment of nitrite of amyl, it is highly important that a pure 
article be had. When used in inhalation the dose is from 2 to 5 drops, which 
are to be placed upon a folded linen or handkerchief, and then immediately 
inhaled for from 3 to 6 minutes. The article is also put up by manufacturers in 
hermetically sealed glass tears, and called "pearls of nitrite of amyl." As the 
fluid is exceedingly volatile, this is undoubtedly the best form in which to keep 
it; and these pearls can be had, each one containing 2, 3, or 5 drops; all that is 
necessary being to place the pearl in the center of the handkerchief, then crush it, 
and inhale the vapor. Internally it is rarely employed in doses of from 2 to 5 
drops in a small amount of spirit; thus used, its action is very energetic and 
requires to be closely watched. In poisoning by chloroform and in the collapse of 
cholera, 2 or 3 drops may be subcutaneously injected. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Tensive spasmodic disorders of the heart, 
as in angina pectoris; fluttering, irregular pulse; cold and pallid surface; depres- 
sion; nervous spasms; nervous headache with pallor; dyspnoea from cardiac 
hypertrophy. In very minute doses in increased throbbing of the arteries; in 
flushing of the surface, and in burning pain with natural hue of the skin. Con- 
traindicated by tendency to apoplexy, brittle or atheromatous arteries, and in pre- 
disposition to blood-determination to the brain. 
Related Compound.-Amyl Nitras (C5H11NO3). Amyl nitrate. Specific gravity, 0.902 
at 15° C. (59° F.). Boiling point near 147° C. (296.6 F.). This compound is prepared by acting 
upon amyl alcohol (50 parts by measure), with 150 parts of a mixture of nitric acid (1) and 
sulphuric acid (2). The amyl alcohol is to be dropped through a tube of considerable length 
and the mixture accomplished by continuous stirring. The w hole is kept cold by a mixture 
of salt and ice. Impure amyl nitrate rises to the surface as an oily stratum, and is subse- 
quently purified by washing with w'eak caustic potash solution and water, drying by means of 
chloride of calcium, and finally rectifying the product. It forms a sweet, oily fluid, without 
color, and possessing a characteristic odor, and pungent taste. It is insoluble in water, but 
dissolves in the three alcohols (ethylic, amylic, and methylic), in benzene and glacial acetic 
acid. It is not used in medicine, and should not be confounded with nitrite of amyl. AMYLENUM. 
191 
AM YLENUM .AMYLENE. 
Formula: C5Hw. Molecular Weight: 69.85. 
Synonyms : Isopentene, Pentene, Valerene. 
Source and History.-Amylene was discovered by Balard, in 1844, who 
obtained it by distilling amyl alcohol with zinc chloride. It was introduced to 
the medical profession by Dr. Snow, in a paper presented to the Medical Society 
of London, January 10, 1857. In the same year, M. Duroy experimented with it 
carefully, obtaining but 1^ ounces of amylene from- 10 pints of amyl alcohol. 
By his and subsequent investigations it was found that commercial amylene is 
not a pure article. Its principal constituent is beta-iso-amylene (trimethyl ethyl- 
ene [CH8]2C:CHCH3). 
Preparation and Description.-It is prepared by distilling equal parts of 
amyl alcohol and zinc chloride, by which means amylene and some of its isomers, 
amyl alcohol, and other substances are obtained. It is to be purified by fractional 
distillation from chloride of calcium, care being taken that the hydrocarbons of 
higher boiling point are rejected (see Pental below). Amylene is a thin, colorless 
liquid, having a fragrant odor, being freely soluble in alcohol and ether, and 
almost wholly insoluble in water. It boils at 35° C. (95° F.), and has the spe- 
cific gravity 0.663 at 0° C. (32° F.). It burns with a bright, smoky flame. Sul- 
phuric acid, previously diluted with half its bulk of water, causes it to polymer- 
ize; of the various bodies thus formed, one only, diamylene (CwHa,), has been 
more closely studied. Amylene is also known under the name isopentene. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Dr. Snow introduced this agent as an anaes- 
thetic, but a large amount of it is lost during inhalation, from not being 
absorbed, besides, death has occurred very suddenly from its use. Unlike the 
commonly employed anaesthetics, it often produces complete anaesthesia before 
loss of consciousness, and does not readily nauseate. The French Academy of 
Medicine gave it a very careful investigation, and rejected it as an uncertain and 
hazardous agent. It has, therefore, not come into general use, as few physicians 
would care to replace chloroform or ether by so unsatisfactory an article. 
Related Compounds.-Pental. Beta-iso-amylene, Trimcf/q/Zene ([CH3]2C:CH.CH3). Dens- 
ity 0.678. Boils at 38° C. (100.4° F.) This highly inflammable compound is a purified 
form of amylenum.- It is prepared by digesting amylic alcohol with chloride of zinc, and 
afterwards fractionally distilling the mixture. It is a volatile, colorless fluid, of an odor 
recalling that of mustard. It is not soluble in water, but dissolves in alcohol, chloroform, 
and ether. It has been employed as an anaesthetic, requiring but a small amount (less than 
6 drachms) to produce insensibility. It is occasionally dangerously depressant to the circula- 
tion, and is not likely to come into use, being much less efficient than our commonly employed 
anaesthetics. It has been employed locally by spray in minor operations. 
Amylenum Hydratum.-Amylene hydrate, Tertiary amylic alcohol, Dimethyl-ethylcarbinol 
(C5Hi2O=[CH3]2COH.C2H5). Molecular Weight: 87.81. Density 0.815 to 0.820. Boiling 
point near 102.5° C. (216.5° F.). This compound is official in the German Pharmacopoeia, and 
is prepared from crude amylene, consisting principally of beta-iso-amylene ([CH3]2C:CH.CH3), 
by shaking it in the cold with sulphuric acid, whereby amyl sulphuric acid is formed, and 
boiling the latter with water. The product obtained is then subjected to fractional distilla- 
tion, and that portion of the distillate reserved which distills over between 100° C. (212° F.) 
and 102.5° C. (216.5° F.). 
Amylene hydrate is a volatile, limpid fluid, without color, and possessing a pungent, 
somewhat camphoraceous, mint-like odor, and a sharp, hot taste. It is neutral to litmus, 
mixes freely with alcohol, benzin, chloroform, fixed oils, and glycerin, in all amounts, ami 
with water (1 in 8). It should not contain amylic alcohol nor aldehyde. This agent is employed 
chiefly as a hypnotic. It is of less value in spasmodic disorders. The slumber induced is 
natural and without stupor, the patient awakening promptly and refreshed, without headache, 
nor gastro-intestinal disturbances. It is serviceable in the insomnia of insanity, and during 
convalescence from exhausting diseases, and in the sleeplessness of old age, or arising from mental 
overwork, neurasthenia, or alcoholism. From 40 to 75 grains are recommended in red wine, or 
water flavored with a fruit syrup, or syrup of liquorice. The same amount may be given in 
mucilage by enema, where organic disease of the stomach prevents its ingestion. Amylene 
hydrate has also been praised as a remedy in mania, delirium tremens, the cough of phthisis and 
whooping-cough, and in epilepsy, especially petit mal, and in nocturnal epilepsy. 
Amyl Hydride (CgHij).-This product resembles, in some respects, amylene, though its 
odor is more like that of chloroform, and it has a lower boiling point, 30° C. (86° F.), than the 
former. It is obtained from petroleum and coal, being found among the more volatile con- 
stituents of the former, and in the light, tarry oil of the latter. 192 
AMYLUM. 
AMYLUM (U. S. P.)-STARCH. 
"The fecula of the seed of Zea mays, Linne" (U. S. P.). 
Nat. Ord.-Graminete. 
Formula: C6H]0O5. Molecular Weight: 161.62. 
Synonym : Corn starch. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 296. 
History and Source.-The ancient Greeks were well acquainted with starch, 
and its preparation " without the use of a millstone" (hence the name, amylum). 
The process is described by Dioscorides, and later by Pliny, and closely resembles 
in principle that followed in our days. Beccari, in 1745, showed that gluten may 
be obtained as a by-product when wheat is used as raw material (R. and S). 
The pharmacopoeial starch is derived from the seed of the Maize, or com- 
mon Indian corn plant, for a description of which see Zea Mays. Previous to the 
present revision (1890), the U. S. P. recognized the starch prepared from the 
seeds of Triticum vulgare, Villars, or Common wheat. Starch belongs to the 
organic compounds called carbo-hydrates, and is one of the principal constituents 
in various organs of many plants, especially in the seeds, where it serves as 
stored food-material for the growing embryo; also in roots and tubers (potatoes, 
arrowroot, tapioca), and in the pith of the stems of certain plants, e. g., the sago 
palm. It abounds especially in the different kinds of grain, among which wheat 
yields one of its purest varieties, and from which an average of about from 50 to 
60 per cent is to be had. 
Preparation.-Commercial starch is principally obtained from potatoes and 
the more abundant cereals. The processes for preparing the various kinds of 
starch differ to some extent, though all are prepared by comminution of the 
starch-bearing parts, then separating the starch from the coarser portions by treat- 
ing with warm or cold water, and allowing the starch to subside. Most cereal 
starches are prepared as follows : Soak the grain in luke-warm water, to which has 
been added a little alkali to separate the starch grains from the gluten. After the 
outer covering of the grain has softened, the material is ground under water and 
put into sieves and thoroughly washed, over a tank, with pure cold water. The 
gluten is thereby left upon the sieve, and the starch passes through and is allowed 
to subside in the tanks. It is then collected and dried in drying chambers, and 
is ready for use. Starch may be obtained as follows: From wheat flour, which 
consists of starch, gluten, mucilage, albumen, salts, and bran. The flour is 
kneaded in a cloth with successive portions of cold water, whereby the gluten 
and bran remain in the cloth; the mucilage, albumen, and salts dissolve in the 
water, and the starch passing away with the water, in a state of suspension, grad- 
ually falls to the bottom. By allowing the albumino-mucilaginous water, from 
which it has subsided, to undergo fermentation, the starch is thereby purified 
from all of the gluten; for the acetic and lactic acids formed during this process 
dissolve the gluten. The fermentation method is sometimes carried out directly 
with the wheat, after the latter is softened with water and crushed in roller- 
mills. The fermented mass is then washed in sacks and fine sieves, as before 
described. Another method, by which no fermentation takes place, and the 
gluten may nearly all be saved, is as follows : Allow a stiff dough of wheat 
flour to stand for a few hours, and then transfer it to a fine wire sieve. While 
a small stream of cold water plays upon it, knead it until the latter passes 
clear. The starch may now be thoroughly washed with cold water, drained, and 
dried. The gluten remains upon the sieve to the extent of 25 parts from 100 
parts of wheat flour. 
Description and Properties.-Starch, from whatever source, occurs in the 
form of white granules of varied size and form; these granules are definitely 
organized structures, although their existence in relation to that of the cell is 
transitory. They are the first definitely-formed products of assimilation, insol- 
uble in the ordinary cell-sap of the plants containing them, through a process of 
organization analogous to that by which the development of the cell itself is 
effected. When these minute granules acquire appreciable dimensions, concen- 
tric lines may be observed, more or less distinctly in different cases; a well- AMYLUM. 
193 
marked example is offered in the granules of the potato-starch. These lines 
increase in number with the increase of size, in many cases, however, soon 
becoming eccentrical from the preponderating growth of one side of the granule. 
In freshly extracted granules, the original center generally appears solid, or with 
a minute black point; but if the starch is dry, the center appears hollow, some- 
times is even occupied by air, and some starch grains have a large cavity. If 
strong alcohol be applied to fresh grains, the abstraction of water likewise pro- 
duces a hollow in the central point of growth, and in all these cases, cracks not 
infrequently run out toward the surface. The lines seen in the starch granules 
are the boundaries of concentric superimposed layers of its substance; some- 
times these are very distinct, sometimes very faint; often, more distinct lines 
appear at intervals in the series of the same granule, and in these cases even, a 
thin vacancy, or in the dried granules a stratum of air, seems to exist between 
the layers. The specific gravity of starch is 1.53; its chemical composition is 
C6H10O5, or a multiple of this formula. 
Starch, according to the U. S. P., made from corn occurs " in irregular, angu- 
lar masses, which are easily reduced to a fine powder; white, inodorous, and 
tasteless; insoluble in ether, alcohol, or cold water. Under the microscope 
appearing as granules, nearly uniform in size, more or less angular in outline, 
with indistinct striae, and with a distinct hilum near the center. Triturated 
with cold water, it gives neither an acid nor an alkaline reaction with litmus 
paper. When boiled with water, it yields a white jelly having a bluish tinge, 
which, when cool, acquires a deep-blue color on the addition of iodine T.S. 
When completely incinerated, starch should leave not more than 1 per cent of 
ash "-(^ S. P.). 
Starch, as met with in commerce, is of a granular appearance,friable, insipid, 
inodorous, permanent in dry air, and in the form of irregular quadrangular or 
hexagonal columns, emitting a peculiar sound when compressed. In a damp 
atmosphere it absorbs about 24 per cent of water, without losing its dry appear- 
ance; a moderate heat removes its moisture. In its ordinary state it contains 
about from 12 to 18 per cent of moisture. Starch, well dried by heat, produces 
with water a rise in temperature of about 15° C. (27° F.) [NLercker]. 
Following the researches of Naegeli and others, it is now generally adopted 
that the starch granules consist of three constituent bodies: An external, thin 
tegument, of the nature of cellulose, not soluble in water, and not attacked by 
sugar-forming ferments; to the presence of this protecting influence the fact is 
due that cold water has no action whatever on starch granules as long as they are 
not crushed. This tegument envelops another substance called starch cellulose 
proper, or farinose (formerly named amylinf which in turn encloses the bulk of 
the starch granule, a substance called starch granulose (formerly termed amidenf 
soluble in hot water, insoluble in alcohol and ether. The solution of the latter 
substance in water is powerfully dextro-rotatory, three times as much as cane 
sugar (Biot). There is, probably, no essential difference between starch cellulose 
and granulose. The former, under the influence of sugar-forming ferments 
(ptyaline, contained in saliva, and diastase), may be converted into the same sub- 
stances as granulose; at ordinary temperature the conversion of starch cellulose 
takes place very slowly, with the result that it may thus be differentiated from 
the granulose. In pure condition it is colored yellow by iodine solution. 
Warm water at about 87.7° C. (190° F.) converts starch into a kind of muci- 
lage, which, when sufficiently concentrated forms, on cooling, a jelly, starch paste. 
When long boiled, the granule almost wholly dissolves, and the decoction on cool- 
ing does not gelatinize. Alcohol removes from potato starch a trace of essential oil, 
on which its odor and taste, when any is present, depend. Pure starch is colored 
blue by iodine, whether in its natural state or softened by hot water, the depth 
of the color depending upon the quantity of iodine. Where much is added, the 
color is almost black. The best application is the solution of iodine in iodide of 
potassium, and this should be used very weak in the investigation of starch If 
iodine be almost a million times diluted, it can be detected by starch. Iodide of 
starch, when suspended in water and heated nearly to the boiling point, loses its 
blue color, which returns as it cools; alkalies also remove the blue color; alcohol 
has the same effect. Boiling with diluted sulphuric acid, also hydrochloric or 194 
AMYLUM. 
oxalic acids, converts starch paste into sugar (dextrose) yielding several intermedi- 
ary and soluble products collectively called dextrin. The latter products are col- 
ored yellow or red, not blue, by iodine solution, and the process may thus be 
traced by the iodine reaction. Dextrin may also be formed by subjecting starch 
to a temperature of about 204.4° C. (400° F.) (see Dextrinuni). Starch may be 
converted for the most part into sugar (maltose) by the ferment diastase, a sub- 
stance into which the protein matter of barley and other grains is converted, 
after these have been made to germinate, and their vitality destroyed by drying 
at an elevated temperature; as an intermediary product, dextrin (malto-dex- 
trin) is formed. One part of diastase can convert 2000 parts of starch, at 65° C. 
(149° F.), into dextrin, and a little sugar, or maltose. The dextrin is completely 
convertible into sugar only by continued boiling with diluted mineral acids. 
Starch is dissolved by alkalies, from which it is again precipitated by acids, 
acetate of lead, tannic acid, calcium and barium hydroxides. Upon the forma- 
tion of an insoluble compound of starch with barium hydroxide is based a 
method for the quantitative determination of starch, devised by Asboth. When 
heated, starch melts, turns black, and is decomposed. Nitric acid splits it into 
malic and oxalic acids. With fuming nitric acid, starch is changed into a white 
powder, capable of being softened by water, but not soluble in it. It is also in- 
soluble in alcohol. This tasteless powder is a mixture of certain nitrates of starch, 
called xyloidin, an explosive substance discovered by Braconnot (R. and S.). 
Action and Medical Uses.-As a constituent of many vegetable substances, 
starch forms a most important alimentary substance; in a medical point of view, 
it is to be considered as a demulcent. The powder of starch is used to take up 
acrid secretions from the external surface, soothe the pain in erysipelas, and to 
prevent intertrigo in children ; in these affections it is usually dusted on the parts. 
It is also used in mucilage, or in emulsion for suspending drugs, when to be given 
internally, or by injection, especially as a lenitive in inflammation of the lower 
bowel. Starch is sometimes triturated with the more active medicines, in order 
to render them more bulky and easily taken. It is an antidote to iodine when swal- 
lowed in large quantity. 
Other Varieties of Starch.-I. Amylum Tritici, Wheat-starch. The fecula of the seeds 
of Triticum vulgare, Villars (Triticum sativum, Lamarck). Nat. Ord.-Graminese. This starch 
was formerly official in the U. S. P., but has been replaced by corn-starch. According to 
Pereira, wheat-starch, examined under the microscope, consists of large and small grains, the 
large ones being rounded and flattened, or lenticular ; the small ones rather spheroidal. In 
the middle of the flattened surface is the rounded, elongated, or slit hilum, surrounded by con- 
centric rings, which frequently extend to the edge of the grains. When heated, the particles 
crack at the edges. The grains vary in size from .0001 to .0009 of an English inch. These 
granules have each a thin exterior pellicle or tegument, insoluble in water, and an interior 
soluble substance (see Farina Tritici). 
II. Amylum Oryza, Rice-starch, Rice-flour. Prepared from the seeds of Oryza sativa, 
Linn6 (Nat. Ord.-Gramineee), or ordinary Rice. The latter is deprived of its coverings and 
palse, and presents a pearly-white, or translucent, oblong body, about i inch in length, with a 
single groove on one side. Bice starch presents the smallest granules of all the ordinary com- 
mercial starches. They consist of polygonal grains more or less adherent to other or larger 
granules. The rice plant is largely cultivated in subtropical and tropical regions, and quite 
largely in Southern United States. Its native habitat is India (see Oryza sativa). 
III. Amylum Solani, Potato-starch. The common potato plant is too well known to 
need a description. It is indigenous to Chili and Peru, and was cultivated at an early date in 
Virginia from whence the colonists carried it to England. Potato-starch is the principal 
starch of commerce, and is very largely employed, and is even used to adulterate other varie- 
ties, notably arrowroot. It consists of large, irregularly-oval granules intermixed with small 
subspherical ones. The larger ones present a small hilum at the little extremity and are 
marked by distinctly concentric lines, giving under the microscope the appearance of a sea-shell. 
IV. Amylum Cannae.-Canna, Canna starch. Probably the fecula of the root of Canna 
edulis, Ker. Nat. Ord. Marantaceee. 
Canna starch, also known as "Tous les Mois," is obtained from a West Indian plant, sup- 
posed to be the Canna edulis of Ker, the tubers or roots of which are rasped, and then sub- 
jected to the ordinary methods of washing, straining, decantation of the supernatant fluid, and 
drying of the deposited starch. Canna starch is imported from St. Kitts, and is an excellent 
form of arrowroot. Canna starch looks more like potato-starch than any other amylaceous 
substance, has a satiny or glistening exterior, and its particles are large, varying in length from 
the Ybo to the you of an inch. Examined by the compound microscope, they are oval or 
oblong, generally more or less ovate, have a very distinct nucleus or hilum, and fine, regular, 
uniform, concentric rings. The circular hilum is usually placed at the narrow extremity, ANACARDIUM. 
195 
and is very rarely double. The hilum and the body of the particle are frequently cracked. 
Tons les Mois contains about 16.74 per cent of hygroscopic water, is very soluble in boiling water, 
and yields a very tenacious jelly when boiled in this fluid. Canna starch forms a salutary 
and agreeable article of diet for invalids and children, and appears to be easily digested. It 
may be boiled the same as arrowroot, and used in the same cases. By many it is preferred to 
any other kind of arrowroot. 
V. Amylum Manihot, Tapioca.-(See Manihot). 
VI. Amylum Marant^e, Arrowroot.-(See Mar anta). 
VII. Sago.-(See Sago). 
Starch Derivative and Preparation.-Dextrin, Dextrinum (C8Hio05). This deriva- 
tive of starch may be prepared in several ways. On a large scale it is usually prepared 
by heating starch to a temperature ranging from 226° to 260° C. (438° to 500° F.). It is 
a whitish-yellow or yellowish, non-crystalline, gum-like mass, or it may occur in granular 
form, insoluble in ether and alcohol, but readily soluble in water. Its action on polarized 
light is dextrogyrate, and with an alkaline copper solution occasions no reaction. White dex- 
trin has the appearance of starch. It forms a very tenacious, adhesive paste with water, which 
does not cause the paper on which it is spread, to wrinkle, as do many adhesive mixtures. 
Amylum Iodatum, Iodized starch, Amyli iodidum, Iodide of starch, loduretum amyli.-This 
compound was official in the U. S. P. of 1880, which directed iodine (5 parts) to be triturated 
with a small quantity of distilled water, and starch (95 parts) to be gradually added, and the 
trituration continued until a uniform blue (approaching black) coloration ensued. It was 
finally to be dried at a heat not higher than 40° C. (104° F.), and after rubbing to a finely pow- 
dered state, kept in closely secured, glass-stoppered vials. This product is by some thought 
to be a definite chemical compound, Payen and Fritzsche giving it the formula (C8Hio05)ioL 
and Bondonneau (C8Hio05)5I. Although it is generally believed to be what Liebig pronounced 
it, a mixture of finely comminuted iodine and starch, the fact must not be overlooked that 
iodide of starch may be subjected to a temperature of 100° C. (212° F.) for 6 to 7 days w ithout 
any loss of iodine being incurred (Stokes in Maercker's Handbuch). 
Iodized starch is a deep-blue powder, decolorizing in the sunlight. It has a slight odor 
of iodine. Water heated above 65° C. (149° F.) also decolorizes it, but it again assumes its 
blue color on cooling. Iodine is partly expelled by boiling with wrater, and may be wholly 
driven off by long-continued boiling. Such substances as will readily dissolve iodine, as 
caustic potash, alcohol, sulphide of hydrogen, and nearly all animal fluids decompose it. 
The production of iodized starch exhibits the action of the best known test for iodine. The 
nearer the freezing point, the more perfect are the results of this test. The test is exceedingly 
sensitive (see Amylum). This compound was introduced into medicine as anon-irritating 
preparation of iodine. Buchanan, of Glasgow, who advocated its use, gave large amounts of 
it in the course of 24 hours without ill effects. It forms insoluble compounds with many 
poisons, consequently Bellini recommended it as a general antidote, and further claimed that it 
assists in the elimination of lead, mercury, and other salts, in cases of poisoning by them. It 
has been given with success for lupus erythematodes (McCall Anderson). A well-rounded tea- 
spoonful may be administered several times throughout the day. As high as 3 ounces have 
been given in a day, administered in three doses (Buchanan). 
ANACARDIUM -CASHEW-NUT. 
The nut of Anacardium occidental^ Linne (Cassuvium pomiferum, Lamarck). 
Nat. Ord.-Anacardiaceae, Lindley (Terebinthacea?, Kunth). 
Common Name: Cashew-nut. 
Illustration : Strong's American Flora, p. 125. 
Botanical Source and Description.-The cashew-nut is a small tree, native 
of the East and West Indies and South America. The leaves are alternate, 
simple, entire, obtuse, and borne on short leaf-stalks. The 
Howers are very numerous, small, and fragrant; they are 
produced in terminal, loose panicles. What is known as the 
"cashew-apple" is the enlarged juicy peduncle which bears 
the nut. When ripe, it is of a golden-yellow color, obovate in 
shape, and has a pleasant, acid flavor, but is somewhat 
astringent. It is much eaten by the natives. The cashew-nut 
is attached and hangs from the end of the cashew-apple. It 
is kidney-shaped, and about 1 inch long. It consists of an 
edible kernel, surrounded by two shells. The outer shell is 
smooth and of a bright-brown color. Between the two shells 
there is a very caustic oily substance which produces trouble- 
some sores within the mouths of those who injudiciously 
attempt to crush the nut between the teeth, in order to obtain 
the kernel. When fresh, the kernel is pleasant to the taste, 
Fig. 20. 
Cashew-nut, 
Natural size. 196 
ANACARDIUM. 
and is largely consumed by the natives. Fig. 20 is a drawing, natural size, of 
cashew-nut in our possession. 
Chemical Composition and History.-The cashew-nut was first examined 
by Cadet, who found in it gallic acid and an acrid resin. Afterward, De Mattos 
(Jour. de Pharm., 1831), by a more careful investigation, found, in addition, tan- 
nin, an extractive substance, a gum-resin, and some green coloring matter. But 
the most interesting investigation was made by Staedeler, in 1847-1848 (Chern. 
Gazette,Vol. VI), who examined the viscid liquid contained between the two shells 
of the nut, having extracted it by means of ether. This liquid is fluid at 15.5° C. 
(60° F.), congeals at 10° C. (50° F.), is soluble in alcohol and ether, but insoluble 
in water, and is acrid and caustic; when placed upon the skin, it promptly pro- 
duces vesication. Staedeler separated this liquid into two constituents, one of 
which was an oily substance constituting about 10 per cent, fluid at even low 
temperatures, and forming the vesicating part of the liquid, which he named car- 
dol (CaiHgoOj). This was associated with an acid substance, white and crystalline, 
when pure, capable of forming salts with bases, some being crystalline, and others 
amorphous, and to which Stsedeler gave the name anacardic acid. This acid is 
not vesicating. Cardol was recently investigated by Spiegel and Dobrin (1895), 
who established therefor the formula C32H5o03.H20. The tree furnishes a gum 
in abundance (gomme d'acajou, Fr.), which is brittle, and transparent, resembling 
gum acacia, with the exception of a slight astringency which it possesses. When 
the trunks of the trees are tapped, a milky juice exudes, which is white when 
fresh, but turns black on exposure, and, in India, is used as varnish. It stains 
cotton or linen deep-black by exposure to air. The apple yields a liquor by fer- 
mentation, called "cashew wine," which is said to be a wholesome drink. The 
roasted nuts are edible, care being taken, however, that the fumes from the roast- 
ing shell do not come into contact with the face, as thereby painful blisters will 
be produced upon the exposed portions. A tar is said to be prepared from the 
pericarp which is used in tarring wood-work and boats, to protect them from the 
ravages of insects, and the gum from the stems is employed by American book- 
binders to insure the bindings from destruction by worms and book-pests. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The fresh juice of the rind is very 
acrid and corrosive, producing redness, tumefaction, inflammation, and blisters, 
on which account it has been employed in the West Indies for the removal of 
warts, corns, ringworms, and as a stimulant to indolent ulcers. Blisters formed by 
its application are apt to be very troublesome and annoying. The kernel, espe- 
cially when roasted, is edible, having a rather sweet and agreeable flavor. Cardol 
possesses the activity of the juice of the rind, producing vesication, and in the 
higher animals, when injected hypodermatically, gastric inflammation, with 
diarrhoea, followed by stupor and paralysis. The bark of the tree was used by 
Adanson, to cure himself of the peculiar fever of Senegal; it has an agreeable 
taste, does not appear to affect the nervous system, has a favorable influence upon 
digestion, and is very effective in its action, having conquered the Senegal fever in 
cases in which the largest doses of quinine proved unavailable (Comptes Rendus, 
xxvi, p. 254). Prof. Webster (Dynam. Therap.,p. 114) suggests its study in mental 
disorders, and states that it has been successfully used in the mental weakness, fol- 
lowing acute diseases and sexual abuses, in loss of memory, dementia, and in failure 
of nervous power in the old. From | to $ of a drop of homoeopathic mother 
tincture in water, 4 or 5 times a day, is suggested as the proper dose. 
Related Species.-Anacardium orientate (Semecarpus Anacardium, Linne filius), Oriental 
cashew-nut, India. The nut has similar properties to the cashew-nut. A brown-black oil hav- 
ing strongly vesicant properties, is derived from the mesocarp of the fruit. Serious eruptions 
of an eczematous nature follow7 the vesication produced by it, and bloody alvine discharges 
and disordered urination have resulted from its application. This nut is the marking-nut of 
India. It is there used quite extensively in medicine, being prepared for internal use by 
boiling it with cow-dung and subsequently washing with cold water. The Hindus use it for 
dyspepsia, neurasthenia, hemorrhoids, and cutaneous diseases (Dymock). The constituents of this 
nut are probably like those of the cashew-nut, though the brownish oil of the oriental nut 
differs in giving a green, instead of a red color, in caustic potash solution, and in being pre- 
cipitated in alcoholic solution, black, instead of red, with basic lead acetate (Basiner, 1881). 
The nut is described as black, glossy and smooth, about 1 inch in length, subcordate, obtuse, 
and flattish. ANAGALLIS arvensis.-andira. 
197 
ANAGALLIS ARVENSIS.-RED CHICKWEED. 
The leaves of the Anagallis arvensis, Lin ne. 
Nat. Ord.-Primulaceae. 
Common Names: Red pimpernel, Scarlet pimpernel, Red chickweed, Poor man's 
weather glass. 
Botanical Source.-Anagallis arvensis is a beautiful annual trailing plant, 
growing in fields, roadsides, etc., introduced into this country from Europe. The 
stem, which is square, and more or less procumbent, is from 6 to 20 inches long, 
has elongated branches, or is simple, often dotted with purple. The leaves are 
sessile, ovate, many-ribbed, opposite or ternate, dotted with purple at the back; 
the peduncles longer than the leaves; the sepals linear-lanceolate, about equaling 
the petals; the petals obovate, obtuse, longer than the stamens, and crenate- 
glandular. The flowers are opposite, small, but beautiful, with scarlet petals 
opening at 8 o'clock, a. m., and closing at 2 p. m.; in damp weather not open at 
all. The stamens are purple, hairy, dilated and smooth at the base. Anthers 
yellow and heart-shaped. Style purple and permanent. Stigma capitate. The 
capsule is pale and transparent, the size of a pea, separating all round, the valves 
marked with some indications of longitudinal separations which seldom take 
effect. The seeds are roughish, abrupt externally, each with a central dot. 
History and Chemical Composition.-Red chickweed blossoms from May to 
August. The leaves are the parts used; they are odorless, but have a rough 
unsavory taste. Water extracts their virtues. A volatile oil, of the specific 
gravity 0.980, has been obtained from the dry plant. It has a harsh, pungent 
taste, and possesses a pronounced odor. Saladin, in 1830, announced that the 
unpleasant acrid bitterness of the leaves was due to cyclamin, a white, poisonous, 
crystalline principle, while Malapert, in 1857, believed it due to saponin. In fact 
the plant here under consideration, has been usually substituted in Mexico 
for Saponaria officinalis. In 1891, Dr. Schneegaus obtained two glucosides 
identical with those from quillaja and senega (Amer. Jour. Pharm.y A ferment, 
active in digesting raw meat, has been found (1892) in it (Daccomo and Tom- 
masi), stated to be a white, amorphous mass, soluble in water, with no action 
upon starch. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Doses.-This plant appears to possess energetic 
properties, for according to Lindley, Orfila killed a dog by " making him swallow 
3 drachms of the extract; upon examination it was found to have inflamed the 
mucous membrane of the stomach." Grenier obtained a similar result. The 
volatile oil in very small doses (4 drops) produced bodily pain, and persistent, 
violent "sick-headache." Its virtues are not fully known. It was considered 
an antidote to poison many years ago, and has more recently been employed 
to prevent the evil results arising from the bite of a rabid animal. Its internal 
use has been advised in mania, epileptic attacks, dropsical affections, and other 
derangements of the nervous system, but it should be employed with caution. 
It may, however, be used in form of poultice, as a local application to old and 
ill-conditioned ulcers. Dose of tincture (gviij to alcohol, 50 per cent, Oj), from 
1 to 5 drops. 
Related Speeies.-Anagallis ccerulra, Schreber. Blue pimpernel. Distinguished by blue 
flowers. It was thought by Linne a variety of red pimpernel. Its properties, chemically and 
medicinally, are probably analogous to those of Anagallis arvensis. 
ANDIRA.-CABBAGE TREE BARK. 
The bark of the Andira inermis, Kunth (Geoffroya inermis, Swartz; Geoffroya 
jamaicensis, Wright). 
Nat. Ord.-Leguminosee. 
Common Name : Jamaica cabbage tree, Cabbage tree. 
Botanical Source.-The Andira inermis is a tree of moderate height, with 
terete, glabrous, ash-colored branches, suberect at their extremities. The leaves 
are alternate, about 1 foot in length, unequally pinnate; with from five to 198 
ANEMONE NEMOROSA. 
eight paired leaflets on short, roundish, ferruginous, downy stalks, oblong-lance- 
olate, rarely ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, for the most part rounded at the base; 
they are entire, glabrous, thin, with the nerves, scarcely prominent, about 44 
inches long and 1 inch broad. The petioles are minutely downy, and the stipules 
lanceolate and persistent. The panicles are terminal, axillary, and erect; the 
branches subdivided, spreading, angular, brownish purple, and covered with fer- 
ruginous down. The pedicels are very short, one-flowered, numerous, and 
crowded. The flowers are reddish-lilac. The fruit is a hard, one-seeded legume 
about the size of a large plum. 
History, Description, and Chemical Composition.-This tree inhabits the 
West Indies, especially Jamaica. The bark, as met with in commerce, is in 
pieces of various sizes, which are thick, whitish, or grayish-brown externally, cov- 
ered with scales and eroded by lichens; yellow-brown interiorly; furrowed : of a 
resinous fracture, nauseous odor, mucilaginous and sweetish taste, and pulveru- 
lent, the powder resembling that of jalap. This tree was at one time erroneously 
supposed to be the plant from which Huttenschmid, in 1824, obtained his jamai- 
cine, that was subsequently (1865) identified as berberin by Gastell. However, 
Huttenschmid, in 1824, isolated from the genuine Andira bark a supposed alka- 
loid, which he called surinamine. This was rebbtained by 0. Hiller-Bombien, in 
1892, from an authentic specimen of Andira inermis, Kunth, and ascertained 
to be methyl-tyrosin, an amido acid of the formula CicH13NO3, which he found 
identical with the ratanhin of Ruge and the angelin of Gintl (1869). He finally 
named it andirin. It occurs in white needles, is tasteless and neutral to litmus, 
easily soluble in hot water, but sparingly so in cold water, ether, or alcohol. The 
name andirin had been applied before to other, probably more active, constituents 
of the plant-e. g., by Midy to a glucoside-and Peckolt, in 1859, applied the same 
name to a brown-yellow coloring matter from Andira anthelmintica, Bentham 
(see below) (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1889). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Cabbage tree bark is emetic, purgative, 
and anthelmintic. It is thought by some to be a dangerous acro-narcotic in large 
doses, causing troublesome sickness, fever, and delirium, on which account it is 
not much used in practice, although it has proved effectual in removing the lum- 
bricoid worms. The bark in powder may be given in doses of from 10 to 30 
grains; of the decoction, 1 tablespoonful 2, 3, or 4 times a day. Any unpleasant 
symptoms resulting from its administration may be obviated by a dose of castor 
oil, and a free use of lemon juice or lime juice. 
Related Species.-Andira retusa, Kunth (Geoffroya retusa, Lamarck). Habitat, Surinam. 
Source of Surinam bark. "The Surinam bark has a grayish epidermis, covered with lichens; 
dark brown, lamellated, very tough, compact; when cut across, brilliant and variegated brown; 
when recent, nauseous; no smell when dried; taste a little acrid and bitter; powder pale cin- 
namon." The bark abounds in tannin. It is frequently asserted that Huttenschmid found 
his surinamine (see Andira inermis) in this bark, but modern researches do not favor this view 
(E. Schar, 1893, and O. Hiller, 1892). 
Andira anthelmintica, Bentham (Geoffroya vermifuga, St. Hilaire). Brazil. This tree con- 
tains, according to Peckolt, a yellow-brown coloring body, called andirin. The seeds of this 
forest tree are yellow and about the size of nutmegs, and are reputed t<» possess anthelmintic 
properties. They are known as angelim amargosa. The purgative and vermifuge properties 
are due to an acrid resinous body, soluble in both alcohol and ether. The sawdust, when 
inhaled by those who cut the trees down, produces conjunctivitis, great thirst, with faucial 
constriction, and has a burning, bitter taste. Itching of the integument and occasionally skin 
eruptions result from it (Peckolt). 
Andira Araroba, Aguiar (see Araroba). 
ANEMONE NEMOROSA -WIND FLOWER. 
The whole plant of Anemone nemorosa, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Ranunculaceae. 
Common Names: Wind flower, Wood anemone, Wind crowfoot. 
Illustration : Drugs and Medicines of North America, by J. U. and C. G. 
Lloyd, Vol. I, p. 22. 
Botanical Source.-"This is a graceful little plant, about 4 inches high, 
which blossoms in early spring, and is found in open woods. The root is a slen- ANEMONE NEMOROSA. 
199 
der, horizontal root-stalk. The stem, which is pro- 
duced from the extremity of the root-stalk, is simple, 
slender, erect, and leafless, except at the top, where it 
bears a whorl of three-petiolate, three-parted floral 
leaves, and a solitary, small, peduncled, white, or 
purplish flower. This little plant is of wide distri- 
bution in this country and also in Europe" (C. G. 
Lloyd, in Drugs and Medicines of North America, p. 21). 
History and Chemical Composition. -This 
plant blossoms in April and May. "Anemone nemorosa 
abounds in an acrid juice, which is particularly 
intense in the root. These properties disappear when 
the plant is dried, and hence only the recent plant, 
or preparations of the recent plant, are of value in 
medicine. In consequence of this fact, the dried 
plant is not a commercial drug, and doubtless, like 
others of this family, the uncertain nature of the 
plant when dry has prevented it from becoming a 
recognized remedy" (Prof. J. U. Lloyd, in Drugs 
and Medicines of North America, p. 22). 
The acrid properties of this plant are due to a 
principle subsequently mentioned-a principle that 
is dissipated even in drying the plant; hence the 
dried drug is practically inert. 
According to Prof. J. U. Lloyd 
(Drugs and Medicines of North Amer- 
ica, p. 22), a tincture of the fresh 
plant affords the only reliable re- 
presentative of the drug. Accord- 
ing to Linnseus, it produced in 
cattle feeding upon the plant both 
dysentery and bloody urine. 
Anemonin (C10H8O4) Beckurts, 
1892), occurs not only in the herbs 
of A. nemorosa, but also of A. Pul- 
satilla, L., A. pratensis, L., Ranunculus reptans, L., R. acer, L. (45 pounds yielded 
11.5 Gm.) and R. reeleratus, L., and the leaves of Clematis angustifolia and C. in- 
tegrifolia. It is obtained by distilling the plants with water, and either setting 
the product aside, allowing it to crystallize, or shaking out the distillate with 
chloroform. From this solution anemonin first crystallizes, and afterwards a sub- 
stance called anemone camphor, which is a very unstable compound having a 
sharp odor, irritating the mucous membranes of the nose, etc. It readily splits 
into anemonin and amorphous isanemonic acid. To this property of anemone 
camphor are accredited the evanescent physiological properties of the drug. 
Anemonin forms white needles having a fusing point at 150 to 152° C. (302 to 
305.6° F.). It is without odor and taste, and of neutral reaction to litmus, but 
acquires a burning taste when melted. It volatilizes with the vapors of boiling 
water, and is quite irritating under this condition. It is slightly soluble in cold 
water and alcohol, more readily in chloroform and fixed oils, but not in ether. 
Alkalies readily combine with it. Anemonic acid (Ci0H10Os) also occurs in the 
herb, together with anemoninic acid (CI0H12O6). The former, occurring in white 
needles with the fusing point 250° C. (410° F.), may be obtained by boiling anem- 
onin with lead oxide; the latter by warming anemonin with diluted acids (Beck- 
urts, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1892). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This plant is acrid and poisonous. It 
has been recommended in amaurosis and other diseases of the eye, secondary syph- 
ilis, cutaneous diseases, and whooping-cough, in doses of 1 or 2 grains daily. These, 
however, are its old-time uses. When applied locally it is said to be efficient in 
scald-head. In the recent state, the leaves bruised and applied to the skin are rube- 
facient. In large doses this article produces nausea, vomiting, looseness of the 
bowels, and hematuria. Prof. Edwin M. Hale, M. D., states that it is not in use 
Fig. 21. 
Fig. 22. 
Crystals of Anemonin 
crystallized from chlo- 
roformic solutions. 
Anemone nemorosa. 200 
ANEMONE PATENS. 
among the homoeopaths, and that he has heard of several cases of poisoning by it 
in which the toxic effects were similar to those of pulsatilla, but much more 
severe. He suggests that as a remedy it might occupy a place between aconite 
and pulsatilla (Drugs and Medicines of North America). Prof. Scudder (Spec. Med.) 
writes: "It influences the functions of waste and repair, but works directly upon 
the nervous system." The remedy will repay study, and is suggested as of prob- 
able value in skin diseases, and, we might add, nervous derangements. The drug 
referred to by Webster as "Pulsatilla Nuttalliana," or ^Anemone nemorosa," is un- 
doubtedly Anemone patens, var. nuttalliana, which see. A tincture of the fresh 
plant in fruit (^viij to alcohol Oj) may be tried in doses of a fraction of 1 drop 
to 5 drops. 
Related Species.-Anemone cylindrica, Gray. United States. Distinguished by cylindri- 
cal fruit-heads. Used by the Indians for the cure of rattlesnake bite. Their mode of using it 
is to chew some of the tops of the plant, swallowing but little of the saliva, and then applying 
it to the bite; in a few minutes the poison is rendered harmless. When chewed the tops have 
a hot, pungent taste, somewhat like capsicum. All the anemones are useful in menstrual sup- 
pression, and all are likewise acrid and poisonous. 
Anemone virgmiana, Linne. Wood flower, Wind flower, Thimble weed. An herb growing 
from 2 to 3 feet high, having from 2 to 4 greenish-white flowers; distinguished also by its 
oblong head of wooly achenes. Reputed to have similar properties to those of Anemone 
nemorosa. According to Kalm, the seeds relieve toothache if dipped in alcohol and placed in the 
tooth cavity. Porcher states that it will remove corns (Drugs and Medicines of North America, 
Vol. I). 
Anemone patens, var. Nutalliana (see Anemone patens'). 
Anemone coronaria, Linne. Levant. Occasionally cultivated. Used medicinally to a 
slight extent. 
Anemone cernua, Thunberg. White-headed old man. ' China and Japan. Root used 
medicinally. 
Anemone sylvestris, Linne. Europe and North Asia. This and the next species employed 
by the Siberians. 
Anemone ranunculoides, Linne. Europe and Siberia. 
Anemone pratensis, Linne, and A. Pulsatilla, Linne (see Pulsatilla). 
ANEMONE PATENS.-AMERICAN PULSATILLA. 
The flowering plant Anemone patens, Linne; var. Nuttalliana, Gray. (Anemone 
Ludoviciana Nuttall; Anemone Nuttalliana, De Candolle; Pulsatilla Nuttalliana, 
Sprengel). 
Nat. Ord.-Ranunculacese. 
Common Names: American pulsatilla. Pasque flower. 
Illustration: Drugs and Medicines of North America, by J. U. and C. G. 
Lloyd, Vol. I, p. 27; Meehan's Native Flowers, I, 49. 
Botanical Source and History.-" Anemone patens is a very conspicuous flower 
in early spring, found in prairie regions of Illinois, thence west to the Rocky 
Mountains, and northwest. The stem rises about 4 inches out of the ground, and 
is terminated by a large, erect, solitary, light bluish-purple flower. Below the 
flower, encircling the stem, is a many-parted floral leaf, covered with silky hairs, 
as are all parts of the plant. The true leaves are not expanded at flowering 
time, but are afterwards developed from the root of the plant, and are palmately 
divided into many linear lobes. The fruit is a head of achenes, with long, silky 
tails. It is borne on a stalk which is greatly elongated after the plant has 
flowered" (C. G. Lloyd, in Drugs and Medicines of North America, Vol. I, 26). 
The plant has a faint, camphor-like odor, and a somewhat saccharine taste 
in the dried flowers; the recent flowers and leaves are very acrid and irritating, 
which properties are considerably lessened by drying, owing to the evaporation 
of a volatile, acrid principle. The fresh plant will vesicate, and the vapors of the 
fresh juice have produced severe conjunctivitis. Simple contact with the plant 
produces severe irritation. The drug was introduced to the profession by Dr. W. 
H. Miller, and F. B. and A. W. Miller (sons), all of St. Paul, Minn. It was intro- 
duced to Dr. Miller by an Indian, who declared it the "great medicine" of the 
Northwestern tribes of Indians. This plant bids fair to supplant foreign pulsatilla 
in the American drug market (Drugs and Medicines of North America, Vol. I, 28). 
Chemical Composition.-Mr. A. W. Miller (1862), proved the existence of a 
volatile acrid principle in this plant, and by agitating the aqueous distillate with 201 
ANEMONE PATENS 
Fig. 23. 
chloroform he obtained an acrid white principle 
which he believed to be anemonin, though the 
amount was too small for verification. His 
brother, Mr. F. B. Miller, re-examined the plant 
in 1873, and by the same process obtained 
white, feathery crystals of a neutral reaction at 
first, but becoming both acid and colored in a 
few days. A distillate of the fresh juice pre- 
served in alcohol was also distilled by him, 
and treated with chloroform, from which brown 
acid crystals were obtained. A 
quantity of the dried herb was 
then distilled, and subsequently 
treated with chloroform, as 
above, without obtaining the 
acrid principle yielded by the 
fresh herb. Hence, it seemed 
conclusive that the anemonin 
is dissipated in drying, and this 
also appears true from the fact 
that the dried herb has none of 
the irritating properties of the 
fresh plant, and upon chewing 
the herb a year old only a slight 
tingling sensation was produced. 
In fact it was scarcely more than 
astringent. Glucose, tannin, two 
resins, pectin, calcium and mag- 
nesium salts, sulphates, and the 
ordinary plant constituents were 
also found by Miller. Albumen 
was absent (see Prof. J. U. Lloyd, 
Drugs and Medicines of North Am- 
erica, Vol. I, 29). For further details on constituents, see Anemone nemorosa. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This plant has been found useful in 
many chronic cases of ophthalmic maladies, as cataract, amaurosis, and corneal 
opacity; also in cutaneous eruptions and secondary syphilitic diseases. It has likewise 
effected cures in uncomplicated amenorrhoea, leucorrhcea, pains in the testes, or 
ovaries, and along the spermatic chord, sharp, cutting gastric pains, frontal headache 
in onanists, and in chronic irritation of the nerves. It will also be found useful in 
reflex paralysis, obstinate hiccough, chorea, and in chronic mucous diseases generally. 
The foregoing statements constitute a summary of the uses of the drug as gleaned 
from European and early American observers and are the cases in which large 
doses were employed. Many of these statements, however, require confirmation. 
According to Dr. W. H. Miller, it is a good pile remedy {Drugs and Medicines of 
North America). Prof. Edwin M. Hale, the distinguished homoeopathist, found 
upon investigation, that its properties were practically identical with those of 
European pulsatilla. (See Drugs and Medicines of North America, for homoeopathic 
uses). This is undoubtedly the drug referred to by Prof. H. T. Webster (Dynam. 
Therap.), as "Pulsatilla Nuttalliana," or "Anemone nemorosa." Owing to its probable 
identity with pulsatilla, this drug will undoubtedly prove a reliable substitute for 
the European species, and be used for similar purposes and in the same doses 
(see Pulsatilla). The U. S. P. (1880), recognized it as a source of pulsatilla. Five 
to 30 drops of the tincture (^viij to alcohol Oj), may be added to 4 fluid ounces 
of water, a dose of which is a teaspoonful 3 times a day. 
Anemonin. A solution of anemonin has been used externally in scald-head, 
ulcers, caries, indurated glands, venereal nodes, serpiginous affections, paralysis, amau- 
rosis, cataract, and opaque cornea. Its internal use is questionable. It has, how- 
ever, been employed in bronchitis and in convulsive forms of cough, as in whooping- 
cough and asthma. Experiments upon the lower animals indicate that it possesses 
paralyzing properties, particularly directed to the cardiac and respiratory functions. 
Fig. 24. 
Flower of Anemone 
patens, var. Nut- 
Anemone patens, var. Nuttalliana, 
with fruit. 202 
ANEMOPSIS CALIFORNICA. 
ANEMOPSIS CALIFORNICA-YERBA MANSA. 
The root of Anemopsis californica, Hooker. 
Nat. Ord.-Saururaceae. 
Common Name : Yerba mansa. 
Botanical Source and History.-This is a perennial herb, a native of wet 
places in Southern California and in the northern part of Mexico. The stem is 
erect, about a foot high, and bears a close, terminal spike of flowers. Near the 
middle of the stem is borne a large clasping leaf from the axis of which a few 
short,slender branches are produced. The leaves are mostly in a radical cluster at 
the base of the stem ; they are from 2 to 4 inches in length, one-half as broad, of 
a firm, leathery texture, smooth and entire; their outline is oblong, with a cordate 
base. The leaf-stalks are about the length of the leaf, dilated at the base, and 
pubescent along the margin. The stem is remarkable for sending out from its 
base, slender, unbranched stolons, from 3 to 6 feet long. These stolons are of 
rapid growth, and produce at intervals of about a foot, roots and a cluster of 
leaves, which in another year become a separate plant. The flowers are small, 
and borne in a thick, dense spike (spadix), about an inch in length. At the base 
of the spadix are about 6 large, petaloid, involucre leaves in the same manner as 
the flowering dogwood, which give to the entire inflorescence the appearance of a 
single terminal flower. The flowers are small, and destitute .of either corolla or 
calyx, but are each subtended by a small colored bract. The stamens are about 6, 
with short filaments, and borne on the ovary7. The stigmas are generally 3, 
spreading, and about as long as the stamens. The ovary is 1-celled, immersed in 
the spadix, and consolidated with it. The seeds are small, light-brown, and at- 
tached to the parietal placentae of the capsule. There is a pungent, disagreeable, 
somewhat aromatic odor, and a sharp, biting taste, imparted by all parts of the 
plant, when chewed, followed by a sense of astringency. 
History and Description.-The Indians of Southern California, Mexico, 
and Arizona, according to Dr. Palmer (A mer.Jour.Pharm., Dec., 1878), employ both 
the roots and leaves of this plant. Dr. William H. George, of California, first 
brought the drug to our notice, the root being the part employed. When dried, 
the roots are of a brown color, wrinkled, from | inch to | inch in diameter, and 
seem to grow mostly horizontally near the surface of the ground. From 4 to 10 
fleshy rootlets spring in a clump from one side of the root at the base of the 
leaves, and run downward. A strange peculiarity of the lot of roots examined 
by us, is, the presence of numerous grass stalks that pierce and grow through 
them, sometimes appearing several inches from the place of entrance. Internally, 
the root is pinkish; and, running lengthwise through it, about midway between 
the surface and the center, is a ring of course, fibrous, medullary matter. The 
upper portion of the root is not infrequently brown and half decayed. 
Chemical Composition.-The active principles of this root are freely extracted 
by alcohol; they are, firstly, about 5 per cent of a volatile oil, which is heavier 
than water, is soluble in ether, alcohol, chloroform, and disulphide of carbon, and 
possesses the exact odor and taste of the plant. This oil turns blue when agitated 
with hydrochloric acid. Secondly, a vegetable tannate, which forms a black 
precipitate with ferrous sulphate. There is no alkaloid, or other body present, 
worthy of notice (Amer. Jour. Pharm., Jan., 1880). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This plant was introduced to the pro- 
fession by Dr. W. H. George, of California. He states that the natives esteem it a 
panacea far excelling the Yerba santa, and successfully employ it in all malarial 
fevers, in diarrhoea, and in dysentery (Eclectic Med. Jour., 1877, p. 238). In a letter 
to Prof. King, he observes that the natives frequently carry the root with them, 
chewing it and swallowing the juice, and consider it a certain remedy for cough 
and pulmonary affections. They likewise employ a strong infusion of it as an effi- 
cacious local application to saddle and collar galls on horses. Dr. George considers 
it a stimulant tonic, astringent, carminative, and anti-emetic. He has success- 
fully employed it in gonorrhoea with profuse discharge, and thinks it equal to cubebs 
in this disease, and more pleasant to take. Prof. King has tried it in one case of 
gonorrhoea, and in several cases of bronchial cough, with favorable results. The dose 
of the fluid extract is from 10 to 60 minims, in syrup, repeated every 3 or 4 hours. ANETHI FRUCTUS.-ANGUSTURA. 
203 
Related Species.-Saururus cernuus, LinnA Nat. Ord., Saururaceae. A common peren- 
nial known as Lizard's tail, found in swampy grounds in North America. Whitish flowers, 
borne upon a slender spike, recurved at the top; fruit fleshy and berry-like. The plant has a 
sub-acrid taste and a disagreeable, aromatic odor. Its constituents have not been determined. 
The decoction is freely used in irritative disorders of the gastro-intestinal tract and urinary apparatus, 
particularly strangury. As a poultice the root has been applied to painful inflammatory swellings 
and to various kinds of abscess. 
ANETHI FRUCTUS.-DILL-FRUIT. 
The Anethum graveolens, Linne. (Peucedanum graveolens, Hiern.) 
Nat. Ord.-Umbelliferre. 
Common Names : Dill seeds, Dill fruits. 
Illustration; Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, p. 132. 
Botanical Source.-This plant is ah annual, bearing large yellow flowers, 
disposed in flat umbels. It reaches a height of from 1 to 2 feet, and has delicately 
striated stems, bearing pinnate leaves composed of long, setaceous leaflets. The 
whole plant is glaucous. The root is long and fusiform. 
History.-This plant is indigenous to Southern Russia and other Mediter- 
ranean regions; also to the Caucasian territories. It is cultivated in Europe, 
thriving as far north as the Scandinavian peninsula. It occurs in some sections 
as a common weed in cornfields. It is cultivated to a very limited extent in this 
country. It is scarcely used here as a medicine, but enjoys considerable reputa- 
tion in England, where it holds a place in the British Pharmacopoeia. It is said to 
have been known to Dioscorides, and is now regarded as the plant mentioned in 
the Scriptures (Matt., ch. xxiii, v. 23). 
Description.-Anethi Fructus. Dill-fruit. The seeds are oval or ovoid, 
seldom longer than 4 inch, convex or flattish on one side, concave on the dorsum, 
which is striated or marked with piliform ridges 5 in number, the two outer ribs 
becoming blended with the thin, membranaceous margin surrounding the fruit. 
The 3 central or dorsal ridges are sharply keeled. Six vittse (oil cells), are usually 
present, 4 between the ribs and 2 on the commissure. The mericarps separate 
when mature, are about inch in width, and of a brown color. The membran- 
ous marginal wings are of a yellowish color. The fruit has a strongly aromatic 
odor and taste. The fruit grown in India is smaller, not so broad, more prom- 
inently ribbed, more convex, and the margin less winged. Otherwise it resembles 
the above described European fruit. 
Chemical Composition.-Dill-fruit yields a volatile oil to which its proper- 
ties are probably due. This oil is obtained to the extent of 3 or 4 per cent, and 
was found by Gladstone to consist mainly of anethene (CWH16), a hydrocarbon 
having the odor of lemons, strongly dextrogyre, with boiling point at 172° C. 
(341.6° F.), and density of 0.846. Two other bodies have also been found (see 
Oleum Anethi). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Carminative and stomachic, and used 
in the preparation of dill-water. The natives of India use the fruit largely in 
medicine and cookery. Flatulent colic and singultus, when due to disordered diges- 
tion, are relieved by the administration of dill-water or the oil of dill; the former 
in 1 or 2-drachm doses, the latter in from 2 to 5-drop doses on sugar. It possesses 
no advantages over the other aromatic seeds. 
ANGUSTURA -ANGUSTURA BARK. 
The bark of Galipea Cusparia, St. Hiliare (Galipea officinalis, Hancock; Cus- 
paria febrifuga^ Humboldt; Galipea febrifuga, Baillon ; Bonplandii trifoliata, Will- 
denow). 
Nat. Ord.-Rutaceae. 
Synonym and Common Names : Caspar he cortex, Cusparia bark, Angostura bark. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 43. 
Botanical Source.-This tree seldom exceeds 20 feet in height, with a 
stem whose diameter is from 2 to 6 inches, having irregular branches, and a 
smooth bark. The leaves are alternate, trifoliate, and petiolate; the leaflets oval, 204 
ANGUSTURA. 
acute at the base, acuminate at the apex, smooth, glossy, bright-green, having a 
tobacco-like smell when fresh and bruised, from 6 to 10 inches long, 2 to 4 broad, 
some of them marked with small, whitish, round spots. The petiole is about the 
length of the leaflets, and slightly channeled. The flowers are white and beauti- 
ful, with a narcotic odor, and are borne in cylindrical, contracted, stalked pan- 
icles, longer than the leaves, the branches being about three-flowered. Calyx 
inferior, campanulate, five-toothed, hairy; corolla somewhat curved before expan- 
sion, nearly an inch long, downy on both sides; of the five petals, two larger than 
the others. Sterile stamens, five, subulate, tipped with a pellucid, watery gland; 
fertile stamens, two; style, erect; stigma, simple. The fruit or carpels are five, 
or fewer by abortion, becoming villous as they mature, two-seeded, with a strong, 
elastic, separable, two-valved endocarp (L.). 
History.-There has been heretofore some uncertainty relative to the tree 
from which the official angustura bark is obtained, but the question has been 
definitely settled by Dr. Hancock, who has ascertained that it is chiefly the prod- 
uct of a tree to which he has given the above name. Galipea officinalis, now Gali- 
pea Cusparia, is official in the British Pharmacopoeia. Under Hancock's name, it 
was formerly official in the U. S. P. It is found growing in great abundance in 
the missions of Carony, Tumeremo, etc., and other parts of Columbian Guiana. 
Description.-The bark, as imported from the West Indian ports, is in flat 
pieces or incomplete quills, from 2 to 4 or even 8 inches long, 1 or 2 inches in 
breadth, and 1 or 2 lines in thickness. Its outer surface is dirty-grayish-yellow in 
color, often speckled in the smaller pieces with lighter gray spots and elevations; 
the inner surface is dull-brown; and the substance of the bark is yellowish- 
brown. It breaks easily, the transverse fracture being smooth and somewhat 
resinous in appearance; and presents white, shining strife, produced by aggrega- 
tions of crystalline, calcium oxalate; its powder has a grayish-yellow color, some- 
what like that of rhubarb. When soaked in water, it is soon softened sufficiently 
to be easily divided by means of shears. It has a characteristic, unpleasant odor, 
and an intensely bitter, somewhat aromatic and acrid taste. Water, alcohol, or 
proof-spirits take up its virtues. 
Chemical Composition.-Fischer found in it a volatile oil 0.3, peculiar bit- 
ter principle 3.7, bitter hard resin 1.7, balsamic soft resin 1.9, elastic resin 0.2. 
gum 5.7, lignin 89.1. By submitting the bark to distillation with water, a yellow- 
ish-white, odorous, acrid, volatile oil is obtained, which is not so heavy as water. 
The bark also contains nearly 1.5 per centof a peculiar neutral, crystalline princi- 
ple, named cusparin by Saladin, and termed the peculiar bitter principle by Fischer. 
Cusparin, or angosturin (Pereira), is obtained by submitting the alcoholic tincture 
of the bark (prepared without heat) to slow atmospheric evaporation; the crystals 
thus obtained are to be purified by repeated crystallization from alcohol and agi- 
tation wfith ether and hydrated oxide of lead. It forms tetrahedral crystals, is 
fusible at 44.4° C. (112° F.), and loses 23.09 per cent of its weight; cold water dis- 
solves | per cent and boiling water 1 percent of it; it is freely soluble in alcohol, 
but not in ether or volatile oils; readily dissolves in the concentrated acids, and 
more sparingly in the alkalies, and its acid solution yields a whitish precipitate 
with the tincture of galls (Saladin, Jour, de Chim. Med., IX, 388). 
Cusparin, obtained in the cold, occurs in needle-like crystals. It is inflam- 
mable. The volatile oil, which has a boiling point at 266° C. (511° F.) is repre- 
sented, according to Herzog, by the formula, C13H24O. Oberlin and Schlagden- 
hauffen, who examined the bark in 1878, found volatile oil, resin, fat, dissolved 
by alcohol; wax, fat, and stearic acid dissolved by benzin; moisture ; and a bit- 
teY, yellow body, which yielded a crystalline alkaloid called by them angusturine 
(C^H^NOn). It is fusible at 85° C. (185° F.), turns green when treated with 
sulphuric acid mixed with oxidizers-as nitric acid-but with pure sulphuric 
acid a red coloration ensues. In 1892 Beckurts and Nehring made a detailed 
investigation of the bark, isolating therefrom the following four alkaloids: Cus- 
parine (C2oH19N03) fusing point 98° C. (208.4° F.); readily soluble in alcohol and 
ether, its salts being difficultly soluble; cusparidine (C19H17NO3) fusing point 78° C. 
(172.4° F.); galipine (C20H21NO3) fusing point 115.5° C. (240° F.), and galipi- 
dine (C]9H19NO3) fusing point 111° C. (231.8° F.), the proper crystallizing solvent 
for the latter three alkaloids being light petroleum. The authors found, besides ANIL1NUM. 
205 
an essential oil extracted by means of ether, angusturine, a bitter principle insolu- 
ble in ether, having a fusing point of 58° C. (136.4° F.), and a glucoside not fur- 
ther examined. The bark was previously studied also by Koerner and Boehringer, 
in 1884, who found three alkaloids, one being identical in composition and fusing 
point with the galipine of Beckurts and Nehring. 
Substituted Barks.-Some years since a poisonous bark was introduced as 
the true bark, and the administration of which was attended with fatal results. 
This spurious bark was at first supposed to be the product of the Brucea ferruginea, 
but is now recognized as the bark of Strychnos Nux vomica. It is known as the 
False Angustura Bark, and may be detected by the following marks: The 
genuine bark has a strong and disagreeable odor; a bitter, durable, pungent taste; 
softens in water, and imbibes it quickly; is very light; tissue not compact; has 
a resinous, shining fracture, and when touched with nitric acid becomes colored 
a dull red; the false bark has no odor; an insupportably bitter, very durable 
taste; does not soften sensibly in water; is very heavy and compact; has a dull 
and blackish fracture, and nitric acid turnsits fractured surface bright red and its 
rusty epidermis an intense green. The false bark is rarely met with in this 
country (Duncan). It contains brucine. 
A bark known as Brazilian angustura, derived from Esenbeckia febrifuga, Mar- 
tius, (Evodia febrifuga, St. Hilaire), and collected in Brazil, has been met with in 
substitution for angustura (Maisch, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1874, p. 414). It occurs in 
pieces a little curved, and having a thickness of about inch. It is very bitter, 
but not aromaticto the taste, nor does it swell when maceratedin water. The inner 
layers are deep-brown, over which are blotches of a soft, corky layer of a brown- 
gray hue, having internally a faint, orange-rusty brown color. Its fracture is 
short and fibrous, and there is an absence of the white, shining strife, due to the 
raphides of calcium oxalate found in the true bark. Oberlin and Schlagdenhauf- 
fen found in the Brazilian product an alkaloid turning yellow-green upon treat- 
ment with sulphuric acid. To this principle they gave the name evodine (esen- 
beckine), and the formula, C6H18NO6. 
Oberlin and Schlagdenhauffen record the following additional substitutions of 
angustura bark: Guaiacum bark, Copalchic bark, and the barks of Cinchona bicol- 
orata and Samadera Indica (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1879, p. 83). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-In large doses, of from 20 to 60 grains, 
it is emetic and cathartic; in doses of from 5 to 15 grains, non-astringent tonic 
and febrifuge. Recommended in bilious diarrhoeas and dysenteries, intermittents, 
dropsies, etc. It is seldom used, on account of its liability to adulteration with 
the poisonous bark of the Strychnos Nux vomica, known as the False angustura bark. 
Dose of the bark, 10 to 30 grains; of the infusion (§ss in Oj), 1 to 2 fluid ounces. 
ANILINUM - ANILINE. 
Formula: C6H5.NH2. Molecular Weight: 92.83. 
Synonyms : Phenylamine, Amidobenzene, Anilina, Anilin, Phenamid. 
History and Source.-Aniline is named from the Portuguese anil, meaning 
indigo, from which aniline was first obtained. This name was given to it by 
Fritsche, in 1841, though it was first discovered by Unverdorben, in 1826, who 
obtained it by dry-distilling indigo, and named it crystalline. In 1834 Runge 
obtained from coal-tar three volatile bodies, among them one which, on account 
of the beautiful, dark, violet-blue color produced with chlorinated lime, he 
named kyanol. Zinin, in 1846, observed the formation of aniline from nitroben- 
zene by the agency of hydrogen gas, and called the substance benzidam. Erdmann 
and Hoffman then proved the identity of crystalline with kyanol, benzidam, 
and aniline. Coal-tar is a source of aniline, containing 0.3 to 0.5 per cent, but 
the principal source of aniline is nitrobenzene (C6H5NO2), from which it is 
prepared in large quantities by the reducing action of nascent hydrogen, 
thus: C6H5NO2+ H6=C?H5NH2+2H2O. 
Preparation.-Aniline may be obtained on a small scale according to the 
process of Bechamp (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1862) as follows: Place 600 grains of 
iron filings and 500 grains of pure nitrobenzene into a quart tubulated retort, 206 
ANILINUM. 
which must be adapted to a receiver, and the receiver connected by a bent tube 
with a deep, small-necked flask, into which it reaches nearly to the bottom. The 
neck of the retort, the receiver, and the flask must be kept well refrigerated, and 
the flask must be left loosely stopped with cotton. Now gradually pour 500 
grains of concentrated acetic acid through the tubulure of the retort, which 
should be closed and tied, being careful that the temperature does not rise too high. 
Reaction soon commences without the application of heat, and becomes rapid, 
with quick rise of temperature and rapid ebullition, and a large portion of the 
products will be lost should the refrigeration be imperfect. The spontaneous 
distillate that comes over, consists of aniline, acetate of aniline, and a little 
unchanged nitrobenzene. When the retort has cooled, these are returned to it 
from the receiver, and a careful sand-bath heat applied until the residue in the 
retort is dry. Now mix the distillate with an excess of liquor potassee, which 
causes the aniline to separate and rise to the surface, whence it is to be removed 
and dried; it is sufficiently pure for medicinal purposes, and its amount is equal 
to about three-fourths of the nitrobenzene employed. Hydrochloric acid is now 
generally employed in place of acetic acid, and milk of lime instead of liquor 
potassse. Aniline may also be readily procured by distilling a mixture of con- 
centrated liquor potasses and finely powdered indigo; the mass swells up greatly, 
and water holding ammonia in solution passes over, accompanied by aniline 
in the form of a brownish oil, which, when redistilled, furnishes pure aniline 
amounting to nearly one-fifth of the weight of the indigo. 
Description.-Pure aniline is a nearly colorless, limpid liquid, having an oily 
appearance, but when impure or partly oxidized, as often met with in commerce, 
it varies in color from a dark to a light red. It is of an agreeable, vinous odor, 
and an aromatic, burning taste, and remains fluid at -20° C. (-4° F.). Its 
specific gravity is 1.020 to 1.028, and its boiling point 182.2° C. (360° F.). It is 
heavier than water, in which it is slightly soluble to the extent of 3 per cent; is 
soluble in alcohol, ether, wood spirit, acetone, aldehyde, carbon disulphide, and 
fixed and essential oils, and has little or no action on test papers, though it 
changes dahlia-blue to green. It refracts light powerfully, is a non-conductor of 
electricity, rapidly absorbs oxygen, even under water, and becomes converted 
into a brown, resinous mass. Camphor, many resins, phosphorus, and sulphur 
(if heat be employed) are dissolved by it. Commercial aniline (pure) contains 
about 1 per cent, and other grades more, of toluidine, i.e., ortho and para amido 
toluene (C7H7NH2). It is a powerful base, forming mostly colorless, soluble salts, 
with a strong tendency to crystallize, and become rose colored; and decomposes 
the salts of iron, zinc, aluminum, mercury, copper, etc. In contact with chlorin- 
ated lime, or other hypochlorites it forms at once a deep violet-blue. Another 
color test for aniline is as follows: To aniline add sulphuric acid and a few 
drops of potassium chromate; a red color is developed, changing to deep-blue if 
aniline is present. It is chiefly employed for the production of various magnifi- 
cent colors used in dyeing, ami which are made by different processes (see below). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Aniline is poisonous, though Wohler 
and Frerichs state that it is harmless to dogs. It has been observed that work- 
men employed in preparing aniline are liable to intense bronchitis, with violent, 
dry, spasmodic cough, coinciding with ulcerations of the scrotum and inferior 
extremities; the ulcers being round, with distinct borders, often callous, and 
covered with thick, blackish crusts, beneath which is a dirty-gray base, with a 
neighboring painful tumefaction, and which cease with the cessation of the cause. 
According to M. Bergeron, those who are exposed to its vapors present a chloro- 
anemic appearance. In one case where a druggist was employed for two months 
in putting up packages of aniline, he was attacked with pulmonary catarrh, fol- 
lowed by prostration, tendency to syncope, occipital pains, dilatation of the 
pupils, and clonic convulsions of the extremities and muscles of the face; he 
was cured. According to Schuchardt and Demeyer, aniline belongs to the most 
violent poisons, and to that class which acts upon the nervous centers and the 
spinal marrow. The muscular contractions produced by it resembling electric 
shocks, the constant diminution of the sensibility, the paralytic state of the 
extremities, the acceleration of the respiration, and the activity of the heart, 
indicate this. It causes prickings of the parts with which it comes in contact, AN! LIN UM. 
207 
and its elimination seems to be by the respiratory organs, not by the urine. One 
grain of aniline coagulates 4 grains of albumen, demonstrating its toxic influence 
upon the animal tissues. The workmen in it present a cadaveric blue appear- 
ance, the gums discolored, the lips bluish-gray, a slight paroxysm of cold, head- 
ache, and vertigo, which are not permanent, however. Cases of poisoning are on 
record from wearing clothes which have been dyed with aniline colors. Six 
drachms of aniline oil, taken with suicidal intent, produced death in a woman 
in a few hours. After death, aniline was found in the urine, and the lungs, kid- 
neys, and heart-muscle showed nodular hemorrhagic effusions. It is practically 
useless as a remedy. Dose: 1 to 5 grains (see Aniline Sulphate below). 
Derivatives, Aniline Colors, and Inks.-Aniline Camphorate has been introduced 
by Tomaselli (P. J. Tr., 1887) as a remedy for convulsive disorders. The daily dose administered 
being from 8 to 12 grains. 
Anilini Sulphas, Sulphate of aniline, Anilin sulphate.-Formula: (C8H5NH2)2.SO4H2. 
Molecular Weight: 283.48. Dissolve 100 parts of aniline in 600 parts of alcohol (U.S.P.), 
to which add under constant stirring a freshly prepared mixture of 55 parts of pure, concen- 
trated sulphuric acid, and 150 parts of alcohol. Allow the mixture to stand for a few hours 
in a dark place, then add under constant stirring about 400 parts of ether, transfer the magma 
of crystals on a funnel closed with a pellet of glass-wool, and displace the mother liquor by 
means of ether. Finally, dry the crystalline magma, without the aid of heat, by spreading it 
in thin layers on slabs of unglazed porcelain in a dark place. Avoid the use of filtering paper, 
and exclude bright daylight as much as possible (Hager). Sulphate of aniline forms small, 
crystalline, white plates or needles, without odor, if pure, but exposed to air and light acquires 
a reddish tint and an odor of aniline. It is soluble in water and diluted alcohol, much less 
soluble in strong alcohol, and insoluble in ether. Alkalies liberate from its aqueous solution 
an oily layer of its aniline, and the salt responds to the tests for sulphuric acid, as well as to all 
the tests for aniline. Sulphate of aniline has been used in chorea by Dr. Turnbull with success, 
and M. Filberti cured a case in four days, administering it in doses of 10 centigrammes twice 
a day, increasing it as much each day to prevent a relapse. He also cured a case of epilepsy by 
giving daily a solution of 5 centigrammes of aniline sulphate in 100 grammes of wrater, increas- 
ing the dose 5 centigrammes each day ; in ten days the case was apparently cured. Others 
have also recommended it in these affections; while again it has been asserted that the sulphate 
of aniline has no influence upon the system. Its administration is apt to be followed by a 
blueness or yellowness of the skin, nails, and gums. 
Diphenylamine.-Formula: (C8H5)2NH. Molecular Weight: 168.65. This substance 
may be obtained by heating aniline hydrochloride with aniline to a temperature of 240° C. 
(464° F.) in closed vessels, the following reaction taking place: 
C6H8NH2.HC1+C8H5NH2=(C6H6)2NH+NH4C1. 
It is likewise formed when aniline is heated with phenol and zinc chloride (ZnCl2) to a tem- 
perature of 260° C. (500° F.) (for description see No. 52 of List of Reagents and Test Solutions). 
Aniline Colors.-Aniline as such (C8H5NH2) enters into the composition of but few of 
what are usually called aniline dyes. Most frequently used are its homologues, the toluidines, 
(C8H4CH3NH21, its methyl derivatives, e.g., mono- and di-methylaniline (C8H5NHCH3) and 
(C6H5N[CH3]2), diphenylamine ([C8HS]2NH,) and other amines. Many of the so-called ani- 
line dyes as, e.g., eosin, may not contain any aniline derivative at all, but have phenols as their 
principal constituent. Coal-tar dyes is a more comprehensive, and therefore more proper, 
name. The majority of these ever increasing dye-stuffs, may be classified broadly into two 
groups, according to whether they are derivatives of triphenylmethane (CH-[C8H5]3), or of 
azobenzene (C8HS-N=N-C8H5). Oxy-triphenylmethane becomes a chromogen (a dye-form- 
ing principle), when the amido group (NH2\ or the phenol group (OH) replaces hydrogen in 
the benzene ring. In the first case the color is produced w hen combining with an acid, in 
the second, with an alkali. Fuchsin, for example, is the hydrochloride of the (colorless) 
basis rosaniline, which has the following formula: C(OH): (C8H4NH2)2.C8H3(CH3)NH2. 
Rosolic acid is similarly constituted, merely having OH in the place of NH2, being an anhy- 
dride of the compound: (H0)C : (C8H4OH)2.(C8H3[CH3]OH). Alkalies produce the colored 
salts in the latter case. If in the case of rosaniline the hydrogen of the NH2 group is replaced 
by methyl, the resultant product acquires a violet color (methyl violet), or if substituted by 
the benzene radical the product has a blue color (aniline blue). The azobenzene type likewise 
becomes a prolific chromogen upon the entrance of the amido group (NH2), or the phenol 
group (OH) in the benzene ring; in the first case we have basic dyes forming colored salts 
with acids; in the second, acid dyes, forming colored salts with alkalies. The simplest repre- 
sentative of this class of dyes, called azo dyes, is aniline yellow, the oxalate of (colorless) amido 
azobenzene (C8H5-N=N-C8H4NH2). Another of the more simple azo dyesis phenylene brown, 
or Vesuvine, the hydrochloride of the following compound: NH2-C8H4-N-N-C8H3[NH2]2). 
These azo dyes are formed by the action of nitrous acid upon aniline or other aromatic 
primary amines (both H atoms in the NH2 group being intact), whereby the extremely 
unstable (and explosive) diazo compounds are formed; these react easily with aromatic amines, 
or phenols, azo compounds being the result. In the case of aniline yellow for example, the 
following reactions are involved: C8H5NH2 (aniline) +NO2Na+2HCl = C8Hs-N = N-Cl 
(diazo-benzene-chloride)+2H2O+NaCl. C8H5N=NC1 (diazoLenzene-chloride) +C 8HsNH2(am7ine) 
-C8H5N=N-C8H5NH2 (amido azobenzene, the basis of aniline yellow). 208 
ANILINUM. 
It is evident that when subjecting substituted amines to " diazotizing," and afterwards 
allowing a variety of amines or phenols to react with the diazo compound formed, and enlarg- 
ing upon all possibilities, an endless variety of azo dyes must be the result. The following 
aniline or coal-tar dyes may find special mention here: 
Aniline Red, Magenta, or Fuchsine, is a mixture of the hydrochlorides of rosaniline 
(CaoHisNj) and para-rosaniline (C19H17N3) and is produced on a large scale by the oxidation of 
aniline (containing toluidine) with arsenic acid (Medlock and Girard), or with nitrobenzene 
(Coupier). It is stated that fuchsine obtained by the arsenic acid process, is liable to contain 
arsenic; this dangerous impurity is said to be removable by recrystallization. The acetate of 
rosaniline is usually called Rosein; the nitrate is called Azaleine. The latter was formerly 
prepared by oxidizing aniline oil with mercuric nitrate. 
Fuchsine, the hydrochloride, forms crystals of a green, metallic lustre, in reflected light. 
It is soluble in 10 parts of alcohol, and 300 parts of water. On account of its insolubility in 
pure volatile oils, it is employed to detect the presence of alcohol in them. It is also employed 
as a valuable staining material in bacteriology, and in botany for staining lignified cell-walls 
(Bastin). Fuchsine is sometimes used to color wines, and though apparently of use in tubular 
nephritis and scarlatinal dropsy, its position as a remedy is as yet by no means well established. 
The dose is from j to 4 grains 3 or 4 times a day. 
Hofmann's Violet, Methyl Violet.-Hofman's violet is obtained by the action of methyl 
or ethyl chloride, or iodide, upon rosaniline salts, whereby three H atoms of the NH2 groups 
are substituted by the methyl or ethyl group. The violet tint becomes more bluish the 
more hydrogen atoms are substituted. 
Methyl Violet, in its purest form, is a salt of penta-methyl rosaniline, the commercial 
grade also containing hexa-methyl rosaniline. It is prepared by oxidizing dimethyl-aniline 
with copper chloride. When acted upon by methyl chloride or methyl iodide, it forms addi- 
tion products, the zinc double chlorides of which are called Methyl Green, or Iodine Green, 
respectively. 
Pyoktanin, related to methyl violet, was introduced in 1890, into medical practice, for 
general surgical purposes; it was claimed that it retarded the growth of bacteria and bacilli in 
a solution of 1 to 30000, and .prevented putrefaction in a solution of 1 to 1000 (M/xer. Jour. Pharm., 
1890). There are two pyoktanins in the market, a blue pyoktanin (pyoktanin ccendeum), prob- 
ably tetra-penta- and hexa-methyl violet, and a yellow pyoktanin (pyoktanin aureum), intended 
for ophthalmic practice, probably belonging to the auramines (diphenyl-amine derivatives). 
Pyoktanin was introduced into medicine by Prof. J. Stilling, of Strasburg. Hypodermat- 
ically, it is said to relieve rheumatic and neuralgic pains. To the conjunctiva it is a mild topical 
anaesthetic. It is employed in powder (with talc), and in pencils. Wounds, ulcers, carbuncles, 
buboes, boils, etc., as well as gonorrhoea and chronic cystitis have been successfully treated with it. 
In various eye and ear troubles it has also been used by some with apparently good results, while 
others condemn it severely, attributing much harm to its use, as well as claiming injury from 
its staining properties. The stains of pyoktanin may be removed by alcohol or diluted nitric or 
hydrochloric acids. Very likely some of its deleterious effects maybe attributed to impurities. 
Aniline Blue is the salt of triphenyl para-rosaniline HOC;(C6H4NH[CeH5j)3, and is 
obtained by boiling together a rosaniline salt with an excess of aniline. 
Malachite Green is the oxalate or zinc double chloride of tetra-rqethyl-diamido-tri- 
phenylcarbinol, (C8II5.C[OH]:C8H4N[CH3]2),and is obtained by heating benzaldehyde with 
dimethyl aniline and zinc chloride or oxalic acid, and acting upon the product with oxidizers. 
Aurin, Pararosolic Acid. Corallin Yellow (Ci9lli4O3), is the lower homologue of 
rosolic acid, and is prepared by heating phenol with oxalic and sulphuric acids. It forms red 
needles or prisms of metallic luster, is soluble in hydrochloric and acetic acids and alcohol, 
and dissolves in alkalies with a deep-red color, forming salts therewith. (See Corallin Test 
Solution). 
Corallin Red (Paeonin), is an intermediary product between para-rosaniline, and aurin, 
containing one or two amido groups besides the remaining phenol groups. 
Rosolic Acid (C2oIIi603), one of the indicators directed by the U. S. P. (see Rosolic Acid 
Test Solution), may be obtained from rosaniline by "diazotizing" and boiling with water, 
which has the effect of replacing the NH2 group by the OH group It may also be prepared 
in a way analogous to that in which rosaniline is made, viz., by oxidizing a mixture of phenol 
and cresol (C8H4[CH3]OH) with arsenic and sulphuric acids. 
Phtaleines. These are also phenol derivatives of triphenyl-methaue, and are obtained 
by heating phthalic anhydride (1 Mol.) with phenols (2 Mois.), in the presence of sulphuric 
acid, oxalic acid, or stannic chloride. 
Phenolphtalein is formed by treating phthalic anhydride with phenol and stannic 
chloride. Its formula is: C2oHuO4=C6H4.(('O.O).C:(C6H4OH)2. It is a yellow powder, solu- 
ble in alcohol, the solution forming an intense red with alkalies. It is directed by the U. S, P. 
as an important indicator in alkalimetry (see Phenolphtalein Test Solution). 
Fluorescein. This substance is prepared by heating phthalic anhydride (5 parts), with 
resorcin (7 parts), to 200° C. (392° F.); for reasons of analogy it may therefore be called 
resorcin-phthalein. Its composition is: C2oHi205 + H50=C#H4.(CO.O)C:(C8H3[OH]2)2. 
Eosins are the alkali salts of halogen substitution products of fluorescein; eosinyellow, for 
example, is the salt of tetra-brom fluorescein, and eosin blue is that of tetra iodo-fluorescein. 
Fluorescein and eosin are among the indicators directed by the U. S. P. (see Indicators). 
Methyl Orange is an azo dye, which occurs under the names of Helianthin, Orange III, 
Poirrier's Orange 3P, and Tropxolin D. Its formula is SO3H.C8H4-N=N-C8H4N(CH3)2, from 209 
AM SUM. 
which it is evident (see introductory remarks) that it is prepared from sulphanilic acid and 
dimethyl aniline. In water and alkalies it dissolves with a light-yellow color, which turns red 
with acids. For its use as an indicator see Methyl-orange Test Solution. 
Methylene Blue, Tetramethyl thionin chloride (Ci«Hi8N3SCl). This must not be con- 
fused with aniline blue, a trisulphonate of which is called methyl blue, which belongs to the tri- 
phenyl-methane group, while methylene blue belongs to an entirely different group. It is pro- 
duced by treating an acid solution of dimethyl para-phenylene diamine (NH2.C9H4.N[CH3]2), 
with hydrogen sulphide and ferric chloride. The blue solution is then precipitated with NaCl 
and ZnCl2. Methylene blue occurs in scale-like blue crystals having a bronze tint, and being 
easily soluble in water. The formation of this substance is utilized as a delicate test for 
hydrogen sulphide (E. Fischer and Bernthsen). 
Methylene blue is used in the arts as a dye-stuff. Medicinally, it has been employed as 
an antipyretic, anodyne, and antiperiodic. Rheumatism, gonorrhoea, cystitis, pyelitis, and malaria, 
have been treated with it. It has also been employed in the treatment of cancer. The inter- 
nal dose is 2 to 4 grains in capsules; as an injection, 1 grain in solution. 
Prof. F. J. Locke reports success with this agent in old tibial ulcers. His method is to dis- 
solve 20 grains of methylene blue in 1 fluid ounce of water, and with this solution paint the 
ulcers night and morning, keeping the parts covered with a cloth wetted with a 1 to 1000 cor- 
rosive sublimate solution. After each treatment the limb should be covered with an elastic 
bandage. 
Aniline Black, Tetoline. Its formula is a multiple of C6H5N, perhaps Ci8Hi5N3.HCl 
(Liechti). It is produced on the fiber direct by slow oxidation of aniline by means of potas- 
sium chlorate and copper chloride, or hydrochloric acid and potassium bichromate (Amer. Jour. 
Pharm., 1880), or more recently with ammonium vanadate. The resulting dark-green color 
appears black. 
Aniline Inks. Aniline inks are prepared by dissolving 15 parts of dry aniline dyes (either 
red, blue, green, or yellow), in 150 parts of strong alcohol and 1000 parts of distilled water, in a 
porcelain-lined vessel by the aid of a gentle heat, until the odor of alcohol is dissipated, and 
adding a solution of 60 parts of gum arabic in 250 parts of water(Amer. Jour. Pharm. 
p. 332). An indelible ink may be made with aniline- black as follows: 1, dissolve crystallized 
(hloride of copper 17f parts, chlorate of sodium 22| parts, and chloride of ammonium 11 
parts, in distilled water 125 parts; 2, dissolve chlorohydrate of aniline 2 parts, in distilled water 
3 parts, and add to it of a solution of 1 part gum arabic to 2 parts of water, 2 parts, and glyc- 
erin 1 part. Mix 4 parts of No. 2 with 1 part of No. 1, as wanted. It forms a greenish liquid, 
which may be applied with pen, pencil, or brush. As it changes in a few days, it should be 
mixed only as wanted (Ibid, p. 335). 
Stamping Ink. Dissolve any aniline dye 5 parts, in hot water 75 parts; add syrup 1 part, 
and glycerin 2 parts. 
anisum (U. s. p.)-Anise. 
"The fruit of Pimpinella Anisum, Linne"-(U. S. P.). (Anisum vulgare, Moench). 
Nat. Ord.-Umbelliferse. 
Common Names: Aniseed, Anise. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 122. 
Botanical Source.-Anise has a perennial, spindle-shaped, ligneous root, 
and smooth, erect, branched stem, 10 or 12 inches in height. The leaves are 
petioled; the radical ones roundish, heart-shaped, lobed, and cut serrated ; the 
cauline ones biternate, with linear-lanceolate, rather cuneate-acuminate segments. 
The flowers are small and white, and borne in umbels on long stalks, and are 
9 or 10-rayed, and naked; the partial ones have a few subulate, reflexed bracts. 
Calyx wanting or minute; corolla of 5 obovate, emarginate petals, with an inflexed 
lobe. Stamens 5, longer than the petals. The anthers are roundish, the styles 
subulate, spreading, long, and capitate. The fruit is ovate, 1| lines long, dull- 
brown, slightly downy, not at all shining; half-fruits or mericarps with 5 fili- 
form, equidistant, elevated ridges, sometimes rather wavy, and paler than the 
channels. The commissure is broad and flat (L.). 
History.-Anise originally came from Egypt, and is at present cultivated 
in many of the warm countries of Europe; the fruit of the Spanish plant is that 
which is more generally selected for medical purposes. The fruit, popularly 
called aniseed, is the official portion. Care must be taken not to confound any 
of the seed of the poisonous umbelliferous plants, as of the Conium maculatum, 
with those of the anise; a little attention will detect any accidental admixture 
of this kind, as the differences in the seed are well marked. The odor of anise is 
penetrating, and fragrant, and the taste aromatic and sweetish (P.). Water par- 
tially takes up its properties, alcohol wholly so; these are due to a volatile oil 
which may be procured by distillation of the fruit with water. 210 
antennakia 
Description.-"About 4 or 5 Mm. (j to | inch) long, ovate, compressed at the 
sides, grayish, finely hairy, and consisting of 2 mericarps, each with a flat face, 
and 5 light-brownish, filiform ridges, and about 15 thin oil-tubes, which can be seen 
in a transverse section by the microscope. It has an agree- 
able, aromatic odor, and a sweet, spicy taste. It may be distin- 
guished from conium fruit (which it somewhat resembles, and 
which has been mistaken for it), by the odor and taste, and 
by the conium fruit consisting usually of single mericarps, 
which are Smooth, grooved upon the face, and have crenate 
ridgeswith wrinkles between them, and nooil-tubes"-(U.S.P.) 
Chemical Composition.-A volatile oil is contained in the 
external coat of the seeds, while a green-colored, fat oil of a 
butyraceous consistency, is obtained by expression of their 
inclosed substance. Brandes obtained from the fruit of anise, 
concrete fixed oil, green fat oil, resin, nitrogenous matter, 
sugar, gum, bimalate and binacetate of calcium, bimalate of 
potassium, volatile oil, lignin, silicate of iron, water, gum-resin, 
phosphate of calcium, extractive with various salts, etc. 
The star-anise of cordial manufacturers possesses a taste 
and odor similar to the anise, but is procured from the Illicium 
Anisatum, Loureiro, a plant growing in Eastern Asia. A vola- 
tile oil is obtained by distillation from its fruit, which is often fraudulently 
substituted for the oil of anise; it is called oleum badiani or oil of star anise. Oil 
of common anise is sometimes adulterated with spermaceti or camphor, to pro- 
mote its solidification; the former may be known by its insolubility in cold 
alcohol, the latter by its odor. 
Oil of anise yields, upon oxidation, anisic acid (C8H8O3=C6H4[OCH3]COOH). 
This acid occurs in the form of colorless crystals, insoluble in water, but freely 
soluble in alcohol. It is an oxidation product of anethol (Ci0H1;iO) (the chief 
principle of the oils of anise [94 per cent, Fliickiger], star anise and fennel), 
obtained by fractional distillation of the oil of anise, reserving and purifying that 
fraction distilling from 230° to 234° C. (446° to 453.2° F.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-A stimulant and carminative; used 
in cases of flatulency, flatulent colic of infants, and to remove nausea. Sometimes 
added to other medicines to improve their flavor, correct griping and other dis- 
agreeable effects. The dose of aniseed, crushed or powdered, is from 20 to 40 
grains. Infusion (^ij or ^iij to aqua Oss.), for infants, in doses of a teaspoonful. 
Derivatives.-Anisic acid is claimed to be antipyretic and antiseptic, acting very much 
like salicylic acid, and has been employed with reputed success in articular rheumatism, and as 
a topical application to wounds. For internal use sodium anisate is preferred, the acid being but 
little used. Dose of the salt, 15 grains. 
Fig 25 
Pimpinella Anisum. 
antennaria.-pearly everlasting. 
The leaves of the Antennaria margaritacea, Robert Brown; (Gnaphalium mar- 
garitaceum, Lin ne. 
Nat. Ord.-Composite. 
Common Names : Pearly everlasting, Pearl-flozvered life everlasting. 
Botanical Source.-Antennaria margaritacea is a perennial plant, with a 
simple, erect stem, corymbosely branched above. The leaves are linear-lanceolate, 
acute, 3-veined, sessile, and beneath the stem woolly; the corymbs are many- 
flowered and fastigiate; the scales of the hemispheric involucre are elliptic, obtuse, 
opaque, pearl-white, the outer ones only tomentose at the base; heads dioecious; 
the pistillate flowers are very slender; pappus simple, bristly, capillary in the 
fertile flowers, and in the sterile club-shaped, or barbellate at the summit. The 
corolla is yellowish (W. G.). 
History and Chemical Composition.-The name Antennaria is from the 
resemblance of the sterile pappus to the antennae of many insects (W.). The 
plant is slfghtly fragrant, and grows in dry hills and woods of various parts of 
the United States; it is from 1 to 2 feet in height, and bears yellow and white ANTHEMIS. 
211 
flowers in July. The leaves are the parts used. They contain a bitter principle 
and an essential oil. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Anodyne, astringent, and pectoral. 
A decoction has proved beneficial in diarrhoea and dysentery, and in pulmonary 
affections. Externally, it forms an excellent poultice in sprains, bruises, boils, pain- 
ful swellings, etc., and is said to produce sleep when applied externally to the head, 
even in cases where a poultice of hops has failed. Rafinesque is authority for 
the statement that the Indians, fora trifle, would allow rattlesnakes to bite them, 
to show that they could cure the bite at once with this plant. Decoction (gj to 
aqua Oj) freely. 
Related Species.-Antennaria plantaginifolia, Robert Brown. (Gnaphalium plantaginifo- 
lium, Linne ; G. plantagineum, Pursh; G. dioicum, var. plantaginifolium, Michaux). Plantain life 
everlasting. Cudweed. Mouse-ear everlasting. Canada and the United States, in open woods and 
barren hills. Domestic remedy, when boiled in milk, for diarrhoea and dysentery. Reputed 
efficacious in bites of poisonous reptiles. 
Antennaria dioica, Gartner (Gnaphalium dioicum, Linn6). Europe. Used the same as pre- 
ceding species. 
Antennaria arenarium, Linn6. Europe and Asia. Uses same as preceding species. 
Gnaphalium polycephalum, Linne. (See Gnaphalium). 
ANTHEMIS (U. S. P.)-ANTHEMIS. 
"The flower-heads of Anthemis nobilis, Linne, collected from cultivated 
plants"-(U. 8. P.). 
Nat. Ord.-Composite. 
Common Names and Synonyms: Chamomile, Roman chamomile, Anthemidis 
fiores, English chamomile, Flores chamomillde Romanae. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 154. 
Botanical Source.-This is a perennial herb, with a strong root, having long 
fibers. The stems, in a wild state, are prostrate, but more upright when culti- 
vated in gardens. They are about a span long, round, hol- 
low, furrowed, downy, leafy, and branched. The leaves are 
doubly pinnate, sessile, and pale-green in color, having 
small, thread-shaped leaflets, which are rather flat or chan- 
neled above, convex beneath, somewhat dowmy, acute, and 
commonly trilobed. The flowrer-heads are terminal and sol- 
itary, with ligulate, w7hite, ray-florets, and a yellow center of 
tubular florets. 
History and Chemical Composition.-Chamomile is 
indigenous to Southern Europe, wrhere it is cultivated for 
the purposes of medicine, and gathered and quickly dried by 
artificial heat. There are two varieties, the single and the 
double, of which the former is the best, the latter being com- 
monly the result of cultivation. The white flowrers are the 
best; they have an aromatic, agreeably bitter taste, a strong 
and peculiar odor, and yield by distillation 0.45 per cent of a 
volatile oil ofa pale-blue color at first, but gradually becoming brownish or yellowish 
(Oleum Anthemidis). Their aromatic and stimulant properties are due to this oil and 
a resin ; their tonic to bitter extractive and tannic acid. They also contain chloro- 
phyll, albumen, extractive, gum, salts, fat, and glucose. Camboulises (1871) 
obtained quercitrin, a yellow, coloring matter, when boiling the ether extract of 
the drug with water, and allowing it to cool. The filtrate yielded to ether a crys- 
tallizable, bitter principle, which Camboulises thought identical with anthemic 
acid, supposed to have been obtained by Pattone in 1859 from Anthemis arvensis. 
No alkaloid was found in the drug. A fixed oil may be obtained from the seeds 
by expression. The flowers yield their properties to water or alcohol. The wild 
flowers are seldom met with in commerce, and the darker grades of flowrers, prob- 
ably gathered in bad weather, bring a low7er price. 
Description.-The flower-heads are rather larger than a daisy, with a convex, 
yellow disk and numerous wrhite, spreading, or reflexed rays. The involucre has 
small, shining, membranous-bordered scales, rather downy. The receptacle is 
Fi 2Q 
Anthemis nobilis. 212 
ANTHEM IS. 
obtusely conical, with minute, chaffy scales, which do not appear until the disk- 
florets are turned to one side; the innermost are gradually narrowest. The ray- 
florets are white, strap-shaped, and tridentate; about eighteen in number when 
wild (usually in a single row), but jvhen cultivated may be more numerous, the 
disk-florets often taking on a ligulate form and becoming white. The disk-florets 
are yellow, many, tubular, and consist of five segments. The stamens are five in 
number, the ovary obovate, the style slender, and the stigma two-cleft and reflexed. 
The ovate seeds are flat. 
The flowers directed by the Pharmacopoeia are those of the cultivated plant, and 
are thus described in that work: " Heads subglobular, about 2 centimeters (| inch) 
broad, consisting of an imbricated involucre, and numerous white, strap-shaped, 
three-toothed florets, and few or no yellow, tubular disk-florets, inserted upon a 
chaffy, conical, solid receptacle. It has a strong, agreeable odor, and an aromatic, 
bitter taste "-(17. <S. P.). 
Admixtures.-The flower-heads of Matricaria Chamwmilla, Linne (German 
chamomile); Maruta Cotula, De Candolle (Mayweed)' Achillea Pt armica, Linne (Sneeze- 
wort); Pyrethrum Parthenium, Linne (Feverfew); Anthemis arvensis, Linne (Corn 
chamomile), and of other species of composite are sometimes admixed with cham- 
omile flowers as adulterants. The double flowers of Roman chamomile (Anthemis 
nobilis) may be determined from the double flowers of Feverfew (Pyrethrum Par- 
thenium) by the following characters: A.nobilis flowers have a peculiar and pleas- 
antly aromatic odor; the involucre is nearly flat, and composed of a number of 
spreading, nearly equal, overlapping bracts, with broadly and evidently mem- 
branous margins; when the florets are removed, the receptacle is observed to be a 
solid, conical body, more or less pointed at the apex, and the scales on it are thin, 
concave, blunt-pointed, or obtuse, more numerous, more closely compacted, and 
more membranous than those of P. Parthenium. The flowers of P. Parthenium are 
less double than those of A. nobilis, have a strong, peculiar, and more or less 
unpleasant odor; the involucre is convex, and composed of a number of nearly 
equal, imbricated, concave bracts, which are bent inward above, and each having 
a prominent ridge on its dorsal surface; when the florets are removed the recep- 
tacle is observed to be slightly convex or nearly flat, and rounded above, and the 
scales on it are lanceolate, acute-pointed, less in number than those of A. nobilis, 
and less membranous. 
The Common, or Wild chamomile, German chamomile (Matricaria Chamo- 
milla,) is usually with single flowers, which have a strong, peculiar, unpleasant 
odor, a convex involucre, composed of nearly equal, obtuse-pointed bracts, not 
distinctly membranous at their margins, and the receptacle is hollow, broadly 
conical, or nearly cylindrical in shape, naked, or without any scales. 
The flowers of the Achillea Ptarmica have rounder rays, much shorter than 
those of A. nobilis, and are odorless, but have a harsh, acrid taste. 
Maruta Cotula may be known by its disagreeable odor, which differs from that 
of chamomile, while the Anthemis arvensis is without odor. The former has an 
almost cylindrical receptacle, studded with slender, permanent scales. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-In doses of from | drachm to 2 
drachms of the flowers, or from 1 to 3 fluid ounces of their infusion (§ss to aqua 
Oj), chamomile is atonic; from 5 to 12 fluid ounces of a warm, strong infusion 
usually vomits. The cold infusion has proved useful in dyspepsia, weak digestion, 
and in all cases of weak or irritable stomach, as well as in obstinate gastro-intestinal 
irritation; also in intermittent and typhus. The oil is carminative and antispas- 
modic. Used in flatulency, colic, cramp in the stomach, hysteria, nervous diseases, and 
painful dysmenorrhoea. Colds, when due to sudden checking of the cutaneous secre- 
tions, are quickly relieved by anthemis, as are also recent cases of rheumatism and 
neuralgia, brought on in the same manner. In amenorrhoea from cold immerse 
the feet in mustard water, and after putting the woman to bed, give freely of the 
warm infusion. Dose of the oil, 5 to 15 drops on sugar; specific anthemis, 1 to 5 
drops. The flowers of the Matricaria Chamomilla (see Matricaria) possess similar 
properties to the anthemis. A poultice of chamomile flowers is said to prevent 
gangrene and to remove it when present. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Gastro-intestinal debility; flatus; dysmen- 
orrhoea from cold ; malarial affections. A tonic and antispasmodic. ANTIMONII ET POTASSII TARTRAS. 
213 
ANTIMONII ET POTASSII TARTRAS (U. S. P.)- 
ANTIMONY AND POTASSIUM TARTRATE. 
Formula: 2K(SbO)C4H4O64-H2O. Molecular Weight : 662.42. 
Synonyms : Tartar emetic, Tartarated antimony, Antimonium tartaratum, Anti- 
monium tartarisatum (Tartarizatum), Antimonii potassio-tartras, Tartarized antimony, 
Tartarus emeticus. 
"Antimony and potassium tartrate should be kept in well-stoppered bottles" 
-(U. S. P.). 
History and Preparation.-Mynsicht, in 1631, prepared this salt from crocus 
of antimony (saffron of antimony) and cream of tartar (potassium bitartrate); 
Glauber, in 1648, employed cream of tartar and flowers of antimony. This prep- 
aration is made in various ways, the readiest of which is to boil together 4 parts 
of oxide of antimony and 5 parts of bitartrate of potassium, both in fine powders, 
previously mixed, in 36 parts of distilled water; filter the liquid, concentrate, 
and crystallize by slow cooling. These proportions are the same as directed in 
the U. S. P. (1870), but boiling water was directed, into which the mixed powders 
were to be introduced and boiled for 1 hour. 
The British Pharmacopoeia directs: "Take of oxide of antimony, 5 ounces 
(av.); acid tartrate of potassium, in fine powder, 6 ounces (av.) ; distilled water, 
2 pints (Imp.). Mix the oxide of antimony and acid tartrate of potassium with 
sufficient distilled water to form a paste, and set aside for 24 hours. Then add 
the remainder of the water, and boil for a quarter of an hour, stirring frequently. 
Filter and set aside the clear filtrate to crystallize. Pour off the mother liquor, 
evaporate to one-third, and set aside that more crystals may form. Dry the crys- 
tals on filtering paper at the temperature of the air "-(Brit. Phar.). 
Whatever process is pursued, it is essential that the antimony oxide be 
slightly in excess that crystals of free cream of tartar be not deposited with the 
tartar emetic. The British process obviates long boiling, which tends to prevent 
the formation of an uncrystallizable portion, and the coloring of the crystals 
necessitating recrystallization. The antimonous oxide should be wholly free 
from oxychloride, and the cream of tartar free from calcium tartrate, the latter 
necessitating recrystallization and the former partially preventing crystallization, 
on account of rendering the solutions acid. Some manufacturers use an impure 
antimonous oxide, having methods by which they can purify the product to 
advantage, but the producer on a small scale should rely upon pure materials. 
The oxychloride was used instead of the oxide by Berzelius and Henry. In 
London, antimony ash is largely employed in manufactories for the preparation 
of this salt. 
The reaction in preparing this salt is as follows: Sb2O3+2KHC4H4O6-2(K 
[SbO]C4H4O6) + H2O, the hydrogen being displaced by the radical antimonyl (SbO), 
which is univalent. 
Description.-" Colorless, transparent crystals of the rhombic system, becom- 
ing opaque and white on exposure to air; or a white, granular powder, without 
odor, and having a sweet, afterwards disagreeable, metallic taste. Soluble in 17 
parts of water at 15° C. (59° F.), and in 3 parts of boiling water, but insoluble in 
alcohol, which precipitates it from its aqueous solution in the form of a crystal- 
line powder. When heated to 110° C. (230° F.), the salt loses its water of crys- 
tallization (2.71 per cent). When heated to redness, it chars, emits an odor 
resembling that of burning sugar, and leaves a blackened residue having an alka- 
line reaction. The aqueous solution of the salt possesses a slightly acid reaction, 
and yields, with hydrochloric acid, a white precipitate soluble in an excess of the 
acid; but no precipitate occurs if tartaric acid had previously been added "- 
(U.S.P.). 
If tartar emetic be prepared from the oxychloride, tetrahedral crystals form. 
Wine and proof-spirit dissolve the salt, wThich, as met with in commerce, is 
usually powdered. Its solution in water is unstable, but decomposition may be 
prevented by adding one-fifth part of alcohol. Tartar emetic is incompatible 
with the concentrated and diluted acids, alkalies, most metals and their carbon- 
ates, hydrosulphides, soaps, gallic and tannic acids, and most astringent, bitter 214 
ANTIMONII ET POTASSII TARTRAS. 
bodies, as Peruvian bark, rhubarb, etc. These latter render it weaker in qualityr 
while galls render it quite inert. 
Tests.-" In a solution of the salt, acidulated with hydrochloric acid, hydro- 
gen sulphide T.S. produces an orange-red precipitate. The aqueous solution, 
even when largely diluted, at once becomes permanently turbid on the addition 
of a small quantity of potassium carbonate or calcium hydrate T.S. A 1 percent 
aqueous solution of the salt, acidulated with acetic acid, should not be affected by 
the addition of a few drops of barium chloride T.S. (absence of sulphate), silver 
nitrate T.S. (chloride), ammonium oxalate T.S. (calcium), or potassium ferrocy- 
anide T.S. (iron and other metals). On adding sodium carbonate T.S. to crushed 
crystals of the salt, effervescence should not ensue (absence of potassium bitar- 
trate). If 1 Gm. of the salt be dissolved, with the aid of heat, in hydrochloric 
acid, and to this solution 1 Cc. of stannous chloride T.S. be added (see List of 
Reagents, Bettendorff 's Test for Arsenic), together with a small piece of pure tin- 
foil, no turbidity or coloration should ensue within 1 hour (limit of arsenic). 
If 0.331 Gm. of the crystallized salt, or 0.322 Gm. of the salt dried at 110° C. (230° 
F.), be dissolved in 10 Cc. of water and about 20 Cc. of a cold, saturated solution 
of sodium bicarbonate and a little starch T.S. added, it should require not less than 
20 Cc. of decinormal iodine V.S. to produce a permanent blue color (correspond- 
ing to 100 percent of the pure salt"-(U. S. Pf. 
Potassium sulphate, to the extent of from 40 to 70 per cent, was found in 
commercial tartar emetic by A. H. Jackson-{Year Book of Pharm., 1885). 
Action and Toxicology.-Applied to the skin, a strong solution or ointment 
of tartar emetic produces a pustulous eruption of a peculiar character, accom- 
panied with a more or less intense inflammation. The pustules resemble those 
of variola, and when the scab drops an indelible cicatrix remains. Internally, 
oft-repeated, small amounts (J^ to grain) produce an uncomfortable feeling, 
with nausea, colic, diarrhoea, anorexia, debility, pasty tongue, and possibly an 
eruption of pustules. Emetic doses occasion nausea, a sensation of sinking, free 
ptyalism, violent and protracted retching and vomiting, with cold extremities, 
and a cool, perspiring skin. If given with plenty of fluid, purgation, may result 
instead of emesis. Taken internally, in large quantities, tartar emetic acts as a 
violent poison, and may produce a very lively inflammation of the intestinal 
canal, as manifested by excessive vomiting, hypercatharsis, tenesmus, great heat 
and pain in the gastric region, colicky symptoms, oppressed breathing, cold sur- 
face, and gradual loss of the senses and vital powers. The antidotes are infusions 
of Geranium maculatum, table tea, solution of tannic acid, or other vegetable 
astringent and mucilaginous infusions, aided by preparations of opium to check 
the excessive evacuations; together with the usual means for combating inflam- 
matory symptoms. Alcohol and digitalis may be required to support the heart. 
The quantity sufficient to kill is small. A child was killed by f of a grain ; an 
adult by 2 grains, but circumstances favored the accident; 15 grains killed a 
young man in 6 hours. On the other hand, recovery has taken place after a tea- 
spoonful had been taken. Enteritis and loss of hair were the secondary results 
(see Taylor, Med. Juris.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Tartar emetic was formerly much used as an 
emetic in doses of from 1 to 4 grains, dissolved in a tumblerful of warm water, 
of which 1 or 2 tablespoonfuls were to be given every 5 or 10 minutes, until vomit- 
ing was produced, aiding its operation by frequent draughts of warm water. It 
has likewise been employed as a nauseant and diaphoretic in febrile and inflamma- 
tory diseases, especially of the thoracic organs ; the dose varying from | of a grain 
to 1 grain, every 1, 2, or 4 hours. One or 2 grains in a pint or two of water will 
generally act as a purgative. In doses of 4 grains, gradually increased to 20 or even 
40 grains during the 24 hours, Rasori, Laennec, Balfour, and others have consid- 
ered it very useful in acute inflammations, as pneumonia, hepatitis, jaundice, etc. 
It was thus said to exert a sedative or contra-stimulant effect, and could only be 
advantageously administered in this way, provided the first doses did not pro- 
duce vomiting nor superpurgation, and the stomach become in that state termed 
tolerance. A prominent old-school writer, the therapeutic editor of the National 
Dispensatory, has justly characterized the mischief done by tartar emetic, used as 
an emeto-cathartic, as " one of the medical scandals of the sixteenth century," ANTIMONII OXIDUM. 
215 
and hoped that the tendency toward its revival, as was manifested a few years 
since (1882-7-8), would be checked by those who were acquainted with "its mar- 
tyrology." It will be remembered that the abuse (not the use) of this agent was 
one of the potent factors in bringing into existence the Eclectic School of Med- 
icine. The use of tartar emetic in the Eclectic School has been very limited. It 
never has been employed in the same manner as by the old school, and never as 
an emetic. The only field of action thus far determined for it has been in broncho- 
pulmonary disorders of a sub-acute character, particularly in sub-acute inflammation 
of the bronchioles. " The simplest indication," says Prof. Scudder {Spec. Med.), 
" for the minute dose of this remedy is increased secretion of the respiratory 
mucous membrane. To this may be added a feeble pulse, pallid skin, cool 
extremities, cold sweats, uneasiness in the lower abdomen, and frequent desire to 
go to stool and urinate. If we were giving it in the old-fashioned dose, the indi- 
cations would be the reverse of this." Its usefulness in capillary bronchitis is 
marked. The increased secretion, with lack of power to expectorate, the rattling 
cough, persisting until the sputa is finally dislodged, and attended with a sense 
of faintness, difficult, suffocative breathing, wheezing, and loudly subcrepitant, 
bronchial rales are the guides to its use. Add to these a pallid surface, bathed in 
a cold, clammy sweat, a cyanotic countenance, with frequent urgings to empty 
the bowels and bladder, and hypogastric uneasiness, and it is the remedy for this 
unpleasantness, and when indicated by the whole or a portion of these symptoms, 
and particularly by the free secretion, with lack of power to dislodge the sputa, 
the act being feeble and attended with faintness, it should be remembered in 
asthma, croup, pneumonia, bronchitis, and bronchorrhcea. It is particularly valuable 
in the bronchial catarrh of the young and of the enfeebled and debilitated old. 
Some practitioners pretend to have cured many chronic diseases by the 
administration of minute doses of tartar emetic, repeated 3 or 4 times daily. It 
was formerly often used in the form of lotion, liniment, ointment, or plaster, 
as a counter-irritant in many painful, deep-seated, and chronic maladies. A 
drachm of tartar emetic to 4 drachms of lard for an ointment, or, dissolved in 
14 fluid ounces of water as a wash. Not unfrequently the external application 
of tartar emetic gives rise to obstinate ulcers, sometimes of a gangrenous character, 
and in some cases severe and fatal constitutional disorder has resulted. 
It must be borne in mind that to accomplish specific results with this agent, 
the dose must be minute. It is generally preferred in homoeopathic trituration- 
2x trituration for adults; 3x trituration for children-of which about 2 grains 
should be given every 2 hours. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Sub-acute bronchial inflammation; cough, 
rattling (sometimes hollow and reverberating), with loud, fine, subcrepitant 
rales; hoarseness, with tenderness of the larynx; capillary bronchitis; feeble 
cough of the aged, with free secretion and lack of power to expectorate. 
ANTIMONII OXIDUM (U. S. P.)-ANTIMONY OXIDE. 
Formula: Sb2O3. Molecular Weight: 287.08. 
Synonyms: Antimony trioxide, Antimonous oxide, Oxydum stibicum, Oxyum^ 
antimonicum, Stibium oxydatum. 
History.-Under the name Flores antimonii {flowers of antimony, or the Argen- 
tine floxvers of antimony), this substance was known to the alchemists since the time 
of Basil Valentine. It was first procured by roasting the sulphide, but afterward 
by burning metallic antimony in the air. This oxide constitutes white antimony 
or the ore known as valentinite; a compound consisting of this oxide and anti- 
monic oxide forms cervantite or antimony ochre. A large deposit of this ore is also 
to be found in the district of Sonora, Mexico (Amer. Jour. Ph a rxn. ,1881). Antimony 
oxide is mostly used as a substitute for white lead in painting. 
Preparation.-''Take of solution of chloride of antimony, 16 fluid ounces; 
carbonate of sodium, 6 ounces (av.); water, 2 gallons (Imp.); distilled water, a 
sufficiency. Pour the antimonial solution into the water, mix thoroughly, let 
the precipitate settle, remove the supernatant liquid by a siphon, add 1 gallon of 
distilled water, agitate well, let the precipitate subside, again withdraw the fluid, 216 
and repeat the processes of affusion of distilled water, agitation, and subsidence. 
Add now the carbonate of sodium previously dissolved in 2 pints of distilled 
water, leave them in contact for half an hour, stirring frequently; collect the 
deposit on a calico filter, and wash with boiling distilled water until the wash- 
ings cease to give a precipitate with a solution of nitrate of silver acidulated 
by nitric acid. Lastly, dry the product at a temperature not exceeding 100° C. 
(212° F.)"-(Br. Ph.). 
The U. S. P. (1870) process differed from the above chiefly in the agents 
employed, the chloride being first prepared by digesting 4 parts of black sulphide 
of antimony and 18 parts of hydrochloric acid: Sb2S34-6HCl=2SbCl34-3H2S. 
The hydrogen sulphide escapes for the most part, while the antimonous chloride 
remains in solution. The use of nitric acid was also directed in the U. S. P. 
process, the object being to oxidize what little hydrogen sulphide would remain 
in the liquid. The aqueous solution of antimony terchloride thus formed is now 
diluted, whereby antimonous oxychloride (2SbCl3.5Sb2O3), or powder of Algaroth, 
is precipitated. This, when washed with water, is deprived of a portion of its 
chlorine combined as hydrochloric acid, leaving a still more basic oxychloride. 
Next by means of an alkali (ammonia, U. S. P., 1870) or alkaline carbonate 
(sodium carbonate, Br. Ph.), the oxychloride is converted into an antimonous 
oxide, and, to prevent the formation of the higher oxides, is dried at a low heat. 
The process should be conducted under a flue to carry off the deleterious gases. 
Description and Tests.-"A heavy, grayish-white powder, without odor or 
taste, and permanent in the air. Almost insoluble in water, and insoluble in 
alcohol. Nitric acid fails to dissolve it, but it is readily soluble in hydrochloric 
acid without effervescence, and also in a warm solution of tartaric acid, or in a 
boiling solution of potassium bitartrate. When heated, the oxide turns yellow, 
becoming white again on cooling, and at a dull-red heat fuses to a yellowish 
liquid, which concretes, on cooling, to a crystalline mass of a pearly color. At a 
higher temperature, it sublimes, producing colorless and transparent, or white, 
shining, needle-shaped crystals "-(77. & P.). The tetroxide, known also as 
antimonous-antimonic oxide (Sb2O4 or Sb2O3.Sb2O5), is formed when the antimonous 
oxide is slowly heated in the air. 
" On dropping its solution in hydrochloric acid into water, a white precipi- 
tate is produced, which is at once changed to orange by hydrogen sulphide T.S. 
If 1 Gm. of the oxide be dissolved with the aid of 5 Gm. of tartaric acid in a 
little water, and the solution diluted with water to the measure of 100 Cc., por- 
tions of this solution should not be affected by test-solutions of silver nitrate 
(absence of chloride), barium chloride (sulphate), or potassium ferrocyanide (iron 
and other metals). If a solution of the oxide in hydrochloric acid be diluted 
with water, until it just begins to become permanently turbid, and then precipi- 
tated with hydrogen sulphide, this precipitate, when collected and thoroughly 
washed, should be completely soluble in ammonium sulphide T.S. (absence of 
copper and lead). If 1 Gm. of the oxide be dissolved in hydrochloric acid, and 
to this solution 1 Cc. of stannous chloride T.S. (see List of Reagents, Bettendorfi's 
Test for Arsenic) be added, together with a small piece of pure tin-foil, no tur- 
bidity or coloration should ensue within 1 hour (limit of arsenic) "-(17 & P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This product is seldom used in med- 
icine, and never by Eclectic practitioners. Owing to its comparative insolubility, 
it is less nauseating and less apt to provoke emesis than the other antimonials, 
which in the main it resembles in action. Dose : 2 to 4 grains. This article is 
generally employed in the preparation of the various medicinal salts of anti- 
mony. It has been occasionally used as a sedative, in doses of from 1 to 10 
grains, though its action is uncertain, being sometimes inert, and again causing 
violent emesis. 
ANTIMONII SULPHIDUM. 
ANTIMONII SULPHIDUM (U. S. P.)-ANTIMONY SULPHIDE, 
Formula: Sb2S3. Molecular Weight: 335.14. 
" Native antimony sulphide, purified by fusion, and a« free from arsenic as 
possible"-([7. S. P). 
Synonyms: Antimony trisulphide, Antimonous sulphide, Black or Crude antimony, ANTIMONII SULPHIDUM. 
217 
Antimonium crudum, Sulfuretum stibicum, Antimonii sulphuretum (U. S. P., 1870), 
Antimonium nigrum (Br., 1867). * 
Source and History.-Under the name stimmi, the ancients employed this 
metallic compound as a cosmetic and topical remedy for skin diseases. It is 
found in Europe (chiefly in Germany and France), Nevada and Arkansas, New 
Brunswick and Borneo, as an ore denominated stibnite, and is usually associated 
with galena, quartz, heavy spar, calc spar, and iron pyrites. It is separated by 
melting it, after which, it is run into earthen receivers, cooled, and powdered. 
This is called crude antimony, which name should not be confused with that for 
metallic antimony. Crude antimony usually contains iron sulphide, and traces 
of the sulphides of lead, copper, and arsenic. Powdered coal, chalk, and marble, 
are frequently found as adulterants. 
Description and Tests.-Before powdering and purifying, crude antimony 
usually has the shape of the conical vessels in which it has cooled. Outside it is 
blackish, but when broken, exhibits a crystalline, needle-like appearance, of a 
blue-gray or steel-like lustre. Its density ranges from 4.5 to 4.7. When drawn 
across a white object it leaves a black mark upon it. Officially it is described as 
in "steel-gray masses of a metallic lustre, and a striated, crystalline fracture, form- 
ing a black or grayish-black, lustreless powder, without odor or taste, and perma- 
nent in the air. Insoluble in water or alcohol, but soluble in hydrochloric acid 
with the evolution of hydrogen sulphide. At a temperature below a red heat, 
the sulphide fuses to a dark-brown liquid. If 1 Gm. of the powdered sul- 
phide be digested and finally boiled with 10 Cc. of hydrochloric acid, it should 
dissolve without leaving more than 1 per cent of residue. This acid solution, 
completely deprived of hydrogen sulphide by boiling, yields, when added to 
water, a white precipitate which is soluble in a solution of tartaric acid. After 
the separation of the precipitate by filtration, the filtrate yields an orange-red 
precipitate with hydrogen sulphide T.S."-(U. & Pi). Antimony trisulphide 
occurs in amorphous form when precipitated from solutions (see Antimonium Sul- 
phur atuni). 
It may be distinguished from coal dust by the failure of the latter to dissolve 
in hydrochloric acid, while marble or chalk effervesce when in contact with 
hydrochloric acid. An ounce bottle, dry and fared, will hold, when well shaken 
down, 2f ounces of antimony sulphide, and but 1| ounces of coal dust (Proc. 
Am. Pharm. Assoc., 1885). By purification, the object of which is to deprive it as 
much as possible of admixed arsenous sulphide, crude (sulphide of) antimony 
yields the official 
Antimonii Sulphidum Purificatum (U. S. P.)-Purified antimony sulphide, 
Purified antimony trisulphide. Sb2S3=335.14. 
Purification.-"Antimony sulphide, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 oz. 
av., 231 grs.]; ammonia water, fifty cubic centimeters (50 Cc.) [1 fls, 332 hl]; 
water, a sufficient quantity. Reduce the antimony sulphide to a very fine pow- 
der. Separate the coarser particles by elutriation, and, when the finely divided 
sulphide has been deposited, pour off the water, add the ammonia water, and 
macerate for 5 days in a well-closed vessel, agitating the mixture frequently. 
Then let the powder settle, pour off the ammonia water, and wash the residue by 
repeated affusion and decantation of water. Finally dry the product by the aid 
of a gentle heat "-(U. S. P.). 
Description and Tests.-"A heavy, grayish-black, lustreless powder, without 
odor or taste, and permanent in the air. Insoluble in water or alcohol, but solu- 
ble in hydrochloric acid w'ith the evolution of hydrogen sulphide. At a temper- 
ature below a red heat, it fuses to a dark-brown liquid. If 1 Gm. of the sulphide 
be digested, and finally boiled, writh 10 Cc. of hydrochloric acid, it should dis- 
solve without leaving more than 1 per cent of residue. This acid solution, com- 
pletely deprived of hydrogen sulphide by boiling, yields, when added to water, 
a white precipitate, which is soluble in a solution of tartaric acid. After the 
separation of the precipitation by filtration, the filtrate yields an orange-red pre- 
cipitate with hydrogen sulphide T.S. If 2 Gm. of the sulphide be mixed and 
cautiously ignited, in a porcelain crucible, with 8 Gm. of pure sodium nitrate, 
and, after cooling, the fused mass be boiled with 25 Cc. of water, there will remain 
a residue which should be white or nearly so, and not yellowish nor brownish 218 
ANTIMONII SULPHIDUM. 
(absence of other metallic sulphides). On boiling the filtrate separated from the 
last-cnentioned residue with a slight excess of nitric acid, until no more nitrous 
vapors are evolved, then dissolving in it 0.1 Gm. of silver nitrate, filtering again, 
if necessary, and cautiously pouring a few drops of ammonia water on top, not 
more than a white cloud, but no red or reddish precipitate should appear at the 
line of contact of the two liquids (absence of more than about 0.1 per cent of 
arsenic) "-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Action, that of the antimony com- 
pounds in general. It was formerly combined with drastic purgatives. It is 
very seldom used in medicine at the present day. Dose : 5 to 15 grains. 
Antimony and Its Compounds.-Antimonium, Antimony, Stibium. Symbol: Sb. 
Atomic Weight: 120. Many minerals contain antimony, but the chief and almost only source 
of the commercial product is the native trisulphide of antimony (Sb2S3)-the ore stibnite. 
Though known at a very early time, it was first separated by the monk Basilius Valentinus. 
The bulk of antimony comes from France and Germany, though other places also furnish it. 
France furnishes the best product, which is in plano-convex circular cakes packed in casks. 
Spanish antimony is formed into pigs; the English into cones. Iron, lead, and arsenic are 
always present. To obtain the metal, stibnite is melted and the fused sulphide roasted in 
contact with the air to crude oxide of antimony. It is then intermixed with powdered char- 
coal previously saturated with solution of sodium carbonate, and roasted. (Jr, metallic iron 
and purified sulphide of antimony are fused together, iron sulphide and metallic antimony 
resulting. The product is then run into molds. Antimony is a crystalline mass of hard, 
brittle, silver-white metal, having a density of 6.7 or 6.8. It is unaffected by cold air, but 
when heated in the atmosphere, oxidizes, and heated in the presence of a current of hydro- 
gen, volatilizes. It is not affected by cold, diluted sulphuric acid ; hot sulphuric acid forms 
with it a sulphate; hot hydrochloric and cold nitrohydrochloric acids dissolve it. The ele- 
ments of the sulphur and chlorine groups, and phosphorus and arsenic, combine with it 
directly. Some alloys are prepared with antimony, e. g., type metal. The antimony black (not 
black antimony) employed to give a steel-like polish to casts and patterns, is a form of metallic 
antimony produced by precipitating the solution of the trichloride with zinc. Antimony 
forms three oxides, viz.: antimony trioxide (Sb2O3), antimony tetroxide (Sb2O4), and anti- 
mony pentoxide (Sb2Os), the last two of which are not employed in medicine. Antimony 
teroxide is antimonous oxide, and forms with water, antimonous acid, the salts being known aii\ 
antimonites; antimony tetroxide is also known as antimonous-antimonic oxide (Sb2O4 orSb2O3. 
Sb2O5); antimony pentoxide is antimonic oxide, producing with water, antimonic acid, a lemon 
yellow powder, the salts of which are the antimonates. Antimony ash (cinis antimonii) is an 
impure tetroxide produced by gradually heating to redness the black sulphide in contact with 
the air; if this ash be fused with a little black antimony it forms antimonial glass (vitrum 
antimonii) a garnet-red, transparent mass. Liver of antimony (hepar antimonii) is formed when 
small amounts of potassium nitrate and black antimony (equal parts) are ignited and when 
the resulting potassium sulphate and sulphantimonate are removed from it by exhausting 
with water, crocus of antimony (a mixture of oxide and sulphide chiefly) remains. Diaphoretic 
antimony (antimonium diaphoreticum) is prepared like liver of antimony, excepting that twice the 
quantity of nitrate potassium is employed. It contains antimony oxide, sulphate, antimonate 
and nitrate and nitrite of potassium in variable amounts. Metallic antimony may be recognized 
by dissolving it in aqua regia and evaporating off the solvent. When the residue is dissolved 
in hydrochloric acid, precipitates are obtained with water (oxychloride, soluble in tartaric 
acid), with hydrogen sulphide gas (Sb2S5, orange-red antimonic sulphide), or the liquid may 
be subjected to Marsh's test (see Acidum Arsenosum). 
Antimonii Iodidum (Sbl3).-Antimony iodide, Teriodide of antimony. A dark, orange-red 
powder, yielded upon pulverizing the foliated crystalline mass produced by gently heating 
together in a Florentine flask, 3 parts of iodine and 1 part of metallic antimony, and allowing 
the product to cool. Water decomposes it. Dose: | to 1 grain in pill as an alterative. 
Antimonii Arsenas.-Antimony arsenate. A snowy-white, heavy powder, employed in 
certain portions of Europe (Russia) as an alterative in doses of grain 4 times a day. It is 
composed nearly half (44 per cent) of arsenic acid. 
Antimonii Trichloridum (SbCl3).-Antimony trichloride, Antimony terchloride, Butter or oil of 
antimony, Muriate of antimony, Sesquichloride of antimony. As formerly prepared by placing 
in a glass retort 3 parts of pure metallic antimony and 8 parts of mercuric chloride, 
and gradually heating, butter of antimony was produced, subliming and condensing in the 
neck of the retort as a white, thick, unctuous, semitransparent, inodorous substance, having a 
very caustic taste. Soubeiran prepared it by dissolving, with the aid of a gentle heat, 1 part 
of sulphide of antimony and 5 parts of hydrochloric acid, allowing the mixture to stand, and 
then decanting off the clear fluid, evaporating, and distilling almost to dryness. As obtained 
by these processes, butter of antimony is decomposed by water, and attracts moisture from the 
air ami becomes yellow. It melts at 100° C. (212° F.) and volatilizes a little above this temper- 
ature, forming on cooling, tetrahedral prisms. The " butter of antimony " of the present day is 
a reddish solution produced by dissolving antimony trisulphide, 1 part, in hydrochloric acid, 
4 parts, employing heat, filtering, and evaporating to 2 parts. Its color is due to iron and 
other metallic impurities, and the solution when distilled is a colorless solution of SbCl3 (see 
Liquor Antimonii Chloridi-Br.). ANTIMONIUM SULPHURATUM. 
219 
ANTIMONIUM SULPHURATUM (U. S. P.)-SULPHURATED ANTIMONY. 
"Chiefly antimony trisulphide (Sb2S3=335.14); with a very small amount of 
antimony trioxide"-(L7. S'. P.). 
Synonyms: Kermes mineral, Antimonii sulphuretum prxcipitatum (Dub.), Anti- 
monii oxysulphuretum (Land.), Antimonii sulphuretum aureum. 
Source and History.-The monk, Basil Valentine, seems to have been the 
first to obtain what was subsequently known as golden sulphur (sulphur auratum of 
Quercetanus, 1603), and antimonial kermes (kermes minerale of Simon, 1719). Glau- 
ber had, however, already prepared the latter substance by making a hot solution 
of black antimony in potassa and cooling the product. Rose, in 1825, and Fuchs, 
in 1833, made clear the fact that Kermes mineral was nothing else than amorph- 
ous antimony sulphide (R. & S.). All the processes-and they were numerous- 
result in producing a mixture of one or the two sulphides of antimony and 
some oxide of antimony. That of the U. S. P. is an almost pure antimony 
trisulphide (Sb2S3). That of the German Pharmacopoeia is pure antimony penta- 
sulphide (Sb2S3). 
This preparation, though official under the name Kermes mineral, is not 
the original mixture of that name (a description of which will be found below 
under Related Compounds). There are three preparations of sulphur and anti- 
mony : (1) an amorphous precipitated antimony sulphide (Sb2S3), orange-red in color; 
(2) a mixture containing some antimonous oxide known as Kermes mineral 
([Sb,S J,-|-SB,,O,), of a red-brown color; (3) and antimonic sulphide (antimony 
pentasulphide), (Sb2S5), known as golden sulphur or golden sulphide of antimony. 
Preparation.-"Purified antimony sulphide, one hundred grammes (100 
Gm.) [3 oz. av., 231 grains]; solution of soda, twelve hundred cubic centimeters 
(1200 Cc.) [40 fl§, 277 TH,] ; distilled water, diluted sulphuric acid, each, a suffi- 
cient quantity. Mix the purified antimony sulphide with the solution of soda 
and three thousand cubic centimeters (3000 Cc.) [91 H3, 203 Tfl] of distilled water, 
and boil the mixture over a gentle fire for 2 hours, with frequent stirring, and 
occasionally adding distilled water so as to preserve the same volume. Strain 
the liquid immediately through a double muslin strainer, and drop into it while 
yet hot, diluted sulphuric acid, so long as it produces a precipitate. Wash the 
precipitate with hot distilled water until the washings are at most but very 
slightly clouded by barium chloride T.S.; then dry the precipitate at a tempera- 
ture not exceeding 25° C. (77° F.), and rub it to a fine powder. Keep the product 
in well-stoppered bottles, protected from light"-(U. S. P.). 
Crystallized antimony sulphide requires the aid of heat to dissolve it in 
alkaline fluids. The amorphous form dissolves in cold solutions. Such a solu- 
tion (soda), as directed in the official process, contains sodium meta-antimonite 
(NaSbO2) and sodium sulphantimonite (Na3SbS3), according to the following 
equation: Sb2S3-|-4NaOH=Sb2S3Na3-|~SbO2Na. These bodies are decomposed 
upon the addition of the sulphuric acid, whereby antimonous sulphide precipi- 
tates, thus: Na3SbS3+NaSbO2+2H2SO4=2Na2SO44-Sb2S3+2H2O. The reaction 
does not take place quantitatively in this manner, as some hydrogen sulphide is 
liable to escape, resulting from the action of the acid upon the sulphantimonite. 
Consequently some undecomposed antimonite is precipitated with the sulphide. 
The official directions should be closely followed to insure, as nearly as possible, 
uniform results. Atmospheric exposure and state of concentration of the alkali 
solution, affect the composition of the product. 
Description and Tests.-"An amorphous, reddish-brown powder, becoming 
lighter in color on exposure to light, and having neither odor nor taste. Insol- 
uble in water or alcohol, but soluble in hydrochloric acid with the evolution of 
hydrogen sulphide. When heated in a dry test tube, it emits moisture and leaves 
a black residue. If 1 Gm. of sulphurated antimony be gently heated with 10 Cc. 
of hydrochloric acid, it should dissolve, with the exception of a slight residue, 
which, when washed and dried, should burn on the application of a flame, with 
the characteristic odor of sulphur, leaving not more than a scanty ash. The acid 
solution, completely deprived of hydrogen sulphide by boiling, yields, when 
added to water, a white precipitate, which, after being washed and dried, should 220 
ANTIPYRINUM. 
weigh not less than 85 per cent of the original weight of the sulphide. The 
liquid filtered from this precipitate yields an orange-red precipitate with hydro- 
gen sulphide T.S. If 1 Gm. of sulphurated antimony be shaken with 20 Cc. of 
hot water, the filtrate should be neutral to test paper, should not be rendered 
more than slightly opalescent by barium chloride T.S. (limit of sulphate), or 
silver nitrate T.S. (limit of chloride), and should not be affected by ammonium 
oxalate T.S. (absence of calcium). When tested for arsenic, as described under 
purified antimony sulphide, it should afford no reaction beyond the limit pre- 
scribed for the latter"-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This agent is not used in Eclectic 
medicine. It possesses the qualities of antimonials in general, and is adminis- 
tered in from 1 to 2 grain doses as an alterative, and in from 5 to 20 grains as an 
emetic. 
Related Compounds.-Antimonii Oxysulphuretum ( U. S. P., 1870). Oxysulphuret of anti- 
mony, Kermes mineral. This preparation was formerly official. It is prepared by the dry process 
by heating in a crucible 2 parts of antimony trisulphide and 1 part of potassium hydroxide; 
pulverize the mass thus obtained, and boil it with 10 or 12 parts of water; filter the liquor while 
boiling, and the kermes precipitates on cooling. In the humid way it is prepared by boiling for 
2 hour 1 part of finely powdered sulphide of antimony, 22.5 parts of crystallized carbonate of 
sodium, and 250 parts of water; kermes precipitates likewise on cooling. The last mode gives 
a finer article, preferred to that by the former process. It is a reddish-brown powder with a 
tinge of purple, of a velvety appearance, light, inodorous, of a slowly-developed, metallic 
taste, and insoluble in water or alcohol. Hot hydrochloric acid dissolves it, hydrogen sulphide 
being evolved. Exposed to air or light, it loses its red color and velvety aspect. It is com- 
pletely soluble in ammonium sulphide. Heated to a red heat with charcoal, it is converted 
into metallic antimony. It is a mixture of Sb2S3 and Sb2O3. Kermes mineral, in doses of 
from 6 to 10 grains, is an emetic, but its action is uncertain. In smaller doses, say from j grain 
to 1 or 2 grains, in mucilage, it is a stimulant, expectorant, nauseant, and diaphoretic, and was 
formerly employed in the last stage of "peripneumonia" (pneumonia), in chronic catarrhs, humid 
asthma, cutaneous diseases, gout, rheumatism, etc.; it is seldom used in this country except among 
German practitioners. It should have no place in therapy. 
Antimonii Pentasulphidum (Sb2S5), Antimony sulphide. Golden sulphur, Golden sulphuret 
of antimony. Sulphur stibiatum aurantiacum, Sulphur auratum antimonii.-As originally pre- 
pared, by boiling antimony sulphide in caustic potash solution and adding sulphuric 
acid, a golden-red powder was obtained, containing Sb2S5, with some Sb2S3 and Sb2O3. The 
German Pharmacopoeia directs a pure pentasulphide instead of this mixture. Boil asolution of 
crystallized sodium carbonate (70), in water (250); mix with a milk prepared from lime (26) 
and water (80). Add washed antimony sulphide (36) and sublimed sulphur (7); boil until 
no longer of a gray color, filter and crystallize. These crystals (24 parts) having the composition 
Na3SbS4.9H2O, and known as Schlippe's salt, are dissolved in water (700) and added to a solu- 
tion of sulphuric acid (9) in water (200). The pure salt (Sb2S5) precipitates, and is washed 
and dried. A tasteless, odorless, orange-colored powder, which when sublimed evolves sulphur, 
leaving behind black antimonous sulphide. It wholly volatilizes at a red heat. It is not now 
employed medicinally. It wras formerly used as an alterative in chronic affections of the skin, 
rheumatism, secondary venereal diseases, and chronic hepatitis; it is one of the constituents of 
Plummer's Alterative Pill. The dose is from 1 to 3 grains every 6 hours; when over 5 grains, 
the dose will be apt to occasion emesis. 
ANTIPYRINUM.-ANTIPYRINE. 
Formula: C6H5N.CO.CH:CCH3NCH3.=(CnH12N2O.). 
Molecular Weight: 187.65. 
Synonyms : Analgesin, Antipyrin(e), Met hosing, Methozine, Phenazone, Phenazon, 
Analgesine, Dimethyl-oxyquinizine, Phenyldimethylpyrazolon, Dehydrodimethylphenypy- 
r azine, Phenazonum, (Br.). 
A compound derived from coal-tar or prepared synthetically. " A crystalline 
substance obtainable from phenylhydrazine"-(Br.). 
Source and Preparation -Knorr first produced this compound in 1883. 
The original way of preparing it is as follows: Phenylhydrazine (C6H5HN.NH2) 
is allowed to react, in the cold, upon aceto-acetic ether (CH3.CO.CH2.COOC2H5), 
whereby water is displaced and phenylhydrazine aceto-acetic ether is formed. 
This oily product heated to 100° C. (212° F.) evolves alcohol, leaving behind 
phenylmethylpyrazolon, formerly called methyloxychinizin (C10H10N2O). This body 
is then changed into phenyldimethyl-pyrazolon iodide by heating it with methyl 
iodide in contact with methylic alcohol. It is then treated with sulphurous acid 
solution until decolorized, the alcohol separated by distillation, the residue treated ANTIPYRINUM. 
221 
with concentrated soda solution, and the heavy, oily base, after solidification, 
recrystallized from ether or toluene. By a patented process of 1890, antipyrine 
is made by the action of phenylhydrazine upon a compound ether; e. g., ethyl- 
ether of beta-bromo, or chlorobutyric acid. It was demonstrated by Lederer, in 
1891, that this process does not yield antipyrine, but an isomer. Antipyrine has 
also been prepared (1892) from the interaction of phenylhydrazine and crotonic 
acid (Knorr and Duden). Various processes of similar principle have been 
patented subsequently to obtain pyrazolon derivatives; e. g., by the interaction of 
beta- chlor-lactic acid and phenylhydrazine (Pfleger and Krauth, 1893). 
Description.-Antipyrine usually occurs as crystalline laminae, or when crys- 
tallized from water as prismatic crystals. As found in trade it forms a white, red- 
dish-white, or whitish powder, having a taste mildly bitter, and scarcely any odor. 
It dissolves very readily in water, alcohol, chloroform, and benzene, less soluble 
in ether (about 1 in 50), and scarcely at all in benzin and carbon disulphide. It 
fuses at 113° C. (235.4° F.). It completely volatilizes by heat, but not without 
decomposition. Its solution in water is neutral to litmus, and should not respond 
to hydrogen sulphide, but precipitates with most alkaloid-test reagents, corrosive 
sublimate, basic acetate of lead, and Fehling's Test Solution, which latter is 
reduced by it. A characteristic reaction for antipyrine consists in the formation 
of green crystals of nitroso-antipyrine, when antipyrine, together with one-third 
its weight of sodium nitrite, is dissolved in about 8 times its weight of water, and 
a few drops of diluted acetic acid are added, and allowed to stand for 1 hour. The 
same reaction takes place with sweet spirit of nitre containing free acid (Fliickiger 
and Nagelvoort). In dilute solution (about 1 in 20,000) merely a green colora- 
tion is formed, which deepens with the quantity of antipyrine employed. M. T. 
Schaak (1894) has proposed a method of determining antipyrine quantitatively 
by means of this reaction. A concentrated solution of antipyrine turns deep red 
by the addition of an acid-free solution of ferric chloride. The color disappears or 
turns light yellow with sulphuric acid. Antipyrine gradually decolorizes wine. 
By the direct contact of acids, salts are formed, showing this body to be a pro- 
nounced base. When first obtained it was erroneously supposed to be a deriva- 
tive of quinoline. It is incompatible with solutions of amyl nitrite, hydrocyanic 
acid, spirit of nitrous ether (sweet spirit of nitre), chloral hydrate, salicylate and 
bicarbonate of sodium, carbolic acid, tannic acid, etc. It may be combined with 
aromatic syrups for administration. 
Action and Toxicology.-Antipyrine is an extremely uncertain agent in its 
effects. Even small doses have occasioned alarming symptoms, a peculiarity 
being a characteristic livid hue of the countenance, which is attended with 
symptoms of collapse. As small a quantity as 3| grains has produced death, 
while on the other hand a woman survived 1 ounce at one dose, and another con- 
sumed ounces in five days, the former with no other damage than a half-day's 
unconsciousness, and the latter swollen extremities and cyanosis. The usual 
symptoms from physiological doses are a languid and uneasy feeling, rise of tem- 
perature, peculiar cyanotic countenance, dyspnoea, hysterical phenomena, and 
often a rubeoloid eruption lasting about five days, followed by slight desquama- 
tion. The eruption sometimes assumes an erythematous character, or severe urti- 
caria, or dermatitis, with oedema, or watery blebs and bloody blisters may follow 
its use. Even in doses regarded medicinal, it has occasioned coldness, copious 
sweating, irregular heart action, vomiting, and other symptoms of depression, 
bordering on collapse. Occasional symptoms are stomatitis, laryngeal complica- 
tions, amaurosis, tinnitus, violent cough, coryza, burning in the mouth and 
fauces, metallic taste, gastro-enteritis, and mental dullness. More rarely general 
neuralgic pains, vomiting, diarrhoea, dysuria, convulsions, paralysis, and sopor 
are its effects. A toxic dose presents vertigo and tremors, distressing head-symp- 
toms, increased pulsation, profuse sweating, reduction of temperature, oppressed 
respiration, exaggerated reflexes, somnolence, coma, profound insensibility, ster- 
tor, pupillary dilatation, convulsions, and death. 
The reduction of temperature, which is marked in febrile states, has been 
shown to be independent of the profuse sweating produced. The reduction occurs 
whether sweating be present, or when it is prevented by such agents as atropine. 
The action of antipyrine, in toxic doses, upon the brain, is first to stimulate and 222 
ANTIPYRINUM. 
then to depress; the spinal nerves are paralyzed, and the respiratory centers first 
stimulated and finally depressed and paralyzed. Blood-pressure is increased by 
large doses and depressed by lethal doses. Doses short of toxic have, as a rule, 
but little physiological effect upon the respiratory organs. The urinary secretion 
is markedly diminished by antipyrine, though this is the channel by which it is 
principally eliminated, the drug appearing in the urine within 30 minutes after 
being administered. It has been detected in human milk, and may therefore 
affect nursing infants. The teeth are said to be colored by this agent. Symptoms 
of collapse from antipyrine should be met by alcoholic stimulants and by the sub- 
cutaneous use of atropine sulphate. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Antipyrine has been used as an analgesic, 
nerve sedative, antispasmodic, antipyretic, local anaesthetic, topical hemostatic, 
antigalactagogue, and to restrain secretions from the kidneys and bowels. Its 
chief value is in its power to control pain and spasm. It markedly reduces tem- 
perature in febrile states, but the preponderance of fast-accumulating evidence, 
even in the old school where it has been so largely and so fatally used, shows it 
to be wholly undesirable as an antipyretic. While its power to reduce tempera- 
ture is undisputed, it is well known that it does not, in the least, shorten the 
course of any of the febrile disorders, and is open to the serious objection of fav- 
oring depression and collapse, and tends to increase the difficulty upon which 
many fevers depend in causing the retention in the system of morbific products, 
whose elimination is prevented by its restraining power over renal activity. 
There are a few febrile complaints in which it does apparent good. These are 
surgical fever after operations and puerperal septicaemia, with intensely high tem- 
perature. Here it should be employed to reduce the temperature somewhat, but 
it must not be carried too far. In the high temperature of respiratory lesions it 
is said to be of some value, as in pneumonia and pleurisy. It has no action upon 
the diseased structure, except to relieve pain and lower temperature. Undoubt- 
edly, the majority of cases of "heart failure," which have been reported in the 
past few years, are due more to the indiscriminate use of this and other coal-tar 
derivatives than to any other agency. Antipyrine has been used to control the 
febrile phenomena of phthisis, but the unpleasant and debilitating sweating pro- 
duced more than overbalances the good it may do. Thermic fever (congestive 
form) from sun-stroke and not that from heat exhaustion, is said to be benefited 
by it. Diarrhoea, diabetes mellitis and insipidus, and other excessive secretions, 
except of the skin, have been restrained by its use. Epilepsy, purely functional, 
tetanus, asthma, and other spasmodic disorders, have been treated by it with both 
success and failure. Chorea and whooping-cough, however, seem to be more amen- 
able to it, and it is accredited with shortening the duration of the latter disease. 
In painful and spasmodic disorders it will find its best field of action. Its 
use in migraine and other forms of headache, especially of neuralgic character, is 
well known. However, much danger attends its constant employment, as pro- 
longed prostration and debility have followed such use. Webster believes it to 
be cumulative (Dynam. Ther., 115). It is used largely to control pain in sciatica, 
tetanus, dysmenorrhoea, gravel, locomotor ataxia, neuritis, rheumatism (muscular and 
articular), arthritis (rheumatic), gout, angina pectoris, renal arid hepatic colic, syphilis, 
neuralgia of zona, after-pains, and to allay itching and burning pain of cutaneous 
disorders. Palpebral neuralgia, sclero-choroiditis, epischleritis, iritis, keratitis, irido-cho- 
roiditis, detached retina, pain after cataract operations, toxic amblyopia, and floating 
bodies in the vitreous humor are among the eye affections in which it has been 
used, though it is not looked upon with special favor by our ophthalmologists. 
Locally it has been employed as an antiseptic dressing to ulcers to relieve pain, 
and as a local hemostatic. 
The large doses formerly recommended-75 to 90 grains, and subsequently 
15 to 50 grains-are seldom now given. The dose should not, at any time, exceed 
20 grains, and 5 grains is about the best dose for average purposes. For young 
children give 1 grain every hour until 3 doses have been taken. It may be 
administered in mint water, aromatic syrup, or coffee. Subcutaneously, 5 grains 
is the safest maximum dose. It has also been given by enema and suppository. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Pain and spasm; high temperature in 
surgical and puerperal fevers; migraine. ANTIPYRINUM. 
223 
Antipyrine Derivatives.-Iodopyrine. lodopyrin, lodantipyrin. This salt is prepared 
by mixing with an alcoholic solution of antipyrine a hot alcoholic solution of iodine, the 
iodine and antipyrine being present in such a proportion as to form a mono-iodide. When left 
standing a few days, iodopyrine crystallizes. If the proportion of iodine be twice the former, 
a diiodide of antipyrine is produced. Iodopyrine forms colorless, silky, acicular crystals, 
almost without taste or odor. It is practically insoluble in cold water, but dissolves freely in 
hot water. It fuses at 160° C. (320° F.). This agent sometimes occasions copious diaphoresis, 
and is antipyretic, though it does not shorten the period of febrile diseases. Dose, 1 to 4 
grains. 
Bhomopyrine.-Monobromantipyrin (CnHnBrN2O). White acicular crystals, which melt 
at 114° C. (237.2° F.). Scarcely soluble in water, hot or cold, but dissolves easily in chloroform 
and alcohol. Its action has not yet been determined. 
Benzopyrine.-Benzoate of antipyrine. Add antipyrine to a solution of benzoic acid at 
100° C. (212° F.), below which point the resulting salt forms with the production of a yellow 
fluid, which congeals as a mass of opaque crystals. It is practically insoluble in water, while 
both ether and alcohol dissolve it. 
Salipyrine.-SaUpyrazolon, Salazolon, Salicylate of antipyrine, Antipyrine salicylate. A def- 
inite salt formed by the interaction of salicylic acid and antipyrine. It is prepared by heating 
together molecular quantities of the two named bodies. An oily fluid results, which solidifies 
when cool, and is then crystallized from alcoholic solution as a white salt, with a somewhat 
pleasant taste, but no odor. It is practically insoluble in water, is partially soluble in ether, 
and freely so in alcohol or benzene. It fuses at 91.5° C. (196.7° F.). Its solution is faintly 
acid, and the taste at first sweet, then bitterish. If prepared from solutions of salicylic acid in 
water and of antipyrine in ether it slowly deposits beautiful crystals, which dissolve in ether 
with difficulty. This agent is antipyretic, antirheumatic, and antineuralgic. Like antipyrine 
it may occasion an eruption, and sometimes acts as an emetic. It is eliminated by the kidneys. 
Dose, 5 to 15 grains, and not more than 40 grains should be administered in 24 hours. 
Antipyrinum Amygdalicum.- Tussol. This substance was introduced in 1894 as a remedy 
for whooping-cough, and is obtained by fusing together 188 parts of antipyrine with 152 parts 
of mandelic acid, which proportion represents equimolecular quantities. The product forms 
bitter crystals, easily soluble in water. Alkaline liquidsand milk decompose it. The doses 
vary from f to 1| grains for children less than 1 year, to be given 2 to 3 times a day; for chil- 
dren of 1 to 2 years of age, the dose is 1 j grains, to be given 3 times a day. The dose may be 
increased to 3f grains, or even 6 grains, 3 to 4 times a day for older children. 
Phenopyrine. Equal amounts of antipyrine and pure carbolic acid (phenol), well dried, 
triturated together form phenopyrine. It is a colorless and inodorous, oily liquid, which crys- 
tallizes upon standing. Does not dissolve in cold water. 
Picropyrine. Prepared by adding, drop by drop, a strong solution of antipyrine to a con- 
centrated solution of picric acid in water. The resulting precipitate is then recrystallized from 
hot water. It forms fine acicular crystals of the characteristic yellow color of the picrates. 
Naphthopyrine. Beta-naphthol-antipyrine. This product is the result of triturating anti- 
pyrine 1 part (by weight), with 2 parts of beta-naphthol. Is somewhat soluble in boiling 
water, soluble in ether and alcohol, but does not dissolve in cold water. 
Pyrogallopyrine. Triturate together 1 part (by weight) of antipyrine, and 2 parts of 
pyrogallol. If the solutions of the two be mixed and allowed to stand a few hours pyrogallo- 
pyrine crystallizes in handsome prisms. Its solubility is like that of naphthopyrine (which see). 
Resorcylalgin is anew antiseptic prepared in 1893 by the action of resorcylate of potas- 
sium upon antipyrine. It is little soluble in water, easily soluble in alcohol, has an acid reac- 
tion, and forms salts with alkalies. The ammonium salt is easily soluble. 
Tolypyrin is a copyrighted name given to a homologue of antipyrine elaborated by H. 
Thoms in 1892. It is prepared by the action of paratolyl-hydrazine upon aceto-acetic ether. 
Its taste is bitter; it has a fusing point of 136° to 137°C. (276.8° to 278.6° F.), is soluble in 10 
parts of water, in alcohol, almost insoluble in ether; with ferric chloride, or with nitrous acid it 
behaves like antipyrine. A specific reaction for tolypyrin is said to be as follows: If to a quan- 
tity of tolypyrin, about £ to 1 gramme, be added, 2 Cc. of a 25 per cent solution of nitric acid, the 
liquid turns wine-red, and becomes light-yellow when ammonia is added. 
Tolysal.- Tolypyrinum salicylicum (1893), is said to be valuable as an antirheumatic, anti- 
neuralgic, and antipyretic agent. 
Related Compounds.-Antithermin. Phenyl-hydrazin-leevulinic acid (CH3.C:[N2HC6H5].- 
CH2.CH2.COOH). This compound precipitates when phenylhydrazine (108 parts) dissolved 
in acetic acid is mixed with a solution of laevulinic acid (CH.3COCH2CH2.COOH.) (116 
parts), in water. By dissolving the resulting product in boiling water, and decolorizing with 
animal charcoal, it crystallizes as a colorless, lustrous salt, having scarcely any taste, and is 
very slightly soluble in alcohol and water. When heated to 170° C. (338° F.), it becomes 
phenylhydrazine Levulinic anhydride (C11H12N2O). In 3 grain doses it is used in the febrile 
states of pulmonary consumption and Bright's disease. 
Agathin.-Salicylaldehyde alpha-methylphenylhydrazone (C6H4[OH].CH=N.N[CH3].C6H5). 
This salt results from the direct interaction of alpha-methylphenylhydrazine and salicyl-alde- 
hyde. It forms greenish-white, crystalline plates which dissolve in ether and alcohol, but not 
in water. They are tasteless and odorless. It fuses at 74° C (165.2° F.). Antirheumatic and 
antineuralgic in 5 to 8 grain doses 3 times a day. No untoward results have been observed 
from its use. 
Pyrazole (C3H4N2, or j r :NH). Formed by acting upon hydrazine with epi- 224 
APIS. 
chlorhydrin in the presence of chloride of zinc. It forms in needles soluble in water, ether 
and alcohol. Of its derivatives, all of which paralyze the central nervous system (Tappeiner, 
1891), phenylmethylpyrazol carboxylic acid, in daily doses of from 15 to 30 grains, is said to be an 
exceedingly active and harmless diuretic. 
Migranin. Said to be a mixture of antipyrine (about 9 parts), caffeine (about 1 part), 
and a small portion of citric acid. Given in 15 grain doses for the relief of migraine and the 
headache of la grippe. 
Aceto-ortho-toluid (C7H7NH.C2H3O). Needles, colorless, soluble readily in alcohol, 
ether, and hot water. Slightly tonic. Powerfully depresses temperature. 
Antipyrine-Salol. Equal parts of salol and antipyrine fused together until of a brown 
color, remaining fluid when cool. Antiseptic, and applied by cotton tampons as a hemostatic 
in hemorrhage from the uterus (Coblentz). 
APIS.-APIS. 
The alcoholic tincture and the virus of Apis mellifica, Linne, the common 
honey-bee. 
Class, Insecta; Order, Hymenoptera; Family, Apidae. 
Common Names: Honey-bee, Hive-bee. 
History.-This well known bee inhabits the wilds in swarms, and is also 
kept in proper establishments for the purpose of obtaining its honey and wax. 
The insect is too well known to need a description here. 
Preparation.-I. Tinctura Apis Mellifica, Tincture of apis. The prepara- 
tion of apis generally employed is the alcoholic tincture, which, for general pur- 
poses, may be prepared as follows: Place a swarm of live bees in a large jar 
and then by shaking them excite their anger. When this is accomplished, cover 
them with deodorized alcohol and allow them to macerate a month ; then decant 
and filter the liquid. The homoeopathic tincture is prepared in the same manner 
by using 1 part of live bees to 5 parts of diluted alcohol, macerating 8 days, 
decanting, straining, and filtering. Diluted alcohol is also preferred for their 
dilutions of this preparation. 
II. Apium Virus.-This form is used but little by Eclectics, but largely in 
homoeopathy. It is obtained either by drawing the sting and poison-bag from 
a freshly killed bee, inserting the sting into a small glass tube, and by compress- 
ing the bag, squeezing the poison into it. Or, with a pair of forceps seize a live 
bee and allow it to grasp a small piece of sugar. It will at once sting into the 
lump which will absorb the virus. This is to be repeated until a sufficient 
amount is secured to start a trituration, which is prepared like other homoeo- 
pathic triturations as stated under Triturations. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This remedy had its origin as a med- 
icine in the homoeopathic school, but is now a general favorite among Eclectics 
for certain diseased conditions. Apis is diuretic, alterative, and diaphoretic. It 
specifically influences the urinary tract, small doses somewhat resembling can- 
tharis in action, in removing irritation,and in larger doses, stimulating the renal 
organs and other portions of the urinary passages. The small dose may be 
employed if there be irritation, even though inflammation exists. Aconite, 
veratrum, and like agents, promote the action of apis, while ammonia and alco- 
holic liquors are antagonistic to it. It is specifically indicated where we have 
hot, burning, dry, itching surfaces; and where there is constant desire, but 
inability to urinate, the urine being dark-red in color. Apis is one of the most 
certain diuretics.in the materia medica, and is of very great value in suppression 
and retention of urine, from atony. It may be used even when there is active 
inflammation: R Specific apis, gtt. v ; aqua, fl^iv. Mix. Teaspoonful every 
hour; or use an infusion of from 15 to 20 bees in water, 1 pint, for the usual 
urinary difficulties indicated above. It is a very useful remedy for urethral and 
cystic irritation, with burning, stinging pain, and constant and annoying tenesmus. 
Chronic nephritis and cystitis are sometimes cured by it. It serves a good purpose 
in diseases of women characterized by heat and a sensation of burning, with 
pain in the bladder and urethra, and constant desire to pass water. These condi- 
tions are relieved by it quicker than by any other agent. In menorrhagia, amen- 
orrhoea, and leucorrhcea, with acute congestion of the ovaries, or in simple ovarian 
congestion, the parts being tender and painful, apis often gives prompt relief. 
Genital puffiness with irritation, and labial inflammation of the same character, are 225 
APOCYNUM. 
cured by it. R Specific apis, gtt. x; aqua, flsiv. Mix. Teaspoonful every 
4 hours. Owing to its power of relieving renal irritation and engorgement, thereby 
increasing function, apis is an exceedingly useful agent in anasarca, ascites, and 
hydrothorax, provided the kidneys are in an active condition. For these troubles: 
R Specific apis, gtt. v; aqua, fl^iv. Mix. Teaspoonful every hour. It is par- 
ticularly useful in post-scarlatinal dropsy. Inflammatory sore mouth is benefited 
and often cured by apis. Sore throats, of an oedematous character, having a uni- 
formly spread puffiness, as if the submucous tissues were involved-the parts 
appearing as if stung by a bee-are relieved by apis. These conditions are fre- 
quently met with as a complication of erysipelas and in the angina of scarlatina. 
It is often a prompt remedy for vesicular erysipelas, and for all subcutaneous inflam- 
mations, with burning, stinging, tensive, and lancinating pains, and dermal irri- 
tation. We have no better agent for the treatment of urticaria, or 11 hives," with 
soreness and intense itching, than apis. Puffiness is a strong indication in cuta- 
neous diseases, and in traumatic injuries of the subcutaneous areolar tissues, it is 
often indicated by this symptom. It is a good remedy in rubeola and scarlatina, 
the usual indications being present. That form of rheumatism having the pecu- 
liar symptoms otherwise indicating apis, will be found to respond oftentimes to 
this remedy. We have known of well authenticated cases, where individuals 
suffering from rheumatism have been cured of that complaint after having been 
severely stung by the hive-bee. We do not recommend this form of hypoder- 
matic injection, but prescribe for rheumatic conditions with blanched puffiness, 
and the peculiar stinging pain, as follows: R Specific apis, gtt. v ; aqua, flsiv. 
Mix. Teaspoonful every 2 or 3 hours. Dose: Tincture of apis, j to 5 drops; 
specific apis, 7^ to 2 drops. The larger doses in dropsies; the smaller, in cuta- 
neous disorders, and in vesical irritation ; infusion (12 to 20 bees, aqua, Oj), table- 
spoonful doses frequently. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Itching, with burning of the surface, 
especially of the gentalia or urinary passages (Scudder) ; hot, dry, burning, itch- 
ing or stinging surface; puffiness of mucous tissues, with burning, stinging, or 
irritation, the parts appearing as if stung; hives; vesical and urethral irritation, 
with constant desire, but inability, to urinate,the urine being deep-red; puffiness 
of parts with tendency to oedema. 
APOCYNUM U. S. P.)-APOCYNUM. 
The root of Apocynum cannabinum, Linne, (Apocynum hypericifolium, Aiton), 
gathered in autumn after the leaves and fruit have matured. 
Nat. Ord.-Apocynaceae. 
Common Names: Canadian hemp, Bitterroot, Indian hemp. 
Illustration : (See King's American Dispensatory, 8th ed., p. 114). 
Botanical Source and History.-This is an erect, branching plant, from 2 
to 4 feet high, which is found growing throughout the United States, on the 
borders of fields and in similar localities. The stem is covered with a strong 
fibrous bark, which is green when the plant grows in the shade; and of a reddish- 
brown color when in sunny localities, in which situations the plant is usually 
found. The fibrous bark was used by the Indians, and on this account, the name 
Indian hemp has been applied to this plant; but it is a bad term, as it has led 
to much confusion, from the fact that this is the common name for several other 
plants. The plant should never be designated by this name. The entire plant 
exudes a milky juice when wounded. The leaves are opposite, and attached to 
the stem at an acute angle. They exhibit considerable diversity of shape in 
plants that grow in different localities, and form several well-marked varieties; 
presenting, in the different varieties, modifications in outline from oblong to oval, 
with the bases of the leaves acute or subcordate. The most common form has 
oblong-lanceolate, veiny, entire leaves, on leaf-stalks, about | of an inch long, and 
end in a short, mucronate point. The flowers are small, numerous, and in close, 
peduncled, flat cymes, which are shorter than the lateral branches. The calyx is 
small, with 5 narrow, sharp lobes; the corolla is 5-parted, with erect lobes, white 
or pale-red color, and but a little longer than the calyx. The stamens are 5, 226 
APOCYNUM. 
small, distinct, and included. The pistil has 2 ovaries covered by 2 united, sessile, 
fleshy stigmas. The fruit, which is produced by only a few of the flowers, con- 
sists of a pair of slender, diverging pods, containing numerous small seed, which 
are furnished with a bunch of silky, white hair 
at the apex (see Fig. 27). This plant, also errone- 
ously called Bowman's root in Kentucky and some 
other sections of country, is indigenous, inhabit- 
ing the same locations and blossoming in the 
same months as the A. androsaemifolium. It is 
replete with a lactescent juice, which becomes 
hard, like opium, under exposure to the air. 
The bark of the stem, when dry, from its fibrous, 
cohesive nature, is a superior article in the manu- 
facture of rope, giving a white, strong, and dur- 
able production. A permanent brown or black 
dye, according to the mordant used, is obtained 
from a decoction of the plant. 
The root of the plant is gathered by diggers 
and thrown upon the market under the names, 
bitter root, or Indian hemp. It is not to them known 
as the true Apocynum cannabinum, few of the dig- 
gers being aware that two species exist. Some 
writers have supposed that the roots of A. canna- 
binum and A. androsaemifolium are not to be dis- 
tinguished from each other. Doubtless, such 
assertions have been made after having compared 
the roots sold upon the market under the fore- 
going names, in which case they are usually 
identical, being in almost every instance, obtained 
from the Apocynum cannabinum. There is, however, a marked difference both in 
the external appearance and the internal constitution of these two roots, and 
those who have compared authentic specimens can distinguish the two at a glance. 
Description.-The root of A. cannabinum, gathered in the autumn and dried, 
is about | of an inch in diameter, wrinkled longitudinally, and marked by occa- 
sional transverse fractures through the bark, which show the white central por- 
tion. It consists of a bark, externally ash-gray in color, beneath which is a thin, 
brown, corky layer, and within this, the inner bark, which is of a pale-pink 
color. The remainder of the root is composed of white medullary matter, per- 
forated by numerous longitudinal tubes, disposed more thickly in concentric 
circles about the fortieth of an inch apart, or forming a single circle. Radiating 
from the center are delicate medullary rays. When gathered in the spring, or in 
early summer, the center is pierced by a light pith, or a small cavity. The root, 
when dry, is brittle, and snaps readily, giving a clear, smooth fracture. As found 
in market, there are few, if any, fibers attached although, when fresh, the root is 
plentifully supplied with secondary roots; but as they are very brittle when dry, 
they do not long remain attached. We call attention to the exact engraving pre- 
sented of the dry root, and also to a section of the root magnified (Fig. 27), and 
suggest that a comparison be made between these and those of A. androsaemifolium 
(Fig. 28). The woody portion of the root is slightly bitter; the bark is 
extremely bitter and disagreeable. It is described in the Pharmacopoeia as 
follows: "Long, cylindrical, somewhat branched, 5 to 10 Mm. Q to f inch) 
thick, gray or brownish-gray, longitudinally wrinkled and transversely fissured ; 
brittle; fracture short, white; the bark rather thick; the wood porous, spongy, 
with delicate medullary rays; inodorous; taste bitter, disagreeable"-(U. S. P.f 
Water readily takes up the active properties of the root, which are also partially 
soluble in alcohol; its virtues are impaired by age. 
Chemical Composition.-Dr. Griscom, who analyzed the root in 1832, found 
it to contain tannic and gallic acids, gum, resin, wax, fecula, apocynin, coloring 
matter, woody fiber, and, probably, caoutchouc. From the precipitate of the 
fluid extract, a white, waxy body without taste, and cane-sugar crystals were 
obtained by Prof. J. U. Lloyd in 1879. Two bodies having properties resembling 
Fig. 27. 
Apocynum cannabium. 227 
APOCYNUM. 
those of digitalin were obtained, in 1883, by Schmiedeberg; one, apocynin, an 
amorphous principle, resinous, nearly insoluble in water, but readily dissolved 
by ether and alcohol; the other, apocynein, a glucoside of a yellow color, dissolv- 
ing freely in alcohol, but insoluble in ether, chloroform, and benzin. Boiling 
the former with chlorhydric acid renders it inert. Bromine and sulphuric acid 
give no test reaction with either of these bodies. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Dr. Griscom states that this agent 
has four different and distinct operations upon the system, which it almost invar- 
iably produces, viz.: (1st) nausea or vomiting; (2d) this is followed by increased 
alvine discharges, which are succeeded (3d) by copious perspiration, and in many 
instances (4th) by diuresis. In full doses it occasions considerable sickness at the 
stomach, lessens the pulse, and produces an inclination to sleep, probably from 
some somniferous principle in it-copious vomiting soon ensues, and the other 
effects as above stated. Snuffed into the nostrils, the powder will excite sneezing. 
In diaphoretic doses it has proved beneficial in intermittent and remittent fevers, 
and pneumonic affections. A strong decoction in doses of a teaspoonful every 1, 
2, or 4 hours, is exceedingly valuable in irritable and congested uterus, accompanied 
with nausea, vomiting, tympanitic abdomen, headache, and powerful pulsations 
of the abdominal aorta. In some cases it may be advantageously combined 
with asclepias. As a hydragogue cathartic, and also as a diuretic in those 
instances where this effect is displayed, it has been found most useful in 
dropsy. Indeed it has proved very efficient in dropsy and its accompanying 
symptoms, when associated with general debility or a strong tendency to struma, 
albuminuria being absent, removing the effusion without necessarily inducing 
watery stools. It is, however, seldom employed in dropsical complaints for its 
purgative action, but rather in the small dose for its action in removing cedema- 
tous infiltration, probably acting upon the heart by strengthening that organ, 
and thereby affecting the kidneys, secondarily inducing diuresis. Used for this 
purpose, it is the most certain diuretic in the materia medica. Certain condi- 
tions, however, govern its use. If dropsy be dependent upon structural lesions, 
as organic disease of the heart, liver, or kidneys, apocynum will not relieve the 
trouble, though it becomes a useful addition to digitalis, strophanthus, cactus, 
and other remedies used to mitigate the urgent symptoms. Neither would it act 
well where the pulse is quick and hard, evidencing circulatory obstruction, and 
in febrile disorders. The cases calling for apocynum are those of debility or 
weakness, that atonic state which readily permits exudation from the blood- 
vessels. Under such circumstances it is positive whether it be simple oedema or 
anasarca, ascites, or dropsy of any of the serous cavities. The indication is 
watery fullness of tissues, as if infiltrated. It may be puffiness of the eyelids, feet, 
or other parts; the parts pit upon pressure ; and there may be a blanched,glisten- 
ing appearance of the skin. Chronic cases, as a rule, are those in which it acts 
best, though it is of great value in acute hydrocephalus, as well as the chronic 
form, the fontanelles protruding, the sutures spreading, the eyes prominent, and 
the lids puffy. The dropsies following ague and scarlatina are particularly cases 
for its employment. In gynaecological practice it is of value in amenorrhoea, 
passive menorrhagia and leucorrhcea with watery discharges, the uterus being in 
all these disorders full and relaxed. Usually there is oedema of some other part. 
In menorrhagia the profuse flow lasts too long and too frequently recurs. It is a 
good remedy for the depression attending old cases of scrofula and syphilis, and 
in atonic dyspepsia fulfils an important use in removing constipation and fluid 
accumulations when present. Rheumatism yields to it when oedema of a part of 
or whole of the body is present, or even where there is slight puffiness or glisten- 
ing of the parts. Frequently it must be given with other antirheumatics. 
Apocynum is a decided heart tonic. The conditions above-named, and a 
dilated condition of the cardiac ventricles, point to its use. It is not the 
remedy where the circulation is excited, with hard, quick pulse. Dr. E. R. Free- 
man reports an inveterate case of angina pectoris benefited by it. CEdema was 
a feature of the case. Dr. Waterhouse (Ec. Med. Gleaner, 1891) relieved the prw- 
cordial oppression of a smoker with it. Dr. J. C. Kilgour (Er. Med. Jour., 1886) 
declares it a decided antineuralgic, relieving sciatic, crural, and lumbar neural- 
gias. Prof. G. C. Gere (Cal. Med. Jour.) asserts that it is the most valuable of 228 
APOCYNUM ANDROS .EMIFOLIUM. 
deobstruents to relieve renal congestion in the second stage of tubular nephritis 
(Dynam. Therapf. Too much, however, must not be expected of it where there 
are structural changes of the vital organs. Acute inflammation of the upper 
laryngeal and. post-nasal region is specifically met by this drug, according to Prof. 
Webster being nearly as positive as phytolacca, and preferable when the irritation 
does not extend beyond those parts, and is readily brought on by slight exposure 
(Dynam. Therapf. Goss found it to remove ascarides from the rectum when 
given in cathartic doses. As an emetic, from 12 to 30 grains of the powdered 
root-bark may be given; as a hydragogue or diuretic, the decoction is th^ best 
form in which to employ it-1 ounce of the root may be boiled in a pint of 
water, of which half a wineglassful, or even less, may be given 3 or 4 times a day. 
Smaller quantities of the decoction, given warm, will cause diaphoresis; as a 
purgative, the aqueous extract may be given in doses of from 3 to 6 grains. For 
its specific uses the decoction in small doses (a teaspoonful every 1 or 2 hours) or 
the specific medicine is preferred. R Specific apocynum, gtt. x to sj; aqua, flsiv. 
Mix. Sig. A teaspoonful every 1 to 3 hours. The decoction is most effectual. 
Apocynin is reputed a powerful heart tonic, similar in action to strophanthus 
and digitalis. 
Specific Indications and Uses.- Watery fullness of cellular tissues-oedema; 
puffiness of eyelids, and wrinkled lids as if the parts had recently been swollen; 
feet full and oedematous, pitting upon pressure; constipation, with oedema; 
scanty urine; skin glistening; circulation sluggish; passive hemorrhages, small 
in amount, with great depression, and oedema of the feet; hemoptysis; menor- 
rhagia, profuse, too often and too long continued ; full, relaxed uterus, with watery 
discharges. 
APOCYNUM ANDROS^EMIFOLIUM.-DOG'S BANE. 
The root of Apocynum androsaemifolium, Linne, gathered in autumn after the 
leaves and fruit have matured. 
Nat. Ord.-Apocynaceae. 
Common Names: Dog's bane, Indian hemp, Bitter root. 
Illustrations.-Bot. Mag., 280; Rigel's Med., 36; Amer. Disp., 8th ed., Pl. 3. 
Botanical Source, History, and Description.-Apocynum androsaemifolium 
has a close resemblance to A. cannabinum, but is found in more northern latitudes, 
being the more common species in Canada and 
in the Northeastern States. The leaves are oval, 
roundish, about three-fourths as wide as they 
are long, and end in short, mucronate points. 
They are smooth, of lighter color on the under 
surface, and are attached to the stem at nearly a 
right angle, on leaf-stalks about f of an inch in 
length. The flowers are larger than in Apocy- 
num cannabinum, and are disposed in loose, termi- 
nal panicled cymes, extending beyond the 
leaves. The corolla is flesh-colored, with spread- 
ing lobes, and more than twice the length of 
the calyx. Our illustration was drawn from a 
plant furnished by Mr. F. H. Hosford. The 
root of this plant is rarely found in market. It 
bears a general resemblance to that of Apocynum 
cannabinum, although its distinguishing charac- 
teristics are well marked, and sufficiently dis- 
tinct to forbid confusion, and to prevent substi- 
tutions from being practiced upon those who 
have compared the two roots. Apocynum andro- 
saemifolium has a long running root. When dry, 
it is contorted, frequently having the woody 
remains of its stalks attached. It is shriveled 
longitudinally, and often marked by transverse 
fractures, that extend through the bark and 
Fig. 28. 
Apocynum androeremifolium. APOMORPHINE HYDROCHLORAS. 
229 
show the white woody center. Occasionally the bark scales off'. The root breaks 
with difficulty, its central part being woody. Externally, the bark is dark-brown, 
white upon its inner surface, and readily separates from the central or ligneous 
part of the root; it is very bitter. The central part of the root is smooth and 
firm, bends before breaking, and usually requires considerable twisting before the 
woody fibers give way. Attached to the root are rootlets, not very plentiful, 
which bear a general resemblance to the main root, their central portion being 
woody and covered by a brown epidermis. The confusion that has existed 
regarding the roots of Apocynum androsaemifolium and Apocynum cannabinum results 
from the general resemblance of the plants, and from the fact that the names 
bitter root and Indian hemp have been applied indiscriminately to both species by 
herb gatherers and country people. A. cannabinum is quite plentiful in localities 
from which our (Cincinnati) market is supplied, while the A. androsaemifolium is 
scarce. This plant, likewise called Dog's bane, Milkweed, etc., is found growing in 
dry, sandy soils, and in the borders of woods from Maine to Florida, flowering 
from May to August; when any part of it is wounded, a milky juice exudes. 
The large, milky root is the medicinal portion, or rather its bark, which forms the 
greater part of it; it possesses an unpleasant, amarous taste. It yields its prop- 
erties to alcohol, but especially to water. Age impairs its virtues. 
Chemical Composition.-Zollickoffer states that it contains resin, caoutchouc, 
and mucus. Bigelow supposed it to contain volatile oil, soluble red coloring 
matter, extractive, and a body resembling caoutchouc. The bitter principle has 
been isolated as a semi-solid mass, and is thought to contain apocynin, and the 
glucoside, apocynein (see Apocynum). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Emetic, diaphoretic, tonic, and laxa- 
tive. When given with capsicum or opium its emetic action is checked, and 
with the latter drug diaphoresis is produced. It has been found very valuable in 
the treatment of chronic hepatic affections, and in conjuction with menispermum 
in dyspepsia and amenorrhoea. When it is required to promptly empty the 
stomach, without causing much nausea, or a relaxed condition of the muscular 
system, the powdered root may be given in doses of 40 to 60 grains. However, it 
is said to occasion a subsequent weakness or languor, from which the patient is 
some time in recovering. As a laxative, it is useful in cases of constipation, and 
in hepatic derangements. As a tonic, 10 or 20 grains may be given to stimulate 
the digestive apparatus, and thus effect a corresponding impression on the gen- 
eral system. As a diaphoretic it must be combined with opium, in the propor- 
tion of 1 grain of the latter to 40 of the former, and divided into three or four 
doses ; however, as a diaphoretic it is inferior. Also reputed useful as an altera- 
tive in rheumatism, scrofula, and syphilis, having been much used in the first 
and last complaint by the American Indians. Its chief use, however, is in dys- 
pepsia with constipation, and in headache with torpor of the bowels, as well as in 
nervous headache and headache due to sluggish venous capillary circulation of the 
brain. It is somewhat singular that it does not meet dropsical conditions like 
its relative, Apocynum cannabinum. Dose: Infusion (§j to water Oj), 1 fluid 
drachm to 1 fluid ounce; fluid extract, 1 to 20 drops: tincture. 1 to 30 drops 
every 3 hours. 
APOMORPHIN-® HYDROCHLORAS (U. S. P.)-APOMORPHINE 
HYDROCHLORATE. 
Formula: C]7H17NO2HC1. Molecular Weight: 302.79. 
" The hydrochlorate of an artificial alkaloid prepared from morphine or 
codeine. It should be kept in small, dark amber-colored vials "-(U. S. P). 
Synonym : Hydrochlorate of apomorphine. 
Preparation.-The salt is produced by the abstraction of a molecule of 
water from the morphine employed-a process of dehydration. For this purpose 
place into a strong glass tube pure morphine (1 part) and hydrochloric acid (20 
parts). The tube should be large enough so that the mixture fills but about one- 
fifteenth of its capacity, and the open end securely sealed. Enclose this tube in 
one of metal and heat for 3 hours at a temperature between 140° and 150° C. 
{284° and 302° F.), preferably in an oil-bath. After cooling, water is added to 230 
APOMORPH INAL IIYI )ROCIILORAS. 
the contents of the tube, and an excess of bicarbonate of sodium added. The 
precipitate is exhausted with chloroform or ether and the supernatant liquid 
poured oft' from the precipitate, which may be agitated with chloroform or ether 
to recover an additional amount of the salt. Hydrochloric acid, in very small 
amounts, is now cautiously added to the solution when crystals of apomorphine 
hydrochlorate are formed. Apomorphine should be rendered pure by recrystal- 
lizing it from boiling water, and afterward drying rapidly under a glass bell-jar 
over concentrated sulphuric acid, or upon layers of bibulous paper. Apomor- 
phine may also be prepared by acting upon codeine with hydrochloric acid. This 
compound was first produced by Matthiessen and Wright in 1869. 
Description and Tests.-The U. S. P. describes this salt as " minute, gray- 
ish-white, shining, acicular crystals, without odor, having a faintly bitter taste, 
and acquiring a greenish tint upon exposure to light and air. Soluble at 15° C. 
(59° F.), in about 45 parts of water, and about 45 parts of alcohol; very little 
soluble in ether or chloroform. When heated to near 100° C. (212° F.), the salt is 
decomposed, rapidly if in solution, slowly when dry. At 270° C. (518° F.) it fuses 
to a black mass, and, when ignited, it is consumed without leaving a residue. The 
salt is neutral to litmus paper. The crystals are colored blood-red to orange by 
nitric acid, transiently violet to light-brown by sulphuric acid, dark-purple to 
orange by a mixture of these acids. On shaking a few cubic centimeters of the 
saturated aqueous solution of the salt with a few small particles of manganese 
dioxide, the liquid acquires a green color, which is turned reddish-brown by add- 
ing some crystals of oxalic acid. If the oxalic acid be added to the solution first, 
and then a few small particles of manganese dioxide, the liquid will, upon agita- 
tion, assume a deep brownish-red color. Silver nitrate T.S. added to the aqueous 
solution of the salt throws down a white precipitate, insoluble in nitric acid, soon 
turning black by reduction to metallic silver, or instantly reduced by addition of 
ammonia water. Addition of sodium bicarbonate solution to the aqueous solu- 
tion throws down the white, amorphous alkaloid, which soon turns green on 
exposure to air, and imparts a violet or blue color to chloroform, in which it is 
very soluble (difference from morphine). If the salt impart, at once, an emerald- 
green color to 100 parts of water on being shaken with it a few times in a test- 
tube, it should be rejected"-(U. S. P.). 
When pure, the alkaloid, apomorphine, is an amorphous, white, or grayish- 
white powder, dissolving with considerable freedom in water, chloroform, ether, 
and benzol. After turning green by exposure to a moist atmosphere, it will 
dissolve with a blue tint in chloroform. With ferric chloride, an amethyst or 
rose-red hue is produced which serves to distinguish it from morphine, which, 
under like treatment, gives a blue coloration. Apomorphine salts are not readily 
soluble in water at ordinary temperatures, but dissolve more readily in acidulated 
solutions and warm water. On account of a change in properties, with the 
development of a green color upon exposure, solutions of apomorphine, or its 
salts, should only be prepared when needed for use. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The action of this drug is exceed- 
ingly depressing, and death may result even from very small doses. The chief 
symptoms are pronounced sedation, giddiness, pallid surface, cold sweat, and 
profound collapse with unconsciousness. Usually, however, copious vomiting 
takes place, and the foregoing symptoms are then relieved. Sometimes, after 
vomiting, dangerous syncope may result. A middle-aged man, suffering from 
bronchitis, died in 7 minutes without vomiting, from grain hypodermatically. 
Deep sleep and disposition to faint sometimes follow when a disturbing dose has 
been administered. Owing to the fact that this agent induces a profuse, watery 
bronchial secretion, it is, unless in minute amounts,contraindicated in respiratory 
affections. However, in catarrhal pneumonia and bronchitis, minute doses to 
-C grain) may improve a dry condition of the membranes when such a state is 
present. Care should be had in its use upon children. Attacks of maniacal 
delirium, chorea, obstinate singultus, tetanus, rigid os uteri, and hystero-epilepsy have 
been cut short with it administered hypodermatically. It is, however, a danger- 
ous remedy. An emetic dose is said to very promptly relieve hysteria. Prof. 
Bloyer employs it in painful conditions of the stomach due to overloading that 
organ. By its prompt emetic effect in unloading the stomach, the painful attack AQUA. 
231 
is cut snort. The chief use, however, for this salt, is as an emetic when prompt- 
ness is required in relieving the stomach of poisons. A or grain dose may 
be hypodermatically injected and vomiting almost immediately follows. This 
course is to be recommended in poisoning by strychnine, carbolic acid, opium, and its 
alkaloids, etc., and in alcoholic intoxication. Care should be exercised in its employ- 
ment in the latter state. It has been used to expel foreign bodies from the oesoph- 
agus. The dose as an expectorant is to 7k grain; as an emetic, by mouth, 
7kto £ grain; hypodermatically, 7k to I grain. The smaller doses, never exceeding 
71 grain, should be given to children. Only fresh preparations should be used. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-To provoke prompt emesis in the early 
stage of alkaloidal and other cases of acute poisoning. 
Related Salt.-Apomorphine Sulphate. This product was obtained by Arppe, in 1845, 
by heating together, at a temperature as high as 150° C. (302° F.), sulphate of morphine in 
water, and sulphuric acid in excess. It forms a practically insoluble white salt, and was named 
by its discoverer, sulphomorphid, and given the formula CitHisNSO*. Matthiessen and Wright, 
who first prepared hydrochlorate of apomorphine, proved it to be apomorphine sulphate. 
AQUA (U. S. P.)-water. 
Formula: H2O. Molecular Weight: 17.96. 
Synonym : Hydrogen monoxide. 
" Natural water in its purest attainable state "-(77. & P.). 
Source, Description, and History.-" A colorless, limpid liquid, without 
odor or taste at ordinary temperatures, and remaining odorless while being heated 
to boiling"-(U. S. Pd). Water is one of our most extensive pharmaceutical 
agents. The purest water obtainable is distilled water (see Aqua Destillataf which, 
when properly prepared in clean glass vessels, is colorless, transparent, scarcely 
compressible, tasteless, and odorless, with the assumed specific gravity 1, being 
the standard to which the specific gravities of liquids and solids are referred. 
It is the only admissible water for pharmacal and chemical tests, as the presence 
of organic or saline substances in it, may decompose the articles to be dissolved, 
or impair its solvent power. Ata temperature of 0° C (32° F.), or lower, it is con- 
verted into ice; boils at 100° C. (212° F.), and is con verted into steam. Its crystal- 
lization into ice is accompanied with expansion, and the specific gravity of ice is 
0.916; the volume of steam is about 1700 times more than that of water, and its 
specific gravity is 0.622. Water is perfectly neutral, exhibiting neither acid nor 
basic properties, though capable of combining with acid or basic anhydrides, 
thus developing acids and bases formerly and still incorrectly called hydrates. 
It likewise readily combines with many gaseous bodies, giving to them a fluid form. 
As a general rule, its solvent powers are increased by heat, especially in regard to 
solid bodies. It should always be kept in well-closed, green glass vessels. Pure 
water is formed by the combination of 2 volumes of hydrogen with 1 volume of 
oxygen, thus : H2-|-O-H2O or hydrogen monoxide. Water is never found naturally 
pure, differing in many respects according to its locality. It is generally dis- 
tinguished as Soft water, Hard water, and Mineral or Medicinal water. For most 
ordinary purposes soft waters are preferred to the hard, and may be distinguished 
by the readiness with which they dissolve soap, notwithstanding they may con- 
tain considerable foreign matters. Hard waters, on the contrary, holding in solu- 
tion salts of calcium or other earths, dissolve soap, but subsequently form 
insoluble compounds with the latter; these waters are unfit for internal use or 
household or pharmacal purposes. In this respect water is spoken of as hav- 
ing temporary and permanent hardness. The former takes into account the total 
amount of calcium and magnesium salts, including those that are precipitated 
by merely boiling the water (see Testsf Permanent hardness refers to those 
salts alone that remain in solution after boiling the water. The principle 
involved in the determination of the hardness of a water (by Clarke's process), 
is simply that the calcium and magnesium salts are precipitated from the water 
by means of an alcoholic potassium-soap solution, of known strength, previously 
standardized by means of a calcium chloride solution of definite strength. When 
all alkaline earths are thus precipitated from the water, a slight excess of the soap 232 
AQUA. 
solutipn, upon shaking the water, will cause a heavy froth which remains per- 
manent for at least 5 minutes. The old English degree of hardness was defined 
as the number of grains of calcium carbonate in 1 gallon of water; by more 
modern usage, 1 part of calcium oxide (CaO) (German usage) or calcium car- 
bonate (CaCO3) (French usage), in 100,000 parts of water, is called 1 degree of 
hardness. Water is distinguished by its origin as follows : 
Rain Water (Aqua pluvialis) and Snow Water (Aqua nivalis), when col- 
lected so as to prevent accidental impurities, are the purest waters to be had 
naturally. They are generally impregnated with the soluble matters in the 
atmosphere, which vary in different localities, the most common impurities being 
carbonic acid gas, carbonate of ammonium, chloride of sodium, organic and sus- 
pended mineral substances; during a thunder-storm traces of nitric acid and 
nitrates are said to be likewise present. In collecting rain water, the first that 
falls should be rejected; if from the tops of houses, 2 or 3 hours of continuous 
shower will wash off any objectionable impurities, and the water will run clear 
and transparent; if from an open space at a distance from dwellings, it may be 
permitted to fall an hour or so before attempting to collect it. To obtain it as 
pure as possible, it should be filtered, boiled, and again filtered. No pure water 
should ever be used that comes in contact with new lead-for the lead becomes 
oxidized by the oxygen of the water, which oxide is converted into a carbonate 
by the action of the carbonic acid gas derived from the air, and the water thus 
containing lead may produce the poisonous effects of the metal upon the system. 
Hard water attacks lead less readily than soft water. 
Snow water is said to be richer in oxygen than other water, and is generally 
free from the atmospheric gaseous impurities found in rain water; it quenches 
thirst, while snow, not melted, augments it. The opinion at one time enter- 
tained that the use of snow water disposed to goitre is undoubtedly an erroneous 
one, as the disease not only occurs where snow is never seen, but is unknown in 
many sections of mountainous countries where the water employed is chiefly 
that supplied by the melting of the snow which covers the mountains. Rain 
and snow waters, collected with a degree of care, are applicable to every domestic 
purpose, as well as to many chemical and pharmacal processes. 
Spring Water (Aqua fontana) is that which springs from the earth, free 
from large amounts of carbonic acid, or salts, and not possessing elevated temper- 
atures ; it is the general beverage of mankind, and is applicable to all domestic 
purposes. Its quality varies according to the nature of the soil in its vicinity ; 
those springs arising from trap rocks, sandstones, transition, and primitive rocks, 
are purest; those from alluvial strata, limestone, and coal formations, are the 
least pure. All, however, contain variable traces of the salts of calcium, sodium, 
or magnesium, according to the character of the soil through which they flow. 
Well Water (Aqua puteana) very much resembles spring water in its 
qualities, its purity being somewhat governed by the depth at which it is pro- 
cured, and its daily flow. The Artesian wells usually supply a very pure water. 
Nitrates and organic impurities have been found in the well water of cities, as 
might naturally be expected from the impurities of their soils. 
River Water (Aqua fluvialis), especially when passing through alluvial 
countries, and near great cities, contains suspended in it more or less earthy and 
organic impurities of a vegeto-animal origin, which lessen its clearness, but in a 
short time it becomes purified of these by deposition during its downward course. 
In countries where the rivers pass chiefly over primitive rocks, the waters are 
found to be almost perfectly pure. When moderately pure, it is fit for all ordi- 
nary purposes, though if it contains much organic matters, it is apt to occasion 
dysentery, and other affections of the bowels, and then becomes inadmissible in 
medicine. 
Marsh Water (Aqua ex palude), on account of its stagnation and repletion 
with putrescent matters, is altogether unfit for domestic or therapeutical use. 
This water contains among other impurities animalcules, and microscopic vege- 
tation; although these are met with in running and clear waters in which there 
is considerable vegetable growth. But they are absent in spring and well waters, 
and most of the river waters supplied for domestic purposes. There is no doubt 
but that the drinking of water containing shreds or filaments of cryptogamous A^U A. 
233 
plants,has occasioned sickness and even death. River and lake water (Aqua 
ex lacu) should always be filtered or boiled before using as a beverage. 
Aquje Minerales.-(For Mineral Waters see Aquae Minerales'). 
Impurities in Common Water, and Their Detection.-From 1 to 3 parts 
in 10,000, or even slightly more of solid matter (U. S. P. permits the limit of 5), 
if it be composed principally of sodium chloride and calcium carbonate, is per- 
missible in good, wholesome drinking water. It may also contain carbon dioxide 
in the proportion of 1 volume in 100 volumes of water. The most objectionable 
impurities are ammonia and organic matter, the presence of which indicate contam- 
ination of the water with decaying animal and vegetable tissues. The pharma- 
copoeia! tests for organic matter and limit of ammonia are subsequently mentioned. 
Water contaminated with sewage or other nitrogenous impurities, contains 
ammonia, 0.10 Gm. of which in 1,000,000 renders it unfit for drinking purposes. 
An outline of the quantitative analysis of water, on which subject there are 
several well-known special works extant (e. g., Wanklyn, Frankland, Miller, etc.), 
can not be herein considered. The U S. P. gives the following criteria for the 
purity of water: 
"A colorless, limpid liquid, without odor or taste at ordinary temperatures, 
and remaining odorless while being heated to boiling. Water should be per- 
fectly neutral to litmus paper, and its transparency should not be affected, nor 
should any color be imparted to it, by hydrogen sulphide T.S., or ammonium 
sulphide T.S. (absence of metallic impurities). It should also remain unaffected 
by mercuric chloride T.S. (limit of ammonia). On evaporating 1000 Cc. of 
water on a water-bath, it should not leave a residue weighing more than 0.5 Gm. 
(limit of soluble salts), and this residue, when ignited, should not carbonize, nor 
evolve ammoniacal or acid vapors. If 200 Cc. of water be acidulated with hydro- 
chloric acid and heated to boiling, and 0.5 Cc. of barium chloride T.S. added, the 
liquid, cooled and filtered, should give no further precipitate on the addition of 
a few drops of barium chloride T.S., even on standing (limit of sulphates). If 
200 Cc. of water be acidulated with nitric acid, and 0.5 Cc. of decinormal silver 
nitrate V.S. be added, the filtered liquid should not be affected by the subsequent 
addition of a few drops of silver nitrate T.S. (limit of chlorides). If 5 Cc. of 
water mixed with a few drops of diphenylamine T.S. be carefully poured upon 
about 2 Cc. of sulphuric acid, free from nitrose, contained in a test-tube, so as to 
form a separate layer, no blue color should be formed at the line of contact of 
the two liquids (limit of nitrates). If 100 Cc. of water be acidulated with 
diluted sulphuric acid free from nitrose, and a few drops of zinc-iodide-starch T.S. 
subsequently added, the liquid should not at once assume a blue or violet color 
(absence of nitrites). On heating 100 Cc. of water, acidulated with 10 Cc. of 
diluted sulphuric acid, to boiling, and subsequently adding 0.5 Cc. of decinormal 
potassium permanganate V.S., the color of the liquid should not be completely 
destroyed by boiling it for 10 minutes (limit of organic and other oxidizable 
matters"-(U. S. P.). 
Calcium salts in solution are recognized by being precipitated with ammo- 
nium oxalate T.S. Free carbonic acid gas in the water may be recognized by 
the addition of an excess of lime water, whereby insoluble calcium carbonate 
falls. If lime water is cautiously added in an amount sufficient to combine with 
only half, or less, of the carbonic acid gas present, the remainder of this gas will 
keep the calcium carbonate in solution, forming bicarbonate of calcium. This, 
upon boiling, is decomposed into carbonic acid gas and insoluble calcium carbon- 
ate. On this principle calcium carbonate is dissolved by natural water with the 
aid of carbonic acid gas, and deposited from this solution when its solvent, car- 
bonic acid gas, is expelled by spontaneous evaporation. Organic matter may be 
recognized, beside the test previously indicated, by evaporating to dryness and 
igniting, whereby charring takes place to a greater or less degree Organic matter 
also will reduce gold from a few drops of chloride of gold solution that have been 
added to about 1 or 2 ounces of the water to be examined. The reduction of the 
gold is manifested by a violet or blue coloration of the originally slightly yellow 
liquid. The presence of ammonia in water, beside the test indicated above, is also 
detected by Nessler's reagent (see List of Reagents). For the detection of nitrites 
in water there are several delicate tests. The following test, originally devised 234 
AQUA. 
by Griess, will detect 1 part of N2O3 in a thousand million parts of water. It is 
carried out as follows: Add to the liquid to be tested some pure sulphuric acid, 
then a few drops of a solution of sulphanilic acid (C6H4NH2SO3H) and about 10 
minutes afterward a few drops of naphthylamin sulphate (Ci0H7NH2.H2SO4). If 
a nitrite is present, an intense red coloration is developed after a short while, due 
to the formation of an azo-dye (see Aniline'). 
Action, Medical History, and Uses.-Lack of space permits of but a brief 
resume of the physiological and therapeutical actions of water; for further eluci- 
dation the reader is referred to special works on Hydrotherapy. The treat- 
ment of disease by means of water is by no means modern, as there is ample 
evidence of its employment by Hippocrates, and later by Galen, Avicenna, and 
Celsus. In more modern times its importance in therapy was recognized by Sir 
John Floyer and Dr. Baynard (England) who employed baths in chronic affec- 
tions, and particularly by Dr. James Currie, of Liverpool (1797), who published 
a work upon the uses of cold and warm water in fevers and other diseases. His 
views, given to the world at a time when even a drink of cold water was rigidly 
denied the fever patient, naturally met with violent opposition from a large por- 
tion of the medical fraternity, though his sensible doctrines and practices met 
with considerable favor in some quarters. Though affusions were largely recom- 
mended by him, an important feature of his practice consisted in the adminis- 
tration of cold drinks in fevers. Later, however, a renewed impetus was given 
the water treatment through the discoveries of Vincenz Priessnitz, the peasant- 
farmer of Silesia. Having sprained his wrist, Priessnitz resorted to affusions of 
cold water, followed by the Umschlag (wet bandage). Priessnitz was but 13 years 
of age, but so successful was his treatment that in subsequent injuries to him- 
self he resorted to similar treatment. As in each instance, an eruption was 
produced by the constant wet application, he conceived a theory that it was 
indicative of impure blood, and this subsequently led him to adopt a "humoral " 
pathology, and to declare that all morbific matters (acrid humors) were elimi- 
nated by " crisis " (the eruption). His treatment was extended to the ulcers, 
injuries, etc., of his neighbors, and finally, in 1826, he opened an establishment 
for the treatment of disease by means of water, and his fame became world-wide. 
Though lacking in scientific knowledge, and entertaining many mistaken 
hygienic views, yet his treatment, coupled with improved habits of living and 
eating, and plenty of fresh air and exercise, proved eminently successful. In 
1844 the treatment was introduced into New York City. While undoubtedly 
much credit is due Currie as the originator of hydropathy as now practiced, its 
establishment as a therapeutic measure is due to the persistency and the success 
of the unlettered Priessnitz in pursuing his novel methods of treatment. The 
treatment, as pursued by Priessnitz and his followers, is that commonly known 
as Hydropathy ; as now employed it is known as Hydrotherapy. Owing to the 
unscientific and injudicious methods of the followers of Preissnitz, his methods 
gradually fell into disrepute, and in medical circles but little more was heard of 
it until Brand, of Stettin (1861), gave his scientific reports of the use of cold 
baths in typhoid fever; since which time the treatment of fevers by means of 
baths has been by modifications of Brand's method. 
In recent years much importance has been attached by some physicians to 
the cold bath in fevers, particularly those of a typhoid type. According to its 
advocates, it is contraindicated chiefly by intestinal hemorrhages, which it 
appears to favor, and by peritonitis. Brand's method is to immerse the patient, 
wrapped in a sheet and his head first wetted, into a large bath of water at 15.5° 
to 21.1° C. (60° to 70° F.), whenever the patient's temperature reaches 39° C. 
(102.5° F.). The body is briskly rubbed through the sheet, and stimulation 
resorted to if shock and cyanosis seem to demand it. After remaining in the 
bath for 15 or 20 minutes, the patient is removed from the bath, the wet sheet 
quickly replaced by a dry one, and the patient placed in bed, covered w'ith a 
light blanket. The rectal temperature is taken immediately after immersion 
and again in 45 minutes. When the temperature again reaches 102.5° F. or over, 
the bath is repeated, and so on indefinitely. Ziemssen's method consists in 
employing the bath at about 36.6° C. (98° F.), and cooling the water during the 
immersion, by means of ice, to 26.6° C. (80° E.),15.5° C. (60° F.), or even 4.4° C. 235 
AQUA. 
(40° F.), according to effect upon temperature. After the bath, the patient is 
dried, placed in bed, and covered with blankets. The temperature is taken per 
rectum. Ziemssen, Immerman, and others, administered the baths at regular 
intervals; others have modified Ziemssen's method by employing the bath only 
as the rise of temperature seemed to demand it. Still others, as Osler, have recom- 
mended and practiced baths at 29.4° to 32.2° C. (85° to 90° F.) and cooling to 
21.1° C. (70° F.). The claims made for the cold bath, and particularly by Brand's 
method, are : Reduction of temperature, control of muscular twitchings, brighten- 
ing of the intellect, soothing of the nervous system, the induction of sleep, 
increased heart-power, improvement of the skin, and low mortality. Ziemssen's 
method is said to give less shock, and Osler's method is asserted to be less effective 
in reducing temperature (see also paper by G. S. Harrington, M. D.,in TV. Y. Med. 
Times, Aug., 1897, p. 239). 
The use of the bath as above described, has not found favor in the Eclectic 
school. The medical treatment of fevers, as pursued so successfully by our phy- 
sicians, and with results that have gained fame for the methods of our practice, 
has been such as to beget an unwillingness to abandon successful and pleasant 
methods for a procedure at best uncertain, and extremely uncomfortable and 
annoying to the patient. Briefly, the following resume will indicate some of 
the uses of hot and cold water, both internally and externally. 
As a remedial agent, apart from its natural necessitous use, water internally 
is a tonic, diuretic, or sudorific, according to its mode of administration. Small 
quantities, taken cold, between 7.2° to 15.5° C. (45° to 60° F.), and occasionally 
repeated, act as a tonic; in larger doses it produces diuresis and diaphoresis, the 
latter effect more especially, if the patient be kept warmly covered; and it is 
extensively used for this purpose in many acute diseases. Warm water, of a 
temperature varying from 18.3° to 37.7° C. (65° to 100° F.), and especially when 
taken in large quantities, will usually produce sickness and vomiting, and its 
continued daily use in small quantities will impair the tone of the stomach. 
Cold water, from 1.1° to 7.2° C. (30° to 45° F.) is a grateful drink, more particu- 
larly to fever patients, allaying thirst, moderating the fever, often producing 
sleep and relief from restlessness, and is sufficient, unaided by other means, to 
effect a rapid solution of the disease, in many instances. It should never be with- 
held from patients laboring under febrile or inflammatory complaints, who crave it. 
During the operation of a vegetable emetic, cool water at 15.5° C. (60° F.), is 
more agreeable, and fully as beneficial in assisting emesis, as warm. Cold drinks 
are very useful in chronic constipation, a glass of cold water being drunk before 
breakfast. With some, warm water acts best as a laxative. Owing to its diuretic 
effect, an abundance of water assists in washing out the kidneys in acute desquam- 
ative nephritis. Water, in judicious amounts, maybe administered in acute gastric 
inflammations. Ice held in the mouth frequently aids in subduing tonsillitis. 
The ingestion of warm water is frequently useful in gastralgia, dyspepsia, chronic 
diarrhoea, gout, rheumatism, and in many chronic skin affections. 
The effects of water employed externally, depend upon its temperature. 
The cold bath acts according to its degree of cold, the manner in which it is used, 
and the peculiar state of the body at the time. When below 10° C. (50° F.), the 
bath is considered very cold. The primary effects of a cold bath constitute the 
shock-its secondary effects, the glow, or reaction. The immediate effects of a 
cold bath are a sensation of cold, which gradually ceases, and is succeeded by 
numbness, the skin becomes pale, and covered with cutis anserina, there is shiver- 
ing, with quick and irregular respiration, and a contraction of the cutaneous 
vessels, as well as of the volume of the body. If the immersion be continued, 
the pulse becomes slow and small, drowsiness and cramps come on, the heat of 
the body diminishes rapidly, and finally syncope and death occur. A cold bath is 
usually taken for its stimulating and tonic influence, and hence, should not be 
below 10° C. (50° F.), nor above 23.8° C. (75° F.), and the immersion should be 
temporary. Reaction speedily follows, capillary circulation is re-established, a 
glow is felt, perspiration comes on, the pulse becomes full and frequent, and the 
whole system feels invigorated. Delicate or weakly persons should not take a 
cold bath. It is a common opinion that immersion in cold water is dangerous 
when the body is heated by exercise or other exertion; and hence it is customary 236 
AQUA. 
with bathers to wait until they become cool. The first is an erroneous opinion; 
the second an injurious act. Cold water abstracts heat from the body, first 
becoming sedative, and then, if immersion be not too prolonged, it acts second- 
arily as a stimulant. Under the cold bath, properly employed, the body gains in 
weight. 
Warm water, according to its temperature, affects the system in varying 
degrees, but the quality of the action is similar, no matter whether the bath be 
warm or hot. A sense of warmth is first experienced, followed by increased vas- 
cular activity of the skin, the latter becoming red. Respiration is quickened, 
and the heart action increased, though the vessels lose tension. The body takes 
on heat, the radiation of which is prevented, and the temperature amounting in 
some persons, if the bath be hot, almost to a fever. The renal secretions are 
diminished, while those of the skin and lungs are augmented, through which the 
body loses weight. Unpleasant prsecordial oppression, and a feeling of fullness 
in the head, with a sense of distension, dizziness, and faintness, are among its 
effects. If too prolonged, or too high in temperature, the hot bath may produce 
bleeding at the nose and lungs, cerebral congestion, or apoplexy. They are contra- 
indicated where the cerebral vessels are known to be diseased. The hot bath is 
somewhat similar in its effects to the vapor, but is apt to prove dangerous in 
some constitutions. Dr. J. Chapman states that heat along the spine lessens the 
general circulation, overcomes congestion in all parts of the body, lessens fever, 
checks hemorrhage, and diminishes or suspends the menses. 
Externally, water is frequently applied as a sedative in local inflammations, 
as quinsies, sore throats, ophthalmia, sprains and contusions, and as a means of 
restraining hemorrhage. Cloths wet with cold water and applied to the abdomen, 
have relieved severe pain in the bowels, retention of urine, etc. The cold dash or 
douche, has been successfully employed in delirium tremens, apoplexy, tetanus, hys- 
teria, convulsions, obstinate constipation, congestive, bilious, and typhoid fevers. The 
wet sheet is much used to allay febrile and inflammatory conditions, and to promote 
diaphoresis. As an injection, it has been efficient in habitual constipation, and 
excessive tympanitic distension, as well as in dysentery. Applied warm it is an 
excellent application to erysipelatous inflammations. Ice and iced water, as local 
applications, are said to be very useful in burns and scalds; also in many cerebral 
affections. Prof. C. E. Brown-Sequard considered the application of cold to the 
spinal column to produce a contraction of blood-vessels by a reflex action, but if 
this action be very powerful, it will be followed by exhaustion and dilatation of 
the blood-vessels, and an actual increase of the amount of blood circulated in 
the cord. Dr. J. Chapman considered that ice applied upon the spinal column 
augments the general circulation, checks the cramp of voluntary and involuntary 
muscles, restrains the sickness of pregnancy, cures sea-sickness, and promotes men- 
struation. He stated to have used it successfully in epilepsy and other convulsive 
affections, in paralysis, tetanus, and in cerebrospinal fever. His views have been 
published and are worthy of consideration. Locally, both cold and warm water 
are very useful in surgical procedures, particularly in sprains, bruises, contusions, 
etc., and the local warm bath is particularly valued in lacerated wounds and con- 
tusions. The application of cold water, snow or ice to frost-bites is well known. 
The following are the temperatures at which baths are usually applied: 
Water, cold 10° to 23.8° C. ( 50° to 75° F.). 
" temperate 23.8 to 29.4 C. ( 75 to 85 F.). 
" tepid 29.4 to 33.3 C. ( 85 to 92 F.). 
" warm 33.3 to 36.6 C. ( 92 to 98 F.). 
" hot 36.6 to 44.4 C. ( 98 to 112 F.). 
Vapor if breathed, tepid 32.2 to 37.7 C. ( 90 to 100 F.). 
" " warm 37.7 to 43.3 C. (100 to 110 F.). 
" " hot 43.3 to 54.4 C. (110 to 130 F.). 
" if not breathed, tepid 35.5 to 41.1 C. ( 96 to 106 F.). 
" " warm 41.1 to 48.8 C. (106 to 120 F.). 
" " hot 48.8 to 71.1 C. (120 to 160 F.). 
Hot air, as a sudorific 29.4 to 37.7 C. ( 85 to 100 F.). 
" " as a stimulant 37.7 to 54.4 C. (100 to 130 F.). 
The Vapor-bath increases the action of the capillary vessels, causing exces- 
sive diaphoresis; it renders the skin pliable, relieves tension and rigidity of the AQUA. 
237 
joints, and may be usefully employed in rheumatism, cutaneous affections, gout, pro- 
fuse sweating from cutaneous debility, tardy or imperfect eruptions of the exan- 
themata, paralysis, dropsy, etc. It is of particular value in nephritis, and, directed 
into the mouth, in membranous croup. The Russian bath is a form of vapor bath 
in which the patient is subjected to the vapor of water at 3-5° to 43.3° C. (95° 
to 110° F.). It should not be borne longer than a quarter of an hour, and the 
bath should be followed by a cold bath or the dashing of cold water over the 
body, associated with friction. 
The vapor bath may be conveniently given, and in a very simple manner, 
by placing the patient between blankets, on a bed previously protected by a 
rubber sheet, and tucking the covering well around the head and shoulders, and 
down at the sides of the bed. Then, by means of rubber tubing, conduct the 
steam from a partially filled tea-kettle of boiling water, kept hot by placing 
the kettle upon an oil or other heating apparatus, into the space between the 
blankets. Care should be had that the jet of steam does not come in direct con- 
tact with the flesh. If the patient is able to sit up, a low stool may be utilized, 
and the patient covered with a blanket under which the jet of steam may 
be directed. Fresh lime is sometimes resorted to to raise a vapor, and is par- 
ticularly of value in diphtheria and croup. The spirit vapor bath is referred to 
elsewhere. 
The Tepid-bath (29.4° to 33.3° C. [85° to 92° F.]) is useful in softening and 
removing the broken-down epithelium, as well as the sebaceous and sudoriferous 
secretions. It does not appreciably reduce temperature, and no reaction follows. 
The Warm-bath (33.3° to 36.6° C. [92° to 98° F.]) relaxes the system, lessens 
the activity of the circulatory and respiratory organs, ultimately somewhat 
diminishes the temperature of the body, and tends to tranquilize and occasion 
somnolency. It is useful in spasms and convulsions of children, retention of urine, 
nephritic pains, etc., and occasionally through its secondary effects in high inflam- 
matory and febrile diseases, it will frequently prove advantageous. It should not 
be used in cerebral and pulmonary affections. 
The Tepid or Warm Sponge-bath is exceedingly useful in many febrile con- 
ditions, for when employed in this manner, the skin is well relaxed, and the radi- 
ation of heat is not prevented as by immersion. There can be no doubt but 
that sponging the head constantly with warm water, drawing the sponge back and 
forth, and at the same time fanning the parts, is far more effective and safe in 
cases of insolation, cerebrospinal inflammations, etc., than is the local application of 
cold water or ice, which probably does little more than chill the surface. 
The Cold Sponge-bath (12.7° to 26.6° C. [55° to 80° F.]) is frequently em- 
ployed by some to reduce temperature and allay nervous excitement; the anterior 
surface of the body being first sponged, and then the dorsum. Dr. G. S. Har- 
rington (iV. F. Med. Times, 1897) advises the addition of 20 to 35 per cent of alcohol 
to increase the antipyretic value of the bath. The patient is then to be covered 
with a light sheet ana blanket. 
Cold water may also be used by affusion, shower-bath, or douche, and will be 
found tonic, stimulant, or sedative, according to its temperature, the length of 
time it is used, and the state of the body. 
In addition to the above uses of water, it has likewise other employments, 
as follows: 
The Wet-sheet Packing, or Lein Tuch of the Germans. A mattress of cot- 
ton, hair, or straw, has spread over it three or four large, thick comfortables, and 
over these one or two soft flannels. A linen sheet, having been previously dipped 
in cold water, or for very delicate persons in tepid or even warm water, is lightly 
wrung out, so as not to drip, and spread over the whole, having under it one or 
two pillows for the head. The patient is made to lie upon these on his back, 
and is quickly and snugly enveloped in the wet sheet, over which is placed the 
flannels and blankets, or a light feather bed may be thrown over the top, in case 
comfortables are not plenty. Care should always be taken to turn the clothing 
snugly and smoothly around the feet and neck; and if the feet remain cold, 
bottles of hot water should be placed to them. Headache is prevented or removed 
by the application of cold wet cloths applied to the head. 
The time for remaining thus "packed" varies in different cases, averaging 238 
AQUA. 
from half an hour to an hour, depending on the effect; the body should become 
comfortably warm before being removed. A disagreeable sensation of cold is 
first experienced, which is soon followed by a pleasurable warmth over the whole 
surface, and sometimes copious perspiration, though this last is not always indi- 
cated. On coming out of the " pack,'' the plunge, the douche, rubbing wet sheet, 
or towel washing, are to be employed, as the case may require. If the patient 
experiences a chill after coming out, a thorough rubbing, followed by 15 or 20 
minutes' dry packing, will usually obviate all injurious consequences. The pro- 
cess of packing should never be continued so long as to cause headache, languor, 
muscular debility or giddiness. 
This is said to act as a sedative, reducing the heat of the body, and excessive 
arterial action, and as an alterative, correcting morbid secretions, and restoring 
healthy ones. In fevers and all acute inflammatory disorders, it may frequently be 
renewed according to the degree of fever or inflammation, until the temperature 
and circulation are reduced to the natural standard, and the skin becomes soft 
and perspirable. Much sweating is not usually to be desired. In chronic diseases, 
it removes internal congestions, develops external circulation, produces a healthy 
condition of the skin, and may be used in many forms of this class of maladies. 
If carelessly attended to the wet sheet may give rise to serious difficulties. 
When the wet sheet is applied to the trunk of the body only, as in cases, of 
feeble persons, where there is not sufficient vitality for the whole sheet, or for 
other purposes, it is termed the "Half-pack" Sheet. 
The Rubbing Wet-sheet is a large sheet dipped in water, and wrung out so 
as not to drip. It is then suddenly thrown around the patient's body, envelop- 
ing him closely from the neck to the feet, and the body is then rubbed for about 
5 minutes by the hands of the attendants on the outside of the sheet. It is to 
be followed by rubbing with dry towels. This produces a strong and general 
determination to the whole surface, and is applicable in all cases where a strong 
determination is desired from internal organs or surfaces to the skin. It will be 
found valuable in the early stages of bowel complaints, diarrhoea, dysentery, colic, 
fevers, etc.; it is likewise useful for exhaustion following mental exertion, many 
forms of insanity, delirium tremens, night-sweats, wakefulness, nightmare, etc. When 
the sheet is employed drippingly wet {the dripping sheet}, a large tub or pan is 
necessary for the patient to stand in, to avoid wetting the floor. 
The Douche is the application of a stream of cold, tepid, or warm water, 
from a greater or lesser height, and continued for a time indicated by its effects. 
The force of the stream and time of application should be carefully adapted to 
the strength of the patient. Very nervous persons, and those subject to determi- 
nations to the brain, should resort to it with extreme caution. A strong douche 
should never be applied to the head, nor should it be long continued on any one 
spot along the vertebral column. A douche may be vertical, oblique, horizontal, 
or ascending. The most common are in perpendicular streams 1 or 2 inches in 
diameter. Its effect is to arouse the activity of the absorbent system, and is hence 
very useful in gout, rheumatism, paralysis, chronic enlargements of the viscera, tumors, 
etc. The ascending douche will be found beneficial in piles, uterine displacements, 
prolapsus ani, constipation from debility, chronic enlargement of the prostate gland, 
impotency, etc. The stream may be to 1 inch, and should not be forcible enough 
to cause absolute pain nor serious inconvenience. Warm-water douches are for 
the purposes of producing relaxation of the muscles of the part acted upon, and 
are hence useful in rigidity of the muscles, painful swellings, chronic inflammation of 
the joints, neuralgia, spasmodic and bilious colic, retention of urine, amenorrhaa, uter- 
ine rigidity, leucorrhoea, metritis, renal colic, etc. In some cases it should be followed 
by a momentary cold dash. Prof. Brown-Sequard considered the Cold douche or 
Cold shower bath, useful in white softening and reflex paraplegia.', and the Hot douche 
(37.7° C.) [100° F.], when applied to the spinal column over the painful part, 
very efficient in congestion or inflammation of the cord, but injurious in white soften- 
ing and reflex paraplegia. 
The Hip or Sitz-bath is a common tub, in which the patient sits so as to 
have the water cover the hips and lower parts of the abdomen. A vessel made 
for the purpose, with a back to rest against, is more convenient. The water may 
be of any temperature, and the time of application varies from 5 to 30 minutes. 239 
AQUAS MEDICATE. 
According to its application it is tonic, derivative, or sedative. Tonic when 
applied from 5 to 15 minutes; derivative when extended from 15 to 30 minutes; 
and sedative according to its effects. Derivative hip baths should not be carried 
to the point of producing paleness or lividy of the lips, shiverings, nausea, faint- 
ness, or headache, and according to the effect desired, and the coldness, torpor, 
and debility of the patient, indicate that the quantity of water should be less- 
ened, or its temperature elevated. It is useful in debility, irregularity, obstruction, 
and torpor of the organs of the pelvis and lower part of the abdomen. A blanket 
is generally thrown around the patient during this bath. 
The Shallow-bath is a circular, or oval tub, raised about 12 inches from the 
floor, and with water in it from 4 to 6 inches deep. The patient sits in this; 
while the attendant sprinkles his head, and rubs his chest, abdomen, and back. 
It may be employed from 1 to 30 minutes, and should be followed by a good, dry 
rubbing. It is used at a temperature from 15.5° to 23.8° C. (60° to 75° F.), and 
is excellent in cutaneous affections, and other cases where a mild derivative, or 
moderately sedative influence is desired. 
The Plunge-bath may be any vessel or place, the water being from 12.7° to 
18.3° C. (55° to 65° F.), which will allow the patient to plunge into it, head or 
feet foremost as he fancies, or to quickly immerse the whole body up to the neck. 
The time for remaining in it varies from a few7 seconds to 2 or 3 minutes, or in 
high fever, to 10 or 15 minutes. It is generally taken after the sweating process, 
and after the wet sheet, when the patient can bear the exertion; in these cases 
the sheet is not to be removed until at the plunge. It is very useful in all febrile 
and chronic affections, but should be employed with care, or avoided altogether in 
consumptive and dropsical patients, and those laboring under organic diseases of 
the heart. 
These are the principal applications of water in practice; yet there are 
several others of a useful character, as the Foot-bath, the Head-bath, the Shower-bath, 
etc., the modes of application of which are generally well understood, as well as 
their effects. Cold water may likewise be used in form of a bandage or girdle, by 
applying one or more folds of linen wet in cold water, to the part affected, or 
around the abdomen, and covering it with a dry cloth or other material to retain 
the heat. The wet girdle or abdominal wrapper or compress, is applied around the 
abdomen in all acute diseases of the abdominal viscera. The bandages are 
applied ivarm or cold, according to the indications they are intended to fulfil. 
The application of hot water by means of wetted cloths laid upon the parts, is 
very effective in painful conditions, as in dysmenorrhoea, various forms of colic, 
rheumatism, and neuralgia, and to inflammatory swellings. The rubber water bottle is 
an excellent apparatus for the application of moist heat. 
AQU-® MEDICATE-MEDICATED WATERS. 
These consist of water holding in solution some medicinal or aromatic 
principles, as certain gases, volatile oils etc. Heretofore those waters which con- 
tained a portion of the aroma of certain plants, were procured by distilling water 
from either the fresh or dry herb; the principal portion of the volatile oil which 
collected on the top of the distillate upon standing, was removed, a sufficient 
amount being retained by the water to render it of the taste and odor of the 
plant. But such distilled waters are very apt to become spoiled, unless great care 
be taken to redistill them from time to time, or add to them some preservative 
material which is frequently an undesirable addition. It has, therefore, been 
found the best method to triturate the essential oil itself with certain substances 
in the water, which so minutely divide the former as to render it more soluble in 
the latter, as carbonate of magnesium, pumice stone, finely powdered glass or 
silica, etc., which yield a clear and permanent solution after being filtered 
through paper. Carbonate of magnesium was, previous to 1880, the medium 
more commonly employed in this country. The U. S. P. now directs precipitated 
calcium phosphate. As ordinary water contains several agents which may 
decompose or ultimately destroy the aromatic virtues imparted to it by the above 
method, it is of much importance that distilled water only be always used. T. B. 240 
AQUA ACIDI CARBONICI. 
Groves succeeded in recovering volatile oils from their watery solutions, by 
first adding to them olive oil, and then saponifying with potash. The soap thus 
formed, when decomposed by an acid, liberates the mixed oils, from which the 
aromatic portions may be separated by shaking with alcohol (Pharm. Jour, and 
Trans., V. 347, Feb., 1864). 
Medicated waters have been made by adding to a few pounds of the leaves or 
Howers of the article required, 6 or 7 fiuid ounces of proof-spirit, and 2 gallons of 
water; from which 1 gallon is distilled. In this way was formerly obtained 
nearly all of these preparations, but the processes given below are now esteemed 
the best. Aqua Aurantii Florum, orange-flower water, Aqua Foeniculi, fennel water, 
Aqua Menthae Piperitae, peppermint water, Aqua Menthae Viridis, spearmint water, 
together with several others, may be procured from the plants or flowers, by the 
mode of distillation just referred to. The U. S. P. of 1880, directed the prepara- 
tion of several of the medicated waters prepared from oils by adding to cotton a 
few drops at a time of the desired oil, carefully picking the cotton apart after 
each addition, after which the cotton was packed firmly in a conical percolator, 
and upon it distilled water was poured until the percolate measured 1000 parts. 
By this method it was found that either not enough of the oil was taken up by 
the water, or else free globules of oil passed through into the percolate, thus ren- 
dering it of uncertain strength. This method has been abolished. The objec- 
tion to the use of magnesium carbonate, which was formerly employed in mak- 
ing these waters also, is that the salt itself is slightly soluble in water, so that 
when a substance like silver nitrate was directed to be dissolved in such a water, 
a precipitate of silver carbonate was thrown down. It has been replaced by 
precipitated calcium phosphate. 
AQUA ACIDI CARBONIC!.-CARBONIC ACID WATER. 
Synonyms : Soda water, Mineral water, Artificial Seltzer water, Aqua carbonica. 
Preparation.-This is prepared by saturating water under pressure with 
carbonic acid gas (see Acidum Carbonicum), generated by the action of diluted sul- 
phuric acid on pulverized marble by means of an apparatus manufactured for 
the purpose. Five or six volumes of gas may thus be condensed in 1 volume of 
water. 
History and Description.-At the ordinary temperature and pressure of 
the atmosphere, 1 volume of water absorbs 1 volume of carbonic acid gas, and 
acquires a specific gravity of 1.0018. By doubling the pressure, the quantity of 
gas absorbed by the water is doubled, and so on for other degrees of pressure; for, 
according to Henry's law, the quantity of gas forced into the water is directly as 
the pressure (P.). Thus, for water to absorb 5 times its bulk of this gas, a pres- 
sure of 5 atmospheres must be used. 
The "soda water" of commerce, the well-known summer beverage, is merely 
a carbonic acid water, rendered more palatable by the use of some aromatic or 
agreeable syrup; when the carbonated water and syrup are mixed and bottled, 
it is then known by the name of "mineral water." Water containing carbonic 
acid gas is very effervescent, has a pleasant, tingling, slightly acidulous taste, and 
an acid reaction. The vessels containing it should be strong, and perfectly air- 
tight, and kept in a cold place, otherwise the gas will escape, and the water lose 
its sparkling activity. Too much care can not be taken to avoid metallic impuri- 
ties, especially lead, which should not be used at all where the carbonic acid 
water can come in contact with it; the pipes leading from the fountain should 
be made either of block tin or gutta-percha. The fountain containing this water, 
if made of copper, should be well lined with tin, and should be carefully exam- 
ined every season before using it. The glass-lined iron fountains are preferable. 
Ammonium sulphide or hydrogen sulphide should not be discolored by carbonic 
acid water. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Carbonic acid water is a refreshing, refrigerant 
beverage, useful to allay thirst, check nausea, and promote diuresis. It may be 
used in fevers, inflammatory diseases, chronic inflammation of the stomach, vomiting of 
pregnant females, etc.; and may be taken 3 or 4 times daily, in doses of from 3 to 
6 fluid ounces. AQUA AMMONIAS. 
241 
AQUA AMMONIAS (U. S. P.)- AMMONIA WATER. 
" An aqueous solution of Ammonia (NH3=17.01) containing 10 per cent, by 
weight, of the gas. Ammonia water should be kept -in glass-stoppered bottles, 
in a cool place "-(77. & P.). 
Synonyms : Liquor ammonias, Solution of ammonia. 
Preparation.-''Take of ammonium chloride, 13 ounces; quicklime, 13 
ounces; water, 7£ fluid ounces; distilled water, 12 fluid ounces. Slake the lime 
with the water, cover it up till it cools, triturate it well and quickly with the 
chloride of ammonium previously in fine powder, and put the mixture into a 
glass retort, to which is attached a receiver with a safety-tube. Connect with 
the receiver a bottle also provided with a safety-tube; and containing 4 ounces of 
the distilled water, but capable of holding twice as much. Connect this bottle 
with another loosely corked, and containing the remaining 8 ounces of distilled 
water. The communicating tubes must descend to the bottom of the bottles at 
the further end from the retort; and the receiver and bottles must be kept cool 
by snow, ice, or a running stream of cold water. Apply to the retort a gradually 
increasing heat till gas ceases to be evolved ; remove the retort, cork up the aper- 
ture in the receiver where it is connected with the retort, and apply to the 
receiver a gentle and gradually increasing heat, to drive over as much of the gas 
in the liquid contained in it, but as little of the water as possible. Should the 
liquid in the last bottle not have the density of 0.960, reduce it with some of the 
stronger aqua ammoniie in the first bottle, or raise it with distilled water, so as to 
form aqua ammonise of the prescribed density" (Pd.). The fluid measures in 
this formula are Imperial. We have by this process Aqua Ammonias Fortior, spe- 
cific gravity 0.901 at 15° C. (59° F.), (77. S. P.), and Aqua Ammonias, specific gravity 
0.960 at 15° C. (59° F.), (77. <8. Pf. A commercial form of ammonia water desig- 
nated " F. F. F." or " 20° " contains usually about 14 per cent of ammonia gas. 
Description and Tests.-"A colorless, transparent liquid, having a very 
pungent odor, an acrid, alkaline taste, and a strongly alkaline reaction. Specific 
gravity 0.960 at 15° C. (59° F.). It is completely volatilized by the heat of a 
water-bath. On bringing a glass rod dipped into hydrochloric acid near the 
liquid, dense, white fumes are evolved. On slightly supersaturating 10 Cc. of 
ammonia water with diluted sulphuric acid, no empyreumatic odor or red color 
should be developed, and if to this liquid 1 Cc. of centinormal potassium per- 
manganate V.S. be added, the pink color should not be completely destroyed 
within ten minutes (absence of readily oxidizable matters). If ammonia wrater 
be mixed with 4 times its volume of calcium hydrate T.S., it should not afford 
an immediate turbidity (only minute traces of carbonic acid) ; and if it be 
diluted with twice its volume of water, it should not be affected by ammonium 
oxalate T.S. (absence of calcium), nor should it be affected by hydrogen sulphide 
T.S., either before or after neutralization with hydrochloric acid (absence of 
metallic impurities). If ammonia water be slightly supersaturated with nitric 
acid, it should not be affected by barium chloride T.S. (absence of sulphates), nor 
by silver nitrate T.S. (chlorides); and if a third portion of the acidulated liquid 
be evaporated on a water-bath to'dryness, it should afford a colorless residue, 
w hich, on ignition, should be completely volatilized (absence of coal-tar bases, and 
of fixed impurities). To neutralize 3.4 Gm. (3.54 Cc.) of ammonia water should 
require 20 Cc. of normal sulphuric acid (each cubic centimeter corresponding to 
0.5 per cent of ammonia), rosolic acid being used as indicator"-(77. S. P.). 
Occasionally a commercial form of ammonia water is prepared by adding to 
the ammoniacal liquor derived from gas works a quantity of milk of lime and 
passing the gas so obtained into water. If prepared in this manner, however, the 
product is apt to contain certain empyreumatic substances rendering it difficult 
of purification. Purification of such a product is accomplished, however, by 
passing the ammoniacal gas through a series of wash-bottles and lastly through 
charcoal contained in a series of tubes. 
A delicate test for ammonia in aqueous solution is that with Nessler's 
reagent. The specific gravity of solution of ammonia will show the percentage 
of ammonia contained in the solution. Davy, in " Elements of Chemical Philoso- 
phy," p. 268, has given the following table for this purpose. 242 
AQUA AMMONIA. 
100 parts of specific gravity at 15°C. (59° F.) contain of ammonia: 
8P. GR. AMMONIA. 
0.8750 32.50 
0.8875 29.25 
0.9000 26.00 
0.9054 25.37 
0.9166 22.07 
0.9255 19.54 
0.9326 17.52 
0.9385 15.88 
SP. GR. AMMONIA. 
0.9435 14.53 
0.9476 13.46 
0.9513 12.40 
0.9545 11.56 
0.9573 10.82 
0.9597 10.17 
0.9619 9.60 
0.9692 9.50 
Action and Toxicology.-Water of ammonia is a powerful irritant and 
narcotic poison, producing, in large doses, tetanus and coma, and in smaller 
quantity, inflammation or ulceration. Plants exposed to its vapors, shrivel and 
fade; animals are asphyxiated by it. Stronger ammonia applied to the cutane- 
ous surface occasions heat and burning pain, with redness and vesication. If in 
large amount and long applied, a painful and even gangrenous ulcer, difficult to 
heal, is produced. The vapors inhaled, produce sneezing, burning of the nasal 
membranes and increased lachrymation, and in contact with the eye occasion 
burning pain and conjunctival inflammation. The inhalation of the gas, if 
strong and in sufficient quantity, may produce inflammation of the mouth and 
broncho-pulmonary tract, and occasionally causes oedema of the glottis, and 
death. If the person be insensible, the inhalation may cause death by asphyxia- 
tion. Internally, small doses do not sensibly affect the healthy individual, but 
are prompt in showing their effects in low states of the nervous system. Tension 
in the head, exhiliration, increase of strength, with greater activity of the cutan- 
eous, renal, and bronchial functions, are observed. Such effects are not followed 
by depression. Large doses cauterize the parts over which it passes, and visceral 
inflammation, with local oedema, follows. Death maybe produced by moderate 
amounts, while again excessive quantities have been followed by recovery. The 
antidotes to it when swallowed in large doses, or in an undiluted state, are acids, 
as vinegar, juice of oranges, lemons, cider, etc., which should be administered at 
once to secure any good effects; they combine with the ammonia, forming harm- 
less salts; or olive oil may be given. Inflammatory symptoms must be met 
according to indications. In poisoning by inhalation, the best antidote is the 
vapor of hydrochloric acid cautiously inhaled. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-In medicinal doses, ammonia water is an ener- 
getic stimulant, especially of the nervous system, prompt, diffusible, and transient. 
It is adapted for speedily rousing the action of the vascular and respiratory 
systems, and for the prompt alleviation of spasm. It exerts but little action on 
the cerebral functions, while it stimulates the vascular system. It acts as a use- 
ful antacid in cases of acid stomach, and in diseases which are caused or aug- 
mented in severity by this gastric condition, as sick headache, spasm, heart-burn, 
palpitation, etc. It has likewise been used as a stimulant and antispasmodic in 
neuralgia of the face and head, asthma, pertussis, and delirium tremens; it is highly 
recommended as an internal stimulant in cases of retrocession of old and obstinate 
cutaneous eruptions. The vapor of water of ammonia, inhaled through the 
nostrils, makes a powerful impression on the nervous system, and is useful in 
syncope, asphyxia, and to prevent an attack of epilepsy, hysteria, etc. Ammonia 
water should be remembered as the antidote to poisoning by the inhalation of the 
vapors of chlorine and bromine. By intravenous injection, ammonia water has 
promptly antidoted the toxic effects of hydrocyanic acid, hydrochloric acid, privy 
gas, and alcoholic intoxication. I have used the water of ammonia successfully 
in the treatment of hydrophobia, an account of which will be found in the 
ITestem Medical Reformer, Vol. VI, Oct., 1846, p. 83 ; since which it has been used 
by others in this country and Europe, and with very successful results, and 
some have also found it a very efficient remedy against the bites of venomous 
serpents (J. King). On the other hand, several observers, Fayrer among them, 
uphold the views of Fontana, of Florence, enunciated in 1782, to the effect that 
it is useless, or at least very uncertain in its action, in such accidents. It is very 
probable, however, that in some cases it tends to sustain the heart, and should be 
cautiously used by intravenous injection. As an inhalation to check incipient AQUA AM MONEE FORTIOR.-AQUA AMYGDALA] AMARtE. 
243 
catarrhal disorders of the respiratory passages, it has not found much favor in our 
school. It is an appropriate remedy in retrocession of the eruption in the exan- 
themata, and to sustain the vital powers in the torpor, prostration, or sinking of 
typhoid and typhus fevers, and other adynamic conditions. It is also of value in 
the cold stage of congestive inter mittents. Externally, water of ammonia may be 
used as a rubefacient, irritant, or vesicant, as may be required, in rheumatic and 
neuralgic pains, and internal inflammations. It has been found to benefit burns 
and chilblains when superficial and not too extensive. The stings of bees and 
wasps, and the bites of mosquitoes, spiders, and like insects, are relieved by its 
local application, and it should be given internally when depressing effects follow 
such accidents. Its combination with oil forms a rubefacient liniment much 
used. Dose of water of ammonia, from' 5 to 20 or 30 drops, sufficiently diluted. 
(See also Aqua, Ammonias Fortior). 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Feeble circulation, with pallor and lack 
of expression in the lips, eyes dull, with pupils dilated or immobile: nose, ears, 
and forehead cold-want of stimulus; stings and bites of insects and reptiles. 
AQUA AMMONIA FORTIOR (U. S. P.)-STRONGER 
AMMONIA WATER. 
Preparation.-(See Aqua. Ammonias). 
Description.-"An aqueous solution of ammonia (NH3=17.01) containing 
28 per cent, by weight, of the gas. Stronger ammonia water should be kept in 
strong, glass-stoppered bottles, not completely filled, in a cool place. A colorless, 
transparent liquid, having an excessively pungent odor, a very acrid and alkaline 
taste, and a strongly alkaline reaction. Specific gravity 0.901 at 15° C. (59° F.). 
If stronger ammonia water be diluted with twice its volume of water, it should 
respond to the reactions and tests described under ammonia water (see Aqua 
Ammonias). To neutralize 1.7 Gm. (1.88 Cc.) of stronger ammonia water should 
require 28 Cc. of normal sulphuric acid (each cubic centimeter corresponding to 
1 per cent of ammonia), rosolic acid being used as indicator "-(U. S. P.). 
Action and Medical Uses.-Undiluted, this stronger water of ammonia is 
entirely too potent for medicinal use. Its principal employment is externally 
as a counter-irritant. The formula for Gondrefs Ammoniacal Ointment as improved 
is as follows: Take of lard, 16 drachms, oil of sweet almonds, 1 drachm; melt 
the lard and mix it with the oil in a wide-mouthed vial with a glass stopper; 
then add aqua ammonise fortior, specific gravity 0.901,8^ drachms; close the 
bottle, mix the contents by agitation, and keep in a cool place. Rubbed on the 
skin it causes rubefaction, but if covered by a compress it speedily produces vesi- 
cation. If well prepared, vesication will take place in from 8 to 12 minutes. In 
cases of poisoning from swallowing this stronger water of ammonia, the means 
to be used are the same as named above for the weaker solution (see also Aqua 
Ammonias). 
AQUA AMYGDALA AMARJS (U. S. P.)-BITTER 
almond Water. 
Preparation.-"Oil of bitter almond, one cubic centimeter (1 Cc.) [16TH] ; 
distilled water, nine hundred and ninety-nine cubic centimeters (999 Cc.) [33 fl§, 
374 TH], to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 H^, 391 hl j. Dis- 
solve the oil in the distilled water by agitation, and filter through a well-wetted 
filter"-(17. S. P.). 
This medicated water soon undergoes decomposition, on which account it 
should only be prepared as required, and never in large quantities. It is a seda- 
tive, of the character of hydrocyanic acid, and is preferable to the distilled water 
of bitter almonds; which is more dangerous in its effects upon the system, and 
which is sold under the same name; great care is required to distinguish between 
these two preparations in dispensing prescriptions. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Bitter almond water may be used in 
all cases where hydrocyanic acid or its sedative compounds are useful, as in 244 
AQUA ANETHI.-AQUA AURANTII FLORUM FORTIOR. 
whooping-cough, pulmonary affections, etc. It is more commonly used as an addi- 
tion to other medicines to impart its peculiar flavor to them. The dose of bitter 
almond water, when freshly made, is from 1 to 2 fluid drachms, which may be 
repeated 2 or 3 times daily. Care should be had not to confound this preparation 
with some of the European preparations which are much stronger. Even this is 
uncertain in strength, and not very safe as a remedy. 
AQUA ANETHI.-DILL WATER. 
Preparation.-"Dill fruit, bruised, 1 pound; water, 2 gallons. Distill 1 gal- 
lon ''-(Br. Ph.). Imperial measure. 
History, Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This water is but little used 
in America. It is slightly opalescent when first made, and resembles anise water 
in odor and taste. It maybe administered in infantile colic. When administered 
to a nursing mother it is said to impart its flavor to the milk. The dose is from 
1 fluid drachm to 1 fluid ounce. 
AQUA ANISI (U. S. P.)-ANISE WATER. 
Preparation.-"Oil of anise, two cubic centimeters (2 Cc.) [32 RI] ; precipi- 
tated calcium phosphate, four grammes (4 Gm.) [62 grains]; distilled water, a 
sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 
391 RI]. Triturate the oil of anise with the precipitated calcium phosphate, add 
the water gradually, under constant trituration, and filter"-(JJ. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Used principally as a pleasant vehicle 
for the administration of magnesia, and such cathartics as jalap, rhubarb, and 
senna, to modify their griping action. It is useful also as a carminative to expel 
flatus in flatulent colic, and indigestion accompanied with gaseous accumulations. 
The dose is from 2 fluid drachms to 1 fluid ounce. 
AQUA AURANTII FLORUM (U. S. P.)-ORANGE FLOWER WATER. 
Preparation.-" Stronger orange flower water, distilled water, of each, 1 
volume. Mix them immediately before use"-(U. S. P.}. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This water is employed chiefly as a 
delicately perfumed vehicle for other substances. As a medicine, it has little to 
recommend it, though it has been administered in cardiac palpitations, and head- 
aches of a neuralgic character in nervous females. It has likewise been employed 
in various hysteroidal affections. 
AQUA AURANTII FLORUM FORTIOR (U. S. P.)-STRONGER 
ORANGE FLOWER WATER. 
Synonyms: Aqua aurantii florum (Pharm. 1880), Triple orange flower water. 
Source, History, and Tests.-"Water saturated with the volatile oil of 
fresh orange flowers, obtained as a by-product in the distillation of the oil of 
orange flowers. It should be kept in loosely-stoppered bottles, in a dark place. 
Stronger orange flower water should be neutral to litmus paper, and possess a 
strong odor of fresh orange flowers. It should be colorless and clear, or only 
faintly opalescent, not mucilaginous, and give no reaction with hydrogen sulphide 
T.S. or ammonium sulphide T.S. (absence of metallic impurities)"-(17. & P.). 
Eau defleurs d'Granger, of the French, was prepared by taking orange flowers, 
10 parts, and water, 30 parts, and distilling therefrom 20 parts. If in this 
manner 2 pounds of orange flower water are obtained from each pound of flowers 
employed, the product is called double orange flower water; if pound for pound is 
obtained, it is quadruple orange flower water; if 3 pounds are obtained from 2 
pounds of flowers, it is triple orange flower water; if the double be cut with an equal 
amount of water it produces simple orange flower water (Jourdan, Pharmacopee 
Universelie, 1840). 245 
AQUA CAMPHORS.-AQUA CHLORI. 
Description and Uses.-Orange flower water (distilled) is a clear, colorless, 
and agreeably aromatic liquid, having an odor and taste distinct from that pre- 
pared from oil of neroli (oil of orange flowers). It may be faintly opalescent. 
A mucilaginous material sometimes separates from the commercial water, which 
may be removed by filtration, after being previously agitated with pulverized 
kaolin. Should it become acid in reaction, distilling from magnesia will restore 
it to its normal condition. It is used in preparing Aqua Aurantii Florum, 
AQUA CAMPHORS (U. S. P.)-CAMPHOR WATER. 
Preparation.-"Camphor, eight grammes (8 Gm.) [123 gr.]; alcohol, five 
cubic centimeters (5 Cc.) [811R] ; precipitated calcium phosphate, five grammes 
(5 Gm.) [77 gr.] ; distilled water, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl.5, 391TR], Triturate the camphor with the 
alcohol and precipitated calcium phosphate, then with the water gradually added, 
and filter"-(17 & P.). 
The first trituration with alcohol, by destroying the tenacity wTith which the 
particles of camphor adhere together, renders it more readily pulverizable; the 
second trituration with the calcium salt subdivides it still more finely, so that 
the water can more readily act upon it, and produce the desired medicated water. 
The filtration removes the calcium phosphate and excess of camphor from the 
solution. Ice-cold water will dissolve more camphor than water at the ordinary 
temperature. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Camphor water is a very feeble prep- 
aration of camphor, and- is principally used as a vehicle for the administration 
of some other remedies. It has, however, been useful in the typhoid stage of 
febrile diseases to produce sleep and quietness, also to relieve severe after-pains, colic, 
mild neuralgic pains, dysmenorrhoea in nervous individuals, singultus, nervous debility, 
and in all cases where small doses of camphor are indicated. Its dose varies 
from £ fluid ounce to 2 fluid ounces, every 1, 2, or 3 hours, as circumstances 
require. Externally, it has been found useful in chronic ophthalmia, in combina- 
tion with rose water, infusion of golden seal, etc. 
AQUA CARUI.-CARAWAY WATER. 
Preparation.-Prepare caraway water in the same manner as cinnamon 
water on page 247, using oil of caraway instead of oil of cinnamon. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The properties, uses, and dose of 
caraway water are the same as for anise water. It has a strong odor of caraway. 
AQUA CHLORI (U. S. P.)-CHLORINE WATER. 
"An aqueous solution of chlorine (Cl-35.37), containing at least 0.4 per cent 
of the gas"-(U. S. P.). 
Preparation.-"Manganese dioxide, ten grammes (10 Gm.) [154 grs.]; 
hydrochloric acid, thirty-five cubic centimeters (35 Cc.) [1 fls, 98TR]; water, 
seventy-five cubic centimeters (75 Cc.) [2 fl^, 257 TR]; distilled water, four hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 As, 252 TR], Place the dioxide in a flask 
connected by a suitable tube with a small wash bottle containing fifty cubic 
centimeters (50 Cc.) [1 fl,5, 331TR] of water, and connect this with a bottle having 
a capacity of one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl 3, 391TR], and con- 
taining four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl§, 252 TR] of distilled water 
which has previously-been boiled and allowed to cool. Add to the dioxide in 
the generating flask the hydrochloric acid, previously diluted with twenty-five 
cubic centimeters (25 Cc.) [409 TR] of water, and, by means of a sand-bath, apply 
a gentle heat. Conduct the generated chlorine through the water contained in 
the wash-bottle into the bottle containing the distilled wrater, which should be 
loosely stopped with cotton and kept, during the operation, at a temperature of 
about 10° C. (50° F.). When the air has been entirely displaced by the gas, 246 
AQUA CHLORI. 
disconnect the bottle from the apparatus, and, having inserted the stopper, shake 
the bottle, loosening the stopper from time to time, until the gas ceases to be 
absorbed. If necessary, reconnect the bottle with the apparatus, and continue 
passing the gas, and agitating, until the distilled water is saturated. Finally, 
pour the chlorine water into small, dark amber-colored, glass-stoppered bottles, 
which should be completely filled therewith, and keep them in a dark and cool 
place. Chlorine water, even when kept from light and air, is apt to deteriorate. 
When it is required of full strength, it should be freshly prepared''-(U. S. P.). 
In the preparation of chlorine and chlorine water, the operator should be 
cautious not to inhale the gas, as it is a very poisonous irritant to the respiratory 
mucous surface. In case such an accident should occur, ammonia water, or car- 
bon disulphide, should be cautiously inhaled. Care should also be taken not to 
inhale sufficient of these compounds to produce poisonous effects. 
Description.-"A clear, greenish-yellow liquid, having the suffocating odor 
and disagreeable taste of chlorine, and leaving no .residue on evaporation. It 
instantly decolorizes dilute solutions of litmus, indigo, and other vegetable color- 
ing matters. When shaken with an excess of mercury until the odor of chlorine 
has disappeared, the remaining liquid should be at most but faintly acid (limit 
of hydrochloric acid). On adding 17.7 Gm. of chlorine water to a solution of 1 
Gm. of potassium iodide in 10 Cc. of water, the resulting deep-red liquid should 
require, for complete decoloration, not less than 20 Cc. of decinormal sodium 
hyposulphite V.S. (corresponding to at least 0.4 per cent of chlorine)"-(U. S. P.). 
Chlorine water, formerly called oxymuriatic acid, has an astringent, nauseous 
taste, and possesses all the bleaching and oxidizing properties of the gas. It 
has no acid reaction, unless it has been exposed to light. With water near its 
freezing point, it combines and forms a crystalline hydrate of a pale, yellowish- 
green color, which Faraday found to contain 27.7 per cent of chlorine. This 
practically corresponds to the formula Cl2+10H2O. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage. -Chlorine water is a powerful anti- 
septic, destroying foul and noxious effluvia, and also acts upon tne system as a 
stimulant. It has been used internally in chrome hepatitis, typhus, cynanche 
maligna, and scarlet fever, in doses of 1 or 2 fluid drachms largely diluted with 
water, and repeated 2 or 3 times a day. Diluted with water, it has been employed 
as a gargle in the throat affections attending the exanthemata, in putrid affections 
of the mouth and throat; as a wash or local application in indolent, gangrenous, 
and carcinomatous ulcerations, in indolent abscesses, buboes, and fistulous ulcers. In 
hepatic diseases its internal should be associated with its external use, bathing 
around and over the region of the liver. Chlorine gas inhaled in small quantity 
has been found serviceable in chronic catarrh, chronic bronchitis, and even in 
phthisis. At first, expectoration is augmented, but eventually it decreases with 
marked improvement in the general health. Ten or twenty drops of chlorine 
water may be placed in 2 or 3 fluid drachms of water in a glass inhaler, to which 
add 1 or 2 minims of sulphuric acid. Upon placing this in a water-bath at 
37.7° C. (100° F.), the chlorine gas will be driven off, and may be inhaled by 
the patient for several minutes, repeating the operation several times a day (C.-- 
Elliottson). A solution of from 5 to 10 minims, applied by atomization, would, 
be preferable to the latter methods. However, it is now seldom employed in 
pulmonary complaints. Its best use is local troubles requiring a deodor- 
izer and powerful disinfectant. Dose from 1 to 4 fluid drachms largely diluted. 
In large doses it is an irritant poison. The treatment after emesis consists in 
administering albumen, milk, veal and other animal broths, a thin mixture of 
lime-water, or flour and water, etc. 
Chlorine (Cl=35.37).-Chlorine occurs in nature only in combination, principally in 
common salt (sodium chloride), of which it constitutes about 60 per cent. It is therefore a 
prominent constituent of sea-water. It was discovered in 1774 by Scheele, who named it 
" dephlogisticated muriatic acid " and " oxy muriatic acid." Chlorine was proved to be an element 
oy H. Davy in 1810. Chlorine gas may be prepared in several ways beside that indicated 
under Aqua Chlori. It is usually obtained by the interaction of diluted sulphuric acid, sodium 
chloride, and manganese dioxide, according to the following equation: 2NaCl+3H2SO4-l-Mn 
O2=MnSO4-|-2NaHSO4-|-2H2O4-C12. Chlorine gas is prepared on a large scale in the manu- 
facture of bleaching powder by various processes (see Calx Chlorata). ' Chlorine gas is of a 
greenish-yellow color, with a pungent and suffocating odor, a peculiar and somewhat astring- 247 
AQUA CHLOROFORMI.-AQUA CREOSOTE 
ent taste, and is highly irritating when respired, exciting cough and great irritation of the 
lungs, even when considerably diluted with common air. In more concentrated state it may 
produce hemoptysis, with intense pain, and even death may result. It has the specific grav- 
ity 2.48. Under a pressure of 6 atmospheres atO° C. (32° F.), or subjected to a temperature 
of - 34° C. (-42.8° F.), at ordinary pressure, chlorine gas is condensed into a bright-yellow 
liquid of specific gravity 1.33. Water at 15.5° C. (60° F.) dissolves twice its volume of the gas. 
It unites with many metals under combustion to form chlorides; also with organic compounds. 
On account of its great affinity for hydrogen, it acts as a powerful bleaching agent in the 
presence of moisture. It is a powerful, diffusible disinfectant. 
AQUA CHLOROFORMI (U. S. P.)-CHLOROFORM WATER. 
Preparation.-" Chloroform, distilled water, each a sufficient quantity. Add 
enough chloroform to a convenient quantity of distilled water contained in a 
dark amber-colored bottle, to maintain a slight excess of the former, after the 
contents have been repeatedly and thoroughly agitated. When chloroform water 
is required for use, pour off the needed quantity of the solution, refill the bottle 
with distilled water and saturate it by thorough agitation, taking care that there 
be always an excess of chloroform present"-(U. S. P.fl 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Chloroform water is an agreeable 
vehicle for the administration of other medicines, and is particularly useful in 
non-inflammatory diarrhoea, flatulent colic, gastralgia, and other forms of abdominal 
pain. It is a stimulant to mucous surfaces, and is useful as a gargle and mouth 
wash. On account of its preservative qualities, it is valuable in solutions con- 
taining organic materials, which, without some antifermentative, would undergo 
decomposition. Medicinal mixtures to be used in a few days may be preserved 
by it in summer time. It forms a pleasant vehicle for cough mixtures, and it 
alone is useful in coughs characterized by tickling, irritation, or other nervous 
sensations in the bronchise and throat. Whooping-cough is palliated by it. It is 
likewise employed as a local hemostatic, where bleeding is small in amount. 
Dose, from 1 fluid drachm to 1 fluid ounce. 
AQUA CINNAMOMI (U. S. P.)-CINNAMON WATER. 
Preparation.-''Oil of cinnamon, two cubic centimeters (2 Cc.) [32 hl]; pre- 
cipitated calcium phosphate, four grammes (4 Gm.) [62 grs.] ; distilled water a 
sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 
391 RI]. Triturate the oil of cinnamon with the precipitated calcium phos- 
phate, add the distilled water gradually, under continued trituration, and filter" 
-(U. S. Pi). 
When cinnamon water is prepared with true oil of cinnamon, it soon 
becomes turbid from oxidation of the oil, and the formation of cinnamic acid 
(CJ45.CH:CH.COOH), which crystallizes from the water. Oil of Chinese cinna- 
mon yields a water remaining clear for a much longer time. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Cinnamon water is useful in passive 
hemorrhage from the lungs, stomach, kidneys, or uterus, in chronic diarrhoea and dysen- 
tery, and in flatulency. It is frequently employed to cover the unpleasant taste of 
other remedies, especially opiates, and will often allay vomiting. Its dose is 
from 2 fluid drachms to 2 fluid ounces. It should not be used when fever or 
inflammation is present. 
AQUA CREOSOTI (U. S. P.)-CREOSOTE WATER. 
•Preparation.-''Creosote, ten cubic centimeters (10 Cc.) [162 TQ] ; distilled 
water, nine hundred and ninety cubic centimeters (990 Cc.) [30 H5, 229 hl], to 
make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 65, 391 hl]. Agitate the 
creosote vigorously with the distilled water, and filter through a well-wetted 
filter"-(U S. P.) 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Creosote water may be employed as 
a lotion where the discharges are fetid, ichorous, and profuse, as in ulcers, burns, 248 
and gangrene. It may also be used advantageously in catarrhal states, as leucor- 
rhoea and gleet, and in some forms of skin diseases, especially sycosis and prurigo. 
Internally, it may be given in obstinate singultus, diabetes, and chronic pulmonic 
complaints with profuse and offensive secretions. The dose is from 1 to 4 fluid 
drachms. 
AQUA DESTILLATA.-AQUA FCENICULI. 
AQUA DESTILLATA (U. S. P.)-DISTILLED WATER. 
Formula: H2O. Molecular Weight: 17.96. 
Preparation.-"Water, one thousand volumes (1000 vol.), to make eight 
hundred volumes (800 vol.). Distill the water from a suitable apparatus pro- 
vided with a block-tin or glass condenser. Collect the first one hundred volumes 
(100 vol.), and throw this portion away. Then collect eight hundred volumes 
(800 vol.) and keep the distilled water in glass-stoppered bottles, rinsed with hot 
distilled water immediately before being filled "-(U. S. P.). 
Description and Tests.-"A colorless, limpid liquid, without odor or taste, 
and perfectly neutral to litmus paper. The transparency of distilled water 
should not be affected, nor should any color be imparted to it, by test solutions 
of hydrogen sulphide or ammonium sulphide (absence of metallic impurities), 
or by those of barium chloride (sulphates), silver nitrate (chlorides), ammonium 
oxalate (calcium), or mercuric chloride (ammonia) ; nor should its transparency 
be affected when mixed with twice its volume of calcium hydrate T.S. (absence 
of carbonic acid). It should give no reaction for nitrates or nitrites when tested 
as described under Water (see Aqua). When 1000 Cc. of distilled water are evap- 
orated on a water-bath to dryness, no residue should remain. On heating 
100 Cc. of distilled water acidulated with 10 Cc. of diluted sulphuric acid, to 
boiling, and subsequently adding 1 Cc. of centi-normal potassium permanganate 
V.S., the color of the liquid should not be completely destroyed by boiling for 
10 minutes, nor by afterwards setting the vessel aside, well covered, for 10 hours 
(absence of organic or other oxidizable matters)"-(U. S. P.). 
The demand of the U. S. P. that 1000 Cc. of distilled water, evaporated on a 
water-bath to dryness, should leave no residue, is probably impossible to strictly 
comply with. The amount of residue which good distilled water may leave 
upon evaporation, should not exceed 1 part in 100,000 (Am. Jour. Pharm., 
1896, p. 187). Distilled water is apt to become contaminated with fresh water 
algje (confervse). 
In many pharmaceutical and chemical processes, distilled water is very essen- 
tial, while in others, pure spring or river, or rain water, will be sufficient. The 
reason for throwing away the first 100 parts which are distilled over, is that any 
volatile principles which may be present, as ammonia, carbonic acid gas, etc., and 
which may pass over with the first portions, may be removed. The last 100 
parts, left in the still, contain the residual impurities, and if allowed to pass 
over might give to the product an empyreumatic odor and taste. Carbon dioxide 
will be absorbed by distilled water if the latter be exposed to the atmosphere for 
any considerable time. In this case lime-water will occasion turbidity in the 
distilled water. Distilled water is nearly always employed in making the med- 
icated waters, in diluting acids, and in making solutions of various salts, as the 
alkaloidal salts, silver nitrate, permanganate of potassium, etc. For other uses, 
see .dgua. 
AQUA FCENICULI (U. S. P.)-FENNEL WATER. 
Preparation.-"Oil of fennel, two cubic centimeters (2 Cc.) [32 Hl]; precipi- 
tated calcium phosphate, four grammes (4 Gm.) [62 grs.]; distilled water, a suffi- 
cient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl.5,391 Hl]. 
Triturate the oil of fennel with the precipitated calcium phosphate, add the 
distilled water gradually, under continued trituration, and filter"-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Fennel water is a pleasant aromatic 
stimulant and carminative; and may be added to other medicines to render 
them more agreeable. It may be employed for gastric acidity and flatulent colic. 
The dose is from 1 fluid drachm to 1 fluid ounce. AQUA HAMAMELIDIS.- AQUA HYDROGENII DIOXIDI. 
249 
AQUA HAMAMELIDIS.-HAMAMELIS WATER. 
Synonyms : Distilled hamamelis, Distillate of hamamelis, Distilled witch-hazel, Witch- 
hazel extract. 
Preparation-Take of the green leaves and young twigs of witch-hazel, any 
convenient amount. Place them in a copper still and cover them with a mixture 
of alcohol, 1 part, water, 9 parts. Boil by direct fire and recover 2 parts of distil- 
late for each part of leaves employed. For commercial purposes very inferior 
preparations are made in which the alcohol is decreased, and the distillate 
increased. 
Uses.-(See Hamamelis'). 
Aqua Hamamelidis Spirituosa (N. F).-Hamamelis water, Witch-hazel water, Witch-hazel 
extract. Formulary number, 10. " Hamamelis, shoots and twigs, ten thousand grammes 
(10,000 Gm.) [22 lbs. av., 323 grs.]; water, twenty thousand cubic centimeters (20,000 Cc.) 
[5 Cong., 3 fl§, 30 1){] ; alcohol, fifteen hundred cubic centimeters (1500 Cc.) [50 fl§, 345 IR]. 
Place the hamamelis in a still, add the water and alcohol, and allow' the mixture to macerate 
during 24 hours. Distill ten thousand cubic centimeters (10,000 Cc.) [2 Cong., 8 fl^, 102 1R], 
by applying direct heat, or preferably, by means of steam." 
Note.-"This preparation should be made only from the fresh young twigs of hamamelis, 
which are collected for this purpose, preferably when the plant is in flower, in the late autumn 
of the year"-(Nat. Form.). 
AQUA HEDEOMJE.-PENNYROYAL WATER. 
Preparation.-Triturate oil of American pennyroyal, £ fluid drachm, with 
precipitated calcium phosphate, 1 drachm, then with distilled water, 2 pints, to 
be gradually added; finally, filter through paper. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Pennyroyal water may be used as a 
substitute for, and in the same doses as peppermint and spearmint waters. 
Some persons prefer it. 
AQUA HYDROGENII DIOXIDI (U. S. P.)-SOLUTION OF 
HYDROGEN DIOXIDE. 
"A slightly acid, aqueous solution of hydrogen dioxide (H2O2=33.92), con- 
taining, when freshly prepared, about 3 per cent, by weight, of the pure dioxide, 
corresponding to about 10 volumes of available oxygen "-(U. S. P.). 
Synonym: Solution of hydrogen peroxide. 
History and Preparation.-Dioxide of hydrogen was discovered in 1818, 
by M. Thenard, and named oxygenated water. It is produced when peroxide of 
potassium, sodium, barium, strontium, or calcium, is digested with any acid that 
forms a salt with the base. Thenard prepared it by acting upon barium dioxide 
(peroxide of barium) with diluted hydrochloric acid, thus : BaO24-2HCl = H2O2-|- 
BaCl2; and afterward separating the barium chloride by the cautious addition of 
sulphate of silver. Clermont reported finding it in the juices of a great variety 
of plants, but the experiments of Belluci failed to support him. Struve states 
that the combustion of hydrogen in the atmosphere produces hydrogen dioxide, 
together with ozone and ammonium nitrite. Struve and others report that it is 
often present in the atmosphere, in rain-water, and in snow; Houzeau failed in 
his first attempt to find it in rain-water, but afterward discovered it in snow, at 
Rouen (Corrupt. Rend. Ixx, 519). At the present time hydrogen dioxide is made by 
decomposing hydrated barium dioxide with sulphuric acid, as follows : Freshly 
prepared hydrated dioxide of barium is gradually added to a cold mixture of 
sulphuric acid and water (not less than 5 of water to 1 of acid) until the mixture 
becomes very slightly acid; the sulphate of barium is then separated by filtra- 
tion ; the excess of sulphuric acid in the filtrate is now removed, by the cautious 
addition of dilute baryta solution; again filtered; and the aqueous solution of 
hydrogen dioxide concentrated in vacuo over sulphuric acid: BaO2.8H2O+H2SO4 
=BaSO4+H2O2+8H2O. When the solution becomes more concentrated, an addi- 
tion of a small amount of sulphuric acid will give it more stability (Thenard). 
The official solution of hydrogen dioxide is prepared as follows: "Barium 250 
AQUA HYDROGENII DIOXIDI. 
dioxide, three hundred grammes (300 Gm.) [10 oz. av., 255 grs.]; phosphoric acid, 
diluted sulphuric acid, distilled water, of each, a sufficient quantity. Pour five 
hundred cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 fl*, 435 H[] of cold distilled water into a 
suitable bottle, add to it the barium dioxide in such a way that it shall not form 
lumps, and shake vigorously so that a uniform mixture may result. Provide 
suitable means of refrigeration, so that the bottle and contents may be kept at a 
temperature below 10° C. (50° F.), and shake it thoroughly every few minutes 
during half an hour. Afterwards, continuing the refrigeration, shake it occasion- 
ally, but vigorously, until the dioxide has become fully hydrated, which may be 
recognized from the fact that only a small portion of the water separates from it 
on standing, and that it may be mixed with the separated water without great 
effort by shaking. Having introduced ninety-six cubic centimeters (96 Cc.) [3 fl5, 
118 Hl] of phosphoric acid into a bottle having the capacity of about two thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (2000 Cc.) [67 fl§, 302 Hl], add to it three hundred and 
twenty cubic centimeters (320 Cc.) [10 flg, 394 Hl] of distilled water, cool the 
mixture, and remove fifty cubic centimeters (50 Cc.) [1 fl.5, 332 Hl], as a reserved 
portion. Now add the well-mixed magma, in about four portions, to the acid 
liquid, and mix them intimately by vigorous and continuous shaking, cooling 
the bottle after each addition of magma. From time to time test the reaction of 
the liquid, and, when it becomes alkaline, add to it, cautiously, a little of the 
reserved phosphoric acid, until the liquid has again acquired an acid character. 
Repeat the agitation from time to time, and also the cautious addition of phos- 
phoric acid, as long the liquid becomes alkaline on prolonged, vigorous shaking. 
If necessary, a further quantity of phosphoric acid should be diluted with 
distilled water, in the proportion above given, and a portion of this liquid used 
for saturation. Having finally shaken the bottle again very thoroughly, and 
until the liquid part is neutral to litmus paper, set it aside until the precipitate 
occupies only about one-third of the volume of the contents, and pour the super- 
natant liquid upon a wetted, double, rapidly-acting, white filter, of a diameter of 
30 centimeters (11.8 inches). Then transfer the semi-liquid precipitate to the filter, 
rinse the bottle with one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl5, 181 H]] of 
distilled water, transfer this to the filter, and when the liquid has drained off, 
wash the barium phosphate on the filter with distilled water, until the filtrate 
measures one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl*, 391 H[]. Now add to 
it, first, 20 drops, and afterwards, if necessary, further, smaller quantities of diluted 
sulphuric acid, until a small portion of the liquid, after filtration (which may 
be assisted by a little starch), is no longer rendered cloudy by diluted sulphuric 
acid. Mix the cloudy liquid with about ten grammes (10 Gm.) [154 grs.] of 
starch by agitation, so that the starch may be thoroughly distributed, throughout 
the liquid, and then filter it through a well-wetted, white filter, of a diameter of 
25 centimeters (9.8 inches), returning the first portions until it runs through clear. 
When all the liquid has passed, ascertain the percentage of hydrogen dioxide 
contained in it by the method of assay given below, and dilute the remaining 
liquid if necessary, so that it will contain 3 per cent of absolute hydrogen dioxide. 
Keep the product in loosely-stoppered bottles, in a cool place. Since solution of 
hydrogen dioxide will gradually diminish in strength, even when carefully kept, 
it should either be freshly made when wanted, or be kept on hand only in such 
quantity as will probably be consumed within a short time. Any solution which 
has become weaker, need not, for this reason, be thrown away, but may be 
reserved for an occasion when a weaker or diluted solution is prescribed or 
demanded. Or, it may be employed, when making a fresh supply, as a diluent 
of the stronger solution "-(H. S. P.). 
Description.-Concentrated hydrogen dioxide is a colorless, odorless, oily 
appearing liquid, of sp. gr. 1.452, and does not solidify at -30° C. (-22° F.) 
(Thenard); it evaporates in vacuo at ordinary temperatures, without decompo- 
sition, and does not redden, but bleaches, litmus and turmeric paper ; it has an 
astringent, bitter taste; when applied to the skin it first bleaches, and subse- 
quently develop^ a white blister, accompanied with violent itching, followed by 
painful irritation. It mixes in all proportions with cold water, and when a solu- 
tion, containing eight times its volume of oxygen, is heated to 50° C. (122° F.), 
the oxygen begins to be evolved, ebullition increases, and upon ceasing, water AQUA HYDROGENII DIOXIDI. 
251 
only remains. Concentrated hydrogen dioxide evolves oxygen slowly at 20° C. 
(68° F.), but if quickly heated to 100° C. (212° F.), the separation is violent, and 
sometimes explosive (R. and S.). It is also decomposed with almost explosive 
violence when in contact with finely-divided metals, as gold, silver, and platinum, 
the metals remaining unaltered. The oxides of these metals are decomposed by, 
and in turn decompose,hydrogen dioxide; the metals being reduced to a metallic 
state, and free oxygen liberated ; thus we have a powerful oxidizing agent which 
acts as a reducer. In other instances, hydrogen dioxide transforms many basic 
oxides into higher oxides. With solution of ferrocyanide of potassium it forms 
ferricyanide of potassium; with solution of ferrous sulphate it forms ferric sul- 
phate. Manganese sulphate in alkaline solution is oxidized to manganese dioxide 
by hydrogen peroxide, while in acid solution manganese dioxide is reduced by it 
to a manganous salt under evolution of oxygen. An aqueous solution of hydro- 
gen dioxide is used to clean and bleach old engravings and oil paintings, and, 
according to Cameron, the popular colorless solution perniciously employed to 
change dark hair to yellow is this substance. 
Official solution of hydrogen dioxide is described as " a colorless liquid, 
without odor, slightly acidulous to the taste, and producing a peculiar sensation 
and soapy froth in the mouth; liable to deteriorate by age, exposure to heat, or 
protracted agitation. Specific gravity about 1.006 to 1.012 at 15° C. (59° F.). 
When exposed to the air at the ordinary temperature, or when heated on a water- 
bath at a temperature not exceeding 60° C. (140° F.), the solution loses chiefly 
water. When rapidly heated, it is liable to decompose suddenly. Solution of 
hydrogen dioxide has an acid reaction, due to a small amount of free acid pur- 
posely allowed to remain in it for preservation"-(U. S. P.). Solution of hydro- 
gen dioxide should be kept well corked and in a cool, dark place. 
Tests.-When a solution of ferrous sulphate is mixed with phenol, the addi- 
tion of a small amount of hydrogen dioxide, gives a green color; of a large 
amount, a dark-green precipitate. According to Parnell, the test will fail if the 
phenol be added after the admixture with hydrogen dioxide. Hydrogen dioxide 
liberates iodine from a solution of iodide of potassium and ferrous sulphate 
(Schdnbein), a reaction so delicate as to form the blue iodide of starch, when but 
1 part of hydrogen dioxide is present in 25,000,000 parts of solution. Another 
delicate reaction is that based on the formation of perchromic acid, as described 
under the U. S. P. tests which are as follows: 
"On adding to 10 Cc. of water, in a.test-tube, 1 drop of potassium chromate 
T.S., then 10 drops of diluted sulphuric acid, and pouring a few cubic centi- 
meters of ether on top, the subsequent addition of a few drops of solution of 
hydrogen dioxide, even when considerably diluted, will cause a blue color to 
appear at the zone of contact of the two liquids. After shaking, the ethereal 
layer will separate with a blue color. Upon evaporating 50 Cc. of the solution 
to dryness, on a water-bath, not more than 0.25 Gm. of residue should remain. 
Upon evaporating 50 Cb. of the solution, previously rendered alkaline by sodium 
hydrate T.S., to dryness, transferring the dry residue to a watch-glass, moistening 
it with sulphuric acid, and setting the glass in a moderately warm place for a few 
hours, the surface of .the glass, after being washed, should exhibit no sign of cor- 
rosion (absence of hydrofluoric acid). Fifty Cc. of the solution should not 
require more than 0.5 Cc. of potassium hydrate V.S. to render the liquid alka- 
line, phenolphtalein being used as indicator (limit of free acid). The addition 
of a few drops of diluted sulphuric acid to 10 Cc. of the solution should produce 
no turbidity or precipitate (absence of barium)"-(U. S. P.). 
Valuation of Solution of Hydrogen Dioxide.-"Dilute 10 Cc. of the solu- 
tion with water to make 100 Cc. Transfer 17 Cc. of this liquid (containing 1.7 
Cc. of the solution) to a beaker, add 5 Cc. of diluted sulphuric acid, and then, 
from a burette, decinormal potassium permanganate V.S., until the liquid just 
retains a faint pink tint after being stirred. Each cubic centimeter of the deci- 
normal potassium permanganate V.S. corresponds to 0.0017 Gm. of absolute 
hydrogen dioxide. To express the strength of any solution of hydrogen dioxide 
approximately in volumes of available oxygen (that is, in volumes of oxygen, 
given off by 1 volume of the solution upon decomposition), multiply the number 
of cubic centimeters of decinormal permanganate V.S. decolorized by 1 Cc. of 252 
the solution, by 0.56 (0.5594); or those decolorized by 1.7 Cc. of the solution, by 
0.33. (It is assumed that 1000 Cc. of oxygen, at 0° C. [32° F.] and 760 Mm. 
pressure, weigh 1.43 Gm.) To express the strength in percentage (by weight) of 
absolute hydrogen dioxide, multiply the number of cubic centimeters of deci- 
normal permanganate V.S. decolorized by 1 Cc. of it, by 0.17 ; or divide the 
number of cubic centimeters of permanganate V.S. decolorized by 1.7 Cc. of it, 
by 10"-(G. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This agent was introduced to the 
profession as a therapeutical means, by Dr. B. W. Richardson, of London, Eng- 
land (1860). From experiments instituted by him, he found that certain animal 
substances when brought into contact with a solution of peroxide of hydrogen, 
liberated its oxygen, as was the case with fibrin, carbonic acid, etc. The presence 
of free oxygen in the system must act as a stimulant, oxygenate the blood, and 
antagonize septic conditions; he, therefore, recommended its employment, thera- 
peutically, in all cases marked by deficient oxidation; as an antidote to various 
poisons; in low fevers, and in all cases manifesting deficient oxidation ; in diabetes, 
tetanus, and cancer. Subsequently, from a larger experience, he advised it as use- 
ful in chronic rheumatism, in scrofulous tumors and abscesses, in pertussis to mitigate 
the paroxysms, in the dyspnoea attending chronic bronchitis, and in poisoning by 
narcotics. He recommended that the solution employed should be charged with 
10 volumes of oxygen, which could be readily determined by an estimate of the 
amount of oxygen present in the peroxide of barium employed in its manufac- 
ture; and of this preparation the dose varies from 1 to 4 fluid drachms, largely 
diluted with water, to be repeated 3 or 4 times daily. Richardson later stated 
that nothing except a change of air acted as quickly in checking whooping-cough. 
Both the aqueous solution and the ethereal solution (ozonic ether) have been 
employed internally, and the various experimenters with this agent, since its 
introduction, differ greatly in their views as to any therapeutical efficacy it may 
possess. It is altogether probable that the agent is destroyed in the stomach, so 
that but little of it as peroxide can enter into the system. Asa remedy for dia- 
betes, a disease in which it was once, thought to be of particular value, it has 
entirely fallen into discredit. It is occasionally used as a test for blood stains. 
It is its importance as a topical disinfectant and pus destroyer that gives 
peroxide of hydrogen its value in therapy at the present time. It is undoubtedly 
one of the best antiputrefactive agents in use. It is of value, however, only 
when putrefaction has already set in, and is of little or no value as a preventa- 
tive of such changes, owing to its liability to decomposition. When brought 
into contact with the mucous tissues or ulcerations, it immediately coagulates the 
albuminous material and leaves a whitish coating on the parts, doing no injury, 
however, to the tissues. At the same time gas is copiously evolved as shown by 
the frothing which ensues, and particularly if pus be present. It stands unri- 
valled as a pus destroyer, and,being unirritating, may be poured upon pus-bathed 
surfaces or into the body cavities, when prompt effervescence will ensue, with the 
liberation of oxygen, and when the commotion has ceased, the cavity will be 
free from pus. Ordinarily the agent causes no pain, but in small cavities, as in 
the ear, nasal fossae* and urethra, the sudden distension of the parts by the rapid 
evolution of the gas may occasion pain, if not other injury, to the parts. It is 
applicable to all forms of wounds and ulcerations as a local disinfectant and anti- 
septic. Putrid surfaces and discharges call for it. Pus cells are found to shrivel, 
become granular, and break down after having been in contact with the solution. 
It promptly destroys many of the bacteria. Syphilitic chancre is said to be 
destroyed by it, but this is probably claiming too much for it. It does, however, 
improve the condition of syphilitic ulcers, as well as those of a tuberculous or 
scrofulous character. Mammary abscesses may be cleansed with it, and it may be 
poured or injected into other abscesses, sinuses, fistulx, and upon sluggish, fetid ulcer- 
ations and carbuncles. As a spray it may be used in an atomizer upon the mem- 
branes of the throat and nose, and especially where fetor and pus are present, in 
ulcerative tonsillitis, scarlatinal angina, ozena, chronic nasal catarrh, and in fetid 
bronchial secretions and fetid breath from local causes. In diphtheria it has been 
highly valued, and particularly after the membrane has become detached. In 
this disease the remedy should also be given internally in teaspoonful doses of a 
AQUA HYDROGENII DIOXIDI. 253 
AQUA LAUROCERASI. 
15-volume solution (100 parts) mixed with glycerin (1^ parts). Owing to its 
bleaching properties it has been successfully used to remove morph. 
In the puerperal state when the lochia becomes putrid and the temperature 
leaps high, and there is great excitation, the ushering in of a puerperal septicaemia, 
no better cleansing agent can be used than solution of hydrogen dioxide. With 
appropriate remedies it will greatly assist in preventing a fatal issue. In gonor- 
rhoea, leucorrhoea, cystitis, and other genito-urinary states in which pus is contained 
in the secretions, it makes a safe and efficient wash. In purulent conjunctivitis it 
quickly destroys the pus, and irrigation of the sac in dacrocystitis is often followed 
by a prompt cure. Foltz states that he has been disappointed with it in the sup- 
purative diseases of the ear in which it has been so highly praised. With him the 
" dry treatment" has yielded prompter results. The stings of insects are rendered 
painless by spraying the solution upon the parts. 
Hydrogen peroxide is on the market in 10 and 15 volume solutions in water. 
Of the 10-volume preparation from 1 to 4 fluid drachms largely diluted may be 
given internally 3 times a day after meals; as a spray and gargle take 2 fluid 
ounces of the 15-volume solution in 14 ounces of water; for other local uses, a 
wash of from 3 to 10 fluid ounces of the 10 or 15 volume peroxide to 16 fluid 
ounces of water. 
Related Substances.-Ozone (see Ozone) has been proposed as a disinfectant of the air, 
but it has been shown that before pathogenetic bacteria and other low forms of life are 
affected by it, the atmosphere must be so saturated with it as to render it irrespirable. 
Ozonic Ether.-A fairly stable, but very inflammable solution of hydrogen dioxide in 
ether, introduced by Richardson and used as an internal agent. 
Hydrozone.-Manufactured by Charles Marchand, Chemist, of New York City. It is a 
concentrated preparation of preserved hydrogen peroxide, containing 9 per cent of anhydrous 
hydrogen dioxide (II2O2), and yields not less than 30 volumes of available nascent oxygen. 
It has a feebly acid taste, and should not be neutralized before using. With ordinary care it 
does not lose more than iL0- of 1 volume every 30 days, at a temperature not exceeding 21.1° C. 
(70° F.); therefore it is quite a stable preparation. It is intended for use in the same condi- 
tions for which hydrogen peroxide is valued, but on account of its high degree of concentra- 
tion is best adapted when an immediate and more decided antiputrefactive and germicidal 
agent is required. 
Glycozone.-Manufactured by Charles Marchand, Chemist, New York City. It is a 
stable chemical compound resulting from the chemical reaction which takes place when C. P. 
glycerin is submitted to the action of 15 times its own volume of ozone. It has a pleasant, 
sweet, acidulous taste. It absorbs moisture quite rapidly, therefore, it must be kept in well- 
stoppered containers, to avoid deterioration. Changes do not take place in it below 43.3° C. 
(110° F.). When tightly corked, so as to retain its anhydrous condition, its healing properties 
increase with age. It acts similarly but less promptly than hydrozone. In gastric disorders it 
is preferred on account of its kindlier action. It is not poisonous, but it should never come 
in contact with metallic utensils, like syringes, as it is decomposed thereby. Glass or rubber 
syringes must be employed. It is successfully applied externally and topically to the 
throat, rectum, and vagina. Internally it is valued in gastric disorders, being given in 1 or 2 
drachm doses in a wineglassful of water, on an empty stomach. In atonic and acid dyspepsia, 
gastric catarrh, and similar affections, it should be given immediately after meals. 
aqua laurocerasi.-Cherry-laurel Water. 
Preparation.-Aqua Laurocerasi is prepared, according to the British Pharma- 
copoeia (1867), as follows: "Take of fresh leaves of cherry-laurel, 1 pound; 
water, 24 pints (50 fl 5); chop the leaves, crush them in a mortar, and macerate 
them in the water for 24 hours; then distill 1 pint (20 fl§) of liquid; shake the 
product, filter through paper, and preserve it in a stoppered bottle "-(Br. 1867). 
The French Codex employs cherry-laurel leaves, ten grammes (10 Gm.) 
[155 grs.] ; water, forty grammes (40 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 180 grs.] ; and by a moderate 
fire distills until fifteen grammes (15 Gm.) [231 grs.] have passed over. The pro- 
portion of hydrocyanic acid contained in the cherry-laurel water is determined 
by means of a titrated solution of cupric sulphate, containing 23.09 Gm. 
(356 grs.) of this salt, in crystals, to one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) 
[33 63, 391 111] of distilled water. The process is as follows: A flat-bottomed 
glass beaker is placed upon a sheet of white paper, and 10 Cc. cherry-laurel water, 
with 1 Cc. of aqua ammonite, are poured into it. The titrated cupric solution is 
placed into a burette divided into tenths of a cubic centimeter, from which it is 254 
AQUA MENTH.E PIPERITAS.-AQUAS MINERALES. 
gradually dropped into the liquid in the beaker, and, as soon as the blue colora- 
tion is maintained, the number of divisions read upon the burette of the cupric 
fluid employed, will give exactly, in milligrammes, the proportion of hydrocyanic 
acid contained in 10 Cc. of the cherry-laurel water experimented with. In this 
country, cherry-laurel water is often substituted by oil of bitter almond water; 
as that which is imported is quite variable in strength. In 1875, Mr. W. A. 
Tilden examined 24 ounces of the oil that rose upon the surface of cherry-laurel 
water, and concluded that it consisted chiefly of bitter almond oil, accompanied 
with less than 2 per cent of hydrocyanic acid, a small portion of another volatile 
oil, and traces of an odorous resin. Mr. Beringer, in 1890, called attention to 
commercial specimens containing magnesia, undoubtedly due to preparing the 
water, not by distillation, but by trituration of the essential oil with magnesia 
and water (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1890). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This water is employed in the same 
conditions and maladies as those in which hydrocyanic acid is indicated, in doses 
of from 5 to 30 minims, administered with prudence and caution; but on account 
of its uncertain strength it is rarely used in this country, bitter almond water 
being preferred, as it can readily be prepared as wanted for use (see also Aqua 
Amygdalae Amarae). 
AQUA MENTH7E PIPERIT2E (U. S. P.)-PEPPERMINT WATER. 
Preparation.-"Oil of peppermint, two cubic centimeters (2 Cc.) [32 Hl] ; 
precipitated calcium phosphate,four grammes (4 Gm.) [62 grs.] ; distilled water, a 
sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl5, 
391 Hl]. Triturate the oil of peppermint with the precipitated calcium phos- 
phate, add the distilled water gradually, under constant trituration, and filter " 
-(U.S.R). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Peppermint water is used as an anti- 
spasmodic and carminative, in flatulence and flatulent colic, to allay nausea and 
vomiting, and as a gentle aromatic stimulant. The dose is from 4 fluid drachms 
to 2 fluid ounces, 3 or 4, or more times a day. 
AQUA MENTHA VIRIDIS (U. S. P.)-SPEARMINT WATER. 
Preparation.-" Oil of spearmint, two cubic centimeters (2 Cc.) [32 Hl] ; pre- 
cipitated calcium phosphate, four grammes (4 Gm.) [62 grs.]; distilled water, a 
sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 H3, 
391 Hl], Triturate the oil of spearmint with the precipitated calcium phosphate, 
add the distilled water gradually, under constant trituration, and filter"- 
(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Similar to those of peppermint water, 
to which some persons prefer it. The dose is also the same. It is a useful vehicle 
for potassium acetate and other diuretics. 
AQUAS MINERALES.-MINERAL WATERS. 
Mineral Waters (Aquae Minerales) are those which present a large propor- 
tion of carbonic acid gas, with or without saline, alkaline, metallic, earthy, gas- 
eous, and other foreign substances, and which exert an appreciable therapeutical 
influence on the animal economy. The chemical ingredients most frequently 
present are chloride of sodium, carbonates of sodium and of iron, sulphates of 
sodium, of magnesium, and of calcium, iodide of sodium, sulphide of hydrogen, 
carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen. Less frequently found are arsenic com- 
pounds, lithium salts, bromide of sodium, free sulphuric acid, fluorides, and or- 
ganic compounds. The ingredient in excess, or that having the most pronounced 
action, usually determines the classification. Space permits but a brief notice of 
a few of the most important mineral springs of this country and Europe. In 
the United States there are upwards of 250 mineral springs possessing reputed 255 
AQU^E MINERALES. 
medicinal properties. Many of the springs in this country, if not the majority, 
are the counterpart of those of Europe. For all practical purposes, they may be 
appropriately divided into acidulous, chalybeate or ferruginous, sulphurous, and saline 
mineral waters, etc. When the water is elevated in temperature the springs are 
called Hot or Thermal; when of ordinary temperature or lower, they are called 
Cold Mineral Springs. 
I. Acidulous Waters are not so frequently met with as the other forms of 
mineral waters, from which they are distinguished by holding in solution a free 
acid, other than the carbonic. Oak Orchard Springs (Genesee Co., N. Y.), is a rep- 
resentative sulphuric acid spring, containing in a quart, besides sulphates of 
calcium, iron, magnesium, aluminum and silica, 20.74 grains of free sulphuric 
acid. Free sulphuric acid is stated, likewise to exist in the Alum Springs of 
Virginia. 
II. Chalybeate Waters {Ferruginous Waters) contain iron (usually as a 
bicarbonate, occasionally as a sulphate) as their active principle, and in consider- 
able proportion; they have a styptic taste, and become purplish-black with 
tannic or gallic acids. When the water contains ferrous salts, the addition of 
ferrocyanide of potassium causes a white precipitate, which on exposure to the 
air becomes blue; when the higher salts of iron are contained in the water, ferro- 
cyanide of potassium gives a blue precipitate, and sulphocyanide of potassium, 
a red one. Chalybeate waters are divided into carbonated and sulphuretted; the 
former being brisk, sparkling, and acidulous, the latter containing hydrogen sul- 
phide. To be of first quality these waters should contain considerable iron and 
but little of other mineral ingredients, and should be highly carbonated. 
A representative spring of this type is Schooley's Mountain (Morris Co., N. J.), 
temperature 10° C. (50° F.). Rawley Springs (Rockingham Co., Va.), and Cooper's 
Well (Hinds Co., Miss.), are also typical. European springs of this class are rep- 
resented by Spa (Germany), temp. 10° C. (50° F.) ; Brighton (England); Chelten- 
ham. (chalybeate) (England), temp. 11.1° to 11.6° C. (52° to 53° F.) ; Pyrmont 
(Germany), and Schwalbach (Germany), the latter being one of the strongest of 
chalybeate waters. Anderson's Spring (Bedford, Pa.), temp. 13.3° to 14.4° C. (56° 
to 58° F.), and Ballston Spa (N. Y'.), temp. 10° to 12.2° C. (50° to 54° F.), are 
sometimes classed with the chalybeate springs. The Tunbridge Wells (England), 
are celebrated as iron springs. 
III. Sulphur {Sulphuretted) Waters are impregnated wjth hydrogen 
sulphide, and other sulphides and nitrogen, in consequence of which they have 
an odor resembling that of rotten eggs. They react upon many metallic salts, 
causing black precipitates. They are frequently divided into muriated alkaline, 
and calcic sulphur waters. They are also divided into cold and thermal sulphur 
springs. Some of these waters are designated according to the color of the 
deposits yielded by the escaping water, as white (sulphur), red (oxide of iron, or 
microscopic algae), blue (slate), or yellow (polysulphides) sulphur waters. This class 
of waters is largely represented in the United States, but not all of them are 
decidedly medicinal. In Europe, among the chief cold springs are: Harrowgate 
Old Well (England) ; Montmorency (France) ; Nenndorf, Langenbruckeh, and Mein- 
berg (Germany). Of the thermal springs are: Aix-la-Chapelle (Germany), three 
springs, the temperature of which ranges from 43.3° to 61.6° C. (110° to 143° F.) ; 
Aix-les-Bains (Savoy); St. Sauveur, Bareges, Bagneres-de-Luchon, and Eaux-Chaudes 
(France) ; and Baden (near Vienna). In the United States the muriated sulphur 
springs are represented by the Columbia (N. Y.); Louisville Artesian (thermal) ; 
Upper and Lower Blue Lick, Big Bone Springs, Paroquet, Olympian Springs, of Ken- 
tucky ; Massena Springs (St. Lawrence Co., N. Y.) ; and Salt Sulphur (Monroe Co., 
W. Va.). The last named, together with Sharon Springs (White Sulphur and 
Magnesian Springs) (N. Y.), French Lick (Orange Co., Ind.), Greenbrier White Sul- 
phur (Va.), contain purgative, or purgative and calcic salts. The Red Sulphur 
Springs (W.«Va.) contain also a sedative organic principle termed hydrosin or 
baregine. Borden Spring (W. Va.) is sulpho-alkali-saline and purgative. Yellow 
Sulphur (Va.), and Clifton and Chittenango (N. Y.), are calcic sulphur springs. 
The White, temp. 16.6° C. (62° F.); the Red, temp. 12.7° C. (55° F.); and Blue 
Sulphur Springs, are noted Virginian springs. The most noted American thermal 
sulphur waters are those of Calistoga (about 60 springs), Santa Barbara, temp. 256 
AQU.E 3HNERALES. 
15.5° to 54.4° C. (60° to 130° F.), Paso Robles, temp. 44.4° to 50° C. (112° to 122° 
F.), all of California; Middle Park (Colo.), temp. 43.8° to 46.6° C. (111° to 
116° F.); Warm Springs (Ga.), temp. 32.2° C. (90° F.); Warm Springs (Va.), temp. 
35.5° to 36.6° C. (96° to 98° F.). Near Sitka, Alaska, are the celebrated Warm 
Sulphur Springs or Geysers, temp. 35.5° to 40° C. (96° to 104° F.). 
IV. Saline Waters owe their medicinal activity to their saline ingredi- 
ents, as various salts of sodium, magnesium, calcium, potassium, etc.; and the 
sulphates, chlorides, and carbonates are the most common. The principal con- 
stituent is sodium chloride. They usually contain small portions of iron, and 
often a large amount of carbonic acid, and occasionally iodine or bromine. They 
are divided into Salt (Muriated), Calcic (Calcareous'), and Silicious Waters. The 
most agreeable of these waters are the mild saline or muriated waters, best repre- 
sented in this country by the Saratoga Springs, temp. 9.4° to 10.5° C. (49° to 
51° F.), with few exceptions (some being muriated-chalybeate, as Hamilton, Col- 
umbian, and Pavilion Springs), Charleston (S. C.), Albany Artesian Wells (N. Y.), and 
Ballston Spa. The Hot Springs of Virginia, temp. 35.5° to 41.6° C. (96° to 107° F.), 
are representative American alkaline-saline springs. In Europe the following are 
celebrated: Selters, Apollinaris, Bath (England), temp. 44.4° to 46.6° C. (112° to 
116° F.); Cheltenham Saline Springs (England), temp. 11.1° to 12.2° C. (52° to 
54° F.); Carlsbad (Bohemia), temp. 73.8° C. (165° F.); Sprudel and Plombieres 
(France) 32.2° to 62.7° C. (90° to 145° F.). Among the calcic springs of note are: 
Eaton Rapids Wells (Mich.); Sweet Springs (Monroe Co., W. Va.), temp. 23.3° C. 
(74° F.); Bethesda (Waukesha, Wis.), temp. 15.5° C. (60° F.), calcic alkaline; 
Yellow Springs (Greene Co., O.), and Gettysburg (Adams Co., Pa.). Calcic springs 
are rich in limestone (calcium carbonate) and gypsum (calcium sulphate) mixed 
with saline and alkaline salts and some iron. Some Canadian Waters, as of the 
Plantagenet and Caledonia, are good examples of iodo-bromated saline waters. 
Sea Water.-The proportions of the contents of sea water, as found by 
Schweitzer, who analyzed the water of the English Channel, are about as follows: 
Water, parts 29235.424+ ; sodium chloride 895.72+ ; potassium chloride 23.48+; 
magnesium chloride 111.12+ ; magnesium bromide 0.878+ ; magnesium sulphate 
68.81; calcium sulphate 42.6+ ; calcium carbonate 1.0. 
V. Alkaline Waters.-In these waters, sodium, potassium, and mag- 
nesium carbonates predominate, the most noted of this class being those of Vichy 
(France), temp, of the various springs ranging from 23.8° to 46.1° C. (75° to 
115° F.). In Germany they are represented by such springs as Ems, Fachingen, 
Salzbrunn, etc.; in England, by Buxton and Bristol; Camares in France; and in 
this country by the Bladon Springs of Choctaw Co., Alabama. 
VI. Purgative Waters.-These waters include those having purgative or 
aperient properties due to the presence of sulphates of magnesium, sodium, and 
potassium, modified by the presence of alkaline or calcic sulphates and carbon- 
ates, or some chalybeate compound. They constitute the Bitterwasser (bitter 
water) of the Germans. Some of them are highly carbonated. European waters 
of this class are those of Seidlitz (Bohemia), temp. 15° C. (59° F.) ; Friedrichshall 
(in Saxe-Meiningen); Kissingen, P'ullna, Hunyadi Janos, Epsom (England); Ivdnda 
(Hungary); and Champagne-sur-Aude (France). American purgative waters are 
represented by the Crab Orchard Springs (Lincoln Co., Ky.) ; Harrodsburg (Mercer 
Co., Ky.) (containing also calcium sulphate and iron carbonate) ; Estill (Irvine) 
Springs (Estill Co., Ky.); and Bedford Springs (Bedford, Pa.), the latter being a 
purgative-chalybeate water. 
VII. Silicious Waters.-As already remarked, these are a division of the 
saline waters, which are occasionally met with. The boiling springs of Geyser, in 
Iceland, belong to this division, the silica being held in solution by the sodium 
compounds present. 
VIII. Carbonated Waters.-Formerly the carbonated waters were recog- 
nized as a separate class. They include, however, many of the waters named in 
the other classes. They owe their qualities to carbonic acid gas, which gives them 
more or less of an acidulous taste, a briskness, a sparkling property, and an acid 
reaction. In this class were formerly included such springs as Seitz or Seltzer 
(Germany); Pyrmont (Germany); Spa (Belgium); Mont J Or (France), including 
4 springs: St. Marguerite's, the temperature of which is 10° to 12.2° C. (50° to AQU.E MIXERALES. 
257 
54° F.), the Grand Bath, temp. 43.3° C. (110° F.), Cassar's Baths, temp. 45° C. 
(113° F.), La Magdelaine, temp. 42.2° C. (108° F.); Vichy (France); Sweet Springs 
(Va.), etc. They are cooling, refreshing, and exhilarating, and frequently relieve 
nausea. They usually hold in solution ferrous carbonate, or the carbonates of 
one or more of the alkaline earths. Carbonated waters are contraindicated in 
acute diseases and in plethoric persons. 
IX. Thermal Waters.-The indifferent thermal waters contain but small 
amounts of inorganic compounds, and are valuable chiefly on account of their 
elevated temperature, 23.8° to 71.1° C. (75° to 160° F.). The noted American 
springs of this type are represented by the Hot Springs (Ark.), numerous springs 
ranging in temperature from 33.8° to 65.5° C. (93° to 150° F.); Hot Springs(Va.), 
temp. 25.5° to 43.3° C. (78° to 110° F.) ; Warm Springs (Va.), temp. 36.6° C. 
(98° F.); Healing Springs (Bath Co., Va.); Lebanon Springs (Columbia Co., N.Y.). 
The Idaho Hot Springs, temp. 29.4° to 46.1° C. (85° to 115° F.); Warm Springs 
(N. C.), temp. 36.1° to 38.8° C. (97° to 102° F.); and Paso Robles (Cal.), temp. 
44.4° to 50° C. (112° to 122° F.), are thermal springs not belonging to the indif- 
ferent class, but containing several active constituents. Noted European thermal 
waters are those of Plombieres (France), temp. 51.6° C. (125° F.); Gastein (Salz- 
burg, in Austria), temp. 30.5° to 71.1° C. (87° to 160° F.) ; Teplitz (Bohemia), temp. 
48.8° C. (120° F.), etc. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Mineral waters vary in their effects upon the 
system, according to their constituent combination. Added to their intrinsic 
value, when properly employed, the change of climate and habits, the hygienic 
influences, the abandonment of business and social cares, the pleasant associa- 
tions, and various other aids, undoubtedly contribute largely to the successful 
treatment of chronic diseases as pursued at the various mineral springs. Injudi- 
ciously used, mineral waters are, of course, as liable to do mischief as is the injudi- 
cious employment of medicines. The uses of the various classes of mineral 
waters can be but briefly referred to in this article, as follows : 
I. Acidulous Waters.-The acidulous waters are powerful and diffusible 
stimulants of the nervous and circulatory system, likewise diuretic. Generally 
useful in dyspepsia, passive dropsy, chronic diseases, chlorosis, and phosphatic gravel; 
contraindicated in recent palsy, apoplexy, and active hemorrhages and inflamma- 
tions. 
II. Chalybeate Waters.-Chalybeate w'aters are tonic and restorative, 
and used in anemia, chlorosis, dyspepsia, all kinds of chronic cachexiae, gout, diabetes, 
leucorrhoea, chronic diarrhoea, and chronic diseases generally, especially those 
attended with excessive mucous and other discharges, and those not attended 
with plethora, fever, or inflammation. Their use blackens the stools. They 
increase the appetite, and improve digestion, give increased cardiac action, and 
improve the quality of the blood, particularly in anemic individuals. 
III. Sulphur Waters.-Sulphurous waters are stimulant, diaphoretic, diu- 
retic, and emmenagogue, and are found beneficial in chlorosis, gout, rheumatism, 
dysmenorrhoea, secondary syphilis, chronic cutaneous diseases, hemorrhoids, and deranged 
conditions of the stomach and liver. They are contraindicated in plethora, deter- 
mination to the head, and active hemorrhages and inflammations. Waters which 
contain iodine or bromine, have been found of some use in goitre and scrofula. 
For rheumatic, gouty, and syphilitic individuals, the thermal sulphur waters are 
most effective, while for pulmonary and other forms of catarrhal diseases, the cold 
sulphur waters are preferable. These waters are especially adapted to chronic 
metallic poisoning, as lead poisoning, and mercurial cachexia. 
IV. Saline Waters.-Saline waters are diuretic and aperient, particularly 
useful in chronic constipation, dyspepsia, with hepatic sluggishness, jaundice, biliary 
catarrh, gall-stones, urinary calculi, rheumatism (when alkalies are indicated), and 
gout, especially if anemic, and in uterine and renal irritability, and passive congestion 
of these parts. Abdominal plethora in the robust, is benefited by these waters. 
Saline baths have benefited hemiplegia and paraplegia in the early stages. 
Calcic Waters are valuable in chronic cystitis, with irritability, urinary cal- 
culi, diabetes mellitus, and painful forms of dyspepsia. 
Sea Water.-Sea water internally is an emetic and purgative; as a bath it 
has all the effects of an ordinary cold bath, with the addition of exerting a more 258 
AQUAS MINERALES. 
stimulant action on the skin than fresh water, owing to its saline contents. It 
has been found serviceable in rickets, enlargement of glands or joints, some chronic 
cutaneous eruptions, scrofula, and many chronic diseases. 
V. Alkaline Waters.-Alkaline waters are antacid, antilithic, and diu- 
retic. They may be used for the same conditions as the saline waters, being 
particularly useful in gout, uric acid gravel, urinary and hepatic calculi, certain skin 
diseases, chronic gastritis, and saccharine diabetes. 
VI. Purgative Waters.-Purgative waters also possess diuretic properties, 
and are useful in small doses in all cases where laxatives, and, in larger doses, 
purgation are required. They are particularly of value in corpulency, hepatic 
engorgement, constipation, and abdominal plethora, especially when due to intemper- 
ance in eating and drinking. 
VII. Silicious Waters.-Silicious waters are of value chiefly in chronic 
affections of the osseous and ligamentous structures. 
VIII. Thermal Waters.-Thermal waters are chiefly curative by virtue 
of their uniform heat, and valued mostly as aids to medicines in the treatment 
of various chronic disorders by means of baths. They are largely resorted to for 
the cure of skin affections, such as lichen, psoriasis, various ulcerations, old wounds, 
enervated conditions, hysteria, acute and chronic articular and muscular rheumatism, 
gout, false ankylosis, paraplegia, gastralgia, etc. They are largely resorted to as an 
aid in curing syphilis. 
Artificial Mineral Water Preparations.-Sal Carolinum Factitium (N. F.) Artificial 
Carlsbad salt. Formulary number, 336: "I. In a dry, amorphous form (Ger. Phamn.).-Potassium 
sulphate twenty grammes (20 Gm.) [309 grs.]; sodium chloride one hundred and eighty 
grammes (180 Gm.) [6 ozs. av., 153 grs.]; sodium bicarbonate three hundred and sixty 
grammes (360 Gm.) [12 ozs. av., 306 grs.]; sodium sulphate (dried) four hundred and forty 
grammes (440 Gm.) [15 ozs. av., 228 grs.]. Triturate the ingredients, previously well dried, to 
a fine, uniform powder. 
" Note.-The dried sodium sulphate is prepared by slowly drying the crystalline salt un- 
til it has lost one-half of its weight. 
"II. In a crystalline form.- Potassium sulphate twenty grammes (20 Gm.) [309 grs.]; 
sodium chloride one hundred and eighty grammes (180 Gm.) [6 ozs. av., 153 grs.]; sodium 
carbonate (in clear crystals) six hundred and ten grammes (610 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 5 ozs., 226grs.]; 
sodium sulphate (crystallized; eight hundred and eighty grammes (880 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 15 oz., 
18 grs.]; distilled water five hundred grammes (500 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 1 oz., 279 grs.]. Dis- 
solve the potassium sulphate and sodium chloride in the distilled water, and add this 
solution to the other two salts, previously melted in a tared capsule and at a gentle heat 
in their own water of crystallization. Evaporate the mixture to about 1800 Gm. [3 lbs. av., 
15 ozs., 217 grs.], set it aside in a cool place, and stir frequently, so as to prevent the forma- 
tion of large crystals, taking care, however, that none of the salt separate in a pulverulent 
form. Distribute any remaining water of crystallization uniformly over the crystals, and 
dry the whole mixture sufficiently by exposure to air, so that it will retain its crystalline 
character. A solution of about 16 grains of the dry, or about 27 grains of the crystalline salt, in 
6 fluid ounces of water, represents an equal volume of Carlsbad water (Sprudel) in its essential 
constituents. 
" Note.-The salts employed in the preparation of the crystalline form must have been 
purified by recrystallization " (Nat. Form.). 
Pulvis Salis Carolini Factitii Effervescens (N. F.). Effervescent powder of artificial 
Carlsbad salt. Formulary number, 331: " Effervescent artificial Carlsbad salt.-Artificial Carlsbad 
salt (F. 336), (in form of dry powder) one hundred and eighty grammes (180 Gm.) [6 ozs. av., 
153 grs.]; saccharated sodium bicarbonate (F. 341) four hundred and ten grammes (410 Gm.) 
[14 ozs. av., 202 grs.] ; saccharated tartaric acid (F. 8) four hundred and ten grammes (410 Gm.) 
[14 ozs. av., 202 grs.]. Mix the ingredients, previously well dried, and triturate them until a 
uniform powder is obtained. To make Granular effervescent artificial Carlsbad salt, substitute 
saccharated citric acid (F. 5), (not dried) two hundred and five grammes (205 Gm.) [7ozs. av., 
101 grs.) for an equal weight of the saccharated tartaric acid, and prepare the granulated com- 
pound as directed under the general formula (F. 319, B.). A solution of about 87 grains of this 
preparation, in 6 fluid ounces of water, represents an equal volume of Carlsbad water (Sprmlel), 
in its essential constituents" (Nat. Form.). 
Sal Kissingense Factitium (N. F.). Artificial Kissingen salt. Formulary number, 337: 
"Potassium chloride seventeen grammes (17 Gm.) [262 grs.]; sodium chloride three hundred 
and fifty-seven grammes (357 Gm.) [12 ozs. av., 259 grs.]; magnesium sulphate (anhydrous) 
fifty-nine grammes (59 Gm.) [2 ozs. av., 36 grs.]; sodium bicarbonate one hundred and seven 
grammes (107 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 338 grs.]. Triturate the ingredients, previously well dried, to 
a fine, uniform powder. A solution of about 24 grains of this preparation, in 6 fluid ounces of 
wTater, represents an equal volume of Kissingen water (Rakoczi spring) in its essential con- 
stituents" (Nat. Form.). 
Pulvis Salis Kissingensis Factitii Effervescens (N. F.). Effervescent powder of artificial 
Kissingen salt. Formulary number, 332: " Effervescent artificial Kissingen salt.-Artificial Kissin- 259 
AQUA PICIS LIQUID®.-AQUA PIMENT®. 
gen salt (F. 337) two hundred and eighty grammes (280 Gm.) [9 ozs. av., 384 grs.]; saccharated 
sodium bicarbonate (F. 341) three hundred and sixty grammes (360 Gm.) [12 ozs. av.,306 grs.] ; 
saccharated tartaric acid (F. 8) three hundred and sixty grammes (360 Gm.) [12 ozs. av., 306 
grs.] Mix the ingredients, previously well dried, and triturate them until a uniform powder is 
obtained. To make Granular effervescent artificial Kissingen salt, substitute saccharated citric 
acid (F. 5), (not dried) one hundred and eighty grammes (180 Gm.) [6 ozs. av., 153 grs.], for 
an equal weight of the saccharated tartaric acid, and prepare the granulated compound as di- 
rected under the general formula (F. 319, B.). A solution of about 80 grains of this prepara- 
tion, in 6 fluid ounces of water, represents an equal volume of Kissingen water (Rakoczi 
springs) in its essential constituents" (Nat. Form.). 
Sal Vichyanum Factitium (N. F.). Artificial Vichy salt. Formulary number, 338: "Sod- 
ium bicarbonate eight hundred and forty-six grammes (846 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 13 ozs., 366grs.]; 
potassium carbonate thirty-eight and one-half grammes (38.5 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 157 grs.]; mag- 
nesium sulphate (anhydrous) thirty-eight and one-half grammes (38.5 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 157 grs.]; 
sodium chloride seventy-seven grammes (77 Gm.) [2 ozs. av., 313 grs.]. Triturate the ingredi- 
ents, previously well dried, to a fine, uniform powder. A solution of about 14 grains of this 
preparation, in 6 fluid ounces of water, represents an equal volume of Vichy water (Grande 
Grille spring) in its essential constituents" (Nat. Form.). 
Pulvis Salis Vichyani Factitii Effervescens (N. F.). Effervescent powder of artificial 
Vichy salt. Formulary number, 333: "Effervescent artificial Vichy salt.-Artificial Vichy salt F. 
338) two hundred and forty grammes (240 Gm.) [8 ozs. av., 204 grs.]; saccharated sodium bi- 
carbonate (F. 341) three hundred and eighty grammes (380 Gm.) [13 ozs. av., 134 grs.]; sac- 
charated tartaric acid (F. 8) three hundred and eighty grammes (380 Gm.) [13 ozs. av., 178 grs.]. 
Mix the ingredients, previously well dried, and triturate them until a uniform powder is 
obtained. To make Granular effervescent artificial Vichy salt, substitute saccharated citric acid 
(F. 5), (not dried) one hundred and ninety grammes (190 Gm.) [6 ozs. av., 307 grs.], for an 
equal weight of the saccharated tartaric acid, and prepare the granulated compound as directed 
under the general formula (F. 319, B.). A solution of about 57 grains of this preparation, in 
6 fluid ounces of water, represents an equal volume of Vichy water (Grande Grille spring) in its 
essential constituents" (Nat. Form.). 
Pulvis Salis Vichyani Factitii Effervescens cum Lithio (N. F.). Effervescent powder 
of artificial Vichy salt with lithium. Formulary number, 334: "Effervescent artificial Vichy salt with 
lithium.-Artificial Vichy salt (F. 338) one hundred and fifty-six grammes (156 Gm.) [5 ozs. av., 
220 grs.]; lithium citrate (in very fine powder) fifty-six grammes (56 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 427 grs.]; 
saccharated sodium bicarbonate (F. 341) three hundred and ninety-four grammes [394 Gm.) 
[13 ozs. av., 393 grs.]; saccharated tartaric acid (F. 8) three hundred and ninety-four grammes 
(394 Gm.) [13 ozs. av., 393 grs.]. Mix the ingredients, previously well dried, ami triturate them 
until a uniform powder is obtained. To make Granular effervescent artificial Vichy salt with lith- 
ium, substitute saccharated citric acid (F. 5), (not dried) one hundred and ninety-two grammes 
(192 Gm.) [6 ozs. av., 338 grs.] for an equal weight of the saccharated tartaric acid, and prepare 
the granulated compound as directed under the general formula (F. 319, B.). 90 grains (or 
about a heaped teaspoonful) of this preparation represent 14 grains of artificial Vichy salt and 
5 grains of lithium citrate" (Nat. Form.). 
AQUA PICIS LIQUID^.-TAR WATER. 
Preparation.-Take of tar, 2 pints; boiling water, 1 gallon. Mix together 
and stir with a wooden rod for 15 minutes. When cold, and the tar has sub- 
sided, strain the liquor and keep it in well-stoppered bottles (Dub.}. The Ger- 
man Pharmacopoeia prepares it by mixing with previously washed and dried 
pumice stone (3 parts), tar (1 part). Of this mixture add 2 parts to 5 parts of 
water, shake well for 5 minutes and filter. It forms a clear yellow or yellow- 
brown fluid. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Tar water has a Madeira-wine 
color, and a sharp, empyreumatic taste; it reddens litmus, but does not effervesce 
with carbonate of potassium, though it becomes more darkly colored. Persulphate 
of iron blackens it. It consists of water, holding in solution acetic acid, resin, and 
pyrogenous oil. Tar water exerts a mild influence on mucous membranes, and 
hence has been found useful in chronic catarrhal and urinary affections, in doses of 
1 or 2 pints daily. Sometimes tar water is prepared, with the addition of honey, 
for pulmonary affections. Externally, it has been found useful as a wash in diseases 
of the scalp, and other chronic affections of the skin. The usual dose is from | to 1 
fluid ounce. 
AQUA PIMENTO.-PIMENTO WATER. 
Preparation.-Take of pimento, bruised, 14 ounces; water, 2 gallons. Mix 
them, and distill 1 gallon-(Bn). Or it may be prepared in the same manner 260 
AQUA ROSJE.-AQUA SEDATIVA. 
as cinnamon water, on page 247, using oil of pimento instead of oil of cinna- 
mon. A brownish resin separates on standing. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Used in flatulency and weak digestion, 
in doses of 1 or 2 fluid ounces. 
AQUA ROS.® (U. S. P.)-ROSE WATER. 
Synonym : Aqua rosarum. 
Preparation.-" Stronger rose water, distilled water, of each 1 volume. Mix 
them immediately before use"-(U. S. P.}. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Rose water forms an agreeable, cool- 
ing, unirritating, and slightly astringent collyrium, which is useful in many 
affections of the eye; it is also added to lotions, washes, etc., to impart an agreeable 
perfume. It enters into the official Unguentum Aquae Rosae. 
AQUA ROS^E FORTIOR (U. S. P.)-STRONGER ROSE WATER. 
Synonyms : Aqua rosee (Pharm., 1880), Triple rose xvater. 
Source and Tests.-Water saturated with the volatile oil of rose petals, 
obtained as a by-product in the distillation of oil of rose. Stronger rose water 
should be kept in well-stoppered bottles, in a dark place. Stronger rose water 
should be colorless and clear, not mucilaginous, and give no reaction wTith hydro- 
gen sulphide or ammonium sulphide T.S. (absence of metallic impurities). 
Use.-Used in the preparation of Rose Water. 
AQUA SAMBUCL-Elder-flower Water. 
Preparation.-To fresh elder flowers, 12 pounds, add water, 2 gallons. Dis- 
till 1 gallon. The Br. Pharm. directs 10 pounds of the fresh flowers freed from 
the stalks (or an equal weight of flowers preserved, while still fresh, with salt), 
to 5 gallons of water, to produce 1 gallon (Imp.) of elder-flower water. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-But little oil is contained in elder 
flowers; the water distilled from them is sometimes used in collyria and other 
lotions. It is more extensively employed in England than in America. Accord- 
ing to Mr. Haselden, the water distilled from elder flowers is better, when the 
flowers have been previously mixed or beaten with half their weight of chloride 
of sodium, as it tends to preserve them much longer from decomposition. The 
dose (usually as an excipient) is from 1 to 2 fluid ounces. 
AQUA SEDATIVA (N. F.)-SEDATIVE WATER. 
Synonyms: Lotio ammoniacalis camphorata (Codex), Eau sedative de Raspail. 
Formulary number, 11. 
Preparation.-"Water of ammonia (U. S. P.), one hundred and twenty-five 
cubic centimeters (125 Cc.) [4 fls, 109 TH.]; spirit of camphor (U. S. Pf, twelve 
cubic centimeters (12 Cc.) [195 Til J; sodium chloride, sixty-five grammes (65 Gm.) 
[2 ozs. av., 128 grs.] ; water, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic cen- 
timeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl5, 391 hl]. Dissolve the sodium chloride in about five 
hundred cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 fl§, 435 hl] of water, add the water of 
ammonia and spirit of camphor, and finally enough wyater to make one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 115, 391 hl]. Shake the liquid when it is to be 
dispensed"-(Nat. Form.}. 
Raspail's Eau Sedative was formerly made as follows; three strengths being 
indicated: 
No. 1. 
No. 2. 
No. 3. 
Take of solution of ammonia (22°) 
60 parts. 
80 parts. 
100 parts. 
Tincture of camphor 
10 " 
10 " 
10 " 
Common salt 
60 " 
60 " 
60 " 
Water 
1000 " 
1000 " 
1000 " 261 
ARALIA HISPIDA.-ARALIA NUDICAULIS. 
Dissolve the common salt in the water, then mix the camphor and ammonia 
together, and add them to the saline solution. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Stimulant, sedative, and anodyne. 
It is employed in hemicrania, cerebral congestion, and rheumatic affections, and is 
applied by compresses to the affected part; and when near the eyes, care should 
be taken to protect them. No. 1 is for persons whose skins are easily irritated; 
No. 2 for allaying the pain from the stings of insects; and No. 3 for persons hav- 
ing a hard and callous skin. 
ARALIA HISPIDA.-DWARF ELDER. 
The bark of the root of the Aralia hispida, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Araliaceae. 
Common Names : Dwarf elder, Wild elder, Bristle-stem sarsaparilla. 
Botanical Source.-Aralia hispida is a perennial plant, with a low stem, 
from 1 to 2 feet high, the lower part woody and shrubby, thickly beset with sharp 
stiff' bristles, the upper part herbaceous and branching. The leaves are bipinnate, 
and composed of oblong-ovate, acute, cut-serrate leaflets. The flowers, which are 
greenish-white, are arranged in numerous umbels which are simple, globose, axil- 
lary, and terminal, on long peduncles, and followed by bunches of dark-colored, 
nauseous berries. It flowers from June to September. The whole plant exhales 
an unpleasant odor. 
History.-This is a low undershrub, growing from New England to Virginia, 
in fields, hedges, rocky places, and along the road-sides. The fruit is round, 
black, one-celled, containing three irregular-shaped seeds. The bark of the plant 
is employed in medicine, but that of the root is the most active. It yields its 
virtues to water. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The leaves in warm infusion are 
sudorific. It has a marked influence upon the secretions, and the circulation. 
The bark is diuretic and alterative, and has an especial action on the kidneys, 
increasing secretion and allaying irritation. Very valuable in dropsy, gravel, and 
suppression of urine, and other urinary disorders. The juice and decoction of the 
fresh roots are said to be emetic and hydragogue, and have been found efficient in 
dropsy. Dose of decoction (§ss to aqua Oj),2 to 4 ounces, 3 times a day. Specific 
aralia hispida, 1 to 30 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Diffused anasarca; dropsy of cavities; 
oedema; dropsy with constipation; renal and hepatic torpor; dyspnoea; and 
pain in the lumbar region. 
ARALIA NUDICAULIS.-FALSE SARSAPARILLA. 
The root of the Aralia nudicaulis, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Araliacese. 
Common Names: American, Wild, or False sarsaparilla, Small spikenard, Wild 
licorice, Shot bush. 
Botanical Source.-Aralia nudicaulis is a smooth, herbaceous, perennial 
plant, with a large, fleshy, horizontal, creeping, tortuous root, very long, often 
many feet in length, about 6 lines in diameter, and yellowish or brownish exter- 
nally; from this arises a solitary, large, compound, radical leaf, the. leaflets of 
which are oval and obovate, acute, and finely serrate. A scape or flower stem also 
arises from the root, which is shorter than the leaf, naked, about 1 foot high, 
terminating in three small, simple, many-flowered, globose umbels, without invo- 
lucres. The flowers are greenish, or greenish-yellow. The fruit is a small drupe 
or berry. 
History.-This plant, sometimes known as American, Wild, or False sarsapa- 
rilla, is indigenous, growing in moist woodlands, in the Northern and Middle 
States, and as far south as Tennessee and South Carolina. The part employed is 
the root; when fresh it has an agreeable balsamic odor, and a pleasant, spicy, 
saccharine taste. It yields its virtues to water or alcohol. In commerce this 
plant is often substituted by spikenaid. 262 
ARALIA RACEMOSA.-ARALIA SPINOSA. 
Description and Chemical Composition.-The rhizome, when dry, is found 
in commerce in longitudinally-wrinkled pieces, having but few rootlets, and 
being a little over 1 foot long, and about | inch in diameter, of a grayish-brown 
color externally, and marked by shallow, cotyloid scape-scars, and annulated on 
the upper surface. The bark of the root easily exfoliates. Internally the root is 
white, with a starchy, sponge-like pith, enclosed by a yellowish wood. It breaks 
with an abrupt fracture, and has a somewhat balsamic odor, and a mawkish, 
somewhat oily, unpleasant taste. It contains starch, pectin, sugar, resin, and a 
trace of a volatile oil. For an interesting paper on this drug, see contribution of 
William Alpers to the American Pharmaceutical Association, 1897. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Small spikenard possesses alterative 
properties, and is used in decoction or syrup as a substitute for sarsaparilla in all 
cases where an alterative is required. It is likewise used in pulmonary diseases. 
Externally, a decoction of it has been found beneficial as a wash in zona (shingles) 
and in indolent ulcers. 
ARALIA RACEMOSA.-SPIKENARD. 
The root of Aralia racemosa, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Araliaceae. 
Common Names : American spikenard, Spignet, Pettymorrel. 
Botanical Source.-Spignet is an indigenous perennial, having an herba- 
ceous, widely branched, smooth stem, 3 or 4 feet in height, of a dark-green or 
reddish color, arising from a thick, fleshy, aromatic root. The leaves are decom- 
pound; the leaf-stalks'dividing into three partitions, each of which bears 3 or 5 
large, ovate, pointed, serrate, slightly downy leaflets. The umbels are numerous, 
small, arranged in branching racemes from the axils of leaves or branches, and 
are composed of small greenish-white flowers, succeeded by dark-purple berries. 
History.-This plant grows from Canada to Georgia, and westward through- 
out the United States. It flowers in July, and is found in rich woodlands, and 
rocky situations, often growing in the crevices of rocky declivities. 
Description and Chemical Composition.-The rhizome is from 4 to 8 
inches long, and several inches in thickness, growing obliquely, and having a light- 
brown color externally, being whitish within. It is prominently marked by 
scars or cavities, an inch or more in width, where stems of the previous year were 
attached. The older stem-scars are deepest. The rootlets are long, often attaining 
a length of 2 or 3 feet, and being about 1 inch in thickness at the base. Their 
color is like that of the rhizome, the central portion being reddish. They are 
sparingly branched, and somewhat wrinkled. They break easily, with an irregu- 
lar, transverse fracture. The taste is pleasantly spicy and balsamic, and the odor 
of the root peculiar and agreeably aromatic. The whole plant, when bruised, 
gives off this balsamic aroma. Its constituents are those of the A. nudicaulis. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The root of Aralia racemosa possesses 
properties similar to that of the A. nudicaulis; it was formerly much used in pul- 
monary affections, and enters into the compound syrup of spikenard. Dose : spe- 
cific aralia racemosa, 5 to 30 drops in water, 4 times a day; infusion (oss to aqua 
Oj), i to 2 fluid ounces. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Atonic states, with cough and irritation 
of the broncho-pulmonary tract; catarrhal affections. 
Related Species.-Aralia californica, California spikenard. Resembles A. racemosa in 
properties and appearance, though both the root and plant are larger. 
ARALIA SPINOSA.-PRICKLY ELDER. 
The bark of the Aralia spinosa, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Araliacese. 
Common Names: Prickly elder, Angelica tree, Hercules1 club, Toothache bush or 
tree, Southern prickly ash (improperly so-called). 
Botanical Source.-The Aralia spinosa is a small tree, with an unsymmetric, 
naked stem, about 10 or 12, sometimes 20, feet high, but taller in warm latitudes, A RA LI A SPINOSA. 
263 
having prickles below, and the leaves all crowded near the summit. The leaves 
are very large and long, often 3 to 6 feet in length, prickly, bipinnate, and borne 
on long, prickly petioles. The leaflets are ovate, acuminate, serrate, sessile, and 
glaucous beneath. The flowers are white, and disposed in numerous umbels, 
forming a very large panicle. The involucres are small and few-leaved. The 
fruit consists of blackish, juicy berries. 
History.-The prickly elder inhabits the United States in various parts, 
from Pennsylvania to Louisiana, and westward to Missouri, growing in damp and 
rich woods and fields. The thin, ash-colored bark is the part used, although 
other parts of the plant possess medicinal properties; it has a peculiar, somewhat 
fragrant odor, and a slightly bitter, biting taste; alcohol or water extracts its 
properties. It is frequently grown in the Northern States for ornamentation. It 
blooms in August and September. 
Description.-Aralia bark, as it occurs in drug houses, is curved, or in thin 
quilled pieces, with an external gray, smooth surface, or slightly marked with 
linear elevations, and the stem-bark usually with transverse lines of slender 
prickles, or in the absence of these, short ridges running crosswise. Beneath the 
corky layer, the color is brownish-green or green. The inner bark is composed of 
layers concentrically disposed, and breaks with a smooth, but tough fracture. 
The taste is sharp, acrid, and bitter ; the odor slightly balsamic. 
Chemical Composition.-The chemical investigations of this bark by dif- 
ferent authors present somewhat conflicting results. L. H. Holden ( Amer. Jour. 
Pharm., 1880) found in it fat, tannin, a slightly acrid resin, and a yellowish glu- 
coside to which he gave the name araliin. It is soluble in alcohol and water, and 
froths considerably in aqueous solution upon shaking. Araliin, when acted 
upon in aqueous solution by hydrochloric acid, splits into sugar and a white, 
insoluble, tasteless body, called araliretin by Holden. Elkins (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 
1880) demonstrated the presence of the following organic constituents: starch, 
glucose, pectin, gum, two acrid resins, a volatile oil, and an alkaloid. The latter 
constituent, however, J. K. Lilly failed to obtain (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1882). Lilly 
isolated the volatile oil by distillation; also the bitter, amorphous, extract-like 
principle, the resinous, acrid principle, and obtained Holden's araliin in pure 
form, characterized by its striking saponaceous property. Satisfactory tests for 
tannin were not obtained by Lilly. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The fresh bark will produce vomit- 
ing and purging; but when dried it is a stimulating alterative, producing a 
determination toward the surface. The tincture has been used in syphilitic and 
rheumatic affections, and in some diseases of the skin. The warm infusion, espe- 
cially when strong, is apt to induce vomiting. The berries in tincture have been 
found useful in lulling the pain from a decayed tooth; also in various painful affec- 
tions of other parts. Much use was made of this bark by physicians in Cincin- 
nati during the cholera of 1849-50, in cases where cathartics were required, but 
where the action of every purgative was difficult to control; the preparation was 
composed of 1 drachm of compound powder of jalap, 1 drachm of aralia spinosa, 
and 2 drachms of compound powder of rhubarb. Given in powder, in haif-tea- 
spoonful doses; or the powder was infused in half a pint of boiling water, of 
which infusion, when cold, a tablespoonful was given every half hour. In no 
case in which it was given did it produce a tendency to looseness or choleraic dis- 
charges. It is a powerful sialagogue, and is valuable in diseases where the mouth 
and throat are dry and parched, as a very small portion of the powder will pro- 
duce a moisture and relieve difficult breathing; also useful in sore throat. The 
dose of tincture (bark Sviij to dilute alcohol Oj) is from 5 to 60 drops; of the 
infusion (3ss to aqua Oj) a tablespoonful to a wineglassful. 
Related Species.-Arttlia edulis, Siebold. In Japan it is universally cultivated in fields 
and gardens, where it attains a height of 3 or 4 feet, flowering in August, and ripening its blu- 
ish-black berries in November. It is valued chiefly on account of its root, in Chinese trade 
called Tang-Kwei, which is eaten like scorzonera, but the young stalks are likewise a deli- 
cious vegetable. The root is fleshy, resembling gentian, and has a sweetish, aromatic taste, 
and an odor approaching that of celery or angelica. It is said to be brought from Western 
China (Hanbury, Science Papers'). 
Aralia papyrifera, Hooker. (Properly Fatxm papyrifera, Decaisne and Planchon.) Native 
of Formosa. The so-called Rice paper tree of the Chinese. The pith of the stem (1 to H 264 
ARANEA DIADEMA.-ARAROBA. 
inches in diameter) is unrolled by cutting with a sharp knife from circumference to the center, 
flattened and pressed in small sheets known as Rice Paper, and used in ornamental fancy- 
work, especially to imitate delicate petals in making artificial flowers. For description and 
illustration see Am. Jour. Pharm., 1879, p.241. 
ARANEA DIADEMA -DIADEM SPIDER. 
The freshly spun web, free from dust, of the Aranea diadema, Linne {Epeira 
diadema}. Class: Arachnida; Order' Araneidea; Family: Epeiridse. 
Common Names: Web of diadem spider, Papal cross spider, Garden spider, Cross 
spider. 
History, Description, and Preparation.-The diadem spider inhabits old 
walls, stables, etc., throughout America and Europe. It may be known by its 
large ovoid body, often attaining the size of a small nut. Along the back is a 
longitudinal line composed of white and yellow points, while three other lines of 
like appearance traverse the body. This remedy is of homoeopathic origin, and 
followers of that iaith prepare a tincture by crushing the live insect and covering 
it with 5 parts of alcohol. The web only has been employed by Eclectic practi- 
tioners. The tincture may be prepared by macerating 2 ounces of the fresh, 
clean web in 1 pint of 98 per cent alcohol, allowing it to macerate 10 days, then 
filter. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This remedy is but little used by our 
practitioners. " It has been employed in ague and malarial disease when there 
was marked confusion of intellect, with headache and burning of the face and 
eyes. In ague the chill is prolonged, with great pain in the bones, and a feeling 
as if bruised " (Scudder, Spec. Med., 77). Dose of tincture, prepared as above 
directed, fraction of a drop to 10 drops (see Tela Araneae}. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Chills with confusion of ideas; chills pro- 
longed, with prostration, febrile reaction not high (Scudder, List of Spec. Ind.}. 
ARAROBA.-GOA POWDER. 
A powder obtained from cavities in the trunk of the Andira araroba, Aguiar. 
Nat. Ord.-Leguminoseae. 
Common Names: Goa powder, Bahia powder, Brazil ptowder, Ringworm powder, 
Chrysarobine, Chrysarobin (improperly so-called). 
Botanical Source, History, and Description.-This drug must not be con- 
fused with Arariba rubra, a Brazilian plant, the bark of which was investigated 
by Rieth, in 1861, and has been used as a red dye for wool in its native country. 
Dr. Fayrer was the first to call attention to Goa powder in the Med. Times and Gaz., 
Oct., 1875, but was unable to give its origin, farther than that it reached Bombay 
through Goa on the Malabar coast, thus acquiring the name Goa powder, by which 
it is commonly known. Its source was kept secret for some time, and the powder 
was sold at exorbitant prices. In the same year (1875) E. M. Holmes called 
attention to the identity of araroba with goa powder, suggesting that it was prob- 
ably produced by a species of Caesalpinia, and for some time his conclusion was 
generally accepted although not without reserve. Dr. J. M. de Aguiar, of Bahia 
(1879), published an article in pamphlet form upon this subject (Pharm. Jour. 
and Trans., July, 1879; also New Remedies, Sept., 1879) which lightened the mys- 
tery that had heretofore surrounded its source. He informs us that araroba is 
derived from a large intertropical tree, the ordinary height of which is 80 or 100 
feet. It belongs to the Leguminoseae, and tribe of Dalbergiea?, resembling, in 
some respects, Dalbergia miscolobium, Bentham, and Andira fraxifolia, Bentham. 
After having given a careful botanical description, the author concludes that the 
tree has been heretofore undescribed, and proposes for it, the name Andira araroba, 
Aguiar, " since the drupaceous fruit, panicled infloresence, purple Howers, and 
other characters, clearly point to its being an Andira." 
The araroba powder is obtained by cutting down the older trees, as they 
yield it in the greatest abundance, and then scraping the powder from cavities 
found by splitting the trunk into longitudinal sections. The tree contains an ARCH ANGELICA ATROPURPUREA. 
265 
abundance of resin, by the oxidation of which, Dr. de Aguiar believes, the ara- 
roba is produced. When fresh, it is a pale primrose color, but, by age, changes to 
the color of rhubarb, and, eventually, becomes dark-purple. The tree exists 
abundantly in all the southern part of the province of Bahia, although the pow- 
der now chiefly comes from Camamu and Taperoa. As found in commerce, this 
agent is in the form of a powder of different degrees of fineness, of a color rang- 
ing from light-yellow to dark-chocolate. It resembles the partly decayed matter 
occasionally observed in cavities of old trees and stumps, and is often mixed 
with irregular woody fragments. It is now fairly established that it is the partly 
decayed matter of the South American tree above mentioned, and thus, curiously 
enough, by the way of distant India, where it had been long used, this product 
of the South American forest was introduced to the medical profession. 
Chemical Composition.-Araroba is remarkable for occasionally yielding 
from 80 to 85 per cent of chrysophanic acid, as shown by Attfield, in 1875, and, 
according to the same authority, the remainder of the powder examined consists 
of 7 per cent of a glucoside and bitter matter, 2 of a resinous substance, 5^ of a 
red woody fiber, and % per cent of ash. The ashes consist chiefly of silicate of 
aluminum, and sulphates of potassium and of sodium. Prof. J. U. Lloyd examined 
several specimens upon the market, and, in all cases, obtained a much smaller pro- 
portion of chrysophanic acid than stated by Mr. Attfield. Therefore, he concluded 
that Attfield must have procured an unexceptionally rich specimen of araroba, 
or that which reached this country was very inferior. Araroba readily yields 
chrysophanic acid to benzin. When heated in a suitable vessel, a sublimate is 
obtained, which, doubtless, consists largely of the aforementioned acid, as it is 
colored red by alkalies in solution. Araroba is chiefly employed for the prepa- 
ration of chrysophanic acid (which see). Liebermann and Siedler, are authority 
for the statement that chrysophanic acid does not exist ready-formed in araroba, 
but is formed by oxidation of a natural constituent, to which they give the 
formula CsoHmO?, and the name Chrysarobin (previously applied to araroba). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-In the Indies this agent has been 
employed for the removal of tsenia solium, and in the treatment of certain cutaneous 
maladies. Attfield, Fayrer, Da Silva Lima, Squire, Hebra, Bernier, Blanc, Thin, 
and many other medical men have successfully employed this powder in the 
treatment of herpes circinatus, porrigo scutulata, porrigo decalvans, sycosis, favus, pso- 
riasis, eczema, lichen, acne, and other diseases of the skin. The powder is mixed 
with vinegar or lemon juice to form a thin, pasty mass, or is well incorporated 
with glycerin or starch paste, and then applied over the eruption once or twice a 
day, for from 5 to 8 days successively, in which period of time the cure is gener- 
ally affected. Its application causes, after some length of time, a temporary 
uneasy sensation in the part to which it is applied, the eruption assumes a whit- 
ish appearance, and the surrounding tegument presents the appearance as of a 
dark stain; as the cure progresses, the skin assumes its normal color. For inter- 
nal use, it may be taken in the form of pills, made by incorporating it with 
medicinal soap. For external application, it may be used as above stated, by 
means of a small brush, or a tincture of the powder may be painted upon the 
affected parts. It may be also used in the form of an ointment, consisting of 
from 15 to 60 grains of the powder, from 15 to 30 drops of acetic acid, all thor- 
oughly mixed with an ounce of benzoinated lard. At the present time, however, 
chrysophanic acid and chiefly chrysarobin (which see) are used in preference to 
the goa powder. 
ARCHANGELICA ATROPURPUREA.-PURPLE ANGELICA. 
The root, herb, and seed of the Archangelica atropurpurea, Hoffman (Angelica 
atropurpurea, Linne, Angelica triquinata, Michaux). 
Nat. Ord.-Umbeiliferse. 
Common Names: Purple angelica, Masterwort, High angelica, Great angelica. 
Botanical Source.-The Angelica atropurpurea has a root of a purple color, 
and a smooth, dark-purple, furrowed, hollow, glaucous stem, 5 or 6 feet high, and 
1 or 2 inches in diameter. The leaves are ternately divided and the large petioles 266 
ARCH ANGELICA OFFICINALIS. 
much inflated, channeled on the upper side; the leaflets are pinnate, 5 to 7 in num- 
ber, sharply cut-serrate, acute, pale beneath, the terminal one sometimes 3-lobed, 
the lateral one of the upper division decurrent. The pale, greenish-white flow- 
ers are borne in three large, terminal, many-rayed, spreading, spherical umbels, 6 
to 8 inches in diameter, without the involucre. The umbellets are dense, sub- 
hemispheric, on angular stalks, and with involucels of subulate bracts longer 
than the rays. The calyx 5-too'thed; the petals equal, entire, with the point 
inflected. The involucels are short, about 8-leaved. The fruit is smooth, com- 
pressed, elliptic, somewhat solid and corticate. 
Description.-The root is about J inch in diameter, and 3 to 6 inches in 
length. It is branched, of a pale, brownish-gray color on the external surface, 
which is deeply furrowed. Internally it is nearly white. It breaks with a short 
fracture, showing a thick bark finely dotted with resinous deposits, enclosing a 
soft wood. It has a fragrant odor, and is spicy and sweet to the taste, afterward 
bitter. It is extremely liable to the attack of insects. 
History and Chemical Composition.-This perennial plant grows in fields 
and damp places, developing greenish-white flowers from May to August. The 
plant has a powerful, peculiar and not disagreeable odor, and a sweet taste, suc- 
ceeded by considerable pungency and spiciness; much of these properties is lost 
by dessication. They are due to a volatile oil, acrid soft resin, and a volatile acid. 
Starch also abounds in the root. The fresh root is reputed to act as a poison. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Aromatic, stimulant, carminative, 
diaphoretic, expectorant, diuretic, and emmenagogue. Used in flatulent colic and 
heart-burn, and nervous headache. The root has been candied and eaten. It is said 
to promote the menstrual discharge. In diseases of the urinary organs, calculi and 
passive dropsy, it is used as a diuretic, in decoction with uva ursi andEupatoreum 
purpureum. Dose of the powder, 30 to 60grains; of the decoction, 2 to 4 ounces, 
3 or 4 times a day. The Archangelica officinalis, Hoffmann (Angelica irchangelica, 
Linne), may be substituted for the above. 
Related Species.-Archangelica hirsuta, Torrey and Gray (Angelica hirsuta, Michaux). 
U. S. (Southern States). Often collected with purple angelica, the root of which it resembles. 
ARCHANGELICA OFFICINALIS.-GARDEN ANGELICA. 
The root and seeds of the Archangelica officinalis, Hoffmann (Angelica Archan- 
gelica, Linne, Angelica officinalis, Moench). 
Common Name: Garden angelica. 
Botanical Source.-Garden angelica is a plant about 5 or 6 feet high. Its 
biennial root is fleshy, quite thick and long, and from it ascends every year a 
smooth, branched, fistulous, articulated and furrowed stem, of a purple color. 
The leaves are large, bipinnate, with acute, lance-ovate, serrate leaflets, the ter- 
minal one trilobate, and are borne on hollow foot-stalks. The greenish-white 
flowers are arranged in umbels which in turn are made up of compact, semiglob- 
ular umbellets. 
History.-This plant is a native of Northern Europe, but is also found 
further south, especially in high altitudes, as among the Alps and Pyrenees. 
Much of it is cultivated in Germany from whence the drug market is chiefly 
supplied. The cultivated variety is said to differ from the native species suffi- 
ciently for some botanists to classify it as a distinct species. Thus it has been 
known as Archangelica sativa, Fries (Angelica sativa, Miller). The root should be 
gathered in the first year's autumn, as it is more likely to keep without becoming 
covered with mould. Its properties are in part abstracted by water, and fully by 
alcohol. It is highly valued as a domestic drug and condiment by the natives 
of Lapland where it is indigenous. The stems are preserved in Europe and 
employed as a food and gastric excitant. The fresh root when broken, emits an 
aromatic fluid having the appearance of honey. The warm infusion is an eligi- 
ble form of administration. 
Description.-Root. The root-stock is from 2 to 4 inches in length, and 
seldom exceeds 2 inches in thickness. It is fusiform, corrugated, annulated 
above, and tipped with the remains of leaf-stalks. It has many tuberculated 267 
ARCHANGEUCA OFFICINALIS. 
rugose branches which are from 5 to 12 inches long, and j inch thick. The color 
externally is gray-brown, and it is whitish or yellowish-white within. It has a 
thick bark enclosing a yellowish wood. The bark shows resin dots, indicating 
the position of resin ducts. The root breaks with an amylaceous fracture. Its 
taste is sweetish, spicy, and followed by bitterness. It has an aromatic fragrance, 
and is liable to attack and destruction by insects. 
Seeds.-The seeds are of an ashen color, oval, from 2 to 3 lines in length, 
slightly bifid at the extremities, convex with three distinct ridges on one surface, 
and traversed on the other by a single groove running lengthwise. Their odor is 
aromatic, and their taste pungent, sweetish, and bitter. 
Chemical Composition.-This root contains the usual plant constituents as, 
albumen, lignin, tannin, pectin, starch, sugar, and salts; also malic acid (Buchner). 
Buchner, in 1842, obtained from the root angelic acid (C5H8O2), an unsaturated 
volatile body, of acid taste and aromatic smell. It crystallizes in colorless prisms, 
fusing at 45° C. (113° F.). Buchner also abstracted a wax-like, white substance, 
crystallizing from alcohol in warty masses; an acid resin of acrid taste, capable 
of forming acicular crystals from alcoholic solution. To this substance he gave 
the name angelicin. In 1877, Brimmer proved its identity with Husemann's 
carotin, and still later, 1886, Arnaud demonstrated that in all probability it is 
identical with phytosterin, a cholesterin-like body contained in Physostigma venen- 
osum (calabar bean). Buchner finally obtained from the root an amorphous, 
bitter principle, and a yellow, volatile oil which was subsequently investigated 
quite extensively. It consists, for the most part, of terpenes (Ci0Hi6) (Beilstein 
and Wiegand, 1882), containing, among other constituents, dextrogyrate phellan- 
drene (Schimmel's Reports, 1891-93-96). There are also oxygen compounds present 
in the oil. In 1880, R. Muller isolated therefrom orymyristic acid (CuH^Og). The 
presence of metyl-ethyl-acetic acid, an isomer of valeric acid, has also been 
established. In 1896, Schimmel & Co. state that the oil from the seed is abun- 
dant, and deserves the preference over that distilled from the root. The percent- 
age of oil from the dried root is 0.35 to 1 per cent; from the fresh root 0.25 to 
0.35 per cent. The specific gravity at 15° C. (59° F.) is 0.855 to 0.905 (Schimmel 
Co., Semi-Annual Reports, Oct., 1893). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Diuretic, stimulant, tonic, and emetic. 
It has been applied as a fomentation in tumefactions and swellings, and given 
internally in enteric fever and other typhoid states, chronic rheumatic complaints, gout, 
and malarial intermittents. As a stimulant to the respiratory mucous surfaces it 
has been serviceable in chronic bronchitis. The dose of the infusion (sj to aqua 
Oj) is from to 1 wineglassful; of the powdered root, 5 to 30 grains; of the pow- 
dered seeds, 5 to 30 grains. 
Related Species and Preparations.-Levisticum, officinale, Koch (Ligusticum Leristicum, 
Linne). Nat. Ord.-Umbelliferaj. Lovage. Mountains of South Europe and in gardens. The 
root and seeds are employed. The former is from 1 to 1) inches thick, has several heads, is 
somewhat annulated, and is wrinkled lengthwise. Externally, yellow-brown; internally, 
light-yellowish. The thick bark is radially striated, fissured externally, and has numerous 
resin cells of an orange color, arranged in imperfect circles. Its odor is aromatic, resembling 
somewhat that of angelica. Its taste is pungent, mucilaginous, and balsamic. The seeds are 
ovate-oblong, or elliptical, small, compressed, curved, and strongly marked with ribs, which 
are winged, and in the grooves between the ribs occur one or more oil-tubes. The color 
of the fruit is yellowish-brown. Analysis has revealed several hard and soft resins, one of 
which has a pungent, bitter taste, a thick, volatile oil, containing a large amount of stearopten, 
sugar, and mucilage. The coloring principle is ligulin (Nickles) and has been proposed as a 
test for calcium compounds in water, the substance imparting to distilled water a permanent 
crimson hue, which with lime-water changes in a brief space of time to a handsome blue. 
Lovage is a gastric stimulant, diuretic, emmeuagogue, and carminative. It closely resembles 
angelica in its action and uses. The infusion is the best form of administration. 
Ligusticum filicinum, Watson. Osha, or Colorado cough root. Rocky Mountain regions. 
Root resembles the preceding in appearance and action. Used as a stimulating expectorant 
(see A. J. P., 1890-91). A Mexican umbellifer, of unknown botanical source, known as Osha 
root, yielded oshaic acid, which very closely resembles angelic acid (Haupt). 
Ligusticum actseifolium.-Southern States. Properties same as Lovage. 
Ligusticum sinense.-The Kao-pen of the Chinese, who employ it medicinally. 
Laserpitium latifolium, Linne. This is the Radix gentian# alb# of former times, so called 
on account of its gentian-like appearance. It has, however, a white interior, and a brownish- 
white exterior. Its bark is thick and spongy, and is interspersed with resin cells of a yellow 
color. It contains a crystalline bitter, laspitin (C15H22O4). It is reputed a prompt purgative. 268 
ARECA. 
Pimpinella Saxifraga, Linne. Small burnet saxifrage.-A European perennial umbellifer, 
the root of which has a pungent, biting, balsamic, sweetish and bitterish taste, and a disa- 
greeable, strongly aromatic odor. Acrid resin, a bitter principle, pimpinellin, soluble in 
alcohol, and a golden-yellow, light, volatile oil, having a sharp taste, and a parsley-like odor, 
are its chief constituents. The root is reputed diuretic, diaphoretic, and stomachic. Its uses 
are similar to those of levisticum and angelica. Asthma, catarrh, dropsies, amenorrhoea, etc., 
and toothache (applied locally) have been treated with it. It was formerly much used (in 
Germany) to expel mercury from the system after a mercurial course. The following tincture 
may be employed: 
Tinctuba Pimpinella (N. F.), Tincture of Pimpinella. Formulary number, 420.-" Pimpin- 
ella, root, one hundred and sixty-five grammes (165 Gm.) [5 ozs. av., 359 grs.j; alcohol, water, 
of each a sufficient quantity, to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 65, 391 YlT]• 
Mix 2 volumes of alcohol with 1 volume of water. Macerate the pimpinella, reduced to a 
moderately coarse (No. 40) powder, with enough of the menstruum to keep it distinctly damp 
during 12 hours. Then percolate it with the same menstruum, in the usual manner, until 
1000 Cc. [33 fi.5, 391 1T[] of tincture are obtained. 
Note.-This preparation is approximately of the same strength as that which is official in 
the Germ. Pharm. Pimpinella root is derived from Pimpinella Saxfraga, Linne, and Pimpinella 
magna, Linu6-(Nat. Form.). 
Pimpinella magna, Linne, is also known as Small burnet saxifrage, and is similar to the 
foregoing in properties and used like it. It enters into the foregoing tincture. 
ARECA.-BETEL NUT. 
The seed of Areca Catechu, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Palm®. 
Common Names: Areca nut, Betel nut. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 276. 
Botanical Source, History, and Description.-The tree furnishing areca 
nut (Semen averse) is a handsome palm, probably indigenous to the Malayan group 
of islands where it is cultivated. It is also cultivated in Ceylon, India, Indo- 
China, and the Phillipine Islands. Its straight trunk, nearly 2 feet in circumfer- 
ence, shoots upward to a height of 40 or 50 feet. The flowers are borne on a 
spadix, the male flowers above, the female flowers lowermost. The fruit is ovoid 
and smooth. It is about as large as a small-sized hen's egg, orange-yellow in 
color, and consists of a fibrous envelope adherent to a crustaceous endocarp 
enclosing the single seed. The seeds are hard and heavy, and are cut with diffi- 
culty. In shape they are round-conical, and depressed at the base, and at one 
side of the depressed portion a tuft of fibres is frequently found, showing where 
the seed was attached to the pericarp. Their color externally is brown, mottled 
with fawn color, giving it a reticulated appearance. Its internal structure closely 
resembles that of the common nutmeg, being a brown-red with whitish veins. 
The odor, when the nut is fresh, is feeble, resembling cheese. The taste is 
astringent and sub-acrid. Betel nuts have long been employed by the Asiatics 
as a masticatory, for sweetening the breath and hardening the gums, and are 
believed by them to improve the digestive powers. They have been given to 
both dogs and human beings in China and India as a vermifuge (Pharmaco- 
graphia). They are often chewed with slaked lime and piper betle leaves (see 
Matico, Related Species'). 
Chemical Composition.-Areca nuts contain tannin, gallic acid, gum, lig- 
nin, volatile and fixed oils, iron peroxide, magnesium phosphate, and other salts. 
The tannin resembles catechu-tannic acid, is red, and strikes green with ferric 
salts, quickly changing to brown, and when an alkali is added, a violet coloration 
ensues. It is not very soluble in either hot or cold water. Pyrocatechin was 
obtained from it by dry distillation, but no catechin is present in the nut (Phar- 
macog raphia). Four alkaloids were isolated by Jahns (A»i£r. Jour. Pharm., 1889, 
1891) from areca nuts. Arecoline (C8H13NO2), a colorless, volatile, and oily, nico- 
tine-like principle, identical with Bombaion's (1885) arekane. The t®nifuge 
properties of the drug are probably due to this principle. It mixes with water, 
chloroform, alcohol and ether. It yields crystallizable salts, among which the 
hydrobromide crystallizes best; some of these salts are deliquescent. Arecaine 
(C7HnNO2+H2O) probably a betaine-like body, physiologically inert, forms per- 
manent, colorless crystals, insoluble in ether, chloroform, and benzol, almost 
insoluble in absolute alcohol, but dissolving with ease in diluted alcohol and ARGEMONE-ARGENTI CYANIDUM. 
269 
water. Its salts are crystallizable, acid, and freely dissolve in water. A third 
alkaloid, arecaidine (C7HnNO2+H2O), an isomer of arecaine, and non-poisonous, 
was discovered by Jahns, in 1891. The poisonous arecoline aforementioned is 
methyl-arecaidine. A fourth alkaloid, discovered by Jahns, and called guvacine 
(C6H9NO2), is the lower homologue of arecaidine, and non-poisonous. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Astringent and tsenicide. The chief 
use of this drug is to expel tapeworms, for which it is said to be efficient in doses 
of 2 to 6 drachms of the powdered nut, administered in syrup. The smaller 
dose is generally effectual. A hard charcoal suitable for dentifrices is prepared 
from the nut. Arecoline is the tsenifuge principle, resembling pelletierine, both 
chemically and in action. Arecaine, the betaine-like body, has been likened to 
trigonelline from foenugreek. Experimentation with it upon animals proved it 
to be inert. 
ARGEMONE.-PRICKLY POPPY. 
The plant Argemone mexicana, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Papaveraceae. 
Common Name : Prickly poppy. 
Botanical Source.-This annual plant has a stem about 2 feet high, erect, 
bristly, and glaucous. The leaves are sessile, alternate, sinuately lobed, the 
angles armed with prickly spines, and spotted with white patches. The flowers, 
which are either yellow or white, and about 1| inches wide, are solitary, have 
numerous stamens and from 4 to 6 petals. The sepals, 3 in number, are decidu- 
ous and prickly. The stigmas, 4 to 6, are reflected. The capsule is ovate, prickly, 
about 1 inch in diameter, terminated by a radiate, subsessile stigma, and has 
many seeds which are minutely pitted, and blackish in color. The plant, when 
bruised, exudes a viscid, milk-like juice, which turns yellow when exposed to 
the atmosphere. The whole plant has an acrid, bitter taste. 
History and Chemical Composition.-This plant is native to Mexico, the 
West Indies, Southern and Western United States, and has been naturalized in 
Brazil, Hindustan, Africa, and other subtropical and tropical places. The seeds 
of this plant yield a large quantity of a pale-yellow, fixed oil, of the drying 
variety, yet slow to dry, doing so incompletely, has a sickening odor, and is 
nearly bland, or but feebly acrid, and not disagreeable to the taste. This oil 
yielded a hard soap with soda, and gave in the soap-liquor acetic, valerianic, 
and butyric acids, and a trace of benzoic acid (Frblich, 1871). The oil is a mild 
cathartic in small doses, and has a density of 0.919 at 16.5° C. (61.8° F.) (Fliick- 
iger). From the capsules and leaves a small quantity of morphine was obtained 
by Charbonnier, in 1868. It is also believed to contain sanguinarine. The oil has 
been proposed for use in painting. The flowers have soporific properties (De Can- 
dolle). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Emetic, purgative, anodyne, and nar- 
cotic. The juice is applied in the East to warts, chancres, ulcers, corneal opacities, 
and ophthalmia', internally, it is used in certain skin diseases. The juice in its 
acrimonious qualities resembles gamboge. The oil is useful in flatulent colic, with 
atony of the bowels and constipation; also in headache. From 10 to 20 drops of 
the oil mildly purges; larger doses act as an emetic and hydragogue cathartic. 
The herb in infusion is diaphoretic. It is not much used in this country. 
ARGENTI CYANIDUM (U. S. P.)-SILVER CYANIDE. 
Formula: AgCN. Molecular Weight: 133.64. 
Synonym : Argentum cyanatum. 
Preparation.-This salt may be prepared by adding an excess of pure potas- 
sium cyanide, in solution, or of hydrocyanic acid, to a solution of silver nitrate. 
Collect the precipitate, wash it well and dry it. The U. S. P. of 1870 directed its 
preparation as follows: Dissolve silver nitrate, 2 troy ounces, in distilled water, 
1 pint, and pour it into a glass receiver (tubulated). Dissolve potassium ferro- 
cyanide, 2 troy ounces, in distilled water, 10 fluid ounces ; put into a tubulated 270 
ARGENTI I0DIDUM. 
retort, which has been first connected with the above-mentioned glass-receiver, 
then mix with distilled water, 4 fluid ounces, sulphuric acid, 1| troy ounces, and 
pour the mixture into the solution of potassium ferrocyanide, and with moderate 
heat distill on a sand-bath 6 fluid ounces, or until a precipitate is no longer 
thrown down in the receiver. Wash the precipitate, and dry the salt. 
Description.-"A white powder, without odor or taste, permanent in dry air, 
but gradually turning brown on exposure to light. Insoluble in water, alcohol, 
or cold nitric acid, but soluble in boiling nitric acid with evolution of hydrocy- 
anic acid; also soluble in ammonia water and in solution of sodium hyposulphite, 
or of potassium cyanide. When heated the salt fuses, gives off cyanogen gas, 
and on ignition leaves a residue of metallic silver, amounting to 80.56 per cent of 
its original weight"-(U. S. P.). Chlorine water and heated solutions of iodides 
and chlorides decompose this salt, hydrocyanic acid being evolved. Silver chlor- 
ide and hydrocyanic acid are produced by the action of diluted hydrochloric acid 
on this salt. Solution of potassium cyanide is the best solvent for silver cyanide, 
a double cyanide being formed. " Silver cyanide should be kept in dark amber- 
colored vials, protected from light"-(U. S. P.). 
Use. - It is used chiefly in preparing extemporaneously diluted hydro- 
cyanic acid. 
ARGENTI IODIDUM (U S. P.)-SILVER IODIDE. 
Formula: Agl. Molecular Weight : 234.19. 
Synonym : Argentum iodatum. 
Preparation.-Dissolve separately equal parts of pure potassium iodide and 
pure silver nitrate in about 12 parts of water, and pour gradually into the potas- 
sium iodide solution the solution of silver nitrate, stirring the mixture constantly. 
Filter and wash the precipitate thoroughly with distilled water, and dry the 
product upon unsized paper. According to H. Vogel a slight excess of the potas- 
sium iodide insures greater stability of the salt when exposed to light. " Silver 
iodide should be kept in dark amber-colored vials, protected from light"- 
(K S. P.\ 
Description and Tests.-The Pharmacopoeia describes silver iodide as " a 
heavy, amorphous, light-yellowish powTder, unaltered by light, if pure, but gen- 
erally becoming somewhat greenish-yellow, and having neither odor nor taste. 
Insoluble in water, alcohol, diluted acids, or in solution of ammonium carbonate, 
but soluble in about 2500 parts of stronger ammonia water. It is also dissolved 
by an aqueous solution of potassium cyanide and by a concentrated solution of 
potassium iodide, and the resulting solutions yield a black precipitate with 
hydrogen sulphide T.S. or ammonium sulphide T.S. When heated to about 400° 
C. (752° F.), the salt melts to a dark red liquid, which, on cooling, congeals to a 
soft, yellow, slightly transparent mass. When mixed with ammonia water it 
turns white, but regains its yellowish color upon being washed with water. If 
a small quantity of chlorine water be agitated with an excess of the salt, the fil- 
trate acquires a dark blue color on the addition of starch T.S. If 0.-5 Gm. of the 
salt be digested for five minutes with 10 Cc. of a cold 15 per cent solution of 
ammonium carbonate, the filtrate, when supersaturated with nitric acid, should 
not be rendered more than faintly opalescent (absence of chloride). On digesting 
a portion of the salt-which has been found to be free from chloride, or from 
which the latter has been completely removed by repeated digestion with ammon- 
ium carbonate-for five minutes with 10 Cc. of ammonia water, and supersatur- 
ating the filtrate with nitric acid, only a slight opalescence, but no yellowish- 
white precipitate, should be produced (absence of bromide)"-(U. S. P.}. This 
salt sublimes at a white heat. When strongly heated on charcoal with a blow- 
pipe flame it ignites, producing a green blaze and giving off a white smoke, leav- 
ing a small residue of metallic silver. When this salt is fused it assumes yellow, 
red, and deep-brown hues, according to the degree of heat employed. Water 
reprecipitates it from its potassium iodide solution. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-A practically obsolete medicine, 
formerly given in £ grain to 2 grain doses in xvhooping-cough, asthma, chorea^ visceral 271 
ARGENTI NITRAS. 
neuralgia, and syphilis. Dr. Charles Patterson, of Dublin, found it to act in vari- 
ous diseases as a substitute for nitrate of silver, producing its therapeutical influ- 
ences without discoloring the skin. The dose for an adult is 1 or 2 grains, in 
pill, every 3 or 4 hours. 
ARGENTI NITRAS (U. S. P.)-SILVER NITRATE. 
Formula: AgNO3. Molecular Weight : 169.55. 
Preparation.-"Two parts of pure silver in small pieces are to be dissolved 
in 3 parts of pure nitric acid, specific gravity 1.41, diluted with 1| parts of dis- 
tilled water, at a gentle sand-bath heat, and the clear solution-after decanting 
and filtering the last portions, if necessary-evaporated in a porcelain dish, at 
first over an open fire, and afterward, when it has become thick, under constant 
stirring with a glass rod, to perfect dryness in a sand-bath. On account of the 
nitrous vapors that are evolved this process should be performed under a chimney 
with a good draught. If the crystallized salt is required, the dried mass is 
again dissolved in its weight of distilled water, and allowed slowly to evaporate 
in a sand-bath to about half; it is then placed for some days in a cool spot, the 
mother liquors poured from the separated crystals, and again slowly evaporated. 
The crystals are not dried on paper, but drained in the vessel in which they 
formed, dried and kept in a bottle excluded from the light. When required in 
sticks a portion is fused over a spirit lamp, in a porcelain dish, being constantly 
stirred with a glass rod, and the liquid mass poured into a bright iron mold that 
has been previously warmed. The sticks as soon as cold are removed, and the 
tubes wiped with dry filtering paper, to remove any adhering salt. Eight parts 
of pure silver yield 12 parts of nitrate" (Witt.). The reaction involved in this 
process is as follows: Ag3-j-4HNO3=3AgNO3-|-NO+2H2O. NO+O-NO2. 
All organic matter must, from this as well as all other silver salts, be care- 
fully excluded, as they facilitate their reduction and discoloration, consequently 
the crystals must not be dried on filtering paper. It is sometimes recommended 
to rub the surface of the mold with oil, but this is unnecessary and inadvisable, 
as the sticks slide equally well out of the dry and polished cylinders, and the oil 
will cause a gray appearance on their outer surface. The salt must be poured 
into the mold as soon as it is liquefied, because it soon begins to evolve nitric 
acid, and the oxide formed becomes reduced to a gray metallic covering which is 
prejudicial to the appearance of the preparation. If such a pellicle has formed 
(it will mostly remain in the dish after pouring out the fluid portion) a few 
drops of pure nitric acid must be added to the next portion of the salt, previous 
to fusing it. The salt must not be fused in an iron vessel. 
Description.-"Colorless, transparent, tabular, rhombic crystals, becoming 
gray or grayish-black on exposure to light in presence of organic matter; with- 
out odor, but having a bitter, caustic, and strongly metallic taste. Soluble 
at 15° C. (59° F.) in 0.6 part of water and in 26 parts of alcohol; in 0.1 part of 
boiling water, and in 5 parts of boiling alcohol. When heated to about 200° C. 
(392° F.) the salt melts, forming a faintly yellow liquid, which, on cooling, con- 
geals to a pure white, crystalline mass. At a higher temperature it is gradually 
decomposed with evolution of nitrous vapors"-([7. S. P). The presence of 
hydrogen sulphide will also cause the crystals of silver nitrate to turn black. 
The sticks or rods of the salt are at first white, but from the action of light and 
organic matter become grayish, and when broken they present a crystalline tex- 
ture with a radiated surface. They differ from the crystallized nitrate only in 
form and color, and do not contain any water of crystallization, as has been sup- 
posed. Nitrate of silver, especially in solution, should always be kept in dark, 
amber-colored bottles with glass stoppers, as cork quickly decomposes it. It is a 
heavy, non-deliquescent, anhydrous salt, and is incompatibletvith all waters con- 
taining salt, phosphorus, charcoal, vegetable astringent solutions, chlorides, most, 
acids and their salts, earths, and alkaline solutions. Its specific gravity is 3.521. 
It corrodes the soft tissues, and in contact with the hair, skin, nails, linen, and 
almost all organic substances, it produces stains of an indelible black-(Ed.). 
Stains of nitrate of silver may be removed by first applying a strong solution of 272 
ARGENTI NITRAP. 
iodide of potassium, and afterward a solution of hyposulphite of sodium; or a 
solution of cyanide of potassium will remove them ; or the application of tincture 
of iodine, and afterward liquor potass®, or solution of sodium hyposulphite. 
Tests.-Fused nitrate of silver almost always contains a small proportion of 
free silver when in sticks, w'hich may be known by the undissolved black powder 
present in its solution in distilled water. Precipitate a solution of nitrate of sil- 
ver by an excess of chloride of sodium ; if this precipitate is entirely soluble in 
ammonia the salt is pure; if not, lead is present. Hydrogen sulphide gas passed 
through the liquid, after having removed the above precipitate, gives a white pre- 
cipitate if zinc be present, and black if there be any copper. Nitrate of potassium 
may be suspected when a colorless fracture is presented upon breaking the sticks, 
and when the salt is entirely soluble without the black powder sediment. It is 
readily distinguished by precipitating all the silver as chloride by means of hydro- 
chloric acid, and evaporating to dryness, when the nitrate of potassium will be 
found in the residue. "An aqueous solution of the salt is neutral to litmus paper, 
and yields, with hydrochloric acid, a white precipitate, which is readily dissolved 
without color (absence of copper) by ammonia water. If 5 Cc. of a 10-per-cent 
aqueous solution of the salt be mixed with 20 Cc. of diluted sulphuric acid, and 
heated to boiling, no turbidity should be perceptible (absence of lead). If another 
portion of the aqueous solution be completely precipitated by hydrochloric acid, 
and the filtrate evaporated to dryness, no residue should be left (absence of foreign 
salts). 0.34 (0.3391) Gm. of silver nitrate dissolved in 10 Cc. of water should 
require, for complete precipitation, 20 Cc. of decinormal sodium chloride V.S. 
(corresponding to 100 per cent of the pure salt) "-(U. S. P.}. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Applied to the tissues silver nitrate 
coagulates the albumen and fibrin of the parts, forming a white pellicle, which 
may become dark and quickly dries. Intense smarting or burning pain attends 
its application. Ulceration and sloughing may supervene from its use as a caus- 
tic, but the mitigated stick and the solutions are quite superficial in action. It 
stains the tissues dark or black, which stains may be permanent if often repeated. 
When swallowed, pain, heat, and vomiting, and other distress indicative of an 
irritant poison are experienced. There may be a feeble pulse, cold, clammy per- 
spiration, anaesthesia, unconsciousness, loss of muscular power, and convulsions. 
Paralysis of central origin may result from its use. The only symptom from its 
long-continued use internally in small doses is a peculiar dark line upon the gums 
and conjunctiva, followed by a discoloration of the skin of a dingy or slate color. 
This condition, known as argyria, is permanent, and is produced by the deposit 
of silver in metallic form in tlie pigmentary portion of the skin. 
Some practitioners consider this salt a tonic and nerve-stimulant, allaying 
irritability of the nerve centers, and improving nutrition, and employ it to fulfil 
these indications in epilepsy, chorea, angina pectoris, etc., as wrell as administering it 
in intestinal ulceration during typhoid fever, diarrhoea, etc. It has largely lost favor 
in these complaints, though it is recommended by some as an internal agent in 
perforating gastric ulcer, gastric catarrh, flatulent dyspepsia, and gastralgia. Also in 
ulcerative or non-ulcerative chronic diarrhoea, dysentery, with pinkish blood- 
streaked mucoid discharges, and in cholera infantum to allay chronic irritation 
and assist the recuperative powers of the membranes when feeble. The dose for 
this purpose should be very small, from to grain; some recommend 
from £ to grain. We believe we possess better remedies for these disorders. 
However, it is seldom used as an internal agent, but externally as an escharotic, 
either in the solid form, or dissolved in distilled water. It has been beneficially 
applied to sluggish ulcers, warts, and other growths, fungous flesh, chancres, 
and in ulcers of the cornea, some forms of ophthalmia, granulation of the lids, 
fetid discharges from the ear, aphthous affections of mouth, and spongy gums. It has 
likewise been recommended as a topical remedy in erysipelas and various other 
external inflammations, leucorrhoea, gonorrhoea, uterine ulcerations, granulations and 
excoriations, and stricture of theurethra (care should be had in its use in the urethra); 
also in ringivorm, and some other forms of chronic cutaneous diseases. A solution 
of it is highly recommended in chronic laryngitis, pharyngitis, pertussis, asthma, and 
venereal ulceration of the throat, applied by means of a sponge fastened to one end 
of a piece of whalebone. It has more recently been used in the form of spray in 273 
ARGENTI NITRAS. 
tracheal, laryngeat, nasal, and faucial diseases-1 to 10 grains of the salt to 1 fluid- 
ounce of distilled water, and sprayed upon the affected parts every day or two, or 
even oftener. A caustic solution should not be. passed into the lungs or bronchi. 
The solid stick is sometimes used in ulcerations of the throat and chilblains. A mod- 
ified nitrate of silver is much used in trachoma and other affections of the eye. In 
eye disorders the greater the inflammation the stronger should be the application, 
and as the severity of the symptoms decline the strength of the application should 
be reduced. In catarrhal trachoma a 25 percent solution or the mitigated stick 
may be used. In corneal ulcer a 5 per cent solution may be applied after curetting 
the lesions. In such ulcers, however, care should be had that no deposit of silver 
should take place and thereby obscure vision. Solutions of silver nitrate should 
not be dropped into the ear, but if to be applied should be carried upon cotton, or 
fused to a fine wire. Perforation of the drum refusing to heal after suppurative otitis 
media should be treated with the agent upon a wire, simply touching the margin of 
the perforation. Closure follows. Non-confluent exuberant granulations and redundant 
tissues, after operations, should be treated with it, either in solution or by stick. In 
gonorrhoeal ophthalmia and ophthalmia neonatorum: R Silver nitrate, grs. v to x; aqua 
dest., fl^i. Mix. Wash the eye well with warm water and apply (Locke). It is 
well to have salt water at hand to limit its action if desired. 
Gonorrhoea of the female is amenable to it, and for leucorrhoea dependent upon 
irritation and subacute inflammation: R Silver nitrate, grs. iii to iv; aqua dest., 
fl^i. Mix. Apply with a swab or syringe (Locke). In gonorrhoea of the male sil- 
ver nitrate in solution sometimes cures, but more often aggravates the disease. 
Painting the scrotum with a solution is said to sometimes abort epididymitis. 
Felons are occasionally aborted in the same manner. In erysipelas it is inferior to 
tincture of chloride of iron. 
In using silver nitrate if the pain be excessive from the application it may 
be at once relieved by washing the parts with a solution of common salt, which 
decomposes it, and converts it into the insoluble chloride of silver. The same 
article is an antidote to its poisonous effects when taken internally in too large 
doses. In obstinate or severe dysentery, after having first cleansed the rectum by 
an injection of soap and warm water, another injection, composed of nitrate of 
silver 10 grains, distilled water 1 fluid ounce, may be given, and repeated in an 
hour if necessary. The second or third injection is said to cure. For a child less 
than a year old, 1 grain of the nitrate to the fluid ounce of water, and so in pro- 
portion (W. H. Parsons, College Journal, Cincinnati, Ohio, III, 269). Its use in 
this manner has been practically abandoned, though it may be resorted to in 
extreme cases. The dark color of the skin produced by the internal use of nitrate 
of silver generally remains for life. A premonitory indication of this discoloration 
is the appearance of a dark-blue line along the margins of the gums, darker than 
that caused by the internal use of lead. Duncan states that it is said to be at last 
removed by a steady course of cream of tartar; and Pereira suggests to wash the 
body with diluted nitric acid daily, at the same time administering it internally. 
Others advise the use of iodide of potassium during the period of taking the silver 
salt. For the purpose of operating with greater safety in cavities where the frac- 
ture of the caustic might be dangerous, Chaissaignac employed nitrate of silver 
fused round a platinum wire; thus applied it adheres firmly to the wire, even 
when cracked; or aluminum wire might be substituted for the platinum. 
The dose of the crystals of nitrate of silver is from | to J of a grain, 
repeated 3 times a day, and gradually increased to 2 or 3 grains. It may be 
given in pill form with bread-crumb, or in solution largely diluted, but preferably 
in pill with some vegetable extract. When employed locally in solution its 
strength is varied, according to the condition of the parts to be acted upon and 
the character of the affection-^from 5 to 80 grains to the fluid ounce of water. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Intense tormina and tenesmus, with dis- 
charge of pinkish, blood-streaked mucus in dysentery, or pinkish, blood-streaked 
discharges in diarrhoea, with flatulence, mucorrhcea, and cardiac palpitation. 
Indelible Ink.-Indelible ink for marking linen, etc., owes its character to this salt. 
"An ink for marking linen has been largely used, which does not require a mordant, 
flows freely from the pen, does not require a strong or long-continued heat to develop the 
black mark, and which will not destroy the texture of the finest cambric. It is prepared 274 
ARGENTI NITRAS. 
thus: Dissolve nitrate of silver, 1 ounce, in a sufficient quantity of distilled water; also dis- 
solve crystallized carbonate of sodium, 1$ ounce, in sufficient distilled water. Mix the two 
solutions ; a precipitate ensues which must be collected and washed on a filter. Introduce the 
washed precipitate, still moist, into a Wedgewood mortar, and add to it tartaric acid 160 grains, 
rubbing them together until effervescence has ceased; add strong aqua ammoniee in sufficient 
quantity to dissolve the tartrate of silver (about 2 ounces); then mix in archil 2 fluid ounce; 
white sugar, 4 drachms; powdered gum arabic, 12 drachms, and add distilled water sufficient, 
if required, to make 6 fluid ounces of the whole mixture." (Adapted from Am. Jour, of Pharm., 
XIX, 103). 
Silver and Its Salts.-Argentum, Silver. Symbol: Ag. Atomic Weight: 107.66. 
Argentumpurificatum, Refined silver.. This well-known metal, called by the ancient alchemists 
Luna, or Diana, has been known from biblical times. Pliny mentions the preparation of 
silver in his writings. It is found in European countries, as Spain, Germany, Norway, and 
Russia, and also abundantly in Mexico, Peru, and the Western portion of the United States, 
all of these places yielding very rich argentiferous ores. It is also found native, often forming 
large masses. It is also found in combination with sulphur and various metals, notably lead, 
gold, copper, and arsenic, and with iodine, bromine, and chlorine. Sea water contains some 
silver. A large amount is obtained from galenite (lead sulphide), in which silver exists as a 
frequent accessory constituent. In fact, silver is often produced as a by-product in the pro- 
duction of lead, and vice versa. There are several methods of extracting silver from its ores. 
We will briefly notice but two. The first is the amalgamation process. The finely-powdered sil- 
ver ore, with sodium chloride is put into a reverberatory furnace and roasted, thereby pro- 
ducing silver chloride. The roasted mass is then mixed with water so as to form a thin paste, 
and agitated with scrap-iron in revolving casks, or cylinders, this process being conducted 
for many hours. The object of this is to abstract the chlorine, as is shown by the following 
equation: 2AgCl-(-Fe=FeCl2-|-Ag2. Then mercury is added, the agitation continuing until a 
silver-mercury amalgam is produced. This amalgam is then distilled, the mercury passing 
over, and the silver, often containing gold and copper, remains as a residue. A second method 
is that known as cupellation. If the argentiferous lead ore contains less than of 1 per cent of 
silver it is first put through Pattison's process of concentration-that is, of melting it and 
allowing it to partially cool, on which lead crystals separate, which are removed with a 
strainer-ladle. This leaves a richer alloy behind, which is remelted, and the foregoing pro- 
cess repeated until the alloy is so rich as to contain at least 300 ounces of metallic silver to the 
ton. This is then cupelled-that is, melted, in the presence of an air-blast, on a porous, bone-, 
ash bed, the lead becoming oxidized as litharge, while nearly pure silver remains. Silver 
obtained in this manner on a large scale is always contaminated with other metals. There 
are several methods of purification. One of these is to separate the silver in the form of 
insoluble silver chloride by precipitating a nitric acid solution of the metal with hydrochloric 
acid and washing the precipitate well with distilled water. Boiling thisprecipitate with sodium 
carbonate and glucose reduces it to a powder of metallic silver, which, after being thoroughly 
washed with acetic acid and distilled water, may be fused as pure silver. Silver is a soft, 
white, brilliant, tough metal, malleable and capable of taking a high polish. It may crystallize 
in regular octohedrons. It may be hammered into a thin leaf known as argentum foliatum or 
silver leaf, and it is so ductile that it may be drawn into a fine silver wire. It is the best con- 
ductor of heat and the electrical current. It volatilizes, boils, and distills completely at a white 
heat produced in the oxyhydrogen flame. At 1000° C. (1832° F.) it fuses with the absorption 
of oxygen, which is expelled when the silver cools, exhibiting the peculiar phenomenon 
known as the " spitting" of silver. At the ordinary temperature or at a red heat it refuses to 
oxidize. Hydrochloric acid does not dissolve silver, but it is easily dissolved by nitric acid. 
Exposed to the air it becomes superficially tarnished by the hydrogen sulphide of the atmos- 
phere. Sulphur unites with it to form a sulphide, as is seen when a silver spoon is blackened 
by eggs, onions, etc. Silver precipitated from solutions by various reducing agents may be 
obtained in several allotropic forms, some soluble, and most of them capable of being pow- 
dered by trituration. The modifications are variously colored, green, lilac, blue, reddish-brown, 
and gold-colored, according to the substance employed as a reducing agent (see Carey Lea, A. 
P. A. Proceedings, 1890-91-92). The density of silver varies, distilled silver being 10.575; pressed 
silver, 10.57, and fused silver, 10.42 to 10.51. Silver is not used in medicine, except as silver- 
leaf for coating pills. It is largely used for silvering appliances and instruments, and furn- 
ishes silver sutures for the surgeon. It is extensively used in the arts for plating purposes, 
and is an all-important agency in photography. Combined with varying amounts of copper 
to give it hardness, it furnishes the silver coin of the world. Of its salts the nitrate is the 
most important. 
Argenti Chloridum (AgCl.), Silver chloride.-Prepared by adding to a silver nitrate 
solution one of common salt in excess (or hydrochloric acid) until it no longer precipitates. 
A white curdy substance is formed, which agglutinates upon shaking. If exposed to light it 
darkens. Filter and dry in the dark at a gentle heat. The caustic alkalies, but not the alka- 
line carbonates, decompose it, producing silver oxide. When found native this salt has been 
called horn silver. It is soluble in 3072 parts of water, soluble in ammonia, and gradually 
acquires a purple color on exposure to the air. At 260° C. (500° F.) it fuses, and on cooling 
forms a gray, semi-transparent mass, called luna cornea, from its resemblance to horn. Its 
specific gravity is 5.129; that of the native chloride is 5.552. This salt was recommended by 
Dr. Perry in epileptic disease, chronic affections of the bowels, and as a substitute in many diseases 
for the nitrate of silver, in doses of 2 or 3 grains every 3 or 4 hours. It is generally used in doses 
of from 1 to 3 grains 3 or 4 times a day in complaints in which silver nitrate is employed. ARGENTI NITRAS DILUTUS.-ARGENTI NITRAS FUSUS. 
275 
Silver Ammonio-Chloride crystallizes in cubes when a heated solution of ammonia is 
saturated with silver chloride, and the mixture allowed to cool in closed bottles. In doses of 
grain, it has been employed in syphilitic disorders. 
ARGENTI NITRAS DILUTUS (U. S. P.)-DILUTED SILVER 
NITRATE. 
Synonyms: Mitigated caustic, Argenti et potassii nitras, Lapis infernalis nitratus, 
Argentum nitricum fusum mitigatum, Nitrate of silver and potassium. 
Preparation.-" Silver nitrate, thirty grammes (30 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 25 grs.] ; 
potassium nitrate, sixty grammes (60 Gm.) [2 oz. av., 51 grs.]. Melt the salts 
together in a porcelain crucible, at as low a temperature as possible, stirring the 
melted masses well until it flows smoothly. Then cast it into suitable molds. 
Keep the product in dark, amber-colored vials "-(U. S. P.). 
This preparation is a mitigated form of fused silver nitrate, containing 
33| per cent of pure argentic nitrate. If sodium nitrate (Chili saltpeter) be sub- 
stituted for potassium nitrate the pencils are liable to become hygroscopic on the 
surface if exposed to moist air. The addition of the potassium salt, like the sil- 
ver chloride in molded silver nitrate, renders it opaque and less fragile than pure 
fused argentic nitrate, and is employed in this form especially as diluent. The 
diluted silver nitrate of the U. S. P., 1880 (Lunar Caustic, No. 3), contained 50 per 
cent of silver nitrate; a commercial form, containing 67 per cent of silver salt, 
has long been known as "Lunar Caustic, No. 2." 
Description and Tests.-"A white, hard solid, generally in the form of pen- 
cils or cones of a finely granular fracture, becoming gray or grayish-black on 
exposure to light in presence of organic matter; odorless, having a caustic, metal- 
lic taste, and neutral to litmus paper. Each of its constituents retains the solu- 
bility in water and in alcohol mentioned, respectively, under argenti nitras and 
potassii nitras. An aqueous solution of diluted silver nitrate yields, with a slight 
excess of hydrochloric acid, a white precipitate, which is readily soluble in am- 
monia water. The filtrate from this precipitate, when evaporated to dryness, 
yields a white residue which is completely soluble in water, and this solution 
affords a yellow, crystalline precipitate with platinic chloride T.S. and a white, 
crystalline precipitate with sodium bitartrate T.S. If to an aqueous solution of 
diluted silver nitrate a slight excess of ammonia water be added, it should neither 
assume a blue color (absence of copper) nor show any turbidity (absence of lead 
and bismuth). If 1 Gm. of diluted silver nitrate, dissolved in 10 Cc. of water, 
be mixed with 20 Cc. of decinormal sodium chloride V.S. and a few drops of 
potassium chromate T.S., not more than 0.5 Cc. of decinormal silver nitrate V.S. 
should be required to impart to the liquid a permanent red color (corresponding 
to at least 33 per cent of pure silver nitrate) "-(U. S. P.). 
Action and Medical Uses.-Same as silver nitrate (which see) ; applicable 
where a mild application is desired. 
ARGENTI NITRAS FUSUS (U. S. P.)-MOLDED SILVER 
NITRATE. 
Synonyms: Lunar caustic, Lapis infernalis, Azotas argenticus fusus, Fused nitrate 
of silver, Nitras argenticus fusus. 
Preparation.-"Silver nitrate, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 oz. av., 
231 grs.] ; hydrochloric acid, four grammes (4 Gm.) [62 grs.]. To the silver nitrate, 
contained in a porcelain capsule, add the hydrochloric acid, and melt the mixture 
at as low a temperature as possible. Stir well, and pour the melted mass into 
suitable molds. Keep the product in dark, amber-colored vials, protected from 
light"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, History, and Tests.-Pure fused nitrate of silver yields a very 
brittle pencil, hence the allowance of 5 per cent of chloride of silver in molded 
silver nitrate (as produced by the above process), giving the stick a greater degree of 
toughness, so that it can be more easily sharpened and used without readily 
breaking. This form of lunar caustic is the most economical on this account, 276 
ARGENTI OXIDUM. 
inasmuch as it lacks but little of being pure silver nitrate. The addition of silver 
chloride to the pure fused silver nitrate was proposed by Dr. E. R. Squibb, in 
The U. S. P. describes molded nitrate of silveras follows: "A white, hard 
solid, generally in the form of pencils or cones of a fibrous fracture, becoming 
gray or grayish-black on exposure to light in the presence of organic matter, odor- 
less, and having a bitter, caustic, and strongly metallic taste. Soluble at 15° C. 
(59° F.), with the exception of about 5 per cent of silver chloride, in 0.6 part of 
water and in 26 parts of alcohol; in 0.1 part of boiling water and in 5 parts of 
boiling alcohol. The portion left undissolved by water should be completely 
soluble in ammonia water. A clear, aqueous solution of the salt, decanted from 
the insoluble portion, should be neutral to litmus paper, and should respond to 
the tests of identity and purity mentioned under argenti nitras. If 0.34 Gm. of 
molded silver nitrate, dissolved as completely as possible in 10 Cc. of water, be 
mixed with 20 Cc. of decinormal sodium chloride V.S. and a few drops of potas- 
sium chromate T.S., not more than 1 Cc. of decinormal silver nitrate V.S. should 
be required to impart to the liquid a permanent red color (corresponding to 95 
per cent of pure silver nitrate) "-(U. S. P.). 
Action and Medical Uses.-(See Silver nitrate). 
ARGENTI OXIDUM (U. S. P.)-SILVER OXIDE. 
Formula: Ag2O. Molecular Weight: 231.28. 
Synonyms : Argentum oxy datum, Argentic oxide, Oxidum argenticum. 
"Silver oxide should be kept in dark, amber-colored vials. It should not be 
triturated with readily oxidizable or combustible substances, and should not be 
brought in contact with ammonia"-(U. S. P.). 
Preparation.-To a solution of nitrate of silver add a solution of caustic 
potash as long as any precipitate falls; collect the brown precipitate on a filter, 
wash it repeatedly until the washings are almost tasteless, and dry it at a heat of 
about 82.2° C. (180° F.). This is practically the process of the U. S. P., 1870. 
The British process is: " Take of nitrate of silver, in crystals, jounce (av.); 
solution of lime, 3^ pints (Imp.); distilled water, 10 fluid ounces. Dissolve the 
nitrate of silver in 4 ounces of the distilled water, and, having poured the solu- 
tion into a bottle containing the solution of lime, shake the mixture well, and 
set it aside to allow the deposit to settle. Draw off the supernatant liquid, collect 
the deposit on a filter, wash it with the remainder of the distilled water, and dry 
it at a temperature not exceeding 100° C. (212° F.). Keep it in a stoppered bot- 
tle "-{British Pharmacopoeia). 
It is essential in these processes that the absence of chlorides and carbonates 
be insured, lest the product become contaminated with silver chloride or carbon- 
ate. The silver nitrate is decomposed, and accordingly, as lime or potassa is em- 
ployed, the result will be the precipitation of silver oxide and calcium or potas- 
sium nitrate. Gregory recommendedits preparation from freshly prepared, moist 
silver chloride, boiling it with solution of potassa (in excess) until diluted nitric 
acid would dissolve a portion of the product. By this method a black or blue- 
black powder is obtained. 
Description and Tests.-"A heavy, dark, brownish-black powder, liable to 
reduction by exposure to light, odorless, and having a metallic taste. Very 
slightly soluble in water, to which it imparts an alkaline reaction, and insoluble 
in alcohol, but readily and completely soluble in nitric acid without effervescence 
(absence of carbonate). When heated to about 250° to 300° 0. (482° to 572° F.) 
it is rapidly decomposed, with the evolution of oxygen, and leaving a residue of 
metallic silver"-(U. S. P.). This body readily gives up its oxygen, hence the 
caution given at the head of this article. When exposed to sunlight it turns 
black, giving off oxygen, a change which slowly takes place in the mere light, 
and rapidly when heated. When kept moist it gradually changes to a carbonate. 
It is insoluble in the fixed alkalies, readily soluble in ammonia, and about 3000 
parts of water dissolves 1 part of the oxide. With caustic ammonia it forms a 
black fulminating powder {Berthollet's fulminating silver), on which account the ARMORACIA. 
277 
experimenter should be careful about using ammonia withit, or for preparing 
it, as it is always attended with danger. Dangerously explosive black crystals of 
the same are deposited from the ammoniacal solution. " The solution of the 
oxide in nitric acid should be colorless, and should respond to the reactions and 
tests mentioned under silver nitrate (see argenti nitras). If 0.5 Gm. of the oxide 
be ignited in a porcelain crucible, it should yield 0.465 Gm. (or 93.1 per cent) of 
metallic silver"- (U S. R). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The internal uses of this agent are 
much the same as those of silver nitrate, though it is less energetic. Oxide of sil- 
ver has been employed in neuralgic and irritable conditions of the stomach and 
bowels, in dyspepsia, water-brash, chronic diarrhoea, and dysentery, epilepsy, etc. In 
uterine diseases, attended with great irritability and augmented discharges, it has 
been found especially beneficial, as in hysteralgia, menorrhagia, dysmenorrhoea, and 
leucorrhoea. Its use has occasioned salivation. Pereira states that its long-con- 
tinued use will occasion a permanent coloration of the skin. A drachm of the 
oxide to 1 ounce of lard forms an ointment, which has been used in irritable ulcers, 
both syphilitic and non-syphilitic, in sore nipples, and in gonorrhoea, applied to the 
urethra by means of a bougie. The dose is from £ grain to 2 grains, 2 or 3 times 
a day, in the form of a pill or powder. 
ARMORACIA. -HORSERADISH. 
The fresh root of Cochlearia Annoracia, Linne (^Cochlearia rusticana, Lamarck; 
Annoracia rusticana, G®rtner; Annoracia sativa, Heller). 
Nat. Ord.-Crucifer®. 
Common Name : Horseradish. 
Botanical Source.-Horseradish root, very tenacious of life, is a peren- 
nial, thick, tapering, white, long, acrid, and from which arise many large leaves. 
From the center a round or angular, smooth, erect, branching stem arises, about 2 
feet in height; those branches which flower are corymbose, smooth, and angular. 
The radical leaves are nearly a foot long, half as wide, oblong, crenately-toothed, 
waved, sometimes pinnatifid, of a dark-green color, and upon long, channeled 
petioles; the cauline leaves are smaller, lanceolate, dentate, or incised, sessile, 
sometimes entire, and without footstalks; the lower ones are often pinnatifid. 
The flowers are numerous, small, white, peduncled, and borne in terminal corym- 
bose racemes. Calyx ovate, spreading, and equal at the base; sepals four, concave. 
Petals obovate, obtuse, entire, claw-like. Stamens without teeth, the length of 
the calyx; anthers cordate; silicle sessile, oblong, or ovoid-globose, and com- 
pressed; dissepiment thin; valves ventricose, thickish ; cells many seeded; seeds 
not bordered, and cotyledons flat and accumbent (G.-W.-L.). 
History and Description.-This well-known succulent plant is a native of 
Europe, and extensively cultivated for the use of its root as a condiment. It 
flowers in June. The fresh root is the official part, and should be dug in the 
autumn, as its acrimony is then the strongest; it may be preserved for some time 
fresh by burying it in a cool place in sand. The root is whitish-yellow extern- 
ally, white internally, of various lengths tapering to a point, from | inch to 2 
inches or more in diameter at its thickest part, fibrous, fleshy, succulent, of a very 
pungent taste and odor, producing a flow of tears, and when smelt, violent sneez- 
ing. The root is surmounted by several annulated heads. It breaks with a 
short fracture. Water, alcohol, or vinegar extracts its properties, which are due 
to the presence of a volatile oil, and which is dissipated by heat or desiccation. 
Fresh aconite root has been eaten by mistake for horseradish, probably on account 
of their somewhat similar appearance and odor when fresh. 
Chemical Composition.-This root contains a volatile oil, its principal con- 
stituent, which passes over when the root is distilled with water; it is of a light- 
yellow color, possessing the pungent properties of the plant in a high degree, 
causing irritation and even blistering when in contact with the skin. It is sup- 
posed to be perfectly identical with the volatile oil of mustard, and is obtained in 
minute proportion, 6 parts only of the oil being procured from 10,000 of the 
root. It is believed not to exist already formed in the unbroken root, but to be 278 
ARNICA. 
developed by the mutual reaction of its constituents when the root is bruised. Dr. 
A.W. Hoffman, however, has found these two oils to be entirely different, the oil 
of cochlearia boiling at 160° C. (320° F.), while the oil of mustard boils at 146.6° 
C. (296° F.) ; treated with ammonia the oil of horseradish yields a beautifully crys- 
tallizing substance, thiosinamin, which fuses at 135° C. (275° F.). The dried 
root possesses no pungency, and yields no volatile oil when distilled with water, 
unless white mustard be added, the myrosin of the mustard supplying some nec- 
essary principle destroyed by desiccation. In addition the root contains a bitter 
resin, sugar, gum, starch, extractive, albumen, acetic acid, acetate and sulphate 
of calcium, water, and lignin. Various other salts and acids were found in the 
ash by Hilger. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Stimulant, sialagogue, diuretic, anti- 
scorbutic, and rubefacient. The pungent and acrid nature of the fresh root, with 
the faucial and nasal irritation and consequent lachrymation, are well-known 
effects to those who use it as a condiment. Burning pain at the epigastrium, 
nausea, and vomiting follow an immoderate dose. Externally applied it is rube- 
facient and may vesicate. It promotes all the secretions, the urinary in particu- 
lar, and stimulates the stomach when this organ is enfeebled. By its sialagogue 
and stimulant effects upon the gastric membranes it promotes digestion. The 
infusion is emetic. It has been used with advantage in chronic affections attended 
with debility of the digestive organs, and of the general system, as in paralysis, 
rheumatism, dropsy, and as an antiscorbutic in scurvy. In dropsy an infusion of the 
root in cider, ancl drank as warm as could be borne, in large quantities and freely, 
the patient being warmly covered up, has caused copious diuresis and diaphoresis, 
and cured the disease in a few weeks; the operation being repeated nightly, or as 
the strength of the patient would permit. Horseradish was formerly mucb em- 
ployed to produce abortion, frequently effecting this object, when other internal 
agents failed; it was used as follows: A saturated infusion of the recent roots 
in whiskey was made, of which 4 fluid ounces was the dose, repeating it 3 or 4 
times every day, and continuing its use until the desired effect was produced. 
Locally the vinegar infusion is said to remove tan and freckles. The grated root, 
with sugar and water to form a syrup, is excellent for hoarseness; a spoonful or 
two may be swallowed as occasion requires. It has been also used externally as 
a rubefacient. Dose of the root grated, from 1 to 2 drachms. 
The Cochlearia officinalis, or Scurvy grass, is seldom used in medicine; it pos- 
sesses similar properties. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Hoarseness from relaxed faucial tissues; 
gastric debility. It is a remedy for atonic conditions only. 
ARNICA.-ARNICA. 
The flower heads, rhizome, and roots of the Arnica montana, Linn6. 
Nat. Ord.-Composite. 
Common Names : Arnica, Leopard's bane. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 158. 
Botanical Source.-Arnica montana is a rather hairy plant, with a dark or 
blackish root, from which are given off numerous radicles. The stem is simple, 
pubescent, rough, obscurely angled, striated; one to three-headed and 
from 10 to 12 inches in height. The leaves are entire and opposite ; 
the radical ones obovate or oblong, ciliated, five-nerved; the cauline in 
one or two pairs. The flowers are large, orange-yellow; in erect or 
drooping heads. The involucre is cylindrical and rough with glands. 
There are many tubular, five-lobed disk-florets, and about fourteen 
strap-shaped, three-toothed, striated ray-florets, dowmy at the base. 
The achenia are somewhat cylindrical, downy, ribbed, and blackish, 
with a straw-colored, hairy pappus. 
History and Description.-This perennial herb inhabits Siberia; 
also the cooler parts of Europe from the sea coast to the limits of 
constant snow; in moist, shady situations, flowering in June and 
July; it is likewise found in the northwestern parts of the United 
Fie. 29. 
Arnica mon- 
tana. ARNICA. 
279 
States The whole plant has been used in medicine; more especially the flow- 
ers. The flowers are compound, radiated, yellow, with a calyx of linear equal 
follicles, the length of the disc, ligulate, floscules twice the length of the disc, two 
lines broad, three-toothed, with a sessile pappus, fragile and somewhat scabrous; 
taste acrid and bitterish; the dust is unpleasant, and causes sneezing. The 
odor is unpleasant, but is much diminished, as well as the taste, by drying. They 
yield their properties to water or alcohol. The dried root is about the thickness 
of a small quill, flexuous, bark brown externally, rugose longitudinally, with a 
somewhat hard, whitish wood, larger pith, and long, dense radicles on one side; 
its taste is aromatic, acrid, and slightly bitter. It should be gathered in the 
spring. Arnica flowers are liable to adulteration with various composite flower- 
heads, as anthemis, inula, and calendula. As these differ considerably botanic- 
ally, there will be no difficulty in detecting the spurious flower-heads. 
The Pharmacopoeia of the United States gives the following descriptions of the 
flowersand rhizome: 
Arnica Flores (U. S. P), Arnica flowers.-" Heads about 3 Cm. (1| inches) 
broad, depressed-roundish, consisting of a scaly involucre in two rows, and a 
small, nearly flat, hairy receptacle, bearing about 16 yellow, strap-shaped, ten- 
nerved ray-florets, and numerous yellow, five-toothed, tubular disk-florets, hav- 
ing slender, spindle-shaped achenes, crowned by a hairy pappus. Odor feeble, 
aromatic; taste bitter and acrid "-(U. S. P). 
Arnica Radix (U. S. P.), Arnica root.-"Rhizome about 5 Cm. (1| inches) 
long and 3 or 4 Mm. (| to £ inch) thick; externally brown, rough from leaf-scars; 
internally whitish, with a rather thick bark, containing a circle of resin-cells, 
surrounding the short, yellowish wood-wedges, and large, spongy pith. The 
roots numerous, thin, fragile, grayish-brown, with a thick bark containing a 
circle of resin-cells. Odor somewhat aromatic; taste pungently aromatic and 
bitter"-(U. S. P.). 
Chemical Composition.-Pfaff found the root to contain volatile oil, acrid 
resin, extractive, gum and woody fiber. Chevallier and Lassaigne found- the 
flowers to contain resin, a bitter, nauseous substance resembling cytisin, gallic 
acid, a yellow coloring matter, albumen, gum, chloride and phosphate of potas- 
sium, traces of sulphates, carbonate of calcium, and silica (T.). 
In 1851 Mr. Bastick announced the existence of an alkaloid in the flowers, 
which he obtained in small quantity and called arnicina (arnicine). It is not vola- 
tile, bitter, slightly soluble in water, but more so in alcohol and ether. Its hydro- 
chlorate is crystallizable (P.). Two bodies, known as arnicin, and derived from 
both the flowers and rhizome, have subsequently been isolated by two observers- 
Pavesi in 1859, and Walz, in 1861. The principles are totally unlike, though bear- 
ing the same name. Pavesi's arnicin is a disagreeably bitter, viscid resin, of a 
deep-yellow color, dissolving easily in alkaline solutions, from which acids pre- 
cipitate it, and it dissolves sparingly and with difficulty in both ether and alco- 
hol. Walz's arnicin (sometimes written arnicine, though different from Bastick's 
alkaloid), on the contrary, is an acrid, amorphous, golden-yellow mass, dissolv- 
ing sparingly in water, and readily soluble in ether and alcohol. Alkalies also 
dissolve it. Recently arnicine was isolated from the flowers by Borner (Am. 
Jour, of Pharm., 1893), who found for it the formula, C12H22O2. It exists in 
the flowers to the extent of 4 per cent, and is obtainable from a concentrated ace- 
tone solution as a micro-crystalline mass, deliquescing after prolonged exposure, 
melts at 40° C (104° F.), and boils at 83° C. (181.4° F.); is golden-yellow, and 
easily soluble in ether, alcohol, acetone, benzole, insoluble in water and alkalies. 
He also found fat (glycerides of palmitic and lauric acids), and a hydrocarbon 
of the marsh-gas series. A small amount of angelic and formic acids have 
been obtained from arnica. ' Dragendorff obtained 10 per cent of inulin from the 
root (Pharmacographia). 
The volatile oil, which is obtained most plentifully from the green rhizome, 
abounds to the extent of from 0.5 to 1 per cent, and has a specific gravity of 0.990 
to 1.000 at 15° C. (59° F.), and contains iso-butyric acid, phlorol-ester, and thymo- 
hydro-quinone-dimethyl-ether (Schimmel & Co.'s Semi-Annual Report, October, 1893). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Locally arnica is irritant, the prepara- 
tions of the flowers being most powerful. Strong preparations should not be 280 
ARNICA. 
applied full strength, for in some instances of tender skin, or in accidents occur- 
ing after its use, an erysipelatous inflammation has followed. Even when used as 
a local dressing for wounds dangerous inflammation, with vesication, has occurred. 
Internally, in large doses, arnica causes heat in the throat, nausea, vomiting, 
purging, spasmodic contractions of the limbs, difficulty of respiration, and some- 
times inflammation of the alimentary canal, and coma. There is no known anti- 
dote to its poisonous influences; vegetable acids have been recommended. Two 
fluid ounces of the tincture has produced death. 
In small doses arnica accelerates the pulse, increases the perspiration, excites 
a flow of urine, and is said to occasionally cause headache and giddiness. It is 
esteemed as a stimulant in typhoid fever and other adynamic febrile diseases, in chronic 
palsy, and amenorrhcea; also as a tonic in chronic rheumatism, and as a tonic and 
diuretic in the asthenic forms of dropsy. In intermittent fever it has proved very 
successful; also in nyctalopia and amaurosis (the best remedy) ; and is reputed to 
be highly efficacious in constitutional derangements caused by powerful shocks to 
the brain, from thumps, kicks, etc., in internal pains, and congestions from bruises, 
deficient action of parts, etc. It has also been recommended in cases of deficient 
nervous sensibility, languid vascular action, and almost every disease where there 
is debility, torpor, or inactivity of function. The conditions calling for arnica are 
those with evidences of spinal innervation. As a specific stimulant to the spinal 
nerves it is exceedingly prompt in advanced stages of disease, with feeble respira- 
tory power and sleeplessness due to the same cause ; also in lack of control over 
the voluntary discharges. It is indicated in loto typhoid states, and in low forms of 
typhus fever, diarrhoea, and dysentery, always where there is marked depression 
and debility. In typhoid pneumonia, with marked asthenia and feeble circulation, 
great depression, low-muttering delirium, and tongue dry and loaded with foul 
mucus, it is one of the most efficient agents in use. Its action upon enfeebled 
respiratory efforts is much like that of phosphorus, as is also its effects in sexual 
debility from abuse, and in paralytic states of the orifices without active inflamma- 
tion, particularly in the aged. Small doses are very efficient in anemia with weak 
circulation, general debility, and especially when associated with diarrhoea and 
dropsy, provided no inflammation is present (Locke). It is a remedy for hectic 
fever, with diarrhoea or excessive sweating. In rheumatism, with cold skin and 
debility, it arouses nervous action and stimulates excretion. It is a good agent 
in myalgia, and one of the best in muscular soreness and pain dependent upon 
strains, over-exertion, or other injuries. Here it should be applied locally in 
weak solutions and taken internally. The nervous headache of the debilitated and 
depressed calls for it, as does debility of the cardiac muscle due to excitement, 
over-activity, or " heart-strain.'1'1 The dull aching in the prsecordiae, due to such 
over-action, is relieved by it. Prof. Scudder {Spec. Med.) writes: " I have fre- 
quently prescribed it for lame back, backache, and feelings of debility and sore- 
ness in the small of the back. It is only useful in those cases where there is 
feebleness, with deficient circulation ; but in these the influence is direct and 
permanent." 
Externally arnica is used in the form of an infusion, a fomentation, or diluted 
tincture of the flowers, both to prevent and discuss local inflammations, to remove 
ecchymosis, and as a dressing for cuts, lacerations, contusions, etc. For this purpose 
the infusion is attended with the least danger. The late Prof. J. M. Maisch pre- 
pared a fluid extract of arnica, which has been found very useful as an application 
for the bitesot mosquitoes and other insects, thus: Exhaust powdered arnica flow- 
ers, 1 pound, with diluted alcohol; filter; evaporate to the consistence of an 
extract, and redissolve this in 2 pints of ordinary alcohol. By adding 4 ounces 
of this fluid extract to 1 pint of glycerin, placing the mixture on a water-bath, so 
as to expel the alcohol, an elegant glycerole of arnica may be made; it may be made 
stronger if desired. This may be used in all cases where the local action of arnica 
is desired. 
Dose of the powder, 5 to 10 grains, 2 to 4 times a day; of the infusion, made 
by adding | ounce of the flowers to 1 pint of water, from h fluid ounce to 1 fluid 
ounce; of the extract, which is an excellent form of administration, from 1 to 10 
grains, 4 or 5 times a day. Of specific arnica, from 1 to 10 minims. In prepar- 
ing an infusion of the flowers they should be loosely tied in a bag in order to ARSENI IODIDUM. 
281 
prevent the down or fine fibers from getting into the infusion, or else they will 
cause troublesome irritation of the throat, nausea, and vomiting. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Muscular soreness and pain from strains 
or over-exertion ; .advanced stage of disease, with marked enfeeblement, weak cir- 
culation, and impaired spinal innervation; embarrassed respiration; lack of con- 
trol over urine and feces; spleeplessness from impeded respiration, and dull pnu- 
cordial pain from " heart-strain; " muscular pain and soreness when the limbs are 
moved; tensive backache, as if bruised or strained; cystitis, with bruised feeling in 
bladder, or from a fall or blow ; headache, with tensive, bruised feeling and pain 
on movement; hematuria, with dull, aching lumbar pain, or from over-exertion. 
All cases of debility with enfeebled circulation. 
Related Species.-Arnica foliosa, Nuttall. Northern and western United States, as far 
south as Colorado, growing in the mountain districts. This and the following species have 
flowers which resemble very much those of Arnica montana. 
Arnica alpina, Olin, United States. Distribution same as A. foliosa. 
Arnica nudicaulis, Elliott (Arnica Claytonia, Pursh). United States, from Virginia to Flor- 
ida, growing in damp, pine barrens and wet sands. Flowers in April and May. 
Arnica mollis, W. J. Hooker (Arnica lanceolata, Nuttall; Arnica Chamissonis, Lessing.) 
Mountainous regions of northern states, especially in New York and New Hampshire. Blooms 
in July. This and the preceding species are thought to have properties resembling those of 
Arnica montana. 
ARSENI IODIDUM (U. S. P.)-ARSENIC IODIDE. 
Formula: AsI3. Molecular Weight: 454.49. 
Synonyms: Arsenous iodide, Iodide of arsenic, Arsenii iodidum, Arsenicum joda- 
tum, Arsenum jodatum, Arsenici iodidum, loduretum arseniosum. 
Preparation.-Sixty (60) parts of pure, powdered, metallic arsenic are mixed 
with three hundred (300) parts of iodine, and the mixture fused in a flask. The 
operation must be performed under a Hue, with a good current of air, and the 
operator must avoid inhalation of the fumes. The foregoing method is in accord- 
ance with the U. S. P., 1880. Arsenic iodide forms an orange-red volatile, crystal- 
line solid, which is dissolved by cold water, and is a powerful preparation, combin- 
ing the effects of arsenous acid and iodine, and requiring great caution in its use. 
Description and Tests.-The Pharmacopoeia directs: "Glossy, orange-red, 
crystalline masses, or shining, orange-red, crystalline scales, having an iodine-like 
odor and taste, and gradually losing iodine on exposure to air and light. Soluble 
at 15° C. (59° F.) in 7 parts of water and in about 30 parts of alcohol; also solu- 
ble in ether and in carbon disulphide. The salt is gradually decomposed by boil- 
ing water and by boiling alcohol. By heat it is completely volatilized; and if it 
be heated with diluted nitric acid, vapor of iodine will be evolved. The aqueous 
solution of the salt has a yellow color, is neutral to litmus paper, and, on standing, 
gradually decomposes into arsenous and hydriodic acids. On adding hydrogen 
sulphide T.S. to the solution acidulated with hydrochloric acid, a lemon-yellow 
precipitate is produced"-(U. S. P.f If prepared by fusion, orange-red masses 
result, while the crystalline scales are produced by sublimation or by crystalliza- 
tion. "Arsenic iodide should be kept in glass-stoppered vials, in a cool place, pro- 
tected from light"-(U. S. Pi). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-In small doses this agent is alterative; 
in excessive doses an irritant poison like arsenic. The symptoms from small 
doses are dryness of the throat and intestinal canal, perspiration, and headache. 
Gastric derangement and faucial dryness are signals to stop its administration. 
Said to be useful in secondary syphilis, lupus, lepra, and other obstinate affections of 
the skin, with dry, burningpitching, and scaly eruptions, or scrofulous enlarge- 
ment of the glands (Webster). Like arsenic it undoubtedly retards the develop- 
ment of scirrhus of the breast in debilitated individuals. Internally its dose is 
grain, 3 times a day, in form of pill, gradually increasing to gram. Biett's 
ointment for cutaneous diseases is made of 1 part of the iodide to 192 parts of lard, 
of which 1 drachm may be used at a time. The solution may be made extem- 
poraneously by mixing together 1 part of compound solution of iodine and 4 parts 
of Fowler's solution, of which the dose is from 3 to 6 drops. 282 
ARSENI I0DIDUM. 
In epidemical hot weather diarrhoea of children, and in the marasmus follow- 
ing prolonged cholera infantum, the 6 x trituration, in 2 or 3-grain doses, every 
2 hours, is recommended by Webster. Hay fever, and old fetid and bleeding 
nasal catarrh, extending to the throat, is treated with the 3x trituration by Hale. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-"Chronic eczema, dyspepsia, feeble nutri- 
tion, weakness, debility, profuse, acrid, nasal discharge, causing erosion where it 
comes in contact with the skin. Three to 5 grains, third trituration, 3 times a 
day" (Watkin's Comp, of Ec. Med.f 
Arsenic and Its Compounds.-Arsenum, Arsenium, Arsenicum, Arsenic. Symbol: As. 
Atomic Weight: 74.9. Specific gravity, 5.73 to 5.96. This is a metallic substance of bluish- 
white color, not unlike that of steel, with a great deal of brilliancy. It is odorless, but when 
heated emits a strong odor of garlic. It is the softest of all the metallic bodies, and is very 
brittle and easily reduced to powder. At 180° C. (356° F.) it sublimes without melting. It 
may be kept under water without alteration ; but when exposed to the air it soon loses its lus- 
ter, and often becomes black and falls into powder. It combines with oxygen in two propor- 
tions, forming compounds which possess acid properties; namely, arsenous acid and arsenic acid, 
both combining with bases, forming arsenites in the former, and arsenates in the latter case. 
Arsenic exists free in small amounts, but is most abundant as arsenide of iron, nickel, or 
cobalt, and still more plentiful in the arsenic sulphides-realgar (As2S2) and orpiment (As2S3). 
It exists in large amounts in arsenical pyrites, or mispickel (FeS2.FeAs2). Native arsenic uncom- 
bined is often known as fly stone (cobaltum). Cobalt-glance has the composition, CoS2.CoAs2, 
and tin-white cobalt, CoAs2. From these ores, especially arsenical pyrites, metallic arsenic 
is obtained by sublimation and purified by resublimation with the addition of some powdered 
charcoal. 
Arsine, Hydrogen arsenide (AsH3), Arseniuretted hydrogen.-This colorless, poisonous gas is 
produced when arsenic or arsenous acids or oxides, or their salts, are acted upon by hydrogen 
in a nascent condition. It is familiar as the gas generated in applying Marsh's Testfor Arsenic 
(see Acidum Arsenosum). This gas has a strong odor of garlic, and when ignited burns with a 
bluish flame, evolving white, cloud-like vapors of arsenous oxide, at the same time liberating 
water. If, however, a cold plate of porcelain be held in the flame close to the orifice of the 
emission tube metallic arsenic will be deposited upon it as a mirror-like film. Glass or a plate 
may be used for the same test. Arseniuretted hydrogen has a specific gravity of 2.695. 
Realgar, Bed orpiment, Disulphide of arsenic (As2S2).-This mineral sulphide of arsenic 
occurs in beautiful scales of an orange-red color. It is volatilized by heat. It may be arti- 
ficially prepared by melting together 3 parts of sulphur and 5 parts of arsenic, when sulphur 
dioxide will be evolved. If ignited it produces a blue flame. A pyrotechnic mixture may be 
made of 2 parts of red orpiment, 7 parts of sulphur, and 25 parts of potassium nitrate, the 
latter, when mixed with red orpiment, causing it to give a white flame. This preparation 
is also used for signaling. It has been used as a pigment. 
Orpiment, Auripigmentum, Trisulphide, or Yellow sulphide of arsenic (As2S2), crystallizes in 
monoclinic prisms of yellow color, and is the same substance as that obtained artificially when 
a solution of arsenous acid in water, acidulated with hydrochloric acid, is precipitated by 
hydrogen sulphide gas. It has been used as a pigment under the name of King's yellow, but its 
use is now abandoned, owing to its poisonous properties, as it contains a large percentage of 
arsenous acid. It is prepared commercially by subliming a mixture of 7 parts of powdered 
arsenic trioxide and 1 part of sulphur. Chrome yellow is now used in its stead (R. ami S.). 
Mixed with a large quantity of slaked lime it acts as a depilatory. It is chiefly used in mak- 
ing pyrotechnic mixtures. 
Arsenous Bromide (AsBr3).-This salt is produced by the union of arsenic and bromine 
through the intervention of carbon disulphide. It is a deliquescent, crystalline body, devoid 
of color, and has a distinctive and peculiar odor. It fuses at near 20° C. (68° F), and begins to 
boil at 202° C. (428° F.). Its density is 3.86. In contact with water it is decomposed, produc- 
ing bromide of hydrogen and trisulphide of arsenic. This remedy was employed in solution 
by Clemens for the treatment of diabetes. 
Specific indications and uses.-" Choreic tendencies, asthma, anemia, soft, flabby skin. Ten 
to 20 drops (solution) in 4 fluid ounces of water; teaspoonful 3 times a day " (Watkin's Comp, 
of Ec. Med.). 
Arsenous Chloride (AsC13).-An intensely poisonous, oily fluid, without color, pro- 
duced by heating together and distilling arsenous acid and hydrochloric acid. It is volatile, 
and when dissolved in water is at once resolved into the acids used in preparing it, namely, 
arsenous and hydrochloric acids. Its boiling point is 134° C. (273.2° F.); its density, 2.205. 
Arsenic Oxide (As2O5), Arsenic pentoxide, Anhydrous arsenic, acid.-If arsenous acid be 
heated with an aqueous solution of nitric acid, arsenic acid (AsO4H3) is produced. If this solu- 
tion be evaporated, and the residue heated to 100° C. (212° F.), ortho-arsenic acid (AsO4H3) is 
left. It occurs as a white, heavy, solid mass, which, by its deliquescence, is converted into a 
corrosive, oily-appearing fluid, really arsenic acid, in concentrated solution. Ortho-arsenic 
acid (AsO4H3), heated to a temperature of 180° C. (356° F.), loses water and forms pyro-arsenic 
acid (As2O7H4 ). Upon further heating to a temperature of 200° C. (392° F.), water is again 
given off, resulting in the formation of meta-arsenic acid ( AsO3H.), a crystalline mass. In this 
respect the analogy between arsenic and phosphorus is evident. Unlike phosphorus, how- 
ever, meta-arsenic acid, upon further heating to a temperature just below red-heat, again loses 283 
ARUM. 
water and forms arsenic pentoxide. This, when subjected to a red heat, gives off oxygen and 
leaves arsenous oxide (As2O3). Water changes it into arsenic acid. Meta-arsenic and pyro-ar- 
senic acids may also be converted into arsenic (ortho-arsenic) acid when brought in contact with 
water. This compound, while poisonous, is less so than the lower oxide. It, as well as 
arsenic acid, is consumed considerably, chiefly as an oxidizing chemical in the production of 
aniline red (see Aniline. Dyes'). Arsenic acid forms salts (arsenates) corresponding with 
those of phosphoric acid. 
ARUM.-INDIAN TURNIP. 
The partially dried corm of the Arisaema triphyllum, Torrey (Arum triphyllum, 
Li one). 
Nat. Ord.-Araceae. 
Common Names: Indian turnip, Jack-in-the-pulpit, Dragon-root, Wake-robin. 
Illustrations: Willdenow, Sp. Plant IN, 480, as Arum triphyllum; also as 
same in Bigelow, Amer. Med. Bot. I, 52; Johnson's Med. Bot. of N. A., 263. 
Botanical Source.-Indian turnip has a round, flattened, perennial, rhizome 
(cormus), the upper part of which is tunicated like the onion, the lower and larger 
portion tuberous and fleshy, giving off numerous long, white 
radicles in a circle, from its upper edge; the under side is cov- 
ered with a dark, loose, wrinkled epidermis. The spathe is 
ovate, acuminate, convoluted into a tube at the bottom, flat- 
tened and bent over at the top like a hood, varying in color 
internally, being green, dark-purple, black, or variegated with 
pale-greenish stripes on a dark ground, supported by an erect, 
round, green, purple, or variegated scape, invested at the 
base by the petioles and their acute sheaths. The spadix, 
situated within the spathe, is club-shaped, shorter than the 
spathe, rounded at the end, green, purple, black, or variegated, 
contracted into a narrow neck at the base, where it is sur- 
rounded by the stamens or ovaries. In the fertile plants it 
is invested ^ith roundish, crowded ovaries, each tipped with 
a stigma; in the barren its base is covered with conical, fleshy 
filaments, each bearing from 2 to 4 circular anthers. Plants 
which are perfectly monoecious, and which are the least com- 
mon, have stamens below the ovaries. The upper portions of 
the spadix wither, together with the spathe, while the ovar- 
ies grow into a large, dense bunch of shining berries of a 
bright scarlet color. The leaves, generally one or two, are ternate and stand on 
long, sheathing footstalks. The leaflets are oval, mostly entire, acuminate, smooth, 
paler on the under side; becoming glaucous as the plant grows, the two lateral 
ones being somewhat rhomboidal. 
Description and History.-The corm is subglobular, depressed, or turnip- 
shaped, from 1$ to 2^ inches in diameter. The base is free, flat and corrugated, 
while the upper portion has a zone of rootlets surrounding the corm. Within it 
is milky-white, amylaceous, or mealy, while externally it is of a dark, brownish- 
gray color. It has no odor, and possesses an acrid, burning taste. When first 
dug it is fiercely acrid-too much so for internal employment; upon masticating 
it, it causes a persistent and intensely acrid impression upon the tongue, lips, and 
fauces, like that of a severe scald, with considerable prickling, and which is fol- 
lowed by slight inflammation and tenderness. Milk relieves this sensation, 
greatly modifying its intensity. It exerts no such influence upon the external 
skin, except upon long and continued application. The ordinary solvents, ether 
perhaps excepted, do not extract the acrid element, which is exceedingly volatile, 
the root rapidly losing its acrimony by age. It should always be used when par- 
tially dried. Its activity may be preserved for a year or more by burying the 
root in sand. This plant inhabits the American continent, in both hemispheres, 
being found in wet locations, and flowers from May to July. The whole plant 
is acrid, but the root is the only part employed. 
Chemical Composition.-In addition to its acrid principle it contains a large 
proportion of starch; also, gum, albumen, saccharine matter, calcium and potas- 
Fig. 30. 
Ariseema trlphyllum. 284 
ASAFCETIDA 
sium salts, and extractive. When the acrid property is driven off by heat, the 
root yields a pure, delicate, amylaceous matter, resembling the finest arrowroot, 
very white and nutritive. That raphides of oxalate of calcium give to the corm 
its acridity has been asserted by Weber (1891). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(For action of the fresh root see 
above.) Acrid, expectorant, and diaphoretic. Recommended in flatulence, croup, 
whooping-cough, stomatitis, asthma, chronic laryngitis, bronchitis, pains in the chest, colic, 
low stage of typhus, and various affections connected with a cachectic state of 
the system. Externally it has been used in scrofulous tumors, tinea capitis, and 
other cutaneous diseases. Its action in the prostration of low fevers with wild 
delirium is due to its effects upon the cerebral centers. It is reputed useful in 
cerebro-spinal fever and scarlatina, when delirium is present, when the tongue is 
swollen, red, and painful, and the buccal membranes inflamed. Chronic laryngitis, 
or minister's sore throat, with sudden hoarseness and aphonia, is specifically influ- 
enced by arum. It is also useful in ulceration of the larynx and pharynx. It is a 
good remedy, internally and locally, for aggravated red sore throat. The powdered 
root may be given in 10-grain doses, increased, if required, to 20 or 30 grains, and 
repeated every 3 or 4 hours. It may be taken in sweetened mucilage, syrup, or 
honey. Specific arum, to 10 drops. Its specific effects are best obtained by 
minute doses of the specific arum -to 4 drop doses. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Hoarseness and aphonia, with burning and 
constriction of the throat, and thin, ichorous, nasal discharge; intensely sore 
throat, with bleeding and fetor; a feeling of fullness or swelling of the mouth, 
throat, and tongue, the latter being red and sensitive. 
Related Species.-Arum maculatum, Linn£, Cuckoo-pint.-Europe. This plant is some- 
what similar to Indian turnip, possessing the same chemical components, with the addition 
thereto of saponin, fixed oil, and resin. Large doses of it have produced inflammation of the 
bucco-oesophageo-gastric tract, and fatal effects are recorded from its use. In times of famine 
the peasants have used the prepared corm in making bread. Small amounts of a starchy mate- 
rial were at onetime prepared from it on the Isle of Portland, England, and sold on the market 
as "Portland sago" or " Portland arrowroot." It was formerly official in the Dublin Pharma- 
copoeia. 
Colocasia antiquorum, Schott. {Arum Colccasia [sculentum], LinnA Caladium acre, Robert 
Brown. Caladium esculentum, Ventenat). The Fijian " Taro." This plant is cultivated in 
the Levant for its leaves, which are eaten like spinach {Treasury of Botany). The root well 
cooked is eaten by the Eijis. They call it taro and prefer to eat it cold. The whites prefer it 
roasted and served hot. These roots are largely used in Japan for food, having been catalogued 
in a Japanese exhibit in London as "Japanese potatoes" (Maiden, Nat. Plants of Australia). 
Styptic and astringent. Tubers used in India as fomentations in rheumatism. A single applica- 
tion of the juice of a slightly roasted petiole checks otorrhoea in children (Dymock, Mat. Med. 
Western India). The same arrests arterial hemorrhage {Pharm. India). Cultivated in gardens in 
the United States for decorative effects. 
Colocasia macrorrhiza, Schott. Tubers baked or roasted in cakes called hakkin, and used as 
food by the Queensland natives. 
Typhonium Brownii, Schott. {Arum orixense, Robert Brown). New South Wales to North 
Australia. Used as food like the Colocasia macrorrhiza. 
Richardia sethiopica, Kunth. (Calla wthiopica, LinnA) Egyptian calla. The starchy tuber 
of this ornamental plant has been used as food. 
Raphidophora vitiensis, Seemann. Nat. Ord.: Aracese. Fiji Islands. Source of Tonga, 
which is a mixture of leaves, bark, and fibrous wood sent to market tied up with cocoanut 
fiber. The stem of the tree is scraped to obtain the drug. It contains starch, raphides, potas- 
sium chloride, and tongine, a volatile alkaloid. Introduced by Ringer and Murrell as a remedy 
for neuralgia. The bark in the above mixture comes from a tree of another order (Verbenacese) 
-the Premna taitensis, De Candolle. It contains fat, volatile oil, sugar, and pectin (Gerard). 
ASAFCETIDA (U. S. P.)-ASAFCETIDA. 
"A gum-resin obtained from the root of Ferula foetida (Bunge), Regel"- 
(U. S. P.). {Ferula Narthex, Boissier; Scorodosma foetida, Bunge; Ferula asqfcetida, 
Linne; Narthex asafoetida, Falconer; Ferula Scorodosma, Bentley and Trimen). 
Nat. Ord.-Umbelliferae. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 127. 
Botanical Source.-This plant has a perennial fusiform root, several inches 
in diameter, with a coarse, hairy summit, either simple like a parsnip, or with ASAFOETIDA. 
285 
one or more forks; its bark is wrinkled, blackish ; 
its internal structure fleshy and white, contain- 
ing a large amount of a thick, milky, fetid, alli- 
aceous juice. The leaves are radical, springing 
up in the autumn, growing vigorously duriijg 
the winter, withering at the close of spring. 
They are several in number, 1^ feet long, shin- 
ing, coriaceous like those of lovage, glaucous- 
green, pinnated, with pinnatifid segments whose 
lobes are oblong and obtuse; the petioles terete, 
and channeled only at the base. The stem is 
herbaceous, 8 or 10 feet high, and about 6 inches 
in circumference at the base; it is solid, smooth, 
and clothed with membraneous sheaths. The 
general umbels have from 10 to 20 rays; the 
partial ones 5 or 6 flowers. The flowers are pale- 
yellow, succeeded by a flat, thin, reddish-brown 
fruit, like that of parsnip, only rather larger and 
darker, and slightly hairy or rough. The plant 
varies somewhat owing to its location and the 
character of the ground (L.-Falconer-Royle). 
History.-This plant is indigenous to Per- 
sia and Thibet. It was personally examined and imperfectly delineated by 
Keempfer, in 1687. According to Polak it is principally gathered in the country 
from Ispahan to Mahior, and that part which separates Abedeh and Murgab, and 
is much used as a culinary article, and to remove spasm. In several provinces it 
is planted in gardens to keep away destructive insects. The gum-resin is obtained 
by incisions into the upper part of the root, or by slicing it successively in small 
pieces; plants under four years are not made use of, as they yield but little, if 
any, of the juice. When the leaves begin to decay, the root-leaves and stem are 
twisted off close to the root, and the soil is removed from its crown. About 40 
days afterward a thin slice is cut off transversely from its top, and a milky juice 
of a fetid, alliaceous odor gradually exudes. In about two days, or when this 
exudation has become hardened, it is scraped off, and another thin slice removed 
as before, from which juice again flows, and this process is repeated until no more 
juice'can be obtained; while this collection is going on the root is constantly 
protected from the solar rays. The concrete juice from several plants are then put 
together, further hardened, and disposed of for home use or foreign exportation. 
Most of the gum used in medicine comes from Afghanistan and Persia. The 
purest gum is known by the vernacular, hing. According to Dymock the brown 
asafoetida is produced by the Ferula alliacea, Boissier. The product principally 
found in our markets is that shipped from Bombay and known as hingra, a prod- 
uct largely admixed with stones and dirt. Dymock states that sliced potatoes 
have been used to adulterate asafoetida. 
Description.-This gum-resin is brought to America in packages of various 
weights, but seldom less than 50 or 60 pounds each. The U. S. P. describes it as 
occurring " in irregular masses composed of whitish tears, which are imbedded in 
a yellowish-gray or brownish-gray, sticky mass. The tears, when hard, break 
with a conchoidal fracture, showing a milk-white color, which changes gradually, 
on exposure, to pink, and finally to brown. It has a persistent, alliaceous odor, 
and a bitter, alliaceous, acrid taste. When triturated with water it yields a milk- 
white emulsion, which becomes yellow on the addition of ammonia water. It is 
partly soluble in ether, and at least 60 per cent of it should dissolve in alcohol "- 
(U. S. P.). Those masses'should be selected which are clear, of a pale, reddish 
color, and variegated with a great number of white tears, and on burning they 
should not have an odor of pitch. Berzelius and Thomson give as its specific 
gravity, 1.327. Age hardens it and impairs its properties; it becomes pulverable 
at a diminished temperature, as in frosty weather; in warm weather it becomes 
soft and adheres to the pestle. Moderate heat softens it so far that it may be 
squeezed through a coarse cloth, and freed from impurities of a mechanical nature; 
a stronger heat causes it to froth, and at a red heat it burns with a white flame. 
Fig. 31. 
Ferula fcetida, Bunge (Narthex assafcetida, 
Falconer). 286 
ASAFtETIDA. 
Rubbed with cold or warm water, the gum is dissolved, forming a smooth white or 
reddish, persistent emulsion, in which the resin and volatile oil are suspended. 
With rectified alcohol, which is its best menstruum, it forms a clear, yellowish- 
red tincture. Spirit dissolves the resin and oil, but is too feeble a solvent. Sul- 
phuric ether dissolves the volatile oil and a portion of resin; solution of caustic 
potash dissolves it almost entirely, forming an emulsion when the alkali is neu- 
tralized ; and solution of ammonia dissolves the gum and oil, with part of the 
resin. It readily unites with other resins, gum-resins, and wax; and is best pre- 
served in bladders kept in tin boxes. 
Chemical Composition.-Asafoetida contains volatile oil, resin soluble in 
ether, a tasteless resin insoluble in ether, various gums, sulphate of calcium, 
carbonate of calcium, oxide of iron, and alumina, malate of calcium, etc. The 
volatile oil may be obtained by distillation with water or alcohol; at first it is 
pale-green, but becomes yellowish-brown by age, is lighter than water, of a power- 
fully offensive odor, and a taste peculiar to the gum-resin; it contains sulphur 
(Zeise). In odor it closely resembles that of the persulphide of allyl, procured 
from oil of mustard. According to Schimmel & Co. (Semi-Annual Report, October, 
1893) the gum-resin yields from 3.3 to 3.7 per cent of oil, having a specific gravity 
of 0.985, at 15° C. (59° F.), and an optical rotation of -9° 15'; and according to 
Semmler's investigations (1891) it contains a terpene, probably pinene; also the 
sulphurous combinations, CWH14S2 and CnH2oS2, and, beside other compounds, a 
body having the formula (C]0H16O)n. Fractionally distilled the volatile oil yields, 
at 300° C. (572° F.), a beautiful blue oil (Pharmacographia). The oil and the bitter 
resin are the active principles. The resin is but partially soluble in ether and is 
soluble in alcohol. It contains ferulaic acid (C1()H10O4), a substance crystallizing 
in iridescent, acicular crystals, having neither taste nor odor. The resin fused 
with alkali yields resorcin (C6H6O2). A body named umbelliferon (C9H6O3), as well 
as oils of various colors, may be obtained by dry distillation of the resin. Acetic, 
formic, malic, and valerianic acids have also been found in asafoetida. Sulphate 
of calcium has been found as an adulteration of this gum-resin, occurring in com- 
mercial samples sometimes to the extent of 50 per cent. The U. S. P. require- 
ment (60 per cent soluble in alcohol) is not reached by asafoetida of commerce. 
Were the standard made 40 per cent, the drug would better conform to require- 
ments (J. U. Lloyd in Pharm. Review, 1896). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The odor of asafoetida is imparted to 
the breath, secretions, flatus, and gastric eructations. Its properties are stimulant, 
antispasmodic, expectorant, emmenagogue, and vermifuge (Ed.). Improper in 
inflammatory conditions of the system, but of marked value in purely functional 
nervous disorders, with excitability, and as a gastric stimulant in gastro-intestinal 
atony, with flatulence. It allays gastric irritation. Used in croup, pertussis, hysteria, 
infantile convulsions, flatulent colic, chronic catarrh, chlorosis, spasmodic nervous diseases 
of females, and, in combination with morphine and quinine, in sick or nervous 
headache. With resin of podophyllum and resin of cimicifuga, it is beneficial in 
chorea. Likewise efficient in amenorrhcea and dysmenorrhcea, and as an injection in 
tympanitic abdomen, lumbricus, and ascarides. In hysteria its effects are especially 
good, sometimes preventing the attack if given early, or if the disorder be already 
developed it tends to modify its force. In the tympanitic states of the bowels 
during fevers, or when only constipation exists, it is a prompt remedy. As an 
antispasmodic it holds a secondary place, probably acting best in those disorders 
arising from a disordered stomach. Minute doses are asserted to increase the 
mammary secretion. As a remedy for bronchial cough, dry, deep-seated and stub- 
born, a 2-grain pill every 3 hours will give quite positive results. Asafoetida is 
best adapted to cases exhibiting nervous depression, with more or less feebleness, 
and particularly if associated with gastric derangements with constipation, flatu- 
lence, and tardy or imperfect menstruation. Dose, in powder or pill, from 5 to 10 
or 20 grains; of the tincture, from 30 drops to 2 fluid drachms. Asafoetida is also 
employed alone, or in combination, in the form of a suppository, or an enema. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Nervous irritation, with mental depres- 
sion, headache, and dizziness; hysteroidal conditions; convulsive disorders from 
purely functional wrongs of the stomach, gastro-intestinal irritation, with flatu- 
lence and palpitation of the heart; dry, deep, choking, bronchial cough. ASARUM. 
287 
ASARUM.-WILD GINGER. 
The rhizome and rootlets of the Asarum canadense, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Aristolochiacese. 
Common Names: Wild ginger, Indian ginger, Canada snakeroot, and (improp- 
erly) Coltsfoot. 
Botanical Source.-This American plant closely resembles the asarabacca of 
Europe (A. Europium). It has a creeping, fleshy, somewhat jointed, yellowish 
rhizome, with rootlets. From it ascends a quite short stem, 
which is forked near the surface of the soil, and each branch 
bears a reniform leaf, downy on both sides, 3 or 4 inches by 
3 or 5, the petiole of which is long, round, and hairy. Upon 
a pendulous, hairy peduncle, growing from the fork of the 
stem, is a solitary flower, having a very wooly calyx, consist- 
ing of 3 broad, concave, pointed leaflets, of a brownish, 
dull-purple or greenish color on the inside, at top and bottom, 
depending on the amount of light which the plant enjoys, 
terminated by a long, spreading, inflected point, with reflect 
sides. The corolla is wanting. The fruit is a coriaceous, 
6-celled capsule. 
Description.-Wild ginger occurs in commerce in irreg- 
ularly 4-angled pieces, about 3 to 5 inches in length, and 
about £ inch in diameter. They are crooked, ash-brown, or 
purple-brown in color, break with a short fracture, are pul- 
verable, and whitish internally. About every half inch 
exhibits nodes, to which thin rootlets are attached. The 
inner structure is pithy, surrounded by a broken zone of 
woody fibers, all enclosed in thick bark, which contains oil 
cells. The rootlets are traversed by a ligneous, central por- 
tion, covered with thick bark. It is fragrant, spicy, and 
slightly bitter. 
History.-Wild ginger is a native of the United States, growing in woods and 
mountains, and in rich soil along roadsides, flowering in May and June. The 
whole herb has a fragrant odor, and a spicy, amarous taste. The root is the part 
used, and yields its active principles to alcohol, and partially to water by 
infusion. The oil is now used in the making of perfumes, and in various toilet 
waters. 
Chemical Composition.-Asarum contains an acrid, bitter, reddish resin, a 
pale, spicy, aromatic, volatile oil, gum, chlorophyll, fat, starch, and various salts. 
It probably, also, contains an alkaloid, as Power obtained a body in very small 
quantities, which reacted with alkaloid-group reagents. The coloring matter 
(yellow), as Prof. Power has shown, appears to be the same as the asarin found by 
Graeger in asarabacca. The oil consists of asarene (C10H16), a neutral principle, 
asarin (Ci2Hi6O2), asarol (CI0H18O), and ethers of asarol-probably the acetic and 
valerianic-and is thought also to contain methyl-euge.no!, a substance hitherto not 
observed in nature. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Asarum canadense is a spicy, stimulat- 
ing agent, causing perspiration, promoting expectoration, and possessing carmin- 
ative properties. It may be advantageously added to tinctures and compounds 
to improve their flavor, and render them more stimulating. It is used in colic 
and other painful affections of the stomach and -bowels where no inflammation 
exists, and in chronic pulmonary affections. It has been successfully used by Dr. 
J. R. Black in dropsy, with albumen in the urine. The warm infusion is an 
excellent agent to promote copious sweating, and may be substituted for Virginia 
snakeroot as a diaphoretic and in debility. Harsh, dry skin, with checked 
perspiration, in low febrile and inflammatory affections, not of the gastro-intestinal 
tract, and sudden colds, have been successfully treated with the warm infusion, 
which is also a prompt emmenagogue when amenorrhcea is due to recent colds= 
Dose of the powder, | drachm; of the tincture, | fluid drachm to 2 fluid drachms. 
Of the infusion (§ss to aqua Oj), freely; used also as an errhine. 
Fig. 32. 
Asarum canadense. 288 
ASARUM EUROPIUM.-ASCLEPIAS. 
ASARUM EUROPIUM.-ASARABACCA. 
The rhizome and leaves of the Asarum Europaeum, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Aristolochiacese. 
Common Names: Asarabacca, Hazlewort, Wildnard. 
Botanical Source.-This plant has a creeping root or rhizome, entangled 
with numerous stout, branching fibers. The stems are very short, simple, round, 
herbaceous, pubescent, each bearing 2 dark-green, shining, reniform, obtuse, entire, 
somewhat downy leaves, which are opposite, 2 inches wide, on long, downy, foot- 
stalks; also, 1 drooping flower, not an inch long, fleshy, of a dusky-purple color, 
placed upon a short terminal peduncle. The calyx is campanulate, greenish at 
the base, divided into 3-pointed, purplish segments, which are erect and turned 
inward at their extremity. The corolla wanting. The fruit is a 6-celled, coria- 
ceous capsule, crowned with the persistent calyx. 
Description and History.-The root is ash-colored, 2 or 3 lines in thickness, 
4-angled, contorted, rough; has a pepper-like odor, a biting, spicy taste, and yields 
an ash-colored powder. Its properties are taken up by water or alcohol; boiling 
evaporates and age impairs them. The leaves have virtues similar to those of the 
root; they have a very feeble odor, a taste like that of the root, with some bitter- 
ness, and produce a green powder, having a yellow tinge. Asarabacca is a European 
plant, growing in moist, hilly woods, and presenting a single, bell-shaped, dingy- 
brownish-red flower from May to August. The root and leaves are used in medi- 
cine, and when recent are quite acrid. They should always be carefully dried 
for preservation. 
Chemical Composition.-Grieger has found in the root volatile oil, asarum 
camphor (C20H26O3) (asaron), asarit, asarin, tannic acid, resin, starch, extractive, 
gluten, albumen, various salts, etc.; in the herb, asarin, tannic acid, extractive, 
citric acid, chlorophyll, etc. (P.). The substances designated by Grieger as 
asarum camphor and asarit, were subsequently shown to be identical in chemical 
composition, differing only in their physical properties, the former being at first 
an oily liquid, which afterwards crystallizes in scale or needles from an aqueous 
distillate, and the latter acicular crystals, precipitated from the same. Asarin, a 
yellow body, gives to this drug its bitterness. It is probably identical with 
the cytisin of Lassaigne and Fenuelle. The yield of oil is about 1.0 per cent. It 
has an odor resembling valerian, is yellow, viscid, and has a pungent, burning 
taste. According to Schimmel & Co. {Semi-Annual Report, October, 1893), its 
specific gravity, at 15° C. (59° F.), ranges from 1.046 to 1.068, and its known con- 
stituents are asarone, pinene, and eugenol-methyl-ether. The chemistry of asarone 
was investigated in detail by Rizza and Butlerow, in 1884 and 1888. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Asarabacca produces nasal irritation, 
followed by free secretions, which flow persistently. It is emetic, cathartic, and 
errhine. Used principally as an errhine in certain affections of the brain, eyes, 
face, and throat, toothache, ophthalmia, and paralysis of the mouth and tongue. 
Internally it is a stimulant in doses of 10 or 12 grains; and an emetic in 
J drachm or 1 drachm doses. It is said to be used in France by drunkards to 
produce vomiting. 
Related Species.-Asarum Sieboldii, Miquel. This plant is the to-sai-shin ot the Japanese. 
The rhizome is slender, stem-scarred, and has attached to it thick, tufty aggregations of long, 
light-brown rootlets. These are white and mealy internally, surrounding a yellow, woody 
cord. It has an aromatic fragrance, and the taste resembles the combined flavors of sassafras 
and nutmegs, followed by an irritating pungency. It grows in Japan. 
ASCLEPIAS (U. S. P.)-ASCLEPIAS. 
The root of Asclepias tuberosa, Linne"-(U. S. Pf. 
Nat. Ord.-Asclepiadeae. 
Common Names : Pleurisy root, Butterfly weed. Orange swallowwort, Wind root, 
Tuber root. 
Illustrations: Bigelow, Am. Med. Bot. II, 59; Barton, Med. Bot. I, 239. ASCLEPIAS. 
289 
Botanical Source.-Asclepias has a perennial, large, fleshy, branching, white, 
and sometimes fusiform-like root, from which numerous stems arise, growing 
from 1 to 3 feet high; these are erect, or more or less 
procumbent, round, hairy, green or red, growing in 
bunches from the root. The leaves are alternate, the 
lower ones pedunculated, the upper sessile. They 
vary from linear to oblong-lanceolate, are hairy, dark- 
green above, paler beneath, waved on the edge, and 
in the old plants sometimes revolute. The flowers 
are numerous, erect, of a beautifully bright orange 
color, and are arranged in terminal, rarely axillary, 
umbels, which are corymbose. 
History.-Many of the asclepiadeae have, from 
time to time, furnished the medical profession with 
important medicines. The order is largely repre- 
sented in the tropics, but the North American genera 
are comparatively few. The most important plant 
bearing the name asclepias (derived from zEscula- 
pius), to Eclectics at least, is the Asclepias tuberosa, or 
butterfly weed. It is perhaps best known to the 
profession, at least to the older physicians, as pleurisy 
root, a name indicating one of its most important 
applications. Though growing most abundantly in 
the South, it maybe found as far north as Massachu- 
setts, preferring gravelly and sandy soils. It blooms 
in June, July, and August, and when in flower forms 
one of the most conspicuous and handsomest fea- 
tures of a summer landscape. For miles along the 
railways clusters of the rich, deep orange flowers of 
the butterfly weed, as it is called, bedeck the fields, a sight perhaps more pleasant 
because it blooms when the majority of showy plants are less abundant. This 
plant differs from its congeners in being destitute of the milky juice common to 
most of them, such as the common milkweed {Asclepias Cornuti'), and others. 
Several popular names have been given it, indicative either of its appearance or 
use, the most common of which are pleurisy root, butterfly weed, orange swallow- 
wort, silkweed, tuber root, wind root, white root, flux root, and Canada root. 
The official part is the root; it is spindle-shaped, of a light-brownish color on the 
outer surface, white, coarse, and striped within. When fresh it has a disagreeable, 
slightly acrimonious taste; when dried its taste is slightly bitter. Boiling water 
or alcohol extracts its virtues. The infusion is undoubtedly the most effective 
medicinal preparation. When the infusion can not be employed specific asclepias 
is next preferred. 
Description.-"Root large and fusiform, dried in longitudinal or trans- 
verse sections, from 2 to 15 Cc. long (f to 6 inches), and about 2 Cc. (f inch) 
or more in thickness; the head knotty, and slightly but distinctly annulate, the 
remainder longitudinally wrinkled, externally orange-brown, internally whitish; 
tough, and having an uneven fracture; bark thin, and in two distinct layers, the 
inner one whitish; wood yellowish, with large, white, medullary rays. It is 
inodorous, and has a bitterish, somewhat acrid taste. When long kept it acquires 
a gray color "-(U. S. P). 
Chemical Composition.-Mr. Elam Rhoads found in this root gum, pectin, 
starch, albumen, gallic and gallo-tannic acids, lignin, salts, an odorous material 
of a fatty nature, two resinous bodies-one dissolving in ether, the other refusing 
to so dissolve-and a fixed oil. Mr. Rhoads also obtained a peculiar body having 
the taste of the drug, which may be thrown down from a strong infusion of the 
root by tannin. By decomposing with litharge and exhausting with boiling alco- 
hol, decolorizing and evaporating the liquid, a yellowish-white powder is obtained, 
which is soluble in ether, alcohol, and less freely in water, from which it may 
be dissociated by tannin. Sulphuric acid colors it brown and nitric acid pink, 
finally becoming purple (Clabaugh). The above-mentioned principle was 
ascertained by Quackenbush (1889) to be a glucoside, and was obtained by 
Fig. 33. 
Asclepias tuberosa. 290 
ASCLEPIAS. 
him in crystalline condition. He also detected a fluorescent body, but no 
tannin. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Asclepias, or pleurisy root, was one 
of the most common of the indigenous medicines employed by the Eclectic fathers. 
It was favorably written upon by most 
of the earlier writers on American med- 
icinal plants. The drug has fallen into 
unmerited neglect, and could profitably 
be employed at the present day for pur- 
poses for which much more powerful, 
and sometimes dangerous, drugs are 
used. It has an extensive range of 
usefulness, being possessed of diapho- 
retic, diuretic, laxative, tonic, carmina- 
tive, expectorant, and probably anti- 
spasmodic properties. Asclepias and cor- 
alorrhiza, are, par excellence, the diapho- 
retics of the Eclectic materia medica. 
Like crawley, it is not stimulating, and may be used to promote diaphoresis, no 
matter how high the degree of fever. It differs from most diaphoretics in produc- 
ing a true secretion from the skin that more nearly resembles the normal function 
of insensible perspiration than any other agent of its class. It increases largely 
the elimination of solid material to the exclusion of copious perspiration. Craw- 
ley increases both the solid and liquid transpiration. Asclepias may be indicated 
even though the patient be freely perspiring. While the liquid flow is copious it 
may be deficient in power to carry off the solid detritis, an act which the asclepias 
will perform, provided the indications for its use are present. While it is service- 
able even where the temperature is high, it does its best work where the tempera- 
ture is but moderately exalted, and when the skin is slightly moist, or inclined to 
moisture, and where the pulse is vibratileand not too rapid. If the pulse be rapid, 
weak, and small aconite will assist it; if rapidly bounding and strong, veratrum 
should be administered at the same time. Pleurisy root has a deservedly good 
reputation in respiratory diseases. It acts upon the mucous membrane of the 
pulmonary tract, augmenting the secretions and favoring easy expectoration. 
Besides its action on the respiratory mucous surfaces its action upon the skin as 
a true diaphoretic, establishing the insensible perspiration when the skin is dry 
and harsh, and correcting that weakness of the skin which allows the sweat to 
pour out too freely, renders it of value in the colliquative sweating of phthisis. As 
its popular name indicates, pleurisy root is of much value in treating pleuritis. 
Here it will greatly assist the action of bryonia and aconite, the latter being 
administered in the early stage, and bryonia and asclepias in alternation later. 
Not only is its action on serous membranes marked, as in the preceding disorder 
and in pleurodynia, but it is very effectual in intercostal neuralgia and rheumatism, 
as well as in pericardial pains. The chief action of asclepias is to lessen arterial 
tension, and acute diseases are those in which it is of most value. With the indi- 
cated sedative it is one of the best known agents in the early stage of pneumonia 
and pleuro-pneumonia, provided always the indications alluded to are present. 
Some cases will yield to asclepias alone, but this is not generally the case, as the 
drug plays more the role of an assistant than a leading remedy. It is a safe 
drug, for while it may not act as efficiently when not indicated, it may be said to 
never be contraindicated, so far as expecting any harm from its use is concerned. 
Hyperemic states of the breathing organs seem to call for asclepias. In pneu- 
monia, as well as in bronchitis, it is best adapted to the acute stage, where the 
lesion seems to be extensive, taking in a large area of lung parenchyma and 
mucous tissues. Webster believes it best adapted to control vascular disturbances 
in the area supplied by the bronchial arteries, and suggests that by reserving it 
for this place we shall lessen its liability to confusion with other appropriate rem- 
edies. It undoubtedly acts upon the general circulatory apparatus, lowering 
arterial tension. In the convalescing stage of pneumonia, and other respiratory 
lesions, when suppression of the expectoration and dyspnoea threaten, small doses 
at frequent intervals will correct the trouble. In dry asthma with fever, but lack- 
Fig. 34. 
Fresh root of asclepias. ASCLEPIAS CORNUTI. 
291 
ing the spasmodic element, 5-drop doses of specific asclepias will do good service. 
As a remedy for dry and constricted cough it may be given in small amounts, 
preceded a half hour by specific lobelia in doses of 1 or 2 drops. In cuturrhul 
troubles specific asclepias, well diluted, is useful as a local remedy when used early 
in the disease. It, as well as euphrasia and matricaria (chamomilla), is among 
our best drugs for snuffles, or acute nasal catarrh of infants. In phthisis it is valu- 
able to alleviate the distressing cough and to allay irritability of the mucous sur- 
faces, and is not without good effects on the circulation and the stomach, through 
its subtonic action. It is an excellent remedy for ordinary colds. It is, in fact, 
one of our best drugs for catarrhal conditions, whether of the pulmonary or gas- 
tro-intestinal tract, especially when produced by recent colds. 
Stomach troubles, particularly those of children, are often markedly benefited 
by small doses of specific asclepias. A weakened stomach, accompanied with 
nervous impairment, or with catarrhal complications, rendering digestion difficult 
and painful, is often toned to do its work pleasantly under the use of small doses 
of asclepias. Diurrhoeu and dysentery, when of catarrhal character and due to cold, 
are benefited by alternating with other indicated remedies, from 10 to 15 drops 
of specific asclepias, or the infusion may be freely employed. As a remedy for 
gastric disorders it is well adapted to children and weak individuals. Heuduche 
from disordered digestion has been cured with it, and for flatulent colic in young 
children: R Specific asclepias, gtt. x to xv; aqua, flsiv. Mix. Teaspoonful every 
5 minutes. Dioscorea may also be administered with it in cases of flatus in adults 
and children. A pill composed of equal parts of alcoholic extracts of asclepias, ale- 
tris, and dioscorea will be found very beneficial in flatulency, borborygmi, and where 
persons are subject to flatulent and bilious colic. In some cases, especially of long 
standing, the addition of pulverized African ginger will much improve its efficacy. 
Asclepias is a remedy for nervous irritubility of children, especially when due to 
gastric disturbances. The dry forms of cutaneous affections are benefited by it, 
especially where it is necessary to establish the true dermal secretions. It is 
likewise beneficial in this sense in those cases of neurulgiu and acute rheumatism, 
accompanied with profuse sweating. It alters the character of the perspiration. 
In the exanthematous fevers it favors the eruptive process, and in painful inflamma- 
tions gives some relief by its diaphoretic action. Asclepias has been used in 
dropsy, but we have better agents for that affection. It is not an active agent, 
yet on the whole, though apparently a feeble remedy, when indicated, it accom- 
plishes a purpose which no other remedy in the materia medica fulfils. Dose of 
the powder, 20 grains to 1 drachm, 3 or 4 times a day; of a strong infusion (the 
best preparation), from 2 to 4 fluid ounces, 4 or 5 times a day, until perspiration 
is produced; specific asclepias, 1 to 60 drops ; fluid extract, 1 to 60 drops. 
Asclepidin, or oleo-resin of asclepias, is a dark, semi-liquid mass, and is pre- 
pared by evaporation or distillation of the saturated tincture in water, similar to 
the plan pursued for obtaining resin of cimicifuga. It was formerly used for all 
purposes to which the crude article is applied, in doses of from 1 to 5 grains, 3 or 
4 times a day, or as indicated. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-The specific indications for asclepias, accord- 
ing to Dr. J. M. Scudder are: "Pulse strong, vibratile; skin moist, pain acute, 
and seemingly dependent on motion." The skin may be hot and dry or inclined 
to moisture; the urine is scanty; the face flushed; vascular excitement is marked 
in the parts supplied by the bronchial arterioles; inflammation of serous tissues; 
gastro-intestinal, catarrhal troubles due to recent colds. 
ASCLEPIAS CORNUTI.-MILKWEED. 
The root of the Asclepius Cornuti, Decaisne (Asclepius syriuca, Linne). 
Nut. Ord.-Asclepiadeae. 
Common Names: Common milkweed, Silkweed, Wild cotton. 
Botanical Source.-The common milkweed has a large, stout, simple, some- 
what branched stem, growing from 2 to 5 feet high. Its leaves are ovate-elliptical, 
spreading, opposite, with short but distinct petioles, gradually acute, tomentose 
beneath. The flowers are fragrant, arranged in several axillary, subterminal, 292 
ASCLEPIAS INCARNATA. 
nodding, dense, globose umbels, each of 20 or more Howers. The calyx segments 
are lanceolate. The corolla is pale or greenish-purple, reflexed, leaving the 
corona, which is of nearly the same hue, quite conspicuous. But few of the flow- 
ers prove fertile, producing oblong-pointed pods or follicles covered with sharp 
prickles, which contain a mass of long, silky fibers with seeds attached, and 
which fibers have been used for beds, pillows, and in the place of fur in manu- 
facturing hats. 
Description.-This rhizome grows from 1 to 6 feet in length, and is cut into 
transverse pieces or slices about | inch or | inch in diameter. The root is cylin- 
drical, finely corrugated, tough, has a somewhat knotty appearance from stem- 
scars, or partially formed branches, and breaks with a short, splintered fracture. 
Externally it is grayish-brown; internally white. Its white bark is thick and 
surrounds a yellowish, porous, woody center, and contains lactiferous channels. 
It has scarcely any odor, but its taste is disagreeably bitter. 
History and Chemical Composition.-This herb is indigenous to the United 
States, inhabiting rich soils, uncultivated fields, roadsides, etc., and bearing whit- 
ish-purple, or rather dull, pinkish-purple flowers from June to September. 
When wounded it emits a milky fluid, which contains water, wax-like fatty 
matter, gum, caoutchouc, sugar, various salts, etc. A crystalline, resinous sub- 
stance, has been obtained from the juice of the A. Cornuti, to which the name of 
asclepion has been given. It is procured by boiling and then filtering the juice, 
and separating the asclepion from the filtrate by ether, from which it may be sub- 
sequently obtained by evaporation, and purified by several washings with pure 
ether. Asclepion thus obtained is a crystalline solid, without taste or smell, and 
is readily dissolved by spirits of turpentine, pure acetic acid, and sulphuric 
ether (C. List, 1849). 
Tannin, gummy material, ash, and a small quantity of volatile oil were 
found in the root by Mr. W. L. Hinchman, in 1881, who also obtained, in an im- 
pure state, a bitter principle. A volatile principle of an acrid character is said to 
reside in the fresh root. Quackenbush obtained a crystalline glucoside similar to 
that which he obtained from pleurisy root, but failed to find tannin (Amer. Jour. 
Pharm., 1889). Starch is present in the parenchymatous portion of the root. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The root of this plant is tonic, diu- 
retic, alterative, emmenagogue, purgative, and emetic; and given in large doses 
it is stimulant and anthelmintic. Dr. Richardson has attributed anodyne prop- 
erties to it, but he must have had reference to some other plant. It has, however, 
recently been revived as a remedy for muscular rheumatism, some claiming it to 
be as effective as macrotys. It should be studied in this connection. It has been 
found useful in amenorrhcea, dropsy, retention of urine, asthma, dyspepsia, cough, 
dyspnoea, constipation, primary syphilitic disease, worms, scrofulous and rheumatic dis- 
orders. The action of the heart is augmented under its use. A very excellent 
fluid extract may be made from it as follows: To 16 troy ounces of the recently 
dried root, finely bruised, add 6 fluid ounces of ether and 4 fluid ounces of alcohol; 
form a tincture by slow percolation, and set it aside. Then thoroughly exhaust 
the root by percolation, with 6 fluid ounces of alcohol and a sufficient quantity 
of water; evaporate this last over a water-bath, add the first tincture, made with 
ether and alcohol, to it, and reduce by evaporation to 1 pint. An aromatic, bitter, 
red fluid extract is thus obtained, of which 1 fluid drachm is equal to 1 troy 
ounce of the crude root. The dose is from 10 drops to 1 fluid drachm; it may 
be taken in ginger syrup, lemon syrup, cinnamon water, or other pleasant vehicle, 
to cover its unpleasant taste. Dose of the powder, 10 to 20 grains; of the decoc- 
tion, 2 to 4 fluid ounces; of the tincture, 10 to 60 minims. 
ASCLEPIAS INC ARN AT A.-FLESH-COLORED ASCLEPIAS. 
The root of the Asclepias incarnata, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Asclepiadeae. 
Common Names: Flesh-colored asclepias, Swamp milkweed, Swamp silkweed, Rose- 
colored silkweed, White Indian hemp. 
Botanical Source.-Swamp milkweed has a smooth, erect stem, with 2 
downy lines above and on the branches and peduncles, branching above, about 3 ASCLEPIAS INCARNATA. 
293 
or 4 feet high. The leaves are opposite, oblong-lanceolate, acute, or pointed, 
obtuse at the base, on short petioles, and slightly tomentose. The flowers, which 
are fed or reddish-purple and sweet-scented, are disposed in numerous umbels, 
which are crowded, erect, mostly terminal, and often in opposite pairs. The 
hoods of the crown are entire; the horns exserted and subulate. The leaves are 
from 4 to 7 inches long, and from | inch to 1| inches wide; the umbels are from 
2 to 6, on a peduncle 2 inches long, and consist of from 10 to 20 small flowers. 
There is a variety of this plant, the Asclepias incarnata var. pulchra, which is 
more hairy, with broader and shorter petioled leaves. 
History.-This herb inhabits damp and wet grounds throughout the United 
States, and bears red flowers in July and August. On wounding the plant a 
milky juice exudes. The part used is the root; it varies in thickness from 1 to 6 
lines, and is of a light-yellowish or brownish color. It imparts its properties to 
water. 
Description.-The root is about J to | inch long, oblong, or unsymmetrically 
globular, hard, knotty, and has attached to it several rootlets 3 to 5 or more inches 
long. Externally the color is yellow-brown ; internally nearly white. The bark 
is thin, surrounding a wood that is tough and white and has a thick pith. The 
rootlets are of a pale-brown color and composed about equally of a woody center 
and whitish bark. The root is nearly without odor and has a sweet, harsh, and 
finally amarous taste. 
Chemical Composition.-The root contains starch, pectin, grape-sugar, albu- 
men, a fixed and a volatile oil, the latter in small amount, two resins of an acrid 
character (J. Y. Taylor), and an unstable, amorphous, yellow glucoside, asclepia- 
din, whose physiological effects are similar to those of emetine (Gram, Archiv. 
f. Exper. Path, und Pharm. 19, page 389). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Anthelmintic, for which purpose the 
powder may be used in doses of 10 to 20 grains, 3 times a day; or the decoction, 
2 to 4 fluid ounces. It has been recommended in rheumatic, asthmatic, catarrhal, 
and syphilitic affections, and as a vermifuge. Said to produce vomiting and purging, 
but this is doubtful. It is undoubtedly a valuable agent, and worthy of further 
investigation. According to Frazer {Birmingham Med. Review, 1884) this agent is 
stomachic and a quick, powerful, and reliable diuretic. It acts upon the heart 
and circulatory system like foxglove, but without its gastro-intestinal disturb- 
ances. It is useful in chronic mucous disease of the stomach and in erysipelatous 
affections. The dose of the fluid extract, 15 to 60 minims; infusion (§ss to aqua 
Oj), 4 to 1 fluid ounce; specific asclepias incarnata, 1 to 10 minims. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Chronic mucous diseases of the stomach; 
catarrhal discharges; leucorrhcea; entozoic affections. 
Related Species.-Asclepias curassacica, Linne. Habitat: Central America, South Amer- 
ica, and West Indies. Bastard ipecacuanha, known also in Central America as ponchishuiz and 
cancerillo. It is also called Bloodweed and Bxd head. It is a perennial herb, with red (rarely 
white) flowers, and its smooth, shining seed-hairs are sometimes called I Vegetable silk. This herb 
yields asclepiadin, a glucoside soluble in alcohol, but scarcely dissolving in ether, yielding to 
the latter asclepin, a derivative of the former. Among the effects of this drug Guimerais (1881) 
found it to impress the cardiac muscles and to dilate the larger arteries. Large doses (root 20 
to 40 grains) are emetic; smaller doses are cathartic and anthelmintic. 
Calotropis gigantea, R. Brown (Asclepias gigantea, Willdenow). Habitat: East Indies and 
South India; and Calotropis procera, R. Brown (Calotropis HamiUonii, Wight) North India, 
West Asia, and Africa. Shrubs yielding Mudar-bark, which contains a bitter principle, an 
acrid, resinous body, and starch, caoutchouc, and resins. A crystalline body resembling asclepion 
was found in it by Waddell. The bark has a bitter, acrid, mucilaginous taste. 
Mudar-bark (3 or 4 grains) is used as an alterative and tonic in India; in larger doses 
(20 to 40 grains) it is emetic and diaphoretic, increasing the action of the surface capillaries 
and absorbents. It is employed as a substitute for ipecac in dysentery; also in leprosy, elephan- 
tiasis, rheumatism, dropsy, and syphilis. Dose, 3 to 12 grains, 3 times a day. The dry juice is 
said to be used in India as an abortivant and to destroy female babies. 
Cynanchum Vincetoxicum, Persoon (Vincetoxicum officinale, Moench; Asclepias Vincetoxicum, 
Linn^). Europe, where it is known as White swallow-wort. The root is employed, and when 
fresh has a valerian-like odor, which is practically dissipated on drying. It contains fat, essen- 
tial oil, pectin, and asclepin, a resinous body shown by Gram to be a derivative of asclepiadin, 
the emetic glucoside. It is thought to be identical with the vincetoxin of Tanret. The bark 
has an acrid, sweet, and bitterish taste. Emetic, and in large amounts may induce fatal 
gastric inflammation. Scrofulous and cutaneous disorders have been treated with it. 294 
ASEPSIN. 
ASEPSIN.-ASEPSIN. 
The trade-name of a compound prepared from wintergreen oil. 
Formula: C8H7O3Na. Molecular Weight: 150.64. 
History, Preparation, and Description.-Asepsin, so named by Prof. A. J. 
Howe as a trade-mark name, is a compound made of oil of wintergreen (0/eum 
Gaultherix), and introduced as a remedy under the above trade-name. This sub- 
stance is a definite sodium compound of the above composition. It is a white, 
crystalline powder, nearly insoluble in cold alcohol, chloroform, and ether, but 
soluble in boiling alcohol and ether. It is perfectly and readily soluble in both 
cold and hot water. Asepsin has a sharp, sweetish taste, and the agreeable odor 
ahd flavor of oil of wintergreen. It has an alkaline reaction, and nearly all acids 
decompose it, producing wintergreen oil. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Asepsin is one of the most important 
of the more recent introductions into medicine, and in the Eclectic school is the 
most extensively-employed agent for antiseptic purposes where putridity is to 
be overcome. Applied to the skin in solutions of greater or lesser density it 
imparts to the surface a sensation of slipperyness. If the skin be unbroken a 
sensation of warmth is very quickly produced by even a 10 per cent solution. 
Stronger solutions slightly redden the skin and impart a feeling of stiffness. 
Applied to the mucous tissues it acts energetically. It slightly liquefies albumen, 
differing thereby from carbolic and salicylic acids in not causing coagulation and 
consequent hardening of the tissues. 
Taken internally asepsin imparts a feeling of warmth, and in doses of a grain 
or upwards causes an appreciable rise in the body temperature, and quickens res- 
piratory action. The renal and cutaneous functions are also augmented by it. 
Large doses cause intense burning in the stomach, with dryness of the fauces, 
and these sensations may extend to the rectum after an evacuation. It does not 
appear to be readily absorbed, as most of it, as shown by its odor, passes through 
the bowels as methyl salicylate. However, small doses, well triturated with 
starch or milk sugar appear to be taken up by the blood, and may be detected in 
the urine by the test for salicylic acid, the odor of wintergreen, however, per- 
sisting. Pepsin, pancreatin, and other similar ferments are not affected by 
asepsin. On the contrary, minute doses encourage digestion. 
Asepsin possesses decided antiputrefactive and antifermentative properties. 
When fermentation and putrefaction are brought about by the presence of formed 
ferments they are promptly arrested by the exhibition of asepsin. The remark- 
able preservative power of asepsin was well illustrated in the experiments con- 
ducted by Prof. Lyman Watkins, M. D. Comparative tests were made with dis- 
tilled water, mercuric chloride solution, and solution of asepsin. Fish, beef, and 
mutton were immersed in these solutions, and kept in moderately warm situa- 
tions. The preservative power of the asepsin solution proved greater than that of 
the others, the flesh being preserved about three times as long as by the bichloride 
solution (1 to 20,000). Not only did the asepsin retard decomposition, but checked 
the decomposition already proceeding in a piece of the flesh removed from one of 
the other solutions. Neither did it attack the flesh, which showed no change 
under the microscope, whereas that subjected to the action of corrosive sublimate 
exhibited a white film of coagulated albumen. It effectually checks alcoholic 
fermentation in cider (see below). 
Therapeutically asepsin is an agent of great value. Internally exhibited it 
acts as a corrector and preventer of fermentation and putrefaction. Many have 
employed it in small doses as an intestinal antiseptic in cholera infantum, dysentery, 
and typhoid fever. The dose, however, should be but a fraction of a grain, lest an 
increase of temperature be provoked. Asepsin is exceedingly useful in flatulent 
conditions of the stomach and bowrels. In minute doses it favors digestion, and 
may be employed where digestion is sluggish and the meal is followed by offensive 
ructus. In gastro-intestinal disorders it acts best after excessive acidity has been 
first modified by the indicated alkali. Though alkaline itself it is often insuffi- 
cient to entirely overcome such conditions, hence its association with the carbon- 295 
A.SEPSIN. 
ates, as magnesia, and particularly with sodium bicarbonate. Fearn recommends 
a combination of the latter character prepared as follows: R Asepsin, grs. v to 
xv; sodium bicarbonate, si. Triturate well. Dose, 1 to 3 grains. This, like 
asepsin alone, is indicated by the clean, white tongue, with pallor of the mem- 
branes, gastric fermentation, and flatulence and atony, associated with gaseous 
distension of the abdomen. A dusky coloration of the membranes also indicates 
asepsin. In dyspeptic disorders, Prof. McMillan associates with it pepsin or hy- 
drastis, as indicated; it may also be combined with papoid, ingluvin, nux vomica, 
etc., and similar digestive ferments and tonics. When a cadaverous fetor con- 
taminates the breath, we have added to its solution potassium chlorate; and with 
a dirty, pasty tongue, with a mawkish, unpleasant odor short of cadaveric, 
sodium sulphite. In many of the disorders in which asepsin may be exhibited 
internally it may be added to the solutions of other medicines, serving at the 
same time to prevent them from decomposition, especially in hot weather. Thus 
it may be given with nux vomica, hydrastis (with Lloyd's hydrastis it forms a pre- 
cipitate), etc.; combined with resinous alcoholic preparations, such as podophyl- 
lum, macrotys, etc., it serves to make better mixtures, and seemingly renders them 
more efficient. This is particularly true of macrotys in rheumatism, the asepsin, 
like other methyl salicylates, undoubtedly possessing antirheumatic qualities. 
It must be remembered, however, that asepsin, on account of its strong alkalinity, 
should not be added to solutions containing considerable amounts of toxic alka- 
loids, as belladonna, aconite, gelsemium, etc., lest, by precipitation of these bases, 
the patient's life be endangered by getting a large dose of the deposited alkaloids 
when the last doses of medicine in the glass or bottle are administered. Stomachic 
and intestinal dyspepsia of catarrhal forms are benefited by asepsin, and it is one of 
the best agents to control that unpleasant rolling of gases in the bowels (borboryg- 
mus) so annoying to women. Asepsin may be administered in gastric cancer to 
overcome the stench ; it is also useful in gastric ulcer. Diarrhoea, with fetid evac- 
uations, is benefited by asepsin. Asepsin has also been used internally in scarla- 
tina and diphtheria, chiefly for its stimulating and disinfecting action. Asepsin 
appears to be capable of restraining passive hemorrhage. Prof. R. L. Thomas (Ec. 
Med. Jour., 1888, p. 71) reports a case of severe and alarming hemorrhage from a uter- 
ine fibroid, from which the patient was gradually becoming anemic and dropsi- 
cal. Six weeks'treatment with R Asepsin, grs. x ; aqua fl^iv; mix ; teaspoonful 
every or 1 hour during the hemorrhage, and 4 times a day during the interval, 
cured the patient. 
As a local antiseptic asepsin has had a more extended use in the Eclectic 
school than any other topical agent of this class. Very dilute solutions act as a 
pleasant cleansing agent; solutions of 20 per cent or higher are mildly caustic, but 
do not leave a scar nor dry the secretions. Wounds treated with asepsin or asep- 
sin in hamamelis heal kindly. Applied to cancerous growths its deodorant effects 
are remarkable. Applied to an extensive and foul cancer after death it removed 
the odor so effectually that no stench could be observed at the time of burial three 
days later. It is useful to assist in curing and in removing fetor from foul and 
intractable scrofulous ulcers and buboes ; offensive armpits and fetid feet are deodorized 
by it. Applied to burns it controls the pain and promotes healing, with less tend- 
ency to cicatrization than by other forms of treatment. A cerate or ointment ot 
it may be applied, having previously well-washed the parts with a moderately- 
strong solution of asepsin in water. An elegant dressing for burns, scalds, cuts, 
abrasions, lacerations, and contusions consists of a solution of 5 to 10 grains of asep- 
sin in 1 fluid ounce of distilled hamamelis. In all surgical operations asepsin may 
be used in solution as a wash and applied in trituration, or solution as a dressing 
Dr. A. P. Taylor employs a solution of 3 grains of asepsin to 1 ounce of water to 
wash out thoracic abscesses. Many skin affections requiring alkaline medication and 
strict cleanliness may be treated with a solution or ointment of asepsin. It is 
especially useful in rhus poisoning, porrigo, chronic eczema, and crusta lactea. A solu- 
tion of asepsin, or combined with hamamelis, sodium sulphite, or potassium 
chlorate, is very effectual in the angina of scarlatina, and assists in removing the 
false membrane of diphtheria. Vegetative growths may be removed with a 20 per cent 
solution of asepsin. Cloths wetted with asepsin solution (7| grains to aqua Oj) and 
applied to the breasts may abort mammary abscess, when irritable and chapped 296 
ASEPSIN. 
nipples are a complication. Mixed with egg albumen it also forms a good appli- 
cation to sore nipples. To cure foul, indolent tibial ulcers Prof. John Fearn recom- 
mends the addition of 5 grains of asepsin to 1 ounce of ointment of Umbellularia 
californica (leaves, 8 ounces; petrolatum, 1 pound; cook until crisp, and strain), 
the parts having first been washed with a solution of asepsin. An ointment of 
asepsin has given excellent results in pruritis ani. Triturated with an equal 
amount of bismuth subnitrate and applied locally (associating with this the 
internal administration of apis, podophyllum, and bamamelis), it has cured a 
long-standing case of piles (Dr. W. P. Best, Ec. Med. Jour., 1894). 
Asepsin has a wide application in gynaecological and obstetrical practice. For 
foul-smelling, acrid leucorrhcea a wash of asepsin forms an effectual treatment, and 
more especially if combined with borax. As a cleansing and deodorant applica- 
tion after labor it has no superior. An injection of hot asepsinated water, with or 
without the addition of borax or potassium chlorate, does excellent service in 
cleansing the parts of the foul discharges due to fragments of retained placenta, 
the womb being first curretted, and in removing offensive lochial accumulations. 
It has thus rendered excellent service after the birth of dead and decayed 
fetuses. Gonorrhoea in the female, as well as in the male, is well treated by a 
small portion of asepsin (| grain) in about 4 fluid ounces of warm water or liquid 
albolene. 
Asepsin is extensively employed in the treatment of catarrhal disorders of the 
nose and naso-parynx. Its agreeable odor, stimulant effects, and cleansing pow- 
ers make it particularly desirable for this purpose. It may be used alone or in 
combination with other agents, generally in solution, in water, liquid albolene, or 
colorless hydrastis, as a douche or spray. It is particularly adapted to ozena. 
An ointment is sometimes used in mild cases. It is one of the few agents that 
gives decided relief in periodical hyper aesthetic rhinitis or hay fever. For this pur- 
pose the following ointment may be used to relieve the distressing irritation and 
consequent sneezing: R Asepsin, grs. vj; cocaine hydrochlorate, grs. j ; petrola- 
tum, §i. Mix. Sig. Apply to mucous membrane of the nose as needed. A solu- 
tion of menthol and asepsin in liquid albolene is also effectual in this disorder. 
A solution of asepsin is very useful as an ordinary gargle and mouth-wash to 
cleanse the parts of foul accumulations. For this purpose it is often desirable in 
typhoid and other fevers, and particularly for the insane, who are prone to allow 
particles of food to accumulate upon the teeth, which give rise to dental caries and 
offensive breath. Combined with chalk, orris-root, or charcoal it forms a useful 
dentifrice. F. I. Sumner, D. D. S. (paper before Twenty-seventh Annual Meeting 
of Sixth District Dental Society of New York), recommends solution of asepsin for 
syringing cavities previous to treatment or filling. For removing stains from the 
enamel he employs the following with which to apply powdered pumice to the 
teeth: R Asepsin, si; alcohol, giv; glycerin, 5xij. Mix by agitation. He also 
advises the foregoing Liquid Asepsin as preferable to other antiseptics, being non- 
injurious to the metallic surfaces, for disinfecting instruments and mouth-mirrors: 
the glycerin, by leaving a transparent film on the glass, also serves to prevent 
clouding of the mirror by the patient's breath. Sprinkling a little asepsin in 
the water before preparing plaster for impressions is also advised to modify the 
unpleasant flavor of the mass; putrescent dental pulp may be treated with asepsin, 
and kneaded with gutta-percha it may be utilized for root-filling. Its pleasant 
odor and flavor, and its freedom from poisonous and corrosive qualities, make it 
one of the best of antiseptics for dental operations. 
Asepsin may be used in place of the more dangerous antiseptics in ocular sur- 
gery. For this purpose 1 grain of asepsin to 1 fluid ounce of distilled water is a 
desirable strength. It prevents purulent complications and keeps the traumatic 
surfaces in a healthy condition. The commoner local medicines (silver nitrate 
excepted) employed in ocular therapeutics may be dissolved in the above solution. 
It will prevent a sediment forming in cocaine solutions (W. P. Biles, Ec. Med. 
Journ., 1896, p. 504). Conjunctival inflammations, and particularly catarrhal and 
purulent forms of conjunctivitis, are benefited by cleansing washes of asepsinated 
water. 
Asepsin, as pointed out by Dr. Albert Sayler, is an excellent preservative of 
cider. The following mixture is advised for a barrel of cider (45 gallons). Take ASIMINA. 
297 
of strong alcohol 10 fluid ounces; oil of sassafras, £ fluid ounce; asepsin,! ounce. 
Mix in a bottle in the order named. If the cider be clear of pomace add at once ; 
if not clear allow it to stand a day before adding the preservative. Such a cider 
Dr. Sayler advises in doses of 2 glasses a day in persons inclined to muscular and 
arthritic rheumatism, which treatment he claims is effectual as a preventative of 
these disorders. 
The dose of asepsin for internal use ranges from a fraction of a grain to 
and rarely 1 grain. As a local application solutions varying from 1 to 20 per 
cent may be employed as circumstances warrant; ointments and liquid albolene 
solutions may be used of similar strengths. Of the compound powder of asepsin 
(grs. x to xv) and sodium bicarbonate (gi) the dose may range from 1 to 20 grains. 
A Solution of Borated Asepsin, advised for internal and external use, is pre- 
pared by Prof. Fearn as follows: Take of asepsin, si; glycerin, fl.^ii; sodii 
boras, si; aqua destillata, fl.^vi. Place the asepsin in a mortar, and little by little 
add the glycerin, triturating until well mixed. Make a solution of the borax and 
distilled water, and lastly mix the two solutions by agitation. Besides the uses 
above mentioned this solution may be used as a spray or wash for purulent con- 
junctivitis and as a wash for bladder affections. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Fermentation and putrefaction; pale tongue, 
or dusky discoloration of throat and tongue; fermentative dyspepsia, with atony, 
flatulence, and colicky pain; abdominal tympanites; borborygmus, prune-juice 
evacuations ; feeble capillary circulation, with tendency to breaking down of tis- 
sues; rhus poisoning, ulcerations, etc. A general antiseptic for surgical, gynaeco- 
logical, and obstetrical manipulations. 
Preparations.-Aseptanilide. Dr. B. K. Jones, of Kenton, Ohio, has formulated a 
combination of asepsin (5 grains) and acetanilid (1 ounce), which he regards as an excellent 
remedy for various forms of headache, and especially those characterized by sharp, lancinating 
pains. If taken early, before the stage of nausea ensues, it will abort sick headache and sea-sick- 
ness. Externally employed Dr. Jones declares it an admirable dry-dressing for wounds, etc. 
He suggests for this compound the name Aseptanilide. 
Asepsin Soap.-This is a pure animal-fat (tallow) soap, into which is incorporated borax 
and asepsin. It comes in rounded, oblong cakes of a pearly, pale, bluish-white color, approach- 
ing to olive, and has a somewhat foliaceous appearance. It is not perfumed, but possesses a 
clear, tallowT-like odor, pleasantly modified by the presence of the asepsin it contains. It is 
perfectly non-irritating, and is the only medicated soap exclusively of Eclectic pharmacy. 
Asepsin soap is used both as a medicated soap for skin affections and as a toilet soap. Orig- 
inally intended only for professional use, the laity have learned that a soap possessed of its 
cleansing qualities, and which leaves no odor on the skin, and is unchangeable under atmos- 
pheric influences, is the most desirable soap for toilet purposes. 
Asepsin soap may be employed with safety and benefit whenever soap is desired in sur- 
gical, obstetrical, and gynaecological manipulations, and is unsurpassed as a general cosmetic 
soap, particularly for the toilet of infants. Perfectly unirritating, it may be used on the most 
delicate skin, and employed where the cutaneous surface is rough and dry and the sebaceous 
functions imperfect. It renders the skin soft and pliable. Acne, comedones, milium, seborrhaa, 
herpes, impetigo, pruritic disorders, and parasitic, syphilitic, and ulcerative affections are benefited 
when a part of the treatment consists of the application of this soap. It hastens desquamation 
after the exanthemata. It removes dandruff, crusts, and greasiness of the scalp. In dry, scaly forms 
of eczema its application forms an important part of the treatment, and excellent results have 
followed its use in acute and chronic rhus poisoning. For its medicinal effects a thick lather may 
be applied and left to dry upon the parts, or in some instances after remaining upon the skin 
for from 15 to 30 minutesthe latter should be removed from the surface with hot or cold water, 
as indicated. 
ASIMINA.-PAP AW. 
The seed of Asimina triloba, Dunal (Anona triloba, Linne ; Orchidocarpum arie- 
tinum, Michaux ; Porcelia triloba, Persoon; Uvaria triloba, Torrey and Gray). 
Nat. Ord.-Anonacea?. 
Common Names: Papau, Pawpaw, Asiminer (Louisiana), American custard- 
apple. 
Illustration: Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America, Vol. II, plate 
xxxiii. 
Botanical Source.-This is a small and beautiful indigenous tree, growing 
from 10 to 20 feet high. The young shoots and expanding leaves are clothed with 298 
ASIMINA. 
a rusty down, soon glabrous. The leaves are thin, 
smooth, entire, ovate-oblong, acuminate, 8 to 12 
inches long, by 3 or 4 broad, tapering to very short 
petioles. The Howers are dull-purple, axillary, 
and solitary; the petals veiny, round-ovate, the 
outer ones orbicular, and three or four times as large 
as the calyx. The flowers appear early with the 
leaves (which are then small), and are about l^inch 
wide. The fruit is a yellowish, ovoid oblong, pulpy 
pod, 2 or 3 inches long by about 1 inch in diam- 
eter, fragrant, sweet, edible in autumn, and contains 
about 8 seeds (W.-G.). 
History.-The papaw (sometimes improperly 
called the American custard-apple tree) is an inhab- 
itant of the Middle, Southern, and Western States, 
growing in rich soil, and on the banks of streams, 
and flowering from March to June. The fruit is 
large and fleshy, and has an unpleasant odor, but 
when ripe and after frost, the pulp is sweet, lus- 
cious, and yellow, similar to custard ; it is consid- 
ered a healthy fruit, and is sedative and laxative. 
The seeds, which are the parts used, have a fetid 
odor, similar to stramonium; they are covered 
with a tough, hard, exterior coat, of a light-brown- 
ish color and smooth externally, lighter and 
wrinkled internally, inclosing a kernel of a whitish- 
yellow color, compressed, deeply fissured on both sides, nearly inodorous, very 
faintly bitter and sweetish, and dry and branny when chewed, leaving a very 
persistent, faint, but rather unpleasant sensation of nausea. They are of various 
shapes, being flat, ovoid, nearly circular, or somewhat reniform, with a longitud- 
inal furrow or depression along the center of each of the flat surfaces, and fre- 
quently a ridge or elevation instead of the furrow. They yield their properties to 
alcohol. This fruit must not be confounded with the true papaw, from the Carica 
Papaya, an American tropical plant, whose fruit is the true custard-apple. 
Chemical Composition.-The only chemical investigation of papaw seeds 
that we are aware nf has been made by Prof. J. U. Lloyd, who isolated therefrom 
an alkaloid exhibiting anodyne properties, and to which he gave the name asim- 
inine. It occurs as a white, tasteless, and colorless, amorphous alkaloid. In water 
it is practically insoluble, though it freely dissolves in alcohol and ether, and less 
readily in chloroform and benzol. Its soluble salts, and most of them are freely 
soluble in water, are bitter. Diluted alkalies precipitate the alkaloid from such solu- 
tions. The hydrochlorate, the salt most available for medicinal use, forms beau- 
tiful'crystalline squares, or "interlocked sections of cubes," odorless, white, "at 
first sweetish, then bitter, leaving a bitter after-taste." 
Crystalline laminae are the forms assumed by the sul- 
phate. Nitric acid strikes with it a carmine red, 
quickly changing to deep-black purple. The reaction 
is delicate, and should be differentiated from mor- 
phine, in that its color is not blood-red, and that it 
deepens to purple, and finally to dark red. It does 
not become lighter in color, nor does it turn yellow 
when treated with nitric acid. All parts of the asim- 
ina tree yield a fetid, volatile oil, and bitter extractive 
was obtained from the bark (see Lloyd's Drugs and 
Medicines of North America, Vol. II, pp. 54, 55). 
Action, Uses, and Dosage.-Emetic, for which 
purpose a saturated tincture of the bruised seeds is 
employed, in doses of from 10 to 60 drops. The bark 
is said to be a bitter tonic, and has been used as such 
in domestic practice. The medical properties of this agent have not been fully 
investigated. 
Fig. 35. 
Asimina triloba. 
Fig. 36. 
Crystals of hydrochlorate of asimin- 
ine from alcoholic solution. ASPARAGUS.-ASPIDIUM. 
299 
ASPARAGUS.-Asparagus. 
The young shoots and roots of the Asparagus officinalis, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Liliacese. 
Botanical Source.-The asparagus is a perennial plant, with an erect, round, 
unarmed, very branching, herbaceous stem, from 2 to 4 feet high. The leaves are 
setaceous, flexible, filiform, and fasciculate, from £ to 1| inches long, and of a 
pale-green color. The flowers are axillary, small, and greenish in color, either 
solitary or in pairs, and are succeeded by handsome red berries, which are globose 
and three-celled, each cell containing 2 seeds. 
History and Description.-This herb is indigenous to Europe, and is exten- 
sively cultivated there, as well as in the United States, as an article of diet. The 
root has a faintly saccharine flavor, but no odor, and is active only when in the 
recent state. It is a short rhizome, from 4 to inch thick. Stem-scars mark its 
upper surface, while from beneath many long white roots are given off, which 
become longitudinally furrowed on drying. The fresh roots were formerly much 
more used than at present, though they are still used by the French. The young 
shoots, which are employed as an article of diet by many, have a disagreeable 
taste, which is removed by boiling with water. 
Chemical Composition.-Vauquelin and Robiquet (1805) found in the 
juice, asparagin (C4H8N2O;i.H2O), which crystallizes in right rhombic prisms, is 
odorless, and without taste, and refuses to dissolve in alcohol and ether. The- 
same principle is found in other plants, notably althea, in which it was found by 
Bacon in 1826; also mannit, oleoresin, w7ax, albumen, salts, etc. 
In 1870 Reinsch discovered glucose in the berries and an orange-red coloring 
principle, sublimable and crystallizing as scales from ether, to which the name 
spargancin has been given. The seeds contain sugar, fixed oil, a fragrant resin, 
and a bitter body, spargin, capable of crystallization. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Both the fresh roots and shoots act as 
diuretics, communicating an unpleasant odor to the urine. A syrup is prepared 
by adding sugar to the expressed juice, deprived of its albumen by heating and 
straining,-or an extract may be prepared from them by evaporation of the juice 
to a semi-solid condition. The dose of the former is from 2 to 3 fluid ounces; of 
the latter, from 30 to 60 grains. They are said to cause copious diuresis, and are 
reputed very beneficial in repressing undue excitement of the circulatory sys- 
tem, and have been used with advantage in enlargement of the heart, dropsy, etc. It 
is said that asparagus shoots may produce irritation of the urinary mucous sur- 
faces, attended with a morbid mucorrhoea. 
ASPIDIUM (U. S. P.)-ASPIDIUM. 
" The rhizome of Dryopteris Filix-mas, Schott, and of Dryopteris marginalis, Asa 
Gray ''-(U. S. P.). The first is the Aspidium Filix-mas of Swartz and others, and 
the Polypodium Filix-mas of Linne. It has many other synonyms. The second 
is the Aspidium marginale of Willdenow. 
Nat. Ord.-Filices. 
Common Names: (1) Male-fern, (2) Marginal shield-fern. 
Illustrations : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 300; Woodville's Med. 
Bot., PL 271; Johnson's Med. Bot. of N. A., Fig. 160 and Pl. ix. 
Botanical Source.-Male-fern {Dryopteris Filix-mas') has a large, perennial, 
tufted, scaly rhizome, sending forth yearly several leaves, 3 or 4 feet high, erect, 
disposed in a circle, oval, lanceolate, acute, pinnate, bright-green, and leafy nearly 
to the bottom; their stalks and midribs having tough, brown, transparent scales 
throughout; divisions alternate, taper-pointed, and pinnate; the pinnas or leaf- 
lets numerous, crowded, sessile, for the most part distinct, occasionally somewhat 
combined at the base, oblong, obtuse, crenate throughout, the lateral notches 
broadest and most shallow, the terminal ones more crowded and acute, without 
any terminal bristles; both sides smooth, destitute of glandular globules, but 
having a depression on the upper one over the insertion of each sorus. The sori 
are circular, tawny, arranged in simple, close, short rows, near the partial midrib, 300 
ASPIDIUM. 
scarcely occupying more than the lower half of each leaflet. The indusium is 
circular, durable, crenate, and tumid, with a cleft terminating in the central 
depression. The thecse are numerous, shining-brown, and prominent all round 
for a little beyond the indusium (W.-L.). 
Dryopteris marginale differs from the preceding mainly in having its fruit dots 
or sori arranged upon the margins of the fronds, the latter being from 1 to 2 feet 
in length, of an ovate-oblong shape, and light-green color. The pinnae are lance- 
shaped, with an almost sessile, bfoad base; the pinnules are crowded, and are 
oblong in outline, with an obtuse termination. 
History and Description.-Male-fern is found growing in many parts of 
Europe, and likewise in various sections of the United States. It is also found in 
South America, Africa, Asia, from the Himalayas northward, and in the islands 
of Polynesia. The dried root or rhizome is the official part, which, divested of its 
leaf-stalks and radicles, is from 8 to 12 inches in length and 1 or 2 inches thick, 
compressed, tortuous, tuberculous, brown or dark-brown epidermis, yellowish, 
rarely reddish parenchyma, fragile, striated, almost inodorous, with a nauseous 
sweet taste, but at last becoming rancid, slightly astringent and bitter. The 
fibrous radicles are covered with brown, paleaceous scales (Ed.). The U. S. P. thus 
describes the official drug: " From 5 to 15 Cm. (2 to 6 inches) long, 10 to 25 Mm. 
to 1 inch) in thickness, and, together with the closely imbricated, dark-brown, 
roundish, and slightly curved stipe-remnants, 50 to 75 Mm. (2 to 3 inches) in diam- 
eter; densely covered with brown, glossy, transparent, and soft, chaffy scales; inter- 
nally pale green, rather spongy; vascular bundles about 10 (Dryopteris Filix-mas) 
or 6 (Dryopteris marginalis) in number, arranged in an interrupted circle; odor 
slight, but disagreeable; taste sweetish, acrid, somewhat bitter, astringent, and 
nauseous. The chaff, together with the dead portions of the rhizome and stipes, 
should be removed, and only such portions as have retained their green color 
should be used"-(U. S. P.). The fresh root is colored bluish-black by iodine, 
which is indicative of the presence of starch. From the first of June to the latter 
part of September is the proper time for collecting it-when it should be cleansed 
without being washed, then dried quickly in the shade and open air without heat. 
Select those parts which are greenish internally, immediately pulverize them, 
and keep in well-closed bottles. The powder is pale greenish-yellow,-and has a 
peculiar earthy, disagreeable odor, and the same taste as the crude root (C.). In 
two years the best article becomes useless. 
Chemical Composition.-According to Geiger male-fern contains green fat 
oil (composed, according to Luck, of glycerides of filosmylic and filixolic acids), 
green resin, uncrystallizable sugar, easily oxidizable tannic acid, gum, salts, starch, 
and lignin. In addition to these Bock found fixed and volatile oil, pectin, albu- 
men, etc. According to Peschier, the fern-buds contain a volatile oil, brown resin, 
fat oil, solid fatty matter, green coloring principle, a reddish-brown principle, and 
extractive. Three acids have been found by Dr. C. Luck in the root; two from 
the root itself, named "tannaspidic" and pteritannic acids" (soluble in ether), and 
one from its oil, termed "filicic acid." The latter has the formula, Ci4H18O5- 
according to Grabowski (1867) or C13H14O4 (Luck) or Ci4Hl6O5 (Daccomo, 1889). 
The first-named regards it as dibutyryl-phloroglucin, for at near the fusing point of 
potassium hydroxide the latter decomposes it into butyric acid and phloroglucin. 
An impure filicic acid constituted Pavesi's (1861) aspidin. Malin (1867) isolated 
but one tannin, and to it he gave the name filitannic acid. Protecatechuic acid 
and phloroglucin result when this acid is fused with caustic potash; and when 
boiled with diluted mineral acids it yields glucose and filix-red (impure tannas- 
pidic acid of Luck). Daccomo (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1889) found a white wax-like 
body, having the composition (Ci3H2c,O)n., filicic acid, tannin, glucose, filix-red, a 
green oil, a brick-red, and a black, plastic resin. 
Marginal shield fern yields filicic acid and a tannin probably identical with 
that of male-fern (Patterson, 1875). 
The oil may be obtained by digesting the powdered root in pure ether, filter- 
ing, and then distilling or evaporating the ether from the ethereal tincture. It is 
a thick black oil, having the taste and odor of the root, reddening vegetable blues, 
depositing stearin when left at rest, and yielding a little volatile oil when distilled 
from water. Alcohol partially dissolves it; it burns with a thick smoke, and is ASPIDOSPERMA. 
301 
composed, according to Peschier, of fat, resin, volatile oil, coloring matter, extract- 
ive, chloride of potassium and acetic acid. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Aspidium was the secret taenicide of 
Madame Nouffer, and was purchased of her by the French King in 1775. The 
oleoresin has been shown to be poisonous, five fatal cases out of twenty being 
recorded (Katayama and Okamoto, 1892). Vomiting, purging, headache, dizzi- 
ness, dyspnoea, cold perspiration, cyanosis, disordered intellect, profound stupor, 
and convulsions are among its effects. In some cases amblyopia and permanent 
amaurosis have occurred, though the vision is generally restored. 
Male-fern is used for the expulsion of the tapeworm. Bremser says it is an 
excellent remedy against the Bothriocephalus latus, but it is not so efficient 
against the Taenia solium, and Merat entertained a similar opinion. According to 
Peschier the best mode of administration is the ethereal oil or extract, of which 18 
grains, or from 10 to 25 drops, may be given in the form of pill or emulsion at 
night and again in the morning; 2 hours after the administration of the last dose 
a purgative dose of castor oil is to be taken, and the worm is discharged dead, 
without any severe or unpleasant symptoms. Dose of the powder, 1 to 4 drachms; 
of the ethereal tincture of the buds, which is made by digesting 1 part of the 
buds in 8 parts of ether, 8 to 30 drops (see also Oleoresina Aspidii}. 
Related Species.-Polypodium incanum,Vwrs\i. Said to be employed by Alabama negresses 
to prevent conception. It is a popular Southern remedy for dysmenorrhoea. Emmenagogue. 
Aspidium rigidum, Swartz. Europe and Pacific coast range. Contains same constituents 
as Filix-mas, and in California is used like it as a popular tsenicide, 
Asplenium Filix-foemina, Bernhardt. Reputed Uenicide. The rhizome of Asplenium thelypte- 
roides, Michaux. North America. Resembles the preceding. 
Aspidium Athamanicum, Kunze. South Africa. The inkomankomo (uncomocomo) of the 
Kaffirs and pannum (Rhizoma Fannie) of commerce. Taenifuge. Contains pannic acid, a prin- 
ciple closely related to filicic acid (see Kiirsten in A. P. A. Proceedings, 1892, p. 605). 
Scolopendrium officinarum, Smith (Asplenium Scolopendrium, Linne). Hart' s-tongue. A fern 
indigenous to Europe and America, whose leaves have a sweetish, mucilaginous, subastringent 
taste. An unpleasant oleaginous odor is emitted if the leaves be rubbed. They have been 
variously employed as a demulcent in disorders of the respiratory tract, as a deobstruent in affec- 
tions of the abdominal contents, and as an astringent in excessive discharges and hemorrhages. 
ASPIDOSPERMA (U. S. P.)-ASPIDOSPERMA. 
"The bark of Aspidosperma Quebracho-bianco. Schlechtendal "-(U. S. P.}. 
Nat. Ord.-Apocynaceae. 
Common Name: Quebracho. 
Botanical Source.-This tree is a large evergreen, having pendant branchlets, 
bearing small elliptic-lanceolate, acutely-pointed leaves, which are opposite, or 
tri-verticillate, and subsessile. They have entire, stiff margins. The flowers are 
axillary, cymose, small, and yellow. The fruit is a ligneous capsule, containing 
seeds having broad wings. 
History.-This tree is a native of Chili and the Argentine Republic. The 
variety furnishing the official drug has the lighter-colored wood, another variety 
having a dark wood. The former comes chiefly from the province of Salta, the 
latter from the province of Cordoba. The wood of this tree is exceedingly hard, 
and the name "quebracho" (from quebrar hacho, signifying "breaking the axe"} is 
given it in its native habitat, and is equally applied to all trees having wood that 
is very hard. The drug was introduced into Europe, in 1878, by Schickedanz. 
The bark is used for tanning in some parts of South America. The bark having 
a thick, corky layer is preferred, and is collected from the older trees. 
Description.-" In nearly flat pieces, about 1 to 3 Cm. Q to If inches) thick; 
the outer surface yellowish-gray or brownish, deeply fissured ; inner surface yel- 
lowish-brown or reddish-brown, distinctly striate ; fracture displaying two sharply- 
defined strata, of about equal thickness, and both marked with numerous whitish 
dots and striae arranged in tangential lines; the fracture of the outer, lighter-col- 
ored layer rather coarsely granular, and that of the darker-colored, inner layer 
short-splintery; inodorous; taste very bitter and slightly aromatic"-(U. S. P.}. 
Chemical Composition.-The wood of this tree yields no alkaloids. The 
barks, besides containing a small amount of tannin, laevogyre inosite, and another 
form of sugar, denominated quebrachit, yields at least six alkaloids, as follows: 302 
ASPIDOSPERMA. 
Alkaloid. 
Discovered and 
named by- 
Form. 
Melting point. 
Solubility. 
Reactions. 
Other properties, etc. 
A.SPIDOSPERMINE, C22H3oN202 
Schickedanz; 
named b v 
Fraude(1878). 
Colorless, pris- 
matic crystals. 
205°C. (401° 
F.). 
Readily in fixed 
oils and fats; par- 
tially in alcohol 
and ether; very 
sparingly in wa- 
ter (1 in about 
6000); insoluble 
in glycerin. 
Red with warm per 
chloric acid; blue 
with platinic chlor- 
ide; brown, chang- 
ing to bright red- 
dish-purple with 
sulphuric acid and 
bichromate of po- 
tassium. 
Aqueous solution bit- 
ter. It has weak ba- 
sic properties; is less 
poisonous than the 
other alkaloids. Salts 
principally amor- 
phous. 
ASPIDOSPERMATINE, C22H2sN2O2 
0. Hesse 
Crystalline 
162°C. (324° 
F-). 
Red with warm per- 
chloric acid. 
Has strong basic prop- 
erties. Salts amor- 
phous. 
ASPIDOSAMINE, C22H28N2O2 
0. Hesse 
Amorphous.... 
About 100° 
(212° F.). 
C. 
Blue with sul- 
phuric acid and 
potassium bichro- 
mate. 
Strong basic proper- 
ties ; isomeric with 
aspidospermatine. 
Quebrachine, C2iH2eN2O2 
0. Hesse 
Colorless crys- 
tals, changing 
to yellow in 
the sunlight. 
215°C. (419° 
F.). 
Soluble in vary- 
ing degrees in 
alcohol, chlor- 
ofo rm, and 
ether. 
Yellow7 with warm 
p e r c h 1 o ric acid; 
colorless with 
H2SO4, becoming 
blue at rest. 
Salts crystalline. 
HyPOQUEBRACIIINE, G'21H26N2O2 
0. Hesse 
Yellow, amor- 
phous mass. 
About 80° 
(176° F.). 
C. 
• 
Nearly insoluble 
in hot benzin. 
Cherry - red with 
iron perchloride. 
Isomeric with quebra- 
chine. 
QUEBRACH AMINE 
O. Hesse 
Colorless, silky, 
acicular crys- 
tals. 
142°C. (288° 
F.). 
Freely in cold al- 
cohol and ether; 
sparingly in 
chloroform and 
benzin. 
Not always present in 
the bark. ASTER PUNICEUS. 
303 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Quebracho is said to be valued as an 
antiperiodic by the Chilians. Wounds are sometimes dressed with the fluid 
extract. But its chief value rests upon its property of controlling dyspnoea, when 
not due to organic changes. Some, however, contend that it is equally valuable 
when structural changes are present. It is valuable in both cardiac and asthmatic 
dyspnoea, as well as in emphysematous states. Being a stimulant to the pneumo- 
gastric it affects chiefly the cardiac and pulmonary plexuses, and is a remedy of 
marked value where there is evidence of imperfect oxygenation. The cases show 
a disturbed relation between the pulmonic circulation and the action of the 
heart. In cardiac asthma it is reputed one of the best remedies, and to relieve the 
distressing dyspnoea of capillary bronchitis, the latter stages of phthisis, advanced 
bronchitis, asthmatic bronchitis, and simple asthma, with insufficient cardiac power, 
it has been highly praised. Pure, uncomplicated asthma is not much benefited 
by it, but asthma associated with emphysema is very promptly met by it. The 
cough of la grippe, with marked dyspnoea, yields to it. Dose of the fluid extract, 
from 5 to 60 minims, in water, syrup, or syrup of tolu, every 2 or 3 hours; for 
specific uses, doses of 5 to 15 minims are preferred ; of the tincture, 10 to 20 min- 
ims; of commercial aspidospermine, which is a mixture of the associated alka- 
loids, the dose varies from | to grain. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Dyspnoea of functional origin; dyspnoea 
with emphysema, face pale, anxious, and livid, lips cyanotic ; pulse small, soft, 
compressible, irregular, or intermittent; orthopnoea; cardiac palpitation with 
cough. 
Related Drugs.-Loxopterygium Lorentzii, Grisebach. Nat. Ord.: Terebinthaceae. The 
quebracho Colorado Of the Argentine Republic. The wood contains a large amount of tannin and 
a yellow coloring matter. Hesse obtained two alkaloids, both bitter in taste, one being 
unnamed and the other known as loxopterygine. The juice of the bark formsa resinous exuda- 
tion not unlike kino, and is soluble in alcohol, wood alcohol, acetic acid, acetic ether, acetone, 
and boiling water (Arate). Has been used as a substitute for aspidosperma, but is weaker in 
action. 
lodina rhombifolia, Hooker and Arnott. Nat. Ord.: Aquifoliaceae. Quebracho flojo. Used 
as above and often gathered with it. 
Macheerium fertile, Grisebach. Nat. Ord.: Leguminosae. Tipa tree. Uses same as preced- 
ing species. 
Croton pseudochina, Schlechtendal, Mexico. .Source of Copalchi-bark, which is occasionally 
sold as quebracho bark. 
ASTER PUNICEUS.-RED-STALKED ASTER. 
The root of the Aster puniceus, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Composita). 
Common Names: Red-stalked aster, Cocash, Meadow scabish, Squaw-rveed. 
Botanical Source.-The root of this plant is perennial and fibrous. It has 
a hispid stem, paniculate above, furrowed, generally red, or at least on the south 
side, stout and tall, growing from 3 to 6 feet in height. The leaves are oblong- 
lanceolate, amplexicaul, more or less auriculate at the base, sparingly serrate in 
the middle with appressed teeth, rough above, nearly smooth underneath and 
pointed; the lower leaves have remote serratures, are rough-edged, rough on the 
upper surface, and all acuminate and narrowed at the base. The involucre is 
loose and longer than the disk; the scales linear-lanceolate, long, revolute, nearly 
equal, in two rows. The flowers are large, showy, of a pale-purple or lilac-blue 
color, having from 30 to 60 long, narrow rays. 
History and Description.-This plant is found growing in various parts of 
the United States, in swamps, ditches, along the borders of small streams, and 
sometimes in dry soils. It flowers from July to October. The radicles or fibers 
of the root are the parts used; they are about the size of a pipe-stem, having a 
pungent, aromatic odor and taste, vyith some bitterness and astringency. Water 
or alcohol extracts their active properties. This species has several varieties- 
vimineus, glaber, firmus, and Candidas. The second variety and the candidus have 
white flowers. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Stimulant and diaphoretic. The 
warm infusion may be used freely in colds, rheumatism, nervous debility, headache, 304 
ATROPINA. 
pains in the stomach, dizziness, and menstrual irregularities. This, together with A. cor- 
difolius, has been compared in value with valerian. Infusion (§ss to aqua Oj) freely. 
Related Species.-Aster sestivus, Aiton ; Rheumatic-weed, Sampson snake-root, Star flower, etc., 
resembles the above plant, having lanceolate, subclasping leaves, tapering to the apex; margin 
rough ; stem branching from its base, erect, hispid; branchlets pilose ; involucre scaly; scales 
lax, linear, acute, equal. Flowers middle-sized, blue. It is found more abundantly -west of 
the Alleghany Mountains, and is recommended as an antispasmodic and alterative. Princi- 
pally used in the cure of rheumatism in the form of infusion or tincture; recommended, how- 
ever, in hysteria, chorea, epilepsy, spasms, irregular menstruation, etc., internally; and used both 
externally and internally in many cutaneous diseases, the eruption occasioned by the poison rhus, 
and in the bites of venomous snakes. Dose of the infusion, 1 to 4 fluid ounces; of a saturated 
tincture, J drachm to 2 drachms. This plant deserves further investigation. 
Aster cordifolius, LinnA Heart-leaved aster. United States. According to Rafinesque (Med. 
Flora, II, 198), " an excellent aromatic nervine, in many cases preferable to valerian." It is also 
reputed antispasmodic. The root is the part used. A decoction has been used in rheumatism. 
Aster Novee-Anglise, Linne. New England aster. United States. A beautiful plant, especially 
when cultivated. It has rose-purple, occasionally white flowers. Used in skin eruptions and 
valuable for poisoning by poison sumach (Rafinesque, on authority of Dr. Lawrence). 
Seriocarpus tortifolius, Nees (Aster tortifolius, Michaux). White-tipped aster, Mouse ear. Pine 
barrens of the United States. Summit usually covered with insects (Porcher). Diuretic. 
ATROPINA (U. S. P.)- ATROPINE. 
Formula: CuHssNOg. Molecular Weight: 288.38. 
Synonym : Atropia. 
"An alkaloid obtained from belladonna. As it occurs in commerce it is 
always accompanied by a small proportion of hyoscyamine extracted along with 
it, from which it can not be readily separated"-(U. S. P.). 
Preparation.-An easy process for the preparation of atropine is as follows: 
One pound of the dry leaves of belladonna are to be boiled in distilled water suffi- 
cient to cover them for 2 hours, and the decoction strained off through a coarse 
cloth into a large precipitating jar. The leaves are again boiled in a second water 
and the decoctions mixed, to which 2 drachms of strong sulphuric acid are now 
added; the vegetable albumen is precipitated, and the clear liquor is drawn off 
with a siphon to a filter. A clear, sherry-colored solution comes through, which 
is either decomposed by passing gaseous ammonia through it, or by adding com- 
mercial carbonate of ammonium. In either case the color becomes changed to 
black, and crystals of atropine are slowly formed. At the expiration of a day or 
so the supernatant liquor may be drawn off with a siphon, and the crystals 
thrown on a filter to dry. To decolorize them, about 1 ounce of spirit of ammonia 
may be poured on the filter, which washes away most of the coloring matter, 
leaving the crystals moderately white. Purify by dissolving in boiling alcohol 
and recrystallizing. 
Bouchardat states that by dissolving crude atropine in acidulated water, and 
then adding an alkaline carbonate to neutralize the acid, a deposit of resinous 
matter occurs at first, succeeded by a pulverulent precipitate, which is alkaline; 
this is atropine (though by some has been considered as a distinct substance), and. 
has sometimes received the name of belladonnine. 
Description and Tests.-The Pharmacopoeia thus describes atropine: "White, 
acicular crystals, or a more or less amorphous, white powder, without odor, having 
a bitter, acrid taste, and gradually assuming a yellowish tint on exposure to air. 
Soluble at 15° C. (59° F.) in 130 parts of water, 3 parts of alcohol, 16 parts of 
ether, 4 parts of chloroform, and about 50 parts of glycerin. At about 108° C. 
(226.4° F.) it melts, forming a colorless liquid; at about 140° C. (284° F.) it begins 
to give off white, acrid fumes, and, when ignited, it is consumed without leaving 
a residue. It has a markedly alkaline reaction; its saturated aqueous solution 
acquires a pink color upon the addition of a drop of phenolphtalein T.S. If a 
small quantity of atropine, or of one of its salts, be heated with a few cubic centi- 
meters of concentrated sulphuric acid, a peculiar odor recalling that of a mixture 
of rose, orange-flower, and melilot will become noticeable. On now gradually 
adding minute fragments of potassium dichromate the odor will change to that of 
oil of bitter almond, the rose odor disappearing as more dichromate is added. 
Atropine and its salts are decomposed by prolonged contact with sodium or potas- ATROPINE SULPHAS. 
305 
sium hydrate, and if heated with either of them evolve ammonia. On dissolving 
a small quantity (about 0.1 Gm.) of atropine in 2 Cc. of alcohol, and adding an 
equal volume of mercuric chloride T.S.; a yellow precipitate, which soon turns 
red, is produced. On adding concentrated sulphuric acid to atropine no color 
should be produced (absence of readily carbonizable, organic impurities), nor 
should any color be developed by the subsequent addition of nitric acid (absence 
of and difference from morphine). The aqueous solution of atropine, or of any 
of its salts, is not precipitated by platinic chloride T.S. (difference from most 
other alkaloids). With gold chloride T.S. it gives a precipitate which, when 
recrystallized from boiling water acidulated with hydrochloric acid, is deposited, on 
cooling, in minute crystals, forming a yellow, lusterless powder on drying (differ- 
ence from and absence of more than a small proportion of hyoscyamine "-(U.S.P.). 
The test above referred to, regarding the variety of odors produced as directed, 
is, beside the physiological (mydriatic) test, probably the most striking and relia- 
ble test for this substance. Manganese binoxide and potassium bichromate do not 
produce, with a sulphuric acid solution of atropine, a blue or purple color, thus 
showing the difference between this substance and strychnine. Its salts dissolve 
in water and alcohol, but are not soluble in chloroform and ether. 
Chemical Composition.-The principal alkaloids contained in Atropa Bella- 
donna, as atropine, hyoscyamine, hyoscine, and belladonnine, also atropamine, 
are substances which bear a close chemical relationship to one another, being 
partly isomeric and capable of being transformed into one another, e. g., hyoscya- 
mine into atropine (Schuette, 1891; O. Hesse, 1894). 
Atropine and hyoscyamine, both of the formula, C^H^NG,. are capable of being 
resolved into the alkaloid tropine (C8H15NO) and tropic acid (C9H10O3) by treat- 
ment with baryta-water, w'hile hyoscine, under these conditions, is split into pseud- 
otropine (C8Hi5NO), melting at 106° C. (232.2° F.), and tropic acid. 
If in these processes concentrated hydrochloric acid is employed atropic acid 
(C9H8O2) and its polymer, isatropic acid (Ci8H16O4) are formed, besides tropic acid. 
These reactions were first established by Kraut, in 1863, and Lossen, in 1866, and 
subsequently studied in detail by Ladenburg and other investigators. Tropine 
was found to be a pyridine derivative, viz.: oxy-ethyl-methyl tetra hydropyridine 
(C5H7N.[C2H4OH].CH3). It is a strong, tertiary base, forming hygroscopic crys- 
tals, which melt at 62° C. (143.6° F.) and boil at 229° C. (445° F.). They are 
easily soluble in alcohol and water; also soluble in ether. Heated with fuming 
hydrochloric acid to 180° C. (356° F.) or acted upon by sulphuric acid and glacial 
acetic acid, the base tropidine, containing 1 molecule less of water, is formed, hav- 
ing the composition C5H6(C2H4)N.CH3, boiling at 162° C. (323.6° F.), and resem- 
bling coniine in odor. In 1880 Ladenburg recognized tropic acid to be A-phenyl- 
B-oxypropionic acid (CH2OH.CHC6H5.COOH). It is soluble in alcohol and ether, 
to some extent in water, from which solvent it crystallizes in needles or plates, 
melting at from 117° to 118° C. (242.6° to 246.2° F.). Ladenburg, in 1884, suc- 
ceeded in obtaining atropine by synthesis from its products of decomposition by 
evaporating a mixture of tropic acid and tropine with hydrochloric acid. By 
substituting other aromatic acids for tropic acid Ladenburg, in 1884, made known 
a series of synthetical alkaloids, to which he gave the name tropeines, of this ser- 
ies tropine being the common basic constituent. Homatropine (Ci6H21NO3) he 
obtained by the action of tropine upon mandelic acid (C6H5.CHOH.COOH) in the 
presence of hydrochloric acid. (For the chemistry of belladonna alkaloids, also 
see Belladonna.) 
Action and Uses.-(See Atropinas Sulphas.) 
ATROPINE SULPHAS (U. S. P.)-ATROPINE SULPHATE. 
Formula: (C17H23NO3)2H2SO4. Molecular Weight: 674.58. 
Synonym : Sulphate of atropia. 
Preparation.-Sulphate of atropine may be made by dissolving 30 grains of 
atropine in 18 fluid drachms of pure ether, and then, adding to this, drop by 
drop, a mixture of 3 grains of sulphuric acid, and | fluid drachm of alcohol (spe- 
cific gravity, 0.817), which forms a milky fluid, continuing the addition of the 306 
ATROPINE SULPHAS. 
mixture to saturation of the atropine. Then set the liquid aside, and when there 
is no further precipitate pour off the supernatant ether, and allow the residue to 
evaporate spontaneously to dryness (M. Ch. Maitre). In this process all the 
fluids used should be free from water, and the whole manipulation should be 
conducted in a cool place; the ether will hold any excess of acid or alkali, which, 
however, may be neutralized by adding a little more atropine or acid, as required. 
Description.-Atropine sulphate is in the form of " a white, indistinctly 
crystalline powder, without odor, having a very bitter, nauseating taste, and per- 
manent in the air. Soluble at 15° C. (59° F.) in 0.4 part of water, 6.2 parts of 
alcohol, 2270 parts of ether, or 694 parts of chloroform. At 187° C. (309° F.) the 
salt melts, forming a brownish-yellow liquid. When ignited it chars, emits acrid 
vapors, and is completely consumed. The salt is neutral to litmus paper. On 
adding sodium carbonate T.S. to a concentrated aqueous solution of the salt a 
white precipitate is obtained, which should respond to the reactions and tests 
given under Atropine (see Atropina). The aqueous solution of the salt yields, 
with barium chloride T.S., a white precipitate, insoluble in hydrochloric acid"- 
(U. S P.). Atropine sulphate or its solution should strongly dilate the pupil 
when applied to the eye. This salt is soluble in about 3 parts of glycerin. 
Action and Toxicology.-The action of belladonna and its chief alkaloids 
is practically identical, except in degree and rapidity. The first effect of very 
small doses is to cause dryness and constriction in the throat, with possibly 
slightly disordered vision and unpleasant sensations in the head, with vertigo and 
confusion of ideas. Larger doses occasion mydriasis, with dimness of sight, 
quickened breathing, frontal headache, with mild delirium, and in some individ- 
uals a flushing of the surface with a rash closely resembling that of scarlatina, 
though lacking the punctations of that eruption, and rarely causing desquama- 
tion. If toxic doses be taken these symptoms are intensified. Dimness, or total 
loss of sight, and extreme pupillary dilatation, with brilliant, staring eyes, head- 
ache, and a peculiar delirium ensue. The latter consists of fancies and illusions, 
hallucinations, and other phantasmagoria, with laughter and gayety, or the cere- 
bral disturbance may lead to violent and furious delirium, -with fighting propen- 
sities. The respiration is decidedly increased, as well as the frequency of the 
pulse, which is now hard and small, and the body temperature rises from |° to 
1° F. The latter falls, however, when vaso-motor paresis takes place. These 
symptoms are followed by a well-marked second, or paralytic stage, with muscular 
weakness, and incoordination and motor paralysis, though sensation is not lost, 
but is, in a measure, diminished. Stupor, collapse, with feeble pulse, cold sur- 
face, and shallow, weak respiration supervene, and death takes place by exhaus- 
tion of the powers upon which the circulation and respiration depend, asphyxia 
preponderating as a cause of death. Narcotism never occurs, and convulsions 
rarely. It will be observed that full medicinal doses cause a febrile state, while 
toxic doses paralyze. The rapidity of the heart's action is due first to stimulation 
of the sympathetic cardiac ganglia, and secondarily, to paralysis of the terminal 
filaments of the vagus-a state of increased motor activity with decreased inhibi- 
tory power. The capillaries are contracted, but in poisonous doses dilated, allow- 
ing a fall of blood-pressure, and being due to paralysis of muscular layers of the 
vascular coats. Owing to vaso-motor paresis, the temperature falls from toxic 
doses. Atropine causes mydriasis when taken internally by being carried in the 
blood-current directly to the eye and there acting, as when locally applied, by 
causing paralysis of the terminals of the oculo-motor nerve, and it is thought also 
by stimulating periphereal filaments of the sympathetic. Small doses of atropine, 
while probably causing primary dryness of the gastro-intestinal tract, subsequently 
induce secretion, as is shown by the slight laxative effects of it and belladonna. 
It also increases tissue waste, and is eliminated almost wholly by the kidneys; 
and the urine so charged is said to be capable of dilating the pupil of another sub- 
ject. The voluntary muscles are but little or not at all affected by atropine. A 
livid or cyanotic countenance is seldom observed in poisoning by atropine. After 
death the heart, lungs, and brain are found to be overcharged with blood. The 
treatment in atropine poisoning is the same as for belladonna poisoning. One- 
half grain killed a middle-aged man, death singularly being delayed until the 
sixth day; 1 grain hypoderinatically proved fatal to another (see Belladonna'). ATROPINtE sulphas. 
307 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-As a general medicinal agent atropine may be 
used in cases requiring belladonna, governing the dose accordingly. Such uses 
will be those named under belladonna. However, it does not fully represent the 
parent drug. There are certain cases, however, in which atropine will be preferred; 
in some on account of its special adaptability ; in others for its prompter action. 
It is a powerful stimulant to the vaso-motor centers and to the capillary circula- 
tion. It has at least four well-defined fields of action, viz.: to relieve purely ner- 
vous pain; to relieve painful spasm of the involuntary muscles; to arrest excess- 
ive secretion of saliva, perspiration, and milk; and as a mydriatic. In various 
forms of neuralgia, where the pain originates in some nervous disorder it acts 
magically. Thus it is useful, in the order named, in intercostal, trigeminal, and 
sciatic neuralgia. It often fails in the latter, and the dose must be large (^ to 
grain). In neuralgia of the stomach, ovaries, uterus, and in other visceral neuroses it 
is an efficient remedy. In most instances it should be subcutaneously employed. 
By combining it with morphine when this is subcutaneously injected (say X of 
a grain of atropine) it prevents the faintness, nausea, and tendency to retching 
occasionally produced by the morphine alone. 
Atropine sulphate, in from 2 to 4 per cent warm solution, has been instilled 
into the ear for the relief of pain in earache, non-suppurative otitis media, and in 
diffused inflammation of the aural canal. Atropine is specifically antagonistic to 
excessive secretions of saliva and sweat, hence it is of much value in ptyalism and 
in the colliquative sweats of phthisis, hectic and other conditions of debility. The 
dose should be about grain. The value of both belladonna and atropine is 
well established as remedies to check the mammary secretions. Hence it is used 
both locally and internally. Atropine sulphate gives prompt relief to spasm of 
the sphincters and tubular organs of the body. 
It is chiefly in ophthalmic practice that atropine has gained laurels. It has, 
however, been objected to on account of the conjunctival irritation and oedema, 
as well as the dangerous ocular tension sometimes produced, which may imperil 
the safety of the eye. More recently it has been replaced, to a considerable extent, 
by homatropine, which is said to be free from some of the disadvantages attending 
the use of the former. 
Sulphate of atropine in solution is preferred to any other salt of this alkaloid 
for paralyzing the power of accommodation, and for dilating the pupil of the eye, when- 
ever such dilatation is required; but for this purpose the salt must be pure and 
perfectly free from acid or alcohol, else it is apt to occasion more or less irritation. 
That made according to the preceding formula with ether will be found advis- 
able. The habit of ordering a solution of atropine, to which a few drops of sul- 
phuric acid are to be added, is objectionable on the above account, when it is 
designed for application to the eye. An atropine gelatin has been made for the 
purpose of dilating the pupil, and which is preferred by some oculists to the solu- 
tion. It consists of a thin layer of gelatin, with which has been mixed some sul- 
phate of atropine. This layer is marked out into discs or squares, each one of 
which contains about of a grain of sulphate of atropine. One of these discs 
placed upon the eye, between the ball and the lid, dissolves rapidly and causes 
dilatation. When it is desired to paralyze the power of accommodation it is 
prepared of greater strength (see also Lamellae Atropinae-Br.f It is largely used 
where inspection of the interior of the globe is sought, and in such operations 
as cataract, etc. It is a very valuable agent, but may do irreparable injury if inap- 
propriately used. Glaucoma always contraindicates it, and in old people more or 
less danger attends its use, and even glaucoma may result from it. It is also con- 
traindicated in phlyctenular keratitis after subsidence of the acute phases; in mar- 
ginal corneal ulcers ; in keratitis with superficial vascularity, and in all cases of over- 
tension of the ocular globe. On the other hand, it is the remedy in iritis, from start 
to finish, and in central perforating corneal ulcers it should be used sufficiently strong 
and often to insure continuous ciliary paralysis, thereby insuring full dilatation 
of the pupil, and in the latter instance preventing the iris from adhering to the 
ulcerated cornea. After operations for cataract, iritis, as a complication, is averted 
by the use of atropine, and it should be employed also in deep, interstitial keratitis. 
Intermittent strabismus and consequent eye-strain, as well as chorea from eye-strain, 
have been corrected by this drug, followed by the selection of the proper lenses. 308 
ATROPIN.E sulphas. 
In the acute stage of phlyctenular keratitis it may be employed to check the flow of 
tears and sensitiveness to light, discontinuing the drug as soon as the active 
inflammation has been subdued. Haziness of the cornea in ophthalmia neonatorum 
is the danger signal in this trouble, and the prompt use of atropine sulphate will 
prevent involvement of the corneal and deeper structures of the eye. As an eye 
remedy it may be used as the exigencies of the case demand. Foltz uses, R Atro- 
pine sulphate, grs. ss to grs. xvi; water, add flsi, the stronger solutions to be used 
by the physician himself. A solution not stronger than 4 grains to the ounce is 
dispensed, to be used by the patient 3 times a day. Dilatation is produced in 10 
or 15 minutes, and usually persists for 3 or 4 days. 
Both atropine and belladonna are antagonistic to opium poisoning, and have 
been used as strong as grain every hour for 5 hours. It is also antagonistic to 
eserine and pilocarpine, and has been successfully used in strychnine poisoning and 
chloroform and ether narcosis. Frazer used it (yA^ to grain) with morphine sul- 
phate (| to grain) hypodermatically before anaesthetizing with chloroform, 
claiming that it lessens the excitement, takes less chloroform, and longer sustains 
the action of the latter. - Sulphate of atropine (7^ grain) placed directly upon 
the sensitive pulp of a tooth is said to promptly check the pain, and a solution 
has been applied to cancerous ulcers to allay pain. Sulphate of atropine, on account 
of its greater solubility, is preferred to atropine itself, and both are given in the 
same-sized doses, to Ao grain, the larger doses only in extreme cases, as in nar- 
cotic poisoning. The solutions should be fresh, as they are apt to develop fungoid 
growths, with decomposition of the alkaloid. An ointment containing 3 grains 
of atropine sulphate rubbed upon an ulcer of the neck is said to have produced 
death in 2 hours. 
Sulphate of atropine is generally used in solution in hypodermatic injection, 
the quantity injected at a time varying from Ag- to of a grain of the salt. The 
solution may be made by dissolving 1 grain of the sulphate in 4 fluid drachms of 
distilled water; 4 minims of this contain of a grain of the salt; the amount to 
commence with is 2 minims, which may be cautiously increased to 3or4 minims. 
Dr. A. Fleming preferred the following solution of atropine for internal use: 
Take of atropine, 1 grain; distilled water, 5 drachms. Dissolve thoroughly with 
the aid of a few drops of diluted hydrochloric acid, and add of rectified spirit suf- 
ficient to make 10 drachms. This solution keeps well, is of uniform strength, and 
is much safer and more efficient than some other preparations of belladonna. Ten 
minims contain of a grain of atropine, which is the commencing dose for an 
adult; it should be given in a little water, once daily, at bed-time, and on an 
empty stomach. The dose may be increased daily by 2 or 4 minims until some of 
the physiological effects are slightly produced, as dry throat, dilated pupil, and 
dim sight. For children under 1 year the dose is 1 minim; of 2 years, 2 minims; 
of three years, 3 minims, and so on up to ten years, when 10 minims may be 
given. It is, however, too dangerous, as an internal medicine, for children, minute 
doses of belladonna being preferable. Atropine should never be given in pill 
form, lest from slow or deficient solution it may accumulate in the stomach or 
bowels, giving rise to severe atropism. 
Related Salts of Atropine. - Atropine Valerianas. Valerianate of atropine may be 
made by dissolving a sufficient quantity of monohydrated valerianic acid in a sufficient quantity 
of pure ether, saturating this solution with atropine, and allowing the liquid to spontaneously 
evaporate. The salt is deposited in the form of light, white scales, consisting of a mass of small 
crystals, which is very soluble in water, less so in alcohol or ether, which fuses at 32.2° C. 
(90° F.) and becomes yellow by exposure to light and air. 
M. Michea recommended the valerianate of atropine in spasmodic or convulsive diseases, in 
doses of a milligrame per day for an adult, on commencing its use; he considered it superior 
to either valerian or belladonna, on account of its small dose and its certainty of action. It 
is also recommended in various chronic nervous complaints. The dose is Ao- to of a grain, 
repeated 2 or 3 times a day. 
Atropine salicylas.-Salicylateof atropine forms in deliquescent, non-crystalline, colloidal 
masses, soluble in water and alcohol, and must be kept in securely-stoppered bottles. It may 
be prepared by taking a little more than 2 parts (288 grains) of atropine and 1 part of salicylic 
acid (137 grains) and dissolving them in water (20 ounces), and gently evaporating the solution. 
When pure it is reputed to act more efficiently and w'ith greater rapidity than sulphate of 
atropine. The dose is the same as for the latter salt. 
Atropine santonicum.-Atropine santonate is formed by the union of atropine and san- 
tonic acid. It forms an amorphous powder unaffected by atmospheric moisture, but dissolves AURANTII AMARI CORTEX. 
309 
with facility in water, forming a solution which, if kept in amber-colored vials (prevents forma- 
tion of photo-santonic acid), undergoes no change, hence its advantage over the other salts of 
atropine. Another advantage is that it is said to be perfectly unirritating. 
For Scopoline see Related Products, under Belladonna; see also Homatropine hydrobromate. 
Related Species and Principles.-Ephedra xmlgaris. Japan. A plant of the order Gen- 
tiame, from which Nagai of Tokio isolated the alkaloid ephedrine (C10H15NO). The latter body 
produces death in the lower animals by both cardiac and respiratory paralysis. It is a local 
mydriatic, producing, in 10 per cent solution, an incomplete dilatation of the pupil in from 
| to 1 hour, the normal condition being regained in from 6 to 20 hours. The accommodation 
is scarcely affected. It is not likely to come into general use. 
Ephedra monostachya, Linne.-Root and branches used in Siberia in syphilis and gout. The 
alkaloid, according to Kobert, is non-toxic and non-mydriatic, and therefore unlike ephedrine. 
This view is supported by P. Spehr (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1802), who finds the alkaloid to be 
distinct with the composition C13H19NO, while that of ephedrine is C10H15NO. 
Ephedra antisyphilitica, C. A. Meyer.-Mormon tea, Mountain rush, Whore-house tea, Brigham 
weed. Nevada.' Usedin gonorrhoea in doses of 1 to 2 fluid drachms of the fluid extract. The 
medicinal activity depends, in the opinion of Loew, upon a tannin. 
Gleditschine.-Dr. Lautenbach (1878) found this alkaloid in the Gleditschia triacanthos 
and Gleditschia ferox. The same alkaloid was afterward introduced under the name stenocarpine 
before it was known to be the product of G. triacanthos. The former name was then restored. 
The alkaloid was introduced as a local anaesthetic and mydriatic. A solution at one time upon 
the market was shown to contain cocaine in considerable amounts, besides some atropine or a 
similar mydriatic, since which gleditschine has fallen into disrepute. 
Tetrahydro-B-naphthylamine (CioH7H4.NH2). - An extraordinarily powerful local 
mydriatic, said to be even more powerful than atropine. A 1 to 5 per cent solution is 
used (Filehne). 
AURANTII AMARI CORTEX (U. S. P.)-BITTER ORANGE PEEL. 
" The rind of the fruit of Citrus vulgaris, Risso "-(U. S. P.) (Citrus Aurantium, 
var. amara, Linne; Citrus Bigaradia, Duhamel). 
Nat. Ord.-Rutaceae. 
Common Names: Bitter orange, Bigarade orange, Seville orange. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 50. 
Botanical Source.-The bitter orange tree is scarcely distinguishable botan- 
ically from the sweet orange tree (see Aurantii Dulcis Cortex), except in its leaves, 
fruit, and flowers. The leaf stalk of the bitter orange is more broadly winged, 
and the fruit itself of deeper hue of red, having a rougher rind, and a bitter, 
sour juice. Added to these characteristics all portions of the bitter orange emit 
a greater fragrance than the same parts of the sweet variety. By some botanists 
this tree is regarded merely as a variety of the Citrus Aurantium of Linne (see 
Aurantii Dulcis Cortex). 
Description.-I. The Rind (Aurantii amari cortex). The U. S. P. describes 
bitter orange peel as consisting of " narrow, thin bands, or in quarters; epidermis 
of a dark, brownish-green color, glandular, and with very little of the spongy, 
wjiite, inner layer adhering to it; it has a fragrant odor, and an aromatic, bitter 
taste "-(U. S. P.). (For further information regarding bitter orange, see Aurantii 
Dulcis Cortex.) It is official in Extractum Aurantii Amari Fluidum and in Tinctura 
Aurantii Amari of the U. S. P. 
II. The Fruit (Fructus aurantii), when ripe, is about the shape and size of 
the common sweet orange, is darker in color, rougher, and has a white paren- 
chyma beneath the rind, and the juice of the pulp is bitter and sour. Orangettes 
(petit grains) are the unripe fruits which drop from the trees, and are considerably 
used on the continent under the name of orange berries. They vary from | to £ 
inch in diameter, are of a greenish or brown-black color, closely wrinkled, and 
pleasantly aromatic both in taste and odor. 
III. The Leaves (Folia aurantii).-These are borne on a jointed, broadly- 
winged petiole, and are smooth, oblong-ovate or ovate, nearly entire, or having a 
slightly crenated margin. They are aromatic and have pellucid oil-glands scat- 
tered throughout the blade. 
Chemical Composition.-A bitter crystalline body was isolated in 1828 
by Lebreton and named hesperidin. It exists in the white parenchymatous tis- 
sues of both the orange and lemon rind, but is found in greatest abundance in 
the unripe Seville orange. It occurs, when purified, in white, acicular crystals, 
practically insoluble in water, even when hot. (1 in 5000 of boiling water). It 310 
AURANTII DULCIS CORTEX. 
dissolves In boiling acetic acid and in alcohol, but refuses to dissolve in etherr 
fats, essential oils, and benzol. Treated with diluted acids it is split into grape- 
sugar and hesperetin, insoluble in alcohol. Hesperidin fuses at 245° C. (473° F,); 
hesperetin at 223° C. (433.4° F.). A substance analogous to tannin, gum, resin, 
albumen, fixed oil, and an essential oil (see Oleum Aurantii Corticis) have also 
been found in the rind. 
The juice of the orange consists chiefly of sugar, mucilage, and citric acid. 
Tanret (1886) found in bitter orange peel a bitter, acrid resin, a crystallizable, 
tasteless acid having the formula C44H280i4, hesperidin, an isomeric glucoside 
(isohesperidin, C44H26O24.5H2O) and another glucoside (aurantiamarin), to which 
he attributes the bitterness of the rind on account of its solubility in water. 
Action and Medical Uses.-(See Aurantii Dulcis Cortex.) 
AURANTII DULCIS CORTEX (U. S. P.)-SWEET ORANGE PEEL. 
"The rind of the fresh fruit of Citrus Aurantium, Linne"-(U. S. P.) (Citrus 
dulcis, Link). 
Nat. Ord.-Rutaceee. 
Common Names: Sweet orange, Portugal orange, China orange. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 51. 
Botanical Source.-Citrus Aurantium is a middle-sized evergreen tree, with 
an. arborescent stem, covered with bark of a greenish-brown color, having axillary 
spines on the branches. The leaves are alternate, 
ovate-oblong, acute, slightly serrulated or entire, shin- 
ing green, the stalk more or less winged. The flowers 
are large, white, rendering the atmosphere around very 
fragrant; the calyx urceolate and 5-cleft: the petals 5, 
oblong; the stamens 20 or even more; the filaments 
compressed at the base, more or less united there, and 
polyadelphous; the anthers oblong and yellow. The 
ovary is many-celled. The fruit is roundish, golden- 
yellow or tawny, and several-celled, with a fleshy, 
juicy pulp; the seeds white and several. The cysts-in 
the rind are convex (L.). 
Description, History, and Chemical Composi- 
tion.-The orange is a native of Asia, and is cultivated 
in the southern parts of Europe and America and in 
the West Indies. Its varieties are numerous. The 
fruit likewise varies in its character, that of the C. 
Aurantium, the China orange, being sweet, while that 
of the C. vulgaris, the Seville orange, is acid and slightly bitter. The ordinary 
commercial oranges are subvarieties of the sweet orange, and usually take their 
names from the country where grown, or the shipping ports from which they 
are sent out. Some varieties are seedless, as St. Michael's orange, and generally 
the Navel orange of Brazil; another variety having a reddish pulp is known as the 
Blood orange or Maltese orange. The Mandarin orange differs considerably from the 
common orange, and on account of its delightful fragrance and flavor the name 
Citrus deliciosa has been proposed for it by those who regard it as a distinct species. 
The leaves of the orange are studded with vesicles containing volatile oil, and 
have a bitter, aromatic taste, and when rubbed between the fingers are very redo- 
lent. They, together with the young twigs, yield by distillation an oil termed 
essence de petit grain. The original oil bearing this name was distilled from orange 
berries. It does not differ chemically from orange-oil, though it has a different 
odor. An infusion of the leaves is sometimes employed as a gently-stimulant dia- 
phoretic. The flowers have a delicious fragrance, which is imparted to the sur- 
rounding atmosphere, but which is lost by drying; those of the bitter orange are 
considered the most delicate. They owe their aroma to an essential oil, which 
may be obtained by distillation; it is termed oil of neroli, and is much used in 
perfumery. An orange flower water is prepared in Italy and France, which is quite 
pale, has a rich odor of the flowers, and a bitterish, aromatic taste; it is employed 
Fig. 37. 
Citrus Aurantium. AURANTII FLORES. 
311 
for the purposes of perfumery, although reputed to possess antispasmodic virtues. 
The peculiar fragrance of the flowers may be preserved for a long time by beating 
them into a pulp with one-fourth their weight of common salt. The juice of the 
orange consists chiefly of sugar, mucilage, and citric acid. The outer rind of the 
mature fruit is the official part, the inner being destitute of useful properties, and 
the two should always be separated from each other when drying the rind for 
medicinal purposes, as the spongy, inner rind is apt to occasion moldiness from its 
absorbing moisture from the air. Orange-peel has a deep orange color, a grateful 
aroma, and a pleasantly bitter taste, the Seville variety being more bitter than 
any other. It contains a volatile oil in visible vesicles, mostly lost in drying, a 
saccharine principle, hesperidin, and a ligneous fiber, agreeing in composition with 
bitter orange peel, though containing a lesser amount of the bitter principle. 
The fresh rind, grated and expressed, will yield the volatile oil, or it may be 
obtained by distilling the fresh rind with water. Water or alcohol takes up the 
sensible properties of the rind. The finest orange oil, which must not be con- 
founded with the oil of neroli, is obtained from Portugal, and is prepared from 
the rind of the sweet orange. It has a pale straw tint and a rich fragrance of the 
rind. It is imported in tinned copper cans, and is much used in perfumery and 
for other purposes. On exposure it spoils rapidly, acquiring a turpentine odor. 
When about the size of a pea or cherry, the bitter fruit is sold under the name of 
orangettes, that variety coming from the isle of Curasao being known as Curasao 
oranges; and the small ones are sometimes used to maintain the discharge from 
issues. The U. S. P. describes the official drug as "closely resembling bitter 
orange peel, but having an orange-yellow color. It has a sweetish, fragrant odor, 
and an aromatic, slightly bitter taste." It is used in the preparation of Syrupus 
Aurantii and Tinctura Aurantii Dulcis of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia. 
Test.-A test to distinguish orange peel from lemon peel was recently pro- 
posed by E. G. Clayton. It consists in moistening the rind with strong hydro- 
chloric acid. The orange peel is stated to acquire a rich, dark-green tint, while 
lemon peel assumes at most a dingy, yellowish-brown color (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 
1894). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Orange peel is aromatic and slightly 
tonic, but is seldom used except to cover the taste of disagreeable medicines or to 
lessen their tendency to nausea, and for these purposes it is frequently added to 
bitter tinctures, infusions, etc., as quassia, Peruvian bark, etc.; though care should 
be taken not to subject it to long boiling on account of its oil, which will thus be 
dissipated. As a tonic the rind of the Seville orange is preferred; its dose in sub- 
stance is from 30 to 60 grains 3 times a day. Large quantities of it have caused 
violent colic, convulsions, and even death. The juice of the orange is not only a 
light refrigerant article of diet, but has a direct beneficial medicinal influence in 
several diseases; as in all fevers and exanthematous diseases, where acids are craved, 
and the patient's tongue is coated deep-red, brown, black, or any intermediate 
color; in such cases its free use may be allowed with advantage; it is also useful 
as an antiscorbutic in scurvy. In administering the juice the membraneous por- 
tion should always be carefully rejected (see also Aurantii Flores'). 
AURANTII FLORES.-ORANGE FLOWERS. 
The fresh flowers, partially expanded, of Citrus Aurantium, Linne, and Citrus 
vulgaris, Risso. 
Nat. Ord.-Rutaceae. 
Description.-Orange flowers are composed of a small, cotyloid, 5-parted calyx 
and 5 white, fleshy, oblong, obtuse petals, which are dotted here and there with 
glands. They are about £ inch in length. The filaments of the stamens, which 
are about 20 in number,are united below into bundles (3, sometimes more) The 
ovary, which is globular, rests on a disk, and is surmounted with a round style, 
capped with a globe-like stigma. The odor of orange flowers is exceedingly and 
pleasantly fragrant, the bitter variety possessing this quality more than the sweet 
orange. They have an aromatic, bitterish taste. When dried the petals are of a 
pale, brown-white color. The flowers may be preserved for some time by adding 312 
AURI ET SODII CHLORIDUM. 
to them half their quantity (by weight) of common salt, and pressing them into 
ajar, which should then be securely closed and kept in a cool, dark situation. 
Chemical Composition.-Orange flowers contain an essential oil (see Oleum 
Aurantii Florum), acetic acid, gum, salts, and bitter extractive (Boullay, 1828) ; 
the bitterness of the latter is thought to be due to hesperidin (see Aurantii Amari 
Cortex). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Orange flowers are used in the prepa- 
ration of orange-flower water, which may be employed as a vehicle for the admin- 
istration of medicines. It is slightly stimulant to the nervous apparatus, and is 
said to have proved beneficial, in doses of 1 or 2 fluid ounces, in chorea, hysteria, 
epilepsy, and many other nervous disorders. 
AURI ET SODII CHLORIDUM (U. S. P.)-GOLD AND SODIUM CHLORIDE. 
"A mixture of equal parts, by weight, of dry gold chloride (AuCl3=302.81) 
and sodium chloride (NaCl=58.37). It should be kept in well-stoppered vials "- 
(U. S. P.). 
Synonym : Chloride of gold and sodium. 
Preparation.-1. Dissolve 4 parts of gold in nitro-hydroctnoric acid, evapor- 
ate the solution to dryness, and treat the dried mass with 8 times its weight of 
distilled water containing in solution 1 part of well-dried, common salt. Evap- 
orate the solution nearly to dryness, stirring all the time with a glass rod (Fig- 
uier). 2. Dissolve 85 parts, by weight, of chloride of gold (auric trichloride) and 
16 parts of chloride of sodium in a small quantity of water; evaporate the solu- 
tion by a gentle heat until a pellicle forms, and then put aside to crystallize. As 
prepared by the French from proper proportions of solutions of auric trichloride 
and sodium chloride, and evaporated to crystallization, it forms in yellowish-red, 
permanent rhombic crystals of the composition NaCl. AuC13.2H2O. In this coun- 
try it is most generally prepared by dissolving equal weights of gold chloride and 
sodium chloride and evaporating to dryness. 
Description and Tests.-The crystallized double salt is in the form of pris- 
matic, quadrangular, and elongated crystals, of a very bright-yellow color, perma- 
nent in the air, unless they contain uncombined trichloride, when they are slightly 
deliquescent. They are soluble in water. When heated they give out water, and 
then melt, and at a red heat give out chlorine; but it requires a very long-contin- 
ued application of heat to drive off the whole of the chlorine. The salt more gen- 
erally employed is that of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, which should agree with the fol- 
lowing description and tests: "An orange-yellow powder, odorless, having a 
saline and metallic taste, and slightly deliquescent in damp air. The compound is 
very soluble in water, and at least one-half of it should be soluble in cold alcohol. 
When exposed to a red heat it is decomposed, and metallic gold is separated. A 
fragment of the compound imparts a persistent, intensely-yellow color to a non- 
luminous flame. Its aqueous solution has a slightly acid reaction, and yields, 
with silver nitrate T.S., a white precipitate insoluble in nitric acid. On bringing 
a glass rod, dipped into ammonia water, close to a portion of the compound, no 
white fumes should make their appearance (absence of free acid). If 0.5 Gm. of 
gold and sodium chloride be dissolved in 50 Cc. of water in a porcelain capsule, 
the solution acidulated with 5 Cc. of diluted sulphuric acid, and, after the addi- 
tion of 1 Gm. of pure oxalic acid, heated for about 2 hours on a water-bath, a pre- 
cipitate of metallic gold will be obtained, which, when w'ashed, dried, and ignited, 
should weigh not less than 0.15 Gm. (corresponding to at least 30 per cent of me- 
tallic gold). The filtrate from the precipitated gold should not be affected by 
hydrogen sulphide T.S., nor, after being supersaturated with ammonia water, by 
ammonium sulphide T.S. (absence of metallic impurities)"-(U. S. Pf. Of all 
the preparations of gold, this is the most to be relied upon. When taken into 
the system, being a soluble salt, it is excreted and passed off by the skin and kid- 
neys, principally the latter. It is incompatible with most vegetable and mineral 
acids, earths, most vegetable juices, and the oxides or salts of other metals. The 
simpler the form in which it is prepared for administration, the less liability will 
there be of its decomposition. AURI ET SODII CHLORIDUM. 
313 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The salts of gold closely resemble 
those of mercury in their effects upon the human system. The chloride of gold is 
caustic, and even more poisonous than corrosive sublimate. An erethism, not 
unlike the fever of mercurialism, is said to be produced by its long-continued use, 
and the sexual functions are said to be stimulated by gold preparations. Bromide 
of gold is twenty or more times as powerful as the commonly employed bromides. 
The chloride of gold and sodium has been found by Bartholow to have a marked 
action when long continued in causing a waste of connective tissue, a fact taken 
advantage of in certain diseases characterized by an over-abundance or over-pro- 
duction of that tissue. 
Among the effects of auric preparations are the following: Small medicinal 
doses promote the appetite and digestion, but their long-continued use induces 
constipation. Full doses occasion gastric irritability, nausea, and anorexia. Long 
continued they produce a fever (auric fever) with colliquative sweats, marked 
diuresis, and ptyalism, differing, however, from mercurial ptyalism in not pro- 
ducing tenderness or ulceration of the gums. The mind becomes active under 
auric medication, and may be excited, followed by cheerfulness. Among the 
earliest uses of gold we find it principally a remedy for mental disorders. In- 
creased sexual desire in the male, with erections, amounting sometimes to pria- 
pism, takes place, while both sexual desire and the menstrual function are aug- 
mented in the female. The preparations are chiefly eliminated by the kidneys, 
though to some extent by the skin and bowels. Over-doses of the gold salts are 
to be treated with the same antidotes as for the mercury compounds. 
Gold was formerly employed in the form of the triturated leaf in many of the 
conditions in which the so-called double chloride is now employed. The chloride 
of gold and sodium in small medicinal doses is endowed with general stimulant 
and diuretic properties, acting also as an energetic alterative. It has been highly 
recommended in primary and secondary syphilis, scrofulous and herpetic affections, 
goitre, scirrhous tumors, ophthalmic affections, dropsy, etc. It is principally used 
among Eclectic physicians as an antisyphilitic, and as such it is of decided effi- 
cacy. In four cases where some of the virus from chancres had accidentally 
lodged in the eye, producing symptoms threatening a loss of that organ, I saved 
the eyes by bathing them several times a day, with a wash made by dissolving 
7 grains of the chloride of gold and sodium in a fluid ounce of distilled water, 
likewise using the salt internally (J. King). The cases in which gold and sodium 
chloride acts favorably are those showing a moderately red tongue and fair sur- 
face-circulation in secondary syphilis, glandular affections, and in certain chronic 
skin diseases. The tongue is contracted more than ordinarily, and the symptoms 
are secondary or tertiary. When chancres and buboes are present they are indo- 
lent and of the non-sensitive variety. The dose should be small-to grain 
in pill. 
Of recent years gold and sodium chloride has been quite extensively used in 
certain mental disorders and hone diseases. This use has been borrowed from homoe- 
opathy, and the strength of preparations used is the 3 x to 6 x triturations. A 
keynote for the use of the drug in these attenuations seems to be a melancholic 
state of mind, with despondency and desire for death or disposition to suicide. 
These indications are all the more strengthened if the individual be one whose 
system is shattered with syphilis. Thus this salt, as well as the arsenate of gold, 
has been used in the chronic headaches dependent upon syphilitic periostitis, ozena, 
and bone necrosis, especially in caries of the nasal bones, for which it appears to have 
a selective affinity. From the earliest times gold has been known as an efficient 
remedy for hypochondriasis, and this action has been put to good use by homoeop- 
athists. The mental and nervous disorders in which it may be employed are 
insanity from sexual excesses, melancholia, with suicidal mania, and hypochondriasis. 
due to disorders of the testes or liver. Chronic bone-pains, pericranial and periosteal 
pain, and neuralgia are cases for it, particularly when a syphilitic taint is present. 
Where the neuralgic element is strong the arsenate is preferred. Diseased states 
arising from the abuse of mercury, as in ulceration of the throat, are to be treated 
with this drug. 
That gold and sodium chloride would increase waste of connective tissue led 
Bartholow and others to employ it, where it was desired to prevent the over- 314 
AURI ET SODII CHLORIDUM. 
production of that tissue-hyperplasia in any organ. Thus it has been used in 
chronic interstitial nephritis, and other like affections, in grain doses. Uterine 
and ovarian indurations are reduced by it (3 x trituration). Chronic sexual dis- 
orders, with involvement of the structures, are thought to be benefited by its use. 
Among these troubles are erotomania, nocturnal pollutions, premature emissions, and 
sexual irritability, as well as testicular atrophy after epididymitis and sarcocele. 
In ophthalmic and aural practice it is said to be efficient where the iodides 
are not well received. Caries of the orbit of scrofulous nature, deep keratitis from 
hereditary syphilis, and the iritis and keratitis of acquired syphilis are disorders in 
which it is of service (Foltz). Dose, grain. In ear diseases Foltz finds it of 
value in such cases as depend upon hereditary syphilis, but of little value in 
acquired syphilis. He claims brilliant success from its use in suppurative otitis 
media, where caries is a prominent feature. Dose, to grain every 4 hours. 
(For the further use of this drug in minute doses, see Webster's Dynamical 
Therapeutics.} 
The dose of gold and sodium chloride internally is from to of a grain, 
which may be given in pill form or in solution, thus: Dissolve 2 grains of chloride 
of gold and sodium in a fluid ounce of water, of which the dose is 10 or 15 drops 
every 2 or 3 hours. For pills mix 2 grains of the salt of gold with 1 drachm of 
powdered starch, lycopodium, or orris root, and form into a pill mass with a suffi- 
cient quantity of gum Arabic in solution; divide into 40 pills, each of which con- 
tains of a grain of the gold salt. Or it may be given in powder made by rub- 
bing together 1 grain of the salt with 1 drachm of white sugar, or sugar of milk, 
and dividing into 12, 15, or 20 powders, according to the dose required. It has, 
however, been given in doses of from | to 4 grain, 3 times a day, and without 
any unpleasant consequences; but when such doses are prescribed its action 
should be carefully watched, and its administration be suspended for a time. Its 
effects upon the system in over-doses, or when the patient contracts cold while 
under its influence, are said to be equally as severe and dangerous as those follow- 
ing the use of corrosive sublimate, under the same circumstances. The 3 x and 6 x 
triturations are given in 2 or 3-grain doses 3 or 4 times a day. Externally it may 
be applied to scrofulous and syphilitic ulcers in solution, or made into an oint- 
ment with prepared lard, in the proportion of 7 or 9 grains to the ounce of water 
or lard. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Tongue contracted and redder than usual, 
syphilis, especially in secondary and tertiary stages, and in the hereditary form; 
non-sensitive and indolent buboes and chancres (^ to grain). Melancholia, 
with suicidal propensity, depressed spirits, hypochondriasis, and troubles asso- 
ciated with these symptoms; syphilitic caries (3 x trituration). 
Gold and Its Compounds.-Aurum. Symbol, Au. Atomic weight, 196.2. Gold is the 
chief of the precious metals, as well as being the most ductile of metallic substances. It is the 
only element having a bright-yellow hue, and is named from its lustrous, shining color. It is 
found naturally in the earth free and combined. It exists in sea water, and is occasionally 
met with as an amalgam. Moss gold is native gold, the crystals of which are so arranged as to 
resemble golden threads. Gold is obtained in the mining districts by agitating the crushed 
earthy material with water, whereby the heavier gold falls to the bottom, and is then dissolved 
from the mineral admixtures by agitation with mercury. The amalgam thus obtained is then 
distilled, whereby the mercury passes over and the gold remains behind. Of late years advan- 
tage is taken of the solubility of gold in potassium cyanide to extract gold from poor ores. 
Such ores could not be worked at all by the old process. Some idea of the ductility of gold 
may be gathered from the following statement from Lloyd's Chemistry, that when hammered 
"280,000 thicknesses of gold-leaf will only occupy 1 inch in thickness, and 1 grain of gold will 
gild 2 miles of silver wire." 
Gold may be so finely attenuated that the precipitate will remain suspended in water, 
even though its density is much greater than that of the latter. According to Matthiessen its 
specific gravity is 19.265. It is wholly unaffected by oxygen or water, nitric and the other 
concentrated mineral acids should have no action on it, nor should ammonia tarnish it. Nitro- 
hydrochloric acid (aqua regia), however, dissolves it readily and completely, nascent chlorine 
being the agent which accomplishes its solution. Pure gold is too soft for coin and trinkets, 
hence it is generally alloyed with copper or silver, the former imparting to the alloy a reddish 
tint, while the latter occasions a pale-yellow hue. With mercury it forms an amalgam. In 
making and selling jewelry the term carat is employed, pure gold being represented by "24 
carat"-an " 18 carat" gold, for example, meaning an alloy of 18 parts of gold and 6 parts of 
copper or silver. The chief salt of gold used in medicine is the chloride in the combination 
of gold and sodium chloride. AVENA SATIVA. 
315 
Aurum Foliatum.-Gold-leaf is a transparent, bluish or greenish film, used sometimes as 
a pill-coating. 
Auri Pulvis.-Pulverized or powdered gold. This may be made by triturating until lustre- 
less a quantity of gold-leaf with some gritty substance like milk-sugar, or other hard crystalline 
substance which is soluble. The gold is washed with water. 
Auri et Ammonii Chloridum.-Gold-ammonium chloride. This salt resembles auric chlor- 
ide, and is made by dissolving in water equal amounts of gold chloride and ammonium 
chloride, hydrochloric acid being added to acidulate the solution; and finally evaporating to 
dryness. 
Auri Chloridum.-Auric trichloride, Chloride of gold (AuCl3). Dissolve gold coin in nitro- 
hydrochloric acid, evaporate to dryness, dissolve the residue in water, and pour the solution 
into an excess of ferrous sulphate. Metallic gold is thrown down as a black precipitate. Wash 
the precipitate well, dissolve in nitro-hydrochloric acid, and evaporate to dryness. Dissolve 
the residue in a little water, and again evaporate to dryness and place the product at once in 
well-stoppered bottles. This salt in mass is dark-red, but yellowish-red when powdered. It 
should have no greenish tinge, and should dissolve completely in water, alcohol, and ether 
(see Lloyd's Chemistry, p. 346). With solution of stannous chloride it forms "purple oi Cas- 
sius," a deep, brownish-purpie precipitate. Auric chloride is used in testing for alkaloids, 
with which it forms insoluble precipitates. 
Auri Oxidum Au(OH)3 .-Gold hydroxide, Auric acid (so-called). A very dark, almost black- 
brown powder. This may be prepared by strongly alkalinizing with caustic potash a cold 
solution of auric chloride, and precipitating the solution with barium chloride. Aurate of 
barium results, and this, when treated with diluted nitric acid, leaves its barium in solution, 
and pure oxide of gold remains (M. L. Figuier). It may also be obtained by precipitating a 
solution of chloride of gold with magnesium oxide or zinc oxide, the precipitate being washed 
on a filter successively with diluted nitric acid and water. This does not give so large a yield 
as the preceding process. 
Auri Cyanidum.-Cyanide of gold. A tasteless, odorless, lemon-yellow salt, prepared by 
adding to pure gold chloride in solution an equal quantity, by weight, of pure cyanide of potas- 
sium in aqueous solution. Should too much of the latter salt be employed a darker precipi- 
tate, which is not desirable, would be formed. This salt contains 75 per cent of metallic gold 
(Figuier's process). Auro-potassium cyanide, in colorless, plate-like crystals, may be produced 
by employing a strong, hot solution of cyanide of potassium in excess. It effloresces and 
becomes white on exposure to the air. It contains gold amounting to 55 per cent. 
Auri Iodidum.-Iodide of gold (Aul3). A deep-green powder, made by precipitating gold 
chloride from solution with iodide of potassium, taking the precaution not to have an excess 
of the potassium salt. Wash well with water and carefully dry the compound. When exposed 
to the atmosphere it liberates iodine, being successively converted into aurous iodide (Aul) and 
metallic gold. Potassium iodide solution dissolves it. 
Aurum Bromidum.- Gold bromide is recommended by Hale (Hom. News) as a remedy for 
somnambulism in children, with night terrors, the child starting upon a run as if pursued. Third 
x trituration in 2 grain doses 3 times a day, the last at bedtime. The specific indications, 
according to Watkins (Comp, of Ec. Med.), are nervousness and apprehension, night terrors, 
sleep-walking, epilepsy. Two grains of 3 x trituration every 3 hours. 
AVENA SATIVA.-COMMON OAT. 
The seed of the Avena sativa, Linne, and a farina prepared therefrom. 
Nat. Ord.-Graminacese. 
Botanical Source.-Avena sativa, or the common oat, has a smooth stem, 
from 2 to 4 feet high, with linear-lanceolate, veined, rough leaves, with loose, stri- 
ate sheaths; the stipules are lacerate; the panicle equal and loose; the spikelets 
pedunculate, pendulous, 2-flowered, both flowers being perfect, the lower one 
mostly awned; the paleae are somewhat cartilaginous, closely embracing the cary- 
opsis; the root is fibrous and annual. 
History.-Oats have been noticed by the ancient Greek and Roman writers; 
at present they are cultivated in nearly all northern temperate latitudes. Their 
native country is unknown, though they are stated to be indigenous in Sicily 
and in a certain Chilian island. When the seed is stripped of all its teguments, 
including its innermost, silky, fibrous covering it constitutes groats; and when 
this is ground into fine meal or flour it is called prepared groats. When the seed 
is kiln-dried, stripped of its husk and delicate outer skin, and then coarsely 
ground it constitutes the oatmeal of Scotland, a common, farinaceous article of 
food for laboring people and children (C.). Many forms of " rolled oats" are now 
a general article of commerce, forming excellent cereal foods. Oats are largely 
cultivated in America as food for horses and cattle. American oatmeal is said 
to be inferior to the foreign preparations. 316 
AVENA SATIVA. 
Chemical Composition.-Vogel found oats to contain 66 per cent of meal and 
34 per cent of husk ; the dried meal consists of starch, 59; saccharo-mucilaginous 
extract, 10.75 ; albumen, 4.3; oleaginous matter, 2 ; ligneous fiber and moisture, 
24 (T.-C.). Other analyses have been made, which vary from the above in quan- 
tity and elements, showing oats to consist of a large proportion of starch, some 
sugar, gum, oil, albumen, gluten, a nitrogenous body, epidermis, alkaline salts, 
etc. M. Payen found oatsto contain starch, 60.59parts; gluten and other azotized 
matters, 14.39; dextrin, glucose, or congenerous substances, 9.25; fatty matters, 
5.50; cellulose, 7.06; silica, phosphates of calcium, magnesium, and soluble salts of 
potassium and sodium, 3.25 (P.). A large proportion of the nitrogenous material 
consists of avenin, a body containing a large proportion of nitrogen to a small 
amount of oxygen (about 17 to 1). With solvents it behaves much like legumin, 
which it resembles. It may be obtained from oatmeal by treating the latter, at 
a low temperature, with a dilute solution of caustic potash, decanting the clear 
liquid and precipitating the impure avenin by means of acetic acid. To purify 
it wash it first with diluted alcohol; then, with concentrated alcohol, dissolve 
again in a dilute solution of potassium hydroxide, and treat again with acetic 
acid, when avenin will be precipitated (Kreusler). 
Oatmeal.-Avenge Farina. Oatmeal is odorless, or has but little odor, is 
not so white as wheat flour, and has a somewhat bitterish taste. Particles of the 
integument may be observed in it, and it contains the gluten of the oat. Its 
starch-cells are polyhedral, having a checkered appearance, and are usually aggre- 
gated into ovoid or subspherical masses, easily separable under pressure. It is 
insoluble in alcohol, ether,and the oils; but the first two remove an oleo-resinous 
matter from it. Water removes its nourishing principles when boiled with it. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-I. Avenge Farina. Oatmeal is nutri- 
tive and demulcent. Good in habitual constipation, but not in dyspepsia accom- 
panied with acidity of the stomach. In the form of gruel, either salted or seasoned 
with sugar, honey, or the pulp of fruit, it is an agreeable nutritive during con- 
valescence from acute diseases, in the puerperal state and in some chronic diseases. 
Oatmeal made into a cake with water, baked and browned like coffee, then pul- 
verized and made into a coffee, or infusion, forms a drink which will allay nausea 
and check vomiting in a majority of cases when all other means fail, and used 
thus is very useful in diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera morbus, and irritable conditions of 
the stomach. One ounce of oatmeal in 2 quarts of water, boiled down to 1 quart 
and then strained, forms a very nutritive gruel. It may be rendered more pala- 
table by the addition of vegetable acids, aromatics,, sugar, prunes, raisins, etc. 
II. Avena Sativa.-This plant is a nerve-tonic, stimulant, and antispas- 
modic. It ranks among the most important restoratives for conditions depending 
upon nervous prostration, and for the nervous exhaustion consequent upon typhoid and 
other low fevers, and the accidental disorders arising from these complaints, as 
weak heart, spermatorrhoea, insomnia, etc. In enfeebled states of the heart muscle it acts 
as a good tonic to improve the energy of the organ, and is recommended by Prof. 
Webster to prevent relapsing cardiac rheumatism. In this condition it is not thought 
to be specially antirheumatic, but rather to strengthen that debility upon which 
the rheumatic diathesis depends, so that the patient is less subject to atmospheric 
and other impressions. In spermatorrhoea it is adapted to those cases of debility 
following adynamic diseases, or in simple spermatorrhoea when not due to self- 
abuse. The atonic state gives rise to a nervous erethism or an enervated condi- 
tion favorable to nocturnal losses. In cases depending wholly or partially upon 
prostatic irritation it is of less value, but aids staphisagria, sabal, salix nigra 
aments, and other indicated remedies. Spasmodic conditions of the neck of the blad- 
der are said to be relieved by it. 
A few years ago it was much lauded as a remedy to assist the morphine-con- 
sumer to throw off the habit, and to sustain the nervous system while undergoing 
that ordeal. We have, however, found it to exert but little good in this direc- 
tion. A strong tincture may be prepared by crushing or pounding to a pulp the 
entire oat-plant when the grain is "in the milk," covering with strong alcohol 
and allowing it to macerate 14 days. The dose is from 10 to 30 drops in hot 
water; specific avena, 1 to 20 drops every 2 or 3 hours; Keith's concentrated tinc- 
ture, 1 to 25 drops. This remedy was introduced by B. Keith & Co. AZEDARACH. 
317 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Nerve tonic, stimulant, and antispasmodic. 
Spasmodic and nervous disorders, with exhaustion; cardiac weakness; nervous 
debility of convalescence; spermatorrhoea from the nervous erethism of debility; 
tensive articular swellings. 
AZEDARACH.-AZEDARACH. 
The bark of the root of Melia Azedarach, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Meliaceae. 
Common Names : Pride of India, Pride of China, Bead-tree, Indian lilac, African 
lilac, and Persian lilac, a name properly belonging to Syringa persica. 
Botanical Source.-This elegant tree, attains the height of 30 or 40 feet, 
with a trunk about 1| feet in diameter, and divaricate branches. The bark is 
rough. The leaves are alternate and unequally bipinnate; the leaflets opposite, 
ovate, acute, serrated, sometimes incised, and in pairs with an odd one. Lilac- 
colored flowers are borne in terminal panicles, on axillary peduncles. The corolla 
consists of 5 petals, patent, pale-pink inside, deep-lilac outside; the calyx is 
5-parted. Stamens with tube 10-cleft at top, deep-violet; anthers yellow. Ovary 
5-celled ; stigma 5-lobed; style columnar. The fruit is a drupe the size of a small 
olive, with one 5-celled, bony nut; the cells are 1-seeded (L.). 
History.-This tree, although a native of several Asiatic countries, is culti- 
vated in the warm climates of Europe and America; it does not grow to any 
extent north of Virginia, and flowers early during the spring. Its name of Bead- 
tree was derived from the use to which its hard nuts are put in Roman Catholic 
countries, viz.: for making rosaries. The recent bark of the root is the most active 
part for medicinal purposes. It has a disagreeably bitter taste, and a very unpleas- 
ant odor, and imparts its properties to water at 100° C. (212° F.), and to weak 
alcohol. A fluid extract might possibly be prepared from it for general use. Quite 
a quantity of alcohol may be obtained from the berries by fermentation. This 
drug was early used by the Arabs and Persians. In the East the flowers and 
leaves are used locally to cure nervous headache, and a poultice of the flowers is 
employed to destroy lice and cure scalp eruptions. The fruit, though poisonous, 
is given in scrofula and leprosy (Dymock, Mat. Med. Western India). 
Description.-The commercial bark comes in curved or irregular pieces, or 
quills, which break with a somewhat fibrous fracture. They vary considerably 
in length and thickness; are reddish-brown externally, with irregular ridges run- 
ning lengthwise, of a blackish color. The inner surface also has longitudinal 
markings, and is either whitish or light-brown in color. It has a sweetish, suc- 
ceeded by nauseous, bitter taste, and is without odor. The bark of old roots 
has a thick, corky layer, of a rust-color, which must be removed if a good article 
is desired. It has scarcely any taste. 
Chemical Composition.-Jacobs, in 1879, obtained the bitter resinous con- 
stituent of this bark, of a yellow-white color. It dissolves readily in alcohol, 
chloroform, and ether, and is but partially soluble in carbon bisulphide, turpen- 
tine, benzin, and water; scarcely at all in the last three. Its other constituents 
are thought to be similar to those of the Azadirachta indica (see below). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The bark is anthelmintic, and in large 
doses narcotic and emetic. Kollock states that if gathered in the spring of the 
year, during the ascent of the sap, it will cause narcotic symptoms resembling 
those occasioned sometimes by spigelia. Among the effects of over-doses are diz- 
ziness, dimness of vision, confusion of the mind, tendency to syncope, vomiting, 
stertorous respiration, coma, pupillary dilatation, cold perspiration, and catharsis. 
It is useful in worm fevers and in infantile remittents, in which, although worms are 
absent, yet the symptoms are similar to those accompanying the presence of 
worms. Dose of the powdered bark, 20 grains; of the decoction (which is the 
best form for administration, 2 ounces of the bark to 1 pint of water, and boiled 
to pint), 1 tablespoonful every 1, 2, or 3 hours till the desired effect obtains; a 
purgative should follow its employment. The fruit is somewhat saccharine, and 
is said to be an active anthelmintic; its pulp has been used in an ointment for 
destroying lice and other ectozoa, as well as in the treatment of scald-head and other 318 
BALSAMUM PERUVIANUM. 
diseases of the skin. By expressing the nuts an oil may be obtained which is 
said to possess anthelmintic properties, and to be useful as a local application 
to rheumatic affections, cramps, obstinate ulcers, etc. As an anthelmintic it has 
attained considerable reputation in our Southern States, where the bark may be 
obtained fresh. 
Related Species.-Melia Azadirachta, Linne (Azadirachta indica, Jussieu). Nim tree of 
India, where it is cultivated extensively for medicinal use. The bark is a bitter, astringent 
tonic. The leaves are used in glandular enlargements, pustular, cutaneous diseases, and their juice 
as an anthelmintic. The fermented sap of the tree is employed as a stomachic. It is regarded 
reverentially by the superstitious natives, who believe that syphilis is cured by waving a nfm 
branch in the air, and that the insane are cured by passing through an opening formed by 
reunion of the extremities of the parts of a cleft limb, or trunk of the tree. Hove found a 
decoction of the leaves useful in liver disorders and intermittents. The drug is official in the 
Pharmacopoeia of India (see Dymock, Mat. Med. of Western India). 
Margosa bark (Nim bark), as this drug is called, contains a substance considered as an alka- 
loid by Cornish (1856) and to which he gave the name margosine. It has a bitter taste, and 
was obtained only in exceedingly small amounts as a "double salt of margosine and soda," 
taking the form of long, white, acicular crystals (Pharmacog raphia). The composition of mar- 
gosine and of margosic acid, obtained by the same exptrimenter from a bitter oil contained in 
the seeds, is unknown. Broughton (Pharm. Jour., 1873) believed the bitter principle to reside 
in an amorphous resin having the formula CaeHsoOn. He also obtained a crystalline principle 
of unknown character, which he' however, thought to be a fatty body, a view not participated 
in by Fliickiger on account of its high melting point, 175° C. (347° F.) (Pharmacographia). 
Melia dubia, Cav. India. The dried fruit is used by the poorer classes as a remedy for 
colic, the half of a fruit very effectually relieving the pain. The green fruit, with sulphur and 
curds, is employed in scabies (Dymock). 
Soymida febrifuga, Jussieu (Swietenia febrifuga, Willdenow). Nat. Ord.: Meliacese. This 
is the Rohuna or Rohun tree of Hindustan, and is known on the Coromandel coast of India as 
Redwood tree, and is the only known species of the genus. The bark is very bitter and astring- 
ent, and was recommended by Roxburgh as a substitute for cinchona. It was admitted into 
the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia in 1803, and in 1807 into the Dublin Pharmacopoeia. It is used as 
a tonic and also as an antiperiodic; but, according to Ainslie, if given beyond the extent of 4 
or 5 drachms in 24 hours will derange the nervous system and occasion vertigo and subsequent 
stupor. It is said to have been employed in India with success in the treatment of gangrene (?); 
and in Great Britain as an astringent, and in the treatment of typhus fever. Waring, who has 
employed it, considers it to be a bitter tonic and not a febrifuge. 
Swietenia Mahogoni, Linne. Mahogany tree. West Indies, Mexico, and the American trop- 
ical region. Yields the well-known wood, mahogany. Bark bitter and astringent; contains 
catechin. 
Khaya senegalensis, Guillemin et Perrottet. Bark and wood similar to preceding; contains 
an alkaloid (Caventou). Used in Africa in intermittents. 
Carapa guianensis, Aublet, and Carapa Touloucouna, Guillemin et Perrottet. Bark anthel- 
mintic ; seeds yield crab, kundah, or callicoonah oil, which is non-volatile and bitter. 
BALSAMUM PERUVIANUM (U. S. P.)-BALSAM OF PERU. 
"A balsam obtained from Toluifera Pareirse (Royle), Baillon (U. S. P.f 
Myrospermum of Sonsonate, Pareira ; Myrospermum Pareirw, Royle ; Myroxylon Pereirae, 
Klotzsch ; Toluifera Balsamum var. Baillon. 
Nat. Ord.-Leguminosa?. 
Common Names: (Tree) Peru balsam tree; (Balsam) Balsam of Peru. 
Illustrations: Kohler, Med. Pftanzen Atlas; Bentley and Trimen, Med. 
Plants, 83. 
Botanical Source.-A beautiful tree much resembling the Toluifera Balsa- 
mum, Miller, growing to a height of about 50 feet, the ramifications of its branches 
beginning low at a distance of from 7 to 10 feet from the ground and having both 
a spreading and ascending tendency. The young branches are covered with a 
smooth, gray, or purplish bark, beset with yellowish or white penticels. The 
alternate, petioled leaves are odd-pinnate, with from 7 to 11 leaflets. The leaf- 
stem, somewhat thickened at the base, and the base of the leaves are beset with a 
dense growth of very stout, yellow, reverse hairs. The leaflets are about 3 inches 
long and half as wide, lanceolate-ovate, rounded at base, pointed (the point being 
sometimes twisted), undulate, and folded at the edge. They are finely veined, 
and within the venation of the leaf-substance there occur more or less rounded or 
oblong, oil receptacles, transparent when held up to the light. The mid-rib is 
very prominent on the under-surface of the leaf. The flowers are numerous, 319 
BALSAMUM PERUVIANUM. 
hermaphrodite, and long-peduncled, in slender racemes. The fruit is an oblan- 
ceolate, indehiscent legume, about 2 to 4 inches long, and contains one seed, the 
mesocarp of which exhibits balsam receptacles, especially two oblong vittse upon 
each side. 
History and Collection.-Until recent years it has generally been believed 
that the tree yielding Peru balsam was the Myroxylon Peruiferum of Linne filius, 
a tree growing along the western coast of South America and in Brazil. Pareira 
(1850), however, showed that another species produced it, and provisionally 
named that species the Myrospermum of Sonsonate. Some authors, like Baillon, 
Carson, Ruiz, and others, regard the trees furnishing the balsams of Peru and 
Tolu as identical. Others, however, regard them as entirely distinct from each 
other. Fluckiger and Hanbury, in Pharmacographia, make the following dis- 
tinctions : 
" M. Toluifera: Trunk tall and bare, branching at 40 to 60 feet from the ground, and 
forming a roundish crown of foliage. Calyx rather tubular. Racemes dense, 3 to 4| inches 
Long. Legume scarcely narrowed towards the stalk end." 
" M. Pareirje: Trunk throwing off ascending branches at 6 to 10 feet from the ground. 
Calyx widely cup-shaped, shallow. Racemes loose, 6 to 7 inches long. Legumes much nar- 
rowed toward the stalk-end." 
The Peru balsam tree inhabits the coast region of San Salvador in Central 
America. While the trees are found singly or in clusters in the forests, they are 
generally owned by certain individuals who control the collection of the balsam, 
which is done by the natives. The trees are in the sections known as the Indian 
Reservation Lands of the Balsam Coast. The flowers are said to be so fragrant 
as to be smelled at a long distance, even before one is in sight of the trees. 
Dr. Charles Dorat, of Sonsonate, in a letter to Mr. Daniel Hanbury, gives the 
following account of the collection of Balsam of Peru : 
"Early in the month of November or December, or after the last rains, the 
balsam trees are beaten on four sides of their stems with the back of an ax, a ham- 
mer, or other blunt instrument until the bark is loosened, four intermediate strips 
being left untouched that the tree may not be injured for the next year. Five or 
six days after men with resinous torches or bundles of lighted wood apply heat 
to the beaten bark, which becomes charred. It is left eight days, during which 
the burnt pieces of bark either fall or are taken off. As soon as they perceive 
that the bare places are moist with the exuding balsam, which takes place in a 
few days, pieces of rag (of any kind or color) are placed so as entirely to cover the 
bare wood. As these become saturated with the balsam, which is of a light-yellow- 
ish color, they are collected and thrown into an earthenware boiler, three-quarters 
filled with water, and stirred and boiled gently until the rags appear nearly clean, 
and the now dark and heavy balsam sinks to the bottom. Fresh rags belonging 
to the same owner are continually being put into the boiler until sun-down, when 
the fire is extinguished; when cold the water in the boiler is poured off, and the 
impure balsam set aside. During this process the rags that appear to have been 
cleared of balsam are taken out of the boiler at different timesand given to a man 
to be pressed, by which means much balsam is still obtained. The press consists 
of a small open bag about 14 inches long, made of stout rope fixed together with 
twine, open at the middle and looped at both ends to receive two sticks. The 
rags are placed inside, and the whole is twisted round by means of the sticks and 
the balsam thus squeezed out. A washerwoman wringing out a wet cloth fairly 
represents the process. The balsam thus procured is added to that in the boiler. 
The next day the cold balsam is weighed and put into tecomates or gourds of dif- 
ferent sizes and sent to market" (extract from Reprint, with additions from Pharm. 
Jour, and Trans., Dec., 1863, article on Peru Balsam, by Daniel Hanbury). 
Balsam of Peru is so-called because it originally went to Europe from 
Peruvian ports, and was thought to be a product of the Peruvian tree above 
mentioned. It now enters commerce from Acajutla either in earthenware jars 
or in metal drums. The balsam of our markets is not constant in quality or 
appearance. 
Description.-Balsam of Peru is "a liquid having a syrupy consistence, free 
from stringiness or stickiness, of a brownish-black color in bulk, reddish-brown 320 
BALSAMUM PERUVIANUM. 
and transparent in thin layers, of an agreeable vanilla-like, somewhat smoky 
odor, and a bitter taste, leaving a persistent after-taste. On exposure to air it 
does not become hard. Specific gravity: 1.135 to 1.150 at 15° C. (59° F.). Misci- 
ble, in all proportions, with absolute alcohol, chloroform, or glacial acetic acid; 
only partially soluble in ether or benzin. It is completely soluble in 5 parts of 
alcohol. Water agitated with a portion of the balsam reddens blue litmus paper" 
-(U. S. P.). It is inflammable, burning with a fuliginous flame, and giving out 
an aromatic odor. It is miscible with water by means of mucilage. 
Tests.-" If 1 Cc. of carbon disulphide be mixed with 3 Cc. of the balsam, con- 
tained in a dry test-tube, a clear liquid will result. On now adding 8 more Cc. of 
carbon disulphide and agitating the resinous constituent of the balsam (amount- 
ing to about 15 per cent) will adhere to the walls of the tube, and the liquid por- 
tion will be clear, of a tint not deeper than light-brownish, and not more than 
faintly fluorescent (absence of gurjun balsam). If 2 Cc. of the balsam be vigor- 
ously shaken in a dry test-tube with 8 Cc. of benzin, so that the balsam may be 
spread over the walls of the tube, and the liquid then immediately poured off', the 
balsam should remain adherent to the walls for some minutes and subside slowly, 
while the liquid (which should be filtered if turbid) should be colorless or only 
faintly yellow, and should deposit no sediment on standing (absence of apprecia- 
ble quantities of storax, turpentine, copaiba, etc.). If 10 drops of the balsam be 
triturated in a small mortar with 20 drops of sulphuric acid, a tough, homogene- 
ous, brownish-red mass will result, which, when washed with cold water, should, 
after a few minutes, be converted into a brittle, resinous mass (absence of fixed 
oils). On distilling water with a portion of the balsam no essential oil should 
pass over"-(U. S. P.). G. L. Ulex (Jour. Pharm. and Trans., Vol. XII, p. 549, 
from Archiv. der Pharmacie, Jan., 1853) gives the following mode of detecting the 
purity of balsam of Peru: "To detect copaiba balsam, the substance is to be heated 
in a small tube retort until a few drops of a yellow, oily liquid have passed over, 
which takes place at a temperature of 190° C. (374° F.). This distillate is acid 
and soon deposits crystals of cinnamic acid. If the balsam wras pure it solidifies 
completely, but when adulterated with copaiba the crystals float in copaiba oil. 
The distillate is then to be saturated with caustic potash, and the solution of cin- 
namate removed by means of blotting paper. The drops of oil which are then 
left mix quietly with iodine if the balsam was pure, but cause an immediate 
explosion if copaiba was present in it." Mr. W. J. Jenks gives the following sim- 
ple method for detecting the true balsam of Peru from the false or adulterated : 
Place a drop or two of the article on the tongue, if it be true balsam it produces a 
liquid, diffused impression ; if the false (a solution of resin), the resin is deposited 
on the tongue and on the back of the teeth" (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1867, p. 7). 
Chemical Composition.-The chief constituent of this balsam appears to 
be cinnamein (benzylic cinnamate') (C9H7[C7H7]O2). This, when treated wuth con- 
centrated caustic alkalies, is resolved into benzylic alcohol (C7H8O) and cinnamic 
acid. The melting point of artificially-prepared cinnamein (Grimaux) is 39° C. 
(102.2° F.). Upon boiling it suffers decomposition. 
According to the analyses of Kraut (1869) and Kaehler (1870) the balsam 
contains, besides cinnamein, benzylic benzoate, benzoic and cinnamic acids, resin, 
and a small portion of benzylic alcohol, besides stilbene, found by Kraut alone. 
The resin (about 32 to 38 per cent) obtained as a residue by treatment with car- 
bon disulphide is a "black, brittle, amorphous mass, having no longer the specific 
odor of the balsam" (Pharmacoyraphia). By fusion with caustic potash Kaehler 
(1869) obtained from it proto-catechuic acid; by destructive distillation toluol, 
styrol, and benzoic acid. Benzylic benzoate (C7H5[C7H7]O2) is an oily, colorless sub- 
stance, which boils near 340° C. (644° F.) and forms crystals at a much reduced 
temperature. Benzylic alcohol (benzalcohol) (C7HSO) is probably the so-called peru- 
vin of Fremy in a purified condition. It is a colorless oil, feebly aromatic, boils 
at 204° C. (399.2° F.), and is not so light as water. It may be resolved into bitter 
almond oil, and subsequently into benzoic acid, by means of oxidizers. Stilbene 
is in the form of scales of a pearly luster, or in prismatic crystals, fusible, and 
boiling near 340° C. (674° F.). Its composition is ChHi2. Cinnamein (benzylic 
cinnamate) is a brownish, aromatic fluid before purification and colorless when 
pure. It constitutes about 60 per cent of Peru balsam (Kaehler). It is oily, 321 
BALSAMUM PERUVIANUM. 
feebly and agreeably odorous, and to the taste sharp and aromatic. The difficulty 
of distilling it, even with superheated steam of 300° C. (572° F.) or above, renders 
its extraction by this method less easy than by evaporation from carbon disulphide 
(Fliickiger). Its density is near 1.095. It is the body called by Stolze Peru bal- 
sam oil. The leaves of Myroxylon Pareirse yield a fragrant oil {Pharmacographid). 
Vanillin was isolated from Peru balsam by E. Schmidt, in 1885. Delafontaine, in 
1870, found cinnamyl cinnamate (styracin) (C8H7.COO [C9H9]). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This agent in medicinal doses occa- 
sions some cutaneous heat, increases the rapidity of the circulation, and augments 
the renal secretion, with irritation of the kidneys. Large doses, by producing- 
gastro-intestinal irritation, may cause diarrhoea and vomiting. It should not be 
employed in febrile states. Balsam of Peru possesses expectorant and stimulating 
properties, acting more especially on mucous tissues, lessening their secretions 
when profuse. It is useful in all chronic affections of mucous tissues, as in catarrh, 
gonorrhoea, mucous inflammation of the stomach and bowels, chronic diarrhoea and dys- 
entery, leucorrhcea, etc. Externally it forms an excellent application to obstinate 
ulcers, wounds, ringworm of the scalp, eczema, and other cutaneous affections. It may 
be applied alone, or in ointment made by melting it with an equal part, by weight, 
of tallow. It is much employed in Germany to destroy the itch insect and its eggs. 
After a warm bath the whole body is rubbed three times a day with 40 drops of 
the balsam. This is done for two days when the scabies is cured. It is consid- 
ered antiseptic, and has recently been applied locally to tuberculous ulcers, involving 
the bones, larynx, and skin. Wounds are readily healed by it in parts lacking 
vitality. Chilblains, sore nipples, pruritus vulvx, and senile pruritus are said to be 
promptly relieved by it. The dose is from 10 to 30 drops, and is best given dif- 
fused in water by means of sugar and the yolk of egg, or gum Arabic, or in alco- 
holic solution dispensed in glycerin. Used in ointment with beef's marrow, 1 
ounce, sulphate of quinine 10 grains, balsam Peru 1 drachm, it forms an excellent 
tonic and stimulant preparation for alopecia. 
Related Species.-Myroxylon Peruiferum, Linne filius {Myroxylon pedicellatum, Klotzsch; 
Toluifera Peruifera, Bailion). This is the tree that was formerly supposed to yield balsam of 
Peru. It is a large tree, with a thick, straight, smooth trunk; a coarse, gray, compact, heavy, 
granulated bark, of a pale, straw color, filled with resin, which, according to its quantity, 
changes the color to citron, yellow, red, or dark-chestnut; smell and taste grateful, balsamic, 
aromatic; leaves pinnated; leaflets alternate, of 2, 3, 4, or even 5 pairs, ovate-lanceolate, 
acute, coriaceous, somewhat emarginate at the apex, shining above, hairy on the underside, 
marked with transparent spots, terminal one the same size as the others; flowers in axillary 
racemes longer than the leaves; calyx campanulate, nearly equally 5-toothed, with the odd 
tooth remote from the others; petals 5, white; upper reflexed, broad, roundish, emarginate; 
the other four distinct, linear-lanceolate, reflexed, spreading; stamens 10, distinct, spreading, 
shorter than the petals; anthers mucronate; samaras pendulous, straw-colored, pedicellate, 
linear-oblong, about 2 inches in length, compressed, membranous, except at the apex, which 
is obliquely rounded, clavate, 1-celled, 1-seeded; seed reniform, lying in yellow liquid balsam, 
which hardens into resin (L). 
The Myroxylon Peruiferum is common to the forests of Peru in low, warm, sunny situa- 
tions near the river Maranon, and in other portions of South America, as New Granada, 
Brazil, Ecuador, and Bolivia, flowering from July to October. The resin, obtained in small 
quantities, resembles Peru balsam, except that it is harder and of a deeper-red tint. No crys- 
tals could be detected in it when pressed between two warm glass-plates {Pharmacographia). 
Its density is 1.031. It has an astringent, feebly-pungent, balsamic taste. With sulphuric 
acid it yields a sticky, grease-like mass, and not a brittle resinous body like Peru balsam. 
Both castor oil and alcohol dissolve it in any quantity, forming solutions which are clear. 
Balsamo Blanco Balsamito" or 11 Balsamo catolico or Virgin balsam") (Pharmacographia). 
-There is likewise a variety of Peruvian balsam of a pale-yellowish color, syrupy, becoming 
crystalline, highly fragrant (odor of melilot), and of a bitterish, acrid, somewhat aromatic taste. 
It is called Peruvian balsam, and is obtained by expressing the fruit. It is of very fine 
quality, but is not prepared for market. Prismatic crystals of myroxocarpin (C24H34O3), a neu- 
tral resin, were obtained from it by Stenhouse, in 1850. Dorat (letter to Hanbury) states that 
"from the flowers there is distilled a most delicious and fragrant aguardiente, far superior to 
any brandy." When dried this balsam constitutes the Dry Peruvian balsam or Indian opobal- 
samum, and is of a reddish, pulverizable, resinoid character. The fruit infused in rum is used 
for several medicinal purposes by the natives, also under the name of balsamito. 
Resinous Exudate.-The Myroxylon Pareirse exudes a natural resin, which, according to 
Dorat and others, is not aromatic, and which Attfield declares to be devoid of cinnamic acid. 
The latter found it to contain resin, uncrystallizable and feebly acid, 77.4; gum, similar to 
gum acacia, 17.1; limpid, fragrant, colorless, volatile oil and w'ater, about 4.0; woody fiber, 
1.5. It has no relation to the balsam, though obtained from the same tree. 322 
BALSAMUM TOLUTANUM. 
BALSAMUM TOLUTANUM (U. S. P.)-BALSAM OF TOLU. 
"A balsam obtained from Toluifera Balsamum, Linne" (U. S. PJ (Myroxylon 
Toluifera, Kunth; Myrospermum Toluiferum, Richard; Toluifera Balsamum, Miller). 
Nat. Ord.-Leguminosae. 
Common Names: (Balsam) Balsam of Tolu, Tolu balsam; (tree) Tolu bal- 
sam tree. 
Illustrations : Kohler, Med. Pflanzen ; Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, p. 84. 
Botanical Source.-This tree very closely resembles that yielding balsam of 
Peru. The trunk is tall and bare, and at about 40 to 60 feet from the ground 
throws out its branches, producing a rounded crown of foliage. The younger 
the tree the larger the foliage of obovate leaflets, older trees suffering from the 
drainage of balsam. The flowers are borne in dense, axillary racemes, 3 to 44 
inches long, and the calyx tube is rather tubular. The fruit is an oblong, linear 
legume, scarcely narrowed at its base. The tree, which is an evergreen, rises to 
a height of 70 or 80 feet. 
History.-As with the preceding article, so with the present, it has been 
involved in considerable obscurity, it formerly being uncertain whether the same 
tYees which yield balsam of Peru furnished likewise that of Tolu. Some, notably 
Bailion, consider that the two balsams are derived from the same species, and 
that the method of gathering, etc., causes their dissimilarity. It is, we believe, 
now quite definitely settled that entirely distinct species furnish the two bal- 
sams. The Toluifera Balsamum, which is undoubtedly the one species from 
which tolu is obtained, is found in many parts of South America, especially on 
the elevated plains and mountains near Carthagena, Tolu, and in the Magdalena 
province of Columbia. The balsam is said to be obtained by incisions made into 
the tree, from which it flows into wax (formerly) vessels placed for the purpose, 
and in which it solidifies. For the mode of procuring balsam of Tolu, see a paper 
by Mr. John Weir (Lond. Pharm. Jour., 1864, and Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1864, p. 449), 
summarized as follows by the authors of the Pharmacographia.: " The balsam tree 
has an average height of 70 feet, with a straight trunk, generally rising to a height 
of 40 feet before it branches. The balsam is collected by cutting in the bark two 
deep, sloping notches, meeting at their lower ends in a sharp angle. Below this 
V-shaped cut the bark and wood is a little hollowed out, and a calabash of the 
size and shape of a deep tea-cup is fixed. This arrangement is repeated, so that 
as many as 20 calabashes may be seen on various parts of the same trunk. When 
the lower part has been too much wounded to give space for any fresh incisions, 
a rude scaffold is sometimes erected, and a new series of notches made higher up. 
The balsam-gatherer goes from time to time round the trees with a pair of bags 
of hide, slung over the back of a donkey, and empties into them the contents of 
the calabashes. In these bags the balsam is sent down to the ports, where it is 
transferred to the cylindrical tins in which it reaches Europe. The bleeding of 
the trees goes on for at least 8 months of the year, causing them ultimately to 
become much exhausted and thin in foliage" (^Pharmacographia, 2d ed., p. 203). 
Description and Tests.-Balsam of Tolu is imported from Carthagena in 
tin, earthen, and other vessels. When first received in this country it is soft and 
adhesive. As described by the U. S. P., it is "a yellowish-brown, semifluid or 
nearly solid mass, becoming more brittle when exposed to cold, transparent in 
thin layers, having an agreeable odor recalling that of vanilla, but distinct from 
it, and a mild, aromatic taste. Readily and completely soluble in alcohol, the 
solution showing an acid reaction with litmus paper. Also completely soluble in 
chloroform and in solutions of the fixed alkalies; almost completely soluble in 
ether, but nearly insoluble in water, benzin, or carbon disulphide"-(U. S. P). 
It softens when chewed, melts when heated, and when burned evolves a fra- 
grant odor. 
Chemical Composition.-According to Fremy, Tolu balsam consists of cinna- 
mein, cinnamic acid, and resin, and the balsam resinifies to a crystalline mass 
with greater facility than the balsam of Peru. About 8 parts of volatile oil are 
obtained from 4000 parts of tolu by distillation with water; this oil contains 
tolene (C10H16), which is thin, colorless, and volatile, and has an acrid, hot taste and BAPTISIA. 
323 
a pleasant odor. Its density is 0.858. Oxygen is rapidly absorbed by this body. 
Benzoic acid, cinnamic acid, benzylic benzoate, and benzylic cinnamate are pres- 
ent in balsam of Tolu, the latter in larger proportion (Busse). Vanillin was also 
found in this balsam (E. Schmidt). Guibourt states that as the balsam solidifies 
its odor becomes more feeble, but its quantity of cinnamic acid is augmented, 
which is probably owing to the action of the atmosphere upon its oil effecting a 
chemical change. According to E. Kopp, the solid, resinous portion of the bal- 
sam consists of two resins which have the composition of hydroxides of styracin 
(see Balsam of Peru), one easily and the other difficultly soluble in alcohol. 
Deville, however, maintained that there is but one resinous body. Upon dry dis- 
tillation, beside the above-mentioned acids and ethers, balsam of Tolu yields a 
hydrocarbon termed toluol (C7H8), styrol, and phenol. Toluol, or toluene (C7H8), is 
the body found among the products when wood, certain resins, and other vegeta- 
ble substances are submitted to destructive distillation. It is likewise found in 
coal tar. Chemically it is methyl-benzene (C6H5.CH3 or C7H8). It is a powerfully 
refractive, oily liquid devoid of color, and has a benzol-like odor. It boils at 
111 ° C. (231.8° F), and refuses to congeal at -20° C. (-40° F.). Its density is 0.86. 
Balsam of Tolu is scarcely soluble in the essential oils (Pharmacographia), 
but water at 100° C. (212° F.) takes up its cinnamic acid. It yields very little vola- 
tile oil when distilled with water, and if the distillation be continued its acid 
sublimes. Mr. Hatchett found that when he dissolved it in the smallest possible 
quantity of liquor potassae, it completely lost its own odor and assumed a most 
fragrant smell, somewhat resembling that of the clove-pink (T.). " When balsam 
of Tolu is pressed between two warm plates of glass, so as to obtain it in a thin, 
even layer, and then examined with a lens, it exhibits an abundance of crystals 
of cinnamic acid" (Pharmacographia). Acetone and glacial acetic acid easily 
dissolve it, and it is insoluble in benzene. G. L. Ulex (Pharm. Jour, and Trans., 
p. 550, Vol. XII, from Archiv. dec Pharmacie, Jan., 1853) gives the following mode 
of testing the purity of balsam of Tolu: " Pure Tolu balsam, heated in sulphuric 
acid, dissolves without any disengagement of sulphurous acid, yielding a cherry- 
red liquid; when, however, colophony, with which it is frequently adulterated, is 
present, the substance blackens, swells up, and disengages much sulphurous acid." 
The same is true of turpentine. " Carbon disulphide, aided by a gentle heat, 
removes from the balsam scarcely anything but some of its cinnamic and benzoic 
acids. On decanting and evaporating the disulphide no substance having the 
properties of resin should remain"-(U. S. P.). Recently efforts have been made 
to distinguish between the different balsams, including Tolu and Peru balsams, 
and to recognize admixtures of resin, etc., by determining the saturation-power 
of the balsams for alkalies, and by similar methods (Kremel and Dieterich). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Balsam of Tolu, like that of Peru, is a 
stimulant, tonic, and expectorant, and may be used as a substitute for it in chronic 
catarrhs, and other pulmonary affections not actively inflammatory in their character. 
It is usually preferred on account of its more agreeable flavor, and for which it is 
often added to cough-mixtures. The balsam, dissolved in ether, and the vapor 
therefrom inhaled, is reputed beneficial in coughs and bronchial affections of long 
standing. Two parts of Tolu, 3 of almond oil, 4 of gum Arabic, and 16 of rose water, 
make an excellent liniment for excoriated nipples. The dose is from 10 to 30 grains, 
frequently repeated, and given in tincture, syrup, or similar to balsam of Peru. 
Related Species.-Myroxylon punctatum, Klotzsch (Toluifera punctata, Bailion; Myros- 
permum balsamiferum, Ruiz et Pavon). This species grows in the northern portion of South 
America, and is known to the Peruvians as Quino-quino. Bentley, Trimen, and Fliickiger, 
among others, regard it as identical with Toluifera Balsamum, Miller. 
Bowdichia major.-Yields the hard, yellow, bitter bark, Sucupira; contains an alkaloid 
possessing mydriatic power (Petit). The Brazilians employ the bark in rheumatism and fevers. 
BAPTISIA.-WILD INDIGO. 
The root and leaves of Baptisia tinctoria, Robert Brown (Sophora tinctoria, 
Linne; Podalyria tinctoria, Michaux). 
Nat. Ord.-Leguminosae. 
Common Names: Wild indigo, Indigo weed. 324 
Botanical Source.-Wild indigo is a perennial plant having a stern from 
2 to 3 feet high, glabrous and branching, yellowish-green in color, and studded with 
small black dots. The leaves are subsessile, 3-foliate- 
palmate; the leaflets small, roundish, or obovate, 
acute at base, very obtuse at apex, bluish-green in 
color, and turn black on drying. The stipules are 
setaceous and caducous. The flowers are bright yel- 
low, few, and borne in small, loose, terminal racemes. 
The calyx is 4 or 5-toothed. Petals 5, stamens 10, 
and distinct. The fruit is a subglobose, bluish-black 
pod the size of a pea, on a stalk longer than the calyx, 
and contains several seeds. 
History.-Wild indigo is an indigenous peren- 
nial, having the appearance of a shrub, growing all 
over the United States in woodsand on hillsides. It 
thrives best on dry, poor soils, being seldom met 
with in alluviums and rich, loamy soils. In New 
England the young shoots, like asparagus and poke, 
are eaten for greens, and like the latter, if too far 
advanced in growth, act as a drastic cathartic. The 
plant blooms from June to September, and yields a 
blue dye, not unlike, but inferior, to indigo. Bap- 
tisia is familiarly known as wild indigo, indigo weed, 
horsefly weed, yellow broom, clover broom, rattle 
bush, and yellow indigo. The name baptisia is 
derived from the Greek bapto or baptizo (to dye, to 
color), the plant having formerly been used as a 
coloring agent. 
Owing to the great number of antiseptic remedies that have been presented 
to the profession within the last few years, wild indigo, the favorite drug of this 
class with the early Eclectics, has fallen into unmerited neglect. Baptisia was 
mentioned early in the present century by Dr. James Thacher, in his Dispensatory, 
as a local remedy for gangrenous and other ill-conditioned sores due to debilitated 
conditions of the body. Still it received but little attention until the " Eclectic 
fathers," in their studies of indigenous plants, pronounced it a valuable drug. 
In the Western Medical Reformer for 1846, Prof. John King highly recommended it 
for its alterative and antiseptic properties. Prior to this (1837) it was used by 
Eclectic physicians in diarrhoea with offensive discharges and typhus (?) fever, 
scarlatina maligna and putrid sore throat. 
Description.-Baptisia presents a root-head, giving off knotted branches, and 
numerous bent or curved roots about 18 to 20 inches in length and from £ to 
inch in thickness. Externally the bark is rather scaly or dotted with wart-like 
excrescences, and is brown in color. The root breaks with a tough, fibrous frac- 
ture, displaying a whitish interior. The bark is thick; the corky layer thick and 
brown; the woody portion strong and porous. The root is inodorous, and of a 
nauseous, somewhat acrid taste; its virtues appear to reside chiefly in the bark. 
Both the root and leaves are medicinal. When the whole plant or any portion of 
it is dried it becomes black, and yields a blue dye, inferior to indigo. Alcohol or 
water will take up its active properties; also chloroform, ether, and glycerin. 
Chemical Composition.-Mr. B. L. Smedley found in the root gum, albu- 
men, starch, a yellowish resin, and a crystalline substance, which he believed to be 
probably a new alkaloid (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1862, p. 310). This supposed alka- 
loid was, however, asserted by Mr. J. A. Weaver to be a calcium salt. Both 
Weaver (1871) and Dr. F. V. Greene (1879) found an alkaloid the chloride of 
which possessed a nauseous, acrid taste. This alkaloid, baptisine (boptitoxine), will 
not dissolve in chloroform, benzol, or benzin, but it is soluble in water, ether, and 
alcohol. It has an acrid taste, and is said to be actively poisonous. Later investi- 
gations by Von Schroeder (1885) show the existence of three active constituents in 
baptisia root. One of them is the above baptisine, to which he gives the name 
baptitoxine. The others are two glucosids, baptisin and baptin. The former is bitter, 
does not dissolve in water, and is indifferent, so far as its activity is concerned. 
BAPTISIA. 
Fig. 38. 
Baptisia tinctoria. BAPTISTA. 
325 
The other (baptin) is in the form of soluble, acicular crystals, and is laxative and 
cathartic. The glucosid baptisin should not be confounded with the "Eclectic 
concentration," Baptisin, described below. The active principles of baptisia root 
were recently investigated, in detail, by Dr. K. Gorter {Arch. der Pharm., 1897). 
He isolated baptisin, a non-bitter and (to frogs) non-poisonous glucosid of the 
formula, C^HgoOu+OILO, capable of splitting with diluted sulphuric acid into 
sugar and baptigenin (C14H]2O6). Baptisin melts at 240° C. (464° F.); is difficultly 
soluble in water and dilute alcohol; when cold easily soluble in glacial acetic acid. 
He furthermore isolated the alkaloid baptitoxine, which he found identical with 
cytisine (CnHMN2O), the alkaloid of the unripe seeds of Laburnum {Cytisus Labur- 
num'). Previously (1895) Plugge established the identity of Von Schroeder's bap- 
titoxine, which he obtained from the seeds of baptisia with cytisine, hence ulexine, 
sophorine, baptitoxine, and cytisine all denote one and the same substance. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-To the taste baptisia is somewhat bitter, 
subacrid, and subastringent. It increases the secretions of the glandular appara- 
tus of the gastro-intestinal tract. Large doses are dangerous, acting as an emeto- 
cathartic. Sometimes this action is so violent as to produce gastro-enteritis. 
Large doses have caused an excessive flow of viscid saliva, ulceration of the phar- 
ynx, insomnia, restlessness, and ocular disturbances. It produces soft, mushy 
stools, accompanied by a sensation of soreness of the whole body. Small doses 
act as a laxative. Baptisia is an active and efficient hepatic, stimulating the 
liver and causing an increased biliary secretion. It loses much of its activity 
when dried or boiled. It is asserted that baptitoxine increases the respiratory 
movements, and in toxic doses kills by asphyxiation through paralysis of the res- 
piratory centers. 
Therapeutically baptisia is indicated in pathological conditions characterized 
by feeble vitality with tendency to disintegration of tissue. The keynote of this 
drug is sepsis, accompanied by dark or purplish discoloration of skin and mucous 
membranes. The appearance of the face is swollen, dusky, and expressionless- 
has the appearance of having been long exposed to cold. It is not the remedy for 
acute disease characterized by great activity, but rather for cases showing marked 
capillary feebleness, with tendency to ulceration-a condition of atony. 
Baptisia was first employed as a dressing for all kinds of ulcerations, malignant 
ulcers, sore mouth, mercurial or otherwise, especially when accompanied by foul 
breath, loss of appetite, and general gastric disturbance. Sore nipples, erysipelatous, 
scrofulous, and syphilitic ulcers were treated with a decoction of wild indigo. The 
greater the tendency to mortification, the more highly the remedy was valued. 
It controls irritable and painful ulcers, lessens their foul discharges, and overcomes 
putrescency. 
Baptisia is of marked value in many forms of malignant sore throat. The 
dusky, leaden-colored, faucial ulcerations of scarlatina and tonsillitis point to this 
drug. Diphtheria, with swollen and enfeebled mucous membranes, with free secre- 
tion, appearing either dusky or blanched, and accompanied by sloughing, calls 
for baptisia. While the infusion is undoubtedly the best preparation of baptisia, 
it can not always be employed, for the dried plant is almost worthless, and the 
fresh herb not ah, ays easily procured. We depend upon specific baptisia, giving 
it internally in small doses, and applying it locally, diluted with water. Putrid 
ulcerations of the mucous membranes of the nasal passages are benefited by bap- 
tisia. The offensive breath, with turgidity of tissue, will indicate the drug. 
All typhoid conditions, marked by the dusky appearance of skin and mucous 
tissues, are promptly benefited by this agent. Typhoid dysentery, with stools like 
"prune juice or meat washings," or dark, tardike, fetid discharges, mixed with 
decomposed blood, yields to its kindly action. Typhoid fever with persistent diar- 
rhoea, typhoid pneumonia, typho-malarial fever, as well as common continued fever, 
with the usual indications, call for baptisia. It is said to be valuable in variola 
and cerebro-spinal meningitis. In the sore throat of variola it is of great utility. 
Septic mmia following retained fragments of placenta after abortion has been 
promptly checked by this drug. In fetid leucorrhcea and ulceration of cervix uteri, 
especially with muco-purulent discharges, a douche of baptisia w'ill be found ben- 
eficial. It acts as a gentle excitant and local tonic to the vessels implicated in the 
ulcerative process. It has been employed with good results in atonic varieties of 326 
BARH DIOXIDUM. 
acute rheumatism. In fetid discharges from the ears, etc., the infusion will be found 
efficient, if injected into the parts with a suitable syringe. The leaves applied in 
fomentations have discussed tumors and swelling of the female breast, resembling 
scirrhus. Webster suggests baptisia in mania, dementia, and melancholia, with 
stupor, in conditions characterized by drowsiness in typhoid states. Baptisia is 
an old and tried remedy, but will still repay further study. 
Dose of the decoction-made by boiling 1 ounce of the powdered bark in 2 
pints of water down to 1 pint-1 tablespoonful every 1, 2, or 4 hours, as required; 
if it purge, produce nausea, or a disagreeable relaxation of the nervous system 
lessen the dose, or omit its use entirely for a time; of the alcoholic extract, 1 to 4 
grains every 2, 3, or 4 hours. The usual form of administration is as follows: 
R Specific baptisia, gtt. xx; aqua, fl^iv. Mix. Sig.: Teaspoonful every or 1 
hour. Indicated remedies may be given with or alternated with the above. 
Locally an infusion of the recent plant; or, R Specific baptisia, fl^ss; aqua, Oi. 
Mix. Sig.: Apply 2 or 3 times daily. An ointment: R Specific baptisia, fl^i; 
vaseline, §i. Mix. Sig.: Apply locally to inflamed tumors, chancres, buboes, 
and ulcers. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-The indications will be found to be ful- 
ness of tissue, with dusky, leaden, purplish, or livid discoloration; tendency to 
ulceration and decay; sepsis; typhoid conditions; enfeebled capillary circulation; 
color of skin effaced by pressure and returns slowly; patient's face swollen and 
bluish, appearing like one having been frozen, or long exposed to cold, fetid dis- 
charges, with atony, and gangrene. 
Related Species.-Baptisia alba, Robert Brown. Prairie indigo. Plains of western 
United States and in rich soil from Virginia to Florida. This species has white flowers, and is 
said to possess similar properties to the Baptisia tinctoria, for which it has been used as a 
substitute. 
Cantella Nicholxonii.-Contains a resinous body named by Putegnat amargosin. Reputed 
antiseptic. 
Derivative.-Baptisin, prepared similarly to aletrin, was once supposed to be the active 
principle of the plant, but it is a mixture containing a greater or less proportion of the active 
principles of baptisia. Baptism is of a yellowish-brown color, a strong odor, similar to that 
of the powdered root, and of a rather bitter, not very disagreeable taste, persistent in its char- 
acter. It is partially soluble in alcohol, but gives a precipitate on standing. " I have found 
it to exert a powerful influence on the glandular system in doses of from j to A grain; if given 
in large doses it produces a very disagreeable prostration of the whole system. It is also an 
excellent application to gangrenous and erysipelatous ulcerations, and malignant and fetid ulcera- 
tions of the cervix uteri. Combined with extract of leptandra, resin of podophyllum, quinine, or 
resin of cimicifuga, in diseases where these agents are indicated, it will be found valuable in 
typhus and typhoid fevers, dysentery, and all diseases of a typhoid character, when administered 
internally" (Prof. King, in Amer. Disp., 15th ed.). 
BARH DIOXIDUM (U. S. P.)-BARIUM DIOXIDE. 
Formula: BaO2. Molecular Weight : 168.82. 
Synonym : Barium peroxide. 
"Commercial, anhydrous barium dioxide. It should be kept in well-closed 
vessels"-(U. S. P.f 
Preparation.-This preparation is formed when baryta (barium monoxide, 
BaO) is heated to redness in a current of dry oxygen. It usually contains silica, 
lime, and iron oxide, which substances consequently exist as impurities in perox- 
ide of hydrogen prepared from commercial barium dioxide. Therefore, aside from 
other considerations, it is better to use hydrated dioxide of barium to prepare this 
compound (see below). 
Description.-"A heavy, grayish-white, or pale yellowish-white, amorphous, 
coarse powder, odorless and tasteless. When exposed to the air it slowly attracts 
moisture and carbon dioxide, and is gradually decomposed. Almost insoluble in 
cold water, with which, however, it forms a definite hydrate, and to which it im- 
parts a decidedly alkaline reaction. Hydrochloric, phosphoric, and most other 
mineral acids, decompose it, producing the corresponding barium salts and hydro- 
gen dioxide, which remains in solution for a considerable time, if the reaction has 
taken place in the cold, and an excess of the acid is present. When heated to a BARH DIOXIDUM. 
327 
bright-red heat barium dioxide fuses, loses oxygen, and is reduced to barium 
oxide. Barium dioxide should be dissolved by diluted hydrochloric or phos- 
phoric acid without leaving more than a trace of residue"-((7. 8. P.). 
Tests.-"If 2.11 Gm. of barium dioxide be dissolved as completely as possi- 
ble in ice-cold water to the volume of 25 Cc., with the aid of 7.5 Cc. of phosphoric 
acid, and 5 Cc. of this solution (corresponding to 0.422 Gm. of the dioxide) be 
measured off for assay, it should require not less than 40 Cc. of decinormal potas- 
sium permanganate V.S. to impart to the liquid a permanent pink tint, corre- 
sponding to not less than 80 per cent of pure barium dioxide (each cubic centi- 
meter of the volumetric solution indicating 2 per cent of the latter"-(U. S. P.). 
Uses.-This salt is used for preparing the official solution of dioxide (per- 
oxide) of hydrogen. 
Barium and Its Compounds.-Barium. Symbol: Ba. Atomic Weight: 136.8. Barium 
is the metallic basis of the alkaline earth baryta (barium monoxide, BaO). It occurs, in nature, 
in the form of heavy spar (barium sulphate, BaSOJ and as witherite (barium carbonate, BaCO3), 
from which minerals it is chiefly obtained. It was isolated by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1808. 
It is also contained, to some extent, in certain mineral waters and in sea-water, feldspathic 
rocks, some silicates, and several manganese ores. It is a solid metal of a lustrous, silvery 
color, melts at a temperature below redness, and is not volatilized by a heat capable of melt- 
ing plate glass, but at that temperature it acts violently upon the glass, probably decomposing 
its alkali. Exposed to the air it rapidly tarnishes, absorbs oxygen, and is converted into baryta 
or barytes. It sinks rapidly in water, decomposes it with great rapidity, hydrogen being 
evolved, and is converted into baryta. When strongly pressed it becomes flat and appears to 
be both ductile and malleable. All of the soluble barium salts are powerfully poisonous. 
They are antidoted by sulphate of sodium (Glauber's salt), sulphate of magnesium (Epsom 
salts), and sulphate of aluminum. 
Hydrated Dioxide of Barium (BaO2+8H2O) is made as follows: Add powdered barium 
dioxide gradually to diluted hydrochloric acid until the acid is nearly neutralized ; cool, filter, 
and add cautiously baryta-water until the silica and metallic oxides cease to separate and the 
white hydrated barium dioxide appears; then filter and add concentrated baryta-water until a 
precipitate ceases to form. Collect the precipitate upon a filtering-paper, wash with cold 
water, and preserve in well-corked bottles. It is used for the preparation of hydrogen dioxide, 
but otherwise is not employed in medicine. 
Barh Hydroxidum.-Barium hydroxide (Ba[0H] 2). Molecular Weight: 170.82. Barium 
hydrate, also called heavy earth, " terra ponderosa," is hydroxide of barium, and is formed when 
barium has been put into water. It was discovered,.in 1774, by Scheele. It may be procured 
from the native sulphate of barium or ponderous spar, by mixing this in very fine powder with 
one-eighth its weight of powdered charcoal, keeping it at a red-heat for some time in a crucible; 
dissolving the sulphide of barium thus formed in nitric acid, filtering the solution, which is a 
nitrate of barium, sulphur being deposited, and slowly evaporating the filtered liquid till it 
crystallizes. Place the crystals of nitrate of barium in a crucible, and drive off the nitric acid 
by a strong heat gradually applied, whereby caustic baryta (BaO) is formed. Caustic baryta 
is a grayish-white, porous body, having an acrid, alkaline taste, no smell, an alkaline reaction, 
and when taken into the stomach proves a most violent poison. Its specific gravity is 4.5. In 
the air it attracts moisture, swells with heat, and falls to a white powder. It slakes with 
water like quicklime, forming the above hydrate; and water dissolves .05 part its weight of 
barium hydroxide, forming the test reagent for sulphuric and carbonic acids, known by the 
name of baryta-water. It forms several salts used in medicine and pharmacy. It should not 
effervesce upon the addition of acids. 
Barh Carbonas (BaCO3). Molecular Weight: 196.85. Carbonate of barium, Baryta car- 
bonica. Also called witherite after Withering, who first found it native in 1783, though pre- 
viously examined by Bergmann. It is found in Hungary, Sicily, Siberia, Neuberg in Styria, 
etc., but occurs in considerable quantity in veins along with lead ore in different parts of 
England, and is found also in Scotland and in the Scandinavian Peninsula. It may be pre- 
pared artificially by exposing baryta-water to the air, or by passing carbonic acid gas into it; 
in either case the carbonate precipitates in the state of a white powder. The native carbonate 
occurs in masses, stalactitic, and crystallized in six-sided prisms formed by the intersection 
of three primary, right-rhombic prisms. It is poisonous, has no sensible taste, and when 
native has the specific gravity, 4.331; when artificial it scarcely exceeds from 4.23 to 4.30. 
Cold water dissolves 4^-4 part, and boiling water pa^t of this salt; it is unalterable in the 
air, and when exposed to a blow-pipe heat it fuses, evolving much light, losing carbonic acid 
gas, and presenting the appearance of white enamel. It is dissolved- or acted upon by the 
mineral acids with effervescence. Its principal use is in the preparation of barium chloride. 
It was formerly employed in parasitic skin diseases. Weakness of the legs, paralysis, and death 
have been produced by it. Webster declares it is a superior remedy for acute parenchymatous 
tonsillitis, to control the vascular disturbance and avert the formation of pus. Used early he 
claims it is abortive; less valuable in chronic cases. Homoeopathic dilution (6 x), in 5 to 
10-drop doses every 3 hours, in acute cases; 3 or 4 times a day, in chronic cases. Specific 
Indications: Scudder's indications are, "Weight and pressure about the pubes; scanty men- 
struation ; very sensitive to cold; 2 x to 6 x trituration, | to 1 grain." 328 
BARII DIOXIDUM. 
Barit Chloridum (BaCl2+2II2O). Molecular Weight: 243.5. Chloride of barium. This 
salt is easily obtained by dissolving carbonate of barium in diluted hydrochloric acid, evaporat- 
ing the solution, so that on cooling crystals may form. Or it may be prepared by mixing 
powdered sulphate of barium with one-fourth its weight of charcoal, heating the mixture in a 
covered crucible for three hours at a low, white heat, powdering the product, stirring it well, 
with 15 parts of water, boiling, filtering, and adding to the filtered liquor hydrochloric acid in 
small portions at a time until effervescence ceases, and the solution is neutral to test paper ; 
again filter, evaporate, and set aside for crystallization. In this latter process be careful not to 
inhale any of the hydrogen sulphide gas which escapes on the addition of the hydrochloric 
acid. Chloride of barium forms transparent, right-rhombic, tabular crystals, generally flattened 
at the corners, odorless, of an unpleasant, sharp, amarous taste, permanent in the air, soluble 
in 2| parts of cold and 12 of boiling water, insoluble in strong alcohol, and of specific grav- 
ity, 3.05. When heated they lose their water of crystallization, and at a red heat fuse to a clear 
liquid. If the salt attracts moisture from the air it contains chloride of calcium ; this is proved 
by shaking the finely-powdered salt with absolute alcohol, which dissolves any chloride of 
calcium or strontium present, filtering, evaporating the filtrate, treating the residue with water, 
and then with diluted sulphuric acid; a precipitate denotes strontium; this is filtered off, and 
after saturating the filtrate with ammonia, oxalate of ammonium is added, and any turbidity 
caused by it is due to calcium salts. The solution of chloride of barium must be so thoroughly 
precipitated by sulphuric acid as to yield no residue on evaporation; should there be a perma- 
nent one on heating, it is due to impurities. A blue precipitate with ferrocyanide of potassium 
denotes iron; with ammonia a white precipitate, disappearing on the addition of sal ammoniac, 
denotes magnesia, the chloride of which, like that of calcium, deliquesces in the air, and may 
also be a cause of the moisture of the chloride of barium. A blue color caused by the ammonia 
arises from copper. Chloride of barium is incompatible with the alkaline and metallic sul- 
phates, the phosphates and carbonates. In large doses this salt is a violent poison, affecting 
the nervous system chiefly. Vomiting and purging, with abdominal pain, collapse, with 
extremely weak and thready pulse, labored breathing, with effusion into the bronchise, mus- 
cular weakness, coma, and death, preceded by convulsions, are the toxic phenomena. In 
small doses it is said to be useful in scrofula, dropsy, scirrhous affections, bronchocele, etc. It is used 
in solution, both externally and internally, 1 part of the chloride being dissolved in 8 parts of 
distilled water, and administered in doses of 10 drops, 2 or 3 times a day, gradually and care- 
fully increased until nausea or giddiness is experienced. It has been used as a lotion in her- 
petic eruptions, and as a collyrium in scrofulous ophthalmia but its external use must be conducted 
with caution, as it is easily absorbed. It has lately (1889) been proposed as a heart stimulant, 
to increasing force, rhythm, and volume of the circulation. The dose for this purpose is i1,; 
grain. When taken in poisonous doses its antidotes are the sulphates, as sulphate of magne- 
sium, with a free use of well or spring water, and evacuating the stomach as soon as possible, 
together with other treatment indicated by the symptoms present. 
Chloride of barium, in solution, is employed as a test for sulphuric acid or the sulphates 
in solution, with which it forms a white precipitate of sulphate of barium (see Test Solutions), 
insoluble in mineral acids, except strong sulphuric acid. 
Liquor Barii Chloridum of the U. S. P. (1870), was prepared by dissolving 1 troy ounce of 
barium chloride in 3 fluid ounces of distilled water (see Test Solutions). 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Prof. Scudder (Spec. Med.) says of barium chloride: " In its 
action upon the economy this remedy has some resemblance to arsenic, and is indicated by 
an inelastic, dirty skin, enlarged lymphatics, and feeble respiration. It has been employed as 
a remedy in cancer, scrofula, and scrofulous phthisis. It has been deemed of especial value in 
scrofulous inflammation of eyes, ears, and testes." A teaspoonful of the dilution of 10 drops of the 
U. S. P. (1870) solution in 4 fluid ounces of water may be given every 3 or 4 hours, or 2 or 3 
grains of the 3 x trituration may be employed. 
Barii Nitras (Ba[NO3]2). Molecular Weight: 260.58. Nitrate of barium.-This salt was 
known immediately after the discovery of baryta, and may be prepared by dissolving native 
carbonate of barium in nitric acid; or by decomposing sulphide of barium by means of nitric 
acid, filtering, evaporating, and crystallizing. It crystallizes in transparent, permanent octa- 
hedra and tetrahedra, is odorless, of a pungent and slightly bitter taste, soluble in 14 parts of 
water at 15.5° C. (60° F.), in 3 parts of boiling water, and slightly soluble in alcohol. Heat 
fusesit, with decrepitation; a strong heat drives oft'the nitric acid, and leaves pure barium 
monoxide. Firework makers use it to communicate a beautiful, green tinge to flame. It is 
employed in chemistry and pharmacy, in solution, as a test for sulphuric acid and sulphates, 
instead of the chloride of barium, when it is considered desirable to avoid the presence of a 
metallic chloride. The solution is made by dissolving one part of the nitrate in 20 parts of dis- 
tilled water, and keeping the solution in well-closed bottles. 
Barii Iodidum (BaI2-f-2H2O). Molecular Weight: 425.88. Iodide of barium.-This salt 
may be obtained by dissolving carbonate of barium in hydriodic acid cr by Magendie's form- 
ula: Take iodine, 100'parts; iron filings, 30 parts; water a sufficient quantity; form an iodide 
of iron, to which add a solution of barium hydroxide, 1 part, in distilled water, 20 parts, and 
continue itaslon^ as a precipitate occurs; heat for a few seconds, filter the solution, concen- 
trate by evaporation, and crystallize. It crystallizes in fine, acicular prisms, which are very 
soluble in water, and but feebly deliquescent. When long exposed to the air, a portion of the 
hydriodic acid is decomposed and dissipated, carbonate of barium is formed, and hydriodate 
of barium, colored by iodine, may be dissolved by water. It is a violent poison, requiring 
great caution in its use. Jahn recommended it as a powerful alterative, resolvent, and liquefa- 
cient, in scrofulous enlargements, hypertrophy, etc. The dose is j of a grain, very cautiously BEBERINE SULPHAS. 
329 
increased to 1 grain, 3 times daily, dissolved in distilled water. As an application to scrofu- 
lous tumors, Biett recommended an ointment, made by triturating 2 grains of the iodide of 
barium with i ounce of lard; applied by friction. Specific Indications and Uses: Tonsillar 
enlargement; scrofulous lymphatic enlargements, scrofulous ophthalmia, with swelling of 
meibomian glands (Webster); testicular swelling and indurations; 3 x trituration, 2 or 3 grains, 
3 times a day. 
Baku Bromidum (BaBr2-|-2H2O). Molecular Weight: 332.34. Bromide of barium.-This 
salt occurs in rhombic, plate-like crystals, colorless, having an unpleasant taste, and dissolving 
freely in both alcohol and water. It is prepared from a hydrobromic acid solution of barium 
carbonate. 
Barii Sulphas (BaSO4). Molecular Weight: 232.62. Sulphateof barium, Heavy spar.-This 
salt was discovered by Scheele in 1774; its nature was first ascertained by Assessor Gahn. 
It occurs in considerable quantity, chiefly in veins, and very frequently accompanies galena 
and gray copper ore; it is also frequently prepared artificially. It often occurs in right-rhom- 
bic prisms. Its color is white or flesh-red; it is brittle, commonly in plates, of specific gravity 
4.41 to 4.67, odorless, tasteless; is not easily fused; is insoluble in nitric acid, and requires 
43,000 times its weight of water at 15.5° C. (60° F) to dissolve it. Heated suddenly it decrepi- 
tates ; a violent heat converts it into a white, opaque globule. Ignited in powder with char- 
coal it becomes changed into sulphide of barium, evolving hydrogen sulphide on the addition 
of hydrochloric acid, and forming a solution of chloride of barium. The several salts of barium 
are generally prepared from it. This material is extensively employed as an adulterant, or at 
least a substitute, of white lead, and the artificial salt especially, is consumed in enormous 
quantities for this purpose by painters, to whom it is known as baryta or barytes. This must 
not be confounded with monoxide of barium, which is also known as baryta. 
BEBERINJE SULPHAS.-BEBERINE SULPHATE. 
Synonyms : Beberiae sulphas, Sulphate of bibirine, Sulphate of bebeerine. 
Source.-An impure sulphate of an alkaloid obtained from nectandra or 
bebeeru barks. The salt is probably a mixture pf beberine, nectandrine (this is 
probably identical with sipirine), and other alkaloidal bodies. 
Preparation.-The process for obtaining it is essentially the same as that for 
sulphate of quinine. The bark is at first freed of tannin and coloring matter by 
boiling it with carbonate of sodium; it is then exhausted by boiling in water 
acidulated with sulphuric acid, and the alkaloidal matter is thrown down from 
the concentrated acid liquor by means of carbonate of sodium. The impure bases 
thus separated are washed, dissolved, and neutralized with weak sulphuric acid, 
and the solution is treated with animal charcoal, concentrated, filtered again, and 
finally evaporated in thin layers in flat vessels. Any excess of acid must be care- 
fully avoided, otherwise the salt will be charred on evaporating it to dryness. 
Description and History.-The sulphate of beberine of commerce contains 
both bebeerine and probably sipirine (sipeeririf another alkaloidal principle also 
discovered by Dr. Rodie. It occurs in thin, somewhat glittering scales of a deep- 
brownish color (sometimes with a greenish tinge), and forming a yellow powder. 
It is inodorous, and has an intensely bitter, persistent, and somewhat astringent 
taste. Like the sulphate of quinine, it requires an excess of acid for its perfect 
solution; hence the addition of a few drops of diluted sulphuric acid renders its 
solution more complete. It is also soluble in alcohol. When well prepared the 
scale-like particles should be glittering and translucent, and when incinerated 
ought to leave no ash, or a mere trace only. In this way sulphate of calcium, the 
only important impurity which has been found in it, may be easily detected. 
When carefully dried it contains 90.83 percent of base and 9.17 of sulphuric acid. 
Beberine sulphate is always impure, containing, as above stated, other alkaloids. 
While it has not been proven that nectandrine and sipirine are identical, it is 
altogether probable that they are one and the same. The commercial sulphate of 
beberine contains scarcely " one-third of its weight of the pure alkaloid " {Pharm- 
acographia f (See Nectandra, Buxus, and Pareira Brava.) 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Beberine (and its sulphate) is a tonic 
and antiperiodic, and is applicable to the same forms of disease as those in which 
quinine is employed. It increases the appetite, raises the pulse a little, and im- 
proves the tone of the constitution generally, with but little tendency to produce 
ringing in the ears, headache, vertigo, or other nervous symptoms, as is the case 
with quinine, except when given in large or frequently-repeated doses. It has 
been used with success in intermittent and remittent fevers, but is inferior to quinine, 330 
BEL/E FRUCTUS. 
although a valuable substitute for it. It has been found of decided benefit in 
periodic headache and other periodic neuralgias, as well as in atonic dyspepsia and 
general debility. It seems to be specially applicable to persons of a strumous or 
phthisical habit, and in the latter stages of phthisis has strengthened the system, 
improved the appetite, and checked night-sweats. In menorrhagia, strumous ophthal- 
mia, and in pregnancy requiring tonic treatment it has been highy prized by many 
practitioners. Dr. Scudder {Spec. Med.) asserted its specific action upon the uterus, 
and suggested its use in menorrhagia, where the flow is profuse and too frequent. 
The dose he suggested was from to 3 grains every 3 or 4 hours. The dose of eul- 
phate of bebeerine is from 1 to 3 grains as a tonic and from 5 to 20 as a febrifuge. 
It may be given in pill with conserve of roses, or in solution. Half a drachm of the 
sulphate, 25 minims of elixir vitriol, a fluid ounce each of syrup and tincture of 
orange peel, and 4 fluid ounces of water, mixed together, form an excellent solution 
for general tonic purposes; of this a tablespoonful may be given 3 times a day, each 
dose containing about 2| grains of the salt. Dose of the salt, from 2 to 5 grains. 
BEL7E FRUCTUS.-BAEL FRUIT. 
The unripe or half-ripe fruit of ^Egle Marmelos, Correa. 
Nat. Ord.-Aurantiaceffl. 
Common Names : Bel, Boel fruit, Indian quince, Indian bael, Bengal quince. 
Botanical Source.-A large, erect, thorny tree, with a few spreading branches. 
The leaves are ternate, with crenulate, lance-oblong leaflets, which are dotted to 
some extent. The terminal leaflet is the largest. The flowers are borne in both 
small, axillary and terminal panicles, and are quite large and of a white color. 
The fruit is a hard-shelled, subglobular berry. 
History.-This tree abounds in Farther India and Hindustan. It is regarded 
as a sacred tree by the Hindus, who cultivate it largely in their gardens, and em- 
ploy the leaves in enormous quantities in Siva worship. Sanskrit poems allude 
to it as an emblem of fruitfulness and increase, and to destroy it is sacrilege 
(Dymock). Several parts of the plant are used by the natives, but in England 
only the partially-ripe fruit is employed. It is official in both the Pharmacopoeia 
of India and the British Pharmacopceia. From the ripe fruit a kind of thick sher- 
bet is prepared, which, in India, is much esteemed as a laxative. Bael fruit, or 
Indian quince, is known in Indian vernacular as bel, bhel, and bela. The fruit 
resembles the orange in appearance, has a delicious flavor and pleasant odor when 
ripe. The thick rind of the unripe fruit is astringent, and is used in India for 
dysentery, diarrhoea, and other bowel complaints. A yellow dye is prepared 
from the rind when the fruit is ripe. 
Description.-The fruit, which has a hard, ligneous, almost smooth rind, is 
about the size of an orange, and is subglobular in shape. It is divided into from 
10 to 15 cells, containing from 5 to 10 wooly seeds, immersed in a tenacious, trans- 
parent mucus. In commerce it appears as dried slices, more or less twisted, or in 
dried fragments of the pulp and seeds, with portions of the rind adherent. The 
rind is hard, nearly smooth, light-brown or gray in color; the pulp is brittle, yet 
firm, externally orange-brown or bright red, but on fracture exhibits a nearly 
colorless interior. It is without odor, and to the taste is mucilaginous, slightly 
astringent, and scarcely acid. When fresh, however, the fruit has a pleasant 
flavor, and the rind is aromatic. 
Mangosteen, the fruit of Garcinia Mangostana, has been substituted in Eng- 
land as an adulterant. 
Chemical Composition.-Bael fruit yields its properties to water, either by 
decoction or maceration. The chemical properties of this substance do not 
seem to be definitely understood. The pulp yields mucilage and pectin to cold 
water. Pollock reports tannin in the fruit, and according to Collas about 5 per 
cent of tannin may be obtained from the ripe fruit. Prof. Fliickiger, however, 
states that neither the higher nor lower salts of iron show any appreciable 
amount of tannin in the infusion of the fruit. Warden, on the contrary, 
observes that when both the unripe and ripe fruits are moistened with ferric 331 
BELLADONNA. 
chloride solution a marked reaction takes place, showing the presence of tannic 
acid in considerable quantity. This change was most noticeable in the pulpy 
portions nearest the rind. He also found that acid properties were possessed 
by the mucilage around the seeds, and that the same also contained calcium 
(Dymock). 
Medical Properties and Uses.-In Malabar the root, bark, and leaves of 
this plant have refrigerant properties attributed to them, and are considered of 
great value in hypochondria, melancholia, palpitation of the heart, and in asthma. The 
ripe fruit is very agreeable to the taste, and is used for the removal of habitual 
constipation. A fluid extract of the rind of the unripe fruit may be given in 
diarrhoea and in dysentery in doses of from 30 minims to 2 fluid drachms every 
2 or 3 hours. 
Related Drug.-Feronia elephantum, Correa. Wood apple, Elephant apple. India. Used 
like bael for diarrhoea and dysentery. The ripe fruit is employed in gum and throat affections. 
The leaves have an odor like anise and are carminative. Externally applied the pulp and 
dried rind are employed for the bites of poisonous insects. A gum obtained from it is substituted 
for gum Arabic in India, and is used in intestinal diseases to overcome tenesmus. The ripe fruit 
is edible (Dymock). Citric acid in considerable amount may be obtained from the dried fruit. 
BELLADONNA.-BELLADONNA. 
I. Belladonna Folia (U. S. Pi), Belladonna Leaves.-"The leaves of Atropa 
Belladonna, Linne"-(U. S. P."). 
II. Belladonna Radix (U. S. P.), Belladonna Root.-"The root of Atropa 
Belladonna, Linne"-(U. S. P.). 
Nat. Ord.-Solanacese. 
Common Names: Deadly nightshade,'Dwale, Black cherry. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, p. 193. 
Botanical Source.-Atropa Belladonna is a perennial herb, with a thick, 
branched, fleshy, creeping root, and annual, erect, round, dichotomously branched, 
leafy, slightly downy stems, about 3 feet 
high. The leaves are lateral, mostly two 
together, of unequal size, ovate, acute, entire, 
soft, of a dull-green color, smooth and borne 
on short petioles. The flowers are imper- 
fectly axillary, solitary, stalked, large, droop- 
ing, dark, dull-purple in the border, paler 
downward. The calyx is green, 5-parted, 
permanent, and nearly equal. The corolla 
is campanulate, with a short tube, and limb 
divided into 5, shallow, nearly equal seg- 
ments. Stamens 5; filaments nearly as long 
as the corolla tube; anthers cordate and 
4-lobed; stigma capitate and 2-lobed. The 
fruit is a 2-celled, many-seeded berry, sub- 
tended by the enlarged calyx; it contains 
reniform seeds (L.-Smith). When bruised 
the whole plant exhales a fetid odor. 
History. - This plant is common to 
Europe, growing among ruins and in waste 
places, blossoming from May to August, and maturing its berries in September. 
It is also found as far east as Central Asia. It is often found growing in wood- 
lands, and especially in the woods of high elevations, as of mountains. It is cul- 
tivated to some extent in this country, in France, and in Britain. The whole 
plant possesses poisonous properties. The leaves must be gathered while the 
plant is in flower. The British Pharmacopoeia directs the leaves (gathered at the 
beginning of the fruiting season and separated from the stems, and dried with 
care) of the wild or cultivated plants growing in Britain. The British or impor- 
ted dried German root is directed under Belladonna Radix. Leaves in as fresh 
a state as possible should be employed, as the older leaves are said to absorb 
Fig. 39 
Flowering branch and fresh root of Atropa 
Belladonna. 332 
BELLADONNA. 
moisture, causing decomposition of the active constituents, with the liberation of 
ammonia. The stems should be rejected, also musty leaves, if the herb is desired 
for the preparation of the alkaloids, or if a full-strength preparation is desired. 
The leaves yield their virtues readily to alcohol and water. The root should be 
taken up in the spring or late autumn from plants at least three years old. In 
the recent state it is pulpy and juicy. 
Description.-The U. S. P. demands belladonna leaves and root conforming 
to the following description : 
Belladonna Folia (U. S. P.f Belladonna Leaves.-"Leaves from 10 to 15 
Cm. (4 to 6 inches) long, from 5 to 10 Cm. (2 to 4 inches) broad, broadly ovate, 
equilaterally narrowed into a petiole, tapering at the apex, entire on the mar- 
gin, smooth, thin, the upper surface brownish-green, the lower surface grayish- 
green, both surfaces whitish punctate; odor slight; taste bitterish, disagree- 
able"-(^- & P-Y 
Belladonna Radix (U. S. P.), Belladonna Root.-"In cylindrical, somewhat 
tapering, longitudinally-wrinkled pieces, 10 to 25 Mm. to 1 inch) or more in 
thickness; externally brownish-gray, internally whitish; fracture nearly smooth 
and mealy, not radiating or showing medullary rays in the thicker roots, only 
in the layer near the bark; nearly inodorous; taste sweetish, afterward bitterish, 
and strongly acrid. Roots which are tough and woody, breaking with a splintery 
fracture, should be rejected; likewise the hollow stem-bases which are sometimes 
present"-(U. 8. Pf. 
The following excellent descriptions, with illustrations, are kindly allowed 
for publication by the firm of Johnson & Johnson, being extracts from the mono- 
graph on belladonna, edited by Dr. F B. Kilmer: 
Belladonna Leaves.-Macroscopically: "Belladonna leaves are of two sizes, 
the larger about d. m. long, the smaller being about one-half this size. They 
are brownish-green upon the upper surface and 
gray-green below, broadly ovate or ovate-long, 
narrowed into a petiole; apex acute or acum- 
inate; margin entire, the petioles and nerves 
of the underside of the leaf particularly are 
downy, hairy, and glanduloUs. Both surfaces 
of the leaf possess trichoihes, numerous cells 
are apparent, filled with crystal-like contents, 
giving the leaf the peculiar spotted appear- 
ance it possesses. The leaf is membrana- 
ceous, odor narcotic, and taste bitter and dis- 
agreeable. 
Microscopically: " The epidermal cells, on 
making a surface section, appear undulating. 
On the under surface the stomata are more 
numerous, near to which arise trichomes, which 
tend to cover and protect the stomata by pre- 
venting too great evaporation and so assist the 
work of transpiration. The hairs are of three 
kinds: (a) Simple-jointed cells; (b) short, glan- 
dular cells, with one or more (3 to 4) celled 
apex ; (c) hairs with long stalks and a spheri- 
cal-celled apex. In the mesophyll are cells 
containing an innumerable number of granule- 
like or crystal-like bodies. 
Belladonna Leaves of the Market: "As found in the market, belladonna leaves, 
especially the finer grades, when crumpled or broken up, look very much like 
the mints, but are easily distinguished from them by the narcotic odor and dis- 
agreeably bitter taste. They also resemble somewhat the narcotic herbs, stramo- 
nium and hyoscyamus, but from these may be easily distinguished. 
" Belladonna leaves, compared to the other official leaves of the Solanaceae, 
are comparatively smooth and the margin is entire. The upper surface is darker 
than the lower surface. The undeveloped fruit, a calyx with an unripe berry, 
is often present. 
Fig. 40. 
I. CROSS-SECTION OF LEAF. 
e. Epidermis (upper surface). 
e. Epidermis (under surface). 
p. Palisade cells under which are the meso- 
phyll cells 
k. Crystal-containing cells (calcium oxalate 
in minute crystals). 
I. Simple trichome. 
d. Head-bearing and gland-bearing trichome. BELLADONNA 
333 
Stramonium leaves are dark-green and 
not quite so smooth as belladonna, the hairs 
shorter, with a many-celled apex, and in the 
mesophyll are numerous cells containing large, 
single crystals of calcium oxalate. The perfo- 
rations and cork formations in the leaves are 
numerous. The base of the leaf is unequal 
and does not taper into a petiole. The fruit is 
a capsule, and very often a few reniform seeds 
will be found present. 
" Hyoscyamus leaves are furnished with 
long hairs, which tend to become tangled and 
matted, so giving the leaf a hairy appearance. 
There is an absence of petiole and a presence 
of stem-stalks. The fruit is a pyxis enclosed 
in an urn-shaped calyx. The seeds are much 
smaller than stramonium. 
" Solanum nigrum leaves are mucn smaller than belladonna, with a repand 
dentate margin (Wigand). 
Belladonna Root.-Macroscopic characters. " The root of belladonna is a 
fleshy, spindle-shaped, primary root. When fresh it is about 5 decimeters long, 
and about 5 centimeters in diameter. It then possesses a number of stout branches, 
the remnants of which are sometimes seen attached to pieces of commercial root. 
The bark contains the largest amount of alkaloid, therefore roots are selected by 
careful buyers which possess the larger portion of bark compared to the woody por- 
tion. Young roots of but 2 or 3 years are preferred. Chemical analysis shows 
that the amount of alkaloid in roots collected about the time of flowering is twice 
as much as in spring, so roots should be collected about the flowering and fruit- 
ing season, carefully dried and preserved. 
"The commercial root, to hasten the drying, is invariably split into smaller 
pieces. It occurs in rough, irregular pieces, from a few inches in length to 
6, 8, or even 12 and 15 inches, varying in diameter according as the root is 
split. Externally, it is longitudinally wrinkled, of a pale-browm, or grayish 
color; internally, brownish, or whitish; odor heavy and licorice-like; taste pecul- 
iar, characteristic, sweet at first, and afterward acrid or bitter. The fracture 
may be mealy, horn-like, or woody, and from these characters may be distin- 
guished 3 commercial varieties: 
1. Mealy Belladonna.-" Is lighter externally and intern- 
ally than the other two, and on cross-section it is of a nearly 
uniform, dirty-white appearance. The bark is ^bout of 
the cross-section. At the periphery of the fundamental 
tissue of the pith are yellowish, vascular bundles scattered 
apparently indiscriminately. These finally disappear be- 
yond the cambium. Starch is present throughout all the 
cells of the wood and bark, which is colored blue by iodine. 
In spring and autumn roots the starch is present in the 
largest amount. 
2. Horn-Iike Belladonna.-" Is very dark. On cross-sec- 
tion it looks brownish and waxy, or horn-like. The bark is 
separated by an indistinct cambium from the woody portion, 
of which the fibro-vascular bundles are arranged in single 
groups, and separated from each other by one or more broad 
bands of a horn-like tissue (keratrenchym). In the tissues 
of both the wood and bark occur numerous cells filled with 
crystal-like contents, appearing to the eye as white spots. 
This variety looks more like inula root, and is much smaller 
generally than the other two. The starch grains are replaced 
by a dark, resinous material. 
3. Woody Belladonna.-"This form possesses characters 
between the other two. The color is more of a light-brown 
or gray. In cross-section the bark resembles the horn-like 
Fig. 41. 
II. SURFACE-SECTION OF LEAF. 
st. Stoma. 
fv. Fibro-vascular bundle (spiral vessels). 
k. Cells containing crystals. 
Fig. 42. 
Mealy Belladonna root 
(cross-section). 
Fig. 43. 
Horn-iike Belladonna root 334 
BELLADONNA. 
variety. Inside of the cambium ring is found a prominent, 
radiating, woody zone, with the largest duct in the very center. 
The wood bundles have prominent, yellow ducts, and^ are 
separated by equally prominent, broad medullary rays. This 
variety is generally figured in text-books. Starch grains are not 
so numerous as in the mealy variety, still they are abundant. 
Microscopically.-"The cork consists of thin layer of cells, 
next to which is arranged the cortex. In the latter are num- 
erous cells filled with crystal-like particles, called by Wigand 
Icrystallmehl, and by Moeller kry stallsand. These are very com- 
mon characteristics in both the roots and the leaves of bella- 
donna. The sieve tubes are scarcely perceptible 
in the bark of young roots, but later are formed in 
groups more or less wedge-shaped like the wood 
bundles. These sieve tubes show a beautiful sieve 
plate in longitudinal section. Stone cells are want- 
ing. As regards the bast in belladonna authors 
disagree. Wigand (4th ed., 1887) mentions the 
presence of bast. Prof. Schrenck announced in the 
American Druggist (1887, p. 2) that he had detected 
bast cells in belladonna root, but found it neces- 
sary to remove the starch and stain the cells. The 
writer examined a mount made by Prof. Schrenck 
from the belladonna root of commerce (October 16, 
1886) mounted in glycerin jelly, and stained ap- 
parently with phloroglucin, and readily made out 
bast cells. Upon further investigation he found it 
unnecessary to use clearing and staining agents to 
discover them. The ducts are provided with ellip- 
tical pores. The wood bundles are surrounded by 
wood parenchyma (colored yellow by potassium 
hydroxide solution), the bundles separated from 
each other by radially broad, medullary rays. Both 
the wood and bast parenchyma contain starch. 
The starch grains are of medium size, in shape 
round, irregular or hemispherical, or even 2 or 
3-sided; single and sometimes compounded of 
2 or 4 starch grains. Some of the grains possess 
a distinct cross-cleft or a stone-like nucleus; in 
others, however, the stratifications are scarcely ap- 
parent. With sulphuric acid alone large numbers 
of prismatic crystals are produced. With sulphuric acid and bichromate of 
potassium a greenish coloration is immediately produced, remaining sometimes 
24 hours or more" (Kilmer, in Belladonna). 
Chemical Composition.-The chief and most interesting constituent of 
belladonna is the alkaloid atropine (C^H^NGs) (see Atropina), first obtained in 
crystalline condition from the root by Mein and from the herb by Geiger and 
Hesse (Pharmacographia). On the history and constituents of this plant Dr. 
Kilmer, the editor of " Belladonna'1' (Johnson & Johnson), offers the following 
data herewith: 
" Galen is the first author who refers unquestionably to the mydriatic action 
of two species of Solanaceae. Dr. Ray, in 1686, reported the case of a lady who 
had placed a belladonna leaf upon a small ulcer beneath the eye and afterwards 
was annoyed by an excessive dilatation of the pupil. Evers independently, in 
1773, discovered the mydriatic power of belladonna. These writers were followed 
by Davies (1775) and Loder (1796). After this the specific action of belladonna 
upon the eye became generally accepted. Runge, in 1819, approximately isolated 
the alkaloid of hyoscyamus and called it koromegyn (meaning magnifier of pupil). 
In 1830 the apothecary Mein isolated the alkaloid atropine from the root. Inde- 
pendently Geiger and Hesse, in 1832, isolated the crystallized alkaloid from the 
herb, while Liebig, in 1833, determined its chemical formula "-(Belladonna). 
Fig. 44. 
Woody Belladonna root 
(cross-section). 
Fig. 45. 
1. Cross-section of root. 
p. Rind-parenchyma, with starch and 
crystal cells. 
c. Cambium,with a cuueated sieve-tube. 
g. Xylem portion (duct). 
2. Radial, longitudinal section of root 
p. Rind-parenchyma. 
s. Sieve-tube showing plates. 
3. Tangential section, showing wood par- 
enchyma and ducts. BELLADONNA. 
335 
The main constituents of belladonna are as follows: Atropine (C17H23NO3) 
(see Atropinaf Hyoscyamine (C^H^NOs), sometimes the principal constituent of 
belladonna root. It is convertible into atropine by heat; conversion also takes 
place in the plant itself. Atropamine (C17H21NO2) is identical with the apoatropine 
obtained by Pesci, in 1882, by the action of nitric acid upon atropine (0. Hesse, 
1893). It is convertible into belladonnine by the action of HC1 or KOH. Belladon- 
nine (C17H21NO2) (Hubschmann) is an amorphous alkaloid, and is obtainable from 
hyoscyamine or atropine by heating these alkaloids from 120° to 130° C. (248° to 
266° F) for several hours. By raising the temperature gradually, transformation 
takes place with products resulting in the following order: Hyoscyamine, atropine, 
atropamine, and belladonnine. Hyoscine (Ci7H21NO4), discovered by Ladenburg in 
Hyoscyamus niger, occurs in belladonna root in small amounts (Schuette, 1892). 
0. Hesse, in 1893, showed its identity with scopolamine, an alkaloid obtained from 
the root of Scopolia atropoides, B. and P. (S. carniolica, for which E. Schmidt, 
in 1892, had found the formula, Ci7H21NO4. Earlier analyses show the presence 
in belladonna of chrysatropic acid (Kunz), the concentrated solutions of which 
show green and blue fluorescence, atrosin, a red-coloring principle in the root 
(Hiibschmann), succinic acid in the herb, malates, and oxalates, combined with 
sodium, potassium and magnesium salts, gum, wax, asparagin', chlorophyll (in 
the leaves), starch, and albuminous bodies. 
The Production of Atropine in the Plant.-"Messrs. Schering, in 1888, stated 
that belladonna roots contain practically only hyoscyamine, and that atropine 
was a decomposition product produced during the process of manufacture. Drs. 
Will and Schmidt (1887) proved that the mere contact of an alkali with hyoscy- 
amine was sufficient to produce this change. Dr. Schuette (Arch. der Pharm., 1891, 
p. 492) found that the same result is produced by repeated crystallization from 
acidulated water. He also investigated the influence that age and period of vege- 
tation exerted upon alkaloids in the roots, leaves, and berries. He found that 
fresh roots (1 to 2 years old), collected from a basaltic district, whether gathered 
in the spring, summer, or autumn, contained only hyoscyamine, but the older 
roots (8 years and upwards) always contained, besides much hyoscyamine, a little 
already-formed atropine. Similar results were obtained with roots from old cul- 
tivated plants that had been kept for several years. Spring and autumn leaves 
of belladonna contained principally hyoscyamine, with equal quantities of ready- 
formed atropine. The unripe berries of the wild plant contained chiefly hyoscy- 
amine and a little atropine, but the ripe fruit contained only atropine. The 
ripe berries of cultivated plants, however, yielded both hyoscyamine and atro- 
pine. His investigations upon other members of the Solanaceae indicated that 
hyoscyamine is the primary base from which other alkaloidal products may be 
formed "-(Belladonna^. 
Conclusions.-" Regarding the time of collecting and variation of alkaloid in 
the plant, investigators have drawn the following conclusions: 
" The first year's growth of belladonna contains but one-half the quantity of 
atropine present in older plants, and so are unworthy of collection. Young roots 
contain only hyoscyamine. The older roots contain both hyoscyamine and atro- 
pine, the latter predominating. In young leaves atropine is present, but hyoscy- 
amine is the predominating alkaloid. The length of keeping after gathering 
appears to have no influence on the alkaloid present (Maisch). From the second 
to the fourth year the quantity of alkaloid is fairly uniform. At these ages, and 
during the period of flowering, the plants should be collected. The plant before 
flowering, is not rich in active principle, but at the period of flowering the full 
development is reached and maintained, both in roots and leaves (Gerrard). 
Wild-grown belladonna contains a larger quantity of alkaloid than the cultivated 
kind. The process of flowering and leafing does not exhaust the root of its alka- 
loid, there being a simultaneous development in the root and leaf; therefore the 
roots may be gathered at the same time as the leaf. 
" Gerrard's analysis of the freshly-gathered plant shows the highest percent- 
age of alkaloid in the leaves; following them the root, fruit, and stem, and the 
wild plant contains the largest amounts of alkaloids. Later investigators, how- 
ever, have shown that the root will show a much higher average. The results of 
analysis of the commercial dry root and leaf of belladonna indicate that the roots 336 
BELLADONNA. 
yield a much higher percentage of alkaloid than the leaves (.82 per cent has been 
found). A chalky soil favors the formation of atropine, which may account, to 
some extent, for the superiority of the English leaf. Belladonna leaves in pressed 
packages several years old do not show evidence of loss of alkaloids (Lyons). 
Both the root and leaf of belladonna show great variations in strength, and, as has 
been said, appearance alone is not a sufficient criterion as to the relative value of 
one lot as compared with another. The peculiar acid and acrid taste of bella- 
donna, which is more apparent as the sense of taste is cultivated, together with 
general physical characters already described, are fair indications to an expert of 
the value of a sample of belladonna. Chemical analysis is, however, the only 
certain and reliable test as to the full value"-(Kilmer, in Belladonna'). 
Action and Toxicology.-Belladonna is an,energetic, narcotic poison. While 
fatal to carnivorous animals and to man, the same doses have but relatively little 
effect upon fowls and herbivora. Dogs, however, stand relatively large amounts 
of this drug and its alkaloid. Children are often poisoned by the berries, mistak- 
ing them for cherries. In large doses, according to Pereira, it acts upon the cere- 
bro-spinal system, as manifested by the symptoms, "dilatation of the pupils 
(mydriasis), presbyopia, or long-sightedness with obscurity of vision, or absolute 
blindness (amaurosis), visual illusions (phantasms), suffused eyes, occasionally 
disturbance of hearing (as ringing in the ears, etc.), numbness of the face, confu- 
sion of head, giddiness, and delirium. The mouth and throat become dry, with 
difficulty of deglutition and articulation, constriction about the throat, nausea, 
vomiting, swelling, and redness of the face, and sometimes irritation of the urin- 
ary organs, or an exanthematous eruption." If the dose be very large, the above- 
named symptoms will be produced, but in a more violent form, with extravagant 
delirium, followed by sopor. Convulsions are rarely present; when it causes death 
it is commonly by coma. The effects of belladonna and atropine are practically 
identical. Therefore, for further remarks concerning the action of this drug, see 
Atropine Sulphas. 
The proper remedies in poisoning by belladonna are the stomach-pump, 
emetics and purgatives, cold to the head; and in the comatose stage, ammonia 
internally, with external stimulants, electro-magnetism, etc. (C.) Belladonna and 
opium appear to exert antagonistic influences, especially as regards their action 
on the brain, the spinal cord, and heart; they have consequently been recom- 
mended and employed as antidotes to each other in cases of poisoning; this mat- 
ter is now positively and satisfactorily settled; hence in all cases of poisoning 
by belladonna the great remedy is morphine, and its use may be guided by the 
degree of pupillary contraction it occasions. Bouchardat and Suiz Rioya recom- 
mend iodine as an antidote, even when the symptoms of poisoning with bella- 
donna are of long duration; the compound solution of iodine may be given for 
this purpose. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Therapeutically employed belladonna exerts 
precisely opposite effects from those of its toxic doses. Large doses paralyze, small 
doses stimulate, the nervous system. Belladonna, as chiefly used in our school, 
is selected in conditions in which there is impairment of the capillary circulation in 
any part of the body, with congestion. 
Dr. J. Harley, from a series of experiments instituted by himself, was led to 
consider belladonna: 1. As a direct and powerful stimulant to the sympathetic 
nervous system, or to the heart, being superior to all agents in its simple, direct, 
immediate, and powerful influence in exalting the force and rapidity of the heart's 
action, and therefore useful in cases where there is a depression of the sympa- 
thetic nervous influence, aS in syncope from asthenia or shock; in the collapse of 
cholera ; in failure of the heart's action from chloroform, or other cardiac paralyzers. 
2. As a diuretic in cases of suppression of urine, whether accompanied by uremic 
symptoms or not. He has likewise found it efficient in acute nephritis, in which 
it calms the nervous irritation, and at the same time contracts the dilated blood- 
vessels; in chronic albuminuria, in which it stimulates the kidneys to healthy 
action, and diminishes the albumen gradually. He also considers it useful in 
rheumatic fever and in the uric and lactic acid diathesis. According to Prof. Brown- 
Sequard, belladonna diminishes the blood in the spinal cord, and hence dimin- 
ishes the vital properties of it and its nerves; dilates the pupil, causes the secretion BELLADONNA. 
337 
of milk to cease; is useful in strangulated hernia, nocturnal incontinence of urine, 
etc. It has a depressant influence upon the pneumogastric nerve, excites the 
sympathetic, depresses the cerebro-spinal system, touches the secretions, and is 
slightly aperient. It imparts tone to most involuntary muscles, causes wakeful- 
ness, restlessness, is a powerful excitant of the blood-vessels, and in large doses 
causes delirium ; it is useful in external neuralgia, in congestive headache, and coma, 
with contracted pupil, in paraplegia, with symptoms of irritation of the motor, 
sensitive and vaso-motor or nutritive nerve-fibers of the spinal cord, or of the roots 
of its nerves, as in spinal congestion, meningitis, myelitis, etc. It is a dangerous agent 
in paraplegia, without symptoms of irritation, as in cases of white softening, or 
of the reflex paraplegia. 
Prof. J. M. Scudder, who based his investigations upon the experiments of 
Brown-Sequard, and to whom we are indebted for the chief indications for the 
use of belladonna, employed it to relieve congestion of the nerve-centers, in which 
malady he considered it a specific wherever there is an enfeebled circulation in the 
cerebro-spinal centers, as manifested by enfeebled innervation, sluggish circula- 
tion, tendency to coma, and to congestion of internal organs, a soft, oppressed 
pulse, dilated pupils, pasty, soft skin, coldness of the extremities, and involuntary 
micturition, acting by causing contraction of the blood-vessels of the spinal cord 
and the capillary blood-vessels, and which action may be effected by stimulation 
through the sympathetic nervous system. He adds from 5 to 10 minims of specific 
belladonna to 4 fluid ounces of water, of which the dose is a fluid drachm every 
1, 2, or 3 hours, according to the symptoms and influenceof the agent (see Diseases 
of Children). In doses large enough to dilate the pupil it exerts an opposite influ- 
ence, and then becomes useless as a remedy, and fails to produce its specific 
action. The indications for this agent as a specific are a full, oppressed pulse, 
tendency to congestion, diminished heat of parts distant from the heart, a labored, 
slow, and imperfect respiration, expressionless countenance, dullness, hebetude, 
sleeping with the eyes partly open, drowsiness, dilated or immobile pupil, and 
coma. A deep color pervades the skin-a duskiness often-which, when the finger 
is drawn over it, is effaced, leaving a persistent, white streak, the blood very slowly 
returning. This is one of its best indications in the severer exanthemata. Invol- 
untary urination and copious passages of limpid urine are also indications for its 
use; also deep aching in loins or back, with a feeling of fullness. When much pain 
is present, it may be combined with specific aconite. We employ minute closes 
of belladonna with confidence in congestive disorders. Throbbing, congestive, or 
nervo-congestive headaches are quickly relieved by it; or it may be a dull, heavy head- 
ache, with a drowsy feeling, as if, were it not for the pain, the patient would drop 
off* to sleep. While it is a remedy for blood stasis, due to dilated capillaries in any 
part, its operation is perhaps more pronounced in impairment of circulation in 
the nerve-centers. In cerebral or spinal congestion, as evidenced by dullness and 
coma, it is the first remedy to be selected. In chronic brain diseases, with dizziness, 
drowsiness, and dull, heavy aching, with a sense of fullness in the head, its effects 
are pronounced, and w7hen the dull eye, with dilated pupil and drowsiness, are 
present in threatened apoplexy this remedy should be selected. 
Perhaps with no remedy is the size of dose so important as with belladonna. 
For the above-mentioned conditions and those similar to follow the proportions 
above mentioned are preferred. Webster, however, calls attention to the fact 
that the 3 x dilution (fl^ss to A^j ; aqua, fl§iv. Teaspoonful every two or three 
hours) serves better in certain nervous disorders. The condition in which he 
uses belladonna in these attenuated doses is in "nervous exaltation-great irrita- 
bility and impressionableness of all the senses." Such a condition accompanying 
spasmodic disorders-chorea and epilepsy-indicates it, wrhile in febrile disorders, 
where the " hyperaesthesia of the senses amounts to delirium," he declares it the 
remedy. According to this author, wild and furious delirium is met by the 
attenuations; dullness and hebetude by the larger doses above-mentioned, keeping 
within the bounds indicated by Prof. Scudder. 
Belladonna is one of the most important remedies for bladder and kidney 
diseases. It stimulates and at the same time relieves irritation of the urinary tract. 
Both the solid and watery constituents of the urine are increased in amount. It 
is the remedy in urinal incontinence in small children when the fault depends upon 338 
BELLADONNA. 
a poor pelvic circulation or chronic irritability of the bladder (Locke). Should 
the latter condition result from rectal ascarides santonine will correct the trouble. 
It seems best adapted to that dribbling of urine in the young, which occurs chiefly 
during the day. We have seen marked benefit from minute doses of belladonna 
in children who urinate every twenty minutes or half hour, marked pallor of 
countenance and dullness of eye being present, and the condition evidently 
depending upon "a cold." Diabetes insipidus is well treated by applying a bella- 
donna plaster and administering the drug internally. It is the remedy in the 
congestive and early stages of kidney disease, with a sense of fullness, weight, and 
dragging in the loins. Tubular nephritis (early stage), scarlatinal nephritis, and all 
cases of renal capillary engorgement are promptly benefited by belladonna. Bella- 
donna is well known to cause dryness of the mouth, and in full doses it checks 
salivation, especially in that salivary overactivity accompanying pregnancy. Full 
doses likewise check the exhaustive sweating of phthisis and other debilitating dis- 
eases. Its good effects in this direction, however, are overbalanced by the dry 
condition of the mouth and fauces produced. 
Belladonna is a remedy for pain and for spasm. Certain forms of neuralgia, 
particularly trigeminal neuralgia, are relieved by ordinary doses of belladonna. 
Intercostal, visceral, and sciatic neuralgias are sometimes amenable to it. If there be 
excitation of the circulation and increase of temperature aconite should be given 
with it. It overcomes spasm of the involuntary, but is less effectual in spasm of 
the voluntary, muscles. Spasm of the anus, biliary spasm, uterine, cystic, intestinal 
and urethral spasms, and spasm of the ureters are relieved by it. Such of these parts 
as can be reached should be treated locally with the extract. It is a remedy for 
spasmodic asthma, whooping-cough, and nervous cough from laryngeal irritation. In 
whooping-cough it is usually indicated in the latter stage, where it lessens the 
severity of the paroxysms and increases the intervals between them (Locke). 
Obstinate constipation, spasmodic colic, lead colic, spasmodic constriction of the intestines, 
and spasmodic dysmenorrhoea are conditions often met with belladonna. It is often 
serviceable in chorea and in epilepsy, with congestion. It is also recommended in 
infantile convulsions of an epileptiform character. Hay fever is said to be palliated 
by belladonna, and its influence is good in spermatorrhoea, with enfeebled pelvic 
circulation. It is useful, but less valuable than morphine, in puerperal convulsions. 
In various forms of sore throat belladonna is an important remedy. Tn non-diph- 
theritic faucial inflammation, with redness, swelling, soreness, difficult deglutition, 
with dryness of the throat and more or less fever, it should be administered in 
alternation with aconite every half hour. If given early it often greatly benefits 
in diphtheria, interfering with the formation of the membrane. In non-vesicular 
erysipelas, with burning and deep redness of the skin, where the subcutaneous 
tissues are not much involved, it is an efficient remedy. 
Perhaps in no class of diseases has the action of belladonna been appreciated 
more than in the exanthemata. That it is a prophylactic, in minute doses, against 
scarlatina has long been maintained. On the other hand this view has been 
vehemently assailed. Whether true or not, and testimony is mainly in its favor, 
it certainly can do no harm, and if scarlet fever supervenes an advantage will 
have been gained in its early administration. In both scarlet fever and measles it 
is nearly always indicated, and its effects are certain and prompt. The more con- 
gestive the form the more satisfactory the effects from this remedy. It awakens 
the little patient from his stupid or drowsy state, or even from unconsciousness, 
quiets delirium, and favors the eruption and renal activity. Undoubtedly it also 
possesses some power over the poison producing the disease. Urticaria and eryth- 
ema are often relieved by it, and it is a remedy in all febrile states tending to conges- 
tion. It is particularly a child's remedy, but must be cautiously used. We have 
observed the scarlatinoid rash from very minute doses of specific belladonna. 
Belladonna is valued in the complications attending or following scarlatina. 
It readily relieves these troubles and tends to prevent sequelae. Small doses of 
the specific medicine should be administered every hour. 
The antagonism of belladonna and opium now seems well established, both 
physiologically and clinically. It is therefore, like atropine, used as an antidote 
to opium and morphine narcosis, as well as for the toxic action of physostigma and 
its alkaloid, eserine (gphysostigminef Here it must not be used to over-stimulation, 339 
BELLADONNA. 
for its narcotic effects are to be avoided. Small and oft-repeated doses of bella- 
donna (or atropine hypodermatically) should be given until respiration becomes 
stronger, the pulse more forcible,and pupillary dilatation begins. Here the action 
should be maintained until the danger is past. 
Externally it was formerly applied in extract to the parts around the eye, to 
dilate the pupil, before operating tor cataract, in iridectomy, to relieve internal ocular 
pressure in ulceration of the cornea, and also in iritis to prevent adhesions. For 
these purposes a drop or two of an aqueous solution of the extract is sometimes 
placed upon the conjunctiva. The sulphate of atropine has now superseded the 
use of the extract. Both locally and internally belladonna is a prompt agent for 
the relief of photophobia. The ointment, or extract, has also been applied locally 
in spasmodic stricture of the urethra, and. of the sphincters of the bladder and rectum, 
in great pain along the female urethra, in strangulated hernia, spasmodic contraction of 
the uterus, hemorrhoids, etc. Belladonna plasters, or the extract with vaseline, are 
applied to relieve pain in forming abscesses, recurrent boils, neuralgia, and lumbago, 
with gratifying results. No remedy is of more value to check the secretion of the 
mammary gland when prompt action is desired. One part of the specific may be 
added to 3 parts of glycerin, and the breast painted with it once or twice a day. 
Care should be had to see that the surface is unbroken or constitutional effects 
will be produced. A belladonna plaster over the heart relieves pain in that organ. 
The following has been recommended in neuralgia of the uterus: Mix together 1| 
grain of alcoholic extract of belladonna and of a grain of opium. Place the 
two extracts in the center of a little pledget of carded cotton, and fold it up so as 
to inclose the extract; tie it up with a very strong thread, and leave a double 
thread 8 inches long attached to it. The plug is to be introduced into the vagina 
by the physician or patient, and placed upon the neck of the uterus, where it is 
to be retained from 12 to 24 hours. In very painful menstruation, accompanied by 
leucorrheea, from 8 to 15 grains of tannic acid, or extract of geranium, may be 
added to the tampon. 
Belladonna is said to retard schirrous growths, and when applied to cancerous 
tumors it relieves pain. It is a remedy for local or external inflammation, acute masti- 
tis, inflammatory glandular swelling, sympathetic buboes, gouty and rheumatic inflamma- 
tions, etc. Apply the belladonna plaster. 
Dose of the powdered leaves, 1 to 2 grains once or twice a day, and gradually 
increased till the peculiar effects of the medicine are produced; of the extract, J of 
a grain to 1 grain; tincture of belladonna, 1 to 7 minims; fluid extract of bella- 
donna, 1 to 2 minims; specific belladonna, gtt. v to x ; to aqua, §iv. Teaspoonful 
every 1 to 3 hours for congestive states and general uses; for nervous disorders, 
with furious delirium, specific belladonna (3 x dilution), sss to gi; to aqua, H^v. 
A teaspoonful every 2 or 3 hours. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Dull, expressionless face, dilated or immo- 
bile pupils, dullness of intellect, impaired capillary circulation of skin or internal 
organs; drowsiness, with inability to sleep on account of pain; cold extremities, 
dusky, bluish face and extremities; skin soft, doughy, or pasty; circulation slug- 
gish, with soft, full, oppressed, and compressible pulse; slow, labored, and imper- 
fect breathing; sleeping with eyes partially open; hebetude; coma; urinal incon- 
tinence; copious passages of limpid urine; deep aching in loins or back, with 
sense of fullness. The remedy for congestion, with dilated capillaries; a deep 
redness of the skin, effaced by the finger, leaving a white streak, the blood slowly 
returning to the part; spasm of the involuntary muscles. In 3 x attenuation 
the remedy for nervous excitation, with wild and furious delirium; also in 
pallid countenance, with frequent urination. 
Related Species and Adulterants.-I. Adulterations or Admixtures of Root: "Japanese 
Belladonna {Scopolia Japonica, Maximowicz) is a rhizome from 5 to 10 d. m. in length, and on 
an average 1 d. m. in diameter, cylindrical, slightly compressed, rarely branched or knotty; on 
the upper surface marked by circular, slightly alternate stem-scars. Externally brown, intern- 
ally paler, speckled with numerous white dots; odor mousy and narcotic. 
" Scopolia Carniolica, Jacquin, is obtained from Bavaria, Austro-Hungary, and south- 
western Russia. The genus Scopolia is interesting, as it forms a connecting link between 
hyoscyamus and atropa. Scopolia is a rhizome and resembles the genus atropa in containing 
peculiar, crystal-like contents; but they are less prominent. Neither the bark nor the fibro- 
vascular bundles are so large or so numerous. The starch grains are likewise smaller. There 340 
BENZENUM. 
is a close alliance in the anatomy of these two plants, but all of the important characters are 
less pronounced than in belladonna. Belladonna scopolia is also a rhizome, and, like Japanese 
belladonna, may be distinguished from true belladonna, which is a root. Where a preparation 
claims to represent the Pharmacopoeia, which explicitly calls for the use of true belladonna, this 
drug should not be used. Messrs. W. H. Cole & Co., drug merchants. London, make the state- 
ment that " Scopolia camiolica is always picked and rejected as useless by makers of atropine." 
Elecampane (Inula Helenium, Linne) is the root of Inula. This root possesses resin cells, 
the taste is aromatic, and it is stained yellow by iodine-being free from starch. 
Medicago Root (Medicago sativa, Linne) has been noticed as an adulterant in Europe. It 
is distinguished from belladonna by a solid crown; the bark is thinner, and the meditullium 
is tough and woody and traversed by numerous fine medullary rays. 
Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis, Linne) is said to be used as an adulterant for belladonna. 
It resembles the young uncut root. It is easily distinguished by its radiating wood, numerous 
bast fibres and mucilage. Holmes noted that belladonna root of the market had been found 
to contain as high as 50 per cent marshmallow root. It has been stated that some time ago 
the herbalists in Madrid offered for sale as belladonna a plant which was not belladonna, nor 
even belonging to the order Solanacete. It was called in the Madrid market "Belladonna 
Silvistre de la casco de campo ares botanica cucubalus " (A. P. A., Vol. 21). 
Lappa (Arctium Lappa, Linne) root is sometimes admixed with belladonna. It is dis- 
tinguished by its peculiar pith, its distinct radiating bark and being colored yellow by iodine 
and blue by ferric chloride" (Kilmer, in Belladonna'). Mullein, foxglove and henbane leaves 
are said to be occasionally present as admixtures. 
Scopolia camiolica (Hyoscyamus Scopolia, Linn£) Jacquin and Scopolia Japonica, Maxi- 
mowicz. The first of these plants has been shown to contain the principal constituents of 
belladonna, namely: Atropine, hyoscyamine, hyoscine (scopolamine); furthermore choline 
and a fluorescent body, scopoletin (E. Schmidt), and has been used in this country for the 
production of atropine and in the preparation of belladonna plasters. The identity of scopola- 
mine (scopoleine) (CuHoiXO4) and hyoscine is above alluded to (see Belladonna constituents). 
Boiling with baryta water decomposes scopoleine into atropic acid (C9H8O2) and crystalline 
scopoline (C8Hi3NO2), which E. Schmidt believes to be identical with methyl-xsculin. The 
alkaloid scopoline may be synthetically combined with organic acids to form a series of com- 
pounds called scopoleines, of which scopolamine is a member (compare Tropeines under Atropina). 
Scopoline is declared a more powerful mydriatic than atropine, causing dilatation sooner and 
lasting longer than that from the latter body. Internally, according to Sir Dvce Duckworth, 
it fails to affect the pupil and does not, like belladonna, produce dryness of the throat. Mr. 
Gordon Sharp (Brit. Med. Journ.) states that his personal experience leads him to believe 
that scopolamine, hyoscine, daturine and duboisine differ but little in effects from atropine 
(E. M. J., 284,1896). The drug needs further study. 
II. Other Mydriatic Plants and Alkaloids. Anisodus luridus. Himalaya Mountains. A 
solanacete containing atropine and hyoscyamine (Siebert, 1890). 
Atropa Mandragora, Linn6 (Mandragora officinalis, Miller; Mandragora vemalis, Brotero) 
and Mandragora autumnalis are Southern European stemless plants known as Mandrake, or 
Mandragora. Their roots, which are seldom seen in America, are sharp, bitter and narcotic. 
The root of Atropa Mandragora is spindle-shaped, and often divided below into two or three 
forks so as to somewhat resemble the human shape. On this account animal sensations were 
attributed to it by the ancients, who also fabulously declared that when torn from the earth it 
uttered shrieks like those of a human in distress. Dr. T. II. Silvester (1848), according to 
Lindley, was the first in recent years to call attention to the fact that it was formerly used 
like chloroform and other anaesthetics now are, so that operations might.be painlessly per- 
formed. Dioscorides describes the use of wine of mandragora before actual cautery and even 
amputation, and that a suppository of the juice and also emanations from the fruit were 
employed to induce sleep. A vulgar superstition attributed the power of promoting fecundity 
to amulets made of it. Botanically and therapeutically mandragora is related to belladonna. 
It contains twro mydriatic alkaloids-one of which, called mandragorine (C17H23NO3) is isomeric 
with atropine (Crouzel). This is without odor or color, and is deliquescent. Alkalies do not 
convert it into atropine. Mandragora and its alkaloids are not used in this country. 
BENZENUM.-BENZENE. 
Formula: C6H6. Molecular Weight : 77.82. 
Synonyms : Benzol, Benzole. 
Source, History, and. Preparation.-The name Benzene given to this sub- 
stance should not be confused with that of the official Benzin, which is an entirely 
different substance and of an entirely different origin (see Benzinum). The 
name benzol would be preferable for benzene, but is rejected in chemical nomen- 
clature on the ground that the ending "ol" indicates alcohols or phenols whereas 
benzene is a hydrocarbon. Tt is accepted in the parlance of chemical industry, 
however, to designate as benzene the chemically pure compound C6H6, while the 
term benzol is reserved for the commercial product, which contains mainly benzene 
and varying quantities of toluene (C7H8), xylene (C8H{0), and other homologues (Sadtler, Handbook of Industrial Organic Chemistry). Benzene is one of the products 
of the destructive distillation of wood and coal. Its vapor occurs in the illumin- 
ating gas manufactured from coal, and in liquid form it is one of the constituents 
of wood- and coal-tar. It is obtained from coal-tar on a large scale by fractional 
distillation very much resembling the process by which the rectification of alcohol 
is effected (see Alcohol). Most of the benzene is contained in the portion distilling 
below 170° C. (338° F.),and is called light oils or crude naphtha-, an aqueous layer 
of ammonia water likewise results, separating out from beneath the oils. By 
redistilling the light oils drawn off from the aqueous layer, three fractions are 
obtained-one below 110° C. (230° F.), another from 110° to 140° C. (230° to 
284° F.), and a third from 140° to 170° C. (284° to 338° F.) The first fraction 
contains the bulk of benzol, the exact boiling point of which is 80.5° C. (176.9° F). 
This fraction is purified by treatment with concentrated sulphuric acid, whereby 
olefines and empyreumatic resins are removed; the acid treatment is followed by 
caustic soda, then by water. The resulting oil is again rectified, and yields ^Oper 
cent benzol, which is, by Allen's definition, a benzol, 90 per cent of which distills over 
before the temperature of 100° C. (212° F.) is reached (S. P. Sadtler). The residue 
is added to the second fraction, boiling between 110° and 140° C.; this, after treat- 
ment with sulphuric acid and with alkali as above, is again distilled, yielding 50 
per cent benzol (the definition of which is analogous to that of 90 per cent benzol). 
The fraction distilling between 140° and 170° C., after chemical purification, 
is redistilled and yields solvent naphtha. A 90 per cent benzol of good quality 
consists, according to Allen, of "about 70 per cent benzene, 24 per cent toluene, 
including a little xylene, and 4 to 6 per cent of bisulphide of carbon and light 
hydrocarbons" (S. P. Sadtler, Handbook of Industrial Organic Chemistry). 
Chemically pure benzene may be prepared by repeated fractional distillation 
of 90 per cent benzol, collecting only the fraction between 80° and 85° C. (176° 
and 185° F.), and finally subjecting the liquid to low temperature whereby benzol 
becomes solid and may conveniently be purified by pressure. An absolutely pure 
benzene is obtained by distilling benzoic acid with lime, the process being repre- 
sented by the following equation : C6H5.COOH4-CaO=C6H6-|-CaCO3. 
Description, Chemical Composition, and Test.-Benzene is n very mobile, 
inflammable, highly refractive liquid of an ethereal odor, boiling at 80.5° C. 
(176.9° F.), and having a specific gravity of 0.8991 at 0°C. (32° F.) and of 0.8841 
at 15° C. (59° F.). It congeals at 0° C. (32° F.) and melts at 6° C. (42.8° F.). It 
is scarcely soluble in water, but easily soluble in alcohol and ether. It is an 
excellent solvent for resins and fats; also for phosphorus, iodine and sulphur. 
Commercial benzene contains thiophen (C4H4 S) as a regular constituent, which 
was discovered, in 1883, by Victor Meyer. A mixture of nitric acid and sulphuric 
acid converts benzene into nitrobenzene (nitrobenzol), which has a bitter, almond- 
like odor. By this reaction benzene is easily distinguished from petroleum benzin 
(see Benzinum). Benzene (C6H6) has proved of the utmost theoretical and prac- 
tical importance, it being the compound from which the vast class of aromatic 
organic compounds is derived. 
Uses.-Benzene is employed in the arts on account of its power as a solvent 
for fats, resins, alkaloids, etc. Its most extensive application is in the manu- 
facture of nitrobenzene, and of aniline and its derivatives; hence the importance 
of benzene in the industry of the coal-tar dyes (see Anilinum). 
Related Products.- Toluene (C8H5.CH3=C7H?). Molecular weight: 91.79. Toluene 
is the next higher homologue of benzene. Its boiling point • is between 111° and 112° C. 
(231.8° and 233.6° F.), and is contained in the light oils resulting from the fractional distillation 
of coal-tar, from which source it may be isolated by proper rectification. It is also a constit- 
uent of balsam of Tolu, from which it may be obtained by dry distillation (see Balsam of Tolu). 
BENZINUM. 
341 
BENZINUM (U. S. P.)-BENZIN. 
Synonyms : AEther petrolei, Petroleum benzin, Benzine, Petroleum ether. 
"A purified distillate from American petroleum, consisting of hydrocarbons, 
chiefly of the marsh-gas series (C5H12, Cf,H14, and homologous compounds). Benzin 
should be carefully kept in well-stoppered bottles or tin cans, in a cool place, 
remote from lights or fire " (U. S. Pi). 342 
BENZOINUM. 
Preparation and Purification.-Benzin is one of the products obtained when 
American crude petroleum, as it is found in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, 
Kentucky, etc., is fractionally distilled for the purpose of purification. The first 
distillation yields 12 per cent of an impure fraction containing the benzin. 
This is again subjected to fractional distillation. As thus obtained the crude 
product has an objectionable odor which may be removed by shaking the benzin 
with sulphuric acid, or with lime. Grazer employs the mixed solutions of sul- 
phuric acid and potassium bichromate. Beringer employs potassium perman- 
ganate, sulphuric acid, and soda (see A. J. P., 1890, p. 6, for process). 
Description.-This substance must not be confounded with benzene (benzol), 
which see. Benzin is thus described in the U. S. P.: "A transparent, colorless, 
diffusive liquid, of a strong, characteristic odor, slightly resembling that of petro- 
leum, but much less disagreeable, and having a neutral reaction. Specific gravity: 
0.670 to 0.675 at 15° C. (59° F.). Boiling point: 50° to 60° C. (122° to 140° F.). 
Insoluble in water; soluble in about 6 parts of alcohol, and readily soluble in ether, 
chloroform, benzol, and fixed and volatile oils. Benzin is highly inflammable, 
and its vapor, when mixed with air and ignited, explodes violently" (U. S. P.). 
Chemical Composition and Tests.- Benzin consists chiefly of pentane 
(C5H12), hexane (C6I114), and heptane (C7Hi6), the former predominating in the 
benzin official in the U. S. P. "On evaporating benzin from the hand, it should 
leave no odor, and on evaporating it from a warmed dish, it should leave no 
residue (absence of heavy hydrocarbons). When it is boiled for a few minutes 
with one-fourth its volume of spirit of ammonia, and a few drops of silver nitrate 
T.S., the ammoniacal liquid should not turn brown (absence of pyrogenous 
products and sulphur compounds). If 5 drops of benzin be added to a mixture 
of 40 drops of sulphuric and 10 drops of nitric acid, in a test-tube, the liquid 
warmed for about ten minutes, and then set aside for half an hour, on diluting 
it, in a shallow dish, with water, it should not evolve the bitter-almond-like odor 
of nitro-benzol (difference from, and absence of, benzol)"-(L. 5. P.). On account 
of its higher price benzene (frequently called benzol) is not likely to be an adul- 
terant of benzin. 
Pharmaceutical Uses.-Benzin is an excellent solvent for rubber, fats, some 
resins, and many of the alkaloidal bases. Fixed oils may be removed from 
powdered drugs by it, while volatile oils may also be prepared by percolating the 
drug containing them with this fluid. In some pharmacal operations it is 
employed in place of ether, but its solvent power on proximate plant constituents 
is so different as to render it unsafe in many cases where the product contains 
other bodies than oils, as, in the pharmaceutical oleoresins. It is largely used in 
the arts as a solvent, and on account of its resemblance in many respects to tur- 
pentine it is substituted for that solvent in painting and other operations. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Vapors of benzin are reputed destruc- 
tive to insect life, and in large doses its effects are said to resemble those of nitro- 
benzole. Mental confusion, dizziness, insensibility, convulsions, and intoxication 
as from alcohol, or coma are among its effects. By inhalation it has been used to 
mitigate the symptoms of pertussis ; internally in fermentative dyspepsia and trich- 
inosis. Locally it acts somewhat as an anaesthetic, giving relief to neuralgic and 
rheumatic pain. Boils are said to be aborted by its application, and it has been con- 
siderably employed in parasitic skin diseases. While it kills the itch-insect, it fails 
to destroy the eggs. Dose, 5 to 15 minims in capsule, in emulsion, or on sugar. 
BENZOINUM (U. S. P.)-BENZOIN. 
"A balsamic resin obtained from Styrax Benzoin, Dryander"-(U. S. Pi). 
Nat. Ord.-Styracese. 
Common Names: Benzoin, Gum benzoin, Gum Benjamin. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 169. 
Botanical Source.-Styrax Benzoin is a tree from 50 to 70 feet high, with 
round, tomentose branches. The leaves are alternate, petiolate, oblong, entire, 
acuminate, smooth above, tomentose beneath, a palm long; the petioles are round, 
striated, tomentose, very short, and channeled. The flowers are on one side, in 343 
BENZOINUM. 
compound, axillary racemes, nearly the length of the leaves; the common foot- 
stalks are tomentose; the partial alternate, spreading and tomentose. The calyx 
campanulate, very obscurely 5-toothed; outwardly tomentose; above a line in 
depth. The petals, numbering 5, are linear, obtuse, outwardly gray with very 
fine down, and four times longer than the calyx. Stamens 10; filaments inserted 
into the receptacle, rather shorter than the petals, beneath connate into a cylinder 
of the length of the calyx, and ciliated on the upper part below the anthers. The 
anthers are linear and longitudinally adnate to the petals. The ovary is supe- 
rior, ovate and tomentose; the style filiform and longer than the stamens. The 
fruit is a globose drupe, containing 1 or 2 nuts, angular, concave on one side and 
convex on the other (L.). 
History.-This beautiful tree presents a handsome appearance with its con- 
spicuous crown of large spreading branches, bearing deep-green leaves, hoary 
white on the under surface. Its flowers are either white or reddish. The tree is 
indigenous to Sumatra (where it is cultivated), Java, and Borneo. A kind of gum 
is also produced in Siam and Cochin China, while along the east bank of the 
Mekong, it is said to be produced from the neighboring cassia forests. The 
botanical name of the tree, which is the source of the Siam gum, is unknown. 
The greater portion of the commercial benzoin is collected in the northern and 
eastern portions of Sumatra, and comes into English markets as Gum Benjamin, 
the tree from which it is derived being known as the Benjamin, or Benzoin, tree. 
This resinous balsam is obtained by making incisions into the bark of trees 
6 or 7 years old, from which the balsam flows in the form of a thick, milky, 
resinous juice, which is allowed to remain until sufficiently hardened, when it 
is collected and new incisions made. The trees yield about 3 pounds of resin 
annually for a period of about a dozen years. The first 3 years' yield gives a 
superior product, containing a greater quantity of white tears, and is designated 
by the natives as Head benzoin. A browner resin, inferior to the above, which 
exudes during the remaining 7 or 8 years, is known as Belly benzoin. The least 
valuable product, Foot benzoin, is that obtained by cutting down the tree, splitting 
the wood and scraping it. Tn this way it becomes mixed with foreign matter, 
such as wood, bark, etc. Benzoin appears in commerce in the form of square 
masses, having been melted by sun heat or hot water and poured into square 
receptacles. While the resin is known to the Malays by the above names (which 
correspond to superior, medium, and inferior) it is known in commerce as two 
varieties-Siam benzoin and Sumatra benzoin. 
Description.-Benzoin occurs in market in several grades, as regards the 
amount of milky-white tears contained in the mass. The Siam gum is regarded 
the most valuable, containing less foreign impurities than the Sumatra variety, 
the inferior grades of which are sometimes bark and but little resin. 
Siam Benzoin comes in the form of square blocks having opaque, milky 
tears, often an inch or two in length, loosely adherent to each other. Usually, 
however, the tears are smaller, the mass more compact,the tears being imbedded in 
an amber-colored, or brown, resiniform material. Specimens containing the trans- 
lucent resinous matter and very small tears, in appearance, are said to resemble 
Scotch granite. The tears show internally a semi-translucent, lamellated struc- 
ture. Even the opaque tears become discolored and translucent by age. The resin 
is brittle, but may be readily softened by mastication, and has a pleasant fragrance, 
resembling that of the vanilla-bean. When heated benzoic acid is evolved. 
Sumatra Benzoin also comes in rectangular blocks, usually having its tears 
imbedded in a grayish-brown resinous mass, intermixed with foreign matter. Its 
odor is not so pronounced nor as agreeable as that of the Siam product. A 
variety of Sumatra benzoin, of unknown origin, known as Penang benzoin (Ben- 
jamin), or Storax smelling benzoin (Benjamin) has a much more agreeable odor 
than the Siam variety, comparing somewhat with storax. It frequently consists 
of large tears, agglutinated together by a grayish resin. The fragrance of the 
different kinds of benzoin is best compared by adding water to their tinctures. 
The best variety (Siam) yields a reddish tincture, that of the other grades being 
yellow-brown or brown. 
Benzoin is firm, brittle, pulverizable, of an agreeable, balsamic odor when 
rubbed, and of a sweetish, balsamic, somewhat acrid taste. When pure it is 344 
BENZOINUM. 
wholly soluble in alcohol or ether. Upon exposure to heat, benzoin consumes 
with the discharge of a dense, irritating, white smoke, consisting of benzoic acid 
and a fragrant empyreumatic oil. In pulverizing benzoin, it irritates the lining 
membrane of the nostrils, causing sternutation. Water added to its alcoholic 
solution, precipitates it, forming a white liquid, which has been used as a cos- 
metic under the name of virgin's milk. Benzoin has a specific gravity of about 
1.068. Official benzoin is thus described in the U. S. P.: " In lumps consisting 
of agglutinated, yellowish-brown tears, which are internally milk-white, or in the 
form of a reddish-brown mass, more or less mottled, from whitish tears imbedded 
in it. It is almost wholly soluble in 5 parts of moderately warm alcohol, and in 
solutions of fixed alkalies. When heated, it gives off fumes of benzoic acid. It 
has an agreeable, balsamic odor, and a slight, aromatic taste "-(U. & P.). 
That benzoin does not lose its properties by keeping is evident from the fact 
that the best benzoin we have ever seen was that recently recovered from a vessel 
wrecked in the East Indian trade two centuries ago. 
Chemical Composition.-Benzoin belongs to the class of substances known 
as balsam-resins. It contains a small amount of volatile oil, about 75 per cent of 
amorphous resins, and about 18 per cent of benzoic acid. The white tears con- 
tain the latter in smaller quantities than the resiniform substance in which they 
are imbedded. Among the empyreumatic products resulting from the dry dis- 
tillation of benzoin is a strongly fragrant, oily substance, designated styrol. Cin- 
namic acid (C9H9O2) was found to be present in Siam and Penang benzoin (Kolbe 
and Lautemann, 1860). Sometimes only this acid is present, to the exclusion of 
benzoic acid. Aschoff found cinnamic acid alone in a sample of the Sumatra 
product, while in the amygdaloid Penang and Siam varieties, only the benzoic 
acid was present (1861). Fliickiger, however, obtained cinnamic acid from the 
latter variety. Rump believed that both acids were not simultaneously present in 
any variety of benzoin, but that the cinnamic acid was present only in the Penang 
benzoin. The resins of benzoin, at least four in number, are all soluble in alcohol 
and caustic potash, but behave differently with other solvents, especially with 
ether. Vanillin, a product found mainly in vanilla, was obtained from Siam ben- 
zoin by Rump, in 1878. Benzoin was acted upon with caustic lime, the benzoic 
acid precipitated with chlorhydric acid, and the remaining liquid agitated with 
ether and evaporated, when a mixture of vanillin and benzoic acid remained. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The effects of benzoin are much the 
same as those of benzoic acid, which is its most abundant constituent, modified 
by the resin and essential oil. It is never given in bulk or alone. It is eliminated 
chiefly by the mucous membranes. 
Benzoin exerts a stimulating influence on the mucous tissues, and has been 
used to promote expectoration in chronic diseases of the air-passages. It is also 
stated to stimulate the sexual organs. It enters into the manufacture of elixir of 
paregoric, and constitutes the basis of Turlington's and many other balsams, 
which exert a salutary influence in healing wounds; the tincture is also employed 
to form a coating over the adhesive preparations so well known as Court Plaster. 
The fumes or vapor inhaled into the lungs, has been strongly recommended in 
chronic pulmonary catarrhs, and old laryngeal inflammations. The tincture is pro- 
tective and stimulant in the early stage of coryza and as a dressing for fresh 
wounds. Benzoin is principally used to.prepare benzoic acid, to improve the taste 
and odor of other medicines, and in perfumery. The dose, in preparations, may 
be equivalent to 10 to 40 grains. 
Related Products.-Pagliari's Styptic. A preparation called Pagliari's Haemostatic or 
Styptic, has been used with some degree of success in hemorrhages. It is made by boiling together 
for 6 hours in a glazed earthen vessel, alum 1 pound, tincture of benzoin 8 ounces, water 10 
pounds. As the water evaporates it must constantly be replaced with hot water, so as not to 
interrupt the ebullition, the resinous mass being stirred constantly. Then filter the fluid and 
keep in stoppered bottles. It is limpid, color of champagne, styptic in taste, and aromatic in 
odor. White resin has been successfully substituted for the benzoin. Every drop of this fluid 
poured into a glass containing human blood produces an instantaneous magma; and by increas- 
ing the proportion of the styptic to the quantity of the blood, a dense homogeneous, blackish 
mass results. It is said to be useful in all arterial and venous hemorrhages. In applying it, lint 
and bandages should be used to prevent the coagula which form from being removed from the 
mouths of the vessels ; an application of them for 24 or 48 hours is sufficient. BERBERIS. 
345 
BERBERIS.-BARBERRY. 
The bark of the root and the berries of Herberts vulgaris, Linn6. 
Nat. Ord.-Berberidaceae. 
Common Name: Barberry. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 16. 
Botanical Source. - Berberis vulgaris is an erect, deciduous shrub, from 
3 to 8 feet high, with long, bending branches which are dotted with triple spines. 
The leaves are obovate-oval, simple, closely serrulate, alter- 
nate, petioled, about 2 inches long, one-third as wide, and 
terminated by soft bristles. In their primary state they 
are 3-parted and spiny. The flowers, which are small and 
yellow, are borne in clusters on lax, pendulous racemes. 
The petals are entire ; the stamens irritable, springing vio- 
lently against the stigma when touched. The fruit con- 
sists of bright red, very acid, oblong berries, clustered in 
bunches (L.-W.). 
History.-This shrub, a native of Europe, and natur- 
uraiized in Asia, is found in the New England States, on 
the mountains of Pennsylvania and Virginia, among rocks, 
and in hard, gravelly soils; occasionally it is found in the 
West on rich grounds. It flowers from April to June, and 
ripens its fruit in June. " It is frequently planted in gar- 
dens and prized for the beautiful bunches of red berries 
which hang after the leaves have fallen. The plant is gen- 
erally a shrub from 2 to 8 feet high, although Loudon is 
authority that ' there are examples of trees 30 feet in height7 and that ' they live 
for two or three centuries.' The wood contains a yellow, bitter coloring matter, 
and is sometimes used as a dye. The flowers are in pendulous racemes and 
appear in May or June. The leaves are obovate, bristly serrate, tapering at the 
base to a very short petiole. They are agreeably acid, resembling in this respect 
the leaves of the Nat. Ord.-Oxalidaceae. The French name for barberry, Epine 
vinette, means literally an acid thorn. The fruit is a bright scarlet berry, 
and has an intensely, yet agreeably acid taste. It is said to make excellent 
preserves; was highly esteemed by the ancients, and probably would be now, if 
other fruits had not been cultivated to such a degree of excellence. The name 
berberys seems to have been first applied to this fruit by Averroes, an Arabic 
writer on medicine, who wrote in the Twelfth century " (Berberidacex, by C. G. 
and J. U. Lloyd, p. 5). Barberry bark, it is stated, has been used as an adulterant 
of pomegranite root bark. 
Description.-This drug is the foliaceous bark of the barberry root, and 
occurs in thin sections, having an orange-yellow, smooth inner surface; externally 
it has a soft, yellow-gray periderm. It breaks with an abrupt fracture, exhibiting 
a vivid yellow interior. Its laminated structure permits of its being separated 
into layers. It has a bitter, non-astringent taste, but no odor. When chewed 
it imparts a yellow color to the saliva. In Europe the whole root is frequently 
employed. It is thick and tough, very much branched and hard. Externally 
it has a brown color; internally it is yellow, the color extending throughout the 
light, thick wood. Like its bark it is bitter and without odor. 
Chemical Composition.-Berberine (see Hydrastis) is the active alkaloidal 
principle of this drug. It has also been found in Hydrastis, Podophyllum, and 
other plants. According to Braude, the bark likewise contains gum, starch, 
fatty matter, chlorophyll, bitter yellow extractive (probably the above alkaloid 
in an impure condition), brown coloring matter, a resinous substance, lignin and 
water. Other alkaloids have also been found in this bark, viz.: Oxyacanthine 
(C19H2iNO3), also called berbine and vinetine; and berbamine (C^HjgNOs) (see Berbers 
aquifohum). A fourth alkaloid, in an amorphous condition, has also been obtained 
from it. A very little tannin is also said to be present, sufficient to give a green 
color with the ferric salts. The flowers contain sugar and an essential oil, while 
malic acid is present in the berries. 
Fig. 46. 
Berberis vulgaris. 346 
BERBERIS AQUIFOLIUM. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-" Berberis vulgaris, a native of Europe, 
is now quite common in this country, and for many years has been in domestic 
use as a medicine. A tea made from the bark is taken during the spring months 
as a blood purifier. A strong decoction is employed as an application to the sores 
which sometimes afflict children's lips, and in certain conditions of the system 
demanding tonic treatment, the infusion is a favorite remedy. The fluid extract 
is usually administered. It is readily prepared by those having the proper facili- 
ties, and can easily be made to represent the bark, fluid ounce to troy ounce. It 
is more satisfactory in its action than the alkaloid berberine" (Lloyd's Berberi- 
daceaef Berberis is a tonic and laxative. Formerly used extensively by practi- 
tioners in the New England States, in all cases where tonics are indicated, also in 
jaundice, and chronic diarrhea and dysentery. The berries form an agreeable acidu- 
lous draught, useful as a refrigerant in fevers, also beneficial in dysentery, cholera 
infantum, diarrhoea, etc. The bark is bitter and astringent, and has been used with 
advantage as a tonic. The bark of the root is the most active; a teaspoonful of 
the powder will act as a purgative. A decoction of the bark or berries, has been 
found of service as a wash in aphthous sore mouth, and in chronic ophthalmia. 
Webster declares it of value in jaundice when there is no obstruction of the 
bile ducts, and in doses short of purgative stimulates the duodenal functions, 
relieving intestinal dyspepsia. Small doses are also palliative in renal calculi, and 
in soreness, burning, and other unpleasant sensations of the urinary tract. 
Related Species.-" Berberis Canadensis is our only indigenous species of the Berberis 
proper. It very closely resembles the berberis vulgaris, but is a smaller shrub, with smaller 
leaves, smaller berries, and smaller and fewer flower racemes. Its locality is farther South 
than the introduced species, being a native of the Southern States. The acidity of the fruit 
and leaves and the yellow color of the wood are also observed in this species. It closely 
resembles the foregoing in medicinal properties. Doubtless it contains much the same prin- 
ciples, as the two species closely resemble each other and are used commonly for the same 
purpose" (Berberidacex, C. G. and J. U. Lloyd ; see also Berberis aquifolium). 
BERBERIS AQUIFOLIUM.-OREGON GRAPE. 
The root of Berberis aquifolium, Pursh (Mahonia aquifolium, Paxton). 
Nat. Ord.-Berberidacese. 
Common Names: Mountain grape, Oregon grape. 
Illustrations: Pursh,Vol. I, Plate iv; Botanical Register, 1425. 
Botanical Source.- Berberis aquifolium is a shrub having stems about 
6 feet high, erect, and of rapid growth. The leaves are alternate, and consist of 
3 or 4 pairs of leaflets, and an odd one. They 
are evergreen, coriaceous, bright and shining 
upon the upper surface, and very ornamental; 
hence, the shrub is frequent in cultivation, often 
under the improper name "holly." The leaflets 
are smooth, ovate, from 2 to 3 inches long, and 
one-half as wide. They are acute, sessile, pin- 
nately veined, and the margin is indented with 
from 15 to 30 repand spiny teeth. The lower 
pair of leaflets is from 1 to 2 inches distant 
from the base of the common petiole. The flow- 
ers are numerous, small, yellowish-green, and 
appear in early spring, borne in fascicled, termi- 
nal racemes. The calyx has 9 distinct sepals, 
colored like the petals and disposed in 2 rows, 
the outer of which consists of 3 sepals (bracts?). 
The petals are 6, distinct, orbicular, and in rows 
of 3 each. The stamens are also 6, and oppo- 
site the petals; they have irritable filaments, 
and extrorse anthers, opening, each by 2 little 
valves, hinged at the top. The fruit, which is 
known as "Oregon grape," is a cluster of purple 
berries, each containing an agreeably acid pulp, 
and from 3 to 9 seeds. 
Fig. 47. 
Leaves of Berberis aquifolium. 347 
History -This is a tall shrub, native of the western section of the United 
States. It grows from Colorado to the Pacific Ocean, and is especially abundant 
in Oregon and the northern part of California. Berberis aquifolium belongs to 
the section Mahonia of the genus Berberis, which section is considered by some 
botanists a distinct genus. The following synopsis of the difference between 
the two sub-genera is taken from " Berberidacese'' (a pamphlet by C. G. and 
J. U. Lloyd, 1878): 
" The Berberis proper has simple leaves clustering in the axis of a simple cr 3*parted 
spine. The petals have two glands on the inside of each, at the base. The filaments have no 
teeth. Berries 2 to 3-seeded. 
'Mahonia has oddly, pinnately, compound leaves, with no spine at the base, but with 
spiny-toothed leaflets. The petals are glandless. The stamens have a tooth on each side of 
the filament, near the top. Berries 3 to 9-seeded." 
The section "Mahonia" is represented in the western United States by six 
species, viz.: Berberis pinnata, Lag., a tall shrub with the general appearance of 
B. aquifolium, distinguished from it by the leaflets, which are glaucous under- 
neath, and the lower pair approximate to the base of the petiole; Berberis repens, 
Lind., a small creeping plant, with leaves often ternate, and leaflets nearly orbi- 
cular, and which has been much confounded, and frequently described as Ber- 
beris aquifolium. Berberis nervosa, Pursh, a small erect shrub, with leaves often 
longer than the stem-it appears to be more generally distributed than the other 
species. The chief characteristics of this species are, the leaflets are three-veined 
from an oblique base, the common petiole is jointed "like a bamboo stem," and 
the flowers are in slender racemes. The two other species, B. Fendleri and 
B. Fremonti, are of rare occurrence. 
Berberis aquifolium and the other species long in use in domestic practice 
throughout the West, were brought into general notice a few years since by Parke, 
Davis & Co., of Detroit, who gave the remedy great conspicuity. Dr. Bundy, of 
Colusa, Cal., wrote many papers on its therapy; these were published in their 
journal, " New Preparations." From an examination of the drug, as thrown upon 
the market, we find the species are confounded, several of them being generally 
sold as B. aquifolium. The B. nervosa is more commonly met with in these sophis- 
tications, but we have likewise noticed B. repens in considerable amount. The 
confusion is, perhaps, unimportant from a therapeutical point, as all the Maho- 
nias are bitter, and seem to contain berberine in nearly the same proportion 
(see Related Species). 
Description.-The root of Berberis aquifolium is from to 1 inch in diameter, 
often increasing to 2 and 3 inches at the base of the stem. It is woody, yellow 
throughout, and very hard. The bark is deep-yellow beneath and brown upon 
the surface. It is without odor and very bitter. The roots of the other species 
of Mahonia are smaller; the B.pinnata more nearly approaching the B. aquifolium 
in size; the B. repens is the smallest of any of the known species. 
Chemical Composition.-Berberis aquifolium contains berberine, a yellow alka- 
loid (see Hydrastis), berbamine, and oxyacanthine, both white alkaloids, and phyto- 
sterin, gum and sugar. The flowers contain, in addition to the above alkaloids, 
volatile oil, and the berries contain malic acid. 
The presence of berberine renders both root and bark bitter. The white alka- 
loid, oxyacanthine (C19H21NO3, Rudel), which forms soluble salts with most acids, 
is itself practically insoluble in water, soluble in hot alcohol and hot ether, and 
slightly so in cold alcohol and cold ether. It dissolves freely in fats and volatile 
oils, and in chloroform and benzol. It is alkaline, bitter, and in the presence of 
sunlight changes color, becoming yellowish. Iodic acid is reduced by it with the 
liberation of free iodine. With nitric acid a yellow color is produced, which, 
when heated, changes to purple. Cold sulphuric acid turns it brownish-red; on 
heating it changes to a vivid red, and finally a brown, color. With ferric chloride, 
in dilute solution of potassium ferricyanide, a blue color is produced with salts of 
oxyacanthine. Other names have been given this alkaloid to avoid confounding 
it with products of a species of thorn-apple, the Cratsegus Oxyacantha. Thus vine- 
tine was applied to it by Wacker, while Berzelius christened it berbine. Berbamine 
(C]gH19NO3) is a white alkaloid the salts of which dissolve slightly in solutions of 
BERBERIS AQUIFOLIUM 348 
BERBERIS AQUIFOLIUM. 
Chili saltpetre (nitrate of sodium). These salts strike a blue color with ferric 
chloride in a weak solution of ferricyanide of potassium. Phytosterin (CogH^O.HoO) 
is a neutral body (found also in Calabar bean, Physostigma venenosum, Balfour), 
differing from cholesterin, which it closely resembles, by its solution in chloroform 
not having any affect on polarized light. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This agent has justly been extolled 
as an alterative and tonic, and has been recommended in syphilitic affections, salt- 
rheum, pityriasis, psoriasis, and other cutaneous affections, as well as in maladies sup- 
posed to be due to some mal-condition of the blood. Excretion and secretion are 
promoted by it; digestion and assimilation improved; the lymphatic glandular 
system and the ductless glands are stimulated; and the renal secretions somewhat 
augmented. Thus it acts as a blood-maker, and is therefore a remedy to oppose 
depraved conditions of the body-fluids. As a tonic, it may be employed as a 
synonym of hydrastis, Colombo, berberis, etc., possessing in addition its own pecu- 
liar virtues, in dyspeptic conditions, chronic mucous maladies, and in certain enfeebled 
conditions of the system, etc. Owing to its invigorating power over the gastric 
functions, it is a valuable remedy for atonic dyspepsia, and more particularly if 
associated with hepatic torpor, for which it is also an excellent remedy. A cir- 
rhotic liver, associated with gastro-enteritis, has been benefited by it, and for chronic 
constipation it is a useful agent when combined with cascara sagrada. It is said to 
be effectual in stomatitis. 
The great field for berberis aquifolium is in constitutional syphilis and itsmani- 
fold complications and sequel®. The disorders named above are more amenable 
to this drug when associated with a syphilitic taint than otherwise. If given early 
enough it will prevent tertiary phases, provided the patient has not been too 
thoroughly mercurialized. Its use must be prolonged in appreciable doses. It is 
especially adapted to long-standing cases of syphilis, the older the better, accord- 
ing to some of its advocates, and yet it is a remedy of much value all through the 
course of the disease. It is the remedy for that broken-down state so frequently 
following in the wake of that malady. The various eruptions give way to it, the 
gastric complications are subdued, and the mucous membranes are toned so that 
excessive secretions are restrained. The bone and periosteal, as well as the mus- 
cular, pains of syphilitics, are amenable to berberis. Its action is slow but sure, 
as it is also in severe muscular pains, with partial paralysis, due to spinal dis- 
ease. Long standing syphilitic phagadenae and herpetic and eczematous states, yield 
to it better than to most agents. It should not be forgotten in syphilitic anemia. 
Several stubborn cases of psoriasis (Ed. E. M. J., p. 148, 1896) have been cured by it, 
and it is a valuable drug in erysipelatous and chronic scrofulous affections. While it 
has failed to cure carcinoma, as its introducer, Dr. J. H. Bundy, believed it would, 
it has, however, shown itself of value in the dyscrasi® due to a cancerous cachexia. 
Berberis aquifolium commends itself for study in certain pulmonic troubles, 
on account of its excellent results in controlling secretions of the mucous tract. 
Cases of purulent bronchorrhoea, pronounced incurable, have been cured by it, and 
Prof. Webster asserts that he has seen cases of phthisis recover, even where there 
were extensive cavities, under the use of this agent. The appetite improved, 
hectic subsided, expectoration became lessened, the cough milder and less fre- 
quent, and flesh and strength were augmented. The remedy should be long con- 
tinued. Berberis is of some value in leucorrhoea, and particularly when a syphi- 
litic taint exists. Owing to its remarkable power over mucous structures we 
would suggest its employment in gastric and intestinal catarrh. The principal 
uses of this drug have been developed by Dr. J. H. Bundy and Prof. Herbert 
T. Webster. The dose of berberis aquifolium should be relatively large. Small 
doses, as required of most of our important agents, do but little good. 
The dose of the fluid extract is from 10 to 20 drops every 3 or 4 hours; of 
specific berberis aquifolium 5, 10 or 15 drops, every 3 or 4 hours. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Syphilitic dyscrasi®, constitutional syphilis, 
with periosteal or muscular pains; chronic skin affections, with blood dyscrasi®; 
profusely secreting, tumid mucous tissues; indigestion, with hepatic torpor; yel- 
low skin, with marked weakness and emaciation. 
Related Species.-" Mahonia, the sub-genus of the.genus berberis, is a fine, showy 
family of evergreen shrubs. The distinction between this sub-genus and the berberis proper, BETULA LENTA. 
349 
although very obvious, is not considered sufficient by authorities to entitle it to the rank of 
a distinct genus, hence the generic name is berberis, the same as the common barberry. The 
two species of the berberis proper, which grow in this country, are both deciduous shrubs, 
although there are several evergreen species found in the Old World. All the plants of the 
sub-genus, mahonia, are evergreen, and on this account they are often cultivated in yards and 
cemeteries, frequently under the improper name holly. There are four indigenous species 
found in the United States, all west of the Mississippi, and there are also a few other species 
in Mexico. Our native species are B. nervosa, B. repens, B. pinnata, and B. aquifolium. The 
two former are small plants, never over 2 feet high, and often only a few inches, while the 
other two are large shrubs from 3 to 6 feet high; hence by their height alone B. nervosa and 
B. repens can be distinguished from B. pinnata and B. aquifolium.. 
" B. nervosa, Pursh, is a little erect shrub, with leaves often longer than the stem. The 
leaves consist of 3 to 6 pairs of leaflets and an odd one. The main leaf stalk of each leaf is very 
conspicuously jointed at each pair of leaflets, as remarked by Dr. Lindley, ' like a bamboo 
stem.' The leaflets are ovate, lanceolate, acute or acuminate; triple veined from the oblique 
base, and have teeth, not repand, but serrate. The flowers are in erect racemes, which are 
more slender than those of any other species. The plate of B. nervosa, tab. 5, vol. 1, in Pursh's 
work, is spurious. The leaves are correct, as intended, but the flowers are of the B. aquifolium. 
Since the plate is made up of two species, and hence liable to confuse, Lindley proposed to 
remedy the matter by changing the name to B. glumacea, but the change was not received with 
favor by botanists, and the name B. nervosa is still applied to the plant. 
" B. repens, Lindley.-A small shrub, procumbent, with short, erect branches. The leaves 
are often ternate, but generally of 5 or 7 leaflets. Leaflets are ovate, orbicular, acute, or the 
terminal leaflet obtuse; pinnately veined with repand teeth. Flowers in terminal fascicled 
racemes. 
" B. repens and B. nervosa are both employed by the western miners as blood purifiers, 
and as an antiperiodic, the B. repens extensively. We have several letters from physicians 
in widely separated portions of the great West, enclosing leaves of these varieties for us to 
classify and examine, all saying the root is extensively used for the above purpose. It is 
made into infusions and decoctions. The acid berry of the Berberis repens, under the name 
' mountain grape,' is made into confections and freely eaten. It acts as an antiscorbutic, and 
is of great benefit to persons long deprived of fruit. 
" The following description was kindly furnished by Dr. C. L. Aylworth, of Montana 
State: ' The plant I enclose for description is called the Oregon grape. The fruit is eaten. 
It grows in medium or rich soil, among rocks or bushes, seldom in open ground. It is more 
plentiful upon the foot-hills of mountains, and along the banks of mountain streams, extending 
far down into the valleys. It does not grow in clusters, but I have seen it nearly cover the 
ground. It is common about all the small streams in this section of the Yellowstone valley, 
and about the headwaters of the Missouri river.' 
" The root of the B. repens is a small, vine-like rhizome, resembling somewhat in appear- 
ance the Menispermum C., though not so fibrous. It is yellow throughout, woody, hard, and 
brittle. The bark, yellow within, is brown upon the surface and easily separated. The root 
and bark contain a large amount of berberine, which, together with other principles, is 
readily extracted by alcohol. It contains a principle in combination, precipitated by alkalies 
from aqueous solution. This, very likely, is identical with the white alkaloid of Hydrastis 
canadensis, or oxyacanthine. 
"The medical profession at large is not acquainted with either of these plants under 
their proper names, although they may be upon the market for B. aquifolium. 
" B. pinnata, Lagasca.-This is the only species that is liable to be confused with the 
medicinal species, B. aquifolium, as both are about the same size, and closely resemble each 
other. The leaflets are lanceolate, acuminate, and of a light-green color, glaucous on the 
under side. There are 2 to 6, seldom more, large teeth on each side of the leaflet, each ending 
in a slender spine. The specific character by which this species may always be distinguished 
from the B. aquifolium, is the position of the lower pair of leaflets. These leaflets are approxi- 
mate to the base of the common petiole in the B. pinnata, and never at a distance from it, as 
they are in the aquifolium. 
" B. pinnata, often called Mahonia pinnata, has not been used by the medical profes- 
sion unless in local practice. It has been mistaken for B. aquifolium, which it nearly resem- 
bles, and from which its root can not be easily distinguished. Its berries are eaten by western 
settlers, and a tea from the root is used as a medicine" (from Berberidaceae, by C. G. and 
J. U. Lloyd) (see also Berberis and Berberis aquifolium). 
BETULA LENTA.-BLACK BIRCH. 
The bark and leaves of the Betula lenta, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Betulacese. 
Common Names: Cherry birch, Black birch, Sweet birch, Mahogany birch, 
Mountain mahogany. 
Botanical Source.-Black birch is a large tree growing from 50 to 70 feet in 
height, with a diameter of from 2 to 3 feet. Its leaves are cordate-ovate, acuminate, 350 
BIDENS. 
acutely and finely doubly serrate, hairy on the veins beneath, and on the petioles. 
The fertile aments are erect, elliptical, thick, and somewhat hairy; the sterile 
aments are from 2 to 3 inches long, longer than the fertile, and not so thick; the 
lobes of the veiny scales are nearly equal, obtuse, and diverging (W.-G.). 
History.-This is a well known tree, growing in various parts of the United 
States. The trunk is invested with a dark-brown or reddish bark, which becomes 
rough in old trees, and has, together with the leaves, ap aromatic flavor and 
taste, somewhat similar to wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens, Linne); the wood 
is of a reddish color, strong, compact, and takes a fine polish ; it is much used in 
cabinet work. The cambium is used in the spring-by boys as a delicious morsel. 
The bark is the part used, and yields its properties to water. The leaves also 
possess active properties. . 
Chemical Composition.-The bark of this tree contains tannin. Both the 
bark and leaves yield a volatile oil, to which is due their peculiar and pleasant 
aroma. This oil is largely sold as oil of wintergreen, either wholly substituted 
for the latter, or mixed with it. Its identity with oil of gaultheria was pointed 
out by Prof. Procter, in 1843, who also called attention to the fact that it was a 
product-that it did not exist pre-formed in the bark as found on the market, 
but that it was the result of the mutual reaction between a neutral compound of 
the bark (somewhat similar to amygdalin) to which he applied the name gaul- 
therin, and water. This oil was shown by Pettrigrew (1883) to be a very pure 
methyl salicylate (see Oleum Gaultherias). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.- Gently stimulant, diaphoretic, and 
astringent. Used in warm infusion wherever a stimulating diaphoretic is required; 
also in diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera infantum, etc. In decoction or syrup it forms 
an excellent tonic to restore the tone of the bowels, after an attack of dysentery. 
Said to have been used in gravel and female obstructions. Oil of birch will produce 
a drunken stupor, vomiting, and death. It has been used in gonorrhoea, rheuma- 
tism, and chronic skin diseases. Dose, 5 to 10 drops. 
Related Species.-Betula alba, Linne. European birch, White birch. Europe, America 
north of Pennsylvania, and North Asia. This tree yields a brown, warty bark from the limbs, 
and a whitish bark from the body of the tree, separating in paper-like layers. The bark has 
a bitter, astringent taste. Chemical manipulations of the latter have brought forth a cam- 
phoraceous substance known as betulin (betula camphor), having the composition C36Heo03. It 
forms light crystalline flocculi, which when heated to 258° C. (496° F.), fuse as a tasteless mass, 
capable of being sublimed if carefully heated. It dissolves in hot alcohol, ether, alkaline solu- 
tions, and essential oils. By oxidation it splits up into two acids, betulinic (C.^Hs^Oie) and 
betulinamaric (C36H52O16) acids. A balsamic essential oil is obtained by distilling the young 
shoots and twigs, while the bark and wood, by destructive distillation, yield a tar-like body 
knpwn as dagget or birch-tar. This, when distilled, yields oleum rusci (ol. betulinum; ol. muscovitum). 
This is an empyreumatic, brownish-red oil. This oil, birch-tar, and betula camphor (during 
dry distillation) give off an odor which resembles that of Russian leather, in the preparation 
of which the empyreumatic oil of birch is said to be largely employed. Betulo-resinic acid 
(C36H26O5), is a powdery substance found on the leaves and young twigs of the tree. The 
white birch is a favorite remedy in northern Europe, where it is abundant. A spiritous bev- 
erage is prepared from the sap (through the intervention of yeast) by the peasants, and the 
sap itself is esteemed valuable in cutaneous disorders, renal ami genito-urinary affections, scurvy, 
gout, rheumatism, and intermittent febrile states. An infusion of the leaves has been employed in 
rheumatism, skin diseases, gout, and dropsy, while for the rheumatic a bed of fresh leaves is pre- 
pared, and is said to occasion profuse diaphoresis. A pulpy mass of the bark, with gunpowder, 
is employed for scabies. The oil has been used internally in gonorrhoea, and externally in skin 
eruptions, especially those of an eczematous type. 
Betula papyracea, Aiton. Canoe birch. Northern United States. The strong white bark of 
this species, which forms papyraceous layers, is used by the American Indians in covering 
their canoes. 
BIDENS.-Spanish needles. 
The root and seeds of Bidens bipinnata, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Composita?. 
Common Name: Spanish needles. 
Botanical Source and History.-Bidens bipinnata is an annual plant, with 
a smooth, branched stem growing from 1 to 4 feet high. The leaves are bipin- 
nately parted, nearly smooth and petioled; the leaflets ovate-lanceolate, pin- 
natifid, mostly wedge-shaped at the base; the heads of Howers on slender BISMUTHI CITRAS. 
351 
peduncles, each with 3 or 4 obscure, obovate, yellow rays; the outer involucre of 
linear scales are as'long as the inner, and nearly as long as the short, pale, yellow 
rays; the achenia are long and slender, 4-grooved and angled, nearly smooth, 
3 or 4-awned, and adhere to the dress and to the fleece of animals (G.-W.). 
This is a common plant, growing in waste places on dry soils, flowering from 
July to September, and found from Connecticut to Pennsylvania and westward. 
The root and seeds of this and the related plants below mentioned are employed 
medicinally, and may be used in decoction, infusion, or tincture. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Emmenagogue and expectorant; the 
seeds in powder or tincture have been successfully used in amenorrhoea, dysmenor- 
rhoea,axid. some other uterine derangements; and an infusion of the root has proved 
beneficial in severe cough. Hay asthma has recently been treated with it. Infusion 
freely administered. 
Related Species.-Bidens frondosa, Linn£. Common beggar-ticks. Europe and United 
States This plant has a smooth, branching, rather hairy stem, from 2 to 6 feet high. Leaves 
3 to 5, divided; leaflets lanceolate, pointed, coarsely-toothed, mostly 
stalked; outer leafy involucre much longer than the head, ciliate 
below, rays none; flowers in clusters at the end of the branches, 
yellow; achenia wedge-obovate, 2-awned, the margins ciliate with 
upward bristles, except near the summit. This is a common, very 
troublesome weed, growing in moist, cultivated fields throughout the 
United States; the achenia, as in the other species, adhering by their 
retrorsely-barbed awns to clothes, etc. It flowers from July to Sep- 
tember (G.-W.). Bidens frondosa in infusion has cured several 
cases of croup, even where they have been considered beyond aid. A 
strong infusion of the plant, sweetened with honey, was administered 
to the children, warm, in doses of a tablespoonful or more every 10 
or 15 minutes, until it vomited. A quantity of mucous and mem- 
branous shreds were ejected, followed by immediate relief; the chil- 
dren passed into a sleep, from which they awakened perfectly well. 
In a few hours after the emetic operation of the warm infusion, it 
acted as a cathartic. The leaves from which the infusion was made, 
were, at the same time placed in a piece of flannel with some brandy 
added to them, and laid over the chest and throat. This plan is also 
beneficial in colds, acute bronchial and laryngeal attacks from exposure to 
cold, etc. An infusion of the seeds formed into a syrup with honey, is 
useful in whooping-cough. Dr. Scudder directs attention to its action on 
the heart and circulation, suggesting investigations in this line. 
Bidens connata, Willdenow (Bidens tripartita, Linne). Cuckold's, or Swamp beggar-ticks, has 
a smooth stem, 4-furrowed, with opposite branches, and grows from 1 to 3 feet high; the 
leaves are lanceolate, opposite, serrate, acuminate, slightly connate at the base; the lower 
ones are mostly trifid; the lateral divisions are united at the base, decurrent on the petiole; 
the scales of the outer involucre are longer than the head, leafy, mostly obtuse, scarcely 
ciliate; rays none; the achenia is narrowly wedge-form, 2, 3, or 4-awned, with downwardly- 
barbed margins; the flowers are terminal, solitary, consisting only of the tubular, yellow 
florets, surrounded by a leafy involucre. This is likewise a common weed found in wet 
grounds, rich fields, swamps, and ditches, from New England to Missouri. It flowers in 
August (G.-W.). Bidens connata has likewise been recommended in the above affections, 
also in palpitation of the heart, in which the infusion or decoction, drank freely through the day, 
has been found effectual. 
Bidens cernua, Linne, Bur-marigold. Europe, Canada, and the United States. The leaves 
are subconnate, dentate, and lanceolate; the external scales are long as disk; the rays are 
pale yellow, few or none; the heads are cernuous (nodding). Swamps and ditches. For the 
uses of all three species, see also Bidens bipinnata. 
Fig. 48. 
Bidens frondosa. 
BISMUTHI CITRAS (U. S. P.)-BISMUTH CITRATE. 
Formula: BiC6H5O7. Molecular Weight : 397.44. 
Synonyms: Bismuthum citricum, Citras bismuthicus, Citrate of bismuth. 
Preparation.-" Bismuth subnitrate, one hundred grammes (100 Gm ) [3 ozs. 
av., 231 grs.J; citric acid, seventy grammes (70 Gm.) [2 ozs. av., 205 grs.]; dis- 
tilled water, a sufficient quantity. Boil the bismuth subnitrate and the citric 
acid with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13115., 253 1T[.] of distilled water 
for about 15 minutes, or until a drop of the mixture yields a clear solution with 
ammonia water. Then add five thousand cubic centimeters (5000 Cc.) [a little more 
than 5| quarts] of distilled water, allow the suspended matter to deposit, wash 352 
BISMUTHI ET AMMONII CITRAS. 
the precipitate, first by decantation, and afterward on a strainer, with distilled 
water, until the washings are tasteless, and dry the residue at a gentle heat "- 
{U. S. P.). . 
In this process decomposition ensues with the formation of anhydrous bis- 
muth citrate, nitric acid, and water, the salt thus formed being almost insoluble 
in the two latter bodies. The reaction takes place according to the equation: 
BiNO3(OH)2+C6H8O7=BiC6H5O7+NO3H-|-2H2O, and is complete when ammonia 
water ceases to cause a precipitate of BiO(OH) in the supernatant liquid. 
Description and Tests.-"A white, amorphous or micro-crystalline powder, 
odorless and tasteless, and permanent in the air. Insoluble in water or alcohol, 
but soluble in ammonia water, and in solutions of the citrates of the alkalies. 
When strongly heated, the salt chars, and, on ignition, leaves a more or less 
blackened residue having a yellow surface, and soluble in warm nitric acid. This 
solution, when dropped into water, occasions a white turbidity. A solution of 
the salt in ammonia water, when treated with hydrogen sulphide in excess, yields 
a black precipitate. If the filtrate from the latter be deprived by heat of the 
excess of hydrogen sulphide and cooled, a portion of it, boiled with lime-water, 
yields a white precipitate. If another portion of the cooled filtrate be mixed 
with an equal volume of concentrated sulphuric acid, and again cooled, no brown 
or brownish-black color should appear around a crystal of ferrous sulphate 
dropped into the liquid (limit of nitrate)"-(U. S. P.). 
Pharmaceutical Uses.-Used chiefly in preparing Bismuthi et Ammonii CUras. 
BISMUTHI ET AMMONII CITRAS (U. S. P.)-BISMUTH AND 
AMMONIUM CITRATE. 
Synonyms: Bismuthum citricum ammoniatum, Bismuthi ammonio-citras. 
Preparation.-"Bismuth citrate, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3ozs.av., 
231 grs.]; ammonia water, distilled water, each, a sufficient quantity. Mix the 
bismuth citrate with two hundred cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fls, 367 UI] of 
distilled water to a smooth paste, heat the mixture on a water-bath, and gradu- 
ally add ammonia water, until the salt is dissolved, and the liquid is neutral or 
has only a faintly alkaline reaction. Then filter the solution, evaporate it on a 
water-bath to a syrupy consistence, and spread it upon plates of glass, so that, 
when dry, the salt may be obtained in scales. Keep the product in small, well- 
stoppered bottles, protected from light. " 
Description and Tests.-A somewhat variable salt, from the fact that no 
provision is made in the preceding process for the loss of ammonia, which neces- 
sarily occurs during the process of concentration. It is employed in the prepa- 
ration of Liquor Bismuth (see Liquor Bismuthi et Ammonii Citratis), the original 
preparation of which was long kept secret by Mr. Schacht, of England. This salt, 
when dry, through loss of ammonia, becomes partially insoluble in water. If, 
however, a little ammonia water be cautiously added to the imperfect solution a 
clear liquid will result. The official description of this salt, and the tests for its 
purity are as follows: 
" Small, shining, pearly or translucent scales, odorless, having a slightly acid- 
ulous and metallic taste, and becoming opaque on exposure to the air. Very 
soluble in water, and but sparingly soluble in alcohol. When strongly heated, 
the salt fuses, and finally leaves a more or less blackened residue, having a yellow 
surface, and soluble in warm nitric acid. This solution, when dropped into 
water, occasions a white turbidity. The aqueous solution of the salt is neutral 
or faintly alkaline to litmus paper. When boiled with potassium or sodium 
hydrate T.S., it evolves the vapor of ammonia, and when treated with hydrogen 
sulphide, it yields a black precipitate. If the filtrate from the latter be deprived 
by heat of the excess of hydrogen sulphide and cooled, a portion of it, boiled with 
lime water, yields a white precipitate. If another portion of the cooled filtrate 
be mixed with an equal volume of concentrated sulphuric acid, and again cooled, 
no brown or brownish-black color should appear around a crystal of ferrous sul- 
phate dropped into the liquid (absence of nitrate)"-(U. S. P). 
Medical Uses.-(See Liquor Bismuthi et Ammonii Citratis'). BISMUTHI OXIDUM.-BISMUTHI SUBCARBONAS. 
353 
BISMUTHI OXIDUM.-BISMUTH OXIDE. 
Formula: Bi2O3. Molecular Weight: 465.68. 
Synonyms : Bismuthum oxydatum, Oxydum bismuthicum. 
Preparation.-"Take of subnitrate of bismuth 1 pound (av.), solution of 
soda 4 pints (Imp.). Mix and boil for five minutes; then, having allowed the 
mixture to cool and the oxide to subside, decant the supernatant liquid, wash the 
precipitate thoroughly with distilled water, and finally dry the oxide by the heat 
of a water-bath" (Br. Ph.}. 
In this process bismuth hydroxide is formed, which precipitates, leaving 
sodium nitrate in solution thus, 2 (BiONO3.H2O)-|-2NaOH-2Bi(OH)3-|-2NaNO3. 
When dried at ordinary temperatures, water is lost and bismuthyl-hydroxide 
(BiO.OH) remains, but when heated to 100° C. (212° F.) all the water is lost and 
the anhydrous oxide of bismuth is left. 
Description.-Oxide of bismuth is a somewhat crystalline powder, of a dull 
yellow color, soluble, without effervescence, in mineral acids and in equal parts 
of nitric acid and water. It is not dissolved by water. Its solution in pure nitric 
acid should yield no precipitate, or at least should become but slightly turbid on 
the addition of silver nitrate solution. When heated to incipient redness it 
scarcely loses weight. At a high heat it melts to a brownish mass which, upon 
cooling, resumes a yellow color. Silver and lead oxides are among its impurities. 
They may be known by their appropriate tests. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This agent resembles bismuth subni- 
trate in action, and may be used like it and in the same doses. It is, however, 
scarcely ever employed. 
Related Compound.-Bismuthi Oxidum Hydratum (N. F.). Hydrated oxide of bismuth. 
Formulary number, 13: Bismuth subnitrate, three hundred grammes (300 Gm.) [10 ozs. av., 
255 grs.); nitric acid ( U. S. Ph, five hundred grammes (500 Gm.) [1 lb. av. 1 oz., 278 grs ]; 
water of ammonia ( U. S. Ph), six hundred grammes (600 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 5 ozs., 72 grs.]; sodium 
bicarbonate, fifty grammes (50 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 334 grs.]; distilled water, a sufficient^uantity. 
Mix the bismuth subnitrate with two hundred cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fi^, 366 TH ] 
of distilled water in a quart flask, add four hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (450 Cc.) [15 
fl5, 104 Iff] of nitric acid, and promote the solution of the salt by agitation, and, if necessary, 
by a gentle heat. Pour the solution into six thousand cubic centimeters (6000 Cc.) [about 6| 
qts.] of distilled water previously acidulated with fifty grammes (50 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 334 
grs.] of nitric acid, and filter the liquid through absorbent cotton. Mix the water of ammonia 
with twelve thousand cubic centimeters (12,000 Cc.) [about 12§ qts.] of distilled water in a 
glazed vessel of double that capacity, and pour into it, slowly and with constant stirring, the 
bismuth solution. Let the mixture stand during four hours so that the precipitate may sub- 
side, then pour off the supernatant liquid, and wash the precipitate four times more by decan- 
tation with distilled water, the sodium bicarbonate being dissolved in the last wash water. Pour 
the precipitate upon a wetted muslin strainer, and wash it with distilled water, until the 
washings run off tasteless. Transfer the strainer to a warm place, so that the precipitate may 
dry. Then rub the latter into powder, and keep it in well-stoppered bottles. 
Note.-" Hydrated oxide of bismuth is sometimes demanded in the form of a creamy mix- 
ture with water, under the name of Cremor bismuthi or Cream of bismuth. This may be pre- 
pared by triturating 20 parts of the oxide with 80 parts of water " (Nat. Form.). 
BISMUTHI SUBCARBONAS (U. S. P.)-BISMUTH SUBCARBONATE. 
Synonyms: Bismuth carbonate, Oxy carbonate of bismuth, Subcarbonas bismuthicus, 
Bismuthi carbonas (Br.), Bismuthum subcarbonicum, Bismuthyl carbonate, Carbonate 
of bismuth. 
Preparation.-The British process for making this preparation is as follows: 
"Take of purified bismuth, in small pieces, 2 ounces (av.); nitric acid, 4 fluid 
ounces (Imp.); carbonate of ammonium, 6 ounces (av.); distilled water, a suffi- 
ciency. Mix the nitric acid with 3 ounces of distilled water and add the bismuth 
in successive portions. When effervescence has ceased apply for 10 minutes a 
temperature approaching that of ebullition, and afterwards decant the solution 
from any insoluble matter that may be present. Evaporate the solution until it 
is reduced to 2 fluid ounces, and add this, in small quantities at a time, to a cold 
filtered solution of the carbonate of ammonium in 2 pints of distilled water, 354 
BISMUTH I SUBCARBONAS. 
continuously stirring during admixture. Collect the precipitate on a calico filter 
and wash it with distilled water until the washings pass tasteless. Remove now 
as much of the adhering water as can be separated from the precipitate by 
slight pressure with the hands, and finally dry the product at a temperature not 
exceeding 65.5° C. (150° F.)"-(Br. Ph.). 
Most bismuth is contaminated with arsenic. The U. S. P. (1870) process was 
so constructed as to first purify the bismuth and the bismuth subcarbonate formed 
after purification. Such purification is not necessary in the British process, puri- 
fied bismuth being used from the start. The U. S. P. (1870) process is as follows: 
"Take of bismuth, in pieces, 2 troy ounces; nitric acid, 8J troy ounces; 
water of ammonia, 5 fluid ounces; carbonate of sodium, 10 troy ounces; dis- 
tilled water, a sufficient quantity. Mix 4^ troy ounces of the nitric acid 
with 4 fluid ounces of distilled water in a capacious glass vessel, and having 
added the bismuth, set the whole aside for 24 hours. Dilute the resulting 
solution with 10 fluid ounces of distilled water, stir it thoroughly, and after 
24 hours, filter through paper. To the filtered liquid, previously diluted with 
an equal measure of distilled water, slowly add the water of ammonia, con- 
stantly stirring. Transfer the whole to a strainer, and after the precipitate 
has been drained, wash it with 2 pints of distilled water, and drain it again. 
Then place the precipitate in a proper vessel, add the remainder of the nitric acid, 
and afterward 4 fluid ounces of distilled water, and set the solution aside. At 
the end of 24 hours filter through paper. Dissolve the carbonate of sodium in 12 
fluid ounces of distilled water, with the aid of heat, and filter the solution through 
paper. To this, when cold, slowly add the solution of nitrate of bismuth, with 
constant stirring. Transfer the whole to a strainer, and after the precipitate has 
been drained, wash it with distilled water until the washings pass tasteless. 
Lastly, press, dry it on bibulous paper with a gentle heat, and rub it into 
powder"-(U. S. P., 1870). Owing to the fact that this compound occurs in 
market in both dense and light form, the question often arises concerning the 
reason for this difference in condition. If the final precipitation be made with 
hot distilled water the precipitate is dense, a pound of it being easily placed in a 
pint bottle. If the water be very cold, the precipitate dries light and may require 
a 24-ounce bottle. 
Ammonium carbonate is preferable to sodium carbonate as employed in the 
U. S. P. process, because of the difficulty in removing all traces of alkali from the 
subcarbonate by washing out with distilled water as directed by the U. S. P. (1870). 
Description and Tests.-The formula ascribed to this compound by the 
British Pharmacopoeia is (Bi2O2CO3)3,H2O. No formula is given by the U. S. P., 
which describes the salt as follows: "A white or pale yellowish-white powder of 
somewhat varying chemical composition, odorless and tasteless, and permanent 
in the air. Insoluble in water or alcohol, but completely soluble in nitric or 
hydrochloric acid, with copious effervescence. When heated to redness the salt 
loses water and carbon dioxide, and leaves from 87 to 91 per cent of a yellow resi- 
due which is soluble in nitric or hydrochloric acid, and blackened by hydrogen 
sulphide. If 3 Gm. of the salt be dissolved in just a sufficient quantity (about 
4 Cc.) of warm nitric acid, and the solution poured into 100 Cc. of water, a white 
precipitate is produced. After filtering, and evaporating the filtrate on a water- 
bath to 30 Cc., again filtering and dividing this filtrate into portions of 5 Cc., 
these should respond to the following tests: On mixing one portion with an equal 
volume of diluted sulphuric acid, it should not become cloudy (absence of lead). 
If another portion be precipitated with a slight excess of ammonia water, the 
supernatant liquid should not exhibit a bluish tint (absence of copper). Other 
portions should not be affected by silver nitrate T.S. (absence of chloride), or 
barium nitrate T.S. (sulphate), nor yield, with hydrochloric acid, a precipitate 
which is insoluble in a slight excess of the latter (silver). If 1 Gm. of the salt be 
boiled with 10 Cc. of a mixture of equal parts of acetic acid and water, the solu- 
tion cooled and filtered, and the filtrate freed from bismuth by hydrogen sulphide 
and again filtered, the last filtrate should leave no residue on evaporation (absence 
of alkalies and alkaline earths). On boiling 1 Gm. of the salt with 10 Cc. of 
potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., it should not evolve the odor of ammonia. If 
1 Gm. of the salt be added to 10 Cc. of a mixture of equal parts of concentrated BISMUTH 1 SUBNITRAS. 
355 
sulphuric acid and water, tinged slightly blue with indigo T.S., on heating, the 
bluish tint should not be discharged (absence of nitrate). If 1 Gm. of the salt 
be ignited in a porcelain crucible, the residue, when cold, dissolved in 5 Cc. of 
stannous chloride T.S. (see List of Reagents, Bettendorft's Test for Arsenic), and a 
small piece of pure tin-foil added, no dark coloration or precipitate should be 
produced within 15 minutes (limit of arsenic)"-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This agent was thought to be more solu- 
ble in the gastric fluids, and less liable to color the stools and to constipate, and was 
therefore introduced to take the place of subnitrate of bismuth. Its claims, how- 
ever, have not led to its substitution for that agent. Dose, 10 to 40 grains in water. 
BISMUTHI SUBNITRAS (U. S. P.)-BISMUTH SUBNITRATE. 
Formula: BiONO3H2O (approximate). Molecular Weight: 304.71. 
Synonyms : Bismuthum subnitricum, Subazotas bismuthicus, Subnitras bismuthicus, 
Magisterium bismuthi, Bismuthum hydrico-nitricum, Subnitrate of bismuth, White bis- 
muth (Bismuthum album, Br. Ph., 1864) Oxynitrate of bismuth. 
Preparation.-The British process is essentially as follows: Take of bis- 
muth, in small pieces, and free from arsenic or other impurities, 2 ounces, add 
this gradually in successive portions, to a mixture of 4 fluid ounces (Imp. meas.) 
of nitric acid, and 3 fluid ounces (Imp. meas.) of distilled water. When efferves- 
cence has ceased apply nearly a boiling heat for 10 minutes, and decant the clear 
solution from any remaining undissolved particles of the metal. Evaporate this 
solution to 2 fluid ounces and pour it into 4 gallon of distilled water. Decant 
the supernatant liquid when precipitation has ceased, and agitate the sediment 
with 4 gallon (Imp. meas.) of distilled water. After 2 hours, again decant, and, 
placing the product on a calico filter, press it with the hands, and dry it at the 
temperature not higher than 65.5° C. (150° F.). 
Most of the metal may be dissolved without the application of heat, and 
only when there is no more action in the cold, must heat be used. If the metal be 
not added gradually, the action will be very violent, and at the same time a basic 
salt will be formed, which can with difficulty be redissolved. Concentrated nitric 
acid attacks bismuth with great violence, a vast quantity of red nitrous gas is 
emitted, and the metal is converted into a white oxide. When the acid is diluted 
the action is less violent, and the oxide of bismuth is dissolved by the nitric acid 
remaining in the solution, which has not undergone decomposition. The solu- 
tion is colorless, and, on cooling, lets fall white crystals of oblique rhomboidal 
prisms, generally attached to each other in the form of stars of the ternitrate of 
bismuth (Bi[NO3]3-f-5H2O). When a large quantity of water is added to the clear 
solution, the ternitrate is decomposed, the subnitrate of bismuth precipitating in 
very fine white, silky, acicular crystals, while nitric acid remains in solution as 
represented in the following equation: Bi(NO3)3-|-H2O==BiO.NO3+2NO3H. 
Description and Tests.-The official description is as follows: "A heavy, 
white powder, of somewhat varying chemical composition, odorless and almost 
tasteless, and permanent in the air. Almost insoluble in water, and insoluble 
in alcohol; but readily soluble in nitric or hydrochloric acid. When heated to 
120° C. (248° F.), the salt loses water (between 3 and 5 per cent of its weight); 
and when subsequently heated to redness, it evolves nitrous vapors, leaving from 
79 to 82 per cent of its weight of a yellow residue which is soluble in nitric or hydro- 
chloric acid, and blackened by hydrogen sulphide. When brought upon moist- 
ened blue litmus paper, the salt shows a slightly acid reaction. On dissolving 
3 Gm. of the salt in 3 Cc. of warm nitric acid, no effervescence should occur (absence 
of carbonate), and no residue should be left (absence of insoluble foreign salts). 
If this solution be poured into 100 Cc. of water, a white precipitate is produced. 
If the filtrate, separated from this precipitate, be evaporated on a water-bath to 
30 Cc., the liquid again filtered, and the new filtrate divided into portions of 
5 Cc. each, these should respond to the tests for purity described under bismuthi 
subcarbonas. When further tested as described under bismuthi subcarbonas, 
the salt should be found free from alkalies and alkaline earths, and should give 
no reaction for ammonia. If 1 Gm. of the salt be heated, in a porcelain crucible, 356 
BISMUTHI SUBNITRAS. 
until nitrous vapors cease to be evolved, the residue, when cold, dissolved in 5 Cc. 
of stannous chloride T.S. (see List of Reagents, Bettendorff's Test for Arsenic), and 
a small piece of pure tin-foil added, no dark coloration or precipitate should be 
produced within 15 minutes (limit of arsenic) "-(U. S. P.). 
Subnitrate of bismuth was also formerly known by the names Trisnitrate of 
bismuth and White oxide of bismuth. Hydrogen sulphide, or the sulphides, blacken 
it; light also darkens it when it contains a portion of silver, or when, in a moist 
state, it is placed in contact with paper or other organic substances. Under the 
blowpipe it gives out nitric acid, and is reduced to the yellow oxide of bismuth, 
and if the heat be continued globules of metallic bismuth are obtained. 
If any lead be present, diluted sulphuric acid gives a white precipitate with 
the solution in nitric acid. Arsenic, which may sometimes be present, may be 
detected by Marsh's test, or Bettendorff's test (see above). This preparation of 
bismuth was formerly known by the name of magistery of bismuth. Thallium is 
also stated to be frequently present in this salt, and M. Roussin has found it 
adulterated with phosphate of calcium, in the proportion of 28 to 100. There is 
no excuse for any pharmacist dispensing an inferior grade now, as it can be 
obtained to stand the official test of all American manufacturers. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The insoluble preparations of bismuth 
have a feebly metallic taste, and, owing to the formation, it is claimed, of a sul- 
phide, give a blackish coat to the tongue. While the subnitrate acts chiefly as a 
local agent, it must be remembered it is also somewhat absorbed, for it has been 
detected in the blood, and in the urine and other secretions. Very likely some of 
its specific influence is so exerted. The peculiar pasty taste upon the tongue and 
in the mouth, even after it has been administered in sugar-coated pills so as not 
to touch the buccal tissues, would tend to prove that a portion of it at least is 
absorbed. The chief action, however, is its protective agency upon the mucous 
linings of the stomach and intestines, allaying irritation by distributing over the 
surface a practically insoluble coating of unirritating material, and, while not a 
true astringent, it somewhat restrains the secretions, and acts as an absorbent 
of excess of acids present. It does not coagulate the gastro-intestinal mucus. 
It has been considered a tonic and antispasmodic, but it is doubtful whether 
it possesses any such properties, though it may relieve spasm dependent upon 
an irritable condition of the mucous lining membrane of the stomach and the 
alimentary canal, upon which, as before stated, it appears to exert a sedative 
influence. When given in overdoses, subnitrate of bismuth produces unpleasant 
symptoms, as pain in the stomach, sickness, emesis, derangement of the bowels, 
giddiness, insensibility, etc., for which the remedies are, albuminous and mucila- 
ginous draughts, milk injections, and warm fomentations. Perhaps diluted nitric 
acid would also be useful. These effects are said not to be produced by pure bis- 
muth subnitrate, but have been attributed to impurities present in the drug. It is 
probable that some such effects are possible from even the pure drug. The long-con- 
tinued use of the subnitrate of bismuth occasions symptoms of scorbutus. After 
death from disorders in which bismuth has long been used, a bluish discoloration 
in portions of the small intestines has been observed, and, owing to the formation 
of sulphides, the colic and rectal membranes may be stained black. The granular, 
amorphous, hydrated oxide of bismuth must not be used in medicine; it may be 
known from the subnitrate by the crystalline character of the latter, under the 
microscope. 
Subnitrate of bismuth has a very soothing influence upon irritated mucous 
surfaces, or when these are in a state of chronic inflammation, and on this account 
it is very useful in some forms of dyspepsia, chronic gastritis, heartburn, gastrodynia, 
water-brash, colliquative diarrhoea, etc. Also in obstinate affections of the genito- 
urinary organs, in chronic urethritis, in muco-purulent leucorrhoea, and in urethral 
injection in gonorrhoea. 
Its field of action in gastro-intestinal disorders is in those states of morbid 
sensitiveness as evidenced by the elongated, pointed, and red tongue, especially 
reddened at the tip and edges, uneasy sensations with heat in the stomach, or 
excessive gastric acidity, with nausea, vomiting, or eructations of acid or acrid 
fluids, and irritative diarrhoea. While an excellent agent in these conditions 
many prefer for the same the Liquor Bismuth, or solution of ammonio-citrate of BISMUTHI SUBNITRAS. 
357 
bismuth. It is especially applicable to mild forms of gastritis and gastro-intestinal 
catarrh of young children. Give from 1 to 3 grains every four hours. It is one 
of the most certain agents for the pain of gastric ulcer, though less valuable where 
the gastralgia is purely neuralgic. The case of simple ulcer may be known by 
the pain coming on at once upon the ingestion of food. It does not cure cancer 
of the stomach, but the following combination gives as much relief as any form of 
treatment: R Bismuth subnitrate, grs. v to x; morphine sulphate, gr. Fiat, 
1 powder. Sig. One powder every 6 hours (Locke). In chronic diarrhoea it has 
been found serviceable in doses of 5 to 20 grains every 1 or 2 hours; in the diar- 
rhoea attending typhus and phthisis, 5 grains of the subnitrate combined with 3 
grains, each, of magnesia and gum Arabic, has proved' efficient-the dose to be 
repeated every 4 or 6 hours. 
An excellent treatment for the diarrhoea of phthisis is that recommended by 
Prof. Locke (Syllabus of Mat. Med., p. 375) : R Bismuth subnitrate, sj; cinnamon 
water, fl^ij. Mix. Sig. Dose, 1 or 2 teaspoonfuls every 3 hours. A milk diet, with 
5 or 6 grains of this salt, was very effectual in the chronic diarrhoea from exposure 
so common to military life in the late civil war. It is also very valuable in the 
dysenteries of hot climates. In a long-standing case of chronic gastritis, accompanied 
with a harassing cough, laryngitis, great debility, night-sweats, loss of appetite, 
looseness of the bowels, and a fiery red tongue, the following mixture proved 
very beneficial: Take of fluid extract of cubebs, 1 fluid ounce; mucilage of gum 
Arabic, 2 fluid ounces; lupulin, subnitrate of bismuth, each, 2 drachms and 40 
grains; essence of lemon, 1 fluid drachm. Mix. The dose was a teaspoonful 
3 or 4 times a day, shaking it thoroughly each time previous to its exhibition. 
Bismuth is sometimes added to pills as a tonic. The action of the gases in the 
bowels causes the bismuth salt to appear black in the stools. 
Subnitrate of bismuth has been found useful as a drying local application in 
ulcers and diseased mucous tissues with profuse discharges, as in leucorrhoea, 
catarrh, gonorrhoea, gleet, etc.; it may be applied upon the affected parts direct, 
through a tube, by pow'der spray, or suspended in water and injected. Aphthse, 
nursing sore mouth, and painful ulcers of the mouth, due to gastric disorders, are 
relieved by it locally applied. It is an excellent dressing for abrasions, but should 
not be used on large wounded areas. Excoriations and intertigo, when red and 
painful, should first be washed with a weak solution of borax or alum, well dried, 
and then dusted with bismuth subnitrate. Bed sores, superficial burns, chapped 
hands and lips, cracked nipples, fissured anus, vaginal and rectal pyrolapse, eczema, 
variola, and irritable ulcers are conditions in which it is of great usefulness, and it 
may do good service in uterine ulceration, with acrid, offensive discharges. Ulcers of 
the septum nasi may be first cauterized with a mild caustic and then dressed with 
bismuth subnitrate, 3ii, in glycerin, fl^j. Prof. Locke recommends the following 
as a valuable cosmetic for rough and primpled skin: R Bismuth subnitrate, $ij; 
glycerin, fl§j; rose water, fl^ii. Mix. Apply to face with a sponge after having 
washed well with Asepsin soap. 
The dose of bismuth subnitrate is from 1 to 30 grains, 2 or 3 times a day, 
in powder, or mixed with mucilage. Where clearly indicated by the indications 
given, the small dose (2 to 4 grains) will usually be sufficient. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Eiongated, red, pointed tongue, especially 
reddened at tip and edges; gastric uneasiness, with heat or pain from irritation; 
pyrosis, with acrid or acid eructations; intestinal irritation, with irritative diar- 
rhoea; nausea and vomiting; gastric ulcer; morbid gastric sensitiveness. Locally, 
a soothing protective. 
Bismuth and Its Salts.-Bismuthum. Symbol: Bi. Atomic weight: 208.9. Saxony fur- 
nishes the bulk of commercial bismuth. It is found there native in the metallic state, asso- 
ciated with nickel, cobalt, and argentiferous ores. Gold ore is sometimes associated with it, 
as in Colorado. Some bismuth is found in Australia, England, Texas, Connecticut, California, 
Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, Bolivia, France, and Hungary. Agricola (1520) was acquainted with 
bismuth, though Basil Valentine first differentiated it from other metals; but for a time after- 
wards it became confused with tin, antimony, lead, and zinc. Sometimes bismuth is found as 
an oxide, under the name of Bismuth ochre, but more frequently as sulphide (Bismuth glance) or 
telluride and sulphide (EBi2Te3]2 + Bi2S3), known in the latter case as the mineral Tetr ady mil. 
On account of its low melting point -268.3° C. (515° F.)-bismuth is readily obtained by melt- 
ing the metal, by which means it is separated from its grosser impurities. When obtained 358 
BISMUTHI SUBNITRAS. 
from the sulphide, the latter is first roasted to change it into oxide, and then heated with char- 
coal to reduce it to the metallic condition. As obtained by these processes it is known as 
Crude bismuth, and, besides other metallic bodies, it contains varying amounts of arsenic, iron, 
and copper. For medicinal use it must first be purified-that is, freed from arsenic, sulphur, 
and selenium (see below). Bismuth is a lamellated, crystalline, grayish-white metal, brilliant 
in lustre and exhibiting a decidedly roseate or pinkish tinge. Its crystals are rhombohedral, 
appearing very much as if cubical; brittle, easily comminuted; have a density of 9.83; fuse 
at 268.3° C. (515° F.); boil near 1100° C. (2012° F.); and, in the presence of hydrogen, may be 
distilled. In the air it tarnishes somewhat. When at a red heat the vapor of water is decom- 
posed by it, and in the air it burns with a faintly-blue flame, changing to a brown oxide, 
becoming yellow when cool. Nitric acid attacks it energetically, dissolving it with the escape 
of reddish vapor. Diluted sulphuric and concentrated hydrochloric acids act upon it with 
much greater difficulty. Combined with other metals bismuth lowers their melting-points. 
An alloy, for example, consisting of 15 parts Bi, 8 Pb, 4 Sn, 3 Cd, called Wood's metal, has a 
melting point of 60° C. (140° F.). 
Bismuthum Purificatum.-"Take of bismuth, 10 ounces (av.); cyanide of potassium, 
A ounce (av.); sulphur, 80 grains; carbonate of potassium, recently ignited, and carbonate of 
sodium, recently ignited, of each a sufficiency. Melt the bismuth in a crucible; add the cyanide 
of potassium and sulphur, previously mixed; heat the whole to low7 redness for about 15 min- 
utes, constantly stirring; remove the crucible from the fire and let it cool until the flux has 
solidified to a crust. Pierce two holes in the crust and pour the still fluid bismuth into another 
crucible. Remelt this partially purified bismuth with about 5 per cent of a mixture of equal 
parts of the dried carbonates of potassium and sodium, heating to bright redness and con- 
stantly stirring. Remove the crucible from the fire, cool, and pour out the bismuth into suit- 
able molds" (Br. Ph.). For the U. S. P. (1870) method of purification see process for preparing 
bismuth subcarbonate. 
Another method of purification, directed by some Pharmacopoeias, consists in fusing the 
powdered bismuth with potassium nitrate for about 1 hour, and boiling out the impurities 
{arsenate, sulphate and selenate of potassium) with water. 
Bismuthi Benzoas, Bismuth benzoate.-A compound containing 27 per cent of benzoic acid 
and introduced as a substitute for salicylate of bismuth by Vigier. It decomposes in the 
alimentary tract, liberating the acid. To prepare it dissolve bismuth nitrate (100 parts), in 
glycerin (20 parts) and distilled water (60 parts). To this solution add another, prepared by 
dissolving sodium benzoate (76 parts) in distilled water (200 parts), employing heat. 
Bismuth-cerium Salicylate.-A powder of reddish-white color, soluble in neither water 
nor alcohol, introduced by Salaya, to be used in 5-grain doses in enteritis, diarrhoea, and dysentery. 
Bismuthi Oxychloridum (BiOCl). Bismuth oxychloride, Bismuthyl chloride.-This salt is 
produced.by pouring into a nitric acid solution of bismuth a sodium chloride solution. It 
constitutes a powder known as pearl white, and is sometimes sold for bismuth oxide. It is 
easily dissolved by acids, but refuses to dissolve in water. If heated in closed tubes, it first 
turns yellow and then melts. 
Bismuthi Lactas, Bismuth lactate.-This is a powder, white, not soluble in alcohol, and 
but slowly dissolving in water. It may be made by boiling with excess of sodium hydroxide 
bismuth nitrate (10 parts), thoroughly washing the resulting oxide with water, and mixing it 
(moist) with lactic acid (9 parts). Allow7 the mixture to digest, and dry upon the w7ater bath. 
Bismuthi Phosphas, Bismuth phosphate.-This is a white powder prepared by dissolving in 
a little nitric acid 5 parts of bismuth subnitrate, and slowly pouring the solution into one of 
sodium phosphate (6 parts). Preferred by some to other bismuth salts on account of its 
greater insolubility. Dose, 1 to 5 grains. 
Bismuthi Nitras (Bi[NO3]3.5H2O), Bismuth nitrate, Bismuthous nitrate.-Also known as 
Bismuth ternitrate, Bismuthum trisnitricum, and Normal bismuth nitrate.-The manner of forming 
and purifying this salt has already been described. It forms large prismatic crystals without 
color, pronouncedly acid to the taste, and soluble in glycerin. Such a solution, w hen fresh, 
may be mixed in all amounts with water without precipitation (Dr. Balmano Squire). The 
salt is decomposed when added primarily to water, a basic nitrate resulting. The crystals 
melt in the crystal-water at near 80° C. (176° F); at 120° C. (248° F.). a portion of its acid is 
lost, while at 260° C. (500° F.) the whole of the acid is dissipated, an oxide (Bi2O3) being left. 
A glycerite of bismuth nitrate was proposed by Morehead, in 1877, in which bismuth nitrate 
(2 ounces), was to be dissolved without heat, in sufficient glycerin to produce 8 ounces of 
finished product. A perfect solution is produced, which may be diluted w7ith water as desired. 
Bismuthi Salicylas (Bi[C7H5O3]3.Bi2O3), Bismuth salicylate.-Duyk's process is to pre- 
pare bismuth oxide (Bi2O3), from pure bismuth sub nitrate by means of ammonia water, and 
digesting the moist oxide with salicylic acid, wash the product w ith cold wrater, and dry the 
magma at a low temperature. It forms a tasteless, odorless, non-crystalline powder, having 
the color of cream. It is dissolved by acids, but not by water, alcohol, glycerin, or ether. 
This agent is not superior to the subnitrate, but has been used in painful gastric affections and 
diarrhoea. Extraordinary claims have been made for it in typhoid fever. Large doses of 10 to 30 
grains, 3 times in 24 hours, are reputed efficient in chronic catarrh of the stomach. The nitro- 
salicylate of bismuth is reputed a heart stimulant. 
Bismuthi Subiodidum (BiOI), Bismuth subiodide, Bismuthyl iodide, Bismuth oxyiodide.-This 
is a brown-red or bright-red powder, which may 1*6 crystalline or amorphous, according to the 
manner in which it is produced. When bismuth nitrate, suspended in water, is boiled with 
iodide of potassium, the crystalline salt is formed. It may be obtained amorphous by taking 
bismuth nitrate solution in such a proportion that the salt does not precipitate, and simply BOLDUS. 
359 
warming it with potassium iodide. This agent was introduced as an antiseptic to take the 
place of iodoform, and is used like bismuth subnitrate in gastric disorders, being particularly 
adapted to chronic ulceration of the stomach and other parts. Dose, 5 to 10 grains. 
Bismuthi Subgallas (C6H2[OH]3.COOBi[pH]2), Bismuth subgallate, Bismuth gallate, Bis- 
muthi gaUicum basicum. Dermatol.-To prepare it dissolve in glacial acetic acid (30 parts), bis- 
muth subnitrate (15 parts); then add' 250 parts of water and filter the solution. Now prepare 
a second solution of gallic acid (5 parts), in water (250 parts), and while still warm add the 
warm solution, with constant stirring, to the filtrate first prepared. Decant the supernatant 
fluid, wash the precipitate until the presence of nitric acid is no longer detectable, and dry the 
Eroduct at a heat of 100° C. (212° F.). Dermatol is an impalpable powder, without odor, and 
aving a saffron-yellow color. In the air it remains permanent, and the common solvents do 
not effect its solution. Though, accredited with perfectly non-toxic properties, a peculiar intoxi- 
cation is reported to have resulted from dermatol. It was introduced as an iodoform substi- 
tute, but is not so powerful a germicide as that agent. It is astringent, absorbent, sedative, 
and protective. Internally it has been given in doses of from 5 to 30 grains in chronic diarrhoea 
and dysentery. Locally it may be applied to parts after active inflammation has subsided, as in 
wounds, ulcerations, abscesses, burns, herpes, eczemas, etc.-in short, in the conditions for which iodo- 
form is generally employed. 
Bismuthi Valkrianas (Bi[CsII9O2]3), Bismuth valerianate, Valerianas bismuthicus.-Vale- 
rianate of bismuth is a white, amorphous powder, with a strong valerian odor. It is made 
by dissolving pure metallic bismuth in nitric acid, saturating any excess of the acid with 
carbonate of sodium, and then adding a solution of valerianate of sodium to the bismuth 
solution as long as any precipitate continues. Collect the powder'on a filter, wash and dry it. 
It has been highly recommended in dyspepsia with nervous irritability, gastrodynia, and in 
neuralgic affections, in doses of from A grain to 2 grains, repeated 3 or 4 times a day. 
Bismuthi Tannas, Bismuth tannate, Bismuthum tannicum, Tannas bismuthicus.-Tannate of 
bismuth is prepared by treating 44 parts of crystallized nitrate of bismuth with water, at the 
same time adding a slight excess of caustic soda; collect the white hydrated precipitate 
(hydroxide of bismuth), on a filter, carefully wash it, and then triturate it in a mortar with 
29 parts of pure tannic acid. Dilute the magma with water, throw it upon a filter, wash it, dry 
it in the air, or at a very moderate artificial heat, and reduce it to powder. It is a yellowish, 
insoluble powder, without taste, and may be given in pills, or suspended in a mucilaginous 
fluid. The dose is from 30 to 60 grains. It has proved remarkably efficient in the treatment 
of both acute and chronic diarrhoea; it was formerly used in ophthalmia, leucorrhoea, and gonorrhoea. 
BOLDUS.-BOLDO. 
The leaves of Peumus Boldus, Molina, (Boldoa fragrans, Gay). 
Nat. Ord.-Monimiaceae. 
Common Name: Boldo or Boldu. 
Illustrations: Bot. Reg., Plate 57; Bentley •and Trimen, Med. Plants, 217. 
Botanical Source.- Peumus Boldus (Bot. Reg., Plate 57, and Bentley and 
Trimen, Med. Plants, 21T), is an evergreen, fragrant shrub, from 15 to 20 feet high, 
and native of the mountainous regions of Chili. 
The leaves are opposite, coriaceous, and on leaf- 
stalks about | inch in length. The flowers are in 
loose, terminal, dioecious cymes of about 12 flowers 
each, on slender, pubescent pedicles. The petals 
are generally 7, strap-shape, and about | inch long, 
of a light-yellow color, and somewhat twisted. The 
male flower has numerous recurved stamens, with 
slender filaments, which are hairy at the base. The 
fruit is a small orange-green, 1-seeded drupe, which 
is aromatic and edible. 
Description.-The leaves (Fig. 49), as found 
in commerce, are thick, firm, of a light-green color, 
and covered with numerous glandular points on the 
upper surface. They are about 2 inches long, two- 
thirds as wide, and oval or elliptical in outline; 
have a rounded base, and a very obtuse apex. The 
edges are entire, and slightly recurved. The veins 
are pinnate, and prominent on the under side of 
the leaves. The odor of the leaves somewhat re- 
sembles that of wormseed, and the taste is nau- 
seating and disagreeable. 
History and Chemical Composition-In 1782, 
Molina described this shrub, under the name Peumus Boldus; in 1794, Ruiz and 
Fig. 49. 
Leaf of Peumus Boldus. 360 
BOLDUS. 
Pavon described the same plant under the name Ruizia fragrans; in 1809, Jussieu 
classed the plant under the name of Boldoa fragrans; finally, in 1869, M. H. 
Bailion presented a complete history of the plant under the name Peumus Boldus, 
which name it still retains. Boldo was introduced to the profession by Dujardin- 
Beaumetz and C. L. Verne, about 1872, and in the same year E. Bourgoin and 
C. Verne obtained from the leaves a volatile oil, and an alkaloid to which the 
name boldine or boldina was given. The plant also contains essential oil, citric 
acid, lime, sugar, gum, tannin, and a quantity of thick, black, aromatic sub- 
stances, probably due to oxidation of the oil; these constituents have no medi- 
cinal virtues. Boldoglucin, a narcotic alkaloid, was isolated by Chapoteaut. 
The plant attracted but little attention until 1875, when Prof. Bentley ex- 
hibited it before the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, and Dr. Miller 
brought it before the Philadelphia Pharmaceutical meeting. After this, some 
little demand was created for it, and even at exorbitantly high prices, small 
amounts were sold in this country. At present the demand is limited, and the 
price is reasonable. The virtues of the drug, whatever they may be, are evi- 
dently derived from the essential oil and the alkaloid. 
Boldine is obtained by extracting the leaves of the plant with alcohol, dis- 
tilling the alcohol, and exhausting the residuum with acidulated water (acetic 
acid preferable), precipitating with ammonia, and purifying by solution in ether. 
It is a tedious operation to obtain the pure alkaloid. Boldine is crystallizable, 
soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, benzol, and benzin. The diluted acids dis- 
solve it, from which solution ammonia, in slight excess, precipitates the alkaloid 
as an amorphous mass. It is sparingly soluble in water, to which it imparts a 
bitter taste, and gives an alkaline reaction. Nitric and sulphuric acids yield a 
red color when boldine is added to them. The best agent to extract the medi- 
cinal principles of the leaves is alcohol, and the addition of water to the men- 
struum, even in small amount, is objectionable. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This agent is a stimulant to the cir- 
culatory organs and nervous structures. It is quieting and soothing, producing 
in full doses drowsiness. Cerebral excitation is said to be controlled by boldo 
and boldoglucin, refreshing sleep following. Boldo was sent from Chili as an 
efficient agent in hepatic diseases, but its effect appears to be that of a gentle, diffu- 
sible stimulant, probably useful to a certain extent in gastric debility, incipient 
dyspepsia, anemic conditions, etc.' It is of value in painful digestion with nervous 
irritability, and in gastrodynia. In these cases the alcoholic solution is undoubt- 
edly the preferable one. A wine, elixir, and syrup have also been prepared, but 
they possess no advantages over the tincture, which may be used in doses of from 
5 to 20 drops in some agreeable vehicle. One part of the leaves to 5 parts of 
alcohol, at 60 per cent, forms a deep-red, bordering a little on green, bitter tinc- 
ture. Boldine may be given in doses of from 1 to 5 grains. The essential oil, in 
doses of from 3 to 5 drops, in capsules, has been recommended in subacute inflam- 
mations and catarrh of the urinary passages; but it certainly possesses no superior 
advantages over turpentine, copaiba, and other resinous balsams. A very mod- 
erate use of the oil will, in a few days, impart the strong odor of the leaves to the 
urine, which fluid will redden under the action of diluted sulphuric acid. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Gastric pain, nervousness, debility and 
jaundice. 
Related Species.-Atherosperma. moschata, Labillardidre. Sassafras tree. Australia. All 
parts of this tree have a nutmeg-like odor. Tannin and a bitter alkaloidal body (otherospermine} 
have been obtained from the bark. The latter is an amorphous, white powder, sparingly 
soluble in ether, but dissolving freely iu chloroform or alcohol. The bark is reputed anti- 
syphilitic, antiscorbutic, and tonic. It renders difficult expectoration easy, reduces the pulse 
rate, and is sedative to an overacting, irregular heart. The Australian Bushmen employ a 
diet-drink prepared from it, in rheumatism and secondary syphilis. Graves personally found it of 
much value in chronic bronchitis. 
Daphnandra repandula, F. von Mueller.-A toxic alkaloidal principle is derived from this 
plant, which is said to be, in some respects, the antagonist of strychnine. It is soluble in 
water. Muscular paralysis is produced by its local application. It has antiputrefactive quali- 
ties, and will deodorize tainted meats. The bark is rich in alkaloids which, when pure, are 
crystalline and colorless. It checks the growth of the yeast plant (Torvla cerevisisei. Daph- 
nandra miarantha, Bentham (Atherosperma micranthnm, Tul.), is identical with the foregoing in its 
action (P. J. and Trans., 1887). It is intensely bitter, and is used as a tonic by the Australians. BOLETUS, 
361 
BOLETUS.-WHITE AGARIC. 
The fungus Polyporus officinalis, Fries (Boletus laricis, Jacquin; Boletus purgans, 
Persoon). 
Nat. Ord.-Fungi. 
Common Names: White agaric, Larch agaric, Purging agaric. 
Description.-White agaric (Agaricus albus) is in masses varying from the 
size of an ordinary apple to that of a large nutmeg-melon ; its shape somewhat 
resembles a horse's hoof; it is reddish-grey or yellowish externally, whitish inter- 
nally, and of a spongy,friable consistence; hymenium concrete; substance of the 
hymenium consisting of subrotund pores, with their simple dissepiments ; pileus 
corky-fleshy, ungulate, zoned, smooth; pores yellowish; it has a feeble odor, and 
a bitter, acrid, somewhat sweetish taste. 
History.-The various medicinal substances, included under the elastic name 
Agaric, are obtained from yarious plants of the fungous tribe. These plants afford 
a great diversity of form, and structure, being in their simplest character little 
articulated filaments composed of chains of cellules, as in the mildew of the rose 
bush, and in moldiness, mucor; again, they may present an even and imperforate 
surface, and another separated into plates or cells, in which the sporules are 
deposited. They absorb a great amount of oxygen with evolution of hydrogen 
and carbonic acid gas, and contain considerable proportions of nitrogen. They 
are destructive to nearly all organic matter upon which they grow. According 
to recent nomenclature, " the genus Boletus, as now constituted, includes only 
fleshy species, with a hymenium composed of separable tubes. Those species for- 
merly included in Boletus (many of which have corky or woody tissues) and the 
hymenium of which is composed of pores not separable from the pileus or from 
each other, form the genus Polyporus." 
The Polyporus officinalis, Fries (Boletus laricis, Jacquin), is procured from Asia, 
Corinthia, Russia, and Central America, where it is found growing upon the 
larch. It is collected in August and September, deprived of its outer covering, 
and then dried and bleached in the sun. It is exceedingly difficult to pulverize 
in a mortar, but may be readily powdered by grating through a sieve. 
This substance is generally known in Eclectic medicine as Boletus laricis, 
hence that term is here retained though the fungus is properly a Polyporus, and 
should be known by that name. 
Chemical Composition.-This fungus is remarkable for the great amount of 
resinous matter it contains, running as high as 79 per cent. Various resinous and 
crystallizable substances have been differentiated therefrom by several investiga- 
tors. Jahns, in 1883, isolated agaric acid from the alcoholic extract of the fungus, 
for which he found the formula CieHayOsd-HgO. This formula and the bibasic 
nature of the acid was confirmed by Schmieder, in 1886, who made an exhaustive 
study of the chemistry of this fungus. Petroleum ether [boiling point, 45° C. 
(113° F.)], abstracted from the finely-powdered drug a fluorescent oil, from which 
crystals of agaricol (CWH16O) were separated, melting at 223° C. (430.7° F.). Choles- 
terin was obtained from the mother liquor; also two solid hydrocarbons, and 
C^H^. The residue from the treatment with petroleum ether yielded to boiling 
water sugar, phosphoric, malic, and tannic acids. Boiling alcohol then abstracted 
5 resins, the principal of which was a red resin (ChH^OJ, melting at 88° C. 
(190.4° F.), which is stated to be the actively purging principle of the drug. The 
fungus contains also a peculiar kind of cellulose, to the extent of 10 per cent, 
and ash, which mostly consists of the phosphates and carbonates of potassium 
and magnesium (Fliickiger, Pharmacognosie, 1891). Agaric acid is official in the 
German Pharmacopoeia, under the name of Agaricinum, and is described as a " white 
powder having a faint odor and taste, fusing at about 140° C. (284° F.) to a yel- 
lowish liquid; upon further heating evolving white fumes, and charring while 
giving off a caramel-like odor. It is little soluble in cold water; swells up in hot 
water and dissolves upon boiling, forming a frothing opalescent liquid, which 
faintly reddens litmus, and becomes strongly turbid upon cooling. Agaricin is 
soluble in 130 parts of cold, or 10 parts of hot alcohol; more easily soluble 
in warm acetic acid; very little soluble in ether; scarcely soluble in chloroform. 362 
BOLETUS. 
Caustic potash dissolves it, forming a liquid which, upon shaking, forms a heavy 
froth"-(Ger. Pharm.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Polyporus officinalis and the P. pinicola 
(see below), in doses of 3 or 4 grains of the powder, repeated every 3 or 4 hours, or 
qf the concentrated tincture in doses of 5 drops, have both been found valuable in 
the cure of obstinate and long-standing intermittents, and other diseases common 
to malarial districts, as obstinate bilious remittent fever, chronic diarrhoea, chronic 
dysentery, periodical neuralgia, nervous headache, ague cake, and increased flow of urine. 
They have likewise proved useful in long-standing jaundice, and in the chills and 
fever common among consumptive patients. 
The dust of the Larch agaric is irritating to mucous surfaces, causing tears 
when it enters the eyes, and sneezing, cough, and nausea, when the nostrils are 
exposed to it. It has been used in £ drachm or drachm doses as a purgative; in 
larger doses as an emetic. Small doses, unless long continued, check diarrhoea, as 
well as excessive broncho-pulmonary secretions; hence the value of agaric and agaricin 
in phthisis. Boletus is also said,to arrest the mammary secretion. In doses of 
3 to 10 grains, gradually increasing to 60 grains in the course of the 24 hours, 
it has been found efficient in arresting the nocturnal perspiration of consumptives. 
For this purpose, however, agaricin (see below) is now preferred. Owing to its 
power over the sympathetic and spinal nervous system, certain cases of epilepsy 
and chorea have been controlled by it; and in neuralgia and insanity it has been 
found of value where nutrition was imperfect and the cerebral circulation feeble. 
As a remedy for ague it is adapted to those cases presenting alternate chills and 
flushes of heat, with heavy bearing-down pains in the back. The patient per- 
spires freely at night and has a yellow-coated tongue, bitter taste, poor appetite, 
slight fever, and has for some time been experiencing a dull, languid feeling. 
Not only does it check phthisical night-sweats, but it also controls the rapid cir- 
culation and reduces the hectic fever. Externally, it has been used, together with 
the Agaric of the oak (Polyporus fomentarius, Fries) as a styptic, and is said to 
restrain not only venous, but arterial hemorrhages, without the use of ligatures; 
it does not appear, however, to possess any real styptic power, or to act otherwise 
than dry lint, sponge, or other soft applications. Prepared with nitre as for 
tinder, it has been used as a species of moxa. 
Agaricin (agaric or agaricinic acid) is irritant to the gastro-intestinal tract, 
occasioning, in doses of 5 to 15 grains, purging and vomiting. Upon the lower 
animals it depresses the nervous, respiratory, and circulatory systems. According 
to Riegel £ grain of agaricin is equal, as an antihydrotic, to $ grain of atropine. 
In doses of to grain it has been remarkably effectual in colliquative siveating, 
especially in phthisis, where it also allays thirst and controls the cough and diar- 
rhoea in some cases. Long continued use of it will produce looseness of the bowels. 
Tincture of boletus, 1 to 5 drops; specific boletus, fraction of a drop to 5 
drops; agaricin, A to J grain. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Ague, with alternate chills and flushes of 
heat, with heavy bearing-down pain in the back (Sp. Boletus, gtt. x to aqua, flsiv. 
Mix. Teaspoonful every 2 hours). Stimulant to nervous system, when nutri- 
tion is impaired and cerebral circulation feeble; colliquative sweats. 
Related Fungi.-Fungus chirurgorum, or Surgeon's agaric, known also as Agaricus (or 
Boletus), chirurgorum, and as Spunk, Touchwood, and Tinder, is the Polyporus fomentarius, Fries. 
A hoof-shaped, obliquely triangular, sessile fungus found on oak and beech trees in South and 
Central Europe, freed of its hard rind and hymenia!, tubular spores, cut into slices, immersed 
in water, and afterward boiled in a weak, alkali solution, washed again, and finally beaten 
until soft and pliable. When cut into slices, beaten, soaked in a solution of nitre, and dried, 
it forms an inflammable substance known as spunk, amadou, or German tinder. 
Surgeon's agaric is tasteless, practically odorless, and soft. It is in velvety, glossy, and 
cinnamon-colored flat pieces. It is exceedingly light, tough, porous, and elastic, and has long 
been valued to arrest local hemorrhages, small in amount. By insinuating it between the nail 
and the flesh, and securing it with adhesive strips, it is one of the best of substances for use 
in the treatment of ingroivn toe-nail. 
Polyporus igniarius, Fries, or Agaric of the oak, is a fungus found on oak, cherry, willow, 
plum, and other trees. When young it is soft, but gradually becomes hard and woody. In 
shape it somewhat resembles the Polyporus officinalis; its upper smooth surface is marked with 
dark circular ridges, and its under surface is very porous and of a yellowish-white color. It is 
tasteless and inodorous. BOLETUS. 
363 
Polyporus pinicola grows upon the pine, birch, tamarac, fir, and similar trees. With 
absolute alcohol, the fresh fungus forms a dark-red, intensely bitter tincture. 
Amanita muscaria, Persoon (Agaricus muscarius, Linne). Fungus muscarius or Fly agaric.- 
This poisonous European fungus, which makesits growth in the autumn months, usually in pine 
woods, derives its common name from the fact that when infused in milk it is used for the pur- 
pose of destroying flies. The stem or stalk is white, thick, and tuberous or bulbous at the base, 
where there are also scales. It is about f of an inch thick, and from 3 to 6 inches high. The cap 
or pileus, which is at first spherical, flattens out or becomes convex while growing, and when 
full grown is either flattish or depressed, and from 4 to 8 inches broad. The cap is usually 
scarlet or orange in color, though it has been found to vary to crimson, light-brown, greenish- 
yellow, or even white. Internally the fungus is yellowish. White, angular warts are scattered 
upon the surface of the pileus, and when moist these are sticky. The under surface has 
broad, white, lamellated gills, or hymenium. An acrid, burning taste and an unpleasant 
odor characterizes this species. Apoiger (1851) considered the toxic principle to be a crystal- 
lizable acid, while Letellier regarded amanitin, a brown, tasteless, non-crystalline glucosid, to be 
the active constituent. An alkaloid, muscarine (C5H15NO3), was isolated, in 1869, by Schmiede- 
berg and Koppe, choline (G5Hi5NO2), also a constituent of hops, beer, bile, brain, and herring 
brine, being associated with it. The latter body is probably identical with Harnack's (1876) 
amanitine. Muscarine (sometimes wrongly termed amanitine) is an exceedingly deliquescent, 
crystalline alkaloid, without color or odor; sparingly dissolved by chloroform, but not by ether. 
It unites with acids to produce deliquescent salts. It dissolves readily in water and alcohol. 
Kobert, in 1891, pointed out the existence in this fungus of another alkaloid, pilzatropin, this 
being the physiological opposite of muscarine. A. B. Griffith, in 1896, gave the name amani- 
tine to the red, amorphous pigment of the fungus, insoluble in water, and soluble in chloro- 
form and ether. Fly agaric once had a reputation as a remedy for epilepsy. Chorea is treated 
with it by homoeopathists, and it was also used in chronic skin affections. That it possesses 
undoubted power over the nervous system seems well established, and its use is suggested in 
spinal irritation and typhoid conditions characterized by "tremor, restlessness, and desire to get out 
of bed" (Webster). Prof. Scudder (Specific Medication), who suggested a tincture of the fresh 
fungus prepared with strong alcohol, wrote: "Probably the best defined indication for this 
remedy is involuntary twitching of the muscles of the face, forehead, and even of the eyes, so 
that objects are not seen well because they seem to move; drawing of the tissues of the fore- 
head and nose. Pressing pain in the occiput and an inclination to fall backward is also a very 
good indication." Tincture, gtt. j. to aqua fl^iv. Dose, 1 teaspoonful. The principal use that 
has been made of this fungus is to control colliquative night-sweats from debilitating diseases, 
and profuse sweating during the daytime. The extract, in doses of 5 drops of a 1 per cent 
solution, has been employed. Muscarine may be used. 
Muscarine is usually employed in the form of a sulphate or nitrate. It is an exceedingly 
energetic poison, and is antagonistic to atropine, and is sometimes used instead of eserine in poi- 
soning by the latter. Profuse ptyalism, weeping, vomiting, depressed circulation, difficult 
breathing, muscular weakness, paralysis, and death are the effects of a toxic dose. Before 
death the pupils, which are minutely contracted, dilate. Tetanic contractions of the spleen, 
bladder, and intestines occur, and the latter finally relax, when violent peristaltic movements 
ensue. Muscarine is used in colliquative sweats and in diabetes insipidus in doses of to-fj- grain. 
For the poisonous effects of Amanita species, see below (Amanita phalloides). 
Amanita phalloides, Fries. Death-cup (see illustration, Year Book of U.S. Agric. Dept.,1896, 
p. 144).-This is reputed the most toxic of all the fleshy fungi. It resembles in general shape 
the common mushroom, which, however, lacks the basal, cup-like appendage of the death-cup. 
It resembles also the Amanita muscaria (see above), from which it may be distinguished by the 
more brilliant coloring of the latter. This fungus grows in the medium elevations and low 
lands of nearly all parts of the United States and in Europe. The white stem when young is 
more or less pithy, but as the fungus grows it becomes somewhat fistulous. The young plant 
is entirely enclosed in a volva, which breaks circumcisally as the plant expands, leaving at the 
base, as a remnant of the volva, a cup-like appendage, which is characteristic. The cap, unless 
it should bear fragmentary remains of the volva, is usually smooth and satin-like, and when 
moist, viscid. It varies in color, and though most generally white or yellowish, it may be 
green, or if grown in deeply shaded situations, spotted. It has white gillsand spores. The 
fungus varies in height from 3 to 5 inches. No bad taste gives warning of the dangerous char- 
acter of this fungus, of which but a small portion may kill. A boy of 12 met death from a third 
of a middle-sized raw pileus. Outof 51 cases of poisoning by this plant, 75 percent were fatal, 
and during the summer of 1893,25 deaths in the United States alone, were attributed to species 
of amanita. A half day or more may elapse after swallowing the fungus before any discom- 
fort is felt by the victim. Then follow severe intestinal pain, nausea and vomiting, and 
excessive diarrhoea of the rice-water type, symptoms closely resembling Asiatic cholera. These 
symptoms persisting, death may take place in from 2 to 4 days, consciousness being retained 
t€> the last. 
That muscarine was the chief cause of the toxic symptoms has been maintained for sev- 
eral years. It has been observed, however, that in fatal cases the symptoms were different 
from those caused by muscarine alone, and that they were not antidoted by atropine, which 
is antagonistic to that alkaloid. Later investigations, in 1891, by Kobert, of Dorpat, seem to 
establish the fact that the chief toxic principle is a tox-albumin, not unlike abrin (see Abrus 
precatorius), and other poisonous albumins, such as have been found in rattlesnake and insect 
venom, barbadoes nut, castor-oil bean, etc. To this body the name phallin has been given. 
It is without o lor and taste, and is easily coagulated by heat. Its death-dealing action 364 
BROMUM. 
appears to reside in its power to dissolve the red-blood discs, thereby allowing the blood serum 
toescape by way of the alimentaiy canal. Salt solution dissolves phallin, removing it from 
the fungus, but after having been swallowed there is no known antidote. For an excellent 
article, from which this note is compiled, see "Some Common Poisonous Plants'' (illustrated), 
by V. K. Chesnut, in Yearbook of U. S. Agric. Dept., 1896, p. 144. 
Lycoperdon Bovista, Linne {Lycoperdon giganteum, Batsch ; Bovista giganteum, Nees). Giant 
puffball.-Yellow or deep-brown, obconical or subglobular masses having a spongy interior. 
They sometimes attain a w'idth of 2 feet. It furnished the Fungus chirurgorum, much used 
at one time as a local haemostatic. Said to be anodyne and antiseptic, and to be a good 
application to cancerous growths, to allay pain and check bleeding. Porcher, from personal 
experience, declared Giant puffball to possess some narcotic power. A tincture has been 
used in nervous affections and the dry powrder in intertrigo. The fumes from burning this 
common puffball are narcotic and anaesthetic, but no practical application of them has been 
made. In 1853, Dr. B. W. Richardson, acting upon the suggestion that bees were stupefied 
by the fumes of this fungus, experimented upon and narcotized and anaesthetized several 
animals, from one of which he painl ?ssly removed a tumor. If carried too far the inhalation 
produced death, respiration being paralyzed. No congestion was produced. When death was 
not produced the animal slowly recovered, and even after the narcotism had passed off the 
perception of pain was for a time abolished. These effects have been attributed to carbonic 
oxide, the gas given off when the puffball is burned. 
Elaphomyces granulatus, Fries (Lycoperdon cervinum, Linne; Scleroderma gianulatus, Persoon.) 
Hart's truffle, Puffball. -Walnut-sized, warty, brown fungus, with a purple-brown interior. 
Stimulant. 
Pachyma Cocos, Fries (Lycoperdon solidum, Gronovius). Tuckahoe.-A peculiar formation 
found upon fir-tree roots, believed to be an alteration of the same, produced by a fungus. It 
is found in the southern portion of the United States, where it is known as tuckahoe, or Indian 
bread. In China, where it also grows, it is called fuh-ling. It is a long or irregularly globose 
body, often weighing many pounds. It has a rugose, ashy-black surface, and a w'hitish, firm, 
but apparently spongy interior. It has a starchy appearance internally, and breaks into 
irregular fragments. It contains pectose, glucose, gum, cellulose, nitrogen, and salts. 
Tuber cibarium, Sibthorp (Lycoperdon Tuber, Linne). Truffle.-An edible tuber growing 
beneath the surface of the ground. Walnut-sized, subglobose, warty, and blackish externally, 
with a fleshy, marbled (white and brown) interior. 
BROMUM (U. S. P.)-BROMINE. 
Symbol : Br. Atomic Weight : 79.76. 
Source, History and Preparation.-Bromine is one of the two known liquid 
elements. It was first obtained by Balard (1826), who prepared it from the 
mother-liquor left in the production of sea salt. It is always found in combina- 
tion, never in a free condition. It exists in sea water principally in bromides of 
magnesium and sodium. The greater share of bromine, however, is prepared 
from the bittern of salt works. Formerly the supply came from the mineral 
springs of Europe and the Stassfurt potash-beds, but at the present time immense 
quantities are prepared from saline springs, along the Kanawha River, in West 
Virginia. Quite large quantities are prepared also in Pennsylvania, while in 
recent operations in Michigan bromine is said to be produced in as great amount 
as in West Virginia. Bromine may also be prepared from seaweeds. In sea water 
the bromides usually accompany Chlorides. Balard pointed out its relationship 
to iodine and chlorine. Bromine is prepared for commerce by mixing sulphuric 
acid, manganese dioxide, and the evaporated mother-liquor of the salt springs in 
a stone retort and applying heat. By this process decomposition takes place, 
with the liberation of chlorine, which, in turn, decomposes the soluble bromides 
present, forming chlorides, allow'ing the bromine to distill over and condense. 
The greater portion of bromine is used in making the medicinal bromides and in 
photography. A portion, however, is used in the production of certain aniline 
dyes (which see). 
Description and Tests.-Bromine in bulk appears almost black, but shaken 
so as to strike the sides of the bottle, it exhibits a ruby-red color. According to 
the U. S. P. it "should be kept in glass-stoppered bottles, in a cool place," and 
respond to the following description and tests: 
" A heavy, dark brownish-red, mobile liquid, evolving, even at ordinary tem- 
peratures, a yellowish-red vapor, highly irritating to the eyes and lungs, and hav- 
ing a peculiar suffocating odor, resembling that of chlorine. Specific gravity: 
2.990 at 15° C. (59° F.). Soluble in 30 parts of water at 15° C. (59° F.), and 
readily soluble in alcohol or ether (with gradual decomposition of these liquids); 365 
BROMUM. 
also in carbon disulphide, and in chloroform, with a deep reddish-yellow color. 
On exposure to air or to heat it is completely volatilized. It destroys the color 
of solutions of litmus and indigo, and imparts a yellow color to solution of 
starch "-(U. S. P.). 
At about -22° C. (-7.6° F.) it freezes, forming a leaden-colored crystalline 
solid. Its boiling point is near 62.7° C. (145° F.). From a saturated solution of 
bromine, at a little above 0° C. (32° F.), a crystalline body, having the formula 
Br. (H2O)5, is produced. Organic material is decomposed by bromine, while in 
dilution in water, like chlorine, though in a lesser degree, it acts as a decolorizer. 
A yellowish-brown color is imparted by it to starch. Aqueous solutions of bro- 
mine decompose in the sunlight, with the liberation of oxygen and the produc- 
tion of hydrobromic acid. This is true also of its solutions in alcohol and ether. 
Commercial bromine often contains, as impurities, carbon bromide, rendering its 
boiling point higher, and chlorine, which reduces its boiling point. Iodine is 
rarely present. Owing to its intensely poisonous vapor workmen, when handling 
bromine, always stand in a draught of air so that its fumes may be blown from 
them and keep near at hand a quantity of ammonia (which is its best antidote) 
to inhale in case it is breathed into the lungs. Bromine forms hydrogen salts, 
derivatives of hydrobromic acid, e. g., BrNa, called bromides, and oxy-salts of the 
type BrOjNa, called bromates, or of the type BrONa, called hypobromites. 
"If bromine be added to an excess of potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., it 
should combine to form a permanently clear liquid, without the separation of 
oily drops, or the development of an odor resembling that of chloroform (absence 
of bromoform or other organic bromine compounds). If an aqueous solution of 
bromine be shaken with a slight excess of reduced iron until it becomes nearly 
colorless, the filtered liquid, on the addition of a small amount of ferric chloride 
and of starch T.S., should not assume a blue color (absence of iodine). If 1 Cc. 
of a saturated aqueous solution of bromine be diluted with 9 Cc. of water, then 
mixed with 3 Cc. of ammonium carbonate T.S., and 5 Cc. of decinormal silver 
nitrate V.S., and the whole actively shaken, the filtered liquid, when super- 
saturated with nitric acid, should not become more than opalescent, nor sepa- 
rate a flocculent precipitate within 3 minutes (absence of more than 3 per cent 
of chlorine) "-(cr. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Bromine, in vapor, is an irrespirable 
irritant poison, and, locally applied, is corrosive. An atmosphere impregnated 
with the fumes occasions excessive secretions and discharges from the throat, 
nose, and eyes, associated with hoarseness, cough, and difficulty in breathing. 
Vomiting, intense pain, and diarrhoea, followed by death, are the toxic symptoms. 
As with iodine and chlorine paralysis of the brain centers is produced ; and 
respiratory paralysis is the direct cause of death. The gastric and intestinal muc- 
ous membranes are found corroded and softened. The element, in medicinal 
doses, is a cerebral sedative, and allays sensory irritability. Faucial anaesthesia 
is also among its effects. It depresses the sexual functions and somewhat 
obtunds the sensibility of the genito-urinary passages. Applied to the skin, a 
weak solution (1 to 8) relieves pain; applied full strength, it is a penetrating 
cauterant, and may cause gangrenous ulcers. In internal poisoning by bromine 
the stomach should be washed out and a brisk purgative be administered in alka- 
line water; in inhalation, alkaline vapors from a steam-atomizer, or better, the 
cautious inhalation of ammonia, is recommended. 
The earliest use of bromine was in those constitutional disorders for which 
iodine was employed, and in which that drug has now almost entirely superseded 
bromine. It is, however, still used, in minute doses, in strumous enlargements of 
the lymphatic glandular structures. Here it is given in 1 or 2-grain doses of the 
6 x trituration, 3 or 4 times a day. As an inhalation it is sometimes employed 
in diphtheria and croup (TH x to aqua fisij). Bromine is an excellent deodorant 
and disinfectant. A dilute solution should be employed. During the war of 
secession it was largely employed as a remedy for hospital gangrene. The method 
of Goldsmith, who introduced this procedure, was to apply the pure bromine upon 
a lint or cotton swab to the cleansed gangrenous parts, subsequently covering 
with lint moistened with a weak aqueous solution of bromine, and bandaging the 
whole with oiled silk. This dressing was followed in a few hours by a poultice, 366 
BROM UM. 
which separated the eschar, and, by healthy granulation, the wound quickly 
healed. It has since been employed locally to diphtheritic membranes, using equal 
parts of bromine and potassium bromide (| to 3 grains) in water (flsvj). The 
affected parts are penciled with the solution. The results, however, have been 
none too satisfactory, and the method is open to serious objections if the larynx 
be involved, or if broncho-pulmonary disorders exist. Cancer, especially of the 
womb, has been treated with an alcoholic solution of bromine (1 in 2 or 3 parts). 
Chancres and chancroids have been destroyed with it, and a sweet-oil solution 
(Tff x to fl§j) has been employed as a sedative application for chancroid, and for 
the eruption caused by Rhus Toxicodendron. Dose, 1 or 2 grains of the 6 x tritu- 
ration 3 or 4 times a day. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Locally, to hospital gangrene; by inhala- 
tion, in croup (10 drops to 1 fluid ounce of hot water). 
Bromine Compounds.-Bromol. Tribromophenol. Formula: C9H2Br3OH. Molecular 
Weight: 330.06. This compound must not be confounded with bromal (see below). When an 
aqueous solution of carbolic acid (phenol) is acted upon by bromine, bromol results. It forms 
a white crystalline compound, having an unpleasant, bromine-like odor; to the taste it is 
sweetish and astringent. It refuses to dissolve in water, but is readily dissolved by alcohol, 
chloroform, ether, glycerin, and oils. Bromol fuses at 95° C. (203° F.). Bromol is considered 
an efficient non-toxic antiseptic. Locally, in glycerin solution (1 in 25), it has been employed 
in diphtheria, in gangrene, and upon tuberculous ulcerations; internally, as an intestinal antiseptic 
in typhus fever and in cholera infantum. The dose is from -^to i grain. 
Bromi Chloridum, Chloride of bromine.-Under this name a mixture of chlorine and 
bromine has been used in medicine. It is probably not, as its name would indicate, a true 
or definite chemical compound. It is prepared by mixing bromine, 1 part, with cold water, 
60 parts, and passing into the mixture a stream of chlorine gas, until the bromine disappears 
and a dark red solution, having a powerfully irritating odor, results. This volatile liquor is 
soluble in water, and is intensely caustic. It was used by Landolfi as the chief ingredient 
of a paste employed for the destruction of malignant growths, having been, at one time, quite 
popular in Europe for the treatment of cancer. The remedy soon fell into disrepute. 
Bromal.-Formula: C2HBr3O. Molecular Weight: 280.18. Chemically, this compound 
is analogous to chloral (C2HC13O). It is a colorless, oily fluid, having a distinctive, pungent 
odor; is a conjunctival irritant, and to the taste is sharp and burning. It is prepared by 
adding bromine slowly to refrigerated absolute alcohol, and, after several hours' (15 to 24) 
contact, distilling the mixture, when volatile matter, including bromine, first passes over; 
subsequently [between 170° to 180° C. (341.6° to 356° F.)] bromal distills and is condensed in 
an oily condition, congealing at a reduced temperature-20° C. (-4° F.). In contact with water 
large crystals of bromal hydrate are produced; with alcohol a crystalline alcoholate results. 
Mere exposure to a moist atmosphere results in the formation of a white mass of crystals of 
the hydrate of bromal (C2HBr3O.H2O). The hydrate melts at 53.5° C. (128.3°F.); the alcoholate 
at 44° C. (111.2° F.). Bromoform is produced from bromal and bromal hydrate through the 
decomposing action of caustic alkalies, the reaction being similar to that by which chloroform 
is obtained from chloral or its hydrate. The hydrate is soluble in water; the alcoholate but 
slightly so. Heat decomposes the latter at 100° C. (212° F.). Bromal maybe distilled unchanged, 
and has a boiling point of 172° to 173° C. (341.6° to 343.4° F.). 
Bromal hydrate, the form employed chiefly in medicine, is a powerful irritant. Inflam- 
matory conditions, with cellular infiltration, result from its application to the integument as 
an ointment. It is a pain-relieving and sleep-producing drug, by some thought to be superior 
to chloral. It must be employed largely diluted, and, even in dilution, may occasion a sensa- 
tion of heat in the fauces, diarrhoea, and vomiting. In both warm and cold-blooded animals, 
according to Stinauer, who investigated it physiologically, it produced moderate sleep, and 
almost perfect anaesthesia, after previously producing marked restlessness. Dyspnoea and 
finally death from convulsions ensued, and the ventricles of the heart were found relaxed, or 
tetanically contracted according to dose-large or small. It has been given in epilepsy with 
varied results. The dose is from 2 to 5 grains, largely diluted. 
Bromamide (C6H2Br3NH.HBr).-A compound of the anilide group, containing bromine 
to the extent of about 75 per cent, as calculated from the formula. It occurs in crystalline 
needles, without taste, odor or color. It is insoluble in water and benzin, sparingly dissolved 
by alcohol, but freely soluble in ether, chloroform, and fixed oils. It fuses at 117.2° C. 
(243° F.), and heated to 154.4° C, (310° F.) volatilizes. Owing to its reputed antipyretic prop- 
erties, it has been used with asserted favorable results in typhoid fever, rheumatic fever, and 
articular rheumatism, acute and chronic. Neuralgia, in its many forms, has been treated with it. 
It has also been employed with asserted benefit in nephritic dropsies. The dose for adults, 
from 5 to 10 grains; for children, 1 to 5 grains; preferably in capsule, wafer, or emulsion. 
Bromoform, Tribromomethane.-Formula: CHBr3. Molecular Weight: 252.25. This liquid 
is the analogue of chloroform. It is produced when bromine acts upon alcohol in contact 
with alkaline earths or the caustic alkalies. It is largely made by saturating a solution of 
calcium hydroxide with bromine, adding alcohol, and distilling the mixture. According to 
Deniges' method, by which nearly all of the commercial article is now produced, sodium hypo- 
bromite is made to act upon acetone, as follows: To a solution of caustic soda bromine is BRYONIA. 
367 
added, the result being sodium bromide and sodium hypobromite. The mixture is allowed to 
come into contact with acetone; reaction ensues, resulting in the formation of bromoform and 
sodium acetate, principally. Bromoform is a sweet, limpid, colorless liquid, emitting an aro- 
matic fragrance. It is dissolved to a slight extent by water, but freely by alcohol and ether. 
Its density at 0° C. (32° F.) is 2.83. It boils at 147° to 151°C. (296.6° to 308.8° F.) and becomes 
solid at 2.5° C. (36° F.). Sunlight decomposes bromoform. In administering this drug only that 
which is colorless and free from acids should be employed. Bromoform was suggested as a 
pleasant anaesthetic in 1849. Van Horoch, in 1883, investigated and used it as an anaesthetic 
on man. Its anaesthetic properties are very similar to those of chloroform, though it is slower 
in action, and, unlike the latter, produces no pre-narcotic excitement. The Schneiderian and 
conjunctival membranes are sometimes irritated by it. Collapse, coma, and cyanotic counte- 
nance are the effects of its toxic action, and bromine is eliminated by the urine. Bromoform 
is antiseptic, analgesic, and antispasmodic. It is for its action in whooping-cough that it is most 
valued. Though not perfectly miscible with water, it may be prescribed in that liquid ; or, for 
children especially, syrup of acacia, or alcohol, may be employed as a vehicle. The dose 
ranges from 1 to 5 drops, 3 times a day. 
BRYONIA (U. S. P.)-BRYONIA. 
The root of Bryonia dioica, Jacquin (Bryonia alba, Hudson), and Bryonia 
alba, Lin ne. 
Nat. Ord.-Cucurbitacese. 
Common Names: Bryony, Snakeweed, Devil's turnip, Bastard turnip, Parsnip 
turnip. 
Illustration: Woodville's Med. Bot., Plate 187. 
Botanical Source.-The species used in medicine are Bryonia dioica and 
Bryonia alba. The genus to which they belong is a family of herbaceous vines, 
climbing by means of tendrils. The spe- 
cies, of which there are about 50, are found 
in most parts of the Old World. They are 
distinguished from the allied plants of the 
natural order Cucurbitacese, by having the 
flowers monoecious, or occasionally dioe- 
cious, the 5 stamens united into 3 bun- 
dles, and the fruit globular and berry-like. 
Bryonia dioica belongs to the section of 
the gen.us Bryonia, with palmately lobed 
leaves. It is common among the hedges 
and in the borders of woods in Europe, 
especially in the calcareous soil of some 
parts of England, where it is quite orna- 
mental. The stem, which is a rough an- 
nual, climbs to the height of several feet 
above hedges and undershrubs; the leaves 
are cordate and 5-lobed, the terminal lobe 
being longer than the others, and dissimi- 
lar. The flowers are of a light, greenish- 
white color, with darker green veins; they 
are perfectly dioecious in the young plants, although both sexes are often found 
on older individuals. The fruit is a bright scarlet berry (red bryonia), with sev- 
eral flat seeds. 
Bryonia alba is a closely related plant, found in Central Europe, Sweden, and 
Denmark. It has white flowers, regularly lobed leaves, and black berries (Black 
bryonia). These two species of bryonia must not be confounded with the black 
bryony (Tamus communis), a European plant of the natural order Dioscoreaceae. 
History and Description.-Bryonia has been used in medicine throughout 
sections of Europe for a great many years, and occupied a conspicuous place in 
the London Dispensatory, published in 1653. It is vulgarly known as snakeweed, 
devil's turnip, parsnip turnip, and bastard turnip. The root, the part employed, is 
from 2 to 4 inches in diameter, and about 2 feet in length, although occasionally 
larger. It is fleshy, and when wounded, yields a milky juice. Internally it 
resembles the root of Phytolacca decandra, maintaining the similarity when 
sliced and dried. 
Fig. 50. 
Bryonia dioica. 368 
BRYONIA. 
As found in our market, bryonia is in slices, often worm-eaten, or even 
decayed, and totally untit for use. It is said that the purgative principle (Bryo- 
nin), is stable, but, undoubtedly, even though this be the case, it can not with- 
stand the attacks of time and the ravages of insects, for tinctures prepared from 
inferior specimens will not give satisfaction. The Pharmacopoeia describes the 
drug from both species as follows: " In transverse sections about 5 Cm. (2 inches) 
in diameter, the bark gray-brown, rough, thin, the central portion whitish or 
grayish, with numerous small, projecting wood-bundles arranged in circles and 
radiating lines; fracture short; inodorous; taste disagreeably bitter"-([7. <S. P.). 
Chemical Composition.-In 1858, G. F. Walz published an article upon the 
chemical composition of Bryonia alba (Archiv. der Pharm., cxlvi), the result being 
the identification of two white, crystallizable bodies, bryonin and bryonitin. The 
latter substance, however, was, in 1862, admitted by Walz not to be an indi- 
vidual body, but merely a mixture of a crystalline, fatty acid, and some saponi- 
fiable fat (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1862). To obtain bryonin from the root, an alcholic 
extract is made of the latter, and the resulting product, after evaporation, is 
treated with water. After extraction of the aqueous extract with ether, bryonin, 
with impurities, remains in the residuum, and maybe obtained by dissolving the 
residuum in water, precipitating the coloring matter with acetate of lead, the 
excess of which must be removed with sulphide of hydrogen; after filtration, 
neutralize the filtrate with carbonate of sodium; then precipitate with tannic 
acid, dissolve the precipitate in alcohol, digest with calcium hydroxide, filter, 
digest with animal charcoal, again filter, and evaporate. Bryonin is a colorless 
powder, very bitter, soluble in water and alcohol, and insoluble in ether and in 
chloroform; when boiled with diluted sulphuric acid it assumes a bluish tint, 
splits into sugar and two bodies named by Walz, bryoretin (soluble in ether), and 
hydrobryotin (insoluble in ether). Walz's analysis would point, for bryonin, to the 
formula CaH^Ow, while Masson, in 1893, arrived at the formula C^H^Og. Starch, 
sugar, gum, wax, fatty constituents, albumen, cellulose, and salts, are also present 
in the root. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The fresh root of bryonia is extremely 
irritating, occasioning blisters when bruised and kept in contact with the skin, 
and causing serious gastro-intestinal inflammation when taken internally. A 
profuse and uncontrollable diarrhoea, vomiting, vertigo, reduction of temperature, 
dilatation of the pupils, cold perspiration, extremely small pulse, colic, collapse, 
and death have resulted from its use. Its influence on the nervous system is 
marked. A similar result follows the administration of large doses of the dried 
root. An infusion of galls is said to antidote it. This root appears to have been 
well known to the ancients, and was used in various maladies. It has likewise 
been employed in more recent times in convulsions due to the presence of worms 
in the intestines, as a cathartic in dropsy, and in cases of chronic inflammations, 
attended with glandular enlargements, or serous effusions. It is chiefly used at 
the present day in small doses, as a remedy in acute and chronic serous maladies, 
in glandular enlargements, in scarlatina to lessen the tendency to aural compli- 
cations that may terminate in otorrhoea and deafness, in chronic orchitis, in chronic 
rheumatic affections, pleuritic and pulmonic disorders, fevers, etc., and to overcome 
constipation and regulate the bowels. 
The indications for bryonia, according to Prof. Scudder, are "a hard, vibratile 
pulse, flushed right cheek, frontal pain extending to the basilar region, and irri- 
tative cough." Perhaps no remedy in the whole range of respiratory therapeutics 
is more valuable than this one, and much of the success of Eclectic physicians in 
the treatment of lung diseases is the result of the frequent use of specific bryonia. 
It is the remedy for the sharp, cutting, and lancinating pain with harsh cough. 
It is equally valuable when the pain is tensive and tearing, especially when aggra- 
vated by motion ; the parts feel stiff, sore, or bruised, and there is a large quan- 
tity of mucus within the bronchioles, as evidenced by the loud mucous rales. 
When the pulse is hard, frequent, and vibratile, and the temperature is elevated, 
bryonia is indicated. A prominent indication is the flushed right cheek just 
above the malar bone. It acts best in small doses. It frees the circulation, over- 
comes capillary obstruction, lowers temperature, and controls pain. It is the 
remedy for inflammation of serous tissues, and is equally valuable in peritonitis and in 369 
synovial inflammations. It lessens nervous excitation and erethism, and promotes 
secretion and excretion. In rheumatic conditions of the chest and in pleurodynia, it 
is valuable, especially if the pain be sharp, and is aggravated by motion. Its 
best results are observed in pleurisy. In simple pleuritis from cold aconite alone 
is sufficient; but that form of pleurisy which is insidious and complicated, is best 
treated with bryonia, and in the second stage it hastens the removal of effused 
material. In the so-called "bilious" pleurisy, with jaundice and a burning sensa- 
tion in the lungs, and tenacious mucous expectoration, it proves an excellent drug. 
In pleuro-pneumonia it may be given for its absorptive qualities. Bronchitis, with 
frothy, blood-streaked expectoration; pneumonia, with sharp pleuritic pain, or with 
harsh, harassing cough; and in cough aggravated or excited by talking, walking, 
or tickling in the throat, or by vomiting, it is always indicated. It is beneficial 
in typhoid pneumonia, but should be associated with baptisia. It is valuable in 
phthisis to control pain, lessen temperature, and to allay the troublesome cough. 
Probably no remedy, excepting gelsemium, was so frequently indicated to control 
cough and pain in the recent epidemics of "la grippe." In nearly all cases in 
which bryonia is employed it should be associated with aconite, veratrum, lobelia, 
or gelsemium, as indicated. As a remedy for cough, independent of broncho- 
pulmonary complications, it is valuable where the trouble originates in the 
larynx and trachea, especially that painful cough seemingly located between the 
suprasternal notch and the bifurcation of the trachea. Such a cough is irritative, 
and generally due to a nervous erethism, which is controlled by bryonia. The 
cough is dry, rasping, hacking, or explosive, and always attended with more or 
less tensive or sharp pains. But little, if any, secretion is present, unless it be a 
small quantity of white or brown, blood-streaked or clotted, frothy mucus. Tick- 
ling, irritative cough, aggravated by swallowing food, talking, or upon entering a 
warm room-the kind of cough produced by cold-is always benefited by bryonia. 
The bryonia condition is one of debility, and the patient perspires readily. It is 
a remedy for fevers, and will often control them when the special sedatives fail. 
Chilliness, with a sensation of tension, and that form of cutaneous weakness in 
which one easily sweats, upon movement, are the conditions for it. Add to this 
the peculiar bryonia pain, given above, and deepened color of mucous tissues, 
and full veins, evidencing capillary obstruction, frontal headache, dry tongue, and 
tendency to delirium-and the bryonia case is complete. 
"Aggravated by motion " has long been a phrase applied to bryonia cases, 
and so we find in these cases a lethargy induced more by a desire to remain quiet 
than one of dullness, as is noticeable when belladonna is required. The patient 
is languid, torpid, tired, and has little inclination to go about. A general defi- 
ciency of nervous balance is observable, and every effort tends to induce perspira- 
tion. With this may or may not be associated the bryonia headache, pain from 
the frontal region to the occipital base; thinking is an effort, and the patient is 
irritable if disturbed. Temperature is slightly increased, and the tissues con- 
tracted. When any special organ is affected, extreme tenderness and soreness is 
experienced upon pressure. Thus in hepatic disorders with jaundice, high-colored 
urine, and developing pain upon pressure, it is an excellent drug. Stitching, 
sticking, or cutting pains about the liver, as if the serous capsule were involved, 
also indicates bryonia. In acute rheumatism, especially where the joints are 
swollen and feel stiff, it is direct in its action, and is equally valuable in chronic 
cases; painful and stiff rheumatism of the spine in children, rheumatic headache, 
sharp, temporal pain, frontal headache, hemicrania, with tender scalp, and sharp, 
tearing pains, made worse by motion, are all conditions for this drug. According 
to Prof. Locke, it is an absolute specific in rheumatic swelling of the finger joints. It 
is a remedy for ovarian and menstrual wrongs, with soreness on pressure. Acute 
mammitis is usually controlled by phytolacca, but when very painful and with 
elevated temperature, and the mammary glands are swollen, tender, and knotted, 
bryonia and aconite should be associated with the former. 
Partial deafness from cold, or from scarlet fever with swollen glands; chronic 
orchitis, rheumatic paralysis, scrofulous conditions of the ears and eyes, and scrofulous 
ulcers and white swelling, with stinging, burning pain, are relieved by bryonia 
(Locke). Tensive pains in the ear in children call for bryonia. Prompt results 
were obtained from bryonia in an inveterate case of facial neuralgia of 6 years 
BRYONIA. 370 
BRYONIA. 
standing, by Prof. W. B. Scudder (Ec. Med. Jour., p. 144, 1894). The patient had 
a weak heart, and cold hands and feet, a countenance like one accustomed to 
morphine, and fugitive, lightning-like pain, involving the left side of the head 
and left eye, coming on at intervals of a half minute, and lasting a few seconds. 
So severe was the pain that the patient had to grasp a chair to support himself 
during the paroxysm. A peculiarity of the case was.a hyperaesthetic spot upon 
the upper lip and gum the size of a silver dollar, so sensitive that even the 
contact of a soft cloth could not be borne. Bryonia is the remedy for rheumatic 
iritis, with aching soreness upon movement of the eyeball; also in non-edematous 
puffiness of the upper eyelid. 
Bryonia seems to be a valuable heart tonic in weak and delicate individuals, 
who, by overwork and nervous excitation bring on a depressed and irregular 
heart-action (heart-strain} ; and even in organic heart troubles when exposure and 
rheumatic twinges bring on the cardiac paroxysm, bryonia, with rest in bed, is 
asserted to powerfully and rapidly influence the condition for good. 
In peritonitis the pain requiring bryonia is of the character of colic, but is 
marked by unusual tenderness and tension. Bryonia is valuable in pericarditis 
tending to hydropericardium, and in brain disorders with serous exudation. 
Bryonia should not be forgotten in ordinary indigestion, where the food lies 
heavily, as if a stone were in the stomach. Ordinary jaundice is often cured with 
it, and in typhoid fever, as soon as pulmonic complications ensue, the patient should 
be put upon bryonia. Some cases of infantile constipation are said to be benefited 
by bryonia, especially such as are due to gastric disorders arising from difficult 
digestion of cow's milk. It does not, however, benefit all cases. Scudder calls 
especial attention to its use in the abdominal tenderness and pain in typho-mala- 
rial fever, and zymotic diseases, and associated with ipecac or euphorbia in cholera 
infantum, with abdominal tension and tenderness, or articular pain and swelling 
(Dis. of Child., p. 31). 
Bryonia should never be given in large doses. The usual prescription reads 
Specific bryonia, gtt. v to x, aqua A^iv. Dose, a teaspoonful every 1 to 3 hours, 
as indicated. Some, however, and Prof. Locke particularly, prefer the first deci- 
mal dilution of specific bryonia, of which from 5 to 20 drops should be added to 
4 ounces of water, and the dose of which is 1 teaspoonful. Tincture of bryonia 
may be given in doses of a fraction of a drop to 1 drop. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Sharp, cutting, lancinating, or tearing pain, 
from serous inflammation; pain in serous cavities, with muscular tension and 
tenderness on pressure; tensive, sharp, tearing pain, with a sore feeling in any 
part of the body as if bruised, and always aggravated by motion; dry, sensitive 
skin; hard, moderately full, or hard, wiry, vibratile pulse, tensive rheumatic pain, 
made worse by motion; headache on right side, with flushed right cheek above 
malar bone (a prominent indication); frontal pain extending alongside of head 
to basilar region; hyperesthesia of face or scalp; head so sore that one cannot 
bear to be touched; pleuritic pain; neuralgic pain with hyperesthesia; irritative, 
hacking, rasping, or explosive cough, with soreness or bruised feeling of parts, 
and with laryngeal and suprasternal soreness and tenderness; abdominal pain 
with tenderness; ocular tenderness, increased by movement; tensive earache; 
articular and synovial pain, swelling, and tenderness; bowels constipated and 
urine scanty; burning in eyes and nose, with acrid nasal flow; apathy or leth- 
argy short of dullness, from disinclination to move on account of aggravation of 
condition; tired, weary feeling, too tired to think; disposition to perspire on the 
slightest movement. 
Related Species and Drugs.-Tayuya Root. This Brazilian root is said to be that of 
the Trianospernta ficifolia. It is proposed as a remedy for scrofula, tertiary, syphilis, dropsy, para- 
lysis, and stubborn skin diseases. Dose of tincture, 5 to 15 drops. 
Bryonia africana, Thunberg. South Africa. Used like bryonia. 
Bryonia americana, Lamarck. West Indies. Employed for same purposes as bryonia. 
Corallocarpus epigeea, Hooker filius (Bryonia epigsea, Rottl.). A native of Java, and con- 
siderably employed by the natives of India, where it is found also, as a valuable remedy for 
snakebites, dysentery, and syphilitic disorders. The tuber is somewhat turnip-shaped, large, often 
weighing 5 or 6 pounds, has a subacid, bitter taste and is mucilaginous. The viscid juice 
which exudes upon cutting the tuber hardens into an opalescent gum. The root is cathartic 
and anthelmintic. M. Jules Lepine, of Pondicherry, found in it a yellow bitter body refusing BUCH I'. 
371 
to crystallize, and thought to be probably indentical with bryonin (Dyinock, Mat. Med. of Western 
India). Bryonia laciniosa, Linne, also found in India, is aperient and tonic. The whole plant, 
in fruit, is used. 
BUCHU (U. S. P.)-BUCHU. 
"The leaves of Barosma betulina (Thunberg), Bartling et Wendland, and 
Barosma crenulata (Linne), Hooker"-(17. S. P). 
Nat. Ord.-Rutaceae. 
Common Name: Buchu. 
Illustrations: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 45, 46. 
The synonymy of the official plants yielding buchu is somewhat uncertain. 
The following are generally recognized : 
I. Barosma betulina, Bartling (Diosma crenata, De Candolle and others; Diosma 
betulina, Thunberg). 
II. Barosma crenulata, Hooker (Barosma crenata, Kunze; Diosma crenulata, 
Linne; Diosma crenata, Linne; Diosma odorata, De Candolle). 
Botanical Source.-The official buchu leaves are derived from plants which 
are chiefly differentiated from each other by their leaves. They are both slender, 
Smooth, perennial shrubs, having twiggy, somewhat angu- 
lar branches, of a purplish-brown color, and reach a height 
of from 2 to 3 feet. The flowers are white or pinkish. The 
leaves are opposite, or nearly so, and are almost sessile, or, 
at best, having but a very short petiole. Five upright 
carpels, each containing a single oblong, shining black 
seed, comprise the fruit. The leaves are conspicuously 
marked with oil glands appearing as pellucid spots. The 
leaves of other species also appear in commerce, conspicu- 
ous among which are those of the Barosma serrattfolia, 
Willdenow. 
History.-The plants yielding buchu are indigenous 
to Southern Africa, occupying a limited extent of terri- 
tory. According to Burchell they are odoriferous, and 
are, when powdered, used by the Hottentots under the 
name of Bookoo or Buku, for anointing their bodies. They 
likewise prepare a buchu brandy by distilling the leaves with wine, and which 
they employ as an efficient remedy in all affections of the stomach, bowels, and 
bladder; they also apply a decoction of the leaves to wounds. Buchu is said to 
have been introduced into medicine by a London drug firm (Reece & Co., in 1821), 
to whom a supply had been sent by Cape Colonists, who learned its uses from the 
Hottentots (Pharmacographia). Buchu leaves have a strong odor, resembling 
somewhat that of pennyroyal, and a corresponding taste. When held up to the 
light translucent dots may be observed, owing to the fact that the under surface 
of the leaves is beset with scattered glandular oil-points. If buchu leaves be pre- 
served with ordinary care, their odor will remain for some years. The long variety 
of buchu is occasionally adulterated with leaves of Empleurum serrulatum, Aiton 
(Rataceae), a shrub growing in the same locality with buchu. They have a dif- 
ferent odor from buchu, a bitter taste, are narrower than buchu leaves, and the 
oil-gland at the apex, present in B. serratifolia, is absent. Moreover, the adul- 
terant has leaves with an acute apex, while those of long buchu are truncate. 
The leaves of another species of the same order, the B. Eckloniana, Berg, has also 
been imported with true buchu. They are markedly crenate, have a rounded base, 
and are grown on pubescent twigs (Pharmacographia). 
Description.-Buchu is described in the U. S. P. as follows: "About 15 Mm. 
(| inch) long, roundish-obovate, with a rather wedge-shaped base, or varying 
between oval and obovate, obtuse, crenate or serrate, with a gland at the baae of 
each tooth, dull yellowish-green, thickish, pellucid-punctate; odor and taste 
strongly aromatic, somewhat mint-like, pungent and bitterish"-(U. S. P.). The 
two official species of buchu constitute the short (round) buchu of commerce. The 
leaves of the B. betulina compose the greater amount of this grade. They range 
from | to inch in length, and possess more rigidity than the second species. 
These leaves are obovate and wedge-shaped toward the petiole, and usually have 
Flg< 51, 
Buchu leaves. 372 
BUCHU. 
the apex curved backward. The margins are bordered with sharp serratures, an 
oil-gland being set at the base of each serrature. This variety varies somewhat in 
size and shape. The second species, B. crenulata, has longer leaves (from f to 1^ 
inch), which have a crenately serrulate margin, each indenture having an oil- 
gland situated at the bottom of it. They may be oval, oblong, or obovate, and 
are narrower than the preceding variety. The longer and large leaves constitute 
the commercial intermediate buchu. This species presents but little variation in 
the size and shape of its leaves. The long buchu of commerce is that derived from 
the Barosma serratifolia, Willdenow (Diosma serratifolia, Curtis), official in the 
U. S. P.,of 1880. These leaves differ considerably from the preceding, having a 
lance-linear form, irregularly narrowing towards each extremity, and have a trun- 
cate apex furnished with an oil-gland. They range from 1 to inch in length, 
and have a sharply serrulate margin, each serrature containing an oil-cell. 
Chemical Composition.-Buchu leaves have been analyzed by Brandes and 
Cadet de Gassicourt, and later by Fliickiger, Hanbury, and P. W. Bedford. Gassi- 
court found them to contain volatile oil (0.665 per cent), gum, extractive, chloro- 
phyll, resin, lignin, etc. The leaves also contain mucilage. Their virtues are 
chiefly due to the volatile oil and extractive, which they yield to alcohol, or 
water. The oil has a powerful penetrating odor, somewhat like that of pepper- 
mint. Different amounts of the volatile oil were obtained by the above-named 
investigators, that derived from the long buchu being of lesser quantity than that 
from the short leaves. According to Schimmel & Co. (Semi-Annual Report, Oct., 
1893), the percentage yield from B. betulina is 2 per cent, and from B. serratifolia 
1 per cent. On subjecting this volatile oil to a low temperature, a stearopten, 
known as diosphenol (C14H22O3), or barosma camphor separates, which may be recrys- 
tallized from alcohol in needles. When pure they are colorless, and, according to 
Fliickiger, have a nearly pure peppermint odor. They dissolve freely in carbon 
disulphide. Barosma camphor is present only in a small amount in the B. ser- 
ratifolia, while the B. betulina is very rich in diosphenol. The specific gravity of 
the oil from the last variety (B. betulina) is 0.944, at 15° C. (59° F.), while that 
from the B. serratifolia, after elimination of diosphenol, which separates at ordinary 
temperature, is 0.969, at 15° C. (59° F.) (Schimmel's Report). Diosphenol can not 
be distilled without decomposition. Both Brand and Landerer had observed 
bodies to which they gave the name diosmin. That of the former was a bitterish 
body, while that of the latter was probably the stearopten diosphenol, as he 
observed it in a tincture of buchu, which had been made for some length of time. 
Prof. E. F. Wayne obtained salicylic acid by distilling the leaves. Others have 
failed to find it. The ash of buchu leaves contains considerable manganese. 
Barosma crenulata was examined by Spica, who found an oil differing somewhat 
from that of the other observers, and the diosphenol obtained he regarded as an 
oxycamphor. From the greenish-yellow mint-like oil he obtained a body, the 
odor of which resembled thymol. To this body he applied the name dioscamphor. 
From the residue after the extraction of the oil he obtained, by means of alcohol, 
a substance to which he gave the name diosmin (Ph. J. TV., 1885). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Buchu is an aromatic stimulant and 
tonic. It promotes the appetite, relieves nausea and flatulence, and acts as a 
diuretic and diaphoretic. In favoring the urinary secretion it augments both the 
solid and watery constituents. On the other hand, when the kidneys are exces- 
sively active, their action is restrained by buchu. It is principally used in 
chronic diseases of the urino-genital organs, as in cases of chronic inflammation of 
the mucous membrane of the bladder, irritable conditions of the urethra, in urinary dis- 
charges with increased deposit of uric acid, and in incontinence connected with 
diseased prostate. Profuse muco, or muco-puruluent discharges, with vesico-renal 
irritation, point to its use. It is a remedy where irritation depends upon altered 
secretions from the urethral glands. Acid urine, with continual desire to urinate 
and when but little relief is experienced from the effort, calls for buchu. Catarrh 
of the bladder, from the extension of gonorrhoea, from irritant injections, or due to 
gleet, is relieved by it. Foi' this use, as well as for long-standing cystic irrita- 
bility, the patient having difficulty in restraining his urine, administer the follow- 
ing: R Specific barosma, fl^iiiss; tinct. chloride of iron, flgss. Mix. Sig. A 
teaspoonful 4 times a day in a wine-glassful of infusion of hops or in sweetened BUXUS. 
373 
water. Upon the prostate gland it is said to resemble thuja in its action, 
though it is less powerful than the latter. Some have found it beneficial in dys- 
peptic, cutaneous, and rheumatic affections. I do not, however, think it equal to 
many of our indigenous remedies, which are sadly neglected by the profession, in 
their eagerness for something at a distance from home. Were our native plants 
more closely investigated, there would be but little use for foreign, and conse- 
quently expensive agents (Prof. King). Under favorable circumstances a warm 
infusion of buchu leaves will cause diaphoresis. Dose of the powder, from 20 to 30 
grains, 2 or 3 times a day; of the infusion, 2 to 4 fluid ounces, 3 or 4 times a 
day; of the tincture, 1 to 2 fluid drachms; specific barosma, 10 to 60 drops, well 
diluted, from 3 to 6 times a day. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Abnormally acid urine, with constant 
desire to urinate, with but little relief from micturition ; vesico-renal irritation; 
copious mucous, or muco-purulent discharges; cystorrhoea. 
BUXUS.-BOX. 
The leaves of the Buxus sempervirens, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Euphorbiaceae. 
Common Name: Box. 
Botanical Source.- Buxus sempervirens is a small, dense-leaved, hard- 
wooded, evergreen tree. Its leaves are ovate, opposite, of a deep, shining green, 
becoming red in the autumn, quite smooth and entire, with the cuticle of the 
underside readily stripping off; the petioles and young branches are slightly 
downy; the flowers aggregate, axillary, and pale-yellow; the capsule is globular, 
3-horned, tricoccous, 6-seeded,and bursts elastically; the seeds are parallel, oblong, 
slightly compressed, and externally rounded (L.). 
History.-This is an exotic, though generally well-known plant, growing on 
dry, chalky hills in Europe, and the west of Asia. One variety of it, the B. suf- 
fruticosa (Dwarf-box'), with obovate leaves, and a stem scarcely woody, and which 
is much esteemed for borders along the walks of gardens, possesses similar medi- 
cinal virtues. It is of very slow growth, a tree 8 feet high must be 100 years old. 
The wood is yellow, very hard, and much used by wood-engravers for wood-cuts; 
also for other purposes. The leaves, which are the parts used, are bitter and 
nauseous, and impart their properties to water or alcohol. The bark has been 
used to some extent to adulterate pomegranate bark. 
Chemical Composition.-The bark of box-tree was found by M. Faure to 
contain among chlorophyll, wax, resin, gum, ash, etc., a bitter alkaloid, which he 
named buxine. This alkaloid was obtained by exhausting the powdered bark 
with alcohol, evaporating the liquid, dissolving the residue in water, and treating 
the solution with ammonia. The precipitate thus obtained was digested in alco- 
hol, which, being evaporated, left a dark-brown translucent mass, which is the bux- 
ine. It is bitter, causes sneezing, is insoluble in water, slightly so in ether, readily 
so in alcohol, and is difficult to obtain white, even when treated with animal 
charcoal. It colors red litmus blue, and forms neutral salts with acids. Nitric 
acid added to the sulphate of buxine, removes a resinous matter and leaves the 
sulphate of buxine pure; from this salt, pure buxine may be obtained in crystals. 
Buxine was shown by Walz (1860) to be apparently the same body as bebee- 
rine (from Nectandra Rodiaei, Schomburgk, or bebeeru bark), which observation 
was confirmed by Prof. Fliickiger (1869), who has further shown that both bebeerine 
and buxine do not differ essentially from pelosine, an alkaloid derived from both 
Cissampelos Pareira, Linne (Common False Pareira brava), and Chondodendron tomen- 
tosum, Ruiz et Pa von (True Pareira brava). A second alkaloid, discovered by Pavia, 
and investigated by Rotondi and Pavesi, received from the latter investigator 
the name parabuxine (C24H48N2O). Still another alkaloid, parabuxinidine, in the 
form of prisms, without color, and capable of producing a deep-red hue with tur- 
meric paper, has been announced by Barbaglia (A. J. P, 1885). It dissolves in 
alcohol and ether, but not in water. An alcoholic solution of oxalic acid yields a 
heavy crystalline precipitate with solutions of the alkaloid. Tannin is said to 
be present in the leaves, as well as a fetid volatile oil.. 374 
CACTUS 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Cathartic, sudorific, alterative, and an- 
thelmintic. It may be used, in syrup or extract, in all diseases where an altera- 
tive is required. In doses of 10 or 20 grains of the powdered leaves, it proves an 
excellent vermifuge. The dose of a strong decoction, or syrup, is from £ fluid 
ounce to 1 fluid ounce, 3 or 4 times a day. And in combination with the 
stillingia and corydalis, in the form of a syrup, it forms a very useful tonic and 
alterative in syphilis. Reputed to possess antispasmodic virtues, and to have 
been beneficially used in epilepsy, chorea, hysteria, etc., but requires further cor- 
roboration. Chips of the wood are said to have the same properties, and have 
been prescribed in secondary syphilitic diseases, and chronic rheumatism. A fetid 
empyreumatic oil, oleum buxi, was formerly prepared, but the use of which has 
become superseded by the preparations of guaiacum ; it has, however, been success- 
fully used in toothache. Camels who eat the leaves are said to become poisoned. 
CACTUS.-CACTUS. 
The fresh (green) stems and flowers of Cactus grandiflorus, Linne (Cercus 
grandiflorus, Miller and De Candolle). 
Common Names : Night-blooming cercus, Large-flowered cactus, Sweet-scented cactus, 
Vanilla cactus. 
Botanical Source.-Cactus grandiflorus is a creeping, rooting, fleshy shrub, 
having cylindrical or prismatic stems, with about 5 or 6 not very prominent 
angles, branching, and armed with clusters of 
small spines, arranged in radiated forms. The 
flowers are terminal and lateral, from the 
clusters of spines, very large, 8 to 12 inches in 
diameter, expanding at night, enduring for a 
few hours, and exhaling a vanilla-like odor. 
The petals are white, spreading, and shorter 
than the sepals; the sepals are linear-lanceo- 
late, brown without, and yellow7 within. The 
fruit, or berry, is ovate, covered with scaly 
tubercles, fleshy, and of an orange, or fine 
reddish color. The seeds are very small and 
acid. 
History.-Cactus grandiflorus (Cereus 
grandiflorus of De Candolle), Night-blooming 
cereus, also known by the names, Vanilla cac- 
tus, Sweet-scented cactus, Large-floxcered cactus, is 
indigenous to Mexico and the West Indies, 
and also grows in Naples, where it blooms in 
July. In Mexico it was, at one time, a popu- 
lar remedy for various diseases, as irritation 
of the kidneys and bladder, intermittent fever, difficulty in breathing, cough, 
etc. It is rarely met with in the higher temperate latitudes, where it is of diffi- 
cult culture. Night-blooming cereus is a handsome and very showy shrub. Its 
blossoms commence expanding about 6 or 7 o'clock in the evening, and are fully 
blown about midnight; but about 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning, they are quite 
decayed; during its continuance, however, there is scarcely any known flow'er of 
greater beauty. The perianth, when open, measures nearly a foot in diameter; 
the outer leaflets are of a dark-brown color, the inner ones are of a splendid yel- 
low, gradually shaded, toward the center of the flower, into a pure and brilliant 
white. These flowers are delightfully fragrant, and fill the air with odors to a 
considerable distance. When the flower has withered, the ovary enlarges and 
becomes pulpy, and forms an acid juicy fruit, having some resemblance to a 
gooseberry. The plant was introduced to the medical profession by Dr. Scheele, 
of Germany ; but little attention, however, was given to it, until Dr. R. Rubini, a 
Homoeopathic physician of Naples, brought it into especial notice as a remedy 
in heart diseases. The parts of the plant used in medicine are the flowers and 
young and tender stems, which should be gathered in July, and at once made 
Fig. 52. 
Cactus grandiflorus. 375 
into a tincture. The plant is mucilaginous, and when beaten in a mortar forms 
a viscid magma. No satisfactory analysis has been made of this plant, nor has 
it been satisfactorily ascertained whether the plant growing in its natural lati- 
tudes has any more .powerful action than that cultivated in higher tempersrte 
latitudes. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Cactus impresses the sympathetic 
nervous system, and is especially active in its power over the cardiac plexus. In 
sufficiently large doses it acts as an intense irritant to the cardiac ganglia, pro- 
ducing thereby irritability, hyperaesthesia, arythmia, spasm and neuralgia of the 
heart, and even carditis and pericarditis. According to E. M. Hale, M. D., it 
acts upon the circular cardiac fibers, whereas digitalis acts upon all the muscular 
fibers of the heart. Like the latter, as a secondary effect of over-stimulation, it 
may induce heart-failure. The tincture, in large doses, produces gastric irrita- 
tion, and also affects the brain, causing confusion of mind, hallucination, and 
slight delirium. In excessive doses, a quickened pulse, constrictive headache, or 
constrictive sensation in the chest, cardiac pain with palpitation, vertigo, dimness 
of sight, over-sensitiveness to noises, and a disposition to be sad or to imagine 
evil, are among its many nervous manifestations. Melancholia often follows such 
action. It is generally conceded, however, that the mental, cerebral, gastric, and 
other effects are secondary to and dependent largely upon the primary effects of 
the drug upon the heart. 
In medicinal doses, night-blooming cereus diminishes the frequency of the 
pulse, and increases the renal secretions, and is, therefore, sedative and diuretic. 
According to Prof. Scudder (Spec. Med.), it neither increases nor depresses inner- 
vation ; that it is neither stimulant nor sedative. Prof. Locke, on the other hand, 
believes it sedative, but not depressant (Syllab.of Mat. Med.). In such doses it 
does not appear to weaken the nervous system in the least. The special field for 
cactus is diseases of the heart, in which it exerts a very decided action, palliating or 
removing the symptoms, and frequently giving prompt relief. This influence 
upon the heart is manifested when the disorder is functional; organic conditions 
are only benefited in a measure. However, our Allopathic antagonists, who are 
generally skeptical regarding the virtues of plants which do not possess unusually 
powerful properties, consider cactus as a valuable agent in mitral regurgitation, 
due to valvular lesions. In our school, however, it is recognized chiefly as afunc- 
tional remedy, and one of the best of cardiac tonics. There is no doubt but that 
the continued use of the drug tends to increase cardiac nutrition and waste, and 
in this way may benefit cases with structural lesions. The influence of cactus is 
exerted wholly upon the sympathetic nervous system, through the superior cervi- 
cal ganglion, expending its force in regulating the action of the heart and con- 
trolling the cerebral circulation, thus giving increased nutrition to the brain. It 
is the remedy for almost all functional cardiac irregularities, as palpitation, pain, car- 
diac dyspnoea, intermission in rhythm, etc. Even in structural heart-wrongs, the 
majority of unpleasant symptoms are due to disordered innervation, and this 
condition is corrected by cactus. It does not seem to make any difference whether 
the heart-action be feeble, violent, or irregular, provided it be due to lack of 
innervation, associated with mental depression, or in excitable or nervous indi- 
viduals, the remedy relieves, because its tendency is to promote normal rythmic 
action of the cardiac muscle. In spasm of the heart-muscle, and in cardiac pain of a 
constrictive character, as if the organ were held with a strong band, it is the most 
prompt of all cardiac remedies. It is a good remedy in the heart troubles pro- 
duced by tobacco. In palpitation, angina pectoris, cardiac neuralgia, rheumatism, or 
hypertrophy, valvular disease, etc., it is of much benefit, often giving great relief, even 
in incurable cases. It has been likewise found serviceable in some cases of dropsy, 
and in tendency to, or in incipient apoplexy. Pulmonary hemorrhage, particularly 
that accompanying phthisis and in advanced interstitial pneumonia, prompt results 
may be expected from cactus. Its use should be associated with iron in anemic 
cases, with tonics where great debility exists, with antiscrofulous agents where 
there is a scrofulous disposition, etc. When associated with cardiac weakness 
and irregularities, and in so far as they depend upon these conditions, it has like- 
wise been found useful in cerebral congestion, mental derangements, rheumatism, 
inflammations of mucous membranes,prostatic diseases, irritable bladder, renal congestion, 
CACTUS. 376 
CACTUS. 
general dropsy, oedematous condition of the limbs, dysmenorrhoea, chronic bronchitis, etc. 
When a vigorous and healthy action of the heart obtains under its use these 
troubles pass away. 
Cactus is recommended in visual defects of an asthenopic character, and in 
exophthalmic goitre, due to functional heart disease; tinnitus aurium, from the same 
cause, is benefited by it. These eye and ear disorders are not benefited by it when 
the cardiac disorder is of an organic nature. 
The peculiar state of the nervous system in cardiac diseases, calling for 
cactus, is quite characteristic. There is a marked mental depression, often amount- 
ing to hypochondria and fear of impending death. Associated with these are 
pnecordial weight and oppression and difficult breathing. During the menstrual 
period and at the menopause, nervous women frequently experience unpleasant 
cardiac disturbances of a functional character. These are promptly relieved by 
cactus. For the nervous menstrual headache, Prof. Locke recommends: R Specific 
cactus, gtt. x to xxx; aqua, fl^iv. Mix. Sig. Dose, a teaspoonful 3 or 4 times 
a day. It has a marked control over the nervous system, somewhat like that 
of pulsatilla. 
The effects of cactus are permanent and not merely temporary. The nutri- 
tion of the heart is increased, the contractile power augmented, and the irregular 
movements regulated. 
The dose of tincture of cactus (plant, §iv to alcohol, 98 per cent, Oj) is from a 
fraction of a drop to 10 drops; of specific cactus, a fraction of a drop to 5 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses. - Impaired heart-action, whether feeble, 
violent, or irregular; cardiac disorder, with nervousness, praecordial oppression, 
anxiety, apprehension of danger, or death; hysteria; tobacco heart; nervous dis- 
orders, with heart complications. 
Related. Species.-Many species of the cactus family have been used for food and medi- 
cine ; others furnish acid fruits which yield a refreshing juice to thirsty travelers, while the 
seeds of some species have been roasted and made into bread. The Opuntias, growing wild in 
Texas, are roasted and fed to cattle, and it is recorded that horses and mules will crush with 
their hoofs various members of the order Cactaceae to obtain the acid juices, of which they are 
exceedingly fond. The following represent a few of the species which have been employed 
more or less as a medicine, or for some other economic purpose: 
Cactus fiagdliformis, Linne (Cereus fiagdliformis, Miller).- Red or pink Howers; stem- 
branches spiny, verrucose, 10-angled, slender, weak and prostrate, and many feet long. This 
plant has an acid juice and wooly fruit. Buchner (1836) found it to contain albumen, muci- 
lage, bimalate of calcium, and acetate of potassium. Its juice is said to possess anthelmintic 
properties. 
Cactus fimbriatus, (Cereusfimbriatus, De Candolle).-Stock 8 or 10-angled and erect; 
spines clustered; flowers rose-pink; and fruit red and acid. The juice of the plant is acrid. 
Cactus paniculatis, Lamarck (Cereus paniculatis, De Candolle).-Stock 4-angled; branches 
spiny and crenated. The whole plant is tree-like, and bears sweetish-acidulous, yellowish 
fruit (berry). 
Opuntia vulgaris, Miller (Cactus Opuntia, Linne). Prickly pear, Indian fig.-Stock prostrate, 
glaucous, with minute, scale-like leaves, a few spines and numerous bristles. The flowers 
are- large and yellow. The fruit ovoid, almost smooth, slightly bristly, crimson when mature, 
and edible, having a sweetish, acidulous taste. According to careful analysis by Miss De Graffe 
(A. J. P., 1896) neither alkaloids, glucosids, nor tannin occur in the fruit, but sugar is present 
in comparatively large amount. Used as a discutient, and the decoction is mucilaginous. 
Grows in the West Indies and from Connecticut to Texas, delighting in rocky situations. This 
species is said to effect the intestinal mucous surfaces and probably the abdominal nerves. 
Diarrhoea, with excessive nausea, is reputed to have been cured by Opuntia vulgaris. 
Melocactus communis, Link et Otto (Cactus Melocactus, Linne).-West Indies. Stock succu- 
lent, round-ovate, about a foot high, and from 12 to 18-ribbed, brown clustered spines; stock 
surmounted by what resembles a spadix, consisting chiefly of dense, woolly tufts, in the sum- 
mit of which are imbedded the small red blossoms. The bruised stems are employed as a 
discutient. The red berries of this and other species are said to impart a red color to the urine. 
Anhalonium Lewinii, Henning.-Habitat Mexico, where it is known as Muse,die buttons, and 
employed for narcotic purposes. Lew'in (1888) isolated an alkaloid, anhalonine (C12H15NO3). 
The anhalonium is said to grow on high chalk-cliffs and on almost inaccessible mountain 
peaks. Anhalonine paralyzes the spinal-cord, and increases reflex action, and may produce 
tetanic symptoms. Vomiting is induced by small doses of it. The fruit has a somewhat 
prolonged intoxicant action. Anhalonium is reputed a cardiac tonic, and is said also to 
be a remedy for all forms of dyspnoea (?), and of value in angina pectoris, to control the painful 
paroxysms. 
Mammillaria simplex, Haworth (Cactus mammillaris, Linn4).-Stock ovate-oblong, simple, 
studded with tubercular mammillae, having spines, and bearing white flowers and red fruit. CADMII I0DIDUM. 
377 
CADMII IODIDUM.-CADMIUM IODIDE. 
Formula: Cdl2. Molecular Weight: 364.56. 
Synonyms: lodidum cadmicum, Cadmium iodatum. 
Preparation.-Cadmium combines readily with iodine, either by heating the 
two substances together, or by boiling them in water till a solution is obtained. 
By evaporating this solution the iodide of cadmium crystallizes in 6-sided prisms. 
It may also be prepared by the double decomposition of 4 parts of iodide of 
potassium and 3 parts of sulphate of cadmium, and crystallizing from alcohol 
(absolute). It may further be made by dissolving cadmium in hydriodic acid. 
Description.-Cadmium iodide crystals are white, with a silvery-satin or 
pearly luster resembling fish scales, transparent, permanent in the air, and melt 
very easily at 315.5° C. (600° F.), forming a liquid of an amber color. Strongly 
heated, the iodine is driven off. They are soluble in water and alcohol, from 
which solutions they are precipitated by the alkaline carbonates, furnishing car- 
bonate of cadmium. With starch and chlorine, cadmium iodide yields a blue 
color, and with sulphide of hydrogen, a yellow precipitate. Its solution in water 
is of acid reaction. It is extensively employed by photographers. 
Action and Medical Uses.-(For action, see Cadmium). Iodide of cadmium 
has been used as a substitute for iodide of lead, in external applications. It is 
said to produce the same beneficial effects as the latter agent, without any of its 
deleterious effects. It may be dissolved in glycerin, and must be applied by fric- 
tion, in order to produce any effect. An ointment composed of 1 part of iodide 
of cadmium to 8 parts of lard has been found very useful in chilblains, some 
forms of cutaneous disease, chronic inflammatory affections of the joints, various forms 
of nodes, scrofulous tumors, etc. 
Cadmium and its Compounds.-Cadmium. Symbol: Cd. Atomic weight: 111.8. This 
metallic element was discovered by Stromeyer and Hermann about the year 1818. It usually 
occurs associated with the oxide of zinc obtained in the manufacture of this metal, fiom 
which it is separated as indicated below. It occurs native in Scotland as greenockite, a sulphide 
of cadmium. It resembles zinc in many of its physical and chemical characteristics. It dif- 
fers, however, from zinc in forming with sulphide of hydrogen a yellow precipitate, which, 
like zinc sulphide, dissolves in diluted acids, but is insoluble in potassium cyanide solution. 
Cadmium may be obtained by dissolving in diluted hydrochloric or sulphuric acid, the zinc 
ore containing it, or the oxides resulting from the manufacture of zinc, and then precipitating 
the cadmium with zinc. It may also be prepared by taking the solutions in acids, and prer 
cipitating cadmium sulphide by means of hydrogen sulphide, zinc sulphide remaining in 
solution. The yellow product is then dissolved in concentrated chlorhydric acid, a precipitate 
produced by adding carbonate of ammonium in excess, and finally distilling the well-washed 
and dried precipitate with lampblack. Cadmium has a white color, with a slight bluish-gray 
tinge, is soft, very malleable, crystallizes in regular octahedrons, is very fusible, melting before 
it becomes red hot, and at a temperature somewhat higher than the boiling point of mercury. 
It is volatile, collecting in drops and crystallizing as it cools. Cadmium breaks with a fibrous 
fracture, and may be rolled out as foil or drawn as wire, and when bent, crepitates like tin. Its 
density (molten) is 8.546, and (hammered) 8.667. Nitric acid, also hydrochloric and hydriodic 
acids, readily dissolve it. Its dark-yellow vapor burns with a deep-red flame. Its solutions in 
acids yield a characteristic yellow precipitate (CdS), with hydrogen (or ammonium) sulphide; 
insoluble in yellow ammonium sulphide (difference from arsenic). White precipitates are 
obtained with alkaline hydroxides, phosphates, soluble carbonated alkalies, oxalates, and 
yellow prussiate of potash. Zinc and copper are apt to be present as impurities. Cadmium 
salts, which are soluble, are powerful agents, producing vomiting, purging, slow pulsation, slow 
respiration, vertigo, prostration, insensibility, and painful convulsions. Simpson compared 
their effects to those of antimony, while Garrod, who introduced the iodide into practice, 
thought them mo're nearly related to ziac salts. 
Cadmii Sulphas, Sulphate of cadmium, Sulphas cadmicus, Cadmium sulphuricum (3CdSO4 + 
8H2O) =768.64).-This salt may be obtained by dissolving carbonate of cadmium, obtained by 
first making a solution of cadmium nitrate, and precipitating by the addition of sodium carbon- 
ate in diluted sulphuric acid, and evaporating the neutral liquid to crystallization; or, by dis- 
solving 7 parts of cadmium in a mixture of 61 parts of sulphuric acid, 15 parts of water, and a 
small portion of nitric acid. Evaporate the solution to dryness, dissolve the residuum in dis- 
tilled water, filter, and evaporate to form crystals. This salt crystallizes in large, transparent, 
rectangular prisms, similar in appearance to sulphate of zinc. They are very soluble in water, 
effloresce strongly when exposed to the air, lose their water of crystallization at a low heat 
without fusing, and at a strong red heat are changed into tabular crystals of subsulphate of 
cadmium, which are not very soluble in water. Their taste is astringent and metallic. Its 
aqueous solution has an acid reaction. 378 
The effects of sulphate of cadmium on the system are said to resemble those of sul- 
phate of zinc, but are 10 times more active. Internally | grain has produced a copious flow of 
saliva, nausea, vomiting, and pain. It has been recommended as an irritant and astringent 
topical application in affections of the eye, specks and opacities of the cornea, etc. As an application 
in chronic ophthalmia, from A grain to 4 grains may be dissolved in a fluid ounce of water; in 
otorrhoea the solution may be made of double the above strength. In specks on the cornea, an 
ointment has been used, composed of 1 or 2 grains of the sulphate to 80 grains of prepared 
lard. Cadmium bromide, largely employed in photography, was formerly used in epilepsy by 
Roux, but was abandoned on account of its emetic effects. Two women were poisoned with 
it, the agent producing severe gastro-intestinal disturbances. Cadmium carbonate has poisoned 
the operator by inhalation, while he was using it to polish silver. 
CAFFEA. 
CAFFEA.-Coffee. 
The seeds of Coffea arabica, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Rubiacese. 
Common Name: Coffee. 
Illustrations: Kohler's Medicinal-Pflanzen, Plate 106. Bentley and Trimen, 
Med. Plants, 144. 
Botanical Source.-(See Cultivation and Collection). 
History and Description.-The coffee plant is a native of Arabia Felix and 
Ethiopia, and is extensively cultivated in Asia and America between the north 
and south latitudes of 56°. The plant is propagated 
from the seeds, which sprout in 3 or 4 weeks, and are 
sufficiently advanced in the course of 12 months for 
transposition. The fruit appears in about 3 years, and 
the ripening of the seeds may be known by the dark- 
red color of the berries, when they must be gathered, 
else they will fall spontaneously. The fleshy part is 
removed from the seeds by certain apparatus, and their 
thin covering is detached after drying. There are many 
varieties of coffee, the characters of which depend upon 
the soil, the locality and the method of cultivation. 
The origin of its employment is still surrounded with 
many obscurities. The Mocha coffee is esteemed the best, 
and the Java next; but the coffee consumed in this 
country is chiefly furnished from Brazil, Demarara, 
Jamaica, and other West India islands. Good coffee 
should be firm and solid, and heavier than water, in which it immediately sinks; 
a blackish-colored coffee, not compact, and floating on water, is an inferior article. 
Mocha coffee comes from Arabia, in small, yellowish, and almost round grains, and 
emits an agreeable odor when properly roasted. Zanzibar is frequently sold under 
the name of Mocha ; its bean is rather small, its color the same, a little paler, of a 
light-yellow, slightly greenish; the grains are irregular, round, like those of 
Mocha, sometimes compressed like those of the Bourbon coffee ; the odor and taste 
after torrefaction are like those of good Mocha. Martinique, a very good kind of 
coffee, presenting large, elongated grains, of a persistent greenish color, and covered 
with a silvery pellicle, which separates upon roasting; the longitudinal furrow is 
quite marked and very open. The coffee is rich in active principles, and has an 
agreeable odor on roasting. Hayti and Porto Rico are in more irregular grains, of 
a clearer green color, rarely provided with a pellicle. Taste and odor less agree- 
able than the preceding. Bourbon, or Coffee of the Reunion, is somewhat like the 
Mocha, but it is larger, not so round, equally yellowish, but less perfect in the agree- 
ableness of Its odor upon roasting. The inferior kinds of coffee improve by keep- 
ing, and if kept for several years before roasting, they yield a much more fragrant 
and agreeable infusion than when roasted shortly after they have been gathered. 
Coffee has a feeble, characteristic odor, and a rough, sweetish, peculiar taste. 
A distinct species of coffee shrub is cultivated in Liberia. It is the Coffea 
liberica, Hiern. It has been introduced into the isles of the Indian Ocean, and is 
said to be less prone to plant disease than the common coffee shrub. 
According to Dr. Stenhouse, the dried waves of coffee, roasted, form a very 
agreeable infusion, and which may be used as a substitute for tea and coffee. 
Fig. 53. 
Coftea arabica. CAFFEA. 
379 
They contain a much larger amount of caffeine than the coffee-bean, with caffeic 
acid, and the thought was at one time entertained that they would be extensively 
used in the same manner as tea. According to James Motley, Esq., the natives 
of Sumatra cultivate the coffee plant extensively, but use only the leaves, entirely 
neglecting the berries. They are fastened upon strips of bamboo, held over a 
clear blazing fire, until they acquire a rich, brownish-green color, and become 
perfectly crisp and brittle, then powdered and infused in boiling water, forming 
a dark-brown liquid of the odor of tea, but the flavor of a mixture of tea and 
coffee. This is much used by them as a beverage. 
Roasted coffee is a powerful deodorizer, destroying the effluvia from decom- 
posed animal and vegetable matter. 
Cultivation and Collection.-The following excellent paper, by Mr. C. G. 
Lloyd, is here inserted in full by permission of the author, showing the modes of 
raising and gathering coffee in the West Indies, as described by the author in 1892 : 
The Cultivation of Coffee in Jamaica.-"The island of Jamaica ex- 
ports each year between 800,000 and 900,000 pounds of coffee, valued last year at 
$1,360,000, and the product was last year 15.7 per cent of the total exports from 
the island-. In former years the great bulk of the coffee went to England; thus 
only 10 years ago, England got 73 per cent, while the United States only received 
13 percent; but beginning with 1884, the States have taken a large proportion 
of the product, and last year received 45 per cent, the year before 57 per cent. 
I am very sorry to have to report, however, that the United States only gets the 
poorer grades, the English paying a better price for the choice grades. The best 
coffee of the island is raised on the Blue Mountains, in the parishes of St. Andrew 
and St. Thomas, the eastern end of the island, which coffee almost entirely goes 
to England. I am informed by the planters of Manchester parish, who sort their 
coffee, that their best grades, also, go to England. 
"Jamaica (and also Hayti) coffee is of an average good quality, a little 
stronger than Java or Mocha, but not so strong and rank as the Rio. I presume 
every one who knows nothing of the subject, has an idea how coffee grows, even if 
it is erroneous. We naturally imagine that it grows on trees like cherries, and I 
had expected to see a coffee plantation look like a cherry orchard. (My impres- 
sions had been formed from the picture, plate 10, of the recent French work "Plantes 
Medieinales" of Dujardin-Beaumetz and Egasse. This plate is so grossly inac- 
curate, not only in regard to the character and apparent size of the coffee tree, 
but also to the size, shape, color, and cluster of the berries, that it is a discredit 
to that otherwise very excellent work. A good illustration of a coffee branch is 
plate 106 of the German work lately completed, Kohler's Medicinal-Pflanzen Atlas'). 
When I left Kingston by rail for the interior of the island, a couple of weeks 
before Christmas, having been told that the coffee berries were then ripe, I kept 
a sharp lookout for the coffee trees, but saw nothing that I could take for them. 
On arriving at the station, I walked along the single road or street of the little 
village of negro huts, and chancing to stop by the side of a copse of tangled 
bushes, which I took for a wild growth, I noticed a few coffee berries on the ground 
under the bushes, and, oil investigating, found that these bushes were coffee shrubs. 
I tried to think of what they reminded me at home, and nothing conveys to my 
mind a closer comparison than a tangled undergrowth of Wahoo shrubs. 
"The bulk of the coffee of Jamaica is raised by small growers-negroes, who 
own from | to 5 acres of ground, and who plant the shrub around the place with- 
out any order or system whatever, and apparently give the shrub no attention, 
excepting to break off occasionally the tops when they get too high, or to cut off 
a few dead branches. In the statistics of the island, where the estates are specified 
which raise 50 acres or more of coffee, only 30 estates are named, comprising 
about 3,0^0 acres, while the acreage of small holders, less than 50 acres, is nearly 
18,000. These small growers, of course, for the most part have no machinery for 
preparing or sorting the coffee. Almost every negro hut in the coffee districts 
has in the yard what they call a "barbicue." It is a flat drying surface, built 
where the sun will strike it, and reminds one of a square tray on a large scale, 
built of brick with raised edges and cemented smooth. The usual size is from 
12 to 20 feet square. The negroes gather the coffee berries when they get ripe, a 
few each week, somewhat like we would pick gooseberries, one at a time. They 380 
CAFFEA. 
put the berries into a wooden mortar and beat them, which separates the outer 
skins, which are washed away in buckets of water. The seeds are then put on 
the "barbicue" to dry. Without a close examination at this stage the product 
resembles large grains of coffee mixed with the imperfectly separated outer skins, 
but on closer observation we notice that each grain of coffee is enclosed in a thick, 
tough, cartilaginous skin. When the coffee has been dried on the " barbicue " 
this skin becomes brittle, and the negroes again beat it in the mortar to hull it 
out of this skin. Then the seeds are picked over by hand, the better part of 
them being sold to the little stores throughout the country, which we notice 
with the sign out, " Licensed to deal in agricultural products," and which pay 
Her Majesty's government 2 pounds each per year for the privilege. These small 
storekeepers send it to Kingston, from whence it is shipped abroad. Coffee mer- 
chants in Kingston and some of the merchants in the smaller towns, sort the 
coffee into grades according to size and weight of the berry. Most of the sorting 
is done by hand, though some have sizing machines, as described further on. 
"On coffee plantations the same process is gone through, but on a larger 
scale, more systematic, and with the aid of machinery. The coffee shrub thrives 
best on new land, hence the portion of the plantation devoted to coffee growth is 
virgin soil cleared of its forest for this purpose. 
"Around Mandeville, in Manchester parish, the land is now almost all pastur- 
age, and I am told that the whole of it was originally cleared off for the growth 
of coffee many years ago in slave times, and having raised its crops of coffee and 
exhausted the ground for this purpose, it was sown in Guinea grass and used for 
grazing. To establish a coffee plantation the land is cleared of its trees, burnt 
over, and cleaned up. Then it is laid out by pegs into squares of 6 feet, and 
young coffee sprouts about a foot high are planted near each peg. These sprouts 
are generally obtained from beneath old shrubs, and are adventitious growths 
from seed dropped from the shrub, though sometimes nurseries are established for 
raising the young sprouts from planted seed. In these tropical regions, weeds 
and vines and wild growths of all kinds spring up very quickly, and with these 
the planter is constantly at war. Four times a year, at least, the fields should be 
gone over with a hoe and the weeds cut down. In 3 or 4 years the young coffee 
plants begin to bear, and the shrubs continue giving crops for about 30 years. 
The shrub, if left to grow, would reach the height of 12 to 15 feet, but on a plan- 
tation they are topped when about 4 feet high, and kept to about this height by 
breaking off the tops and such suckers as appear. The branches are slender, and 
when the shrubs are not crowded, spread nearly horizontal. The leaves are ever- 
green (as, indeed, are most of the shrubs and trees in the tropics), of a firm text- 
ure, smooth and shiny above. They are opposite, oval, entire, and borne on short 
petioles about 4 an inch long. They are 3 to 5 inches long, 2 to 3 inches wide, 
and are terminated by acuminate points. 
"The flowers are white, borne in clusters of 3 to 6 in the axes of the leaves, 
and are exceedingly fragrant. The petals are 5, slender, spreading. The shrubs 
begin to blossom in February and continue in flower up to May; the fullest bloom 
is in March and April. Coffee does not blossom as our fruit trees, all at once, and 
go out of bloom in a week or two, but continues to bloom for about 4 months, and 
the crop in consequence ripens through the same length of time, and the planters 
are thus enabled to gather and care for it to better advantage than if it all ripened 
at once. The coffee season lasts from September to December, September and 
October being the principal months. The coffee berries are borne on short stalks 
in clusters of 3 to 6 in the axis of the leaves. When ripe they are about the size 
of cherries, but are oval (not globular), and slightly compressed on the side. Each 
berry consists of 2 seeds (familar to us as the green coffee of commerce), each seed 
enclosed in a thick, tough white skin, called the parchment skin, placed in the 
berry with 3 flat surfaces together, and surrounded with a small quantity of 
sweetened pulp, the whole enclosed in a thick skin like a Malaga grape. The 
color of the skin, when ripe, is red, not a bright red, like a cherry, but a pale, 
dull red. 
" The berries are picked by negro and coolie women, who go over the coffee 
shrubs, picking the ripe berries into baskets, and are paid by measure. The price 
varies according to abundance of the berries, but is regulated so that a woman 381 
CzlFFEA. 
makes about 9 pence (18 cents) a day. Rats are very fond of the sweetish pulp 
that surrounds the coffee grains, and they climb the shrubs and gnaw off a great 
many berries. Birds are also said to pick them, and lizards-which are very 
numerous in Jamaica-are also charged with despoiling the fruit. This "rat" 
coffee is picked from the ground by the women, and comprises about £ of the 
crop. It furnishes a larger proportion of heavy grains than the berries gathered 
from the shrubs, as the rats are credited with selecting the largest and best berries, 
and it is kept separate in all subsequent operations. As the bulk of this coffee is 
supposed to be gnawed off' by the rats, all coffee picked from the ground is called 
"rat coffee." It costs about double to gather it as when picked from the shrubs. 
"The women bring the berries to the works, where they are measured and 
paid for by the " Busher," as the overseer of a coffee plantation is called. To pre- 
pare the coffee for market the berries are first run through a machine called the 
" pulper," which tears off the outer skins and pulp. A " pulper" is simply a large 
cylindrical wheel about 3 feet in diameter and 2 feet long, covered with corru- 
gated iron, like a nutmeg grater, and arranged so that it revolves so close to 
another corrugated iron surface that the berries can not go through entire, but 
are caught by the rough surfaces and torn to pieces, the skins and pulp being 
carried through, the seed dropping beneath into a tank of water. The water 
serves to wash the grains, and also to separate the light from the heavy coffee; the 
former floating, are skimmed off; the latter sinking, are taken from the tank after 
the water is drawn away. Heavy coffee is much the better grade, and it is kept 
separate from the light in all subsequent operations. At this stage the coffee 
seeds are still enclosed in the "parchment skins," which are tough and can not 
be separated from the seeds when green; hence the next process is to thoroughly 
dry the seed in order to make the "parchment skins" brittle so they can be hulled 
off. For this purpose the seeds are spread on " barbicues" similar to those previ- 
ously described, only, of course, on a larger scale. The " barbicues " of an ordi- 
nary sized plantation cover about an acre of ground, and are usually built on 
sloping ground and terraced. When it threatens a shower, and every evening to 
protect it from the rain and dews (which are heavy in the tropics), the coffee is 
raked into a pile in the center of each barbicue and covered with a wooden cover- 
shaped hopper. From 10 days to 2 weeks' exposure to the sun on the "barbicue " 
will dry the seeds so that they can be hulled. The "huller" is a large wooden 
wheel arranged to revolve like the wheel we see in brick-yards, but running in a 
circular narrow trough. The coffee is placed in this trough, and the wheel con- 
stantly running over it breaks off the brittle " parchment skins," being heavy 
enough for this purpose, but not so heavy as to crush the seeds. The coffee seeds 
are separated from the broken " parchment skins," called trash at this stage, by 
being run through a " fanner," similar to the fans of our threshing machines, 
which blows off the trash. There still remain closely adhering to many grains of 
coffee thin light gray skins called "silver skins,''which would hardly be noticed 
by the ordinary observer. To remove these skins and brighten the grains of cof- 
fee, it is further dried in the warehouse for 2 or 3 weeks, and again put through 
the " huller " and " fanner." The next step is to separate the " pea-berry coffee." 
A small percentage of the coffee berries, instead of containing the normal 2 seeds, 
have by abortion only a single seed. The grains of these single-seeded berries, 
instead of having a flat face, are rounded, and are called "pea berries." These 
"pea berries" are heavy and of the best quality, and bring a better price than 
the best grade of flat-faced grains. To separate them the coffee is run into a cloth 
belt slowly revolving at a slight inclined plane, the flat-faced grains being carried 
over the top, the rounded "pea berries" rolling off the bottom. 
" The coffee is next graded according to the size of the grains by being run 
through a "sizer." This is a cylindrical screen, consisting of 4 sections of dif- 
ferent sized meshes, the smallest holes near the top. The screen revolves at an 
incline, and the different-sized grains drop through the various sections according 
to size into bins beneath, the largest grained and best grade being carried through 
the cylinder. Finally the coffee is given to women who spread it on a table and 
pick out all the deformed or broken grains, which are called the "fringe." The 
best grades of coffee are put in tierces holding about 800 pounds, and mostly 
shipped to England. The poorer grades and "fringe" are put into barrels or 382 
CAFFEA. 
bags for this country. I have given a description of the machinery which I saw 
in operation on the plantations. There are improved machines, I am told, but 
they are said to furnish no better results than the old ones. In concluding this 
article, I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness for information and other courte- 
sies to John H. Nosworthy, the "Busher" of Somerset Plantation." 
Chemical Composition.-Konig (Die menschl. Nahr. und Genussmittel, 3d ed., 
1893), enumerates the following constituents of raw coffee beans, with percent- 
age added: Water, 11.23; nitrogenous matter, 12.07; caffeine, 1.21; fat, 12.27; 
sugar, 8.55; nitrogen, free extractive matter, 33.79; woody fiber, 18.17; ash, 3.92. 
Earlier analyses, e. g., that of Payen, have also demonstrated the presence of 
0.003 per cent of essential oil. The amount of caffeine (C8H10N4O2+H2O), which 
is the most important constituent of the coffee bean (see Caffeina), seems to vary 
in the different specimens examined, from 0.23 to 2 per cent, and more, according 
to older analyses. More recently, however, Paul and Cownley have observed a 
marked uniformity in the amount of caffeine in 4 specimens analyzed, varying 
only from 1.10 to 1.28 per cent (Amer. Jour. Ph arm., 1887). Coffee is also stated to 
contain a small portion of citric acid. Another important constituent is caffeo- 
tannic acid (Ci5Hi8O8) (which is probably the same as Payen's chlorogenic acid). 
Hlasiwetz has shown this compound to be a glucosid, capable of being decom- 
posed by prolonged boiling with caustic potash in excess, and afterward treating 
the solution with sulphuric acid, the process yielding caffeic acid (C9H8O4), and 
grape sugar. To caflfeo-tannic acid Hlasiwetz assigns the formula CUH8O7. Caffeic 
acid (Hlasiwetz), forms pale-yellow crystals, yielding, as a rule, salts of the same 
color. When submitted to a roasting temperature the characteristic aroma of 
roasted coffee is evolved. Caffeo-tannic acid is an amorphous body, somewhat 
gum-like, soluble in water, and both this compound and caffeic acid yield proto- 
catechuic acid (C7H6O4), when melted with caustic potash. It yields a green color 
with ferric chloride, but is not precipitated by gelatin. 
The caffeic acid isolated by Stenhouse from coffee leaves, in 1854, is probably 
identical with the kinic acid obtained later by Zwenger and Siebert (in 1861), 
from Java coffee. The latter, by oxidation with sulphuric acid and dioxide of 
manganese, yielded kinone (quinone). The viridenic acid of Rochleder (1848), is 
thought to be a mixture of several acids. 
By roasting, coffee acquires new properties; it expands considerably, becomes 
lighter by 16 or 18 per cent, has a peculiar, agreeable odor imparted to it, and a 
bitterish, aromatic taste, owing to the products of the torrefaction, viz., a brown, 
aromatic oil, and a brown, bitter principle; the caffeine volatilizes to a slight 
extent. Paul and Cownley have shown that the amount of caffeine in roasted 
coffee is fairly constant, about 1.3 per cent. Palmitic, acetic, and carbonic acids 
are found among the products when coffee is roasted in a closed vessel. Methyl- 
amine, pyrrol, acetone, and hydroquinone, are also produced, as well as caffeol. 
The flavor of coffee depends upon its minute quantity of aromatic, volatile oil, 
caffeol (C8H10O2), and if the roasting process is carried too far, this is dissipated, 
and the coffee then becomes bitter, without the aroma. The reactions of caffeol 
point to its being identical with saligenin methyl-ether. The roasting of coffee 
should be effected by a gentle heat, carefully watching the process, not driving it 
too rapidly; the coffee must be removed as soon as it becomes of a russet tint, 
friable, and emitting an agreeable aroma. Different qualities of coffee should 
never be roasted together, but each one separately, as one may require such a 
length of time for proper torrefaction as would either destroy the desired proper- 
ties of the other, or, fail to develop them. To make a superior infusion, the 
grains should be roasted only as required for use, be at once ground, or pounded, 
then have boiling water poured upon the powder, in a proper vessel, the whole 
set over a fire and allowed to remain until the liquid begins to boil. Let it stand 
a couple of minutes after removal from the fire, and it is ready for use. Or, 
it may be made by percolation with boiling water. The soluble materials of 
coffee furnish the aromatic and bitter principles, for when coffee, not roasted, is 
exhausted by water and then roasted, it fails to impart these principles to boiling 
water. Roasted coffee should be of a chocolate color, should be used soon after 
roasting, and should be ground only as wanted, as otherwise it loses nearly all of 
its flavor and activity. 383 
CAFFEA. 
Adulterations.-Roasted corn, peas, beans, oats, rye, or potatoes, when added 
to coffee, may be known by the deep-blue, blackish-blue, or purplish-red color, 
which a solution of iodine imparts to the infusion; pure and roasted coffee in 
infusion is rendered of a deeper reddish-brown tint by the iodine (see Chicory'). A 
few drops of tincture of chloride of iron, added to an infusion of coffee berries, gives 
a sap-green color and are recommended as a test for the genuineness of essence of 
coffee. Whole coffee is most generally adulterated by mixing it with the inferior 
grades of berries variously pigmented with coloring agents. Coffee made of clays 
and other like substances may be detected by the absence of pieces of the tegumen- 
tary structures, and by having no deep furrow on the face of the berry. Ground 
coffee has been adulterated with ground roasted dandelion root, besides the amyla- 
ceous bodies above mentioned. The husks of coffee-seed, which contain a con- 
siderable amount of the active constituent, have been sold as sultan or sacca coffee. 
The flavor of coffee is materially improved when it contains the seed pericarps. 
They should be distinguished from the fruit pericarp, which contains no caffeine. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-An infusion of roasted coffee is an 
agreeable stimulant, anti-soporific, and anti-emetic. It produces a mild, stimu- 
lating influence upon the organs of digestion, facilitating digestion, augmenting 
the biliary flow, and increasing peristalsis, thus favoring a free action from the 
bowels. It slightly accelerates the circulation; taken too freely, it impairs the 
nervous and digestive systems. The nervous symptoms are usually irritability, 
dejected spirits, weakness, trembling, watchfulness, mental confusion, headache, 
dizziness,and ringing noises in the ears; the gastric effects are flatulence, acidity, 
pyrosis, and bitter and sourish eructations, as well as disorders of the bowels. 
On the other hand, if one is accustomed to moderate amounts of the beverage, 
which aids digestion, headache will result if the coffee be withdrawn. Black 
coffee removes that drowsiness which is apt to follow a heavy dinner. A cup of 
strong coffee will cause a degree of wakefulness for several hours, and will fre- 
quently overcome the soporific or intoxicating effects of opium, morphine, or 
alcohol. In delirium tremens strong black coffee acts as a good and valuable hypo- 
sthenisant. In poisoning from opium it should always be given. 
Prof. Lehman considers coffee to increase the activity of the vascular and 
nervous systems, while at the same time it retards the metamorphosis of plastic 
constituents; and which effects are owing chiefly to its empyreumatic, volatile 
oil. C. Voit, from more recent experiments, instituted by himself upon a dog, is 
led to infer that coffee rather increases the metamorphosis of nitrogenous tissue, 
and the excretion of urea,* and attributes its principal effects to its action on the 
nervous system, and not to its influence on tlie tissue changes. The question as 
to whether coffee and its alkaloid hastens or retards tissue metamorphosis, is still 
a mooted one, but the preponderance of evidence is in favor of declaring it a 
restrainer of tissue changes, acting thereby as a conservator of force. 
With regard to the influence of coffee upon the circulation, there is a discord- 
ance among authors, probably depending upon the quantity used, and the condi- 
tions under which it has been administered. In moderate quantity it increases 
the pulsations from 5 to 10 beats or more. M. Jomand, who experimented care- 
fully upon himself, found it, in an elevated dose, to diminish the pulsations from 
84 to 75. It moderates digestion, removing the sense of fullness and heaviness 
after meals; diminishes the sense of hunger, and powerfully aids in supporting 
abstinence. It lessens the amount of urea and phosphoric acid in the urine, as 
well as diminishes the quantity of carbonic acid gas, evacuated in the 24 hours, 
and has the.power of retarding the disintegration of the constituents of the 
animal frame. It is an active diuretic, especially when its action is seconded by 
a white wine rich in carbonate of potassium. With some it regulates the bowels. 
It renders motility and exercise more energetic, and diminishes the sensation of 
fatigue. It produces wakefulness without being followed by fatigue, and influ- 
ences the brain so that one acquires an unexpected facility for intellectual labor, 
conversation, etc. But when coffee is used in excess, or when only its bitter and 
other principles are employed, too long boiling having driven off its aroma, it 
proves decidedly injurious. 
Some individuals, from the excessive amounts of coffee ingested, suffer from 
what may be aptly termed chronic coffee poisoning. The chief symptoms are a 384 
CAFFEA. 
pallid or dusky skin with emaciation, dull, expressionless features, sometimes 
swollen, and again looking prematurely old. Dilated pupils and a glassy stare 
are observed, and both the tongue and lips tremble in talking. Sleeplessness or 
disturbed sleep supervenes, the appetite is poor, digestion is feeble, with diar- 
rhoea or constipation; gastralgia and other neuralgic pains are felt in various parts 
of the body, and dizziness and headache, with occasional spasms or convulsions, 
are not uncommon results. It is not unlikely that many cases of pruritis ani et 
vulvae are due to even moderate coffee drinking, and when the amount consumed 
is very large, these symptoms are more pronounced. To complete the picture, 
intractable leucorrhoeal discharges debilitate the woman, while sexual vigor is 
impaired or impotence induced in the male. 
Coffee, when burned in the rooms where noxious odors are present is well 
known as an efficient deodorizer, and is said to exert a feeble influence over patho- 
genic bacteria. When partially carbonized it may be used like charcoal, as a 
dressing for gangrenous and other foul ulcers. Internally, coffee has proved tem- 
porarily useful in light nervous headaches, especially migraine, and in asthma, hys- 
teria, obstinate chronic diarrhoea, and calculous nephritis. It is contraindicated in 
all inflammatory affections of a high grade. Dr. A. Brown, of Cincinnati, found a 
strong decoction of the pulverized, unroasted coffee a superior remedy in some 
forms of chlorosis or amenorrhoea. When fullness in the head and pain in the back 
were present, he gave a gentle purgative, then used the warm foot-bath, and 
administered the decoction in wineglassful doses every half-hour or hour. Taken 
in early morning, coffee is a valuable adjunct in the treatment of constipation; 
on the other hand, in excess it may induce that condition. Either constipation or 
diarrhoea are corrected by it when these troubles depend upon gastro-intestinal 
atony. Indigestion, when dependent upon gastric atony, or when associated with 
exhaustion or debility, is benefited by pure black coffee in moderate amounts. 
It has long enjoyed a reputation of retarding tissue waste and conserving the 
vital forces, and when administered in this manner in acute fevers of a typhoid 
character, and in convalescence from acute disorders, the effects are salutary. In 
these conditions it is preferable to alcohol, for it is not followed by depression like 
the latter agent. The well known power of coffee to sober drunken individuals is 
often taken advantage of by inebriates, and in small and repeated doses it stimu- 
lates the stomach and nervous system, and retards tissue change, thus assisting 
in the treatment of delirium tremens, in which it also tends to overcome the 
anemic condition of the brain. Coffee, in strong infusion, without cream or 
sugar, is one of the first agents to be thought of in opium narcosis, though atro- 
pine should also be cautiously used, and electricity, and particularly flaggella- 
tion, resorted to; here the coffee should be given in small and frequently repeated 
amounts, and not in large quantities at a single dose. Both coffee and caffeine 
are efficient in strychnine poisoning. It is a valuable agent in congestive headache, 
but is asserted to aggravate where the patient is pale and the pain is simply 
neuralgic in character. 
Coffee has also been used with much success in whooping-cough, hiccough, and 
in spasmodic asthma, in the form of syrup, made with the extract of coffee pre- 
pared without heat, or a strong infusion by percolation, given in small and 
repeated doses. Salter expresses his belief that two-thirds of the cases of asthma 
in which coffee is employed, are relieved by it. Dr. W. Hamilton considered the 
free use of strong coffee almost a specific for gout, rheumatism, and gravel. Its 
efficiency in the majority of cases of rheumatism, however, may be questioned. 
Bouchardat considered it useful in malarial districts, and stated that without it, the 
European colonists would have been unable to dwell in several parts of Algiers. 
It has been observed by Dr. Mosely, in his Treatise on Coffee, that "the great 
use of coffee in France is supposed to have abated the prevalence of the gravel. In 
the French colonies, where coffee is more used than in the English, as well as in 
Turkey, where it is the principal beverage, not only the gravel, but the gout, those 
tormentors of so many of the human race, are scarcely known. Du Four relates, 
as an extraordinary instance of the effects of coffee in gout, the case of Mr. 
Deverau. He says this gentleman was attacked with the gout at 25 years of age, 
and had it severely until he was upward of 50, with chalk-stones in the joints of 
his hands and feet; but for 4 years preceding the account of his case being given CAFFEINA. 
385 
to Du Four to lay before the public, he had been recommended the use of coffee, 
which he had adopted, and had no return of the gout afterward." But its efficacy 
is not confined to the cure or mitigation of these maladies. Sir John Floyer, who 
had suffered under asthma for more than 60 years, without finding any relief 
from any of the numerous remedies he tried, was at length cured, when above 
80 years of age, by the free use of coffee. 
Through their diuretic qualities both coffee and its alkaloid have attained 
some distinction as remedies for dropsies of cardiac origin. It is adapted to cases 
of heart debility, rather than to obstructive valvular lesions, and, according to 
Brakenridge, it acts upon (stimulates) the renal epithelium. The whole circu- 
latory and muscular system is aroused by them, because the nervous power to 
cause them to act is augmented, and they become, therefore, of more value than 
digitalis, which only affects the involuntary muscular fibers, inducing tonic con- 
tractions. Caffeine possesses this power to a greater degree than coffee. It should 
be borne in mind, however, that both coffee and tea will accomplish therapeu- 
tical results, which their alkaloid is unable to fulfil (compare Thea: Caffeina). 
S. Martin observes that the decoction of green coffee (unroasted), when it 
possesses all its caffeine, forms a liquid possessing stupifying properties; while 
roasted coffee furnishes an excitant fluid. Strong coffee has been used success- 
fully to control metrorrhagia and post partum hemorrhage. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Spasmodic asthmatic seizures; opium nar- 
cosis ; renal torpor; cardiac insufficiency; unpleasant sense of fullness, in the 
head and drowsiness after meals; migraine, with cerebral hyperemia/consti- 
pation, from gastric atony, when not due to excessive use of coffee. 
CAFFEINA (U. S. P.)-CAFFEINE. 
Formula: C8H10N4O2-|-H2O. Molecular Weight : 211.68. 
"A feebly basic, proximate principle, obtained from the dried leaves of Thea 
sinensis, Linne (Nat. Ord.-Ternstroemiaceie, or from the dried seeds of Coffea 
arabica, Linne (Nat. Ord.-Rubiaceae), and found also in other plants"-(U. S.P.). 
Synonyms : Theine, Caffeine, Caffeia, Guaranine, Methyl-theobromine, Trimethyl- 
xanthine. 
Preparation.-H. J. Versman states the following to be a very profitable and 
simple mode of obtaining caffeine. Ten parts of bruised coffee are mixed with 
2 parts of caustic lime, previously slaked. This mixture is placed in an ordinary 
percolator, with alcohol of 80°, until the fluid which passes through no longer 
furnishes evidence of the presence of caffeine. The coffee is then roughly ground 
and brought nearly to the state of a powder, and the refuse of the already once 
digested mixture from the percolator dried, and ground again, and, mixed with 
hydroxide of calcium, is once more macerated. The grinding is more easily 
effected after the coffee has been subjected to the operation of the alcohol, having 
lost its horny quality, and the caffeine is thus certainly extracted. The clear 
alcoholic fluid thus obtained is then to be distilled, and the refuse in the retort 
to be washed with warm water to separate the oil. The resulting fluid is then 
evaporated until it forms a crystalline mass, which is to be placed on a thick 
filter, and the moisture expressed. The moisture, after evaporation, still furnishes 
some caffeine. The impure caffeine is freed from oil by pressure between folds 
of blotting paper, and purified by solution in water .with animal charcoal, and 
then crystallized by evaporation. Good Brazilian coffee thus yielded 0.57 per 
cent of caffeine. 
A former Hanoverian Pharmacopoeia directed caffeine to be made by precipi- 
tating a decoction of coffee with acetate of lead, filtering and washing the pre- 
cipitate, evaporating the liquids to dryness, and, after mixing the powdered 
extract with sand, the mass is sublimed in Mohr's apparatus, just as in making 
benzoic acid (A. J. P.). 
With a view of extracting all the caffeine from coffee, M. Pucetti tried the 
following method : He brought the decoction of coffee to the consistence of an 
extract, and treated it with alcohol, which left undissolved a resinous substance; 
he then dissolved a slight excess of pulverized caustic lime in the alcoholic fluid, 386 
CAFFEINA. 
which, when filtered and evaporated to the necessary degree, furnished crystals of 
impure caffeine. This was pressed between thick linen, to get rid of the adherent 
mother liquor, and then dissolved in well-water, and treated with animal char- 
coal, by which means the alkaloid was obtained pure. One pound of coffee 
yielded of an ounce (about 1.5 gramme) of caffeine. He also obtained it in 
larger quantity from tea. 
Vogel's process for procuring caffeine is to treat ground coffee with benzin; 
this dissolves out the caffeine and fixed oil. Distill the benzin solution to dry- 
ness, and boil the residue in water, which dissolves the caffeine, and deposits it 
on filtering and concentrating the liquid. 
Wayne's method is to boil finely ground coffee or tea (2 parts) in washed 
litharge (3 parts) and water. On filtering, an almost colorless filtrate is obtained, 
which, by means of sulphide of hydrogen, is freed from lead, and, when suffi- 
ciently concentrated, yields caffeine in colorless crystals. Some of the alkaloid 
still remains in the mother liquor, and, after treatment with bone charcoal, 
colorless crystals may again be obtained. Another common method is that of 
Garot: Precipitate a coffee decoction with acetate of lead; filter; treat the filtrate 
with sulphide of hydrogen, to remove the lead in excess; add ammonia to neu- 
tralization ; evaporate and recrystallize. 
Description and Tests.-According to the U. S. P. caffeine occurs as "fleecy 
masses of long, flexible, white crystals, possessing a silky lustre, without odor, 
having a bitter taste, and permanent in the air. Soluble, at 15° C. (59° F.), in 
80 parts of water, 33 parts of alcohol, 555 parts of ether, or 7 parts of chloro- 
form. Also soluble in 9.5 parts of boiling water, and very soluble in boiling alco- 
hol. When heated to 100° C. (212° F.), caffeine loses its water of crystallization, 
and at 229° C. (444.2° F.) it melts, forming a colorless liquid. When ignited, caf- 
feine is completely volatilized without charring or leaving a residue. Caffeine is 
neutral to litmus paper. On dissolving a small quantity of caffeine in concen- 
trated sulphuric acid, and adding a minute fragment of potassium dichromate to 
the liquid, the latter will acquire a yellowish-green color, which gradually becomes 
green. If a small quantity of caffeine be dissolved in about 1 Cc. of hydrochloric 
acid, a little potassium chlorate added, the whole evaporated to dryness on a 
water-bath, and the capsule then inverted over a vessel containing a few drops of 
ammonia water, the residue will acquire a rich purple color, which is destroyed by 
alkalies. Caffeine should dissolve in strong sulphuric or nitric acid without pro- 
ducing a color (absence of organic impurities). Its aqueous solution should not 
be precipitated by mercuric potassium iodide T.S. (absence of other alkaloids)"- 
((/. S. P.). At an elevated temperature it sublimes in needles similar to those of 
benzoic acid. Tannic acid precipitates it from aqueous solution. According to 
the analysis of theine from tea by M. Jobst, caffeine proves to be identical wuth 
it. Caffeine exists in other substances, as tea (containing 2 to 4 per cent), mat4 
(Paraguay tea), kola nut, guarana, etc. (in the latter to the extent of 5 per cent). 
The taste of caffeine, though bitter, is not very unpleasant. The alkaloid may 
be obtained in an anhydrous state by crystallization from ether or alcohol; but, 
if crystallized from water, it contains a molecule of H2O, which is expelled at, or 
above the boiling point of water (100° C. [212° F.]). 
Chemical Composition.-It has been shown by Strecker, who produced it 
synthetically (1861), that caffeine is methyl-theobromine. When heated in the pres- 
ence of barium hydroxide solution, or with solution of caustic potash in alcohol, 
beside a barium or potassium salt, ammonia and methylamine are produced, and 
from the residual matter may be obtained an amorphous basic body, soluble in 
both alcohol and water, but very sparingly soluble in ether, and which is known 
as caffeidine (C7H12N4O). By prolonged heating the caffeidine is further decom- 
posed and results in the production of formic acid, methylamine, ammonia, and 
sarkosine (methylglycocoll [NHCH3.CH2.COOH]). J. E. Walter {Pharm. Rec., 
1890), from an analysis of several kinds of unroasted coffee berries, found Costa 
Rica coffee to contain the largest amount of caffeine (1.24 per cent), and Mocha 
the least (0.54 per cent); other grades were: Rio, 1.12; Liberian Java, 1.08; 
Java, 0.89; Peaberry (Fenroll), 0.77 (also compare Caffea). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-To the nervous system caffeine is 
stimulant, its effects being rapidly developed. It produces a characteristic wake- caffeina. 
387 
fulness, and a state of nervous unrest. Mental activity is pronounced, thought 
is rapid, and so great is the cerebral stimulation, that an enormous amount of 
brain power is developed, so that individuals are capable of prolonged and severe 
mental application. The reasoning faculties are sharpened, and there is also a 
marked capacity for physical labor. There is a great variability in its effects, as 
much as 23 grains having been given without marked toxicity, while doses of 
8 or 9 grains have induced symptoms quite like those from alcoholic intoxica- 
tion-giddiness, tinnitus, headache, tremors, unrest, wakefulness, mental confusion, 
delirium, and a state of drowsiness being among the phenomena observed. Diu- 
resis is also increased. It seems not to affect the blood, though readily absorbed. 
Varying reports are given of its effects upon the heart. The cardiac contractions, 
however, are increased in force, the systole being sustained while the diastole 
is shortened. In consequence, there is a rise in the blood pressure. It is not 
thought, as formerly, that caffeine acts directly upon the cardiac muscles, like 
digitalis, but that it stimulates the nervous centers, thus striking at the source of 
cardiac power. Under its action the regularity of the heart-action is restored 
when disordered; the pulse rate is increased, and blood pressure augmented. 
These are the effects of medicinal doses, while in large amounts the heart is para- 
lyzed by caffeine and its salts. Small doses scarcely affect the temperature, which 
is somewhat increased by large doses. Large doses also depress the breathing 
organs, while, in therapeutic doses, it acts upon the medulla, causing mere respira- 
tory excitation. Upon the muscular structures its action is decided, increasing 
the power of contractility. Caffeine acts upon the secreting cells of the kidneys, 
stimulating them and causing diuresis-a function greatly augmented by over- 
doses of the drug. Both the liquid and solid constituents of the urine are increased 
by it, thus proving it one of the best diuretics. Partial elimination takes place 
by the kidneys, chiefly when toxic amounts are ingested, but in therapeutic doses 
the drug is destroyed in the system. That both coffee and caffeine enables one to 
stand severe mental and physical service is well known, and, though a question 
still in dispute, it is believed that this is due to its power of limiting the excretion 
of nitrogenous products, thus acting as a restrainer of tissue waste-a conservator 
of both tissue and force. This was pointed out by Lehmann (1853) and Bocker 
(1854) the former showing that, after the administration of a daily quantity of 
6 grains of caffeine, the elimination of urea diminished from 12 to 20 per cent. 
Citrated caffeine, in a dose of 18 grains, caused in a woman of 30, delirium, semi- 
insensibility, but no headache. The feet, hands and tongue trembled, and the 
patient walked with a reeling gait. A cold and clammy perspiration covered the 
surface and the extremities were cold; the temperature remained unaffected, but 
the pulse was irregular and slow (55); the legs cramped; the hands and feet were 
slightly paralyzed; and tetanoid convulsions ensued, as well as vomiting. Intes- 
tinal pain added to the unpleasantness, but no action from the bowels was pro- 
voked. The vision was dulled though the pupils were unaffected. As is charac- 
teristic of the drug, free and frequent urination took place. In another instance 
an experimenter (Dr. Pratt) experienced, from 12 grains of caffeine, great mental 
anxiety and restlessness, persistent and rapid thinking, tremors, obstinate insom- 
nia, and urination was frequent. These effects were developed in 2 hours after 
taking the drug. 
Caffeine may be used to fulfil many of the uses for which coffee itself is used. 
It should be remembered, however, that neither fully represents the other, their 
effects being somewhat different, and, indeed, it is very doubtful if much caffeine 
remains in coffee which has been subjected to heat. The chief uses for caffeine 
are as a cardiac and cerebral stimulant, and as a remedy for dropsy of cardiac origin. 
As opium and coffee, and morphine and caffeine, are directly antagonistic to each 
other, it seems a plausible remedy for opium narcosis, and coffee has for years occu- 
pied the place of a standard remedy for this condition. Other and more active 
treatment should be instituted at the same time. Caffeine and its salts are 
among the most powerful of heart energizers, and may be thought in feeble and 
irregular action of that organ, when not due to obstruction or valvular lesions. 
It is preferable to digitalis in that it does not derange the stomach, is not cumu- 
lative, and acts primarily upon the nerve centers, presiding over the cardiac move- 
ments and not like digitalis upon the heart muscle alone. 388 
CAFFEINA CITRATA. 
Cardiac paralysis, or heart failure, may be averted by administering 5 grains 
every 2 hours. It is particularly adapted to that failure of cardiac power depend- 
ing upon heart dilatation, typhoid fever, pneumonia, la grippe, and other diseases 
tending to implicate the heart. Administer 2 grains every 2 or 3 hours. It is 
more prompt than digitalis and yet more fugacious, though its diuretic power is 
greater. It is a valuable remedy in dropsy, due to feeble and irregular cardiac 
action, and will even act independently of its effects upon the circulation, as it has 
been shown to directly affect the secretory epithelial structures of the uriniferous 
tubules. Other forms of dropsy than the cardiac variety are little benefited by it. 
While it should be avoided in acute albuminuria, it is of signal value in the chronic 
form, with weak heart, provided no marked irritation of the kidneys be present. 
It corrects the deficient action of the renal structures. It is not without value in 
uremic coma. Caffeine, or the citrate, may be given in doses of from 1 to 5 grains 
every 4 hours, increasing the dose as necessary. If it tends to produce obstinate 
wakefulness at night, the doses may be given at short intervals in the early part 
of the day. It is of value in the pulmonary congestion and pnexcmonia of the aged, 
assisting both the heart-action and the puimonic circulation. 
Caffeine, and especially the citrated form, has attained a reputation in migraine. 
The cases most benefited are those of a hyperemic character with flushed counte- 
nance and cerebral fullness. Purely neuralgic pain, with cerebral anemia, is said 
to be made worse by caffeine. 
The dose of caffeine ranges from | to 9 grains, mixed with sugar, though the 
intermediate doses are to be preferred. Sodium benzoate, sodium salicylate, and 
antipyrin render it more soluble, and it should not be given in pill. Tanret's 
solution for hypodermatic use consists of sodium benzoate,Gm.3.60 (55.5 grains); 
caffeine, Gm. 3 (46.3 grains); and distilled water, q. s. 10 Cc. (162.3 minims). 
Each cubic centimeter contains Gm. 0.30, or about 5 grains of caffeine. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Cardiac insufficiency; renal torpor, depend- 
ing upon a weak heart, and dropsy from a like cause. Headache (migraine), 
with cerebral hyperemia, as evidenced by flushed face; hyperemic states of the 
cerebrum; opium narcosis. 
Derivative of Caffeine.-Ethoxy-Caffeine.-This product has a somewhat narcotic 
effect upon both the brain and the spinal cord. Without materially interfering with the 
motor centers, or the circulation, it may cause stupor and paralysis. Diuresis, diaphoresis, and 
quickened heart-action, with flushed countenance, result from its physiological doses. Moder- 
ate doses induce sleep, while larger doses seem to disturb it. It may produce vomiting. In 
broken doses it may be administered to the extent of from 4 to 12 grains daily for the relief of 
migraine. 
CAFFEINA CITRATA (U. S. P.)-CITRATED CAFFEINE. 
Synonym : Caffeine citrate. 
Preparation.-"Caffeine, fifty grammes, (50 Gm.) [1 oz. av.,334 grs.]; citric 
acid, fifty grammes (50 Gm.) [1 oz. av.,334 grs.]; distilled water (hot) one hundred 
cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl§, 183 UI]. Dissolve the citric acid in the hot 
distilled water, add the caffeine, and evaporate the resulting solution, on a water- 
bath, to dryness, constantly stirring towards the end of the operation. Reduce 
the product to a fine powder, and transfer it to well-closed bottles"-(JJ. S. P.). 
Commercial citrate of caffeine, so-called, is not a definite salt, but as the phar- 
macopoeia! name (citrated caffeine) would indicate, it is the alkaloid caffeine, 
with a portion of adherent citric acid, as shown by Hager and Haarmann. While 
the process above given produces a citrated caffeine only, Prof. J. U. Lloyd has 
shown that a true citrate of caffeine may be obtained by dissolving caffeine in 
chloroform and citric acid in alcohol, and mixing the two solutions, when, by 
evaporation, crystals of caffeine citrate result. He has further shown that this 
salt, so obtained, decomposes immediately in contact with water. (See New Reme- 
dies, 1881, p. 38). 
Description.-"A white powder, odorless, having a purely acid taste and an 
acid reaction. One part of citrated caffeine forms a clear, syrupy solution, with 
about 3 parts of water. Upon dilution with water, this yields a white precipi- 
tate (caffeine), which redissolves when about 25 parts of water have been added. CAFFEINA CITRATA EFFERVESCENS.-CAHINCA. 
389 
It is also soluble in a mixture of 2 volumes of chloroform and 1 volume of 
alcohol "-(G. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The general action and uses of this 
drug are the same as those given under caffeine. This salt is used chiefly as a 
remedy for the idiopathic headache, called migraine (pain in the forehead"). This 
salt is very soluble in water, and is assimilated much more readily than pure caf- 
feine when taken into the stomach. It may be made into a pill mass with some 
simple extract, say 8 grains of the salt to 15 of the extract, and divided into 
10 pills, of which 1 may be given every 1 or 2 hours. Pills, however, are not as 
desirable as other forms for administration. Or, 24 drachms of the salt may be 
dissolved in 4 ounces of simple syrup, of which 1 tablespoonful may be given as 
above, according to the violence of the attack. The dose of citrated caffeine ranges 
from 3 to 8 grains (see Caffeina for Uses and Specific Indications). 
Related Salts of Caffeine.-Valerianate of Caffeine. Like the citrated caffeine, this 
is not a definite product, and is liable to great variability in strength and quality. It has been 
employed in | to Lgrain doses, administered twice daily, for the relief of pertussis. It is 
asserted to be useful in allaying the vomiting of hysteria. 
Caffeine Diiodide-hydro-iodide (2C8IIioN402l2HI+3H20), or so-called caffeine triiodide, 
occurs as long prismatic crystals, of a deep-green color. It is freely dissolved by alcohol. 
Dose, 1 to 4 grains. 
Caffeine Sodio-benzoas (N.F.), Caffeine sodio-benzoate.-Formulary number, 15: "Caffeine, 
fifty grammes (50 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 334 grs.]; sodium benzoa'te, fifty grammes (50 Gm.) [1 oz. 
av., 334 grs.] ; alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Triturate the caffeine with the sodium benzoate 
and a sufficient quantity of alcohol, to a smooth paste, and dry this by exposure in a moderately 
warm place. Rub the dry mass to a powder, and keep in well-stoppered bottles. Note.--The 
product contains 50 per cent of caffeine, and is soluble in 2 parts of water"-(Nat. Form.). 
Caffeine Sodio-salicylas (N. F.), Caffeine sodio-salicylate.-Formulary number, 16: "Caf- 
feine, fifty grammes (50 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 334 grs.]; sodium salicylate, fifty grammes (50 Gm.) 
[1 oz. av.,334 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Triturate the caffeine with the sodium sali- 
cylate and a sufficient quantity of alcohol, to a smooth paste, and dry this by exposure in a mod- 
erately warm place. Rub the dry mass to powder, and keep it in well-stoppered bottles. Note.- 
The product contains 50 per cent of caffeine, and is soluble in 2 parts of water"-(Nat. Form.). 
CAFFEINA CITRATA EFFERVESCENS (U. S. P.)-EFFERVESCENT 
CITRATED CAFFEINE. 
Preparation.-"Caffeine, ten grammes (10 Gm.) [154 grs.]; citric acid, ten 
grammes (10 Gm.) [154 grs.]; sodium bicarbonate, three hundred and thirty 
grammes (330 Gm.) [11 ozs. av., 280 grs]; tartaric acid, three hundred grammes 
(300 Gm.) [10 ozs. av.,255 grs.]; sugar, in very fine powder, three hundred and 
fifty grammes (350 Gm.) [12 ozs. av., 151 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity to 
make one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]. Triturate 
the solid ingredients, separately well dried, to a fine uniform powder. Mix this 
with alcohol, to a soft paste, and rub it through a No. 6 tinned iron sieve or 
enamelled colander. Then dry it, and reduce it to a coarse, granular powder. 
Keep the product in well-stoppered bottles"-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-An agreeable form in which to ad- 
minister citrated caffeine, the dose being a teaspoonful dissolved in water, and 
drunk while effervescing (see Caffeina). 
CAHINCA.-CAHINCA-ROOT. 
The bark of the root of Chiococca racemosa, Jacquin. 
Nat. Ord.-Rubiaceae. 
Common Names : Snowberry, Cluster-flowered snowberry, Cahinca, Cain co , David's 
root. 
Botanical Source.-A somewhat climbing shrub, with a round, branched 
root, and a stem 8 to 12 feet high, arborescent, with branches opposite. The 
leaves are ovate, pointed, and smooth, with an uninterrupted margin; the stip- 
ules are short, pointed, and joined together at the base. The flowers are white, 
without odor, but subsequently become yellowish and redolent, and are borne in 390 
CALAMUS. 
short, axillary, 1-sided racemes. The calyx is 5-cleft; the corolla funnel-shaped; 
the stamens 5. The fruit is a small, roundish, compressed, white berry. The 
C. anguifuga, Martins, and C. densifolia', Martius, are varieties possessing similar 
properties. 
History and Description. - This plant, sometimes called Snowberry, is a 
native of the West Indies, South America, and also of the sea-coast of Florida. 
In Brazil the root is known as "raiz pretta" (black root). In that country the 
roots of Chiococca anguifuga, Martius, and Chiococca densifolia, Martius, are employed 
under the names cainana and caninana. The root as found in commerce, is in 
small round pieces of different sizes and lengths, flexuous, with longitudinal 
rugse and a few rough spots, and brownish-black or grayish-brown, having its 
thin, cortical portion of a reddish-brown color, fragile, of a disagreeable odor, 
and a coffee-like taste, succeeded by a pungent nauseousness; its internal, woody 
portion is without taste. The bark is the medicinal part, and yields its prop- 
erties to water or alcohol. 
Chemical Composition.-Besides cahincic acid (C^H^O^), the root-bark con- 
tains, according to Pelletier, gummy, oily, and coloring matters, the nature of 
which is not well understood. Its most important medicinal constituent is the 
cahincic acid, or cahincin. It forms in silky-white, acicular crystals, sparingly 
soluble in ether and cold water (1 in about 600). It dissolves in hot alcohol, from 
which it again crystallizes upon cooling. It is a permanent body, and is sup- 
posed to exist partly free in the root, and also as a calcium subcahincate. It is 
odorless, and has a slowly developing, yet excessively bitter taste. By boiling 
with hydrochloric acid it is split into grape sugar and other bodies, chief among 
which is cahincetin (caincetin) (CooH^Cb), a principle soluble in alcohol, in which 
on adding water, it gelatinizes. The root contains a tannin which was pointed 
out, in 1851, by Rochleder and Hlasiwetz, to be caffeo-tannic acid. A body, named 
cahincigenin, having the formula Ci4H24O2, and butyric acid, are produced when 
cahincetin and caustic potash are melted together. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-In medium doses it augments the 
urinary discharge, slightly accelerates the action of the heart, and increases the 
peristaltic action of the bowels; and if the body be kept warm, and warm infu- 
sions be drank, instead of purging it will produce perspiration. In large doses 
it produces the most violent emetic and drastic effects. It has been found effi- 
cient in dropsy, uncomplicated with acute renal disorder, amenorrhoea, rheumatism, 
syphilis, and osteocopus, and in Brazil is used as an antidote to poisonous snake- 
bites. From 20 to 60 grains of the powdered root-bark will act as a purgative and 
diuretic; or from 10 to 20 grains of an aqueous or spirituous extract. It may also 
be used in decoction or tincture (root, sviii to alcohol 98 per cent, Oj). Tincture, 
1 to 5 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Scanty urine with a sense of fullness in 
the loins; edematous feet and eyelids. 
CALAMUS (U. S. P.)-SWEET FLAG, 
The rhizome of trie Acorus Calamus, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Aroideae. 
Common Names: Sweet flag, Calamus. 
Illustrations: Willdenow, Sp. Plants, II., 199; Woodville, Med. Bot., 248; 
Barton, Med. Bot., II, 63; Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 279. 
Botanical Source.-Calamus is an herbaceous, perennial, aromatic, flag-like 
plant, flourishing in wet situations. The leaves are long, radical, and sword-like, 
erect, bright green, but reddish or pink at the base, where they are ensheathing. 
The stalk is triangular, giving off from one side a spadix bearing thickly crowded, 
perfect greenish-yellow flowers. 
History.-Calamus grows in muddy places, in swamps and meadows, along 
streams and the borders of lakes, in nearly all parts of India and Central Asia 
(from whence it has spread to other parts of the globe), Southern Siberia, Japan, 
China, Europe, and North America. In Ceylon and Burmah it is cultivated to 
some extent. Persian and East Indian calamus is said to be of better quality CALAMUS. 
391 
than that of other parts of the world. In America it blooms from April to July. 
The rhizome should be gathered in early spring or in October and November, 
freed from dirt and its bitter rootlets, and dried quickly in a gently warmed room. 
The leaves also possess the aromatic properties of the rhizome, but to a lesser 
degree, and are not employed as a medicine. This drug and the calamus of Scrip- 
ture are probably identical. Sweet flag has long been a popular remedy in India, 
where large quantities of it are yearly sold in the bazaars. According to Ainslie 
(1813), it is there considered so valuable in the bowel disorders of children that a 
penalty is incurred by any pharmacist who will not open his shop in the night 
to sell it when called upon to do so (^Pharmacographia). The Hindus regard it as 
an emetic in large, and stimulant, tonic, and carminative in small doses, and 
employ it in stimulant doses in paralysis and other nervous disorders. The 
Mahometans use it internally in calculous troubles, and advise its use for teeth- 
ing children to bite upon. An infusion is considered in Ceylon as an efficient 
anthelmintic for children (Dr. Ondaatji, Col. Surg. of Ceylon). Evers found the 
decoction useful in diarrhoea and dysentery, and infantile bronchitis, and often 
used it personally for cold in the chest. Watts states that it is useful for dis- 
tressing cough (Dymock, Mat. Med. Western India). 
Description.-The rhizome, or part employed, is subspherical, creeping, 
fleshy, thick, and rather spongy, and gives off numerous rootlets. It is often 
several feet in length, and shows upon its upper surface triangular leaf-scars, 
which are occasionally apparently hairy (when dried), and on the lower surface 
may be seen several zigzag or wavy lines composed of circular dots, indicating 
where the rootlets were attached. The rhizome is occasionally wrinkled longi- 
tudinally, and has a brownish-yellow color (pinkish shortly after being peeled). 
It has a peculiarly agreeable, aromatic odor, and an aromatic, bitterish, pungent 
taste. The dried roots of commerce are from 3 to 6 inches long, light-brown or 
fawn colored, of a whitish or slightly roseate hue internally, corrugated outside, 
and break with a spongy or cork-like fracture. It has the peculiar warm, pungent 
taste possessed by the green rhizome. It loses its strength with age, and is liable 
to destruction by worms. Water or alcohol takes up its medicinal virtues. To 
preserve it, it should not be peeled. The U. S. P. describes it as follows: 
"In sections of various lengths, unpeeled, about 2 Cm. (finch) broad, subcyl- 
indrical, longitudinally wrinkled; on the upper surface marked with leaf-scars 
forming triangles, and on the lower surface with the circular scars of the rootlets 
in wavy lines; externally reddish-brown, somewhat annulate from remnants 
of leaf-sheaths; internally whitish, of a spongy texture, breaking with a short, 
corky fracture, showing numerous oil cells and scattered wood bundles, the latter 
crowded within the subcircular endoderm. It has an aromatic odor, and a 
strongly bitter taste"-(U. S. P.). 
Chemical Composition.-Trommsdorff found it to contain essential oil, resin, 
extractive with chloride of potassium, gum with phosphate of potassium, starchy 
matter, woody fiber, and water. The oil is lighter than water, and is pale yellow, 
very odorous and pungent. Kurbatow (1873) found this oil to contain a hydro- 
carbon (CwH16), which, with hydrochloric acid, formed a crystalline compound, 
and another hydrocarbon refusing to combine with this acid {Pharmacographia). 
Faust (1867) obtained a bitter glucosid, of a brownish color, and of a semi-fluid 
consistence, which he named acorin (C,%H6UO6). It contains no nitrogen when 
purified, is insoluble in water and benzol, but dissolves in alcohol, methylic alco- 
hol, chloroform, and ether. Fluckiger (^Pharmacographia), by precipitating a 
decoction with tannin, and treating the precipitate with litharge, and exhausting 
the residue with chloroform, obtained a minute quantity of a very bitter, crystal- 
line solid. Thoms (1886) thought to have obtained a crystalline alkaloid, cala- 
mine, which, however, in 1888 he declared to be trinwthylamine. This result is 
supported by the observation of Kunz (1888) who found choline to exist in 
calamus root. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The root is carminative, slightly 
tonic, and excitant, and forms a useful adjunct to other tonics and stimulants. 
It may be used in cases of flatulent colic, atonic dyspepsia, feebleness of the digestive 
organs, and to aid the action of cinchona or quinine in intermittents. It forms an 
excellent substitute, in syrup, for Godfrey's cordial. In flatulent colic of infants 392 
CALCII BROMIDUM. 
it is best combined with magnesia. Externally, it is a valuable application to 
indolent ulcers, and to keep up the discharges from blistered surfaces and issues. 
Dose of the infusion made by scalding 4 drachms of the root, coarsely bruised, in 
8 fluid ounces of water, from 4 to 6 fluid ounces; of the powdered root, 20 to 40 
grains; a tincture may be prepared from 1 part of the root and 5 parts of alcohol. 
Dose, from 5 to 30 minims. 
CALCII BROMIDUM (U. S. P.)-CALCIUM BROMIDE. 
Formula: CaBr2. Molecular Weight: 199.43. 
Synonym: Bromide of calcium. 
Preparation.-This salt may be formed by the decomposition of bromide of 
sulphur with lime. In 1872, Mr. J. R. Mercein recommended that it be prepared 
from hydrobromic acid and carbonate of calcium, hydrobromic acid being first 
made by passing sulphide of hydrogen through bromine beneath water, and then 
the carbonate of calcium to be subsequently decomposed with this solution. To 
this end, take any convenient quantity of solution of hydrobromic acid, place it 
in a porcelain evaporating dish capable of holding 4 times the bulk, and then 
add carbonate of calcium, with stirring, as long as effervescence continues, then 
warm it, filter, and evaporate the filtrate to dryness. 
Description.-Bromide of calcium, by evaporation from its aqueous solu- 
tion, forms silky needles which, according to Watts, are a hydrated bromide. In 
many respects it resembles calcium iodide and calcium chloride. The U. S. P. 
describes it as "a white, granular salt, odorless, of a sharp, saline taste, and very 
deliquescent. Soluble at 15° C. (59° F.), in 0.7 part of water, and in 1 part of 
alcohol; much more soluble at a boiling temperature. At 680° C. (1256° F.), the 
salt fuses, and at a higher temperature it is partly decomposed, with loss of bro- 
mine. The salt is neutral to litmus paper"-(U. S. P.f 
The impurities more apt to be encountered in this salt are hydroxide of cal- 
cium and calcium oxybromide (calcium bromate). Either may be separated by 
dissolving the salt in alcohol, and then filtering, as these impurities are insoluble 
in alcohol. Other substances, such as chlorides, nitrates, bromates, etc., are not 
likely to occur in any considerable amount. "Calcium bromide should be kept 
in well stoppered bottles"-{U. S. P.f 
Tests.-"The aqueous solution (1 in 20) of the salt yields, with ammonium 
oxalate T.S., a white precipitate insoluble in acetic acid, but soluble in hydro- 
chloric acid. If to 5 Cc. of the aqueous solution a few drops of chloroform be 
added, and then 1 Cc. of chlorine water, bromine will be liberated, and, on agi- 
tating the mixture, will dissolve in the chloroform with a yellow or brownish- 
yellow color. If 1 Gm. of the salt be dissolved in 20 Cc. of the water, it should 
form a clear, colorless solution, leaving no residue (absence of insoluble impu- 
rities). If to 5 Cc. of this aqueous solution, slightly acidulated with hydro- 
chloric acid, an equal volume of hydrogen sulphide T.S. be added, neither color- 
ation nor turbidity should be perceptible (absence of arsenic, lead, etc.). The 
addition of ammonium sulphide T.S. to the aqueous solution should not produce 
any color or turbidity (absence of iron, aluminum, etc.). If 5 Cc. of the aqueous 
solution (1 in 20), slightly acidulated with acetic acid, be completely precipitated 
with ammonium oxalate T.S., the filtrate should, on evaporation, leave not 
more than a trace of fixed residue (limit of magnesium and alkalies). If diluted 
sulphuric acid be dropped upon the salt, the latter should not at once assume a 
yellow color (absence of bromate). If to 5 Cc. of the aqueous solution (1 in 20) 
a few drops of starch T.S. be added, and then chlorine water, drop by drop, no 
blue color should appear (absence of iodide). No turbidity should be produced 
if 0.2 Cc. of barium chloride T.S. be added to 5 Cc. of the aqueous solution 
(absence of sulphate). If 1 Gm. of the salt be mixed with 0.5 Gm. of iron filings 
and 0.5 Gm. of powdered zinc, and heated in a test tube with 5 Cc. of sodium 
hydrate T.S., no ammoniacal vapors should be evolved (absence of nitrate or 
nitrite). If 0.25 Gm. of the well-dried salt be dissolved in 10 Cc. of water, and 
2 drops of potassium chromate T.S. added, it should require 25 Cc. of decinormal 
silver nitrate V.S. to produce a permanent red color (corresponding to 99.7 per CALCII CARBONAS PRtECIPITATUS. 
393 
cent of the pure salt, a greater amount indicating presence of chloride, a smaller 
amount other impurities"-(G. S. Pf. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The attention of the profession was 
directed to bromide of calcium, in 1871, by Dr. W. A. Hammond, as a sedative 
and hypnotic in certain nervous maladies, in lieu of bromide of potassium and 
other bromides. He has found it beneficial, acting promptly, in cases of delirium, 
insomnia due to business anxieties, or intense mental labor or excitement; in 
exhausted and irritable conditions of the nervous system, as indicated by head- 
ache, vertigo, wakefulness, etc., so frequently observed among hysterical women ; in 
epilepsy occurring in very young infants, that resisted the bromide of potassium. 
He has likewise derived advantage from its use in cerebral congestion, both the 
active and passive forms, and in locomotor ataxia. It is much more prompt in its 
action than the other bromides. Its dose is from 15 to 30 or more grains for an 
adult. He has given the following as an eligible formula: Take of bromide of 
calcium 1 ounce, syrup of lactophosphate of calcium 4 fluid ounces; mix. The 
dose of this solution is 1 teaspoonful in a little water, to be repeated 3 times a 
day. This bromide will be found useful in nearly all cases in which the other 
alkaline bromides are indicated, in most instances acting more promptly, with 
greater efficiency, and with less tendency to acneiform eruptions. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Anemia; nervous debility from malnutrition. 
CALCII CARBONAS PR2ECIPITATUS (U. S. P.)-PRECIPITATED 
CALCIUM CARBONATE. 
Formula: CaCO3. Molecular Weight: 99.76. 
Synonyms: Calcaria carbonica proecipitata, Creta prsecipitata, Precipitated car- 
bonate of calcium, Precipitated chalk (compare Creta proeparataf 
Preparation-Precipitated chalk may be made by dissolving 5 ounces of 
chloride of calcium (obtained by dissolving pieces of marble in diluted hydro- 
chloric acid, leaving the former in excess), and 13 ounces of carbonate of sodium, 
each, in 2 pints of boiling distilled water, mixing the two solutions, and when the 
precipitate has subsided, collecting it on a calico filter, washing it with boiling 
distilled water, until the washings cease to give a precipitate with nitrate of 
silver, and then drying the product at a temperature of 100° C. (212° F.), or on 
bibulous paper. It forms a very pure article. This process is in accordance with 
that of the British Pharmacopoeia. The reaction may be expressed thus: CaCl2+ 
Na2CO3=CaCO3-f-2NaCl. The calcium carbonate is precipitated while the sodium 
chloride is left in solution, though the precipitated salt, even when repeatedly 
washed, is apt to retain a small amount of common salt. If precipitated in cold 
instead of hot water, the product is a light and bulky, flocculent article, difficult 
to deprive of its impurities, even by thorough washing. Other alkaline carbon- 
ates produce with soluble calcium salts, a precipitated carbonate of calcium. 
When ammonium carbonate is employed, the product is deprived of its impu- 
rities with less difficulty than when sal soda is used. It is sometimes adulterated 
with calcium sulphate (gypsum). 
Description and Tests.-"A fine, white powder, without odor or taste, and per- 
manent in the air. Nearly insoluble in water; the solubility is increased by the pres- 
ence of ammonium salts, and especially by carbonic acid; alkali hydrates diminish 
it. Insoluble in alcohol. In diluted acetic, hydrochloric, or nitric acid, it is com- 
pletely soluble, with effervescence. When heated to redness with access of air, the 
salt loses carbon dioxide, and a residue of calcium oxide remains"-(U. S. P.f 
" For applying tests of identity and of purity, boil 6 Gm. of calcium carbon- 
ate with a mixture of 50 Cc. of diluted acetic acid, and 50 Cc. of water, allowing 
the liquid to cool, and filter. In this solution, ammonium oxalate T.S. produces 
a white precipitate insoluble in acetic acid, but soluble in hydrochloric acid. If 
from 20 Cc. of this solution the calcium be completely precipitated by a slight 
excess of. ammonium oxalate T.S.,the filtrate should, on evaporation, leave only 
a trace of fixed residue (limit of magnesium and alkalies). If 10 Cc. of the solu- 
tion be slightly acidulated with acetic acid, no immediate turbidity should be 
produced by the addition of 0.5 Cc. of barium chloride T.S. (limit of sulphate). 394 
CALCII CHLORIDUM. 
If to 10 Cc. of the solution, slightly acidulated with nitric acid, 0.1 Cc. of silver 
nitrate V.S. be added, and the precipitate, if any, removed by filtration, the filtrate 
should remain perfectly clear upon the addition of more silver nitrate V.S. (limit 
of chloride). Addition of ammonia water should not produce any turbidity in 
the solution (absence of iron, aluminum, phosphate, etc.). If to the solution, 
slightly acidulated with acetic acid, an equal volume of hydrogen sulphide T.S. be 
added, neither color nor turbidity should be produced (absence of arsenic, lead, 
etc.). If 1 Gm. of the salt be agitated with 50 Cc. of water, the filtrate should 
not show an alkaline reaction with litmus paper, and, on evaporation, should 
not leave more than a trace of residue (limit of soluble impurities)"-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-For general uses precipitated chalk 
does not possess any marked advantage over prepared chalk, though some den- 
tists prefer it to the latter as a dentifrice. On the other hand, the amorphous 
creta praeparata is to be preferred for internal use (see Creta Prseparata). The 
dose of precipitated chalk is the same as for prepared chalk. 
CALCII CHLORIDUM (U. S. P.)-CALCIUM CHLORIDE. 
Formula: CaCl2, Molecular Weight: 110.65. 
"Calcium chloride, rendered anhydrous by fusion at the lowest possible tem- 
perature. It should be kept in well-stoppered bottles"-(U. S. P.). 
Synonyms: Calcium chloratmm, Chloridum calcicum, Calcaria muriatica. 
Source and Preparation.-Calcium chloride is present in sea-water and in 
the waters of many mineral springs. It is obtained largely as a by-product in the 
production of potassium chlorate and ammonia water. When the latter is made 
by double decomposition of ammonium chloride and calcium hydroxide, calcium 
chloride results, thus: (NH4Cl)2+Ca(OH)2=CaCl2-|-(NH4OH)2. It maybe pre- 
pared by dissolving fragments of chalk, marble, or other forms of calcium car- 
bonate, in hydrochloric acid, allowing chlorine gas to pass into the solution to 
oxidize the iron and manganese, then adding an excess of milk of lime, filtering, 
and finally evaporating the filtrate to dryness over a fire. 
The commercial form is unsuited for chemical uses, such as drying gases, etc. 
It may, however, be rendered useful for this purpose by fusing in a porcelain or 
iron evaporating dish over a direct fire, and allowing it to become dry, and, while 
still hot, transferring to and securing it in glass-stoppered bottles. 
Description and Tests.-Calcium chloride may be obtained as transparent, 
colorless, deliquescent, striated, prismatic crystals, having the composition: 
CaCl2+6H2O; but as met with in commerce it is in amorphous masses or lumps. 
On account of its remarkable affinity for water, it is used in the laboratory for 
abstracting moisture from gases. The Pharmacopoeial salt is thus described: 
" White, slightly translucent, hard fragments, odorless, having a sharp, saline 
taste, and very deliquescent. Soluble, at 15° C. (59° F.), in 1.5 parts of water, 
and in 8 parts of alcohol, in 1.5 parts of boiling alcohol, and very freely in boil- 
ing water; insoluble in ether. Below a red heat the salt fuses, and, on cooling, 
solidifies without change in composition; but at a higher temperature, especially 
if kept in fusion for some time, a portion is decomposed and calcium oxide 
formed. When perfectly pure, the salt dissolves in water without residue, and 
the solution is strictly neutral to litmus paper. When the salt is overheated in 
fusing, the solution has an alkaline reaction, and a small residue is left, which 
is soluble in hydrochloric acid. The aqueous solution (1 in 20) yields, with 
ammonium oxalate T.S., a white precipitate, insoluble in acetic acid, but soluble 
in hydrochloric acid. With silver nitrate T.S. it yields a white precipitate 
insoluble in nitric acid. The aqueous solution (1 in 20) should remain clear 
upon addition of ammonia water (absence of iron, aluminum, etc.), or of barium 
chloride T.S. (absence of sulphate). If from 20 Cc. of the solution the calcium be 
completely precipitated by ammonium oxalate T.S.,the filtrate should, on evapo- 
ration, leave not more than a trace of fixed residue (limit of magnesium and 
alkalies). If 5 Cc. of the aqueous solution, acidulated with hydrochloric acid, be 
mixed with an equal volume of hydrogen sulphide T.S., neither color nor turbidity 
should appear (absence of arsenic, lead, etc.). No turbidity should be produced 395 
CALUII HYPOPHOSPHIS. 
by the addition of 0.5 Cc. of potassium dichromate T.S. to 5 Cc. of the aqueous 
solution (absence of barium)''-(U. S. Pf. Calcium chloride has been employed 
in preparing artificial mineral waters, and, mixed with snow or ice, forms a pow- 
erful freezing mixture, producing a temperature as low as-48°C.(-54.4° F.). 
Liquor Calcii Chloridi.-The British Pharmacopoeia directs calcium chloride, 
88 grains; distilled water, 1 ounce. Solve. It may also be prepared by dissolving 
in 1 ounce of distilled water 226 grains of fused calcium chloride, and filtering 
the solution. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Chloride of calcium in small doses 
promotes secretions from the skin, kidneys, and mucous surfaces. Over the gland- 
ular system and lymphatics it exerts a specific influence, acting as a powerful 
resolvent in reducing hard lymphatic and glandular enlargements. Nausea, 
vomiting, sometimes purging, quickened pulse, prsecordial anxiety, faintness, 
muscular weakness, tremors, and vertigo are the effects of large doses. Toxic 
doses act powerfully upon the nervous system, producing tremors, contracted 
pulse, spasms, paralysis, unconsciousness and death. Both internally and by 
means of a bath, chloride of calcium has a deserved reputation as a remedy in 
scrofulous conditions, with marked involvement of the lymphatic glands. Goitre, 
paralysis and arthritic affections have been successfully treated with it, and it is 
asserted to have cured tabes mesenterica- a mistake probably - but there is no 
reason why it should not exert a kindly action in this disorder. The conditions 
pointing to its selection are given below. Add 1 drachm of fresh calcium chloride 
to 1 pint of distilled water, cork the vessel well, and give teaspoonful or table- 
spoonful doses of the solution in a wine-glassful of cold water, 3 or 4 times a day. 
Of the liquor calcii chloridum, 10 to 60 drops in milk or water. 
Specific Indications and Uses.- Lymphatic glandular enlargement; slow 
inflammations, with cacoplastic deposits; bad breath, with tongue dirty with pasty 
coat (Scudder); dyspepsia of scrofulous children, with enlarged tonsils, bad breath, 
irregular stools, capricious appetite, restlessness in sleep; strumous skin diseases. 
CALCII HYPOPHOSPHIS (U. S. P.)-CALCIUM HYPOPHOSPHITE. 
Formula: Ca(PH2O2)2. Molecular Weight: 169.67. 
Synonyms: Hypophosphite of lime, Calcaria hypophosphorosa, Calcium hypophos- 
phorosum, Hypophosphis calcicus, Hypophosphite of calcium. 
Preparation.-On a large scale this salt is prepared by acting upon finely 
divided phosphorus, with milk of lime, at the same time exposing the mixture 
to the air and frequently agitating it until the phosphorus is all consumed. A 
complicated reaction ensues, whereby phosphide of hydrogen is formed as a by- 
product, which ignites spontaneously in contact with the air, forming white 
rings of pentoxide of phosphorus and water as the products of combustion, con- 
sequently the operation, which at best is unpleasant, should be conducted under 
a hood, or in the open air. Prof. Procter (1858) proposed a process essentially as 
follows: Into a deep boiler introduce a smooth milk of lime, prepared with 
5 gallons of water and 4 pounds (av.) of quick lime. Boil with this milk 1 pound 
of phosphorus, adding boiling water occasionally to preserve the full amount of 
liquid, and continue heating until all the phosphorus has become oxidized, and 
until it no longer evolves the odor of hydrogen phosphide. Then filter the mix- 
ture, wash the residue with water, evaporate to 6 pints, and again filter to remove 
the calcium carbonate and calcium hydroxide, and evaporate until a pellicle 
forms, when it may be set aside to crystallize, or, if desired in granulated form, it 
may be so obtained by stirring while still hot, and continuing the evaporation. 
When prepared according to this process, a large amount of the phosphorus is 
oxidized, forming phosphoric acid, which unites with the superabundant lime 
to form insoluble phosphate of calcium. Much of this loss may be averted by 
rendering the phosphorus spongy by passing a current of air into the water in 
which it is immersed. 
In this way it may be made to unite with the lime at a much lower heat, 
or even at 15° C. (59° F.), though most readily at about 54° C. (about 129° F.) ; 
but little hydrogen phosphide is then evolved. 396 
CALCII IODIDUM. 
Description and Tests.-The U. S. P. describes this salt as follows: "Color- 
less, transparent, monoclinic prisms, or small, lustrous scales, or a white, crystal- 
line powder, odorless, having a nauseous, bitter taste, and permanent in the air. 
Soluble, at 15° C. (59° F.), in 6.8 parts of water, and in 6 parts of boiling water; 
insoluble in alcohol. When heated in a test-tube, the salt decrepitates, and 
above 300° C. (572° F.) it begins to decompose, giving off water, and emitting 
inflammable gases (hydrogen and hydrogen phosphide), and leaving a residue of 
calcium pyrophosphate and metaphosphate, with some red phosphorus. The 
aqueous solution (1 in 20) is neutral to litmus paper, and yields, with ammonium 
oxalate T.S., a wrhite precipitate insoluble in acetic acid, but soluble in hydro- 
chloric acid. The aqueous solution, slightly acidulated with sulphuric acid, 
yields, with silver nitrate T.S., a precipitate which is white at first, but rapidly 
turns brown and black by separation of metallic silver. With copper sulphate 
T.S., on gentle heating, a reddish-brown precipitate of copper hydride is formed. 
When the aqueous solution is added, drop by drop, to mercuric chloride T.S.,at 
first a white precipitate of mercurous chloride is formed, which, as soon as the 
hypophosphite solution is added in excess, turns gray from reduction to metallic 
mercury. If 1 Gm. of the salt be dissolved in 20 Cc. of water, no insoluble residue 
should be left (absence of phosphate, sulphate, and other insoluble impurities). 
In this solution no precipitate should be produced by the addition of lead acetate 
T.S. (absence of soluble phosphate); nor, after acidulating with hydrochloric acid, 
by barium chlorideT.S. (absence of soluble sulphate); nor by an equal volume of 
hydrogen sulphide T.S. (absence of arsenic, etc.). On adding to 5 Cc. of the 
solution (1 in 20) 1 Cc., each, of ammonium chloride T.S. and ammonia water, 
and 3 Cc. of ammonium carbonate T.S., applying a gentle heat for a few minutes, 
and then filtering, not more than a very slight turbidity should be produced upon 
adding to the filtrate a few drops of sodium phosphate T.S. (limit of magnesium). 
If 0.1 Gm. of the salt be dissolved in 10 Cc. of water, then mixed with 10 Cc. of 
sulphuric acid and 50 Cc. of decinormal potassium permanganate V.S., and the 
mixture boiled 15 minutes, it should require not more than 3 Cc. of decinormal 
oxalic acid V.S. to discharge the red color (corresponding to at least 99.68 per cent 
of the pure salt)"-(U. S. Pf. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Calcium hypophosphite belongs to 
the class of alteratives and restoratives. Undoubtedly much of its value is due to 
the phosphorus combined in it, but its whole action can not be attributed to that 
element. It is adapted especially to those conditions of innervation, with great 
depression of the nervous powers-a lack of nerve force, which so often seems to 
be the chief trouble in innumerable chronic diseases. It is of considerable value 
in scrofulosis, and in incipient consumption it was regarded by Prof. J. M. Scudder 
as one of the most certain agents he had ever employed (Dis. of Child., p. 69). It 
tones the digestive organs, relieves pulmonary atony and irritation, checks the 
cough, gives freer respiration, and improves blood-making and nutrition. It is a 
constituent of the compound syrup of the hypophosphites. Dose, 2 to 10 grains, 
2 or 3 times a day. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Deposits of aplastic or cacoplastic material 
in connective tissue, resulting in slight inflammations; tuberculosis; phthisis 
pulmonalis, especially in early stage; marked nervous depression. 
CALCII IODIDUM.-CALCIUM IODIDE. 
Formula: Cal2. Molecular Weight: 292.97. 
Synonyms: Iodide of calcium, Calcium iodatum, Iodide of lime. 
Preparation.-Iodide of calcium may be prepared by acting upon a solution 
of ferrous iodide with milk of lime, and filtering and evaporating the solution. 
It may also be prepared by making a solution of slaked lime (or carbonate of 
calcium may be employed), in hydriodic acid, and evaporating to crystallization. 
Description.-Iodide of calcium crystallizes in lustrous, pearly lamellae, 
which are exceedingly deliquescent. When pure it should be white, but as ordi- 
narily prepared, is yellowish. Water and alcohol freely dissolve it, and the solu- 
tion of the salt itself will dissolve iodine. In contact with the atmosphere partial 397 
CALCII PHOSPHAS PILECI PIT ATUS. 
decomposition of its solution takes place, with the formation of some carbonate 
of calcium. This salt does not easily crystallize, and is not so stable as potas- 
sium iodide. It is usually found in commerce as a powder. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Large doses of this salt are irritant. 
Putrefactive changes are arrested, and the feces deodorized by it. Material doses 
(1 to 3 grains 3 times a day), have been used to check suppxtrative discharges, at 
the same time deodorizing them, to arrest erysipelatous inflammation, and to pro- 
mote resolution in scrofulous ulcerations. Calcium iodide acts chiefly upon the 
glandular system, and has been preferred by some over other iodine preparations 
in pulmonary consumption. It is especially serviceable in enlarged cervical lymphatics, 
and in enlargements of thebronchial glands as evidenced by persistent cough. Among 
scrofulous children, a chronic bronchitis with the above characteristics is likely to 
occur; 1 to 3-grain doses of the 1 x, 2 x, or 3 x trituration may be given several 
tknes a day. A dark-colored iodide of lime has been* lauded.as a remedy for croup. 
Related Salt.-CalcIi Iodas. Calcium iodate,Iodate of lime. Formula Ca(IO3)2+6H2O. 
Molecular weight, 496.49. This salt may be prepared by acting upon iodine with chlorinated 
lime in excess, in the presence of water. When decolorized, hydrochloric acid sufficient to 
slightly acidulate, is added, the mixture heated to 100° C. (212° Fj, filtered, Ind allowed to 
crystallize. It may also be prepared by mixing gradually an excess of aqueous solution of 
chlorinated lime and iodine dissolved in alcohol. When this process is employed, iodine 
chloride is liable to be formed if the temperature is much increased. This salt exists naturally 
in the waters of the sea. It forms slowly efflorescing, flat, acicular crystals, without color, 
and presenting a shining appearance. It is not readily soluble in water, and scarcely at all in 
alcohol. On the addition of sulphurous acid, iodine is set free. This salt has been used but 
little in medicine, though it is said to reduce temperature and augment the appetite in fevers, 
when administered 3 times a day in from 2 to 4-grain doses. On account of its reputed anti- 
septic qualities, it has been proposed as a food preservative. 
CALCII PHOSPHAS PR^ICIPITATUS (U. S. P.)-PRECIPITATED 
Calcium phosphate. 
Formula: Ca3(PO4)2. Molecular Weight: 309.33. 
Synonyms: Calcium phosphoricum, Precipitated phosphate of lime, Bone phosphate 
of lime, Bone phosphate, Calcaria phosphorica, Calcii phosphas (Br.f 
Preparation.- Take of finely powdered calcined bone, 2 ounces; hydro- 
chloric acid, 4 ounces; ammonia water, 6 fluid ounces; distilled water, a sufficient 
quantity. Digest the calcined bone in the hydrochloric acid diluted with 8 fluid 
ounces of the water, until it is all dissolved. Then filter the solution and add to it 
8 fluid ounces more of the water, and afterward the water of ammonia, gradually 
adding it until the fluid acquires an alkaline reaction. The precipitate thus 
obtained must be collected on a calico filter, and, to remove any ammonium 
chloride that may be present, washed with boiling distilled water as long as the 
liquid which passes through occasions a precipitate when dropped into a solution 
of nitrate of silver acidulated with nitric acid. Dry the washed product at a 
temperature not exceeding 100° C. (212° F.). 
The U. S. P. (1870), and the British Pharmacopoeia, direct bone ash, 4 ounces; 
water, 2 pints; hydrochloric acid, 6 (Brf, [8 (U. $.)] ounces; solution of ammo- 
nia, 12 ounces (or a sufficient amount), and distilled water, q.s. After digesting 
the bone-ash in the diluted hydrochloric acid, the solution is boiled (Brf for a 
few moments, after which the procedure is essentially that given above. The 
German Pharmacopoeia prepares a more soluble salt by precipitating with sodium 
phosphate a solution of sodium chloride. Its formula is CaHPO44-2H2O. 
Description and Tests.-"A light, white, amorphous powder, odorless and 
tasteless, and permanent in the air. Almost insoluble in cold water; partly 
decomposed by boiling water, which dissolves out an acid salt; almost insoluble 
in acetic acid, except when freshly precipitated; easily soluble in hydrochloric 
or nitric acid; insoluble in alcohol. At an intense white heat the salt fuses with- 
out decomposition. When moistened with silver nitrate T.S., a yellow coloris 
assumed by the salt either before or after ignition (distinction from acid calcium 
phosphate, which, after ignition, when moistened with silver nitrate, remains 
white). For applying tests of identity and purity, shake 2 Gm. of the salt with 398 
CALC1I PHOSPHAS PR^ECIPITATUS. 
20 Cc. of water, and add nitric acid, drop by drop, until solution is effected; and 
then add water to make the liquid measure 40 Cc. No effervescence should occur 
on adding the acid (absence of carbonate). From a portion of this solution the 
salt is precipitated unchanged by a slight excess of ammonia water. From 
another portion ammonium molybdate T.S. precipitates yellow ammonium phos- 
phomolybdate; the reaction is accelerated by a gentle heat. If to 5 Cc. of the 
solution, acidulated with nitric acid, 0.5 Cc. of silver nitrate T.S. be added, not 
more than a slight turbidity should result (limit of chloride). The clear solution 
should not be rendered turbid by barium chloride T.S. (absence of sulphate); 
nor by potassium sulphate T.S. (barium); nor by an equal volume of hydrogen 
sulphide T.S. (arsenic, lead, etc.); nor should it be colored blue by potassium 
ferrocyanide T.S. (iron). If 5 Cc. of the solution be mixed with 1 Cc. of sodium 
acetate T.S., and then with ammonium oxalate T.S., until the calcium is com- 
pletely precipitated, the filtrate should not be rendered very turbid by adding 
ammonia water in slight excess (limit of magnesium)"-(U. S. P.). Prolonged 
boiling with water slowly decomposes it, forming a soluble acid phosphate, and 
an insoluble basic phosphate of calcium (Ca5[PO4]3OH). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Phosphate of calcium was at one time 
considered a useful remedy in rickets and mollities ossium, its application to these 
diseases being based upon a theoretical inference from the state of the bones, 
which are known to be deficient in their calcareous constituents. Later it was 
presented to the profession as a remedy in the treatment of tuberculous affections, as 
scrofula, pulmonary consumption, etc. But it is extremely doubtful whether the 
beneficial results following its use are due to it, or to the other agents with which 
it is usually associated, as cod-liver oil, preparations of iron, etc. The following 
compound has been recommended in phthisis, scrofula, chloro-anemia, mollities 
ossium, caries, and oxaluric gravel: Take of precipitated phosphate of calcium, 30 
parts; precipitated carbonate of calcium, 20 parts; bicarbonate of sodium, 6 parts; 
mix thoroughly together. The dose is 1 or 2 drachms in sweetened water, every 
morning and evening. Recently, some of our practitioners, basing their views 
partially upon homoeopathic uses of the drug, have declared it a valuable remedy 
for that form of malnutrition in which the teeth, bones, connective tissue, and 
blood corpuscles suffer. Rachitis, tardy union in fractures, ulcers and abscesses of a 
scrofulous character, with rapid melting away of soft structures, exhaustive dis- 
charges, as. colliquative sweats of debility, leucorrhoea, bronchorrhoea, malnutrition during 
dentition, marasmus following cholera infantum and anemic conditions are those in 
which it has been successfully used. In chronic tonsillar and faucial irritation in 
scrofulous patients, malnutritive states following child-bearing and suckling, 
and in menstrual derangements with debility and exhausting discharges, it has 
been highly commended. Small doses (1 or 2 grains), of the crude salt, or the 
triturations, may be employed. Some prefer the 3 x trituration. Dose of precipi- 
tated phosphate of calcium, 1 to 30 grains. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Strumous diathesis; profuse discharges, 
leucorrhoea, and profuse menstruation; debility after child-bearing; colliquative 
sweats, hectic fever; anemia; osteal and dental malnutrition. 
Preparations and Related Bodies.-Syrupus Calcii Phosphatis, Syrup of phosphate 
of calcium. Precipitated phosphate of calcium, 1 troy ounce; phosphoric acid, a sufficient 
quantity to dissolve the calcium salt without having an excess of the acid. Add simple syrup 
to make 1 pint of the finished product. Hydrochloric acid has been employed as a solvent, 
but phosphoric acid is better for this preparation. 
Os.-Bone. The bones of the vertebrate animals consist of a compact organic tissue, 
impregnated with calcareous depositions. When fresh they are pinkish-white; when dried, 
a dull, ivory white. Water does not, but acids partially dissolve them, taking up the inor- 
ganic constituents, and leaving behind a gelatinous framework, called ossein. On the other 
hand, when calcined in the open air, the organic portion is totally destroyed, leaving a white, 
porous residue ol inorganic matter. When heated in closed vessels by destructive distillation, 
a porous charcoal-carbo animalis-is produced, while ammoniacal products are given off. The 
organic constituent, ossein, when long boiled, yields gelatin. Bones of different species, differ- 
ent bones of the same animal, and different portions of the same bone, vary in the proportion 
of inorganic matter. The outer or compact tissue of bone contains the most, sometimes as high 
as 66 per cent; the inner or cancellous tissue, contains the least, sometimes as much as 40 per 
cent. /Eby, in 1874, advanced the theory that the chief inorganic constituents of bone were 
combined with a chemical salt of the structure, 3Ca3(PO4)2CaCO3, and probably with water, 399 
CALCII SULPHAS EXSICCATUS. 
and mixed with carbonate of calcium. The ash of bone is recognized in the British Pharma- 
copoeia as Os ustum or Bone ash, and defined as " the residue of bones which have been burned 
to a white ash in contact with air. Bone consists principally of phosphate of calcium mixed 
with about 10 per cent of carbonate of calcium, and a little fluoride of calcium, silica, and phos- 
phate of magnesium" (Br. Ph.). Bone ash or bone earth is employed chiefly in the preparation 
of calcium and sodium phosphates, glacial phosphoric acid, and phosphorus. Bone ash contains 
approximately traces of iron, silica, manganese, and sodium chloride, and less than 1 per cent 
of calcium fluoride, 1 to 2.7 per cent of magnesium phosphate, 5 to 10 per cent of calcium 
carbonate, and 75 per cent of calcium phosphate (the chief constituent). One hundred parts 
of ox bones (dry), 3.45 parts of soda with a small portion of sodium chloride, 2.05 parts of 
magnesium phosphate, 3.85 parts of calcium carbonate, 57.35 parts of calcium phosphate, with 
a little of calcium fluoride, and 33.3 parts of bone gelatin, the organic constituent (Berzelius). 
Gelatin, size, and glue are obtained from the organic constituent of bones. Animal jellies, 
isinglass, etc., are prepared from them. The hoof-bones of cattle yield the oil known as 
neacs-foot oil (Oleum bubulum). 
Superphosphate of Lime is extensively employed as a fertilizer. It contains organic 
matter, a small amount of magnesium compounds, acid calcium phosphate (Ca[H2PO4]2) 
(22 or 23 per cent), and calcium sulphate (about 50 per cent). It is prepared by treating 
ground bones with about 50 per cent, by weight, of sulphuric acid. Such a mixture is em- 
ployed also to extract ammonia from illuminating gas, forming besides the superphosphate of 
lime, a portion of phosphate and sulphate of ammonium, very valuable as an artificial manure. 
CALCII SULPHAS EXSICCATUS (U. S. P.)-DRIED 
Calcium sulphate. 
"A powder containing about 95 per cent, by weight, of calcium sulphate 
(CaSO4=135.73), and about 5 per cent of water; prepared from the purer varieties 
of native gypsum (CaSO4+2H2O=171.65), by carefully heating until about f of 
the water has been expelled. Dried calcium sulphate should be kept in well- 
closed vessels, carefully protected from moisture"-(U. S. P.). 
Synonyms: Plaster of Paris, Dried gypsum, Calcii sulphas (Br.). 
Description and Tests.-Plaster of Paris is "a fine white powder, without 
odor or taste. From moist air it attracts water, becomes granular, and then loses 
the property of hardening with water. When mixed with half of its weight of 
water, dried calcium sulphate forms a smooth, cohesive paste, which rapidly 
hardens. It is soluble in about 410 parts of water, at 15° C. (59° F.) ; in 388 
parts, at 38° C. (100.4° F.); and in 476 parts, at 100° C. (212° F.). In alcohol it 
is insoluble. It readily dissolves in diluted nitric or hydrochloric acid, also in 
saturated solutions of potassium nitrate, sodium hyposulphite, and of various 
ammonium salts. When heated above 204° C. (399.2° F.), dried calcium sulphate 
becomes anhydrous and loses the property of forming a paste with water and 
hardening rapidly. Its saturated solution in water should be neutral to litmus 
paper. It forms white precipitates with barium chloride T.S., with ammonium 
oxalate T.S.,and with alcohol. No effervescence should occur on the addition 
of diluted acids to dried calcium sulphate (absence of carbonate)"-(U. S. P.f 
Plaster of Paris hardens without decrease of bulk. 
Surgical and Other Uses.-Plaster of Paris is chiefly used as an immov- 
able surgical dressing, and as a material for preparing plaster casts as well as molds 
for the same and wax figures. The method is as follows: Into a common paste- 
board box of sufficient depth and size, pour a quantity of plaster of Paris, mixed 
with water, to the consistence of a soft magma, so that it will not run, but receive 
the impression of the article of which a mold is desired, and thick enough to 
quickly "set." Now, take the article, an apple for instance, grease it well and 
press it down to that portion of the model at which the dimensions begin to 
diminish. Allow the plaster to harden, and, without removing the apple, cut a 
conical depression, one on each side, into the plaster surface, a little distance from 
the apple, and again apply grease to the exposed portion of the fruit and to all of 
the exposed surface of the plaster, including the depression. Now, fill the box 
completely with more plaster of the same consistence as that first employed, com- 
pletely burying the apple. Allow the mass to harden, when the two halves of 
the mold will readily come apart, and the fruit may be removed. The cut depres- 
sions in the lower half will have received plaster in the form of pegs depending 
from the upper half, and these will serve to accurately fit the parts of the mold 400 
CALC1I SULPH18. 
together when in use. Now cut a gutter in one-half of the mold, or in both 
opposed to each other, and the instrument is finished. To reproduce the figure, 
instrument, etc., in wax, all that is necessary is to bring the wax to a fluid state 
by heat and pour through the gutter a small quantity into the mold (previously 
thoroughly greasing inside), and then slowly revolve the mold until the wax has 
hardened. Separate the mold and remove the figure. To reproduce in plaster 
follow the same procedure, using a milk of plaster of Paris; if the figure is desired 
solid fill the mold full. 
This process may be used to reproduce the shapes of instruments, surgical 
deformities, injuries, etc., but in order to obtain a mold of a part of the body, the 
hair must first be shaven from the part else much pain will be experienced in 
removing the mold from the flesh. 
Plaster of Paris is the substance used in preparing the fixed surgical appli- 
ance known as the plaster of Paris dressing. To do this, take a roller of soft, coarse- 
meshed cloth-cheese-cloth, crinoline, flannel, or muslin, the latter is preferred- 
and rub into the meshes dry plaster and roll the bandage tightly. These may be 
used at once, or kept in air-tight, dry boxes until needed. To use these pour 
upon each end of the roller some cold water, or immerse the roller in the water. 
First apply a dry cloth without plaster and follow with the moistened plaster- 
impregnated bandage, being careful not to execute any reverses in applying the 
roller. It dries quickly and forms a light, hard dressing. When applied to the 
body it may be cut longitudinally and eyelets inserted, so as to serve as a plaster 
jacket. Plaster dressings are applied to fractured limbs and ribs, and certain spinal 
deformities. Many object to them on account of their concealing the injury and 
the liability of shortening, strangulation, and other accidents which may result 
from their unskillful application. 
Related Compound.-Calcii Sulphas. Gypsum, Native calcium sulphate.-This compound 
occurs in nature in the form of transparent prismatic bodies, known as selenite, or as white, 
somewhat opaque masses, termed alabaster. Gypsum is often beautifully colored by impuri- 
ties present. Another beautiful modification is known as satin-spar, or fibrous gypsum, from 
which many ornaments may be made. Ground gypsum, popularly known in rural sections 
as " land plaster, or plaster," is used extensively in agriculture to spread upon the soil, and as 
a medium (or diluent) by which paris green may be applied to potato plants for the destruc- 
tion of the Colorado beetle. It may be artificially prepared by precipitating calcium compounds 
with a sulphate, or with sulphuric acid. In this way it occurs as a crystalline, white powder, 
sparingly soluble in hot water, and more soluble in cold water. It refuses to dissolve in 
alcohol. But very little use has been made, in our school, of calcium sulphate as an internal 
remedy. Webster, however, following Schuessler, of "tissue-remedy" fame, states that it is a 
remedy closely allied to calcium sulphide, as a remedial agent in suppurative states of the con- 
nective tissues. It has been used in a variety of troubles, mainly of a scrofulous suppurative 
nature, much after the method of using calcium sulphide. Five grains of the 3 x trituration 
is added to 4 fluid ounces of water, and teaspoonful doses administered every 2 hours in acute, and 
every 4 hours in chronic disorders. The preparation used by Homoeopatbists is that prepared 
by acting upon solution of calcium chloride with diluted sulphuric acid, washing the precipi- 
tate with hot water, and drying the product at a heat near 30° C. (86° F.)-(Am. Hom. Pharm.). 
CALCII SULPHIS.-CALCIUM SULPHITE. 
Formula (of anhydrous salt) : CaSO3. Molecular Weight : 119.76. 
Formula (of crystallized salt): CaSO34-2H2O. Molecular Weight : 155.68. 
Preparation.-Sulphite of calcium may be made by mixing a solution of a 
normal sulphite with a solution of a salt of calcium. Also, by making a thick 
paste with slaked lime and water, spreading in thin layers, and passing sulphurous 
acid gas over it until absorption of the gas ceases. The latter is the process 
employed on a large scale. 
Description.-This salt is a white powder of a weak, sulphurous taste, and is 
known in commerce as sulphite of lime. It is soluble in 800 parts of water, and 
freely soluble in solution of sulphurous acid, without effervescence. If efferves- 
cence ensues, carbonate of calcium is present as an impurity. When the solution 
in sulphurous acid is exposed to the atmosphere, the acid escapes, and 6-sided 
needles of the composition CaSO3-|-2H2O separate. Sulphite of calcium is chiefly 
consumed by cider-makers, as the addition of a small amount will retard or check 401 
CALENDULA. 
the vinous fermentation. For this purpose it has been customary to permit fer- 
mentation to progress until the cider is of the desired quality, then to add to it 
sulphite of calcium in the proportion of 4 or 6 ounces to the cask of 40 gallons of 
cider, then agitate well, permit the turbid liquid to settle, and afterward, as 
desired, draw off the clear cider. The impurities that may be expected to exist in 
sulphite of calcium are such as are contained in the lime from which it is pre- 
pared, as, carbonate of calcium from previous exposure of the slacked lime to 
atmospheric action, and sulphate of calcium, both in varying proportions. The 
latter substance is gradually produced when sulphite of calcium is exposed to 
the atmosphere. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Sulphite of calcium and "bisulphite 
of lime''(see below), possess properties similar to other sulphurous acid prepa- 
rations, being disinfectant and antiseptic. They are mostly employed for the 
purpose of checking fermentation in fluids liable to undergo such action. They 
are rarely employed in medicine, except, occasionally, to disinfect and stimulate 
obstinate ulcers of long standing. For internal use, there are several other sulphites 
before the profession that are preferred. Dose, 5 to 60 grains. 
Related Compound.-Bisulphite of Lime. The solution of sulphite of calcium in sul» 
phurous acid water is known in commerce as bisulphite of lime, and is produced by passing 
sulphurous acid into milk of lime. It is a clear liquid of a suffocating sulphurous odor, 
and is said to be used by brewers for the purpose of giving stability to beer (Roscoe and 
Schorlemmer), and is occasionally employed by fruit preservers, in small proportion, for the 
purpose of preventing fermentation in canned fruit. It is useful for preserving anatomical 
specimens and animal tissues of several kinds. It is also considerably employed to prevent 
fermentation in cider, wine, etc. 
CALENDULA (U. S. P.)-CALENDULA. 
The florets and leaves of Calendula officinalis, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Compositae. 
Common Names: Calendula, Marigold, Mary gold, Garden marigold. 
Botanical Source.-Calendula officinalis has a fibrous, annual root, with a 
stem about a foot high, having many patent, dichotomous, or sometimes trichot- 
omous branches, which are striated, green, succulent, and hispido-pubescent. 
The leaves are alternate, oblong, acute, mucronate, sessile, somewhat succulent, 
broad, a little cordate at the base, the margins quite entire, often scabrous-ciliate. 
The flower-heads are large, terminal, solitary upon each branch, of a rich, full, 
golden yellow, deeper and brighter previous to their full expansion. The invol- 
ucre consists of many nearly equal, appressed, linear-subulate, pilose-hispid leaves 
or scales, not one-third as long as the radiant florets, the apices a little recurved. 
Achenia carinate, muricate, incurved. Corollas of the ray ligulate, female triden- 
tate, broadly linear, lower tubular portion hairy; ovary singularly boat-shaped, 
curved like a horse-shoe, large, green, downy within, having a thickened margin, 
more or less tuberculated on the back. The florets of the center are all tubular, 
small, male, and consequently sterile; mouth 5-cleft, base hairy. The abortive 
ovaries are cylindrical, downy, and green. Receptacle dotted (L.-W 
History.-Calendula is a native of South Europe and the Orient. It is a 
common garden herb, with a feeble, aromatic, somewhat narcotic, though not 
very unpleasant smell, and a salty, austere, rather disagreeable taste. The leaves, 
and more generally the flowers are used, and impart their active properties to 
alcohol or boiling water. The dried plant has a much weaker odor and taste. 
The dried flower heads are occasionally found in commerce. The French and the 
Afrixan marigold of our gardens, Tagetes erecta, Linne, and Tagetes patula, Linne, 
respectively, natives of the tropics, have been sold for true calendula, and it is 
believed that much of the fluid preparations of calendula are prepared from 
these plants. 
Description.-"Florets about 12 Mm. (| inch) long, linear and strap-shaped, 
delicately veined in a longitudinal direction, yellow or orange-colored, 3-toothed 
above, the short, hairy tube enclosing the remnants of a filiform style, terminat- 
ing in 2 elongated branches; odor slight and somewhat heavy; taste somewhat 
bitter and faintly saline"-(U. S. P.). 402 
CALENDULA. 
Chemical Composition.-Geiger, who examined this plant in 1819, found 
gum, sugar, an amorphous, bitter body, a minute quantity of volatile oil, and a 
tasteless, yellow substance to which the name calendulin was applied. Calendulin 
is obtained by digesting the flowers and leaves of marigold in alcohol, and then 
evaporating the solution to the consistence of an extract. This must first be 
digested in ether, which dissolves a substance analogous to wax, and afterward 
in water. The mucilaginous substance which remains is the calendulin. It is, 
when dried, yellowish, translucent, and brittle; it swells up and forms mucilage 
with water; it dissolves in hot water, but assumes the form of jelly on cooling. 
It is insoluble in the diluted acids, alkaline carbonates, lime, ether, and the fixed 
and volatile oils, and soluble in concentrated acetic acid, diluted solutions of the 
caustic alkalies, and in absolute alcohol. It is not precipitated by tannin. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Slightly stimulant and diaphoretic. 
Used for similar purposes with saffron, but less active. Has been reputed useful in 
spasmodic affections, strumous maladies, icterus, suppressed menstruation, typhoid febrile 
conditions, cancer, etc. Used in infusion or in the form of extract, from 4 to 6 
grains, 3 or 4 times a day; also applied locally to cancerous and other ulcers. 
Probably overestimated. Its chief use is as a local remedy. Dr. William J. 
Clary, of Monroeville, Ohio, writes me as follows, in relation to this plant: "As 
a local remedy after surgical operations, it has no equal in Materia Medica. Its 
forte is its influence on lacerated wounds, without regard to the general health of 
the patient or the weather. If applied constantly, gangrene will not follow, and, 
I might say, there will be but little, if any, danger of tetanus. When applied to a 
wound it is seldom that any suppuration follows, the wound healing by replace- 
ment or first intention. It has been tested by several practitioners, and by one, 
is used after every surgical operation with the happiest effect. You need not 
fear to use it in wounds, and I would not be without it for a hundred times its 
cost. It is to be made into a saturated tincture with whiskey diluted with one- 
third its quantity of water; lint is saturated with this, applied to the parts, and 
renewed as often as it becomes dry." 
The statement of Dr. Clary has stood the test of time, and now hundreds of 
advocates of calendula endorse it. It may be used well diluted for the chafing 
and excoriations of infants. Michener (Cal. Med. Jour.), claims remarkable results 
from its use in gangrenous and indolent ulcers with capillary impairment. Use 
1 part of specific calendula to 3 parts of water, locally, keeping the parts constantly 
wet. Teaspoonful doses every 4 hours of a solution of specific calendula fl^j, 
in water fl^iv, are to be given at the same time. He also uses it successfully after 
surgical operations to induce healing by first intention, to wash abscess cavities, to 
prevent cicatrization from burns and scalds, in eczematous and ulcerative skin diseases, 
vaginitis (wash or tampon), endocervicitis, gonorrhoea, non-specific urethritis, and mer- 
curial stomatitis. Dr. Bradner (An. of Ec. Med., 1890), states that cavities from which 
epitheliomatous growths have been removed, heal quickly under the use of the evapo- 
rated fluid extract mixed with petrolatum. Locally, by atomizer, the doctor 
directs: R Tr. calendula, gtt. x to lx; ol. petrolatum, si. Mix. In catarrhal condi- 
tions of the nose and throat, with raw and tender membranes, its action is kindly 
and soothing. Lamoreaux (An. of Ec. Med., 1890), uses it in mild conjunctivitis in 
the proportion of 5 drops to the ounce of rose water; and as a dressing for lacer- 
ated perineum he states that it operates to prevent pain and swelling. In obstetric 
practice it is of value to relieve burning and smarting after delivery, and relieves 
to some extent the pain and tenderness of excoriated nipples. In vaginitis, endome- 
tritis, all uterine and vaginal abrasions, and non-malignant ulcerations, leucorrhcea, and 
as an intfa-uterine wash, calendula has received strong endorsement. It is a 
vaso-motor stimulant, and relieves capillary engorgement of the mucous tissues 
and skin. Congestion of the nasal membranes and its consequent unpleasantness are 
removed by it. Uterine subinvolution and vaginal engorgements are thus relieved. 
It stimulates ecchymosed tissues, and has been recommended in varicoses of the 
lower limbs, using it both locally and internally. Locally, it is applied diluted to 
inflamed conjunctival and aural tissues, and to traumatic injuries of the eye and ear. 
Foltz (Dynam. Ther.) employs it in suppurative otitis media as follows: R Specific 
calendula, A^j; boric acid, §j. Mix. Ft. chart, No. 1. Use by insufflation. Prof. 
Webster values it in superficial skin affections, even where there are long-standing CALLITRICHE.-CALUMBA. 
403 
inflammatory indurations, as in stubborn acne. Use it both locally and internally. 
Locally, specific calendula (the best form), from 1 to 4 parts of water to full 
strength; internally in doses 1 to 10 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Locally, to wounds and injuries to prevent 
suppuration and promote rapid healing. Internally, to aid local action, and in 
chronic suppuration, capillary engorgement, varicose veins, old ulcers, splenic and 
hepatic congestion. 
Related Species.-Calendula arvensis, LinnA A cultivated species, smaller than the 
preceding, and having lighter-colored flowers, undoubtedly having properties similar to 
those of the foregoing species, its taste and odor being similar. 
CALLITRICHE.-WATER-STARWORT. 
The whole plant, Callitriche verna, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Callitrichacese. 
Common Names: Water-starwort, Water-chickweed. 
Botanical Source.-This plant is a small aquatic annual herb, which floats 
upon the water, the stem being 1 or 2 feet in length, and composed of 2 tubes, 
simple or branched. The leaves are opposite, 3-nerved; upper ones oblong-spatu- 
late, two at each node, crowded above into a star-like tuft upon the surface of the 
water; lower ones becoming gradually narrower, the lowest quite linear, obtuse or 
emarginate. The flowers are very minute, white, axillary, solitary, or in pairs, 
and often monoecious; the anther is a little exserted and yellow; the styles 
constantly erect; the fruit nut-like, indehiscent, 1-celled, and 4-seeded; the seeds 
peltate and albuminous (W.). 
History.-This plant is common to the United States, growing in shallow 
streams and muddy places, and flowering from April to September. The whole 
plant is used; it yields its properties to water, or alcohol. There are several 
varieties, as C. autumnalis, C. austinii, 0. heterophylla, all of which possess similar 
medicinal virtues. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This plant is a very valuable diuretic, 
and has been found advantageous in some affections of the kidneys and bladder, 
dropsy, and gonorrhoea. A decoction of it may be drank freely, according to its 
diuretic influence. In dropsy, a tincture made with whiskey is preferred. The 
plant deserves more attention than it has heretofore received. 
CALUMBA (U. S. P.)-CALUMBA. 
"The root of Jateorhiza pahnata (Lamarck), Miers"-(U. S. P.) {Cocculus 
palmatus, Wallich). 
Nat. Ord.-Menispermaceae. 
Common Names: Columbo, Colombo. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 13. 
Botanical Source.-Colombo is a climbing plant, with a perennial root, 
formed of a number of fasciculated, fusiform, somewhat branched, fleshy, curved, 
descending tubers, of the thickness of an infant's arm, covered with a thin, brown 
epidermis, marked, especially toward the upper part, with transverse warts; inter- 
nally they are deep yellow, inodorous, very bitter, filled with numerous, parallel, 
longitudinal fibers, or vessels. The stems, of which 1 or 2 proceed from the same 
root, are annual, herbaceous, about as thick as the little finger, simple in the male 
plant, twining, branched in the female, rounded and green; in the full-grown 
plant, below, they are thickly clothed with succulent, longitudinal hairs, which 
are tipped with a gland. The leaves are alternate and large; the younger ones 
thin, pellucid, bright-green, generally 3-lobed, and upward gradually more num- 
erous; the older ones remote, a span in breadth, nearly orbicular, deeply cordate, 
5 to 7-lobed, the lobes entire, often deflexed, wavy on the surface and margin, 
dark-green above, paler beneath; hairy on both sides; the nerves, according to the 
number of lobes, are 3, 7, or 9, pale, connected by veins which, in themselves, are 
reticulated and are prominent beneath. The petioles are about as long as the 404 
CALUMBA. 
leaves, rounded, gfanduloso-pilose, and thickened below. The Howers are small, 
indistinct, arranged in the male plant in solitary, axillary, drooping, compound 
racemes, covered with glandular hairs,and with small, caducous bracts at the base; 
in the female they are also axillary, solitary, simple, spreading, but shorter than 
those of the male. Sepals 6, glabrous; petals 6, in a single row; stamens6; anthers 
terminal and 4-celled. The fruit is drupaceous, or berried, about the size of a 
hazel-nut, densely clothed with long, spreading hairs, and tipped with a black, 
oblong gland. The seeds are black, striated transversely, and subreniform (L.). 
History.-This plant inhabits the forests near the coast of Mozambique, and 
Oibo in East Africa, and has been cultivated at Madras, and in the Isle of France. 
It was formerly incorrectly described as Menispermum palmatum, and has more 
recently been properly investigated and classified. It grows abundantly on the 
southeastern coast of Africa, where in the neighborhood of Mozambique, it is 
known by the name Kalumb. The root is dug up in the dry season in the month 
of March, and is very fibrous and ligneous, only its spindle-shaped offsets are 
removed, being cut in slices, strung on cords, and hung up to dry in the shade. 
Description.-As met with in commerce, Colombo root consists of transverse 
sections from 4 an inch to 3 inches in diameter, and from 1 to 8 or 10 lines 
thick. These sections are composed of a thin, olive-brown and generally rugose 
cuticle; a thick, bright-yellow, easily detached inner bark; and a pith or spongy 
ligneous internal structure of a pale-brown or yellowish color, more or less con- 
tracted, often exhibiting dark concentric rings with radiated striae. The best 
pieces are those which are firm, dense, and regular, of a lively color, and not much 
injured by insects. The root is friable and readily reduced to a pale greenish- 
yellow powder, having a faintly aromatic odor, and an unpleasant, bitter taste, 
without the slightest acrimony or astringency. Alcohol, or boiling water, extracts 
its virtues. The bark has the strongest taste, which is readily taken up by 
water, alcohol, or ether. The central pith is almost mucilaginous. The powder 
soon spoils and becomes unfit for use, in consequence of absorbing moisture from 
a damp atmosphere. It is better to powder the root in limited portions, when 
required, keeping the powder in closely-stoppered bottles (P.). The U. S. P. 
describes it as "in nearly circular disks, 3 to 6'Cm. (1| to 2^ inches) in diameter, 
externally greenish-brown and wrinkled, internally yellowish, or grayish-yellow, 
depressed in the center, with a few interrupted circles of projecting wood-bundles, 
distinctly radiate in the outer portion; fracture short, mealy; odor slight; taste 
mucilaginous, slightly aromatic, very bitter"-(U. S. P.). 
Adulterations.-The American Colombo {Fraser a Walteri, Michaux), which 
is sometimes added to the genuine article, contains no starch, and is not, there- 
fore, affected by iodine; but it contains tannic acid, and, therefore, becomes black- 
ish-green when sulphate of iron is added to its decoction, and yields a precipitate 
with a solution of gelatin (P.). White bryony {Bryonia alba) root is said to have 
been an adulterant also. Both this and American columbo root can be detected 
by their widely divergent physical characteristics, so different from calumba. 
A wood, known as false columbo, or columbo wood (from Cascinum fenestratum), also 
of the Moonseed family, has been received into England from Ceylon. 
Chemical Composition.-According to Planche and Buchner, the root con- 
tains bitter matter, yellow resinous extractive, volatile oil, wax, gum, starch, vege- 
table medulla, woody fiber, and water. Wittstock, in 1830, discovered a bitter 
principle, which he named colombin,or columbin. If the genuine columbo be first 
moistened, it becomes black when in contact with tincture of iron; iodine added 
to a decoction of the root, forms the blue iodide of starch; a decoction of the root 
does not redden litmus paper, nor is there any precipitate (tannic and gallic acids) 
when tartar emetic, gelatin, or sulphate or perchloride of iron are added to it; 
infusion of nut-galls, or tannic acid causes a precipitate. 
Columbin (C42H44O14) may be obtained by treating columbo root twice or thrice 
successively with alcohol of specific gravity 0.835. Mix these solutions, distill 
off J of the alcohol, and allow the residual liquid to remain at rest for some days. 
Crystals are deposited which may be collected by throwing the whole on a cloth 
and allowing the liquid portion to pass. These crystals are to be washed in 
cold water, dissolved in alcohol, and the solution digested with ivory-black, and 
filtered. When the solution thus treated is concentrated, it deposits pure crystals CALUMBA. 
405 
of columbin. The mother liquor still contains abundance of the same principle, 
which may be separated by mixing it with powdered glass and evaporating to 
dryness, stirring it constantly when it begins to become concrete. Digest this- 
mixture of powder and glass in ether, which dissolves wax, fatty matter and 
columbin. Distill off the ether, digest the residue in boiling acetic acid, which 
takes up only the columbin, then evaporate, and crystals are formed. Sixty 
grains are obtained from pound of the root. Columbin crystallizes in transparent 
rhombic prisms, which are inodorous, but very bitter. They are neutral, little 
soluble in water, alcohol, or ether, at ordinary temperatures, yet give a bitter taste, 
to them; boiling alcohol dissolves from to of its weight, but on cooling 
deposits them. Volatile oils sparingly dissolve them. The caustic alkalies dis- 
solve columbin, from which it is precipitated unaltered by acids; nitric and sul- 
phuric acids dissolve it, but hydrochloric ^cid has very little action on it. Boiling 
acetic acid of specific gravity 1.04, is its best solvent (T.). 
Berberine (C^H^NO.,) exists in Colombo root to a large extent, being in union 
with columbic acid. Dr. Bijdeker obtained it by exhausting the columbo root with 
boiling alcohol of specific gravity 0.889, removing as much of the alcohol as possible 
by distillation; and when a yellowish-brown mass of impure columbin had sepa- 
rated after 3 days' standing, the supernatant liquid, together with the aqueous 
solution arising from the rinsing of the impure columbin, was evaporated to dry- 
ness on a water-bath. The residue was exhausted with boiling alcohol of specific 
gravity 0.863, and this solution again treated as the preceding one. The residue was 
then treated with boiling water, and the filtered solution mixed -with a considerable 
quantity of hydrochloric acid. The precipitate thus formed was collected on a 
filter, and well pressed between paper. Owing to its great solubility in pure water 
and alcohol, it could not be washed. To remove any free adherent acid, it was 
dissolved in alcohol of 0.863, and precipitated from this solution by ether. The 
salt obtained was an indistinctly crystalline bright-yellow powder, of an unpleas- 
ant bitter taste, and believed to be the hydrochlorate of berberine (Amer. Jour. 
Pharm.yol. XX., p. 322). We have not verified these experiments, but, in our 
opinion, if the resultant salt is, as stated, very soluble in w'ater, it is not hydro- 
chlorate of berberine. Columbic acid (C22H27O7) is amorphous, but sparingly soluble 
in water (cold), but dissolves in diluted alkalies and alcohol, is of a pale-yellow 
color, and bitter to the taste. 
Columbine, a white body, has been obtained by Alessandri (1882), who believes 
it to be an alkaloid. It was prepared by neutralizing an infusion of calumba made 
with oxalic acid solution (3 per cent) and evaporated to one-third, cooled, ether 
added, and the solution again evaporated, when pure columbine remains-{Ij Orosi, 
Vol. I; P. J. Tr., 1882, p. 995). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-A pure, bitter tonic, which neither 
stimulates nor astringes. It acts upon the stomach much like hydrastis. Used in 
dyspepsia, chronic diarrhoea, and dysentery; in convalescence from febrile and inflam- 
matory diseases, hectic fever, dysentery and diarrhoea; and in the muscular debility of 
young children. It has been efficient in sympathetic vomiting, not connected with 
gastritis, as in pregnancy. Like other strong bitters, it occasionally checks the 
remittent and intermittent fevers of hot climates. A powerful tonic may be formed 
of the alcoholic extract of the root. In dyspepsia and vomiting, it may be advan- 
tageously combined with the alkaline bicarbonates, as well as in debility with 
acidity of the stomach. It is used in various combinations, with aromatics, ant- 
acids, cathartics, or other tonics. It is particularly useful in dyspepsia, with con- 
stipation and hepatic torpor, and should be employed in 5-drop doses of specific 
calumba associated with a light dose of specific rheum or leptandra. to be given 
5 or 6 times a day. In cholera morbus it stops the vomiting and purging, and 
imparts strength ; after the active phases of cholera infantum,when an unirritating 
tonic is desired, this agent is to be preferred. Dose of the powder, from 10 to 30 
grains, 3 or 4 times a day; of the infusion, from 1 to 2 fluid ounces; of the 
tincture, from 1 to 2 fluid drachms; of specific calumba, 5 to 30 drops, 3 to 5 
times a day. Colombin is highly useful in the treatment of dyspepsia, in doses 
-of from f of a grain to 2| grains daily. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Enfeebled stomach, with indigestion, or 
feeble digestion; anorexia, and general debility. 406 
CALX. 
CALX (U. S. P.)-LIME. 
Formula: CaO. Molecular Weight: 55.87. 
" Lime prepared by burning white marble, oyster shells, or the purest varie- 
ties of natural calcium carbonate. It should be kept in well-closed vessels, in a 
dry place"-(U. S. P.). 
Synonyms: Calcium monoxide, Caustic lime, Quicklime, Calcii oxidum, Calcaria, 
Calx usta, Calx viva, Burned lime, Oxydum calcicum. 
Source and Preparation.-Lime does not exist in the pure or caustic state 
in nature, because if exposed in this condition it would rapidly absorb carbonic 
acid gas. It is prepared by heating a natural carbonate of calcium, by which 
process its carbonic acid gas is set free,*vhile the lime is left in the residue. It is 
found purest in limestone, chalk, marble, and the shells of oysters. That pro- 
cured from the last two is quite pure and especially suited for the delicate inves- 
tigations in the chemical laboratory. The Edinburgh College ordered white 
marble, broken into small fragments, to be heated "in a covered crucible at a full 
red heat for 3 hours, or till the residuum, when slaked and suspended in water, 
no longer effervesces on the addition of hydrochloric acid." After the lime has 
become cool, it should be at once secured in well-closed vessels, to prevent it from 
absorbing carbonic acid gas from the atmosphere, which it does very speedily. 
This gives a very pure product. The burning of the limestone on a large scale is 
conducted in lime-kilns in such a manner that a good draught of air passes through 
the heated lime-stones. The chemical reaction involved is as follows: CaCO3= 
CaO-f-COo. If not conducted with a good draught the liberated carbonic acid 
gas would surround the limestones and prevent them, even at a high heat, from 
parting with the remaining carbon dioxide. As ordinarily prepared it contains 
a large amount of impurities, notably ferric oxide, magnesia,alkaline compounds, 
clay, and silica. The presence of much clay causes it to slack slowly and feebly, 
or scarcely at all, the cause being the formation of a glaze of calcium silicate, 
which obstructs the free access of water, and when this is the case it is commonly 
called 11 poo?' lime" or "over-burnt lime." It may be obtained pure by calcining 
pure carbonate of calcium in a crucible, moistening the resulting product, and 
recalcining, by means of which the carbon dioxide will be completely dissipated. 
Description and Tests.-The U. S. P. describeslime as "hard, white, or gray- 
ish-white masses, which, in contact with air, gradually attract moisture and car- 
bon dioxide, and fall to a white powder; odorless, of a sharp, caustic taste. 
Soluble in about 750 parts of water at 15° C. (59° F.), and in about 1300 parts of 
boiling water; insoluble in alcohol. Soluble in diluted acetic, hydrochloric, or 
nitric acid. When sprinkled with about half its weight of water, lime becomes 
heated, and is gradually converted into a white powder (calcium hydrate or 
slaked lime). When this is mixed with about 3 or 4 parts of water, it forms a 
uniform, smooth magma (milk of lime). Even at the highest degrees of heat, 
lime remains unaltered and doesnot fuse. Its aqueous solution gives an intensely 
alkaline reaction with litmus paper"-(U. S.P.). 
Lime, when pure, is a white or grayish solid, moderately hard, but easily 
reduced to powder, and having a specific gravity of about 3.08. It has a hot, 
burning, alkaline taste, in some measure corrodes and destroys animal tissues, 
reacts powerfully on vegetable colors as an alkali, and is difficult of fusion, 
requiring the oxyhydrogen flame to both fuse and volatilize it. A pint of water 
at 0° C. (32° F.), dissolves 13.25 grains of lime; at 100° C. (212° F.), it dissolves 
only 6.7 grains. The dense fluid termed milk of lime, is slaked lime suspended in 
lime water. When water is added to lime, this swells up, cracks, and becomes 
reduced to powder, with the evolution of a considerable degree of heat; in this 
state it is called slaked lime (calx extincta), or the hydrate of lime (calcis hydras), milk 
of lime (hydroxide of calcium). It is white, pulverulent, much less caustic than 
lime, and is principally used for preparing chlorinated lime. On exposure to the 
air it falls to white powder known as "air-slaked lime." Its ashen-gray coloris 
due to impurities present in the stone from which it is prepared. When per- 
fectly pure it is a white compound. When heated in an oxyhydrogen flame it 
emits an intensely brilliant white light, and when the flame of the oxyhydrogen CALX. 
407 
blow-pipe is directed upon a small piece of quicklime the oxy-hydrogen-calcium 
light is produced, and when the oxygen gas is first passed through an alcohol 
lamp Hame, a less brilliant light (the oxy-calcium, light), is the result. These lights 
are used for stereopticon exhibitions and for theatrical stage-effects. Lime is one 
of the alkaline earths, differing from the others in forming an exceedingly deli- 
quescent salt with chlorhydric acid (calcium chloride), and one practically insolu- 
ble with sulphuric acid (calcium sulphate). 
In 1808, Davy showed that lime was an oxide of calcium. Lime is soluble 
in hydrochloric acid without effervescence, and the solution gives no precipitate 
with ammonia. Lime-water reddens yellow turmeric paper, turns infusion of 
red cabbage green, is rendered milky on the addition of carbon dioxide; forms a 
white precipitate with oxalic acid or an oxalate, and gives no precipitate with 
sulphuric acid. "It enters very readily into combination with all the acids, 
sulphur, and phosphorus, and decomposes the alkaline carbonates, phosphates, 
fluorides, borates, oxalates, tartrates, and citrates; the ammoniacal acetates, chlo- 
rides, and succinates, the sulphates of aluminum and magnesium; the metallic 
salts, spirituous liquors, and astringent substances" (Coxe). Consequently the 
above are incompatibles. "Its solution in diluted acetic acid gives, with ammo- 
nium oxalate T.S., a white precipitate insoluble in acetic acid, but soluble in 
hydrochloric acid. If 1 part of lime be slaked and then thoroughly mixed with 
50 parts of water, and the greater portion of the milky liquid decanted, no hard, 
gritty particles should be found in the residue, nor should the addition of hydro- 
chloric acid to this residue cause much effervescence (limit of carbonate), nor 
leave more than a slight insoluble residue. If the decanted portion be dissolved 
in acetic acid and filtered if necessary, a portion of the filtrate should not be 
rendered turbid by potassium dichromate T.S. (absence of barium). In another 
portion of the filtrate, the addition of the ammonia water should not produce 
more than a slight turbidity (limit of aluminum, etc.)"-(U. S. P.). 
Laboratory and Pharmaceutical Uses.-Lime is employed to dry gases and 
to abstract water from alcohol and ether when concentration free from moisture 
is desired. It forms, under certain conditions, insoluble salts with many acids, 
e. g., carbonic, phosphoric, and citric acids; hence, it is useful, not only in the 
preparation of alkaline compounds, as, for example, caustic potash or soda, and 
alkaloidal products, and certain other principles (santonin, etc.), but also of 
organic acids (citric acid, tartaric acid, etc.). It is used in making precipitated 
sulphur (milk of sulphur); in preparing liquor calcis, potassium chlorate, and 
especially sodium carbonate according to Leblanc's process, and many other 
chemical materials. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Unslaked lime disintegrates animal and vege- 
table tissues, favoring their solution, and with albumen forms a horn-like sub- 
stance. Its use by tanners to remove cuticle and hair from hides is well known. 
It is not so energetic a caustic as the alkalies on account of the fact that it has 
not so great an affinity for water. Internally, it may act as a violent gastro-intes- 
tinal poison. Diluted acidswill antidote it. For its internal employment, see 
Liquor Calcis. Externally it is a powerful escharotic. It is generally employed 
with other agents. Potassa cum calce, a powerful caustic for cauterizing the neck 
of the uterus, or other parts, and also known as Vienna powder or paste, is made by 
reducing caustic potash 1| ounces, and quicklime 2 ounces, each separately, to 
powder in a heated mortar; then mix them carefully and rapidly, and keep the 
mixture in a wide-mouthed bottle with a ground stopper. In using this caustic, 
the powder must be moistened with a little alcohol, so as to reduce it to a soft 
paste, which is to be applied to the part to be cauterized. In this case the potassa 
only acts upon a circumscribed portion of skin, instead of spreading, as common 
caustic potash generally does; but to bound the space still more accurately, it may 
be surrounded by a ring of diachylon plaster; vinegar will neutralize its action. 
This caustic is sometimes made with equal parts of the two articles forming it. 
It is also prepared in sticks. Dr. Filhos has prepared a caustic of the same agents, 
which is more easily used; it is called the Caustic of Filhos. It is made by fusing 
together 6 ounces of caustic potash, and 3 ounces of quicklime; the mixture 
is poured into leaden cylinders inclosed in glass tubes, and which are to be 
sealed afterward at each end. London paste, also used as a caustic for destroying 408 
CALX CHLORATA. 
abnormal growths, is made by making a pasty mass with equal parts of caustic 
soda and unslaked lime, and a sufficient quantity of absolute alcohol; it should 
not be allowed to remain in contact with the parts more than 5 or 6 seconds. 
It has been especially recommended for the removal of enlarged tonsils. 
In cases where diaphoresis is desirable, without disturbing the patient, it may 
be effected as follows: Take a piece of lime about the size of a-Sicily orange, 
and wrap around it a wet rag, but not too wet; around this wrap several thick- 
nesses of dry muslin or cloth. Place one thus prepared on each side of the 
patient, and by both thighs; it will soon induce copious perspiration. 
Lime is freely used to arrest putrefaction in cesspools, slaughter-houses, dis- 
secting rooms, drains, vaults, sewers, etc., and to disinfect the stools in infectious 
diseases. 
Related Preparation.-Calcii Hydras. Calcium hydroxide, Calcium hydrate, Slaked lime, 
Hydrate of lime, Calcaria hydrica. Formula: Ca(OH)2. Molecular weight: 73.83. When lime 
is gradually treated with about one-third of its bulk of water it unites with it to form slaked 
lime under evolution of much heat. So intense is this heat that fires are said to have resulted 
from it. For the preparation of this compound the British Pharmacopoeia directs 2 pounds of 
lime and 1 pint (Imp.) of distilled water. Introduce the lime into a metallic pot, pour upon it 
the water, and when vapors cease to arise, cover and set aside to cool. When reduced to the 
atmospheric temperature, transfer the slaked lime to a wire sieve, and gently agitate to allow 
the finer particles to pass, rejecting that which remains in the sieve. Keep the powder away 
from the air by putting it in closely-stoppered bottles. Slaked lime is a pure white powder, 
strongly alkaline in reaction and taste, and soluble in acids without much effervescence, if but 
little carbonate is present. A dull, red heat renders it perfectly anhydrous without previous 
fusion. On exposure to the atmosphere it absorbs carbon dioxide, and forms calcium carbonate. 
"One hundred parts of water at 15.6°C. (60° F.), dissolve 0.1368 parts, and at 100° C. (212° F.), 
only dissolve 0.0752 parts." Its solution is known as lime-water (see Liquor Calcis). When 
quicklime is slaked, or when slaked lime is made into a thin paste with 3 or 4 parts of water, 
it forms milk of lime, a preparation considerably employed in chemical manipulations, and as 
" whitPutash " for ceilings. For uses see Liquor Calcis (see also above). 
CALX CHLORATA (U. S. P.)-CHLORINATED LIME. 
"A compound resulting from the action of chlorine upon calcium hydrate, 
and containing not less than 35 per cent of available chlorine. This preparation 
is often improperly called 'chloride of lime.' Chlorinated lime should be kept 
in well-closed vessels, in a cool and dry place"-(U. S. P.). 
Synonyms: Chloride of lime, Bleaching powder, Hypochlorite of calcium, Calx 
chlorinata, Calcaria chlorata. 
Preparation.-This compound is made essentially on the same principle as 
when first prepared by Tennant and Knox at the close of the last century. It is 
prepared by passing thoroughly dried and perfectly slaked lime through a sieve, 
and spreading the powder so produced upon trays arranged tier upon tier, in 
proper chambers or boxes. Upon these trays a stream of chlorine gas is directed 
from the top until the slaked lime has absorbed all the gas it will take up. Care 
should be taken to prevent a temperature above 25° C (77° F.), so as to guard 
against the formation of chlorate of calcium (Ca[C103]2). It may be prepared so as 
to contain available chlorine (see below) to the amount of 43 per cent. The reaction 
involved is as follows: Ca(OH)24-Cl4=Ca(ClO)2+CaCl2-|-2H2O. The compound 
formed is looked upon by some as being a mixture of calcium hypochlorite and 
calcium chloride (Ca[C10]2-|-CaCl2), by others as being a definite compound, 
CaCl(OCl)4-H2O. The improvements in this process have consisted mainly in 
the introduction of new methods in the manufacture of the chlorine gas. Efforts 
are being made, for example, to obtain chlorine gas on a manufacturing scale by 
electrolysis of chloride of potassium or of the chlorides of heavy metals, such as 
zinc or copper. For an interesting historical resume of the progress made in the 
manufacture of chlorine gas, see paper by L. Mond, read before the B. A. A. S., 
1896 (Pharm. Jour. Trans.,1896, p. 282). 
Description and Tests.-The Pharmacopoeia describes chlorinated lime as 
follows: "A white, or grayish-white, granular powder, exhaling the odor of hypo- 
chlorous acid, having a repulsive, saline taste, and becoming moist and gradually 
decomposing on exposure to air. In water or in alcohol it is only partially solu- 
ble. The aqueous solution first colors red litmus paper blue, and then bleaches it. CALX CHLORATA. 
409 
If the salt be dissolved in diluted acetic acid, an abundance of chlorine gas is 
evolved, and only a triHing residue left undissolved. From this solution ammo- 
nium oxalate T.S. throws down a white precipitate insoluble in acetic acid, but 
soluble in hydrochloric acid. If 0.35 (0.354) Gm. of chlorinated lime be thor- 
oughly triturated with 50 Cc. of water and carefully transferred, together with the 
washings, into a flask, and then 0.8 Gm. of potassium iodide and 5 Cc. of diluted 
hydrochloric acid added, the reddish-brown liquid, mixed, toward the end of the 
titration, with a few drops of starch T.S , should require for complete decoloration, 
not less than 35 Cc. of decinormal sodium hyposulphite V.S. (each cubic centi- 
meter corresponding to 1 per cent of available chlorine) "-(U. S. Pi). 
Much of the commercial product contains from 20 to 35 per cent of available 
gas. Chlorinated lime decomposes.even when preserved in close containers, and 
it is recorded that explosions have occurred when so secured. Even carbonic acid 
gas slowly decomposes this compound with the liberation of hypochlorous acid 
(C10H). Oxygen is evolved from its solution in water when mixed with black 
oxide of manganese, and other oxides. It has active decolorizing properties. 
Excessive moisture indicates the presence of calcium chloride, and the amount 
of lime in excess may be approximately determined by its degree of solubility. 
By the term available chlorine, is understood the amount of chlorine gas 
which is evolved by bringing chlorinated lime into contact with acids in excess, 
e. g.,sulphuric acid, according to the following equation: CaOCl2+H2O+H2SO4- 
CaSO4-|-2H2O4-2Cl. Hydrochloric acid would effect a similar decomposition, the 
only difference consisting in the formation of calcium chloride instead of sulphate. 
The amount of available chlorine in calx chlorata may be determined in various 
ways. By the U. S. P. process (see above), the available chlorine liberates iodine 
from potassium iodide in acid solution according.to the equation: 2KI-|-C12= 
2KCl-f-2I. The iodine is then determined by titrating with decinormal volu- 
metric solution of sodium hyposulphite. Another method is that based upon 
the oxidation of arsenous acid to arsenic acid in alkaline solution by chlorinated 
lime. A known quantity of a decinormal solution of arsenous acid in excess 
being employed, this excess is determined by titration with decinormal iodine 
volumetric solution, starch test solution being used as an indicator. The follow- 
ing formulae express the principle of this reaction : As2O3-|-4C14-2H2O=:AsoO-)+ 
4HC1, and As2O3+4I+2H2O=As2O5+4HI. 
The U. S. P. (1880) demanded a strength of at least 25 per cent, by weight, of 
available chlorine, which standard was raised to 35 per cent in the 1890 edition. 
The French Codex demands a minimum strength of 90 chlorometric degrees, a 
degree (established by Gay-Lussac), denoting the number of liters of chlorine gas 
(reduced to a temperature of 0° C. [32° F.], and the normal atmospheric pressure 
of 760 Mm.), evolved from 1 kilogram of chlorinated lime. A simple calculation 
shows 90 such degrees to be equivalent to 28.63 per cent of available chlorine. 
Uses in Pharmacy and the Arts.-Chlorinated lime is largely used for its 
decolorizing action upon organic materials, its solutions, especially in the presence 
of acids, being powerful bleaching agents. It is employed in pharmacy in the 
making of chloroform, and the official solution of chlorinated soda (Labarraque's 
solution), which, as well as chlorinated lime itself, is an excellent deodorizer and 
disinfectant. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.- Chlorinated lime partakes of the 
properties of both lime and chlorine, the most valuable constituent being the 
latter. Large doses produce gastric heat with nausea, vomiting, and purgation. 
Even moderate doses produce gastro-intestinal irritation. Externally applied, it 
is actively irritant, and may act as a feeble caustic. In lesser quantities it is des- 
sicant, and counteracts gangrenous manifestations. Internally, chlorinated lime 
hag been of considerable service in scrofulous affections, mesenteric glandular enlarge- 
ments, and to control and modify the profuse and purulent secretions in phthisis 
and bronchitis, where it may also be used as a spray, and as a remedy in such 
adynamic states as low fevers, typhus, typhoid dysentery, and particularly in typhoid 
fever, where it is asserted to quiet delirium, moisten and cleanse the foul, dry 
tongue, and stimulate the dormant cutaneous functions. Externally, it is a 
stimulant to various indolent disorders, and a remedy for the itch. Purulent 
ophthalmia, gonorrhoea, gangrenous, scarlatinal, and scorbutic ulcerations of the mouth 410 
CALX SULPHURATA. 
burns, frostbites, ulcerated gums, putrid sore throat, and indolent syphilitic ulcers, are all 
improved by a wash of from 20 to 40 grains to the ounce of water. It removes 
the foul odors arising from retained placenta, uterine and other carcinomata, fetid 
feet and axillae, ozena, and foul breath due to mercurialization or to altered secre- 
tions from the tonsils and faucial glands. For ulcers, 4 drachms of the powder 
may be added to 1 ounce of lard; for glandular enlargements, add 1 drachm. 
Chlorine is probably the best general germicide known, and chlorinated lime, 
which evolves it slowly, should be used in sick rooms as a disinfectant. Place it 
in the vessels into which septic and infectious sputa, and alvine discharges are 
passed. A little of the powder may also be placed in a saucer and moistened 
with water, or cloths may be saturated with a solution of it, and hung up in the 
room for general disinfecting purposes. Like chlorinated soda and its solution, 
it may be used to deodorize and disinfect vaults, sewers, dissecting rooms, and 
dead bodies preserved for police investigations should be wrapped in sheets dipped 
in saturated solutions of this compound. Chlorine, though an active germicide, 
does not exert its force readily when objects are dry, but in the presence of mois- 
ture its action is decidedly energetic. Therefore, in using bleaching powder, steam 
should also be generated in the room, that the chlorine may better attack the 
offenders. When it is desired to disinfect unoccupied rooms after sickness or 
death, a saturated solution of bleaching powder may be placed in the steam-mois- 
tened room, and a little sulphuric acid added to the solution, and the room closed. 
Care should be taken not to inhale the chlorine gas, which is rapidly liberated. 
The person should get out of the room as soon as possible after adding the acid. 
For external use a solution prepared by adding 20 to 40 grains to 1 fluid 
ounce of water; for internal use the dose should be from to 4 grains, largely 
diluted with water, and sweetened if desired. For disinfecting purposes, use a 
saturated solution. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Bad breath and pallid, dirty tongue, with 
pasty coat, lymphatic glandular enlargements, and slow inflammations with caco- 
plastic deposits; inflammation of cellular structures with tendency to sloughing. 
Add calx chlorata, to aqua Oj. Filter. Dose, 10 to 30 drops, largely diluted 
(Scudder). 
CALX SULPHURATA (U. S. P.)-SULPHURATED LIME. 
"A mixture containing at least 60 per cent of calcium monosulphide (CaS= 
71.89), together with unchanged calcium sulphate (CaSO4=135.73), and carbon, 
in varying proportions"-(U. S. Pf. 
Synonyms : Crude calcium sulphide, Hepar sulphuris calcareum, Hepar raids, and 
improperly as Monosulphide, or Sulphide of calcium. 
Preparation.-This salt, which is usually called calcii sulphidum, or sul- 
phuret of lime, is obtained by heating sulphate of calcium with powdered char- 
coal, or by passing a mixture of carbon dioxide and the vapor of carbon disulphide 
over incandescent lime (Schoene); or, by calcining calcium monoxide (lime) or 
calcium carbonate, with powdered sulphur. In the latter case calcium sulphate 
is also formed. The following directions are given by Wittstein: "Three parts 
of finely powdered crystallized sulphate of calcium (native gypsum), are inti- 
mately mixed with 1 part of finely powdered wood charcoal, the mixture is well 
pressed into an earthen or black lead crucible, covered with a thin layer of char- 
coal powder, and then the cover luted, with the exception of a very small open- 
ing on the top ; when the luting is dry, heat is applied, at first gently, and after- 
ward strongly, in a good wind furnace for at least 1 hour. When cooled, the 
crucible is removed from the fire, the upper portion of its contents taken off, the 
remainder powdered in a mortar, and kept in a well-closed vessel. The yield is 
nearly 1| parts." The following is the U. S. P. formula: " Dried calcium sulphate, 
in fine powder, seventy grammes (70 Gm.) [2 oz. av.,205 grs.]; charcoal, in fine 
powder, ten grammes (10 Gm.) [154 grs.]; starch, two grammes (2 Gm.) [31 grs.]. 
Mix them thoroughly, pack the mixture lightly into a crucible, cover this loosely, 
and heat it to bright redness, until the contents have lost their black color. 
Allow the crucible to cool, reduce the product to powder, and at once transfer 
to small, glass-stopp'ered vials"-(U. S. P.). 411 
CALX SULPHURATA. 
Description.-Pure calcium monosulphide (formula, CaS; molecular weight, 
71.89) forms a white mass, almost insoluble in water, to which, however, it gives 
an alkaline reaction and hepatic taste. As usually prepared, it inclines toward a 
gray or red tint, from iron or manganese contained in the materials, or (gray) 
from the presence of unconsumed charcoal. In moist air it is slowly decomposed, 
evolving sulphide of hydrogen. The final result of the action of the atmosphere 
is complete decomposition of the calcium monosulphide, with formation of cal- 
cium carbonate (CaCO3), calcium sulphate (CaSO4),and free sulphur. It is essen- 
tial, therefore, that the salt be either freshly prepared, or else carefully preserved 
in glass-stoppered bottles, which should be nearly filled. The following describes 
crude calcium sulphide (calx sulphurata) and gives the tests of the U. S. P.: "A 
pale-gray powder, exhaling a faint odor of hydrogen sulphide, having a nauseous, 
alkaline taste, and gradually decomposed by exposure to air. Very slightly solu- 
ble in cold water, more readily in boiling water, which partially decomposes it; 
insoluble in alcohol. Sulphurated lime is decomposed by diluted acetic acid, and 
converted into calcium acetate and hydrogen sulphide gas which escapes, while a 
residue of calcium sulphate remains. The filtrate from this yields, with ammo- 
nium oxalate T.S., a white precipitate insoluble in acetic acid, but soluble in 
hydrochloric acid. If 1 Gm. of sulphurated lime be gradually added to a boiling 
solution of 2.08 Gm. of cupric sulphate in 50 Cc. of water, the mixture digested on 
a water-bath for 15 minutes, and filtered when cold, no color should be imparted 
to the filtrate by 1 drop of potassium ferrocyanide T.S. (presence of at least 60 per 
cent of pure calcium monosulphide)"-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Calcium sulphide is a valuable remedy 
on account of its power over cellular and cutaneous inflammations, with suppu- 
ration or tendency to suppurate. Not only does it influence glandular and lym- 
phatic structures, proving a good remedy in suppurative adenitis, but it undoubtedly 
lias some control over the body fluids, such as to prevent suppuration from inflam- 
mations of the soft structures. In cases tending to the formation of pus, reso- 
lution will take place if the condition be recognized early enough and the drug 
administered; if past the stage for resolution suppuration will be hastened by 
it, though the amount of broken-down tissue and consequent quantity of puru- 
lency will be less than if the suppurative process proceeded without its aid. It is 
the best antisuppurative known when the condition is not due to syphilis, and 
even in the secondary stage of the latter it is not without good effects, but other 
agents, notably berberis aquifolium, are regarded more efficient. The mucous 
surfaces (the internal integuments) are also influenced by it, and suppurative 
action checked as in the purulent stages of bronchitis and pneumonia. It is a well- 
established remedy for certain forms of nasal catarrh-those in which secretion is 
abundant with a tendency toward purulency, and where the patient readily takes 
repeated colds. In this condition the 2 x trituration is to be preferred. It is a 
remedy in chronic pharyngitis and in diseases of the larynx, with impairment of 
voice; also after pneumonia, where small suppurative points or deposits linger 
in the wake of the disease. Prof. Locke (Syllab. Mat. Med.) commends it in the 
cough of phthisis following syphilis. In chronic skin diseases it is adapted where 
the epidermal tissues undergo a change, and also in those forms in which suppu- 
rative pimples form. Eczema, in scrofulous subjects, is amenable to it, and, while 
it tends to check suppurative action in acne, it does not always check the disease. 
As a remedy for successive crops of boils no agent is superior, though alnus is a 
close second. 
Sulphide of calcium, in order to be of therapeutical value, must possess the 
odor peculiar to sulphides, which is very similar to that of rotten eggs. This 
remedy is particularly valuable in boils, carbuncles, suppurating scrofulous ulcers in 
the neck, scrofulous sores, soreness of the throat with glandular enlargement, occuring 
in measles or in scarlatina, enlarged testes, indolent and suppurative buboes and soft 
chancres, acne, mammary abscess, anal fistula, etc. Its influence on the suppurative 
process, as stated by Prof. S. Ringer, is as follows: A thin, watery, unhealthy 
discharge, becomes, at first, more a bundant, then diminishes, and becomes thicker 
and healthier, like "laudable" pus, the condition of the sore improving corre- 
spondingly, and its healing being promoted. In some cases, any pain that exists 
is temporarily aggravated, but, as a rule, it is speedily mitigated. The general 412 
CaMBOGIA. 
health improves, and the debility and malaise, so frequently attending these 
maladies, promptly passes away. In cases where inflammation and severe pain 
are present, he advises the smearing of the parts with a mixture of equal parts of 
belladonna extract and glycerin, covering this with a small poultice, at the same 
time protecting the surrounding skin from the tendency of the poultice toward 
the production of a fresh crop of boils, etc., by the application of a piece of leather 
with a hole in it large enough to contain the boil or affected portion. The dose 
varies from grain to grain, every 2 or 3 hours, and the treatment requires to 
be continued for several weeks. Ordinarily of a grain rubbed up with 2 or 3 
grains of sugar of milk, will be a sufficient dose. Dr. S. Sexton, of New York, 
and others have derived much benefit from sulphide of calcium in cases of furun- 
cular inflammation of the external meatus auditorius, when suppuration was threat- 
ened, or had already occurred. Foltz gives 1 grain of the 1 x or 2 x trituration to 
prevent suppuration in acute otitis media, and continues its use if suppuration 
becomes established. He uses it also (1 grain of 1 x or 2 x trituration, every 
3 hours) in dacryo-cystitis., in crops of styes, which it will generally prevent, ciliary 
blepharitis, with tendency to pustulation, and declares it the drug in suppurative 
affections of the cornea, conjunctiva, and deeper eye structures (Dynam Therap.} 
Dr. Solomon, of Birmingham Hospital, England, has found the sulphide of cal- 
cium efficient in cases of chronic vascular keratitis (strumous), when accompanied 
with cold extremities and other indications of impaired circulation ; he dissolves 
1 grain of the sulphide in b pint of water, and administers the solution in doses 
of from 1 to 4 fluid drachms, repeated every 2, 3, or 4 hours. In acute cases, he 
has found it injurious, and, in patients of a sanguine temperament, it acts as a 
stimulant. In doses of of a grain, rubbed up with 3 grains of sugar of milk, and 
repeating the dose 3 or 4 times daily, this agent is reported to have been successful 
in the treatment of diabetes; but further experiments are required before much 
confidence can be placed in this statement. Larger doses of the sulphide of cal- 
cium than those stated above, are apt to derange the digestive functions; with 
children they should be less. 
The dose of calcium sulphide ranges from to 2 grains; many, however, 
prefer 2 to 5-grain doses of the 1 x or 2 x trituration, given every 2 or 3 hours. 
Calcium sulphide gives the best results in chronic cases, and a disagreeable feature 
of its administration is the eructation of sulphuretted hydrogen, the drug being 
decomposed in the stomach. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Inflammation of areolar or connective tis- 
sue, with tendency to suppuration ; to prevent suppuration, or to hasten it after 
once established, thus saving extensive tissue destruction; successive crops of boils 
or styes; pustular eruptions; lymphatic torpor, with tendency to purulency; 
feeble recuperative powers after exhaustive purulent diseases; suppuration of the 
ear or eye and appendages; purulent catarrhal states; scrofula and struma. 
Related Compounds and Preparations.-Calch Oxysulphuretum.-This is eulfurede 
calcium of the French, and is a mixture of oxysulphide and sulphate (or thiosulphate) of cal- 
cium, in variable proportions. It occurs in grayish-green or gray masses, and should be securely 
kept in glass-stoppered vials. It is prepared by boiling, with frequent stirring, calcium hydroxide 
(300 parts), sulphur (100 parts), and water (500 parts). When of the proper consistence to 
solidify, it is poured upon a slab of marble until cool, when it is at once transferred to bottles. 
Martin's Depilatory.-When a current of hydrogen sulphide is passed into a mixture 
of calcium hydroxide (2 parts) and water (3 parts), until no more will be absorbed, a semi-solid 
mass of pronounced sulphurous smell, and known by the foregoing name, is produced. Its 
depilatory action is so perfect that but a very few moments' application suffices to remove 
the hair. Upon standing it is separated into 2 parts which, before using, must again be mixed. 
This preparation contains calcium hydrosulphide (Ca[HS]2). 
CAMBOGIA (U. S. P.) GAMBOGE. 
"A gum-resin obtained from Garcinia Hanburii, Hooker filing"-(U. S. P.). 
(Garcinia Morelia, Desrousseaux, var. pedicellata, Hanbury). 
Nat. Ord.-Guttiferfe. 
Common Names: Gamboge, Gamboge, Gutti, Gummi-resina gutti, Cambodia, Gutta 
gamba. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 33. CAMBOGIA. 
413 
Botanical Source and History.-This plant differs from that of Garcinia 
Morelia {G. pictorid), described below, in having pedicellate male flowers. It has 
glossy leaves resembling those of the laurel, and bears yellow flowers. 
Gamboge was first brought to Europe by Admiral Van Neck, in 1603, who gave 
a specimen of it to Prof. Clusius, of Leyden {Amer. Jour. Pharm.,1837). In relation 
to the plant from which this gum-resin is derived, there was formerly much con- 
fusion. By some it was laid down as coming from Stalagmitis cambogioides, upon 
the authority of Murray, but Dr. Graham has satisfactorily determined that there 
is no such plant in existence. It was then supposed to be derived from trees of 
Ceylon, which produce gum-resins agreeing closely or entirely with the official 
gamboge (the Garcinia Cambogia and the Hebradendron cambogioides, which last 
was supposed to be the tree from which it was principally collected), though on 
merely presumptive evidence. The latter tree is not now recognized under the 
name Hebradendron, but is regarded by botanists as identical with Garcinia Morelia 
of Desrousseaux. Hanbury also regards the G. elliptica, Wallich, as identical, the 
product of which is certainly identical with commercial gamboge. The matter 
was best presented by Mr. Hanbury, who investigated the subject, finding that 
the gum was the product of a variety of the above mentioned Garcinia Morelia of 
Desrousseaux {Garcinia pictorla, Roxburgh; Hebradendron cambogioides, Graham), 
and to that variety he gave the name Garcinia Morelia, var. pedicellata, on account 
of its pedicellate, male flowers. The younger Hooker, however, regarded it as 
sufficiently distinct from the Garcinia Morelia to entitle it the rank of a species, 
and accordingly gave it the title, Garcinia Hanburii (see Hanbury, "On the species 
of Garcinia which affords Gamboge in Siam," Tr. Linn. Soc.,Vol.24, p. 487). 
The Garcinia Morelia, Desrousseaux, is a moderate-sized tree, with opposite 
petiolate, obovate-elliptical, coriaceous, smooth, entire, abruptly-acuminate, shin- 
ing leaves, which are dark-green above and paler beneath. The flowers are 
unisexual, sessile, and axillary; the calyx membranous and persistent, consisting 
of 4 sepals; the corolla is 4-petaled, while the fruit is a pleasant, saccharine,quad- 
rilocular berry, about the size of a cherry, crowned with a sessile stigma, contain- 
ing 1 seed in each division (L.). In order to obtain the gum-resin incisions are 
made into the tree, or a large slice is pared from the bark, from which the juice 
flows thick, viscid, and bright-yellow, which is scraped off and dried in the sun. 
If left on the tree, it speedily concretes into dry tears or irregular masses. It is 
more generally collected, however, by making incisions into the bark, into which 
bamboo joints are inserted to catch the oozing fluid, which subsequently solidifies. 
It is removed from the bamboo by slowly rotating them over a fire until the 
water has dried out sufficiently to allow the receptacle to be detached from the 
hardened gamboge. The first process described is that by which the Ceylon gam- 
boge is collected. The best kinds are the pipe gamboge and Ceylon gamboge, which 
last is seldom found in our country. The pipe gamboge consists of cylindrical 
pieces, often cohering together, forming irregular masses weighing several pounds. 
Lump or cake gamboge occurs in masses of several pounds weight; it differs from 
the best pipe gamboge in containing between 5 and 10 per cent of starch, and 
fragments of wood, twigs, and air cells. Gamboge is used in painting as a yellow 
pigment, known in Europe as gummigutt. It is collected in Siam and Cochin- 
China, and principally in Cambodia, and sent to Singapore, Saigon, and Bangkok, 
from which places it is imported into this country. 
Description.-Gamboge, to meet the official demands, should conform to the 
following description and tests: "In cylindrical pieces, sometimes hollow in the 
center, 2 to 5 Cm. (f to 2 inches), in diameter, longitudinally striate on the 
surface; fracture flattish-conchoidal, of a waxy luster, orange-red; in powder 
bright yellow; inodorous; taste very acrid; the powder sternutatory. Gamboge 
is partly soluble in alcohol and in ether. When triturated with w'ater it yields a 
yellow emulsion, and forms, with solution of potassium or sodium hydrate, an 
orange-red solution, from which, on addition of hydrochloric acid, a yellow resin 
is precipitated. Boiled with water, gamboge yields a liquid which, after cooling, 
does not become green with iodine T.S. (absence of starch)"-{U. S. P.). Ether 
and water when used alternately, dissolve the whole of pure gamboge. Alcohol 
dissolves all the resin, leaving the gummy matter, and ammoniated alcohol forms 
a solution with it which is not changed by water. 414 
CAMPHORA. 
Chemical Composition.-Gamboge consists mainly of resin (71.6 to 74.2 per 
cent), gum (21.8 to 24 per cent) moisture (4.8 per cent), traces of starch and 
woody fiber (Christison). The resin has the nature of an acid {gambogic acid), and 
is the active principle of the gum. Its specific gravity is 1.221. It forms soluble 
salts with alkalies, and insoluble precipitates with salts of heavy metals; this 
class of compounds has been called gambogiates. The resin is obtained by extract- 
ing gamboge with ether (whereby the gum is left behind), and evaporating the 
solution to dryness. It occurs in brittle masses of a deep orange color, insoluble 
in water, but soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, carbon disulphide, and caustic 
alkali, with which it forms an orange-red solution, from which acid again pre- 
cipitates the yellow resin. Gambogic acid imparts a perceptible yellow hue to 
10,000 times its weight of spirit or water (C.). 
Pereira gives the following as the tests for distinguishing gamboge: "Gam- 
boge emulsion becomes transparent and deep-red on the addition of potassa, form- 
ing gambogiate of potassium. Digested in alcohol or ether, gamboge yields orange- 
red tinctures {solutions of gambogic acid). The ethereal tincture dropped on water 
yields, on the evaporation of the ether, a thin, bright-yellow, opaque, film orscum 
{gambogic acid), soluble in caustic potash. The alcoholic tincture dropped into 
water, yields a bright, opaque, yellow emulsion, which becomes clear, deep red, 
and transparent, on the addition of caustic potash. The gambogiate of potas- 
sium (obtained by any of the above processes), gives, if the alkali be not in excess, 
with acids, a yellow precipitate {gambogic acid); with acetate of lead, a yellow 
precipitate {gambogiate of lead)', with sulphate of copper, brown {gambogiate of 
copper)-, and with the salts of iron, dark brown {gambogiate of iron) P 
Hlasiwetz and Barth (1866), in fusing the purified resin of gamboge with 
potassium hydroxide, obtained several acids, among them acetic, pyro-tartaric 
(C,H8O4), and isuvitinic (C6H4CH2[COOH]2) acids; also phloroglucin (C6H3[OH]3). 
The vapor given off during fusion had the odor of balm and lemons. The pres- 
ence of wax has also been indicated by Hurst, in 1889 (Fliickiger). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-In large doses gamboge is a powerful 
irritant, causing gastro-enteritis and death ; it is said to produce diffuse inflam- 
mation of the cellular tissue, when applied beneath the skin. On account of its 
severity of action, and its liability to cause serious symptoms, it is seldom 
employed singly as a purgative; yet when combined with other cathartics it 
forms a safe and excellent physic. It may, however, be safely administered alone 
in moderate doses, by reducing it to a state of fine division with other compara- 
tively inert powders, as sulphate or bitartrate of potassium. It thus operates 
effectually as a hydragogue, without occasioning much tormina or constitutional 
exhaustion. In medicinal doses, it is a drastic, hydragogue cathartic, causing 
nausea, griping, and copious watery stools, on which account it is often used in 
dropsy, in combination with squills, cream of tartar, etc. It has also been used 
for the expulsion of tapeworm, in torpor of the bowels, dysmenorrhoea, etc. Two grains 
of sulphate of quinine combined with grains of gamboge, and administered 
3 times a day, have been highly recommended in cases of long-continued constitu- 
tional debility, with constipation. United with an alkali, it proves diuretic. 
Its use is contraindicated in gastritis, enteritis, during pregnancy, menor- 
rhagia, hemorrhoids, in excited, irritable, or diseased uterus, and where there is 
irritation or disease of the urinary organs. When taken in large doses, or when 
it acts with severity, the best remedy to counteract its dangerous effects is a solu- 
tion of some alkaline substance, as sodium bicarbonate, to be followed by general 
treatment if inflammatory symptoms be present. Dose, in pill, powder, or alka- 
line solution, from 1 to 15 grains; the larger doses given in small quantities, and 
repeated at short intervals until it operates. 
CAMPHORA (U. S P.)-CAMPHOR. 
Formula: C10H16O. Molecular Weight : 151.66. 
"A stearopten (having the nature of a ketone) obtained from Cinnamomum 
Camphora (Linne) Nees et Ebermaier, and purified by sublimation {U.S. 
{Laurus Camphora, Linne; Camphora. officinarum, C. Bauhin)." 
Nat. Ord.-Lauri nese. 415 
Common Names: Laurel camphor. (Tree) Camphor laurel. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 222. 
Botanical Source.-The Cinnamomum Camphora is a large tree with lax. 
smooth branches. The leaves are evergreen, alternate, on long, slender, smooth 
petioles, somewhat coriaceous, oval, acuminate, attenuate at the base, bright-green 
and shining above, paler beneath, triple-nerved, with a sunken gland at the axils 
of the principal veins, projecting at the upper side and opening by an oval pore 
beneath. The flowers are small, smooth, yellowish-white, in axillary and termi- 
nal, naked corymbose panicles. The leaf-buds are scaly. The fertile stamens are 
9 in 3 rows; the inner with 2, compressed, stalked glands at the base; the anthers 
4-celled; the outer ones turned inward; the inner ones outward. Three sterile 
stamens are placed in a whorl alternating with the stamens of the second row; 
3 others are stalked, with an ovate glandular head. The fruit is placed on the 
obconical base of the calyx (L.). 
History.-Camphor, obtained from the Cinnamomum Camphora, and, in the 
crude state, is imported into this country, principally from Canton, where it 
undergoes purification by sublimation, before it is in a state adapted to medicinal 
use. The camphor tree inhabits the eastern and warmer latitudes of Asia. It 
thrives in warm countries and is cultivated by the Italians for ornamentation. It 
is an aromatic tree, all parts of it yielding the odor and giving the taste of cam- 
phor. Camphor is obtained in Japan by cutting the wood, roots, etc., of the tree 
in small pieces, boiling them in water, in large iron stills, fitted with earthen 
heads, containing straw cones. The water is kept boiling for about 48 hours, the 
camphor sublimes and concretes upon the straw in the head, in the form of a 
gray powder. It appears in commerce as whitish, dry, granular cakes, slightly 
tinged with red, and is known as Japan camphor, or Tub camphor, on account of 
being imported in a double tub. It was once commercially known as Dutch 
camphor. The Chinese pursue a different process. They steep the chopped 
branches in water, then boil it, continuing the ebullition until a stick placed in 
the fluid will, when cooled, be covered with the camphor. The liquor is then 
strained, and by cooling, the camphor solidifies. This is then placed alternately 
in layers, with powdered dry earth, in a copper vessel, over which another one is 
placed, and the camphor, being sublimed by heat, attaches itself to the upper 
inverted vessel. It is of a dirty grayish color, and is known as impure or crude 
camphor. Though prepared by the Chinese and known as Chinese camphor, it 
is manipulated in Formosa. None is made in China. It sometimes appears in 
the market like the preceding in appearance, but oftener of a darker hue, in 
smaller particles, and in a moist condition. It is packed in chests, covered inside 
with sheet-lead or tin, and is known as Chinese camphor, or Formosa camphor. In 
Formosa, camphor is also prepared by allowing the camphorated steam to collect 
on earthen receivers placed over the vaporizing troughs. Camphor is now refined 
in this country. Vessels similar to the bombaloes of Europe (large globular glass 
vessels), are sometimes used, differing, however, from the European apparatus in 
being made in sections, so that they can be readily taken apart and the camphor 
removed. To remove the sublimate from the bombaloes (of Europe) the latter 
must be broken. It may also be sublimed slowly and cautiously from retorts 
into a receiving chamber, as "flowers of camphor,"" a fine crystalline state which, 
by powerful pressure, may be made to form cakes. Japan, since the acquisition 
of Formosa, now has a monopoly of Chinese camphor. 
The camphors are closely related to the different varieties of turpentine. 
Two species are known in the East,viz.: Borneo camphor (Ci0H18O), obtained from 
a very large tree, the Dryobalanops Camphora, Colebrooke, which is so highly 
prized by the natives that it rarely finds its way to our markets; and the Laurel 
camphor (C]0H16O), from the Cinnamomum (Lauras') Camphora, and which is the 
ordinary camphor of commerce. Many other plants furnish camphor by oxida- 
tion of their essential oil, as lavender, rosemary, marjoram, pennyroyal, pepper- 
mint, feverfew, etc. Amber and the oils of valerian, sage and tansy, also yield it 
when treated with nitric acid. 
Description.-" White, translucent masses, of a tough consistence and a crys- 
talline structure, readily pulvferizable in the presence of a little alcohol, ether, or 
chloroform; having a penetrating, characteristic odor, and a pungently aromatic 
CAMPHORA. 416 
CAMPHORA. 
taste. Specific gravity: 0.995 at 15° C. (59° F.). Very sparingly soluble in water, 
but readily soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, carbon disulphide, benzin, and 
in fixed and volatile oils. When camphor is triturated, in about molecular pro- 
portions, with menthol, thymol, phenol, or chloral hydrate, liquefaction ensues. 
It melts at 175° C. (347° F.), boils at 204° C. (399.2° F.), and is inflammable, burn- 
ing with a luminous, smoky flame. On exposure to the air it evaporates more or 
less rapidly at ordinary temperatures, and, when moderately heated, it sublimes 
without leaving a residue. Camphor should be kept in well-closed vessels, in a 
cool place"-(U. S. P.). 
Camphor is somewhat unctuous to the touch and, besides being pungent to 
the taste, it imparts an after-sense of coolness. It is so tough and elastic as to 
almost defy pulverization, which may be readily accomplished, however, by add- 
ing a few drops of alcohol or any of the agents above mentioned. Besides the 
above-named solvents, acetone dissolves it. It requires about 1300 parts of water 
for solution; sugar, magnesia, carbonic acid, corrosive sublimate, or spirit of 
nitrous ether render it more soluble in water. Resins and fats, when heated with 
it, unite in all proportions. Three isomeric modifications of camphor are known ; 
they can not be distinguished from each other, except by their action upon a ray 
of polarized light; one of the varieties produces rotation of the ray to the right; 
the second variety produces left-handed rotation; whilst the third has no sensible 
effect upon polarized light. The common camphor of commerce, and that ob- 
tained by the action of nitric acid upon borne'ene, is the right-handed modification. 
The camphor contained in the oil of Pyrethrum (Matricaria) Parthenium exerts a 
left-handed rotary action upon a ray of polarized light (Chautard); whilst, accord- 
ing to Biot, the camphor deposited by oil of lavender is destitute of any such 
rotary effect upon a polarized ray. By the application of polarized light, the 
smallest portion of natural camphor may be distinguished from the artificial 
camphor (hydrochlorate of camphene). If small fragments of each be placed sepa- 
rately on glass slides, and a drop of alcohol added to each, they dissolve, and 
speedily recrystallize. If the crystallization of the natural camphor be watched 
by means of the microscope and polarized light, a most beautiful display of colored 
crystals is seen, while with the artificial camphor nothing of the kind is wit- 
nessed. Camphor is lighter than water, and keeps up a constant rotary motion 
when small pieces are placed on that fluid. 
When camphor is triturated with dragon's blood, guaiacum, galbanum, or 
asafoetida, the mixture preserves the pilular consistence indefinitely. With ben- 
zoin, tolu, mastic, and ammoniac, the mixture becomes soft when exposed to the 
air. With olibanum, gamboge, euphorbium, amber, and myrrh, the mixture 
remains pulverulent, though grumous. Asafoetida, galbanum, sagapenum, tolu, 
dragon's blood, olibanum, mastic, benzoin, tacamahac, guaiacum, and ammoniac, 
destroy to a greater or less extent the odor of camphor (M. Blanche). 
Chemical Composition.-The class of substances known as camphors, of 
which Japan camphor (C10H1GO) is a representative, are products of oxidation of 
the group of hydrocarbons, known as terpenes. These are mostly all isomers of 
the formula C]0Hi6, and, in turn, are hydrogen addition products of the hydro- 
carbon, cymol (cymene) (C10H14),or para-methyl-normal-propyl-benzene, having the 
graphic formula C6H4.(CH3).(C3H7). 
Japan camphor may be converted into cymol by distillation w7ith zinc chlo- 
ride, or with phosphoric anhydride, which agencies abstract from camphor the 
elements of water, thus: C10Hi6O-H2O-Ci0HI4. On the other hand, camphor 
may be obtained (in small amounts) by the oxidation of terpenes. When heated 
with iodine, ortho-oxycymol (carvacrol)^ an isomer of thymol is formed. These 
various reactions point to the following graphic formula for Japan camphor: 
CSH,.CH | } C.CH3. 
Borneol (C10Hi8O), the camphor obtained from Dryobalanops Camphora, stands 
to Japan camphor in the simple relation of a secondary alcohol to a ketone. Con- 
sequently, borneol, by mild oxidation, yields Japan camphor, and from the latter, 
inversedly, Borneo camphor may be obtained by reduction with sodium in alco- 
holic solution. When Japan camphor is heated with nitric acid on a boiling 
water-bath, camphoric acid (Ci0H16O4) is formed; upon continued oxidation, cam- CAMPHOR A. 
417 
phoronic acid (C9H]2O5) results. When treated with concentrated sulphuric acid, 
Japan camphor yields a black solution, from which, upon dilution with water, an 
oily body, camphene (C10Hlg), is precipitated. This substance, which is an isomer 
of the terpenes, forms, with hydrochloric acid, a crystalline compound, which has 
the smell of camphor, and is known as artificial camphor. It is obtained by pass- 
ing into oil of turpentine dry hydrochloric acid gas and cooling the compound 
formed. Artificial camphor melts at 125° C. (257° F.) and boils at 210° C. (410° F.). 
The camphresinic acid of Schwanert (1863) has been shown to be a mixture 
of camphoric and camphoronic acids. Oxycamphor (Ci0H16O2) in white, acicular 
crystals, possessing the characteristic taste and odor of camphor, results from 
treating camphor with the weaker oxidizing agents (notably hypochlorous acid), 
and acting upon the bodies thus formed with a solution of caustic potash in 
alcohol (Wheeler, 1868). With bromine, camphor forms unstable garnet-red crys- 
tals, having the composition C4nHi4OBr2, which yield, on being heated to between 
80° and 90° C. (176° to 194° F.), an amber liquid, and evolve hydrobromic acid. 
On cooling, the liquid congeals, yielding crystals of monobromide of camphor, 
which may be purified by means of boiling alcohol. Chlorine also unites with 
camphor, forming monochlorine and dichlorine camphors, while iodine forms 
with camphor a substitution product. 
Acidum Camphoricum.-Camphoric -acid (CioH]604). Camphoric acid is an 
oxidation product from boiling camphor and nitric acid, or permanganate of 
potassium, usually the former. It may be prepared by heating camphor with 
10 times its weight of concentrated nitric acid. It presents odorless needle-like 
crystals, having a faintly acid taste. It is soluble in boiling, but very sparingly 
soluble in cold water. Fats, essential oils, ether and alcohol also dissolve it. It 
is a bibasic acid, fuses at 70° C. (158° F.), and may be rendered anhydrous by 
sublimation. There are 3 isomeric modifications of it, determined by their action 
upon a ray of polarized light. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-In large doses camphor is a narcotic 
and irritant; in small ones, sedative, anodyne, antispasmodic, diaphoretic, and 
anthelmintic. Very small doses stimulate and large doses depress. Large doses 
cause oesophageal and gastric pain, vomiting, slow and enfeebled and subsequently 
intermittent pulse, dizziness, drowsiness, dimness of sight, pallid, cold skin, mus- 
cular weakness, cyanosis, spasms, muscular rigidity, and convulsions. Several 
deaths have resulted from its use, other circumstances contributing somewhat to 
the fatal issue, but cases of death in a healthy individual have been reported. 
Mental confusion may follow its excessive use. Its effects in small doses are 
transient, but are not followed by depression or exhaustion. It exerts an influ- 
ence on the brain and nervous system, exhilarating and relieving pain, is an 
excitant to the vascular system, and irritates mucous tissues which are in prox- 
imity with it. When given in the solid form, it is capable of producing ulcera- 
tion of the gastric mucous membrane. It is used to allay nervous excitement, 
subdue pain, arrest spasm, and sometimes to induce sleep. In the delirium, 
watchfulness, tremors, and starting of the tendons in typhoid conditions, it is of 
much utility as a nervo-stimulant. Occipital headache, from mental overwork, is 
relieved by small doses, and the external application of camphor. Large doses 
(grs. xx) are required in maniacal excitement. In inflammatory affections, as remit- 
tent and intermittent fevers, acute rheumatism, etc., it acts beneficially as a diaphoretic 
and sedative; and is also valuable in gout, neuralgia, dysmenorrhcea, after-pains, 
puerperal convulsions, and painful diseases of the urinary organs, acting as a sedative, 
anodyne, and antispasmodic. It is often advantageously combined with opium 
in chordee, and hysteric nymphomania, and all irritations of the sexual organs. It 
relieves *the strangury caused by the use of cantharides. By some physicians it is 
said to act as an aphrodisiac, exciting the reproductive organs, causing consider- 
able heat in the urethra, and nocturnal emissions; others, again, use it as an ant- 
aphrodisiac, and to diminish urino-genital irritation. For the first purpose small 
doses are effectual; for the second, large sedative doses are requisite. It is said to 
be an antidote to poisoning by strychnine, and has been used in poisoning from illumi- 
nating gas. An oleaginous injection of camphor in the early stages of gonorrhoea 
often allays urethral irritation, as well as the tenesmus caused by thread-worms, 
flux, etc., when injected into the rectum. It enters into many embrocations and 418 
liniments for rheumatic, neuralgic, and deep-seated pains, cynanche tonsillaris, con- 
tusions from blows, sprains, chilblains, chronic cutaneous diseases, and as a stimulant 
for indolent and gangrenous ulcers. The itching of smallpox pustules is said to be 
relieved by it. It has been found beneficial in asthma and spasmodic cough; and 
the powder may be used as a snuff for the relief of nervous headache, and catarrh 
in its commencing stages. Camphor is a remedy of marked value in many bowel 
troubles, and is usually used in combination with pain-relieving agents for that 
purpose. Evidence is strong in its favor as an agent in Asiatic cholera. The 
nervous manifestations of la grippe seem to be controlled by small doses of cam- 
phor. Spirits of camphor and camphorated oil are well known to allay the pain 
attending acute mastitis, and to check the lacteal secretion. The spirit, on cotton, 
sometimes allays toothache. The best form of using an aqueous solution of this 
agent is the aqua camphor®. The administration of opium will best neutralize the 
evil effects of an overdose of camphor. Small and repeated doses of alcohol may 
also be given. Dose of the powder, 1 to 10 grains; aqua camphor®, fl^ii to A^iv; 
spirits of camphor, 1 to 30 drops. 
Camphoric Acid is sedative and antiseptic. It has been lately advocated as 
an efficient remedy for the night-sweats of pulmonary consumption. It is consider- 
ably employed in 1 per cent solution in catarrhal diseases, both acute and chronic, 
good results being reported from its use in sore throat, acute nasal catarrh, acute 
bronchitis, irritable bladder, cystitis (acute and chronic), strangury, enuresis, and noc- 
turnal seminal emissions. It has made some impression for good in spasmodic 
states, as epilepsy, hysteria, and chorea. For local use it may, if desired, be com- 
bined in solution with borax, or boric acid. The dose is from 10 to 25 grains in 
solution or in capsules. Solutions of from 1 to 4 per cent are locally employed. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-"Insomnia and restlessness, the pulse being 
soft and tongue moist; diarrhoea" (Scudder). Low grades of inflammation and 
fevers, particularly typhoid, with great restlessness, morbid watchfulness, mut- 
tering delirium, subsultus, dry skin, and quick, irritable pulse (Locke); strangury; 
urination frequent, difficult, and tenesmic. For specific use | to 1 grain doses. 
In minute doses in burning pain in stomach; dizziness, nausea, and vomiting; 
weak, husky voice; cyanotic countenance, with cold extremities. 
Related Camphors and Camphor Oils.-Many essential or volatile oils, when subjected 
to distillation, yield a product liquid at ordinary temperatures, which is a hydrocarbon (usually 
of the terebenthene class or series [CioHie] ), often termed an elwopten, and a portion solid at 
ordinary temperature, an oxidation product known as a stearopten. The latter often exists as 
a vegetable exudate, or may be derived from vegetation by proper treatment. It has a higher 
boiling point than the eleeopten. The stearoptens are known under the general and elastic 
term camphors, and have the general composition CioHieO, and, though obtained from many 
plants, it is altogether probable that they are identical with laurel camphor. 
Borneo Camphor. Carnphol, Borneol, Malayan camphor, Camphyl alcohol, Sumatra, camphor, 
Baras camphor, Dryobalanops camphor.-Composition CnHisO. Found under the bark and in 
fissures of the trunk of Dryobalanops Camphora, Colebrooke (Dryobalanops aromatica of Gaertner), 
of the natural order Dipteroearpacex. India, Sumatra, and Borneo. 
Borneo camphor contains 2 atoms more of hydrogen than common camphor. It is an alco- 
hol yielding ethers with acids. It requires a heat of 198° C. (388° F.) to melt it, is less volatile, 
but denser and harder than ordinary camphor; it boils at 211.6°C. (413° F.). Its smell, solu- 
bility, and general appearance are like those of common camphor, and it exerts a somewhat 
more feeble right-handed rotary action upon polarized light. On account of its crystallizing in 
the regular system, however, it is stated by Descloizeaux (1870) and confirmed by Fliickiger 
(1874), that it displays no colors under the polarization microscope. Its taste differs from 
that of ordinary camphor in being both camphoraceous and hot and peppery. It crystallizes 
in small, transparent, regular, colorless, 6-sided prisms, and is converted into ordinary cam- 
phor when gently heated with nitric acid of moderate strength, which causes a loss of 2 atoms 
of its hydrogen. It is naturally associated with an oil termed born^ene (CioHw), which is 
isomeric with oil of turpentine and with valerene, and which is removed by distillation in order 
to obtain the camphor free from it. Dryobalanops camphor is a little heavier than water and 
falls to the bottom, while the laurel variety floats. It does not possess the gyratory move- 
ments of the laurel camphor; has generally a tabular form; an amberous odor, and is usually 
accompanied with foreign substances, among which are amorphous resin, neither acid nor 
volatile, but which, when heated, gives out an odor of colophony. Borneol may be made 
artificially by hydrogenating laurel camphor. Borneo camphor is sold at an excessively high 
price in the East and is never found in our markets. 
Ngai Camphor, Blumea camphor.-A camphor identical in composition (CioHisO) with 
borneol, but different in turning the ray of polarized light, as much to the left as borneol does 
to the right; derived from a southeastern Asia composite plant, known to the Chinese as Ngai, 
CAMPHORA. CAMPHORA MONOBROM ATA. 
419 
and to botanists as Blumea balsamifera, De Candolle. By oxidation with nitric acid it yields a 
camphor identical in composition with laurel camphor (CwHi6O),but still retaining its lievogyre 
behavior. It is prepared in Canton and the Hainan Isle, and used by the Chinese as a medi- 
cine and in perfuming choice Chinese inks. Its price being about tenfold higher than that of 
common camphor, prevents its occurrence in European and American commerce. Its physical 
appearance, after sublimation, is identical with that of borneol. 
• Blumea lacera is used in India as an insecticide. It yielded Dymock, a pale-yellow essen- 
tial oil of extraordinary left-rotating power. Its density, at 26.6° C. (80° F.), is 0.9144. 
Champaca Camphor.-Champacol (C17H30O). A new camphor from champaca wood. 
Isolated by Merck (1893). 
Formosa Camphor Oil. Camphor oil of Formosa, Oleum camphorse (U.S. P., 1870), Cam- 
phor oil.-This oil is drained off the crystals of crude camphor in the preparation of the latter, 
and prepared to some extent when camphor is refined. It is a brownish-colored liquid, hold- 
ing in solution quite a quantity of camphor, which crystallizes out of the oil when the latter is 
subjected to a reduced temperature. It has the taste of common camphor and a sassafras-like 
odor, by which it maybe readily distinguished from Borneo camphor oil (Pharmacographia). It 
has a density of 0.940; its boiling point is near 180.5° C. (357° F.). Like laurel camphor it 
is dextrogyre in behavior. Fliickiger (Pharmacognosie, 1891) mentions as the constituents of 
this oil the following: Dipentene (cinene) (CioHig), a hydrocarbon boiling at 182°C. (359.6° F.), 
capable of yielding addition products with bromine (CioH]6Br4), fusing point 126° C. (245.2° F.); 
also with hydrochloric acid (CioHig[HC1]2), and with water (CioHig[H20]3). Besides, Schimmel 
& Co. (Report, Oct., 1888) made known the following constituents: Pinene, phellandrene (both 
CioHig), cineol (CioHisO), safrol, eugenol, and a considerable amount of a hydrocarbon, identical 
with that obtainable from cubebs. 
Borneo Camphor Oil. Camphor oil of Borneo, Sumatran camphor oil, Borneene.-An oil 
derived from the tapped or felled trees (Dryobalanaps Camphora, Colebrooke) which yield Borneo 
camphor. It has been said to be secreted in such great quantities in old trees, and to exert 
such great pressure as to disrupt the trunk of the tree, the bursting causing a report like that 
from a cannon. A similar phenomenon is said to take place in the tree furnishing copaiva 
balsam (Pharmacographia). Borneene (CioHig) is isomeric with pure turpentine, and is a vola- 
tile, viscid, brownish-red oil, composed of borneol and resin dissolved in borneene, a liquid 
having a turpentine-like odor, and identical with the valerene of valerian oil. It does not 
deposit Borneo camphor on standing even when subjected to a very low temperature. In 
its optical properties it is dextrogyre. 
Camphor Preparations.-Vinum Camphoratum. Wine of camphor.-This is a turbid, 
whitish fluid, prepared according to the German Pharmacopoeia, by dissolving 1 part of camphor 
in 1 part of alcohol and incorporating gradually, and with agitation, 3 parts of mucilage of 
acacia and 45 parts of white wine. Its use is the same as that of spirits of camphor, and it 
must be shaken before dispensing and administering. 
Camphora Carbolisata. Camphora phenolata, Carbolated camphor, Phenol camphor, Cam- 
phorated phenol.-An oily or colorless liquid, having a camphoraceous odor, practically insolu- 
ble in glycerin and water, but soluble in alcohol, fixed oils and ether. Hager prepares it by 
dissolving 100 parts of camphor and 36 parts of carbolic acid in 4 parts of alcohol: Bufalini, 
by allowing 2 parts of camphor and 1 part of phenol to liquefy. A local anaesthetic and anti- 
septic. Ten-drop doses of an olive-oil solution have been given in catarrh of the stomach, and 
the same applied has arrested erysipelas. Wounds, ulcers, boils, and herpetic skin affections, as well 
as diphtheric membranes, have been painted with it, and uterine leucorrhoea locally treated with it, 
with asserted relief. It is said to relieve the pain of ingrown nails and dental caries. 
Camphora Salicylata. Salicylated camphor.-Heat, by means of a water-bath, to 90° C. 
(194° F.), a mixture of 65 parts of salicylic acid and 84 parts of camphor until liquefaction takes 
place (Guirleo). Au oily fluid, devoid of color, and becoming a solid opaque mass which, when 
triturated, assumes an unctuous consistence. Fixed and volatile oils dissolve it, while it is 
much less soluble in water or glycerin. Useful, locally, in syphilitic phagedena and ulcerations. 
Suppositories are sometimes made of it by combining it with 10 to 15 parts of petrolatum, with 
a little paraffin added to give hardness. 
CAMPHORA MONOBROMATA (U. S P.)-MONOBROMATED 
CAMPHOR. 
Formula: C10H15BrO. Molecular Weight : 230.42. 
Synonym : Bromated camphor. 
Formation and History.-Camphor unites directly with bromine in the cold 
without evolution of gas, forming bibromide of camphor (CioHigOBrs), which was 
discovered by Laurent in 1840. I'his compound is unstable, being decomposed 
even by the atmosphere. In 1861, Th. Swartz found, that when bibromide of cam- 
phor is heated in sealed tubes, decomposition ensues, whereby hydrobromic acid 
is split off and a monobromated camphor compound remains, thus, Ci0H16OBr2= 
C1DH15OBr4-HBr. It was also shown that camphor and bromine heated together 
for 3 hours in sealed tubes, would accomplish the same result, and doubtless in 
this instance also bibromide of camphor is first formed. In 1865,W. H. Perkin, 420 
CAMPHORA MONOBROMATA. 
independent of former investigators, prepared monobromated camphor while ex- 
perimenting upon Laurent's bibromide of camphor, and named it bromo-cam- 
phor {Jour. Chem. Soc., 1865). 
Monobromated camphor was first experimented with, as a therapeutic agent, 
by Prof. Deneffe, of Ghent. In 1872, an article in its favor appeared in the A". Y. 
Med. Jour., May, p. 522, from W. A. Hammond, M. D.,and from this time numer- 
ous articles in the various medical journals created a demand for it. 
Preparation.-The fact that sealed tubes were unnecessary for the practical 
preparation of the article was shown by Prof. Maisch, in the Amer. Jour. Pharm., 
August, 1872. The writer recommends the following process, which varies some- 
what, in certain respects, from that by Prof. Maisch, as one which he has employed 
quite extensively in his laboratory work: Take of camphor, in small pieces, 
15 troy ounces; cold bromine, 16 troy ounces. Place the camphor in a tubulated 
retort, of not less than 4-gallon capacity, and connect the exit by means of a 
rubber tube, with a glass tube extending into ammonia water; then, through a 
funnel, pour upon the camphor 4 troy ounces of bromine. As soon as the tem- 
perature begins to rise, stop the tubulure of the retort, and occasionally agitate the 
contents. The mixture will partially liquefy, and the temperature will increase 
spontaneously, with evolution of gas, until about 71.1° C. (160° F.), is reached; 
from which point the heat must be continued by means of a steam or water-bath 
to 93.3° C. (200° F.). The flow of gas will now cease, and the stopper of the 
retort must be immediately removed, in order to prevent the ammonia being 
drawn into the retort by absorption of hydrobromic acid and the contraction of 
the cooling gas. When the contents of the retort have become cool, cautiously 
pour into it 4 troy ounces of the bromine, care being taken that the contraction 
caused by the bromine vapor coming into contact with the gas within the retort, 
followed by subsequent expansion, does not throw a part of the bromine upon 
the operator. Now repeat the preceding operation, and when the reaction ceases, 
cool as before. In like manner, add the remainder of the bromine in successive 
portions of 4 troy ounces, raising the temperature, as in the previous instances, 
to 93.3° C. (200° F.), after each addition. Lastly remove the stopper, and permit 
the contents to cool to about 10° C. (50° F.), and remain for 24 hours, when there 
will be a mass of crystals formed. Invert the retort, and permit the thick liquid 
to drain from the crystals; then pour upon them 16 fluid ounces of alcohol, and 
dissolve by means of a gentle heat and agitation; then decant the solution into 
an evaporating basin, and cool gradually, when crystals of monobromated cam- 
phor will separate; these should be purified by dissolving again and recrystal- 
lizing from their solution in 16 fluid ounces of hot alcohol. The yield will about 
equal the weight of the camphor employed. By-products are generated also by 
other reactions, so that the theoretical amount of monobromated camphor is 
never obtained. If the temperature of the bibromide be retained at about 10° C. 
(50° F.), by means of ice, no decomposition of bibromide follows. After the 
addition, each of the first and second portions of 4 ounces of bromine, in the 
foregoing process, decomposition of the bibromide ensues when the temperature 
reaches 68.3° C. (155° F.). It is not advisable to permit the temperature, at any 
time during the reaction, to exceed 93.3° C. (200° F.), as the reduction of the 
bibromide will have occurred at this point, and when too great heat is employed 
volatilization of the contents of the retort ensues, and to some extent, destructive 
decomposition, with formation of a black oil (perhaps containing finely divided 
carbon), difficult to remove from the crystals. The hydrobromic acid forms bro- 
mide of ammonium with the ammonia water, and this salt may be obtained by 
evaporating the solution of ammonia after the reaction. 
Description.-"Colorless, prismatic needles or scales, having a mild, cam- 
phoraceous odor and taste, permanent in the aif, unaffected by light, and neutral 
to litmus paper. Almost insoluble in water, freely soluble in alcohol, ether, chlo- 
roform, hot benzin, and fixed and volatile oils; slightly soluble in glycerin. It is 
also soluble, without decomposition, in cold, concentrated sulphuric acid, from 
which it separates again unaltered, when the solution is poured into water. It 
melts at 76° C. (168.8° F.), and sublimes at a slightly higher temperature. At 
274° C. (525.2° F.), it boils without decomposition, and is finally volatilized with- 
out leaving a residue"-{U. S. P.). 421 
CANELLA. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Monobromated camphor was first in- 
troduced to the profession, as a sedative to the nervous system, by Prof. Deneffe. 
M. Bourneville, who experimented with it upon different animals, as cats, rabbits, 
guinea pigs, and frogs, concluded, from the results obtained, that this article 
diminished the number of pulsations and determined a contraction of the auricu- 
lar vessels; that it diminished the number of inspirations, reduced the tempera- 
ture in a regular manner, and that it possessed undeniable hypnotic properties, 
appearing to act principally upon the cerebral system. Its continued use, at least 
with cats and guinea pigs, determines a rapid emaciation. The diseases in which 
it has been extolled as a remedy, are certain forms of mental alienation with excita- 
tion, chorea, paralysis agitans, fevers, and acute diseases, hysteria, delirium tremens 
(when wild, and the temperature is increased), convulsions of children, especially 
when due to dentition, insomnia, satyriasis, nymphomania, spasm of the glottis, nervous 
palpitation of the heart, pertussis, headache, and dyspnoea of asthmatic or cardiac origin. 
In fully developed mania it is less useful than chloral, but may be employed 
where the mania is less pronounced and there is slight nervous derangement, with 
increase of temperature. Give 2 or 3 grains every 2 or 3 hours. In the convulsive 
disorders of children it is less valuable than chloroform to check the spasms when 
severe, but may be used in mild cases. One grain in mucilage may be given 
every hour to a child, and 15 or 20 grains are admissible in a day. According 
to Prof. Locke, it is a better agent to prevent the return of convulsions than to 
arrest them. It is likewise stated to have proved beneficial in spermatorrhoea 
with great nervous excitability. M. Lannelongue prescribed it with benefit in 
painful cystitis, when the pain is not the result of any organic lesion-neuralgic 
cystitis. Also in cystitis of the neck of the bladder, of congestive origin and asso- 
ciated with a vascular lesion of the neck, the result of various causes; if vesical 
catarrh be combined with the cystitis, the effect will be nearly null. If the vesical 
catarrh be slight, even when a more or less acute prostatitis is associated with the 
inflammation of the vesical neck, the effects will be well marked. 
While many experimenters have highly praised this agent as a successful 
remedy in the affections above referred to, many others have repudiated it as being 
much less efficient than the alkaline bromides. This discordance of opinions, 
together with its disagreeable taste, has, in a measure, prevented its coming into 
more general use. The dose of monobromated camphor is from 3 to 30 grains per 
day, in form of pills, dragees, or elixir. An elixir has been proposed as follows: 
Take of alcohol (90 per cent), 4 fluid ounces; glycerin, 3 fluid ounces and 3 fluid 
drachms; water, 2| fluid ounces; mix together, and then add monobromated cam- 
phor, 46 grains. Gently heat the mixture until the camphor is dissolved. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Simple insomnia, headache; mental excite- 
ment; delirium; hysteria: mild infantile convulsions. 
CANELLA.-CANELLA BARK. 
The bark of Canella alba, Murray (Canella Winterana, Gaertner; Winterania 
Canella, Linne). 
Nat. Ord.-Canellacese. 
Common Names: White wood tree, Wild cinnamon tree. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 26. 
Botanical Source.-Canella alba is a straight tree, from 20 to 50 feet high, 
with erect branches at the summit only. The bark is yellowish-white; the inner 
bark thick, smooth, and pale, with a biting, aromatic taste. The leaves are scat- 
tered, shining, and yellowish-green, obovate, cuneate at the base, dotted when 
young, opaque w'hen old, and petioled. The flowers are terminal, small, and 
borne in clusters, and of a purple color; the petals are concave, erect, thick, and 
deciduous. Berry the size of a pea, fleshy, smooth, blue, or black, hot and biting 
while green; seeds generally 2. Stamens combined in a tube; anthers 15, resem- 
bling furrows ; stigmas 3 (LY 
% History.-This is a South American tree, being indigenous also in sections 
of south Florida, and in many of the isles of the West Indies. The bark was 
introduced into Europe early in the seventeenth century. The corky layer of 422 
CANNABIS INDICA. 
the bark, which is of a silver-like color, is removed by beating and cutting, after 
which the commercial bark is obtained. The drug is exported only from the 
Bahama isles. 
Description.-The bark is of a pale yellowish-white color (externally slightly 
yellowish-red with elongated scars disposed transversely), occurring in quills or 
hard, twisted pieces, with an acrid, peppery taste, an aromatic, clove-like, or cin- 
namon-like odor, and a short, white, granular fracture. On breaking the bark, 
numerous resin cells, appearing as orange-yellow specks, are scattered throughout 
the whiteness of the internal structure. Alcohol extracts its properties, the tinc- 
ture being of a yellow color, and becoming white when water is added. It pul- 
verizes readily, yielding a powder of a pale-yellow color. 
Chemical Composition.-When the bark is distilled with water an essential 
oil may be had, of a dark-yellowish color, having a powerful aroma and intense 
acridity; a pound of the bark yields about a drachm-of oil. Besides, analysis 
has discovered in it gum, starch, bitter extractive, resin, albumen, and various 
saline substances. Analyses were made by Henry (1821), and Petroz and Robinet 
(1822), the latter observers finding a body to which they gave the name canellin, 
subsequently (1843) shown, by Meyer and Von Reiche, to be identical with man- 
nit, which exists to the extent of about 8 per cent. The last-named chemists 
showed the presence of eugenol in the volatile oil, and also demonstrated the 
presence of another oil bearing a close resemblance to the principal constituent 
of oil of cajeput. Two other oils were found, but have not been thoroughly 
studied. The ash was found to be largely calcium carbonate. No tannin is 
present in the bark. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Canella bark is an aromatic stimulant 
and tonic, useful in enfeebled conditions of the stomach and alimentary canal. It is 
generally used in conjunction with other tonics. It is employed in the West 
Indies as a spice, and has been advised in scurvy, and in chlorotic, post partum, and 
carcinomatous menorrhagia. Some smokers add this bark to their smoking tobacco 
to remove the unpleasant odor from the tobacco, and to impart a degree of 
fragrance to their smoking-rooms. Dose, 10 to 40 grains. 
Related Species.-Cinnamodendron corticosum, Miers; Jamaica. Used by the natives for 
the same purpose as the canella bark, for which it is frequently sold. Cinnamodendron bark 
contains tannin; hence its decoction yields a black coloration with ferric salts, thereby differ- 
ing from canella bark, which it is thought to resemble in other respects chemically. The bark 
is grayish-brown or ferruginous in color, the corky warts leaving a nearly circular scar, instead 
of the elongated, transverse scar of the true bark. 
Cinnamodendron macranthum, Baillon; Porto Rico. Yields a bark resembling the preced- 
ing, and is substituted for canella bark. 
The barks of the above species and canella bark itself have been sold as Winter's bark 
(see Winter a). 
CANNABIS INDICA (U. S. P.)-INDIAN CANNABIS. 
"The flowering tops of the female plant of Cannabis sativa, Linne: grown 
in the East Indies"-(U. S. Pf. 
Nat. Ord.-Urticacese. 
Common Name: Indian hemp. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 231. 
Botanical Source.-Cannabis sativa is a herbaceous annual, growing from 
4 to 9 feet high, covered with a very fine, rough pubescence, scarcely visible to the 
naked eye. The stem is erect, branched, bright-green, and angular. The leaves 
are alternate or opposite, on long, lax petioles, digitate and scabrous, with linear- 
lanceolate, sharply serrated leaflets, tapering into a long, smooth, entire point; the 
stipules subulate. The flowers are borne in axillary clusters, with subulate bracts; 
the males are lax and drooping, and branched and leafless at the base; the females 
are erect, simple, and leafy at the base. The calyx of the male is downy; of the 
female, covered with short, brownish glands. The fruit is an ovate, 1-seeded 
achenium; the seeds are roundish-ovate, slightly flattened, 1 or 2 lines long, with- 
out odor, of a sweetish, oleaginous, unpleasant taste, and glossy, and grayish in 
color (L). CANNABIS INDICA. 
423 
History.-Hemp (Cannabis indica of Lamarck), is in- 
digenous to Persia and northern India, and is cultivated in 
many other countries. It is naturalized in North America, 
Brazil, and Europe. The hemp of this country (the prepa- 
rations of which are often referred to as Cannabis sativa in 
contradistinction to Cannabis indica, an error which should 
not be continued), is identical with the Eastern plant in 
its botanical characters, but differs somewhat from it in its 
physical qualities, the India plant being more powerful in 
its effects on the system, and which is probably owing to 
the influence of climate, cultivation, etc., or perhaps, from 
the absence of some ethereal ingredient. In the Eastern 
countries an infusion of hemp, prepared with cold water, is 
much employed as an intoxicating drink. 
Several native names are applied to different parts or 
products of this plant. Thus the leaves and smaller stalks, 
dried and broken coarsely, and intermixed with a few cap- 
sules, is known as bhang (Hindustan),siddhi (Bengal), sabzi 
(Bombay), and hashish (Arabia). Our modern term assassin 
is said to have arisen from this word, the name Hashsha- 
shin (assassin), having been applied to a murderous Persian sect, which, in its 
religious rites, used hemp (hashish) to intoxication. Bhang is almost tasteless, 
and is of a dark-green color. It is smoked with tobacco, or without the latter, 
but usually is incorporated into a sweetmeat known as majun. The flowering 
and fruiting tops, from which the resin has not been removed, are known as 
ganja, ganjah, or gunjah in India, and as guaza in London and other drug markets. 
These occur as compressed, brittle, brown-green shoots, or as stiff, ligneous stems 
with flowering and fruiting shoots attached, both varieties having a glutinous 
aspect. Like bhang, it is without a pronounced taste. 
The concrete resinous exudation of the plant is known in India by the name 
of churrus or charas. This is peculiar in being the production of those plants, 
scarcely more than 3 feet high, growing in elevated situations (6,000 to 8,000 feet, 
Jameson). The natives, clothed in leather apparel, run among the hemp plants, 
beating them, and thus gather the resin which adheres to their garments, from 
which it is afterwards removed by scraping. Or it may be obtained by rubbing 
the ripened fruit-tops between the hands, from which it is afterward scraped and 
formed into balls. This kind is most valued, and is known as momeea (waxen 
churrus). A third and more dangerous method is that of stirring dried bhang and 
collecting the dusty, resinous powder shaken therefrom. Hemp has long been 
raised for its textile fibers and for its oily seeds. The fibers are largely used in 
making cordage, and the seeds for feeding birds, and for the expression of oil 
of hempseed, mostly prepared in Russia, which is used in mixing paints, and 
manufacturing varnish and soap, and has been used as an illuminating oil, though 
not well suited for this purpose. The Poles and Russians, it is said, eat the 
roasted seeds with bread as a condiment (Amer. Ency., Hemp). 
Description.-Cannabis Indica. "Branching, compressed, brittle, about 5 
Cm. (2 inches) or more long, with a few digitate leaves, having linear-lanceolate 
leaflets, and numerous sheathing, pointed bracts, each containing 2 small, pistil- 
late flowers, sometimes with the nearly ripe fruit, the whole more or less agglu- 
tinated with a resinous exudation. It has a brownish-green color, a peculiar, 
narcotic odor,and a slightly acrid taste"-(U. S. P.). 
Fructus Cannabis, Hempseed.-Hempseed is about | to | of an inch in length, 
subglobular, somewhat compressed, and possessing a marginal keel, whitish in 
color. The testa is brownish or olive-gray, smooth, shining, brittle, and marked 
with veins. The inclosed greenish seed is oily, with a sweetish, oleaginous taste, 
and but a faint odor. 
Chemical Composition.-The leaves of cannabis contain chlorophyll, color- 
ing matter, extractive, a volatile oil, a green, resinous body, gummy extractive, a 
bitter body, albumen, lignin, sugar, and salts, as potassium nitrate, silica, phos- 
phates, and other salts. The chemistry of the active constituents is not yet well 
determined. Not since T. & H. Smith (1846), declared that the soporific, calmative, 
Fig. 54. 
Cannabis sativa. 424 
CANNABIS INDICA. 
and other properties, resided in the resin cannabin, have any very material ad- 
vances been made. Personne (1857) thought the activity of the drug depended 
upon its volatile oil, the vapor of which is stupefying. He succeeded in sepa- 
rating it into two parts-cannabene (C^Ha,), a fluid, and cannabene hydride (Ci8H22), 
a crystallizable solid. The oil rectified (over sodium), is miscible with alcohol, 
boils at 256° to 258° C. (492.8° to 496.4° F.), and has a density at 0° C. (32° F.), 
of 0.9292. Bromine energetically attacks it (Valente, 1881). 
The cannabin of T.& H. Smith is the alcoholic or resinous extract employed 
in medicine; it is prepared from the dried flowers and incipient fruit, with the 
smaller branches of the plant (gunjaK). This extract is prepared according to 
the directions of Messrs. Smith, as follows: " Digest bruised gunjah in successive 
quantities of warm water till the expressed water comes away colorless; and 
again for two days, at a moderate heat in a solution of carbonate of sodium, in 
the proportion of 1 part of the salt to 2 of gunjah. Coloring matter, chlorophyll, 
and inert concrete oil being thus removed, express and wash the residuum, dry 
it, and exhaust it by percolation with rectified spirit. Agitate with the tincture, 
milk of lime containing an ounce of lime for every pound of gunjah, and after 
filtration, throw down the excess of lime by a little sulphuric acid. Agitate with 
the filtered liquor a little animal charcoal, which is afterward to be removed by 
filtration. Distill off most of the spirit, add to the residual tincture twice its 
weight of water in a porcelain basin, and let the remaining spirit evaporate gradu- 
ally. Lastly, wash the resin with fresh water till it comes away neither acid nor 
bitter, and dry the resin in thin layers." This resinous extract contains the taste 
and odor of gunjah, and its activity is not impaired when exposed in air for 
8 hours to a temperature of 82.2° C. (180° F.). One hundred pounds of dry 
gunjah yield about 6 or 7 pounds of this extract (P). It has a dark, dull-green 
color, a peculiar narcotic, somewhat fragrant odor, and a hot, somewhat bitter, 
and acrid taste. It is mostly soluble in alcohol, chloroform, ether, oil of turpen- 
tine, olive oil, and partially in benzol; its terebinthine solution deposits minute 
scaly crystals on standing. It burns without leaving a residue. When water is 
added to its solution in alcohol, a white precipitate falls. It may be distinguished 
from the extract of common hemp by the following tests: Resinous extract of 
Indian hemp only partially dissolves in liquor potassae, while that of common 
hemp dissolves readily; nitric acid, sp. gr. 1.38, converts the former, with red 
fumes and rapid reaction, into an orange-red resinoid substance, amounting to 
nearly the same quantity as the resin under treatment, while the extract of com- 
mon hemp gives but a small amount of resinoid (Prof. W. Procter). 
In the year 1876, Preobraschensky obtained a volatile alkaloid which he be- 
lieved to be nicotine, but Dragendorff suggests the possible admixture of tobacco, 
as the latter and hemp are frequently smoked together; at least others have not 
succeeded in isolating nicotine from hemp. By using the methods for extracting 
nicotine, Siebold and Bradbury (1881), extracted a very minute quantity of can- 
nabinine, a varnish-like mass. In 1883, Matthew Hay arrived at the conclusion 
that several alkaloids are contained in the plant-one of which, in crystalline 
form and possessing tetanic properties, he succeeded in isolating in minute quan- 
tity and named tetano-cannabine. Jahns (1889), however, claims this body to be 
identical with choline. In 1891, H. T. Smith extracted a varnish-like alkaloid, 
possessing the odor of coniine; of this he formed a sulphate which crystallized 
from alcohol. More recently (1895), F. Marino-Zuco, and G.Vignolo (Gazetta 
Chimica Italiana, 1895, part I, pp. 262-8), have attempted to determine definitely 
the constituents of the drug. They succeeded in obtaining from the drug by 
means of water acidulated with sulphuric acid, an alkaloidal base, the hydrochlo- 
ride of which formed a deliquescent, crystalline mass, which to the heart is a 
powerful depressant. As vegetable acids destroy or render practically inert the 
action of Cannabis indica (Polli), it is not readily accepted that a stronger acid 
should be expected to extract the active principle or principles {Pharm. Jour., 
1895). The Pharmaceutical Journal, 1895, remarks: "The chemistry of this 
remarkable and powerful drug still remains to be elucidated, therefore, and the 
active principles to which its complex action is due yet await isolation. It may, 
perhaps, serve as a hint to investigators, to recall a statement which appears in 
Schlimmer's (Persian) Pharmacopceia (p. 102), from which it appears that the der- CANNABIS INDICA. 
425 
vishes make an extremely somniferous preparation by boiling the tops of Indian 
hemp in fresh butter or oil of almonds. 'Of this a sufficiently minute quantity 
introduced into an ordinary culinary preparation will cause an entire family to 
sleep for 24 or 72 hours, without the taste of cannabis being detected.' Assuming 
the intoxicant action and the odor of Indian hemp to be due to a volatile con- 
stituent likely to be driven off by the boiling process, the use of the oil as a solv- 
ent might serve to separate the most important active principle, and another 
might be separated by distillation. Hitherto most of the processes adopted appear 
to have yielded products incapable of causing the characteristic action of the 
drug." Gastinel's hashiscin is an alcoholic extract of gunjah, from which the water- 
soluble principles are excluded. Bombelan's pure cannabin, Merck's cannabin tan- 
nate, or Kobert's cannabindine, are not thought to be the active principle proper 
{Pharm. Jour., 1895). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Administered to healthy persons in 
large doses, cannabis creates more or less disturbance in the digestive tract, affects 
the nervous system with convulsive movements and sudden shocks, causes con- 
gestion of the brain, confused ideas, exalted imagination with frequently chang- 
ing pictures, torpor, and sleep; the cerebral symptoms being more constant, while 
the others vary to a great extent, sometimes nothing occurring but a few confused 
ideas followed by sleep. The long-continued use of this article induces injected 
eyes and bloating of the face, prostration, dropsy, sudden attacks of dangerous 
mania, and occasionally catalepsy and imbecility, followred by a marasmic state, 
ending in death. Death has not been known to result directly from the effects of 
cannabis, except when continually used until marasmus is induced, when death 
may occur from the latter condition. The symptoms of acute poisoning vary 
greatly, probably owing to the uncertain character of the drug employed. Col- 
lapse, unconsciousness, stupor, catalepsy, extreme debility, irresponsive pupils, 
cold, clammy skin, spasms and convulsions are among its toxic effects. A marked 
feature is the anaesthesia produced, and it is asserted that the Chinese formerly 
performed surgical operations under its use. The effects from large doses are 
best combatted by vegetable acids, especially lemon juice, coffee, emetics, cold 
applications and leeches to the temples. Probably strychnine and faradization 
of the respiratory muscles are the most effective means. By some coffee is said to 
increase its effects. Indian hemp is considered anodyne, hypnotic, antispasmodic, 
and phrenic, producing sleep even where morphine has failed, and without impair- 
ing the appetite, repressing the secretions, or causing constipation like opium and 
its preparations. It frequently allays pain, and has been found of great benefit in 
hysteria, chorea, and other nervous affections. Its effects upon the system vary under 
different conditions, thus : It lessens pain, checks spasmodic action, improves the 
appetite, causes sleep, exhilaration of spirits, and, in increased doses, inebriation, 
with phantasms, catalepsy, illusory delirium, and strong aphrodisia. Its con- 
tinued use, however, lessens the venereal appetite and power. It occasions dila- 
tation of the pupils and prevents normal perception more strongly than any 
other agent. A peculiarity observed in those who take cannabis is the strong 
and voracious appetite induced. Medicinally, in small doses, its effects are less 
intense than those of opium, and the excretions are not so much suppressed by it; 
it does not disturb digestion, rather increases the appetite, seldom induces sick- 
ness of the stomach, never causes congestion, and disturbs the expectoration far 
less than opium, also effects the nervous system much less, and produces a more 
natural sleep without interfering with the actions of the internal organs. Can- 
nabis is one of the most important of our remedies, but, like our best agents, it 
must not be used indiscriminately, but its cases should be specifically selected. 
The great indication for cannabis (the keynote) is marked nervous depression. With 
this indication present it will fulfil a multitude of uses. Specifically selected it 
has been efficient in delirium tremens, wakefulness in fevers, neuralgia, gout, rheu- 
matism, infantile convulsions, low mental conditions, insanity, etc., and in inflammatory 
conditions in cases where opium disagrees, and is often preferable to opium. Acute 
mania and dementia, epilepsy, hysterical catalepsy, cerebral softening (wTith potassium 
bromide), anemia of the cerebral cortex, paralysis agitans and senile tremors, traumatic 
or idiopathic tetanus, and irritable reflexes, are among the nervous disorders in which 
it exerts a positively beneficial and soothing action, when depression is the guide 426 
CANNABIS 1NDICA. 
to its selection. In mental disturbances the guides to its use are mental oppres- 
sion, a dull, drowsy, or stupid countenance (a dreamy condition), with dizziness 
and violent throbbings in the head, and a morbid fear of becoming insane. The 
patient sometimes has an "exaggerated idea of time and space" (Webster). The 
drug is a useful hypnotic for the insane. As a remedy for pain, it ranks among 
the first; the more spasmodic the pain the better it acts. The neuralgic pains of 
depression are those most quickly relieved. It should be administered in painful 
states of the stomach, as gastric neuralgia, nervous gastralgia, in gastric ulcers, where 
opium is inadmissible, and in pain due to indigestion. The pains attending 
Uentery, after-pains, the passage of renal and hepatic calculi, gout, neuralgia of the 
uterus, cancer, locomotor ataxia, are all met by it, and, added to purgatives, it miti- 
gates their griping effects. It relieves the itching of cutaneous disorders, particu- 
larly that of senile pruritus and eczematous affections. Migraine, nervous headache, 
facial, and other neuralgias, whether due to catamenial wrongs or attending the 
menopause, as well as those depending upon fatigue, are releived when nervous 
depression is the most marked symptom. Head-pains, due to tumors, have been 
asserted to yield to cannabis. The pains of chronic rheumatism, sciatica, spinal 
meningitis, dysmenorrhcea, endometritis, sub involution, and the vague pains of amen- 
orrhcea, with depression, call for cannabis. Owing to a special action upon the 
reproductive apparatus, it is accredited with averting threatened abortion. It is a 
prominent remedy for certain spasmodic conditions and especially in the choreic 
states of weak women and children. It mitigates whooping-cough and other convul- 
sive coughs; alleviates palpitation of the heart, with stitching pain in the part; quiets 
hysterical manifestations, and allays the distressing symptoms of spasmodic asthma, 
and periodic hyperaesthetic rhinitis. It is a valuable remedy in senile catarrh, with 
harrassing cough and profuse mucous expectoration, and, both internally and by 
inhalation, it has afforded relief in the painful cough of consumptives. 
Cannabis is said in many cases to increase the strength of the uterine con- 
tractions during parturition, in atonic conditions, without the unpleasant conse- 
quences of ergot, and for which purpose it should be used in the form of tincture 
(see below), 30 drops, or specific cannabis, 10 drops, in sweetened water or muci- 
lage, as often as required. In menorrhagia, the tincture in doses of 5 or 10 drops, 
3 or 4 times a day, has checked the discharge in 24 or 48 hours. 
The greatest reputation of cannabis has been acquired from its prompt results 
in certain disorders of the genito-urinary tract. In fact, its second great keynote 
or indication is irritation of the genito-urinary tract, and the indication is even of 
more value when associated with general nervous depression. 
It is, therefore, useful in gonorrhoea, chronic irritation of the bladder, in chronic 
cystitis, with painful micturition, and in painful urinary affections generally. It 
makes no difference whether a urethritis be specific or not, or whether it is acute 
or chronic, the irritation is a sufficient guide to the selection of cannabis. Use it 
in gonorrhoea to relieve the ardor urinae, and to prevent urethral spasm and avert 
chordee, and in gleet, to relieve the irritation and discharge; employ it also in 
spasm of the vesical sphincter, in dysuria and in strangury, when spasmodic. Burn- 
ing and scalding in passing urine, with frequent desire to micturate, are always 
relieved by cannabis. The following is said to be a certain cure for gonorrhoea: 
Take, while in blossom, equal parts of the tops of the male and female hemp 
(Cannabis sativaf bruise them in a mortar, and express the juice; to this add an 
equal portion of alcohol. Dose, from 1 to 3 drops every 2 or 3 hours. It should 
be remembered that the American hemp has the same properties as the Indian 
hemp, but is a much feebler product-the difference, therefore, not being, as some 
have indicated, in action, but merely in degree. .Cannabis has been recommended 
in diabetes and hematuria, and in Bright's disease, with painful voiding of bloody 
urine, it is strongly endorsed. By its control over the mental functions, it con- 
trols lascivious thoughts, dreams and desires, and is, therefore, of some value in 
nocturnal seminal emissions. Probably its control over urethral irritation contrib- 
utes to its value here. In this manner impotence is said to have been cured by it. 
Cannabis has some reputation as a remedy for chronic alcoholism, and for the cure 
of the opium habit. 
Externally, the resin may be applied endermically or in embrocation with 
oils, ointments, chloroform, etc., in inflammatory and neuralgic affections. It may CANTHARIS. 
427 
also be used in injections. The green plant collected in the spring, and 2 or 3 
twigs placed in or between beds, will, it is asserted, certainly and effectually cause 
bedbugs to remove from the room in which they are used. Hemp seed, in infu- 
sion, has been found very useful in after-pains, and in the bearing-down sensation, 
accompanying prolapsus uteri. A combination of cannabis, collodion, and salicylic 
acid has been used to destroy corns, the extract of the hemp acting as an anodyne. 
A tincture may be made by dissolving 24 grains of the resinous extract in a 
fluid ounce of rectified spirit; for ordinary purposes, its dose is from 10 to 30 
drops. The extract varies in strength, which will require a variation in the 
doses. When well prepared, the dose is from | grain to 1 grain; but this may 
vary from 1 grain to 20 grains, depending entirely on the quality of the article. 
The English extract is a good preparation, and of all extracts, the smaller dose 
should first be employed. The tannate of cannabine, in doses of 5 to 15 grains, 
is said to be an efficient hypnotic, though many declare it inefficient for this pur- 
pose. The best preparation is the specific cannabis, which may be given in doses 
of a fraction of a drop to 10 drops. The ordinary prescription for its specific effects 
is: R Specific cannabis, gtt. v to xxx; aqua, fl.^iv. Mix. Dose, a teaspoonful 
every | to 2 or 3 hours. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Great nervous depression ; irritation of the 
genito-urinary tract; painful micturition, with tenesmus; ardor urinae, scalding, 
burning, frequent micturition; low mental conditions; wakefulness; insomnia, 
with unpleasant dreams during momentary sleep; spasmodic and painful con- 
ditions, with nervous depression; mental illusions; menstrual headache; palpi- 
tation of the heart, with sharp stitching pains in the heart; hallucinations; cere- 
bral anemia, from spasm of cerebral vessels. 
CANTHARIS (U. S. P.)-CANTHARIDES. 
"Cantharis vesicatoria, De Geer"-(U. S. P.). (Lytta vesicatoria, Fabricius; Meloe 
vesicatorius, Linn6). 
Class: Insecta. Order: Coleoptera. 
Common Name and Synonym: Spanish flies; Muscae Hispanicae. 
Source, History, and Description.-There are a number of insects inhabit- 
ing various sections of the world which possess acrid properties, and which, when 
applied to the skin, produce vesication ; the most common in use are those under 
present consideration, Spanish flies, or cantharides, the Cantharis vesicatoria of 
Latrielle, Meloe vesicatorius of Linnaeus, or Lytta vesicatoria and Cantharis officinalis 
of other naturalists. At what period they were introduced into the practice of 
medicine is a matter of uncertainty. The beetle, called Spanish fly, is a native 
of Europe, where it is collected principally in south Russia and Hungary; also 
in Italy and Spain. It is imported into this country from Messina and St. Peters- 
burg. Those from Russia, are the best, and may be known by being larger than 
the French or English varieties and more copper-colored. 
General Characters -Antennae elongate, simple, filiform ; maxillary palpi with 
terminal joint somewhat ovate; head large, heart-shaped; thorax small, rather 
quadrate, narrower than the elytra, which are as long as the abdomen, soft, linear, 
the apex slightly gaping; wings 2, ample (J. F. Stephens). Cantharis vesicatoria, 
De Geer, the Spanish fly, is of an elongated, almost cylindrical form, from 6 to 11 
lines in length, and 1 or 2 lines in breadth. This insect may be distinguished 
from other analogous ones, by presenting 2 shining-green wing covers, which 
cover 2 membranous wings, ample, thin, veined, transparent, pale-brown; black, 
jointed antennae, and a longitudinal furrow along the head and chest. Their 
smell is strong, virose, very disagreeable, and compared to that of mice; their taste 
is acrid, burning, and urinous (Ed.). It is of a grass or copper-green color, with 
numerous whitish-gray hairs on its body and thorax. The head is large, sub- 
cordate, the eyes lateral and dark-brown; the thorax not larger than the head and 
narrowed at the base; the elytra or wing-covers are from 4 to 6 lines long, and 
from f to 1| line broad; the costa are slightly margined; the wings 2, with tips 
folded; the legs are stout, from 4 to 6 lines long, the hinder ones longest. The 
abdomen is soft, and broadest in the female. In the female, near the anus, are 428 
CANTHAR13. 
2 articulated caudal appendages (P.). The U. S. P. thus describes cantharis: 
"About 25 Mm. (1 inch) long and 6 Mm. (J inch) broad; flattish-cylindrical, with 
filiform antennae, black in the upper part, and with long wing cases and ample, 
membranous, transparent, brownish wings; elsewhere of a shining, coppery-green 
color. The powder is grayish-brown, and contains green, shining particles. Odor 
strong and disagreeable; taste slight, afterwards acrid. Cantharides should be 
thoroughly dried at a temperature not exceeding 40° C. (104° F.), and kept in 
well-closed vessels." 
The Spanish fly inhabits the earth in the form of a larva, and comes forth 
in the state of a fly in the month of May. It infests various trees, as the elder, 
rose, plum, willow, poplar, and elm, but more especially the privet, lilac, ash, and 
honeysuckle. They are caught during the month of May, either early in the 
morning or late at night, when the cold renders them less active; to undertake 
their removal in the daytime would be a serious measure. Those who gather 
them cover their faces and guard their hands with gloves, then shake them from 
the bushes over sheets, and kill them immediately by immersion in vinegar, or by 
exposure to the vapor of vinegar, spirit, or oil of turpentine. Hager recommends 
the use of carbon disulphide for this purpose; 7 Cm. to each liter of cantharides 
in bulk. Thus they are left in a closed vessel for one day. They are then quickly 
dried in the sun, or with artificial heat which, as stated above, should never rise 
above 40° C. (104° F.). They are best dried by placing them over caustic lime at 
a temperature of from 25° to 30° C. (77° to 86° F.). 
In the dried state the flies may be known by the preceding descriptions as 
to color, form, odor, and taste; they are easily reduced to a dirty, grayish-brown 
powder, dotted with numerous brilliant green points. These points consist of 
the elytra, head, etc., and do not readily decompose, even when mixed with 
decaying animal matters. Orfila has recognized these particles in a body nine 
months after interment. The vesicating property of the flies may be preserved 
for many years, if they are kept from moisture in well-stoppered bottles, powder- 
ing them only as required. If purchased in powder they may have lost their 
activity, or suffered from adulteration with euphorbium, capsicum, or with some 
other insects. To preserve them from insects, various means have been advised, 
as the introduction of a few lumps of camphor into the vessel containing them, 
or the addition of carbonate of ammonium, or a few drops of strong acetic acid. 
Chloroform vapor is said to excel them all. Exposing them for hour in glass 
bottles, to the heat of boiling water, destroys the insects and eggs, without impair- 
ing the virtues of the flies; of course they must not be allowed to come in con- 
tact with the water. The properties of the fly are much diminished by the 
insects which feed upon them. 
Chemical Composition.-Cantharides powder yields its active properties to 
boiling water, acetic acid, alcohol, proof-spirit, ether, the fixed and volatile oils. 
The active principle is a white, crystalline substance termed cantharidin. It is in 
small, white, pearly prisms, or scaly crystals, which are neutral, practically insolu- 
ble in water and cold alcohol, but soluble in ether, benzol, chloroform, acetone 
(E. Dietrich), alkaline solutions, acetic acid, acetic ether, the oils, wood alcohol, 
and in boiling alcohol, which deposits it upon cooling, and is insoluble in carbon 
disulphide; it fuses at 98.8° C. (210° F.), volatilizes at a higher heat without 
decomposition, and evaporates slowly at ordinary temperatures. It is said to 
exist principally in the trunk and soft parts of the body, and may be obtained 
by exhausting powdered cantharides with cold rectified spirit by percolation, 
concentrating the tincture till most of the alcohol is expelled, and allowing the 
residue to rest for a long time until crystals form. It may be freed from impuri- 
ties by elutriation with a little cold rectified spirit, which scarcely acts on crys- 
tallized cantharidin; and it may be obtained quite pure by redissolving them in 
boiling rectified spirit, adding animal charcoal, and recrystallizing them by rest 
and cooling. Ether is, however, preferred to alcohol in preparing these crystals, 
as it dissolves less of the green oil, which is very difficult to separate. E. Dietrich 
(in 1880), has obtained cantharidin in brilliant white crystals by dialysis. The 
yield was above 0.28 per cent. The composition of cantharidin is represented 
by C10H12O4, or according to Krafft (1877), CaoH^Og. It may likewise be prepared 
by macerating, at three consecutive times, very finely bruised cantharides, for CANTHARIS. 
429 
24 hours, in a sufficient quantity of chloroform, and then removing this by dis- 
tillation. The green, thick residue is then treated by carbon disulphide, which 
dissolves the fatty matter. Throw the whole on a filter, which retains the crys- 
tallized cantharidin, which may be purified by several solutions in chloroform 
(W. Procter, A. Fumouze, M. Mortreux). Baudin (Am. Jour. Pharm., 1889), found 
1 per cent total cantharidin, of which 0.72 per cent is abstracted by pure chloro- 
form and 0.3 per cent by chloroform acidulated with 2 per cent of hydrochloric 
acid. M. Fumouze does not consider cantharidin to be the active vesicating 
principle of the flies; some cantharides 8 or 10 years old, from which he could 
obtain no appreciable amount of cantharidin, nevertheless, produced prompt vesi- 
cation when applied to the skin. 
Cantharides contain, besides cantharidin, a green oil, soluble in alcohol, black 
matter, soluble in water, insoluble in alcohol; a fatty matter, insoluble in alcohol, 
a yellow viscid substance soluble in water and alcohol, yellow matter soluble in 
ether and alcohol, free acetic and uric acids, phosphates of calcium and magne- 
sium, etc.*(P.). Formic acid is said to be present also (E. Dietrich, 1883). This 
acid is the best solvent for cantharidin, and this fact may explain why decoctions 
and alcoholic preparations of cantharides are active, as cantharidin, which is gen- 
erally believed (against Fumouze) to be the vesicating agent, is practically undis- 
solved by water or by cold alcohol. Others explain the solvency of cantharidin 
in decoction and tincture as being due to its being combined in the beetle, with 
the yellow matter, which is dissolved by both alcohol and water. The best men- 
struum (for ordinary use), for cantharides, is chloroform, or ether, which dissolves 
only the active constituents. Cantharides, in powder or tincture, is sometimes 
used criminally for aphrodisiac purposes, and is administered to the female victim 
in coffee, chocolate, brandy-punch, wine, porter, ale, etc. If any particle of the 
flies is present, the microscope will detect it; otherwise, the only resource left is 
to ascertain whether cantharidin is present in the suspected liquid. The best 
test in such a case is to demonstrate its vesicating power. According to C. R. C. 
Tichborne, Esq., this may be accomplished by the following process: To £ pint 
of the suspected fluid add 1 fluid ounce of chloroform (or in like proportion with 
smaller quantities), and allow it to stand 24 hours, frequently agitating; then 
allow the mixture to subside, carefully separate the chloroform with a funnel, 
and filter it through bibulous paper; evaporate the chloroformic solution, spon- 
taneously, in a watch glass, to dryness. A small pellet of lint about half the size 
of a pea, made loose by teasing out the fibers, and moistened with a drop of 
olive oil, is gently rubbed over the surface of the watch glass so as to mop off the 
whole of the film of extractive matter, then applied upon the arm, covered with 
a piece of goldbeater's skin, and allowed to remain on the arm for 3 or 4 hours. 
Then remove the lint, wipe off the surface of the arm upon which it had been 
applied, with chloroform, and if the suspected fluid contained cantharides, rube- 
faction and vesication will be.observed. By this process, 1 grain of cantharides, 
equal to about-^-jy of a grain of cantharidin, may be detected in solution. 
Cantharidin (Ci0H12O4), is an anhydride of cantharidic acid (ClftH14O5), which 
forms a line of salts called cantharidates. When these salts are warmed with an 
acid, cantharidin is regenerated as an insoluble compound. Cantharidin, by pro- 
longed heating with hydriodic acid, is converted into cantharic acid (C]0Hi2O4), a 
crystalline monobasic acid to which the double formula (CooH^Og), was assigned by 
Krafft, its discoverer. A solution of this substance in glycerin does not vesicate. 
All these compounds are derivatives of the hydrocarbon C6II6(CH3)2, which is 
a hydrogen addition product of ortho-xylene or ortho-dimethyl benzene. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-In large doses cantharis is narcotic 
and irritant; in medicinal doses, stimulant and diuretic. The earliest symptom 
produced by the smaller dose is irritation of the genito-urinary tract, and if con- 
tinued, or the dose be larger, strangury with burning pain, and voiding of bloody 
and albuminous urine results. In large doses, its use is dangerous, being attended 
often by constriction and difficulty in swallowing, and by violent inflammation 
of the alimentary canal and urinary organs, strangury, irritation of the sexual 
organs, and in the female, abortion; also, redness of face, heat, hurried respiration, 
quick, small pulse, headache, delirium, tremors, tetanic convulsions, and coma. 
Burning pain is felt in the stomach, and nausea and vomiting follow, with 430 
CANTHARIS. 
abdominal tenderness, violent griping and purging, the stools being bloody or 
fibrinous. Ptyalism is excessive, there is a cadaverous odor to the breath, and 
burning thirst is prominent. Upon the genito-urinary tract its effects are very 
severe, causing severe burning pain in the kidneys and bladder, with first an 
increased, then a diminished, flow of urine, with constant urging to urinate, and 
the act attended with great difficulty, the water passing drop by drop. In the 
male priapism occurs, and occasionally satyriasis and seminal emissions. In the 
female, genital heat and irritation are characteristic, and sometimes abortion 
occurs. Genital gangrene may also result. Applied externally, heat, redness, 
pain, serous effusion, and vesication occur. The serum is albuminous, of a yel- 
lowish hue and alkaline reaction. If continued too long, or even until complete 
vesication has occurred, serious sloughing, and often gangrenous ulceration may 
occur, and particularly so after measles, typhoids, and in low vital states. Post- 
mortem examination reveals enlarged and engorged kidneys, with desquamative 
nephritis generally, though the parenchymatous form is sometimes observed, The 
bladder membranes are red, blistered, or ulcerated, or coated with false membranes. 
The gastric, as well as the urinary surfaces, are bloody, congested, or inflamed, 
and present exudates, or are gangrenous. Twenty-four grains of the powder or 
1 ounce of the tincture have produced alarming symptoms, and even death. The 
smallest dose of the tincture of cantharides which has been known to destroy life 
was 1 ounce, equal to 6 grains of powdered cantharides. There is no known anti- 
dote to its poisonous effects, which must be treated on general principles. 
Internally, cantharis, in small medicinal doses, acts as a stimulant to the 
urinary organs. In minute doses it relieves vesical irritation, and this is its best 
use. Cantharis is sometimes given in chronic gonorrhoea, gleet, leucorrhoea, seminal 
weakness, paralysis, and chronic inflammation of the bladder. In cystitis it is valuable 
to relieve teasing and tenesmus; and in the daytime enuresis of women, due to 
partial sphincter paralysis, it serves a useful purpose when given in minute doses. 
R Specific cantharis gtt. x; aqua, fisiv. Mix. A teaspoonful every hour. It has 
also been reputed useful in the anasarcous swellings succeeding scarlatina, dia- 
betes, scaly cutaneous eruptions, chronic eczema, incontinence of urine, amenorrhoea, etc. 
Thirty drops of solution of potassa, given every hour, is said to be an effectual 
remedy in cantharidal strangury (see Tinctura Cantharidis). 
Externally, cantharides cause redness, vesication, suppuration or sloughing, 
according to the length of contact with the integuments. Their most general 
use is to produce vesication. Blisters are sometimes beneficial in tic-doloreux, 
sciatica, local chronic inflammations, diseases of the brain, chest, and abdomen, to excite 
the languid action of vessels, in retrocession of exanthematous affections, and to rouse 
from general defective sensibility, as in typhoid fever. In their application to 
children, much care should be observed, especially in typhoid conditions, exan- 
themata, and where a tendency to sloughing exists. As a rule, blisters are not 
well thought of by the majority of our practitioners, though occasionally they are 
deemed of value. A piece of white paper soaked with cantharidin, which is 
greenish and liquid, laid on the part, and covered with a compress, and confined 
by means of a bandage, will vesicate in 3 or 4 hours. A vesicating oil has been 
recommended by E. Dupuy, prepared as follows: To 1 part of pulverized can- 
tharides add, in a close vessel, a mixture of chloroform and castor oil, of each, by 
weight, 14 parts; after some hours, transfer the ingredients to a glass apparatus, 
and displace the liquid in the usual way; it will amount to about two-thirds of 
the original bulk of the liquid employed. A few drops of this vesicating oil 
applied to the arm of an adult will produce a perfect blister in about 8 hours. 
It is easy of application on any surface, holds the vesicating agent free from the 
disagreeable concomitants of the ordinary fly blister, and retains the cantharides 
in a soluble state. Its action will probably be favored by the use of oil silk over 
the application of it to the skin. Cantharidal collodion is now generally pre- 
ferred to other vesicating preparations of cantharis. 
The dose of powdered cantharides is from to 2 grains; of specific cantharis, 
3 to 10 drops in water; tincture of cantharis, 10 to 60 drops, 4 times a day. For 
specific purposes the minute dose is preferred. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Vesical irritation, partial sphincter paralysis, 
with dribbling of urine and teasing desire to urinate, accompanied with tenesmus. CAPSELLA. 
431 
Vesicating and Other Medicinal Insects.-Cantharis vittata, Latrielle; Potato fly.- 
The potato fly is common to this country, being found principally below 39° north latitude; it 
appears in July and August, and feeds upon the potato plant. Some seasons the fly exists in 
great numbers. It resembles the Spanish fly, though somewhat smaller, generally not exceed- 
ing half an inch in length. The potato fly, though not so much employed as the Spanish fly, 
is an excellent substitute for it; indeed, its effects are found to take place more promptly than 
with the foreign insect, which is probably due to its more recent state. There are several 
other species of the blistering fly in the United States, which are probably not at all inferior 
to cantharides, sis the Cantharis cinerea, C. atrata, C. marginata, C. vulnerata, C. melsena, C. Nuttalli. 
and other species. The Mylabris bifasciata, from the Cape of Good Hope contains a large amount 
of cantharidin (Braithwaite, P.J. Proc.,xviii, p. 246). Mylabris cichorii and M.lunata are also 
vesicant. The former is reputed, in Salamis, a cure for hydrophobia, and is thought to have 
been the ancient cantharis. This species and M. phalerata, have occurred in commerce as 
Chinese blistering flies. The Lytta Gigas of the East Indies has also been a commercial com- 
modity. These species all contain considerable cantharidin. 
These insects may be used in all cases as substitutes for the Spanish fly, as the property 
they all possess of blistering the skin when in contact with it, is due to the same constituent. 
The doses will also be the same. 
Ainas afer, of Spain, an insect of the beetle order, is said to be fully as great a vesicant as 
cantharis, and possesses besides, the advantage of operating almost painlessly and without 
any irritant action upon the renal organs (Br. Med. Jour., 1882). 
Blatta orientalis, Linne, Cockroach.-A revived ancient remedy, having been of late years 
brought forward in Russia as a non-irritating diuretic for albuminuria and other dropsical com- 
plaints. The ancients employed a preparation of the insect in oil in various cutaneous maladies. 
The active principle, which is crystalline, and known as antihydropin (or taracanin), is said to 
have been isolated by Bogomolow in 1876. 
Formica rufa, Linn6, Red ant.-This insect, which contains formic acid, and from which 
the latter was first isolated, enters into some European pharmaceutical preparations. Thus 
the German Pharmacopoeia has Spiritus Formicarum-. Alcohol 70, wTater 26, and formic acid 
4 parts. Mix. Dose, 20 to 60 drops. It forms an acid liquid without color. A Tinctura Formi- 
carum is made by taking alcohol 3 parts, and fresh, bruised red ants 2 parts. Digest. This 
produces a tincture having a brown color. Baths prepared by adding to the water a decoc- 
tion of red ants was once used in rheumatic and gouty complaints. The spiritus formicarum is 
employed in Germany internally and locally in paralytic and other nervous disorders. 
CAPSELLA.-SHEPHERD'S PURSE. 
The dried plant of Capsella Bursa-pastoris, Moench (Thlaspi Bursa-pastoris, 
Linne). 
Nat. Ord.-Crucifer®. 
Common Names: Shepherd's purse, Shepherd's sprout. 
Illustration: American Dispensatory, 8th ed.,Plate 5. 
Botanical Source.-This is an annual weed, the stem of which is erect, striate, 
about 12 inches high, where the plants grow apart, but in rich soil, where they 
are in patches, the stems are often over 2 feet long, and reclining, but the thick- 
ness is increased very little. The branches are-few, remote, and generally simple. 
The leaves are mostly borne in a thick radical cluster, at the base of the stem, 
and recline on the ground. They are from 3 to 6 inches long, and pinnatifid, 
with from 9 to 15 acute, wedge-shaped segments. The stem leaves are few, shorter 
than the internodes, and clasp the stems at the base of the branches. The lower 
stem-leaves are sagittate and dentate; the upper, linear and entire. The flowers 
are small, white, and borne in terminal racemes, which elongate as the flowers 
expand. The sepals and petals are 4, and the stamens are 6 and tetradynamous. 
The fruit is a flat, wedge-shaped pod, notched at the end, and divided by a nar- 
row partition, into 2 cells, which contain numerous minute, oblong seeds. 
History.-Shepherd's purse is a native of Europe, but is naturalized in 
almost every country of the world. In the United States it has become among 
the most common of yard weeds, growing in all sections of the country, and 
often forming large patches in waste grounds. It is especially luxuriant in the 
spring months, but the stem dies and the weed entirely disappears by the middle 
of summer. It is often eaten in the spring as "greens." 
Capsella Bursa-pastoris has been used in domestic medicine since an early 
day. Culpepper refers to it in his English Physician, and the article is copied 
almost verbatim in subsequent works, until Lewis' (1761) Materia Medica cast 
discredit upon it as an astringent. 432 
CAPSELLA. 
Description and Chemical Composition.- Shepherd's purse has been de- 
scribed above (Botanical Source). It has an herbaceous, unpleasant odor when 
fresh, if bruised, and a pungent, biting taste, which 
is lost by drying. The herb contains a resin and 
a volatile oil; the seeds yield proteid substances, a 
fixed oil, and a volatile oil said to be identical with 
the volatile oil of mustard. 
But no satisfactory analy- 
sis has yet been made of its 
chemical constituents. 
Action, Medical Uses, 
and Dosage.- Shepherd's 
purse appears to possess 
mild stimulating, astrin- 
gent, and diuretic proper- 
ties, and the fresh herb is 
decidedly more active than 
the dried. In urinary de- 
rangements of renal or cystic 
origin, and in hematuria, an 
infusion, and especially a 
tincture of the herb, will 
be found very efficient. It 
has likewise been used with 
some success as an expecto- 
rant and for the promotion 
of the catamenial flow in 
cases of simple amenorrhoea. 
It is a remedy for chronic 
menorrhagia, with too frequent and too long-continued or constant, but almost 
colorless, flow. Associated with this condition is a frequent urging to urinate, 
and a deposit of phosphates. Atonic dyspepsia and chronic diarrhoea have been 
successfully treated with it. In bleeding piles, diarrhoea, and dysentery, it is stated 
to have been found beneficial. The dose of the infusion is from 2 to 4 fluid 
ounces, but its best forms for administration are the specific medicine, a tincture, 
or fluid extract of the herb; the dose of the tincture is 1 or 2 fluid drachms 
every 2 or 3 hours; of the fluid extract, from 20 to 60 minims; of specific cap- 
sella, 1 to 30 drops. The fresh herb, bruised and applied locally, has been effec- 
tual in ecchymosis, the result of blows, bruises, etc., and has been of service in rheu- 
matic pains. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Chronic hemorrhages; menorrhagia with too 
frequent and long continued, or constant, colorless discharge; indigestion from 
atony; chronic diarrhoea; constant desire to urinate, with deposits of phosphates. 
Related Species.-Lepidium virginicum, Linne, Pepper-grass, Tongue-grass.-An allied weed 
found in similar locations, has often been confounded with capsella, and has been lately 
figured for it in one of the medical journals. Pepper-grass has an erect, much-branched stem, 
about a foot high. The leaves are numerous and much more toothed than the stem leaves of 
capsella. The fruit is an orbicular, flattened pod, divided into 2 cells by a narrow partition, 
and containing 2 rather large seeds. Pepper-grass has a much sharper and more pungent 
taste than capsella. This and the next species probably contain a sulphuretted essential oil. 
Lepidium intermedium, Gray; North America. Wild pepper-grass. 
Lepidium sativum, Linne, Garden pepper-grass, Garden cress.-Habitat, Asia. Cultivated in 
Europe and America for table use. Contains a volatile, sulphuretted oil, and myrosin. 
Lepidium campestre, Linne, Yellow-seed, and Lepidium ruderale, Linne, Pepper-grass.-Acrid 
plants with the same constituents as the preceding species. 
Lepidium Iberis, Linne, Pepper-grass.-Southern Europe to northern Asia. Contains lepidin, 
a bitter, amorphous body obtained from the flowers and seeds (Leroux, 1837), and a volatile, 
sulphuretted oil. 
Lepidium latifolium, Linne, Broad-leaved pepper-wort.-Properties similar to last species. 
Thlaspi arvense, Linne, and Thlaspi campestris, Linne; Europe and America; known as 
Penny cress and Mithridate mustard; have brown, alliaceous seeds wnich yield an oil which 
Pless declares to be a mixture of oils of mustard and garlic. 
Iberis amara, Linne, Bitter candy-tuft.-This plant has a herbaceous stem about a foot in 
height, with lanceolate, acute, somewhat toothed leaves, and white flowers, corymbed, but 
Fig. 55. 
Fig' 56- 
Capsella Bursa-pastoris. 
Fruit of Capsella. CAPSELLA. 
433 
becoming racemed. Silicles obcordate, narrowly emarginate; cells 1-seeded (W*. This is a 
small annual, common to Europe, where it is admired as an ornamental plant; its beautiful 
white flowers appearing in June and July. The wdiole plant is reputed medicinal, the seeds 
more especially. In overdoses it occasions vertigo, vomiting, and purging, without accom- 
plishing any valuable result. Medicinally, it appears to control nervous and vascular excitement, 
and has been found efficient in enlargement of the heart, and some affections of the air-tubes. 
It is also said to have been beneficially administered in rheumatic, gouty, and dropsical affections. 
The dose is from 1 to 5 grains of the powdered seeds. 
Cochlearia officinalis, Linne, Scurvy-grass, Spoonwort (Herba cochlearisef Europe. An acrid, 
bitterish, pungent plant when fresh. It contains the common plant constituents with a bitter 
body, tannin, salts, and gives rise to an essential oil (oil of scurvy-grass), not pre-existent in the 
plant. A. W. Hoffmann demonstrated that it was composed mainly of butyl-iso-sulphocyanide 
(CSN.C4HB). An oil of like composition, but having a different odor, is synthetically pre- 
pared from butylamine (C4H9,NH2). It differs also in the fusing point of the addition com- 
pound it forms with ammonia, 90° C. (192° F.), while the corresponding compound of the 
former (CS.[NH2].NH[C4Hb]), melts at 135° C. (275° F.). The plant is sometimes used as a 
salad. It is stimulant, antiscorbutic, and diuretic. It is very valuable in scurvy when eaten 
iresh, and the juice in water makes a good wash for spongy gums and buccal ulcerations. 
Cardamine pratensis, Linne, Cuckoo-flower (Her ba nasturtii pratensis).-A bitterish, pungent 
perennial found in Asia, Europe, and sparingly in North Aiherica. The showy flowers are of 
a white or rose color. The virtues of the plant are due to an essential oil, probably analogous 
to oil of mustard, as the seeds are said to contain myronic acid. The characteristics of the plant 
are lost upon drying. Diuretic, antispasmodic, and antiscorbutic. Has been used in chorea, 
asthma, dropsy, bronchitis, intermittent fever, laryngitis, and scaly skin affections, and locally to cancer 
and other sores. 
Cardamine hirsuta, Linne. Small bitter cress of Europe and North America, and Cardamine 
amara, Linne, Bitter cress of Europe, have properties somewhat like the preceding. 
Dentaria diphylla, Linne, of North America, and several other species of Dentaria, are 
known as Toothwort and Pepperwort, the rhizomes of which have a pungent taste. Of the 
European species there maybe mentioned the D. enneaphylla, Linn^, and D.bulbifera; of the 
American, D.laciniata, Muhlenberg, D.heterophylla, Nuttall, and D.maxima, Nuttall. 
Barbarea vulgaris, Robert Brown, Yellow scurvy-grass, Winter cress, Yellow rocket.-Frequently 
cultivated as a salad, as is also the Barbarea preecox, R. Brown, or Early winter cress. Both are 
found in Europe and North America. 
Nasturtium officinale, R. Brown (Sisymbrium Nasturtium, Linn^), Water cress.-Common in 
wet places. Pungent and bitterish when fresh, and contains a sulphuretted essential oil analo- 
gous to that of mustard. A plant having similar properties is the Nasturtium palustre, De 
Candolle, or Marsh cress. 
Capparis spinosa, Linne. Nat. Ord.: Capparidaceae. Caper.-The caper bush is a trailing 
shrub growing in northern Africa and Southern Europe. Formerly the root-bark was official. 
It has a bitterish, sub-acrid, aromatic taste. The bluish-green, entire, round-oval leaves also 
possess the bitter, acrid taste. The plant is chiefly cultivated, however, for its flower buds, 
which, when prepared with salt and pickled in vinegar, form a much esteemed condiment. 
The buds are about the size of a pea, have 4 each of petals and sepals, many stamens, a single 
ovary, and a sharp, hot taste. When pickled they are sour and burning to the taste. Besides 
tannin and a bitter body, the root-bark contains a pungent, saponin-like principle. The buds 
contain an alliaceous, volatile oil, and a yellow coloring body thought to be rutin (rutic acid) 
(see Buta). Pickled capers were formerly employed in scurvy, and the root-bark in rheumatic 
complaints and amenorrhoea. 
Capparis ferruginea, Linne, and Capparis cynophallophora, Linne. West Indies. Root-bark 
vesicant and diuretic; fruit used in scurvy; all parts have been used in hysteria and to expel 
worms. The Eastern species, Capparis ^Egyptiaca, Lamarck, and Capparis coriacea, have similar 
uses. The African fruit of Capparis lodada, Robert Brown, and other species, are used as sub- 
stitutes for pepper. 
Reseda Luteola, Linne. Nat. Ord.: Resedaceae. Dyer's weed, Weld. Europe. Naturalized 
in the United States. The root of this plant is conical, and resembles in taste and odor the 
garden radish. Itcontains allyl-sulphocyanate (C3H5CNS),or volatile oil of mustard (Volhard). 
A persistent bitter taste is imparted by the herb. It contains silky yellow crystals of a color- 
ing body, luteolin (C2oHh08). It is feebly bitter and somewfliat astringent. It is quite soluble in 
alcohol, and less so in ether and water. Fused with caustic potash it yields protocatechuic acid, 
phloroglucin, and carbon dioxide. It is now used only in dyeing; formerly it was employed 
to increase the renal and cutaneous secretions. 
Reseda odorata, Linne, Mignonette. Its root also contains the volatile oil of mustard, or 
allyl-sulphocyanate. 
Polanisia graveolens, Rafinesque. Nat. Ord.: Capparidaceae. North America, from Vermont 
to Arkansas, in gravelly soil. An annual bearing small yellowish-white flowers and ternate 
leaves, and many-seeded, oblong-lanceolate pods. The whole plant is viscid-pubescent and 
has a pungent taste and disagreeable odor. It is an irritant. 
Gynandropsis pentaphylla, De Candolle. Nat. Ord.: Capparidaceae. East Indies. Naturalized 
in this country, growing in waste places from Virginia to Georgia. Flowers white; capsule 
linear and containing numerous seeds, which have been used like mustard. 
Tropeeolum majus, Linne, and Tropxolum minus, Linne. Nat. Ord.: Geraniaceae. Garden 
nasturtium, Indian cress. Natives of Peru. Cultivated for ornament and for the buds and im- 
mature fruits, which are used in pickling. 434 
CAPSICUM. 
Other Cresses.-Spilanthes oleracea, Jacquin (Compositae), is Para cress; Arabis lyrata, 
Linne (Cruciferae), is Rock or wall cress; and Senebiera didyma, Persoon, is Wart cress and Swine 
cress (see also Sinapis). 
CAPSICUM (U. S. P.)-Capsicum. 
"The fruit of Capsicum fastiglatum, Blume" (U. S. Pf, (Capsicum minimum, 
Roxburgh). 
Nat. Ord.-Solanaceae. 
Common Names: Cayenne pepper, African pepper, Bird pepper, Guinea pepper, 
or Chillies (in England), Red pepper. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 188. 
Botanical Source.-This plant differs from the next species in being a shrub 
instead of an herbaceous annual, and in having the corolla lobes more sharply 
pointed, and differs also in fruit and seed. The fruits, 2 or 3 in number, are 
borne where the branches fork. They are from to less than 1 inch long, narrow, 
somewhat oblong-ovoid, erect, sub-cylindrical, of bright scarlet-red color, and are 
borne on a flat cup-like calyx. The fruit is hot, extremely pungent, or biting, and 
has a characteristic odor. Its seeds are smaller than those of Capsicum annuum, 
Linne, a description of which is here added. 
Capsicum annuum, Linne, Pod pepper.-An annual plant, of a dark-green color, 
almost smooth, and growing 1 or 2 feet high. The stems are herbaceous, angu- 
lar, furrowed, and branched. The leaves are ovate or oblong, acuminate, entire, 
on long petioles, and sometimes hairy on the veins underneath. The flowers are 
white, solitary, axillary, pendulous, with dark-colored oblong anthers; the calyx 
angular, erect, persistent, with 5 short acute lobes; the corolla hypogynous, rotate, 
5-lobed; the corolla-tubes very short; the lobes spreading. Stamens 5; ovaries 
ovate; style filiform; stigma blunt. The fruit is of various forms, round, oblong, 
cordate, or horned, and either of scarlet or yellow pods, smooth, shining, and 
2-celled, containing numerous flat, dry, reniform, very acrid seeds (L.). 
History.-There are several species of Capsicum, all varying more or less in 
their degrees of pungency. The only plant now recognized by both the United 
States Pharmacopoeia and the British Pharmacopoeia is the C. fastigiatum, Blume. 
The botanical description of the Capsicum annuum, Linne, is here included, 
because often employed for the same purposes as the official species, and on 
account of its being largely cultivated in American gardens. Furthermore, it is 
the official species of the Pharmacopoeia Germanica. It undoubtedly forms a large 
part of ground red pepper. The official capsicum grows on the Guinea coast and 
the East Indian Isles. 
There are several other species of Capsicum, as the C.frutescens, Linne; C. Ion- 
gum, Linne; C. cor diforme, Miller; C. grossum, Willdenow; C. chlor ocladum, De 
Candolle; C. cerasiforme, Willdenow, etc. Many of them, however, are regarded 
as mere varieties. They are natives of the East and West Indies, and of most 
hot climates throughout the globe. Several species are cultivated in the United 
States, flowering from June to September, and maturing their fruit in the latter 
part of autumn. A good variety is found indigenous in Texas. They all agree 
in producing a shining vesicular berry of a greenish, yellowish, cherry-red, or most 
generally scarlet color, consisting of a thin, fleshy, inflated, bilocular, or trilocular 
capsule, and many small, flat, reniform seeds. The Bird pepper (fC. fastigiatum, 
Blume) is usually deemed the best. The C. annuum, Linne, is the most exten- 
sively used in this country. The large ovate peppers are pickeled while green. 
All the varieties of capsicum have a faint, characteristic odor, and an extremely 
hot, acrimonious taste, which in some is so intense that the smallest fragment, 
when chewed, will excite a sensation of intolerable burning in the mouth. This 
acridity is imparted to hot water, ether, spirit, vinegar, and fixed oils. Powdered 
cayenne pepper, of good quality, is of a bright color, varying from a beautiful 
red to a brown or yellow, which is considerably discolored by the action of light. 
Insects will attack it. 
Adulterations.-Powdered capsicum is sometimes adulterated with pulver- 
ized woods or barks, red ochre, and minium (red lead). This last may be dis- 
covered, by steeping the capsicum in nitric acid diluted with water, then adding 435 
CAPSICUM. 
sodium sulphate to the filtered solution, which gives a white deposit, if the metal- 
lic oxide is contained in it. 
Description.-"Oblong-conical, from 10 to 20 Mm, (| to f inch) long, sup- 
ported by a flatfish, cup-shaped, 5-toothed calyx, with a red, shining, membra- 
nous and translucent pericarp, enclosing 2 cells, and containing flat, reniform, 
yellowish seeds attached to a thick, central placenta. It has a peculiar odor, and 
an intensely hot taste"-(U. S. P.). 
Chemical Composition.-In 1816 and 1817, Braconnot and Bucholz extracted 
what they believed to be the active constituent and called it capsicin. According 
to Hager (Handb. Pharm. Praxis, 1886), Braconnot gives the following composi- 
tion of 100 parts of Spanish pepper: Pungent oil,'1.9; wax, combined with red 
coloring matter, 0.9; brown amylaceous matter, not blued by iodine (pectic acid., 
according to Berzelius), 9.0; gum, 6.0; nitrogenous matter, 5.0; woody fiber, 67.0; 
potassium citrate, 6.0; potassium phosphate and chloride, 3.4.y Capsicin of Bra- 
connot and Bucholz is obtained by making an alcoholic extract of capsicum, and 
then digesting this in ether, filtering and evaporating the ethereal solution. It 
is a thick liquid, of a yellowish-red, or reddish-brown color, of an overpowering 
acrid taste, volatilizes at a moderate elevation of temperature, and disengages so 
acrid a vapor, that | grain will cause every person in a large room to cough and 
sneeze violently. Water and vinegar slightly dissolve it, but ether, oil of tur- 
pentine, alcohol, chloroform, and the caustic alkalies readily dissolve it. With 
barium oxide it forms a solid, acrid combination (P.-T.). F. Victor Heydenreich 
(Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1858), concluded that the capsicin of Braconnot consisted 
of two active oils with an inert fatty substance, and that the true capsicin con- 
sisted of these oils without the fatty matter. In 1873, Buchheim pronounced 
capsicol to be the active principle which, however, was probably not quite pure 
(Fliickiger). Mr. J. C. Thresh {Pharm. Jour, and Trans.,1^1^') succeeded in isola- 
ting the probably pure acrid principle-a colorless crystalline substance present 
in small amount only, and difficult to obtain pure-to which he gave the name 
capsaicin (C9H14O2). It is intimately associated with a fatty material, composed 
largely of palmitic acid. It is extremely rubefacient, fuses at 59° C. (138.2° F.), 
sublimes at 115° C. (239° F.), and, when heated, gives off intensely acrid fumes. 
Alcohol, ether, hot disulphide of carbon, benzin, diluted alkalies, and amylic 
alcohol dissolve it. In 1889, Arthur Meyer demonstrated that the placenta of 
Capsicum annuum is the carrier of the acrid principle (capsaicin). This isola- 
tion was effected by extracting with boiling ether, evaporating the solvent, mix- 
ing the residue with oil of sweet almonds (to retain the red coloring matter), 
extracting with 70 per cent alcohol, evaporating and dissolving the residue in 
solution of caustic potash free from carbonate, filtering and passing into the filtrate 
carbonic acid to saturation. After standing for some days the capsaicin crystal- 
lizes out and is purified by washing with water and cold benzin. This method 
(which is that of Thresh) yielded 0.9 per cent of capsaicin in 110 Gm. of placenta, 
obtained from 5000 Gm. of red pepper (Amer. Jour. Pharm., from Pharm. Zeitung). 
Felletar (1868), also Thresh (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1876), and later Fliickiger, isolated 
a volatile, but non-acrid alkaloid of coniine-like odor. A very small portion of a 
crystallizable fat, occurring in white crystalline tufts, and associated with essen- 
tial oil, to which the odor of capsicum is probably due, was obtained by Fliickiger 
(Pharmacognosie, 1891). It had a non-acrid, spicy taste, and resembled parsley oil. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Capsicum is a pure, energetic, perma- 
nent stimulant, producing in large doses vomiting, purging, pains in the stomach 
and bowels, heat and inflammation of the stomach, giddiness, a species of intoxi- 
cation, and an enfeebled condition of the nervous power. The infusion is much 
used in colds, catarrh, hoarseness, etc. In atonic dyspepsia and catarrhal gastritis it 
stimulates the nerves of the stomach, promotes the secretion of the digestive juices, 
and assists peristaltic motion. As an internal remedy some have advanced the 
theory that it is destroyed during digestion. Perhaps, when ingested with food, 
this may be partially true, but, if so, how do we account for its remarkable activity 
in sustaining the nervous system when given in delirium tremens, and the power 
it has in steadying the patient and promoting sound sleep? That its effects are 
partly due to its stimulating action upon the gastric membranes is unquestion- 
able, but its entire effects can not be due to this cause alone. The same may be 436 
CAPSICUM. 
said of its action in congestive intermittent and remittent fevers. Some have thought 
to attribute its action in congestive chill to its effects upon the solar plexus. It 
form$ an excellent addition to quinine in intermittents, where there is a deficiency 
of gastric susceptibility, and it has been asserted that but one-half the quinine 
will be needed when combined with capsicum. 
Capsicum is the very best agent that can be used in delirium tremens. It 
enables the stomach to take and retain food, and the best form of administration 
is a strong beef tea, or strong soup made hot with red pepper. There is no danger 
of giving an overdose, as a wonderful quantity (even a drachm of red pepper) 
may be swallowed with evident pleasure and without ill results by a confirmed 
dipsomaniac. In the atonic dyspepsia of dipsomania it takes the place of alcoholic 
stimulants, removing the craving for alcoholics and sense of sinking at the pit 
of the stomach, prevents the morning sickness and vomiting, restores gastric tone 
and promotes the digestion of wholesome food. It should be administered when- 
ever the desire for drink comes on. Prof. Locke recommends for delirium tremens 
doses of 10 to 40 grains of capsicum every 3 hours, or liberal doses of compound 
tincture of myrrh and capsipum. When the craving for drink occurs he admin- 
isters 20 drops of the following in water: R Comp, tinct. of myrrh, fl§j; specific 
nux vomica, fl^ss. Mix. 
Capsicum is said to reduce irritation and increase capillary activity in chronic 
renal congestion. It affects the bladder and rectum similarly and may accordingly 
be a remedy for diarrhoea, constipation, piles, and in dysentery, where the stools are 
bloody, the mucus tenacious, with tenesmus and burning, and associated with ten- 
esmic action of the bladder. These cases are those in which there is a lax habit of 
body with feeble digestion. Other indicated remedies may be given with it. For 
hemorrhoids, with torpor, constipation, or relaxation, it is a good remedy. Prof. 
Locke suggests for this state, when not recent nor associated with rectal burning: 
R Capsicum, gr. ij; aloes, gr. |. Mix. Make 1 pill. 
Capsicum should not be forgotten in low fevers, where there is dryness and 
constriction of the tissues, and the tongue is dry and harsh and there is but little 
buccal or salivary secretion. Here it is a very valuable adjuvant to other indi- 
cated drugs. Though a stimulant, the general circulation is but little increased 
by capsicum. Paralytic states, without organic lesions, and with great digestive 
and nervous torpor, are often greatly improved by capsicum. In Asiatic cholera 
and angina pectoris, with cold extremities, cool perspiration, and great nervous 
prostration, it is asserted a saving agent. 
Capsicum meets the debility of young and old, but is particularly useful in 
old people when the body-heat is low, vitality depressed, and reaction sluggish. 
Tired, painful muscles, stiffened joints, and relaxation of any part are common con- 
ditions in the elderly that are, in a measure, rectified by capsicum. Homoeo- 
pathists suggest its use in pneumonia when abscesses threaten. Flatulence in dys- 
peptic states may be dispelled by capsicum. 
A preparation made by adding 4 ounce of powdered capsicum and 2 drachms 
of salt, to £ pint each, of vinegar and water, has been found an excellent anti- 
emetic, in all cases of vomiting or nausea. To be given in tablespoonful doses as 
often as required. It has received the name of Anti-emetic drops. Capsicum 
has been also used in spasmodic affections, passive hemorrhages, especially uterine, 
and, when combined with the compound powder of ipecacuanha will, in many 
instances, promptly-arrest hemorrhage after parturition. 
Externally, the infusion and tincture have been found valuable as a stimula- 
ting gargle in the ulcerated throat of scarlatina, or in chronic cynanche tonsillaris; also 
as a counter-irritant, as an application to indolent ulcers, in chronic ophthalmia, and 
in chronic or indolent ulceration of the cornea. If used early in tonsillitis, with relaxa- 
tion, it may abort the trouble, but if it does not its use should be discontinued 
until the active inflammation has subsided. Hoarseness, from atony of the vocal 
cords, is relieved by it, and it is a remedy for relaxed uvula. It enters into vari- 
ous tinctures and liniments. The concentrated tincture of capsicum has been 
highly recommended in the treatment of chilblains and toothache. In the former, 
a piece of sponge or flannel must be saturated with it, and rubbed well over the 
seat of the chilblain, until a strong tingling and electrical feeling is produced. 
This application should be continued daily, until the disease is removed; relief 437 
CARBO ANIMALIS. 
will be experienced on the very first application, and frequently there will be a 
total removal of the disease after the second or third application. This, however, 
will depend upon the severity of the case. 
Powdered capsicum, sprinkled inside the stockings, was a favorite prescription 
with Prof. Scudder for cold feet. This medicine possesses an extraordinary power 
in removing congestion by its action upon the nerves and circulation; if the skin 
is not broken, it never causes excoriation by rubbing with it. For toothache from 
dental caries, place 1 or 2 drops of the tincture on cotton, and apply to the affected 
part; the relief will be immediate. Tinctura Capsici Concentrata is prepared by 
macerating 4 ounces of capsicum in 12 fluid ounces of rectified spirit for 7 days; 
then filter. 
The ethereal oil of capsicum, prepared by the evaporation of a saturated ethereal 
tincture of the pods, is sometimes used as a rubefacient. It is of a brilliant yel- 
lowish color, with a peculiar odor and aromatic taste, and filled with crystals of 
solid fatty oil of curious dendroid forms (see Oleoresina Capsici). 
Capsicum may be used wherever a pure stimulant is indicated, in all cases of 
diminished vital action, and may be combined beneficially with other remedies, 
in order to promote their action, as emetics, cathartics, diaphoretics, tonics, etc. 
Dose of the powder, from 1 to 6 grains; of the tincture, from 4 to 1 fluid drachm. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Marked depression and debility; atonic 
dyspepsia of drunkards; delirium tremens; colic, with abdominal distension; 
congestive chills; cold extremities, with blanched lips and small, weak pulse; 
congestion, with capillary atony; tongue dry and harsh, and buccal and salivary 
secretions scanty, in fevers; chronic hemorrhoids, from relaxation. 
CARBO ANIMALIS (U. S. P.)-ANIMAL CHARCOAL. 
"Charcoal prepared from bone"-(U. S. Pi). 
Synonyms : Bone-black, Ivory-black, Spodium, Carbo ossium, Ebur ustum. 
Preparation and Chemical Composition.-When bones, or indeed any ani- 
mal substances, are exposed to a red heat, with limited access of air, in covered 
iron vessels, or retorts, until they cease to emit any vapor, the residue is animal 
charcoal. Bone spirit, an ammoniacal fluid, is also obtained by this process of 
of destructive distillation, from the vapor which passes over. The animal char- 
coal or bone-black thus obtained is impure, and though serviceable for some 
purposes in pharmacy and in the arts, yet it will be found unfit for many others 
unless purified. The impurities it contains are mainly phosphate and carbonate 
of calcium, with carbide and silicide of iron, and sulphides of iron and calcium. 
The amount of inorganic constituents is as high as 85 per cent, leaving for pure 
carbon not more than 15 per cent. Sand also is frequently present. 
Carbo Animalis Purificatus (U. S. Pi), Purified animal charcoal.-"Animal 
charcoal in No. 60 powder, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]; 
hydrochloric acid, three hundred grammes (300 Gm.) [10 ozs. av., 255 grs.]; boil- 
ing water, a sufficient quantity. Introduce the animal charcoal into a capacious 
flask, add two hundred grammes (200 Gm.) [7 ozs. av.,24 grs.], of hydrochloric 
acid, and one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl.5,183 Hl], of boiling water, 
and connect the flask with an upright condenser. By means of a sand bath keep 
the mixture gently boiling during 8 hours. Then add five hundred cubic centi- 
meters (500 Cc.) [16 As, 435 IR] of boiling water, transfer the mixture to a mus- 
lin strainer, and when the liquid has run off, return the charcoal to the flask. 
Add to it one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl§, 183 1TI] each, of hydro- 
chloric acid and of boiling water, boil for 2 hours; again add five hundred cubic 
centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 fl5, 435 RL] of boiling water, transfer the whole to a 
plain filter, and when the liquid has run off, wash the residue with boiling water, 
until the washings give only a faint cloudiness with silver nitrate test solution. 
Dry the powder in a drying oven, and immediately transfer it to well-stoppered 
vials"-(U. S. P.). 
Description and Tests.-I. Carbo Animalis (U. S. P.), Animal charcoal.- 
According to the Pharmacopoeia, carbo animalis should be in "dull black, granu- 
lar fragments, or a dull-black powder, odorless, nearly tasteless, and insoluble in 438 
CARBO LIGNI. 
water or alcohol. When ignited, it leaves a grayish or yellowish-white ash, amount- 
ing to about 85 per cent of the original weight of the portion taken, which should 
have been previously dried at 120° to 125° C (248° to 257° F.), to a constant 
weight. The ash should be soluble in hydrochloric acid with the aid of heat, 
leaving not more than a trifling residue. If 1 Gm. of animal charcoal be boiled 
for several minutes, with a mixture of 3 Cc. of potassium hydrate T.S. and 5 Cc. 
of water, the filtrate should be colorless or nearly so (evidence of complete car- 
bonization)"- (U. S. Pi). 
II. Carbo Animalis Purificatus (17. £ P.), Purified animal charcoal.-"A dull 
black powder, odorless, tasteless, and insoluble in water, alcohol, or other solvents. 
If 2 Gm. of the powder be ignited at a red heat with free access of air in a broad 
shallow porcelain or platinum dish, it should not leave a residue weighing more 
than 0.08 Gm.,or 4 per cent of the original-weight (limit of silicates and other 
fixed inorganic matter). If 1 Gm. of the powder be boiled with a mixture of 
3 Cc. of potassium hydrate T.S. and 5 Cc. of water during 3 minutes, the filtrate 
should be colorless (evidence of complete carbonization)"-(U. S. P.). 
Purified animal charcoal somewhat resembles vegetable charcoal, but is more 
dense, and less combustible. Upon long exposure to the atmosphere it absorbs 
moisture, and loses its decolorizing properties, for which it is chiefly employed. 
The nature of its decolorizing action is not well understood, though supposed to 
be largely owing to its peculiar porous texture. It not only removes the coloring 
principle of vegetable infusions and tinctures, but is likewise capable of absorbing 
bitter principles, and when purified, abstracts iodine and numerous salts from 
their watery solutions. When carelessly purified, animal charcoal may contain 
phosphate and carbonate of calcium; these impurities may be detected by effer- 
vescence with hydrochloric acid, and the precipitation of phosphate of calcium 
from the filtered solution by ammonia, or of carbonate of calcium by carbonate 
of ammonium. H. Leplay and J. Cuisinier have given a method of restoring, by 
easy and speedy methods, .the absorbing properties that animal charcoal loses by 
use (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1862, p. 551, from Chern. News., 1862). 
Action, Medical and Pharmaceutical Uses, and Dosage.-Its principal 
uses are to decolorize various organic matters, as strychnine, cinchonine, etc., and 
to purify syrups and glucose. It is used extensively in sugar refineries for this 
purpose. It is also used to remove from spirit prepared from grain, its grain-or 
fusel oil. It has likewise been highly extolled as an internal remedy, in doses of 
| grain to 3 grains, twice a day, in scrofulous and cancerous affections, goitre, obstinate 
chronic glandular indurations, etc. Not used in this country medicinally. Like 
vegetable charcoal, it destroys the odor of putrid animal matter. Dr. A. B. Garrod, 
in a paper read before the Medical Society of London, Nov. 17,1846, recommended 
purified animal charcoal in cases of poisoning by opium, strychnine, aconite, bella- 
donna, stramonium, tobacco, hemlock, etc. First remove as much of the poison 
as possible by means of the stomach pump, or emetics combined with the anti- 
dote, and then give a large quantity of the purified animal charcoal, diffused in 
warm water; a vegetable emetic must not be used, as the charcoal would destroy 
its emetic properties. He considered this agent useful as an antidote to arsenous 
acid. According to M. Lebourdais, animal charcoal may be used for the purpose 
of procuring many of the active constituents of vegetable medicines (see London 
Pharm. Jour., 1851, p. 447). 
Related Product.-Carbo Carnis, Meat charcoal. This product is prepared by roasting 
3 parts of lean veal with 1 part of bones (small ones preferred). The operation is conducted 
in a covered apparatus, and continued until inflammable vapors cease to be evolved. When 
cold, it is to be powdered and put into a well-stoppered vial. 
CARBO LIGNI (U. S. P.)-CHARCOAL. 
"Charcoal prepared from soft wood, and very finely powdered. It should be 
kept in well-closed vessels"-(U. S. P.). 
Synonyms: Carbo vegetabilis, Carbo praeparatus, Wood charcoal, Carbo e ligno. 
Preparation and Purification.-Wood or vegetable charcoal for pharmaceu- 
tical or other purposes is made by the well-known process, too familiar to be 439 
CARBO LIGNI. 
described. For medicinal purposes, charcoal as ordinarily prepared is not pure 
enough for internal use. It may be purified, according to Lowitz, by placing fine 
common charcoal in a crucible, and, when filled, cementing on a cover containing 
several orifices. This is to be exposed to a red heat, which must be continued as 
long as flame of a blue color emerges from the orifices of the cover, and when this 
has stopped remove from the fire, and when cold place the charcoal as soon as 
possible in glass vessels, which must be kept well closed. The best charcoal for 
medicinal purposes is that which is properly prepared from young willow shoots, 
and is known in trade by the name, " Willow charcoal.'1'1 
Description.-In shape and texture charcoal resembles the particular wood 
from which it is prepared. As used in medicine and pharmacy it is in pulver- 
ized condition. According to the U. S. P. it should be "a black, odorless, and 
tasteless powder, free from gritty matter. If 1 Gm. of charcoal be boiled with a 
mixture of 3 Cc. of potassium hydrate T.S., and 5 Cc. of water for several min- 
utes, the filtrate should be colorless, or nearly so (evidence of complete carboniza- 
tion)"-(U. S. P.). Wood charcoal is an excellent conductor of electricity, but not 
of heat. It corrects the fetor from putrid animal matters, and decolorizes vege- 
table infusions, but not so promptly as the animal charcoal. It decomposes 
many metallic compounds, when heated with them, by depriving them of their 
oxygen. If kept in the air its weight is speedily augmented in consequence of 
its affinity for moisture, even to the amount of from 10 to 15 per cent. Combus- 
tion produces carbonic acid gas, leaving behind an ash composed of earthy mat- 
ters and carbonate of potassium. Charcoal has the property of absorbing gases, 
which it accomplishes to an Extent varying with the grade of charcoal, and with 
the gas absorbed. For this purpose it should be freshly prepared. Generally 
speaking, 1 volume of charcoal will absorb 10 volumes of oxygen, 35 volumes of 
carbonic acid gas, 55 volumes of hydrogen sulphide, and 100 volumes of ammonia. 
It is not so useful for decolorizing pharmaceutical preparations as animal charcoal. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-As a medicine, charcoal should always 
be purified. "Charcoal is generally described as possessing antiseptic properties, 
while the very reverse is the fact. Common salt, corrosive sublimate, arsenous 
acid, alcohol, camphor, creosote, and most essential oils, are certainly antiseptic 
substances, and, therefore, retard the decay of animal and vegetable matters. 
Charcoal, on the contrary, greatly facilitates the oxidization, and, consequently 
the decomposition of any organic substance with which it is in contact. It is, 
therefore, the very opposite of an antiseptic" (Dr. Stenhouse). It does, how- 
ever, render the gases evolved latent. It acts as an absorbent (both fluids and 
gases) and disinfectant. Its internal employment will be found useful in those 
digestive derangements which are associated with offensive breath and disagree- 
able belchings; also to correct the fetid condition of the stools in dysentery. It 
is also useful in acidity of the stomach, flatulency, and in the nausea and consti- 
pation attending pregnancy. It is also very useful in internal heat and irrita- 
tion of the stomach, with acidity; sick headache; diarrhoea; cholera infantum, etc. 
In cases of sick headache, due to gastric acidity or derangement, and which 
are ushered in with blurred vision, photopsia, and finally nausea and intense 
headache, I have found a drachm of charcoal mixed in a little syrup, to which is 
then added about a gill of water, and 10 or 12 drops of ether, to afford prompt 
relief; in very obstinate cases, the dose may require to be repeated 2 or 3 times, 
every 20 or 30 minutes (J. King). In some cases charcoal may be advantageously 
combined with the subnitrate of bismuth as a sedative; and where a laxative 
action is required, rhubarb may be beneficially added to it. Bilious colic is said 
to have been cured by it, in doses of 1 drachm in 2 fluid ounces of burnt brandy, 
repeated as required. Externally, it may be used in poultices to correct fetor of 
ulcers, arrest gangrene, etc., and is efficient in many cutaneous diseases. It absorbs 
foul gases generated in vaults, sewers, etc. It is also a useful hemostatic, having 
arrested epistaxis when subsulphate of iron had failed. "The specific use of char- 
coal," says Dr. Scudder {Spec. Medication) "is to arrest hemorrhage from the bowels. 
It has been used in enema, sss to sj, finely powdered, to 4 ounces of water, thrown 
up the rectum. Why this checks it I can not tell; that it does it, I have the 
evidence of my own eyes. For several years I have employed the second deci- 
mal trituration as a remedy for passive hemorrhage, with most marked benefit. I 440 
CARBO LIGNI. 
employ it in threatened hemorrhage during typhoid fever; in menorrhagia, especially 
when chronic; in prolonged menstruation;. the watery discharge that sometimes 
follows menstruation; hemorrhage from the kidneys; hemorrhage from the lungs; and 
in some cases of leucocythemia. X good indication for this remedy is a small, 
pallid tongue with lenticular spots, and with this it may be given in any form of 
disease." It occasionally enters into tooth-powders, and may be used with advan- 
tage to correct the fetor of the mouth, and cleanse the teeth. In such cases, the 
charcoal prepared from bread is the best, as it contains no gritty particles. Water 
may be purified by passing it through charcoal mixed with sand. The ordinary 
dose of charcoal is from 20 grains to 2 drachms, 2 or 3 times a day, in water, milk, 
or burnt brandy, repeating it according to indications. For specific uses the 
1 x, or 2 x trituration, 5 to 10 grains, as often as necessary. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-A pallid, expressionless tongue, with slight 
coat and lenticular spots, or slight coat lifting in patches; pallid skin; feeble 
pulse; tumid, doughy abdomen; tendency to hemorrhage; frequent, foul, hemor- 
rhagic bowel discharges; passive hematuria; passive hemoptysis; salty taste in 
the mouth. The remedy for asthenic hemorrhage and profuse secretion. 
Carbon and Its Modifications and Related Products.-Carbon. Symbol: C. Atomic 
Weight: 11.97. A quadrivalent, sometimes bivalent, element, widely diffused over the earth. 
It is found in the earth as free carbon, especially as graphite (plumbago), and in crystallized, 
transparent condition, as diamond. In an impure amorphous form it exists as coal, it com- 
bines with oxygen to produce carbonic anhydride (CO2),or carbon dioxide, existing in this 
form in considerable quantity in the atmosphere, and in effervescing mineral waters. In min- 
eral formations it exists combined with other substances, forming carbonates. It is found very 
extensively in organic matter, both animate and inanimate; in fact, the study of so-called 
organic chemistry may be said to be the study of carbon and its compounds and derivatives. 
The black residue left when organic matter is heated, with limited access of air, is produced by 
freeing the carbon, or the process of carbonization, as it is called. Carbon occurs in 3 allo- 
tropic forms, viz.: Diamond, graphite, and amorphous carbon. 
I. Diamond, one of the hardest bodies known, is a crystallized carbon. Electricity is not 
conducted by it. If heated, excluded from the air, it remains unaltered at very high tempera- 
tures, but if heated in the air or to whiteness in oxygen, combustion ensues, with the production 
of carbon dioxide. The diamond is the purest form of carbon. Its density is 3.5. It is found 
chiefly in India, Borneo, Brazil, and South Africa, while some diamonds have been unearthed 
in North Carolina and Georgia. An impure carbon-mass, containing both oxygen and hydrogen, 
and known as anthracite diamond, or black diamond, is said to be even harder than the true diamond. 
II. Graphite. Plumbago, or Black lead.-This next purest form of carbon presents a 
totally different aspect from the diamond. It is found abundantly in some localities, espe- 
cially in England, and in New York, Massachusetts, and Canada. The purest form is said to 
come from the Borrowdale mines in England. In granite and other mineral formations it 
occurs sometimes in large lumps. It is crystalline, forming plates, which are hexagonal, 
soft, unctuous to the feel, usually of a dull-gray, or grayish-black color, and has a density rang- 
ing from 1.9 to 2.25. Graphite is infusible, and is a good conductor of the electric current. It 
is largely employed in the arts in the making of lead-pencils, crucibles, stove-polish, etc. The 
name black lead should be discarded, as graphite has no connection chemically, or otherwise, 
with lead. 
III. Amorphous Carbon.-This form of carbon is well known as coal. The purest 
variety is known as anthracite, or hard coal. The next variety is known as bituminous, or soft 
coal,a, form containing considerable hydrogen. When subjected to red heat in closed retorts, 
volatile hydrocarbons and tar are given off, leaving coke as a residue. Coke is a fairly pure 
carbon, intermixed with the mineral components of coal. Anthracite coal contains about 
90 per cent of carbon; bituminous coal, about from 75 to 90 percent; and amorphous carbon 
(lignite), about 65 per cent. Lampblack, another amorphous carbon, is the result of the imper- 
fect combustion of resinous, fatty and waxy material, the smoke so produced condensing as 
finely divided carbon, or lampblack. 
Fuligo Ligni. Soot, Wood soot (Fuligo splendens).-The best soot for medicinal purposes is 
that which is gathered within an air-tight wood stove and its pipe; that which is collected 
from a clean chimney or ordinary stove-pipe, where hard wood alone is burned, will ordinarily 
answer, if it be free from ashes and calcium compounds. Soot has a peculiar odor, some- 
what resembling that of creasote, and a nauseously empyreumatic, more or less bitter and 
acrid, saline taste. ' Its infusion in water is of a dark-brown color, with the characteristic odor 
and taste of soot. It is a complex mixture of distilled products from the imperfectly burnt 
wood, ashes, or other fixed matters, carried up the chimney by the current of air. It consists 
of an empyreumatic resin (pyretin), combined with acetic acid, which also saturates the bases, 
calcium, potassium, and magnesium, of the ashes carried up the chimney. Acetate of ammo- 
nium, chloride of calcium, sulphate of calcium, extractive matter, creasote, carbon, silica, ses- 
quioxide of iron, and nitric acid, have all been found in soot. The solution of soot, evapo- 
rated, furnishes a dark-colored extract, which, on being re-dissolved in water, forms a dark- 
brown solution. About 0.44 of soot is insoluble. It probably owes its virtues largely to CARBONEI DISULPHIDUM. 
441 
creasote. Soot has deodorant and disinfectant properties, and may be employed in vaults, 
etc., to overcome foul effluvia. 
Internally, soot was formerly much employed, and found valuable in all forms of disease 
attended with acidity of the stomach. A powder, composed of 1 part each of powdered rhubarb 
and soot, and half a part of bicarbonate of potassium, will be found invaluable in all such cases, 
removing acidity and a tendency to constipation. It may be given in doses varying from 3 to 12 
grains, 3 times a day, or in sufficient quantity to cause 1 or 2 evacuations from the bowels 
daily. An infusion of soot, made so as not to be unpalatable, is very beneficial in inflammation 
of mucous membranes, and in hysteria. A strong decoction of soot, used as an injection into the 
rectum, has caused the expulsion of ascarides; its use should be continued for several days in 
succession; injected into the bladder it has been of service in chronic inflammation of the bladder; 
it should be injected twice a day for some days. It possesses no antispasmodic virtues, further 
than neutralizing the acidity of the stomach, to which the spasmodic action is owing. Com- 
bined with extract of geranium, in the proportion of 2 parts to 1 of the astringent, it will prove 
valuable in diarrhoea and cholera morbus of children; in summer-complaint, 1 part of the dried extract 
of leptandra, and | part of camphor or ginger may be added to the above. The infusion or 
decoction may be made by adding 1 or 2 ounces of soot to a pint of water, macerate or boil 
for | hour, and filter. Dose, 1 or 2 fluid ounces, 2 or 3 times a day. 
Externally, Prof. King used the Unguentum Fuliginis in cases of recent and extensive burns, 
with almost immediate relief. It must be spread on raw cotton and applied over the part. 
The ointment is also efficient in various cutaneous disorders, especially those of an erysipelatous 
character, tinea, fistula, cancerous and syphilitic ulcers, pruritis vulvas, specks on the cornea, scrofulous 
ophthalmia, severe burns and scalds, etc. In some of these diseases the decoction will answer. 
In many ophthalmic diseases, a strong decoction of equal parts of soot and hydrastis, will be 
found valuable. It may also be employed internally by mouth, or injection into the bladder 
or vagina, for chronic mucous inflammation. Soot is but little used at the present day. 
Fuligokali.-A preparation called Fuligokali has been recommended in scrofula, chronic 
rheumatism, rheumatic tumors, and certain herpetic affections. It is made thus: To 2 or 3 parts 
of water add 50 parts of good, shining powdered soot, and 10 parts of caustic potash; boil the 
mixture for 1 hour, then dilute it when cold, and filter. The filtrate, when evaporated to dry- 
ness, yields a black powder, having a slightly alkaline taste, a burnt-like odor, and a ready solu- 
bility in water. It may be given 4 or 5 times a day, in doses of 2 to 3 grains. This substance 
should be kept in wrell-closed bottles (Deschamps). A stimulating discutient external applica- 
tion is made by triturating J ounce of prepared lard with 8 or 16 grains of fuligokali (Gibert). 
Anthrakokali.-A preparation occurring as a black powder, produced by boiling por- 
phyrizedcoal with a strong solution of caustic potash, in an iron vessel. The mass is stirred, 
while cooling, until a poyder results. This forms simple, anthrakokali, but when sulphur in small 
amounts is added to the coal before it is put into the boiling potash solution, the resultant 
product is sulphurretted anthrakokali. These preparations were introduced by Dr. Polya, who 
applied them externally, and also administered them in doses of Itoi J grains, disguised in 
licorice-root powder. Chronic rheumatic complaints, including rheumatic arthritic swellings, as 
well as scrofula, and skin diseases of an herpetic character, were treated with it. An ointment 
(16 grains to 1 ounce of lard) was employed locally twice a day. 
CARBONEI DISULPHIDUM (U. S. P.)-CARBON DISULPHIDE. 
Formula: CS2. Molecular Weight : 75.93. 
Synonyms : Disulphide of carbon, Bisulphide of carbon, Carbonei bisulphidum 
(U. S. P.,1880), Alcohol sulfuris. 
Preparation and History.-Carbon forms two compounds with sulphur, a 
disulphide and a monosulphide; the former alone is of use in medicine or the 
arts. The latter is a more recent discovery, and is obtained by exposing the 
disulphide in sealed tubes to the sun's rays for several months (see Watts' Diction- 
ary, 1888). Lampadius, in 1796, discovered carbon disulphide accidentally, while 
heating iron pyrites with charcoal, and, in 1802, Clement and Desormes obtained 
it by heating charcoal and sulphur. It is prepared upon a large scale by passing 
the vapor of sulphur over red-hot charcoal, in which case an impure carbon 
disulphide distills, and is collected in a cooled receiver beneath water. This crude 
article is always impure, containing dissolved sulphur and several sulphur com- 
pounds, which impart an offensive odor to the commercial article. 
Purification.-Formerly, it was purified by repeated distillations from oil or 
fat, but, at present, the'impure carbon disulphide is at first agitated with mercury 
until it ceases to blacken the bright surface of the metal, and then it is distilled 
from white wax; or it is allowed to remain a long time in contact with corro- 
sive sublimate, or litharge, with frequent agitation, and is then distilled from 
bleached wax. M. Yvon, of Alfort, proposed the- addition of copper turnings to 
the disulphide, in order to deodorize it, stating that it is not necessary to agitate 442 
CARBONEI DISULPHIDUM. 
it; the disulphide soon loses its offensive odor, and gives out an ethereal odor, 
free from all unpleasantness. 
Description.-The U. S. P. describes carbon disulphide as follows: " Carbon 
disulphide should be kept in well-stoppered bottles, or in tin cans, in a cool 
place, remote from lights or fire. A clear, colorless, highly refractive liquid, very 
diffusive, having a strong, characteristic, but not fetid odor, and a sharp, aro- 
matic taste. Soluble in 335 parts of water at 15° C. (59° F.); very soluble in 
alcohol, ether, chloroform, fixed and volatile oils. Specific gravity, 1.268 to 1.269 
at 15° C. (59° F.). Carbon disulphide vaporizes rapidly at the ordinary tempera- 
ture, is highly inflammable, boils at 46° to 47° C. (114.8° to 116.6° F.), and, when 
ignited, burns with a blue flame, producing carbon and sulphur dioxide. It 
should not affect the color of blue litmus paper moistened with water (absence of 
sulphur dioxide. A portion evaporated spontaneously in a glass vessel should 
leave no residue (absence of dissolved sulphur). Lead acetate T.S. agitated with 
it should not be blackened (absence of hydrogen sulphide) "-(U. S. P.). Its flash 
ing point is stated differently by different authorities: 149° C. (300.2° F.), Frank- 
land; 170° C. (338° F.), Braun; 160° C. (320° F.),Wagner's Handbuch, 1889. Its 
vapor, mixed with nitric oxide, burns with a bright-blue flame which is rich in 
actinic rays; and when mixed with oxygen or atmospheric air, the mixture 
explodes with great violence when inflamed. It evaporates so rapidly in the open 
air as to condense and congeal the moisture contained in the air on its surface; 
when evaporated in vacuo, a cold of -60° C. (-76° F.), may be obtained. It 
freely dissolves such bodies as essential oils, sulphur, phosphorus, iodine, bromine, 
camphor, gutta percha, caoutchouc, fats, wax, etc., and substances that are usually 
soluble in ether. It is insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol, ether, and fats; 
its alcoholic solution becomes very readily changed, but if some essential oil of 
mint be added to it, it prevents its decomposition, and lessens any unpleasant 
odor. Under the action of the solar rays it assumes a yellow color. It is poison- 
ous, and its vapor destroys small animals exposed to its action. When inhaled 
for some time, even in very small amount, it produces serious effects upon the 
nervous system. According to Zoller, meat may be preserved in an atmosphere 
which contains its vapor. It is used largely in various branches of the arts, as in 
india-rubber and Woolen factories. Carbon disulphide has been employed in the 
process of the extraction of alkaloids to eliminate the fats, resins, chlorophyll, 
etc., present; to extract croton oil, bay oil, butter of cocoa, butter of nutmegs, oil 
of male-fern, oil of spruce, fir, etc.; to extract the fat from wool, bones, etc.; to 
manufacture soluble spices; to purify paraffin; to destroy certain noxious insects 
and animals; to preserve meats, fruits, etc.; also used to extract sulphur from 
certain minerals. It forms no solution with water, and advantage has been taken 
of this fact to determine the amount of moisture in commercial iodine. Berzelius 
found that it unites with metallic sulphides to form salts called thiocarbonates or 
sulphocarbonates, in reality the salts of thiocarbonic acid (H2CS3), which is analogous 
to carbonic acid, the oxygen of which merely is replaced by sulphur. Carbon 
disulphide combines with triethylphosphine (P[C2H5]3) to form a solid which crys- 
tallizes in beautiful red crystals (P[C2H5]3CS2). The formation of these crystals 
serves as a sensitive test for carbon disulphide. Another test not quite as sensitive 
consists in the formation of potassium xanthate by the combination of carbon 
disulphide with alcoholic potassa solution. Carbon disulphide, for medicinal use, 
should not possess a repulsive odor; the fetor of the commercial article, as we 
have said, is owing to its impurity. It should likewise be neutral to litmus paper, 
and should not blacken mercury, nor precipitate a solution of plumbic acetate 
when agitated with it (Hoffman). As frequent contact with air occasions its dete- 
rioration, carbon disulphide, for medicinal use, should be placed in small, well- 
stoppered bottles, and kept in a cool place; it should not be handled nor poured 
out in the vicinity of flame. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Disulphide of carbon was first used 
as an amesthetic, in 1848, by M. Harald Taulow, of Christiania, Norway. Subse- 
quently, Dr. Simpson, of Edinburg, confirmed the fact of its anaesthetic proper- 
ties, and published his experiments to the profession {Pharm. Jour.,VII, p. 517). 
Its unpleasant odor, the disagreeable symptoms following its inhalation, as fre- 
quent pulsations, headache, vertigo, emesis, and annoying visions, together with CARBONEI DISULPHIDUM. 
443 
its brief anaesthetic influence, have proved objections to its coining into general 
use. Inhalation of air saturated with the vapor of the disulphide has been found 
injurious, as observed in the manufactories where it is employed for dissolving 
caoutchouc. The symptoms resulting from such inhalation have been described, 
by those physicians who have investigated this point, as follows: Headache, 
vertigo, wakefulness, impairment of the mental faculties, over-excitement of the 
nerves, neuralgic pains, cramps, bluntness of the senses of touch, sight, and hear- 
ing, impotency, derangements of the digestive functions, dyspnoea, palpitation, 
debility, emaciation, and occasionally, delirium. The period of excitation will be 
manifested in various ways, by vehement laughter, boisterous talking, rambling 
singing, weeping, etc. Mansfield,Wurtz, and others, have advised its internal use, 
in doses of 2 drops in milk, or in sweetened water, repeated every 2 hours, as an 
emmenagogue; it has also been proposed as a stimulant and sudorific in rheumatic 
and gouty affections, and in certain cutaneous maladies, but the uncertainty of its 
effects, and the serious symptoms apt to follow the ingestion of even a few drops, 
as intense burning sensation in the mouth and fauces, sickness at stomach, 
emesis, gastralgia, flatulency, and difficult micturition, will undoubtedly prevent 
its general use as an internal therapeutic agent. Dr. J. T. Whittaker has reported 
to have found its internal administration of considerable efficacy in the treatment 
of carcinoma, and especially that of the stomach; he administered it in doses of 
2 drops in alcohol or almond oil, repeated every 2 or 4 hours. Although not 
curing the disease, it promptly mitigated the severe symptoms, improved the 
health and strength, and prolonged the life of his patients. 
Its application, externally, has been found of great value in certain diseases. 
Its vapor, directed through a tube upon the eye, or upon the outer surface of the 
drum-membrane, for a few seconds, or until aglow of heat is experienced, acts as 
a stimulant and promotes absorption in the parts; employed in this manner, it 
has proven efficient in deafness due to deficient nerve power, lack of cerumen, 
in purulent discharges from the meatus auditorius, in tinnitus due to indurated 
cerumen with dryness of the canal, and in eczema of the ear; also in chronic 
inflammation of the conjunctiva, ulceration of the cornea, lachrymal suppression, muscae, 
sclerotitis, and in scrofulous ophthalmia, phlyctenular formations, etc. In rheumatism, 
lumbago, and other painful affections, benefit will often follow the application of 
the disulphide, on cotton or on a compress, over the painful parts; it should be 
allowed to remain in contact until a smarting sensation is produced. When it 
occasions pain, as will sometimes be the case, the vapor may be directed upon the 
Eart, instead, and be continued until the smarting sensation is complained of. 
f the disulphide be sprayed upon the part, allowing it to evaporate from time to 
time, before a renewal of the spray, in a few minutes local anaesthesia will result, 
pain will be relieved, and, if necessary, deep incisions may be made without any 
pain being felt. In this manner, it will likewise frequently be found useful 
in goitre, lupoid growths, glandular enlargements, and indolent tumors. In many of 
the maladies just referred to, the efficacy of the remedy may be increased by the 
addition of iodine to the disulphide. Under the local anaesthesia that may be pro- 
duced with the spray of carbon disulphide, such minor operations as the evulsion 
of nails, opening of abscesses, etc., may be painlessly performed. Topically applied 
it is also reputed a good remedy for various forms of neuralgia, particularly that 
associated with locomotor ataxia (applied upon the spine), and in neuralgic forms 
of headache, and in toothache. 
In atonic wounds and chronic ulcers, its local application has proven very bene- 
ficial, as well as in ulcerations of a scrofulous or syphilitic character. A camel's 
hair pencil, or a pledget of lint, moistened with the fluid, is quickly and lightly 
passed over the surface of the wound or ulcer, which may then, if necessary, be 
immediately covered with a layer of finely pulverized subnitrate of bismuth or 
starch. This may be repeated once every 1, 2, or 3 days, according to the degree 
of inactivity of the ulcer. Its application is followed by intense pain, which, 
however, does not last longer than from 20 seconds to 3 or 4 minutes. Applied 
to ulcers of the cervix uteri, the pain continues but a few minutes, while that pro- 
duced by other agents, as, for instance, acid nitrate cf mercury, frequently con- 
tinues for many hours. The pain gradually becomes less and less with each 
application, and as the cicatrizing process becomes confirmed, it diminishes and 444 
CARBONEI TETRACHLORIDUM. 
disappears. Dr. Dorring considers it by far the best local application known, for 
indolent ulcers. This fluid has also been applied in the form of a liniment, com- 
posed of 1 part of the disulphide to 4 parts of olive oil; also an ointment in 
parasitic cutaneous diseases, consisting of 1 part of the disulphide to 4 or 8 parts of 
lard. These should be kept in well-closed vessels. 
Insects, frogs, lizards, dissected or not, and parts of animals, suspended from 
hooks, or deposited upon perforated shelves, may be preserved indefinitely in a 
perfectly air-tight vessel containing 5 drops of disulphide of carbon for every 
quart of air capacity. Strawberries, raspberries, cherries, beans, currants, cucum- 
bers, peaches, radishes, etc., may be completely preserved in the same way, the 
only change noticeable being a fading of the color, and an exudation of juice 
from the berries. A short exposure to the air on removing these articles from 
the vessel, will render them fit to eat, and with a flavor the same as when 
fresh. The preservative powers of this fluid are chiefly due to its coagulation of 
albuminoids, and its lessening the quantity of free water in the article preserved 
in it. Seldom used internally. Dose, to 2 drops in alcohol, almond oil, milk, 
or sweetened or mint water. 
CARBONEI TETRACHLORIDUM - CARBON TETRACHLORIDE. 
Formula: CC14. Molecular Weight: 153.45. 
Synonyms : Carbonii tetrachloridum, Tetrachlor-methane, Carboneum chloratilm, 
Chlorocarbon. 
History and Preparation.-Regnault discovered chlorocarbon, in 1839, but 
it did not become prominent uiHil Simpson, of Edinburgh, suggested its use as 
an anaesthetic, in 1865. To prepare it, dried chlorine gas is made to pass through 
disulphide of carbon, then through a copper-wrapped tube of porcelain, filled with 
fragments of porcelain and maintained at a red heat, whereby a reaction ensues, in 
which sulphur chloride and carbon tetrachloride are produced, thus: 3Cl2-f-CS2= 
S2Cl2-]-CCl4. Then, by the aid of ice, or other means of refrigeration, the vapors are 
condensed to a yellow-red liquid, treated to an excess of solution of caustic potash, 
or milk of lime, added slowly to decompose and dissolve the sulphur chloride. 
The chlorocarbon sinks to the bottom, and is distilled to effect its purification. 
It is also produced when chloroform, or marsh gas (CH4), are acted upon by chlo- 
rine in direct sunlight, the result being chlorocarbon and hydrochloric acid. 
Description.-Chlorocarbon (CC14) is a chlorinated derivative of methane or 
marsh gas. It is sometimes alluded to under the old name, bichloride of carbon, 
given it under the old chemical notation. It is a thin, colorless, oily fluid, of an 
agreeably fragrant odor, soluble in ether and alcohol, but not in water. Its den- 
sity is 1.599; its boiling point 77° C. (170.6° F.). If carbon disulphide be present 
it may be removed by solution of caustic potash, which does not decompose the 
chlorocarbon at ordinary temperature. 
Action and Medical Uses. - This agent is pleasant in odor, and, when 
inhaled, first produces a cooling sensation in the fauces, followed by a general 
glow of warmth throughout the body. If its administration be stopped short of 
anaesthesia, a prolonged sense of calm is experienced, followed by a refreshing 
sleep. Anaesthesia is quickly produced by it, but complete consciousness returns 
very shortly after ceasing inhalation. It was experimented with by Drs. Sansom 
and Harley, in 1864, and introduced into general medicine, as an efficient anaes- 
thetic, by Simpson, of Edinburgh, in 1865. Owing to its depressing action upon 
the heart, it has been practically discarded, being considered a dangerous agent, 
even when skillfully handled. 
Related Compound.-Carbon Trichloride, or Herachlcrrethane (C2C16). When in direct 
sunlight dry chlorine gas is made to pass into either ethydene chloride (C2H4C12), or ethyl 
chloride (C2H5CS), until the fluid solidifies, a crystalline mass of carbon trichloride forms, 
which may be purified by recrystallizing with alcohol. It forms in white or colorless prisms 
of the rhombic system, is almost tasteless, has an aromatic and camphor-like odor, and is 
brittle and easily reduced to a powder. Alcohol, fats, essential oils, and ether easily dissolve 
it, but it is not soluble in water. Its density is 2.0. At the temperature of the air it slowly 
volatilizes; at 160° C. (320° F.) it fuses; and at 182° C. (359.6° F.) it forms a crystalline subli- 
mate. Burned with alcohol it exhibits a red flame. CARDAMOMUM. 
445 
CARDAMOMUM (U. S. P.)-CARDAMOM. 
"The fruit of Elettaria repens (Sonnerat), Baillon"-(U. S. P.). (Elettaria Car- 
damomum, Maton; Alpinia Cardamomum, Roxburgh; Amomum repens, Sonnerat; 
Amomum Cardamomum, White; Renealmia Cardamomum, Roscoe; Matonia Car- 
damomum, Smith). 
Nat. Ord.-Scitaminese. 
Common Names and Synonyms: Cardamom seeds, Malabar cardamoms; Car- 
damomum Malabancum, Cardamomum minus. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 267. 
Botanical Source.-Elettaria repens has a knobbed, perennial rhizome, with 
many fleshy radicles. The stems are numerous, erect, simple, jointed, enveloped 
in the spongy sheaths of the leaves, and about 4 or 6 feet high. The leaves are 
bifarious, subsessile on their sheaths, lanceolate, fine-pointed, somewhat villous 
above, sericeous underneath, entire, 1 or 2 feet long, and nearly A foot broad; the 
sheaths are slightly villous, with a rounded ligula rising above the mouth. There 
are from 3 to 5 scapes proceeding from the base of the stem, which are from 1 to 2 
feet long, lying upon the ground, flexuous and jointed; the branches or racemes 
are alternate, 1 from each joint of the scape, sub-erect, and 2 or 3 inches long. The 
solitary bracts are oblong, smooth, membranous, striated, sheathing, and but 1 at 
each joint of the scape. The flowers are alternate, short-stalked, solitary at each 
joint of the racemes, opening in succession as the racemes lengthen. The calyx is 
monophyllous, funnel-shaped, 3-toothed at the mouth, about $ of an inch long, 
striated with fine veins, and permanent. The tube of the corolla is slender, as 
long as the calyx; limb double, exterior of 3 oblong, concave, nearly equal, pale, 
greenish-white divisions; inner lip obovate, much longer than the exterior divi- 
sions, somewhat curled at the edge, with the apex slightly 3-lobed, and marked 
chiefly in the center with purple-violet stripes. Filament short and erect; anther 
double and emarginate. Ovary oval and smooth. Style slender. Stigma funnel- 
shaped. Capsule oval, somewhat 3-sided, size of a small nutmeg, 3-celled, and 
3-valved; seeds pale-brown, coriaceous, and numerous (L.). 
History and Description.-Elettaria repens inhabits the mountainous parts 
of the coast of Malabar, where it grows both cultivated and uncultivated, the 
cultivated plants generally yielding the commercial cardamoms. (For account of 
culture, see Pharmacographia). The fruit, which is the official part, is not obtained 
until the shrub has reached its utmost height, which requires 4 years. The Phar- 
macopoeia describes cardamoms as " ovoid or oblong, from 10 to 15 Mm. (| to 4 
inch) long, obtusely triangular, rounded at the base, beaked, longitudinally striate; 
of a pale-buff color, 3-celled, with a thin, leathery, nearly tasteless pericarp, and a 
central placenta. The seeds are about 4 Mm. (| inch) long, reddish-brown, angular, 
rugose, depressed at the hilum, surrounded by a thin, membranous arillus,and have 
an agreeable odor and a pungent, aromatic taste"-(U. S. P.). They contain about 
75 per cent of the seeds which contain the active properties, while their covering, 
which has very little smell or taste, should be rejected; the aromatic, camphora- 
ceous flavor of the seeds is soon lost when deprived of the capsules covering them. 
The length of the commercial cardamoms varies, and on this account dealers 
have denominated, longs, mediums (short-longs'), and shorts. The Malabar, as well as 
Aleppi fruits, constitute the ovoid varieties, while the longer and more acuminate 
seeds are the Madras cardamoms. 
Chemical Composition.-Water or alcohol takes up the virtues of the seeds, 
which Trommsdorff found, in 1834, to be due to a colorless, strongly fragrant, vola- 
tile oil, of sp. gr. 0.943, which is very soluble in alcohol, ether, oils, and acetic 
acid; insoluble in potash-lye. It has a hot, camphoraceous, bitter taste, and exists 
to the extent of 5 per cent and less in Malabar cardamoms (Fliickiger, 1891). 
By keeping, it becomes yellow, viscid, and loses its peculiar taste $nd smell. It 
consists chiefly of terpene bodies, whose constitution is C10H16. Crystalline terpin 
hydrate (C]oH16.[H20]3) was obtained by Dumas and Peligot from oil that had been 
kept for a considerable length of time. The seeds contain also about 10 per cent 
of fatty oil, and the ash contains a marked amount of manganese, some starch, 
gum-like extractive, coloring material, and potassium salts-(Pharmacographia). 446 
CARDAMOMUM. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Cardamom seeds are very warm, grate- 
ful, pungent and aromatic, and form an agreeable addition to bitter infusions, 
and other medicinal compounds. They are chiefly employed as a carminative in 
flatulency, and to flavor syrups, tinctures, etc. Dose of the powder, from 10 grains 
to 2 dracnms; infusion (bruised seeds, to boiling water, Oss), a wineglassful. As 
the powder rapidly loses its aromatic property, the seeds should be pulverized 
from time to time, as they are required for present employment. 
Other Cardamoms and Related Seeds.-The following cardamoms are used in Oriental 
countries, but are not often seen in American commerce: 
I. Ceylon Cardamom.-This variety is variously known as Long, large, and wild cardamom. 
In the East it is incorrectly termed Grains of Paradise. It is the product of a Ceylon plant, the 
Elettaria major, Smith, now regarded merely as a variety of Elettaria repens. The fruits are from 
1 to 2 inches long, lance-oblong, have 3 flat sides, are sometimes arched, and of a deep gray- 
brown color. They are terminated with a prolonged apex. They contain more seeds than 
the Malabar cardamom, and are larger, and differ in taste and odor, being less agreeable. Its 
properties are similar to those of cardamom, having essentially the same chemical components, 
besides, according to Fliickiger, a dextrogyrate body, apparently like ordinary camphor. 
II. Round Cardamom.-Known also as Cluster cardamoms. This variety is the fruit of 
Amomum Cardamomum, Linne, growung in the East Indies and in Siam. They grow in com- 
pact clusters, are globular or ovate, about the size of a common cherry, and have a somewhat 
hairy, buff-colored pericarp. The seeds resemble those of Malabar cardamom, but have a more 
strongly aromatic, camphoraceous taste. They are consumed considerably in South Europe. 
III. Xanthioid Cardamom.-This is the fruit of Amomum xanthioidesflNallich, growing 
in Siam and Tennasseriin, and is variously known in English markets as Cardamom seeds, Bas- 
tard or Wild cardamom of Siam. They have received their specific name from the fact that the 
pericarp is thickly covered with fleshy, spinous projections, as in the species of Xanthium. 
The seeds only appear in market, and resemble those of cardamom, being, perhaps, more finely 
wrinkled, but differ in flavor. 
IV. Nepal Cardamom.-This corresponds almost exactly with the following variety, 
except that it terminates in a tube-like calyx, of at least the length of the fruit itself, and 
differs also in being sometimes borne on a short stalk (PharmaAographia'). It is produced by 
an undetermined species of Amomum. 
V. Bengal Cardamom.-This variety is known as Morung elachi, Buro elachi, and Winged 
Bengal cardamom. The fruit has a brown color, is about an inch in length, of ovoid or sub- 
obconic form, rounded at the lower end, and has 9 jagged, ridge-like wings near the distal 
extremity, the latter terminating in a truncated, nipple-like projection. It contains from 
60 to 80 highly aromatic and camphoraceous seeds, imbedded in a viscid, sweet pulp. The 
wings are more readily seen if the seeds be soaked in water. Bengal cardamom is the fruit of 
Amomum subulatum, Roxburgh. 
VI. Java Cardamom.-A Java plant, the Amomum maximum, Roxburgh, furnishes this 
variety. They are borne in a globe-like group, each scape having from 30 to 40 fruits. They 
are conical, or ovoid, stalked, II 'inches in length, by 1 inch in breadth (when fresh), have 
9 or 10 conspicuous wings passing the whole length of the fruit, and coarsely dentated, except 
in the lowermost portions. They are faintly aromatic, and their essential oil is of an inferior 
quality. They have an edible pulp which is prized by the Javanese. 
VII. Korarima Cardamom.- True cardamomum majus, Korarima, Heil, Gurdji spice, 
Habhal-habashi, Heel habashee. Conical, perforated fruits, resembling inverted figs, and having 
aromatic, angular seeds resembling in taste and odor those of Malabar cardamoms. They 
are perforated by the natives so that they may be strung to dry, and in this manner are occa- 
sionally used by the Arabs for rosaries. The plant which produces them inhabits eastern 
Africa, and has not been described by botanists, but Pareira proposed for it the name Amo- 
mum Korarima. 
VIII. Chinese Cardamom, or Rouna Chinese cardamom.-This is the fruit of the Amomum 
globosum, Loureiro, and is characterized chiefly by having a rounded side. 
IX. Madagascar Cardamom.-This fruit is believed to be derived from the Amomum 
angustifolium, Sonn^rat. It is ovate, striated, has one flattened side, is pointed, and presents 
at the base a broad scar, circular in outline, and surrounded by a raised, wrinkled, and notched 
border. The taste and flavor resemble those of the official variety. 
Grana Paradise-Grains of Paradise, Guinea grains, Melegueta pepper, Piper melagueta. At 
least 7 species of fruits have at times received the name of grains of Paradise. That now 
recognized as the true variety is the fruit of Amomum Melegueta, Roscoe, a reed-like plant grow- 
ing widely distributed along the tropical portions of western Africa. The botanical source of 
this plant has given rise to much confusion, but as Mr. Daniel Hanbury raised well-developed 
specimens (from the commercial seeds), which bloomed and bore the perfect fruit, the botan- 
ical origin above given seems clear from doubt. It is stated that there are two grades or 
varieties of seed in market, according to some authorities, both being the fruit of the same 
plant, while others believe one variety to be derived from Amomum granum paradisi, Afzelius, 
said to be a Sierra Leone plant. It is the smaller of the two kinds. The commercial grains of 
Paradise resemble cardamom seeds both in appearance and size, but do not possess a rugose 
surface. The seeds are variable in shape, but generally are iV inch in diameter, They are 
somewhat rounded, or blunt-angular, hard, shining, and of a red-brown color. The hilum is 447 
CARDUUS MARIANUS. 
not so deeply colored, and that sort referred to as melegueta pepper or Guinea grains, has an 
elevated, tufted, beak-like hilum, while the smaller kinds present a broad, depressed hilum. 
Both are faintly aromatic in odor, but have a very hot, peppery taste. Under the name of 
''grains" they were used as pepper, and as an ingredient of a spiced wine-hippocras-contain- 
ing also ginger and cinnamon, they were quite popular in the middle ages. Grains of Para- 
dise contains a volatile oil having a fragrant, but non-acrid taste. It is neutral, yellowish in 
color, and possesses the agreeable odor of the seeds. It dissolves sparingly in alcohol, but is 
soluble in carbon disulphide. Iodine is dissolved by it. Its formula, according to Fliickiger, 
is C20H32O, and density 0.825 at 15.5° C. (60° F.). The ash is colored greenish through the 
manganese present. Gum, tannin, starch, and a viscid, brown resin, soluble in acetic acid, 
have also been obtained from the seeds. Thresh (1884) announced the discovery of the active 
constituent as a viscid, pale-yellow fluid, without odor, but having a pungent taste, not so 
peppery, however, as capsaicin. Grains of Paradise are employed almost wholly in giving 
fictitious strength to liquors, and in compounding certain veterinary powders. 
CARDUUS MARIANUS.-ST. MARY'S THISTLE. 
The ripe seeds of Carduus marianus, Linne (Cnicus marianus, Silybum mari- 
anum, Gaertner). 
Nat. Ord.-Compositae. 
Common Names : Mary thistle, Milk thistle, St. Mary's thistle. 
Botanical Source.-Mary thistle is an annual, or biennial plant, glabrous, 
or but slightly wooly, growing to a height of 2 or 3 feet, and branching but little. 
Its leaves, which are shining and smooth above, are marked 
with white veins; the lower leaves are deeply pinnatifid, the 
lobes being broad and very prickly; the upper ones clasp the 
stem by prickly auricles, and are scarcely decurrent. The 
large' drooping flower-heads, with purple florets, are solitary 
and terminal upon the branches. The involucral bracts are 
very broad at the base and have a stiff, spreading leaf-like 
appendage, terminating in a long spine, and bordered at its 
base with prickles. The fruit is an achenium. The pappus 
hairs are simple. 
History and Description.-Mary thistle is indigenous to 
southern Europe. The part used in medicine is the fruit known 
as Fructus silybi, or Semen cardui mariae. The achenia are from to | of an inch long, 
obovate, smooth, shining, and pale-brown in color, with striae of a black, or blackish 
hue. At the apex they are oblique and have a marginal crown of a yellowish 
color, from the center of which the style-base projects. They have no odor, but a 
mucilaginous and oleaginous, as well as bitterish, taste. They yield their virtues 
to diluted alcohol. The Homoeopathic mother tincture is prepared by covering the 
whole ripe seeds (1 part by weight) with diluted alcohol (2 parts), and letting stand 
in a dark, cool place in a well-stoppered bottle for 8 days, shaking twice a day. 
It is then decanted, strained, and filtered. The introduction of this medicine into 
Eclectic therapeutics is due chiefly to Prof. H. T. Webster, M. D. (Dynam. Therapf, 
and to Prof. Finley Ellingwood, M. D. (Eel. Annual,Vo\. I). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Carduus marianus is an old remedy, 
which had nearly passed out of use and has more recently been revived. Rade- 
macher valued the seeds in hemorrhages associated with splenic or hepatic disorders. 
That it influences the parts supplied by the coeliac axis, particularly the distribu- 
tion of the hepatic and splenic arteries, especially the latter, seems well estab- 
lished. Congestive conditions of the splenic circulation are those most benefited by it. 
To a lesser extent, the whole venous apparatus is influenced by this drug, giving 
power to the veins, and preventing varicoses and other dilatations. But little 
effect, however, is observed upon the hemorrhoidal circulation, as piles do not 
seem to be directly benefited by it. Dull, aching, splenic pain passing up under 
the left scapula, and associated with pronounced general debility and despondency 
is the indication for its use. It controls splenic pain even where no enlarge- 
ment can be detected, and it is the remedy for hypertrophy of the spleen when non- 
malarial in character. Congestion of the liver, spleen and kidneys is relieved by 
its use. Bilious states, with stitches in the side and pain in the abdomen, bal'd 
and tender right hypochondrium, gall stones, jaundice, hepatic pain and swelling, 
Fig. 57. 
Carduus marianus. 448 
CARICA PAPAYA. 
vomiting of pregnancy, and leucocythemia, are conditions in which it is reported useful. 
Amenorrhcea, with wrong of the portal circulation, melaena, hemoptysis, and uterine 
hemorrhage, have all been successfully treated with it. Hematuria, with weight and 
pain in the pelvis, has been promptly met by 25-drop doses in water, twice a day. 
Painful dysuria, from urethral caruncle, and pelvic congestion have also been quickly 
relieved by it. A strong tincture (seed, ^viii to alcohol Oj), or the homoeopathic 
mother tincture, in doses of from 1 to 20 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Splenic, hepatic and renal congestion, face 
sallow, appetite capricious; nervous irritability; despondency; physical debility; 
pain in either hypochondria; pelvic tension and weight; congestion of the parts 
supplied by the coeliac axis; and non-malarial splenic hypertrophy. 
CARICA PAPAYA.-PAPAW. 
The juice of the fruit, and Papain, the digestive ferment, obtained from 
Carica Papaya, Linne {Papaya vulgaris, De Candolle). 
Nat. Ord.-Passifloraceae. 
Common Names: Papaw, Pawpaw, Mamseiro. 
Illustrations : Botanical Register, Plate 459; Botanical Magazine, 2898 and 2899. 
Botanical Source.-Carica Papaya is,a tree indigenous to South America, 
where it is met with in its wild condition, as well as under cultivation, and varies 
in height, according to its wild or cultivated state, from 5 to 30 feet, and is about 
1 foot in diameter (Rees' CyclopsediaB The trunk or stem is simple, erect, without 
branches, and gradually tapers from the base to the summit, where it terminates 
in a cluster of leaves, after the manner of a palm. Its entire length is thickly 
covered with the scars of the fallen leaves. The leaves are large, alternate, close 
together, palmately divided into from 5 to 7 irregularly cut lobes, and are borne 
on leaf-stalks 1 or 2 feet in length, and which are peltately attached. The flowers 
are dioecious, rarely monoecious, and are grouped at the top of the trunk; the 
male flowers are borne on long peduncled racemes; the female flowers are soli- 
tary and axillary on short stalks, and consist of a small, 5-parted calyx, 5 twisted, 
pale-yellow petals and a large ovary, bearing 5 dilated, subsessile stigmas. The 
ovary is globular, 1-celled, and contains numerous ovules attached to 5 parietal 
placentae. As the ovary enlarges and develops, the leaves gradually fall off, and 
the fruit, when matured, appears suspended to the highest part of the smooth 
trunk (L.). 
History.-The Carica constitute a family of phanerogamous plants, which 
grow in the East Indies and in South America, either in a natural state or cul- 
tivated. The following species have properties similar to those of C. Papaya: 
Carica spinosa, Well, a native of the provinces of Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, 
etc.; and Carica dodecaphylla, or jaracatia, a tree of high stature, with a trunk fur- 
nished with spines. When incised, this last gives a milky juice. Its fruit is 
smaller and longer than that of the Carica Papaya. 
The Carica Papaya is cultivated throughout the greater part of Brazil, and its 
fruit bears some resemblance to that of the Cucurbitacea, especially to the genus 
Cucumis. The fruit, when ripe, is yellow, irregularly ovoid, with 5 rib-like projec- 
tions ; it is pulpy, enclosing numerous blackish seeds, and has a rather agreeable, 
sweetish taste. The root is said to have an odor resembling that of rotten cab- 
bage. In Brazil, the common name of the plant is mamaeiro, and the fruit is 
called mamao. The juice or milk proceeding from the bark or fruit is the part 
that has attracted attention. In 1850, Hoeferk stated that the juice was milky, 
bitter, and possessed the property of an irritant poison, and that, when mixed 
with water, it was used to soften tough meats, by macerating them in the liquid. 
A. Pinto, A. Camara, and Martins have made nearly the same statements; and 
Pinto also remarks that it is used to render the skin of the hands soft, and to 
remove freckles from the face. In 1875, Dr. Roy, an English physician, instituted 
some experiments with the milky juice, and found that it had the property of 
softening and dissolving meats; a microscopic examination of the meats thus 
dissolved showed a complete disintegration of the muscular fibers, the fasciculi 
being dissociated, and the ultimate fasciculi in a fair way for separation. The CARICA PAPAYA. 
449 
entire fluid mass was swarming with vibriones. Other investigators have arrived 
at the same results. 
Chemical Composition.-The milk of mamaeiro, whether from the bark or 
from the fruit, is so small in amount that a sufficient supply for instituting a 
regular chemical analysis can not be procured; the greatest quantity that has been 
obtained from a large number of trees and fruit is in all about 1 fluid ounce. 
Another circumstance which antagonizes analysis and interferes with investiga- 
tion of its physiological and therapeutical effects, is the extraordinary rapidity 
with which it enters into fermentation, and which commences a few seconds after 
its extraction. The seeds of the fruit contain a resinous acid, which is probably 
their active principle. Dr. T. Peckolt obtained it by treating the fresh seeds with 
boiling alcohol and hydrate of lime, and then separating it by means of hydro- 
chloric acid. It forms a yellowish powder, possessing a pungent taste. 
The active principle or ferment of Carica Papaya, a true vegetable pepsin, 
formerly termed caricine, is now known as papain, or papayotin. Mauriac obtained 
it (from the leaves) by extracting the juice from those recently gathered and fil- 
tering it. To the turbid and yellowish-green filtrate, double its volume of abso- 
lute alcohol was added, and, gradually, a flocculent precipitate of papain formed 
upon the filter, slightly greenish and amorphous. This may be purified by new 
solutions and precipitations, and then carefully drying at a temperature not to 
exceed 40° C. (104° F.). Papain is obtained from the leaves in the proportion of 
4 parts to 100. It is insoluble in alcohol, and perfectly soluble in distilled water. 
Nitric and hydrochloric acids, bicarbonate of sodium, or of potassium, and caustic 
potash have no action upon it. It may be employed as a solvent of albuminoid 
materials in certain forms of dyspepsia, and as an anthelmintic. 
Papain is an amorphous powder, white, or yellowish-white, practically odor- 
less when pure, and has a feeble taste, almost imperceptible, yet faintly sugges- 
tive of pepsin. Its composition, further than the fact that it contains 10.6 per 
cent of nitrogen, has not yet been determined. It dissolves in water and glycerin, 
the aqueous solution becoming turbid when boiled. Its peptonizing powers are 
said to be greater than those of pepsin, 0.1 part being capable of dissolving from 
100 to 200 parts of moist blood fibrin (see Wurtz, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1881). It 
acts under all conditions, whether in neutral, acid, or alkaline media, and is most 
energetic in the presence of a small amount of fluid. A considerable portion of 
the papain on the market is said to be practically inert. 
In 1890, Dr. Greshoff, in Batavia (Java), discovered a new alkaloid in the 
leaves of Carica Papaya, which he named carpaine. It exists to the extent of 
0.25 per cent in the dried and young leaves, but only in an amount of 0.07 per 
cent in old leaves; has a bitter taste, and a melting point of 121° C. (249.8° F.). 
The formula is C14H25NO2, and its physiological properties were investigated by 
Dr. von Oefele, who found that, with the exception of the caffeine group, carpaine 
was the only digitalis substitute which, by subcutaneous injection, did not cause 
local irritation or abscesses, while internal doses of 0.025 Gm. per day did not 
show any advantage over digitalis (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1893). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Without entering into a description of 
the varied experiments that have been made with the milk of carica, and concern- 
ing which an excellent account is given by Dr. Moncorvo, of Rio de Janeiro, in 
his translation of an article in the Portuguese language, entitled : 11 Note on the 
Physiological and Therapeutical Action of Carica Papaya," by Dr. E. Mauriac, 
we will simply refer to the conclusions drawn therefrom. This substance exerts 
a real dissolving or digestive action upon nitrogenized substances; this action is 
likewise obtained with it in aqueous solution, while its solution in alcohol appears 
to render it wholly inert. It has no action upon feculent substances. Applied 
upon the skin, it renders it softer and more smooth, and appears to destroy the 
projections formed at certain points by a greater or less thickening of the epi- 
dermis. Upon the skin deprived of its epidermis, and upon the subcutaneous 
cellular tissues, it has an extremely irritating action, provoking intense inflamma- 
tion; and, in addition, the formation of abscesses, rapidly followed by a putrid 
infection when 30 grains were hypodermatically injected, these symptoms being 
preceded by severe pain, moaning, and great difficulty of motion. Upon the 
digestive mucous membrane it acts as a caustic and corrosive substance, its effects 450 
CAROTA. 
being rapid, violent, deep-seated, and occasioning energetic purgation. According 
to Desjardins, boiling removes these corrosive effects, and it then proves the most 
active vermifuge of the Materia Medica, in doses of 1 or 2 drachms, mixed with 
an equal quantity of castor-oil, a single dose being sufficient to cause the expulsion 
of an astonishing number of the lumbricoids. The seeds possess an identical prop- 
erty, and will probably be found preferable for administration. It is likewise said 
to cause the destruction and expulsion of the tapeworm. Various preparations of 
carica are reputed abortifacient and galactagogue. 
The chief property of the milk of the carica is its action upon food, similar 
to that of pepsin, exercising, like this latter article, a digestive influence upon 
albuminoid substances. But the difficulty of procuring and preserving a suffi- 
cient amount of it for therapeutical use, together with its deeply irritating action, 
will prevent it from coming into use as a remedy for dyspepsia or gastric affections. 
To overcome these obstacles, Dr. Mauriac instituted a series of experiments with 
the leaves of the tree, and found that a concentrated decoction of them exerted 
upon albuminoid substances an action analogous to that of the milky juice of 
the tree and of the green fruit, without any appreciable irritation of the gastric 
mucous membrane. This decoction must be administered in small doses. Dr. 
Mauriac and others, however, prefer papain, the action of which does not appear 
to be interfered with by an acid or neutral condition of the stomach, and which, 
being more energetic than pepsin, must be given in smaller doses, and in aqueous 
solution. Papain has been used in atonic and fermentative dyspepsia, with painful 
acid eructations, flatulence, and constipation. 
The softening and disintegrating qualities of papain (generally in alkaline 
combination, as with borax or potassium carbonate), have been taken advantage 
of in the treatment of warts, corns, sinuses, and chronic forms of scaly eczema, cutaneous 
tubercles, and other hardness of the skin, produced by irritation, etc., and injected 
into indolent glandular tumors to promote their absorption. Epithelioma has been 
similarly treated, but this painful procedure is not to be commended. Glossal 
fissures and ulcerations, and particularly syphilitic ulcerations of the throat, mouth, 
and tongue, are asserted to have yielded to alkaline solutions of papain. Papain, 
in 5 per cent solution, when pure, is credited with the power to dissolve the false 
membranes of diphtheria and membranous croup. This can be accomplished only 
when the solution can be brought into contact with the membrane by means of 
a brush or spray. It must be frequently applied as it has no power to prevent 
a subsequent formation of the membranous exudate. A 5 per cent solution of 
papain, with sodium bicarbonate, 5 grains, warmed and instilled into the ear in 
quantities of 10 or 15 drops, and allowed to remain 1 hour, has given good results 
in chronic suppurative inflammation of the middle ear, with scanty, offensive dis- 
charge; the 5 per cent solution alone has been employed to remove hardened secre- 
tions from the auditory canal. The dose of papain is from 1 to 5 grains. 
CAROTA.-WILD CARROT. 
The root and fruit of Daucus Carota, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Umbellifera?. 
Common Name: Wild carrot. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 135. 
Botanical Source.-Wild carrot is a biennial herb, with a slender, yellowish, 
aromatic, spindle-shaped and sweetish root. Its stems are 2 or 3 feet high, round, 
branched, erect, furrowed, leafy, hairy, or bristly. The leaves are alternate, on 
broad, concave, ribbed footstalks, bipinnate, cut, narrow, acute, and distantly 
hairy; the leaflets are linear and acute. The flowers are small, white or cream- 
colored, except the one central, neutral flower, which is blood-red. The umbels 
terminate the long, leafless branches, and are solitary, large, dense, concave, and 
many-rayed. The general involucre is pinnatifid, slender, and large, though not 
so long as the umbel; the partial involucre is undivided, or partly 3-cleft, and 
membranous at the edges; the petals, 5 in number, are obovate and emarginate, 
with an inflected point. Fruit small, oval, somewhat compressed, and pale dull- 
brown ; the half-fruits or mericarps with the 5 primary ridges, filiform and bristly, 451 
the 3 middle ones at the Sack, the lateral on the plane of the commissure; the 4 
secondary equal, more prominent, winged, and split into a single row of spines. 
The vittae are solitary in the channels below the secondary ridges (L.-W.-G). 
History.-Wild carrot is indigenous to Europe, and is extensively natural- 
ized in this country, growing in old fields and by roadsides, flowering from June 
to September. By cultivation it becomes somewhat changed, as in the garden 
carrot. The root of the wild variety, and the seeds of both kinds are employed. 
Description.-Carrot Seeds. The seeds or mericarps are oval, with plano- 
convex surfaces, slightly ciliated, and marked with 5 ridges, from 1 to 1^ lines 
long, of an agreeable, aromatic smell, and a moderately pungent, bitter taste (Ed.). 
Their medicinal properties are owing to a volatile oil, which is colorless, or 
slightly tinged with yellow, and which may be procured by distilling them with 
water. They yield their virtues by infusion, to water, at 100° C. (212° F.); boiling 
dissipates them. No particular analysis has been made of them. 
Carrot Root.-The root is fusiform, slender, yellowish-white, occasionally 
branched, rather woody, possessing a peculiar aromatic odor, and an unpleasant, 
bitterish taste, with some acrimony. The root of the garden carrot is fusiform, 
from 9 to 12 inches in length, white, orange, yellow, or reddish-colored, trans- 
versely wrinkled, with scattered radicles, having a reticulated bark or fleshy paren- 
chyma, and a round or angularly radiated medulla; they are quite thick, have an 
agreeable, peculiar odor and a rather pleasant, saccharo-mucilaginous taste. 
Chemical Composition.-According to Wackenroder, the expressed juice of 
carrot root contains fixed oil, with some volatile oil, a coloring matter termed by 
him carotin, uncrystallizable sugar, with some starch and malic acid, mannit, albu- 
men, and ashes composed of salts of aluminum, calcium, and iron. It also con- 
tains pectose, a substance insoluble in water, alcohol, or ether, which gives the 
hardness to green fruits, and which may be converted into pectin. The volatile 
oil is of sp.gr. 0.8863 at 12.2° C. (54° F.), is very soluble in alcohol or ether, less 
so in water, is colorless, and has the odor and strong taste of carrots. Carotin 
(CjgH^O, according to Husemann), is a ruby-red, crystalline, tasteless, odorless, 
neutral substance, heavier than water, fusible, combustible, soluble in fixed and 
volatile oils, benzol, and carbon disulphide, slightly so in alcohol, chloroform, and 
ether, insoluble in water; and its solutions are not decolorized by solar light. 
The solution in carbon disulphide is blood-red, and yields carotin as a precipitate 
upon the addition of alcohol. It undergoes a complete change when exposed to 
light, becoming colorless and amorphous, and much less soluble in carbon disul- 
phide, but easily soluble in alcohol and ether (Husemann). 
Another body, in the juice of the root, was investigated by A. Husemann, in 
1860, named by him hydrocarotin (C18H30O), which is the same substance as that 
found by Brimmer in angelica root. From hot alcohol it crystallizes upon cool- 
ing in silky, colorless crystals, devoid of taste. Arnaud also obtained a body 
related to cholesterin, differing but little from the animal product of that name, 
but agreeing with the phytosterin obtained from the calabar bean (Comptes Rendus, 
cii, 1319). After repeated alcoholic purification it was obtained, combined with 
a molecule of water, in foliaceous condition. 
Pectin or vegetable jelly is found universally scattered over the vegetable king- 
dom, being in considerable quantity in many fruits, roots, etc. It may be obtained 
from the juice of all fruits by (1) the cautious addition of oxalic acid to throw 
down their calcium salts; (2) then adding a concentrated solution of tannin so 
long as a precipitate occurs, of coagulated albumen; (3) separating the albumen 
by filtration, and then adding alcohol to the clear liquid, and leaving the solu- 
tion for a couple of days to spontaneous evaporation, when the pectin is deposited 
in a gelatinous coagulum; to obtain it in purity, subject it to gradual pressure, 
and wash it with weak alcohol. It is translucent like isinglass, swells in 100 
parts of cold water, forming a mass like starch, but not colored blue by iodine; 
boiling water has less action upon it than cold. It is insoluble in alcohol or ether, 
and has no action on polarized light. The least trace of a fixed alkali instantly 
converts it into pectic acid, forming a pectate of the alkali, the addition of another 
acid decomposes it, and sets the pectic acid free. Pectic acid has the form of a 
transparent and colorless jelly, with a perceptible acid taste, reddens litmus, and 
forms salts with alkalies (T.). 
C A ROT A. 452 
CARTHAMUS. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Both the root and seeds are mildly 
stimulant and diuretic. Used in infusion with much success, in dropsy, chronic 
nephritic affections, and gravel. Also as a carminative, and to relieve strangury 
from cantharides. Carrot is said to possess emmenagogue properties, and the juice 
is reputed to relieve pruritis, accompanying some forms of skin disease. Exter- 
nally, scraped or grated, it forms an excellent application as a poultice to phage- 
denic, cancerous, malignant, and indolent ulcers-relieving the pain, correcting the 
fetor, lessening the discharge, and altering the morbid condition of the parts. 
Dose of the infusion (§j to water Oj), from 2 to 4 fluid ounces, 3 or 4 times daily; 
of the powdered seeds, 20 to 60 grains. 
CARTHAMUS.-DYER'S SAFFRON. 
The florets of Carthamus tinctorius, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Compositae. 
Common Names and Synonym : Saffloicer, Bastard saffron,Dyer's saffron, African 
saffron, False saffron, American saffron; Flores earth ami. 
Botanical Source.-Carthamus tinctorius is an annual plant, with a smooth 
stem, growing from 1 to 2 feet high, striate, and branching at the top. The leaves 
are alternate, ovate-lanceolate, sessile, spinose-den- 
ticulate, subamplexicaul, smooth and shining. 
The flowers are numerous, long, slender, orange- 
colored, and borne in large, terminal, discoid heads. 
The florets are tubular; the corolla infundibuliform 
and 5-cleft ( W.). 
History and Description.-This plant is cul- 
tivated in this country and Europe, though inhab- 
iting Egypt and the countries surrounding the 
Mediterranean Sea. The orange-red florets are the 
medicinal parts, and are generally met with in 
commerce in laminated masses, with the yellow 
filaments accompanying. Their odor is peculiar 
and aromatic, and the taste slightly bitter. Dyer's 
saffron is sometimes used to adulterate genuine 
saffron, but may be detected by the cannular form 
of the flowers, the reddish-yellow color of their 
stamens and pistils, and the absence of the white 
ends belonging to the true saffron. The cultivated 
safflower in this country is usually sold unpressed, 
as American saffron. 
Chemical Composition.- Safflower contains 2 coloring matters: the first, 
which is soluble in water, is yellow (called Safflor yellow); the other has a beauti- 
ful red color, greenish in reflected light, is insoluble in water, fixed and volatile 
oils, ether, and in diluted acids, is slightly soluble in alcohol, but readily soluble 
in alkaline solutions, in which, however, it readily decomposes, with discharge of 
the color, and is termed carthamin, or carthamic acid (Ci4H16O7). Its acid proper- 
ties are feeble. Dried and mixed with French chalk, it constitutes rouge, which 
is used as a cosmetic. Carthamin is the valuable dye constituent. Both cartham in 
and safflor yellow were investigated particularly by Schlieper. The former exists 
in small amount (0.3 to 0.6 per cent); the latter is abundant (25 to 30 per cent)-. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Dyer's saffron, wrhen the warm infusion 
is used, is said to restore the menstrual discharge which has been recently sup- 
pressed by cold; also when taken largely, to produce an action on the bowels. 
The warm infusion is often employed as a diaphoretic in domestic practice among 
children and infants in measles, scarlet fever, and other eruptive maladies. It may 
be given tolerably freely. The infusion may be made by infusing 1 or 2 drachms 
of the flowers in | pint of boiling water. The seeds are white and angular, and 
have been much used as a purgative and emmenagogue. They yield an oil by 
expression, which has been used as a local application in rheumatic and paralytic 
affections; also for had ulcers. 
Fig. 58. 
Carthamus tinctorius. 453 
CARUM.-CARYOPHYLLUS. 
CARUM (U. S. P.)-CARAWAY. 
The fruit of Carum Carvi, Linne (U. S. P.) (Carum Carui, Linne). 
Nat. Ord.-Umbelliferae. 
Common Names: Caraway-seed, Caraway-fruit. 
Illustrations: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 121; Kohler's Medizinal 
Pfanzen,No\. I, Plate 91. 
Botanical Source.-Carum Carvi (Carui) is a biennial plant, with a fusiform, 
fleshy root, and a stem about 2 feet high, erect, branched, leafy, angular, and fur- 
rowed. The lower leaves are nearly a span long, bright-green, petioled, doubly 
pinnate, with numerous opposite, finely-cut leaflets, of which the pairs next the 
midrib cross each other; those on the stem are much smaller, opposite, and very 
unequal. The umbels are numerous and erect. General bracts, if present, capil- 
lary, connected, when more than 1, by a membranous base. The flowers are 
numerous, white, or pale flesh-colored ; marginal ones only perfect and prolific. 
Peduncles very small and convex. Calyx extremely minute; petals 5, obovate, 
inflexed. Stamens as long as the petals; anthers small, bilobed; ovary ovate. 
Fruit, or mericarps, narrow, bright-brown, elliptic-ovate, about 2 lines long, with 
pale, elevated, filiform ridges, and shining convex channels (L.). 
History.-Caraway is indigenous to Europe, growing in the meadows and on 
the mountains of the South of France, and flowering from April to July. It is 
cultivated and appears wild also in Iceland, Scandinavia, throughout Russia, in 
Siberia, Persia, and the Caucasus. It grows wild' in the Himalayas, and a pecu- 
liar form, an annual, differing in many ways, yet belonging to this species, is cul- 
tivated near Morocco. Caraway is also cultivated in Great Britain, Germany, 
Holland, and the United States. Its seeds are completed in the second year of its 
growth, when they mature in the latter part of summer. They are procured by 
beating the plant, after it has been removed from its place of growth. They are 
termed mericarps. 
Description and Chemical Composition.-"Oblong, laterally compressed, 
about 4 or 5 Mm. (^ to 4 inch) long, usually separated into the 2 mericarps, which 
are curved, narrower at both ends, brown, with 5 yellowish, filiform ribs, and 
with 6 oil tubes. Caraway has an agreeable odor, and a sweetish, spicy taste"- 
(U. S. P.). The virtues of caraway fruit are due to a volatile oil (see Oleum Carui), 
and are readily yielded to alcohol or ether. The oil is at first pale, becomes darker 
by age, and has the peculiar fragrance and taste of the seed. The immature fruits 
are rich in tannin. Resin, wax, mucilage, sugar, and a greenish fixed oil, were 
shown by Trommsdorff to exist in the fruit. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Caraway is an aromatic carminative, 
used in flatulent colic, especially of children, and to improve the flavor of several 
medicinal compounds. The oil (Oleum Carui) is more generally used. The seeds 
are frequently added to cakes and confectionaries, to render them more agreeable, 
while, at the same time, they gently excite the digestive powers. Dose of the 
seeds, from 10 to 60 grains. 
CARYOPHYLLUS (U. S. P.)-CLOVES. 
" The unexpanded flowers of Eugenia aromatica (Linne), O. Kuntze"-(U. S. P.). 
(Eugenia caryophyllata, Thun berg; Caryophyllus aromaticus, Linne; Myrtus caryophyl- 
latus, Sprengel). 
Nat. Ord.-Myrtacese. 
Common Name and Synonym: Cloves; Caryophylli aromatici. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 112. 
Botanical Source.-Eugenia aromatica is a beautiful tree, rising to the height 
of 15 or 20 feet. It is of a conical or pyramidal form, evergreen, and the wrhole 
plant is glabrous. Its branches are numerous, slender, opposite, and more or less 
virgate. The wood of the stem is hard; the bark grayish and smooth. The leaves 
are opposite and decussate, persistent, somewhat coriaceous and shining, minutely 
punctated, about 4 inches long and half as broad, ovate-lanceolate, more or less 454 
CARYOPH YLLUS. 
acute, quite entire, pale beneath, and tapering 
gradually at the base into a slender foot-stalk, 
which is nearly 2 inches long. The flowers are 
very odoriferous, and are in short, terminal, 
many-flowered panicles, trichotomously divided 
and jointed at every division. Peduncles terete 
and green. The calyx is composed of 4 ovate, 
concave segments, erecto-patent, placed upon the 
top of the ovary, and together with it, is first 
green, and then red and coriaceous. The pet- 
als are 4, larger than the calyx, imbricated into 
a globe in bud, at length spreading, roundish, 
concave, yellowish-red, and very soon caducous. 
In the center of the calyx, and occupying the top 
of the ovary, is a quadrangular, elevated line or 
gland, surrounding, but not embracing, the base 
of the shortish, obtusely-subulate style. Around 
this gland, immediately within the petals, the 
stamens are inserted. These are longer than the 
petals, yellow, and with small, yellow, ovate- 
cordate, 2-celled anthers. The ovary is oblong, 
almost cylindrical, and 2-celled, with many small ovules in each cell. The berry 
is purplish, elliptical, and 2-seeded. The seed is covered with a thin integument 
of a soft texture (L.). 
History.-A tall and beautiful tree, growing in tropical climates, extinct in 
its first habitat (Clove Islands), but introduced and extensively cultivated on the 
East Africa coast, and in the East and West Indies, and Brazil. The cultivated 
tree, from which the cloves are gathered, is not so tall as in the wild state, but its 
aromatic properties are much more pronounced. The flowers are collected twice 
yearly, in June and December, before they are fully developed, and just as they 
become bright-red, being either hand-picked or knocked from the tree with bam- 
boo poles, falling upon a cloth outstretched to receive them. They consist of a 
tubular calyx, bearing a roundish bud of unexpanded petals; they are quickly 
dried in the sun, becoming thereby brown. The finest kinds are plump, heavy, 
and dark, and give out oil when squeezed with the nail. These are usually from 
East Africa and the Moluccas. A lighter-colored, shrunken variety comes from 
South America and the West Indies. Occasionally cloves from which the oil has 
been partially extracted, appear in market mixed with the better qualities. As a 
rule, they are deprived of their heads, and are in a moist state. 
Description.-"About 15 Mm. (^ inch) long, dark-brown, consisting of a sub- 
cylindrical, solid and glandular calyx-tube, terminated by 4 teeth, and sur- 
mounted by a globular head, formed by 4 petals, which cover numerous curved 
stamens, and 1 style. Cloves emit oil when scratched, and have a strong, aromatic 
odor, and a pungent, spicy taste"-(U. S. P.). They yield their virtues to alcohol, 
spirit, and ether; water merely acquires their aroma. 
Chemical Composition.-Cloves contain volatile oil, fixed oil, a peculiar tan- 
nin, gum, resin, fiber, water, and two crystalline principles called caryophyllin 
(CooH320) and eugenin (Ci0H12O2) (Trommsdorff). Caryophyllin is a camphor-like 
body which occurs 'in silky, needle-like prisms, without taste or odor, and of 
neutral reaction. It was isolated by Lodibert in 1825. Eugenin occurs in pearly 
white laminae, without taste. It was obtained in 1833, from the aqueous distil- 
late of cloves, by Dumas, and named by Bonastre. Caryophyllin may be pre- 
pared by treating cloves previously deprived of the greater part of their volatile 
oil by means of a small quantity of alcohol, with hot ether. When treated with 
nitric acid it yields crystalline caryophyllinic acid (C^H^Or) (E. Mylius, 1873). 
The active properties reside in the volatile oil, which is colorless or of a pale- 
yellow color, darkens by age, and is heavier than water. The yield from cloves 
is from 16 to 20 per cent. It is extremely pungent and acrid, and its principal 
constituent is eugenol (C10H12O2), a fluid body (see Oleum Caryophyllin. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Aromatic, stimulant, and irritant. 
Used to allay vomiting and sickness at stomach, to stimulate the digestive functions, 
Fig. 59. 
Eugenia aromatica.w^ CASCARILLA. 
455 
and to improve the flavor or operation of other remedies, and prevent a tendency 
to their producing sickness or griping. Dose, from 5 to 10 grains. 
Substituted Drugs and Related Species.-Clove Stalks. The dividing flower-stalks 
of cloves are frequently powdered to adulterate ground cloves, and occasionally are met in 
commerce intact. They have a pale-brownish hue, are about a line in thickness, and possess 
the characteristic clove taste and odor, though in feeble degree as compared with genuine 
cloves. They yield about | as much essential oil as the latter, and are used to some extent in 
the distillation of clove oil. Their presence in powdered cloves maybe shown microscopically 
by stone-cells (examined in glycerin after being treated with caustic potash), which are not 
found in clove-buds. 
Motheb Cloves, Anthophylli.-Nearly ripe, dried clove-fruits. Oblong-oval, calyx-crowned, 
nearly an inch in length, resembling cloves to some extent, though yielding much less clove- 
oil. Microscopically detected in ground cloves by starch-cells of large size. 
Royal Cloves, Caryophyllum regium.-A monstrosity clove, small, having imperfect floral 
organs, sepals abnormal, and calyx-tube with bracts at base. Rare (Pharmacographia). 
Allspice (see Pimento).-Occasionally used as an adulterant of ground cloves. Micro- 
scopically shown by starch-cells, together with stone-cells. 
Dianthus Caryophyllus.-The clove pink, selecting the deep-red and most fragrant flowers, 
is used in Europe to flavor and color a syrup. 
CASCARILLA (U. S. P.)-CASCARILLA. 
" The bark of Croton Eluteria, Bennett" (U. S. PC (Clutia Eluteria, Linne). 
Nat. Ord.-Euphorbiaceae. 
Common Names and Synonyms : Sweet-wood tree, Cascarilla-bark tree, Eleuthera- 
bark tree; Cascarillas cortex {BrC, Cortex eluteriae, Cortex thuris. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 238. 
Botanical Source.-Croton Eluteria is a small tree, said to rise to the height 
of 20 feet, and branching thickly at the top. The branches and twigs are angu- 
lar, rather compressed, striated, downy, and ferruginous. The leaves are petio- 
lated, alternate, ovate, with a short, but obtuse point, entire, slightly nerved, 
bright-green above, with a few scattered leprous dots, silvery, and very downy 
beneath. The petioles are short and scurfy. The racemes are axillary and ter- 
minal, branched or compound; the branches short,divaricating, and covered with 
numerous, closely-parted, subsessile, whitish, monoecious flowers. The sterile 
flowers are above and smallest; the fertile ones below, few, and on short stalks. 
The stamens, 10 to 12. The capsule is roundish, minutely warted, scurfy, and not 
much larger than a pea, with 3 furrows, 3 cells, and 6 valves (L.). 
History.-The tree from which cascarilla is obtained is a native of the West 
Indies, and is found plentifully in the island of Eleutheria, from which it derives 
its name. It was, for a time, supposed to have been derived from the Croton Cas- 
carilla, a small tree growing in the Bahamas, Hayti, Peru, and Paraguay, but this 
is now ascertained by botanists to have been an error. Cascarilla bark is imported 
from the Bahama Islands, Jamaica, etc. At one time it was known as China nova, 
on account of the resemblance of the external portion of the bark to that of cin- 
chona, the latter having been adulterated and even substituted with cascarilla 
bark. The name China nova was subsequently applied to the bark of Beuna mag- 
nifolia, Weddell, a South American tree, noted for the magnificence of its foliage 
and the fragrance of its flowers {Pharmacographia}. Our Pharmacopmial name- 
Cascarilla-is scarcely known in the Bahama Isles, the drug being there known 
as Eleutheria, or Sweet-wood bark. The name Cascarilla was first used in connec- 
tion with cinchona bark, to which, by priority, it should apply, but it is now 
applied wholly to the sweet-wood bark. It signifies (Spanish) " little bark" (JbidC. 
Description.- Cascarilla bark occurs "in quills, or curved pieces, about 
2 Mm. (Th inch) thick, having a grayish, somewhat fissured, easily detached, 
corky layer, more or less coated with a white lichen, the uncoated surface being 
dull brown, and the inner surface smooth. It breaks with a short fracture, hav- 
ing a resinous and radially striate appearance. When burned, it emits a strong, 
aromatic, somewhat musk-like odor; its taste is warm and very bitter"-{U.S. PC- 
On account of its agreeable odor when burned, resembling that of musk, vanilla, 
or amber when heated, it is often added in small portions to tobacco, by smokers, 
to render the fumes more fragrant, but it produces unpleasant symptoms if used 456 
CASSIA FISTULA. 
too freely. Water or spirit readily extracts its active principles, but diluted alco- 
hol is the preferable menstruum. 
Chemical Composition.- Trommsdorff found the bark to contain volatile 
oil, bitter resin, gum, and bitter matter with a trace of chloride of potassium, and 
woody fiber. Messner found oxide of copper in its ashes. Brandes detected a 
peculiar substance, cascarilline, which he took to be an alkaloid. Duval has found a 
neutral principle which he calls cascarillin, a disagreeable, fatty substance, an acid 
very much resembling tannic acid, etc. Cascarilla resembles salicin in many 
respects (Amer. Jour. Pharm., Vol. XVII, 1845). In 1882, Alessandri, by abstract- 
ing the bark with a 2 or 3 per cent solution of oxalic acid, obtained a substance 
similar in behavior to Duval's cascarillin, with the difference, however, that Ales- 
sandri's substance was basic, evolving ammonia by warming with caustic potash, 
and forming salts with acids. R. A. Cripps, in 1886, could not obtain such a 
body. C. and E. Mylius, in 1873, confirmed Duval's observation as to the absence 
of nitrogen in cascarilline, for which they establish the formula C]2H18O4. Naylor 
and Littlefield obtained a purified cascarillin, having a melting point of 203.5° C. 
(398.3° F.), and the formula Ci6H24O5. It yields a distillate related to anthracene 
(C14II]0), when heated with zinc dust (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1896). Conrady found 
vanillin in cascarilla bark (1895). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Tonic and stimulant. Used in dyspep- 
sia, flatulency, chronic diarrhoea, in debility attending chronic diseases, convalescence 
from acute diseases, and to arrest vomiting. When cinchona produces nausea, the 
addition of cascarilla will prevent it. Dose of the powder, from 20 to 40 grains; of 
the tincture, from 1 to 4 fluid drachms ; of the infusion, from 1 to 4 fluid ounces. 
On account of its musky odor, it is a common ingredient of fumigating pastiles. 
Related Species.-Croton pseudo-china, Schlechtendal (see Aspidosperma), 
Croton Malambo, Karsten, Malambo bark. Venezuela. Bark resembles cascarilla in taste 
and odor. It is quilled, brown externally, and transversely grooved. Grayish-brown inter- 
nally, and finely marked with strife. The cork-layer is nearly white, soft, not thick, and 
fissured lengthwise. It has an abrupt splintery fracture. Used by the natives in dysentery, 
atonic dyspepsia, worms, spasms, yellow and intermittent fevers, asthma and trismus nascentium 
CASSIA FISTULA (U. S. P.)-CASSIA FISTULA. 
"The fruit of Cassia Fistula, Linne" (U. S. PO (Barty rilob ium Fistula, Will- 
denow; Cathartocarpus Fistula, Persoon). 
Nat. Ord.-Leguminosae. 
Common Name and Synonym: Purging cassia; Fructus cassisefistula. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 87. 
Botanical Source.-Cassia fistula is a tree growing from 20 to 40 feet high, 
with many spreading branches toward the summit. The wood is hard and heavy. 
The leaves pinnate, alternate, from 12 to 18 inches long, and deciduous; the leaf- 
lets opposite or nearly so, from 4 to 8 pairs, the lower ones broad-ovate, smooth, 
obtuse, or emarginate, polished on both sides, on short, round petioles, from 2 to 6 
inches long, and from 1| to 3 broad. The flowers are large, fragrant, bright- 
yellow, and borpe on long, slender, smooth pedicels. The racemes are axillary, 
pendulous, simple, and 1 or 2 feet long. The calyx is composed of 5 nearly equal, 
oblong, obtuse, smooth sepals. The corolla consists of 5 petals, which are oval, 
unequal, concave, spreading, and waved. The 3 lower filaments, much longer 
than the others, have a double curve, but no swelling. The anthers on the 3 long 
filaments are oblong, opening by 2 lines on the face, while the other 7 are clavate, 
with pores at the small end. The ovary is filiform, smooth, cylindrical, curved, 
and 1-celled, containing numerous seeds. The fruit is a woody, dark, blackish- 
brown, cylindrical pod or legume, a foot or more in length, about an inch in 
diameter, terete, smooth, blunt, indehiscent, filled with a viscid, reddish-black, 
sweetish pulp, divided into many cells by hard, transverse phragmata; the cells 
1-seeded; and the seed oval, glossy, and somewhat flattened (L.). 
History.-Purging cassia inhabits Egypt and the Indies, and has become 
extensively diffused in various tropical countries, as China, Hindustan, West 
Indies, Brazil, etc. The part used in medicine is the fruit or pods, and those 
are to be preferred which are heavy and new, and do not, when shaken, make a CASSIA MARILANDICA. 
457 
rattling noise from the seeds being loose within them. The pulp should be of a 
bright, shining, black color, and have a sweet taste, neither harsh, from the fruit 
being collected before it is fully ripe, nor at all sourish, which it is apt to become 
on keeping, nor at all moldy, which is frequently the case when kept in damp 
cellars, or moistened to increase its weight (Ed.) To obtain the pulp, the pods 
are pounded, so as to break their outer coat, and then they are infused in boiling 
water, which dissolves the pulp; the infusion is then strained, and evaporated to 
the proper consistence. 
Description.-" Cylindrical, 40 to 60 Cm. (16 to 24 inches) long, nearly 25 Mm. 
(1 inch) in diameter, blackish-brown, somewhat veined, the sutures smooth, form- 
ing two longitudinal bands; indehiscent, internally divided transversely into num- 
erous cells, each containing a reddish-brown, glossy, flattish-ovate seed imbedded 
in a blackish-brown sweet pulp; odor resembling that of prunes"-(U.S. P.). 
Chemical Composition.-The pulp has a feeble, nauseous odor, a mucilagino- 
saccharine taste, and contains, according to Henry, sugar, gum, impure tannic 
acid, coloring matter, a gluten-like matter, and moisture. It keeps longest when 
preserved in the pod. It is largely soluble in water, and its active parts are taken 
up by alcohol. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-One or two drachms act as a mild and 
effectual laxative; 1 or 2 ounces are cathartic, but excites nausea, flatulence, grip- 
ings, etc. (Ed.). It tints the urine brown or green. It is generally employed only 
in the electuary of senna. 
Related Species.-Cassia moschata, Kunth (Cathartocarpus moschatus, Don). Central and 
northern South America. Yields a purging cassia, resembling the official, though not quite 
so uniformly straight, and is from a foot to nearly 20 inches long, and of g light color. Its 
pulp is sweet, subastringent, and of a reddish-brown color. A sandal-wood fragrance is emit- 
ted when the crushed legumes are heated in a water-bath (Pharma cogr aphid}. 
Cassia baciUaris, Linne filius {Cathartocarpus bacillus, Persoon).-Yields a drug essentially 
corresponding with the preceding. 
Cassia brasiliana, Lamarck f Cassia grandis, Linne filius; Cathartocarpus brasiliana, Persoon; 
Cassia mollis, Vahl), Horse cassih.-Brazil and Central America. Larger than purging cassia 
legumes; sutures prominent, and pulp astringent, bitter, and purgative. They are compressed, 
may be curved, and have dividing veins running transversely. 
Ceratonia siliqua, Linne.-Mediterranean countries. An evsrgreen tree bearing purple, 
apetalous Howers, and producing a fruit known as St. John's bread, somewhat resembling purg- 
ing cassia. Employed in Europe in connection w'ith demulcents and pulmonary mixtures. 
Besides sugar and glucose, mucilage, tannic acid, and proteids, the fruit contains free isobu- 
tyric acid ([CH3]2CH.COOH). A more recent analysis of Ceratonia siliqua is recorded in 
the Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1893, p. 131. 
CASSIA MARILANDICA.-AMERICAN SENNA. 
The leaves of Cassia nmrilandica, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Leguminosae. 
Common Names: American senna, Wild senna. 
Botanical Source.-Cassia marilandica is an American, perennial herb, grow- 
ing from 4 to 6 feet high, with round, striated, smooth, or slightly hairy stems. 
The leaves are alternate, on long petioles, at the base of which 
is a large, ovate, shining green gland, terminating in a dark 
point at top, which is sometimes double; each petiole contains 
from 8 to 10 pairs of leaflets, which are oblong, smooth, entire, 
mucronate, somewhat hairy at the edges, 1 or 2 inches long, 
and from 5 to 10 lines broad. The flowers are bright yellow, 
in axillary racemes, extending quite to the top of the stem; 
the peduncles are slightly furrowed, and marked with minute, 
blackish, glandular hairs; sepals 5, oval, obtuse, the lateral 
ones longest. Petals 5, concave, and very obtuse. Stamens 10, 
the 3 upper have short abortive anthers; to these succeed 2 
pairs of deflexed, linear, brown anthers; the remaining lower- 
most 3 taper into a sort of beak, the middle one being short- 
est. The fruit is a legume, from 2 to 4 inches long, pendu- 
lous, linear, curved, swelling at the seeds, furnished with slight 
hairs; seeds many (L.). It is sometimes called wild senna. 
Fig 60 
Cassia marilandica- 458 
CASTANEA. 
History and Chemical Composition.-This plant is frequently met with in 
alluvial soils, and in stony situations, from New England to North Carolina, 
flowering from June to September, about which time the medicinal parts of the 
plant should be gathered. The leaves yield their properties to alcohol or water; 
they are nearly odorless, have a senna-like, mawkish taste, and in medicinal 
power are equal to foreign senna. Mr. Martin, of Philadelphia, found the leaves 
to contain albumen, mucilage, starch, chlorophyll, yellow coloring matter, volatile 
oil, fatty matter, resin, lignin, salts of potassium and calcium, and a principle 
resembling cathartin (Amer. Jour. Pharm.,Vol. 1, p. 22). It is also thought to con- 
tain chrysophan and cathartic acid (Amer. Jour. Pharm.,1888, p. 231). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-An excellent cathartic, equal to the 
imported article, for which it may be substituted. But owing to the presence of 
argel leaves, much of the foreign senna has its activity increased; hence, in giving 
the American article, its dose must be somewhat increased. It may be given in 
powder or infusion, and should be combined with aromatics to prevent any prone- 
ness to griping. The dose in powder is from | to 2| drachms. The infusion may 
be made by adding 1 ounce of the leaves, with 1 drachm of coriander seeds, to 
1 pint of boiling wrater. Macerate for an hour in a covered vessel and strain; 
dose, 4 or 5 fluid ounces. 
Related Species.-Cassia Chamsecrista, Linne. Prairie senna or Partridge pea, growing on 
the western prairies, is an excellent substitute for the above; it is likewise known as Dwarf 
cassia and Sensitive pea. 
CASTANEA (U. S. P.)-CASTANEA. 
" The leaves of Castanea dentata (Marshall) Sudworth : collected in September 
or October, while still green "-( U. S. P.). Castanea vesca (Gaertner), var. Americana, 
Michaux; Castanea vesca, Michaux (Sylv.,Vo\. Ill, p. 11); Fagus Castanea, Linne; 
Castanea vulgaris, Lamarck; Fagus Castanea dentata, Marshall). 
Nat. Ord.-Cupuliferse. 
Common Name: Chestnut. 
Illustrations: Flora of New York, Plate 111; Michaux's Sylv.,Vol. TIT, Plate 
104; Emerson's Trees of Mass., p. 187. 
Botanical Source.-This is a large, well-known tree, the flowers of which 
appear in June and July, after the leaves are full grown, and when all other forest 
trees have blossomed; they are small, apet- 
alous, and monoecious. The sterile flowers 
are very numerous, in long, erect, white, 
rigid aments, which emit an unpleasant 
odor. The stamens are from 8 to 20, and 
have slender filaments. The fertile flowers 
are 2 or 3, enclosed in a scaly involucre. 
The fruit is a 4-valved burr, armed on the 
outside with stiff, sharp, bristles, and lined 
on the inside with a soft, velvety pubes- 
cence. It encloses 3 (or often, by abor- 
tion, 1 or 2) edible nuts. The leaves are 
alternate, lanceolate, and coarsely toothed, 
tapering to a slender point, and are borne 
on leaf-stalks about h inch long; the veins 
are parallel, rigid, and terminate in the 
mucronate points of the teeth. 
History.-The chestnut is a large 
tree, originally a native of Asia Minor, but 
introduced and extensively naturalized in 
the temperate parts of Europe. The 
American tree (var. Americana, Michaux), differs slightly from the European, in 
having smaller fruit, and leaves acute at the base. It is found from Maine to the 
gulf states, being especially abundant in the Alleghany regions. 
Chestnut leaves should be gathered in the fall, before frost, and carefully 
dried in the shade. They are of a greenish color, and exhale a pleasant, tea- 
Fig. 61. 
Castanea dentata. 459 
CASTOREUM. 
like odor. At first, slightly astringent to the taste, they become mucilaginous 
and sweetish when chewed, leaving an after-taste, very much resembling that of 
Solan am Dulcamara. 
Description and Chemical Composition. - "From 15 to 25 Cm. (6 to 10 
inches) long, about 5 Cm. (2 inches) wide, petiolate, oblong-lanceolate, acumi- 
nate, mucronate, feather-veined, sinuate-serrate, smooth; odor slight; taste some- 
what astringent "-(U. S. P.). The chief constituent of chestnut leaves is a muci- 
laginous subtance which is slowly extracted from the shredded leaves by means 
of cold water, and more freely by hot, but which is insoluble in alcohol. Any 
preparation of the leaves which does not contain this material will fail to relieve 
the paroxysms of whooping-cough, and, for this reason, but little alcohol is 
admissible in the fluid extract, and thus, undoubtedly, the best preparation is 
freshly prepared infusion or decoction. Chestnut leaves also contain an astrin- 
gent principle, and a sweet substance, the other constituents seeming to be simply 
those found in most plants. The ash consists of potassium, calcium, magnesium, 
and iron salts. The testa of the seeds is said to contain a bitter principle. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Chestnut leaves appear to have been 
brought into notice, as a therapeutical agent, by Mr. G. C. Close, in a statement 
before the American Pharmaceutical Association, in 1862. Subsequently, they 
were employed by the late Dr. J. S. Unzicker, of Cincinnati, who valued them 
highly in the treatment of whooping-cough; since which, most favorable reports 
have been made by other physicians, as to their value. These leaves have, thus 
far, been employed mainly in the treatment of pertussis, in which malady they 
have proved remarkably efficient; but their manner of action has not yet been 
determined. It is very probable that they may be found useful in other irritable 
or excitable conditions of the respiratory nerves. Dr. Unzicker employed an 
infusion of the leaves, an ounce to a pint of boiling water, and administered 
this in tablespoonful, or small wineglassful doses, repeated several times a day. 
The fluid extract, when properly made, will be found reliable; its dose is from 
| to 1 fluid drachm, repeated 3, 4, or 5 times daily. Chestnut bark appears to 
possess astringent and tonic properties, and is used in some sections of our coun- 
try as a popular remedy for fever and ague. Other forms of paroxysmal or convul- 
sive cough resembling pertussis have been cured with it. Prof. Scudder (Spec. 
Med., p. 103), suggests a trial of the remedy in cases exhibiting unsteadiness of 
gait and a disposition to turn to one side. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Paroxysmal, convulsive cough; pertussis. 
Related Species.-Castanea pumila, Michaux (Fagus pumila, Linne), an allied species 
commonly called "Chincapin," or "Chinquapin," is a shrub or small tree found in sterile places 
from Ohio southward. The flowers, leaves, and fruit of this species bear a close resemblance 
to those of C. dentata, but are all smaller. The fruit encloses but a single seed, which is not 
flattened as are the seeds of C. dentata. (For a monographic description, see Henry Kraemer, 
A. P. J. Proc., 1895.) 
CASTOREUM.-CASTOR. 
The pneputial follicles (dried), with their secretions, taken from the common 
beaver, Castor Fiber, Lin ne. (Castor americanus, Cuvier). 
Class.-Mammalia. Order.-Rodentia. 
Source, History, and Description.-This drug is a peculiar solidified secre- 
tion procured from peculiar follicles, two in number, connected with the external 
genital organs of the Castor Fiber, or Beaver. These follicles are filled with a thick 
fluid secretion, which slowly concretes when they are removed from the animal. 
Most of the castor of the present day is derived from the beaver of North America. 
It has much the appearance of a pair of dried testicles united by their spermatic 
cords, dark liver-brown and wrinkled externally, paler liver-brown internally, 
resinous in fracture, when perfectly dried of a strong, peculiar heavy odor, and 
an aromatic, bitter, offensive taste. Rectified spirit is its best solvent; though 
ether extracts a good part of its virtues. 
The Russian castor, from the Russian dominions, is seldom seen in this 
country; it may be distinguished from the American by being more fully devel- 
oped, weightier, and less cohesive, by its more powerful odor, resembling that of 460 
CATALPA. 
Russian leather, and its taste, and by effervescing with hydrochloric acid. The 
American castor gives a white precipitate with aqua ammoniae, the Russian, an 
orange-yellow. Castor deteriorates by age, which is hastened by elevated tempera- 
tures; a damp atmosphere readily spoils it. When kept in a cool situation, in 
well-closed vessels, its virtues will continue uninjured for some years. A tasteless 
and inodorous article is inert. A spurious castor is sometimes met with, which is 
composed of several drugs combined, intermixed with dried laminae of mucous 
tissue, odorized by a small portion of good castor, and then placed within a goat's 
scrotum. The deficiency of the little follicles which hold a fatty substance, the 
faint smell, and the feeble castor taste, and the want of other determinate charac- 
ters, will at once expose the imposture (P.-Ed.). On the other hand, W. Fossek 
observed a pathological specimen of Russian origin, which was decomposed and 
contained 21 per cent ash, as against only 2 per cent from good castoreum ; this 
was due to the formation of globular pathological concretions containing calcium 
(Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1892). 
Chemical Composition.-Castor is composed of numerous salts, mucus, a 
volatile oil, a resinous substance (to which its acrid bitterness is due), a horny 
matter, osmazome, and a peculiar crystalline, non-saponifiable principle called 
castorin. Wohler detected salicin and carbolic acid in castor. The former is prob- 
ably derived from the food of the beaver, which lives on salicin-producing barks; 
and carbolic acid is thought by Lehmann, to be derived from the birch-wood fires 
over which the drug is dried. Wohler also found benzoic acid present. Pereira 
found salicyl-aldehyde in Aqua Castorei prepared from American castor. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Mildly stimulant, antispasmodic, and 
emmenagogue. Used in hysteria, amenorrhoea, epilepsy, and many irregular nervous 
affections. Dose of the drug, from 10 to 20 grains; of the tincture, from | fluid 
drachm to 2 fluid drachms. 
Cramer, in 1888, claims to have discovered in the tincture of castor (castor 1, 
alcohol 5) a remedy for breaking off the morphine habit (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1888, 
p. 177). It has also been used among the Cree Indians to prepare a poultice 
for sprains (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1884). 
CATALPA.-CIGAR TREE. 
The bark of Catalpa bignonioides, Walter (Catalpa syringaefolia, Sims; Bignonia 
Catalpa, Linne; Catalpa cordifolia, Nuttall). 
Nat. Ord.-Bignoniacese. 
Common Names: Cigar-tree, Catalpa-tree, Bean-tree, Indian bean-tree. 
Illustrations: Michaux, F. Sylv.,Vo\. IT, Plate 64; Bot. Mag., Plate 1094. 
Botanical Source.-This handsome tree has leaves that are large, heart- 
shaped, opposite or disposed in whorls of 3. The flowers appear in June and 
July, and are produced in large, showy, terminal, compound panicles. The corol- 
las are about an inch long, white, tinged with purple, and studded with orange 
spots in the tubes. They are bell-shaped, with a swollen tube, irregularly 5-lobed 
and 2-lipped. The fruit is a slender, 2-celled capsule, about 1 foot long, | of an inch 
thick, and hangs suspended until spring. The seeds are numerous and winged. 
History.-This tree is a native of the southern United States, but is culti- 
vated as an ornamental tree and frequently naturalized in the northern states. It 
belongs to the natural order Bignoniaceae, and, except a western states species, 
the Catalpa speciosa of Warder, is the only indigenous species of Catalpa, although 
others are found in Asia and the West Indies. The tree is called "cigar-tree," or 
" bean-tree, " names derived from the slender fruit. The fruit and seeds have also 
been used. 
Description.-The bark of the trunk is scaly, brown, and from 3 to 6 lines 
in thickness. That of the young limbs, is smooth, dark-grayish, and spotted with 
lighter colored excrescences. The young bark, and the inner portion of the old, 
is bitter. Catalpa wood is very durable, rivalling cedar. It is hard, grayish, and 
of coarse fiber. 
Chemical Composition.-In 1870, Eugene A. Rau (Amer. Jour. Pharm.) made 
an examination of the inner bark of the tree, and found it to contain tannin, and CATAPLASMATA.-CATAPLASMA CARBONIS. 
461 
a nauseating matter soluble in ether. When this substance was boiled with 
water and oxide of lead, and then filtered, a yellowish solution was obtained, free 
from alkaloids, and very bitter. The precipitate that separated with the oxide of 
lead, gave to boiling alcohol a crystallizable, white, neutral substance, which pos- 
sessed the nauseating bitter taste of the bark, and was soluble in ether and chloro- 
form. Tn addition to the above, an insipid resin and glucose were obtained. 
The seeds, when extracted with a mixture of alcohol, ether, and ammonia, yielded 
several crystallizable principles (Brown, 1887). Sugar, tannin, resin, and fixed 
oil are also constituents of the seeds. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-It is stated that poisonous emanations 
is.-ue from this tree, but we have no knowledge of any serious effects resulting 
from an exposure thereto. The pods and seeds have been employed in decoction 
in chronic bronchial affections, spasmodic, asthma, and dyspnoea, and certain forms of 
functional heart disease; 6 or 8 ounces to a pint of water, and given in tablespoonful 
doses, repeated every 1 or 2 hours. The leaves, bruised, and applied as a cata- 
plasm, have been used in irritable scrofulous ulcers; they appear to possess anodyne 
properties. The bark has been employed internally, in powder, or in decoction, 
in scrofulous maladies, and as an anthelmintic. The juice of the leaves, as well as 
of the root, has been beneficially employed as a local application in the several 
forms of strumous ophthalmia, as well as in certain cutaneous affections. From the 
statements that have been made as to the toxic properties of this tree, and which 
have not yet been satisfactorily demonstrated, it would be advisable to use some 
prudence and care in the internal administration of any of its preparations. 
Dose of specific catalpa, fraction of a drop to 20 drops. 
Related Species.-Bignonia capreolaia, Linne. Southern United States. Trumpet creeper. 
A shrub of climbing habit, bearing large orange-colored flowers. Aqueous preparations of the 
stems and root of this species have been used, according to Porcher, for the same purposes as 
sarsaparilla-i. e., in syphilis, chronic rheumatic complaints, and other disorders dependent upon 
blood dyscrasia. It is reputed alterative, detergent, sudorific, and diuretic. A closely related 
plant is the Tecoma radicans, Jussieu, known as Trumpet flower. 
CATAPLASMATA.-Cataplasms. 
Synonym: Poultices. 
Cataplasms, ordinarily called "poultices," are preparations designed to be 
applied externally for the purpose of producing relaxation, holding moisture, and 
allaying pain and inflammation. They are usually composed of substances capable 
of absorbing considerable fluid, and are applied either cold or warm, in a moist 
state. They should not be made so thin as to flow over the parts adjacent to 
their application, nor so thick as to become dry too rapidly; neither should they 
be composed of substances which stick too tenaciously to the skin and are not 
readily removed by water; nor of hard bodies. They should always be removed 
without being permitted to dry. Owing to the affections for which they are 
applied, and their influence upon these, they have received the several names of 
emollient, discutient, refrigerant, stimulating, etc. When applied to ulcers, ten- 
der and irritable parts, etc., it is customary to cover their surfaces with a little 
olive oil, in order to prevent adhesion to such parts. Poultices are commonly 
prepared by nurses, but physicians and druggists should be acquainted with their 
method of preparation. 
Spong io-piline is sometimes applied to parts to absorb excessive moisture, or 
to prevent evaporation. It is a thick cloth composed principally of sponge, one 
side of which is applied to the skin in a wet or dry state, according to the action 
required; the other side being coated with some water-proof varnish, or with 
rubber. It may likewise be used to apply moisture to a part or may be saturated 
with medicated solutions and applied to the affected part. 
CATAPLASMA CARBONIS.-CHARCOAL POULTICE. 
Synonym: Charcoal cataplasm. 
Preparation.-Macerate bread, 2 ounces, with water, 10 fluid ounces, for a 
short time near the fire; then gradually add and mix with it powdered flaxseed, 462 
CATAPLASMA CONII.-CATAPLASM A LINI. 
10 drachms, stirring so as to make a soft cataplasm. With this mix powdered 
charcoal 2 drachms, and when prepared for application, sprinkle 1 drachm of 
charcoal on the surface of the cataplasm {Land.). 
The British Pharmacopoeia differs merely in directing 2^ ounces of linseed- 
meal, and in employing 4 ounce of wood charcoal. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Charcoal, properly prepared, has the property of 
removing the fetid odor evolved by gangrenous and phagedenic ulcers, for which the 
above cataplasm is designed. It should be renewed 2 or 3 times in every 24 hours. 
CATAPLASMA CONII.-HEMLOCK POULTICE. 
Synonyms: Hemlock cataplasm, Conium cataplasm. 
Preparation.-This poultice is official in the British Pharmacopoeia, and is 
prepared as follows: One fluid ounce of hemlock juice is evaporated to 4 fluid 
ounce, and this is added to a mixture of 4 ounces of linseed-meal in 10 ounces of 
boiling water, and the whole stirred together. Conium extract may be substi- 
tuted for hemlock juice if so desired, though the juice only is directed by the 
above-mentioned authority. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This poultice is desirable when a preparation 
of this class is needed with pain-relieving properties. It has been employed 
in malignant sores, being especially valuable in cancer. 
CATAPLASMA DAUCL-CARROT POULTICE. 
Synonyms : Cataplasma carotae, Carrot cataplasm. 
Preparation.-Take of garden carrots, scraped, 4 ounces, Indian meal, 1 
ounce, boiling water, a sufficient quantity to form a cataplasm of the proper 
consistence. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This will be found a valuable application to 
indolent and gangrenous ulcers, and painful tumors. 
CATAPLASMA FERMENTI.-YEAST POULTICE. 
Synonym: Yeast cataplasm. 
Preparation.-To pint of milk, tepid, add yeast, 2 fluid ounces, and fine 
slippery-elm bark, a sufficient quantity to form a cataplasm of the proper consis- 
tence (Beach's American Practice). 
The British Pharmacopoeia directs that 6 fluid ounces of beer yeast be mixed 
with 6 fluid ounces of water (at 37.7° C. [100° F.]), after which 14 ounces of wheat 
flour is stirred into the yeast mixture, and the mixture placed near the fire until 
fermentation ensues, causing it to rise through the liberation of carbon dioxide. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This is valuable as an antiseptic application. 
It will be found especially serviceable in gangrenous and phagedenic ulcerations; 
it destroys the fetor, often checks the sloughing, and assists the separation of 
the dead parts. It should be renewed 2 or 3 times a day. Five or 10 drops of 
carbolic acid stirred in this poultice, will augment its antiseptic virtues. 
CATAPLASMA LINI.-LINSEED POULTICE. 
Synonyms : Faxseed poultice, Linseed cataplasm, Flaxseed cataplasm, Cataplasma 
emolliens, Cataplasma communis. 
Preparation.-To boiling water, 10 fluid ounces, add gradually, powdered 
flaxseed, 44 ounces, or a sufficient quantity; stir constantly, so as to make a 
cataplasm (Lond.). 
The British Pharmacopoeia directs 4 ounces of linseed-meal. If American 
11 cake-meal" be employed, the addition of about 4 ounce of olive oil will be neces- 
sary. Some prefer a mixture of linseed-meal and cake-meal for this purpose. CATAPLASMA LOBELIA.-CATAPLASMA SINAPIS. 
463 
Action and Medical Uses.-This is a valuable emollient cataplasm, to allay 
pain, inflammation, and favor suppuration. It is used for similar purposes with the 
elm poultice. If it should decompose, as it is apt to do, it may vesicate, or at 
least cause a pustular eruption, sweet oil, lard, glycerin, or olive oil may be mixed 
with or spread upon the poultice, both as a preservative and preventive. Flax- 
seed poultice causes the skin to be blanched, sodden, and wrinkled. Flaxseed 
poultice is frequently employed in acute pulmonic disorders. 
CATAPLASMA LOBELIA.- LOBELIA POULTICE. 
Synonym: Lobelia cataplasm. 
Preparation.-To equal parts by weight of powdered lobelia and fine elm 
bark, add a sufficient quantity of weak lye, warm, to form a cataplasm. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This forms an excellent application to felons, 
white-swelling, wounds, fistula, inflammation of the breast and other parts, stings of 
insects, erysipelatous inflammations, and painful swellings or ulcerations. It should 
be frequently renewed. 
CATAPLASMA OXYCOCCI.-CRANBERRY POULTICE. 
Synonym: Cranberry cataplasm. 
Preparation.-Take of ripe cranberries, any quantity, and bruise them to form 
a cataplasm. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Applied around the throat in quinsy, and in 
swelling of the glands of the throat in scarlatina and other diseases, its action 
is prompt. It has been likewise reputed useful in cancerous ulcers, erysipelatous 
inflammation, and gouty rheumatism. A split cranberry, secured in position by a 
daub of starch, is recommended for boils on the tip of the nose, when a poultice 
can not be retained in place. 
CATAPLASMA PHYTOLACCA.-POKE-ROOT POULTICE. 
Synonyms: Phytolacca poultice, Poke-root cataplasm. 
Preparation.-Place fresh poke-root in hot ashes to roast, when sufficiently 
done, mash it and form a cataplasm. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This may be applied to all kinds of tumors in 
order to discuss them; or if they be too far advanced, it will hasten suppuration. 
In the latter instance its action is accompanied with much pain. It is applicable 
when it is desired to hasten suppuration in mastitis. It is especially valuable in 
tumors of an indolent character, as buboes. It should be renewed 2 or 3 times a day. 
CATAPLASMA SINAPIS.-MUSTARD POULTICE. 
Synonyms: Sinapismus, Sinapism, Mustard cataplasm, Cataplasma rubefaciens, 
Preparation.-The British Pharmacopoeia directs 2| ounces of mustard (com- 
posed of both ground white and black mustard) to be mixed with 2 or 3 ounces of 
water (luke warm). This is to be stirred into a mixture of 24 ounces of linseed-meal, 
made with boiling water (6 or 8 ounces). Mustard should not be mixed with hot 
water, and it is altogether probable that, by mixing the above mixture of flaxseed 
and boiling water, the poultice is rendered less effective on account of the volatili- 
zation of a portion of the volatile oil of the mustard. The French Codex simply 
directs the preparation of 200 Gm. [7 oz. av., 24 grs.] of black mustard-meal, recently 
prepared, to be mixed with water (scarcely tepid) until a poultice-consistence is 
obtained. A simple method is to mix flour, or flaxseed, with ground mustard, 
and mix with sufficient water to form a poultice. Vinegar should not be em- 
ployed in making mustard poultices. 464 
CATAPLASMA SODJE CHL0R1NATA.-CATAPLASM A ULMI. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Mustard poultice is powerfully stimulant to the 
skin, the rubefacient effect being quickly produced, and, if long applied, vesica- 
tion may ensue. A mustard plaster produces intolerable burning. Gangrenous 
ulcerations have been produced by the careless and prolonged application of these 
poultices. The black mustard is stronger than the white, and, as a rule, the 
former should not be left in contact with the skin longer than 20, nor the latter 
longer than 30 minutes. Care should be exercised in applying them to children. 
It is best to have a thin piece of gauze or other fabric between the surface of the 
poultice and the skin, the hairs of the latter having been previously shaved yfl. 
(For Uses, see Sinapis. For Mustard plaster, see Charta Sinapis). 
CATAPLASMA SOD.® CHLORINATA.-CHLORINE POULTICE. 
Synonyms: Chlorine cataplasm, Chlorinated soda poultice. 
Preparation.-Gradually mix 4 ounces of linseed-meal with 8 fluid ounces 
of boiling water, and add to the mixture, with constant stirring, 2 fluid ounces of 
solution of chlorinated soda (Labarraque's solution). 
• Action and Medical Uses.-This poultice is official in the British Pharma- 
copoeia, and may be employed where yeast poultice is indicated. It has a stimu- 
lant action on old sloughing ulcerations, and corrects the fetid emanations arising 
therefrom. 
CATAPLASMA STRAMONII.-STRAMONIUM POULTICE. 
Synonym: Stramonium cataplasm. 
Preparation.-Take of the fresh leaves of stramonium, any quantity, bruise 
them, ami add a small quantity of hot water, to form a sufficiently moist cataplasm. 
Action and. Medical Uses.-I have found this a decidedly efficient appli- 
cation in peritoneal inflammation, the whole abdomen to be covered with it; like- 
wise in acute rheumatism, and in gastro-intestinal inflammations. Applied to the 
perineum in enlargement of the prostate, for the purpose of securing the passage of 
the catheter in case of retention of urine, when it can not otherwise be entered 
into the bladder, I know of no better agent-it should remain on the parts about 
an hour before attempting the introduction of the catheter. It will be found valu- 
able in rheumatic or neuralgic pains (Prof. J. King, M. I).). 
CATAPLASMA ULMI.-ELM POULTICE. 
Synonyms: Elm cataplasm, Slippery-elm poultice. 
Preparation.-Take of powdered elm bark {Ulmusfulvd) a sufficient quantity; 
stir it in hot water, or milk and water, to the consistence of a cataplasm (Beach's 
American Practice). 
Action and Medical Uses.-This cataplasm is of almost universal applica- 
tion, and is superior, in many respects, to every other. As an application to 
painful swellings, inflammations, ulcerations, and to facilitate the separation of the 
slough produced by caustics, and for various other purposes, it stands, and justly, 
too, in high repute among American physicians. 
Other Cataplasms.-I. Bread Poultice.-Take crumbs of bread, any amount, and heat 
with sufficient sweet milk to form a cataplasm. A little fresh lard may be added, which pre- 
vents the skin from becoming sodden and wrinkled. It forms a good emollient poultice, but 
should be frequently renewed. 
II. Molasses Poultice.-New Orleans molasses, a sufficient quantity, add wheat flour, 
enough to form a soft, easily-spreading mass. This is, according to Prof. J. U. Lloyd, one of 
the very best applications for burns and scalds, and his standard laboratory application, where 
scalds are not infrequent. It should be spread upon a cloth and the burned surface bound 
up in it. 
III. Indian-meal Poultice.-Corn-meal, a sufficient quantity. Stir gradually into boiling 
water until of the desired consistence. An excellent emollient application. In the form of a 
mush-jacket, it is much employed in acute pulmonary and pleural inflammations. When pre- CATARIA. 
465 
pared with a hot decoction of black-willow bark (Salix nigra), it forms an excellent application 
to surfaces poisoned by Rhus Toxicodendron and other species of poison vine. 
IV. Potato Poultice.-Mashed boiled potatoes spread upon inflamed surfaces are often 
useful, being peculiarly effective in acute arthritic rheumatism. Grated raw potato is also a useful 
application for inflammatory disorders, and especially valuable in inflammations of the face and 
eyelids. It will stain clothing black. 
V. Alum Poultice.-This is prepared by coagulating with 1 drachm of alum, the albu- 
men, or fluid whites, of 2 eggs. It is employed where a cooling and astringent cataplasm is 
required. 
CATARIA.-CATNIP. 
The leaves and flowering tops of Nepeta Cataria, Linne (Cataria vulgaris, 
Moench). 
Nat. Ord.-Labiatse. 
Common Names and Synonyms: Catnip, Catmint, Catnep; Herba nepetee, Herba 
catarioe. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 209. 
Botanical Source and Description.-Catnip or catmint is a perennial herb, 
with an erect, square, hoary-tomentose, branching stem, 2 or 3 feet in height. 
The leaves are opposite, cordate, oblong, petiolate, coarsely crenate-serrate, and 
covered with a soft, hoary down, paler beneath. The flowers are many, white, 
or purplish, in whorled spikes, which are slightly pedunculated, the lower lip 
dotted with crimson. The calyx is dry, striate, tubular, obliquely 5-toothed. The 
corolla is naked and dilated in the throat, 2-lipped, twice the length of the calyx; 
upper lip rather concave, erect, notched, or 2-cleft; lower spreading, 3-cleft, middle 
lobe largest and crenate. The stamens are 4, ascending under the upper lip; 
anthers approximate in pairs, the cells divergent (G.-W.). 
History.-Catnip is a very common, naturalized plant, growing about old 
buildings and fences, and on waste and cultivated lands, flowering from June to 
September. It is a native of Europe. The tops and leaves are medicinal; they 
have a strong, characteristic odor, not very grateful to many persons, and a pecu- 
liar, bitterish taste. Their virtues are imparted to boiling water by infusion. It 
is very much liked by cats, preventing, it is said, attacks of fits. 
Catnip should be collected each year in June and July, when flowering, and 
the coarser stems and branches rejected. It deteriorates in value, hence the neces- 
sity of gathering it annually. A variety, Nepeta Cataria, Linne, var. citriodora, 
Becker, has the odor of lemon or balm. 
Chemical Composition.-Its active constituents are an oxygenated essential 
oil, and tannic acid striking a green color with ferruginous salts. Mr. H. R. 
Gillespie, in 1889, detected in catnip both fixed and volatile oils, mucilage, sugar, 
dextrin, a crystallizable wax, and a bitter body, neither glucosidal nor alkaloidal 
in character, but having acid properties. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Catnip is diaphoretic and carminative 
in warm infusion ; tonic when cold. It is also antispasmodic, emmenagogue, and 
diuretic. In warm infusion it is used in febrile diseases as a diaphoretic, and to 
to promote the action of other diaphoretics, as well as to allay spasmodic action 
and produce sleep; it is also given as a carminative and antispasmodic in the 
flatulent colic of children; and as an emmenagogue or uterine tonic, it has proved 
decidedly beneficial in amenorrhoea and dysmenorrhcea, and has likewise been suc- 
cessfully employed in nervous headache, hysteria, and nervous irritability. The leaves 
are reputed beneficial in toothache, when masticated and applied to the decayed 
tooth. A warm infusion of saffron and catnip is a very popular and beneficial 
remedy in colds, febrile and exanthematous diseases to which infants and young chil- 
dren are subject. The infusion is very efficient in allaying the irritability and 
nervousness of dyspeptics. A fluid extract of catnip, valerian, and scullcap forms 
an excellent agent for the cure of nervous headache, restlessness, and many other 
nervous symptoms. The expressed juice of the herb, given in doses of a table- 
spoonful 2 or 3 times a day, is decidedly a superior remedy in amenorrhcea, often 
restoring the menstrual secretion after other means have failed. The leaves are 
frequently used in fomentation as a local application to painful and inflammatory 
affections. Of the dried leaves in powder, 2 drachms may be given for a dose in 466 
CATECHU. 
some liquid, as cold or warm water; the infuion (1 ounce of the recently dried 
herb to 1 pint of boiling water) may be drunk warm as freely as the stomach will 
permit. Specific nepeta cataria, 2 to 60 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Abdominal pain, with constant flexing of 
the thighs, writhing, and persistent crying; colic. A remedy for children. 
catechu (U. s. P.)-catechu. 
"An extract prepared from the wood of Acacia Catechu (Linne filius) Will- 
denow"-(U. S. P.). {Mimosa Catechu). 
Nat. Ord.-Leguminosae. 
Common Names: Catechu, Black catechu, Cutch. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 95. 
Botanical Source.-Acacia Catechu is a small-sized tree, from 15 to 20 feet 
high. The hark is thick, scabrous, rust-colored, slightly bitter, and exceedingly 
astringent; the branches are spreading, armed with strong, black, stipulary spines, 
and downy toward their extremities. The leaves are bipinnate; pinnae 10 to 30 
pairs; leaflets 30 to 50 pairs, linear, bluntish, unequal, and auricled on the lower 
side of the base, and ciliated; the petiole angular, and channeled above, downy, 
with 1 orbicular urceolate green gland below the lowest pair, smaller ones between 
the two, and has 3 or 4 terminal pairs of pinnae. The spikes are axillary, 1 or 2 
together, slender, cylindrical, and borne on downy stalks. The flowers are 
numerous, white or pale-yellow, and sessile. The calyx is downy, tubular, and 
5-toothed; the teeth erect. Corolla rather longer than the calyx, 5-petaled, and 
glabrous. Stamens twice the length of the corolla, very numerous and distinct; 
anthers roundish. The ovary is green, glabrous, and shortly stipitate; the style 
capillary, and as long as the stamens; stigma simple. The legumes are flat, linear, 
thin, straight, glabrous, and contain about 6 orbicular, compressed seeds (L.). 
History.-The catechu tree is common to the East Indian continent, thriving 
in Bengal, on the Coromandel and Malabar coasts, etc., and, according to Pereira, 
in Jamaica. According to Dr. Royle, the extract (catechu), is prepared by con- 
centrating a strong aqueous decoction of the reddish inner wood, and pouring it 
into square clay molds to dry. Catechu is likewise obtained from the Areca 
Catechu (see Areca), and Uncaria Gambier (see below). There are several kinds of 
it met with in commerce, but the best are those which are the most astringent. 
It was named Terra japonica at a time when its source was unknown, the general 
belief being that it came from Japan. 
Description and Tests.-Catechu is met with in square, round, and irregu- 
lar pieces, pale-red, pale-brown, dark-brown, or blackish in color, friable, odorless, 
astringent, and sometimes having a sweetish after-taste. The specific gravity of 
catechu is 1.28 to 1.39. It is soluble in hot water, which takes up its tannic and 
catechuic acids, but a reddish matter is deposited as the solution cools. It is 
imperfectly soluble in cold water. The tannic acid of catechu is easily soluble in 
water and alcohol, but very slightly so in ether. Alcohol or ether dissolves its 
catechuic acid. Its solutions are not precipitated by alkalies. The official cate- 
chu is described as occurring " in irregular masses, containing fragments of leaves, 
dark-brown, brittle, somewhat porous and glossy when freshly broken. It is 
nearly inodorous, and has a strongly astringent and sweetish taste. If a portion 
of catechu be digested with 10 times it weight of alcohol, and the liquid filtered, 
the undissolved matter, after being dried at 100° C. (212° F.), should not exceed 
15 per cent of the original weight. The tincture, diluted with 100 parts of water, 
acquires a green color on the addition of ferric chloride T.S. If 2 parts of catechu 
be boiled with 20 parts of water, a brownish-red, turbid liquid will be obtained 
which turns blue litmus paper red. Upon incineration, catechu should not leave 
more than 6 per cent of ash"-{U. S. P.). Catechu is incompatible with solutions 
of the pure earths, with sulphuric or hydrochloric acid, salts of aluminum, lead, 
copper, and with ferric salts; also with gelatin, opium, cinchona, and those salts 
of the vegetable alkaloids which form insoluble salts with tannin. 
Chemical Composition.- Successive treatment of catechu with ether and 
absolute alcohol abstracts the two principal constituents, namely, from 13 to 33 467 
CATECHU. 
per cent of crude catechin, also called catechuic acid, and from 22 to 50 per cent of a 
peculiar tannic acid, called catechu-tannic acid. Besides there are present water- 
soluble extractive matter, gum, and mineral substances. Catechin is not soluble 
in cold water. When pure, it forms minute, colorless crystals, which are acted on 
by alkalies, causing them to absorb oxygen, giving a yellow, then red, and finally 
a black color. Its formula is variously given as C19H18O8 (Hlasiwetz), C2]H18O8 
(Gautier), C13H12O5 (Rochleder), C2iH20O9+5H2O (Liebermann and Tauchert). 
When subjected to dry distillation, it yields pyrocatechin (C6H6O2), while phloro- 
glucin and protocatechuic acid are produced by fusing it with caustic potash. By 
the action of sulphuric acid, catechuretin is produced. 
The catechu-tannic acid of catechu, sometimes termed mimmotannic acid and 
catechu-red, differs from ordinary tannic acid by giving a greenish-gray precipitate 
with the iron salts, by not precipitating a solution of tartar emetic, and by not 
furnishing pyrogallic acid on exposure to heat. It is an amorphous, deep-red 
powder, dissolving in alcohol, alcoholized ether, and water, but little soluble in 
absolute ether, and is regarded as an anhydrid of catechin. 
Quercetin was obtained from the aqueous solution of catechu by means of 
ether, by Lowe, in 1873. 
Pyrocatechin (C6II6O2), or catechol, may be obtained from many tannins and 
extracts by means of destructive distillation. It forms short, prismatic crystals, 
readily soluble in water, ether, and alcohol. Ferric chloride colors its solution in 
water a deep green, which, when treated with sodium bicarbonate, ammonia, or 
tartaric acid, changes to a violet hue. Catechol fuses at 104° C. (219.2° F.). Its 
boiling point is 245° C. (473° F.). Its methylic ether is guaiacol. Certain gum- 
resins, resins, and tannins, when fused with caustic potash, produce protocatechuic 
acid (C7H6O4) (dioxybenzoic acid). It forms shining, acicular crystals, or may 
form scales, readily soluble in hot water, alcohol, and ether. When heated above 
199° C. (390.2° F.) it is resolved into pyrocatechin and carbonic acid gas. When 
treated with ferric chloride its aqueous solution gives a deep-green color, chang- 
ing successively to blue and red by sal soda solution much diluted. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Catechu possesses strong astringent 
properties. It is used for arresting mucous discharges when excessive, for removing 
relaxation or congestion of mucous membranes, and for checking hemorrhages. In 
chronic diarrhoea, chronic catarrh, colliquative diarrhoea, send chronic dysentery, it has 
proved beneficial, especially w'hen combined with opium. As a local application, 
it is a valuable agent for removing cynanche tonsillaris, aphthous ulcerations of the 
mouth, elongation of the uvula, and relaxation and congestion of the mucous membrane of 
the fauces, especially of the kind to which public singers are subject; it is also 
useful in congestion, tenderness and sponginess of the gums, particularly when the 
result of mercurial ptyalism. The tincture of catechu is often beneficial in fissure of 
the nipples, when applied twice a day with a fine hair pencil. An ointment com- 
posed of 4 ounces of catechu, 9 drachms of alum, 4 ounces of white resin, and 10 
fluid ounces of olive oil, with a sufficient quantity of water, is in great repute in 
India as an application to ulcers (Thomson, Lond. Dis.fi Chronic and phagedenic 
ulcers are frequently benefited by the application of catechu to them. Chronic gon- 
orrhoea, old gleets, and fluor a,Ibus, as well as hemorrhage from the nose and other 
parts, have been cured by the local application of an aqueous solution of catechu. 
Powdered catechu may be given in a dose of from 5 to 20 grains, or more, repeated 
as often as required; it may be administered in pill form, in syrup, or in gum 
mucilage. The dose of the tincture is from 20 minims to 4 fluid ounce. Dr. E. 
Hopkins states that catechu is not incompatible with opium and quinine, as no 
precipitate ensues when their respective solutions are united. He recommends, 
in diarrhoea, a compound of catechu 10 grains, opium 1 grain, sulphate of quinine 
2 grains; mix, and make into 1 or 2 powders, according to the urgency of the case. 
Catechu Pallidum (see below), has similar properties, but is less astringent. 
Related Drugs.-Catechu Pallidum. Pale catechu (Catechu of Br. Ph.).-This is also 
known as Terra Japonica, Gambir, Gambier, and Gambeer. Pale catechu is the official catechu 
of the British Pharmacopoeia, and one of the official kinds of the German Pharmacopoeia. It 
is extracted from the young leaves and shoots of Uncaria Gambier, Roxburgh (Nauclea Gambir, 
Hunter). Nat. Ord.: Rubiacese. This is a climbing plant bearing pink flowers, and grows in 
Sumatra, Ceylon, and in the countries bordering the straits of Malacca. At Singapore it is 468 
CAULOPHYLLUM. 
extensively cultivated. A species thought to be a variety, Uncaria acida, Roxburgh, also fur- 
nishes a portion of pale catechu. Gambier is prepared by boiling the fresh young twigs and 
leaves for 1 hour, after which they are taken out and placed in a trough which allows the 
decoction to flow back into the boiling pan, and the liquor from the exhausted shoots and 
leaves is squeezed out by hand. The fluid is then evaporated to a thin, syrupy consistence, 
and dipped into vessels to cool, and instead of stirring round and round, the operator passes a 
soft piece of wood in and out of the liquid, in a sloping manner. This, he asserts, will cause 
it to thicken when ordinary stirring will have no effect on it. It is then poured into shallow, 
rectangular molds, and allowed to harden sufficiently to be cut into cubical blocks to be dried 
in a shady situation (see Pharmacographid}. Gambier is an earthy-appearing mass of pale- 
brown color. It occurs in small cubes, or may come in irregular, compact masses. It is lighter 
in color than cutch, which it resembles, and when broken (for it is porous, dry, and friable), 
it presents an irregular surface of an earthy, brownish-gray hue, interspersed with darker 
streaks. It is odorless, but has a bitter, astringent, and afterwards sweetish taste. The micro- 
scope shows it to be made up of minute, crystalline needles. It dissolves in alcohol, giving a 
deep-brown solution. Water does not dissolve it wholly, and with hot water a turbid mixture 
is produced. Impurities to the extent of 15 per cent of the wThole weight are allowed by the 
German Pharmacopoeia. The same work limits its ash to not more than 6 per cent. Its chemi- 
cal composition agrees with that of cutch (catechu), the proportion of tannin being less than 
in the latter. The coloring principle is quercetin and the chief constituent is catechin, which 
gives to it a crystalline appearance. Quinovic acid is probably present in gambir, having been 
found in other species of Nauclea. It contains from 25 to 38 per cent of tannin, and from 20 to 29 
per cent of catechin. The ash consists largely of calcium and magnesium carbonates (Pharma- 
cographia). Prof. Trimble (dm. Jour. Pharm., 1888) making a comparative determination of 
catechin, catechu-tannic acid and other constituents in 3 representative samples each, of cutch 
and of gambier, finds a decidedly higher percentage of available tannin in gambier than in 
cutch. He therefore recommends the official use of gambier in preference to cutch for several 
reasons: Gambier, as he finds, has more available astringency, and being put up in the form 
of cubes, can not be so easily adulterated, and is not liable to contain mordants added for the 
use of dyers. 
CAULOPHYLLUM (U. S. P.)-CAULOPHYLLUM. 
" The rhizome and roots of Caulophyllum thalictroides (Linne), Michaux "- 
(U. S. P.). (Leontice thalictroides, Linne). 
Nat. Ord.-Berberidacese. 
Common Names: Blue cohosh, Squaw-root, Pappoose-root. 
Illustration : Lloyd's Drugs and Med. of N. A.,Vol. II. 
Botanical Source.-This plant is a smooth, glaucous plant, purple when 
young, with a high, round stem, from 1 to 3 feet in height, simple*from knotted 
and matted root-stalks, dividing above into 
2 parts, 1 of which is a triternate leaf-stalk, 
the other bears a biternate leaf and a race- 
mose panicle of small, yellowish-green flow- 
ers. The leaves are biternate and triternate. 
The petiole is trifid, supporting 9 leaflets. 
The leaflets are oval, petiolate, and unequally 
lobed, the terminal one equally 3-lobed, 
paler beneath, and from 2 to 3 inches long. 
The panicle is small, and shorter than the 
leaves. The pericarps are thin, caducous, 
dark-blue, and resemble berries on thick 
stipes. Seeds 1 or 2, erect, globose, about the 
size of a large pea (W.-G.). 
History.-This drug is one of our oldest 
indigenous Eclectic remedies. The Algon- 
kin name (cohosh) is generally supposed to 
have been applied to this plant by the 
natives, but according to the statement of 
Mr. W. R. Gerard, this is hardly probable, 
as the native term, "applied by the whites 
to several plants, smooth in all their parts, 
means 'it is rough' (with hairs)." Among 
the Montagnais of Canada the name cohosh 
is applied to the bristly fruit of Ribes lacus- 
tre. (See D. A: M. of N. A.). Still, there is 
Fig. 62. 
Caulophyllum thalictroides. 469 
CAULOPHYLLUM. 
no doubt that the plant was later known to the American Indians, in common 
with Cimicifuga racemosa, Actxa alba, and Actaea rubra var. spicata, as cohosh. The 
true common name of the plant is blue cohosh, though it is known also in various 
parts of the country as pappoose-root (Smith), squaw-root (Smith), false cohosh 
(Eaton), and blueberry. Both Pursh (1814) and Barton (1818) call it cohosh, and 
state that it was known as such among the natives. The plant was introduced 
into medicine as blue cohosh by Rafinesque, in 1828, though it is but just to say 
that the Indian uses of the plant were first made known through an irregular 
publication entitled "Medical Facts," issued in Cincinnati, in 1813, by Peter Smith, 
an advertising "Indian herb doctor;" and, it is to Smith that Rafinesque refers 
as an authority on the subject. The first published botanical record of the blue 
cohosh is by Gronovius (1739), who received the plant from Clayton, a Virginian 
botanist, and the second by Cadwallader Colden (1743), an American botanist, 
afterward distinguished as governor of New York State. Its present botanical 
name {Caulophyllum) was given it in 1803 by the elder Michaux, who believed the 
genus to differ sufficiently from the European Leontice, with which it had been 
classed, to entitle it to a generic rank of which only the one species is now known, 
which is a native of America, and is found also in Japan. The term Caulophyllum 
is derived from two Greek words-kaulos, stem; and phullon, leaf; hence, stem- 
leaf, so called because the leaves terminate in such a manner as to give them the 
appearance of being a mere continuation of the stem. Blue cohosh is widely dis- 
tributed throughout this country extending from New Brunswick to the southern 
limits of the Appalachian system of mountains, and westward to the Mississippi 
valley. Contrary to published statements it is not found in low, moist grounds, 
swamps and marshes, along sea-coasts and on prairie lands and irrigated islands, 
but grows in rich, shady woods, and deep loam, in hilly and mountainous dis- 
tricts. It is plentiful along the Alleghany mountains, but it is not found in the 
adjacent lowlands in the southern states. Caulophyllum is a handsome plant of 
a peculiar bluish-green color. It blossoms in April and May and matures its fruit 
in August. A decoction of the roasted ripened seeds is said to resemble coffee. 
Although caulophyllum was first introduced by Peter Smith as early as 1813 and 
endorsed by Rafinesque (1828) and the botanies, there was but little call for it, 
except in domestic medicine for making infusions and decoctions, until 1852, 
when Prof. King, who first became acquainted with the drug in 1836, brought it 
out in his first edition of the American Dispensatory, giving a description of it and 
its uses, and introducing some preparations of it. From that time until the pres- 
ent day it has been in increasing demand in Eclectic practice, and has been 
adopted by the Homoeopaths, though it is still largely ignored by the "regulars." 
Prof. E. M. Hale, M. D., of Chicago, states that caulophyllum was introduced to 
the Homoeopaths by Prof. B. L. Hill, at one time Professor of Surgery in the 
Eclectic Medical Institute, of Cincinnati, O., in his lectures on obstetrics and 
gynecology before the Homoeopathic College, at Cleveland, O. At the same time 
he introduced to them hydrastis, cimicifuga and other Eclectic drugs. Among 
the early preparations of this drug were the fluid extract of caulophyllum, com- 
pound tincture of caulophyllum, and the compound tincture of mitchella 
(mother's cordial), all exclusively Eclectic products. Blue cohosh partially yields 
its virtues to hot water and glycerin, and fully to alcohol. It may be employed 
in decoction, or the specific caulophyllum, which is reliable and more convenient, 
may be used. In purchasing, care must be taken that this root is not mixed with 
other roots, especially those of the Hydrastis canadensis, with which the pressed 
and wrapped article prepared for sale is apt to be associated. Caulophyllin added 
to drastic purgatives, as aloes, podophyllin, etc., will entirely prevent or relieve 
the tormina attending their action. 
Description.-" Rhizome of horizontal growth, about 10 Cm. (4 inches) long, 
and about 6 to 10 Mm. (| to f inch) thick, bent; on the upper side with broad, 
concave stem-scars, and short, knotty branches; externally grayish-brown, inter- 
nally whitish, tough and woody. Roots numerous, matted, about 10 Cm. (4 inches) 
long, and 1 Mm.inch) thick, rather tough, nearly inodorous; taste sweetish, 
slightly bitter and somewhat acrid "-(U. S. P.). 
Chemical Composition.-The most detailed chemical analysis to date of 
caulophyllum was made, in 1864, by Mr. A. E. Ebert. He found it to contain 470 
CAULOPHYLLUM. 
albumin, starch, gum, coloring matters, calcium phosphate and sulphate, salts of 
iron, potassium and magnesium, phosphoric acid, silica, and 2 resins, one soluble 
in alcohol and ether, and the other not soluble in ether, and "a substance similar 
to saponin." The latter substance was, in 1863, identified and called saponin by 
Prof. F. F. Mayer, who claims also to have obtained a colorless alkaloid. This 
alkaloid Mr. Ebert failed to find, and inferred that Prof. Mayer's analysis was 
made with a drug adulterated with hydrastis, or some other alkaloid-yielding 
plants. He found also that the only substance of interest was the resinous, 
saponin-like body. Prof. J. U. Lloyd agrees with him in the main as to his 
analysis and especially with the latter's statement that the "substance similar to 
saponin" was the characteristic principle of the plant. This amorphous sub- 
stance found by Mr. Ebert was at first sweetish, and then acrid to the taste, and 
irritated the nostrils, provoking sneezing. It was soluble in alcohol, both strong 
and dilute, and in alkaline aqueous fluids. It remained, however, for Prof. Lloyd 
to obtain this characteristic principle in a pure, crystalline form, for the white 
amorphous precipitate found by Mr. Ebert contained much foreign matter that 
was entirely eliminated, in Prof. Lloyd's experiments, by repeated crystallization. 
To this principle, which, by the way, is a glucosid, Prof. Lloyd applied the name 
leontin-a name derived from the old Greek botanical name Leontice (lion's foot), 
applied to the genus (caulophyllum) by Linnseus. This name, leontin, was given 
to it because the name caulophyllin, which could most appropriately be given it, 
had been applied already to the resinoid of caulophyllum. 
Leontin, as obtained by Prof. Lloyd's process, is a glucosid, occurring in pure, 
snow-white, feathery, or silky crystals, resembling quinine. It is slightly soluble 
in cold alcohol, very soluble in boiling alcohol, from which it crystallizes upon 
cooling. It is slightly soluble in anhydrous alcohol, very soluble in boiling 
anhydrous alcohol, from which it also crystallizes upon cooling, the most perfect 
crystals being obtained from absolute alcohol. In sulphuric acid, both cold and 
boiling, its solubility is similar to that in alcohol. In chloroform it is practically 
insoluble. It is insoluble in water, and upon the addition of water to the alco- 
holic solution, immediate precipitation is the result. Acids precipitate it and 
alter its character, while alkaline aqueous solutions dissolve it freely and per- 
fectly. Leontin is tasteless, but owing to the alkalinity of the saliva, it slowly dis- 
solves, producing an acrid after-taste. Alcoholic solutions of it are acrid to the 
taste, while the alkaline aqueous solution is extremely acrid and irritating to the 
mouth and fauces, and for this reason should be administered in syrup, or in 
sweetened water, which somewhat obtunds these sensations. While odorless, the 
dust is acrid, producing irritation of the nostrils. Leontin, even in dilute solu- 
tion, forms much froth when shaken. Prof. Lloyd has further shown that while 
Prof. Mayer did not obtain an alkaloid from caulophyllum, (which he claims to 
have done and named caulophylline'), such an alkaloid does exist, and that he 
(Lloyd) has separated it as an amorphous, glassy substance, colorless, tasteless, 
and odorless, freely soluble in alcohol, and quite soluble in water. It does not 
possess the characteristics of caulophyllum, nor does it have any sensible proper- 
ties. The name caulophylline applied by Mayer must not be confounded with 
that of the resinoid, caulophyllin. 
Shortly after 1835, when Prof. John King discovered podophyllin, macrotin, 
hydrastin, etc., he also brought forth the substance now known in commerce as 
caulophyllin. It was in great demand among Eclectics in times past, and is still 
sold in considerable quantities. But like nearly all of the so-called concentra- 
tions and resinoids of early Eclectic preparation, while they were better agents 
than preceding pharmacal products, yet at the present time they are too uncer- 
tain in composition and medicinal value, to hold a leading place among our more 
modern therapeutic preparations. The current statement in medical publications 
that caulophyllin is obtained by precipitation from a strong alcoholic tincture with 
water is, according to Prof. Lloyd, erroneous, as there is no evidence from manu- 
facturers to support it. As prepared by Lloyd, whose process is given in " Drugs 
and Medicines of North America," caulophyllin is a powder of a grayish or brown 
color, and possesses the characteristic taste of the crude drug. The preparation 
known as Lloyd's Leontin, is a one per cent solution of the white crystalline 
emmenagogue principle above described. 471 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Of caulophyllum, Rafinesque states 
that "as a powerful emmenagogue it promotes delivery, menstruation, and drop- 
sical discharges," and that "it was employed by the Indians and their imitators 
for rheumatism, dropsy, colic, sore throat, cramp, hiccough, epilepsy, hysterics, inflamma- 
tion of the uterus, etc." Prof. King first employed blue cohosh for its beneficial 
influence on abnormities of the mucous tissues, using it for aphthous stomatitis in 
decoction, alone or combined with hydrastis. Prof. Scudder believed that this 
agent exerted its influence through the hypogastric plexus, thus affecting the 
circulation, nutrition, and functions of the reproductive apparatus. 
Blue cohosh is reputed antispasmodic, emmenagogue, and parturifacient, 
besides being diuretic, diaphoretic, and expectorant. Its use as a parturient 
originated in the custom of the Indian squaws of employing a decoction of the 
root for 2 or 3 weeks previous to labor to facilitate child-birth. This became known 
to the whites through Smith's publication. There is no doubt but that caulo- 
phyllum has a decided action upon the gravid uterus. During labor it relieves 
false pains and coordinates muscular contractions, at the same time increasing 
their power. Like macrotys, it is a better oxytocic than ergot. Unlike the latter 
agent it stimulates normal contraction instead of inducing spasmodic uterine 
action. It is most valuable in those cases where delay is due to debility, fatigue, 
or lack of uterine nervous energy, and for deficient contractions where the tissues 
feel full, as if congested. As a partus praparator, blue cohosh has enjoyed a well- 
merited reputation. When used by delicate women, or those who experience pro- 
longed and painful labors, for several weeks previous to confinement, it gives tone 
and vigor to all the parts engaged in the accouchement, facilitating its progress, 
and relieving much suffering. Prof. Hale testifies that women who have taken 
caulophyllum previous to confinement, have overrun their time from 10 to 12 
days, but all had very easy labors and made good recoveries. It is a good remedy 
for after-pains, especially when spasmodic in character. Caulophyllin has also been 
used for this purpose. It is a remedy for hour-glass contraction and for spurious 
labor-pains. Blue cohosh acts as an antiabortive by relieving the irritation upon 
which the trouble depends. King states that for this purpose it is fully equal to 
viburnum. 
As a gynecian remedy it has been employed to relieve irritation of the reproduc- 
tive organs as if dependent on congestion. It controls chronic inflammatory states 
of these organs and gives tone in cases of debility. In the sexual disorders of the 
female it is indicated by tenderness and pain in the uterus, in debilitated patients. 
It has been very successfully used in cases of hysteria to overcome the attack, and 
to relieve ovarian, or mammary pain, or irritation when accompanying that dis- 
order. Chronic corporeal, or cervical endometritis, metritis, ovaritis, ovaralgia, uterine 
leucorrhoea, amenorrhoea, and dysmenorrhoea, are conditions in which it has been most 
successfully employed. It has an established reputation as a remedy for rheuma- 
tism of the uterus, with nervous excitement, for uterine cramps attending menstrua- 
tion, and for menorrhagia, depending on uterine subinvolution. 
As an antispasmodic it has been employed in chorea and epilepsy due to dis- 
eased states of the sexual organs, but with varying results. It is better suited for 
spasmodic intestinal affections, as flatulent and spasmodic colic, and cramps. It is not 
without value in obstinate singultus. Its antispasmodic effects are permanent. 
By lessening irritation it has been serviceable in cystitis, urethritis, chronic 
nephritis, and albuminuria. Spasmodic retention of urine is relieved by it. It is a 
good remedy for some cases of rheumatism, though not so valuable as macrotys. It 
effectually overcomes rheumatoid conditions of the uterus and of the stomach-in 
the latter instance when crampy pains follow the ingestion of food. While valu- 
able in all chronic cases of muscular rheumatism, it is especially adapted to articular 
rheumatism, particularly when confined to the smaller joints, as of the toes and 
fingers. It is a remedy for asthenic plethora, and for rheumatic pains accompany- 
ing that condition. Associated with testicular support, it favorably influences 
orchialgia. By its sedative action it is valuable in some cases of insomnia, and has 
been suggested as a remedy for bronchitis and catarrhal pneumonia. It is also a 
remedy for gastric nausea and vomiting. Dose of the infusion (root sj to aqua Oj), 
from 1 to 3 ounces, every 3 or 4 hours; of specific caulophyllum, from 3 to 10 
drops; of caulophyllin, from 2 to 4 grains. 
CAULOPHYLLUM. 472 
CEANOTHUS. 
Lloyd's Leontin (the 1 per cent solution of the emmenagogue principle of 
blue cohosh) has been very successfully employed in amenorrhoea, dysmenorrhoea, 
and chlorosis. The dose ranges from 5 to 15 drops in syrup or sweetened water. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-The specific indications for caulophyllum 
are uterine pain, with fullness, weight, and pain in the legs; fullness of tissues as 
if congested; debility (irritability) of the nervous system, with impaired muscu- 
lar power; spasmodic muscular pains; articular pain; rheumatic pains of asthenic 
plethora; epigastric and umbilical colicky pains; dull frontal headache; great 
thirst; as an oxytocic; to relieve false pains and uterine irritability; sexual 
debility, with excitability; spasmodic uterine contractions; dysmenorrhoea; 
irregular menstruation; crampy pains in stomach and bowels after eating; pain 
in toes and fingers not due to tissue changes. 
Related Drug.-Siylosanlhes elatior, Swartz. Pencil flower. United States. Reputed of 
value in relieving abdominal and uterine pains during pregnancy, and is said to be a tonic 
parturient. 
CEANOTHUS.-RED-ROOT. 
The root; root-bark, and leaves of Ceanothus americanus, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Rhamnacese. 
Common Names: Red-root, New Jersey tea, Wild snowball. 
Botanical Source.-This plant has a large root, with a red or brown epider- 
mis, containing many small, white veins, and tolerably thick; body of the root 
dark-red. The stems are from 2 to 4 feet high, slen- 
der, suffruticose, with many reddish, round, smooth 
branches, the younger ones pubescent. The leaves 
are ovate or oblong-ovate, acuminate, serrate, 
3-veined, rather smooth above, downy, with soft, 
reddish hairs beneath, and often heart-shaped at 
base. The flowers are minute, white, in long, 
crowded panicles from the axils of the upper leaves. 
Calyx 5-cleft, companulate, cut round after flower- 
ing, with the base permanent and adhering to the 
fruit. Petals 5, saccate-arched, with long, spread- 
ing claws. Stamens 5, exserted, inclosed in the curi- 
uosly vaulted corolla; anthers ovate, 2 celled ; ovary, 
3-angled. Fruit dry, obtusely triangular, 3-celled, 
loculicidal, with papery valves; cells 1-seeded; 
seed convex outside, concave within (G.-W.). 
History.-Ceanothus americanus is indigenous 
to the United States, and is very abundant in the 
West; it grows in dry woodlands, barrens, etc., flow- 
ering from June to August. The leaves are astrin- 
gent and slightly bitter, and have been used as a substitute for tea, to which they 
have a strong resemblance when dried, both in taste and odor. The root is the 
medicinal part, and has a taste and smell somewhat resembling those of the peach 
leaf. It has been occasionally used for coloring. Water extracts its active principle. 
Description.- Red-root is a long, cylindrical, thick, irregularly contorted, 
branching root, with either a simple or branched head, with knotty tubercles. 
Its surface is finely corrugated, and of a rusty-brown color. The bark is thin, 
and breaks with a granular fracture; the wood, light brownish-red, and tough. 
To the taste red-root is astringent and bitter, but has no odor. 
Chemical Composition.-The leaves are said to contain tannin, a soft resin, 
a bitter extractive, a greenish coloring matter almost identical in color and taste 
with green tea, gum, a volatile substance, lignin, and a principle called ceanothine, 
but which does not appear to exert as much therapeutical value as the infusion 
or fluid extract of the root-bark. When purified, ceanothine is white; its odor 
and taste is similar to that of green tea; it is soluble in water, but insoluble in 
alcohol, ether, and carbon disulphide. Chloroform is its best solvent. Clinch 
(Amer. Jour. Pharm., 188A) found in the leaves a volatile oil. The bark contains 
considerable tannin and ceanothine. 
Fig. 63. 
Ceanothus americanus. CELASTRUS. 
473 
F. C. Gerlach (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1891) found ceanothus-red, tannin, volatile 
oil, gallic acid, resin, vegetable wax, fixed oil, starch, saccharose, glucose, mucilage, 
albuminoids, calcium oxalate, and the alkaloid ceanothine, which he found to 
resemble caffeine in not forming salts, but differing in not being precipitated with 
Mayer's reagent (A. P. A. Proc., 1892). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Astringent, expectorant, sedative, anti- 
spasmodic, and antisyphilitic. It is used in gonorrhoea, dysentery, asthma, chronic 
bronchitis, whooping-cough, and other pulmonary affections. Dose of a strong decoc- 
tion, 1 tablespoonful 3 or 4 times a day. It has likewise been successfully used 
as a wash and gargle in the aphthae of children, sore mouth subsequent to fever, and 
in ulceration of the fauces attendant on scarlatina. 
Besides the old uses, as given above, ceanothus has been found to be a useful 
gastric, hepatic, and splenic stimulant, and it is in splenic troubles that its action 
is most favorable. Scudder (Spec. Med.}, states that it is indicated by splenic 
enlargement, with sallow, doughy skin, and expressionless face. Webster gives as 
indications, deep-seated splenic pain, though no enlargement be detectable, and 
for the pain of splenic hypertrophy, as well as for sympathetic, painful conditions 
depending upon splenic wrong. Its action is compared to that of carduus mari- 
anus, influencing the hepatic, and more so the splenic vessels, overcoming con- 
gestion. Hypertrophy of the spleen and splenitis of malarial origin are met with it. 
The cases of splenitis to which it is specially adapted are not acute, but rather 
sub-acute, after the active symptoms have passed, and when pressure does not 
markedly aggravate the pain. It was much used during the Civil War for mala- 
rial splenitis. Copious catarrhal profluvia in non-inflammatory conditions are bene- 
fited by its astringency. For hepatic and splenic disorders the tincture of the 
leaves is preferred. Dose: Strong decoction, fl^ss 3 times a day; specific ceano- 
thus, 1 to 10 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Enlarged spleen; sallow, doughy skin; 
expressionless countenance; non-inflammatory, catarrhal states, with profuse 
secretion. 
Related Species.-Ceanothus oralis, Bigelow. United States,Vermont to Rocky Mountains. 
Has oval leaves, and is probably similar to above species. 
Ceanothus reclinatus, De Candolle. Mexico and West Indies. Used by the natives in gonor- 
rhoea, syphilis, dysentery, ulceration of the mouth and fauces, and cancer. 
Ceanothus azureus, Desfontaines, and Ceanothus coeruleus, Lagasca. Mexico. Febrifuge. 
CELASTRUS.-FALSE BITTERSWEET. 
The bark of the root and the bark of Celastrus scandens, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Celastracese. 
Common Names: Staff-tree, Climbing staff-tree, Staff-vine, False bittersweet, Climbing 
bittersweet, Waxwork, Fever-twig. 
Botanical Source. - This plant is a climbing, indigenous shrub, with a 
woody, twining stem, without thorns or prickles. The leaves are thin, oblong, 
acuminate, serrate, alternate, stipulate, petiolate, and 
smooth; the racemes small, terminal, and axillary; the 
Howers are greenish-white, or yellowish-white, fragrant, and 
dioecious. Calyx flat, 5-lobed; corolla spreading, of 5 ses- 
sile petals; capsule obtusely 3-angled, 3-celled, and berry- 
like; valves bearing the partitions on their centers; sta- 
mens standing around a glandular, 5-toothed disk; style 
thick; stigma 3-cleft. The seeds, which are covered with 
a scarlet aril, number 1 or 2 in each cell (G.-W.). 
History.-This plant grows in woods and thickets, 
from Canada to the Carolinas, creeping on hedges and rocks, 
or twining about other trees, or each other, and ascending 
to a great height. It flowers in June and bears a scarlet 
berry, which remains through the winter. The plant 
thrives most luxuriously in a rich, damp soil. The root is 
very long, creeping, woody, of a bright-orange color, about 
Fig. 64. 
Celastrus scandens. 474 
CEPHALANTHUS. 
4 inch in thickness, witn a thick red, or yellowish-red bark, which is the medici- 
nal part. On account of the similarity of name, bittersweet, the plant has been 
confounded with the Sotanum Dulcamara, from which, however, it essentially dif- 
fers in appearance and therapeutic action. The bark has a bitter, afterward 
sweetish, rather nauseous taste, and imparts its medicinal properties to water. 
Description.-The root-bark occurs in nearly smooth quills, orange-brown 
externally; whitish and marked with fine striae internally. A second layer of 
an orange-red hue is exposed on the removal of the somewhat tough outer bark. 
The stem-bark resembles the above, except that its outer layer has an ashen-gray 
or brownish-gray color. 
Chemical Composition.-Wayne (1872) obtained a white crystalline prin- 
ciple to which the name celastrin was given. Bernhard (Amer, Jour. Pharm.. 1882) 
found the bark to contain starch, gum, sugar, coloring material, volatile oil, two 
resins, one acid and the other neutral, and a body resembling caoutchouc. Mr. 
Jacob Hoch (1892), failed to find any volatile constituents (A. P. J., 1892). The 
coloring matter of Celastrus scandens was investigated by Dr. Keller, who defined 
its chemical relation to the vegetable coloring matters, xanthin and carotin (Amer. 
Jour. Pharm., 1896). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Alterative, diaphoretic, and diuretic, 
with some narcotic powers. Used in scrofula, secondary syphilis, chronic hepatic 
affections, cutaneous affections, leucorrhoea, rheumatism, and obstructed menstruation. 
Externally an ointment has been successfully employed in inflamed and indurated 
breasts of nurses, in pruritis vulvas, burns, excoriations, etc. Dose of the decoction, 
from 2 to 4 fluid ounces, 3 times a day; of the extract, from 5 to 10 grains. 
cephalanthus.-Buttonbush. 
The bark of Cephalanthus occidentalism Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Rubiaceae. 
Common Names : Buttonbush, Buttonwood, Pond dogwood, Crane willow, Globe flower. 
Botanical Source.-This plant is a handsome shrub growing from 6 to 12 
feet or more high, the bark being mostly rough on the stem and smooth on the 
branches. The leaves are opposite or in whorls of 3, oval, acuminate, entire, 
smooth, spreading, petioled, with short, intervening stipules, and from 3 to 5 
inches by 2 to 3. The flowers are white, terminal, in spherical heads about an 
inch in diameter, resembling the globular inflorescence of the sycamore {Platanus 
occidentalism. Peduncles long; corolla tubular, slender, and 4-cleft; calyx tube 
inversely pyramidal, the limb 4-toothed; stamens 4; anthers yellow; style thread- 
form, much protruded ; stigma capitate, yellow. The fruit consists of small, hard, 
and dry capsules, inversely pyramidal, 2 to 4-celled, separating from the base 
upward into 2 or 4 closed 1-seeded portions (G.-W.). 
History and Description.-Buttonbush is indigenous to the United States, 
and is found in damp places, along the margins of rivers, ponds, etc., flowering 
from June to September. The bark is the part used, and possesses much bitter- 
ness. Water or alcohol takes up its virtues. Buttonbush bark occurs in market 
as short, curved pieces of a smooth, grayish-brown color marked with fine striae 
externally. The smooth and white inner bark is tough, and changes to a pale, 
rusty-brown color. Old bark has sometimes a fissured, ashen-gray, corky layer 
upon the surface. It has a bitterish, sub-astringent taste, but no odor. 
Chemical Composition.-Analysis has shown the bark to contain starch, 
sugar, gum, fatty matter, several resins, tannin, a saponin-like body, and an 
amorphous, bitter constituent readily soluble in both water and alcohol. A crys- 
talline, fluorescent body has been obtained by precipitation with acetate and sub- 
acetate of lead. These acicular crystals are dissolved by alcohol, ether, and water 
(Hattan, Amer. Jour. Pharm.yol. XLV). 
Mr. Edo Claasen has obtained three bodies from the bark, cephalanthin, cephale- 
tin, and cephalin. The latter occurs as warty crystals, and is thought to be a 
glucosid, splitting up into glucose and cephaletin on evaporating the solution. 
Cephalin is in yellowish-white needles, strongly-refracting, acid in reaction, and 
otherwise tasteless. It is insoluble in petroleum ether, very sparingly soluble CERA ALBA.-CERA FLAVA 
475 
in cold water, more soluble in hot water, and dissolving with greater ease in 
alcohol, ether, benzol, chloroform, and acetic acid. This body is strongly fluores- 
cent in aqueous, alcoholic, and alkaline solutions, all well diluted. Even so min- 
ute a trace as 1 part in 2,000,000 of water exhibits this property, and if an alkali 
be added the blue coloration will be noticeable in a dilution of 1 to 20,000,000. 
The concentrated alkaline solution has a lemon-yellow color (Proc. A. P. A., 1892). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Tonic, febrifuge, aperient, and diuretic. 
The bark has been used with much success in intermittent and remittent fevers; and 
the inner bark of the root forms an agreeable bitter, which is often employed in 
coughs, and as a diuretic in gravel. The plant deserves further investigation. 
Tincture, 10 to 30 drops; infusion, fl^ss to fl^i. 
Cephalanthin is, according to Kobert (1892), distinctly poisonous to both cold 
and warm-blooded animals, producing emesis, spasms, and paralysis. It destroys 
the blood corpuscles, converting them into methaemoglobin and oxyhaemoglobin. 
Related Species.-Sarcocephalus esculentus, Afzelius. Senegambia and Sierra Leone fur- 
nish this plant, which is known in its habitat as the doundake. The bark, under the names 
Quinquina Africaine and Kina du Rio Nunez, is employed by the negroes as a febrifuge. More 
properly it is an astringent tonic, and as such is useful in the anemic state following typhoids, 
and as a remedy for loss of appetite, and for atonic dyspepsia. No alkaloid is present, according to 
Heckel and Schlagdenhauffen, but its virtues seem to depend upon three resinous princi- 
ples-an orange-yellow bitter soluble in water, alcohol, and solution of potassa; a pale-yellow 
body insoluble in water, but soluble in potassa solution; and the third insoluble in alcohol 
and water, but dissolving in the potassa solution. 
CERA ALBA (U. S. P.)- WHITE WAX. 
"Yellow wax bleached"-(U. S. P.) (see under Cera Flava). 
CERA FLAVA (U. S. P.)- YELLOW WAX. 
"A peculiar, concrete substance, prepared by Apis mellifica, Linne"-(U. S. Pi). 
Class: Insecta. Order: Hyinenoptera. 
Source, History, and Preparation.-Wax is a substance which exists in 
small quantities in various plants. It is chiefly obtained, however, through the 
agency of the common bee (Apis mellifica), which forms cells, in which its food 
and ova are contained. It is a natural product of the insect, being secreted upon 
the abdominal scales or rings. The wax produced by the bee is the official article, 
of which there are two kinds, yellow wax and white wax. 
Yellow Wax is procured directly from the comb, which, after having been 
deprived of its honey, is fused in boiling water, strained, again fused, and poured 
into appropriate vessels of various sizes. 
White Wax is prepared by exposing ribbons of yellow wax to air, sunshine, 
and moisture, for one or two weeks, or more, according to the weather, when it 
loses its color, nearly all of its odor, and becomes yellowish-white. To bring about 
this effect, it must be turned every day, and watered from time to time. The wax 
is then remelted, reribboned, and rebleached; it is subsequently refined by melt- 
ing in water acidulated with sulphuric acid. When finished, it is cut or cast into 
flat, round cakes, to which a little spermaceti is generally added to improve the 
color (C.). Chlorine will also decolorize wax, but changes its character, causing 
it, when burned, to evolve irritating vapors of hydrochloric acid. 
Description and Chemical Composition.-Cera Alba, White wax. "A yel- 
lowish-white solid, somewhat translucent in thin layers, having a slightly rancid 
odor, and an insipid taste. Specific gravity: 0.965 to 0.975 at 15° C. (59° F.). 
Melting point about 65° C. (149° F.). In other respects white wax has the char- 
acteristics of, and should respond to the reactions and tests given under yellow 
wax (see Cera Flava) "-(U. S. P.). It readily dissolves in fixed and volatile oils, 
and combines by fusion with fats and resins; boiled with caustic alkaline solu- 
tions, it is imperfectly saponified. 
Cera Flava.- Yellow wax. 1,1 A yellowish to brownish-yellow solid, having 
an agreeable, honey-like odor, and a faint, balsamic taste. Specific gravity: 476 
CERA FLAVA. 
0.955 to 0.967 at 15° C. (59° F.). Melting point: 63° to 64° C. (145.4° to 147.2° F.). 
It is brittle when cold, and when broken presents a dull, granular, not crystalline 
fracture. By the heat of the hand it becomes plastic. Yellow wax is insoluble 
in water, sparingly soluble in cold alcohol, but almost completely in boiling alco- 
hol. It is completely soluble in ether, chloroform, and in fixed and volatile oils; 
partially soluble in cold benzol or carbon disulphide, and completely in these 
liquids at a temperature of 25° to 30° C. (77° to 86° F.)"-(G. S'. P.). Wax pos- 
sesses considerable firmness and tenacity, though somewhat soapy, but not greasy 
to the touch. At a high temperature it boils, and in close vessels distills over 
with little alteration ; at a red heat its vapor inflames, burning with a dense white 
brightness. Boiling alcohol dissolves about 20 per cent of it (cerotic acid), but 
deposits it upon cooling almost completely. Yellow wax is largely a mixture of 
3 substances: Myricin, or myricyl palmitate (Ci6H3102.C3oH6i), which is the principal 
constituent, not soluble in boiling alcohol, and having its fusing point at 72° C. 
(161.6° F.); cerin, or cerotic acid, (^Hj^Oo) (Brodie), extractible from wax by boil- 
ing alcohol, fusing at 78° C. (172.4° F.); and cerolein, an acid substance, soluble in 
alcohol, to which are also due the color and flavor of wax. 
Adulterations and Tests.-Both yellow and white wax are liable to adul- 
terations. Resin may be suspected by the fracture being smooth and shining, 
instead of granular; also by its solubility in cold alcohol. Insoluble mineral and 
organic substances, like clay, yellow ochre, starch, etc., may be separated by dis- 
solving the wax in chloroform, whereby these substances remain behind. How- 
ever, this kind of clumsy adulteration is not now liable to occur. Tallow and 
suet reduce the melting point of wax, and impart an unpleasant odor when 
melted. Fatty acids, e. g., stearic acid, may also be detected by the formation of a 
granular precipitate of calcium soap, when the chloroformic solution is shaken 
with lime water. If the wax contains starch, boil it in water, and add tincture 
o-f iodine to it, which will produce a blue color. (For Myrtle wax see Myrica ceri- 
fera). Paraffin is sometimes mixed with wax, which will reduce the specific 
gravity of the latter. Wax has the specific gravity of 0.955 to 0.967; the specific 
gravity of paraffin varies from 0.870 to 0.877. Wax, when placed in alcohol 
(specific gravity, 0.961), will fall to the bottom; should it float, we may suspect 
it to be mixed with paraffin. The U. S. P. directs the following tests for wax: 
"If 1 Gm. of yellow wax be boiled, for | an hour, with 35 Cc. of a 15 per cent 
aqueous solution of sodium hydrate, the volume being preserved by the occasional 
addition of water, the wax should separate, on cooling, without rendering the liquid 
opaque, and no precipitate should be produced in the filtered liquid by hydro- 
chloric acid (absence of fats or fatty acids, Japan wax, resin) ; nor should the same 
reagent produce a precipitate in water which has been boiled with a portion of 
the wax (absence of soap). If 5 Gm. of yellow wax be heated in a flask, for 15 
minutes, with 25 Cc. of sulphuric acid, to 160° C. (320° F.), and the mixture then 
diluted with water, no solid, wax-like body should separate (absence of paraffin). 
If a portion of yellow wax be ignited on platinum, it should not emit the odor of 
acrolein (absence of tallow and other fats) "-(U. S. Pi). 
Besides the methods here indicated an extremely useful method of analysis of 
beeswax has been introduced within the last 15 years, and consists in the deter- 
mination of the acid number, and of the ether number, also certain other numbers. 
The acid number denotes the number of milligrams of potassium hydroxide 
required to saturate the free acids contained in 1 gram of wax. The ether number 
is the number of milligrams of potassium hydroxide necessary to saponify the 
ethers of 1 gram of wax. As these numbers vary only between narrow limits for 
pure wax, it is evident that any admixture of an adulterant like rosin, for example, 
which has a high acid number, may be easily recognized by titration with an 
alkali. For an interesting and instructive article on the subject of wax analysis, 
along the lines briefly indicated, see L. F. Kebler, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1893, p.585; 
compare ib, p. 380. Also see paper by Prof. Bedford in Proc. A. P. A., 1877, p. 444. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Wax exerts little or no influence upon the sys- 
tem, though it has been recommended, combined with olive oil and the yolk of 
egg, in diarrhoea, dysentery, and inflammation of the alimentary mucous membrane. Its 
principal employment is in the preparation of ointments, cerates, and plasters, 
of which it forms an ingredient, imparting to them due consistence and tenacity. CERATA.-CERATUM. 
477 
Related Products.-Japan Wax. Insect white wax of China.- This wax is said to be ob- 
tained in Japan from the Rhus succedaneum, and other trees, being produced, as is supposed, by 
an insect, Coccus sinensis,Westwood, which feeds upon the tree. Huber states that the insect 
has the power of transmuting sugar into wax, which latter is, in fact, a secretion. It is said, 
however, that the Japanese make candles from the oil of the seeds of the Rhus succedaneum; and 
Neesvon Essenbeck states that the wax from this tree greatly resembles the Japanese wax found 
in commerce. Japanese wax closely resembles white beeswax, but is less white and more yel- 
lowish, with a more tender and friable consistence, and a crystalline appearance. It occurs in 
circular cakes of from 4 to 41 inches in diameter, nearly an inch thick, flat on one side, and 
rounded off on the other, as if cast in a small saucer, and is also met with in large square 
blocks or cases, weighing from 100 to 150 pounds. Its fusing point varies from 45° to 48.8° C. 
(113° to 120° F.), and, when melted, it will unite with beeswax, lard, etc., and more perfectly 
incorporates with cacao butter than either spermaceti or wax. It has a rancid-like taste and 
odor; is far more soluble in alcohol than beeswax, and, unlike this last, it is saponified by 
caustic alkalies. It is chiefly palmitin, with a small quantity of glycerides of arachidic and 
stearic acids. It is said to be adulterated sometimes with water, samples containing from 15 to 20, 
and even 30 per cent of this fluid. When thus adulterated the wax loses its transparent and 
shining appearance, becomes opaque, white, and very brittle. The water may be separated by 
simple fusion, or by fusion in water acidulated with sulphuric acid, when the presence of an 
alkali in the water of falsification is suspected. 
Carnauba Wax.-A wax from the north of Brazil, wax of Camahuba, a product of the 
palm, Copernicus cerifera, has been introduced into commerce, which possesses the advantage over 
beeswax of not melting so readily, as it requires a heat of 84° C. (183.2° F.). It readily saponi- 
fies, yielding an acid upon the decomposition of the soap by an acid; treated with alcohol, it 
gives cerotic acid, which melts at 77° C. (170.6° F.). As it is not affected by finger-marks at 
the temperature of the hand, it is much used as a furniture polish. 
There are other forms of vegetable wax, but they do not enter prominently into our 
commerce. Among them are Ocotilla Wax (from the bark of Fouquieria splendens); Arbol 
de la Cera (from Myrica jalapensis), employed in Mexico in jaundice and diarrhoea. Ocuba 
Wax is from the fruit of a Para shrub; while a wax, used by the natives in making candles, is 
yielded by the Ceroxylon andicolum, a palm of the Andes. 
CERATA.-Cerates. 
Cerates are agents intended for external application, and are composed of wax, 
or spermaceti, combined with fatty matters, and with which resins, powders, etc., 
are frequently amalgamated. The articles entering into their composition should 
always be fresh, especially the fats, as these preparations are very prone to ran- 
cidity ; the addition of benzoic acid tends to prevent this change, but its presence 
is not always desirable. Prof. E. S. Wayne found that by substituting paraffin for 
the wax, in cerates and ointments, the disposition to decompose was consider- 
ably retarded. Cerates are firmer in consistence than ointments, and are intended 
more as a sort of plaster than for inunction. The cerate is intermediate in con- 
sistence between the ointment and the plaster, about the consistence of cold 
butter, and may be spread with a spatula upon cloth or other substance, and be 
applied to the body, to which it will adhere without melting. In the preparation 
of cerates the water-bath will be found preferable to a direct exposure to the fire; 
and to effect the fusion of the materials, a very moderate heat will be sufficient. 
During the cooling of the compound it should be constantly and thoroughly 
stirred, not permitting one part to solidify before another. Cerates should be 
made in small quantity at a time, and should be kept in a cool place, in jars 
closely covered with tin foil, so as to exclude the air as much as possible. It was 
at one time thought that the use of wax in these preparations would be entirely 
superseded by paraffin, which does not become rancid, but experience has shown 
it to be objectionable on account of the granular character it gives to the cerate. 
Yellow wax is found to be less liable to become rancid than white wax. 
CERATUM (U. S. P.)-CERATE. 
Synonyms : Simple cerate, Lard cerate, Ceratum simplex, Ceratum adipis. 
Preparation.-"White wax, three hundred grammes (300 Gm.) [10 ozs. av., 
255 grs.]; lard, seven hundred grammes (700 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 8 ozs., 303 grs.]; to 
make one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]. Melt them 
together and stir the mixture constantly until it is cool"-(U. S. P.). 478 
CERATUM CALAMIN.E.-CERATUM CAMPHORS. 
This preparation should be perfectly bland, and great care should be observed 
in selecting lard entirely free from rancidity. To prevent any decomposition a 
low heat should be employed. This is not designed for inunction, though often 
improperly directed for that purpose. An old formula is as follows: Melt together 
prepared hog's lard 4 ounces, and white wax 2 ounces, agitating the whole briskly 
until cool. Put up in small vessels and cover well with tin foil, to protect as much 
as possible from the action of the atmosphere. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Simple cerate forms a mild and cooling appli- 
cation to irritated surfaces, wounds, excoriations, burns, blisters, etc. Mr. W. J.M. 
Gordon, pharmacist of this city, formerly prepared a " paraffin cerate," which has 
been found a very useful article. It is composed of paraffin 2 drachms, oil of 
almonds ounce, white wax 1 drachm, oil of roses 2 drops. Simple cerate has 
been advised by G.W. Sloan (A. P. A. Proceed., 1884) as an excipient for certain 
readily oxidizable pill-masses. 
Steatinum.-A class of substances resembling the cerates in consistence, was proposed by 
Dr. W. H. Mielcke, in 1881, under the name of steatina or steatins. Suet or tallow formed the 
base, which was compounded with other bodies, such as wax, dehydrated lead plaster deprived 
of its glycerin, nutmeg oil, and various medicaments. 
CERATUM CALAMINE.-CALAMINE CERATE. 
Synonyms : Turner's cerate, Cerate of zinc carbonate. 
Preparation.-Take of prepared calamine 1 ounce; simple cerate 5 ounces; 
mix them well together (Ed.'). 
Or, take prepared carbonate of zinc, wax, of each,^ pound; olive oil, 16 fluid 
ounces (Imp.). Melt the wax in the oil, remove them from the fire, and as soon 
as the mixture begins to concrete, add the carbonate of zinc, and stir briskly until 
they are cold (Lond.). 
Action and Medical Uses.-This cerate is an excellent desiccant and astrin- 
gent application to burns, scalds, erysipelatous ulcerations, chafings, etc. (P.). 
CERATUM CAMPHORS (U. S. P.)-CAMPHOR CERATE. 
Synonym: Unguentum camphoratum. 
Preparation.-" Camphor liniment, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. 
av.,231 grs.]; white wax, three hundred grammes (300 Gm.) [10 ozs. av.,255 grs.]; 
lard, six hundred grammes (600 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 5 ozs., 72 grs.]; to make one 
thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]. Melt the white wax 
and lard with the aid of a gentle heat; then add the camphor liniment, and stir 
the mixture occasionally until it has become cold"-(G. & P.). 
This preparation is somewhat softer than the cerates in general. It contains 
about 2 per cent of camphor. This preparation, formerly ( U. S. P., 1880), contained 
less than 1 per cent of camphor, and was originally intended and is now used as 
a basis for the extemporaneous preparation of Goulard's cerate. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Antipruritic and slightly anodyne. It possesses 
no advantages over camphorated oil. 
Other Camphor Cerates.-Camphor Cerate, of a former edition of the French Codex, is 
prepared by melting together white wax (I part), and lard (9 parts), employing moderate 
heat, and finally stirring into the mixture until dissolved, powdered camphor (3 parts), con- 
tinuing the stirring until the whole is cold. 
Ceratum Camphors Compositum (N. F.), Compound camphor cerate, Ceratum camphoratum, 
Camphor ice.-Formulary number, 19: "Camphor, in coarse powder, one hundred and seven 
grammes (107 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 338 grs.]; white wax, one hundred and fifty grammes (150Gm.) 
[5 ozs. av., 127 grs.]; castor oil, two hundred and fifty grammes (250 Gm.) [8 ozs. av., 358 grs.]; 
spermaceti, four hundred and eighty grammes (480 Gm.) [16 ozs. av.,408 grs.]; carbolic acid, 
liquefied by warming, two grammes (2 Gm.) [31 grs.]; oil of bitter almond, one gramme 
(1 Gm.) [15 grs.]; benzoic acid, ten grammes (10 Gm.) [154 grs.]. Melt the white wax and 
spermaceti on a water-bath, add the castor oil and afterwards the camphor, and continue 
heating and stirring until the camphor is dissolved. Then withdraw the heat, cover the vessel, 
and when the mixture has somewhat cooled, add the remaining ingredients, and thoroughly 
incorporate them by stirring. Lastly, pour the cerate into suitable molds"-(Nat. Form.). 
For other cerates containing camphor, s *e Ceratum Cetacei. CERATUM CANTHARIDIS.-CERATUM CETACEI. 
479 
CERATUM CANTHARIDIS (U. S. P.)-CANTHARIDES CERATE. 
Synonyms : Emplastrum cantharidis, Emplastrum vesicans, Emplastrum epispasti- 
cum, Emplastrum vesicatorium, Blistering cerate, Blistering plaster. 
Preparation.-"Cantharides, in No. 60 powder, three hundred and twenty 
grammes (320 Gm.) [11 ozs. av., 126 grs.]; yellow wax, one hundred and eighty 
grammes (180 Gm.) [6 ozs. av., 153 grs.]; resin, one hundred and eighty grammes 
180 Gm.) [6 ozs. av., 153 grs.]; lard, two hundred and twenty grammes (220 Gm.) 
[7 ozs. av., 333 grs.]; oil of turpentine, one hundred and fifty cubic centimeters 
(150 Cc.) [5 fl^, 36 Hl]; to make one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 
3 ozs., 120 grs.]. " Moisten the cantharides with the oil of turpentine, and set the 
mixture aside, well covered, for 48 hours. Then add it to the yellow wax, resin, 
and lard, previously melted and strained through muslin, and keep the mixture 
in a liquid condition, by means of a water-bath, stirring occasionally, until its 
weight has been reduced to one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 
120 grs.]. Then remove it from the bath, and stir it occasionally until it is 
cool (G. S'. P.). . 
This preparation contains 32 per cent of cantharides, and will always vesi- 
cate, providing the flies used are of good quality. It should not be heated, in 
preparation, higher than 100° C. (212° F.), lest the catharidin be lost with the 
aqueous vapors given off from the powder employed, thus reducing the strength 
of the cerate. The vapors given off, when heating higher than the above-men- 
tioned point, are liable to produce vesication of the hands and face of the operator. 
Turpentine, being a solvent of cantharidin, is employed to render that body more 
readily soluble in the fats employed. In 1860, Wm. R. Warner proposed a for- 
mula, which differs principally in embodying an alcoholic extract of cantharides, 
in place of the powdered drug. This formula was adopted by the U. S. P.,of 1880, 
under the name of Ceratum Extracti Cantharidis, and is by many preferred to 
the present official cerate. This is practically reproduced in the formula of the 
National Formulary given below. 
Action and Medical Uses.-As a blistering agent (see Cantharis). 
"Ceratum Extract: Cantharidis (N. F.). ( U. S. P., 1880). Cerate of extract of cantharides. 
-Formulary number, 20: Cantharides, in No. 60 powder, three hundred grammes (300 Gm.) 
[10 ozs. av.,255 grs.]; resin, one hundred and fifty grammes (150 Gm.) [5 ozs. av., 127 grs.]; 
yellow wax, three hundred and fifty grammes (350 Gm.) [12 ozs. av., 151 grs.]; lard, three 
hundred and fifty grammes (350 Gm.) [12 ozs. av., 151 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity. 
"Moisten the cantharides, with one hundred and eighty cubic centimeters (180 Cc.) 
[6 fl.5,41 TYLJ °f alcohol, and pack firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then gradually pour on 
alcohol, until one thousand eight hundred cubic centimeters (1800 Cc.) [60 65, 415 Til] of per- 
colate are obtained, or until the cantharides are exhausted. Distill off the alcohol by means 
of a water-bath, transfer the residue to a tared capsule and evaporate it, on a water-bath, until 
it weighs one hundred and fifty grammes (150 Gm.) [5 ozs. av., 127 grains]. Add to this the 
resin, wax, and lard, previously melted together, and keep the whole at a temperature of 
100° C. (212° F.), for 15 minutes. Lastly, strain the mixture through muslin, and stir it con- 
stantly until cool" (Nat. Form.). 
Camphorated Cantharidal Plaster.-A camphorated cantharidal plaster is prepared 
by spreading a strong ethereal (or chloroformic) solution of camphor on a plaster of canthari- 
des cerate. This, on evaporation, leaves a film of camphor on the surface of the cerate. 
Vesicating cloth, or blistering taffetas, are occasionally prepared. The Charta Epispastica of 
the U. S. P. will probably fulfil all the indications for these various preparations. 
CERATUM CETACEI (U. S. P.)-SPERMACETI CERATE. 
Synonyms: Emplastrum spermatis ceti, Ceratum labiate album. 
Preparation.-Spermaceti, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 
grs.j; white wax, three hundred and fifty grammes (350 Gm.) [12 ozs. av., 151 
grs.' ; olive oil, five hundred and fifty grammes (550 Gm.) [1 lb. av.,3 ozs., 175 
grs.j; to make one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]. 
Melt together the spermaceti and white wax; then add the olive oil, previously 
heated, and stir the mixture constantly until it is cool"-(U. S. Pi). 
This preparation should be perfectly free from lumpiness, should not be rancid, 
and should have a white color. Should the olive oil be added without previous 480 
CERATUM CROTONIS.-CERATUM PLUMBI SUBACETATIS. 
heating, a lumpy cerate is produced. The following old formula also produces 
a spermaceti cerate: 
"Take of olive oil, 6 parts; white wax, 3 parts; spermaceti, 1 part. Heat the 
oil gently; add the wax and spermaceti; stir the whole briskly when it is fluid, 
and continue the agitation until it is cool" (Ed.). It is found that this cerate 
may be preserved a much longer time when made of yellow instead of white wax, 
and of olive oil not bleached (J. B. Barnes). 
Action and Medical Uses.-Spermaceti cerate is used as a mild and unirri- 
tating application to superficial ulcers, excoriations, blisters, etc.; more active ingre- 
dients are sometimes added to it (P.). 
Other Cerates.-Red Lip-salve. Place in a vessel, oil of almonds, 1 pound; spermaceti, 
white wax, alkanet-root, of each, 2 ounces. Melt over a steam or water-bath, and allow the 
articles to digest on the alkanet 4 or 5 hours to extract its color; then strain through fine 
muslin, and add 2 drachms of oil of roses just before the mixture cools. Stir well together. 
White Lip-salve.-Melt, as above, oil of almonds, 4 ounces, with white wax and sper- 
maceti, each, 1 ounce. When nearly cool, add oil of bitter almonds, 4 drachm; oil of geranium, 
15 minims. Stir thoroughly together. After the lip-salve is poured into pots, and has become 
cold, a red-hot iron must be held over it temporarily, in order that the heat radiated from the 
iron may melt the surface of the salve, and make it even and smooth (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 
Vol. XXVIII, p. 86). 
Camphor Cold-cream is made by melting together almond oil, wax, spermaceti, of each, 
1 pound; now pass into the mixture, in a very small stream, of rose water, 1 pound,agitating 
constantly until the whole is introduced and well incorporated. Then add powdered camphor, 
2 ounces; oil of rosemary, 1 drachm. 
Rose Cold-cream is made similarly of almond oil, rose water, each, 1 pound ; white wax, 
spermaceti, each, 1 ounce; oil of roses, 4 drachm. 
Camphor Ball is made by melting together, spermaceti, 3 drachms; white wax, 4 
drachms; almond oil, 1 ounce; and then adding powdered camphor, 3 drachms. 
Camphor Ice is made by melting spermaceti, 1 drachm, with almond oil, 1 ounce, and 
adding powdered camphor, 1 drachm (see also Ceratum Camphorse Compositum, N. F.). * 
Ceratum Rosatum. Rose cerate, Lip-salve.-White wax, 50 parts; oil of almonds (ex- 
pressed), 100 parts ; carmine, 4 part: essential oil of rose, 4 part. Rub the carmine with a por- 
tion of the oil. Melt the wax and almond oil together with moderate heating; add the car- 
mine (in oil) when the mixture has partially cooled, stirring all intimately together, and lastly, 
add the oil of rose. This is in accordance with the French Codex. 
CERATUM CROTONIS.-CROTON-OIL CERATE. 
Preparation.-Melt lard, 5 ounces, with white wax, 1 ounce, and, when nearly 
cool, add croton oil, 2 ounces, and stir until cool. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Croton-oil cerate is a rubefacient and vesicant, 
and may be used in all cases where such actions, or counter-irritation, are de- 
manded. 
CERATUM PLUMBI SUBACETATIS (U. S. P.)-CERATE OF 
LEAD SUBACETATE. 
Synonyms: Unguentum glycerini plumbi subacetatis, Goulard's cerate, Ointment of 
glycerin of lead subacetate. 
Preparaton.-" Solution of lead subacetate, two hundred grammes (200 Gm.) 
[7 ozs. av.,24 grs.]; camphor cerate, eight hundred grammes (800 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 
12 ozs., 96 grs.]; to make one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lb. av.,3 ozs., 
120 grs.]. Mix them thoroughly. This cerate should be freshly prepared, when 
wanted''-(U. S. P.). 
Care should be taken, in making this cerate, that the camphor cerate be not 
rancid. Both the German and British Pharmacopoeias employ no fats in the prepa- 
ration of this cerate, hence their greater stability. Goulard's cerate rapidly 
assumes a yellow color, and shortly becomes so rancid as to render it unfit for 
medicinal purposes. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Protective and astringent. Should be cautiously 
used on large raw surfaces, lest lead poisoning ensue from absorption. When ran- 
cid this cerate is irritating, and should be discarded, but when freshly prepared, 
it forms a good dressing for blisters, excoriations, ulcers, and to suppurative parts. CERATUM RESINA.-CEREI. 
481 
CERATUM RESINA (U. S. P.)-RESIN CERATE. 
Synonyms: Basilicon ointment, Unguentum resinee, Ointment of resin. 
Preparation.-"Resin, three hundred and fifty grammes (350 Gm.) [12 ozs. 
av., 151 grs.]; yellow wax, one hundred and fifty grammes (150 Gm.) [5 ozs. av., 
127 grs.]; lard, five hundred grammes (500 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 1 oz., 279 grs.]; to 
make one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]. Melt them 
together at a moderate heat, strain the mixture through muslin, and allow it to 
cool without stirring. In cold weather use the following proportions; Resin, 
three hundred and fifty grammes (350 Gm.) [12 ozs. av., 151 grs.]; yellow wax, one 
hundred and twenty grammes (120 Gm.) [4 ozs. av., 102 grs.]; lard, five hundred 
and thirty grammes (530 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 1 oz.,304 grs.] "-(U. S. Pf. 
An old formula reads: " Take of resin 5 ounces, axunge (lard) 8 ounces, bees- 
wax 2 ounces. Melt them together with a gentle heat, and then stir the mixture 
briskly while it cools and concretes" (Ed.f Strain it while it is hot. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This cerate forms a mildly stimulant, digestive, 
and detergent application to ulcers which follow burns, scalds, etc., or which are of a 
foul or indolent character, and also to blistered surfaces to promote a discharge (P.). 
CERATUM SABINJE.-SAVINE CERATE. 
Synonyms : Ointment of savin, Unguentum sabinse. 
Preparation.-Take of lard 7£ ounces, resin 1^ ounces, yellow wax 3 ounces, 
fluid extract of savin 2 ounces. Melt together the lard, resin, and wax, and when 
nearly cold, having stirred it constantly, add the fluid extract, and continue the 
stirring to completion. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Savin cerate is applied to blistered surfaces, to 
maintain a constant discharge. It is less irritating than the cerate of cantharides, 
and has no tendency to excite strangury. When well prepared it has a fine green 
color, is uniform and transparent, without any tendency to separate, and has a 
smell like that of the plant. 
Related Product.-Ceratum Sabin.® (N. F.) (U.S. P.,1880). Savine cerate.-Formulary 
number, 21: "Fluid extract of savine, twenty-five cubic centimeters (25 Cc.) [325 Tfi]; resin 
cerate, ninety grammes (90 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 76 grs.]. Melt the resin cerate by means of a water- 
bath, add the fluid extract of savine, and continue the heat until the alcohol has evaporated; 
then remove the heat, and stir constantly until cool"-(Nat. Form.). 
OEREL- CEREOLI. 
Synonym : Bougies. 
Preparation.-Bougies are made by dipping strips of soft linen cloth, bun- 
dles of thread, etc., rather wider at one end than at the other, into certain em- 
plastic or elastic compositions, folding them closely, and rolling them firmly on 
a smooth slab. Ready-made bougies are now a regular article of commerce. The 
following are some of the compositions held in most repute: 
I. Bell's.-Lead plaster 4 ounces, yellow wax, 1| ounces, olive oil 3 drachms. 
TI. Hunter's.-Olive oil 3 pounds, yellow wax 1 pound, red lead 1| pounds ; 
boil together over a slow fire uutil combined. 
III. Swediaur's White.-White wax 1 pound, spermaceti 3 drachms, ace- 
tate of lead from 2 drachms to 1 ounce; boil together slowly. 
IV. Piderit's Wax.-Yellow wax 6 parts, olive oil 1 part. 
V. Goulard's.-Yellow wax 6 ounces^ melted and mixed by stirring with 
Goulard's extract of lead, from 2 drachms to 2 ounces. 
VI. Elastic.-Boiled linseed oil 12 ounces, amber 4 ounces, oil of turpen- 
tine 4 ounces, in which is dissolved caoutchouc 5 drachms. Melt and mix the 
articleswell together, and spread the compound at three successive intervals upon 
a silk cord or web. Place the pieces so coated, in a stove-oven heated to 65.5° C. 
(150° F.), and leave them in it for 12 hours, adding 15 or 16 fresh layers in 482 
CEREV1SLE FERMENTUM. 
succession, until the instruments have acquired the proper size. Polish first with 
pumice stone, and finally smooth with tripoli and oil. 
Surgical Uses.-Bougies are usually employed for dilating strictures, as of 
the urethra, vagina, neck of the uterus, and rectum. The largest size that can 
be conveniently introduced is first used, and the size gradually increased as the 
treatment progresses. The wax bougie is often employed for obtaining the form 
of a urethral stricture, its location and distance from the external orifice. 
CEREVISL® FERMENTUM.-BEER YEAST. 
The ferment obtained in the brewing of beer. 
Synonyms: Brewer's yeast, Barm. 
Preparation.-When an infusion of malt (barley steeped in water, left to 
incipient fermentation, and dried in a kiln), technically called Wort, is subjected 
to the process of fermentation, a dirty, grayish-brown substance gradually sepa- 
rates, forming in part a frothy scum (top or upper yeast}, and partly a sediment 
(bottom or lower yeast}; this is yeast, or barm. 
Description and. History.-Yeast is a thick, glutinous, foamy-like fluid of a 
wine-acid odor, and a rather unpleasant taste; it is a very complex mixture, con- 
taining water, alcohol, carbonic, acetic, and malic acids, potassium and calcium 
salts, saccharo-mucilaginous extract, and a cryptogamous growth consisting of 
nucleated cells, which was formerly named Torula cerevisise, of Turpin, but now 
known as Saccharomyces cerevisise. When exposed to moist air, or to a temperature 
above 15° C. (59° F.), yeast rapidly decomposes; but when subjected to a gentle 
heat, so as to dissipate its watery parts, it forms a fragile solid, which may be kept 
without change for a considerable time, but with a diminution of its fermentative 
properties. 
Neither water nor alcohol dissolve yeast. Its most important property is, that 
when placed in contact with saccharine solutions at a temperature between 10° and 
26.6° C. (50° and 80° F.), it excites vinous fermentation in them, converting their 
sugar into carbonic acid and alcohol. This was first pointed out by Thenard, in 
1803, but the fungi producing this change were observed by Leeuwenhoek as early 
as 1680. Dr. Christison, by means of yeast, has been able to detect one part of 
sugar in 1000 parts of urine, of specific gravity 1.030. The cells appear as small, 
ovoidal, ellipsoidal, or somewhat pyriform, transparent, nucleated bodies, varying 
in size from to aboutof an inch (P.). 
The fermentative power of yeast is much impaired by drying it; a heat of 
100° C. (212° F.) destroys yeast when moist, as does the addition of some of the 
concentrated acids, and of undiluted alcohol. It is also destroyed by boiling 
water, sulphurous acid, sulphate or acetate of copper, salt, nitrate of silver, black 
oxide of manganese, carbolic acid, creosote, quinine, strychnine, free alkalies, 
pyroligneous acid, salts of mercury, essential oils, etc. If, however, fermentation 
has commenced, the vegetable bases have no specific power of arresting the pro- 
cess. Arsenous acid, acetate of lead, and tartar emetic have no retarding effect 
upon the progress of fermentation. The keeping qualities and the taste of the 
products of fermentation depend largely on the nature of the yeast employed. 
The introduction of pure cultures of these micro-organisms by E. C. Hansen, of 
Copenhagen, has raised the arts involving fermentation to an almost exact sci- 
ence. For some interesting remarks on fermentation, by M. Pasteur, see Amer. 
Jour. Pharm.,No\. XXX, p. 328; also see under Alcohol. 
Yeast may be exposed to a very low temperature (-60° C. [-76° F.] ) with- 
out losing its vitality, though the plant ceases to form and bud at a temperature 
of less than 5° C. (41° F.). On the other hand, it may be heated, if no water be 
present, to 100° C. (212° F.) without destroying its activity, but if water be present, 
its destruction is accomplished at 75° C. (167° F.). Commercial dry yeast is pre- 
pared by pressing out most of the water from yeast. Vienna yeast is the dried froth 
from the wort from barley malt, maize, and rye. Patent yeast is said to be flour 
dough mixed with yeast, or hop infusion, with malt added. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.- Stimulant, tonic, nutritious, anti- 
septic, and laxative. Formerly used in typhoid fevers by mouth and injection, CERII OXALAS. 
483 
and in tympanitis by enema. With or without the addition of olive oil, which 
renders it more laxative, it will be found highly beneficial in all malignant ulcera- 
tions of the throat and mouth, in diseases where there is a disposition to putridity, in 
scarlatina, and low stages of fever. Externally, in combination with elm bark and 
charcoal, it forms an excellent emollient and antiseptic poultice in sloughing ulcers, 
stimulating the vessels, removing the tendency to gangrene, and correcting the 
fetor. In the furunculoid epidemic, which existed in this country and Europe, 
given internally, in conjunction with quinine, yeast was found effectual in the 
treatment of boils, carbuncles, and felons. Yeast in doses of 1 fluid drachm, 3 or 4 
times a day, taken immediately before meals, has been advised in diabetes mellitus. 
It has in some instances proved efficient, and is supposed to act by decomposing 
sugar or preventing its abnormal production in the stomach. The dose of yeast 
is from to 1 fluid ounce, every 2 or 3 hours. 
CERII OXALAS (U. S. P.)-CERIUM OXALATE. 
Formula: Ce2(C2O4)34-9H2O. Molecular Weight: 704.78. 
Synonyms : Oxalas cericus, Cerium oxalicum, Oxalate of cerium, Cerous oxalate. 
Source and Preparation.-Cerium oxalate is prepared by a tedious method 
from the Swedish mineral cerite, which is composed chiefly of the silicates of 
cerium, lanthanum, and didymium. "For its production the powdered mineral 
is digested with hydrochloric acid. The solution is evaporated to a small bulk, 
treated with sulphide of hydrogen, diluted and filtered. Ammonia water is then 
added in slight excess, the precipitate collected, washed with water, dissolved by 
means of diluted hydrochloric acid, and precipitated by solution of oxalic acid. 
This produces crude oxalate of cerium, from which the impurities (lanthanum and 
didymium), are separated by calcining it, wrhereby sesquioxide of cerium is pro- 
duced with the oxides of other metals. The powder is then digested with solu- 
tion of sal ammoniac which dissolves all but the cerous oxide. This is then dis- 
solved in diluted hydrochloric acid, and oxalic acid solution added until in slight 
excess. The precipitate of oxalate of cerium is then dried. It will be observed 
that the object of the foregoing roundabout process is to obtain chloride of cerium, 
and that from this the oxalate is in reality prepared by decomposition with oxalic 
acid" (Lloyd's Chemistry of Medicines'). 
Description and Tests.-"A white, granular powder, without odor or taste, 
and permanent in the air. Insoluble in water, alcohol, ether, or in solutions 
of potassium or sodium hydrate; soluble in diluted sulphuric or hydrochloric 
acid"-{U. S. Pf. When heated in a current of hydrogen it decomposes, leaving 
the sesquioxide, or so-called cerous oxide. Cerium oxalate feels gritty when chewed, 
and seems to impart a sensation as if the teeth would adhere when moved upon 
each other. 
" When heated to redness, it is decomposed, leaving a residue of reddish- 
yellow ceric oxide (a brown color would indicate the presence of didymium). On 
boiling the salt with potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., white cerous hydrate is 
left as insoluble residue, while in the filtrate, supersaturated with acetic acid, 
calcium chloride T.S. wull produce a white precipitate insoluble in acetic acid, 
but soluble in hydrochloric acid. If the yellow residue left after heating be 
dissolved in concentrated sulphuric acid, and a small crystal of strychnine 
added, a deep-blue color will appear, which will rapidly change to purple and 
then to red. From the solution in diluted hydrochloric or sulphuric acid, potas- 
sium hydrate T.S. precipitates white, cerous hydrate, which does not redissolve in 
an excess of the reagent, and gradually turns yellow in contact with air. Am- 
monium carbonate T.S. precipitates white, cerous carbonate, which is somewhat 
soluble in an excess of the reagent. If 0.1 Gm. of cerium oxalate be dissolved 
in 1 Cc. of sulphuric acid, and 2 Cc. of potassium sulphate T.S. be added, small, 
colorless crystals of cerium potassium sulphate will be deposited after some time. 
No effervescence should occur when the salt is dissolved in diluted hydrochloric 
acid (absence of carbonate); nor should the solution be colored or rendered turbid 
on the addition of an equal volume of hydrogen sulphide T.S. (absence.of arsenic, 
etc.). On boiling the salt with potassium or sodium hydrate T.S. and filtering, 484 
CETACEUM. 
no precipitate should be produced in the filtrate either by ammonium chloride 
T.SHabsence of aluminum), or by ammonium sulphide T.S. (absence of zinc) " 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Cerium oxalate allays certain forms of 
vomiting, being best adapted to that reflex disturbance of uterine origin, and less 
valuable where the vomiting depends upon simple gastric irritation or destructive 
processes going on within the stomach. To a certain extent it will sometimes 
relieve the vomiting due to gastric irritability in dyspepsia, phthisis, and other 
chronic wasting diseases. Its reputation as a remedy for cough and chorea has not 
been well sustained. Its most decided effects are in the vomiting of pregnancy, and 
even here it often fails. Prof. Scudder alludes to its probable special influence 
upon the female reproductive apparatus, and states that he has given the remedy 
(2 x trit.) in ulcerated cervix uteri and uterine irritation with leuchorrhceal discharges, 
with apparent success. It has been asserted a useful remedy for dysmenorrhcea in 
robust, fleshy women, with scanty menses, and spasmodic, colicky, or tenesmic 
pain before or at the beginning of the flow, relief following the free establishment 
of the discharge. Six grains are given every hour until relieved (Webster, Dynam. 
Therap., from Med. Record). 
The dose of cerium oxalate ranges from 1 to lOgrains (preferably in powder), 
from 1 to 3 grains being the ordinary dose-every 4 hours. The valerianate of 
cerium is also used in the same doses for vomiting of pregnancy. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Nausea and vomiting of pregnancy with 
nervousness; dysmenorrhcea of plethora, with colicky, tenesmic pain at the outset. 
Cerium and Its Salts.-Cerium (Ce). Atomic weight, 141.2. Klaproth discovered this 
metal in 1803, though he believed it to be an earth. Simultaneously Berzelius and Hisinger 
obtained the metal, all three extracting it from the Swedish mineral cerite above noticed. 
Later it was obtained by Mosander by heating cerium chloride and sodium together, and 
Hillebrand and Norton obtained it from the chloride by electrolysis. The mineral allanite, 
found in New York and Pennsylvania, as well as in Scandinavia, contains the same silicates 
that cerite holds. Among other minerals orthite, gadolinite, etc., of northern Europe contain it. 
Cerium resembles in color iron, and like it tarnishes in th6 presence of a moist atmosphere, 
yellow, blue, and green shades being produced. Though hard, when warm it is malleable, and 
may be drawn into wire. Beautiful scintillations are produced when the metal is struck with 
flint, and it burns even more brilliantly in the air than magnesium. Two oxides are known, 
the blue-green powder, cerium sesquioxide (cerous oxide) (Ce2O3), and the white or pale-vellow 
cerium dioxide (ceric oxide) (CeO2). Corresponding to these oxides are the two lines of cerous 
and ceric compounds. 
Cerii Nitras (Ce[NO3]3.6H2O). Cerium nitrate forms very deliquescent prisms or scales, 
colorless, and readily soluble in water or alcohol. It is prepared by double decomposition 
of barium nitrate and cerous sulphate. Simpson, the discoverer of the medicinal properties 
of the cerium compounds, employed it as a nerve tonic. Probably of little value. 
Cerii Bromidum. - A sweet, chocolate-colored mass, having a styptic action, readily 
soluble in alcohol, but when added to water leaving an insoluble cerous salt. It is prepared 
by dissolving cerous carbonate in hydrobromic acid, and evaporating (Bullock, Amer. Jour. 
Pharm., 1871). 
Cerii Carbonas (Ce2[CO3]3.9H2O). Scales of a silver-like brilliancy, produced by the 
changing of the flocculent white precipitate thrown down when cerous sulphate is decomposed 
by ammonium carbonate. Not soluble in water. 
CETACEUM (U. S. P.)-SPERMACETI. 
"A peculiar, concrete, fatty substance, obtained from Physeter macrocephalus, 
Linne. 
Class: Mammalia. Order: Cetacea. 
Source and Preparation.-Spermaceti is obtained from the cachalot, or sperm 
whale, the Physeter macrocephalus of naturalists, a species of the order Cetacea, and 
family Physeteridae. It is a gregarious animal, inhabiting the Pacific ocean, the 
Indian Archipelago, and the Chinese and Australian seas. It varies in size, being 
from 50 to 80 feet in length, with a huge, quadrangular head, from 20 to 30 feet 
or more in circumference, and which constitutes about a third of its whole length. 
Spermaceti is found in various parts of its body, in small proportions, dissolved 
in its blubber, but that which is met with in commerce is obtained from large 
cavities in the upper part of the head; these are divided into numerous cells, 485 
which are filled with a milky, oleaginous solution of spermaceti. From a large 
whale 40 to 60 hundred weight, of this fluid may be collected. It is removed from 
the cavities and boiled to separate the oleaginous matter from the solid substance, 
and as it cools, the spermaceti crystallizes. The oil is then drained off as much 
as possible, and the remainder is removed from the spermaceti by powerful pres- 
sure. The crude spermaceti is subsequently purified by fusing and skimming it, 
then fusing it in weak lye of potassa, and finally by a third fusion at a gentle 
heat; after which it is solidified in tin molds. 
Description, Chemical Composition, and Tests.-Spermaceti is a concrete, 
crystalline, foliaceous, pearly-white substance, without much taste or odor, easily 
indented or scraped by the nail, slightly greasy, pulverizable on the addition of a 
little alcohol, or almond oil, fusible and combustible. It is freely soluble in boil- 
ing alcohol, which deposits it on cooling; also in fused fats or resins. It is soluble 
in sulphuric acid, which decomposes it, but the other mineral acids do not influ- 
ence it. It differs from ordinary fats in not yielding glycerin when saponified, 
but in furnishing in its stead a monobasic alcohol termed ethal, or cetyl alcohol 
(CI6H33.OH). The U.S.P. describes spermaceti as in " white, somewhat translu- 
cent, slightly unctuous masses of a scaly-crystalline fracture and a pearly lustre ; 
odorless, and having a bland, mild taste. It becomes yellowish and rancid by 
exposure to the air. Specific gravity, about 0.945 at 15° C. (59° F.). It melts 
near 50° C. (122° F.), and congeals near 45° C. (113° F.). Insoluble in water, 
and nearly so in cold alcohol; soluble in boiling alcohol; also in ether, chloro- 
form, carbon disulphide, fixed and volatile oils; only slightly soluble in cold ben- 
zin. An alcoholic solution of spermaceti is neutral to litmus paper. If 1 Gm. of 
spermaceti be boiled with 1 Gm. of anhydrous sodium carbonate, and 50 Cc. of 
alcohol, and the mixture cooled and filtered, the filtrate, upon being super- 
saturated with acetic acid, may become turbid, but should not afford a precipi- 
tate (absence of stearic acid)"-(U. S. P.). Exposed'for a length of time to 
atmospheric influence, spermaceti becomes yellow and rancid, owing to a small 
portion of oil (oil of spermaceti) contained in it, but may be purified by boiling in 
alcohol, which deposits the pure spermaceti as it cools. By this method, or when it 
is deprived of oil by means of an alkali, it becomes a nearly pure proximate prin- 
ciple, intermediate between wax and the concrete oils, and presenting all the lead- 
ing properties of the ordinary article, but less unctuous, rather harder, and fusible 
only at 49° C. (120.2° F.). It is then termed cetin (cetyl palmitate) (C16H33.Ci6H31O2), 
and is soluble in 40 parts of boiling alcohol of specific gravity 0.821. When boiled 
in a solution of caustic potash, cetin is partially saponified, forming a brittle soap 
composed chiefly of palmitate of potassium, oleate of potassium, and a crystalline 
principle called ethal (O^H^O) (cetyl alcohol, or cetyl hydrate), and which soap is 
not wholly soluble in water. When melted or dissolved in hot alcohol it crystal- 
lizes beautifully; when acted on by nitric acid, it yields first, pimelic acid, which 
is then oxidized into adipic acid, which is finally converted into succinic acid. 
Besides cetin, stearic, lauro-stearic, and myristic acids, as well as other and higher 
alcohols, besides ethal, are present in spermaceti. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Demulcent and protective, combined 
with equal parts of loaf-sugar, once used among children in domestic practice in 
coughs, colds, and catarrhal affections, and in irritation of the intestinal mucous mem- 
branes. If to spermaceti be added half its weight of olive oil, and after mixing 
this, powdered gum Arabic be added, and, finally, some water be added by degrees, 
an emulsion may be formed, useful for children and infants. Hollandt states 
that spermaceti may be reduced to the most impalpable powder, by melting it 
over a gentle fire, and then stirring it in a previously-warmed mortar until cold. 
Spermaceti forms a useful ingredient of several cerates and ointments. It 
enters into the formation of a crayon which is of much value to chemists, drug- 
gists, and others, inasmuch as it enables them to write upon clean glass. It is 
made by fusing in a cup 4 drachms of spermaceti (or stearin), 3 drachms of tal- 
low, and 2 drachms of wax; after which 6 drachms of red lead, and 1 drachm of 
potassa are to be stirred into it, keeping the whole mass warm for | hour, when it 
is poured into glass tubes the thickness of a lead-pencil. 
Related Wax.-Black Wax. An animal product introduced into England from the 
Pacific Islands and India. 
CETACEUM. 486 
CETRARIA. 
CETRARIA (U. S. P.)-CETRARIA. 
The lichen, "Cetraria islandica (Linne) Acharius "-(U. S. P.). (Lichen islands 
cus, Linne), 
Class: Lichenes. 
Common Names: Iceland moss, Iceland lichen. 
Botanical Source.-Iceland moss is a perennial, foliaceous plant, from 2 to 4 
inches high; the thallus is erect, tufted, olive-brown, paler on one side, lacin- 
iated, channeled, and dentato-ciliate, the fertile 
lacinae being very broad. The shields are brown, 
oppressed, and flat, with an elevated border (L). 
History.-This lichen is a native of the 
mountainous section of Britain and the northern 
countries of Europe, particularly Iceland. It is 
found as far south as France, Italy, Switzerland, 
and Spain, growing in mountainous elevations. 
It is likewise found in the antarctic countries, 
British America, and in the United States from 
the eastern states to the mountains of Carolina 
and westward to the Rocky Mountains, from Colo- 
rado northward. In northern Europe it has 
long been used for food under the name mosi, 
mus, or mossa (Pharmacographid). Though called 
Iceland moss, none is exported from that island. 
It is diversified in color, being brownish or gray- 
ish-white on some parts, and of a reddish hue in 
others; it is without odor, with a mucilaginous, 
bitter, somewhat astringent taste, and when dry the lichen is crisp, cartilaginous, 
and coriaceous, and is convertible into grayish-white powder. It swells up in 
water, absorbing more than its own weight of that fluid, communicating a portion 
of its bitterness to it, as well as a little mucilage. When long chewed it is con- 
verted into a mucilaginous pulp, and when boiled in water the decoction becomes 
a firm jelly on cooling. 
Description.-The following article is required by the Pharmacopoeia: " From 
5 to 10 Cm. (2 to 4 inches) long, foliaceous, irregularly branched into fringed and 
channelled lobes, brownish above, whitish beneath, and marked with small, 
depressed spots; brittle and inodorous; when softened in water, cartilaginous, 
and having a slight odor; its taste is mucilaginous and bitter. It should be freed 
from pine leaves, mosses, and other lichens, which are frequently found mixed 
with it"-(U. S. P.). 
Chemical Composition.-Iceland moss consists of starchy lignin, a peculiar 
starch, gum, uncrystallizable sugar, a substance closely related to chlorophyll, 
wax, various salts, and a bitter principle called cetrarin or cetraric acid (C18H]6O8), 
which it is said, has been used in Italy for cinchona. Christison states that it may 
be obtained pure " by boiling the coarsely-powdered lichen in 4 times its weight 
of rectified alcohol, filtering the solution when tepid, acidulating it with diluted 
hydrochloric acid, diluting it with 3 times its volume of water, and purifying the 
crystals which slowly form, by squeezing them and washing them with a little 
ether." As thus obtained, cetrarin is in white, microscopic, acicular crystals, per- 
manent, odorless, intensely bitter, insoluble in water, sparingly so in cold alcohol, 
more so in boiling alcohol, or ether, and readily soluble in alkaline solutions. 
When its alkaline solutions are treated with acids, the cetrarin is procured with- 
out being changed in its properties; concentrated hydrochloric acid converts it 
into a blue coloring matter. It is said to prove an efficient febrifuge in 2 or 3 
grain doses, administered every 2 or 3 hours. Iceland moss also contains licheno- 
stearic acid (C14II34O3), fumaric acid (lichenic acid of Pfaff [1826]), oxalic and tartaric 
acids, and thallochlor (of Knop and Schnedermann), a chlorophyll unaffected by 
chlorhydric acid. The most important part of Iceland moss is its nutritive prin- 
ciple, to which the name of lichenin or lichen-starch has been given, and which 
exists to the extent of 70 per cent. It may be obtained by macerating the chopped 
_ 
Cetraria islandica 487 
lichen for 24 hours in 18 parts of water, containing of its weight of carbonate 
of potassium-strain off the bitter solution without pressure, and remove the rest 
of it from the residuum by maceration with cold water and simple straining. 
Boil the residuum in 9 parts of water down to 6, strain the decoction, and squeeze 
what is left in the cloth, and then allow the strained liquor to cool. A firm jelly 
is formed, which cracks and throws out much of the water, and then dries into a 
hard, black, glassy-like substance. The black coloring matter may be removed by 
boiling again, straining, cooling, and drying; upon which the lichenin is obtained 
in thin, transparent, and tough plates of a yellowish color. Cold water renders 
it gelatinous, boiling water dissolves it, forming a jelly on cooling; alcohol and 
ether do not affect it. Iodine renders its watery solution blue, and it is converted 
into sugar by sulphuric acid, and into oxalic acid by nitric acid. According to 
Berg this body is made up of a substance for which he retains the name lichenin, 
and another constituent, which alone imparts the blue color to iodine. Out of 
30 per cent obtained from the drug, 10 per cent was of this latter body, unnamed 
by him, but for which others have proposed the name lichenoid (isolichenin). This 
latter principle is freely soluble in cold water, but very sparingly soluble in 
boiling w7ater. Lichenin has the same composition as that of starch and cellulose 
(C12H20O10), and is believed to be a modification of the latter, and in some respects 
resembles amidin. 
Preparations.-Iceland Moss Jelly (Gelatina lichenis islandici). Washed 
Iceland moss 3 parts, water 100 parts. Make a decoction, strain, add wrhite sugar 
3 parts, and evaporate the whole to 10 parts. Official in Pharmacopoeia Germanica. 
Dried Saccharated Iceland Moss (Gelatina lichenis islandici saccharata sicca). 
-Iceland moss 10 parts. Deprive the lichen of its bitterness by heating to 100° C. 
(212° F.), in a small amount of water, express, and wash with cold water. Boil 
the residue in water an hour, strain and decant the decoction, mix with sugar 
10 parts, evaporate, dry and pulverize. This gives a grayish-brown product. This 
is official in the French Codex. 
To deprive Iceland moss of its bitterness, the Pharmacopoeia Germanica directs, 
Iceland moss 15 parts, to be macerated in tepid water 90 parts, containing carbon- 
ate of potassium 1 part, for 3 hours. The product is subsequently thoroughly 
washed with cold water. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.- Demulcent, tonic, and nutritious. 
Excessive doses may induce nausea and looseness of the bowels, while ordinary 
doses improve the appetite, digestion, and general nutrition. Constipation is not 
produced by it, and the circulation is unaffected. Its nutritive qualities are 
undoubtedly due to its starch. The bitterness of cetrarin may be detected in the 
nursing mother's milk. Used as a demulcent in chronic catarrhs, chronic dysentery 
and diarrhoea, and as a tonic in dyspepsia, convalescence, and exhausting diseases. 
Boiled with milk it forms an excellent nutritive and tonic in phthisis and general 
debility. It relieves the cough of chronic bronchitis. Its tonic virtues depend on its 
cetrarin, the bitter principle which, if removed, renders the lichen merely nutri- 
tious. Dose in powder, 30 to 60 grains; of cetrarin, 1| to 3 grains. The jelly and 
decoction are most generally employed. 
CHAM^LIRIUM. 
CHAM^LIRIUM (HELONIAS.)-BLAZING STAR. 
The rhizome of Chamodirium luteum, Gray (Helonias dioica, Pursh; Helonias 
lutea, Aiton). 
Nat. Ord.-Liliacese (Melanthaceae, Br.). 
Common Names: Unicorn root, False unicorn root, Blazing star, Starwort. 
Illustration: (See American Dispensatory, eighth and succeeding editions). 
We have adopted Gray as authority in the name of this plant, therefore the 
term Helonias dioica of former editions will be replaced to conform with the gener- 
ally accepted classification. The common name is Unicorn root, derived from the 
fact that the rhizome resembles a horn. Afterward this term was applied to 
Aletris farinosa, which is thus the False unicorn. Chamselirium is also known 
under the names Drooping starwort, Devil's bit, and in former editions of this work, 
and in other books, as False unicorn. 488 
Botanical Source.-The Chamaelirium is an erect, slender herb, about 2 feet 
high, and without branches. The stem is smooth, round, striate, and terminates 
in a long, slender spike of small white flowers. The 
lower leaves are obovate-spatulate, smooth, entire, 
alternate, and exstipulate. They are clustered in at 
the base of the stem, gradually becoming smaller 
until the upper are reduced to scales. They are 
attached at an acute angle to the stem. The radical 
leaves are obtuse, but those on the upper part of the 
stem are acute; the veins are parallel, and run length- 
wise along the leaf, but are not prominent. The 
flowers are very small, and the fertile and sterile are 
on different stems; the fertile stems being much more 
leafy than the sterile. The female flowers consist, 
each, of 6 small, linear, white petals, a small, globu- 
lar ovary, about the size of a grain of hemp seed, with 
3 linear stigmas about the length of the ovary; each 
one is succeeded by a dry, oblong capsule, opening 
by 3 valves at the apex, and containing numerous 
minute seeds. The sterile flowers are in spikes much 
longer than those of the fertile, and are from 4 to 6 
inches in length. They have 6 linear petals, and the 
same number of stamens, which have unequal fila- 
ments about twice the length of the petals; the an- 
thers are small and globular. The aspect of the flow- 
ering stems of male and female plants is very differ- 
ent, and they would hardly be attributed to the same 
species by one who has not closely examined them. 
History.-This plant is indigenous to the United States, and is abundant in 
some of the western states, growing in woodlands, meadows, and moist situations, 
and flowering in June and July. It is also found in low grounds from Canada to 
Georgia and Louisiana. 
The rhizome of this plant has long been confounded with, and sold for, that 
of Aletris farinosa, and to such an extent that druggists generally have concluded 
the two must bear a very close resemblance. This is a mistake, as there is scarcely 
any likeness between them. The impression as to their similarity of appearance 
was strengthened by the American Dispensatory, p. 419, eighth and succeeding 
editions, viz.: "There has been, and still exists, much difficulty among drug- 
gists and herb-gatherers, in determining the difference between the roots of Aletris 
farinosa and Helonias dioica, as they greatly resemble each other," etc. With the 
view of correcting previous mistakes, and setting right the history of the two 
plants, we have produced fac-simile drawings of both plants (Figs. 14 and 66), 
and by a simple reference to our engravings of Aletris farinosa and a comparison 
with that of Chamaelirium, it will be obvious: (1) " That the shape of the leaves 
and general appearance of the plant are entirely different. (2) The rhizomse are 
utterly unlike, and do not in the least resemble each other." 
It is to be regretted that so much confusion has existed with regard to these 
rhizomae, and the difficulty must be ascribed to the common names given them, and 
not to a resemblance. We have upon the market, the rhizomae of Unicorn and 
False unicorn, of Stargrass and Starwort, Helonias dioica, and Aletris farinosa and the 
majority of dealers and therapeutists are by no means decided as to the identity 
of either of them. When ordered by their common names, the roots from one 
section of country will be the reverse of those from other sections; and when star- 
grass or unicorn root is sold to a druggist the dealer is uncertain as to whether it will 
not be returned as "different from that previously purchased." Strict conformity 
to botanical names will assist in overcoming this extended and serious evil. 
Description.-The rhizomae of chamaelirium are from 4 an inch to 2 inches 
in length, and, when dry, average from f of an inch to £ an inch in diameter. 
They are mostly curved (horn shape), but some are nearly straight; usually pre- 
morse (as though bitten off), but sometimes they are pointed. Externally, they 
are dark-brown, transversely wrinkled, rough and uneven, showing the stem-scars 
CHAMAELIRIUM. 
Fig. 66. 
Chamselirium luteum. CH AMtELIRIUM. 
489 
upon the upper side. Around the entire rhizome are fibrous rootlets, scattered 
above and thicker below. The fresh fibers are succulent, with the exception, 
however, of a hard, ligneous, thread-like center, which remains from one season 
to another long after the soft external portion has decayed. This gives rise 
to the appearance of pores or pin-holes upon the surface of the root, through 
many of which the woody fibers still pass, and extend, as fragments, from £ an 
inch to 2 inches beyond the surface, and internally, to the central part of the rhi- 
zome. When the fibers are entirely decayed, the small, pin-like holes remain and 
are often mistaken for worm-holes. Remains of radical leaves are occasionally 
found attached to the upper end of the rhizome, below which will often be 
observed a bunch of dried fibers, and along the upper side of the rhizome may be 
seen the bases of several annual stems or stem-scars. Internally, the rhizome 
is very hard, of a horn-like color and texture, about of the central portion 
being a little lighter, and partly composed of fibrous matter, from the surface of 
which the rootlets rise. The dried rhizomse exhale a peculiar, characteristic, not 
unpleasant odor, more strongly developed when bruised, or rubbed between the 
fingers. The taste is very bitter, disagreeable and acrid. The virtues are extracted 
by alcohol, and, when fresh, by alcohol or boiling water. 
Chemical Composition.-The rhizome contains a yellowish bitter principle, 
for which the name chomadirin has been proposed by Dr. F. V. Greene. It is a 
neutral body in the form of a powder, insoluble in the ordinary solvents, except 
alcohol and water, with both of which it gives frothy solutions after the manner 
of saponin. By treatment with diluted acids it is resolved into grape sugar and 
chamadiretin, a resinous body dissolving in ether and alcohol. Chamaelirin is said 
to act as a heart poison. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Helonias is tonic, diuretic, and vermi- 
fuge; in large doses, emetic, and, when fresh, sialagogue. In doses of 10 or 15 
grains of the powdered root, repeated 3 or 4 times a day, it has been found very 
beneficial in dyspepsia, loss of appetite, and for the removal of worms. It is more 
especially applicable in indigestion, dyspepsia, and mal-assimilation, where the 
trouble is reflex from, or associated with wrongs of the female reproductive appa- 
ratus. Such digestive disturbances as depend upon uterine and ovarian irrita- 
tion, or upon lack of uterine activity, in chlorotic anemia, are benefited by it, as well 
as the gastric complications of albuminuria. It is not, how'ever, of much value 
in albuminuria itself. It is said to render the urine alkaline. It is reputed bene- 
ficial in colic, and is valuable in atony of the generative organs. I have found this 
plant to possess a decidedly beneficial influence in cases of sexual lassitude in both 
sexes, and of nocturnal emissions, the result of excesses, especially in those instan- 
ces where there are symptoms of gastric derangement with impaired memory, 
mental apathy, or indifference, and an enfeebled condition of the general system, 
with weakness or dull pain in the renal, or lumbo-sacral region (King). In dis- 
eases of the reproductive organs of females, and especially of the uterus, it is one 
of our most valuable agents, acting as a uterine tonic, and gradually removing 
abnormal conditions, while at the same time it imparts tone and vigor to the 
reproductive organs. Hence, it is much used in leucorrhoea, amenorrhoea, dysmen- 
orrhoea, and to remove the tendency to repeated and successive miscarriages. A 
particular phase removed by it is the irritability and despondency that often 
attends uterine troubles. In painful menstruation it has been found especially 
adapted to those cases in which there is pelvic fullness, a sensation as if the womb 
and rectum were distended with blood, and the aching, bearing-down organs feel 
as if they would fall out of the body. Its action here is very decided when the 
smaller doses are employed. It is considered useful by some for the relief of the 
vomiting of pregnancy. Helonias is a decided tonic to the urinary tract, and has 
exerted some benefit in diabetes insipidus. The plant is said to kill cattle feeding 
on it; and the decoction to kill insects, bugs, and lice. Dose of the powder, from 
20 to 40 grains; of the decoction, from 2 to 4 fluid ounces; of a saturated tincture, 
from 10 to 30 minims; of the hydro-alcoholic extract, from 2 to 4 or 5 grains; 
specific helonias, 1 to 20 drops. The Helonias bullata, with purple flowers, and 
probably some of the other species, possess similar medicinal virtues. 
Owing to the confusion that once existed (compare Aletris and Chamsdirium) 
concerning the rhizomes furnishing helonias and aletris, the therapy of these 490 
CHARTS.-CHARTA POTASSII NITRATIS. 
drugs have been heretofore similarly given. Aletris, however, is more adapted to 
digestive disorders, while helonias is chiefly a uterine tonic. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Mental irritability and despondency; sexual 
lassitude; atony of the female reproductive organs; gastric debility, with anorexia, 
nausea, indigestion, and mal-assimilation, particularly when due to reflexes of 
uterine origin; sticky, slimy leucorrhoea; atonic urinary tract; dysmenorrhcea, 
with pelvic fullness and heavinesses if congested, with a bearing-down sensation, 
as if the parts were about to fall out. 
CHARTS.-MEDICATED PAPERS. 
This class is known as medicated papers, and was introduced into the U. S. P. 
in 1870, having previously been official in the French Codex and British Pharma- 
copoeia. The processes of preparation are given under each particular paper, the 
modes of coating, etc., necessarily varying according to the material employed. 
They (excepting potassium nitrate paper) are like plasters, differing, however, in 
being spread upon non-absorbent, or sized paper. 
CHARTA CANTHARIDIS (N. F.)-CANTHARIDES PAPER. 
Synonyms : Charta epispastica, Charta vesicatoria, Blistering paper, Cantharides 
paper (U. S. P., 1880.) Formulary number, 22. 
Preparation.-The Nat. Form, directs: "White wax,eighty grammes (80 Gm.) 
[2 ozs. av., 360 grs.]; spermaceti, thirty grammes (30 Gm.) 1 oz. av., 25 grs.]; olive 
oil, forty grammes (40 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 180 grs.]; Canada turpentine, ten grammes 
(10 Gm.) [154 grs.]; cantharides, in No. 40 powder, ten grammes (10 Gm.) [154 
grs.]; water, one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl5,183 HI]. Mix all 
the substances in a tinned vessel, and boil gently for 2 hours, constantly stirring. 
Strain through a woolen strainer without expressing, and by means of a water- 
bath, keep the mixture in a shallow, flat-bottomed vessel with an extended sur- 
face. Coat strips of sized paper with the melted plaster, on one side only, by 
passing them successively over the surface of the liquid; when dry, cut the strips 
into rectangular pieces"-{Nat. Form.). 
Action and. Medical Uses.-Applicable as a blistering agent when vesication 
is to be accurately limited, but less efficient than cantharides cerate w'hen full 
and pronounced vesication is required. The parts must be well washed with soap 
and water before applying the paper. 
CHARTA POTASSII NITRATIS (U. S. P.)-POTASSIUM 
NITRATE PAPER. 
Synonyms: Saltpetre paper. 
Preparation.-" Potassium nitrate, two hundred grammes (200 Gm.) [7 ozs. 
av., 24 grs.]; distilled water, eight hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fls, 
25 TH.]. Dissolve the potassium nitrate in the distilled water. Immerse strips 
of white, unsized paper in the solution, and dry them. Keep the paper in well- 
closed vessels"-(U. S. P.). 
In making this preparation, which is sometimes known as asthma paper, it is 
essential that a paper free from chlorine and its compounds, and a potassium 
nitrate uncontaminated with chlorides be employed. If the medicated paper is 
to be used in making moxas, these precautions are not so necessary. The potas- 
sium salt should be completely dissolved, so that aggregations of the salt may 
not form upon the paper, thus causing the paper to burn unevenly. Medicated 
cigarettes may be prepared from this paper by rolling it with such leaves as those 
of belladonna, stramonium, digitalis, hyoscyamus, sage, etc., or the paper may be 
formed into a quill, whose edges are held in contact with each other by means of 
a little gelatin, and the medicated substance to be inhaled introduced into the CHARTA SINAPIS.-CHELIDONIUM. 
491 
hollow tube. Moms may be prepared by rolling the nitrated paper into firm, 
cylindrical sticks about | inch in thickness and cutting them into sections of the 
desired length. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This paper is to be burned and the fumes 
inhaled for the relief of nervous asthma. It is thought by some that the heating 
converts the potassium nitrate into potassium nitrite. 
CHARTA SINAPIS (U. S. P.)-MUSTARD PAPER. 
Preparation.-"Black mustard, in No. 60 powder, one hundred grammes 
(100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av.,213 grs.]; India rubber, ten grammes (10 Gm.) [154 grs.]; 
benzin, carbon disulphide, each a sufficient quantity. Pack the black mustard in 
a conical percolator, and gradually pour benzin upon it until the percolate ceases 
to produce a permanent, greasy stain upon blotting paper. Remove the powder 
from the percolator, and dry it by exposure to the air. Having meanwhile dis- 
solved the India rubber in a mixture of one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) 
each, of benzin and carbon disulphide, mix the purified mustard with a sufficient 
quantity of the solution to produce a semi-liquid magma, and apply this, by 
means of a suitable brush, to one side of a piece of rather stiff, well-sized paper, 
so as to cover it completely, and then allow the surface to dry. A surface of sixty 
square centimeters should contain about 4 Gm. of black mustard deprived of oil. 
Before it is applied to the skin, mustard paper should be dipped in warm water 
for about 15 seconds"-(U. S. Pi). 
That of the British Pharmacopoeia is inferior to this paper, inasmuch as the 
oil is not extracted from the mustard, nor has the paper prepared with gutta- 
percha solution the flexibility of that made as above directed. While not as 
useful as mustard cataplasm, mustard paper is more convenient for travellers, and 
has the advantage of being always ready for use. 
Action and Medical Uses.- In this paper the adhesion is perfect, and the 
preparation remains unalterable by time or atmospheric action. To use it requires 
only to wet it with water for 12 or 15 seconds, and then apply upon the skin, 
when it becomes a most active sinapism. M. Paul Rigollot is the inventor. This 
sinapism has been found more efficient than ammonia in the bites or stings of horse- 
flies, gnats, mosquitoes, bees, wasps, etc. As soon as the first sensation of the sina- 
pism is felt, the pain and swelling rapidly disappears, and in from 1 to 24 hours 
the cure is complete. It may be used in all cases where a sinapism is indicated, 
except, perhaps, in a mustard foot-bath; it requires no loss of time in preparation, 
no water, no fire, no flour, no linen, is easily conveyed about, and acts promptly. 
CHELIDONIUM (U. S. P.)-CHELIDONIUM. 
"The entire plant, Chelidonium majus, Linne"-(U. S. P.). 
Nat. Ord.-Papaveracese. 
Common Names: Celandine, Chelandine, Tetter wort, Great celandine. 
Illustration: Kohler's Medicinal Pflanzen,N (A. I, Plate 21. 
Botanical Source.-This plant is an evergreen perennial, with a stem from 
1 to 2 feet in height, branched, swelled at the joints, leafy, round, and smooth. 
The leaves are smooth, spreading, and very deeply pinnatifid. The leaflets, in 
from 2 to 4 pairs, from 1| to 2^ inches long, about § as broad, terminal one largest, 
all ovate, and cuneately incised or lobed; the lateral ones sometimes dilated at 
their lower margin, near the base, almost as if auricled; color of all a deep, shining 
green. The flowers are bright yellow, umbellate, and are borne on long, often 
hairy stalks; umbels thin, axillary, and pedunculate; calyx tawny, often hairy; 
petals 4, entire, yellow, and very fugacious; stamens numerous; capsules long, 
torulose, 2 valved, and 1-celled; seeds black and shining, each with a whitish, 
deciduous crest (L.). 
History.-Celandine is a pale-green, fleshy herb, indigenous to Europe, and 
naturalized in this country; it grows along fences, by roadsides, in waste places, etc., 
and flowers from May to October. When the plant is wounded, a bright-yellow, 492 
CHELIDONIUM. 
offensive juice exudes, which has a persistent, nauseous, bitter taste, with a biting 
sensation in the mouth and fauces. The root is the most intensely bitter part of the 
plant, and is more commonly preferred. Drying diminishes its activity. It yields 
its virtues to alcohol or water. The plant should 
be collected while in bloom. 
Description.-"Root several headed, branch- 
ing, reddish-brown ; stem about 50 Cm.(20 inches 
long), light-green, hairy; leaves about 15 Cm. 
(6 inches) long, thin, petiolate, the upper ones 
smaller and sessile, light-green, on the lower side 
glaucous, lyrate-pinnatifid; the pinnse ovate- 
oblong, obtuse, coarsely crenate or incised, and 
the terminal one often 3-lobed; flowers in small, 
long-peduncled umbels, with 2 sepals and 4 yel- 
low petals; capsule linear, 2-valved, and many- 
seeded. The fresh plant contains a saffron- 
colored milk-juice, and has an unpleasant odor 
and acrid taste"-(U. S. P.f 
Chemical Composition.-Analysis has de- 
tected in this plant a deep-yellow bitter, resinous 
substance, an orange-colored, nauseous, and bitter 
gum-resin, mucilage, albumen, free malic acid, 
silica, and various salts (Chevallier and Las- 
saigne). Probst (1838) obtained a peculiar acid 
termed che'idonic acid; and an alkaloidal principle, forming neutral red salts with 
acids, which are narcotic and poisonous, denominated chelerythrine (pyrrhopine) 
(Ci9H17NO4), predicted by Probst (1840) to be identical with sanguinarine, which 
Schiel, of St. Louis (1855), proved to be the case. More recently, however, G. Konig 
(1891) assigns to sanguinarine the formula C20H1.-)NO4, and pronounces cheleryth- 
rine to be methyl sanguinarine (C2iH17NO4) (see Amer. Jour. Pharm.). It is a gray 
powder, and excites violent sneezing when snuffed into the nostrils. Another 
alkaloidal principle, bitter, insoluble in water, and forming crystallizable salts, is 
called chelidonine (C19H17N3O3); also a neutral, yellow, crystallizable bitter princi- 
ple, is termed chelidoxanthin. 
The alkaloids are held in combination with malic acid and chelidonic acid 
(C7H4O6), a bibasic acid capable of dissolving iron and zinc. It occurs in silky, 
acicular crystals, has a very sour taste, decomposes the alkaline carbonates, dis- 
solves in hot water, slightly in alcohol and cold water, and when boiled with an 
alkali, yields acetone and oxalic acid (Lieben and Haitinger). Zwenger (1860) 
announced another acid, chelidoninic acid, believed by Walz to be succinic acid, 
and by Schmidt to correspond to ethylene-succinic acid. It is believed to be 
identical with the yellow acid produced by treating chelidonic acid with cold 
alkali in excess. 
Chelerythrine may be obtained by forming a strong ethereal tincture of the 
celandine root; through this pass hydrochloric acid gas, and dry the precipitated 
chloride, which is insoluble in ether. Then dissolve it in hot water, filter, pre- 
cipitate by ammonia, dry the precipitate, dissolve it in ether, decolorize by ani- 
mal charcoal, again precipitate by hydrochloric acid gas, and decompose the 
chloride by ammonia, as before (see 'Samguinariaf Three additional alkaloids, 
protopine and alpha-and beta-homochehdonine, have been isolated by Schmidt from 
the commercial alkaloids, chelidonine and chelerythrine. The alkaloid, chelido- 
nine, was found by this author identical with stylophorine, an alkaloid obtainable 
from the root of Stylophorum diphyllum, an observation confirmed by Selle 
(Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1890). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Stimulant, acrid, alterative, diuretic, 
diaphoretic, purgative, and vulnerary. As a drastic hydragogue it is fully equal 
to gamboge. The juice, when applied to the skin, produces inflammation, and 
even vesication, and has long been known as a caustic for the removal of warts; 
also applied to indolent ulcers, fungous growths, etc., and is useful in removing specks 
and opacities of the cornea, and in curing ringworms. Celandine is superior to arnica 
as a vulnerary; an alcoholic tincture of the root (3 ounces to 1 pint), will be found 
Fig. 67. 
Chelidonium majus. CHELONE 
493 
an unrivaled external application to prevent or subdue traumatic inflammations. 
Used internally in decoction or tincture, and externally in poultice or ointment, 
for scrofula, cutaneous diseases, and piles. Likewise useful in hepatic affections, and 
is supposed to exert a special influence on the spleen. It is a remedy influencing 
the parts supplied with nerve force from the branches of the solar plexus, and 
with blood from the hepatic artery, and to some extent by the splenic artery. 
Both acute and subacute forms of inflammation of the liver, when suppurative 
action has not set in, are benefited by chelidonium. Migraine, bilious headaches, 
supraorbital neuralgia, bilious dyspepsia, with headache, and other gastric and intes- 
tinal disturbances, due to faulty action of the liver, are well treated with it. It 
is a remedy for so-called 11 liver coughs." Hemorrhoids, hepatic and splenic congestion, 
and gastro-intestinal disorders, due to capillary engorgement of the viscera, are con- 
ditions for its exhibition. It is one of the best of remedies for biliary catarrh, the 
result of hepatic congestion, and for jaundice, due to obstruction of the bile ducts, 
the mucous membranes of which are swollen from the subacute inflammation 
present. Full, tensive, or throbbing pain in the right hypochondrium, and pain 
extending to beneath the right scapula, are the guides to its use in these hepatic 
disorders. Prof. Scudder, who conceived a very favorable opinion of this remedy, 
favored the use of small doses of chelidonium where the tongue was somewhat 
pallid and enlarged, the skin sallow, full, and occasionally tinged greenish-yel- 
low, the mucous membranes enfeebled and full, right hypochondrium full, abdo- 
men tumid, feces light in color, and urine of high specific gravity, and pale, but 
cloudy. As a rule there is no general abdominal pain. (Edema of the extremi- 
ties is sometimes an added indication. The remedy has acted favorably in biliary 
calculi, and in the small dose to drop, every 2 or 3 hours) the extravagant 
claim of having radically cured hydrocele, has been made by some leading Homoeo- 
paths. Dose of the powdered root, from to 1 drachm; of the fresh juice, from 
30 to 40 drops, in some bland liquid; of the tincture, from 1 to 2 fluid drachms; 
of the aqueous extract, from 5 to 10 grains. The foregoing doses represent its 
gross action, but for the specific purposes for which it is now employed, the dose 
should be small, preferably from 1 to 15 drops of specific chelidonium. Prof. 
Scudder preferred it as follows: Specific chelidonium, gtt. x; aqua, fl^iv. Mix. 
A tablespoonful every 3 or 4 hours. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-"Full, pale, sallow tongue and mucous 
membranes; skin pale and sallow, sometimes greenish; " hepatic congestion ; jaun- 
dice, due to swollen bile ducts; sluggish hepatic action; cough, with hepatic pain ; 
fullness, with tensive or throbbing pain in the right hypochondrium, and pain 
extending to right shoulder; melancholia, headaches, and gastric disorders, 
dependent upon faulty action of the liver. 
Related Species.-Glaucium luteum, Scopoli (Chelidonium Glaucium, Linne). Europe. 
Naturalized in the United States. Horn poppy. Grows near the coast and has yellow flowers. 
Resembles celandine somewhat, though possessing less acridity, has a saffron-yellow juice, and 
contains sanguinarine, glaucine (in the herb), and glauco-picrine (in the root), all white alka- 
loids. Narcotic and poisonous, occasioning delirium and visual disturbances, objects appear- 
ing yellow. The juice, mixed with egg albumen, has been used domestically in Provence for 
piles and spasmodic anal stricture, and the juice applied for stings, contusions, ulcers, etc. 
Glaucium corniculatum, Curtius.--Similar to above plant, but has red flowers marked 
with a black spot at the base of the petals. 
CHELONE.-BALMONY. 
The herb, and especially the leaves of Chelone glabra, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Scrophulariacete. 
Common Names: Balmony, Snakehead, Turtlehead, Turtlebloom, Shell flower, Salt- 
rheum weed. 
Botanical Source.-This is a perennial, smooth, herbaceous plant, with a 
simple, erect, somewhat 4-sided stem, about 2 or 3 feet high. The leaves are oppo- 
site, sessile, or nearly so, smooth, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, serrate, and of a 
dark, shining green above. The flowers are large, inodorous, white, rose color, 
or purple, subsessile, in a short, terminal, dense spike, somewhat resembling the 
head of a snake or tortoise; the corolla is inflated, bilabiate, and contracted at the 494 
CHENOPODIUM. 
mouth; the upper lip is broad and arched, and keeled in the middle; the lower 
one woolly within; the calyx is deeply 5-parted, with 3 bracts at the base. Sta- 
mens 4, with hairy filaments and hairy, cordate anthers, a fifth sterile filament 
smaller than the others; ovary ovate; style long, exsert, 
and bending downward. The fruit is an oval, 2-celled, 
2-valved capsule, with many small, wing-margined 
seeds (W.-G.). 
History.-This valuable medicinal plant is found 
in the United States in damp soils, flowering in August 
and September. The flowers are very ornamental, and 
vary in color, according to the variety of the plant, 
there being many varieties. The leaves are exceedingly 
bitter, but inodorous, and communicate their proper- 
ties to both water and alcohol. 
Chemical Composition.-W. Pfeufler (1892), who 
made an approximate analysis of the over-ground por- 
tion of this herb, detected in the alcoholic and ethereal 
extracts, a glucosid, which, when decomposed, evolved 
a peculiar, disagreeable odor. The usual plant constit- 
uents were found, and from the ethereal extract crys- 
tals giving the reactions for gallic acid were obtained 
{A. P. A. Proc., 1892). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Tonic, cathar- 
tic, and anthelmintic. Especially valuable in jaundice 
and hepatic diseases, likewise for the removal of worms, 
for which it may be used in powder or decoction, inter- 
nally and also in injection. Used as a tonic in small 
doses, in dyspepsia, debility of the digestive organs, particu- 
larly when associated with hepatic inactivity, and 
during convalescence from febrile and inflammatory diseases. It is valuable after 
malarial fevers as a tonic and to unlock the secretions when checked by quinine. 
Recommended in form of ointment as an application to painful and inflamed 
tumors, irritable and painful ulcers, inflamed breasts, piles, etc. Dose of the powder, 
1 drachm; of the tincture, 1 or 2 fluid drachms; of the decoction, 1 or 2 fluid 
ounces; specific chelone, 10 to 30 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.- Gastro-intestinal debility, with hepatic 
torpor or jaundice; worms. 
Fig. 68 
Chelone glabra 
CHENOPODIUM (U. S. P.)-CHENOPODIUM. 
"The fruit of Chenopodium ambrosioides, Linne, and variety anthelminticum, 
Gray"-(17. S. P). 
Nat. Ord.-Chenopodiaceai 
Common Names: American wormseed, Wormseed. 
Botanical Source.-This plant, sometimes known also by the name of Jeru- 
salem oak, has a perennial and branched root, with an erect, herbaceous, much- 
branched, furrowed stem, rising from 1 to 3 feet in height. The leaves are alter- 
nate or scattered, oblong-lanceolate, toothed, sinuate, nearly sessile, distinctly 
veined, attenuated at both ends, of a yellowish-green color, and marked beneath 
with small resinous atoms. The flowers are very numerous, small, of the same 
color as the leaves, arranged in long, slender, axillary, or terminal, leafless racemes; 
calyx with .5 ovate, concave, permanent segments; stamens 5, opposite to the seg- 
ments of the calyx, and about as long, with awl-shaped filaments; styles 2 or 3, 
short; ovary orbicular, depressed; seeds solitary, lenticular, crustaceous, and cov- 
ered by the permanent, 5-angled calyx (L.). 
History and Chemical Composition.-Chenopodium is found growing in 
waste places in almost all parts of the United States, flowering from July to Sep- 
tember, and ripening its seeds throughout the autumn, at which time they should 
be collected. The whole plant has a strong, unpleasant odor, which is owing to 
its essential oil (see Oleum Chenopodii}. When first obtained, it is of a light straw CHIMAPHILA. 
495 
color, but gradually acquires a darker hue. The seeds contain a large quantity 
of this oil, which is obtained from them by distillation. The whole plant is occa- 
sionally employed, but the seeds only are official. Chenopodin has been obtained 
from the fresh plant, in the form of a white, tasteless, inodorous powder, soluble 
in 11 parts of water, 202 parts of cold alcohol, and soluble in diluted acids. 
Description. - " Nearly 2 Mm. (y1^ inch) in diameter, depressed-globular, 
glandular, dull-greenish or brownish, the integuments friable, and containing a 
lenticular, obtusely-edged, glossy, black seed. It has a peculiar, somewhat tere- 
binthinate odor, and a bitterish, pungent taste"-(U. S. PC). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.- Anthelmintic and antispasmodic. 
It is used in various forms, as the expressed juice, electuary, or decoction, to 
expel the lumbrici in children. The dose of the juice is a tablespoonful, repeated 
night and morning; of the infusion, prepared by infusing 1 ounce of the recent 
plant in 1 pint of milk, with the addition of some aromatic, a wineglassful; of 
the electuary, made by thoroughly mixing the pulverized seed in honey or syrup, 
20 or 40 grains. But the essential oil, on which the vermifuge properties depend 
is the best form, and is more generally employed. Its dose is from 4 to 8 drops 
mixed with sugar, or in emulsion, to be given morning and evening, for 4 or 5 days 
successively, and then, as with the other forms of administration, it should always 
be followed by a purgative. It is used in various combinations. Take of oil of 
wormseed and tansy, of each 1 ounce, spirits of turpentine 1| ounces, castor oil 
1 pound. Mix. Dose, for a child, a teaspoonful every hour, until it operates; for 
an adult, a tablespoonful. Equal parts of chenopodium and jalap in decoction 
may be given in tablespoonful doses, on an empty stomach, 4 or 5 times a day. 
The oil has likewise been reputed beneficial in amenorrhoea. 
Specific Indication and Use.-To expel lumbricoid worms. 
Related Species.-The Chenopodiumambrosioides, Linne,which has been successfully used 
in chorea, and the Chenopodium botrys, Linn6, which has been used with advantage in catarrh 
and humoral asthma, as an expectorant, are both indigenous, and though less powerful, possess 
somewhat similar properties; and, indeed, from the superior powers of the C. anthelminticum, 
it might possibly be found of more benefit in these affections than the above. The first spe- 
cies is official in many of the European countries where it is known as Herba botryos mexicanee 
or Mexican tea. It is plentiful in our middle states. Its flower-spikes are dense and leafy. The 
second species is strongly aromatic, the odor resembling turpentine, and is known as Oak of 
Jerusalem and Feather geranium. It is naturalized in this country, being a native of Europe 
and Asia. 
Chenopodium album, Linne, is Common pigweed or Lamb's-quarter. It is a mealy, smooth 
plant, having a saline, mucilaginous taste. 
Chenopodium Bonus-Henricus, LinnA A somewhat mealy plant, having a saline, mucilagi- 
nous taste; a native of Europe, but naturalized in America and known in Europe as Good King 
Henry. It is a domestic application for pain, and is reputed antispasmodic and expectorant. 
Chenopodium vulvaria, LinnA A mealy plant of Central Europe, having the smell of fish 
brine on account of the trimethylamine it contains. It is known as Fetid goosefoot, and 
employed in Europe, both locally and internally, in many nervous disorders. 
Chenopodium quinoa.-Cultivated in Chili and Peru for its seeds, which yield a flour 
resembling oatmeal. The seeds contain 11 per cent of albumen and other protein matter, 5 per 
cent of sugar, 7.5 per cent of casein, and 40 per cent of starch. A bitter principle has been iso- 
lated from the variety known as red quinoa, and this variety has been employed as an antiperi- 
odic and emetic. 
CHIMAPHILA (U. S. P.)- CHIMAPHILA. 
*' The leaves of Chimaphila umbellata (Linne), Nuttall "-(U. S. P.); (Chimaphila 
corymbosa, Pursh; Pyrola umbellata, Linne). The whole plant may be employed. 
Nat. Ord.-Ericaceae. 
Common Names : Pipsissewa, Prince's pine, Ground holly, Wintergreen. 
Illustrations: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 165; Bigelow Med. Bot., 
Vol. II, 21. 
Botanical Source.-This plant is a small evergreen, nearly herbaceous, peren- 
nial herb, with a creeping, yellowish rhizome, from which are sent several simple, 
erect, or semi-procumbent stems, somewhat angular, marked with the scars of 
former leaves, and woody at their base; they grow from 4 to 8 inches in height. 
The leaves are in two or more irregular whorls, from 2 to 3 inches long, about 
one-fourth as wide, cuneate-lanceolate, acute at the base, sharply serrate, on short 496 
CHIMAPHILA. 
petioles, coriaceous, shining, of a uniform dark-green color, paler below, and not 
spotted. The flowers are corymbose, nodding, of a light-purple color. The pedi- 
cels, with linear-subulate bracts about their middle, 8 lines long. The calyx is 
small, consisting of 5 roundish, acute teeth, or seg- 
ments, and much shorter than the corolla. The 
corolla is composed of 5 roundish, concave, spread- 
ing, cream-colored petals, exhaling a fragrant odor, 
and tinged at the base with purple. Stamens 10, 
hypogynous; filaments sigmoid, the lower half 
fleshy, triangular, dilated, slightly pubescent at the 
edges; the upper half filiform. Anthers 2-celled, 
each cell opening by a short, round, tubular orifice, 
which points downward in the bud, but upward in 
the flower. Pollen white; ovary globular, depressed, 
furrowed, obscurely 5-lobed, with a funnel-shaped 
cavity at the top, and supporting a large peltate, 
convex, obscurely 5-rayed stigma. Style short, 
straight, half as long as the ovary, inversely conical, 
inserted in the cavity of the ovary, and concealed by 
the stigma. The capsule is erect, depressed, 5-celled, 
5-valved, with partitions from the middle of the 
valves. The seeds are numerous, linear, and chaffy 
(L.-W.- G.). 
History.-This little herb is indigenous to the 
north temperate regions of both hemispheres, and is 
met with in the United States in dry, shady woods, 
flowering from May to August. The leaves have no 
odor when dried, but when fresh and rubbed they 
are rather fragrant; their taste is astringent,sweetish, 
and not disagreeably bitter. The whole herb is used. Boiling water or alcohol 
extracts the active properties. 
Description and Chemical Composition.-"About 5 Cm. (2 inches) long, 
oblanceolate, sharply serrate above, wedge-shaped and nearly entire towards the 
base; coriaceous, smooth, and dark-green on the upper surface. It is nearly in- 
odorous, and has an astringent and bitterish taste "-(U. <8. P.). Mr. S. Fairbank 
found the leaves to contain gum, tannic acid, starch, pectic acid, extractive, resin, 
fatty matter, chlorophyll, yellow coloring matter, lignin, and golden-yellow, 
needle-shaped crystals, which he named chimaphilin. This yellow body is without 
taste or odor, freely soluble in alcohol, chloroform, ether, benzol, benzin, glacial 
acetic acid, and acetone, and in oils, both essential and fixed, but dissolves sparingly 
in water. It has a neutral reaction, and is volatile with aqueous vapors. Arbutin 
(C24H32O14.H2O), a crystalline, glucosidal principle, found also in other ericaceous 
plants, forming neutral, silky, colorless, bitter needles, and readily soluble in 
boiling water and alcohol, but sparingly so in ether, was found in this plant by 
Zwenger and Himmelmann, in 1864. Salts of potassium, calcium, iron, magne- 
sium, chloride of sodium, phosphoric, sulphuric, and silicic acids were also found 
{Jour. Trans. Md. Col. Pharm., March, 1860). Mr. E. S. Beshore (1887) also obtained 
chimaphilin, and found another crystalline body, of the composition Ci0H19O, 
melting at 236° C. (457.2° F.), by abstracting the dried drug with petroleum ether. 
Mr. J. C. Peacock {Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1892) failed to obtain chimaphilin from 
the fresh plant of Chimaphila maculata, but obtained it in the ordinary way from 
the dried plant, by distilling the drug with water. The influence of drying upon 
the yield of chimaphilin from C. maculata was likewise observed by him when 
attempting to abstract this substance by means of petroleum ether. Mr. Peacock 
found the fusing point of chimaphilin at 113 to 114° C. (235.4° to 237.2° F.), and 
the composition of this substance to correspond with the formula C24H21O4. Three 
other principles of a crystalline character were obtained from chimaphila, occur- 
ring respectively as "matted crystals," "tufted crystals," and "glistening crystals," 
all differing in solubility and other respects from any previously known constitu- 
ents of the order Ericaceae {A. P. A. Proc., 1892). In 1895, Mr. Ridenour confirmed 
Mr. Peacock's formula by the analysis of chimaphilin and some new derivatives 
Fig. 69. 
Chimaphila umbellata. CHINOIDINUM. 
497 
prepared by him ; he succeeded, nowever, in obtaining chimaphilin from the fresh 
plant of C. maculata. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Diuretic, tonic, alterative, and astrin- 
gent. The fresh leaves, when bruised and applied to the skin, act as vesicants 
and rubefacients. Its alterative properties are marked, the processes of waste and 
nutrition being powerfully influenced by it. It is especially useful in scrofula 
and chronic rheumatic and nephritic affections. Irritation of any part of the urinary 
tract is relieved by it, and the circulation and nutrition of the part improved. 
The cases of all diseases in which it is of most value are those of debility, and 
particularly when a scrofulous taint is present. Its particular field is in genito- 
urinary fluxes, due to debility or depending upon a scrofulous diathesis. The 
more pronounced the catarrhal character of the disorder, the more valuable is the 
drug. Catarrh of the bladder, with offensive urine, or urine loaded with mucus, 
muco-pus, or even blood, are cases for its exhibition. Chronic affections of the 
kidneys, with muco-purulent discharges, are also conditions indicating it. The 
infusion is the best preparation. Do not make a decoction, as boiling impairs its 
virtues. It is also a remedy for chronic prostatic irritation and chronic prostatitis. 
Used both locally and internally, it is a good remedy for scrofulous ulcerations. The 
infusion has cured ascites, and has been advantageous in strangury, chronic gonor- 
rhoea, and other mucous profluvia; and as an antilithic it is said to diminish lithic 
acid in the urine. In dropsy it can not be depended upon without the use of 
other more active measures, and is better adapted to cases accompanied with weak- 
ness and loss of appetite. In urinary disorders, it may be used as a substitute 
for uva ursi and buchu, to which it is preferable on account of being less obnoxi- 
ous to the stomach. In many cutaneous diseases it has proved very efficient. 
Dose of the infusion, from 1 to 4 fluid ounces, 3 times a day; of the extract, from 
10 to 20 grains, 3 or 4 times a day; a syrup may be prepared by macerating 
4 ounces of the finely-bruised leaves in 8 fluid ounces of water for 36 hours, then 
subject the whole to percolation till a pint of fluid is obtained, evaporate to 4 pint, 
and add 12 ounces of sugar. Dose, 1 or 2 tablespoonfuls; fluid extract, 5ss to $j, 
largely diluted; specific chimaphila, 5 drops to 1 drachm, every 3 or 4 hours. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Atonic and debilitated states of the urinary 
organs, giving rise to lingering disorders, with scanty urine, but excessive void- 
ings of mucus, muco-pus, or bloody muco-pus, offensive or non-offensive in char- 
acter; smarting or burning pain with dysuria; chronic irritation of the urethra 
and prostate; chronic relaxation of the bladder walls; chronic prostatitis, with 
vesical catarrh. 
Related Species and Drugs.-Chimaphila maculata, Pursh, Spotted wintergreen, may be 
known from the above by its leaves, which are opposite, or in threes, lanceolate, acuminate, 
rounded at the base, where they are broader than near the summit, remotely serrate, of a deep 
olive-green color, and veined with greenish-white. The C. umbellata leaves are broader near 
the summit, tapering toward the base, of a uniform shining-green color, serrated, and not 
marked with the whitish line along the mid-vein and veinlets. The C. maculata is probably 
possessed of similar powers with the official article, and may be used as a substitute. An 
extract of it is reputed to have cured epilepsy. 
Pyrola rotundifolia, Linnd; Pyrola chlorantha, Swartz; Pyrola elliptica, Nuttall; Pyrola 
secunda, Linne (see Pyrola). 
Orthosiphon stamineus. Java tea.-This drug comes in the form of little oval, green leaves, 
finely toothed, and rolled like ordinary tea. Essential oil and a glucosid, orthosiphonin in crys- 
tals, are among its constituents. It is reputed powerfully diuretic, and, in doses of from 15 to 20 
grains per day, it has been lauded in uric acid diathesis, gravel, ascites, and nephritic colic. 
CHINOIDINUM.-CHINOIDINE. 
Synonyms: Chinioidinum, Chinoidina, Quinoidine, Quinoidina, Chinoidin, Qttin- 
oidin, Amorphous quinine, Precipitated extract of bark. 
History and Chemical Composition.-Chinoidine is a non-crystallizable alka- 
loid occurring in the mother liquors resulting from the manufacture of cinchona 
alkaloids. The name chinoidine (quinoidine), was first given by Sertiirner to what 
he believed to be a new alkaloid, from cinchona barks, which, however, turned 
out to be a mixture of quinoidine and cinchonine, intermixed with a yellowish 
body that prevented crystallization. Liebig, after depriving quinoidine of its 498 
CHINOLINA. 
crystallizable admixtures, thought it to be amorphous quinine, rendered non- 
crystallizable through the application of heat. 
The chief constituents of commercial chinoidine of the present time are 
diconchinine (CWH46N4O3), when obtained from barks containing quinine and 
quinoidine in abundance, or dicinchonine (C^H^N^), when barks predominating 
in cinchonine or cinchonidine are manipulated. These two bodies are amorphous 
and not easily separable. 
Description and Tests.-Commercial chinoidine usually appears in rolls or 
masses, of a brownish-black or almost black color, and when cold breaks with a 
resin-like, shining fracture. It is odorless, feebly bitter, and blues litmus paper. 
When warmed it becomes plastic and in the heat of summer it gradually takes 
the shape of the container. Water scarcely dissolves it; ether and benzene par- 
tially, and alcohol, chloroform, and diluted acids freely dissolve it. These solu- 
tions are extremely bitter, and exhibit right-hand polarization. After triturating 
chinoidine with boiling water and filtering the fluid which should then be trans- 
parent and colorless, it should remain so upon the addition of an alkali, thus 
showing the absence of alkaloidal salts. Not more than 0.7 percent of ash should 
be left upon incineration. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Chinoidine was introduced as a remedy 
for malarial manifestations, and is considered by many superior in some respects 
to quinine. It is slower to act, and the dose required is from to 2 times greater 
than that of quinine sulphate. It is claimed for it that it is equal in efficiency to 
the latter in simple malarial intermittents, and may be given before and during the 
chill without unpleasant results, and it never causes aural tinnitus. In chronic 
malarial disorders it is asserted that its power is greater than that of quinine, and 
persons toxically impressed with the latter may take chinoidine without unpleas- 
ant consequences, and with therapeutical benefit. Lastly, in malarial rheumatism, 
masked malaria, and as a tonic, it is regarded by some as far more effective than 
the quinine salts. It is undoubtedly valuable in malarial cachexia, and has the 
advantage of having but slight taste. If desired it may be given in sweetened, 
strong coffee. Dose for adults, 7 to 15 grains; for young children, 2 or 3 grains. 
Related Preparations.-Tinctura Chinoidini.- Tincture of chinoidine of the German 
Pharmacopoeia, is prepared by dissolving the ingredients in the following proportions: Chin- 
oidine (2 parts), in hydrochloric acid (1 part), and alcohol, sp. gr. 0.894 (17 parts). It is trans- 
parent in thin portions, dark brown in bulk, and excessively bitter. An equal measure of 
water and ammonia water precipitates the chinoidine from the tincture, causing the liquid to 
assume a yellowish color. 
Chinoidini Hydrochloras.-Chinoidine hydrochloride is a hygroscopic yellow or brownish- 
yellow powder produced by saturating with chinoidine warmed diluted hydrochloric acid, 
filtering, and condensing by evaporation. 
Chinoidini Citras.-Chinoidine citrate. Transparent, soluble, reddish-brown scales, pro- 
duced by dissolving chinoidine in a solution of citric acid in water, and evaporating to dryness. 
Chinoidini Tannas.-Chinoidine tannate. This is a yellowish-brown powder produced by 
mixing tincture of chinoidine (see above), diluted with water, and an aqueous solution of 
tannin, and lastly adding solution of acetate of ammonium. After several hours the precipi- 
tate is washed and dried at a heat not higher than 30° C. (86° F.). Its solution in water and 
hydrochloric acid is deep-yellow in color. 
Chinoidini Boras.-Chinoidine borate. Take chinoidine 10 parts, boric acid 5 parts, and 
water 100 parts. Heat to the boiling point, and filter through moistened cotton. Again heat 
the clear fluid to the boiling point, filter out the resinous portion, and continue this filtration 
and boiling until resinous matter no longer separates. Evaporate to 10 parts, set aside a half 
day, at a temperature not above 15° C. (59° F.). Now filter it from the acid and evaporate, when 
either transparent, brownish-yellow scales, or a yellowish powder will form. This has an 
alkaline reaction, is somewhat hygroscopic, is bitter to taste, and with water (3 parts), it pro- 
duces a deep-yellow, clear solution, but with a greater amount of water (10 parts), the solution 
becomes turbid on boiling, and clear again upon cooling. 
CHINOLINA.-QUINOLINE. 
Formula: C9H7N. Molecular Weight: 128.74. 
Synonym: Leucoline. 
History and Preparation.-Quinoline is an artificial alkaloidal body obtained 
in the destructive distillation of quinine (or of cinchonine), with caustic potash. 
In 1842, by distilling quinine with potassium hydroxide, Gerhardt obtained this CHINOLINA. 
499 
body in an impure condition and named it chinoleine, though Runge had before 
(1834) obtained a similar body from coal-tar and named it leucoline. These two 
bodies are now understood to be identical. Quinoline was first obtained pure by 
Williams in 1855. Zd. Skraup, in 1887, published his fruitful method of obtain- 
ing quinoline, by which way it may also be produced on a large scale. A mixture 
of strong sulphuric acid, glycerin, nitro-benzene, and aniline are heated carefully 
and gently to begin with, lest the reaction be too violent, and then water is added 
to dilute the mixture, which is then distilled in a current of steam to remove the 
nitro-benzene. Caustic soda is then added to the residue to alkalinity, and the 
quinoline thus liberated distilled with steam. The resulting product is fraction- 
ally distilled, dissolved in alcohol, and to this solution sulphuric acid is added, 
which precipitates an acid sulphate of quinoline. The yield is about three-fifths 
of the theoretical amount. By this process the sulphuric acid abstracts from 
glycerin the elements of water, converting it into acrolein, which then combines 
with aniline, the nitro-benzene acting as an oxidizer. 
Description.-Pure quinoline is a mobile, oily liquid, colorless, or but feebly 
yellow, highly refractive, with a sharp, bitter taste, and a distinctive, aromatic 
odor. Its density is 1.084; its boiling point near 237° C. (458.6° F.). It is hygro- 
scopic, and exposed in the damp it forms a hydrate (C9H7N.14H2O.), which, at 
40° C. (104° F.), becomes clouded. Alcohol, chloroform, ether, and benzin readily 
dissolve it, hot water partially. Carbon disulphide and wood alcohol mixes with 
it in all amounts. It is quickly turned brown by air and light, but decolorization 
may be effected by agitating it with solid potassium hydroxide, and subsequently 
slowly rectifying it. At ordinary temperatures it volatilizes, the odor resembling 
that of bitter-almond oil. It may be converted to a crystalline mass by means 
of a refrigerating mixture. Resin and camphor are soluble in it. When treated 
with fuming sulphuric acid it is changed into quinoline-sulphonic acid; this 
when melted with potassium hydroxide, forms oxyquinoline (C9H6NOH). Ger- 
man quinoline is a variable product. When quinoline is acted upon by amyl 
iodide, and then, with potassa or soda, a yellowish-green body, cyanine, is obtained. 
Quinoline salts are mostly crystalline, odorless, and respond to alkaloidal tests; 
its mineral acid salts are extremely hygroscopic. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This agent has not fulfilled the claims 
made for it when introduced into medicine. While it has some antiperiodic and 
antipyretic properties, rendering it occasionally successful in periodical fevers, its 
bad effects upon the stomach-nausea, vomiting, and disordered digestion-more 
than offset any of its better qualities. A 5 per cent solution has been used with 
asserted success as a solvent for the false membrane of diphtheria, but the prepara- 
tion has now fallen into disuse for this purpose. The tartrate and salicylate are 
given in doses of from 7 to 15 grains. Quinoline preserves anatomical specimens, 
though it extracts all the coloring matter. The following preparation is sug- 
gested : Quinoline 5 parts, common salt 6 parts, glycerin 100 parts, water 900 parts. 
Quinoline Salts and Related Compounds.-Quinoline Tartrate.-A nearly white, 
micaceous powder, having a sharp taste and pungent odor, soluble in cold water (80 parts), 
alcohol (150 parts), and ether (300 parts). It fuses at 125° C. (257° F.). 
Quinoline Salicylate.-A crystalline, white powder, easily soluble in alcohol, fatty oils, 
petrolatum, and ether, and less so in glycerin and water. 
Quinoline Hydrochlorate.-Dissolves in alcohol, chloroform, and water, and is sub- 
limable. 
Diaphtherin, Oxyquinaseptol Oxychinaseptol (CcH4.SO3H.OH.[NC9H6OH]2).-A bright, 
yellow, crystalline powder composed of oxyquinoline and aseptol. It is produced by combin- 
ing 1 molecule of phenol-sulphonic acid with 2 of oxyquinoline (oxychinoline). Water and 
diluted alcohol readily dissolve it; alkalies and blood decompose it. It is claimed for it that 
it is a non-poisonous, non-caustic antiseptic, and in a 1 per cent solution is used upon wounds. 
Analgen.- Ortho-oxyethylana-monobenzoyl-amidoquinoline (Ci8Hi6N2O2 or C9H5N[OC2H5] 
NHCOC6H5). This is a quinoline derivative prepared by a complicated method. It is a crys- 
talline, white powder, soluble in alcohol, acids, and scarcely at all in cold, but more easily in 
hot watei. It has been used in 15-grain doses to allay the pains of rheumatism. It is claimed 
to be antipyretic, antirheumatic, and analgesic. It colors the urine red. 
Orexine Hydrochloride.-Phenyldihydroqninazoline hydrochloride (C8H4.NCH.CH2NC6 
H5HC1.), Phenyldihydrochinazolin hydrochlorate. A quinoline derivative of complex character, 
introduced in 1890 as a remarkable appetizer, stomachic, and digestive. It is either a white 
powder, or in needle crystals soluble in water (1 in 13), and alcohol, but not in ether. It is 
pungent and bitter to the taste. Upon the Schneiderian membrane it acts as a powerful 500 
CHIONANTHUS. 
irritant. The dose is from 4 to 8 grains, in wafers or capsules (not in pills), immediately fol- 
lowed by fluid to protect the gastric membrane from its irritant effects. It is said to increase 
the appetite, but reports concerning its value are much at variance. It is probably overrated. 
This compound is also known as Orexin. 
Chinol.-Chinoline monohypochlorite (C9H6N.C1O.). An odorless, crystalline, white pow- 
der, practically insoluble in water, but quite freely dissolved by alcohol. Its taste is pungent, 
but not unpleasant. In doses of 3 to 5 grains it is employed as an analgesic and antipyretic, 
being applicable to cases in which antipyrin succeeds. 
CHIONANTHUS.-FRINGE-TREE. 
The bark of the root of Chionanthus virginicus, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Oleaceae. 
Common Names : Fringe-tree, Old man's beard, Snowdrop-tree. 
Botanical Source.-This shrub grows from 6 to 20 feet high, has oval or 
oblong, smooth, leathery leaves, opposite and veined. The flowers are in a dense, 
pendulous panicle, the pedicels being long, 
filiform, and single flowered. The calyx- 
tube is very short, persistent, 4-parted, and 
small. The corolla is about 1 inch long, 
consisting of 4 very narrow7, drooping, 
linear, snow-white petals; hence the name 
fringe-tree, by which it is generally known. 
The style is short, the stigma notched. 
The fruit is an oval, purple, fleshy drupe, 
with a bloom, and contains a bony, one- 
seeded nut. 
History.-Chionanthus is one of our 
most striking and beautiful southern 
shrubs, and is often cultivated in gardens 
and parks for its ornamental beauty. We 
regard it as one of our most valuable in- 
digenous remedies. The fringe-tree, as it 
is commonly called, grows from Pennsyl- 
vania to Georgia and Tennessee, thriving 
in sandy soils, in elevated situations,near 
flat rocks, and along river banks. The tree, when in blossom (May and June), 
presents a beautiful appearance, being snow-white, hence its common names of 
old man's beard, old man's gray beard, snowdrop-tree, and white ash. It is also known 
as poison ash. The name chionanthus (pronounced ki'b-nSn"thtis) is derived from 
two Greek words, chion (snow) and anthus (flower, or blossom), hence, snow- 
flower. The bark of the root is the part used, and imparts its properties to water 
or alcohol. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Chionanthus acts principally upon 
the abdominal glandular organs, and to some extent upon the venous system, 
relieving congestion. It is an alterative in the Eclectic meaning of that term. 
While its main action is upon the visceral glands, especially the blood-making 
organs, its influence is also quite marked in other secretive structures. Besides 
its pronounced catalytic properties, it is diuretic, tonic, and is said to be aperient 
and narcotic. It is exceedingly doubtful if the latter statement be true and its 
aperient property, if it possesses such, is the result of its cholagogue action. 
Prof. King, in former editions of the American Dispensatory, states that in 
bilious and typhoid fevers, as well as in obstinate intermittents, the infusion of the bark 
of the root is efficient. While the remedy is now but very little used for these 
conditions,still some "old school" authors, as well as some trade catalogues, seem 
to have appropriated the above statements in regard to its use. Prof. King fur- 
ther states that it is an excellent tonic in "convalescence from exhaustive dis- 
eases," and that it also proves a good local application in external inflammations, 
ulcers and ivounds. The use of an infusion of the bark of the root is directed, still 
it is doubtful whether such a preparation would be as efficient as an alcoholic 
form, for the resin, or the resinoid, the active constituent of the drug, is insoluble 
Fig. 70. 
Chionanthus virginicus. CHIONANTHUS. 
501 
in water. Goss states that the infusion is wholly inert. Chionanthus improves 
the appetite, aids digestion, promotes assimilation, and is a tonic to the whole 
system. It never produces catharsis, but ptyalism has resulted from its use. 
Chionanthus has been successfully used in mercurial cachexia, scrofula, and 
syphilis, though we possess better agents for these classes of disease. 'Yet, if the 
patient be sallow, or yellow, and has hepatic pains, the remedy will prove a valu- 
able accessory agent in hastening the cure. 
It is for its prompt and efficient action in hepatic derangements that we most 
value fringe-tree preparations. If there is any one thing true in specific medi- 
cine, it is that chionanthus has a decidedly specific action in jaundice. The credit 
of having brought this remedy before the profession, for the purposes for which 
it is now used, belongs to the late Prof. I. J. M. Goss, of Georgia, who, in 1843, 
tested it on himself while suffering from an attack of jaundice, and reported the 
result in an eastern journal. Since then it has come to be the first remedy thought 
of for this complaint. Goss considered it the best remedy for all cases of jaundice, 
not dependent on gall stones. On the contrary, Prof. Scudder was high in his 
praise of it, even when calculi are present. He recommended it in 10 or 15-drop 
doses during the paroxysm, and also gave it to prevent a recurrence. Nux or 
dioscorea may be associated with it when called for, the former in atonic condi- 
tions, with broad, expressionless tongue, the latter in irritative states, the tongue 
being red, pointed, and elongated, with prominent papillae. Hypertrophy of the 
liver, chronic hepatic inflammation, and portal congestion are speedily relieved by chio- 
nanthus. The remedy acts quickly, often removing in from 1 to 2 weeks, an 
icteric hue that has existed for months, and even years. Jaundice once cured by 
it is not apt to recur. There are two direct indications for the drug-jaundice, 
as evidenced by the yellowness of skin and conjunctiva; and soreness and pain, 
" hepatic colic," as pointed out by Prof. Scudder. The latter is by far the most 
direct indication. There is the dull, heavy pain in right hypochondrium, with a 
feeling of fullness and weight, deep-seated tenderness and soreness on pressure, 
occasional hectic flushes, light colored feces, sometimes diarrhoea with frothy, 
yeasty stools, and urine scanty and high colored. 
These conditions, with the icteric hue of skin and conjunctiva, call for chio- 
nanthus. Sometimes the patient writhes in pain, can not find rest in any posi- 
tion. R Specific chionanthus, gtt. x, every half hour, and apply a cloth wrung 
out of hot water. In dyspepsia, with hepatic complications; in irritative states of the 
stomach from "high living," and the use of alcoholic stimulants; and in general 
chronic inflammatory conditions of the duodenum, and ductus communis choledochus, chio- 
nanthus serves a useful purpose. It is also a good remedy in infantile dyspepsia. 
Rheumatic affections, with soreness in the region of the liver, and a jaundiced con- 
dition, are ameliorated by this drug. Its tonic effects on the chylopoietic viscera 
render it a good agent in general debility. In intestinal dyspepsia, with jaundice, 
thin, watery, yeasty alvine discharges, with previous abdominal distension: 
R Specific chionanthus, gtt. v, every 2 hours. 
Chronic splenitis and nephritis are conditions in which fringe-tree often proves 
a good remedy; also in pancreatic disease, inflammatory or otherwise. Glandular 
diseases, with evidence of imperfect waste, often call for its administration. Chio- 
nanthus is of utility in uterine and ovarian congestion, when the usual hepatic 
symptoms calling for it are present. If there be fullness and bearing down in the 
pelvic viscera, especially a desire to frequently evacuate the rectum, combine it 
with specific helonias. R Specific chionanthus, specific helonias, aa fl^j; aqua 
q. s., ^iv. Mix. Sig. Teaspoonful every 2 hours. 
In female disorders it may also be combined with gelsemium, macrotys, or 
pulsatilla, w-hen indications for these drugs are present. Some cases of uterine 
leucorrhoea are promptly benefited by it. Cleansing injections should be employed 
at the same time. As a poultice it will be found an excellent local application 
in external inflammations, ulcers, and wounds. 
Dose, from | fluid ounce of the infusion to 2 fluid ounces, repeated several 
times a day, according to its influence upon the system. The usual dose of spe- 
cific chionanthus (the best preparation), is 10 drops in water every 3 hours. Chio- 
nanthin, the so-called concentration, is of little value and is but seldom used. It 
was first prepared by Prof. Goss. 502 
CHIRATA. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Dirty, sallow skin, with expressionless eyes 
and hepatic tenderness; an icteric hue, with or without pain; hepatic colic; 
intense pain from liver to umbilicus, attended with nausea and vomiting and 
great prostration; pain in epigastrium and right hypochondrium, simulating 
colic, sometimes extending to the abdomen; jaundice, with itching skin and thin, 
light-colored, watery stools; tympanites; colic, with green alvine discharges; 
urine stains the clothing yellow. 
CHIRATA (U. S. P.)-CHIRATA. 
"The entire plant, Swertia Chirata, Hamilton"-(U. S. P). (Ophelia Chirata, 
Grisebach; Agathotes Chirayta, Don; Gentiana Chirayta, Roxburgh. 
Nat. Ord.-Gentianeae. 
Common Names: Chirata, Chiretta (U. S. P.,1870), Chirayta. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 183. 
Botanical Source.-Chirata is an annual, with a branched root, and a smooth, 
erect stem, about 2 or 3 feet high, the middle and lower portion being round, the 
upper 4-angled, with a prominent decurrent line at each angle. The branches 
form panicles, the leaves being lanceolate, or ovate-acuminate, and cordate at 
the base, smooth, entire, acute, sessile, clasping, and marked with 3, 5, or 7 nerves. 
The flowers are yellow, rotate, 4-parted, numerous, and peduncled. The stamens 
are 4, the style single, and the stigma 2-lobed. The fruit is a many-seeded capsule. 
History and Description.-This annual plant is a native of North India, 
growing in the mountainous districts, and has been held in considerable esteem 
as a medicine by the Hindus. The whole plant is gathered about the flowering 
period, or just as the capsules have fully formed (Pharmacographia}. The whole 
plant, including the flowers, is very bitter, with the exception of the woody por- 
tions of the stouter stems. The U. S. P. thus describes the medicinal article: 
"Root nearly simple, about 7 Cm. (2^ inches) long; stem branched, nearly 1 
meter (about 40 inches) long, slightly quadrangular above; containing a narrow 
wood-circle and a large, yellowish pith. Leaves opposite, sessile, ovate, entire, 
5-nerved. Flowers numerous, small, with a 4-lobed calyx and corolla. The 
whole plant smooth, pale-brown, inodorous, and intensely bitter"-(U. S. P.). 
Chemical Composition.-The ash of chirata yields carbonates and phos- 
phates of calcium, potassium, and magnesium. Tannin is almost entirely absent. 
A crystalline, yellow, waxy body in small amount, as well as the ordinary plant 
constituents, abound. Two bitter principles occur, discovered by Hohn in 1869. 
These bodies are ophelic acid (C^HooOio), and chiratin (C26H480i5), the former being 
in largest amount. Ophelic acid is a hygroscopic, non-crystalline, yellow, viscid 
body, having an odor faintly suggestive of gentian, and an acidulous, bitter taste 
which is persistent. Water, ether, and alcohol dissolve it. Basic lead acetate pre- 
cipitates it yellow. Chiratin forms an insoluble compound with tannic acid 
(ophelic acid does not), and may be removed by means of that acid. It is a pale- 
yellow, indistinctly crystalline powder. Alcohol, ether, and warm water dissolve 
it, and yet, though hygroscopic, it is not readily soluble in cold water. Its taste is 
extremely bitter, and its behavior to litmus neutral. Boiled with hydrochloric 
acid it splits into ophelic acid, water, and chiratogenin (Ci3H24O3), a bitter, amor- 
phous, brown body, not soluble in water, but freely so in alcohol. It is unaffected 
by tannin. 
Substitutes and Adulterants.-Several species of Ophelia and related plants 
go by the name of chirata in India. These are designated by the natives as hill 
(puharee} chirata, sweet (meetha) chirata, purple (poda) chirata, and southern (duk- 
hunee) chirata. Chota chiretta, or small chiretta is the product of Slevogtia orientalis, 
Grisebach. The species of Ophelia referred to above are the 0. angustifolia, Don 
(less bitter than chirata); 0. elegans, Wight; 0. densifolia, Grisebach; 0. multiflora, 
Dalz; 0. pulchella, Don. These all possess, more or less, the bitter tonic virtues of 
chirata. Besides these are included Andrographis paniculata,Wallich, and a few 
species of Exacum (Pharmacographia). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This drug possesses the tonic proper- 
ties of gentian and similar bitters. It is valued in Hindustan, where it is much 503 
CHLORAL. 
employed in urinary complaints with uneasiness in the region of the kidneys, 
frequent urging to urinate, which is accomplished with difficulty, and in cases of 
uric acid deposits. It is a remedy also for convalescence from exhausting sickness, 
and for atonic and nervous forms of dyspepsia. Dose of chirata, 10 to 20 grains; 
fluid extract, 10 to 20 minims; infusion (^ss to boiling water Oj), fl^i to fl^ii, 
3 times a day. 
CHLORAL (U. S. P.)-CHLORAL. 
Formula: Chloral, C2C13OH. Molecular Weight : 147.01. . 
Formula: Chloral hydrate (Chloral, U.S. P.), C2HC13O + H2O. Molecular 
Weight: 164.97. 
Synonyms: Aldehydum trichloratum, Hydrous chloral, Chloral hydrate, Trichloral- 
dehyde hydrate. 
History and Formation.-Chloral, the anhydrous compound (for the hydrate 
or U. S. P. chloral, see below) was discovered in the year 1832, by Liebig (Gmelin's 
Chemistry, Vol. IX), who obtained it by passing chlorine through absolute alcohol. 
In 1845, Staedeler procured it by the action of nascent chlorine upon various 
organic substances, and also by the distillation of starch, binoxide of manganese, 
and hydrochloric acid. It excited but little interest until the year 1869 {Pharm. 
Jour., 1869, p. 150), at which period hydrate of chloral was introduced to the medi- 
cal profession by Dr. Oscar Liebreich, of Berlin. Shortly afterward, in the same 
year, both Mr. Hanbury and Dr. Richardson brought specimens before the English 
Medical and Therapeutical Associations, and subsequently its introduction to other 
countries soon followed. Many long names have been given to it by chemists, as 
aldehyde of trichloretted acetic acid, trichloraldehyd, trichlormethyl-hydrocarbonoryd, tri- 
chlor acetyloxydhydrat, but which have not been and are not likely to be adopted 
by physicians. 
Preparation and Description.- Chloral occurs as a colorless fluid, oily in 
appearance, and of the specific gravity 1.518, at 0° C. (32° F.),and 1.502, at 18° C. 
(64.4° F.). Its boiling point is about 99° C. (210.2° F.). At ordinary tempera- 
tures it evolves a pungent vapor that is very irritating to the eyes. It has a dis- 
agreeable taste, is soluble in less than its weight of water, and in 4 times its weight 
of chloroform, and is freely miscible with ether. Chloral dissolves phosphorus, 
sulphur, bromine, and iodine, the latter solution giving a very rich purple color. 
Heat facilitates their solution. Anhydrous metallic oxides have no action upon 
it. It unites with water to form a hydrate, and with alcohol to form an alco- 
holate. The formula for chloral is C2C13OH, and its modern name is Trichloralde- 
hyde. It is made by passing chlorine gas into anhydrous alcohol. The word chloral 
is derived from the first syllables of chlorine and alcohol (cAtorfine] «/[cohol] ) 
(a similar word-creation is aldehyd'). 
The reaction which produces chloral is very complex. (For a lucid expo- 
sition of the reactions involved see Attfield's Chemistry, 1894). In practice, it 
is customary to first reduce the temperature of the alcohol through which the 
chlorine passes, then, as the solution thickens, to apply heat until hydrochloric 
acid gas ceases to be evolved and chlorine appears, when the flow of chlorine is 
discontinued. The crude chloral alcoholate, together with other incidental pro- 
ducts of the reaction, is now agitated with sulphuric acid, and then distilled; it 
is now purified, by again distilling it, from a small portion of quicklime, being 
careful not to have an excess of lime, or the chloral will be destroyed. Chloral 
is decomposed by solutions of caustic alkalies, yielding a formate of the base, and 
chloroform, and it is thought by some, that to this decomposition of chloral in the 
alkaline fluids of the body, gradually producing chloroform, its influence upon 
the system is due. It is not employed in medicine, and is of interest only from 
the fact that it unites with one molecule of water to form chloral hydrate. 
Chloral can be distilled unchanged, but gradually becomes thicker, and occa- 
sionally changes into an insoluble modification with development of heat; this 
modification presents a porcelain-like mass, termed metachloral, which, though 
isomeric with the fluid chloral, is insoluble in water, alcohol, or ether, but which 
is reconverted into chloral by distillation; contact with water gradually changes 
it into the crystallized hydrate of choral. The aqueous solution of chloral has 504 
CHLORAL. 
no action upon vegetable colors; oxides of silver or mercury do not affect it; con- 
centrated sulphuric acid deprives it of water and separates the anhydrous crystals. 
The foregoing chloral must not be confused with the official preparation, which 
is chloral hydrate, and now passes under the name Chloral (G. S P.). 
Chloral (U. S. P.). Chloral Hydrate.-Hydrate of chloral. Preparation: 
Chloral hydrate (C2CI3H3O2, or C2C13OHH2O, or according to U. S. P., C2HC13O+ 
H2O) is prepared by mixing chloral with the proper amount of water, and then 
pouring the solution, in thin layers, into a porcelain or glass dish; this is covered 
and placed in a cool situation. Heat is liberated, and the liquid solidifies, form- 
ing a mass of pure dazzling whiteness, composed of minute, transparent, or semi- 
transparent crystals, or crystalline plates of chloral hydrate. These have a sweet, 
ethereal odor, a greasy feeling when rubbed between the fingers, and a pungent 
taste. According to Versmann, 100 parts of water dissolve 360 parts of chloral 
hydrate. Prof. J. U. Lloyd, in Supplement to American Dispensatory (1880), writes: 
"When the therapeutical use of chloral hydrate was first agitated in this country, 
the writer was obliged to prepare the article in a limited way, until a supply 
could be obtained from abroad. Few persons can realize, without actual experi- 
ment, the care that is necessary, and the large amount of chlorine required for 
the production of even a limited quantity of this agent. It has been calculated 
that 1 pint of alcohol will require at least 316 gallons, or 73,233 cubic inches of 
chlorine, and there will be formed about 396 gallons or 91,542 cubic inches of 
hydrochloric acid gas." 
Description and Tests.-Chloral {U. S. P.\ Chloral hydrate. "A crystalline 
solid, composed of trichloraldehyde or chloral with 1 molecule of water. It 
should be kept in glass-stoppered bottles, in a cool and dark place. Separate, 
rhomboidal, colorless and transparent crystals, having an aromatic, penetrating, 
and slightly acrid odor, and a bitterish, caustic taste; slowly volatilized when 
exposed to the air. Freely soluble in water, alcohol, or ether, also in chloroform, 
benzol, benzin, carbon disulphide, fixed and volatile oils. It liquefies when tritu- 
rated with about an equal quantity of camphor, menthol, thymol, or carbolic acid. 
When heated to about 58° C. (136.4° F.), it melts, forming a liquid having a spe- 
cific gravity of about 1.575, which, at a higher temperature, should not evolve 
inflammable vapors. Liquefied chloral solidifies to a crystalline mass between 
35° and 50° C. (95° and 122° F.). Chloral is decomposed by caustic alkalies, 
alkaline earths, and ammonia, chloroform being formed, and a formate of the 
base produced. A freshly prepared, aqueous solution of chloral is neutral, but 
gradually acquires an acid reaction. A neutral alcoholic solution remains neu- 
tral permanently. Chloral should be dry, and not readily attract moisture in dry 
air. A solution of chloral (1 in 20) in diluted alcohol, acidulated with nitric 
acid, should remain unaffected by silver nitrate T.S. (absence of hydrochloric acid 
and chlorides. If 1 Gm. of chloral be dissolved in 2 Cc. of warm water, mixed with 
potassium hydrate T.S. in slight excess (about 8 Cc.), the mixture filtered, and a 
portion of the clear filtrate treated with iodine T.S. until it is yellowish, no yel- 
low, crystalline precipitate (iodoform) should appear within | an hour (absence of 
chloral alcoholate"-(C. S'. P.). 
Its alcoholic solution is neutral, and when the chloral is pure and recent, the 
aqueous solution is also, but with the chloral of commerce, the latter solution 
usually exhibits a slightly acid reaction. Chloral hydrate dissolves in glycerin, 
and this solution has the property of dissolving many alkaloids that are nearly or 
quite insoluble in that menstruum (glycerin). This property of dissolving alka- 
loids, insoluble in water, is also possessed by the aqueous solution of chloral 
hydrate, and both this and the solution of chloral hydrate in glycerin, was recom- 
mended for the purpose by Mr. Fairthorne. By placing together equal weights 
of camphor, and chloral hydrate, a clear liquid results, wffiich is decomposed by 
water into the original substances. It is dissolved by alcohol, glycerin, chloro- 
form, ether, and the fixed oils. This liquid was named Camphorated Chloral, 
but is rarely used 
With aqueous solutions of the caustic alkalies, chloral hydrate is entirely 
resolved into alkaline formates and chloroform. Thus, with hydrate of sodium, 
the reaction will be as follows: C2Cl3H3O2-|-NaOH=CHC13-]-NaCHO24-H2O. It 
was this property, which chloral hydrate possesses, of producing chloroform when CHLORAL. 
505 
in contact with an alkali, that led Liebreich, in 1869, to reason that it might be 
used as a remedial agent. In 1873, it was found that chloral hydrate would pre- 
vent decomposition of albuminous substances, such as milk, meat, and animal 
matters generally (Comptes Rendus, Feb., 1874, and Pkarm. Jour, and Trans., 1876), 
and it is at present used in solution for injecting anatomical subjects. Chloral 
hydrate solution rendered slightly alkaline with carbonate of sodium, entirely 
prevents the coagulation of blood (Ore). 
According to Meyer and Haffter, 165.5 grains of chloral hydrate consume 
1000 Cc. of normal sodium solution. Theoretically, chloral hydrate should yield 
72.2 per cent of chloroform, when agitated with slight excess of strong solution of 
caustic alkali; but, practically, the yield is generally between 70 and 72 per cent, 
often below 70 per cent with commercial chloral hydrate. Chloral hydrate should 
never present a pink appearance, and should dissolve in concentrated sulphuric, 
hydrochloric, or nitric acids, with formation of colorless solutions, and, with the 
latter acid, should not evolve red fumes. When pressed between two pieces of 
filtering or blotting paper, chloral hydrate should produce no stain. 
When an aqueous solution of chloral hydrate is acidulated with diluted sul- 
phuric acid, and the solution faintly tinged with a few drops of solution of per- 
manganate of potassium, it should not decolorize in several hours. If the solution 
becomes quickly colorless, the chloral hydrate has partly decomposed. 
For therapeutical purposes hydrate of chloral must be strictly pure, as impuri- 
ties which occasion irritating and even serious effects are by no means rare. It 
must form a hard, white, or transparent crystalline mass, be completely soluble in 
water, not smell of chloride of carbon or hydrochloric acid, but retain the peculiar 
penetrating odor of chloral. It would be dangerous to employ hydrate of chloral 
contaminated by chlorous acetylene, chloride of carbon, and other incidental pro- 
ducts, and hence great care must be observed in its preparation. 
Action and Toxicology.-Prof. Liebreich first experimented with chloral 
upon frogs and rabbits, and then upon human subjects, using it internally, and 
by subcutaneous injections. M. Demarguay, who experimented with it, in a com- 
munication to the Academy of France, observed that it produces a well-marked 
soporific effect upon weak patients, the duration of which effect is in proportion 
to the debility of the patient; that the sleep induced by it is calm, being disturbed 
only in patients suffering from acute pains, and that it may be given in doses of 
from 1 to 5 grammes (15 to 77 grains). He states that the breath of the person 
smells of it. He does not believe with Prof. Liebreich that it is decomposed into 
chloroform and formate salt in the blood, but agrees that it is the most rapid of 
all the then known soporifics. In fact, there are several reasons why Liebreich's 
theory of the action of chloral, being due to the formation of chloroform, are 
untenable, though the point is still in dispute, and the majority of investigators 
seem to think that, while some chloroform may be formed, the whole of the action 
of chloral can not be attributed to that agent alone. Among these reasons are the 
following: After the administration of chloral, chloroform can not be detected 
in the blood, excretions, or exhalations; the effects of chloral are different from 
those of like amounts of chloroform; chloral is less anaesthetic, but greatly and 
positively more hypnotic than chloroform; and, lastly, chloral crystals have been 
detected in the blood, while the urine has yielded chloral decomposition products. 
Dr. B. W. Richardson, of London, who has also experimented with this 
agent, sums up its effects as follows (Med. Times and Gaz.,Sept. 4, 1869): Hydrate 
of chloral can safely produce deep and prolonged narcotism ; during a portion of 
the period of this narcotism, there may be complete anaesthesia with absence of 
reflex actions, and a condition in which every kind of operation fails to call forth 
consciousness. There are also intervals of apparent exalted sensibility, and dur- 
ing- the narcotism there is invariably a reduction of temperature ; in the transition 
from drowsiness to stupor there is no stage of muscular excitement, but in birds, 
vomiting. It produces muscular relaxation, which extends to the muscles of 
volition, to the iris, and to the muscular arterial system, and, from the condition 
of the muscles after death we may infer that this paralysis is in part due to change 
within the muscular structure itself; its action on the nervous system is primarily 
on the sympathetic ganglia, afterward on the cerebrum, and, lastly, on the heart; 
when recovery takes place it is followed by no bad results; in fatal cases the 506 
CHLORAL. 
functions destroyed are (1) the cerebral; (2) the voluntary muscular; (3) the respira- 
tory; (4) the heart; in small proportions it somewhat arrests the coagulation of 
the blood; in large quantities it stops the process of coagulation altogether, 
destroys the blood corpuscles and produces general destruction of blood, but the 
dose required to produce extreme narcotism need not be so large as to lead to 
serious derangement of the blood. Dr. Richardson believed the effects of chloral 
to be the result of the action of chloroform. 
Dr. Wm. A. Hammond {Med. Record, N. Y., 1870, p. 4$9), from some careful 
observations, in numerous experiments made by himself, believes he has clearly 
demonstrated (1) that pretty large doses of the chloral hydrate produce at first 
congestion of the brain, probably from vaso-motor paralysis accompanied by 
functional exaltation; (2) that this stage is soon followed by one of cerebral anemia 
(perhaps from cardiac and cerebro-spinal paralysis), with^the resultant drowsi- 
ness deepening into profound sleep; (3) that small doses produce only the conges- 
tion and excitement, with no subsequent hypnotic effect. He is satisfied that it 
is a remedy of real value in many nervous diseases. M. Bouchut (£' Union Medi- 
cale, Nov. 13,1869) considers hydrate of chloral a powerful/- sedative of the motor 
and sensory nervous system, the doses of which should not exceed 5 grammes 
(77 grains.) for adults, and 2 grammes (31 grains for children). Its effects are 
more prompt when given by rectum than by mouth, andTIwhen injected subcu- 
taneously, it occasions formidable eschars. When the agent is pure, and in the 
state of solid hydrate its results (most calm hypnotism and alm-Ost absolute insen- 
sibility) are rapid, manifest, and energetic, its action lasting longer than when 
chloroform is employed. 
Dr. Jules Worms, after a series of experiments, concludes'that hydrate of 
chloral dissolved in 10 parts of water can be drank without an^inconvenience to 
the amount of 10 grammes (154 grains) ; the effect is felt with 1| or 2 grammes 
(23 or 31 grains), but there are some obstinate cases which require a dose of 2 or 3 
grammes; in about 10 or 15 minutes after the digestion of the hydrate, a calm, 
often profound sleep, occurs without any modification in the temperature of the 
body, in the regularity of the pulse or the respiration, and which continues for 
7 or 8 hours, and the awaking from which is not accompanied by headache, 
nausea, torpor, or other disagreeable sensations. 
We should here observe that, unless the chloral hydrate is pure, it may not 
only fail in producing some of its beneficial effects, but it may likewise occasion 
serious symptoms; and it is by no means improbable that the unexpected deaths 
that have sometimes followed its internal administration in medium doses were 
due to the impurity of the chloral employed. 
That chloral hydrate is a powerful agent for good or evil, accordingly as it is 
employed, is now well recognized. Briefly, we shall here give the action of the 
drug as now understood. Chloral is distinctly antiseptic, and animal structures 
may be preserved by it for a considerable time. Applied to the skin and kept in 
contact, it will cause redness and inflammation, and upon the mucous membranes 
it occasions pain. Under certain conditions it is vesicant. It is powerfully irritant 
to denuded surfaces and wounds. Taken internally, the taste is pungent-and hot, 
and the salivary flow is greatly augmented. At first a cooling sensation is excited 
in the stomach, but this is followed by warmth, and if in moderate amount the 
appetite is stimulated without any ill after-effects. If the amount be large, how- 
ever, gastric irritation, with nausea and vomiting, is apt to occur. Injected into 
the rectum it causes heat and irritation, and subcutaneously produces pain and 
sloughing. In ordinary or even large amounts, it is thought to have but little 
effect upon the blood. The clots found after death from chloral are now attribu- 
ted to "stasis of the blood in the vessels from lack of propelling power in 
the heart and arteries" (Jean^on). Chloral fulfils three indications; it con- 
trolspain though less effectually than opiates, it subdues spasm, and it induces 
sleep. The effects are quite uniform, though occasionally an individual will 
be found in whom the ordinary hypnotic doses fail to cause sleep, and such 
persons are then likely to have headache and become delirious under its action. 
A very short stage of excitement precedes its secondary action when a hypnotic 
dose (15 to 30 grains) is administered, but this is followed by a calm, refreshing 
slumber, remarkably like natural sleep, without dreams, and the patient awakens CHLORAL. 
507 
in about 3 to 6 hours without experiencing any of the unpleasant after effects, 
either of the head, stomach, or bowels, so common to opium and some of the 
other narcotics. While large doses of chloral produce deep narcotism, such an 
effect as is produced by the hypnotic dose can not be called distinctly narcotic, 
for the patient may be aroused to take nourishment, or even to respond to 
Nature's calls, and fall to sleep again as if nothing had disturbed his slumbers. 
Occasionally an individual may be found who, though asleep under its use, will 
be disturbed by hallucinations and dreams, and when awakened will suffer from 
nervous and gastric symptoms. Chloral is not a true anodyne in the sense that 
the morphine salts are, and allays the sensibility to pain only when given in very 
large doses-amounts sufficient to produce abolition of the cerebral functions. 
During sleep under chloral the face is somewhat flushed, and the pupils slightly 
contracted, becoming normal upon waking; the pulse may be unaffected or very 
little slowed, while the respiration is wholly undisturbed. The sleep of chloral 
is produced by the cerebral anemia caused by the drug. Large, dangerous doses 
of chloral induce a profound narcotism with muscular relaxation, reduced tem- 
perature, and loss of sensation and reflexes. Death from lethal doses is preceded 
by all the symptoms of syncope. The breathing becomes slow and shallow, the 
pulse is weak, rapid, thready, and fluttering; a sinking sensation is experi- 
enced; complete muscular relaxation ensues, and both sensibility and reflexes 
are abolished; the pupils first contract, then dilate; the extremities are cold and 
paralyzed, the surface pallid, and the countenance partially livid. Death is pre- 
ceded first by the suspension of the cerebral functions, which is followed by respira- 
tory paralysis, and lastly, by paralysis of the motor ganglia of the heart, though 
some cases result directly from sudden cardiac paralysis, especially where fatty 
degeneration of that organ exists. The heart is arrested in diastole in acute 
chloral poisoning, and the patient dies amesthetized and paralytic. Prof J. A. 
Jeangon (Scudder's Materia Medico), thus states the action of chloral: "Chloral 
hydrate acts primarily and directly upon the gray substance of the medulla 
oblongata, some gray substance of the cortex, and upon the posterior tubercular 
quadrigemina. The respiratory centers are primarily affected, and from them a 
reflex action is exerted upon depressory fibres of the pneumogastric of the heart, 
causing a reduced pressure of the blood in the arterial system, when moderate 
doses are taken. In large doses the psycho-motor and motor fibres of the gray 
mass of the cortex of the middle cerebral lobe are there included in its action, 
which is then intensified, the circulation and respiration much affected, and com- 
plete muscular relaxation produced. The center of common sensation is tempo- 
rarily paralyzed. The sensation of the skin and the vegetative functions of the 
body are but imperceptibly disturbed." 
While the blood is ordinarily but little affected by chloral hydrate, there are 
cases in which a blood lesion is produced by the drug, death being preceded by a 
scorbutic state with eruptions, purpuric spots, enlarged and ulcerated gums, pros- 
tration, and collapse. Chloral has produced an erythematous eruption, followed 
by desquamation, a rash most likely, it is said, to be produced in children, and in 
the debilitated and cachectic, particularly those suffering from nervous disorders. 
It is most liable to occur when alcohol and chloral are taken at the same time. 
Chloral hydrate is taken by some individuals until the chloral habit is 
formed. Chronic chloralism presents serious disturbances, the chief among which 
are the following: The chloral habitue is a voluble talker, speaking in a quick and 
excitable manner; the eyes are irritable and hyperemic, though brilliant. Tin- 
nitus, sudden dizziness, wakefulness with irritability and great nervous unrest, are 
experienced, and the victim can not sleep without the hypnotic effects of the 
drug. Mental hebetude, melancholia, loss of memory, hallucinations, and mania- 
cal excitement, are among the nervous symptoms. The person is easily tired and 
has no capacity for exertion; efforts at work are prostrating, and all the voluntary 
movements are irregular and uncertain. There may be no appetite, or if present 
it is always capricious, digestion is very feeble and attended with dyspnoea when 
the stomach is full, and the stools light and pasty, showing a lack of bile, though 
the latter stains the urine, which may also contain albumen. The heart-action 
becomes progressively feeble and irregular, and rashes and purpuric spots may 
appear on the skin. 508 
CHLORAL. 
Death from chloral reveals, upon post-mortem examination, meningeal, cere- 
bral, spinal, and pulmonary congestion, with a distended right heart. 
The treatment of acute chloral poisoning is similar to that for narcotics. As a 
peculiar coldness pervades the victim, artificial heat should be applied to the 
extremities, and to the prsecordium. Alcohol in repeated small doses may be 
given by the mouth, rectum, or subcutaneously. Friction, flagellation, faradiza- 
tion, or galvanism to the diaphragm, cold applications to the head and neck, arti- 
ficial respiration, and coflee or caffeine to sustain the heart, should be administered. 
Atropine, digitalis, and amyl nitrite may be used for the same purpose. Strych- 
nine, hypodermatically, for its effects upon the spinal cord should be given in 
^-grain doses about every half hour. Chronic chloralism is best treated by gradu- 
ally lessening the quantity of the drug consumed; nourishing and easily digested 
food, and tonics, particularly the chalybeates, should be exhibited. Cathartics 
should be occasionally resorted to. Cannabis indica is said to aid the stomach, and 
lessen the appetite for chloral. As calmatives to the nervous system, lupulin and 
hyoscyamus may be used, while strychnine is indicated as a nerve stimulant. That 
strychnine was an antidote to chloral was announced by Liebreich (Comptes Rendus, 
Feb., 1870), basing his conclusions upon experiments performed upon rabbits. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Chloral is one of the most important remedies 
in the materia medica. With but few remedies is it so absolutely essential to 
know the proper indications for its use, for if used when contraindicated, it takes 
but very little of chloral to kill. It is contraindicated always when there is an 
anemic condition of the brain. It can not safely be given to old topers, nor 
should it be used where the heart-walls are thin or where fatty degeneration of 
the organ is established. All cases of marked depression are warnings not to give 
chloral. On the other hand, w*hen indicated, no remedy is more useful nor more 
satisfactory in its results. An active hyperemic state of the brain is an indication for 
chloral, and particularly if there be sleeplessness from nervous excitement. Its use 
here is the same as that of potassium bromide, which it exceeds in efficiency. If 
sleeplessness be due to pain, it is less efficient than opium. As before stated, 
three important indications are fulfilled by chloral. It produces sleep, relaxes 
spasm, and to a certain extent relieves pain. In all cases of sleeplessness, and 
more especially when this condition is the result of brain exhaustion, from pre- 
vious mental or moral excitement, or in sleeplessness and excitement where opium 
or other narcotics are objectionable, as in acute mania, delirium tremens, hysteria of 
plethoric females, etc., chloral is indicated, but it should be remembered that it is 
not to be administered to persons greatly enfeebled, nor to those who are subjects 
of any dyspnoeic or cardiac affections. 
While chloral is a dangerous remedy in the depression of confirmed inebriates, 
it is of value in delirium tremens, where opium would be inadmissible. The con- 
dition admitting it is one of over-stimulation of the brain and nerve centers, 
while in the opposite condition, where the brain suffers from a want of stimula- 
tion, it is inadmissible, while opium and alcohol act beneficially. Use chloral 
where there is great excitement, dry skin and tongue, increased temperature, and 
flushed face. The pale face, feeble circulation, muscular relaxation, and surface 
bathed in perspiration, are contraindications to its employment. In properly 
selected cases chloral hydrate may be used to relieve pain in neuralgia, cancer, rheu- 
matism, toothache, lead colic, pain from the pressure of tumors, etc., on nerve trunks, 
painful disease of joints, and in painful minor surgical operations; in some instances, 
however, the pain seems to be intensified after the transient and anodyne effects 
have passed off; to reduce the animal heat in fevers, and especially those follow- 
ing surgical operations when the temperature is increased and the patient is excited 
or delirious; to produce extreme muscular relaxation in medical and surgical 
cases, where it is required to overcome resistance or spasm; in tetanus; passage of 
biliary calculi, it likewise dissolves these calculi; vesical and renal calculi; strangu- 
lated hernia; reduction of dislocations or fractures, etc. It has also been successfully 
used in severe sea sickness, vomiting of pregnancy (enema), vesical catarrh, metritis, 
consumptive cough, puerperal peritonitis, phlegmasia dolens, gastralgia, enteralgia, nervous 
asthma, laryngospasmus, etc. According to Dr. A. Jacobi, its use is contraindicated 
in gastric ulcerations, as the remedy is slightly caustic, and in catarrhal or ulcera- 
tive affections of the larynx, in which cases it produces pain and cough. It is a 509 
CHLORAL 
prompt remedy for hiccough. For idiopathic tetanus it is one of the best known 
remedies. It should be used when the temperature is high, giving 30 grains at 
bedtime, repeated if necessary at midnight. Sustaining food, as eggs and beef 
tea, should be administered freely. While this does not lessen the severity of the 
spasms, they become much less frequent. Like all other treatment, it will often 
fail. As the chief danger from strychnine poisoning lies in the convulsions produced, 
the antispasmodic power of chloral renders it valuable as an antidote to that 
poison, though large doses are required, and if great care is not exercised lethal 
effects may be produced by the large doses of the antidote employed. 
During parturition, chloral hydrate, in doses of from 15 to 30 grains, repeated 
every half hour or hour, and continued no longer than is necessary to effect the 
desired result, is stated to have been useful in regulating uterine contractions, 
and lessening their severity, in favoring dilatation of the os, and in soothing 
undue nervous and mental excitability. It is an efficient remedy for after-pains. 
By those who have employed it in eclampsia, it is considered one of the best agents 
for overcoming the convulsions, although instances of failure have occasionally 
occurred; in this malady it is administered in doses of 10 or 15 grains, repeated 
as required, every 10, 15, or 20 minutes; and in severe cases, from 30 to 60 grains 
in solution may be employed as a rectal enema. In epilepsy ^chorea, pertussis, and 
paralysis agitans, although not effecting recovery, it greatly lessens the severity of 
the paroxysms, as well as of muscular movements. One part of chloral hydrate 
dissolved in 6 parts of distilled water, and administered in fluid drachm doses 
every half hour, has frequently proved advantageous in hemicrania, as well as in 
retention of urine; in these cases, after sensations of relief have been experienced, 
the intervals between the doses should be extended to every 2 hours, for the last 
three or four periods of administration. Occasionally the headache is said to be 
more severe after the effects of the chloral have subsided. Probably the cases 
were not well selected. Alone or combined with specific hyoscyamus it has 
relieved the wretched headaches of the menopause. Ten grains of the drug in solu- 
tion with 10 drops of henbane, are given every hour until sleep is induced. 
Prof. R. L. Thomas uses chloral extensively in the gastro-intestinal diseases of 
children, with nausea and uncontrollable vomiting, when the condition depends on 
cerebral hyperemia. Small doses are employed, from 1 to 4 grains to 2 ounces of 
water or syrup, and a teaspoonful of the mixture administered every half hour or 
hour, as indicated. This use of chloral in this manner, is, so far as we are aware, 
original with Dr. Thomas. Prof. Scudder recommended 1-grain doses of chloral 
with hydrastine (berberine), in irritable dyspepsia. A rather novel use of chloral is 
reported in Webster's Dynamical Therapeutics, in which a physician claims to have 
cured two cases of albuminuria by rectal injections of chloral. One was a much 
debilitated woman whose condition developed after confinement; the other an 
Irishman "in extremis" from what appeared to be all the symptoms of "Bright's 
disease." The urine was scanty and albuminous, and chloral dissipated the urgent 
symptoms, while the augmented flow of urine was maintained by nux vomica 
and digitalis alternately administered. 
As a local application, chloral hydrate has proved serviceable in several affec- 
tions. Equal parts of chloral and distilled spirit of horseradish root, applied upon 
the affected parts by means of a soft sponge probang, every day, or every other 
day, has proved efficient in the ulitis of pregnant women; before applying it, the 
mouth should be cleansed, and any excess of tartar on the teeth be removed. 
It produces a slight degree of pain, and leaves a superficial, whitish eschar, which 
disappears after some hours. Finely powdered chloral hydrate sprinkled upon 
the surface of a Burgundy pitch plaster, and this applied over painful parts, has 
been found effectual in lumbago, sciatica, pleurodynia, and intercostal neuralgia. 
The plaster must be allowed to remain upon the part for 1 or 2 days, or until the 
skin beneath becomes covered with small vesicles filled with a limpid serosity; 
the plaster is then removed, each vesicle opened with a needle, and the whole 
covered with simple cerate spread upon a soft cloth. They become speedily 
healed. In scald-head, baldness, dandruff (pityriasis), and especially in obstinate, 
indolent ulcers, the local application, daily, of a solution of chloral hydrate, 10 or 20 
grains in distilled water, 1 fluid ounce, will be found highly efficient; some 
smarting may follow each application. A weaker solution (1 in 100) will be 510 
CHLORAL. 
advantageous as a palliative and antiseptic in ulcerated cancer of the breast, cancer 
of the uterus, in suppurating cavities, diphtheritic and gangrenous surfaces, also to 
remove the offensive odor in ozcena (1 in 300), as well as that which emanates 
from the axillae and feet (1 in 150) of certain persons. It may be applied on lint, 
or be. used as a wash, by injection or by spray. A solution of chloral hydrate 
(30 grains to 1 ounce of water) will often prove serviceable as a local application to 
• painful bunions and chilblains. One part of chloral and 16 parts of Carron oil 
(equal parts of lime water and linseed oil), form a mixture that has acted promptly 
and efficiently in burns and scalds. Camphorated chloral is an efficient topical 
application to painful parts. 
Prof. Locke regards it a valuable antiseptic in diphtheria. He recommends a 
solution of from 20 to 25 grains of the salt in 1 ounce of glycerin, the solution to 
be painted upon the false membrane, the removal of which it promotes, as well 
as overcoming the disagreeable stench. Itching of the mucous surfaces is relieved 
by a weak solution of chloral (2 to 5 grains to 1 ounce of water). 
Chloral is efficient as an injection (1 to 2 per cent) in gonorrhoea. A weak 
solution (7 grains) in brandy and water (1 ounce), is reputed an efficient lotion 
in the night-sweats of consumption, while a solution of 1 part in 100 of water is 
reputed a good surgical application in indolent, gangrenous, or cancerous ulcers, etc. 
Erectile tumors and varicocele have been cured by an injection of a 10 per cent solu- 
tion ', though this method is by no means free from danger. 
Chloral has a limited use in ear affections. It may be used to destroy granula- 
tions of the tympanic cavity, when there is an excessive purulent discharge. A 5 per 
cent solution is preferred. It may alsq be employed to destroy the base of the 
pedicle after the removal of polypi. Locally applied, chloral-camphor will miti- 
gate the pain of mastoid disease, while the hydrate, given internally in doses of 
from 2 to 5 grains, every 2 hours, will sometimes allay the pain from acute catarrh 
of the middle ear. 
Chloral hydrate is not used in subcutaneous injection (except in strychnine 
poisoning), as its action is too irritating and apt to be followed by troublesome 
abscesses, and should it be injected into the veins, its influence upon the heart 
and lungs is of a dangerous nature. Internally, for an adult, its ordinary dose 
varies from 10 to 30 grains, to be repeated every 1, 2, or 3 hours, as indicated; 
children, who stand chloral better than adults, also require much less, say, as 
many grains for a dose as there are years of the child's age. The dose, however, 
may vary from 5 to 10 grains as a hypnotic, which, in severe cases, may be 
increased to 20 or 30 grains. Liebreich recommends 7 grains as the dose for chil- 
dren; for adults from 25 to 30 grains, where short intervals of sleep are required, 
and repeated every 2 or 3 hours, and in cases where more determinative effects 
are demanded at once, from 60 to 120 grains at once. As a rule it is better to pre- 
scribe moderate and frequently-repeated doses rather than one large dose. The 
best mode of its administration is in distilled water, being well diluted, 1 part of 
the hydrate to 50 of water. When the dose is large, its bitter, pungent taste may 
be corrected by the addition of some syrup, tincture of orange, or by giving it in 
mucilage. There is some evidence of cumulative effects having been produced by 
chloral. In painful states, morphine, when not otherwise contraindicated, is often 
administered in conjunction with chloral hydrate. Alkaline additions to it must be 
avoided, and the chemical constituents of the food taken before or after its admin- 
istration should be taken into consideration. It may be given in some aromatized 
syrup, to conceal its taste. When used in enema, the saturated solution should be 
mixed with some mucilaginous, albuminous, or oleaginous fluid. Chloral hydrate 
has been incorporated in suppositories, and Trelat proposed a mixture of morphine 
and chloral for producing incomplete anaesthesia for minor operations. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Sleeplessness, from cerebral hyperemia; 
pain, with cerebral hyperemia; pulse soft and temperature normal or somewhat 
increased; delirium tremens, with great cerebral excitation, dry, hot skin, dry 
tongue, elevated temperature, and flushed face; surgical fever, with elevated tem- 
perature, patient excited and delirious; spasms, when not associated with debility 
or depression; irritable dyspepsia (1 grain with berberine); nausea, retching, and 
vomiting, when dependent upon cerebral hyperemia; strychnine poisoning. Con- 
traindicated by debility, depression, and organic heart and lung affections. CHLORAL. 
511 
Related Drugs and Derivatives.-Chloral Alcoholate. When chloral is mixed with 
one equivalent of alcohol, white crystals of chloral alcoholate are formed, resembling in ap- 
pearance hydrate of chloral. They differ, however, in therapeutical action, and in being freely 
soluble in cold chloroform, carbon disulphide, and turpentine, while less soluble in cold water 
than the hydrate. When warmed with sulphuric acid, a reddish-brown, or brown solution is 
formed, and with nitric acid, red vapors are evolved (Hoffman). Chloral alcoholate yields 
59.8 per cent of chloroform. It is not used in medicine, unless as an adulterant of chloral 
hydrate, and is of interest simply from the relation it bears to this substance. 
Chloral-ammonium (CC13.CH.OH.NH2), Trichloramidoethylic alcohol, occurs in small, white 
needle crystals, soluble in water, in which solution it is liable to undergo decomposition. 
Alcohol also dissolves it. It is prepared by rapidly passing into a chloroform solution of anhy- 
drous chloral a stream of dry ammonia gas. A crystalline product is deposited, from which 
the chloroform is decanted; the crystals placed between layers of bibulous paper, and pressed, 
are finally dried in vacuo. It is employed as a hypnotic and analgesic, being indicated in 
cases due to nervous and painful disorders, accompanied by nervous insomnia. The dose is from 
15 to 30 grains. 
Chloral Cyanhydrin, Chloral hydrocyanate, Chloral hydrocyanin, Chloral cyanhydrate 
(CCI3.CHOHCN).-This substance is prepared by the interaction of chloral hydrate and anhy- 
drous hydrocyanic acid at a high temperature. It may also be prepared from a solution of the 
acid. This salt forms white, rhombic, plate-like crystals, easily dissolving in water, ether, and 
alcohol. It fuses at 61° C. (141.8° F.), has the combined odor of its ingredients, and, when 
heated to between 215° and 220° C. (419° and 428° F.), boils, and at the same time more or less 
decomposition ensues. Alkalies decompose it, the result being hydrocyanic acid, formic acid, 
and chloroform. It keeps well in aqueous solution, and yields 15.5 percent of hydrocyanic 
acid ; 1.29 parts in 9 parts of distilled water has the strength (2 per cent) of the official hydro- 
cyanic acid. This compound is recommended as a substitute for prussic acid. 
Hypnal, Monochlorantipyrine, or Tri-chlordldehyd-phenyl-dimethylpyra.zolon.-This hypnotic 
is produced by the interaction of chloral hydrate ami antipyrine. It occurs as transparent, 
odorless, tasteless, rhombic crystals, soluble in water. It fuses at 58° to 60° C. (136° to 140° F.). 
This drug is hypnotic, antispasmodic, and analgesic, and is employed in painjul conditions to 
produce sleep as well as to give rest where sleep is disturbed by harassing cough. Its value as 
a remedial agent is still in dispute, some claiming it to be a safe remedy in every respect, 
while others declare it liable to produce serious depressant effects, while others regard it as 
possessing but feeble hypnotic powers. It was introduced, in 1885, by Dujardin-Beaumetz 
as a soporific. The dose ranges from 15 to 30 grains, in capsules. 
Chloralose.-This crystalline body is one of the newer additions to medicine and is pre- 
pared by the reaction of anhydrous chloral and glucose (dry) upon each other when equal 
quantities are heated together for 1 hour at the temperature of boiling water. When cool, 
the resulting mass is first treated with a small amount of water and then with boiling ether. 
The portions soluble in ether are separated from excess of chloral by several distillations with 
water, then the chloralose is allowed to crystallize. Hot water and alcohol dissolve it. It is 
almost insoluble in cold water, and has a bitter taste. Hanriot and C. Bichet regard this agent 
as a better hypnotic than chloral, it having given good results as a producer of refreshing sleep 
after both chloral and morphine failed. Physiologically, it is said to excite the medulla, and 
to exert its hypnotic action on the brain proper. Chloralose has been usedin hysteria, chorea. 
and epilepsy. Doses as large as 35 grains were administered by Dr. Fere (1893). The sleep 
so produced in some of the hysterical patients was stertorous, and urine was passed involun- 
tarily while asleep, thus exhibiting its pronounced effect in suspending cerebral action. Others 
report very favorably concerning its action, though occasional cases occur where headache, 
faintness, nausea, vertigo, and cardiac irregularity resulted from comparatively small doses. 
It has cured dyspepsia in a neurasthenic subject, and has been given with success in valvular 
heart disease of chronic character, and in neurasthenia. In paralysis agitans, 10 grains produced 
a deep sleep, followed, however, by aggravation of the muscular tremor (Segard). It has 
neither a constipating nor irritating action on the digestive tract. The dose is from 3 to 10 
grains, given preferably in capsule. 
Uralium, Chloral-urethane, Ural (C5H8C13O3N, or CC13CH.OH.NHCO2C2H6).-If ureth- 
ane be dissolved in fused chloral hydrate and strong hydrochloric acid added, an insoluble (in 
water) mass results in the course of a day. If strong sulphuric acid be now added to this mass 
and the whole washed in water, an oily fluid, which afterward crystallizes, is produced. 
This is uralium, and it has a melting point at 103° C. (217.4° F.). It refuses to dissolve in cold 
water, while boiling water decomposes it. Alcohol freely dissolves it, as does also ether, and 
from these solutions it may be precipitated again by water. This body is said to be superior to 
chloral in hypnotic action, and is administered in doses of about 15 to 40 grains. It probably 
possesses no advantage over other hypnotics, and its lack of solubility will militate against its 
general utility. 
Somnal.-Ethylated chloral-urethane (C7Hi2C13O3N). This compound is the result of a 
combination of chloral, urethane, and alcohol. As employed, it is a clear liquid, colorless, and 
has a pungent, burning taste, recalling that of spirit of nitrous ether. The dose ranges from 
15 to 30 drops in liquorice water, or in solution, in water, flavored with raspberry or other 
syrups. It is hypnotic, though regarded as feeble in its action, and dangerously depressant to 
the heart's action. Others claim that a rather prolonged sleep (6 to 8 hours) is induced, and is 
followed by no evil after-effects. 
Chloralamide.-Chloralumformamidatum, Chloral formamide, Chloralformamidum^CCi^CU. 
OH.CONH2). This hypnotic results from the interaction of formamide and anhydrous chloral, 512 
and is official in the German Pharmacopoeia. It forms lustrous, white, slightly bitter crystals, 
devoid of odor. It is soluble in alcohol (Ij parts), and slowly so in cold water (20 parts). 
Diluted acids do not affect it, but alkalies and water above 60° C. (140° F.) decompose it, 
forming ammonium formate and chloral hydrate. It should, on heating, volatilize without 
giving off inflammable fumes, and a 10 per cent solution in alcohol should not color litmus 
paper red, nor be immediately affected by solution of silver nitrate. It fuses at 115° C. (239° F.). 
It should not be confused with the chloral-derivative known as chloralimide (CCl3CHyH), 
which occurs in long, odorless, tasteless, and colorless, acicular crystals, and is produced by 
heating chloral-ammonium. The latter is a stable salt, dissolves in alcohol, chloroform, ether, 
and fixed oil, but is insoluble in water. It fuses at 166° C. (330.8° F.). It is seldom employed 
in medicine. Chloralamide is hypnotic, and has been successfully employed as such in the 
treatment of the insane, in cases where great excitement is absent. If this condition is present 
it fails to operate as well. The same is true of its action in delirium tremens. In painful condi- 
tions, where the pain is not too severe, it induces refreshing sleep. It has been employed for 
this purpose in asthma, chorea, cardiac affections, spinal affections, rheumatism (muscular), and 
insomnia, of old or young subjects. It is thought to have a better action in insomnia due to 
heart troubles than chloral and other hypnotics. Mucous tissues are not irritated by it, nor is 
digestion deranged. It acts quickly, in from 15 to 50 minutes, giving a prolonged sleep, not 
followed by unpleasant after-sensations. Chloralamide may be given in wine, or in diluted 
whiskey, or better still, in warm (not hot) water. The dose is from 20 to 40 grains. 
Chloral-phenol.-Carbolated chloral, Chloral-carbol. Equal parts of carbolic acid and 
hydrate of chloral triturated together, produce this substance, which is a viscid, colorless liquid, 
volatilizing with an odor closely resembling that of chloral hydrate. To the taste it is sweet 
and caustic. It may be mixed with alcohol, chloroform, ether, carbon disulphide, and acetic 
acid. Albumen is coagulated by it in small amounts, but larger quantities redissolve it. At 
20° C. (68° F.), its density is 1.289. It is a local irritant, and a topical anaesthetic. Toothache 
is said to be relieved when cotton saturated with it is placed in the dental cavity. The cotton 
from the cotton-wood tree (Populus canadensis, Michaux), impregnated with it is preferred by 
Garrison (1881). The cotton so treated is known as chloro-carbolated. cotton. 
Chloral-menthol.-Mentholated chloral. When equal amounts of menthol and chloral are 
rubbed together and heated carefully by means of a water-bath, a colorless, oily liquid having 
the odor of peppermint and warm to the taste, results. It dissolves with freedom in alcohol, 
benzin, and chloroform, and is employed for its local anaesthetic and counter-irritant action, 
cases of facial, as well as other neuralgias having been relieved by it. It has a density of 1.1984. 
Chloral Camphoratum (N. F.).-Camphorated chloral, Chloral et camphora, Chloral and. cam- 
phor. Formulary number, 23: "Chloral, fifty grammes (50 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 334 grs.]; camphor, 
fifty grammes (50 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 334 grs.]. Mix them by agitation in a bottle, or by tritura- 
tion in a warm mortar, until they are liquefied and combined"-(Nat. Form.). This prepa- 
ration is employed as a counter-irritant and topical anaesthetic, particularly in neuralgias. 
Chloral Carbamide.-Mix in a porcelain mortar urea (carbamide) 60 parts, and trichoral- 
dehyde hydrate 165.5 parts. A liquid will result'which should then be dissolved in three times 
its bulk of water at 60° C. Upon cooling the solution a crystalline mass of chloral carbamide 
is deposited. This body, which Kobert has shown to act like chloral, but much slower, is easily 
soluble in cold, but less easily in 'warm alcohol. Warm water readily effects its solution. 
Chloraloximes.-A series of compounds recently introduced, which are not readily dis- 
solved by water, but are soluble in ether and alcohol. Hot water has a tendency to decom- 
pose them, chloral hydrate being reformed. In the system they are said to split up into 
chloral hydrate and their particular oximes. The names and fusing points of some of these 
chloraloximes are as follows: Chloral benzaldoxime, 62° C. (143.6° F.); chloralacetoxime, 64° C. 
(147.2° F.); chloralacetaldoxime, 74° C. (165.2° F.); chloralcenophoroxime, 98° C. (204.8° F.); chlorcd- 
nitroso-beta naphtol, 100° C. (212° F.). 
CHLORAL BUTYLICUM. 
CHLORAL BUTYLICUM.-BUTYL-CHLORAL HYDRATE. 
Formula: C4H5C13O.H2O. Molecular Weight : 192.91. 
Synonyms : Butyl-chloral hydras (Br.), Hydrate of butyl-chloral, erroneously 
called Croton-chloral hydrate. 
Preparation and History.-This body is produced by the action of chlorine 
gas upon acetic aldehyde in the cold, and subjecting the resulting product to frac- 
tional distillation. The fraction boiling between the constant limits 163° and 
165° C. (325.4° and 329° F.), contains the practically pure butylchloral. By dis- 
solving this in water the hydrate is produced, and may be obtained by crystal- 
lization. This body was accidentally discovered by Kramer and Pinner, in 1870, 
while examining the by-products of Schering's chloral works. At that time they 
regarded it as croton-chloral (C4H3C13O), an unsaturated compound, but in 1875 
they found it to be trichlorbutyl-aldehyde, having the graphic formula: CH3.CHC1. 
CCLCHO.. 
Description.-The hydrate occurs in scaly crystals, fusing at 77.8° C. (172° F.), 
the resulting transparent fluid congealing at 71.1° C. (160° F.). It is soluble in CHLOROFORMUM. 
513 
hot water, alcohol, ether, and glycerin, more sparingly soluble in cold water 
(1 in 50), and practically not at all soluble in chloroform. Its taste is warm and 
bitterish. It vaporizes with the steam of water at 100° C (212° F.). Its aqueous 
solution should be neutral or but faintly acid to test paper. Decomposition gradu- 
ally ensues in its solution, and in such a state it can not long be kept. Caustic 
alkalies (soda, potash, etc.), convert it into formate and chloride of the base 
employed, and bichlorallylene (C3H2C12), but chloroform is not produced under 
such treatment, a fact to be anticipated from the graphic formula above given. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This agent was introduced in 1870, by 
Liebreich, as a remedy for trigeminal neuralgia. Within a few minutes after the 
ingestion of from 10 to 30 grains of this salt, a heaviness and mental confusion, 
and dulling of the senses take place. Sensibility of the skin, first of the face, and 
then of the limbs, is impaired, and motion is more or less impeded, muscular tone 
being peculiarly conserved, so that persons impressed with it will remain in deep 
sleep sitting upright in their chairs. Within a half-hour after taking the above 
doses a deep and peaceful slumber supervenes without affecting the circulation, 
temperature, or respiration. Slight head symptoms, quickly passing off, are expe- 
rienced on waking. Large doses may induce emeto-catharsis. Rather than nar- 
cotic, this agent is an anaesthetic, and is peculiarly effective in neuralgia of the fifth 
nerve and in tic-douloureux, and is not of much value in other neuralgic com- 
plaints. Anemic girls and women are most benefited by it. It is only palliative, 
and for this purpose is likewise beneficial in dysmenorrhoea and in nervous headache, 
provided there is no depression of the heart, no gastro-intestinal irritation, nor 
a hyperemic state of the brain, which are contraindications to its use. It has 
been used in insomnia, particularly of phthisis and heart affections, when chloral 
was inadmissible, or when the required dose of the latter was too large. It affects 
females more readily than males, and the ordinary dose for neuralgic affections 
is from 3 to 15 grains. Larger doses are not safe. It may be administered in syrup 
of licorice, glycerin, or syrup of peppermint. It is best given in successive small 
doses until anaesthesia is produced, stopping short of its hypnotic action. For its 
hypnotic effects it is given at bedtime, in doses ranging from 15 to 45 grains. The 
patient's condition, however, must be taken into consideration for much harm 
may come from such doses. Electricity, artificial respiration, and stimulants, 
applied to the extremities, are the means resorted to when over-doses have been 
swallowed. 
CHLOROFORMUM (U. S. P.)-CHLOROFORM. 
Formula: CHC13. Molecular Weight: 119.08. 
Synonym: Chloroformum purificatum {Pharm^ 1880). 
"A liquid consisting of 99 to 99.4 per cent, by weight, of absolute chloroform, 
and 1 to 0.6 per cent of alcohol. It should be kept in dark, amber-colored, glass- 
stoppered bottles, in a cool and dark place "-(U.S.P.). 
History and Preparation.-The first discovery of chloroform was in 1831, 
by Mr. Samuel Guthrie, a chemist residing in Sackett's Harbor, N. Y.; subse- 
quently, in 1832, Soubeiran, of France, and Liebig, of Germany, prepared it; 
neither of these gentlemen being aware of the other's discovery. Chloroform is 
yielded by a variety of processes. It is formed by the action of chlorinated lime 
upon alcohol, acetone, wood alcohol, and other organic substances. It is also pro- 
duced by the action of chlorine upon marsh gas (methane, CH<), and on methyl 
chloride (see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1881, p. 188) ; by the decomposition of sodium 
trichloracetate (CCl3.COONa) with caustic soda, whereby sodium carbonate is 
formed as a by-product; and by the action of caustic soda upon chloral or chloral 
hydrate, sodium formate then resulting as a by-product (see Chloral). Until 
about 1882, the bulk of the chloroform of commerce was prepared by the action of 
chlorinated lime upon alcohol, whereby chloral is most likely formed as an 
intermediary product. In 1882, however, great improvements in the manufacture 
of acetone by the dry distillation of acetate of lime (see Acidum Aceticum) resulting 
in the cheapening of that article, made it possible to utilize Liebig's old reaction, 
according to which chloroform is made by distillation of acetone with chlorinated 
lime. The bulk of chloroform of the market is now obtained in this manner. 514 
CHLOROFORM UM. 
The yield of chloroform from acetone is considerable-namely, as high as 
twice the weight of the acetone employed. For an interesting paper on this sub- 
ject see Prof. S. P. Sadtler in Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1889, p. 321, wherein is also given 
the following equation as most likely expressing the reaction involved, calcium 
acetate being among the by-products formed: 2C3H6O4-6CaOCl2=2CHCl34-Ca 
(C2H3O2)2+2Ca(OH)2-f-3CaC12. In addition to the advantage of a higher yield, 
greater purity is also claimed for the chloroform obtained by this process. As 
pure chloroform is now largely manufactured in this country, no formula for its 
preparation is given in the U. S. P. For detailed directions according to the old 
process with alcohol, see the British Pharmacopoeia, 1885. 
As the chloroform of commerce is often produced more or less impure, the 
U. S. P. has given the following process for its purification: Purification.-"Chloro- 
form which fails to respond to these tests (U. S. P. tests) should be purified by 
the following process: Chloroform, four hundred grammes (400 Gm.) [14 ozs. av., 
48 grs.]; sulphuric acid, eighty grammes (80 Gm.) [2 ozs. av., 360 grs.]; dried 
sodium carbonate, twenty grammes (20 Gm.) [309 grs.]; deodorized alcohol, four 
cubic centimeters (4 Cc.) [65 TR]. Add the sulphuric acid to the chloroform, con- 
tained in a glass-stoppered bottle, and shake them together occasionally during 
24 hours, avoiding exposure to bright daylight. Separate the lighter chloroform 
layer, add to it the dried sodium carbonate, previously rendered anhydrous by 
heating it in a porcelain capsule on a sand-bath until it ceases to give off aqueous 
vapor, and shake them together frequently and thoroughly during half an hour. 
Then transfer the chloroform to a dry retort, add to it the alcohol, and distill, by 
means of a water-bath, at a temperature not exceeding 67.2° C. (153° F.), into a 
well-cooled, fared receiver, until the distillate measures two hundred and fifty-five 
cubic centimeters (255 Cc.) [8 fls, 299 HL] "-(U. S. P). 
Recently a physical method of obtaining pure chloroform was proposed by 
Pictet. It consists in subjecting chloroform to refrigeration to -82° C. (-147.6° 
F.), when pure chloroform solidifies, and may afterwards be distilled at a reduced 
temperature and pressure. An interesting chemical method has also been pro- 
posed by Anschutz (see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1893), by which chloroform enters 
into a solid combination. It consists in the formation of salicylide-chloroform, 
by allowing salicylide (C6H4COO, an anhydride of salicylic acid), or ortho-homo- 
salicylide (CH3C6H3COO) arid chloroform to remain in contact for 24 hours, when 
a crystalline, almost insoluble, product results, containing about 33 per cent of 
chloroform. This compound may be kept unchanged for a long time in closed 
containers. Salicylide-chloroform easily decomposes when heat is applied, yield- 
ing chloroform, free from the ordinary impurities, as these do not form crystaRi- 
zable bodies with the above-named substances. Repeated use may be made of 
the same salicylide and ortho-homo-salicylide for the purification of chloroform 
according to this process. 
Description.-The U. S. P. demands chloroform to answer the following 
description: "A heavy, clear, colorless, mobile and diffusible liquid, of a charac- 
teristic, ethereal odor, and a burning, sweet taste. Specific gravitv: not below 
1.490 at 15° C. (59° F.), or 1.473 at 25° C. (77° F.). Soluble in about 200 times 
its volume of cold water, and, in all proportions, in alcohol, ether, benzol, benzin, 
and the fixed and volatile oils. Chloroform is volatile even at a low temperature, 
and boils at 60° to 61° C. (140° to 141.8° F.). It is not inflammable, but its heated 
vapor burns with a green flame "-(U. S. P.). 
Chloroform, when absolutely pure, has a density of 1.499 (Hirsch), or 1.502 
(Schacht and Biltz), at 15° C. (59° F.). In this state it is exceedingly liable 
to decomposition upon exposure to diffused daylight and in contact with the 
atmospheric oxygen. The addition of a small quantity of alcohol has been found 
necessary in order to preserve it. Schacht and Biltz (see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1893) 
have determined the following specific gravities for chloroform, containing vary- 
ing small amounts of alcohol. Specific gravity at 15° C. (59° F.) : 
Pure chloroform 1.5020 
" " with 0.25 per cent alcohol 1.4977 
" " " 0.5 " " .' 4.4939 
" " " 1.0 " " 1.4854 
" " "2.0 " " 1.4705 CHLOROFORM UM. 
515 
The same investigators have found that, as a general rule, 0.25 per cent alco- 
hol will prevent recognizable decomposition for one month or longer; 0.5 per cent 
will preserve the chloroform for nearly one year; and 1 per cent for several years. 
Similar results have been arrived at by Squibb (1893). According to the investi- 
gations of D. Brown (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1893), decomposition is induced by atmos- 
pheric oxygen. Chloroform, kept in a Torricellian vacuum, was exposed for sev- 
eral months to direct sunlight, during many hours, without change. Another 
specimen of chloroform being kept in a bottle, hermetically sealed, after the air 
was expelled by allowing the chloroform to boil in the glass for several minutes, 
likewise kept unchanged for 4 months (106 hours' sunlight), while chloroform 
not preserved with such precaution, and contained in a glass-stoppered bottle, 
began to decompose in 5 days (12| hours'sunshine). 
In the first stage of the decomposition, oxygen acts upon chloroform, decom- 
posing it into water, chlorine gas, and carbon oxychloride (phosgene gas), a gas of a 
suffocating, nauseous odor, having a much lower boiling point than chloroform- 
viz.: 8° C. (46.4° F.). The reaction takes place as follows: 4CHC134-3O2=4COC124- 
2H2O-|-2C12. In the second stage, carbon oxychloride reacts with the water pres- 
ent, forming carbon dioxide and hydrochloric acid, as follows: COC12+H2O- 
CO2-|-2HC1. This reaction applies only to chloroform free from alcohol. If the 
latter is present, chlorine, probably in its nascent state, acts upon it, whereby 
hydrochloric acid is formed. Thus, in the presence of alcohol, the formation of 
free chlorine may escape notice. Free chlorine will be recognized by its property 
of liberating iodine from iodide of potassium, or from zinc iodide starch paper. 
Carbon oxychloride is recognizable by its peculiar smell, which becomes espe- 
cially noticeable after shaking the chloroformic liquid with mercury, which takes 
up the free chlorine (Schacht and Biltz). Another test, suggested by Prof. Ram- 
say, consists in the action of the gas upon barium hydrate (see U. S. P. tests 
below). The following equation represents the reaction : COCl24-2Ba(OH)2;= 
BaCO3+BaCl2+2H2O. 
It is stated by Boettger that fragments of caustic soda will preserve chloroform 
even in the presence of light, and will restore chloroform containing hydrochloric 
acid and chlorinous compounds as products of decomposition. 
Chloroform is a powerful solvent, and is thus a most valuable auxiliary to the 
chemist, pharmacist, and manufacturer. It is preferable to ether in many instan- 
ces on account of its non-inflammability. Still, the fact must be borne in mind 
that if the vapors of chloroform are mixed with vapor of alcohol or ether, they 
become readily inflammable. M. Lepage has recorded the qualitative solubilities 
of a number of substances, such as resins, oils, alkaloids, and chemicals, in chloro- 
form (see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1852, p. 147). A table of solubilities of alkaloids and 
alkaloidal salts in chloroform has been compiled by Schlimpert (see Amer. Jour. 
Pharm., 1860). Chloroform has also become of some importance as an antiseptic. 
The solution of chloroform in alcohol is precipitated by an excess of water. Potas- 
sium and caustic potash have no action upon pure chloroform. With an alcoholic 
solution of potassa, however, it is decomposed, slowly in the cold, but more rapidly 
when heated, potassium formate and potassium chloride resulting. Chloroform 
is also used in the carbylamine test of Hofmann for aniline (see Anilina). 
Impurities and Tests.-Pure chloroform, not containing ethylidene chloride 
(CH.j.CH.C12) and other chlorinated ethyl and amyl compounds, remains unaf- 
fected in color when shaken with pure concentrated sulphuric acid. According 
to Dr. Gregory, these chlorinated pyrogenous oils are the most pernicious foreign 
matters in chloroform, as they occasion, even when slightly inhaled, pain in the 
head, unpleasant nausea, etc. To detect these, he directs the addition of 2 or 3 
ounces of the chloroform to an equal volume of concentrated and chemically pure 
sulphuric acid. If the chloroform be pure, the mixture will not be colored, but if 
these oils be present, the acid will be colored dark-brownish yellow, owing to the 
quantity of these foreign substances contained in the chloroform. 
In testing the purity of chloroform, especial notice must be taken of its spe- 
cific gravity; if less than 1.49, it contains a mixture of lighter fluids (alcohol, 
ether, or aldehyde), and, in this case, the volume of such a mixture sensibly 
diminishes when shaken with twice its bulk of pure water. The presence of alco- 
hol in chloroform may be recognized by various tests-e. g., the iodoform test, i.e., 516 
CHLOROFORMUM. 
abstracting the alcohol by shaking with water and warming the solution with 
sodium carbonate and a crystal of pure iodine; if alcohol is present, the smell of 
iodoform becomes manifest. M. Roussin's test (referred to in the French Codex) 
is said to be extremely delicate, and consists in introducing several grammes of 
chloroform into a tube or stoppered bottle, then adding a few centigrammes of 
nitroso-sulphide of iron, shaking the mixture, and allowing it to settle. If the chlo- 
roform is pure, it remains clear as water; but if it contains alcohol, it assumes a 
brown tint, more or less deep, according to the proportion present. This reagent 
will also detect the presence of ether, aldehyde, and methylic and amylic alcohol, 
it being very soluble in all these compounds. The nitroso-sulphide of iron is pro- 
cured by mixing a solution of nitrate of potassium with sulphide of ammonium, 
then, while the mixture is being agitated, dropping in a solution of ferrous sul- 
phate. The whole is boiled, evaporated to dryness, treated with alcoholized ether, 
filtered, and the solution crystallized. 
MM. Behal and Francois have recently elaborated a new method to deter- 
mine the amount of alcohol present in chloroform. It consists in abstracting the 
alcohol by means of strong sulphuric acid, distilling the ethylsulphuric acid thus 
formed with water, and oxidizing to acetic acid the alcohol thus regenerated by 
means of potassium bichromate and sulphuric acid of known strength, according 
to the method of Nicloux {Pharm. Centralh., 1897, p. 647). 
The U. S. P. tests are the following: " If 20 Cc. of chloroform be poured upon 
a clean, odorless filter laid flat upon a warmed porcelain or glass plate, and the 
plate be rocked from side to side until the liquid is all evaporated, no foreign 
odor should become perceptible as the last portions disappear from the paper, and 
the paper should be left nearly odorless when compared with a new, odorless 
filter. If 10 Cc. of chloroform be well shaken with 20 Cc. of distilled water, 
and the liquid be allowed to separate completely, the water should be neutral to 
litmus paper, and should not be affected by silver nitrate T.S. (absence of chlo- 
rides), or potassium iodide T.S. (absence of free chlorine). If to about 5 Cc. of 
chloroform, contained in a dry test-tube of the capacity of about 10 Cc.,about 
4 Cc. of perfectly clear barium hydrate T.S. be added without agitation, and 
the test-tube be then corked and set aside in a dark place for 6 hours, no film 
should be visible at the line of contact of the two liquids (absence of products of 
decomposition in chloroform which may be otherwise pure). If 40 Cc. of chloro- 
form be shaken with 4 Cc. of colorless, concentrated sulphuric acid in a 50 Cc. 
glass-stoppered cylinder during 20 minutes, and the liquids be then allowed to 
separate completely so that both are transparent, the chloroform should remain 
colorless, and the acid should appear colorless, or very nearly colorless, when seen 
in a stratum of not less than about 15 Mm. in thickness (absence of impurities 
decomposable by sulphuric acid). If 2 Cc. of the sulphuric acid, separated from 
the chloroform, be diluted with 5 Cc. of distilled water, the liquid should be col- 
orless and clear, and, while hot from the mixing, should be odorless, or give but 
a faint vinous or ethereal odor (absence of odorous decomposition products). 
When further diluted with lOCc. of distilled water, it should remain clear, and 
should not be affected by silver nitrate T.S. (absence of chlorinated compounds). 
If 10 Cc. of the chloroform, separated from the acid, be well shaken with 20 Cc. 
of distilled water, and the liquid be allowed to separate completely, the watery 
portion should not be affected by silver nitrate T.S. (absence of chlorinated com- 
pounds)"-^- & 
Action and Toxicology.-I. Internally and Subcutaneously. Chloro- 
form applied to the skin reddens the part, and if evaporation be prevented, vesi- 
cation is apt to result. Injected subcutaneously in small amounts (10 to 20 
minims) it causes some pain at first, followed by a benumbing sensation, which 
is succeeded by complete anaesthesia of the part, the tissue around the puncture 
becoming first puffy and then indurated, the induration persisting for many days. 
Taken internally, it imparts a sweetish, hot, and pungent taste, and if undiluted, 
may occasion severe irritation or inflammation of the mucous tissues. Hence it 
is customary to administer it in emulsion or as chloroform water. Heat and 
inflammation, followed by oedema of the larynx may occur if the concentrated 
vapor be inhaled during the act of swallowing the drug. In the stomach warmth 
is first experienced, followed by a cold sensation, and if the drug is not well diluted, 517 
CHLOROFORMUM. 
a severe gastritis may ensue. Effects not unlike those after the ingestion of alco- 
hol or ether, follow when chloroform is taken in moderate amounts into the stom- 
ach-an increased circulation, fullness of the head, giddiness, mental confusion, 
and brief cerebral excitement or inebriation, succeeded by a soporific state. About 
1 drachm subcutaneously, or 1 or 2-drachm doses by mouth, occasion a soporific 
state, which obtains very slowly, but is singularly prolonged, the drug presu- 
mably being very gradually absorbed into the blood. Such a sleep is not accom- 
panied by anaesthesia, for the patient may be very easily aroused, and will again 
lapse off into sleep. The pulse is slightly slowed, while a reduction in tempera- 
ture to the extent of 1° or 2° F. is generally effected. A dose of | fluid ounce 
has occasioned alarming symptoms, among which are convulsions, trismus, partial 
pupillary dilatation, insensibility, retarded and stertorous breathing, frothing at 
the mouth, livid countenance, bloody stools, and feeble or irregular pulse. Blood 
may be ejected from the stomach also. Taken in lethal doses, profound stupor, 
insensibility, and death result. Death results from cardiac paralysis or from 
asphyxia, or from these and inflammation of the stomach combined. Under 
chloroform poisoning the pupils may either be contracted or dilated. Usually 
vomiting occurs, though after large doses no vomiting has taken place. A middle- 
aged, robust man, but an alcoholic inebriate, poisoned by the ingestion of 1^ fluid 
ounces of chloroform, was aroused in 10 hours by the subcutaneous use of two 
large doses of strychnine grain, followed in half an hour by grain). Severe 
gastro-intestinal, hepatic, and renal symptoms followed, the intellect remained 
clear, and the temperature unaffected, but death occurred in 67 hours from com- 
bined cardiac paralysis and pulmonary oedema (Taylor, Med. Juris.). The smallest 
fatal dose recorded was ''a drachm or two," which killed a boy of 4 years in 3 
hours; 6 to 7 drachms is the smallest fatal dose in an adult. A fluid ounce has 
frequently killed, and the time required to produce death generally ranges from 
1 hour to 8 days (Taylor, Med. Juris.). 
The post-mortem appearances are congestion and inflammation-congestion 
of the brain and pulmonic structures, and congestion, inflammation, and ulcera- 
tion of the gastric portion of the gastro-intestinal tract-the intestinal portion 
usually presenting nothing marked except some congestion and the odor of the 
drug. The bronchiae are bathed with sanguineous mucus or muco-pus. Coagu- 
lation of the blood is prevented, that liquid being found unusually fluid in the 
vessels. The post-mortem appearances are not, as a rule, constant. Poisoning 
by swallowing chloroform must be met by emetics, the stomach-pump, or siphon; 
tbe further treatment is that of narcosis by inhalation. On account of its burn- 
ing taste and pungency, it is rarely selected for suicidal purposes. 
II. Inhalation and Anesthesia.-The effects usually occasioned by anaes- 
thetic doses of chloroform are, whizzing and pulsation in the head, a change in 
the apparent color of objects, pleasurable ideas and visions, loss of consciousness, 
incoherent talking or muttering, and sometimes loud or noisy respiration, mus- 
cular relaxation, and complete insensibility to pain, from whatever cause. A 
minute or two generally suffices to occasion anaesthesia, which will last for several 
minutes, but may be continued for an indefinite period, by carefully repeating 
the inhalation at certain intervals of time, as its influence is observed to be 
decreasing. Sometimes, from the coughing produced, or other circumstances, it 
may require a long time before its anaesthetic effect is induced, but which may be 
obviated by holding it, at first, at a little distance from the nostrils, that it may 
be mixed with atmospheric air, and then gradually approaching it to them. Its 
anaesthetic influence is succeeded by somnolence, or a calm slumber, and usually 
there is no remembrance of incidents which happen during the anaesthesia. 
The full anaesthetic effects of chloroform are always attended with great haz- 
ard; it has been ascertained that it may be administered to an extent sufficient 
to produce torpor of the nerves of sensation without completely destroying con- 
sciousness, so that, in some cases, it may be unnecessary to risk the production of 
an entire suspension of the mental powers. Generally, however, it is unsafe to 
operate until complete unconsciousness has been effected, a majority of the fatal 
accidents from chloroform inhalation having been observed in minor operations 
where incomplete ansesthetization had been practiced. It is probable that the 
fatalities attending the extraction of teeth, etc., are in part due to the fact that 518 
CHLOROFORMUM. 
the drag was inhaled in the sitting posture; and that many deaths from chloro- 
form have been hastened by fear. In inhaling chloroform, the article should be 
pure, as the presence of pyrogenous oils occasion vomiting; this effect is also apt 
to occur if the chloroform be inhaled immediately after a full meal. About a 
fluid drachm is the quantity generally used at a time for inhalation, and this 
should be renewed every 3 or 4 minutes until the required effect takes place. The 
only apparatus needed to inhale chloroform is a handkerchief, closely, but not 
too tightly, rolled up, and held in the hand, having a concavity into which the 
chloroform is poured, and then placed near, but not immediately in contact with, 
the mouth and nose. A quantity of common air should always be allowed to 
enter the lungs with the chloroform vapor. It is never safe to administer chloroform 
vapor in greater proportion than 3^ per cent, the rest being atmospheric air. It should 
be remembered that the vapor of chloroform is heavier than air, so that it should 
not be held too close to the nostrils, lest the air should be wholly replaced by it. 
As soon as the requisite amount of insensibility occurs, its inspiration should be 
discontinued, and only carefully repeated when there is too early a restoration to 
consciousness. Epileptics, those laboring under disease of the heart, those pre- 
disposed to apoplexy, or cerebral determinations, and persons who have recently 
lost much blood, should not be placed under the anaesthetic influence of chloro- 
form. It should never be administered immediately after a hearty meal, as it 
may cause vomiting; and when the pulsations fall below 60, the inhalation 
should be stopped. Excitement, which often marks the first degree of insensi- 
bility, is a mark that the handkerchief should be removed and not kept on, as is 
generally practiced. Violent excitement, and the exclamation, "I am choking," 
should be followed by the immediate' removal of the handkerchief. The patient 
should be in the recumbent position, the head slightly raised by a pillow, and 
he should be frequently asked, while he is being pinched, what is done to him; 
and when he begins to answer with ill humor, "you pinch me," he is on the 
point of losing sensation. As soon as he answers no more, sensation is abolished, 
the handkerchief should be immediately removed, and the operation at once com- 
menced, without waiting for a complete resolution of the muscles (M. Baudens). 
Some, however, prefer to wait for muscular relaxation, stopping short of stertor- 
ous breathing. 
Before beginning the administration of the.anaesthetic, certain precautions 
should be taken. All the implements to be used in the operation should be con- 
cealed from the patient's view, and all the necessary implements and restoratives 
deemed necessary in case of an accident, should be at hand, and also out of the 
patient's sight. The patient's chest should be bared, his fears allayed, and his 
confidence gained by the necessary explanations. Care should be taken that the 
clothing does not in any way constrict the circulation, nor should the adminis- 
tration be commenced after a full meal, nor after a long fast. The recumbent 
position must be maintained always. The administrator should attend to the 
administration of the anaesthetic, and to that alone. No talking nor noises, as the 
rattling of instruments, should be allowed, and there should be an abundance of 
fresh air admitted into the operating room. If desired an ounce of brandy or 
whiskey may be administered previous to the administration of the anaesthetic, 
or a hypodermatic injection of morphine, as suggested by Bernard, may be 
administered. The latter is said to render the process of inhalation quieter, and 
to lessen, and in some cases prevent the stage of spasm and rigidity nearly always 
present in the strong and robust, while it is also believed to antagonize the para- 
lytic action of the chloroform upon the heart and lungs, and to prevent the shock 
succeeding the chloroformization and the operation performed. To prevent irrita- 
tion and subsequent swelling of the nostrils and lips, the parts should be anointed 
with oil or petrolatum previous to the administration of the anaesthetic. Certain 
organic changes should be taken into consideration. Anaesthesia should not 
be attempted in those suffering from fatty and other degenerate conditions of the 
heart; it is inadmissible in feeble and obstructed heart, though it has been safely 
given where only valvular lesions exist, without change in the heart-muscle or 
cardiac ganglia, with apparent safety. The same is true of phthisis (Bartholow). 
Organic lesions of the brain, as cerebral tumors or abscesses, tendency to apoplexy, 
epilepsy, and obstructive lesions of the kidneys, are also contraindications to its CHLOROFORMUM. 
519 
anaesthetic employment. Beside the previous named conditions, anaesthesia is 
improper in aneurism, chlorosis, most cases of phthisis, chorea, and anemia. We 
should be cautious in using it, if indeed, we should use it at all, where the tonsils 
are markedly enlarged, or when the epiglottis is swollen, or oedema of the glottis 
is present. It is a dangerous procedure to produce anaesthesia in old topers, a 
fatty heart generally being present; and the inhalation of chloroform is likewise 
inadvisable in delirium tremens. 
Great care should be exercised in the administration of the anaesthetic. The 
pulse, and particularly the respiratory movements should be carefully and con- 
tinuously noted. Sudden pallor of the countenance and sudden and complete 
dilatation of the pupils are signs of the gravest danger. Stertorous breathing is 
the danger signal of respiratory paralysis, and when it occurs the chest should be 
vigorously slapped, as taught by Prof. Howe, until respiratory movements become 
free again. Children bear chloroform anaesthesia better than adults; women 
better than men; feeble persons and those reduced by long sickness better than 
the robust and healthy. This latter statement is disputed by some. It seems, 
however, that anaesthesia for operations upon diseased parts is better borne than 
when employed after injuries. Probably the shock and the terror attending the 
latter have much to do with the untoward action of the anaesthetic. 
Much discussion has been made as to the method in which chloroform pro- 
duces death, the belief formerly prevailing that it was nearly always due to car- 
diac paralysis. The first (1889) and second (1890) Hyderabad Commissions 
combated this view of its action upon the heart, and claimed that the lungs were 
the organs mainly and primarily involved. The experiments of this body, how- 
ever, were performed in India and upon dogs. European and American observ- 
ers have vigorously combated this theory of primary respiratory paralysis, the 
majority of deaths in Europe and America resulting from cardiac paralysis. 
Again, it shows the futility of trying to infer the action of a drug upon man 
because of certain effects produced in the lower animals. Indeed, it is not uncom- 
mon for entirely different effects to be produced upon man and animals by the 
same drug. Prof J. A. MacWilliam (Brit. Med. Jour., 1890), has recently shown 
that chloroform directly affects the heart substance, and that death from cardiac 
failure is the rule, the mode of failure being due to a more or less sudden dilata- 
tion of both sides of the heart, with marked enfeeblement of that organ, the feeble 
state and distension of the heart, which is unable to propel the blood, explaining 
the failure of artificial respiration to revive the patient. He shows that respira- 
tion may continue for several minutes after the heart has ceased to beat. The 
ground occupied by Wood (1890), Laborde (1890), Reeve, Hare, Dunlop, and 
others, is probably nearest to a correct solution of the lethal action of the drug. 
According to these observers, death may take place either from primary cardiac 
or from primary pulmonary paralysis, either taking place independently of the 
other. Thus death may result either from asphyxia or syncope. Dr. Wood 
maintains that while ether more generally acts upon the respiratory, more 
strongly than upon the circulatory organs, it may occasionally also produce 
death by heart paralysis. The treatment for chloroform narcosis, then, includes 
methods for sustaining both the cardiac and respiratory functions. 
When administering chloroform, the operator ought always to be provided 
with a bottle of strong aqua ammonias, and whenever unpleasant symptoms arise, 
the patient should be made to inhale it from another handkerchief imbued with 
it, in the same manner as named for chloroform, and be either restored to sensi- 
bility, or not, as the case may require. 
If the accident be due to respiratory failure, artificial respiration should be 
resorted to, and strychnine injected, or nitrite of amyl or ammonia inhaled. In 
case the tongue should tend to fall back into the throat, it should be drawn forward 
out of the mouth. The body should be placed head downward (Nelaton's method) 
in cardiac failure, to allow the blood to pass freely to the brain, and atropine, 
strychnine, and, best of all digitalis, administered hypodermatically. The latter 
is probably the best agent that can be employed. The use of alcoholics is ques- 
tionable, as small quantities do no good, while large amounts aid in embarrassing 
respiration. External heat should be applied and cold affusions avoided. Recently 
it has been shown that forcible and sudden dilatation of the anal sphincters will 520 
CHLOROFORM UM 
relieve patients from chloroform narcosis. While this has been ridiculed, we 
have the testimony of competent observers that it is signally effectual, operating 
probably through shock to the sympathetic nervous system. 
Chloroform Habit.-Chloroform continuously consumed for the purpose of 
producing inebriation, as it often is, is more pernicious in its effects and more 
intractable to treat than the opium habit. Enormous quantities, as much as a 
pound, have been consumed in a day, but life can not long resist such amounts. 
Occasionally only acute symptoms lasting a week or so, and characterized by 
hallucinations of sight and sound, noisy delirium and furious maniacal raving 
may be the effects. More often, however, a chronic form ensues, with mental 
irritability, melancholia, or hypochondriasis, delirium, and early decay of the 
intellectual powers. The worst phases of moral depravity may also be exhibited. 
Fortunately, this use of the drug soon destroys its victims. 
Comparison of Ether and Chloroform.-Chloroform is now very largely 
used by inhalation as an anaesthetic agent, and from the small quantity required, 
the promptitude with which it influences the system, its rather pleasant action, 
its more agreeable and less persistent odor, its moderate price, and the facility 
with which it may be administered, many in this country prefer it to ether, not- 
withstanding its greater danger. On the continent its seems to be losing ground, 
ether being preferred. The fact that chloroform is a much more dangerous anaes- 
thetic, producing fatal results about 4.5 times as often as ether, makes the latter 
the more desirable agent to use in all operations where it is desired to produce 
anaesthesia. The majority of surgeons, and many of those who use chloroform, 
admit the greater safety of ether. Dr. Thomas Jones, of St. George's Hospital, 
London, who, in the course of eleven years, had administered chloroform to over 
6,000 individuals, declared that if he were unfortunate enough to have to be anaes- 
thetized, nothing could induce him to take chloroform. In obstetricy, however, 
chloroform is remarkably free from dangerous results, much more so than in any 
other condition, and is always preferred to ether in obstetrical manipulations. 
A comparative table will show the advantages of ether over chloroform, while 
it will be observed that if equally as free from danger as the former, the latter 
would, from its pleasanter and prompter effects, be far preferable to the former. 
Ether. 
Unpleasant odor. 
Unpleasant to inhale. 
Inflammable, and can not well be used 
around fire and lights. 
More irritant to the air passages. 
May be given more rapidly. 
Air should be excluded as much as possible 
while administering. 
Its vapor may be inhaled almost in full 
strength. 
Reduces temperature several degrees. 
More apt to occasion pugnacity, or lascivi- 
ous or vulgar talk. 
Not contraindicated by mere feebleness of 
heart. 
More irritant to the kidneys and lungs. 
Action less prompt and more transient. 
Comparatively free from danger. 
Kills chiefly by respiratory paralysis; occa- 
sionally by heart failure. 
Danger easily detected by color of face and 
ears, and state of pulse in sufficient time to 
resort to artificial respiration, by which death 
may be averted. 
Death occurs in proportion of about 1 to 
17,000. 
Claimed never to be dangerous when prop- 
erly administered. 
Should always be preferred in long opera- 
tions. 
Less used in obstetricy. 
Chloroform. 
Agreeable odor. 
Pleasant to inhale. 
Non-inflammable and safe around fire and 
lights. 
Less irritant to the air passages. 
Must be slowly administered. 
Air to the extent of at least 97A per cent 
should be mixed with the anaesthetic vapor. 
Not more than 3| per cent with the inhaled 
air is safe. 
Practically no reduction of temperature. 
More apt to render the ideas and visions 
pleasurable, the incoherent talk being of a 
pleasant and not vulgar character. 
Not admissible in weak heart. 
Less irritant to the renal and pulmonary 
tissues. 
Effects more prompt and more prolonged. 
Always dangerous. 
Kills chiefly by cardiac paralysis; and quite 
often primarily by asphyxia. 
Danger signs, as of pulse, pallor, etc., exhib- 
ited as quickly as with ether, but too late to be 
of value if cardiac paralysis has occurred. 
Death occurs in proportion of about 1 to 
4,000. 
Admitted to be dangerous, even by its advo- 
cates. 
Preponderance of opinion in favor of never 
using where ether may be employed. 
Preferable in obstetric manipulations. 521 
Notwithstanding its dangerous character, Prof. A. J. Howe was a strong advo- 
cate of chloroform, and in his incomparable article on Anaesthesia (Art and 
Science of Surgery, pp. 38 to 51), states: "I have administered chloroform over 
5,000 times, and have been so fortunate as not to have a death occur from the 
anaesthetic." He states that he has always succeeded in resuscitating the patient 
in handling several cases in which startling symptoms were exhibited, by his 
method, now well known to Eclectic practitioners, viz.: " Turning the patient 
on his face and forcing a finger deep in the throat to remove collections of 
mucus or material that is vomited, may clear the way for respiration which must 
be kept up artificially. While the patient lies upon his abdomen, the chest is to 
be turned every few seconds from one side to the other, and heavy slaps are to be 
imparted to the thorax just below the scapulae. Blowing in the mouth is then to 
be quickly performed, and the turning and slapping renewed. Every few minutes 
the finger is to be forced deep into the pharynx, and the tongue pulled forward 
as the digit is removed. Efforts of the nature above described are to be kept 
up until no hopes of resuscitation remain. The manipulation favors a return 
of the heart's action and respiratory changes. If the feeble vital spark can be 
kept unextinguished there is a possibility of resuscitation. I once worked over a 
child for an hour, and my labors were rewarded by complete recovery" (Howe's 
Surgery, p. 48-9). 
To obviate the alarming effects of chloroform, Dr. Warren proposed a mix- 
ture containing 2 parts of anhydrous alcohol, and 1 part of pure chloroform. This 
mixture is considered less dangerous than chloroform and more pleasant than 
ether. The suggestion that either alcohol or ether, by their stimulating qualities, 
overcome the prostrating effects of the chloroform, when in combination with it is 
probably correct (see Warren, "On the Effects of Chloroform and Chloric Ether"}. How- 
ever, nearly all modifications, such as the A C. E. mixture, etc., have now been 
largely discarded, either pure ether, or chloroform, being employed singly. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-I. Internally. Internally, chloroform is a 
stimulant, sedative, antispasmodic, and anaesthetic. It has been used success- 
fully in asthma, spasmodic cough, scarlatina, atonic quinsy to relieve the pain, hys- 
teria, and to allay the pain in lead colic, biliary or renal colic, passage of renal calculi, 
gastralgia, gastric ulcer, atonic dyspepsia, cancer, neuralgic affections, and to avert chills 
in intermittents. It may be administered in doses of from 30 to 80 drops in solu- 
tion of gum Arabic, or in a mixture of water and yolk of egg, repeating the dose 
if required, every | hour, hour, or 2 hours, until it has occasioned the desired 
influence. Spirit of chloroform is an eligible preparation. The solution of cam- 
phor in chloroform is an elegant form of administering that medicine. Dr. T. H. 
Buckler recommends chloroform in teaspoonful doses every hour during the pain, 
and 3 times a day subsequently, as a preferable solvent of cholesterin in biliary 
calculi; to be followed by the use of the hydrated succinate of iron, to check the 
further formation of these calculi. Whether it dissolves the calculus or not, it 
certainly relaxes the spasm of the tube through which it passes, thus effectually 
allaying the pain. Nausea and vomiting where no inflammation is present, as of 
sick headache, sea sickness, pregnancy, etc., may often be relieved by giving from 2 to 5 
drops of chloroform on sugar. Added to cough mixtures it aids in controlling 
nervous cough. Internally, a full dose administered just before the chill, may cut 
short a paroxysm of intermittent fever, and a few drops of chloroform, or better of 
chlorodyne, frequently arrests the symptoms of Asiatic cholera. While inhalations 
of chloroform are inadmissible in old topers and in delirium tremens its internal 
use is valuable where marked depression is present. R Chloroform, fl^j; diluted 
alcohol, fl§xij; tinct. capsicum, fl^xiij. Mix. Sig. Teaspoonful doses in water. 
From 10 to 15-drop doses of the same are useful in flatulent colic and hiccough. 
Externally.-Externally, it has been employed in several forms of disease, 
and has been beneficially used as a local application to gangrenous and cancerous 
ulcerations, dry gangrene, ulcerations of the mouth and fauces, and in copious uterine 
secretions. It allays pain, corrects putrescent odors, and hastens the sloughing 
process; 1 or 2 fluid drachms of chloroform added to a pint of water, will answer 
for these purposes (Tuson). When a sponge, moistened with it, is placed in prox- 
imity with the os uteri, it has relieved painful menstruation (Higginson) ; applied 
to the sacrum, it has relieved the same disorder, and has also proved serviceable 
CHLOROFORM I M. 522 
CHLOROFORMUM. 
able when applied externally in tic-douloureux, rheumatic affections of the eye, sore- 
ness of the spinal column, and in orchitis. The vapor applied directly to the part 
will often relieve the pangs of sciatica and the suffering from myalgia, lumbago, 
and nervous headache. Where the area is small, as in the latter, a little chloro- 
form may be poured into a watch-glass and the latter inverted upon the part, 
as the temple. Applied in this way, or upon a folded handkerchief, it is effec- 
tual in localized neuralgias, as of the face. The vapor should be kept in con- 
tact until the pain is relieved. Prof. Locke recommends (Syllabus of Mat. Med.) 
the following as an efficient and elegant liniment for the relief of pain: B Chlo- 
roform, fl^vj; tinct. aconite, fl^ii; spirit of camphor, fl^ijss; glycerin, Agss. Mix. 
Sig. Rub on the painful part. Another excellent liniment is the following: 
R Chloroform, tinct. aconite, aa ; soap liniment, §ii. Mix. Sig. Apply on 
flannel and cover with oil silk. Thirty minims of chloroform, mixed with 5 
drachms of lard, has been employed as an ointment in cutaneous eruptions of a 
papular character. When applied to the uninjured skin there is no necessity for 
diminishing the strength of chloroform ; a piece of lint moistened with it may be 
applied to the part, and its volatilization may be retarded by covering this with 
several thicknesses of muslin, India-rubber cloth, etc. If the chloroform is ren- 
dered impure by the presence of anhydrous alcohol, it is thereby rendered caustic 
(Mialhe). In earache, from acute catarrh of the middle ear, the vapor may be cau- 
tiously passed into the external meatus by means of an insufflator; the escape 
should not be prevented, however, lest the part be blistered. Therefore it should 
not be introduced on cotton. In both mastodynia and mammitis its local action has 
given relief, and applied to the perineum in labor, it has controlled the severe pain 
and relaxed the rigidity of the parts. Applied to the epigastrium it has relieved 
cases of cholera morbus, and over the abdomen it has allayed painful affections and 
spasms of the viscera. Rheumatic toothache may be palliated at least by rubbing 
the gum with chloroform, while camphorated chloroform will often alleviate pain 
from dental caries, if applied to the cavity on cotton. Deep subcutaneous injec- 
tions, first employed by Bartholow, have been used to give relief in neuralgias, 
particularly of the trifacial nerve. The injection should be deep, and near the 
sheath of the nerve trunks. Induration follows where the needle is introduced, 
and occasionally abscess. Injection into the gums is asserted to frequently cause 
gangrene. A pledget of cotton, moistened with pure chloroform, has been intro- 
duced into the external auditory canal for the relief of the photophobia accompany- 
ing interstitial keratitis. It acts by anaesthetizing the Gasserian ganglion (Gutieroz- 
Ponce). A chloroform liniment has been made of oil of almonds, 2 fluid ounces; 
chloroform, 2| fluid drachms; mix accurately. Pieces of flannel are to be soaked 
with this liniment, and applied to the painful part in cases of nervous headache, 
neuralgia, rheumatic, hepatic, nephritic, uterine or intestinal pains, lead-colic, etc. By 
adding double the quantity of oil, it may be used for vaginal injections, which 
may be retained by a plug of cotton, in cases of dysmenorrhcea, uterine neuralgia, or 
other painful affections of the uterus, bladder, or rectum. 
Gelatinized chloroform has been recommended as an application by friction, 
or on compresses, to cause insensibility of the skin ; it may be prepared in a 
few minutes, by agitating together the white of an egg with four times its weight 
of chloroform, and then setting the bottle containing the mixture in water having 
a temperature of 60° C. (140° F.). A weaker preparation, requiring 3 or 4 hours 
for the gelatinous change to occur, is made by agitating, in the cold, equal parts 
of white of egg and chloroform. Fournie states that equal measures of chloro- 
form and glacial acetic acid form a mixture, the vapor from which will produce 
complete anaesthesia of the skin in a very few minutes. 
III. By Inhalation.-Chloroform was in use as an internal remedy for 
years before it became known as an anaesthetic. It was, however, used by inhala- 
tion in a case of pulmonic embarrassment as early as 1832. At the instigation of 
Mr.Waldie, of Liverpool, who had experimented with it in 1838-9, it was adopted 
and used first as an anaesthetic in November, 1847, by Dr. Simpson, of Edinburgh, 
who had been looking for a substitute for ether. 
Chloroform is used to produce anaesthesia, to relax spasm, and to alleviate pain. 
Certain respiratory neuroses are relieved by its inhalation. In the same manner it 
may be used to give relief in the various forms of colic-, bilious, flatulent, renal, etc.: CHLOROFORMUM. 
523 
dysmenorrhcea, neuralgia, tic-douloureux, cancer, and otner painful states. For these 
purposes full anesthesia is never required. It may be used in excited states, as 
in hysteria, puerperal mania (when not due to cerebral hemorrhage), chronic insanity, 
and maniacal excitement, and is extremely valuable in many spasmodic disorders of 
the muscular and nervous systems, many of which are also painful. Thus it is 
one of the best agents in hiccough, convulsive hysteria, chorea, tetanus, hydrophobia, 
and other convulsive disorders. In asthma, though it may not cure, it is unfailing 
as a palliative. It loses its power, however, after many repetitions of its use. It 
relieves severe whooping-cough and convulsions arising from cough. In laryngismus 
stridulus its effects are prompt. In infantile convulsions it is certainly one of the 
best agents to overcome the spasm, so that indicated drugs may be given to avert 
a return of the convulsive attacks. During the passage of gall stones and renal cal- 
culi, it not only relieves pain, but relaxes the spasmodically contracted tubes, thus 
facilitating the passage of the offending body. It is by far the best agent to con- 
trol uremic spasms or convulsions from the same cause following scarlatina, while it 
stands at the head of all agents to check puerperal eclampsia. Morphine should 
also be hypodermatically injected. By the use of chloroform time is gained in 
which to administer other and appropriate remedies. It should not be forgotten 
as an aid in poisoning by strychnine. When no organic disease of the heart exists, 
the inhalation of chloroform will relieve angina pectoris, but the condition of the 
heart should be carefully ascertained before risking the agent. Amyl nitrite, fol- 
lowed by lobelia, is preferable. 
Chloroform is principally used in surgery and midwifery, as an anaesthetic, for 
the purpose of producing insensibility to, or relieving pain and facilitating labor. 
In the latter state, it seems to be far safer than in any other condition. When 
labor is normal, brief, and not very painful, its use should be avoided. If, how- 
ever, the opposite be true, no agent will act more beneficially and none will be 
more greatly appreciated by the woman. In first labors it should be used with 
great care. It is seldom necessary to carry it to complete anaesthesia, in fact, it 
should seldom be carried beyond the stage of merely blunting sensibility. It 
mitigates the pains, though it does not interfere with the force and frequency of 
the contractions, when not pushed too far, while it promotes relaxation of rigid 
parts. Pushed too far it interferes with the contractions and favors hemorrhage. 
Its use favors the easy performance of the required obstetric operations, as turning, 
applying forceps, changing positions, extracting retained placentae, or other manipula- 
tions, unless the patient be enfeebled by hemorrhage. If the latter state be pres- 
ent, and the agent must be employed, it should not be used to complete uncon- 
sciousness. In turning, enough must be given to suspend uterine action, while 
in forceps delivery enough should be administered to quiet the patient, or if neces- 
sary, to accomplish complete relaxation of the muscles. In instrumental inter- 
ference it tends to prevent shock. In craniotomy, symphyseotomy, or Caeserian section, 
the woman should be fully under the influence of the vapor. In most cases of 
labor a few whiffs of chloroform are allowed by many practitioners just as the 
head is emerging from the vulvar aperture. 
Chloroform is of great value in facilitating diagnosis, where a thorough exami- 
nation is necessary. It prevents pain, thoroughly relaxes the parts, and does 
away with any objections that might otherwise be made by the patient. It is 
especially useful to aid in determining obscure abdominal, genito-urinary, pelvic, 
and rectal disorders, and in examining fractures and dislocations. It is likewise use- 
ful in detecting feigned diseases. 
By far the greatest use of chloroform has been to render surgical operations 
painless. Either this agent or ether is employed in all great operations. It may 
be used in performing amputations, extirpating tumors, in the reduction of herniae, 
adjusting fractured bones, reducing dislocations (almost absolutely necessary here, to 
overcome muscular resistance), to rend adhesions, overcome muscle or tendon con- 
tractions, in performing orificial work, to correct deformities, and in dressing painful 
ulcers and wounds. Not only does it relieve the pain, but it also removes the fear 
and anxiety of the patient, and overcomes that muscular tension or rigidity which 
would otherwise defeat the surgeon in accomplishing a perfect result. 
Prof. A. J. Howe, M. D.,states that he has for some years been in the habit 
of administering chloroform, by inhalation, to break the force of chills. If given 524 
when a chill is coming on, a condition foreshadowed by gaping and other well- 
known signs, the influence of the anaesthetic will prevent the paroxysm. He 
does not pretend that it eradicates the poison which causes the chills, or in any 
way takes the place of quinine, but by preventing or breaking up a paroxysm, 
time is gained in which to get an action from antiperiodic remedies. Dr. O'Bryan 
recommends a mixture of 10 drops, each, of laudanum, tincture of aconite, and 
chloroform, as being almost a specific in interm Ittents. It may be given 3 times a 
day for 7 or 8 days, during the intermission, preceding its use by a purgative. 
The dose of chloroform is from 2 minims to 2 drachms; spirit of chloroform, 
from 10 to 60 minims, well diluted ; chloroform water, | to 2 fluid ounces; emul- 
sion of chloroform, 1 to 5 drachms. For anaesthesia, by inhalation, the amount 
will be indicated by the effects produced. Dr. Thos. Skinner, of Liverpool, recom- 
mended the following preparation for internal use: Spiritus Formyli Terchloridi 
(commonly called chloric ether). Chloroform, 5 fluid drachms; alcohol, specific 
gravity 0.838 at 15.5° C. (60° F.), 1 pint. Mix. Dose, | to 2 fluid drachms, in a 
sufficient quantity of water. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-To produce anaesthesia for surgical pur- 
poses; to alleviate pain; to relax spasm and control convulsions; to dissolve 
biliary calculi (?); to check severe and protracted chills (gtt. x to xx.). 
Related Products.-Chlorodyne. An empirical preparation under the name of Chloro- 
dyne, has been somewhat popular in the profession of England and this country, as a remedy 
in Asiatic cholera; it is said to possess anodyne, diaphoretic, antispasmodic, and astringent prop- 
erties. It is very effectual in'many painful states of the viscera, and is prompt in its effects in 
menstrual colic. From 5 to 10 drops every hour until relief is obtained, is effectual to allay the 
frequent and painful micturition of chronic cystitis. As there are on the market many prepara- 
tions bearing the name Chlorodyne, and nearly all varying in their composition, their strength 
should always be ascertained before administering them. Several formulae for the preparation 
of chlorodyne have been published, from which the following are selected: Agitate together 
sulphate of morphine, 64 grains; alcohol (95 per cent), 2 fluid ounces; and purified chloroform, 
6 fluid ounces; then gradually add sulphuric acid q. s. to make the mixture clear upon agita- 
tion ; add oleoresin of capsicum, 12 drops; extract of cannabis indica, 30 grains; and Scheele's 
hydrocyanic acid, 96 drops. This forms a clear, dark, green liquid, each teaspoonful of which 
contains 1 grain of sulphate of morphine, about j grain of extract of cannabis, and 1| drops 
of prussic acid, equal to nearly 4 drops of U. S. P. acid. The dose is from 15 to 30 drops. 
This preparation is said to be preferred to the original one by Dr. J. Collis Brown. But it 
must be used with care, as it must be extremely poisonous (E. Mclnall, Jr., Amer. Jour. 
Pharm., 1868, p. 209). A less dangerous preparation was proposed by Prof. E. S. Wayne, as 
follows: Aqueous extract of opium, 12 grains; extract of hyoscyamus, 8 grains; oil of pepper- 
mint, 5 minims; oil of capsicum, 1 minim; camphor, 10 grains; alcohol, 4 fluid drachms; glyc- 
erin, 2 fluid drachms; chloroform, 2 fluid drachms. Mix. 
Choramyl.-Chloroform, 1 pound; amyl nitrite, 2 drachms. Mix (Sanford). 
Chlor-anodyne.-This pharmaceutical preparation was devised and introduced by Parke, 
Davis & Co., of Detroit, and as made by them enjoys an enviable reputation. The formula is 
published in their literature, and is freely given to whoever wishes to study either its compo- 
sition or its therapeutical action. 
Lycoperdon.-The fumes from burning the common puff ball (leycoper don Bovista, Linn6) 
are said to be anaesthetic, but not equal to ether or chloroform. It possesses a volatile narcotic 
principle, which is not taken up by alcohol, water, or strong alkaline solutions (see p. 364). 
CHONDRUS. 
CHONDRUS (U. S. P.)-CHONDRUS. 
Chondrus crispus, Stackhouse {Sphaerococcus crispus, Agardh; Fucus crispus, 
Linne), and Gigartina mamillosa, J. Agardh {Sphaerococcus mamillosus, Agardh; 
Mastocarpus mamillosus, Kiitzing; Chondrus mamillosus, Greville). 
Class: Algae. 
Common Names: Irish moss, Carragheen, Caragahen, Carragaheen. 
Botanical Source. - Chondrus crispus, Stackhouse. Irish moss, sometimes 
called carrageen, has a root-disk, throwing up tufts of many Hat, nerveless, slen- 
der, cartilaginous fronds, from 2 to 12 inches in height, subcylindrical at the base, 
but immediately becoming Hat, generally dilating from the base upward, until 
they become 3 or 4 lines wide, then dividing repeatedly and dichotomously, each 
division spreading and becoming narrower than the preceding one, and taking 
place at shorter and shorter intervals; the summits are bifid, the segments linear, 
wedge-shaped, varying greatly in length, rounded or acute, straight or curved, CHONDRUS. 
525 
often twisted in such a manner as to give the curled appearance denoted in the 
specific name. The fructification is roundish or roundish-oval, and subhemis- 
pherical. The capsules are imbedded in the disk of the frond, prominent on one 
side, producing a concavity on the other, containing a mass of minute, roundish, 
red seeds. The substance is cartilaginous, in some varieties approaching to horny, 
flexible, and tough. The color is a deep purple-brown, often tinged with a pur- 
plish-red, paler at the summit, becoming greenish, and at length white in decay (L). 
Gigartina mamillosa, J. Agardh. This plant differs chiefly from the preceding 
in the situation of its cystocarps (sporocarps or capsules), which, instead of being 
slightly raised and near the extremities of the segments, as in the foregoing- 
species, are borne on short, tuberculated projections or stalks, scattered over the 
channeled thallus. 
History.-These are very common European plants found along the sea- 
coasts, especially along the west shores of Ireland, where quantities of it are gath- 
ered. They also grow on the Atlantic shores of this country. Large quantities of 
Irish moss are annually collected on the Massachusetts coast. It is found attached 
by its disk to the rocks along the sea, where it is collected in the spring-time, 
washed, and spread on the sands some distance from the shore-line, and allowed 
to lie in the sun until it becomes well bleached and of translucent, horny texture, 
when it is ready for market. It was introduced into medicine in 1831, by Tod- 
hunter, of Dublin. Carrageen (more properly carraigeen) signifies, in Irish, " moss 
of the rock" (Pharmacographiaf. It is used to some extent in the arts, as sizing 
for paper and cotton fabrics in calico printing, for filling mattresses, and in this 
country in making beer. Cattle are sometimes fed on it (Pharmacographiaf 
When fresh its color is somewhat purple, but when cleansed, and dry, as met with 
in commerce, it is in long crispy pieces, yellowish, or dirty-white, nearly inodor- 
ous, and of a mucilaginous taste. It swells up in warm water, and almost entirely 
dissolves in boiling water, forming a jelly when cold. 
Description.-"Yellowish or -white, horny, translucent; many-times forked; 
when softened in water, cartilaginous;, shape of the segments varying from wedge- 
shaped to linear; at the apex emarginate or 2-lobed. It has a slight sea-weed 
odor, and a mucilaginous, somewhat saline taste. One part of it boiled for 10 
minutes with 30 parts of water yields a solution which gelatinizes on cooling, and 
is not colored blue by iodine T.S."-(U. S. P.f 
Chemical Composition.-Irish moss contains oxalate of calcium, compounds 
of sulphur, iodine, chlorine, bromine, potassium, magnesium, and sodium, and a 
large portion (as high as 80 per cent), of pectin matter. Fliickiger, however, failed 
to find sulphur in the mucilage. Though starch is not present, Fliickiger has 
shown that if thin pieces of the moss be treated for one day with solution of 
caustic potash in alcohol, the cell-contents (not cell-walls), react with a dark- 
blue coloration with the iodide of potassium iodine solution (Pharmacographia). 
Pereira considered the pectin to be a peculiar modification of mucilage, and has 
called it carrageenin. Carrageenin may be known from gum by its watery solution 
not affording a precipitate on the addition of alcohol; from starch by its not 
assuming a blue color with tincture of iodine; from animal jelly, by tannin caus- 
ing no precipitate; and from pectin by acetate of lead not throwing down any- 
thing, though mucic acid is formed by the action of nitric acid. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-A decoction of Irish moss, with water or 
milk, is very nutritious, and may be used as a demulcent in chronic affections of the 
air passages t chronic diarrhoea and dysentery, scrofula, rickets, enlarged mesenteric glands, 
irritation of the bladder and kidneys, etc. As a culinary article it may be employed 
in the preparation of jellies, white soup, blanc mange, etc. The decoction is pre- 
pared as follows: Macerate | ounce of carrageen in cold or warm water, during 10 
minutes; then boil in 3 pints of water, or milk if stronger nourishment is desired, 
for a quarter of an hour. Strain through linen. Sugar, lemon-juice, tincture of 
orange-peel, essence of lemon, or other aromatics, as cinnamon or nutmeg, may 
be employed as flavoring ingredients. 
Related Species and Drugs.-Other species of algte are said to be collected with the 
true Irish moss, the Gigartina acicularis, Lamouroux, having small, cylindrical segments, and 
having been sold in France as carragheen (Dragendorff). Another species resembling carra- 
gheen is the Gigartina pistillata, Lamouroux. 526 
Ceylon Moss, Fuchs amylaceus, Jaffna moss, Edible moss.-The Sphserococcus lichenoides, 
Agardh. Irregularly dichotomous, cylindrical, terminating in filiform extremities, of a red- 
dish color (fresh); whitish and brittle when dried. Mucilaginous to the taste, and possessing 
a faint odor of sea-weed. A delicate moss from 4 to 10 inches in length Contains metarabin, 
gelose, paramylon, cellulose, gum, other carbohydrates, some soluble in boiling water, others 
in soda solution, ash, albuminoids, and a substance soluble in alcohol (H. G. Greenish, 18s2). 
This moss is collected from the Indian Ocean (Ceylon coast), and is one of the algte consumed 
by the Collalia esculenta (Hirundo esculenta), and other species of swallow of the East Indies, 
and after having been changed in the bird's gizzard, is made to enter into the formation of 
their nests, which constitute the Edible Birds' Nests of the Chinese. Ceylon moss is used 
like Irish moss. 
Agar Agar.-This term is applied to several edible sea-weeds of the East Indies, and 
some of these varieties, largely employed by the Chinese for sizingsilks and preparing jellies, 
have received commercial names as follows: Chinese (or Japanese} isinglass, or gelatin, derived 
chiefly from Gelidium corneum, Lamarck; and from Eucheuma spinosum, Agardh; Eucheuma 
gelatinse, Agardh; Gelidium cartilagineum, Gaillaird; Sphserococcus compressus, Agardh; Gloiopeltis 
tenax, J. Agardh, and other algae. This variety occurs in strips about a foot long, or in slender 
pieces a couple of feet in length, and of a yellow-white color. The strips are employed in 
bacteriological investigations. It is employed for the same purpose as jellies prepared from 
animal tissues, and its chief gelatinizing agent is gelose (Payen), a substance having greater 
gelatinizing properties than carrageenin. 
Celebes or Macassar agar agar. - The salt-incrusted Eucheuma spinosum, Agardh, and 
Eucheuma gelatinse, Agardh, gathered in the straits between the Celebes Isles and Borneo, and 
occurring as a brown-white moss, with sharp projections on its segments. It contributes to 
the preparation of Chinese gelatin (see above). 
Corsican Moss or Helminthocorton.-A mixture of a number of sea-algae gathered in 
the Mediterranean, one species of which, at least, is the Sphserococcus Helminthocorton, Agardh, 
(Gigartina Helminthocorton, Greville; Fucus Helminthocorton, Linnd). The latter has a cartilagi- 
nous, terete, tufted, entangled frond, with setaceous branches, is somewhat dichotomous, and 
marked indistinctly with transverse streaks. The lower part is dirty-yellow; the branches 
more or less purple (L.). This is a marine plant, growing on the Mediterranean coast, and 
especially on the Island of Corsica. The plant is of a cartilaginous consistence, of a dull and 
reddish-brown color, has a bitter, salt, and nauseous taste, and its odor is rather pleasant. It is 
found in the form of thick tufts, composed of numerous filaments, united at the base in bun- 
dles intermingled together, and fastened to each other by small hooks, with which the stems 
are furnished. It is seldom employed in this country. The commercial article consists of 
some 20 or more species, and may be whitish, yellowish, or of a brownish color. It contains 
bromides, iodides, and other salts, mucilaginous, and gelatinous material. Water dissolves 
its active principles. It is anthelmintic. The influence exercised by this substance upon the 
economy is hardly appreciable-perhaps occasionally a slight irritation of the digestive canal 
-but it acts very powerfully on the intestinal worms, especially the lumbricoid. Dr. Johnson 
affirms that when thrown into the rectum, "it destroys any worms domiciliating there as 
effectually as choke-damps would destroy the life of a miner." The dose is from 10 to 60 
grains, mixed with molasses, jelly, or syrup, or in infusion. 
Dulse.-The Halymenia palmatus, Agardh, and Halymenia edulis, Agardh, of the Atlantic 
and Mediterranean shores. Iodine, bromine, and mannit wrere found in these algae, which 
appear in commerce as deep-purple mosses, but when grow ing they have a rich red hue. 
Gelosine.-A substance under this name was proposed as a basis for preparations for topi- 
cal use (Brit. Med. Jour.,No\ II, 1886). It is a dried, mucilaginous preparation, occurring in sheets 
or leaves nearly white in color, and is the product of a Japanese sea-weed. It dissolves in both 
water and alcohol, but gradually contracting, expels the water or any foreign substance it 
may contain. 
CHRYSAROBINUM. 
CHRYSAROBINUM (U. S. P.)-CHRYSAROBIN. 
A more or less impure neutral principle extracted from Goa powder, a sub- 
stance deposited in the wood of Andira Araroba, Aguiar (Nat. Ord.-Leguminosae). 
See also Araroba and Acidum Chrysophanicum. 
History.-This body is extracted from Goa powder by means of hot benzene. 
It is largely used in the preparation of chrysophanic acid, which it contains in 
greater or less quantities, and as a local remedy for parasitic skin diseases. Its 
composition is mainly C3oH2607. It was differentiated from chrysophanic acid by 
Liebermann and Seidler, in 1878. This substance, at one time supposed to be 
chrysophanic acid, is a neutral principle. As a commercial article, it is more or 
less impure, and is so recognized by the U. S. P, where its use is directed in the 
preparation of Unguentum Chrysarobini. 
Description and Tests.-Chrysarobin is a permanent, pale-yellow, or orange- 
yellow, warty, micro-crystalline powder. It is without taste or odor, but is an 
irritant to the conjunctival and Schneiderian membranes. It is "very slightly CHRYSAROBINUM. 
527 
soluble in cold water, or alcohol; soluble, without leaving more than a small 
residue, in 150 parts of boiling alcohol; also soluble in 33 parts of boiling benzol, 
and in solutions of the alkalies. When heated to 151° C. (303.8° F.), it fuses, 
forming a dark, opaque mass; and, when ignited, it is partly sublimed, and finally 
consumed without leaving a residue"-(LL £ P.). It dissolves in sulphuric acid 
with a yellow color when pure (chrysophanic acid dissolves with red color in this 
acid). It is somewhat soluble in fusel oil, chloroform, and collodion, but nearly 
insoluble in ammonia and dilute potassium hydroxide solutions, and yields a 
brown mass when fused with caustic potash. Chrysophanic acid, on the other 
hand, dissolves with a red color in dilute solution of the potassium hydroxide; 
fusion with that agent produces a blue compound. If chrysarobin be dissolved in 
concentrated solution of caustic potash, a yellow color, accompanied by a marked 
greenish fluorescence results. In contact with air the solution, by oxidation, 
turns red and changes to chrysophanic acid. Chrysarobin was named by Attfield, 
who obtained it by treating Goa powder with boiling benzol. It acquires a deeper 
tint upon exposure to the atmosphere. 
"When boiled with about 2000 parts of water (which produces only partial 
solution), the light, reddish-brown filtrate does not affect litmus paper, and is 
not altered by ferric chloride T.S. In concentrated sulphuric acid it is soluble 
with a deep-red color; on pouring this solution into water, the substance is again 
deposited unchanged. On adding 0.1 Gm. of chrysarobin to 10 Cc. of potassium or 
sodium hydrate T.S., in a test-tube, and shaking the latter, the solution, which is 
at first yellow, or yellowish-red, will gradually acquire a deep-red color "-( U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The action of this body in certain skin 
affections is said to be due to its strong reducing powers, its affinity for oxygen 
being great. It is losing ground as a remedy on account of the occasional recur- 
rence in a more severe form of the maladies that it appears to cure, and also on 
account of its irritating and staining qualities. Erythema, with swelling and cuti- 
cular desquamation, with reddening of the conjunctiva, are the effects of its appli- 
cation to the face or scalp. Intensely painful inflammation may succeed, last- 
ing several weeks, and associated with it may be recurrent crops of boils. It has 
recently been lauded as a remedy for hemorrhoids, when combined with bella- 
donna and iodoform in ointment and suppository. Its uses in skin affections are 
precisely those mentioned under araroba and chrysophanic acid (which see), it 
should not, as formerly, be prescribed under the name chrysophanic acid. Taken 
internally chrysarobin provokes purgation which, though at first delayed, con- 
tinues for several days without marked discomfort. Doses of about 5 grains (chil- 
dren) and 25 grains (adults) are likely to first cause emesis. If used internally 
the 1 x or 2 x trituration should be preferred. Locally, the best ointment for 
general use may be prepared by incorporating 10 to 20 grains of chrysarobin with 
1 ounce of lanoline or lard. 
Related Products.-Anthrarobin. Desoxyalizarin (CuHio03). Anthroarobin.-A reduc- 
tion product of commercial alizarin, produced by means of nascent hydrogen. A yellowish 
or yellowish-white powder, readily dissolving in alcohol, cold alkaline solutions, and glycerin ; 
sparingly dissolved by chloroform, ether, and benzol, and practically insoluble in water and 
acidulous solutions. With fatty bodies it mixes readily to produce ointments. In alkaline 
solutions it absorbs oxygen from the air, turning to green and blue in color, alizarin being 
reproduced. When ignited the residue should not amount to more than 2 per cent. It has 
been used as a substitute for chrysarobinum and pyrogallol, because it is more easily dissolved 
than the former, and lacks irritant properties. It is weaker in its action than chrysarobin, 
though its stain is more pronounced upon the skin and linen. 
Hydroxylamine Hydrochloride (NH2.OH.HC1).-Hydroxylamine exists free, only in 
solution. The salt used is the hydrochloride, which forms in hygroscopic, colorless crystals, 
dissolving in 1 part of water, 1 part of glycerin, and in 15 parts of alcohol. Its solutions are 
acid in reaction. The salt must be kept in well-closed bottles. It is a strong reducing agent. 
On account of its non-staining qualities, it has been recommended to replace anthrarobin, 
chrysarobin and pyrogallic acid in the treatment of skin affections, particularly scabies, lupus, 
herpes tonsurans, chronic psoriasis, parasitic sycosis, etc. A solution (1 to 1000) in glycerin and alco- 
hol (equal parts) is preferred, being applied with a brush to small areas at a time. Stronger 
solutions do much damage to the skin, and many denounce its use at all, stating it to be 
inferior to the other applications mentioned and to be liable to serious consequences, both to 
the skin and to the general system through absorption. Constitutionally it induces a lowered 
blood pressure and destroys the blood corpuscles, rendering the blood brown in color. It is 
also destructive to plant life. 528 
CICHORIUM.-CIMICIFl GA. 
CICHORIUM.-CHICORY. 
The root of Cichorium Intybus, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Compositae. 
Common Names: Chicory, Succory,Wild succory. 
Illustration : Johnson's Med. Bot., Fig. 138. 
Botanical Source.-Chicory is a perennial plant, having a spindle-shaped, 
fleshy, whitish, and milky root. The stem is solid, round, furrowed, hispid, very 
tough, growing 2 or 3 feet high. The radical leaves are spreading, above a span 
long, numerous, runcinate, toothed, and roughish. The cauline leaves smaller, 
sessile, less lobed, the uppermost cordate, acuminate, and entire. The flowers are 
large, 1 or 2 inches in diameter, axillary, in pairs, sessile, placed rather remote on 
the long, rather naked branches, and of a beautiful bright-blue color. Corollas 
flat and 5-toothed ; involucre roughish; anthers and stigma blue (L.-W.). 
History.-Chicory is a native of Europe, but cultivated in this country, 
where it grows in grass-fields and along roadsides, bearing large, elegant blue 
flowers in July and August. The root is quite bitter, and imparts its virtues to 
water. The young leaves are used as a salad. The plant is extensively culti- 
vated for its root, which is used as a substitute for coffee, or for adulterating it; it 
is dried, roasted, and ground. J. L. Lassaigne states that an infusion of pure cof- 
fee acquires a more or less intense green color, when some drops of a solution of 
persulphate of iron are added to it; while an infusion of chicory retains its 
brownish color, becoming more intense with a greenish tint. Mr. Horsley pro- 
posed bichromate of potassium as a test. It produces no coloration with an infu- 
sion of chicory, but gradually changes the weakest infusion of coffee to a deep 
porter-brown color. When the two infusions are mixed, boil the mixture with 
the bichromate, add a few grains of sulphate of copper, and again boil. A floccu- 
lent precipitate is formed, of a more or less deep sepia-brown color, the intensity 
of which varies with the quantity of coffee contained. It is sometimes used as an 
adulterant of dandelion root. 
Chemical Composition.-Besides the usual vegetable constituents, this root 
consists of more than one-third inulin (C^H^On), a fine, white, tasteless, and odor- 
less powder, obtained chiefly by expression of the grated roots of various com- 
posite plants (see Inula). A very pure and pleasantly aromatic alcohol may be 
obtained from chicory root after (he inulin has been converted into sugar by 
means of the mineral acids. A bitter glucosid, having the formula C32H34O19, was 
obtained in colorless crystals from the flowers by Nietzki, in 1876. Alcohol and 
hot water dissolve it freely, while it is not soluble in ether. Sugar, pectin, and a 
bitter principle, not yet isolated, also exist in the root. The leaves yield a bitter 
body, albuminoids, sugar, and salts. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Tonic, diuretic, and laxative. The 
decoction, used freely, is said to have proved efficient in jaundice, engorgement of the 
liver, and other chronic visceral diseases, as well as in cutaneous eruptions, gout, hectic 
fever, etc. An ounce of the root to a pint of water forms a good decoction. It is 
used as an adulterant of coffee. 
Related Species.-Cichorium Endiria, LinnA Garden endive, a native of the Mediterranean 
countries, is said, by some French physicians, to be a remedy for jaundice. It is also cultivated 
and eaten as a salad. 
CIMICIFUGA (U. S. P.)-CIMICIFUGA. 
" The rhizome and roots of Cimicifuga racemosa (Linne), Nuttall "-(U. S. P.). 
Nat. Ord.-Ranunculacese. 
Common Names: Black snakeroot, Black cohosh, Rattleroot, Rattleweed, Squawroot. 
Illustration: Drugs and Med. of N. A., by J.U. and C. G. Lloyd, Pl.21,Vol. I. 
Botanical Source.-This plant is a tall, leafy, perennial herb, having a large, 
knotty root, with long, slender fibers, and a simple, smooth, furrowed stem, from 
3 to 9 feet high. The leaves are large, alternate, and ternately decompound. The 
leaflets ovate-oblong, incisely serrate, and opposite. The flowers are fetid, small, 
and borne in long, terminal, slender racemes. The sepals are 4 or 5 in number, 529 
rounded, and white; petals from 4 to 6, small, not so long as the sepals, resem- 
bling abortive stamens, and apt to be overlooked. The stamens are very numerous 
and showy; the anthers introrse and white. The stigma sessile, and lateral; pistils 
oval, forming dry, dehiscent, ovate, follicular capsules; the 
seeds numerous, small, and compressed (W.-G.). 
History.-The black cohosh is a plentiful and con- 
spicous plant, growing in fence corners, on side hills and in 
rich woods. It blooms from the latter part of June until 
August. It grows from the Indian Territory to the Atlantic 
coast, extending as far north as the great lakes, and nearly 
as far south as Florida. The center of distribution is in the 
Ohio Valley. The part used in medicine is the rhizome, 
gathered in the autumn and carefully dried in the shade. 
It has an unpleasant, faint, earthy odor. Boiling water takes 
up its properties only partially; alcohol or ether wholly. 
The seeds probably possess active properties. The resin is 
but little used at the present time except in pill form, in 
combination with other agents. 
Cimicifuga has several common names, as snakeroot and 
rattleroot, having been used to cure rattlesnake bites; rattle- 
weed, from the fact that the seeds remaining in the pods 
through a part of the winter, rattle when blown by the 
winds; squawroot, a name more properly belonging to blue 
cohosh ; and its pharmacopoeial name, black snakeroot. The 
name macrotys, adopted by some Eclectics, is an erroneous 
one, given by De Candolle, the celebrated French botanist. 
The proper word is macrotrys, from two Greek words mean- 
ing a large bunch, referring to its large raceme of fruit. 
Cimicifuga, its present botanical name, is derived from cimei. 
(bedbug), and fugare (to drive away), the European species 
having been used as a bug exterminator. The drug is best 
known to the members of our school as Macrotys. 
This interesting remedy was a decided favorite with 
the early Eclectic practitioners, and to this day holds a very 
prominent place among the remedies originally placed before 
the medical profession by our school. As early as 1785, Schoepf merely men- 
tioned the plant, but its medical uses were first recorded by Barton, in 1801, 
who called it squawroot, and writes: "Our Indians set a high value on it." He 
describes its use in putrid sore throat, itch, and in diseases of women, and further 
adds that it was used in the treatment of murrain in cattle. Other investiga- 
tors wrote concerning it from time to time, but to Prof. John King belongs the 
credit of placing it before the medical profession, and it was through his valuable 
writings that it became an established and valued remedy. Prof. King began the 
use of macrotys in 1832, when but few phy- 
sicians knew anything concerning it as a 
medicine. In 1835 he prepared the first 
resin of cimicifuga, often sold under the 
improper names of cimicifugin, macrotyn, or 
macrotin. In 1844 he called the attention of 
physicians to it, and again, in 1846, wrote of 
it in the Western Medical Reformer; though 
the remedy did not come into general use 
until about 1850. Finally, when the Eclectic 
Dispensatory appeared in 1852, Dr. King gave 
the remedy great prominence, and from that 
time on it has been used very extensively 
by the Eclectic physicians. 
Description.-" The rhizome is of hori- 
zontal growth, hard, 5 Cm. (2 inches) or 
more long, about 25 Mm. (1 inch) thick, with numerous stout, upright or curved 
branches, terminated by a cup-shaped scar, and with numerous, wiry, brittle, 
CIMICIFUGA. 
Fig. 71. 
Branch of a raceme of cimi- 
Fig 72. 
Fresh rhizome of Cimicifuga racemosa. 530 
CIMICIFUGA. 
obtusely quadrangular roots, about 2 Mm. (^ inch) thick; the whole brownish- 
black, of a slight, but heavy odor, and of a bitter, acrid taste. The rhizome and 
branches have a smooth fracture, with a rather large pith, surrounded by numer- 
ous sublinear, w'hitish wood-rays, and a thin, firm bark. The roots break with a 
short fracture, have a thick bark, and contain a ligneous cord expanding into 
about 4 rays"-{U.S. P.). 
Chemical Composition.-The root yields an impure mixture of resins, to 
which the names Cimicifugin, Macrotin, or Macrotyn, have been given. It 
may be readily prepared by precipitation of the alcoholic extract by the addition 
of water. Dr. G. W. Mears {Phila. Monthly Jour. Med. and Surg., Sept., 1827) first 
examined the plant chemically, obtaining therefrom gum, resin, starch, gallic 
acid, tannin, extractive, and a bitter (acrid) substance, but failed to obtain an 
alkaloid, for which he searched {D. & M. of N. A., Vol. I, p. 262). 
In 1871, Mr. T. Elwood Conrad announced the discovery of a neutral, "crys- 
tallizable principle in black snakeroot." By a circuitous process he obtained "a 
crystalline substance of a light yellow color, not of a very regular or decided 
shape, but of a massy appearance, resembling almost exactly the crystals of sul- 
phate of aluminum on a small scale." In its behavior and most of its. physical 
properties it resembled the resin. Mr. L. F. Beach (1876) claims to have found 
the same body in cimicifugin. M. S. Falck (1884) obtained from the fresh juice 
a body similar to Conrad's, and suspected it to be of an alkaloidal character. Both 
Profs. F. H. Trimble and J. U. Lloyd, who examined the drug in all conditions, 
failed to obtain a proximate crystalline substance. The same negative results 
attended the investigation of Prof. R. R. Warder. Prof. Lloyd believes the pro- 
duct obtained by Conrad to have been merely purified resin-i. e., the resin of 
cimicifuga (cimicifugin) purified from extraneous substances, and that the gen- 
tlemen, who supposed they had obtained a crystalline body, were mistaken as to its 
structure, or, if they obtained crystals, that they mistook a lead or aluminum 
salt for a product of cimicifuga. The fresh juice, from which Mr. Falck is said to 
have obtained crystals, is, according to Prof. Lloyd, composed chiefly of glucose, 
and has no resin, or but very little of it. According to the latter, the resins are the 
important constituents of the drug. (See Drugs and Med. of N. A., by J. U. and 
C. G. Lloyd, Vol. I, p. 262). 
Besides the above resinous body, black and green coloring matters, tannic 
acid, gallic acid, salts of iron, calcium, magnesium, and potassium were found in 
1834 by J. H. Tilghman {Jour. Phil. Col. Pharm.,VI, p. 20). Mr. G. H. Davis has 
found the root to contain gum, albumen, extractive, starch, uncrystallizable 
sugar, tannic acid, gallic acid, resin soluble in alcohol or ether, resin soluble in 
alcohol and insoluble in ether, fatty matter, waxy matter, volatile oil having the 
peculiar odor of the root, green and brown coloring matters, lignin and salts of 
potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, and silica {Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1861, p. 391). 
Mr. E. C. Jones found the seeds of cimicifuga to contain gum, starch, fat, tannic 
acid, gallic acid, a resin soluble in alcohol or ether, a resin insoluble in alcohol, 
but soluble in ether, and salts of potassium and calcium {Proc. Amer. Pharm. 
Assoc., 1865, p. 186). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is a very active, powerful, and 
useful remedy, and appears to fulfil a great number of indications. It possesses 
an undoubted influence over the nervous system. In small doses the appetite 
and digestion are improved, and larger amounts augment the secretions of the 
gastro-intestinal tract. Excretions from the skin and kidneys are increased by 
it, the peculiar earthy odor of the drug being imparted to the urine; the secre- 
tions of the bronchial mucous surfaces are also augmented under its administra- 
tion. Upon the heart and circulatory system its effects have been compared to 
those of digitalis, though being much less pronounced. The heart-beat is slowed 
and given increased power by it, while arterial tension is elevated. In large doses 
its action on the nervous system is very decided, producing vertigo, impaired 
vision, dilatation of the pupils, nausea, vomiting, and a reduction of the circula- 
tion, but no alarming narcotic effects. Three drops of the saturated tincture given 
every hour, for 20 hours, have been known to produce symptoms in every way 
simulating those of delirium tremens. Green tea is said to counteract its narcotic 
influences. CIMICIFUGA. 
531 
Upon the reproductive organs it exerts a specific influence, promoting the 
menstrual discharge, and by its power of increasing contractility of the unstriped 
fibres of the uterus, it acts as an efficient parturient. The venereal propensity in 
man is said to be stimulated by cimicifuga. 
Few of our remedies have acquired as great a reputation in the treatment of 
rheumatism and neuralgia. As early as 1844, in the New York Philosophical Journal, 
Dr. King recommended the use of a saturated tincture of cimicifuga in acute rheu- 
matism, stating that the remedy would permanently cure the disease. Prof. King's 
own statement of his use of it is as follows: "The saturated tincture of this 
article was recommended by me in acute rheumatism, in the New York Philo- 
sophical Journal, as early as in the year 1844; to be given in doses of 10 drops 
every 2 hours, gradually increasing to 60 drops, or until its action on the brain is 
observed, which action must be kept up for several days; it almost always removes 
the disease permanently, especially if it is a first attack." The experiences of 
other physicians since that day give abundant evidence of the truth of his state- 
ment. Indeed, few cases of rheumatism, or conditions depending upon a rheu- 
matic basis, will present, which will not be influenced for the better by macrotys. 
Rheumatism of the heart, diaphragm, psoas muscles, "lumbago," "stiff neck," in fact all 
cases characterized by that kind of pain known as "rheumatic," dull, tensive, 
intermittent, as if dependent upon a contracted state of muscular fibre, soreness 
in muscular tissue, especially over the abdomen and in the extensor and flexor 
muscles of the extremities, all yield readily to it. If there be febrile and inflamma- 
tory conditions it should be associated with specific aconite, or specific veratrum; 
or possibly specific asclepias will be indicated. If the pain be greatly aggravated 
by motion, and especially if the serous tissues be involved, specific bryonia should 
be added to it. Should there be burning pain, aggravated by warmth of the bed, 
specific rhus. If effusion of serum into cellular structures be present, combine 
the macrotys with specific apocynum. 
In cardiac rheumatism it should be given early and in quite full doses, with- 
drawing the remedy when the full and dull headache is produced by the drug. 
In this way confirmed rheumatism of that organ may often be averted. It is most 
useful in acute cases, being of value only to relieve the acute complications that 
may arise in chronic cardiac rheumatism. 
Muscular pain of a rheumatoid character, when not amounting to a true rheu- 
matic attack, and other rheumatoid pains, when acute and not of spinal origin, 
such as gastralgia, enteralgia, tenesmic vesical pain, pleurodynia, pain in the mediastina, 
orbits or ears, are relieved by cimicifuga. In diseases of the ear the drug is indi- 
cated when the condition is aggravated by rheumatic association, or in neuralgia of 
the parts with stiffness in the faucial and pharyngeal muscles. The dose should 
be about J to | drop of specific macrotys every 2 hours. In eye strain, giving 
rise to headache, and associated with a sensation of stiffness in the ocular muscles, 
or a bruised feeling in the muscles of the frontal region, the same sized doses 
will give marked benefit. In doses of 1 fluid drachm of the tincture, repeated 
every hour, it has effected thorough cures of acute conjunctivitis, without the aid of 
any local application. Cimicifuga is a remedy for dyspeptic manifestations when 
due to rheumatoid states of the gastro-intestinal tube, or when associated with 
rheumatism of other parts of the body. It should be remembered in those cases 
where there is a dull or aching pain and tendency to metastasis, made worse by 
taking food or drink, and when the walls of the stomach seem to be contracting 
upon a hard lump, the patient having a rheumatic tendency or history (Webster). 
Macrotys plays a very important part in the therapeutics of gynaecology. It 
is a remedy for atony of the reproductive tract. In the painful conditions incident 
to imperfect menstruation, its remedial action is fully displayed. By its special 
affinity for the female reproductive organs, it is an efficient agent for the restora- 
tion of suppressed menses. It is even a better remedy in that variety of amenorrhoea 
termed " absentio mentium." In dysmenorrhoea it is surpassed by no other drug, 
being of greatest utility in irritative and congestive conditions of the uterus and 
appendages, characterized by tensive, dragging pains, resembling the pains of 
rheumatism. If the patient be despondent and chilly, combine macrotys with 
specific pulsatilla, especially in anemic subjects. In the opposite condition asso- 
ciate it with gelsemium. It is a good remedy for the reflex "side-aches" of the 532 
CIMICIFUGA. 
unmarried woman ; also for mastitis and mastodynia. It should be remembered in 
rheumatism of the uterus, and in uterine leucorrhoea, with a flabby condition of the 
viscus, its effects are decided. When there is a disordered action or lack of func- 
tional power in the uterus, giving rise to sterility, cimicifuga often corrects the 
impaired condition and cures. Reflex mammary pains during gestation are met by 
it, and in rheumatic subjects it promptly relieves such ovarian troubles as ovari- 
algia and neuralgia, the pain being of an aching character. Orchialgia and aching 
sensations of the prostate are conditions calling for macrotys, and as a tonic it is not 
without good effects in spermatorrhoea. 
Macrotys has proved a better agent in obstetrical practice than ergot. It pro- 
duces natural intermittent uterine contractions, whereas ergot produces constant 
contractions, thereby endangering the life of the child, or rupture of the uterus. 
Where the pains are inefficient, feeble, or irregular, macrotys will stimulate to 
normal action. It is an excellent "partus prxparator" if given for several weeks 
before confinement. It is a diagnostic agent to differentiate between spurious and 
true labor pains, the latter being increased, while the former are dissipated under 
its use. It is the best and safest agent known for the relief of after-pains, and is 
effectual in allaying the general excitement of the nervous system after labor. 
Macrotys exerts a powerful influence over the nervous system, and has long 
been favorably known as a remedy for chorea. It may be used alone or with spe- 
cific valerian, equal parts. It is particularly useful here when associated with 
amenorrhcea, or when the menstrual function fails to act for the first time. Its 
action is slow, but its effects are permanent. It has been used successfully as an 
antispasmodic in hysteria, epilepsy when due to menstrual failures, asthma and 
kindred affections, periodical convulsions, nervous excitability, pertussis, delirium tre- 
mens, and many other spasmodic affections. 
For headache, whether congestive or from cold, neuralgia, dysmenorrhoea, or 
from la grippe, it is promptly curative. As a palliative agent in phthisis pulmonalis, 
good results are obtained, in that it lessens cough, soothes the pain, especially the 
"aching" under the scapulae, lessens secretions and allays nervous irritability. 
Fevers, intermittent and remittent, have been benefited by it, well-marked antiperi- 
odic and tonic virtues having been observed in the drug. For rheumatic fever we 
have no better agent, when combined with aconite or veratrum. In the cerebral 
complications of the simple and eruptive fevers, especially in children, its action is 
prompt and decisive. It uniformly lessens the force and frequency of the pulse, 
soothes pain, allays irritability, and lessens the disposition to cerebral irritation 
and congestion. In febrile diseases especially, it frequently produces diaphoresis 
and diuresis. In the exanthemata, it is a valuable agent, controlling pain, especially 
the terrible "boneaches" of smallpox, rendering the disease much milder. In scar- 
latina and measles, it relieves the headache and the backache preceding the erup- 
tions. It is stated that it has been used in the South with some success as a prophy- 
lactic against variola. Cimicifuga exerts a tonic influence over both the serous and 
mucous tissues of the system, and will be found a superior remedy in the majority 
of chronic diseases of these parts. In all cases where acidity of the stomach is pres- 
ent, this should first be removed, or some mild alkaline preparation be adminis- 
tered in conjunction with the remedy, before any beneficial change will ensue. 
Asa remedy for pain, macrotys is a very prompt agent, often relieving in a few 
hours, painful conditions that have existed for a long time. 
The saturated tincture of the root is recommended as a valuable embrocation 
in all cases where a stimulant, tonic, anodyne, and alterative combined is required, 
as-in all cases of inflammation of the nerves, tic-douloureux, periodic cephalic pain, 
inflammation of the spine, ovarian inflammation, spasms of the broad ligaments, rheuma- 
tism, crick in the back or side, inflammation of the eyes, old ulcers, etc. If a more active 
preparation is desired, add tincture of grains of paradise in proper quantity, and 
if a more powerful anodyne be needed add tincture of sulphate of morphine. 
The specific macrotys will be preferable to the saturated tincture. The local use 
of the drug, however, is not extensive. 
Cimictfugin, whose action differs somewhat from macrotys, was used by Prof. 
King in the treatment of "chronic ovaritis, endometritis, amenorrhcea, dysmenorrhoea, 
menorrhagia, frigidity, sterility, threatened abortion, uterine subinvolution, and to relieve 
severe after-pains." 533 
CINCHONA. 
Preparations of cimicifuga, to be of any medicinal value, must be prepared 
from recently dried roots. In phthisis pulmonalis, cough, acute rheumatism, neuralgia, 
scrofula, phlegmasia dolens, amenorrhosa, dysmenorrhoea, leucorrhoea, and other uterine 
affections, the alcoholic preparations, as the saturated tincture or the specific 
macrotys are the best modes of exhibition, and exert a therapeutic influence not 
to be obtained from the impure resin, termed cimicifugin. 
As a partus accelerator, it may be substituted for, and should be preferred to, 
ergot; drachm of the powdered root may be given in warm water every 15 or 20 
minutes, until the expulsive action of the uterus is induced, and which it sel- 
dom fails to bring on speedily and powerfully. The powder, however, is seldom 
now used, the specific macrotys in from 15 drops to £ fluid drachm being given in 
the same manner. In acute troubles, as acute muscular rheumatism, and in false 
pains, and as an oxytocic, Webster prefers the strong decoction of the recent root 
in tablespoonful doses. The fluid extract of black cohosh may be used in all 
cases where the article is indicated; its dose is from | fluid drachm to 2 fluid 
drachms. The ordinary dose of macrotys for its specific effects is a teaspoonful of 
a mixture of from 10 drops to 1 drachm of specific macrotys in 4 ounces of water, 
the larger or smaller dose being determined by the condition of the patient. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Dr. Scudder gives as the specific indications 
for this drug: "Muscular pains; uterine pains, with tenderness; false pains; 
irregular pains; rheumatism of the uterus; dysmenorrhoea. As an antirheumatic, 
when the pulse is open, the pain paroxysmal, the skin not dry and constricted." 
To these may be added a sense of soreness, with dragging pains in the hips and 
loins; rheumatoid muscular pain; rheumatoid dyspepsia; chorea, associated with 
^absentio mensium." 
CINCHONA (U. S. P.)-CINCHONA, 
The bark of several species of Cinchona. 
Nat. Ord.-Rubiaceae. 
Common Names: Peruvian bark, Cinchona bark. 
Official Cinchonas. I. Cinchona (U. 8. P.), Cinchona. 
"The bark of Cinchona Calisaya,eddell; Cinchona officinalis, Linne; and of 
hybrids of these and of other species of Cinchona (Nat. Ord.-Rubiaceae), yielding, 
when assayed by the process given below, not less than 5 per cent.of total alka- 
loids, and at least 2.5 per cent of quinine (C20H24N2O2+H2O=341.3) "-(U. S. P.). 
(1) Cinchona Calisaya, Weddell, furnishes the Cinchona Flava (U. S. P., 
1880)-the Yellow cinchona, or Calisaya bark-(Cinchonas flavae cortex; Cortex chinas 
calisayae, China regia; Cortex chinae regies). 
(2) Cinchona officinalis, Linne, furnishes Cinchona Pallida (U. S. P., 1880)- 
Pale Peruvian bark, Crown bark, Loxa bark-(Cinchonas, pallidas cortex; China fusca; 
Cortex china fuscus; China pallida; China cinerea; China grised). 
II. Cinchona Rubra ( U.S.P.), Red cinchona, Red Peruvian bark, Red bark (China 
rubra, Cortex chinae ruber). "The bark of Cinchona succirubra, Pavon (Nat. Ord.- 
Rubiaceae), containing not less than 5 per cent of its peculiar alkaloids"-^(U.S.P.). 
Illustrations: (1) Cinchona Calisaya,Weddell, Histoire Naturelie des Quin- 
quinas, Pl. 3, 28; Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 141; Fliickiger, Cinchona Barks 
(C. Calisaya var. Ledgeriana, Pl. 3, 4). 
(2) Cinchona officinalis.-Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 140. 
(3) Cinchona succirubra.-Fliickiger, Cinchona Barks, Pl. 1; Bentley and 
Trimen, Med. Plants, 142. 
Botanical History and Source.-The tribe Cinchone^e, of the natural order 
Rubiaceae, includes the genera Cinchona, Cascarilla (with Buena and Cosmibuena), 
Remijia, Macrocnemum, Ladenbergia, and about 30 other nearly allied genera (see 
Phannacographid). This tribe is comprised of those opposite-leaved shrubs or 
trees bearing a 2-celled, many-seeded, dry, capsular fruit, and having scale-like, 
deciduous stipules. The inflorescence is expanded or branched, and not capitate 
or contracted. The numerous seeds are small and bordered all around by a broad 
membraneous wing, lacerated or toothed at the edge. The subtribe Eucinchoneae 
has valvate corollas in contradistinction to the subtribe Hillieae, which has the 
corolla contorted, inflexed, or imbricated. 534 
CINCHONA. 
The genus Cinchona is finally distinguished by its having the corolla-tube 
somewhat lengthened and cylindrical, and but slightly contracted or expanded. 
The lobes of the corolla are 5 in number, small, delicate, expanded flatly, and 
fringed at the edges. Their color ranges from whitish and purple to bright red 
or violaceous in the different species. These fragrant flowers are abundant and 
clustered in cymose or paniculate order. The valves of the capsule dehisce from 
the base, from the splitting of the partition, the two divisions 
remaining attached to each other at the apex by means of the 
permanent 5-toothed calyx. The cinchona trees, or shrubs, 
are handsome, and have somewhat the appearance of the 
syringa bush. The leaves, which are of various shapes, from 
ovate or obovate to nearly circular, sometimes cordate, and, 
in some species, lanceolate, have always an entire margin 
(sometimes slightly revolute), and are of variable size and 
character, often on the same shrub. They are coriaceous, shin- 
ing, laurel-like, finely-veined, and have a strong midrib. In 
some of the valuable species, in the vein-axils, near the mid- 
rib on the lower surface of the leaf, are small depressions, 
termed scrobicuh, which give out an astringent fluid. Hairy 
tufts replace these in some species. Often the young leaves 
are purplish, violet-colored underneath, and the mature leaves 
before falling assume rich tints of orange or crimson, this 
being marked in the C. purpurascens, Wed dell. The petiole is thick, about or 
less the length of the leaf, and frequently of a handsome red hue. The most 
valued cinchona trees range from 40 to 80 feet high. They easily form hybrids, 
of which there are several, and so uniform are the characters of the members of 
the genus that it is extremely difficult to separate the individual species, which 
are so closely connected by intermediate forms which tend to form a somewhat 
connected series. 
From the foregoing it will be seen that botanical classification has been diffi- 
cult. The species number about 31. Weddell, whose views are generally 
accepted, enumerates 33 species and 18 subspecies, with varieties and subvarie- 
ties. Bentham and Hooker place the number at 36, De Candolle at 18 species, 
while Howard indicates 38. On the other hand, O. Kuntze (1882-3) contends for 
only 4 primary species, with their hybrids; a view, however, not universally 
accepted, and one based upon observation from cultivated Indian plants and 
herbarium specimens. The four species of Kuntze are: 1. Cinchona Weddel- 
liana. 2. Cinchona Pahudiana. 3. Cinchona Howardiana. 4. Cinchona 
Pavoniana. 
This agrees but little with the classification of Weddell, who condensed all 
of his species and subspecies of Cinchona into stems (stirpes or souches). To these 
fundamental groups, from which all the others radiate, he has placed the best 
known or most characteristic at the head of each. These stirpes or stems are: 
1. Stirps Cinchona? officinalis. 2. Stirps Cinchona rugosa?. 3. Stirps Cin- 
chona? micrantha?. 4. Stirps Cinchona? Caltsaya?. 5. Stirps Cinchona? 
ovatje. A comparative table will show the relation of Kuntze's classification to 
that of Weddell: 
Fig. 73. 
Cinchona Calisaya. 
Weddell's forms of 
ARE DECLARED BY KUNTZE 
1. C. officinalis 
Hybrids of C. WeddMiana with C. Howardiana 
and C. Pavoniana. 
2. C. rugosse 
C. Pahudiana and hybrids. 
3. C. micranthx 
C. Pavoniana and hybrids. 
4. C. Calisaya 
C. WeddelUana and hybrids. 
5. C. ovatae 
C. Howardiana. 
Kuntze's classification includes altogether 44 species and hybrids. Probably 
the most correct estimate of the number of species is that of Bailion, who places 
it at 20. The following conspectus, extracted by permission from the Pharmaco- 
graphia, gives not only the stirpes of Weddell, but the species enumerated in each 
group, with source, where illustrated, and the barks known or believed to be 
derived from them: 535 
CINCHONA. 
Species (excluding subspecies and varieties) 
according to Weddell. 
Where figured. 
Native country. 
Where cultivated. 
Product. 
I. Stirps Cinchona: officinalis. 
1. Cinchona officinalis, Hook. 
2. Cinchona macrocalyx, Pav. 
3. Cinchona Incumxfolia, Pav. 
4. Cinchona lanccolata, R. et P. (?) 
5. Cinchona lancifolia, Mutis. 
6. Cinchona amygdalifolia, Wcdd. 
II. Stirps Cinchona; rugosa. 
7. Cinchona pitayensis, Wedd. 
8. Cinchona rugosa, Pav. 
9. Cinchona Mutisii, Lamb. 
10. Cinchona hirsute,, R. et P. 
11. Cinchona carabayensis, Wedd. 
12. Cinchona Pahudiana, How. 
13. Cinchona asperifolia, Wedd. 
14. Cinchona uvibellulifera, Pav. 
15. Cinchona glandulifera, R. et P. 
16. Cinchona Humboldtiana, Lamb. 
III. Stirps Cinchona: micrantha. 
17. Cinchona australis, Wedd. 
18. Cinchona scrobindata, H. et B. 
19. Cinchona peruviana, How. 
20. Cinchona nitida, R. et P. 
21. Cinchona micrantha, R. et P. 
IV. Stirps Cinchona Calisaya. 
22. Cinchona Calisaya, Wedd. 
23. Cinchona elliptica, Wedd. 
V. Stirps Cinchona: ovata. 
24. Cinchona purpurea, R. et P. 
25. Cinchona rufinervis, Pav. 
26. Cinchona succirubra, Pav. 
27. Cinchona ovata, R. et P. 
28. Cinchona cordifolia, Mutis. 
29. Cinchona tucujensis, Karst. 
30. Cinchona pubescens, Vahl. 
31. Cinchona purpurascens, Wedd. 
Bot. Mag., 5364. 
Howard, N. Q. 
do 
do 
Karsten, tab. 11, 12. 
Wedd., tab. 6. 
J Karst., tab. 22, I 
( (C. Trianx). ) 
Howard, N. Q. 
do 
Wedd., tab. 21. 
Wedd., tab. 19. 
Howard, N. Q. 
Wedd., tab. 20. 
Howard, N. Q. 
do 
do 
Wedd., tab. 8. 
do 
Howard, N. Q. 
do 
do 
Wedd., tab. 9. 
Howard, N. Q. 
do 
do 
do 
Karsten, tab. 8. 
Karsten, tab. 9. 
Wedd., tab. 16. 
Wedd., tab. 18. 
Ecuador (Loxa). 
Peru. 
Ecuador, Peru. 
Peru. 
New Granada. 
Peru, Bolivia. 
f New Granada 1 
( (Popayan). J 
Peru. 
Ecuador. 
Peru. 
Peru, Bolivia. 
Peru. 
Bolivia. 
Peru. 
Peru. 
Peru. 
South Bolivia. 
Peru. 
Peru. 
Peru. 
Peru. 
Teru, Bolivia. 
Peru (Carabaya). 
Peru (Huamalies). 
Peru, Bolivia. 
Ecuador. 
Peru, Bolivia. 
f New Granada, 1 
( Peru. J 
Venezuela. 
f Ecuador, Peru, 1 
( Bolivia. | 
Bolivia. 
India, Ceylon, Java. 
India. 
India. 
India, Java. 
India I 
India > 
India J 
I India, Java,Cey-1 
(lon,Jam'ca,Mex J 
( India, Ceylon, ) 
( Java, Jamaica, J 
India (?), Java (?). 
Loxa or Crown bark, Pale bark. 
f Ashy Crown bark. Subspecies, C. Palton, affords an im- 
( portant sort called Palton bark-, used in making quinine. 
Carthagena bark, confounded with Palton bark; not so good, 
f Columbian bark. Imported for manufacture of quinine. 
( Soft Columbian bark is produced by Howard's var. oblonga. 
A poor bark, but not now' imported. 
Pitayo bark ; very valuable ; used by makers of quinine ; it 
is the chief source of quinidine. 
Bark unknown ; probably valueless. 
Bark not in commerce ; contains only aricine. 
Bark not collected. 
Poor bark; handsome appearance; propagation discontinued. 
Bark not collected. 
Bark not known as a distinct sort, 
do do 
False Loxa bark, Jaen bark. A very bad bark. 
An inferior bark mixed with Calisaya. 
Bark formerly known as lied Cusco bark, or Santa Ana bark. 
Grey bark, Huanuco, or Lima bark. Chiefly consumed on 
the continent. 
( Calisaya bark, Bolivian bark, Yellow bark. The tree exists 
( under many varieties; bark also very variable. 
f Carabaya bark. Bark scarcely now imported. C. euneura, 
< Miq. (flowers and fruit unknown) may, perhaps, be this 
( species. 
Huamalies bark; not now imported. 
Bark; a kind of a light Calisaya. 
Red bark; largely cultivated in British India. 
Inferior brown and grey barks. 
J Columbian bark (in part). Tree exists under many varie- 
l ties; bark of some used in the manufacture of quinine. 
Maricaibo bark. 
f Arica bark (Cusco bark from var. Pelletieriana). Some of the 
( varieties contain aricine. C. caloptera, Miq., is probably a 
( variety of this species. 
Bark unknown in commerce. 536 
CINCHONA. 
Cinchona Calisaya.-Weddell. This is a high tree, and if we accept the view 
of Weddell, also exists in a shrub form as var. Josephiana. Some botanists, how- 
ever, regard the latter as distinct, or rather as belonging to no particular species. 
Cinchona Calisaya has an important variety largely cultivated in Java, known as 
the Cinchona C. var. Ledgeriana (named from Charles Ledger, who introduced it 
in Java), which is extremely rich in alkaloids. C. Calisaya is distinguished by 
its smooth, ovate capsules, scarcely equal in length to the flowers. C. Boliviano, 
Weddell, a variety of Bolivia, has leaves with a purplish under surface. (For 
description of C. Calisaya sesAmer. Disp., 15th ed.). 
Cinchona Calisaya grows in declivities and steep and rugged places of the 
mountains, at an altitude of from 1500 to 1800 meters in the hottest forests of the 
valleys of Bolivia and Southern Peru; between 13° and 16° SO7south latitude, and 
from 68° to 72° west longitude; in the Bolivian provinces of Enquisivi, Yungas, 
Larecaja, and Caupolicon; and in the Peruvian province of Carabaya. It flowers 
in April and May. It yields the Yelloio cinchona bark, commonly called indiscrimi- 
nately by the Spaniards and Indians, cascarilla calisaya, calisaya, or culisaya. 
Cinchona officinalis, Linne.-This species has suffered much at the hands of 
botanists, some contending that the name indicating the Linnean species is 
capable of double interpretation (Fliickiger). Hooker has made a new diagnosis 
regarded as differing from that of Linne, and the former's plant is now regarded 
by many as the true Cinchona officinalis. Others regard the diagnosis of Linne as 
correct. This was the original species of Cinchona. It has ribbed capsules. (For 
a description of this species, see Amer. Disp., 15th ed.). It is indigenous to 
Ecuador and Peru, and is the source of Loxa bark. The Loxa region, however, 
according to Wellcome, is now exhausted. 
Cinchona succirubra, Pavon, is a tall tree, from 50 to 80 feet high, indigenous 
to the western slope of Chimborazo, its territory of growth extending to northern 
Peru. It flourishes well in Ceylon, and the Blue Hills of India, being well 
adapted for grafting and hybridization. Its capsules are smooth. It is the source 
of Red cinchona bark. 
History.-As a therapeutical agent of inestimable value, cinchona, from its 
first introduction and use to the present day, stands pre-eminent. In fact, no 
article of the Materia Medica has borne so high and unwavering a reputation. 
It is an agent for which, notwithstanding the vast addition to the list of the 
Materia Medica, no other substance has been discovered in nature nor in the 
laboratory that could fully substitute its therapeutical value. 
The period of the discovery of the medicinal properties of cinchona, is 
unknown. Some fabulous stories are mentioned concerning it, but we have no 
reliable information as to when, or how it was discovered. Some writers (Geoff- 
roy, Ruiz, and Joseph de Jussieu), are of the opinion that the Indians were 
acquainted with its medicinal properties prior to the arrival of the Spaniards; 
but even this is doubtful, for La Condamine, who visited Peru in 1738, found the 
natives then unacquainted with it; and J. J.Caldas, pupil of the celebrated bota- 
nist, Mutis, who traveled from 1802 for many years in the mountains of Peru in 
order to examine the natural history and geographical distribution of the Cin- 
chonas, states that the Indians who inhabit those regions, and among whom fever 
often makes sad inroads, will not use it, believing that it heats the blood and 
humors; and states that the heaviest chastisements are often inflicted to compel 
them to employ it as a remedy; he remarks that this prejudice is much against 
the fact of their ever having been acquainted with its use, as they cling with the 
greatest obstinacy to their inherited customs, vices, and prejudices. Ulloa, and 
Humboldt also express the opinion that the Indians were unacquainted with the 
use of cinchona. 
The introduction of cinchona into Europe dates from the year 1639; it came 
to be known, it is said, from its having cured the lady of the Comte de Chinchon, 
at that time Viceroy of Peru, of a fever, and who, upon her return to Spain, car- 
ried some of the bark with her. For some time after its introduction, the Jesuits, 
who received the bark from their brethren in Peru, alone used it, and kept to them- 
selves the secret of its origin; and it was through their use of it that its fame as 
a febrifuge so rapidly spread, and from which,fact it derived the name which still 
clings to it, of "Jesuits' bark." The medical profession at first opposed its use, and 537 
CINCHONA. 
it is recorded that it was not employed by them, until Sturm, of Antwerp, in 
1639, and Bado, of Genoa, in 1663, advocated its employment and wrote in praise 
of its virtues. Notwithstanding the length of time that has elapsed since the dis- 
covery of the medicinal properties of cinchona bark, its botanical history is yet 
subject to discussion. A number of botanists have explored and described some 
of the sources of the barks of commerce, yet much remains to be accomplished 
The barks that are recognized as official by the Pharmacopoeias, both of this coun- 
try and Europe, are now chiefly cultivated. Much of the information we have 
concerning them is from the labors of M. Weddell, who accompanied a scientific 
expedition, under the patronage of the French government, to Brazil and Peru 
in 1843, and who continued his researches until 1848, since which others have 
written descriptions, as M. Guibourt, E. Rampon, A. Delondre, G. Planchon, etc. 
but they have not materially differed from Weddell. Prior to him was Conda- 
mine, who first described the Cinchonas, Jussieu, Mutis, Ruiz, Pavon, Humboldt, 
and Bonpland. Weddell's researches (modified) having been adopted by many 
as authority, we shall, in the following text, give in a somewhat condensed form 
his manner of collecting the bark (see Distribution and Collection), and some 
remarks upon the classification of barks into red, yellow, and pale barks, as 
adopted generally in works upon Materia Medica. 
Previous to the year 1775, Loxa bark (most probably derived from Cinchona 
officinalis), was the only kind of cinchona known in commerce. It wTas not until 
1772 that Mutis discovered the valuable tree in the neighborhood of Santa Fe de 
Bogota, and at this period Europe began to receive Cinchonas direct from the 
ports of New Granada, on the Atlantic. Some years later the authors of Flora 
Peruviana (Ruiz and Pavon), studied the species of lower Peru, to the north of 
Lima, and these were also introduced into commerce. The only species then, which, 
botanically speaking, still remained unknown in Europe, were those growing in 
the vast extent of country extending southward. Notwithstanding the efforts 
of De Jussieu and the botanist, Thaddeus Haenke, little was added to the scien- 
tific knowledge of the Cinchonas by their travels. In the work by M. Weddell, 
he has made known the species observed by him in those regions during the years 
1845, '46, and '47. From his observations, this Cinchona (Calisaya) does not spring 
up again in the localities from which it has been cut, the circumstances peculiar 
to its growth being, as it were, altered, and a stunted growth, the variety Joseph- 
iana, is the only representative of the majestic C. Calisaya to be found in the 
localities which have been destroyed by the hands of the cascarilleros in a very 
ruinous and wasteful manner. To remedy the evil, at least as far as lay in its 
power, the government of Bolivia prohibited the cutting of the bark from the year 
1851 for three years; this, together with a monopoly by the government of all the 
bark then cut in its territory, caused a rapid rise in the value of calisaya bark, and 
forced the manufacturers of quinine to use other barks in its preparation. 
The immense commercial demands on the Cinchonas of these parts, tending 
to exhaust the forests, also rendered it necessary that new sources should be dis- 
covered. According to Wellcome's report (Fliickiger, 1884), the forests of Loxa, 
for example, are now exhausted of their cinchona trees. To give some idea of the 
consumption of this bark, and the enormous drain upon the localities from which 
it was obtained, the company which had a monopoly of it exported at one time 
annually, more than 850,000 pounds of it. The great extent of the country, how- 
ever, over which the Cinchonas are spread, excludes the idea, which has been 
entertained, that we shall ever be deprived of this valuable drug, and the exten- 
sive Eastern cultivation now makes the contingency of its extinction next to 
impossible. 
Cultivation.-The subject of cultivation of the Cinchonas early received the 
attention of botanists and laymen, both with a view to increasing the supply in 
their native country and their introduction into foreign climes. Condamine made 
an unsuccessful attempt to transport to Europe young trees, which, in transporta- 
tion, were lost in the Amazon river. Mutis cultivated the tree, and the Bolivian 
Jesuits obligated the collectors to plant 5 trees in cross-form on the spots where 
each tree was felled. The same body of religionists from Peru, made unsuccessful 
attempts, in 1849, to grow the trees in Algeria. Later, however, several persons, 
chiefly among whom were Miquel, Pahud (Governor-general of Dutch East 538 
CINCHONA. 
Indies), Hasskarl, Weddell, Karsten, Royle, Markham, and Ledger, succeeded 
after innumerable and partly vain attempts, in establishing the plants, first in 
Java and afterwardin India. It was with the greatest of difficulty and danger owing 
to the hostile attitude of the native population, that the plants, or seeds even, 
could be procured, and the transportation was attended with mishaps, either due 
to the perishing of the plants or seeds en route, or at stations, or to losses in the 
sea. The seeds sent by Weddell to Paris were planted in the gardens of Thibaut 
and Keteleer, and the plants grown therefrom were, in 1852, bought by the Dutch 
government and sent to Java. The results, however, were none too satisfactory, 
and it was not until Markham, already well acquainted with the territory, in 
1859 went to South America to procure plants, that the foreign introduction of 
cinchona became at all successful. Upon reaching the cinchona lands he asso- 
ciated with him Spruce, a botanist, Prichett, a resident, and Cross (1861), a 
gardener, the latter planting with his own hand, in India, the plants procured by 
him in America. The plants secured by the latter were those of C. succirubra. 
Markham's purpose was to reserve for himself the Peru and Bolivia border-lands, 
and procure the C. Calisaya, of which he collected 456 young plants, amid great- 
dangers and hardships, a graphic account of which is to be found in Markham's 
work on Peruvian Bark. These plants, which were shipped by way of England, 
however, in transportation from thence to Hindustan, became exposed to such 
intense heat while in the waters of the Red Sea, that they were of little value 
when planted. The deficiency was made up, however, by seeds of C. Calisaya, 
procured from Java, and the cultivation of the Cinchonas in India, Ceylon, and 
Java, became at last a marked success. The plants obtained by Prichett were from 
the Huanuco country, and were chiefly plants of C. nitida and C. micrantha. 
The cultivation of the plants in their new homes is not without some draw- 
backs. According to F. B. Power, the Javan volcanic eruptions of 1883 did great 
damage to the cinchona plantations. In addition to such accidental injuries, a 
constant source of trouble is the beetles and caterpillars, as well as a new and small 
hemiptera, the "teabug" {Helopeltis Antonii, Sigm.),the wingless young of which, 
hatched among the tops of the branches and leafstalks, nourish themselves at 
the expense of the leaves, producing a disease known as kinaroest (see Cinchona 
Barks, Fliickiger, Tr. by Power). 
The Cinchonas have been cultivated with some success at Jamaica, but the 
only commercially important ground in South America where cultivation is at all 
successful is in Bolivia. Western Africa and Mexico have also attempted the cul- 
tivation, the former with considerable success. Within a few years the estimated 
number of cultivated trees was about 75,540.000, Java alone possessing 30,000,000; 
Central America and Bolivia, each 2,000,000; India, 18,500,000; Ceylon, 19,000,000; 
Australia, Borneo, and other islands, 1,000,000; Africa, 2,500,000; Jamaica, 500,000, 
and Mexico the remainder. Only cultivated barks now appear in commerce, the 
wild bark being seldom met. 
Distribution and Collection.-The native Cinchonas seem to be exclusively 
confined to the Andes within the boundaries of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and New 
Granada, from 11° north latitude to 20° south latitude; chiefly growing at an 
elevation varying from 1200 to 10,000 feet above the level of the sea, and in a dry, 
rocky soil. There are at least 12 or 13 species, which have from time to time 
furnished the barks of commerce. 
The only period in which these cinchona barks are collected, is during the 
rainy season, which continues some 3 or 4 months. The trees rarely constitute an 
entire forest, but form more or less compact groups in various parts of the forests, 
termed manchas. Frequently they grow separately. Experienced cutters, called 
diestros or practices, are engaged to explore the forests, and report where the Cin- 
chona trees are to be found, their number, and the quality of the bark they yield. 
Thia investigation requires much sagacity, patience, and experience, as the 
chances of success depend wholly upon the report made. So well skilled are these 
diestros that they can in most instances distinguish the trees by the appearance of 
their tops, by a peculiar slight movement of the leaves of certain species, by a 
particular color of the foliage, by the aspect presented by a great mass of inflo- 
rescence, etc. Sometimes they are favored with success in a short time, while at 
other times, many days pass before they can reach the object which they have 539 
CINCHONA. 
constantly kept in sight from the moment of its discovery. Matters having been 
satisfactorily ascertained, the merchant or company desiring to procure the bark, 
engage other parties who are called cascarilleros, and are trained to this occupation 
from infancy, to cut the bark for them. A road is at once made up to the point 
which is to form the center of operations, and the cascarilleros, together with a 
confidential agent of the company, called the majordomo, construct small huts or 
houses in a favorable site near this point, both for the purpose of encampment 
and to shelter their provisions and cuttings. And while the party are engaged in 
this neighborhood, all parts of the forest adjacent to the roads are considered the 
property of those who formed it, and no other cascarilleros are allowed to work 
there. The trees are felled with hatchets, being cut a little above the root, the 
bark having been previously removed from this part, even removing the earth 
from around the trunk that the barking may be more complete. As soon as all 
obstacles to the falling of the tree have been overcome, and it lies upon the 
ground, the useless branches are cut off, and the peridermis is removed by strik- 
ing it with a wooden mallet, or the back of a hatchet, which exposes the inner 
bark; frequently this is further cleaned by means of a brush. 
The bark is then divided by incisions circumscribing the pieces to be removed, 
the size and regularity depending upon circumstances, but generally for conve- 
nience of transport and facility of preparation they are made from 15 to 18 inches 
long, and 4 or 5 inches wide. These pieces are removed from the trees, with a 
common knife or similar instrument, and as close to the wood as possible. The 
bark of the branches is similarly removed, except that its peridermis is not beaten 
off. The thinnest bark from the branches is dried by exposure to the sun's rays, 
and forms hollow cylinders; but the pieces of thicker bark, which are to form the 
fiat cinchona, tabla or plancha, are, after a slight exposure to the sun, placed one 
on the other in crossed squares, upon the top of which a heavy weight is placed. 
This exposure and pressure is repeated for several days until the bark is flattened 
and completely dried. This is the process more commonly adopted, yet it will 
sometimes vary a little, according to the locality, or the nature of the tree oper- 
ated upon. Thus, the peridermis may be simply scraped, or be only partially 
removed; the bark may be imperfectly or not at all pressed; or it may be imper- 
fectly desiccated, thereby destroying its value, etc. The bark prepared, is carried 
by the cascarilleros in heavy shoulder loads to the camp, which is an inconceiv- 
ably laborious task, frequently requiring 15 or 20 days for its removal from one 
district alone. It may be proper to state here, that, as a rule, before the bark 
reaches the coast, it passes through at least threq or four hands, and on each occa- 
sion its price is augmented; its carriage from the coast being expensive, and hav- 
ing to pass through other hands also, a pound of the bark that would cost at the 
coast a certain price, is sold in Europe for the price many times doubled. 
As the bark is brought into camp by the cutters, it is examined by the major- 
domo, who, after rejecting that part of it which is bad, submits it, if necessary, to 
a fresh process of drying. It is then formed into bundles of nearly equal weight, 
sewn up in coarse canvas, and conveyed on the backs of men, donkeys, or mules, 
to the depots in the towns, where they usually receive an exterior envelope of 
fresh hide, which, as it dries, forms the hard compact packages in which the bark 
is exported, termed seroons. Such is the history of the original method as pursued 
in South America. 
The East Indian and Java methods are three: Mossing, felling or coppicing, 
and shaving. The first method, proposed by Karsten and put into operation by 
W. G. Maclvor, consists of removing from the stems narrow vertical strips of the 
bark. The denuded surface is then enveloped with moss (clay is now being used 
in India and Alang-Alang grass in Java) when the bark is quickly renewed, and 
becomes richer in alkaloidal principles. The second method (coppicing') consists 
in felling the trees and stripping them of bark, while the stumps so left send up 
shoots, which, in about 8 years, yields a rich bark also. This method is employed 
in Bolivia to some extent; when the roots are utilized also the process is called 
uprooting. The third method, introduced in Java by Bernelot Moens (1880), is 
that of shaving or scraping, which consists in removing not the whole of the 
bark, but a few layers, leaving enough of it to preserve the vitality of the tree. 
The effect of these methods has been a greatly increased yield of alkaloids. 540 
CINCHONA. 
Classification of Barks.-In most works on Materia Medica, we find the cin- 
chona barks classified according to their color, i. e.,into the yelloiv, pale and red barks; 
the Cinchona Calisaya, as yellow bark; the C. officinalis, and others, as pale barks; 
and the C. succirubra, as red bark. This classification, while convenient, is very 
defective; not only does it, in some instances, separate the products of the same 
tree, but it connects those which are essentially different. At one time it was 
thought that all the gray cinchonas were furnished by the same species, but not 
only are they produced by many different species, but very frequently they are the 
young bark of the same trees which yield the yellow and red cinchonas. A more 
useful and, indeed, more natural classification would be founded, in the first in- 
stance, upon the chemical composition of the barks, it being only necessary to 
study their active principles, as quinine, cinchonine, etc. But this method is 
impracticable on account of the unavoidable difficulties arising from such a mode 
of classification, and, also, from the fact now fully proved, that the same botanical 
species furnish barks varying greatly, according to accidental circumstances. 
Weddell remarks that if a classification be absolutely needed, one which should 
be based upon the anatomical structure of the bark would be of much greater 
utility than either of the preceding, inasmuch as we shall find existing, even in 
the cinchonas, a certain relation between their structural and chemical charac- 
ters. M. Weddell gives the data upon which he bases the latter conclusion w'hich, 
however, can not be here discussed. The classification of commercial cinchona 
barks, according to their color, has been most generally accepted. At the present 
day such a classification is even more easily made than in earlier days, for the 
various sources and conditions of the bark caused the colors to vary greatly, and 
even to merge closely into one another. The color was chiefly based upon the 
powder rather than upon the exterior of the bark. The botanical sources of the 
three grades are now, however, well known on account of their being cultivated. 
To those species, with their hybrids, which have become official, may be added 
mention of an inferior bark now known as hard yellow, or Maracaibo bark. These 
distinctions into red, yellow, etc., are mainly taken cognizance of by pharmacists, 
the manufacturers of alkaloids caring but little for classification, their reliance 
being placed upon all barks which, by assay, will yield them the greatest amount 
and best quality of bases. A convenient classification is that less in vogue known 
as druggists' barks (quills, or large chips), and manufacturers' barks (broken bark). 
In general, barks occur in commerce in 5 chief forms: (1) small chips or frag- 
ments, which includes much of the broken bark and pieces of root bark; (2) 
shaved bark, which includes largely barks of branches and dry stems, with some 
root bark; (3) irregular flat chips or pieces of varying sizes and shapes, mostly 
made up of hard yellow bark; (4) the cultivated, together with some wild bark, in 
the form of quills, taken from stem and root; (5) and lastly, the thick, mossed 
bark and thinner renewed bark, obtained by the mossing process. Making allow- 
ances for different conditions existing at the time of gathering, such as the age 
of the plant, etc., the following descriptions will apply to the barks as classified 
according to color: 
Description of Barks.-Yellow Bark {Calisaya bark, Cinchona flava}, from 
C. Calisaya and its variety Ledgeriana. Mostly cultivated, rarely collected wild, in 
great demand, and greatest quinine yielder (70 to 80 per cent of whole yield of alka- 
loids). The best bark; the quill forms only commercial, the flat, or table bark, being 
rarely met at present (see below). Large, handsome quills, sometimes broken, 
varying from 18 to 30 inches long, and from | to | inch thick, and occasionally 
24 inches wide; color gray, or light-brown gray externally, pale cinnamon-brown 
internally, the inner surface marked with very fine striae. Its powder is a pale, 
yellow-brown. The quilled bark may be in fragments varying from 1 or 2 inches to 
24 inches in length, from 2 lines to 2 inches in diameter, and from to 7 lines in 
thickness. Very small quills, however, are very rare. They are generally singly 
quilled, though occasionally met with doubly quilled. Usually coated, with an 
outer bark or periderm; sometimes uncoated, or deprived of its periderm; the 
inner, living part of the bark, Weddell terms its derm, in contradistinction to its 
external covering, or periderm. 
In the coated specimens, the periderm varies in thickness, is more or less 
rugous, and marked with transverse impressions, furrows, or cracks, which some- CINCHONA. 
541 
times form complete rings around the quills. The edges are thick, everted, and 
raised. If the periderm is very thick, the consistence of it is corky or elastic, and 
the annular furrows have the appearance of deep incisions. Between these annular 
markings are longitudinal wrinkles or cracks. In the large quills, these furrows 
and cracks give the bark a very rough character (the so-called carved, or chicken- 
legged appearance), by which it may easily be distinguished from the large quills 
of gray bark {Huanuco). The periderm is nearly tasteless, having a naturally 
brown color, but sometimes more or less gray or silvery from the crustaceous 
lichens with which it is covered. 
The flat, or uncoated bark, consists chiefly of liber; its taste is very bitter and 
feebly astringent; its transverse fracture, externally, is resinous, internally 
fibrous. The color is brown externally, and it is marked with impressions corre- 
sponding to the furrows or cracks of the periderm. Internally, it is finely fibrous, 
and of a deep cinnamon-brown color. 
Pale Bark (Loxa bark, Loja bark, Crown bark, Huanuco bark, Cuenca bark). 
From Cinchona officinalis. Cultivated largely in India, and collected wild in 
Ecuador in former times, chiefly around Loxa. Large quinine yielder (60 to 70 
per cent of whole yield of alkaloids). Entire or broken (irregularly), single or 
double quills 3 to 15 inches long, by J to f or 1 inch in diameter, chiefly 1 or 2 
lines in thickness, but very variable in this respect. Its periderm is darker than 
in other species, and its powder light-brown. More lichens are present upon it 
than upon other barks, rendering it shaggy, and sometimes a portion of the 
ridges are verrucose. Its fissures are broader and more open than in the preced- 
ing bark, nor does it contain but a few longitudinal cracks, and is therefore not 
"checkered or chicken-legged" in appearance. The upper surface of the bark is 
very variable. According to age, temperature, and locality, it varies from a light- 
brownish color to black. If the trunk and branches are much exposed to the sun 
and wind, the bark becomes black, and if the tree is closely surrounded by other 
trees, it assumes a brownish color, which varies to a light-yellowish gray. A 
large quantity of lichens grow on the whole of the surface. On the epidermis, 
whatever its color may be, annular impressions or furrows are always perceptible, 
although sometimes but slightly impressed. They are the traces of places where 
the stipules were situated. Immediately beneath each ring are two almost cir- 
cular cicatrices, formed by the petiole after the fall of the leaves. Between the 
rings many other transverse furrows and cracks, varying in length, depth, and 
distance from each other, are perceived, mostly parallel to the rings, but never 
extending entirely around the trunk. All these characteristics of the surface are 
also found on other species of Cinchona, and are therefore insufficient of them- 
selves to distinguish any species. On the inner smooth surface, which is formed 
of fine, parallel, longitudinal fibers, we perceive numerous whitish spots, some of 
which are shining, but most of them dull. The color of this surface is similar 
to that of dry cinnamon, passing rather into yellow when the bark is fresh. The 
edges of the fractured surface of the bark are sharp, like grass, and only here and 
there a small point is perceptible on the inner edge. Under a magnifier the 
epidermis appears attached (gebunden), blackish, and shining; the subjacent paren- 
chyma, which forms a concentric ring, is thicker than the epidermis, sometimes 
blackish, sometimes brownish-yellow with many shining spots. Next follow the 
layers formed of parallel fibers, between which we observe shining points, which 
proceed from the gummy, resinous juice diffused through the entire bark. This 
is the only official species which has an odor, which, in this bark is distinct and 
characteristic. J. J. Caldas, writing in 1802, states: "The natives call it casca- 
rilla fina amarilla and never quina. It flowers very probably twice, in July and 
August, and in December and January. The leaves fall successively, as is the case 
with most equinoctial plants. By the epithet amarilla fina it is distinguished 
from colorada fina, which differs from the typical principal form by the color of the 
fresh bark, which is reddish, whereas the other is yellow. This quality, however, 
does not appear to be permanent, for when the amarilla is dried it assumes the 
color of the other sort, so that the most experienced person is unable to distin- 
guish (by color alone) one from the other." 
Red Bark (^Cinchona rubra).-From C. succirubra. Chiefly cultivated, except 
in South America. Yields an abundance of alkaloids, but of quinine only about 542 
CINCHONA. 
2 per cent. Quills thicker and wider than calisaya, otherwise quite similar, and 
the inner surface of a much redder cinnamon-brown than that species. Yields a 
reddish-brown powder. Transverse fissures few or none; when present disposed 
irregularly not forming a checkered or chicken-legged appearance. The prominent 
suherons, warty ridges, often short and merging into each other, and the elongated 
furrows between the ridges are distinguishing features (see Official Descript ion}. 
The hybrid barks vary somewhat from these descriptions. Cinchona rubra is 
very largely hybridized with C. officinalis and vice versa, and with C. Calisaya 
and its variety Ledgeriana. The hybrids with the former are lighter in color, and 
show the transverse fissures. The hybrids of the latter species with C. succirubra 
yield a bark in which the characteristics of the latter are most prominent. (For 
the other known barks and their sources, see Conspectus, already given). The 
U. S. P. has combined the medicinal cinchonas into two classes, made official 
as follows: 
I. Cinchona (U.S. P.}.-"In quills or incurved pieces, varying in length, 
and usually 2 or 3 Mm. (^ or | inch), or sometimes 5 Mm. (| inch) thick; the 
outer surface covered with a gray or brownish-gray cork, usually slightly wrinkled, 
marked with transverse, and also with intersecting, longitudinal fissures (C. Cali- 
saya}, and sometimes with scattered warts and slight longitudinal ridges; inner 
surface light cinnamon-brown, very finely striate; fracture short and granular 
in the outer layer, and finely fibrous in the inner layer; powder light-brown or 
yellowish-brown; odor slight, somewhat aromatic; taste bitter and somewhat 
astringent"-(U. S. P.}. 
II. Cinchona Rubra (U. S. P.} Red cinchona.-" In quills or incurved pieces, 
varying in length, and from 2 to 4 or 5 Mm. (^to | or | inch) thick; the outer 
surface covered with grayish-brown cork, more or less rough from warts and 
longitudinal warty ridges, and from few, mostly short, transverse fissures; inner 
surface more or less deep-reddish-brown and distinctly striate; fracture short- 
fibrous in the inner layer; powder reddish-brown; odor slight; taste bitter and 
astringent"-(U. S. P.}. 
The Maracaibo or Hard yellow bark (Puerto Cabella bark}, of uncertain deriva- 
tion, is a wild bark yielding very little quinine, and unimportant so far as its 
consumption in this country is concerned. It may be employed for the extrac- 
tion of alkaloids other than quinine, is very bitter, and is used in some countries 
in the preparation of Huxham's Tincture. 
Chemical Composition.-I. General Chemical History. The very ear- 
liest chemical examinations of Peruvian bark were directed to the determination 
of amounts of resinous and extractive bodies, and the action of menstrua upon 
it. However, very early attempts were made to separate a febrifuge principle, 
but without success. The first alkaloidal principle isolated from cinchona was 
cinchonine, the existence of which had been pointed out, in 1803, by Dr. Duncan, 
of Edinburgh; it was first isolated and obtained in a state of purity by Gomez, 
a physician of Lisbon. He attributed the efficacy of cinchona barks to the pres- 
ence of this body; but he failed to recognize its alkaline character, which, indeed, 
was not fully appreciated till after the discovery of morphine was announced by 
Sertiirner, in 1816, when an impetus was given to investigations for alkaloids. 
Toward the year 1820, Pelletier and Caventou pronounced the alkaloidal character 
of cinchonine, an observation which was communicated to them by Houton- 
Labillardiere; at the same time these chemists made ihe important discovery of 
quinine. About twelve years later two other French chemists, MM. Henry and 
Delondre, discovered in yellow cinchona bark a third alkaloid to which they gave 
the name of quinidine. In 1829, Sertiirner, already celebrated by his discovery 
of morphine, observed in the mother-liquors of sulphate of quinine an uncrys- 
tallizable base, which he called quinoidine, and to which he attributed wonderful 
febrifuge properties. This last substance quinoidine (or more properly chinoidin}, 
was undoubtedly a distinct amorphous base, but the name was shortly afterward 
applied to a deep-brown, brittle mass obtained by precipitating the mother- 
liquors from quinine works with ammonia, the substance so obtained being a 
mixture of alkaloids, subsequently found to be chiefly dicinchonine (C^H^N^), 
and diconchinine (C^H^NjOs). Quinoidine was formerly used in medicine under the 
name amorphous quinine. Resinous matter, as well as the amorphous and artificial 543 
constituents, were contained in it (see Chinoidinum). In 1847 Winckler obtained 
a new alkaloid from Maracaibo bark, to which he gave the name quinidine. Pasteur, 
however, in 1853, proved this to be different from the quinidine already known, 
and affixed to it the name cinchonidine. A number of alkaloids have since been 
isolated from the various species of cinchona (see below). 
The discovery of alkaloidal principles in cinchona is antedated by the iso- 
lation of a peculiar and comparatively inert acid by Fr. Chr. Hofmann, in 1790, 
who gave it the name Chinasaure (kinic acid). A (calcium) salt of this acid was 
first observed in a sediment from an extract of cinchona, by Count de Laragaye, 
as early as 1745. Another discovery of early date is that of chinovin (quinovin or 
kinovin), by Pelletier and Caventou, in 1821, who named it acide quinovique, having 
obtained it from the bark of Cinchona nova surinamensis. It is a non-crystal- 
lizable, bitter principle which was later ascertained to be a glucosid (see below). 
As a matter of history we retain the following results of some of the early 
investigators: Bucholz found in cinchona bark (Loxa), cinchonine 0.36, kinic acid 
1.17, kinate of calcium 1.30, hard resin (red cinchonic) 9.97, bitter soft resin 1.56, 
fatty matter with chlorophyll 0.78, tannin with some chloride of calcium (?) 5.80, 
gum 4.43, starch a trace, lignin 74.43. According to M M. Pelletier and Caventou, 
the pale, yellow and red barks contain kinate of quinine, kinate of cinchonine, solu- 
ble cinchona-red, or cincho-tannic acid, insoluble cinchona-red, yellow coloring, 
matter, grass-green coloring matter, kinate of calcium, starch, gum, and lignose. 
II. The Cinchona Alkaloids.-More than 40 alkaloids, both natural and 
artificial, have been derived from cinchona, cuprea, and related barks. Of these, 
those existing in greatest amount and of medicinal value, are but 4, viz.: Quinine, 
quinidine (Hesse's conquinine), cinchonine, and cinchonidine (quinidine); two others 
of importance are quinamine and conquinamine (conchinamine). Of these the first two 
are isomeric, and the third and fourth are likewise isomeric, comprising two main 
groups of cinchona alkaloids, one or more of the alkaloids of which are found in 
the cinchona barks. 
The following tabulated statement indicates the numerous alkaloids with 
their composition and some points of interest connected therewith: 
CINCHONA. 
Alkaloids. 
Composition. 
Discoverer. 
Source. 
1. Quinine 
C20H24N 2O2 
Pelletier and Caven- 
tou, 1820. 
2. Quinidine (Hesse's 
Conchinine). 
C20H24JN 2O2 
Henry and Delon- 
dre, 1833. 
3. Cinchonine. 
CigHos^ 2C 
Goinez, 1812; Pellet- 
ier and Caventou, 
1820. 
4. ClNCHONIDINE. 
Ci9H22N2O 
F. L. Winckler, 1847. 
Maracaibo bark. 
5. Quinamine. 
C19H24N2O2 
Hesse, 1872.) 
Cinchona succirubra and 
6. CONQUINAMINE ( Qui- 
namidine) (Hesse's 
Conchinainine). 
C19H24N2O2 
Hesse, 1877. j 
Crosulenta. 
7. Homoquinine(Ultra- 
quinine). 
CwH22N 2O2 
Tod, Howard, Hodg- 
kin, Paul,Cownley 
and Whiffen, 1882. 
Cinchona cuprea. 
8. Cupreine. 
C19H22N2O2 
Paul and Cownlev. 
Cinchona cuprea. 
9. Hydroquinine. 
C2oH26N202 
Hesse. 
10. Hydroquinidine. 
C2oH26N202 
Forst and Boehringer 
Derived from quinidine. 
11. Hydrocinchonine. 
C19H24N2O 
Caventou. 
Derived from cinchonim. 
Exists in Cuprea bark 
(Hesse). 
12. Hydrocinchonidine 
(Cinchamidine). 
C19HMN2O 
Hesse, 1881. 
13. Cinchonamine. 
C19H24JN 2o 
Arnaud, 1881. 
Remijia Purdieana. 
14. Cinchotine. 
C19H24N2O 
Hesse, 1882. 
15. Homocinchonine. 
C19H22N2O 
Cinchona rosulenta. 
16. Homocinchonidine. 
C19H22^ 2O 
Hesse, 1877. 
Cinchona rosulenta. 
17. Cusconine. 
C23H28N 2O4 
Hesse, 1877 (Lever- 
kohn, 1829 [?]). 
Cusco and Cuprea barks. 
18. CuSCONIDINE. 
C23H28^ 2O4 
Hesse, 1877. 544 
CINCHONA. 
Alkaloids. 
Composition. 
Discoverer. 
Source. 
19. CoNCUSCONINE. 
C23H2eN2O4 
Hesse, 1883. 
Cuprea bark. 
20. CONCUSCONIDINE. 
C23H26N 2O4 
Hesse, 1883. 
Cuprea bark. 
21. CuSCAMINE. 
Not analyzed. 
Hesse, 1880. 
Cusco bark. 
22. Paytine. 
23. Paytamine. 
C2iHmN2O+H2O 
C21H24N2O 
Hesse, 1870. 
Payta, or White Cinchona 
bark. 
24. Paricine. 
25. DlCINCHONINE. 
Ci6H18N2O 
C38H44N4O2 
Winckler, 1845. 
Para bark. 
26. Aricine (Manzini's 
Cinchovatine). 
27. Diquinidine( Hesse's 
Dicinchonine). 
C23H28N2O4 
C40H4GN4O3 
Pelletier and Cariol, 
1829. 
Cusco and Cuprea barks. 
28. Chairamine. 
29. Chairamidine. 
30. CoNCHAIRAMINE. 
31. CONCHAIRAMIDINE. 
C22H26N 2O4 
C22H26N2O4 
C22H2GN2O4 
c22h2gn204 
Hesse, 1885. 
Hesse. 
Hesse. 
Hesse. 
Remijia Purdieana. 
32. CuSCAMIDINE. 
Not analyzed. 
Hesse, 1880. 
Cusco bark. 
33. Javanine. 
Not analyzed. 
Hesse, 1877. 
Cinchona Calisaya var. Ja- 
vanica. 
34. Dihomocinchonine. 
C38H44N4O2 
Cinchona rosulenta. 
35. Cincholine. 
DERIVATIVES. 
Not analyzed. 
Hesse, 1882. 
Quinine mother-liquors. 
36. Cinchonicine. 
C19H22N2O 
Derived from cinchonine 
and cinchonidine. 
37. Dicinchonicine. 
C38H44N4O 
Derived from cinchonine 
and cinchonidine. 
38. Homocinchonicine. 
CjgH22N2O 
Derived from homocincho- 
nidine sulphate. 
39. Apoquinamine. 
C19H.22N 2O 
Derived from quinamine, 
or conquinamine. 
40. Quinicine. 
C2oH24N202 
Derived from quinine and 
quinidine. 
41. Diquinicine. 
C^H^N 4O3 
Derived from quinine and 
quinidine. 
42. Quinamicine. 
C19H24N 2O2 
Derived from quinamine 
sulphate. 
43. Protoquinamicine. 
C17H20N jt)2 
Hesse. 
Derived from quinamine 
sulphate. 
The first 35 alkaloids in the preceding table are regarded as naturally exist- 
ing in cinchona, cuprea and related barks; the first 4 only are employed medici- 
nally; the last eight are the artificially produced alkaloidal bases. According 
to Fluckiger {Cinchona Barks, p. 64), "every cinchona bark contains amorphous 
alkaloids." The majority, however, are crystallizable. 
Of the cinchona alkaloids, four are considered elsewhere under their respective 
heads, or as sulphates. These are Quinine, Quinidine, Cinchonine, and Cinchonidine. 
The others will be briefly considered here. 
Quinamine (C19H24N2O2) {Quinamia or Chinamine).-Long, white, asbestos- 
like, nearly tasteless crystals; dextrogyre; anhydrous; its solution in diluted sul- 
phuric acid is not fluorescent. Somewhat soluble in boiling water, nearly insolu- 
ble in cold water, soluble in ether, benzol, and benzin, most readily when hot, 
depositing crystals on cooling and evaporating; hot alcohol dissolves it, depositing 
crystals on cooling, the solution being alkaline; soluble in caustic potash solution 
and in ammonia. With hydrochloric and sulphuric acids it forms salts, their 
solutions being very bitter. Gold chloride precipitates solutions of the hydro- 
chlorate yellowish-white, changing to purple, while gold is liberated; the solution 
at the same time turns purple-red. Boiled with diluted sulphuric acid it changes 
to isomeric noncrystallizable quinamidine, behaving similarly to quinamine with 
gold chloride; quinamine sulphate heated to the boiling point of water changes 
to quinamicine, also isomeric. The sulphate heated to 120° C. (248° F.),or higher, 
forms protoquinamicine. Apoquinamine is produced when quinamine or quinamicine 
is treated with hydrochloric acid, resulting in the abstraction of water. Quina- 
mine fuses at 172° C. (341.8° F.). CINCHONA. 
545 
Apoquin amine (C19H22N2O).-Foliaceous, white, easily soluble in ether, diluted 
hydrochloric acid and alcohol. Its gold chloride double salt does not change to 
purple. Its amorphous hydrochlorate dissolves readily in water. Apoquinamine 
is isomeric with homocinchonidine, homocinchonine, and homocinchonicine. It is an 
artificial base. 
Homoquinine (C19H22N2O2) (Vltraquinine ofWhiffen). Obtainable from cuprea 
bark. Crystalline, soluble freely in chloroform and alcohol, but sparingly in ether, 
from which solvent it may be crystallized. Diluted sulphuric acid dissolves it, 
the solution giving the thalleioquin reaction (see Quininse). It is extremely levo- 
gyrate, and fuses at 177° C. (350.6° F.). Its sulphate, like that of quinine, forms 
a fluorescent solution in water; the salt when freshly prepared, is soluble in ether 
(difference from quinine sulphate). The cold saturated solution of the sulphate 
in water is precipitated by Rochelle salt, thus behaving like quinidine and cin- 
chonidine (Amer. Jour. Pharm.,1882, p. 75). 
Cinchonamine (C19H24N2O).-Associated with cinchonine. A dextrogyrate 
base, discovered by Arnaud, in 1881, in the bark of Remijia Purdieana, and said to 
have sialagogue properties, and to be much more toxic than quinine. Readily 
soluble in hot alcohol, less so in cold alcohol (1 in 30), and in ether (1 in 100). 
It fuses at 184° to 185° C. (363.2° to 365° F.) (Arnaud). It is usually extracted from 
the bark with milk of lime, the magma dried, boiled with alcohol, treated with 
hydrochloric acid, and crystallized as hydrochlorate. Water and diluted alcohol 
sparingly dissolve its crystalline salts, the sulphate being an exception. 
Cinchotine (Ci9H24N2O) is obtained by oxidizing crude cinchonine sulphate 
with potassium permanganate in the cold, which leaves cinchotine unaffected. 
It agrees with Willms' and Caventou's hydrocinchonine, which see. 
Hydroquinidine (C2oH26N202.24H20), (Hydroconchinine), forms efflorescing 
crystals soluble freely in chloroform and hot alcohol, but less so in ether. It is 
dextrogyrate, gives the thalleioquin reaction, is fluorescent in sulphuric acid solu- 
tion, and fuses at 168° C. (334.4° F.) (Hesse). It is present, according to Forst 
and Boehringer (1882), in commercial quinidine, from which it is obtained by 
oxidation with potassium permanganate in acid solution. 
Hydrocinchonine (C19H24N2O).-Obtained by the action of sodium amalgam 
upon cinchonine acetate in alcoholic solution. Soluble in ether, alcohol, and 
water (1 in 1300). 
Hydrocinchonidine (Ci9H24N2O).-This base is found in commercial cincho- 
nidine together with homocinchonidine. 
Cupreine (Ci9H22N2O2). Isomeric with homoquinine. Crystallizes from ether 
with 2 molecules of H2O; from alcohol, anhydrous. Soluble readily in alcohol; 
sparingly in chloroform or ether. Solutions alkaline, give thalleioquin coloration, 
and are levogyrate; the alcoholic solution strikes red-brown with chloride of iron. 
It forms a crystallizable sodium compound (C19H2iN2O.ONa), which is mainly 
of theoretical interest. 
Hydroquinine (C2oH26N203.H20) occurs in the mother-liquors from the manu- 
facture of quinine sulphate; it has been found present in commercial quinine 
sulphate to the extent of 4 per cent (Hesse). According to Allen's method, 
purification of quinine from hydroquinine is effected by allowing the quinine to 
crystallize as acid sulphate, whereby hydroquinine remains in solution. Ether 
and alcohol dissolve it, it exhibits the thalleioquin reaction, is fluorescent in sul- 
sulphuric acid solution, and fuses at 168° C. (334.4° F.). Potassium permanganate 
does not affect it when cold. 
Homocinchonine (C19H22N2O) (Koch's Cinchonidine).-This body has been 
confounded with cinchovatine (aricine). From alcohol it forms large prismatic 
crystals, having a left-handed rotation. Salts partly amorphous. 
Dihomocinchonine (C^H^N^), is amorphous, and exhibits a right-handed 
rotation with polarized light. 
Homocinchonidine (Ci9H22N2O) occurs in large prisms, and is said to form 
the chief part of the cinchovatine (aricine) of Winckler. It is levogyre, its sulphate 
crystallizes in gelatine-like needles, holding 6H2O, and soluble in hot water. 
Paytine (C21H24N2O.H2O), a crystalline body, and Paytamine, from a species 
of Aspidosperma called Payta or White cinchona bark. The latter is amorphous, and 
both are levogyrate, and form insoluble double salts with chloride of platinum, 546 
CINCHONA. 
thus differing from quinamine which they resemble in solubility ill ether and in 
the instability of the double salts they form with gold chloride. 
Paricine (C16H18N2O), a yellowish powder, was isolated by 0. Hesse from the 
bark of C. succirubra, of Darjeeling, associated with quinamine and other bases. 
When fresh, ether will dissolve it, and nitric acid changes it to a deep-green, resin- 
ous material. It is separated from its associated alkaloids by means of sodium 
carbonate, the paricine precipitating first. Paricine closely resembles aricine, but 
differs in being more soluble in ether, and being uncrystallizable. 
Cusconine (C93H26N2O4). A crystallizable body soluble in chloroform, alcohol, 
and ether, and scarcely at all in water. It has been believed to be identical with 
aricine, but differs from most cinchona bases in its salts being gelatinous and 
not dissolved by sulphuric acid. Its neutral sulphate is yellow, gelatinous, non- 
crystalline, and insoluble in sulphuric acid in excess. Accompanying it in Cusco 
bark, besides aricine, is Cusconidine, an amorphous, yellow body. Concusconine 
(C23H26N2O4) from Remijia Purdieana (Hesse), is crystalline and tasteless. 
Cuscamine is crystalline, easily soluble in hot alcohol, ether, and chloroform, 
and insoluble in nitric and oxalic acids. It fuses at 218° C. (424.4° F.). 
Cuscamidine is amorphous, and otherwise agrees with the preceding in solu- 
bility, etc. 
Aricine (Mancini's Cinchovatine) (C23H26N2O4) forms salts which are not 
readily soluble. This body, as cinchovatine, was found in Arica bark by Pelletier 
and Coriol in 1829. Aricine crystallizes in white, non-volatile needles, fusible at 
187.7° C. (370°F.), insoluble in water, and soluble in ether; forms a characteristic 
acetate and acid oxalate. 
Dicinchonine (C38H44N4O2) is one of the constituents of commercial chinoi- 
dine, the chief other one being Diquinidine (Hesse's Diconchinine) (C40H46N4O ). 
It is dextrogyre, fluorescent in solution, and does not give the thalleioquin colora- 
tion. Was found by Hesse (see Amer. Jour. Ph arm., 1885), especially in the bark 
of C. rosulenta. . 
Quinamidine (C19H24N2O2) {Conquinamine, Qwinamidia, or Hesse's Conchina- 
mine). Forms long, lustrous, prismatic crystals, fusing at 123° C. (253.4° F.). With 
gold chloride it behaves like quinamine. It is non-fluorescent, and gives no 
thalleioquin reaction. It is obtained from the barks of C. succirubra, C. rosulenta, 
and other India barks. An amorphous quinamidine (isomeric) is produced as stated 
under quinamine. It forms a sparingly soluble hydrochlorate. 
Quinamicine (C19H24N2O2) is amorphous, white, melts at 100° C. (212° F.), 
and is soluble in acids, from which it may be precipitated by sodium bicarbonate. 
It is obtained by heating quinamine with diluted acids. 
Protoquinamicine (C17H2oN202) is a brown amorphous body precipitated from 
its sulphuric acid solution by sodium carbonate. Ether does not dissolve it. 
Water scarcely dissolves its sulphate. An artificial product. 
Javanine.-Crystallizable, easily dissolved by ether, and forms an intense 
yellow solution in diluted sulphuric acid. Occurs in C. Calisaya var. Javanica. 
Cincholine.-A pale-yellow, volatile oil, tasteless, yet of alkaline reaction, 
easily dissolving in ether, chloroform, and alcohol; little soluble in water. This 
alkaloid has the odor of chinoline. 
Cinchonicine (C19H22N2O) is formed when cinchonine or cinchonidine is 
fused in the presence of acids. It is isomeric with these bodies. It is amorphous, 
soluble in alcohol, water, and especially in ammonium salts; dextro-rotatory. 
Dicinchonicine (ApodicinchonimP). One of the constituents of commercial 
chinoidine. 
Quinicine (C20H24N2O2). Amorphous, very soluble in alcohol, little soluble in 
water, dextrogyrate, its sulphuric acid solution non-fluorescent. 
Chairamine (C22H26N2O4.H2O). White acicular crystals, soluble in chloro- 
form and ether. 
Conch airamine (C22H26N2O4.H2O.C2H6O). Forms crystals containing both 
water of crystallization and alcohol of crystallization. Hot alcohol, chloroform, 
and ether dissolve it. A mixture of sulphuric and molybdic acids dissolves the 
alcoholate, the solution being first brown, changing to deep-green. 
Conchairamidine (C22H26N2O4.H2O). White needle-crystals soluble in ether, 
chloroform, alcohol, benzene, and acetone (0. Hesse, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1885). CINCHONA. 
547 
The following table exhibits the more noteworthy properties of the principal 
cinchona alkaloids, the table being that of Fliickiger, in Cinchona Barks, p. 66: 
(a) Hydrated crystals are formed by Quinine, Quinidine. 
Not containing water of crystallization 
Cinchonine, Cinchonidine, 
Quinamine, Homoquinine. 
(6) Abundantly soluble in ether Quinine, Quinidine, Quinamine. 
Slightly soluble in ether Cinchonidine, Cinchonamine. 
Very sparingly soluble in ether Cinchonine. 
(c) Levogyrate solutions afforded by Quinine, Cinchonidine. 
Dextrogyrate solutions afforded by Quinidine, Cinchonine, Quinamine. 
(d) Thalleioquin is afforded by Quinine, Quinidine, Homoquinine. 
Thalleioquin is not afforded by Cinchonine, Cinchonidine, Quinamine. 
(e) Fluorescence is displayed in the acid solu- 
tions of salts of 
Quinine, Quinidine, Homoquinine. 
No fluorescence is displayed by Cinchonine, Cinchonidine, Quinamine. 
III. Acid and Other Constituents of Cinchona.-The cinchona alka- 
loids exist naturally in the bark in combination with one or more acids-kinic, 
kinovic, and cinchotannic acids being associated with them, forming kinaies (quinates), 
kinovates (quinovai.es), and cinchotannates. These acids are minor principles so far 
as the medicinal value of the cinchonas is concerned. 
Kinic Acid (Quinic, or Cinchonic acid) (C7H12O6).-This is the Chinasaure of 
Hofmann, and is a principle closely related to quercite or acorn-sugar (C6H7[OH]5). 
It was among the first observed of the cinchona constituents, its calcium com- 
pound having been obtained as early as 1745 by the Comte Claude Toussaint 
Marot de Lagaraye. Hermbstiidt (1785), of Berlin, indicated the character of the 
compound, though he believed the acid to be tartaric, but the acid was identified and 
named, in 1790, by Friedrich Christian Hofmann, a Hanovarian chemist, of Leer. 
This body gives to the aqueous extracts of cinchona their acid character, being 
present in some barks to the extent of 9 per cent. Besides, it occurs in coffee beans, 
and in several species of Vaccinium, e. g., the American cranberry (E. Claassen, 
1890). It forms readily soluble, hard, and large monoclinic crystals, permanent in 
the air. The aqueous solution is without odor, and is purely sour and not bitter 
to the taste. Such a solution exerts a left-handed polarization. It is more solu- 
ble in water than in strong alcohol, but very little soluble in ether. At 162° C. 
323.6° F.) the crystals fuse. This acid is a benzol derivative, having the graphic 
formula C6H7.(OH)4.COOH., which explains the possibility of its being reduced 
to benzoic (C6H5.COOH) and protocatechuic acids (C6H3[OH]2.COOH) by means 
of heating with hydriodic acid. By more energetic oxidation, as when treated 
with sulphuric acid and manganese dioxide, it yields, besides formic acid and 
carbon dioxide, kinone (quinone) (C6H4O2), a crystalline, bright-yellow sublimate. 
Its physiological effects are not pronounced. 
Kinovic Acid (Quinovic, or Chinovic acid) (C24H38.O4) is obtained from East 
India barks by extraction with dilute alkalies, precipitation with acid and puri- 
fication of the precipitate. It was first obtained as a decomposition product of 
the glucosid kinovin (Hlasiwetz). It forms shining, white crystals, or a crystal- 
line powder, not soluble in water or chloroform, sparingly soluble in cold alco- 
hol and ether, more readily soluble in hot alcohol, and easily soluble in the solu- 
tions of alkaline carbonates and caustic alkalies. It is a feeble acid, and all its 
solutions are bitter. It is reputed tonic, a calcium compound seeming to have 
been preferred for its exhibition. Kinovic acid results from the action of hydro- 
chloric acid upon an alcoholic solution of chinovin, whereby this substance is split 
into a smeary, uncrystallizable sugar, called mannitan, or kinovic sugar (C6H12O5), 
and kinovic acid (C24H38O4). 
Cinchotannic Acid (Cinchotannin, or Quinotannic acid) (Ci4H16O9).-This is 
tannic acid, or tannin of cinchona, and the soluble red coloring matter, or soluble 
cinchona-red of Pelletier and Caventou. It has all the properties of tannin; it 
precipitates ferric solutions green (the red from the pale bark, however, precipi- 
tates these solutions brown). It also precipitates gelatin and tartar emetic, and 
forms a compound with starch, insoluble in the cold, but soluble above 50° C. 
(122° F.). It exists in cinchona barks in amounts varying from 1 to 4 per cent. 548 
CINCHONA. 
De Vrij, in 1885, observed in one sample of Cinchona officinalis, the exceptionally 
high amount of 12 per cent (Amer. Jour. Pharm.). 
When prepared from its lead salt it forms an acidulous non-bitter astringent 
and very hygroscopic mass of a bright yellowish color. It is soluble in water, 
ether, and alcohol. Heated to 100° C. (212° F.), cinchotannic acid turns dark- 
red, at the same time becoming insoluble in water. Its aqueous solution absorbs 
oxygen from the air, particularly if acids or alkalies have been added, and red 
products are formed. When boiled with diluted sulphuric acid it splits into cin- 
chona-red and sugar (Rembold, 1867). 
Cinchona-red, or Insoluble cinchona-red (C28H22O14), is inodorous, insipid, red- 
dish-brown, nearly insoluble in water and ether, readily soluble in alcohol and 
alkalies, does not precipitate gelatin, but does precipitate tartar emetic. It exists 
in some specimens of bark to the extent of 10 per cent, being most abundant in 
the thicker red barks. It is undoubtedly formed in the bark by the decomposi- 
tion of cinchotannic acid. Fused with caustic potash it yields protocatechuic acid. 
An ammoniacal solution of cinchona-red yields, with alum, a red lake. 
Besides the acid bodies, the following principles belong to this class of barks: 
Chinovin (Quinovin, or Kinovin) (C^H^Og).-This is an amorphous, bitter glu- 
cosid, found not only in the cinchonas, but in the nearest relatives among the 
Rubiaceee, and is the body known as cinchona-bitter, chinova-bitter, or kinovic-bitter. 
It was first observed by Pelletier and Caventou, in 1821, in Cinchona nova surina- 
mensis, and named quinovic acid ("acide quinovique") a name afterward corrected, 
and which properly belongs to the acid which has been considered above. Water 
hardly dissolves chinovin, but it is freely soluble in acetone, alcohol, ether, chlo- 
roform, and oils. It has no action upon litmus, yet, with the alkalies, it forms 
salts, most of which dissolve in water, the solutions being very bitter. 
Kerner (1859-62) has applied the name cinchocerotin to a substance obtained 
by extracting cinchona with boiling alcohol, from which solution it separates on 
cooling. Purified, it displays handsome, pure white, crystalline laminae, of a neu- 
tral reaction, and fusible at 130° C. (266° F.). Its composition corresponds to the 
formula C97H48O2. Fabbroni first separated the volatile oil, which is of a buty- 
raceous consistence, and gives to cinchona barks their odor. 
Tests and Quantitative Determination of Alkaloids in Cinchona Bark.- 
As stated before, the U. S. P. demands that Cinchona contain not less than 5 per 
cent of alkaloids, at least 2.5 per cent of which must be quinine. Cinchona 
Rubra is required to contain not less than 5 per cent of its peculiar alkaloids. 
The table on page 549, compiled mainly from data contained in Fliickiger's Cin- 
chona Barks, by Power, 1884 (marked in the table by*), demonstrates the amount 
of alkaloids in various species of cinchona barks. 
Broughton found but little more than traces'of alkaloid in the leaves of the 
Indian Cinchona succirubra. Happersberger (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1883, p. 197), from 
analyses of the leaves of several species of Cinchona, found those of the C. Calisaya 
to have a predominant amount of bases (2 per cent)-these alkaloids being qui- 
nine, quinidine, cinchonine, and cinchonidine, quinidine amounting to about 
one half of the total yield. These species were grown in an unfavorable locality 
in California. Therefore the leaves seem to deserve more recognition than has 
hitherto been given them. 
Tests for Spurious Barks.-As spurious barks, liable to be substituted, are 
found in commerce, it is of importance that some ready means for their detection 
should be known. Bitterness is not always characteristic of the value of cinchona 
bark; barks which do not contain traces of alkaloids, and yet c mtain considerable 
kinovic acid, are very bitter. An infusion of such barks will give, upon the addi- 
tion of a solution of sulphate of copper, a greenish precipitate of kinovate of cop- 
per. Tannic acid has been recommended as the best reagent for distinguishing 
the genuine from the spurious barks, as it forms insoluble compounds (tannates) 
with the alkaloids of genuine Peruvian barks. In using this test, all that is neces- 
sary will be to make a decoction or infusion of the bark under examination, filter 
it, add a solution of tannic acid, when, should the bark contain any of these 
peculiar alkaloids, the addition of the solution of tannic acid will immediately 
cause a precipitate of them as tannates. Consequently those barks which yield 
no precipitate with tannic acid, are destitute of these alkaloids. 549 
CINCHONA. 
Species. 
Investigator. 
Source. 
Part of plant 
analyzed. 
Remarks. 
Quinine. 
Total alkaloids. 
Date of analysis. 
C. corymbosa* 
C. corymbosa* 
C. corymbosa.* 
C. lancifolia* 
C. pubescens,N ahi.* 
C. succirubra * 
C. succirubra* 
K arsten 
Karsten. 
S. Columbia. 
Bark of trunk. 
Collected from volcanic 
Mts., 11,375 feet alt. 
Other parts of same dis- 
trict. 
Central elevated re- 
None. 
0.75 p.ct. 
1.25 to 3.5 p.ct. of 
Karsten. 
Karsten. 
Bogota. 
Bark of branches. 
Bark of trunk. 
gions. 
f Of same mountain 
I ridge. 
quinine sulphate. 
Traces. 
2 to 4 p.ct. qui- 
' nine sulphate. 
None. 
1871. 
De Vrij. 
Ootacamund. 
Bark of root. 
12 p.ct. 
6 to 11 p.ct. 
3.2 to 9.8 p.ct. 
3.5 p.ct. 
5.385 p.ct.( U.S. P.) 
method), 5.58 
p.ct. (Squibb's 
method). 
India. 
Bark. 
Often 1, seldom 4, 
and 3 to 4 p.ct. 
cinchonidine. 
0.4 to 2.5 and 1.3 
C. succirubra.* 
Java. 
1881. 
C succirubra. 
H. Brandner. 
Commercial specimen. 
Commercial specimen. 
to 5.2 p.ct. of 
cinchonidine. 
zl. J. P., 1885, 
C. succirubra. 
C. H. McCoy. 
De Vrij. 
C. H. McCoy. 
1.265 p.ct.( U.S.P. 
method), 2.16 
p.ct. (Squibb's 
method). 
1.25 to 9 p.ct. 
1.93 p.ct. (U.S. P. 
method), 2.24 
p.ct. (Squibb's 
method). 
p. 600. 
C. officinalis.* 
C. officinalis. 
Oota cam und 
Bark. 
Bark of trunk. 
A. J. P., 1887, 
p. 69. 
1873. 
Neilgherry. 
Commercial specimen. 
f 7 years old. 
1 6| years old. 
Commercial specimen 
(quill).. 
Commercial specimen 
(quill). 
Commercial specimen 
(flat). 
80 analyses. 
9.79 p.ct. ( U. S. P. 
method), 9.82 
p.ct. (Squibb's 
method). 
0.64 p.ct. 
5 p.ct. 
5.275p.ct.(U.S.P. 
method). 
2.572 p.ct. 
2.14 p.ct. 
1.09 to 12.5 p.ct. 
(only in 13 cases 
less than 5 p.ct.) 
4.3 to 9 p.ct. 
2 to 9 p.ct. 
13.61 p.ct. 
zl. J. P., 1887, 
p. 69. 
1864. 
C. Calisaya* 
De V rij. 
Java. 
1864. 
C. Calisaya. 
C. Calisaya. 
C. Calisaya. 
C. Ledgeriana* 
C. Ledgeriana.* 
C. Ledgeriana * 
C. Ledgeriana.* 
C. H. McCoy. 
II. Brandner 
1.35 p.ct. ( U. S. P. 
method). 
A. J. P., 1887, 
p. 69. 
A. J. P., 1885, 
p. 600. 
zl. J. P.y 1885, 
p. 600. 
1879. 
H. Brandner. 
Bernelot Moens. 
Java. 
0.8 to 11.6 p.ct. 
2.3 to 8 p.ct. 
1.2 to 8.1 p.ct. 
Bernelot Moens. 
Bernelot Moens. 
Java. 
1880. 
Java. 
1881. 
Bernelot Moens. 
Java. 
1882, 550 
Mr. Grahe has also instituted the following ready process for distinguishing 
the true from the false barks. He finds that true cinchona barks, when submit- 
ted to dry distillation, give a product of a bright carmine color; this product is 
characteristic of these barks, and is not furnished by any others that do not con- 
tain the cinchona alkaloids. The quantity of this red substance depends upon 
the amount of the alkaloids, and it appears to afford a tolerable indication of this 
amount. This test is applied by heating the fragment of a bark, weighing about 
5 or 10 grains, in an ordinary test-tube, gradually raising the heat to redness. 
With cinchona bark a wrhitish smoke is given off, and also watery vapor, which 
condenses upon the sides of the tube. Very shortly afterward, the red color begins 
to appear, communicating to the vapor a reddish tinge, and at about one inch 
distant from the heated portion of the tube there is deposited a red pulverulent 
film, which gradually passes into a thick oleaginous liquid, running down the 
glass in drops or streaks of a fine carmine color, in the water condensed with it. 
Close to this point are deposited the tarry products, generally resulting from the 
destructive distillation of vegetable substances. The presence of some substances 
prevents the production of this red color, even in the case of the true cinchona 
barks, such as caustic alkalies, lime, nitric and chromic acids, bichromate of potas- 
sium, glacial phosphoric acid, and sulphuric acid. 
As regards the quantitative determination of the alkaloids contained in cin- 
chona barks, numerous assay methods have been proposed (see for example that 
of Dr. J. F. L. Winckler, American Dispensatory, 15th edition). These methods 
have been appropriately classed by Husemann and Hilger {Pflanzenstoffe, 1884) 
into 3 groups, according to the agent employed in the abstraction or liberation 
of the alkaloids, and are thus distinguished as Acid methods, Lime methods, and 
Ammonia methods. For an account of De Vrij's process, which is a representative 
of the acid methods, see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1885, p. 627. The process of the British 
Pharmacopoeia, and that indicated by Squibb {Ephemeris, Vol. I, p. 105, 1883), are 
methods employing lime, while those directed by the German and the United States 
Pharmacopoeias employ ammonia. For an interesting comparative study of some 
recent methods, see L. F. Kebler, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1896, p. 79. The United States 
Pharmacopceial process is as follows: 
Assay-of Cinchona.-I. For Total Alkaloids.-"Cinchona, in No. 80 (or finer) 
powder, and completely dried at 100° C. (212° F.), twenty grammes (20 Gm.) 
[309 grs.], alcohol, ammonia water, chloroform, ether, normal sulphuric acid V.S., 
potassium hydrate V.S., each a sufficient quantity. To 20 Gm. of cinchona, in 
very fine powder, and contained in a bottle provided with an accurately ground 
glass stopper, add 200 Cc. of a previously prepared mixture of 19 volumes of alco- 
hol, 5 volumes of chloroform, and 1 volume of ammonia water, stopper the bottle 
and shake it thoroughly and frequently during 4 hours. Then separate the 
liquid by pouring it into another bottle through a funnel containing a pellet of 
cotton, in such a manner that no material loss by evaporation may result. Trans- 
fer 100 Cc. of the clear filtrate (representing 10 Gin. of cinchona) to a beaker, and 
evaporate it to dryness. Dissolve the residue of crude alkaloids thus obtained in 
10 Cc. of water and 4 Cc. of normal sulphuric acid, with the aid of a gentle heat, 
filter the cooled solution into a separatory funnel, and wash the beaker, .and filter 
until the filtrate no longer has an acid reaction, using as small a quantity of 
water as possible. Now add 5 Cc. of potassium hydrate V.S., or such an amount 
as will render the liquid decidedly alkaline, and extract the alkaloids by shaking 
the mixture, first with 20 Cc., and then repeatedly with 10 Cc. of chloroform, until 
a drop of the last chloroform extraction, when evaporated on a watch-glass, no 
longer leaves a residue. Evaporate the united chloroformic extracts in a fared 
beaker, dry the residue at 100° C. (212° F.), and weigh. The weight found, mul- 
tiplied by ten (10), will give the percentage of total alkaloids in the specimen of 
cinchona tested. 
II. For Quinine.-"Transfer 50 Cc. of the clear filtrate remaining over from 
the preceding process (and representing 5 Gm. of cinchona) to a beaker, evapo- 
rate it to dryness, and proceed as directed in the assay for total alkaloids, using, 
however, only one-half the amounts of volumetric acid and alkali there directed. 
Add the united chloroformic extracts containing the alkaloids in solution, gradu- 
ally, and in small portions at a time, to about 5 Gm. of powdered glass contained 
CINCHONA. CINCHONA. 
551 
in a porcelain capsule placed over a water-bath, so that, when the contents of the 
capsule are dry, all or nearly all of the dry alkaloids shall be in intimate admix- 
ture with the powdered glass, and the chloroform be completely expelled. Now 
moisten the residue with ether, and, having placed a funnel containing a filter of 
a diameter of 7 Cm., and well wetted with ether, over a small graduated tube (A), 
transfer to the filter the ether-moistened residue from the capsule. Rinse the lat- 
ter several times, if necessary, with fresh ether, so as to transfer the whole of the 
residue to the filter, then percolate with ether added drop by drop, until exactly 
lOCc. of percolate have been obtained. Then collect another volume of 10 Cc., 
by similar, slow percolation with ether, in a second graduated tube (B). Trans- 
fer the contents of the two tubes completely (using ether for washing) to two 
small, tared capsules, properly marked (A and B) so as to avoid confusion, evapo- 
rate to a constant weight at 100° C. (212° F.),and weigh them. (The residue in 
A will contain practically all the quinine, together with a portion of the alka- 
loids less soluble in ether; the residue in B will consist almost entirely of these 
alkaloids). From the amount of residue obtained in capsule A deduct that con- 
tained in B, and multiply the remainder by twenty (20). The product will rep- 
resent, approximately, the percentage of quinine (containing 1 molecule of water) 
in the specimen of cinchona tested "-([7. N. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Cinchona bark is tonic, antiperiodic, 
slightly astringent, and topically antiseptic. When swallowed, a sensation of 
warmth is experienced at the stomach, which gradually spreads over the whole 
trunk; occasionally, it produces an unpleasant excitement of the stomach and 
bowels, with retching and emesis, more especially if the former be sensitive. In 
a little while after its administration the general system becomes more or less 
influenced, the pulse being fuller and more rapid, and a gentle stimulus imparted 
to the various organs of the body. With many persons it occasions symptoms 
which have been termed cinchonism, and which, some believe, are evidences that 
the remedy is exerting a favorable influence; but these symptoms should never 
be pushed too far. They are: Throbbing headache, and giddiness, of greater 
or less severity, tinnitus aurium, and imperfect hearing. Cinchona is valuable 
in functional derangement of the stomach, improving digestion, and invigora- 
ting the nervous and muscular systems in diseases of general debility, and 
in convalescence from exhausting diseases. Cinchona will be found useful in 
all febrile^ eruptive, and inflammatory diseases, which manifest a degree of perio- 
dicity, in which it should be administered during the remissions; it is also valu- 
able during the low and typhoid conditions of these diseases, and also in those 
cases, where, from an excessive and continued secretion of pus, the system be- 
comes very much enfeebled and prostrated, in which it supports the powers of 
the constitution until all abnormal action is removed. It is likewise of much 
benefit in all chronic affections attended with periodicity, great feebleness, or 
nocturnal perspiration. When it occasions vomiting, its use should be suspended 
for a time. Its employment is contraindicated in acute inflammation, inflamma- 
tory fever, plethora, active hemorrhages, and in all nervous or vascular irritations. 
Cinchona bark, however, exhibits its most important therapeutical powers 
as an antiperiodic, and in the consequent influence it exerts in almost invariably 
curing remittent and intermittent fevers, and the generality of diseases which are ac- 
companied by symptoms of marked periodicity, as neuralgia, hemicrania, dyspepsia, 
diarrhoea, and dysentery, when epidemic, etc. Its use should in most cases be pre- 
ceded by a mild laxative, after the action of which the powder may be given in 
doses of 10 to 60 grains, and repeated, according to circumstances, every 1, 2, or 4 
hours, until 1 or 2 ounces.have been taken during the periods of intermission, 
and continue thus until a cure is effected, or the remedy is found insufficient for 
the cure of the disease. In the use of the barks, to obtain their antiperiodic influ- 
ence, the red and yellow are considered superior to the pale, and of which the red 
is preferred. As a tonic, the pale bark is generally preferred, being less obnoxious 
to the stomach and intestines. Quinine, or its salts (see Quininse Sulphas), espe- 
cially the sulphate, is usually employed as a tonic and antiperiodic in place of 
the bark itself, but there have been many instances in which the bark in powder 
has succeeded in effecting a cure, when its alkaloidal salts failed; the cause of this 
is not well understood. Still, it is often the case that the crude drug, which holds 552 
CINCHONA. 
all associated principles, is more effective than its isolated alkaloids. In such 
cases, when the powder, from its bulk, or otherwise, offends the stomach, the 
infusion, decoction, tincture, or extract may be administered. Sometimes cin- 
chona, or its preparations, occasion purging, which may be obviated by small 
portions of opium or laudanum. When a tonic effect only is desired, and perio- 
dicity is lacking, or when a tonic is indicated after exhaustive bleeding, the bark is 
preferable to the quinine salts, and, for some reason not well determined, the bark 
is sometimes preferable in chronic cases of ague. Cinchona is to be preferred when 
an astringent effect is desired. 
Externally, a poultice of the bark has been found an excellent application to 
felons, fetid and gangrenous ulcers, etc.; also as an injection with opium, when the 
stomach rejects it; the powdered bark, placed between muslin, and held in place 
by sewing it in cross-bars, the same as in quilting, making medicated jackets, to 
be worn in contact with the body, has been of utility in obstinate intermittents. 
Dose of cinchona as an antiperiodic, from | to 1 drachm ; as a tonic, from 10 to 60 
grains; of the infusion or decoction, 2 fluid ounces, to be repeated 2 or 3 times 
a day; of the extract, from 5 to 30 grains; of the fluid extract, 10 to 60 drops; of 
specific cinchona, 5 to 30 drops. 
Quinine, cinchonine, and quinidine appear to possess somewhat similar medi- 
cinal properties; their salts (as the sulphate) appear to be best adapted for medi- 
cinal use, principally on account of their ready solubility. Dose of either, from 
1 to 5 grains, 3 times a day, or oftener, if required; in severe intermittents as high 
as 10 grains may be administered for a dose. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Periodicity and, like quinine, effective when 
the pulse is soft and open, the tongue moist and cleaning, the skin soft and moist, 
and the nervous system free from irritation. If opposite conditions prevail, 
cinchona will be likely to aggravate. Empyema; gastric debility; anemia and 
debility from chronic suppuration; afternoon febrile conditions; weakness, with 
pale surface, loss of appetite, feeble digestion, and deficient recuperative powers. 
Related Barks.-Flat Calisaya, scarcely ever met in American markets, occurs in 
pieces from 8 to 15 inches in length, from 1 to 3 inches broad, and from 1 to 5 lines in thick- 
ness. It is but slightly curled, generally uncoated. It has considerable density, is perfectly 
uniform in texture, marked on its outer surface by longitudinal digital furrows, more or less 
running into one another, and separated by projecting ridges. Its external surface is of a some- 
what brownish tawny-yellow,often with blackish-red patches; its internal surface is fibrous, 
of a yellowish-tawny color, sometimes-especially when the bark is fresh-with an orange tint, 
and often with an undulating grain. The transverse fracture is fibrous, the fibers being short, 
easily detached, and irritating the skin like the hairs ot Dolichos pruriens. The longitudinal 
fracture is not splintery, and presents a surface covered with brilliant points, owing to the 
reflection of light from the denuded fibers, and is of a uniform color. The taste is very bitter, 
the bitterness being gradually developed by mastication, with scarcely any astringency. 
The great reputation of the calisaya bark has made it so much sought after, that it was 
becoming exceedingly rare, and there is no doubt that it might have one day disappeared 
almost entirely from commerce, and that we should be obliged, ultimately, to be satisfied with 
one or other of the species judged of less value. Cultivation has, however, removed the possi- 
bility of its extinction. In this connection, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1896, p. 120, remarks that the 
species C. Ledgeriana, cultivated in Java, now yields a surplus of quinine. Weddell says that 
the increasing scarcity of calisaya bark induced the cascarilleros constantly to mix the barks of 
several of their Cinchonas, and this fraud was effected much more successfully than it was 
formerly, and, without much experience, it was sometimes difficult of detection. The admix- 
ture was made especially with the barks of Cinchona Boliviano and Cinchona ovatavar.rufinervis; 
or, more rarely, and only on the coast, with the bark of C. scrobiculata ; in other words, with 
the barks which M. Guibourt calls, with much justice, the light calisayas of commerce. With the 
bark of scrobiculata it would not be likely to be long confounded, but it may readily be so 
with the first two; so much is this the case that in Bolivia the bark of C. Boliviano is also called 
Calisaya bark, a name w hich its properties will, at any rate, justify. The best characters by 
which to distinguish the true (flat) calisaya from all other species, are, the shortness of the 
fibers which entirely cover the surface of its transverse fracture, and the facility with which 
these are detached, instead of remaining adherent and pliant, as in the case with the rufinervis 
and scrobiculata. Lastly, its uniform rufus color, and its not being marbled throughout its 
thickness with white, sufficiently distinguish it from the bark of C. Boliviano. Added to these 
characters, its great density, the depth of the furrow's and the projecting edges, are generally 
sufficient to distinguish the fiat calisaya from all other barks with which it may be mixed. 
Rolled calisaya is much more difficult to distinguish, for not only does its peridermis, in its 
physical character, much resemble that of many other species, especially that of scrobiculata 
and rufinervis, but the fracture does not present clear characters as it does in older barks. If 
even a microscope be used in the examination, the characters are very slight. CINCHONIDINE SULPHAS. 
553 
Spurious Cinchona Barks.-Previous to the discovery of the alkaloids, various barks 
entered commerce either as adulterants or substitutes for cinchona barks. Since the alkaloids 
have become so well known, these false barks, which anatomically differ from the true cin- 
chonas, as well as being very inferior in value, have been designated spurious cinchona barks. 
They seldom now appear in commerce. They were derived chiefly from the generas, Casca- 
rilla, Ladenbergia, Exostemma, and Nauclea. The bast fibers of those barks closest related to 
cinchona exhibit central cavities-the so-called sieve-like fibers. Grahe's test is regarded as 
sufficient to distinguish most of these barks from the true cinchonas. 
Cuprea Bark is the most important of the spurious barks now recognized. It does not 
enter into general commerce, but is abundantly used in the manufacture of quinine. The 
name cuprea was given it by Fltickiger, in 1871, on account of its peculiar rusty copper color. 
It comes from the central and southern sections of Colombia, along the eastern Andes. The 
Remijia Purdieana, Weddell, and Remijia pedunculata, Triana (Cinchona pedunculata, Karsten), 
are pointed out by Triana (1882) as the source of that from the first-named locality. The bulk 
of these barks comes in small fragments, though some of it occurs in flattish or channelled 
pieces, and, occasionally, in quills about 20 inches long, and from less to | inch in thickness. 
The corrugated, or warty, light-brown cork is removed, so that the scraped, smooth surface 
often shows sharply incised impressions, made with a sharp knife, thus showing the character- 
istic copper color ot the outer bark tissue. It is much harder than the true cinchona, is heavy, 
and sinks in water. That from south Colombia is more compact, denser, and exhibits a corne- 
ous fracture. By Grahe's test it yields the red tar, like the cinchonas. The total alkaloids 
average about 3 per cent, 2 per cent of which is quinine, cinchonine and quinidine being the 
remainder. According to Hesse, Howard, and others, cinchonidine is not present. The south 
Colombian cuprea barks contain cinchonamine. 
Fraudulent Red Cinchona Barks are produced by acting upon inferior barks with am- 
monia, thereby producing cinchona-red. Their red aqueous preparations precipitate brown-red 
with Nessler's reagent, instead of white, as with good or normal cinchona barks. 
Other Cinchona Barks.-A number of unofficial barks have been known from time to 
time. A number of them are given in the Conspectus under Cinchona. 
Crossopteryx febrifuga, Bentham {Nat. Ord.-Rubiacese). Africa. This bark is febrifuge, 
and yields (Hesse) crossopterine, a white, non-crystalline alkaloid soluble in alcohol, ammonia, 
and ether. A blue fluorescence marks its infusion, which dissappears in the presence of sul- 
phuric acid, and is restored by an alkali, even after the infusion has been boiled. 
Pinckneya pubens, Michaux (Cinchona caroliniana, Biret).-Yields Georgia bark, a febrifuge 
and tonic. Swamps from South Carolina to Florida. Cinchonine (?) is said by Farr to be 
present in the bark. 
Other Febrifuges.-China Morada, Quina morada. The bark of Pogonobus febrifugus 
(Nat. Ord.-Rubiaceaj), and several other Bolivian and Argentine Republic trees. The former 
contains a fluorescent (blue) body, moradin, and an alkaloid, moradeine. Therapy, the same as 
Cinchona. 
Panbotano Bark.-Root of Calliandra Houstoni (Leguminosae). Mexico. A tincture of 
2 ounces of the root taken in 4 doses in a day, is highly praised as an antiperiodic (Valude). 
Garrya Fremonti, California fever-bush, Skunk-bush.-The intensely bitter leaves of this Cali- 
fornia shrub are provincially used as an antiperiodic and tonic. The alkaloid, garryine, was 
announced by D. W. Ross (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1877). Dose of fluid extract, 10 to 30 drops. 
CINCHONIDINE SULPHAS (U. S. P.)-CINCHONIDINE SULPHATE. 
Formula: (C19H22N2O)2HSO44-3H2O. Molecular Weight: 738.52. 
"The neutral sulphate of an alkaloid obtained from the bark of various spe- 
cies of Cinchona "-(U. S. P.). 
History and Preparation.-The base, cinchonidine, is contained chiefly in the 
cultivated India species, Cinchona officinalis, Hooker, and Cinchona succirubra, Pavon 
(Hesse) ; also in the South American species, Cinchona tucujensis, Karsten, and 
Cinchona lancifolia, Mutis. It was discovered by Winckler, in 1848, in the Mara- 
caibo bark and a certain other species, and named by him chinidin (quinidiri). 
Pasteur, having established, in 1853, that it was different from the base now known 
as quinidin, and isomeric with that known as cinchonin, gave it the name cin- 
chonidine, which was not generally adopted until recently. Its formula was estab- 
lished by O. Hesse, who also found it associated with small amounts of homacin- 
chonidine (C19H22N2O), a substance which he found to be preponderate over cin- 
chonidine, in some parcels of South American origin. 
At one time the chinoidine of commerce (a mixture of cinchona bases), 
yielded a considerable amount of this base. It is now prepared, however, from 
the mother liquors obtained in preparing quinine sulphate (see table showing the 
amount of cinchonidine in various commercial samples of quinine sulphate by 
A. J. Cownley {Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1886). 554 
CINCHONIDINE SULPHAS. 
Description.-The alkaloid cinchonidine forms light, white, pulverulent, 
crystallizable masses. Sparingly soluble in cold (1680 parts), and more soluble in 
hot water. Alcohol (20 parts), and ether (70 parts) also dissolve it. At 206.5° C. 
(404° F.) it melts, and on cooling to 190° (J. (374° F.) it congeals to a crystalline 
mass. Neutral solutions of its salts yield with Rochelle salt a crystalline precipi- 
tate insoluble in the excess of the precipitating liquid. The official body is the 
sulphate of the preceding alkaloid. It occurs in " white, silky, acicular crystals, 
without odor, and having a very bitter taste; slightly efflorescent on exposure to 
air. Soluble at 15° C. (59° F.), in 70 parts of water, and in 66 parts of alcohol; 
in 1.42 parts of boiling water, and in 8 parts of boiling alcohol. Also soluble in 
1316 parts of chloroform, and almost insoluble in ether. The presence of sul- 
phates of other cinchona alkaloids increases its solubility in ether and chloroform. 
At 100° C. (212° F.) the salt gives off its water of crystallization. At 215° C. 
(419° F.) it melts, and when ignited, it is consumed without leaving a residue. 
The salt is neutral, or has a faintly alkaline reaction on litmus paper"-(U. S. P.). 
When treated with potassium sulphocyanate, either star-shaped groups of 
feathery, microscopic crystals, or stellate or fan-shaped groups of long, unbranched 
needles form. When the reagent is employed in excess, precipitation is so com- 
plete as not to cause even a turbidity when the filtrate is treated with ammonia. 
Cinchotenidine (C^H^N/L-SILO) is formed in colorless, prismatic crystals when 
cinchonidine is acted upon by potassium permanganate. The same occurs with 
the isomer, homocinchonidine sulphate (regarded as impure cinchonidine by 
Skraup and Claus), which forms either in fine, white needles, or in whitish prisms. 
This body dissolves in 70 parts of slightly warmed water. Its saturated solution 
in water prepared at 50° C. (122° F.), congeals to a gelatinous, crystalline mass 
holding mother-liquor, from which it is not easily separable. Under like treat- 
ment cinchonine sulphate forms smooth, shining needles easily drained of their 
mother-liquor. Beautiful prismatic crystals (with 2H2O), are only produced when 
cinchonidine sulphate is crystallized from alcohol. If crystallized from water, 
according to the amount of salt and degree of concentration, the result will be 
either fine, silky, lustrous needles, like the official salt, or shining, square crys- 
tals, devoid of color. 
Tests.-"On adding ammonia water to the aqueous solution of the salt, a 
white precipitate (cinchonidine) is produced, which is but slightly soluble in 
ammonia, but dissolves in about 75 parts of ether. If concentrated sulphuric 
acid be added to a small quantity of the salt, not more than a faintly yellowish 
color should be developed (limit of readily carbonizable, organic impurities). 
Upon adding to this liquid a crystal of potassium dichromate, a yellowish-green 
color is produced, which gradually changes to grass-green. Addition of barium 
chloride T.S. to an aqueous solution of the salt produces a white precipitate in- 
soluble in hydrochloric acid. A solution of the salt (about 1 in 1000) in diluted 
sulphuric acid should not exhibit more than a faint blue fluorescence (absence of 
more than traces of the sulphates of quinine or quinidine). If 1 Gm. of the salt 
be dried at 100° C. (212° F.), until it ceases to lose weight, the residue, cooled in a 
dessicator, should weigh not less than 0.920 Gm. (absence of an undue amount of 
water). If 0.5 Gm. of the salt be macerated with frequent agitation, at the ordi- 
nary temperature, with 20 Cc. of water, 0.5 Gm. of potassium sodium tartrate then 
added, the maceration continued, under repeated agitation for 1 hour at 15° C. 
(59° F.), and the mixture then filtered, the addition of 1 drop of ammonia water 
to the filtrate should not produce more than a slight turbidity (absence of more 
than small proportions of the sulphates of cinchonine or quinidine)"-(U. 8'. P). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This salt has been used as a substitute 
for quinine sulphate. When pure it is probably equally as efficient both as a pro- 
phylactic and remedial agent, during the prevalence of 'malarial disorders, as inter- 
mittent and remittent fevers and miasmatic neuralgias. It reduces the temperature 
even more readily than the quinine salt, and is a better tonic. It is claimed that 
it is not so likely to produce the unpleasant head symptoms often resulting from 
the use of quinine sulphate, and is pleasanter to take. Larger doses are required 
than of the latter salt. It may be given in doses.of from 10 to 20 grains several 
hour-; before the expected chill; or where tin? paroxysms are mild, broken doses, 
10 grains in all, may be given in the course of a day. CINCHONINA. 
555 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Periodicity, when the pulse is open and 
soft, the skin soft and moist, and nervous irritation absent. 
Related Salts.-Cinchonidine Hydrobromide has been administered hypodermatically 
(4 grains, twice a day) in malarial disorders, inflammations, and in the summer diseases of children. 
Cinchonidine Salicylas, Salicylate of cinchonidine (Ci9H22N2O.C7HsO3). Needles spar- 
ingly soluble in water. Antiperiodicand antirheumatic. Dose, 15 to 20 grains in pill form as 
a daily allowance. 
GINCHONINA (U. S. P.)-CINCHONINE. 
Formula: (Ci9H22N2O). Molecular Weight: 293.41. 
"An alkaloid obtained from the bark of various species of Cinchona"- 
(U.S. p.). 
History and Preparation.-Pelletier and Caventou, in 1820, discovered the 
alkaloidal nature of this principle, which had been observed before and named 
by Gomez (see Cinchona alkaloids). Most of the cinchonas yield it, the pale bark 
furnishing it-most abundantly. According to a former Parisian Codex, cincho- 
nine may be obtained by exhausting 125 parts of powdered pale bark, by 3 suc- 
cessive boilings with 2§ parts of hydrochloric acid, and 500 parts of water, succes- 
sively (so that 8 parts of acid and 1500 parts of water will be employed in the 
three boilings). Mix the decoctions, and then add 12^ parts of quicklime diffused 
in water, and when precipitation is completed wash and dry the precipitate. 
Dissolve this in boiling alcohol, filter the solution while hot, distill in a water- 
bath, evaporate to dryness, digest in cold alcohol, and then dissolve the residue 
in boiling alcohol, with the addition of some animal charcoal; again filter while 
hot, and allow the cinchonine to crystallize spontaneously on the cooling of the 
liquid (Par. Cod.). Cinchonine may best be made from the mother-waters after 
sulphate of quinine has been prepared; the process is to considerably dilute the 
mother-waters with water, and then add ammonia; the precipitate thus formed is 
collected on a filter, washed, dried, and manipulated in the same manner cited. 
The sulphate, acetate, hydrochlorate, etc., of cinchonine are made by dis- 
solving cinchonine in the required diluted acid, filtering, evaporating, and crys- 
tallizing. 
Description.- Cinchonine or cinchonia crystallizes readily in anhydrous, 
quadrilateral prisms bounded by oblique facets. It is a strong base, combining 
readily with acids. Cinchonine may be obtained by precipitating its salts with 
aqua ammonise, in which it is almost insoluble; it crystallizes readily from 
alcohol. The salts of cinchonine are bitter, and bear considerable analogy to 
those of quinine. The solution of cinchonine sulphate, however, when pure, is 
not fluorescent, and, unlike quinine, does not give the thalleioquin reaction. An 
alcoholic, or acidulated aqueous solution of cinchonine possesses the property 
of right-hand rotatory polarization. The formula of cinchonine was found by 
Laurent to be C^HooNoO, which was confirmed by Skraup, and is now accepted by 
the U. S. P. in preference to the old formula of Pasteur (C2oH24N20). The U. S. P. 
describes cinchonine as occurring in "white, lustrous prisms or needles,without 
odor, at first almost tasteless, but soon developing a bitter after-taste; permanent 
in the air. Soluble at 15° C. (59° F.), in 3760 parts of water, and in 116 parts of 
alcohol; in 3500 parts of boiling water, and in 26.5 parts of boiling alcohol. Also 
soluble in 526 parts of ether, and in 163 parts of chloroform. At 240° C. (464° F.), 
the crystals fuse together, and at 258° C. (496.4° F.),they melt, forming a brown 
liquid. When ignited, they are consumed without leaving a residue. When 
placed on moistened red litmus paper, cinchonine shows an alkaline reaction ''- 
(U. S. P.). Cinchonine sublimes without undergoing change, forming large crys- 
tals when heated in a current of an indifferent gas, e. g., hydrogen (Husemann and 
Hilger), sublimation beginning at 220° C. (428° F.) (Hesse). Sulphuric acid in 
excess in the presence of heat, renders cinchonine amorphous (Winckler). Cin- 
chonine, though permanent in the air, will absorb sufficient carbon dioxide in the 
atmosphere to cause it to feebly effervesce when treated with acids. Cinchonine 
or any of its salts are soluble in chlorine water without being decomposed. Such 
a solution precipitates white with ammonia (compare thalleioquin test under Qui- 
nine). Of its salts, the oxalate, gallate, and neutral tartrate are soluble in hot 556 
CINCHONINE SULPHAS. 
water, acids (in excess), and alcohol, but not in cold water, while the latter dis- 
solves the acetate, hydrochlorate, nitrate, phosphate, and sulphate of cinchonine. 
Distilled with caustic potash quinoline is produced (Gerhardt), together with 
pyridine and its homologues. Oxidation of the alkaloid or its salts with potas- 
sium permanganate yields, besides formic acid, cinchotenine (Ci8H20N2O3-|-3H2O), a 
neutral body, and an alkaloid, hydrocinchonine (Ci9H24N2O). Cinchotenine may 
also be obtained by oxidation of cinchonine or its salts with plumbum dioxide 
and sulphuric acid. Further action of potassium permanganate and other oxi- 
dizing agents upon cinchonine results in the formation of acids, these being 
quinoline and pyridine derivatives, e. g., quinoline-carbonic acid (cinchoninic acid) 
(C9H6N.COOH), and the pyridine derivative pyridine-dicarbonic acid (cinchomeronic 
acid (C5H3N.[COOH]2) ( Weidel). Cinchene (CigH^N^, a volatile, crystallizable base, 
is formed when alcoholic potassa and cinchonine chloride are boiled together 
(Koenigs, 1881). By exposing to a heat of 130° C. (266° F.), a mixture of absolute 
alcohol, caustic soda, and cinchonine, a permanent, oily base having the compo- 
sition CooH^Na, was obtained by Michael in 1886. The commercial cinchonine 
was found to contain cinchotine (of Skraup) (C19H24N2O), the hydrocinchonine of 
Caventou and Willms. 
Tests.-"On adding to a neutral or not more than faintly acid solution of 
cinchonine, or any of its salts, enough potassium ferrocyanide T.S. to redissolve 
the precipitate first formed, and afterward an acid, a golden-yellow precipitate 
will be formed, which, when redissolved by gently warming the liquid, will sepa- 
rate, on cooling, in minute scales or needles. On adding an excess of ammonia 
water to a solution of cinchonine in a dilute acid, the alkaloid will be precipitated. 
The precipitate is but feebly soluble in ammonia and should require not less than 
300 parts of ether for solution. A solution of cinchonine (1 in 1000) in diluted 
sulphuric acid should not exhibit more than a faint blue fluorescence (absence 
of more than traces of quinine or quinidine). Cinchonine should not impart 
more than a faintly yellowish tinge to concentrated sulphuric acid (limit of readily 
carbonizable organic impurities)"-(U. S. P.). 
Action and Medical Uses.-(See Cinchoninse Sulphas), 
CINCHONINE SULPHAS fU. S. P.)-CINCHONINE SULPHATE. 
Formula: (C^H^NaO^lLSOi+SHaO. Molecular Weight : 720.56. 
Synonym : Cinchoniee sulphas ( U. S. P., 1870). 
Preparation.-The process of the U. S. P. (1870) is essentially as follows: 
Render the mother-liquor obtained in the preparation of quinine sulphate alka- 
line by adding gradually, with continued stirring, a sufficient quantity of solu- 
tion of soda. Collect the precipitate which falls, place it on a filter and wash 
it with water (to remove sodium sulphate) and dry it. Next wash it with alcohol 
in successive portions to remove other alkaloids which may be present and soluble 
in that medium. Add to the residue 8 times its weight of water, heat the 
mixture, and add gradually sulphuric acid until saturation is effected, and the 
mixture becomes clear. Boil the liquid with animal charcoal (unpurified), filter 
while yet hot, and set aside, that crystals may form. Drain the crystals and dry 
them on paper. By further treatment of the mother-liquid (concentration), more 
crystals may be obtained. 
Winckler has shown that an excess of sulphuric acid in the presence of heat 
renders cinchonine amorphous; therefore care should be had that the acid be not 
in excess. This is obviated to an extent by employing animal charcoal which 
has not been purified (bone black), the calcium carbonate present tending to neu- 
tralize the free acid. 
Description and Tests.-Cinchonine forms two sulphates, the acid sulphate 
(see Related Compounds), and the neutral sulphate, or the official salt. It forms 
" hard, white, lustrous, prismatic crystals, without odor, and having a very bitter 
taste; permanent in the air. Soluble at 15° C. (59° F.), in 66 parts of water, and 
in 10 parts of alcohol; in 13.59 parts of boiling water and in 3.25 parts of boiling 
alcohol. Also soluble in 78 parts of chloroform, but almost insoluble in ether. 
At 100 C. (212° F.) it gives off its water of crystallization, and at 215° C. (419° F.) 557 
CINNAMOMUM. 
it melts, forming a brown liquid. When ignited, it is consumed without leaving 
a residue. The salt is neutral to litmus paper. Addition of ammonia to an 
aqueous solution of the salt produces a white precipitate which should respond 
to the reactions and tests given under Cinchonina. On adding barium chloride 
T.S. to an aqueous solution of the salt, a white precipitate is produced, which is 
insoluble in hydrochloric acid. A solution of the salt (1 in 1000) in diluted sul- 
phuric acid should not exhibit more than a faint blue fluorescence (limit of qui- 
nine or quinidine). If 1 Gm. of the salt be dried at 100° C. (212° F.), until it 
ceases to lose weight, the residue, cooled in a desiccator, should weigh not less than 
0.95 Gm. (absence of an undue amount of water). If 1 part of the salt, reduced 
to powder, be macerated with frequent agitation, at the ordinary temperature with 
80 parts of chloroform, it should wholly or almost wholly, dissolve (limit of qui- 
nine or cinchonidine). The salt should not impart more than a faintly yellowish 
tinge to concentrated sulphuric acid (limit of readily carbonizable, organic impu- 
rities" {U.S.P.f 
Benzene and benzin do not dissolve this salt, but acids freely effect its solu- 
tion. The solutions of cinchonine sulphate are very bitter, and are not fluores- 
cent. If a drop of the saturated solution in water be placed in the field of the 
microscope, and a drop of potassium sulphocyanate solution be added, long, 
branched, radiating, anther-like crystals will be seen to form. Like cinchonine, 
the commercial sulphate yields cinchotine (Caventou and Willm's hydrocinchonine) 
(Ci9H24N2O), which dissolves in alcohol more easily than cinchonine. Cold per- 
manganate of potassium solution does not affect it, and its sulphate forms sharp, 
acicular crystals. It is separated from cinchonine by precipitating it fractionally. 
Cinchonine sulphate contains 82.8 per cent of base. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-In the main, the physiological action 
of cinchonine and its sulphate agrees closely with that of quinine. It is said, how- 
ever, to be more poisonous to dogs and frogs than quinine sulphate. As an anti- 
periodic, it may be used where the patient can not take the quinine salt, though 
the dose must be larger than that of the latter, and, according to some, it is a less 
reliable agent. Its advantages over quinine are its cheapness, its greater solubility, 
its pleasanter taste, and its freedom from producing the gastric and head symp- 
toms (tinnitus and disordered vision) of the latter, while, on the other hand, it is 
charged with producing a peculiar frontal oppression and pain, besides muscular 
debility, faintness, tendon-jerking, and pain in the region of the heart. The dose 
should be at least a third larger than that of quinine sulphate. Dose of cincho- 
nine sulphate, as a tonic, from 1 to 2 grains; as an anti periodic, 5 to 10 grains, 
about 3 doses generally being sufficient to prevent the recurrence of the chill. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Periodicity, when the pulse is open and 
soft, the skin moist and soft, and nervous irritation absent. 
Related Compounds.-A.cid Cinchonine Sulphate (C19H22N2O.H2SO4.3H2O)- This salt 
is prepared by adding diluted sulphuric acid to the neutral sulphate, and crystallizing. It 
forms rhombic-octahedral crystals containing 59.2 per cent of the base; soluble in less than 
one-half part of water and in alcohol 90 parts ; insoluble in ether. It becomes opaque when 
exposed to dry air. 
Cinchonine Hydrochloride (Ci9H22N2O.HC1.2H2Op-Prepared in crystals resembling 
quinine sulphate by adding cinchonine in excess to diluted hydrochloric acid. Soluble in 
boiling water (1 in 3.2), and in cold water (1 in 24), chloroform (1 in 22.2), alcohol (1 in 1.3 
of 80 per cent), and ether (1 in 273.) It contains 80.24 per cent of base, and melts near 130° C. 
(266° F.). It does not fluoresce in solution like quinine sulphate, and forms with silver nitrate 
a white precipitate. It may thus be distinguished from the latter salt, for which it is some- 
times substituted, or used in adulterating. 
CINNAMOMUM.-CINNAMON. 
The barks of numerous species of Cinnamomum. 
Nat. Ord.-Laurinese. 
Three kinds of cinnamon are official in the U. S. P., viz.: 
I. Cinnamomum Cassia (U. S. Pf, Cassia cinnamon {Cinnamomum of U. S. P, 
1880), Cassia bark. "The bark of the shoots of one or more undetermined species 
of Cinnamomum grown in China {Chinese cinnamon)"-{U. S. P). 558 
CINNAMOMUM. 
II. Cinnamomum Saigonicum ( U. S. P), Saigon cinnamon.-" The bark of an 
undetermined species of Cinnamomum"-(U. S. P.). 
III. Cinnamomum Zeylanicum (U. S. P.\ Ceylon cinnamon (Cinnamomum, 
U. S. P., 1880). " The inner bark of the shoots of Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Breyne" 
-(U. S. Pi). (Lauras Cinnamomum, Linne). 
Common Names : I. Cassia cinnamon, Cassia bark, Chinese cinnamon, Cassia lignea. 
II. Saigon cinnamon. 
III. Ceylon cinnamon, Cinnamon bark. 
Illustration : Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 224. 
Botanical Source and History.-The trees yielding cassia or Chinese cinna- 
mon are of several undetermined species cultivated in China and India. Accord- 
ing to Charles Ford (Jour. Linn. Soc., 1882), the Cinnamomum 
Cassia of Blume yields the true cassia bark of the Chinese. 
Many other species have been thought, however, to yield a 
portion of this bark. Chinese cinnamon proper is the pro- 
duct of a wild tree growing in Annam, and should not be 
confused with cassia cinnamon. It never occurs in our com- 
merce, being consumed entirely in China, to which country it 
is exported. The cassia barks from Sumatra and Java, the 
latter being of excellent quality, are said to be the products 
of Cinnamomum Cassia, Blume, and Cinnamomum Burmanni, 
Blume. Indian cassia is derived in part, at least, from sev- 
eral species of India, which are by many botanists considered 
but varieties of the Ceylon cinnamon tree. They are the 
Cinnamomum Tamada, C. nitidum, and C. iners. Cinnamomum 
Burmanni var. Kiamis yields Massoy-bark. The botanical 
source of Saigon cinnamon is unknown. In fact the source 
of the species yielding cassia bark is but little known, 
excepting that of the Ceylonese bark. 
Cassia bark does not come in commerce with the quills telescoped (in the form 
of quills within quills) like the Ceylon bark. They are usually single, though 
sometimes double, and are tied together in bundles with bamboo. It is gath- 
ered from March to May from trees of about the sixth year's growth. The 
branches after being cut, are carried to a building where the shoots, after being 
deprived of leaves and twigs, are twice cut longitudinally through the bark, after 
which cross-incisions are made at intervals of about 16 inches. The bark is then 
detached by a curved horn-knife, and while still pliable is laid inner surface down- 
ward, and the epidermis detached with a plane. It is then dried for a day, and 
tied in bundles of about the diameter of the length of the pieces (Ford). 
Cassia cinnamon is, in fact, a mixture of a variety of different qualities of 
cinnamon. It is generally met with in cylindrical rolls or quills of various sizes, 
from 2 to 12 lines in diameter, or in semi-tubular segments, 12 to 18 inches long, 
with the external layer much thicker than that of cinnamon; externally more of 
a dark red, traversed writh thicker and more shining, straight or serpentine veins; 
more fibrous and paler in fracture; internal layer coarsely fibrous; heavier and 
more compact, with an odor similar to that of cinnamon, but not so strong or 
agreeable, and a corresponding taste more acrid, burning, and lasting, and at the 
same time mucilaginous. It is used in tinctures instead of cinnamon, and is the 
kind usually sold as cinnamon. 
Saigon cinnamon comes in unscraped pieces or quills. Ja,va cinnamon may 
resemble the Ceylon variety, though its flavor is not considered so fine; or it may 
resemble the better grades of cassia cinnamon, though its flavor is of a better 
quality. Cayenne cinnamon is somewhat mucilaginous, and is of a reddish hue. 
Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Breyne (Laurus Cinnamomum, Linne).- This tree 
has a rough bark, and grows from 15 to 25 feet or more high, having a trunk 
from 1 to 1J feet in diameter. Its branches are somewhat 4-cornered, and smooth ; 
the leaves are ovate, or ovate-oblong, from 6 to 9 inches long, 2 or 3 inches broad, 
tapering into an obtuse point, triple-nerved, reticulated on the under side, smooth, 
with the uppermost the smallest, opposite, and coriaceous. Its flowers are small, 
hoary, silky, and white; the segments oblong and deciduous in the middle; the 
panicles are terminal and axillary, and stalked (L.-Ed.-P.). 
Fig. 7 4. 
Branch and bark of Cinna- 
mon plant. cinnamomum. 
559 
Cinnamomum zeylanicum is a native of Ceylon, Sumatra, Borneo, etc., and 
is cultivated in many parts of both the new and old world. The bark is the offi- 
cial part; it has the odor peculiar to cinnamon, and an agreeable, warm, aromatic 
flavor, with a mild degree of sweetness. The leaves are similar in taste and odor, 
but less powerful, and contain a volatile oil, which may be procured by distilla- 
tion. The odor of the flowers is to most people disagreeable, like newly-sawn 
bones (Ed.). The tree throws out no fragrance beyond its immediate sphere. 
The bark is the true cinnamon of commerce. It is usually collected from trees 
about 9 years old. The plant is kept pruned in such a manner that the shrub 
forms "stools," and from these a few shoots are produced, which, when about 2 
years old, or just as the corky layer begins to appear (the bark beginning to 
change to a brown color), are cut, deprived of their leaves, and prepared for mar- 
ket. The peeling of the shoots and branches commences in May, and continues 
until the latter part of October. The bark is freed from its epidermis, and then 
dried, first in the shade, and afterward under exposure to the sun; it curls in 
drying into quills, which are subsequently placed within each other, as they will 
admit. The best bark comes from Ceylon, and is in the form of rolls about 
£ inch in diameter, and from 30 to 40 inches long, and composed of many quills 
within each other. The fragments of bark obtained in preparing the shoots are 
sold in the market as cinnamon chips. Cinnamon quills have a light-yellow color, 
and are thin, smooth, shining, a little thicker than cartridge paper, and break 
readily with a splintery fracture, being easily pulverizable. They possess a rich, 
pure, peculiar odor, and a warm, spicy, sweetish, and agreeable taste, and yield 
their virtues to water, but more readily to alcohol or spirits. A small amount of 
volatile oil may be procured from it by distillation. The thick, dark-brown, and 
feebly-flavored bark is of an inferior quality. Cinnamon is often adulterated with 
the poorer sorts, and likewise with the bark after having been deprived of its oil. 
Description.-The following are the Pharmacopoeia! descriptions of the three 
varieties of cinnamon: 
I. Cinnamomum Cassia (U. S. P.), Cassia cinnamon.-"In quills of varying 
length and about 1 Mm. (^ inch) or more in thickness; nearly deprived of the 
corky layer; yellowish-brown; outer surface somewhat rough; fracture nearly 
smooth; odor fragrant; taste sweet, and warmly aromatic"-(U. S. P.). 
II. Cinnamomum Saigonicum (U. S. P.), Saigon cinnamon.-"In quills about 
15 Cm. (6 inches) long, and 10 to 15 Mm. (| to inch) in diameter, the bark 2 or 3 
Mm. (y^to^ inch) thick; outer surface gray or light grayish-brown, with whitish 
patches, more or less rough from numerous warts and some transverse ridges and 
fine longitudinal wrinkles; the inner surface cinnamon-brown or dark-brown, 
granular, and slightly striate; fracture short, granular, in the outer layer cinna- 
mon-colored, having near the cork numerous whitish striae forming an almost unin- 
terrupted line; odor fragrant; taste sweet, warmly aromatic, somewhat astrin- 
gent"-(U. S. P). 
III. Cinnamomum Zeylanicum (U. S. P.), Ceylon cinnamon.-"Long, closely 
rolled quills, composed of 8or more layers of bark of the thickness of paper; pale 
yellowish-brown; outer surface smooth, marked with wavy lines of bast-bundles; 
inner surface striate; fracture short-splintery; odor fragrant; taste sweet and 
warmly aromatic"-(V. S. P.). 
Chemical Composition.-The various species of cinnamon differ but little 
chemically, the chief constituent being their volatile oil (see Oleum Cinnamomi), 
which occurs to the amount of 1 per cent in cassia bark, but more sparingly (| to 1 
per cent) in that from the Ceylon variety. The latter, however, has by far the 
finer flavor. The principal constituent of cinnamon oil is cinnamic aldehyde 
(C6H5CH: CH CHO) together with cinnamyl-acetic ester and a little cinnamic 
acid. Holmes, in 1890, obtained from the oil distilled from the leaves eugenol, as 
chief constituent; a hydrocarbon resembling cymene in odor, little benzoic acid, 
and less cinnamic aldehyde. Cinnamon, according to the older analysis by Vau- 
quelin, contains volatile oil, tannic acid (see investigation by T. R. Thornton, 
Amer. Jour. Pharm.A^d),MAwAng matter, resin, an acid (cinnamic), and ligneous 
fiber; starch has been found in it. S. Martin, in 1868, obtained cinnamomine, a 
body identified as mannite by Wittstein, in 1869. Ceylon cinnamon leaves upon 
incineration about 4 or 5 per cent of ash. 560 
CIRSIUM. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Stimulant, tonic, stomachic, carmina- 
tive, and astringent; also reputed emmenagogue, and capable of diminishing the 
secretion of milk. The tincture of the bark is useful in uterine hemorrhage and menor- 
rhagia, given in drachm doses in sweetened water, and repeated every 5, 10, or 20 
minutes, or as may be required. A tincture of the oil (sj) in 98 per cent alcohol 
(§viii), is preferable, given in from 5 to 30-drop doses, repeated as often as neces- 
sary. For post-partum and other uterine hemorrhages, it is one of the most prompt 
r and efficient remedies in the Materia Medica. To a limited extent it controls 
hemorrhage from other parts of the body, yet its most direct action is upon the 
uterine muscular fibres, causing contraction and arresting bleeding. Upon the 
nervous system cinnamon first stimulates and then depresses. Cinnamon is gen- 
erally used to correct the effects, or improve the flavor of other drugs, and is one 
of the best additions to cinchona bark for correcting the nausea or vomiting 
sometimes occasioned by that drug. Internally, it is very useful in diarrhoea, colic, 
cramp of the stomach, flatulency, and to allay nausea and vomiting. Dose of the pow- 
der, from 5 to 20 grains; of the tincture, from 10 to 60 drops; tincture of oil, 
5 to 60 drops. Specific cinnamomum, 10 to 60 drops (see Oil of Cinnamon). 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Post-partum and other uterine hemorrhages 
with profuse flow, cold extremities, and pallid surface; haematuria; haemoptysis. 
Related Products.-Cassia Buds (Flores cassix) or Clavelli cinnamomi. The immature 
pedicellate fruits of one or several species of Cinnamomum. Though smaller, they resemble 
cloves somewhat, though their taste and odor is nearly like that of cinnamon. They contain 
tannin and an essential oil. 
Cassia Twigs.-These are the small branches of the same tree yielding cassia lignea. 
They are about 2 feet long, vary in thickness, and possess a cinnamon flavor. 
Ishpingo.-The calyx of a lauraceous tree common to Peru and Ecuador. It consists of 
an enlarged, woody calyx from 12-to2 inches broad, funnel-shaped though shallow, the cup- 
like cavity being surrounded by an irregular, broad, usually recurved margin. It is of a deep- 
brown color, smooth internally, and veiny and rough on the exterior. Its taste is sweet and 
aromatic, resembling that of cinnamon, for which it is employed as a substitute in Ecuador. 
The bark of the twigs resembles cinnamon, being furnished in small quills ( Pharmacographid). 
Clove Bark or Cassia Caryophyllata(Cortex caryophyllatus).-This Brazilian bark has a 
cinnamon-like, mucilaginous taste and the odor of cloves. It is the product of Dicypellium 
caryophyllatum, Nees. The bark is thin (Ar inch), smooth, or slightly rugose, is of a rich brown 
color, occasionally bluish-brown, and when broken displays a nearly white line close to the 
external margin. It breaks with a short fracture. It is occasionally found in market, but is 
most largely employed in Brazil as a substitute for cinnamon, whose properties it resembles. 
Culilawan Bark.-This bark, employed by the natives of Molucca and occasionally sold 
on the market, is the product of Cinnamomum Culilawan, Nees. It comes in somewhat thick 
(Ao to | inch) curved or flat pieces. It breaks with a short, fibrous, somewhat corky fracture, 
and has internally a brownish color, while on the external surface it is gray or brown. It has 
a mucilaginous, aromatic taste, and a mixed odor of cinnamon, sassafras, and cloves. 
Massoy Bark.-Several aromatic barks bear this title. A New' Guinea bark yielded a 
an oil to Schimmel & Co., resembling that of cloves and nutmeg. The true massoy barks, 
however, are those believed to be derived chiefly from the Cinnamomum Burmanniyar. Kiamis, 
Cinnamomum xanthoneuron, and Sassafras goesianum (see P.J. Trans., 1888), 
CIRSIUM.-CANADA THISTLE. 
The root of Cirsium arvense, Scopoli. 
Nat. Ord.-Composite. 
Common Names: Canada thistle, Cursed thistle. 
Botanical Source.-This plant, called in England Cursed thistle, has a peren- 
nial, creeping, very long root, extremely tenacious of life, with a stem 3 or 4 feet in 
height, having a branching panicle at the top. The leaves are alternate, oblong 
or lanceolate, sessile, smooth, or slightly woolly beneath, sinuate-pinnatifid, and 
prickly margined. The heads are rather small, numerous, and imperfectly dioe- 
cious. The flowers are rose-purple. The involucre round or ovate, with minute 
spines; and the scales close pressed, and ovate-lanceolate (W.-G.). 
History.-Canada thistle grows in various sections of the United States, in 
cultivated fields and pastures, roadsides, and waste places, flowering from June 
to August. It is an extremely troublesome plant to the farmer, requiring his 
utmost vigilance to extirpate it from his fields. The involucre is the only part of 
the plant that can be handled with safety. The root is the part employed, which 561 
yields its properties to water. Herman J. Pierce has nlade a chemical analysis 
and found a volatile alkaloidal principle difficult to obtain crystalline, of narcotic 
odor, soluble in ether, chloroform and alcohol; an organic acid, resin, etc., while 
starch, tannins and glucosids were absent (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1896, p. 529). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Tonic and astringent. Used princi- 
pally, boiled with milk, in diarrhoea and dysentery, some recommend the addition 
of dried codfish skin to the decoction. Also, used as a local application to some 
cutaneous diseases, ulcers, and in leucorrhoea. 
CLEMATIS. 
CLEMATIS.-VIRGIN'S BOWER. 
The fresh stems, leaves, and blossoms of Clematis virginiana, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Ranunculaceae. 
Common Names : Virgin's bower, Ladies' bower, Love vine, Traveler's ivy. 
Illustration : Lloyd's Drugs and Med. of N. A.,Vol. I, Pl. 1. 
Botanical Source.-Clematis virginiana is a perennial, climbing plant, with 
a stem from 8 to 15 feet or more in length, supporting itself on shrubs, fences and 
brushwood, by means of its long petioles. The 
leaves are opposite, deep-green, and ternate; the 
leaflets ovate, cordate, acuminate, lobed, cut-den- 
tate, and from 2 to 3 inches in length by 1 or 2 in 
breadth. The flowers are in paniculate clusters, 
and dioecious; the panicles being large, axillary, 
and dichotomous. Sepals 4, white, spreading, oval- 
oblong, obtuse-petaloid. Stamens from 28 to 36. 
The fruit is furnished with long, plumose tails, 
appearing in large, downy tufts. The seeds are 
compressed (W.). 
History.-The Clematis virginiana is a native 
of the United States, and grows by river banks, in 
hedges and thickets, from Canada to Georgia and 
the Mississippi. It flowers in July and August; the 
parts used are the bark, leaves, and blossoms, which 
yield their virtues to water or alcohol. The leaves 
should be gathered when they are fully, grown, say 
in August. The fresh drug only should be em- 
ployed, as most of its properties are dissipated in 
drying. Clematis is not found as a drug in com- 
merce. Alcohol takes up the properties of cle- 
matis, yielding a green tincture, which, upon ex- 
posure to light, turns brown. This and all of the 
below-mentioned species of Clematis have been 
used in medicine to some extent, but only this species and Clematis recta are now 
employed, and chiefly in domestic practice and by Homoeopathic physicians. 
Though never favorite remedies, they have probably fallen into undeserved neg- 
lect on account of having been used in the dried instead of the fresh state. They 
should be given a proper trial, and their worth or worthlessness established. 
Description.-The leaves and flowers are described above. " The stem attains 
a diameter at the base from £ inch to 1 inch, and has a spongy, ligneous texture. 
When recent, it is covered with a thin brown bark. The wood is coarsely divided 
into distinct medullary rays, between which, when the plant is recent, are deposi- 
ted layers of a greenish substance, which contains the acrid principles." (J. U. 
Lloyd, in Drugs and Med. of N. A.,Vol. I, p. 7). 
Chemical Composition.-According to Rafinesque (1830) a peculiar body 
resembling gluten, and known as clematin, exists in the flowers of C. virginiana 
and C. Viorna. The fresh plant (Clematis virginiana), according to Prof. J. U. Lloyd, 
who examined it chemically, has a peculiar, unpleasant odor, and a taste at first 
rank and disagreeable, but, after prolonged chewing, becomes acrid and irritating, 
not followed by pain, but rather leaving "a dry, metallic-like roughness of the 
tongue and mouth." When distilled with water a neutral distillate, having an 
Fig. 75. 
Clematis virginiana 562 
CLEMATIS. 
odor recalling that of skunk-cabbage, was obtained. This odor may be removed 
by agitation with chloroform or benzol. If this solution be spontaneously evapo- 
rated, "a colorless, oily substance remains, which is the characteristic principle 
of the plant, but which evaporates by exposure." He found the distillate, when 
inhaled, to be a pulmonary irritant, giving a sensation similar to that produced 
by sulphurous acid gas. No alkaloid, either volatile or fixed, was found. Besides 
the usual plant constituents the plant contains grape-sugar. (See paper by Prof. 
J. U. Lloyd, in Drugs and Med. of N. A., Vol. I, p. 10). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The various species of clematis, when 
applied to the skin in a fresh state, blister it; and if taken internally, act as 
corrosive poisons. Both drying and boiling destroy the virulent property. They 
have been used externally in the treatment of several cutaneous affections, and in 
form of a' liniment, made with oil, for the cure of itch; internally, as diuretics and 
sudorifics in chronic rheumatism, palsy, etc., in minute doses. The extract, in doses 
of 1 or 2 grains, is recommended for osteocopic pains. The green leaves bruised are 
sometimes employed to produce vesication, also, as an escharotic and detergent 
for venereal and other foul and indolent ulcers. 
Clematis virginiana has been highly spoken of as a nervine in uterine diseases. 
Place 2 drachms of the dried leaf into a cup filled with hot water, cover it, and 
allow it to stand until the liquid is cool enough to drink; strain, sweeten wfith 
sugar if desired, and let the patient drink it at once. Repeat as often as may be 
required, the doses being regulated by its effects upon the system. 
Like Clematis recta (which see), this species produces painful eczema-like erup- 
tions, which may result in small painful ulcerations. Prof. E. M. Hale, M. D., has 
found it fully equal to Clematis recta, being particularly useful in.nervous erethism, 
insomnia, neuralgic and rheumatic headache, toothache, reflex neuroses of women from 
ovarian or urinary irritation, neuroses of men with pain in testicles and bladder, 
cystitis, urethritis, gonorrhoea, orchitis, and swellings of the inguinal glands. Following 
the law of similia, he also found it useful in "eczema, herpes zoster, and pustular 
eruptions on the scalp and face of children." A good tincture may be prepared as 
follows: Clematis (fresh stem, leaves, and flowers), 1 part; alcohol, 2 parts; bruise 
to an even pulp, add the alcohol, mix thoroughly, and allow to macerate in a 
close vessel for 10 days. Express and filter (D. and M. of N. A.). As clematis acts 
very much after the manner of pulsatilla and its congeners, it should be tried 
in fractional doses in the complaints for which such drugs have an established 
reputation. (For uses of other species see Related Species). Dose, to 5 drops, 
well diluted. 
Related Species.-Prof. Landerer, of Greece (1877), reported a case of epilepsy cured after 
futile attempts with other medicine, by a species of Clematis, either C. cirrhosa or C. sylvestris. 
Also rubefacient and vesicant. 
Clematis recta {erecta}, Linne. Upright Virgin's bower.-The Flammula Jords of old medical 
writers and the first species introduced as a medicine (D. and M. of N. A.). This species, like 
others of its family, will produce a painful pustular, eczema-like eruption, which may result 
in blebs or bullse, and even develop into small painful ulcers. It has been used to some extent 
in Homoeopathy, and is mentioned by Prof. Webster {Dynam. Therap.} in the conditions 
named below. It appears to affect both the male and female reproductive organs, influencing 
both the testes and ovaries. Ovarian indurations and chronic gonorrhoeal orchitis are said to be 
relieved by it. It is also reputed useful in other after-effects of gonorrhoea, as gleet and incipient 
stricture. It relieves irritation of the urinary tract, especially the vesical irritation of nervous 
women with ovarian derangements. Dysuria and urinal retention are also occasionally benefited 
by it. Homoeopathists employ it in chronic scrofulous and syphilitic skin diseases, especially when 
mercurialization has been carried too far. Foul, vesicular, and pustular eruptions, ulcers, syphi- 
litic excrescences, eczema, and irritated and swollen eyelids, involving the meibomian glands, are 
conditions in which they claim success from its use. A Homoeopathic tincture may be used 
in the proportion of 10 to 15 drops to 4 fluid ounces of water, the dose of which is a teaspoon- 
ful several times a day. Storck (1769) employed Clematis recta in old ulcers, secondary syphilis 
headache, and carcinoma. He also pointed out its diuretic action, a view confirmed by Prof. 
Sauveur, in 1866, who claims to have cured Bright's disease with its infusion. 
Clematis Vitalba, Linne.-The common species of Europe and only one in England. " Vir- 
gin's bower, Traveler's joy, Love vine, White vine, Ladies' bower, Old Man's beard, Smoke wood, Wild 
vine, Bind-with, Hedge vine, and Climbers" (D.and M. of N. A.), Wild clematis. Gaube extracted 
a principle from this plant to which he gave the name clematine. It is alkaline, and forms a 
neutral compound with sulphuric acid, which crystallizes in hexagonal needles. Besides this 
principle, he also detected an essential oil, to which it owes it properties, tannin, mucila- 
ginous substances, and a small amount of earthy salts. 563 
The seeds of clematis, given in infusion, have been found serviceable in albuminuria, 
even when general anasarca, amblyopia, incipient hypertrophy of the left ventricle, without valvular 
lesion, and which condition is, as M. Traube has shown, always a result of abnormal condi- 
tions of the kidneys, and other symptoms peculiar to this disease were present. The effects 
of the remedy were quite prompt, a profuse diuresis, followed by a gradual diminution of 
albumin in the urine, and a rapid disappearance of the anasarca, and other symptoms. This 
infusion has likewise proved efficient in other serous affections due to other maladies of the 
abdominal viscera (Prof. Sauveur, 1886). The roots of the C. Vitalba, boiled for a short time to 
diminish their acrimony, and then infused in boiling oil, were applied to the skin several 
times a day, in itch, and a cure was effected in 12 or 15 applications. The plant, boiled in oil 
and mixed with wax and verdigris, was formerly esteemed a remedy for tinea. 
Clematis Viorna, Linn6, or Leather flower, which is more common in the western states, and 
may be found growing in woods from Pennsylvania southward, may, probably, be employed as 
a substitute for the above. It differs from it in having a cylindrical, striate stem ; with oppo- 
site, decompound, pinnately divided leaves, consisting of from 9 to 12 ovate-lanceolate leaflets, 
acute at each end, entire or 3-lobed; flowers large, purple, nodding, solitary, axillary, cam- 
panulate; sepals thick, leathery, acuminate, and peduncles from 3 to 6 inches long, with a 
pair of small, simple, entire leaves near the middle (W.). 
Clematis Pitcheri, Torrey and Gray.-From Illinois westward. This and above species are 
probably varieties of the same species. It has single, dull-purple flowers, having thick, 
leathery, valvate sepals. It is also known as Leather floiver. 
Clematis crispa, Linn^.-Southern United States. This is thought to be the most acrid of the 
indigenous species. It is known in the south as Blue jasmine and Curled Virgin's bower. It has sin- 
gle nodding flowers, wTith " purplish-blue sepals, with dilated thin margins" (D. and M. of N. A.). 
Clematis Flanimula, Sweet-scented Virgin's bower.-France and other parts of south Europe. 
Has fragrant white flowers and is cultivated for ornamentation (D. and M. of N. A.). 
Clematis Viticella, Linne; Blue clematis.-South Europe, particularly France. Cultivated, 
and has blue flowers (D. and M. of N. A.). Formerly esteemed in itch and leprosy. 
Clematis verticillaris, De Candolle; Whorl-leaved Virgin's bower.-Rare northern species. "It 
has large, 4-sepaled, purple flowers, with thin, spreading sepals" (D. and M. of N. A.). Culti- 
vated for ornament. 
Clematis alpina, Miller.-Southern Europe, in mountainous regions. Analogous to pre- 
ceding (D. and M. of N. A.). 
Clematis ligusticifolia,^vdA&\\', Wild sarsaparilla.-Western United States. Closely resem- 
bles Clematis virginiana. Root used by New Mexico Indians as an alterative (D. and M. of N. A.) 
Clematis dioica, Linne.-Jamaica. Used as a rubefacient (D. and M. of N. A.). The root, 
boiled with sea water, acts as a powerful hydragogue cathartic, and is useful in dropsy; and an 
infusion of the leaves and flowers removes spots and freckles from the skin. 
Clematis mauritiana, Linne.-Madagascar. " Probably the most acrid of all the genus " 
(D. and M. of N. A.). Employed by the negroes of the Isle of France to blister the cheek for the 
relief of toothache. 
CNICVS BENEDICTUS. 
CNICUS BENEDICTUS.-BLESSED THISTLE. 
The leaves and flowering heads of Cnicus benedictus, Gaertner (Centaurea bene- 
dicta, Lin ne; Carduus benedictus). 
Nat. Ord.-Composite. 
Common Names: Blessed thistle, Holy thistle. 
Botancial Source.-Blessed thistle is an annual, branched, woolly plant, 
with a fibrous, whitish root, sending out several roundish, reddish stems, 1 or 2 
feet high. The leaves are amplexicaul, somewhat decurrent, nearly entire, pin- 
nated or deeply pinnatifid, more or less hairy; the upper leaves sessile ; the lower 
ones petioled. The flowers are yellow, and borne in terminal bracteate heads. 
Involucre ovate; scales close-pressed, coriaceous, extended into a long, hard, spiny, 
pinnated appendage; lateral spines conical and distant. The florets of the ray 
are sterile, slender, and as long as those of the disk. Fruit longitudinally and 
regularly striated, smooth, with a broad, lateral scar. Pappus triple, as it were; 
the outer being the horny, short, crenated margin of the fruit; the intermediate 
consisting of 10 long, stiff setae; the inner, of 10 short setae; all the setae alterna- 
ting with each other (L.). 
History.-This plant is common to southern Europe and the Levant, and 
has been introduced into this and several other countries. It flowers in June, at 
which time the leaves and tops should be collected, as the plant is at its highest 
degree of medicinal power; they should be thoroughly and speedily dried, and 
be kept free from moisture, light, and free access of air. Their odor is faint and 
rather disagreeable, and their taste is exceedingly bitter. Their properties are 
yielded to water or alcohol, forming a pleasantly-bitter draught when infused 
with the former fluid, but a sickening and repulsive decoction. 564 
COCA. 
Chemical Composition.-The leaves yield, upon analysis, an amorphous, 
brownish-yellow, bitter principle, resin, a fixed oil, gum, sugar, albumen, some 
salts, etc. The bitter principle was discovered, in 1839, by Nativelie and by him 
named cnicin (C42H56O15, Scribe), and is supposed to be the active constituent of 
the plant. It crystallizes in transparent white needles, which have a bitter taste, 
are odorless, neutral, unaffected by the atmosphere, are fused and decomposed by 
heat, slightly soluble in cold, but more so in boiling water, sparingly soluble in 
ether, but readily in alcohol. Chemically it approaches salicin. Vomiting is pro- 
duced by it in doses of 5 or 6 grains; 7 or 8-grain doses have proved beneficial in 
periodical fevers (see Chern. Gaz.,Nol. II, p. 462). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-A cold infusion is tonic; a warm in- 
fusion diaphoretic and emmenagogue; and, if strong, emetic. Used* as a tonic in 
loss of appetite, dyspepsia, and intermittent diseases. Valuable also in the forming 
stage of febrile and inflammatory affections. Colds may be broken up with it, and 
it acts well in menstrual suppression from cold. Dose of the powder, from 10 to 60 
grains; of the infusion, 2 fluid ounces; specific cnicus benedictus, 5 to 10 drops, 
every 4 hours. 
Related Species.- Centaurea calcitrapa, Linne; Star thistle.- Europe. Naturalized to 
some extent in the United States. Flowers purple, and herb has a bitter taste. Virtues like 
those of blessed thistle. 
Centaurea cyanus, Linne ; Blue bottle; Cornflower.-Europe. Naturalized and cultivated in 
flower gardens in the United States. Florets blue. Besides being an ingredient of some 
fumigating powders, these flowers have virtues similar to the preceding plants. 
COCA (U. S. P.)-COCA. 
"The leaves of Erythroxylon Coca, Lamarck"-(U. S. P.). This is the Ery- 
throxylon of the U. S. P. of 1880. 
Nat. Ord.-Line®. 
Botanical Source.-This is a shrub growing about 4 feet high, with the 
leaves ovate, alternate, thin, membranous, Hat, opaque, acute at both ends, the 
apex almost mucronate, quite entire, tri-nerved in the middle with fine connect- 
ing veins on either side of the midrib, a slightly curved line extending from 
one end of the leaf to the other (the crossing of larger veins rendering the leaves 
somewhat areolated), dark-green above, paler beneath, 1^ to 2 inches long, an inch 
or more in their greatest width, and on short, delicate foot-stalks. The petioles 
are from 2 to 4 lines long, with a pair of intrapetiolary ovate-lanceolate, brown, 
acute stipules, upon the back of the outside of which the petiole is articulated, 
and from which the leaf readily falls away, leaving the branches scaly with the 
persistent stipules. The flowers are small, white, numerous, and borne in fascicles 
from the branches where the leaves have fallen away, bracteated. The peduncles 
are about as long as the flower, and sharply angled. Calyx 5-cleft, 5-angled at the 
base; segments acute. Petals 5, alternate with the calyx segments, oblong, con- 
cave, wavy, with a lacerated and much plaited membrane arising from within and 
above the base. Stamens 10, monadelphous; filaments longer than the pistil, com- 
bined below into a rather short cylindrical tube. Ovary oval, 3-celled, 3-seeded; 
styles 3, about as long as the ovary, distinct from the very base, not consolidated; 
stigmas thickened. The fruit (by abortion), is an oblong or ovoid drupe, 1-seeded, 
red, and obscurely furrowed when dry; the nut is oblong and furrowed (L.). 
History.-Coca grows in moist and woody regions on the eastern slopes of 
the Andes, from 2000 to 10,000 feet above the level of the sea, and is highly valued 
and cultivated by the natives of Peru, Chili, and Bolivia, who make great use 
of it as a medicine, and as an article of diet. It answers as a substitute for the 
tea, coffee, tobacco, hashish, opium, etc., of other nations. In some sections the 
plant produces three crops annually. The natives masticate the dried leaves 
with finely powdered chalk or lime, or wTith a highly alkaline substance prepared 
from roasted potatoes and the ashes of various plants, which they call llipta. Its 
use is not confined to the rich; the pooi; laboring classes make great use of it as 
a stimulant and imaginary nutrient, as it enables them to endure fatigue and 
exertion for many hours, and even for several days, with but little nourishment COCA. 
565 
of any other kind; and while under its influence they are said to perform prodi- 
gies of labor. The leaves after being gathered must be dried as quickly as pos- 
sible, and be kept perfectly free from moisture and dampness; they then have a 
rather pleasant odor, recalling that of tea, and a bitter, aromatic, and slightly 
astringent taste. 
Coca shrub has been cultivated successfully in Ceylon, India, and Java. In 
the latter country the cultivated species differ sufficiently from the Erythroxylon 
Coca to have been designated as the variety E. Coca, var. Spruceanum, Burck. 
Description.- Two South American cocas are found in commerce. One 
known as Huanuco or Cuzco Coca, is derived from places of those names in Peru, 
the cities being located south of the central 
part of the state; and Truxillo or Trujillo Coca, 
coming from the northern portion of Peru. 
The latter kind has pale-green leaves, which 
are thin and easily broken, not so large but 
more pointed than those of Huanuco coca, 
which are coriaceous, thicker, and have a 
much deeper green color. The Truxillo leaf 
is said to be identical with that furnished by 
the Java shrub. Bolivian coca is regarded as 
finer than that grown in Peru. It is identi- 
cal in appearance with the Huanuco variety. 
Coca is marketed in cestos or bags of from 
25 to 50 pounds each. The U. S. P. thus de- 
scribes coca: "Varying between ovate, lanceo- 
late, and obovate-oblong, and from 2 to 5 or 7 
Cm. (f to 2 or 2f inches) in length; short- 
petiolate, entire, rather obtuse or emarginate 
at the apex, slightly reticulate on both sides, 
with a prominent midrib, and on each side 
of it a curved line running from base to apex; 
odor slight and tea-like; taste somewhat aromatic and bitter. When chewed it 
temporarily benumbs the lips and tongue"-{U.S. P.). 
Chemical Composition.-Wackenroder, in 1853, failed to isolate any of the 
active principles of coca leaves, but obtained its peculiar tannic principle to which 
later the name coca-tannic acid was given. Sev- 
eral alkaloids have since been observed in 
coca. Cocaine (C17H21NO4), was first noticed by 
Gsedeke, in 1855, who named it erythroxiline, 
but it was better defined by Niemann, in 1860, 
who gave it its present name. When heated 
with concentrated hydrochloric acid, it is re- 
solved into benzoic acid, methyl alcohol, and 
a new base called ecgonine (C9HI5NO3, or CH3. 
NC5H7.CHOH.CH2.COOH); hence cocaine is 
methyl-benzoyl-ecgonine{W. Lossen, 1862). Ecgo- 
nine crystallizes from alcohol in monoclinic 
prisms, easily soluble in water, less so in alco- 
hol, and insoluble in ether. It has a sweetish 
bittertaste. Cocaine occurs in large 4 to 6-sided 
monoclinic prisms, and when pure, is without 
odor and color. Cocaine is readily soluble in 
chloroform, ether, carbon disulphide, benzene, 
petroleum ether, petroleum (melted), and in 
volatile and fixed oils. It is much less solu- 
ble in alcohol than in the above solvents, 
while water dissolves it with difficulty (1 part in 704 at 12° C. [53.6° F.]) (Nie- 
mann); more than 1300 parts of cold water (Paul), being required. Cocaine is 
bitterish, and produces upon the tongue an evanescent numbness. It can 
not be kept in aqueous solution on account of its tendency to split into methyl- 
alcohol, ecgonine, and benzoic acid. Cocaine is strongly alkaline in reaction, 
Fig 76. 
Cocaine alkaloid, commercial product crystal- 
lized from alcohol. X. 50 diameters. 
Fig. 77. 
Cocaine hydrobromate. Crystals formed by 
spontaneous evaporation of aqueous solu- 
tion X. 50 diameters. 566 
COCA. 
producing with acids crystallizable salts, which, as a rule, are bitter, and dissolve 
freely in water and alcohol. Ether does not dissolve them. They all possess 
the property of benumbing the tongue in a greater degree than does the alkaloid 
cocaine. For the details of Squibb's process of preparing cocaine by percolating 
coca leaves with a 5 per cent solution of sulphuric acid, and abstracting the alka- 
loid with kerosene oil after rendering alkaline with sodium carbonate, see Epheme- 
ris, 1887, p. 906. 
Cocaine may also be considered a methyl derivative of benzoyl-ecgonine (C9HU 
NO3.COC6H5), which is another alkaloid occurring in coca leaves. Isatropyl-cocaine 
(Ci9H23NO4), a very poisonous, amorphous alkaloid, has also been found in this 
drug (Liebermann, 1888). With hydrochloric acid it splits into methyl-alcohol, 
ecgonine, and isatropic acid (C8H7.COOH), thus disclosing an analogy to cocaine, 
the relationship being similar to that exhibited in the class of alkaloidal bodies 
known as tropeines (see Atropine). Cinnamyl-cocaine (C19H23NO4), another alkaloid 
existing in coca leaves, is likewise analogous to cocaine, yielding by decomposi- 
tion cinnamic acid (Geisei), or isocinnamic acid (Liebermann, 1890), instead of ben- 
zoic acid. Cocamine (Ci9H23NO4, Hesse, 1889), being present in Erythroxylon nova 
granatense, or Truxillo bark, in the amount of 0.6 per cent, yields cocaic acid 
(C9HgO2), which Hesse pronounces, however, identical with isatropic acid. Lieber- 
mann and Geisei (1891), found in coca leaves from Java benzoyl-pseudo-tropeine 
(C15H19NO2), which, when heated with hydrochloric acid, splits off pseudo-tropine 
(C8Hi5NO). The alkaloid hygrine, named by Lossen, was previously observed by 
Maclagan. According to Hesse (1887), it is a yellowish, strongly basic oil easily 
soluble in ether, chloroform, and alcohol, less so in water, forming salts with 
acids. Its diluted solutions in acids are fluorescent. Its formula is probably 
Ci2H13N, which points to its being a homologue of quinoline (C9H7N). Cocaicine 
(Bender, 1885), is one of several undetermined coca alkaloids. Among other con- 
stituents of coca leaves may be mentioned, chlorophyll, resin, traces of essential 
oil, the coca-tannic acid before mentioned producing a green-black color with 
ferric salts; a wax crystallizing from alcohol in white granules, and melting at 
70° C. (158° F.) (Niemann), and inorganic salts. The amount of total alkaloids 
in coca leaves has been found to vary from 0.2 to 0.8 per cent, seldom reaching 
1 per cent. For comparisons of assay methods, see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1895, 
pp. 489 and 572. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-In large doses, coca is said to cause 
delirium, hallucination, and finally cerebral congestion. In medium doses it acts 
as a stimulant, increasing the temperature of the body, as well as the respiration 
and frequency of the pulse; in a moderate dose it excites the nervous system in 
such a manner as to render the performance of muscular exertion much easier, 
and producing a sensation of calmness. According to Dr. Mantegazza, its use has 
produced an erythematous eruption resembling pityriasis, with a sense of prick- 
ling and itching; the intoxication produced by it, differs from that resulting from 
the use of alcoholic drinks, the symptoms being feverishness, increased heat of the 
surface, palpitation, photopsy, headache, vertigo, increased frequency of the pulse, 
a peculiar roaring tinnitus, strong desire for active locomotion, with increased 
sense of strength and agility, exaltation of the intellectual sphere, sense of isola- 
tion, followed by a feeling of intense calm and comfort, complete apathy, sleep, 
odd and rapidly changing dreams, and from which the patient awakes without 
debility or indisposition of any kind. The leaves of coca, chewed or taken in a 
weak infusion, stimulate the gastric nerves and greatly facilitate digestion ; and 
are also useful in relieving the sense of fatigue from excessive mental or physical 
exercise. A drachm of the leaves chewed produces a feeling of comfort in the 
stomach, and upon repeating the dose a few times, a slight burning sensation is 
experienced in the mouth and pharynx, with increased thirst, rapid digestion, 
and a substitution of the coca odor in the stools for that ordinarily present. 
More recently, M. Moreno, who made some interesting experiments upon the 
effects of coca and cocaine, remarks, that coca gives much less arterial tension 
than coffee, as he has convinced himself with the aid of the sphygmograph. 
Relatively to its action, M. Weddell has observed: "One of two things, either 
coca incloses some nutritive principles which directly sustain the forces, or else 
it simply deceives the hunger, by acting upon the economy as an excitant." COCA. 
567 
M. Moreno has submitted animals to an insufficient alimentation or to absolute 
inanition, and in these conditions he has observed that those to whom he admin- 
istered coca lost more of their weight and died more speedily. He concludes that 
if coca sustains the forces, that is to say, permits man to forget hunger, it is not, 
however, as an aliment, and does not succeed in satisfying it. He has carefully 
studied the special action exerted by this substance upon the nervous system. 
According to him it determines (1) phenomena which place it with strychnine 
(tetanic and spontaneous convulsions, and, upon the least excitation of the ani- 
mals, death); (2) in a small dose, it provokes a remarkable excitation of sensi- 
bility, dilitation of the pupil, irregularity of the movements; the animals seem 
to have lost the coordinating power of their movements. Lastly, in large doses, 
it causes a diminution, followed by exhaustion, of sensation, without motility 
being completely abolished, and in all the cases, the pupils remain dilated. Like 
tea and coffee, coca lessens the elimination of urea, acting thereby indirectly as a 
food, though not a food in itself. That hunger is staved off by it is probably due 
to a benumbing effect upon the nervous supply of the stomach. 
That the habit of using coca will grow upon one, is illustrated by its effects 
upon the mountaineers of the Peruvian Andes (see History), who employ it to 
lessen fatigue, and to guard against the pulmonary hemorrhage likely to occur at 
high altitudes. The habitual coca-chewer acquires a general apathetic state and 
his step becomes uncertain. Deep purplish circles surround his sunken eyes, his 
lips tremble, a peculiar blackish colorization is observed at the angles of the mouth, 
the teeth become green and encrusted, and an intolerably offensive odor is im- 
parted to the breath. Extreme emaciation, with intractable sleeplessness, and 
anasarca ensue and finally death completes the destruction. 
Coca is a remedy for defective innervation, as evidenced by imperfect diges- 
tion, even though the appetite remains normal, and when the disorder is asso- 
ciated with occipital and post-cervical pain, vertigo and inability to stand for any 
length of time (Scudder). It increases the flow of gastric juice, improves the tone 
of the stomach, and relieves gastric pain. In fact, atonic states of the nervous 
system and the stomach, are the conditions in which it appears to exert the best 
effects. Hysteria is often cured by it, while, in chorea, it may relieve by toning 
the muscles and increasing nerve power, in this manner giving the patient better 
control over the muscular movements. From 10 to 15 drops of specific erythroxy- 
lon will overcome insomnia, caused by a gloomy state of the mind, and sometimes 
asthma is slowly, but permanently, cured by the drug (Locke). In the treatment 
of the opium habit it generally fails. 
Coca has been successfully used in irritative or atonic dyspepsia, flatulency, colic, 
gastralgia, enteralgia, hypochondria, spinal irritation, idiopathic convulsions, nervous 
erethism, and in the debility following severe acute affections, anemia, scurvy, etc. 
In large doses it has been proposed in tetanus and hydrophobia, though no trust- 
worthy reports of its efficacy are as yet forthcoming. Prof. Scudder {Spec. Med.) 
suggests that it may be useful in "the early stages of tuberculosis, by enabling the 
person to take the exercise so much needed to burn the imperfect materials in the 
blood." There is no doubt but that it exerts some control in wasting diseases in 
general. It is reputed useful in relaxed states of the vocal chords, and in the granular 
form of pharyngitis; and to allay the thirst accompanying diabetes, and the inordi- 
nate hunger of the insane and epileptics. Like tea, coffee, guarana, etc., it is an 
effectual remedy in migraine, or nervous headache, and is not without utility in 
functional impotence and sper motor rhaia, when due merely to a condition of general 
debility. Coca has been suggested as an agent to control hunger, thirst, and 
fatigue for armies during long and forced marches, but, owing to its scarcity, it 
will probably never be used for this purpose. 
Three or 4 drachms of the leaves is a medium dose, whether chewed or used 
in infusion; of the hydro-alcoholic extract, 10 to 15 grains, in pill form; the 
dose of specific erythroxylon is from 5 to 30 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Defective innervation with dizziness, im- 
paired digestion, occipital and post-cervical pain, and inability to stand for a 
length of time; migraine; fatigue; weariness and mental and physical exhaus- 
tion; labored and difficult breathing, with normal temperature; inordinate hun- 
ger and thirst. 568 
COCAINE HYDROCHLORAS. 
COCAINE HYDROCHLORAS (U. S. P.)-COCAINE 
HYDROCHLORATE. 
Formula: C17Il2iNO4HCl. Molecular Weight : 338.71. 
"The hydrochlorate of an alkaloid obtained from Coca"-(U. S. P). 
Synonyms: Cocaine hydrochlorate, Cocaine muriate. 
Preparation.-According to the British Pharmacopoeia, cocaine hydrochlorate 
may be obtained by dissolving an acidulated alcoholic extract of coca in water, 
rendering it alkaline by means of sodium carbonate, and agitating it with ether. 
Evaporate the ethereal solution, purify by means of acidulated water, shake out 
with sodium carbonate and ether, repeating the above process, decolorize, and, 
finally, neutralize with hydrochloric acid, and then recrystallize. Cocaine is usu- 
ally not made by pharmacists. 
Description.-The U. S. P. describes this salt as " colorless, transparent crys- 
tals, or a white, crystalline powder, without odor, of a saline, slightly bitter taste, 
and producing upon the tongue a tingling 
sensation followed by numbness of some 
minutes' duration. Permanent in the air. 
Soluble at 15° C. (59° F.), in 0.48 part of 
water, and in 3.5 parts of alcohol; very 
soluble in boiling water, and in boiling 
alcohol; also soluble in 2800 parts of ether, 
or in 17 parts of chloroform. On heating 
a small quantity of the powdered salt for 
20 minutes at a temperature of 100° C. 
(212° F.), should not suffer any material 
loss (absence of water of crystallization). 
The prolonged application of heat to the 
salt, or to its solution, induces decomposi- 
tion. At 193° C. (379.4° F.) the salt melts 
with partial sublimation, forming a light, 
brownish-yellow liquid. When ignited, it 
is consumed without leaving a residue"- 
(U. S.P). 
When crystallized from strong solu- 
tion in alcohol, it forms short, prismatic 
crystals, which are quite firm ; if diluted 
alcoholic solution be employed, long, acicular, friable crystals result; while water 
solutions yield the salt in satin-like, acicular crystals, sometimes an inch in length. 
It is occasionally met in commerce in the form of an amorphous powder. 
Tests.-" The salt is neutral to litmus paper. On adding 5 drops of a 5 per 
cent solution of chromic acid to 5 Cc. of a 2 per cent solution of cocaine hydro- 
chlorate, a yellow precipitate is produced, which redissolves on shaking; on now 
adding 1 Cc. of hydrochloric acid, a permanent, orange-yellow precipitate will be 
formed. If a small quantity of the salt be rubbed, with a glass rod, on a dry, white 
porcelain surface, with an equal bulk of mercurous chloride, and the mixture 
then breathed upon, it will acquire a dark-gray or grayish-black color. The 
aqueous solution of the salt yields, with silver nitrate T.S., a white precipitate in- 
soluble in nitric acid. The addition of sulphuric or nitric acid to the salt, at the 
ordinary temperature, should develop no color. If 1 drop of a mixture of 1 vol- 
ume of decinormal potassium permanganate V.S., and 2 volumes of water be 
added to 5 Cc. of a 2 per cent solution of cocaine hydrochlorate mixed with 
3 drops of diluted sulphuric acid and contained in a small, clean, glass-stoppered 
vial, the pink tint produced by the permanganate should not entirely disappear 
within half an hour (absence of cinnamyl-cocaine and some other bases derived 
from coca)"-(U. S. P.). 
Action and Toxicology.-Most of the physiological action of cocaine has 
been determined from experiments upon frogs and the lower warm-blooded ani- 
mals. Its action upon man has been gleaned principally from its therapeutic 
employment and from its action in cases of poisoning by it. There appears to be 
Fig. 78. 
Cocaine hydrochlorate. Crystals formed by spon- 
taneous evaporation of a drop of saturated 
aqueous solution. X. 100 diameters. 569 
COCAINE HYDROCHLORAS. 
a difference in the effects produced by the parent drug and its alkaloid, as well as 
a difference produced by the fresh leaves of cooa in its natife habitat and the 
dried product as used in this country. When applied to mtlcous surfaces, as of 
the mouth, it first excites the parts, an action which is quickly followed by a 
sense of numbness, followed shortly by complete local anaesthesia. The same 
effects are felt upon all mucous surfaces, and are more quickly produced by hypo- 
dermatic injection. A sense of coldness after drinking cold water or drawing in 
the breath, is experienced in the mouth after the benumbing has taken place, 
similar to that following the application of peppermint or menthol, thus show- 
ing that while insensibility to pain may be effected, that the impression to cold 
is not wholly abolished. To produce a general anaesthesia of the parts quite large 
doses are requisite. Taken internally in small doses it increases peristaltic 
movements, while such movements are paralyzed by large amounts. Upon the 
pharynx, larynx, or nasal fossae it effects a reduction of sensibility, so that exami- 
nations and small operations may be freely permitted. Applied to the con- 
junctival membranes local anaesthesia is produced though a sense of coldness 
when an unwarmed instrument is brought in contact with the parts is distinctly 
felt. The accommodation is impaired, and a partial pupillary dilatation is 
effected, which may however, be further increased by atropine. The vessels are 
constringed by it. Internally or hypodermatically administered, or even where 
absorption has taken place from its application to mucous surfaces, its effects 
upon the nervous system are very pronounced, and a number of fatal cases have 
been reported. It has been compared to Indian hemp in its effects upon the 
brain. Among the symptoms are mental confusion, disordered senses, a glowing 
sensation throughout the system, and in the beginning a sense of cheerfulness 
and contentment in some cases, of restlessness, nervous excitation, fear, and ter- 
ror in others. Vertigo, tinnitus, dilated pupils with impairment of accommoda- 
tion, headache, and a sense of passing from earth into air, is sometimes expe- 
rienced. Sleep occasionally follows. The conjunctivae and skin are pale, the 
heart's movement accelerated, and respiration quickened. In some cases nausea, 
vomiting, and eructations occur. When only that stage is reached in which a 
cheerful inebriation occurs, the insensibility to hunger and power to endure 
fatigue are striking, and muscular power is undoubtedly increased. Conscious- 
ness is usually lost, though this unconscious state may be only apparent, but 
rather an anaesthetic state. The more pronounced toxic effects vary somewhat. 
Besides nausea and vomiting, if consciousness still persists, a sensation of great 
thirst and dryness of the fauces and mouth are complained of. A very rapid, 
small, thready, and imperceptible pulse characterizes most cases, while in others a 
slow, feeble pulse and cyanotic state precede slow or arrested breathing. Pain is 
seldom felt. The breathing is generally slow, shallow, and labored, though at first 
it is generally quickened. Muscular trembling or even spasms may occur, and if 
the dose be large they are often severe and with epileptiform movements. Head- 
ache, vertigo, and carotid throbbing may be present, and in many cases hallucina- 
tions are experienced. Perspiration is sometimes profuse, and in some instances 
greatly increased diuresis has taken place. Outside of what is oxidized in the 
body, cocaine is eliminated by the renal organs. Even as small a dose as £ grain, 
hypodermatically, has produced great depression and collapse. 
To the brain, then, cocaine is a powerful stimulant, first exciting, and in 
larger doses producing a narcotic state associated with convulsions of an epilepti- 
form character. Upon the spinal cord the sensory portion is thought to be more 
responsive to cocaine than the motor tract, as toxic doses depress and paralyze 
the sensory nerves much more readily than the motor filaments. Upon the cir- 
culation its effects are less pronounced, arterial pressure being first increased, and 
if the dose be toxic, the pressure falls. That the heart substance or the intra- 
cardiac nerves are directly impressed, increasing the power of contraction, is 
thought to be the cause of the increased heart action. Striated muscles are not 
strongly impressed by cocaine, but it exerts a powerful stimulating effect upon 
the breathing organs, first increasing their action, and finally paralyzing the 
respiratory centers. While the urine is sometimes increased in quantity, diuresis 
is not a constant effect of the administration of cocaine, though nearly all agree 
in its power of decreasing urea-elimination. 570 
COCAINE HYDROCHLORAS. 
Cocaine poisoning is best treated with amyl nitrite, though chloroform and 
ether (the latter subcutaneously) are useful. Alcohol, morphine, atropine, and 
chloral are also antidotes in some degree. The treatment is much the same as for 
poisoning by caffeine. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Cocaine is not extensively used as an internal 
remedy. However, it may be given by mouth or hypodermatically, and has been 
found serviceable in the following conditions. In small doses it has proved a 
good heart tonic in low febrile states, but this use of it has received but little recog- 
nition from members of our school. In angina pectoris, however, while not so 
effective as amyl nitrite, nitroglycerin, or lobelia, doses of from | to grain 3 or 4 
times a day have given good results. When dropsy is due to heart debility, the 
same-sized doses 3 times a day, by their effect of causing increase or rise of blood 
pressure, stronger heart contractions, and a greater flow of urine, have accomplished 
cures. It is a remedy for the vomiting of yellow fever, sea sickness, and of pregnancy. 
In the latter condition it has also been applied by way of the rectum, or directly 
as an ointment to the os uteri. Testimony may be had for and against its use in 
sea sickness. As a preventative and as a remedy therefor, Monassein (Med. News, 
Vol. 47, p. 320), used a solution of cocaine hydrochlorate 0.15 part, alcohol a suffi- 
ciency, and distilled water 150 parts. A drachm dose of this was administered 
on embarking, and continued every 2 or 3 hours until no further danger of sick- 
aess seemed probable. In sick headache and neuralgia from | to grain may be 
injected near the affected parts. The same may be resorted to in sciatica. The 
gloom of temporary hypochondria may be dispelled by small doses of cocaine, and 
fatigue due to loss of sleep may also be relieved by it. Its action in confirmed 
mental disorders, however, is deleterious, and it has failed to become a remedy 
for neurasthenia, melancholia, etc., as it was once hoped would prove to be the case. 
Were it not for the fact that almost toxic doses are required, it would be of 
value in such gastric disorders as neuralgia, ulceration, or carcinoma of that organ. 
As a remedy in the treatment of alcoholism and of the opium habit it has nothing 
to commend it, as a cocaine habit, as pernicious as those it is sought to cure, is 
extremely liable to become established. 
Cocaine is locally used in a great variety of painful affections of the mucous 
tracts. When applied to the parts they become pale on account of the anemia 
resulting from the constriction of the vessels produced. It is thus valuable to 
arrest or to palliate inflammation of the nasal membranes, fauces, pharynx, and larynx. 
In acute tonsilitis a 2 to 4 per cent solution painted upon the parts relieves the 
pain and reduces the swelling, while for chronic cases a 6 per cent solution in a 
vehicle of one-third water and two-tliirds glycerin is effective. These solutions 
should be painted upon the parts with a pencil twice a day. In tubercular troubles 
of the upper part of the throat, such as tenderness and ulceration, and in the 
irritable throat of phthisis, cancer, or syphilis, preventing the patient from taking 
food, a strong solution (6 per cent), applied to the parts 3 or 4 times a day gives 
marked relief, and enables the patient to take nourishment with comfort. Early 
applied it will arrest coryza, and applied in solution or suppository it is exceed- 
ingly effectual in the paroxysms of hay fever. Or it may be applied upon cotton 
wool or insufflated with some inert powder. It not only allays the pain and irri- 
tability, but it has a tendency to enlarge the nasal fossae through its constringing 
agency. It alleviates the painful condition of fissures, ulcers, etc., of the buccal 
membranes. Epistaxis may be arrested with cocaine locally applied. The solu- 
tion is palliative only in whooping-cough, and may be used to allow the hydro- 
phobic patient to swallow water and other fluids. Cocaine reduces phimosis and 
paraphimosis, and applied to the urethra or rectum controls chordee, and in enema 
or suppository is useful in allaying cystic irritability when due to an enlarged 
prostate, and will control tenesmic pain in the bladder or rectum. Dysentery is 
relieved by it locally applied, and in strong solution, suppository, or ointment, 
it mitigates the pain of rectal cancer. Urethral spasms are relaxed by it, and it 
relieves in the acute stage of gonorrhoea. It may be applied in itching and burn- 
ing conditions of the vagina and anus. Applied to the vaginal orifice in cases 
of vaginismus, coitus may be perfectly and painlessly accomplished. A 2 per cent 
solution is valuable to assuage the pain of burns and scalds, and is of service in 
wounds of delicate parts like the eye, to subdue the exalted sensibility so that the COCAINE HYDROCH LORAS. 
571 
parts may be properly and painlessly dressed. Locally applied or subcutaneously 
injected, it subdues the pain incident to insect stings and bites. In earache, from 
cold a few drops of equal parts of glycerin and a 2 per cent solution of cocaine 
arrests the pain. The same procedure may assuage the pain of dental caries. 
Cocaine serves a valuable purpose in allaying irritability of parts so that 
examinations of delicate structures may be facilitated. It renders easy the use of 
the aural speculum, and instruments necessary in examination or operation upon 
the auditory canal, catheterization of the Eustachian tube, the introduction of the 
rhinoscope, laryngoscope, and lavage tubes, examination of the male or female 
urethra, and the introduction of catheters, bougies, or lithotrite, and the rectal 
speculum and dilators are all facilitated by first treating the parts with cocaine. 
The discovery of the anaesthetic properties of cocaine revolutionized the prac- 
tice of minor surgical operations, and especially upon the eye and kindred struc- 
tures. As a local anaesthetic the acetate of cocaine was used as early as 1868, by 
Thomas Moreno y Maiz {Paris Thesis, p. 77); but the importance of this use of 
the drug did not seem to be fully appreciated by him. In 1880,Von Anrep called 
attention to the probable utility of cocaine as a local anaesthetic, but it was 
reserved for Koller, a student at Vienna, and now a practitioner of New York 
City, to perfect the knowledge of the anaesthetic uses of the drug and proclaim 
it to the world, and its success and popularity has been phenomenal. 
In ophthalmic surgery, the solution generally employed is that of 4 per cent 
strength, though some use as high as an 8 to 10 per cent solution, but the latter 
has no particular advantage over the former. It should preferably be applied with 
a dropper at intervals of 3 or 4 minutes until 3 or 4 instillations have been made. 
Cocaine discs (-^ grain) of gelatin, paper, linen, or cotton, are all undesirable and 
likely to become moldy. Not only does cocaine constringe the vessels of the part 
and produce local anaesthesia, but in the case of the eye it dilates the pupil and 
increases the power of absorption of atropine, homatropine, and eserine. A 
false astigmatism may be produced by its use on account of an irregular action 
set up in the ciliary muscles. The long-continued use of cocaine upon the struc- 
tures of the eye is very deleterious, and following the temporary effects, inflam- 
mation of a grave character, ulceration, opacity, or exfoliation of the cornea hav- 
ing been produced by it. This is undoubtedly due to its constringing action, 
lessening the blood supply and consequently lowering the vitality of the tissues. 
Slow healing after operations has been attributed to the use of cocaine as an 
anaesthetic. In spite of its occasional bad results, however, it has become a most 
important agent with the ophthalmic surgeon. It is injected behind the eye for 
the removal of that organ, and should also be injected when operations upon the 
lachrymal sacs, incisions into the lachrymal canals, or operations upon the lids 
are to be performed. Its local use allays photophobia, and carried to anaesthesia 
by instillation it may be employed to remove foreign bodies from the eye, and in 
operative measures for trachoma, pinguecula, pterygium, cauterization of corneal ulcers, 
strabismus, tenotomy, anterior staphyloma, iridectomy, cataract, prolapse of the iris, the 
removal of conjunctival and corneal growths, and in other operations within or with- 
out the globe. As a rule it is contraindicated in glaucoma, but hypopyon is said to 
have been reduced in size by a 2 per cent solution. 
In the nasal, pharyngeal, and laryngeal cavities it is employed to produce 
anaesthesia preparatory to the removal of tumors, polypi, and other growths, and to 
enlarge the parts in nasal stenosis, and to reduce hypertrophied states of the mucous 
tract. Operations for harelip and cleft palate have been performed under its use, 
while amputation of the uvula and tonsils are painlessly effected when the parts 
are well cocainized. Operations for hernia and staphylorraphy have been success- 
fully performed under cocaine anaesthesia. It should be used in opening mam- 
mary abscesses, felons, suppurating bubospund for the removal of ingrown nails. While 
cocaine has been applied to sensitive teeth to facilitate their excavation, it is not 
considered universally applicable, and is not now very much used for that pur- 
pose. It is, however, very valuable, but not without occasional dangerous results, 
as an anaesthetic for the extraction of teeth, or of alveolar spiculve. The hydrochlo- 
rate is generally used, though some contend that better results are obtainable from 
the citrate. Of the 2 per cent solution 4 or 5 minims may be injected into the 
gum close to the tooth, and allowed to remain about 8 minutes before extraction 572 
COCAINtE HYDROCHLORAS. 
of the tooth is attempted. If it does not wholly control the pain it greatly lessens 
it, and especially obtunds the gum so that no pain whatever is felt in applying 
the forceps unless the gum be greatly inflamed. 
Itching skin diseases, such as eczema, herpes, erysipelas, scabies, and the like are 
relieved by a 5 per cent petrolatum ointment of cocaine. The maxium dose of 
cocaine hydroclorate should not be more than f, or at most, 1 grain, though some 
have put the limit at 2 grains, and the daily amount at 6 grains. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-To produce local anaesthesia upon painful 
parts, or to facilitate examinations and minor operations upon sensitive tissues. 
Other Salts of Cocaine and Related Drugs.-Cocaine Benzoate. This salt forms 
needles which crystallize with difficulty. It is prepared by combining aqueous solutions of 
cocaine (5 parts) and benzoic acid (2 parts). Water freely dissolves it. Benzoyl ecgonine has 
been sold for it. The latter is formed by the action of water and heat upon cocaine. 
Cocaine Nitrate.-Readily soluble, large crystals, devoid of color. It has been recom- 
mended as an agent to use conjointly with silver nitrate to lessen the pain caused by using the 
latter as a caustic. Cocaine hydrochlorate, however, can not be used with silver nitrate, owing 
to the formation of insoluble silver chloride. 
Cocaine Phenate.-A viscid, yellow mass soluble in alcohol, but not in water. On account 
of its being less readily absorbed, Von Oefele has proposed it for use in place of cocaine 
hydrochlorate as a local anaesthetic on mucous surfaces. 
Cocaine Borate contains 68.7 per cent of base. A white crystalline powder, soluble in alco- 
hol, which solution is more permanent than that of cocaine hydrochlorate (Merck's Index, 1896). 
Cocaine Citrate forms a white crystalline powder, hygroscopic and soluble in water. 
It contains 75.7 per cent of cocaine. It is chiefly employed in dental practice. The dose is 
from 2^0 to 1 grain. 
Cocaine Hydrobromate (CuH2iNO4.HBr).-This salt occurs as small, white crystals (see 
Fig. 77). It is soluble in water, and is used in the same sized doses and for the same purposes 
as cocaine hydrochlorate. 
Eucaine.-Two preparations, viz., Eucaine "A" and Eucaine "R", have recently been 
placed upon the market as substitutes for cocaine. 
Eucaine "A" (n-methyl-benzoyltetramethyl-g-oxypiperidincarbonic acid-methylester) is a white, 
crystalline powder, neutral, and soluble in 10 parts of water. It is claimed that it is less toxic 
than cocaine, though the maxium dose (t grain) of the latter should not be exceeded. The 
solution does not, it is asserted, decompose, and may be sterilized without injury to the prepa- 
ration. Claimed of less value for ocular work than the Eucaine " B", on account of the irri- 
tation and hyperemia produced. The following strengths of solutions are directed: Diseases 
of nose, .throat, and ear, 2 to 8 per cent; dentistry, 4 to 9 per cent; minor surgical operations, 
5 per cent; solutions of greater than 9 per cent strength deposit crystals of the drug. 
Eucaine "B" (benzoylvinyldiacetonalkamine) is crystalline, white, neutral, and soluble in 
27 to 28 parts of water; hot water dissolves it more readily. Solutions non-decomposable and 
not affected by sterilization. Claimed to be slightly antibacterial, less toxic than Eucaine 
"A", and 5 times less poisonous than cocaine; does not cause mydriasis and corneal, or accom- 
modation disturbances (as cloudiness of the cornea), but little vascular injection, etc. The 
strength of solutions recommended are: For ocular use, 2per cent, about 4-drop instillations 
shortly before operations, prolonged and repeated applications producing untoward effects; 
infiltration anaesthesia, to 1 per cent; genito-urinary disorders, A to 2 per cent. 
Though conceded to be less toxic than cocaine, eucaine is reported to have produced in- 
toxication through the application of 4 per cent solutions to the throat. F. B. Kellogg, M. D., 
Tacoma, Wash. (Pacific ('oast Journal of Homoeopathy, April, 1897), reports such a case exhibit- 
ing " spasmodic muscular contractions of the arms and legs; " " the heart's action was also 
affected, the pulse becoming rapid and small." Dr. Kellogg regards eucaine as too irritating 
for ordinary application to the eye. The greatest advantage, he concedes, is its value when 
desirable to avoid pupillary dilatation, as in the removal of foreign bodies (the iris acting as a 
back ground in ligh't-colored eyes, thus aiding in the detection of the particle), and for use 
upon the eyes of the elderly with " glaucomatous tendency." It gives one advantage in nasal 
operations, in that, by not causing shrinkage, it allows the operator to ensnare posterior hyper- 
trophies of the inferior turbinated bone, being useful as well in anterior hypertrophies. On the other 
hand, cocaine produces a marked shrinkage of the tissues. As yet the exact therapeutical 
position of the agent can not be stated. 
Tropa-cocaine.-Tropa-cocaine, an alkaloid isolated by Giesel from the narrow-leaved 
variety of Erythroxylon Coca, Lamarck, grown in Java, is, according to Liebermann, benzoyl-pseudo- 
tropeine (C8Hi4NO.C6H5.CO) (see Cocaine). It is also prepared synthetically. The hydrochlo- 
rate is principally used. It occurs in colorless crystals, soluble in water, the solution being 
(claimed) more stable than the corresponding solution of cocaine hydrochlorate. It is reputed 
a local anaesthetic, differing in action from cocaine and other local anaesthetics in not producing 
irritation, hyperemia (occasionally slight and transient hyperemia), or ischemia; furthermore 
it is said to be less toxic and depressing to the cardiac ganglia and to the heart. But little or 
no mydriasis results from its use. Anaesthesia is quickly produced, according to Silex, tenotomy 
having been painlessly performed in less than minute after the application of a 3 per cent 
solution of the hydrochlorate. The usual method of exhibition is the 3 per cent solution of 
tropa-cocaine, in a 0.6 per cent sodium chloride solution, 1 or 2 drops being instilled into the eye. 573 
COCCUS. 
coccus (U. S. P.)-cochineal. 
" The dried female of Coccus cacti, Linne"-(U. S. P.). 
" Class: Insecta. Order: Hemiptera"-(U.S.P.). 
Source.-The cochineal insect, Coccus cacti, belongs to the class Insecta, 
order Hemiptera; the general characters are: Tarsi, with one joint, terminated 
by a single hook. The male is destitute of 
a rostrum, and has two wings covering the 
body horizontally; the abdomen is terminated 
by 2 setae. The female is apterous, and fur- 
nished with a rostrum. The antenme are of 
11 joints, filiform, and setaceous. The males 
are very small, with antennae shorter than 
the body, which is elongated, deep-red, and 
terminated by 2 long, diverging setae. The 
wings are beautifully snow-white, large, and 
crossed above the abdomen. The females are 
nearly twice as large as the males, wingless, 
bluish-red, covered with a white farina, have 
the antennae short, and the body convex and 
flattened below, with short feet. 
History.-The Cochineal insects inhabit 
Mexico, and other parts of tropical America, 
where they feed on the Opuntia and Cactus 
families of plants. They are also cultivated 
extensively in the Canary Islands, and to 
some extent in the West Indies, and have 
been introduced into southern Spain, though 
their cultivation in the latter country is said 
to have been unprofitable. They are collected at various seasons. The best are 
the product of the first collection, which consists of the impregnated females; the 
males not being gathered. Those killed by the heat of a stove are said to be 
superior to those destroyed, by boiling water and sun-dried. 
The insects are protected during the rainy season by coverings placed over 
the cactus plants on which they are feeding. After pleasant weather has returned 
they are taken out and planted or sown on the different species of Opuntia, par- 
ticularly the Opuntia cochinillifera of Miller, known to the Mexican natives as 
nopal. The male insect, which is very rapid in its movements, flies to the female, 
and, after the act of fecundation, the female attaches itself to the plant and 
remains stationary, rapidly enlarging from the development of an immense num- 
ber of eggs within the body, and, in this distorted condition is knocked off the 
plant with feathers and dull knives, and either dipped into hot water and after- 
wards sun-dried, or killed by being placed in heated ovens. A few are left, how- 
ever, to deposit their eggs, shortly after which they die. The eggs, hatching in 
the sun, give an innumerable supply of young insects, which at once distribute 
themselves over the plant and begin feeding, In this manner 3 crops are gathered 
yearly from the nopal plantations. For a full and instructive account of the culti- 
vation of cochineal in Central America, see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1873, p. 30. 
Description.-The U. S. P. thus describes cochineal: "About 5 Mm. (|inch) 
long; of a purplish-gray or purplish-black color; somewhat oblong and angular in 
outline; flat or concave beneath; convex above; transversely wrinkled; easily 
pulverizable, yielding a dark-red powder. Odor faint; taste slightly bitterish. 
Cochineal contains a red coloring matter soluble in water, alcohol, or water of 
ammonia, slightly soluble in ether, insoluble in fixed and volatile oils. On 
macerating cochineal in water it swells up, but no insoluble powder should be 
separated. When completely incinerated, cochineal should leave not more than 
5 per cent of ash"-(U. S. PJ. As met in commerce, cochineal is sometimes cov- 
ered with a white bloom, which, if not due to adulteration, consists of a wax-like 
body (see below). When properly kept it is not liable to deteriorate. There are 
two varieties, silver grains (silver, or Honduras cochineal') and black grains (zaccatilla 
Fig. 79. 
Coccus cacti. 
1. Cochineal insects feeding. 
2. Female Insect. 
3. Male Insect. 574 
COCCUS 
cochinear). The silver cochineal, of a reddish ash-color, is said to be procured 
by destroying the female insect previous to laying its eggs, and is the most 
esteemed; the black cochineal, of nearly a black color, is obtained by killing the 
female after the eggs have been laid (Amer. Jour. Pharm.,Vol. XVIII, p. 47). Ac- 
cording to other statements the silver grains are the product of oven-killed insects, 
or those allowed to perish by sun-heat, while the black grains are produced by 
immersion of the live insect in boiling water. There are also inferior grades, 
consisting chiefly of uncultivated young insects, called granilla (grana sylvestra). 
Dr. Jas. Stark, in 1855, directed attention to a commercial form, called "cake 
cochineal," imported from Cordova, Argentine Republic. However, it possessed 
only £ of the coloring strength of ordinary cochineal. 
Chemical Composition.-Cochineal imparts a violet-red tinge to the saliva. 
It was first analyzed by Pelletier and Caventou, in 1818, and according to Hager 
(Handbuch, 1886), was found by subsequent analyses to contain moisture (about 
6 per cent), fatty matter (15 to 18 per cent), red coloring matter (40 to 45 per 
cent), ash (3.5 to 5 per cent), and insoluble matter (7 to 11 per cent). The red 
coloring matter, first investigated closely by Warren de la Rue, in 1847, has been 
called carminic acid, and, following the later researches of Grabowski and Hlasi- 
wetz, was believed to be a glucosid capable of being resolved by the action of 
diluted sulphuric acid, into carmine-red and sugar. Von Miller and Rohde (1893), 
however, established the non-glucosidal character of this substance. Pure car- 
minic acid, by treatment with boiling dilute sulphuric acid, remained on the 
whole unaffected, although partial decomposition took place, yielding formic acid 
and a strongly reducing substance of unknown composition (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 
1894; from Berichte, 1893). According to Liebermann and Voswinckel (1897), 
carminic acid yields upon oxidation cochenillic acid (C10H8O7) and coccinic acid 
(C9H8O5) which are (tri-and dicarboxyl) derivatives of meta kresol (C6H4.CH3.OH). 
The exact structural formula of carminic acid is not exactly established. 
Carminic acid (carmine-red) usually occurs as a brown-purple body, but may 
be obtained in large, garnet-red crystals by treating good commercial cochineal 
with 5 times its weight of water, filtering, agitating with 20 times its weight of 
glacial acetic acid, filtering again, and allowing the solution to crystallize over sul- 
phuric acid (v. Muller and Rohde). Carminic acid is soluble in alkalies, warm 
water, and alcohol; not soluble in oils and fats; aluminum salts precipitate it in 
the form of a purple-lake. Will and Leymann obtained from 5 kilograms of the 
silver-gray variety of cochineal, 400 to 500 grammes of pure carmine-red. These 
investigators also obtained two bromine compounds (Ci0H4Br4O3 and CnH5Br3O4), 
which are mainly of theoretical interest (see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1886, p. 91). The 
whitish material covering the insect was investigated by Liebermann (1885), who 
found it to be a peculiar wax, soluble in benzol, which he named coccerin, the con- 
stituents of which are coccerylic acid (C31H62O3), melting at about 92° C. (197.6° F.), 
and cocceryl alcohol (C3oH6202), melting at about 104° C. (239.2° F.). Besides, he 
found in cochineal myristin (1.5 to 2 per cent), and liquid fatty oil (4 to 6 per cent). 
Liebermann observed 1 to 2 per cent of coccerin in the silver variety, 0.5 to 1 per 
cent in the black variety, while from granilla (the inferior kind) he obtained 
4.2 per cent (Amer. Jour. Pharm.,1886). 
Adulterations.-Carmine has been adulterated largely with starch, vermilion, 
dichromate of lead, talcum, etc. These additions, however, may be readily de- 
tected by dissolving the cochineal coloring matter with aqua ammoniae, and 
examining the residue for the substances named. E. Donath, in Chern. Ztg., 1891, 
reports on a sample of commercial "ordinary" carmine, which consisted of lead 
oxide and alumina lakes of eosine, and contained much lead sulphate, Another 
specimen ("carmin antik") of good appearance was the barium compound of red 
corailin (related to rosolic acid and rosanilin), leaving, upon ignition, 75 per cent 
of barium carbonate (Amer. Jour. Pharm.). 
Cochineal, especially in powder form, has been adulterated with French chalks, 
plumbago, soapstone, carbonate of lead, manganese dioxide, barium and iron salts, 
etc., to increase the weight, and the grains have even been imitated. The U. S. P., 
as stated before, fixes the upper limit of ash at 5 per cent. We, however, have 
found the majority of commercial specimens (both powdered and whole cochi- 
neal) to exceed this limit by far, the ash often running as high as 25 and 32 per CODEINA. 
575 
cent. A species of Coccus (Coccus ilicis, Fabricius, feeding upon a Mediterranean 
oak (Quercus coccifera, Linne), has been occasionally met as an adulteration. It is 
known as chermes, kermes, or alkermes, and, when dried in the sun after having been 
treated with acetic acid, becomes colored a brown-red, and yields a carmine pow- 
der. producing with tin salt (SnCl2+2H2O) a bright scarlet-red color, similar to 
that derived from true coccus. They are nearly spherical and quite smooth. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Anodyne and antispasmodic. For- 
merly used in whooping-cough and neuralgic affections. Also used to color tinctures 
and ointments, imparting a beautiful carmine hue. Webster (Dynam. Therap., 
p. 431) declares that coccus specifically influences the entire urinary tract and 
directs small doses in renal colic, copious voidings of clear, limpid urine, due to renal 
capillary relaxation, and in vesical tenesmus and urinal retention. He suggests that 
10 to 15 drops of mother tincture be added to 4 fluid ounces of water, and a tea- 
spoonful administered every 2 hours. Dose, from 5 to 10 grains, 3 or'4 times a day. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-"Colica renalis, with dark-colored urine and 
pain extending down ureters to bladder" (Watkins' Comp, of Ec. Med.). 
Derivative.-Carmine (derived from cochineal) is not a definite principle, but contains 
a mixture of nitrogenous compounds, ash, wax, and coloring matter to the extent of as high 
as 60 per cent. It may be prepared by precipitating a filtered cochineal decoction with bitart- 
rate of potassium or alum, and collecting and drying the precipitate at about 30° C. (86° F.). 
Red Ink.-Red ink may be made as follows: Take of cochineal in powder, 160 grains; 
carbonate of potassium, 320 grains; distilled water, 8 fluid ounces; mix together and boil; 
then add of alum, 80 grains; bitartrate of potassium, 2 ounces; let them stand for 24 hours, 
filter, and add 2 ounce of powdered gum Arabic. 
CODEINA (U. s. P.)-codeine. 
Formula: C18H21NO3-|-H2O. Molecular Weight: 316.31. 
Synonyms: Codemum, Codeia, Methyl morphine. 
"An alkaloid obtained from opium"-(U.S.P.). 
Source and History.-Codeine, one of the alkaloidal constituents of opium, 
exists therein in the form of meconate. It was discovered in 1832, by Robiquet, 
and its close chemical relation to morphine (C]7H19NO3), was pointed out by 
Matthiessen and Wright, in 1869, who demonstrated that codeine (C18H21NO3) must 
be considered as methyl morphine. In 1881, Grimaux succeeded in preparing codeine 
synthetically from morphine by heating together equimolecular quantities of 
methyl iodide (CH3I), morphine and sodium hydrate in alcoholic solution. 
O. Hesse also effected the synthesis of codeine from morphine independently 
of Grimaux's discovery, and further methods have since been elaborated by 
A. Knoll and others. 
Preparation.-Directions for preparing codeine from opium are given by 
Hager (Handbuch, 1886) According to this process the hydrochlorates of mor- 
phine and codeine, after being obtained together, are decomposed by caustic pot- 
ash solution, whereby codeine is precipitated, while morphine remains in solution. 
In the process of Robiquet and Anderson these alkaloids are separated by means 
of aqua ammoniae which precipitates the greater part of the morphine, while 
codeine hydrochlorate remains dissolved, crystallizing upon concentration of the 
liquid. From this salt the codeine is liberated by caustic potash, and purified 
(see also Codeina under Opium). 
Description.-" White, or nearly translucent, orthorhombic prisms, or octo- 
hedral crystals, odorless, having a faintly bitter taste, and slightly efflorescent in 
warm air. Soluble at 15° C. (59° F.), in 80 parts of water and in 3 parts of alco- 
hol. In boiling water codeine melts into oily drops which dissolve in 17 parts of 
the water. It is very soluble in boiling alcohol; also soluble in 30 parts of ether, 
and in 2 parts of chloroform. At 100° C. (212° F.), codeine loses its water of 
crystallization (5.67 per cent); at 155° C. (311° F.) it melts, forming a colorless 
liquid; and when ignited it is consumed without leaving a residue. Codeine is 
neutral to litmus paper"-(U.S. P.) 
Codeine, the reverse of morphine, is almost insoluble in concentrated solu- 
tions of caustic soda or potassa. In ammonia water codeine is soluble in the pro- 
portion of about 1 to 85, and morphine 1 to 117. Codeine is also soluble in carbon 576 
CODEINA. 
disulphide, and methylic and amylic alcohol. Recently, M. L. Fouquet suggested 
a method of separating codeine from morphine, based on the difference of solu- 
bility of these alkaloids in anisol (the methyl ether of phenol [C6H5OCH3], boiling 
point 150° C. (302° F.), and sp. g. 0.991), morphine being insoluble and codeine 
soluble in this liquid at ordinary temperature (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1897, p. 158). 
From absolute ether, codeine crystallizes without water of crystallization. With 
acids it forms crystallizable salts, nearly insoluble in ether. Codeine is so strong 
a base that it displaces morphine from its salts. 
Tests.-"If 0.1 Gm. of codeine be dissolved in 6 Cc. of cold, concentrated 
sulphuric acid (free from nitrose), the resulting liquid should be colorless. If 
about 2 Cc. of this solution be poured into a small porcelain capsule, and 1 drop 
of highly diluted nitric acid (made by adding 1 drop of nitric acid to 200 Cc. of 
water) added, a bluish-red tint gradually changing to pale blue will be developed. 
Another portion of the same solution, of about 2 Cc., gently warmed and mixed 
with 1 drop of a mixture of 1 volume of ferric chloride T.S. and 19 volumes of 
water, likewise assumes a bluish or blue tint (difference from morphine). On 
adding to 5 Cc. of an aqueous solution of codeine (1 in 100), 10 drops of bromine 
water, and shaking so as to redissolve the precipitate formed, the liquid will 
gradually develop a light claret-red tint. This tint may be developed at once by 
the addition of ammonia water. On sprinkling 0.05 Gm. of codeine upon 2 Cc. of 
nitric acid (specific gravity 1.200), the crystals will turn red, but the acid, even 
when warmed, will acquire only a yellow color (difference from and absence of 
morphine) "-(U. S. P.). 
Unlike morphine, codeine does not liberate iodine from iodic acid. Frohde's 
Reagent (a solution of 1 gram of sodium molybdate in 1 liter of water), dissolves 
codeine with a dirty-green color which soon turns blue, fading to yellow only 
after many hours. A characteristic test for codeine is that proposed by L. Raby, 
which, according to the Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1886, p. 495 (from Jour. Pharm. Chim., 
1884), is executed as follows: Rub a small quantity of codeine with 2 drops of a 
solution of sodium hypochlorite on a watch crystal, and add 4 drops of concen- 
trated sulphuric acid. A beautiful sky-blue color is then produced. No other 
alkaloid is known to produce the same reaction. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Codeine acts specifically upon the 
vagus. When pure it is probable that large doses of it may be taken without 
decided physiological effects. However, that is denied by some investigators. 
That the commercial product varies greatly is generally accepted, and by the 
majority of observers the effects of commercial codeine are mainly attributed to 
its impurities, the adherent alkaloidal bases. Owing to its great variability the 
smaller amounts should always be given as a beginning dose and the drug in- 
creased until its desired action is obtained. While as high as 8 grains have been 
given in 24 hours without pronounced effects, 4 grains have, in another instance, 
caused almost fatal results (Myrtle, Br. Med. Jour., 1874). Among the effects of 
codeine are the following: Small doses of grain seldom occasion constipation, 
nausea, or vomiting, but produce a calmative effect, followed by a peaceful and 
refreshing slumber, without producing skin eruptions or perspiration. Large 
doses, from 1^ to 2 grains, produce first a sense of exhilaration, quickly followed 
by depression with nausea, vomiting, anxiety,- giddiness, tremor, dullness of intel- 
lect, cerebral fullness and heaviness, and cold, pale, and moist skin. The pulse is 
slightly quickened, the pupils somewhat contracted, and delirious wakefulness is 
added to the unpleasantness. 
Codeine in ^-grain doses, increasing as indicated, has been used in the treat- 
ment of the opium habit-being a substitute for the latter agent and the morphine 
salts. It was introduced into medicine chiefly on account of its beneficial effects 
in diabetes, both simple and saccharine. Much evidence has been produced to 
show that it lessens both the amount of urine secreted and the quantity of glucose 
produced. However, it has not by any means proved of universal application in 
these disorders. Large quantities of codeine are used in France as a calmative to 
take the place of opium, to which it is inferior in power, and over which it has 
the advantage of being, in ordinary doses, practically non-constipating. It is a 
favorite with some as a calmative in restlessness and insomnia, and as a quieting 
agent in cough, and particularly that of phthisis, being employed where opium is 577 
COLCHICUM. 
not well tolerated, and is regarded as superior to the latter from the fact that it 
does not irritate the stomach, nor disorder digestion. In doses of from A to 1 
grain, it is anodyne and antispasmodic, without acting as a soporific. For this 
purpose it has been employed in painful abdominal disorders, as enteralgia, and in 
painful diseases of the genito-urinary tract, in pain due to structural disease or to obstruc- 
tions, and as a remedy for neuralgic, rheumatic, and various paroxysmal pains. It is 
especially adapted for the relief of mild pain from, ovarian irritation. 
Although inferior to morphine for allaying pain, and necessarily given in 
larger doses, in many respects it is superior to it in its effects, never causing 
heavy agitated sleep, perspirations, eruptions of the skin, obstinate constipation, 
retching, vomiting, nor disturbance of digestion when given in the smaller doses. 
Its earlier application was in nervous diseases of the stomach, in the stubborn and 
harrassing coughs of bronchitis and consumption, in violent rheumatic and gouty pains, 
and in the pains of cancer. 
The beginning dose of codeine is grain, increased as indicated, and may be 
administered in powder, pill, or syrupy mixtures. The sulphate and hydro- 
chlorate are given for similar purposes and in like doses, while the phosphate, in 
doses of about £ to A grain, may be given hypodermatically. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-A calmative where opium is apparently 
indicated, but not well tolerated. Insomnia, and particularly when sleep is pre- 
vented by cough; cough, constant and irritating; abdominal pain; diabetes. 
Related Salt.-Codeine Phosphate is official in the German Pharmacopoeia, which de- 
mands that this product when heated to 100° C., should lose about 8 per cent of its weight. 
The salt forms white needles of bitter taste, quite soluble in water, less so in alcohol. It is 
obtained by neutralizing codeine with phosphoric acid and crystallizing from water, or precipi- 
tating the solution with alcohol. Prof. E. Schmidt has demonstrated that under these condi- 
tions a salt of the composition CisH2iNO3.H3PO44-2H2O results, while, when crystallized from 
hot dilute alcohol its composition is represented by the formula 2(CisH2iNO3.H3PO4)+H2O 
(Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1890, p. 445). 
Derivatives.-Apocodeine (Ci8lIi9NO2). Matthiessen and Wright obtained this body by 
heating codeine hydrochlorate with zinc chloride in excess to a temperature of 180° C. (356° F). 
More recently, W. Gbhlich produced the same substance by acting with alcoholic caustic 
potash under pressure upon chlorocodid (Ci8H2nClNO2), a chlorine substitution product of codeine 
(see Archiv. dec Pharm., 1893, pp. 235-290). Apocodeine is an amorphous mass, soluble in alco- 
hol, chloroform, and ether, and acts as an emetic and expectorant like apomorphine, being 
more stable than the latter body. A perfectly neutral solution may be used hypodermatically. 
The dose is about J grain. Large doses may produce death, preceded by emesis and coma. 
Pseudo-codeine (Ci8H2iNO3 + H2O).-Merck, in 1890, obtained this body as a by-product 
in the manufacture of apocodeine, and proved it to be an isomer of codeine. W. Gbhlich 
(Archiv. der Pharm., 1893) demonstrated its being identical with a crystallizable body which he 
obtained by heating codeine with a mixture of an equal volume of sulphuric acid and water. 
The amorphous form qf this substance Gbhlich found to be identical with the " amorphous 
codeine " of Armstrong, the melting point of these bodies being 180°C. (356° F.). Robert states 
that the physiological effects of pseudo-codeine are similar to those of codeine. 
COLCHICUM.-COLCHICUM. 
The corm and seeds of Colchicum autumnate, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Liliacese. 
Common Name: Meadow saffron. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 287. 
Botanical Source.-This plant has a large, ovate, solid, fleshy corm (tuber, 
according to some authors). The leaves are dark-green, very smooth, obtuse, 
above a foot long, 1| inches broad, keeled, and produced in the spring along with 
the capsules. The flowers are several, radical, leafless, and bright purple, with a 
long, white tube appearing in the autumn without the leaves. The capsules 3 
and distinct, though forming together a single, oblong, elliptical fruit, with inter- 
mediate fissures. The seeds are whitish and polished (L.). 
History.-Colchicum grows in meadows and low, rich soils in many parts of 
Europe, and is common to England. The herb is annual, but the bulb is annual 
or perennial, according to the manner in which the plant is propagated, which 
may be from the seed, by the formation of a single mature bulb from a parent 
bulb, or by the separation of several immature bulbs from the parent. A brief 578 
COLCHICUM. 
reference to its mode of development may be useful: "In June or July a new 
bulb about the size of a grain of wheat is formed at the lower end of the old one, 
in close approximation with its radicles; this little bulb increases with rapidity, 
and at the same time sends up a leafless flower-stem. Toward the first of October 
a lilac, or pale-purple, flower springs from the ground, the germen 
remaining at the base of the corolla tube, but the leaves do not 
appear until early in the ensuing spring, at which time the germen, 
consisting of 3 many-seeded capsules, is elevated, and the seeds are 
matured during midsummer, after wrhich the plant speedily withers. 
While the flower is rising in the autumn, the bulb is very small, but 
in the winter it grows rapidly, being in April as large as a chestnut, 
and attaining its greatest size, about that of a small apricot, in July. 
It is now a year old, and the herb having matured its seed, is wither- 
ing away, but a new bulb appears at the lower end, close to its junc- 
tion with the radicles or root proper, and passes through a similar 
succession of changes; while the old parent bulb gradually becomes 
more spongy and watery, but retains its size until the following 
April, the second spring of its own existence, when it quickly de- 
cays" (C.). 
Description.-Colchici Radix (17. S'. P.\ Colchicum root. "About 
25 Mm. (1 inch) long, ovoid, flattish, and with a groove on one side; externally 
brownish and wrinkled ; internally white and solid; often in transverse slices, 
reniform in shape, and, breaking with a short, mealy fracture; inodorous; taste 
sweetish, bitter, and somewhat acrid"-(U. S. P.). 
Colchici Semen (U. S. P.\ Colchicum seed.-" Subglobular, about 2 Mm. (r? 
inch) thick, very slightly pointed at the hilum; reddish-brown, finely pitted, 
internally whitish; very hard and tough; inodorous; taste bitter and somewhat 
acrid"-(U. S.P.). 
The seeds and the bulb are the official parts of the plant. The bulbs are 
usually collected about the beginning of July, but are said to attain their greatest 
perfection while the plant is flowering, or just after blossoming, at which time 
colchicum should be gathered for medicinal use. The odor is hircine (stinking 
like a goat), and the taste bitter, acrid, and nauseous. In drying, the bulb is 
usually cut into thin transverse slices, having first been stripped of its external 
dark brownish-black membranous tegument, and is dried quickly; sometimes it 
is dried entire. Good colchicum bulbs, when dried, are capable of changing their 
color to blue if softened with distilled vinegar, and then touched with tincture of 
guaiacum. Stained or mouldy bulbs should be rejected. Their virtues are im- 
parted to alcohol, vinegar, or wine. The acetic tincture is often preferred to the 
vinous, as it is not so liable to change or decomposition. Acids render the vinous 
tincture drastic, while alkalies render its operation milder. The decoction of the 
fresh bulb forms, with a solution of iodine, a deep-blue precipitate (iodide of 
starch); with perchloride of iron, a faint bluish tint (gallate of iron); with sub- 
acetate of lead, or mercurous nitrate, a copious white precipitate; with nitrate of 
silver, a white precipitate, which soon becomes black; with tannin, a very slight, 
dirty-looking precipitate; and with a solution of gelatin, a slight haziness (P.). 
It was formerly supposed that the medicinal virtues of the seeds resided in the 
husk or cortical part, and it was advised not to bruise them in making the tinc- 
ture, but experiments have proved that the bruised seeds yield the strongest 
tincture. Their properties are similar with those of the bulb, and, as they are 
considered more uniform in strength than the bulb, they are usually preferred. 
Chemical Composition.-Of general plant constituents, colchicum bulbs 
contain gum, starch (more than one-fourth their weight), sugar, resin, tannin, 
and water (as high as 70 per cent). A volatile principle present in the fresh 
bulb, and to which its odor is due, is dissipated in drying. Fatty oil occurs in 
the seeds; Fliickiger found 6.6 per cent, Rosenwasser 8.4 per cent. The peculiar 
constituent, common to all parts of the plant (bulbs, seeds, and flowers), is colchi- 
cine, concerning which there has been much discussion. Pelletier and Caventou 
(1820) thought it identical with veratrine, but Geiger and Hesse demonstrated it 
to be different. These and other investigators, however, describe it as a crystal- 
lizable body, but colchicine, as now established through the researches of Aschoff', 
Fig. 80. 
Colchicum au- 
tumnale. 579 
COLCHICUM. 
Bley, Oberlin, Hiibler, Maisch, Hertel, and Zeisel, can not be obtained in crystal- 
line form. Oberlin, in 1856, made the discovery that, by evaporation of an acidu- 
lated solution of colchicine, a crystallizable body is formed, to which he affixed 
the name colchiceine. This is most probably the substance described by the earlier 
chemists. Hiibler, in 1865, arrived at the conclusion that colchicine and colchi- 
ceine were isomeric bodies, which was proved erroneous by the more recent inves- 
tigations of Zeisel. 
Hertel, in 1881, gave a process for the extraction of colchicine from the seeds, 
by which he obtained 0.4 per cent of pure colchicine. Aschoff had previously 
obtained about 0.2 per cent from seeds and 0.085 per cent from the bulb. Hertel 
also investigated the resinous coloring matter accompanying colchicine, to which 
he gave the name colchico-resin. He found it to be a decomposition product of 
colchicine due to exposure to the air, or to higher temperature, in a moist condi- 
tion. He found it especially in the dead leaves surrounding the tubers, and in 
dried seeds and tubers. Bcta-colchico-resin he observed in the process of making 
colchiceine from colchicine by means of diluted hydrochloric acid. Houdes, in 
1885, concluded that he obtained crystallized colchicine, a point that S. Zeisel had, 
however, cleared, in 1883, by demonstrating that colchicine crystallizes from chlo- 
roformic solutions in the form of a chloroform compound. To Zeisel and Johanny 
(1888) is finally due the credit of having established the accurate formulae for 
colchicine and colchiceine, and the chemical relationship the substances bear to 
each other. 
Colchicine (C^H^NOe, or Ci5H9.[OCH3]3.NHCH3CO.COOCH3) is the methyl- 
ester of colchiceine (2C2iH23NO6+H2O, or Ci5H9.[OCH3]3.NHCH3CO.COOH), the lat- 
ter (crystallizable) body being formed by heating colchicine with dilute mineral 
acids, whereby methyl alcohol is split off. The question whether colchicine is an 
alkaloid, has been much debated. It is certain, however, that colchicine has 
weak basic properties, and yields precipitates with some alkaloidal reagents, yet, 
as a rule, it does not combine with acids to form a salt. Zeisel succeeded in 
establishing an exception by forming a double salt with gold chloride. Zeisel's 
colchicine melts at 143° C. (282.6° F.), Hertel describes colchicine as a sulphur- 
yellow body, impossible to crystallize, possessing a very slight alkaline reaction, 
but very indifferent body, the only noteworthy and insoluble compound being 
that with tannic acid. Colchicine is soluble in water, alcohol, and chloroform, 
hardly soluble in ether and benzol. Nitric acid has been recommended as the 
best reagent for the detection of colchicine, yielding a violet coloration. A mix- 
ture of nitric and sulphuric acids produces a series of colors changing from green 
to dark blue, violet and yellow {Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1888, p. 569). 
Colchiceine is described by Hertel as occurring in white and odorless crystals, 
readily soluble in alcohol, chloroform, and caustic potash, with yellow color; the 
fusing point is 150° C. (298° F.). With ferric chloride it yields a beautiful green 
coloration even in greatly diluted solution. The alcoholic solution feebly reddens 
litmus. Zeisel states that it has the double character of a weak base and an acid, 
which behavior its formula sufficiently explains. Like colchicine, it forms a 
double salt with gold chloride. Hiibler, on the other hand, has prepared salts of 
colchiceine with bases. With the exception of the salts with alkalies, these com- 
pounds are insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol and chloroform. 
Apocolchiceine was obtained by Zeisel (1883) by heating colchiceine with diluted 
hydrochloric acid, methyl chloride being disengaged in the reaction. It has both 
basic and acid properties, and was first observed as a by-product, and obtained 
from colchicine in the preparation of colchiceine. H. Warnecke found in colchi- 
cum seeds 2.66 per cent of ash. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Colchicum in small doses is stimu- 
lant, increasing the secretions of the skin, kidneys, liver, and bowels. Epigastric 
heat, eructations, and a sense of nausea accompany the administration of a large 
dose or several moderate doses. If the medicine be continued a coated tongue, 
anorexia, colicky pains, intestinal gurgling, and diarrhoea may result. Large 
doses occasion bilious vomiting, colic, tenesmus, and bloody mucoid evacuations, 
accompanied with anal heat. Toxic doses act as an acronarcotic poison, produc- 
ing violent gastro-intestinal symptoms much like those of cholera-headache, 
vomiting, griping pain in the bowels, diarrhoea, painful cramps of the muscles 580 
COLLINSONIA. 
and feet, collapse, decreased circulation, and death, probably from cardiac syncope. 
Colchicine is a powerful poison, and should rarely be used. Medicinally, colchi- 
cum is sedative, cathartic, diuretic, and emetic. Used in gout and gouty rheumatism, 
dropsy, palpitation of the heart, gonorrhoea, enlarged prostate, etc. Care must be had in 
its employment, it sometimes increases the uric acid in the urine of arthritic 
patients; and has been beneficially employed in febrile, inflammatory, and nervous 
affections, and in chronic bronchial complaints. Equal parts of tincture of colchicum 
and laudanum have been found efficient in some cases of gonorrhoea. The repu- 
tation of colchicum rests most largely upon its value in gout and the condi- 
tions hinging upon a gouty diathesis. It is, perhaps, better adapted to acute 
than chronic gout. By its eliminative powers it removes from the system the 
morbid material upon which the gout depends. As a rule many of the failures 
to remedy this condition have been due to the fact that too large doses of colchi- 
cum have been employed. The dose will vary, however, some cases requiring 
larger doses than others, but in all cases the administration should be short of 
producing a free action from the bowels, the best effects being obtained from its 
slow and silent action. Asa remedy for rheumatism it has been less employed. 
In cardiac rheumatism it may be alternated with the alkalies where the latter are 
indicated. The wine of colchicum may be given in 10-drop doses, or drop doses 
of specific colchicum may be given every 4 hours. As a rheumatism remedy it 
acts equally well in the acute and chronic conditions, provided the temperature 
and pulse be first brought almost to normal by means of other agents. Tearing 
muscular pain- is the indication for it. It is efficient in rheumatic iritis and in 
chronic rheumatism when there is effusion into the joints and tearing pain aggra- 
vated by, heat, and the joints present a swollen condition. Dysmenorrhcea and 
hepatic enlargements are also remedied by it when associated with a gouty diathesis. 
Large doses should never be used, and the action of the drug should always be 
carefully watched. Prof. Scudder employed small doses for intestinal disturbances 
with gaseous accumulation, as in colic from intestinal irritation. It has been used 
in subacute and chronic sciatica where the pain is " sharp-shooting, tearing, or dull- 
aching" from back to hip and down the leg, fever *being absent. " It is not the 
kind of pain so much as its position" (Dr. L. A. Kelley). 
A good acetic tincture may be made by macerating 1| ounces of the dried 
bulb, or seeds, in 12 fluid ounces of the strongest vinegar for 14 days. Then filter 
and keep in well-stoppered bottles. The dose for an adult is from 10 to 60 drops 
as often as may be required. An acetic extract may be prepared, containing all 
the powers of the plant, by rubbing the fresh bulbs to a pulp to the quantity of 
a pound, and gradually adding acetic acid, 3 fluid ounces. Express the liquid, 
and evaporate it in an earthen vessel not glazed with lead, to the proper consist- 
ence; the dose is from 1 to 3 grains, 3 or 4 times a day. Dose of the dried bulb, 
from 1 to 10 grains, gradually increased every 4 or 6 hours, till the influence of 
the medicine is obtained. Wine of colchicum, 10 to 20 drops; English wine of 
colchicum, 5 to 10 drops; tincture of root, 10 to 60 drops; tincture of seed, 10 to 40 
drops; specific colchicum 1 to 10 drops; colchicine, grain twice a day. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Gout; gouty diathesis; rheumatism, pain 
tearing and aggravated by heat, to be used after sedation has been accomplished; 
pain in course of the nerves; gouty headaches with swellings of joints, constipa- 
tion, and nervousness; sudden tearing pain from back to hip, and down limbs, 
without fever. 
COLLINSONIA.-STONE-ROOT. 
The fresh root and plant Collinsonia canadensis, Linne 
Nat. Ord.-Labiatae. 
Common Names: Stone-root, Rich-weed, Rich-leaf, Knob-weed, Knob-root, Horse- 
balm, Horse-weed, and improperly as Hardhack and Heal-all. 
Illustrations: Meehan's Native Flowers and Ferns, II, 165; Millspaugh's Ameri- 
can Medicinal Plants, Pl. 119. 
Botanical Source.-Collinsonia is a perennial herb, having a square stem, 
smooth, or slightly pubescent, somewhat branching at the top, and growing from 
2 to 4 feet high. The leaves are large, coarsely serrated, ovate, acuminate, lower COLLINSONIA. 
581 
ones petiolate, upper ones nearly sessile. The flowers, appearing in summer and 
early fall, are greenish-yellow, and are arranged in a terminal paniculate raceme. 
The corolla, funnel-shaped, is 2-lipped, with throat expanded, the lower lip being 
larger and fringed. The stamens, usually 2, are much exserted. The flowers exhale 
a balsamic odor, somewhat suggestive of the lemon, and the whole plant when 
bruised also gives this odor, which is rather disagreeable, especially in the root. 
History.-Collinsonia is found in damp, shady situations, and in rich, moist 
woods, from Canada to Florida, and flowering from July to September. The 
whole plant has a peculiar, lemon-like, balsamic odor, rather disagreeable in the 
root, and a spicy, pungent taste. The fresh root, which is the part chiefly employed 
in Eclectic medicine, is exceedingly hard, requiring to be crushed in an iron mor- 
tar. in order to prepare it for pharmaceutical manipulation. It has a sharp, spicy 
taste. Water and alcohol extract its virtues, but boiling destroys its medicinal 
properties, as its active principle is evanescent. It is most familiar under the name 
Stone-root, because of the hardness of its root, and not, as stated by Johnson 
(Med. Bot.f on account of its having been formerly used in calculous affections. 
This plant was named in honor of Peter Collinson, an English merchant, botanist, 
and antiquarian, who introduced many American trees, shrubs, and plants into 
English gardens. 
Chemical Composition.-Collinsonia has been analyzed by Mr. Lochman 
(Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1885), and was found to contain resin, starch, tannin, wax in 
all parts of the plant, mucilage in the root, and volatile oil in the leaves. The thera- 
peutic constituent or constituents of collinsonia have never been recorded if deter- 
mined. The old Eclectic concentration (or resinoid), has long since become obso- 
lete in the practice of modern Eclectics. It is a mixture of uncertain composition. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Collinsonia is said to be alterative, 
tonic, stimulant, and diuretic. It acts principally on the venous system and 
mucous tissues, and undoubtedly has a marked action on the vagus, relieving 
irritation in parts to which that nerve is distributed. Minute doses of the green 
plant will promptly provoke emesis. The warm infusion will induce perspira- 
tion. It has long been a popular domestic remedy for various disorders. The 
bruised leaves were applied as a poultice in bxcrns, bruises, wounds, ulcers, sores, 
sprains, contusions, and for internal abdominal ailments. The root was used in 
female complaints, piles, urinary diseases, and gastro-intestinal affections. 
The remedy has been used with varying degrees of success by the profession 
in female disorders, as amenorrhoea, dysmenorrhoea, menorrhagia, vicarious menstrua- 
tion, prolapsus uteri, leucorrhoea, threatened abortion, and pruritis vulvae, dependent on 
varicosis. 
Stone-root, being diuretic and tonic, was formerly much used in genito- 
urinary troubles. It was highly thought of in calculous diathesis. While very 
much overrated, it is probable that it was not without beneficial results in toning 
the renal organs and allaying irritation consequent upon the presence of gravel. 
It is certainly a good remedy in vesical catarrh. Good results have come from its 
employment in spermatorrhoea and varicocele, when accompanied by piles. Catar- 
rhal conditions, whether of renal, vesical, or genito-urinary organs, or of the respira- 
tory mucous surfaces, are speedily benefited by it. Even the cough of phthisis is 
rendered much less harassing by its administration. 
One of the first uses of collinsonia by Eclectics was in the treatment of that 
form of laryngitis known as "minister's sore throat." For this condition it is the 
best agent we possess. It is equally valuable in other forms of chronic laryngitis, 
pharyngitis, and in some cases of chronic bronchitis, and tracheitis. It is an excellent 
remedy for aphonia, resulting from vascular hyperemia, or from congestion. In 
throat troubles: R Specific collinsonia, flsii to flsj; simple syrup, q. s., flsiv. Mix. 
Sig. Teaspoonful every 3 or 4 hours. 
In diseases of the gastro-intestinal tract, it is beneficial in relieving irritation, 
improving the appetite, promoting the flow of gastric juice, and in exerting a 
decided tonic effect upon the organs involved. It is more clearly indicated when 
piles are present as a complication. It is a good remedy in indigestion, irritative dys- 
pepsia, chronic gastritis, chronic gastric catarrh, diarrhoea, dysentery, colic, and spasmodic 
conditions of the stomach and intestines. By its tonic action upon the bowels, it is a 
valuable remedy for constipation. Perhaps one of the most direct indications for 582 
COLLODIUM. 
collinsonia, is a hemorrhoidal and constipated state due to vascular engorgement 
of the pelvic viscera. The most marked symptoms calling for it will be a sense 
of constriction, heat, and weight in the rectum, with dry, scybalous feces. Under 
these conditions the remedy gives marked relief, especially in pregnant women. 
In rectal ailments g've the small dose: R Specific collinsonia, gtt. x to xv; aqua, 
fl5iv. Mix. Sig. Teaspoonful every 3 or 4 hours. It is useful also in hemorrhoids 
where there is rectal irritation, with the feces partly scybalous and partly semi- 
fluid, no constipation being present. Prof. Scudder has found it to effect cures in 
doses of 1 or 2 drops of specific collinsonia in water, repeated 3 or 4 times a day. 
Subacute proctitis, the tenesmus accompanying dysentery, and. dysenteric cholera infan- 
tum, rectal pain and inflammation following surgical operations in that region, irri- 
tation attending anal fistulas, rectal ulcers and pockets are all relieved by collinsonia, 
the latter conditions, however, being only palliated by it. It relieves neurotic 
pains in the rectal region, though no appreciable lesion be observed, and certain 
forms of hypogastric pain are relieved by it when not due to bladder trouble. All 
of these pains are more amenable to it when associated with rectal capillary con- 
gestion. Prof. J. M. Scudder valued this agent very highly as a stimulant and 
tonic in cases of atonic dyspepsia, and in chronic disease with feeble digestion, 
increasing secretion from the kidneys and skin, and in a marked manner reliev- 
ing irritation of the nervous system and increasing innervation. In chronic dis- 
eases of the respiratory apparatus it relieves pulmonary irritation and acts as a 
stimulating expectorant. In irritation of the pneumogastric nerve, heart disease, and 
that peculiarly distressing asthma simulating, and sometimes attending phthisis, 
he has observed more particularly its superior influence in quieting irritation, 
giving increased strength and regularity to the heart's action, and increasing the 
strength of the patient. Collinsonia acts upon the tissues and valves of the 
heart, relieving irritation, increasing its power to act, and regulating its contrac- 
tions. It is a serviceable drug in hydropericardium, rheumatic heart troubles, and 
functional disturbances due to irritation of the stomach. Mitral regurgitation and 
the distressing cough of heart disease, are greatly benefited by its administration. 
R Specific collinsonia, gtt.iij every hour. Lack of tonicity of the blood vessels 
is overcome by collinsonia. In short, passive vascular engorgement with dilated 
capillaries, torpid portal circulation, and lack of muscular tonicity, call for stone- 
root. The keynote is a sense of weight and constriction in the part affected. 
Foltz uses collinsonia in ear diseases with increased secretions non-purulent 
in character, failing to get good results after suppuration ensues; he also employs 
it in the early stage of middle ear disorders when follicular pharyngitis and hyper- 
trophied Luschka's glands are complications. 
Other species of Collinsonia probably possess similar virtues. Dose of the in- 
fusion, from | to 2 fluid ounces. Webster prefers a strong tincture of the green 
plant to that of the root, in doses of a fraction of a drop to 5 drops in acute cases, 
4 or 5 times a day in chronic troubles; specific collinsonia (root),^ to 15 drops, the 
smaller dose being preferable in hemorrhoids; tincture, 10 to 30 drops 4 times a day. 
Collinsonin.-This concentration is a light-brown powder resembling snuff in 
appearance, and has a slightly bitter, sharp taste. It is but little used. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Prof. Scudder points out as indications for 
this drug, "a sense of constriction, with irritation in throat, larynx, or anus; a 
sense of constriction with tickling in throat, with cough arising from use of the 
voice; a sensation as if a foreign body were lodged in the rectum, with contraction 
of sphincter, and contracted and painful perineum." Sticking pain in the larynx, 
heart, or bladder; contracted abdomen; vesical tenesmus; minister's sore throat. 
COLLODIUM (U. S. P.)-COLLODION. 
Preparation.-"Pyroxylin, thirty grammes (30 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 25 grs.]; 
ether, seven hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl?, 173TTL]; alco- 
hol, two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl?, 218Hl.]. To the 
pyroxylin, contained in a suitable bottle, add the ether, and let it stand for 15 
minutes; then add the alcohol, and shake the bottle until the pyroxylin is dis- 
solved. Cork the bottle well, and set it aside until the liquid has become clear. 583 
COLLODIUM CANTHARIDATUM. 
Then decant the clear portion from any sediment which may have formed, and 
transfer it to bottles, which should be well corked. Keep the collodion in cork- 
stoppered bottles, in a cool place, remote from lights or fire"-(U. S. P.). The 
U. S. P. process of earlier years prepared both the pyroxylin and the collodion at 
one operation. The present official process wisely directs the use of ready-pre- 
pared pyroxylin (see Pyroxylinum). 
Description.-Collodion is a colorless, thickish liquid, having a neutral reac- 
tion, an ether-like odor and taste, and unless it be kept in well-secured vessels, it 
thickens and becomes unfit for surgical use, frequently depositing acicular crys- 
tals of gun-cotton. When prepared from gun-cotton slightly decomposed, it has 
an acid reaction, and yields an opaque residue, which is not adhesive, and conse- 
quently useless (see Pyroxylinum). 
Action and Medical Uses.-When placed upon the surface of the body, the 
part being dry, by evaporation of the ether, a transparent, extremely electric and 
adhesive film is left, forming an artificial epidermis; in drying, the collodion con- 
tracts very strongly, producing local pressure. By thus limiting in a measure 
the supply of blood, it aids in allaying congestion and inflammation, and mate- 
rially reduces pain. It has been successfully used in sore nipples, erysipelatous 
diseases, leech-bites, bee-stings, ulcers, burns, wounds, abrasions, and several cutaneous 
diseases, over which, when applied, it forms a coating impervious to air, and not 
affected by water. It forms a good compressor in orchitis, felons, and sprains, and 
acts well as a splint in fractures of small bones, like those of the nose. It is largely 
used to protect wounds and abrasions upon the hands of those engaged in dissect- 
ing dead bodies, or in performing surgical and gynaecological operations. It may 
be placed upon the part by means of a camel's hair brush, or by layers of thin 
muslin. In ulcerations around the neck of the uterus, collodion has been found 
beneficial, forming, after the evaporation of the ether, a thin film or coating over 
the ulcers, thus protecting them from atmospheric influence, and from the vaginal 
secretions, and facilitating their healing. Collodion is said to have given instant 
relief in chilblains. In many instances, collodion is not commendable, on account 
of its powerful contraction, which, however, may be obviated by adding to a solu- 
tion of 1 drachm of gun-cotton in 2^ ounces of ether, 1 drachm of Venice turpen- 
tine. M. Sourisseau renders collodion more pliable by adding part of elemi 
to it. This same property is imparted to it, as stated by M. Startin, by adding 
| or of an ethereal solution of animal fat. Collodion may likewise be prepared 
pliable and without any tendency to crack or break, by the following formula: 
Take of collodion, 30 grammes; castor-oil and soft turpentine, of each 50 centi- 
grammes. This is similar in composition to the official Collodium Flexile, which 
was designed for use where great compression is not desirable. 
Related Bodies.-Photoxylon. A nitro-cellulose, prepared from wood pulp by process 
of nitration, similar to that for preparing collodion. It is completely dissolved by a mixture 
of equal amounts of strong ether and alcohol, Upon evaporation a 3 per cent solution leaves 
a tough collodion-like film (Beringer, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1888, p. 225). This agent is preferred 
by some to collodium, as being more impermeable to fluids, adheres better, and exerts a more 
equal compression of the parts to which it is applied. It is applicable to small genital and 
facial wounds, etc. 
Kauri Gum.- An exudation from the Dammara australis, of New Zealand. When freshly 
exuded it has little value, but after lying in the soil for a time it is dug and then becomes 
useful, it is an amber-like body, varying in color from cream to amber. When distilled 
it yields an oil which is chiefly terpene. A solution of this gum in an equal quantity of 
alcohol (90 per cent) forms Baume Caledonien, a substitute for collodion and for soluble glass. 
This solution has been lauded in the treatment of wounds, ulcers, and in eczematous and simi- 
lar skin diseases. It leaves an insoluble varnish upon the parts to which it is applied, the 
film not being easily removed even by friction. 
COLLODIUM CANTHARIDATUM (U. S. P.)-CANTHARIDAL 
COLLODION. 
Synonyms: Blistering collodion, Collodium vesicans, Collodium cantharidale. 
Preparation.-"Cantharides, in No. 60 powder, sixty grammes (60 Gm.) 
[2 ozs. av.,51 grs.]; flexible collodion, eighty-five grammes (85 Gm.) [2 ozs. av., 
437 grs.]; chloroform, a sufficient quantity ; to make one hundred grammes (100 584 
COLLLODIl M FLEXILE.-COLLODIUM STYPTICUM. 
Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]. Pack the cantharides firmly in a cylindrical perco- 
lator, and gradually pour chloroform upon it, until the powder is exhausted. 
Recover the chloroform by distillation from a water-bath, and evaporate the 
residue, in a capsule, on a water-bath, until it weighs fifteen grammes (15 Gm.) 
[231 grs.]. Dissolve this in the flexible collodion, and set it aside to become 
clear by settling. Finally pour off the clear portion from any sediment which 
may have formed, and transfer it to bottles, which should be securely corked. 
Keep the cantharidal collodion in cork-stoppered bottles, in a cool place, remote 
from lights or fire "-( U. S. P.). 
Action and Medical Uses.-Cantharidal collodion is used as a vesicant. As 
an epispastic it is preferred to cantharidal cerate, which it equals in power, being 
better adapted to uneven parts, and retaining itself better in position. The parts 
having been well cleansed and dried the blistering agent maybe applied by means 
of a brush, and if, after evaporation of the ether, the parts are not thoroughly cov- 
ered, it may be reapplied. If covered with oiled silk quicker results may be 
obtained. 
COLLODIUM FLEXILE (U. S. P.)-FLEXIBLE COLLODION. 
Preparation. - Collodion, nine hundred and twenty grammes (920 Gm.) 
[2 lbs. av., 198 grs.] ; Canada turpentine, fifty grammes (50 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 334 
grs.]; castor oil, thirty grammes (30 Gm.) [1 oz. av.,25 grs.]; to make one thou- 
sand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]. Weigh the ingredients, 
successively, into a fared bottle, and mix them thoroughly. Keep the product in 
cork-stoppered bottles, in a cool place, remote from lights or fire. 
Description.-Flexible collodion closely resembles collodion in appearance. 
When evaporated it forms a film which is barely contractile and is elastic. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Flexible collodion is intended for use chiefly as 
a protective, where the strongly contractile properties of collodion are not desir- 
able. Like the other collodions it may be applied with a camel's hair brush. 
Croton oil, cantharides, iodine, salicylic acid, chromic acid, corrosive sublimate, 
zinc, iron, and copper salts, tannin, etc., are sometimes incorporated with flexible 
collodion. On account of the intimate contact producedin this way, great care 
should be exercised in the use of these agents. 
Medicated Flexible Collodions. -Collodium Iodatum. (N.F.) Iodized collodion. Formu- 
lary number, 24: " Iodine, reduced to powder, 5 grammes (5 Gm.) [77 grs.]; flexible collodion 
( U. S. P.), ninety-five grammes (95 Gm.) [3 ozs. av.,154 grs.]. Introduce the iodine into a bot- 
tle, add the flexible collodion and agitate until the iodine is dissolved" (Nat. Form). 
Collodium Iodoformatum . (N.F.) Iodoform collodion. Formulary number, 25: "Iodoform, 
five grammes (5 Gm.) [77 grs.]; flexible collodion (U. S. P.), ninety-five grammes (95 Gm.) 
[3 ozs. av., 154 grs.]. Dissolve the iodoform in'the flexible collodion by agitation " (Nat. Form.). 
Collodium Tiglii. (N.F.) Croton oil collodion. Formulary number, 26: "Croton oil, ten 
grammes (10 Gm.) [154 grs.]; flexible collodion (U. S. P.), ninety grammes (90 Gm.) [3 ozs. 
av., 76 grs.]. Mix them" (Nat. Form.). 
Collodium Salicylatum Compositum. (N.F.) Compound salicylated collodion. Corn collo- 
dion. Formulary number, 27: "Salicylic acid, eleven grammes (11 Gm.) [170 grs.]; extract of 
Indian hemp, two grammes (2 Gm.) [31 grs.] ; alcohol, ten grammes (10 Gm.) [154 grs.] ; flexi- 
ble collodion (U. S. P.), a sufficient quantity; to make one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. 
av., 231 grs.]. Dissolve the extract of Indian hemp in the alcohol, and the salicylic acid in 
about fifty grammes (50 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 334 grs.] of flexible collodion contained in a tared bot- 
tle. Then add the former solution to the latter, and finally add enough flexible collodion to 
make one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av.,231 grs.]" (Nat. Form.). This preparation 
is largely used as an application to cdms. 
COLLODIUM STYPTICUM (U. S. P.)-STYPTIC COLLODION. 
Synonyms : Styptic colloid, Xylostyptic ether, Coilodium haemostaticum. 
Preparation.-"Tannic acid, twenty grammes (20 Gm.) [309 grs.]; alcohol, 
five cubic centimeters (5 Cc.) [81 TIT]; ether, twenty-five cubic centimeters (25 Cc.) 
[406 TIT] ; collodion, a sufficient quantity, to make one hundred cubic centimeters 
(100 Cc.) [3 fl.5,183TIT]. Introduce the tannic acid, alcohol, and ether into a 
graduated bottle, agitate until the tannic acid is thoroughly incorporated and 585 
partially dissolved, then add enough collodion to make up the volume to one 
hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl£, 1831T[], and shake occasionally until 
the acid is completely dissolved. Keep the product in cork-stoppered bottles, in 
a cool place, remote from lights or fire"-(U. S. P.). 
The hemostatic effect of collodion is increased by the following Coilodium 
tannatum (Pavesi's styptic collodion')'. Take of collodion 100 parts, carbolic acid 
10 parts, tannin 5 parts, benzoic acid 3 parts; mix. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This agent, as its name implies, is intended as 
a styptic to small bleeding surfaces. It may be applied simple or combined with 
medicinal agents, such as morphine, carbolic acid, etc., to abrasions, ulcerations, 
and wounds, especially of the scalp. The parts must be thoroughly cleansed, and 
the collodion applied by means of a small brush, or with cotton wool. 
COLOCYNTHIS. 
COLOCYNTHIS (U. S. P.)-COLOCYNTH. 
" The fruit of Citrullus Colocynthis, Schrader, deprived of its rind "-(U. S. P.). 
(Cucumis Colocynthis, Linne; Colocynthis officinarum, Schrader). 
Nat. Ord.-Cucurbitaceae. 
Common Names: Bitter apple, Bitter cucumber, Colocynth pulp. 
Illustrations: Kohler's Medizinal-Pflanzen,N o\. 1, Plate 118; Bentley and 
Tri men, Med. Plants, 114. 
Botanical Source.-Colocynth is an annual plant, with a whitish root, and 
prostrate, angular, hispid stems. The leaves are alternate, cordate, ovate, manv- 
lobed, and white, with hairs beneath; the lobes obtuse; the 
petioles as long as the lamina. The tendrils are short. The 
Howers axillary, yellow, solitary, and stalked; the females, with 
tube of the calyx globose, somewhat hispid, and the limt 
campanulate, with narrow segments. The petals are small, 
The fruit is globose, smooth, the size of an orange, and yellow 
when ripe, with a thin, solid rind, and very bitter flesh. 
History.-The bitter apple, or cucumber, is a native oi 
Northern Africa (overrunning the sandy spots of Nubia and 
Upper Egypt after the rainy period), the Cape of Good Hope, 
Western Asia, Japan, etc., and is cultivated in Italy and Spain, 
The fruit assumes a yellow or orange color externally during the autumn, at 
which time it is collected, and dried quickly, either in a stove or in the sun, after 
which it is peeled. The colocynth with which the United States is supplied, is 
chiefly derived from the Mediterranean ports. That which is deprived of its 
rind, and is very white, light, and spongy, is considered the best article; and 
the grayish or brownish drug, owing to careless curing, is of the poorest quality. 
The fruit, as usually met in commerce, is about the size of a small orange, or 
more generally in broken apples or fragments of the drug devoid of seeds. Occa- 
sionally the drug is found with the brown, dried rind intact. A Persian colo- 
cynth occurs in the London markets, having a shrivelled appearance, with the 
seeds tightly imbedded in the pulp, owing to the fact that it has been peeled 
while still fresh, but the drug of commerce is usually divested of its rind after 
having been dried. The yellowish-brown seeds (3% inch long by £ inch broad) 
are ovate, flat, and composed of a thick, hard testa, enclosing 2 oily cotyledons, 
and arranged on the 3 placentae so as to give the 1-celled fruit a 6-celled appear- 
ance. They have been used for food by the poorest Saharan tribes, after being 
deprived of all the pulp and heated by boiling, roasting, or baking (Fliickiger). 
A paste of the root and fruit is used locally on pimples and boils, and the root 
(paste), is spread upon enlarged bellies in children, and for rheumatic complaints 
the root, combined with an equal quantity of long pepper, is administered in pill 
form in (the Concan) India (Dymock). 
Description.-"From 5 to 10 Cm. (2 to 4 inches) in diameter; globular; 
white or yellowish-white; light, spongy; readily breaking into 3 wedge-shaped 
pieces, each containing, near the rounded surface, many flat, ovate, brown seeds; 
inodorous; taste intensely bitter. The pulp only should be used, the seeds being 
separated and rejected"-(U. S. Pd). 
Fig. 81. 
Fruit of Citrullus Colo- 
cynthis. 586 
Chemical Composition.- Meissner, in 1818, made a chemical analysis of 
colocynth. He obtained the bitter principle in an impure form, and called it 
colocynthin. The fruit was further investigated, and various modes of isolating 
colocynthin were proposed by Vauquelin (1818), Braconnot (1819), Herberger 
(1830), Labourdais (1848), Bastick (1850), Hiibschmann (1858), and Walz (1858), 
and again, more recently by G. Henke (Archiv. der Pharm., 1883, p. 200). Accord- 
ing to Walz, colocynthin is a glucosid, the action of diluted acids resolving it into 
colocynthein, a resinous body, and'sugar. Walz also describes a crystalline sub- 
stance, colocynth itin, insoluble in water and cold absolute alcohol, but soluble in 
ether and boiling alcohol. Henke could not obtain colocynthin in crystals, 
which was the form claimed for it by Walz; contrary to Walz, he also found it 
insoluble in benzene. Henke's colocynthin is insoluble in chloroform, ether, carbon 
disulphide, and petroleum ether, but is soluble in water (rendering the solution 
very bitter), alcohol, ammonia water, and an aqueous solution of chromic acid. 
Tannic acid precipitates it completely from aqueous solution. From <5 kilograms 
of colocynth deprived of seeds, Henke obtained only 30 grams of colocynthin, and 
recommends the use of the drug in fresh condition. E. Johannson, in 1885, found 
colocynthein to be less soluble than colocynthin in water, and in acid solution 
soluble in benzene, which affords a means of separating it from colocynthin. 
Colocynthin he also found soluble in acetic ether. 
Colocynth contains about 4 per cent of fatty oil which is used in India as a 
remedy (Jahresbericht der Pharm., 1892, p. 28). In addition to the foregoing, Mr. 
George Wagner {Proc. A. P. A., p. 179), examined colocynth in 1893, and (Amer. 
Jour. Pharm., p. 272), Prof. L. E. Sayre investigated American colocynth in 1894. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Colocynth is irritant and cathartic. 
It acts very powerfully, producing copious watery evacuations. Even in moder- 
ate doses, it has excited inflammation of the mucous membrane of the intestines, 
vomiting, severe tormina, and bloody stools. Except in minute doses, it is 
never used alone, because its violence is greatly mitigated, while its efficacy and 
certainty are not impaired, by uniting it with other cathartics, as aloes, scam- 
mony, etc. The addition of extract of hyoscyamus will likewise deprive it of its 
harsh and griping effects. Its principal employment inmaterial doses isinpamve 
dropsy, in cerebral derangements, and in pills with other cathartics for the purpose 
of overcoming torpid conditions of the biliary and digestive systems. However, 
it is scarcely ever used for these purposes in our school to-day. Its irritant effect 
upon the rectum may influence the uterus by sympathy of contiguity, and thus 
provoke menstruation, and on the same principle, dissolved in whiskey, it has 
cured gonorrhoea. It has been used in moderate doses, in all diseases where 
catharsis is indicated. The powder applied to an ulcer, or raw surface, affects the 
lower bowels in the same manner as when taken internally, and the tincture ap- 
plied to the abdomen has purged, and more actively when the surface has been 
denuded of its epidermis. It is said that Hippocrates used the colocynth apple 
as a pessary for the purpose of exciting menstruation. Debility and even slight 
gastro-intestinal inflammation contraindicate the use of colocynth. Later years 
have developed the true sphere of colocynth as a remedy, and that use is not as a 
cathartic. It is essentially a remedy for visceral pain, and the dose should be very 
small. Not more than 5 or 10 drops of the specific colocynth should be added to 
4 ounces of water, of which the dose is a teaspoonful. Even better are the same 
number of drops of the 1 x dilution of the specific medicine. The pain calling 
for colocynth is cutting, darting, cramping, or tearing. It is of great value in 
stomach and intestinal disorders with sharp " belly-ache," and meets these disorders 
even when rheumatoid, and is particularly valuable in neuralgic pains of the viscera. 
The patient is cold, weak, and feels faint; the pain of a sharp character causing 
him to flex his body upon his thighs. The back, joints, and bones feel stiff and 
sore, as if bruised, and the abdominal pain is made worse by motion. It is an 
important remedy in dyspepsia, with bitter taste, bilious yellow and bitter eructa- 
tions, and bloating after eating, accompanied with sharp griping or cutting, colic- 
like pain in the umbilical region. The minute dose here acts best: R Specific 
colocynth, 1 x dil., gtt. j to x ; aqua, fl.^iv. Mix. Teaspoonful every 3 or 4 hours. 
The same characteristics indicate it in flatulent, worm and bilious colics. The ac- 
cumulation of gases may be large, producing by distension disturbances of the 
COLOCYNTHIS. COLOCYNTHIS. 
587 
breathing organs and heart, with much anxiety, and belching, or expulsions of 
flatus may be symptoms, and nausea and vomiting are not uncommon. Cholera 
infantum sometimes presents many of these symptoms, and colocynth will give 
prompt relief. Chronic diarrhoea, with slimy stools and distended abdomen and 
the characteristic pain, or diarrhoea due to overeating or improper food are relieved 
by it. In dysentery, with cutting tormina and tenesmus and ineffectual efforts at 
stool, it is an admirable remedy. It should not be overlooked in liver disorders 
with tympanites, constipated bowels, and sharp, darting pains in the liver region ; 
and in the chronic constipation of women and children with the symptoms above 
mentioned, and, in addition, dry, hard scybalous feces, its tonic action is marked 
and gastric and intestinal digestion improved, with a consequent improvement of 
the constipated state. In fact, in chronic disorders of any kind in which colocynth 
aids, there is an evident intestinal and hepatic inactivity. Certain forms of head- 
ache,with the colocynth pain, whether neuralgic or reflex from stomach troubles, are 
remedied with colocynth. It exerts a direct influence upon the nervous system, 
relieving neuralgia of the parts supplied by the solar plexus, neuralgic colic, ovarian 
neuralgia, orchialgia, neuralgia of the fifth nerve, and sciatica, all presenting the char- 
acteristic sharp, cutting pain. The same is true in rheumatic complaints and lum- 
bago. Colocynth is decided in its action upon the female organs of reproduction. 
When colicky pains precede or accompany amenorrhoea, and pressure gives relief, 
colocynth is the remedy; other painful states of these organs are relieved when 
the cases are properly selected. A characteristic of colocynth is that, if it is to help 
at all, it helps quickly, but the smaller doses should be tried before a failure is 
declared. The oil of colocynth has been recommended as an external remedy for 
neuralgia. The dose for the old cathartic use of colocynth is from 4 to 10 grains, 
either in powder or aqueous extract; of the alcoholic extract, from 1 to 4 grains. 
When to be given alone,-it should be triturated with some inert or insoluble pow- 
ders, as gum or farinaceous matter, in order to diminish its severity of action. 
For the newer and specific uses of colocynth : R Specific colocynth (or 1 x dil.), 
gtt. j to x, aqua, fl^iv. Mix. Dose, a teaspoonful every 1 to 4 hours. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Pain of a cutting, twisting, boring, griping, 
contractive character, and if of the gastro-intestinal tract, accompanied with a 
desire to go to stool; colicky pains in the umbilical, iliac, and hypogastric regions; 
dysentery, with tormina in right iliac region or diffused over the abdomen; diar- 
rhoea, with shining, mucoid passages, and tenesmic, colicky pain ; constipation, 
with dry scybalae and sharp, griping pain in the lower bowel; flatulent eructations 
and discharges; tensive rheumatic pain, with contractions; visceral neuralgia of 
cutting character. 
Related Species.-Cucumis trigonus, Roxburgh (CucumisPseudo-colocynthis, Royle); Kant. 
-North India, especially the presidency of Bombay. The fruit is exceedingly bitter, and 
resembles a small egg streaked with yellow and green. It is carried into market during the 
Hindu New Year feast. At this time the Bombay Hindus are accustomed to crush a gourd 
with the foot, touch the forehead and tongue with it, thus, of their own accord, tasting bitter, 
hoping thereby to be protected and preserved from calamities throughout that year. It is 
employed medicinally, but not for food. A variety (var. pubescens), not so bitter, after soaking 
in salt water, is eaten like the cucumber, and the seeds are employed in herpes (see Dymock, 
Mat. Medica Western India). 
Cucumis Hardwickii, Royle; Hill colocynth of India.-Purgative 
Cucumis prophetarum, Linnaeus.-Arabia. Purgative. 
Luffa operculata, Cogn.-Brazil. The drastic fruit of this plant has been employed in 
affections for which colocynth is used. The boiled fruit pulp is strained, beaten into froth, 
and, when cold, given in tablespoonful doses for dropsical complaints until either purging or 
vomiting is induced. It is quite a popular domestic remedy in its native habitat (Amer. Jour. 
Pharm., Vol. 56). For Luffa echinata, Roxburgh and its constituents, see Amer. Jour. Pharm,, 
1888, p. 486. 
Luffa acutangula var. amara, Roxburgh.-The Karvi-turai of the Hindus who employ the 
fruit and vine medicinally. It possesses cathartic and emetic properties for which purposes 
the infusion of the ripe seeds is generally preferred. The juice of the fruit is employed locally 
for headache and bites. The bitter leaves are employed in Bombay for sores upon cattle (Dymock, 
Mat. Med. Western India). 
Cucumis myriocarpus.-The Cacur of southern Africa. Has active emeto-cathartic proper- 
ties, similar to those of colocynth, and, after heating, is used by the natives for its emetic 
action. It contains a neutral, resinous substance (myriocarpin) which is also emeto-cathartic. 
Cayaponine.-The alkaloid extracted by Gubler from Cayaponia globulosa (Nat. Ord.- 
Cucurbitaceae), of Brazil. In doses of A, grain it ;s said to purge without pain. 588 
COMPTONIA.-CONDURANGO. 
COMPTONIA.-SWEET FERN. 
The plant and especially the leaves and tops of Comptonia asplenifolia, Aiton 
(Myrica asplenifolia, Linne; Myrica Comptonia, De Candolle). 
Nat. Ord.-Myricaceae. 
Common Names: Sweet fern, Meadow fern, Ferngale. 
Botanical Source.-Sweet fern is a low, indigenous shrub, with a long, hori- 
zontal root, and growing from 2 to 4 feet high, the main stem being covered with 
a rusty, brown bark, which becomes reddish in the branches, and white-downy in 
the young shoots. The leaves are numerous, on short peduncles, from 3 to 4 
inches in length, £ inch broad, alternate, linear-lanceolate, sinuate-pinnatifid, re- 
sembling the leaves of the spleenwort fern, brown, rather downy on the under 
side, shining on the upper. The stipules in pairs and acuminate. The flowers 
are green, monoecious, amentaceous, appearing before the leaves; barren ones in 
long, erect, cylindrical, loosely imbricated catkins, terminal and lateral, with 
deciduous, 1-flowered bracts; the fertile ones in ovate, densely imbricated catkins, 
situated below the barren ones, with 1-flowered bracts. Stamens 6, adhering in 
pairs. Sepals 6, larger than the bracts; styles 2, capillary. The fruit is a small, 
ovate, brown, 1-celled nut (L.-W.). 
History.-This plant is found growing in thin, sandy soils, or dry, rocky 
woods, from Maine to Kentucky, flowering in May. The whole plant possesses a 
spicy, aromatic odor, especially when bruised, and an aromatic, astringent, faintly 
bitterish taste. The whole herb is used, and imparts its virtues to water or alco- 
hol. The leaves have been used in the rural districts of New York state as a 
substitute for tea. 
Chemical Composition.- H. K. Bowman (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1869, p. 194), 
found the leaves to contain 8.2 per cent of tannin, corroborated by Charles G. 
Manger, who, in 1894, made a complete analysis of both the rhizome and the 
leaves of Myrica asplenifolia. He found the amount of tannin to vary with the 
season; dried January leaves containing 7.06 per cent, July leaves 10.28 per cent. 
Tannin in the dried rhizome reached a maximum of 6 per cent in a sample col- 
lected in August. Starch was not found in the leaves, but the rhizome contained 
8.24 per cent. By distilling the leaves with water, Mr. Manger isolated a small 
amount of an aromatic volatile oil, which was liable to resinify upon exposure to 
the air. R. T. Chiles, in 1873, found gallic acid in the leaves, the usual plant 
constituents, and a body resembling saponin. Peacock subsequently could detect 
traces only of gallic acid in a January specimen of the rhizome, and none at all 
in a specimen collected in June (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1892). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Tonic, astringent, and alterative. 
Used in diarrhoea, dysentery, hemoptysis, leucorrhoea, rheumatism, debility succeeding 
fevers, and in rachitis. A decoction of it is very useful in the summer complaints of 
children, when given as an auxiliary. A pillow of the leaves is beneficial to rachitic 
children, and they may be used as a fomentation in contusions and rheumatism. 
Dose of the decoction, from 1 to 4 fluid ounces, 3 or 4 times a day. 
CONDURANGO.-CUNDURANGO. 
A 
The bark of Gonolobus Cundurango,Triana (Marsdenia Condurango, Reichenbach). 
Nat. Ord.-Asclepiadacese. 
Common Names: Eagle vine, Mata-peroo. 
Botanical Source.-This plant is a twining vine, having opposite cordate 
leaves, which are cuspidate and sinuately narrowing on the margins, hairy above 
and silky and tomentose underneath. The flowers are borne in loose cymes. 
The peduncles and petioles are covered with a pale, grayish pubescence, and the 
stem, which reaches a thickness of from 1 to 5 inches and a great height, has a 
greenish-gray bark, which, when cut or bruised, exudes a viscid, milky juice. 
History.-Cundurango was introduced, in 1871, in rather an official manner, 
having been received by the State Department at Washington, from the Minister 
of Ecuador. The drug was accompanied by certificates from two physicians of CONFECTIONES. 
589 
the province of Loja, attributing to the bark great power to cure cancer, syphilis, 
etc. The statements were supported by a letter from our Minister at Ecuador. 
An analysis of the plant (see below) threw but little light upon the subject, as 
substances common to most plants only were found. Shortly after it came 
into notice, a note from Mr. Dan. C. Robbins, of New York, to the editor of the 
Amer. Jour. Pharm., stated that Mr. Wiehl, United States Consul at Guayaquil, 
had favored him with specimens of the flowers, leaves, and fruit of the true con- 
durango vine. It was stated that the name condurango meant " Eagle vine," or 
" Condor-vine," and that there were some 6 varieties, 3 of which were used in 
medicine, and were known in Spanish by names signifying dog-killer, big fruit, 
and little fruit. The " dog-killer," which is true condurango, is a tropical climb- 
ing vine, seeking the highest trees of the cinchona region of South America. 
Doubtless, the market is supplied with barks of several species of climbing plants. 
Description and Chemical Composition.-The bark only is recommended 
for use. It is in thin pieces, of a whitish or yellowish color, in appearance 
reminding one of the bark of ptelea root. The taste is slightly bitter and aro- 
matic. Thomas Antisell (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1871) found in 100 parts of condu- 
rango bark: Moisture (8 per cent), ash (12 per cent), fatty matter (7 per cent), 
yellow resin, soluble in alcohol (2.7 per cent), gum and glucose from starch (0.5 per 
cent), tannin and coloring matters (12.6 per cent), cellulose, lignin, etc. (63.5 per 
cent). In 1872, Vulpius observed a precipitate that formed upon warming of a 
clear, aqueous infusion of the bark, and which suggested the presence of a sub- 
stance related to Tanret's vincetoxin, from the root of Asclepias vincetoxicum. In 
1885, Vulpius pronounced the glucosidal nature of this substance, which he 
named condurangin, admitting, however, that it might not be a simple body. A 
2 per cent solution in water has the property of gelatinizing upon warming, and 
becoming clear again when cold. Condurangin, while a glucosid, also reacts with 
alkaloidal reagents. Vulpius resolved it into two substances, one soluble in water, 
and insoluble in ether, and another with these solubilities reversed (Archiv. der 
Pharm., 1885, p. 299). 
Robert and Jukna (1888) investigated condurangin both chemically and 
physiologically, and Carrara (1892) examined Vulpius'decomposition products, 
establishing formulae and melting points for both. He also announced the pres- 
ence of a new glucosid of the formula C40H74O6, having a melting point of 112° C. 
(233.6° F.), insoluble in ether, sparingly soluble in cold alcohol, and very slightly 
soluble in water. It is not precipitated by Mayer's reagent, nor with iodine in 
solution of iodide of potassium. The same observer found conduransterin (CaoH^Oz), 
melting point 52° C. (125.6° F.), a body related to cholesterin. It is contained in 
the ether solution of the precipitate formed in the cooled alcoholic extract. Cin- 
namic acid was also isolated from the mother-liquors. Schroff and Schmiedeberg, 
(Med. Chir. Rundschau, 1871-2) believed that an alkaloid, resembling strychnine 
in its action, must be present in the bark, and Fliickiger, in 1882, obtained minute 
quantities of an alkaloid. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This agent, at one time so highly 
lauded as a positive remedy for cancer and syphilis, is rarely employed at the pres- 
ent time, and should it possess any valuable therapeutic virtues, they are not 
likely to be ascertained for some time to come, as the exaggerated statements and 
misrepresentations attending its introduction have led the profession to regard it 
with suspicion and incredulity. It is probable, however, that it has a tonic effect 
in gastric debility, and especially relieves pain in the stomach. Condurangin, 
according to Robert, acts upon the central nervous apparatus, producing in ani- 
mals impairment of appetite, vomiting, ptyalism, muscular weakness, convulsions 
and paralysis. Of condurango a decoction (bark sss to aqua Oj boiled down to Oss.) 
may be given in tablespoonful doses 3 times a day; fluid extract, 5 to 30 drops. 
CONFECTIONES.-Confections. 
The Pharmacopoeias still recognize two members of a class of preparations, 
but little used at the present, and yet modifications of them were very important 
medicines in former times under the terms conserves and electuaries. Confections 590 
CONFECTIO OPII.-CONFECTIO SENN jE. 
are semi-solid preparations of medicinal agents preserved by means of sugar, or 
honey, or both. Conserves, as originally understood, were composed of fresh 
or undried, medicinal vegetables laid down in sugar. Subsequently it became 
common to prepare them by beating fresh vegetable medicines and sugar into 
a uniform soft mass, the juices of the vegetables furnishing sufficient moisture. 
When fresh drugs were not obtainable, dried drugs, either whole or powdered, 
were used, and sufficient water added to soften the mass. Electuaries were 
understood to comprise the mixture of powdered drugs with such softening 
and preserving agents as honey, syrups, or pulps, made into a uniform, pasty 
mass by thorough trituration in a mortar. If honey and pulpy substances are 
employed the electuary is not apt to become dry, hard, and crystalline, as is often 
the case when syrups are used. Such substances as light insoluble salts, soluble 
salts, extracts, oils, gum-resins, etc., may be made into electuaries. Heavy insolu- 
ble powders should not be used, as they are likely to settle, and finally to be 
found mainly at the bottom of the preparation. Extracts to be used in prepar- 
ing electuaries, should first be softened with water or other suitable liquids; non- 
pulverizable gum-resins should first be emulsified, and essential oils should be 
first rubbed with some inert powder or sugar. Freshly made electuaries should 
be soft enough to drop easily from a spatula. If so soft that the ingredients sepa- 
rate on standing they must be again brought into a uniform mixture by stirring. 
It is desirable that they be firm enough to hold up their several ingredients, and 
still be so soft that mastication is not required. As already stated, the confec- 
tions displaced both these sweets (conserves and electuaries) of mediaeval medi- 
cine, and very properly so, and in turn confections have given way to other 
and better pharmaceutical preparations. 
CONFECTIO OPIL-CONFECTION OF OPIUM. 
• 
Synonym : Electuariuni theriaca. 
Preparation.-The U.S. P. of 1870 recorded the following formula: "Take 
of opium in fine powder, 270 grains; aromatic powder, 6 troy ounces; clarified 
honey, 14 troy ounces. Rub the opium with the aromatic powder, then add the 
honey, and beat the whole together until thoroughly mixed." This contains 1 
grain of opium in about every 36 grains of the confection. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This confection was designed to take 
the place of the ancient mixtures known as Theriaca and Mithridatum. It is said 
to be useful in debilitated conditions with diarrhoea, weak digestion, with flatulence, 
gouty conditions, and other states where a stimulating opiate is thought necessary. 
The dose ranges from 5 to 20 grains. 
CONFECTIO ROS® (U. S. P.)-CONFECTION OF ROSE. 
Synonym: Conserve of rose. 
Preparation.-"Red rose, in No. 60 powder, eighty grammes (80 Gm.) [2 ozs. 
av., 360 grs.]; sugar, in fine powder, six hundred and forty grammes (640 Gm.) 
[1 lb. av., 6 ozs., 252 grs.]; clarified honey, one hundred and twenty grammes 
(120 Gm.) [4 ozs. av., 102 grs.]; stronger rose water, one hundred and sixty cubic 
centimeters (160 Cc.) [5 fl^, 197HI]. Rub the red rose with the stronger rose 
water previously heated to 65° C. (149° F.), then gradually add the sugar and 
honey, and beat the whole together until a uniform mass results"-(U. S.P.f 
CONFECTIO SENN-® U. S. P.)-CONFECTION OF SENNA. 
Synonyms: Electuary of senna, Lenitive electuary. 
Preparation.-"Senna, in No. 60 powder, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) 
[3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]; cassia fistula, bruised, one hundred and sixty grammes (160 
Gm.) [5 ozs. av., 282 grs.]; tamarind, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. 
av., 231 grs.]; prune, sliced, seventy grammes (70 Gm.) [2 ozs. av., 205 grsJ; fig, 
bruised, one hundred and twenty grammes (120 Gm.) [4 ozs. av., 102 grs.]; sugar, CONFECTIO SENNyE COMPOSITA.-CONIUM. 
591 
zin fine powder, five hundred and fifty-five grammes (555 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 3 ozs., 
252 grs.J; oil of coriander, five grammes (5 Gm.) [77 grs.]; water, a sufficient 
quantity to make one thousand grammes, (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.J. 
Place the cassia fistula, tamarind, prune, and fig in a close vessel with five hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 fl£, 435 Til] of water, and digest for 3 hours 
by means of a water-bath. Separate the coarser portions with the hand, and rub 
the pulpy mass, first through a coarse hair sieve, and then through a fine one, or 
through a muslin cloth. Mix the residue with one hundred and fifty cubic cen- 
timeters (150 Cc.) [5 35 Hl] of water, and having digested the mixture for a 
short time, treat it as before, and add the product to the pulpy mass first obtained. 
Then, by means of a water-bath, dissolve the sugar in the pulpy liquid, and 
evaporate the whole, in a tared vessel, until it weighs eight hundred and ninety- 
five grammes (895 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 15 ozs., 250 grs.]. Lastly, add the senna and 
the oil of coriander, and incorporate them thoroughly with the other ingredients 
while they are yet warm "-(U. S. Pf). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-When correctly prepared, this confec- 
tion is a pleasant, mild, and very effectual purgative, useful during pregnancy, 
and for patients afflicted with costiveness, hemorrhoids, or diseases of the rectum. It 
forms a vehicle for the administration of some purgative drugs. The dose is 
from 1 to 3 drachms, or more. 
CONFECTIO SENN.® COMPOSITA.-COMPOUND CONFECTION 
OF SENNA. 
Synonym: Compound electuary o f senna. 
Preparation.-Take of confection of senna 1 ounce, bitartrate of potassium 
ounce, pulverized jalap 3 drachms; nitrate of potassium, flowers of sulphur, 
each, 2 drachms; extract of butternut, a sufficient quantity to form into a mass 
of pilular consistence. Keep in small glass jars well covered with tin foil. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This confection has been used with 
advantage in constipation and in hemorrhoids of whatever form. A dose of 12 or 16 
grains may be taken in pill form, repeating it twice a day, so as to act mildly on the 
bowels. 
CONFECTIO SULPHURIS.- CONFECTION OF SULPHUR. 
Synonym: Electuarium sulphuris. 
Preparation.-Rub intimately together, 4 ounces (av.) of sulphur, 1 ounce 
(av.) of potassium bitartrate, 4 fluid ounces of syrup of orange-peel, and 18 grains 
of powdered tragacanth. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This method of exhibiting the two 
laxatives, sulphur and cream of tartar, is beneficial in cases of hemorrhoids. The 
stools produced are semi-solid and copious. The dose is from 1 to 2 drachms. 
CONFECTIO TEREBINTHIN®.-CONFECTION OF TURPENTINE. 
Synonym : Electuarium terebinthinatum. 
Preparation.-Take 1 ounce of oil of turpentine, 1 ounce of powdered licorice- 
root, and 2 ounces of clarified honey. Rub first the turpentine and licorice together, 
and mix in the honey until the whole is uniformly and intimately mixed. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is a convenient form for admin- 
istering turpentine in cases of flatulence, round worms, rheumatic complaints, tym- 
panites, and passive hemorrhages. The dose ranges from 1 to 2 drachms. 
CONIUM (U. S. P.)-CONIUM. 
"The full grown fruit of Conium maculatum, Linne," "gathered while yet 
green"-(C. S. P.) (Cicuta maculata, Lamarck). The leaves are official in the 
British Pharmacopoeia. 
Nat. Ord.-Umbelliferae. 592 
CONIUM. 
Common Names: Hemlock, Poison hemlock, Spotted hemlock, Poison parsley. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 118. 
Botanical Source.-Poison hemlock has a biennial, fusiform, whitish, fleshy 
root. Its stem is from 3 to 5 feet high, erect, round, hollow, glaucous, polished,and 
copiously spotted and dotted with dull pur- 
ple. The leaves are tripinnate; thelowerones 
very large, several times pinnate, and bright- 
green, on long, sheathing foot stalks. The 
leaflets are ovate, lanceolate, pinnatifid, lower 
lobes incised. The flowers are numerous, 
small, white, all fertile, outermost very slightly 
irregular, and are arranged in erect, terminal, 
compound, many-rayed, smooth umbels. The 
general involucre is ovate, cuspidate, with 
membranous edges, consisting of from 3 to 7 
lanceolate,reflected bracts, with whitish edges; 
the partial involucre of 3 or 4 oval, pointed, 
spreading bracts, with the inner side want- 
ing. The petals are obcordate, with acute, 
inflected points, and 5 in number. The fruit 
is about a line and a half, or rather less in 
length, by a line in breadth; roundish-ovate, 
compressed, of a pale-green color; the primary 
ridges are elevated, sharp and undulated; the 
commissures and channels finely wrinkled. 
The whole plant exhales a disagreeable, virose odor, more especially when 
bruised (L.-W.). 
History.-Hemlock inhabits Europe and Asia, and has been introduced in 
many parts of this country. It flowers from May to August. The leaves and 
seeds are the parts used. The leaves are best when collected during the flowering 
seasons of the herb; they should be speedily dried by a gentle heat, not over 
47.7° C. (118° F.),and placed in closely covered vessels, to preserve them as much 
as possible from the influence of the atmosphere and light. If properly dried, 
the leaves should have a fine green color, with a disagreeable odor, less powerful 
than in the fresh plant, and a peculiar, nauseous, saline, and somewhat acrid 
taste. The fruit, or seeds, should be gathered shortly previous to ripening. Both 
the leaves and seed yield their virtues to alcohol or ether. The aqueous extract 
is uncertain; the alcoholic extract is the best, but even this becomes destitute of 
coniine in a few years (P.). The fresh leaves and fruit should be employed in the 
preparation of the active constituent. 
Description.-Conium (U. S. P.).-The fruit is thus described in the U. S. P.: 
"About 3 Mm. inch) long; broadly ovate; laterally compressed; grayish-green; 
often divided into the 2 mericarps, each with 5 crenate ribs, without oil tubes, 
and containing a seed which is grooved on the face; odor and taste slight. When 
triturated with solution of potassium or sodium hydrate, conium gives off a 
strong, disagreeable, mouse-like odor"-(U. S. P.). 
Conium Leaves.-(See History and Botanical Source). 
Chemical Composition.-The active principles of conium are the alkaloids, 
of which 5 have been identified (C. E. Sohn, 1894, Dictionary of Active Principles of 
Plants): Coniine (C8H17N), identified with conicine andcicutine; conhydrine (CBH17NO), 
discovered by Wertheim, in 1856; pseudo-conhydri'ne {CfA^fSC), isolated by E. Merck, 
in 1891; methyl-coniine (C9H19N); and ethyl-piperidine (C7H15N). The mixed alkaloids 
may be prepared by distilling a mixture of strong solution of caustic potash and 
alcoholic extract of the unripe fruit, whereupon they pass over, forming an oily 
layer in the receiver. According to directions of J. Schorm (1882) the conium 
fruits, moistened with water, rendered alkaline with sodium carbonate, are dis- 
tilled with steam under a pressure of 3 atmospheres. The distilled oil is neutral- 
ized with hydrochloric acid, evaporated, and treated with alcohol. After removal 
of the alcohol on the water-bath, an equivalent amount of caustic soda is added, 
and the alkaloids then shaken out with ether. The ethereal solution is reduced 
to a low temperature, whereby the bulk of conhydrine separates in the form of 
Fig. 82. 
Conium maculatum. 593 
CONIUM. 
long needles. The remaining traces will evaporate with the ether, pure conicine 
remaining (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1882). 
Coniine, when pure, is an oily-like, transparent, colorless liquid, becoming 
brownish by oxidation, of specific gravity 0.86, with a very penetrating, tobacco- 
like odor, and a sharp, acrid, benumbing, and offensive taste. At ordinary tem- 
peratures it is volatile, disengaging ammonia, depositing a resinous matter, and 
losing its activity; its vapor excites a flow of tears. It is soluble in 90 parts of 
water, and forms a hydrate by uniting with about a fourth part of water, which, 
in cold, saturated solution, becomes turbid by heat owing to the separation of the 
water of hydration. It is very soluble in alcohol, ether, benzin, chloroform, benzol, 
the fixed and volatile oils, and also in weak acids, which it neutralizes. It boils 
at about 171° C. (340° F.), and distills over with water at 100° C. (212° F.). It 
strongly blues reddened litmus paper and forms soluble salts with acids, which, 
excepting the hydrochlorate, are difficult to crystallize. Caustic potash added to 
salts of coniine sets the base free, which is then recognized by its odor; heat pro- 
duces the same effect on most of its salts. As to the behavior of coniine towards 
reagents, see Amer. Disp., last edition; also C. E. Sohn (see above). 
Coniine possesses the same remarkable action on the spinal cord as hemlock 
itself. A few drops will suffice to kill a cat, rabbit, or young dog; a strong cat 
was killed in a minute and a half by 3 drops of it. Its effects are gradual par- 
alysis, slight convulsive tremors, and death from suspension of the breathing, 
without any change in the appearance of the blood, and without any depression 
of the heart's action. 
Coniine was observed by Giesecke as early as 1827, and obtained in the form 
of an impure sulphate. Geiger, in 1831, obtained it pure and recognized its alka- 
loidal nature. It is present in all parts of hemlock, probably in combination 
with malic acid (Husemann and Hilger, 1884). It is optically active, turning the 
plane of polarized light to the right. Its present formula was established, in 
1881, by A.W. Hoffmann, and its synthesis was accomplished, in 1886, by Laden- 
burg, who first prepared inactive coniine (alpha-propyl piperidine (C5H9[C3H7]NH), 
and succeeded in isolating therefrom the active alkaloid by adding a crystal of 
the tartrate of the dextrogyrate alkaloid to the syrupy solution of the tartrate of 
the inactive alkaloid. 
Conhydrine (CbH17N0), discovered by Wertheim, is an oxyconiine occurring 
in commercial coniine from which it separates on cooling to near 0° C. (32° F). 
Its melting point is 126° C. (258.8° F.). 
Pseudo-conhydrine (C8H17NO) was discovered by E. Merck, in 1891, in the high 
boiling portions of crude coniine. It crystallizes in needles, is easily soluble in 
alcohol, ether, and chloroform, and fuses at about 98° C. (218.4° F.). Its boiling 
point is 230° to 232° C. (446° to 449.6° F.). 
Methyl-coniwe (C9H19N), an oily base, and associated with coniine, was found 
by Von Planta and Kekule in hemlock (1854). It is a homologue of coniine, or 
rather of its isomer, paraconiine, prepared by Schiff, in 1871. G. Liljenstroem 
(Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1894), calls attention to the difficulty of accurately determin- 
ing the quantity of the alkaloid in extract of conium by means of continuous 
extraction with ether, owing to the volatility of coniine, even though a reflux 
condenser is employed. He suggests that a known amount of centinormal acid 
be placed in the receiver, which readily absorbs coniine, and to titrate back 
the excess of acid. Wertheim obtained from fresh seeds about 0.20 per cent of 
pure coniine. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Conium is narcotic, possessing, how- 
ever, properties somewhat similar to those of belladonna. On account of the 
former difficulty in procuring good preparations of this plant, it has not been so 
much used nor its virtues so fully investigated, as with some of its congeners. 
The symptoms produced by its use are thirst, dryness of the throat, dizziness, sick- 
ness at stomach, sinking, benumbing feelings, and more or less prostration of the 
muscular system. If its use be continued, or in large doses, the pupils become 
dilated, there is a general paralysis, rendering talking and breathing difficult, with 
coma, or convulsions terminating in death. In about 30 minutes from its admin- 
istration, its effects will generally appear,.and continue from 10 to 40 hours. It is 
supposed to effect its results by exhausting the nervous energy of the spinal cord 594 
CONIUM. 
and voluntary muscles. It is used for promoting sleep, and will be found ex- 
tremely useful in allaying excessive action of the heart in hypertrophy of this 
organ; a pill of 1 or 2 grains of the extract producing a calm, soothing influence, 
followed by a diminution or removal of the palpitation or augmented action. 
Indeed, all affections attended with an excited or excitable condition of the 
nervous and vascular systems, will be benefited by its use. Dr. J. Harley con- 
sidered conium as a depressor of the muscular movements, tranquilizing and 
renovating the whole muscular system-being to the corpora striata, the smaller 
nervous centers, and the whole of the motor tract, just what opium is to the 
brain. It depresses the motor function of the third nerve, causing a lazy move- 
ment of the eyes, and sometimes strabismus, with imperfect adjustment of the 
refracting media of the eye. It affects the sedentary and strong more than the 
delicate and active, so that its action is influenced more by the muscular-activity 
than by the muscular power. It has no pure cerebral effects, but diminishes irri- 
tability of the spinal cord without disturbing the sensory functions. It has no 
direct action on the sympathetic; improves nutrition; andean not be detected 
in the urine, breath, or feces. He considered it preeminently useful in laryngismus 
stridulus, convulsive cough, and in tetanic muscular conditions. The dose must be 
proportioned to the degree of motor activity of the child or adult; by its use we 
may almost measure the bodily activity of the individual. To a child 21 months 
old he has given 20 minims of the prepared juice, and gradually increased it to 
24 fluid drachms. 
Conium has in times past been lauded in cancer, and, while it undoubtedly has 
influenced growths pronounced cancerous, it is not known to have effected a cure. 
The pain of cancer, however, is alleviated by it, and it undoubtedly affects tumors 
of the mammae, even when they amount to scirrhus. Conium has been used to 
check lactation, thus showing its specific action upon the mammary glands. 
Ovarian torpor, giving rise to scanty menses, and sterility in the female, and in the 
genital feebleness of the male, accompanied with an unpleasant erethism, or 
where lack of sexual activity is due to passive testicular venous engorgement, 
conium is said to be efficient when given in small doses. Glandular enlargements 
sometimes yield to the alterative influence of this drug, and while not generally 
efficient in syphilis, as some of its admirers claim, it is useful in allaying the 
pains which accompany that affection. In rheumatism and neuralgia, R Specific 
conium, gtt. v to x; aqua, flgiv. Mix. Sig. Dose, a teaspoonful as often as neces- 
sary, or give from 4 to 2 grains of the English extract. Chorea and epilepsy, due 
to sexual abuse, and whooping-cough and acute mania are states in which it is 
asserted useful. It has been variously used in cachectic and depraved states, 
either as a palliative or for its curative action. Large doses are contraindicated 
by debility. 
In consequence of the action of conium on the spinal marrow, it lessens the 
venereal appetite. It likewise lessens the secretion of milk. In the neuralgic 
pains attending carcinomatous affections it usually gives relief, probably, from its 
causing relaxation of muscular fibers ; sometimes, however, it has exerted no influ- 
ence whatever, in palliating them. In scrofula, goitre, and, indeed, in all tubercu- 
lous affections, it will be found very effectual given in combination with the iodide 
of iron. It enters into the compound plaster of belladonna, an excellent prepa- 
ration, which Prof. King used for many years. Coniine, the active principle, is 
not extensively usedin medicine. The hydrochlorate, benzoate, and, best of all, 
the hydrobromate have been most used, the latter particularly in whooping-cough 
and sciatica. Dr. Reid gives the following formula for toothache: Take of coniine, 
1 drop; rectified alcohol, essence of cinnamon, each, 4 drops. Mix. This is ap- 
plied by means of a camel's hair pencil. It relieves the pain instantly, but pro- 
duces no effect where the nerve is not exposed by caries; a few minutes after its 
application there will be vertigo, difficulty of swallowing, etc., which usually 
cease in about 10 or 20 minutes. It should not be too frequently, nor too largely 
applied. The leaves have likewise been employed externally as a poultice to 
painful tumors, ulcers, neuralgic and rheumatic pains, etc. For painful parts the 
following is useful: R English extract of conium, gij; petrolatum, jvj. Mix. 
Apply. In intermittent fever, Dr. King frequently employed the following pill 
when quinine alone failed: Take of sulphate of quinine, 10 grains; inspissated 595 
CONTRAYERVA. 
juice of conium, 15 grains. Mix and divide into 20 pills, of which 1 pill may be 
given every 1 or 2 hours, until the effects of the conium have commenced, after 
w'hich give 1 pill every 4 or 5 hours, according to its influence. The aqueous 
extract of the plant is worthless; the inspissated juice, or the ethereal extract, are 
alone valuable only when they are carefully and properly prepared. A strong 
solution of the inspissated juice, or the juice of the fresh leaves, coated over the 
parts daily, for 5 or 6 days, will cure the itch. Dose of the leaves and inspissated 
juice, from 1 to 3 grains, 3 or 4 times a day; of the ethereal extract, which is an 
elegant extract of a rich, dark-green color, from to grain; coniine, to £ grain; 
coniine bromohydrate, to £ grain; coniine hydrochlorate, to | grain; coniine 
benzoate, 3^ to | grain; specific conium, to 3 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-To relieve nervous excitation and give rest; 
neuralgic or rheumatic pains in the old and feeble, or where there are caco-plastic 
deposits; pain in stomach; pain of gastric ulcer; nervousness and restlessness. 
Related Species.-Cicuta maculata, Linne, Spotted water-hemlock, Spotted parsley, Spotted 
cowbane, Beaver poison, Musquash root, American water-hemlock. North America. This plant 
differs from the following in having a purple-spotted stem, wider leaflets, and long, tuberous, 
fleshy roots. A volatile alkaloidal principle, believed to be coniine, was isolated by J. E. 
Young (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1855, p. 289). Mr. Glenk, in 1891, made a complete analysis of 
the fruit. The volatile oil was investigated recently by Mr. Stroup and found to consist 
mainly of terpenes (see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1894, p. 236). 
Cicuta virosa, Linnd (Cicutaria aquatica, Lamarck); Water hemlock, Cowbane.-This plant 
grows in wet situations from Canada north. Its rhizome is short, somewhat ovate, thick, and 
hollow, and has attached rootlets arranged in circles. The taste of the plant is aromatic and 
acrid, and its odor slightly aromatic. The plant, but not the root, as shown by Van Ankum's 
researches (1868), contains cicutine, a volatile alkaloid. Cicutoxin is a name applied by Boehm 
and Trojanowski, in 1887, to a soft, amorphous and tenacious yellow substance existing in 
the rhizome to the extent of 3.5 per cent. Cicuta is used as a local anodyne in rheumatic and 
neuralgic complaints, and gout. Seldom employed in medicine. 
Sium latifolium, Linne; Water parsnip.-Europe and California. Root contains a poison- 
ous resin, volatile aromatic oil, and a volatile base (analyzed by A. R. Porter and N. Rogers), 
and said to resemble the pastinacine of Wittstein (see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1876, pp. 348 and 483). 
Reputed narcotic and has been employed in skin diseases. 
Sium lineare, Michaux, of North America, and Sium angustifolium, Linne, of North America 
and Europe, are similar plants and poisonous. 
Sium nodiflorum, Water parsnip.-A European umbelliferous, aquatic perennial, the juice 
of which was found to be useful in various cutaneous affections, w7as formerly regarded as poison- 
ous. The dose of the juice as given by Withering, however, was 3 or 4 ounces daily. It is 
diuretic and exerts a good influence upon scrofulous lymphatic enlargements. This plant is also 
found in the southern states. 
Sium sisarum, Skirret.-Habitat China, cultivated in Europe, where it is eaten as a salad. 
Its root is sweetish and aromatic. Recommended as a diet in pulmonic complaints. 
Ammi Visnaga, Lamarck; Tooth-pick plant.-South Europe, north Africa, and east Asia. 
This aromatic plant yields a bitter, crystalline, colorless glucosid, called kelline, isolated in 1878 
by Ibrahim Mustapha. Th. Malosse, in 1881,found 2 percent of an oily, acrid principle which 
he called visnagol; 3 crystalline, partly alkaloidal principles, collectively named visnagin; a 
fixed oil (10.5 per cent) containing ammistearic acid, etc. (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1881. p. 640, and 
1886, p. 300). Kelline occasions vomiting, impeded respiration and cardiac irregularity. This 
plant is the El Kellah of the Moors. An 8 per cent decoction of the seeds, taken internally, is 
reputed to be a cure for troubles dependent on a uric acid diathesis, especially rheumatism. It 
relieves pain in the kidneys and urinary tract by its obtunding powers. Locally, this decoction 
has been applied in rheumatism of the joints to allay pain, and as a wash for buccal ulcerations. 
Anthriscus Cerefolium, De Candolle (Scandix Cerefolium, Linne; Chserophyllum sativum, La- 
marck); Chervil.-A European annual raised in gardens and used for greens. A volatile oil 
gives to the plant a strong, but pleasant odor, and a sharp, yet feebly bitterish taste. Exter- 
nally, it has been applied to bruises, swollen mammary glands, and other local tumefactions; inter- 
nally in phthisis, scorbutus, scrofula, dropsy, and cutaneous disorders. It is diuretic, emmenagogue, 
and deobstruent. Like other species of Chxrophyllum, its leaves are sometimes collected for 
conium, though the plants do not greatly resemble each other. 
CONTRAYERVA.-CONTRAYERVA. 
The root of Dorstenia Contrayerva, Linne, and Dorstenia brasiliensis, Lamarck. 
Nat. Ord.-Urticaceae. 
Botanical Source.-Dorstenia Contrayerva is a perennial caulescent plant, with 
a spindle-shaped root, from which arises a stem covered with spreading, green, 
scaly stipules. The leaves are palmate; the lobes lanceolate, acuminate, coarsely 596 
CONVALLARIA. 
serrated and gashed, and occasionally almost pinnatifid. The receptacle is borne 
on a very long stalk, and is quadrangular, waivy, or plaited. The achenia are 
lenticular, and imbedded in the fleshy receptacle from which they are projected 
with elasticity when ripe (L.). The Dorstenia brasiliensis closely resembles the 
preceding. 
History and Description.-These plants inhabit the tropical parts of South 
America. The root, which is the part used, is knotty and ovoid, woody, 1 or 2 
inches long, of a reddish-brown color externally, and pale within ; its diameter is 
about % an inch, and long, rough, slender fibers shoot out from all sides of it, 
especially its lower portion, and are generally loaded with small, brown knots. 
It has a peculiar aromatic odor, and a somewhat astringent, warm, bitterish taste, 
with some acridity when long chewed. As the fibers have but little odor or flavor 
they should be removed from the. rhizome. It yields its virtues to alcohol, or 
water, at 100° C. (212° F.); the root abounds in mucilage; its tincture has an 
acid reaction on litmus. 
The root of commerce is probably derived from several other species, which 
possess similar virtues, as the D. Houstoni, D. dracena, D. tubicina, and D. opifera. 
Monardes states that the word contrayerva is the Indo-Spanish term for alexi- 
pharmic or counterpoison. 
Chemical Composition.-According to Geiger, the root contains volatile oil, 
starch, and a non-crystalline bitter, to which may be added resin, free acid, and 
woodv fiber. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Contrayerva is a gentle stimulant and 
a diaphoretic, and is sometimes given in exanthematous diseases, typhus fever, and 
dysentery. Its dose, in powder, is 30 grains; the best form of administration is 
the infusion. The Virginia snake-root is preferred to it in this country. 
CONVALLARIA (U. S. P.)-CONVALLARIA. 
"The rhizome and rootlets of Convallaria majalis, Linne"-(U. S. P.). 
Nat. Ord.-Liliaceje. 
Common Names: Lily of the valley {Lilium convallium), May lily. 
Botanical Source.-This plant is a low, glabrous, stemless, perennial herb, 
with a much-branched, slender, creeping, whitish rhizome, sending up from a 
bud 2, sometimes 3 oblong or ovate-elliptic leaves, the petioles 
of which are long and sheathing, and rolled together so as to 
appear stalklike. The flowers are borne on an angular scape, 
in the form of a raceme, and are handsome, fragrant, nodding, 
bell-shaped, and waxy-white in color. The perianth has a 
recurved lobes, and is deciduous; the stamens, 6 in number, 
are inserted at the perianth-base. The style is stout and single, 
and the stigma triangular. The fruit is a few-seeded, red berry. 
History and Description.-This beautiful wild flower is 
indigenous to Siberia, and to a large part of Europe, from the 
Mediterranean northward, and is found in the mountainous 
woods of our own country from Virginia to the Carolinas and 
Georgia. It blooms in May and June. The cultivated flower 
is somewhat larger than that of the wild species, and is a gen- 
eral favorite on account of its beauty and fragrance. All parts 
of the plant are possessed of medicinal properties, the rhizome 
alone being official. It is described as follows: "Of horizontal 
growth and somewhat branched, about 3 Mm. (| inch) thick, 
cylindrical, wrinkled, whitish, marked with few circular scars; 
at the annulate joint with about 8 or 10 long, thin roots; fracture somewhat 
fibrous, white; odor peculiar, pleasant; taste sweetish, bitter, and somewhat acrid" 
-(U. S. P.). The flowers have a bitter, acrid taste, and the root is best when 
gathered in August. 
Chemical Composition.-The flowers of this plant contain a crystalline, 
odorous body, isolated in 1835 by Herberger. So powerful is its odor that head- 
ache is said to be induced by it. When much diluted it is extremely fragrant. 
Fig. 83. 
Convallaria majalis. CONVALLARIA. 
597 
Two glucosids were found in the root and herb by G. F. Walz in 1858 (Amer. 
Jour. Pharm., 1859, p. 557). The first is convallamarin (C23H44O12). It occurs as a 
very bitter, subsequently sweetish, amorphous or imperfectly crystalline powder, 
insoluble in ether, but soluble in amyl alcohol and chloroform, alcohol, wood 
alcohol and water. Heated with diluted acids it splits into convallamaretin and 
sugar. The second glucosid is convallarin (C34H62On), the acrid principle, occurring 
in rectangular, prismatic crystals, which, although but little soluble in water, 
impart to the solution an acrid taste, and cause it when agitated to foam as if 
saponin were present. Alcohol readily dissolves it, while ether does not. Heating 
with diluted acids causes it to split into convallaretin and sugar. (See Buchner's 
Rep., 1835, p. 397, and Husemann and Hilger, 1884.) 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Tn its effects upon the human circu- 
latory system, convallaria very closely resembles digitalis, without, however, caus- 
ing the unpleasant disturbances produced by the latter. Besides its effects upon 
the heart it acts upon the gastro-intestinal tract, producing emesis or purgation. 
The entire plant should be used to get the best effects, the flowers alone having 
been found quite inert. It seems well established that the failures attributed 
to this drug have been largely due to the poor preparations used, for it is cer- 
tainly true that representative preparations have a pronounced action upon the 
economy. Convallamarin is decidedly toxic, death having promptly occurred 
from suspension of the heart action when introduced directly into the veins of the 
rabbit. The powdered flowers are sternutatory, and have been used in fomenta- 
tions for the removal of ecchymosed spots caused by bruises. Epilepsy, worms, and 
miasmatic fevers have been treated with the root. The chief use of convallaria, how- 
ever, is that of a heart remedy. Owing to its controlling action upon the heart it 
acts secondarily as a diuretic and was first employed in dropsy for this purpose by 
the Russians. Like digitalis, it is useful in those cases of dropsy where the cardiac 
debility is such that there is imperfect circulation through the organ itself, and 
where there is evidence of obstruction. Palpitation and irregular movements, dysp- 
noea, diminished renal action with increase of solids in the urine, hepatic fullness 
and engorgement, and oedema, are usually symptoms of this form of cardiac ineffi- 
ciency. The cases of dropsy benefited, therefore, are those of cardiac origin with 
feeble circulation and diminished blood pressure. In small doses convallaria is a 
tonic to the heart, strengthening its action. Cardiac excitation is relieved by mod- 
erate doses, while large doses increase the heart action. Medium-sized doses are 
recommended in the early stage of carditis (Webster). Mitral insufficiency, with 
the attendant dyspnoea and palpitation, is considered as a proper condition for 
the exhibition of convallaria. When the favorable action upon the heart and 
vessels begins the heart-beats become slower, normal rhythm is established, heart 
power is increased, arterial pressure is augmented, respiration deepened, and the 
suffocative sensation, with the distressing and painful desire for air, is dispelled. 
Convallaria should be thought of in the cardiac debility following severe and 
exhaustive diseases, such as typhoid fever, la grippe, etc. It tends to promote a 
normal circulation, and relieves that sense of prsecordial faintness which is apt 
to follow prostrating conditions. Convallaria has had no bad effects upon the 
cerebro-spinal tract, nor upon the digestive organs. In fact it is rather a tonic 
to the latter, increasing the appetite and digestive power, and acting slightly 
as an aperient. 
Compared with digitalis, convallaria is generally as efficient, both as a heart 
tonic and as a diuretic, and in many cases is said to act better. It is safer than 
digitalis, which may destroy life by paralyzing the heart, an effect never produced 
by convallaria. Moreover, it is freer from cumulative effects. Vomiting, anorexia, 
disordered digestion, cerebral excitation, and pupillary dilatation, in addition to 
its acrid taste, make digitalis often an unpleasant remedy. Convallaria is free 
from these objections, and may be substituted whenever the former has to be 
withdrawn. 
It should be borne in mind that the heart irregularities benefited by this drug 
are not those due to organic degeneration so much as those of an obstructive char- 
acter, due to mechanical causes, and particularly where the mitral valves are in- 
volved. Insufficiency or stenotic conditions of the aorta are less benefited than mitral 
complications. While it may be said that convallaria is never contraindicated in 598 
CONVALLARIA. 
proper doses, it is, however, more particularly designed, according to Prof. Scudder, 
"to lessen the frequency of the pulse when there is an impaired capillary circula- 
tion, as shown by ecchymosis, or by the slow return of blood when it is effaced 
by the finger" {Spec. Med.). Rheumatism, when associated with disordered circula- 
tion, has been relieved by it. The aqueous extract of the whole plant in doses 
of from 15 to 20 grains a day, is said to be an efficient form of administration 
(Germain-See); the dose of the infusion of the whole plant (si to water fl^iv) 
is | fluid ounce; of the fluid extract, 5 to 15 drops; the tincture, 5 to 30 drops; 
specific convallaria, 2 to 10 drops 4 times a day; convallamarin, from to 1 grain. 
Specific Indications and Uses.- Heart irregularities due to mechanical 
impediments; mitral insufficiency; dropsy of cardiac origin; palpitation and 
vehement heart action, with arrhythmical movements, dyspnoea, and diminished 
arterial pressure. Quickened pulse with capillary obstruction. 
Related Species.- Polygonatum biflorum (Walter), Elliott. Convallaria biflora, Walter. 
Hairy Solomon's seal, Smaller Solomon's seal. Formerly the species named as growing in the 
United States, and as being used medicinally, was indicated as 
Convallaria multi flor a of Linn6, or Polygonatum muUiflorum of 
Desfontaines. The only species of Polygonatum, however, 
growing in the United States in the territory ascribed to the 
preceding, are the Polygonatum biflorum, Elliott, and the Polygo- 
natum commutatum (R. & S.), Dietrich. The former is from .8 
inches to 3 feet high, and has the under surface of the leaves 
pubescent. It thrives in woods, on high banks, hillsides, moun- 
tains, and in thickets, from New Brunswick to Ontario and 
Michigan, southward to Florida and West Virginia, and west- 
ward to Kansas and Texas. It blooms from April to August- 
Polygonatum commutatum (R. & S.), Dietrich (Polygonatum 
giganteum, Dietrich; Convallaria commutata [R. &S.]); Smooth 
Solomon's seal, Great Solomon's seal, Giant Solomon's seal.-A gla- 
brous species seldom found in dry situations, but thriving in 
moist woods and along streams from Rhode Island to Ontario 
and Manitoba, southward to Georgia and Louisiana, and west- 
ward to Utah, New Mexico, and the Rocky Mountains. It 
blooms from May to August, and is quite variable both in size and in the form of its leaves. 
Vagnera racemosa, Morong; Convallaria racemosa, Linne, Smilacina racemosa, Desfon- 
taines) ; False Solomon's seal, Spiked Solomon's seal, False spikenard.-Common in copses in 
the United States. Rhizome thick, sweet, with a stem from 1 to 2 feet high, downy, and 
recurved at the top. Leaves from 4 to 6 inches long, about one-third as broad, oval, acumi- 
nate, veined, minutely pubescent, on petioles not exceeding 2 lines in length, often sessile. 
The Howers are very numerous, small, white, on white pedicels, with white, exserted, tapering 
filaments, constituting a large, compound, terminal raceme. Berry 3-celled, pale-red, speckled 
with purple, aromatic (W.-G.). 
The rhizonue of the foregoing plants are inodorous, but of a mucilaginous, somewhat 
sweetish taste, followed by a faint sense of bitterness. 
The name Solomon's seal is derived from the peculiar seal-like scars left upon the rhizome 
by the decay of the stems of the previous year's growth. The True Solomon's seal is derived 
from the Polygonatum multiflorum, Allioni (Convallaria multiflora, Linne), and Polygonatum offici- 
nale, Allioni (Convallaria Polygonatum, Linne). Indigenous to Europe, northern Asia, and 
Afghanistan. Their rhizomse and plants yielded (Walz) pectin, sugar, starch, mucilage, aspara- 
gin, and convallarin. 
Although used with asserted benefit in several diseases by many physicians, yet the 
American species of these plants have received but little attention as to their true therapeu- 
tical characteristics. They are reputed tonic, mucilaginous, and mildly astringent, exerting a 
specific influence upon irritated and relaxed mucous membranes. Of much value in leucorrnaa, 
menorrhagia, female debility, and pectoral affections. In piles, the root chewed and swallowed, or a 
decoction drank as freely as the stomach will bear, will give prompt relief, or the root may be 
applied to the part with a similar result. An infusion of the root will be of great efficacy in 
irritable conditions of the intestines, as well as in chronic inflammations of these parts, espe- 
cially wThen attended with burning sensations, pain, etc. In erysipelas and cutaneous affections 
of an erysipelatous nature, as well as those maladies of the skin produced by the poison-inne, or 
resulting from the poisonous exhalations of other plants, the decoction of Solomon's seal root 
will afford direct relief, and an ultimate cure. It may also be applied externally, with advan- 
tage, to local inflammations. A large dose of the decoction will often provoke emesis or nausea, 
and act as a cathartic. Dose of the decoction, from 1 to 4 ounces, 3 times daily. Solomon's 
seal 4 ounces, water 2 pints, molasses 1 pint, simmered down to 1 pint, then strained and 
evaporated to the consistence of a thick fluid extract, and 1 ounce or A ounce of powdered resin 
mixed with it, in doses of 1 teaspoonful several times a day, forms an excellent remedy for piles. 
The rhizomse of the various species may be used collectively under the term Solomon's seal. 
Zygadenus venenosus,Watson. Nat. Ord.-Liliacese. Northwestern states. The poisonous 
bulb of this species, according to Watson, is known to the northern Indians of this country 
Fig. 84. 
1. Polygonatum biflorum. 
2. Vagnera racemosa. COPAIBA. 
599 
as Death camass. Violent spasms have been observed by Dr. S. H. Goodell from the ingestion 
of the plant. Several members of this genus are accredited with poisonous qualities. 
Tulipine.-Alkaloid of Tulipa Gesneriana, or Garden tulip. A cardiac poison with pronounced 
sialogogue properties. 
COPAIBA (U. S. P.)- COPAIBA. 
"The oleoresin of Copaiba Langsdorffii (Desfontaines) O. Kuntze, and of other 
species of Copaiba"-(U. S. P.). 
Nat. Ord.-Leguminosa1. 
Common Names: Copaiba, Capivi, Balsam of copaiva, Balsam of copaiba, Balsam 
capivi. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 93. 
Botanical Source.-The genus Copaiba is composed of handsome shrubs or 
trees (most of them middle or large-sized), clothed with abrupt, pinnate, leathery 
leaves, and adorned with apetalous blossoms borne in whitish racemes. The fruit 
is a coriaceous legume, containing a single seed. The official species varies con- 
siderably in the size and form of its leaflets, and may itself be only a shrub, or a 
small, or a very large tree. It yields the oleoresin abundantly. The substance 
of the literature on copaiba may be given in the following fragment of an article 
contributed by us to the Western Druggist, Feb., 1898: 
History and Collection.-Copaiba (popularly known as balsam of copaiva), 
is obtained from South America, principally from Brazil and Venezuela, being 
produced by numerous species of the genus Copaifera. According to Fliickiger, 
the following species are the principal sources of the copaiba of commerce: (1) 
Copaifera officinalis, Linne, (Guiana, Venezuela, Colombia, Trinidad); (2) Copai- 
fera guianensis, Desfontaines (Lower Amazon, lower Rio Negro, Cayenne, Suri- 
nam); (3) C. coriacea, Martius (Bahia and Piauhy); (4) C. Langsdorffii, Desfon- 
taines (continental provinces of Brazil). The number of known species has 
steadily increased until now the Index Kewensis recognizes 23 American and 5 
African species. 
The copaiba obtained from the vast territory of ^the Brazilian continent, 
along the Amazon and its tributaries, is collected in the shipping port of Para. 
Maranhao Island is also a place of export. Other shipping ports are Maracaibo 
and Angostura in Venezuela; Trinidad, Demerara (British Guiana), Cartagena 
(Colombia), and Rio de Janeiro. 
As to tlie mode of collecting the balsam, Piso (1658) relates that an incision is 
made through the bark deep into the pith at the season of the full moon, which 
causes such an abundant flow of fatty and oily liquid that 12 pounds may exude 
in 3 hours. In case no oil should appear, the opening is at once closed with wax or 
clay, and after 2 weeks the yield is sufficient to make up for the delay. The fact that 
the resiniferous ducts in these trees often attain a diameter of 1 inch, as has been 
observed more recently by Karsten, seems to be quite in harmony with the state- 
ment regarding the abundant yield. It is also related that frequently the balsam 
accumulates in these ducts and exerts pressure enough upon the enclosing walls 
to burst the tree with a loud report. According to Piso, the copaiba tree is not 
very frequent in the province of Pernambuco, but thrives luxuriantly in the 
island of Maranhao, which he says furnishes the balsam of commerce in great 
quantity. He also enumerates the many medicinal virtues of the balsam, mak- 
ing the curious statement that its healing virtues are also experienced as an 
efficient means to check the flow of blood in the Jewish practice of circumcision. 
Labat reports that in 1696 he had an opportunity to observe for the first 
time the tree yielding copaiba in the island of Guadeloupe. He relates in detail 
the manner of collecting the balsam which he calls huile de copau. The vessels in 
which the balsam is collected are made of the fruit of the calabash, a kind of 
gourd. The collection, he states, takes place about 3 months after the rainy sea- 
son; that is, in March for the countries north of the equator, and in September 
for the countries south of this line. The balsam, he states, closes all kinds of 
wounds except those inflicted by gunshot. He declares it to be a powerful febri- 
fuge, having been used with almost marvelous effect in the fever epidemics at 
Rennes and Nantes in 1719. 600 
COPAIBA. 
Description and Chemical Composition.-The U. S. P. describes copaiba 
balsam as "a transparent or translucent, more or less viscid liquid, of a pale-yel- 
low to brownish-yellow color, having a peculiar, aromatic odor, and a bitter and 
acrid taste. Specific gravity 0.940 to 0.990 at 15° C. (59° F.). Insoluble in water, 
readily soluble in absolute alcohol, ether, chloroform, carbon disulphide, benzin, 
and fixed and volatile oils. It yields a transparent mixture with one-third of its 
volume of ammonia water"-(I7. & Pi), Copaiba has the property of solidifying 
when triturated with 6 per cent of its weight of calcined magnesia (mass of 
copaiba, U. S. P.). According to Roussin the condition necessary to bring about 
solidification is the presence of water, either in the balsam or in the base. When 
both bodies are anhydrous the balsam remains liquid. In this connection it 
may be said that the process of the U. S. P. (and of other pharmacopoeias as well), 
for making solidified copaiba directs the magnesia to be previously triturated 
with a little water. Two varieties of copaiba are distinguished in commerce; the 
Para variety from Brazil, a thin, clear, pale, aromatic, somewhat acrid and bitter 
fluid; and the Maracaibo variety, from the Antilles and the adjacent parts of the 
continent, a thick, golden-yellow, sometimes faintly fluorescent oil, having an 
odor suggestive of turpentine. 
Balsam of copaiba, so-called, is not a balsam in the strict sense, for the term 
balsam is properly applied to such resinous exudations as contain the aromatic 
principles benzoic or cinnamic acid, both of which are absent in copaiba. Copaiba 
is an oleoresin, consisting of a volatile oil, which holds a non-volatile resin of acid 
properties in solution. The proportion of oil varies considerably with the differ- 
ent specimens, ranging from 30 to 60 per cent, sometimes being as high as 80 
per cent, or even more. Both the oil and resin have been investigated (see Oleum 
Copaibae). The residue remaining after distilling the essential oil is a hard and 
brittle resin which softens on warming. It dissolves in alcohol, benzin, and amyl 
alcohol, and consists mostly of amorphous acids. Copaivic acid (C10II32O2), is a 
crystallizable substance which sometimes occurs as a deposit when balsam of 
copaiba is kept for a long time. It was first obtained by Schweitzer, in 1829. 
Fluckiger observed a similar deposit in Trinidad balsam, from Copaifera officinalis, 
which he thought identical with copaivic acid. Fehling, in 1841, obtained a crys- 
talline deposit from Para copaiva which differed from copaivic acid, and gave it 
the name oxycopaivic acid (C20H28O3). From Maracaibo copaiba, Straus, in 1865, 
isolated another crystalline acid of the formula C22H34O4, which he called meta- 
copaivic acid. It melts at 205° C. (401° F.). All these crystalline, resinic acids 
and a peculiar principle discovered by Fluckiger, have a bitterish taste. The 
closer chemical study of the oleoresin is beset with many obstacles, owing to the 
difficulty of procuring authentic specimens, as well as to the great variation in the 
product itself, due to its being collected from different species, or even different 
trees, and also to the possibility of sophistications not easily to be recognized. 
Adulterations and Tests.-Probably the most frequent adulteration of the 
balsam is that of turpentine, which is facilitated when the pharmacopoeial 
demand calls for the more viscid variety of the balsam. The V. S. P. mentions 
the following tests: " When copaiba is heated it should not evolve the odor of 
turpentine. When the volatile oil has been completely driven off by heating 
copaiba in a flat-bottomed capsule, the residue, when cold, should be amorphous, 
transparent, and friable (absence of fixed oils). Copaiba should not be fluores- 
cent, and, when heated to 130° C. (266° F.), it should not become gelatinous. 
On adding 1 drop of copaiba to 19 drops of carbon disulphide, and shaking the 
mixture with 1 drop of a cold mixture of equal parts of nitric and sulphuric 
acids, it should not acquire a purplish-red or violet color (absence of gurjun bal- 
sam) "-(U. S. P). The German Pharmacopoeia, 3d ed. (additions), introduces 
two tests for colophony (suggested by Gehe & Co.), the second, the more sensitive, 
being as follows. "Expel the essential oil by heating on the water-bath, pulverize 
the residual resin, and dissolve 1 part in 5 parts of ammonia water. The cloudy 
solution should not gelatinize even after 1 day's standing." This test is said to 
detect about 10 per cent of colophony. See also Bosetti, Chern. Ztg., 1896, p. 846. 
The absence of fixed oils in copaiba is indicated, according to the U. S. P.. if 
upon complete evaporation of the volatile oil, the residue, when cold, becomes 
amorphous, transparent and friable. One of the direct tests for castor oil is based 601 
COPAIBA. 
upon its insolubility in petroleum benzin, while copaiba, in excess of the solvent, 
is completely soluble, save a flocculent precipitate. However, it requires the 
addition of at least 10 volumes of petroleum benzin (Maisch, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 
1877, p. 131), for the precipitation of part of the admixed castor oil. Fliickiger 
and Hanbury's test for the presence of castor oil is to heat the copaiba with 4 
parts of alcohol (85 percent) ; cool; evaporate the upper of the two layers formed, 
which contains alcohol, castor and essential oils, when the odor of castor oil will 
be evolved. If caustic lime or soda be heated with it oenanthol will be formed, 
which may be recognized by its characteristic odor. This will detect even 1 per 
cent of the adulterant (Pharmacogr aphid}. 
Another possible (perhaps probable) admixture is that of gurjun balsam, or 
wood oil, obtained from various species of gigantic trees (Dipterocarpus), native 
to India. (According to Mr. Kebler about 30,000 pounds of gurjun balsam were 
imported in 1894 without any authentic information being obtainable concerning 
its disposition). This balsam has the property of thickening when heated to 
130° C. (266° F.), especially in closed tubes. Mr. L. F. Kebler has employed with 
much satisfaction the following test suggested by Messrs. Dodge and Olcott, for 
the presence of gurjun balsam in copaiba: "Place 1 Cc. of glacial acetic acid 
(99.5 per cent) in a test-tube; to this add 4 drops of pure concentrated nitric acid 
(sp. gr. 1.42); mix well; then add to this mixture, carefully, 4 drops of the balsam 
inquestion; if gurjun balsam is present, within 5 minutes a reddish zone will 
appear between the layer of balsam and the acid. On mixing the contents of the 
test-tube well, the whole will assume a reddish or purple color." Another test, by 
which it is claimed that 1 per cent of gurjun balsam may be detected, is given by 
Ed. Hirschsohn (Jahresb. der Pharm., 1895), and consists in heating a mixture of 
1 volume of the balsam, 3 volumes of 95 per cent alcohol, and 1 gramme of stan- 
nous chloride. If gurjun balsam is present a pink coloration appears, becoming 
violet-red after | hour, but after 1 hour's standing its vividness disappears. 
In testing copaiba the German Pharmacopoeia (1890) introduces directions for 
the determination of the acid number and the ester number, calculated to detect 
an admixture of colophony and compound ethers (or esters). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-When given in large doses, copaiba is 
an irritant; in medicinal doses it is stimulant, cathartic, and diuretic; it likewise 
exerts an especial influence on the mucous tissues of the system, diminishing 
their secretions when excessive, and for this latter purpose it is principally em- 
ployed. Taken internally, it causes warmth in the gastric region, with unpleas- 
ant eructations, and sometimes nausea, or even emesis. Its continued use, unless 
in very small doses, impairs the digestive functions. In the course of its action it 
becomes absorbed, so that its odor and bitter taste are communicated to the urine, 
while the former can also be observed in the respiration. Among the inconve- 
niences attending its use, especially in large doses, the most frequent are sickness 
at stomach, emesis, hematuria, catharsis, and febrile symptoms; these effects may 
be obviated very often by administering the remedy more frequently, but in 
smaller doses, and by combining it with cinnamon, nutmeg, or some other aro- 
matic. At times it produces a transient, papular, cutaneous affection, like the 
eruption of rubeola, and which is accompanied with an unpleasant formication or 
itching. It has been found most beneficial in chronic mucous affections, as in 
chronic gonorrhoea, bronchitis, irritable conditions of the bladder, gleet, leucorrhoea, chronic 
catarrh, chronic diarrhoea and dysentery, and obstinate piles. Its effects in gonor- 
rhoea are much improved by the addition of liquor potassae; and is much more 
beneficial in the gonorrhoea of males than of females, because, in the latter, the 
vagina is oftener affected than the urethra. However, in the urethral form it is 
equally as efficient in both sexes. It seems necessary that the copaiba-impreg- 
nated urine pass over the infected parts, and for that reason it is seldom as effectual 
in injection as when taken internally. According to Prof. F. J. Locke it has a 
specific influence if properly used, and that in all stages of the disease it has been 
used in too large doses. In the inflammatory stage of gonorrhoea, with great 
urethral irritation and profuse discharge, it is always contraindicated. In this 
acute stage he recommends the following as a sedative: " R Specific aconite, 
gtt. x; specific gelsemium, specific cannabis, aa A^j; simple syrup, aqua, aa q. s. 
fl^iv. Mix. Dose, a teaspoonful every 3 hours, or 4 teaspoonfuls per day." 602 
If the urination produce burning, give in a wineglassful of water from 10 to 15 
grains of sodium bicarbonate, 2 or 3 times a day; if constipated, purge with com- 
pound powder of senna and jalap. Then, in the latter stage, in the absence of 
inflammation: R Copaiba, fl^j; alcohol, flsj. Mix. Dose, 5 to 10 drops, 4 times 
a day in sugar and water. When the disease is chronic or unduly prolonged: 
R Copaiba, sweet spirit of nitre, aa fl§ss; liquor potassae, essence of cinnamon, 
aa fl^j; mucilage of acacia, simple syrup, aa fl^j. Mix. Dose, a teaspoonful after 
each meal (Locke's Syllabus, p. 110). However, the more recent improvements in 
the treatment of gonorrhoea (especially the course above pursued in the acute 
form), render the disease readily curable, copaiba being rarely, if ever, required to 
effect the cure. In injection, it has been used with fairly good results. Make an 
emulsion of 2 drachms of copaiba with the yolk of an egg, add 20 or 30 drops of 
laudanum to it, in order to prevent its too speedy discharge from the rectum, and 
8 fluid ounces of water. This may be used as a rectal injection, and repeated 
3 or 4 times a day. In small doses (5 drops) copaiba is useful in chronic inflamma- 
tion of the intestinal tract with ulceration. Give the medicine 3 times a day. Locally, 
it forms an excellent application to chilblains, sore nipples, old ulcers, and fistulous 
ulcers, in which it serves to speedily soften the callosity of the walls of the fistu- 
lous canal. Vesical catarrh, painfid dysuria, and irritable bladder, from excessive 
venery, or following gonorrhoea, are relieved by taking from 1 to 5 drops of copaiba 
on sugar. Inflammation of the urinary passages contraindicates its use. 
Painted upon the breast in mastitis, and covered with oil silk, it often prevents 
the formation of abscesses. It has been painted upon the cheeks and temple for 
the relief of purulent ophthalmia, syphilitic iritis, and sclerotitis. Scaly diseases of the 
skin have also been influenced for good by its internal use. The dose of copaiba 
is from 5 to 60 drops, 2 or 3 times a day. It may be taken in emulsion, made by 
triturating each dose with the yolk of 1 egg, adding % an ounce of mint, cinna- 
mon, or other aromatic water, and sweetening with sugar, or it maybe taken in 
the form of pill with magnesia. The best and least objectionable form in which 
it . can be taken is in the form of capsules. The oil (which see) is the best form 
for obtaining the effects of copaiba upon the respiratory, tract. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Vesical pressure and tenesmus, frequent 
desire to urinate, the urine coming in drops; itching, burning, or smarting in 
urethra after urination; urethral mucoid discharges; cough, with thick tenacious 
expectoration, accompanied by loud mucous rales; laryngeal irritation. 
Related Products.-Oleoresin of Hardwickia. This is a product of the Hardwickia 
pinnata of Roxburgh, Nat. Ord.-Leguminosie, and closely resembles copaiba in taste and odor. 
It is, however, of darker color, and, though transparent, appears black when viewed with 
reflected light. It is thick and viscid, and is not fluorescent like gurjun balsam, and, in trans- 
mitted light, is pale yellowish-green in thin layersand wine-red in thicker layers. Broughton 
obtained a considerable amount of volatile oil (25 to 40 per cent), identical in composition with 
copaiba oil, though he failed to find copaivic acid in the resinous portion, which probably con- 
sists of two resins, one of which has acid qualities. The oil has hevogyre properties. This 
oleoresin comes from the East Indies, and is collected exactly like copaiba in Brazil. On 
applying the above pharmacopoeial test for the presence of gurjun balsam in copaiba to the 
oleoresin of hardwickia, a faint greenish-yellow hue results. In India this oleoresin is em- 
ployed in gonorrhoea with as good results as are obtained from copaiba. 
Lagam Balsam (Minjak-lagamj.-A product resembling balsamum dipterocarpi, and hav- 
ing a bitter, persistently acrid taste. It is of greenish cast in reflected, and transparently 
yellow in transmitted light. It readily dissolves in alcohol, benzol, ether, carbon disulphide, 
and chloroform. A Ifevogyre essential oil (Conllgobto the extent of j of the balsam, was ob- 
tained by G. Haussner by distillation with water. There are two resins present, one neutral 
and the other acid. The acid resin (C7HuO3) is amorphous. When melted with caustic 
potash the neutral resin yields acetic, formic, butyric, and other acids and phenols. It was 
introduced into Europe from Sumatra, in 1854, but its botanical source is unknown (Amer. 
Jour. Pharm., 1883, p. 369, from Archiv. der Pharm., 1883). 
UOPTIS. 
COPTIS.-GOLD-THREAD. 
The rhizome and rootlets of Coptis trifolia, Salisbury (Hellebores trifolius, Linne). 
Common Names: Gold-thread, Mouth-root, Canker-root. 
Illustrations: Lloyd's Drugs and Med. of N. J.,Vol. I, Pl. 13; Bentley and 
Tri men, Med. Plants, 3. COPTIS. 
603 
Botanical Source.-This plant has a small and creeping, slender, thread- 
like, perennial rhizome of a bright-yellow color. Its leaves are ternate, on long, 
slender petioles, evergreen, and radi- 
cal in tufts and invested at the base 
with a number of ovate, acuminate, 
yellowish scales. The leaflets are 
roundish, acute at base, lobed, and 
crenate, smooth, firm, veiny, sessile, 
and 4 to 8 lines long; the crenatures 
acuminate. The scape is slender, 
round, bearing 1 small, starry, white 
flower, and a minute, ovate, acute 
bract at some distance below. Petals 
5, 6, or 7, inversely conical, hollow, 
and yellow at the mouth. Sepals 
5, 6, or 7, oblong, concave, and 
white. Stamens numerous, white, 
with capillary filaments, and adnate, 
roundish anthers. Ovaries from 5 to 7, stipitate, oblong, and compressed. The 
styles are short and recurved; the stigmas acute. The capsules are stalked, oblong, 
rostrate, and compressed, diverging stellately, and containing many small, black, 
oval seeds (L.-W.). 
History.-Gold-thread is found growing in the northern parts of the United 
States, following the Appalachian range as far south as northern Alabama, and 
in Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and Siberia. It grows in dark swamps and 
sphagnous woods, flowering from early in the spring to July. " Northern cedar and 
spruce and balsam swamps always abound with it. Another favorite habitat of 
the plant is the cold swamps, such as are found in mountain plateaus. It often 
grows freely in beds of sphagnum and other mosses, especially in wooded swamps. 
Although coptis is a swamp plant, it is not a mud plant, but generally selects the 
dry knolls surrounded by wet soil" (C. G. Lloyd, Drugs and Med. of N. A.,Vol. I, 
p. 195). At one time it was so popular as a domestic remedy that more of it was 
sold in Boston than almost any other indigenous drug (Bigelow). It is now but 
little employed. Autumn is the season for collecting coptis, when it should be 
dried with care. Its properties are imparted to water, but more perfectly to 
alcohol, and the solutions are precipitated by nitrate of silver and acetate of lead. 
Description.-Coptis "appears in market as masses of the entire plant, in 
which the bright-yellow, thread-like rhizome preponderates, and this yellow color 
is often perceptible part way up the leaf-stalk. The rhizome is pure bitter to the 
taste (berberine), and the portion of the leaf-stalk that possesses a yellow color is 
also perceptibly bitter. The other portions of the plant are insipid " (J. U. Lloyd, 
in Drugs and Med. of N. A., Vol. I. p. 198). It is also odorless. 
Chemical Composition.-Coptis does not appear to contain resin, gum, gallic 
acid, or tannin, its virtues depending, probably, on its two alkaloids. In 1862, 
Prof. John M. Maisch (Buchner's Neues Kepert. of Pharm.y ol. XI) announced berbe- 
rine as its bitter principle, which was later confirmed by Prof. F. F. Mayer (1863), 
E. Z. Gross (1873), and J. J. Schultz (1884). Prof. Mayer also announced that the 
berberine was associated with another alkaloid, which was afterward obtained by 
both Gross and Schultz, the former naming it optine. C. W. Burr (1884) found 
starch in the rhizome, though Gross had previously failed to do so. Sugar, albu- 
men, and silica are also present in coptis. Coptine is a white, crystalline alkaloid, 
existing in the plant in small quantities (see Drugs and Med. of N. A.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Gold-thread is a pure and powerful 
bitter tonic, somewhat like quassia, gentian, and calumba, without any astrin- 
gency. It may be beneficially used in all cases where a bitter tonic is required, 
and is decidedly efficient as a wash or gargle, when in decoction, in various ulcera- 
tions of the mouth. In the nursing sore mouth of mothers we have repeatedly and 
promptly cured with the decoction when infusion of hydrastis had no effect. 
This would seem to indicate that its virtues are not wholly dependent upon ber- 
berine as is generally supposed. Tn dyspepsia, and in chronic inflammations of the 
stomach, equal parts of gold-thread and golden-seal, made into a decoction, with 
Fig. 85. 
Coptis trifolia. 604 
CORALLORHIZA. 
elixir vitriol added in proper quantity, will not only prove effectual, but in many 
instances of the latter kind, will permanently destroy the appetite for alcoholic 
beverages. Dose of the powder, or tincture, from £ drachm to 1 drachm ; of the 
decoction, from 2 to 6 fluid drachms; the tincture, made by adding an ounce of 
the powdered root to a pint of diluted alcohol, is preferable to the powder. 
Related Species.-Coptis occideKtalis, Torrey and Gray. This and the following plant 
are the more common species of Coptis found in the Rocky Mountain region and in the north- 
western states, this species being found in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and western Montana 
(D. ct M. of N. A, Vol. I, 195-197). 
Coptis asplenifolia, Salisbury.-High altitudes of northern half of Montana, Idaho, and 
Washington, and common in West British America. This and the above species contain 
berberine, and probably possess medicinal virtues similar to those of Coptis trifolia i I). A .V. of 
N. A.,Vol. I, 195-197). 
Coptis Teeta, Wallich, Tita.-This drug (known in the Indian bazars as Mishmee bitter, 
is exported from China into India, where it is used as a bitter tonic, and locally in conjunctival 
diseases. The root is also used in India in visceral obstructions, flatulence, jaundice, and toothache 
(Dymock, Mat. Med. Western India). 
Coptis anemonsefolia, Siebold.-Japan. Used like coptis and contains berberine. 
CORALLORHIZA.-CORAL-ROOT. 
The rhizome of Corallorhiza odontorhiza, Nuttall. 
Nat. Ord.-Orchidaceae. 
Common Names: Crawley, Coral-root, Dragon's claw, Chicken-toe. 
Botanical Source.-This is a singular, leafless plant, with much-branched 
and toothed, coral-like root-stalks. The rhizome is a collection of small, fleshy 
tubers, articulated and branched much like coral. The scape is from 
9 to 14 inches high, rather fleshy, striate, smooth, and invested with 
a few long, purplish-brown sheaths. The flowers are from 10 to 20 
in number, ringent, in a long spike of a brownish-green color. The 
lip is white, generally with purple spots, undivided, oval, obtuse, 
and crenulated; the spur obsolete and adnate to the globular ovary; 
the anther 2-lipped and terminal; pollen-masses4,obliquely incum- 
bent. The capsule is large, reflexed, strongly ribbed and oblong, or 
subglobose (G.-W.). 
History.-This plant is indigenous to the United States, grow- 
ing in rich woods, about the roots of trees, from Maine to Carolina 
and westward to the east bank of the Mississippi River, flowering 
from July to October. Not very common south of 35° or 36° lati- 
tude. The species C. multijlora, C. Wisteriana, C. innata, and C. Macraei 
probably possess similar medicinal virtues. The rhizome of the 
first-mentioned species (C. multiflora, Nuttall), which grows as far 
west as the Rockies, is undoubtedly often present in the commercial 
drug, and is probably as valuable. It differs from the above species 
somewhat, especially in having in its spike from 15 to 25 or 30 
flowers, which have a deeply 3-cleft lip, and are spurred, and are suc- 
ceeded by a pendulous, elliptical capsule, instead of a roundish one. 
The plant is also much stouter. It was first discovered in 1816, by Dr. D. S. C. H. 
Smith, although long known previous to that time to herbalists. The entire 
plant is destitute of verdure. The root is the medicinal part; it is small, dark- 
brown, resembling cloves or a hen's claw, has a strong, nitrous smell, and a muci- 
laginous, slightly bitter, astringent taste. It has not been analyzed. 
Description.-The dried root, as met in commerce, is composed of small, coral- 
like pieces, about 2 lines in diameter, and from 3 to 12 lines long, the longest 
pieces consisting of the small, coral-like branches, round or compressed, crooked, 
wrinkled lengthwise, more or less distinctly annulated at distances varying from 
1 to 2 lines, dark-brown externally, and lighter within. Its fracture is short, pre- 
senting under the microscope a shining, pulverulent, or granular appearance, 
somewhat like the saccharine frost on figs and raisins. The root is inodorous, 
with a taste sweetish at first, somewhat resembling that of raisin-seed, and suc- 
ceeded by a faintly bitterish, mucilaginous flavor. 
pi 8Q 
C o r a 11 o r h i z a 
odontorhiza. CORALLORHIZA. 
605 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.- Crawley is probably the most pow- 
erful, prompt, and certain true diaphoretic in the materia medica, but its scarcity 
and high price prevent it from coming into general use. It is also sedative, and 
promotes perspiration, without producing any excitement in the system. Its 
chief value is as a diaphoretic, m fevers, especially typhus, and in inflammatory dis- 
eases; it has proved efficient in acute erysipelas, cramps, flatulency,pleurisy, and night- 
sweats; and relieves hectic fever without debilitating the patient. Probably it will 
be found to combine tonic, sedative, diaphoretic, and febrifuge properties. When, 
in acute pulmonic troubles, a non-stimulating diaphoretic is needed, we can employ 
none better than the coral-root. To "break up a cold" it is one of the most cer- 
tain of medicines. It is fully equal to asclepias, and lacks the dangerous features 
of jaborandi. It has done excellent service in diphtheria. Acute and chronic pleu- 
risy are both conditions in which it will prove curative. Years ago it was used 
for the control of colliquative sweating of phthisis, and will be found equal to musca- 
rine and salvia for this purpose. It is one of the best remedies ever employed for 
the general debility preceding pulmonic affections. We have employed tincture 
of coral-root in cases where all the symptoms were those of incipient consump- 
tion, with the most beneficial results. There is hacking cough, loss of weight, 
want of appetite, pleuritic pains, and marked general prostration. The remedy 
will be found slow, but certain in its action. From 3 to 5 weeks will be required 
before any good results can be observed. The appetite is the first to respond, the 
cough and pain cease, there is increased urinary product, and the functions of the 
skin are better performed. The patient increases in strength and flesh, and all 
the unfavorable symptoms disappear. It has been employed in dry bronchial irri- 
tation with " tightness across the chest, wheezing, and severe paroxysms of irritable 
cough," and in one case where enlarged thyroid caused mechanical bronchial 
irritation, the physician was successful in removing the condition by the reduc- 
tion of the size of the goitre with this agent. It should be employed either in 
infusion or tincture, and the doses should be moderately large and long-continued. 
The infusion is prepared by taking ounce of the root to 1 gallon of water, and 
the patient is to drink freely of it. Or a saturated alcoholic tincture, or a satu- 
rated rye-whiskey tincture, may be given in ^-drachm doses 3 or 4 times daily. Its 
virtues are especially marked in the low stage of fevers. The dose is from 20 to 30 
grains of the powdered root, given in water as warm as the patient can drink, 
and repeated every 1 or 2 hours, according to circumstances. The powder should 
always be kept in well-closed vials; it formerly constituted the "fever-powders" 
of some practitioners. Combined with extract of blue cohosh it forms an excellent 
agent in amenorrhcea and dysmenorrhcea; and is unsurpassed in after-pains, suppres- 
sion of lochia, and the febrile symptoms which sometimes occur at the parturient 
period. In fevers it may be advantageously combined with specific leptandra, 
or resin of podophyllum, where it is found necessary to act upon the bowels or 
liver; and mixed -with specific dioscorea, it will be found almost a specific in 
flatulent and bilious colic. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-General prostration, malaise, hacking cough, 
loss of appetite, loss of weight, pleuritic pains, bronchial irritation, pyrexia. 
Related Species.-As there was formerly some doubt as to the true plant which fur- 
nishes the crawley root, and, as Prof. King, in his first edition of the American Dispensatory 
(which he corrected, however, in a subsequent edition), described it as the Pterospora Andro- 
medea, it may not be out of place to give a description of the latter. In many respects these 
plants resemble each other, as will be seen by the following description: 
Pterospora Andromedea, Nuttall. Albany beech-drops, Pine-drops.-It belongs to the Nat. Ord., 
Ericaceae. It is a rare and singular plant, found on barren hills and shady uplands, and in a 
hard clay soil in the State of New York, and some of the northern states and Canada, flower- 
ing in July. It has a perennial, fleshy, tuberculous root, with many tubers which resemble 
the claws of a fowl. Stem or scape erect, simple, straight, dark-purple, cylindrical, covered 
with short viscid wool, from 8 to 30 inches in height, leafless, and sparsely beset with scales. 
Leaves none. Flowers pale or reddish-white, lateral, nodding, disposed in a terminal raceme 
from 6 to 12 inches long, composed of 50 or more flowers; pedicels irregularly scattered, from 
6 to 8 lines in length, axillary to long, linear bracts. Calyx 5-parted; corolla roundish-ovoid, 
urn-shaped; limb 5-toothed, reflexed, inclosing the stamens. Stamens 10; filaments flat; 
anthers peltate, 2-celled, 2-awned, opening lengthwise; style short; stigma 5-lobed, capitate. 
Capsules or pod globose, depressed, 5-lobed, 5-celled, loculicidal. Seeds very numerous, 
minute, ovoid, tapering to each end, the apex expanded into a broad, reticulated wing, many 606 
times larger than the nucleus (G.-W.). It was discovered near Albany, N. Y., in 1817, by Dr. 
Edwin James, who regarded it as a Monotropa, and as such, on authority of Dr. Torrey, was 
designated by Amos Eaton (Man. of Bat., 2d ed.), under the name Monotropa procera. 
CORDIALE RUBI FRUCTUS.-CORIANDRUM. 
CORDIALE RUBI FRUCTUS (N. F.)-BLACKBERRY CORDIAL. 
Formulary number: 28. 
Preparation.-" Blackberry juice, eighteen hundred and seventy-five cubic 
centimeters (1875 Cc.) [63 fl^, 192 111]; cinnamon, in No.40 powder, one hundred 
grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]; cloves, in No. 40 powder, one hundred 
grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.] ; nutmeg, in No. 40 powder, twenty-five 
grammes (25 Gm.) [386 grs.]; diluted alcohol (U. S. P.), a sufficient quantity; 
syrup (U.S.P.), eighteen hundred and seventy-five cubic centimeters (1875 Cc.) 
[63 fls, 192 HI]. Percolate the powdered spices with diluted alcohol to obtain 
twelve hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (1250 Cc.) [42 fls, 128 1T[] of tincture, 
and add to this the blackberry juice. Then add thirty grammes (30 Gm.) [1 oz. 
av., 25 grs.] of purified talcum, set the mixture aside for 24 hours, occasionally 
shaking, and filter. Wash the filter with sufficient diluted alcohol to obtain 
thirty-one hundred and twenty-five cubic centimeters (3125 Cc.) [105 fl§, 321 11] ] 
of filtrate; lastly add the syrup, and mix well"-(Nat. Form.). 
Prof. Maisch used precipitated calcium carbonate instead of talcum, and sug- 
gests that as the syrup is apt to become turbid after standing, it should be filtered 
before dispensing, but in our opinion this should not be done. We have known 
blackberry cordial to become a gelatinous magma. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is a popular remedy for diarrhoea, 
and may be given in doses of to 1 fluid ounce. 
CORIANDRUM (U. S. P )-CORIANDER. 
" The fruit of Coriandrum sativum, Linne"-(U. & F.). 
Nat. Ord.-Um belli ferae. 
Common Names: Coriander, Coriander fruit. 
Botanical Source.-Coriander is an annual, smooth herb, with a tapering 
root, and a round, erect stem, 12 or 18 inches high, more or less branched, leafy, 
round, and striated. The leaves are compound; the lower ones pinnate, on long, 
slender petioles, their leaflets wedge-shaped, or fan-shaped,acutely notched; upper 
leaves multifid, in fine, linear segments. The flowers are white, often with a red- 
dish tint, disposed in compound, terminal, stalked umbels, of rarely more than 
4 or 5 rays; the partial rays being more numerous. The calyx is 5-toothed, acute, 
unequal, and permanent. Petals obovate, emarginate, with inflexed lobes, the 
exterior radiating and bifid. The fruit is spherical, a line and a half in diameter, 
somewhat coriaceous, carminative, and aromatic. The seed is excavated in front 
and has a loose skin (L.) 
History.-Coriander is an Italian plant, but introduced in all the warmer 
portions of Europe and temperate parts of Asia, flowering from May to July, and 
maturing its fruit early in the latter part of summer. Occasionally it is found in 
cultivation in the United States anti South American States. When the fresh 
plant is bruised, it emits a disagreeable, bedbug-like odor, but by desiccation the 
fruit acquires its peculiar aromatic odor. The pleasant flavor is owing to a vola- 
tile oil, which may be procured by distillation. Alcohol takes up the active prop- 
erties of the seed, water only partially. 
Description.-"Globular; about 4 Mm. (| inch) in diameter; crowned with 
the calyx-teeth and stylopod; brownish-yellow, with slight, longitudinal ridges; 
the two mericarps cohering, enclosing a lenticular cavity, and each furnished on 
the face with two oil-tubes; odor and taste agreeably aromatic"-(U. S. F.). 
Chemical Composition.-The fruit contains a volatile oil, its chief constitu- 
ent (see Oleum Coriandri), tannin, malic acid, mucilage, and a large quantity 
(about 13 per cent) of fatty material. The amount of ash was found to be 5.21 
per cent (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1887, p. 28). CORIARIA. 
607 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Coriander is a stimulant and carmina- 
tive, and is employed in medicine as an adjuvant or corrigent. Its dose is from 
20 to 60 grains. 
CORIARIA.-CURRIER'S SUMACH. 
The leaves of Coriaria myrtifolia, Linne {Rhus Coriaria, Linne). 
Nat. Ord.-Coriariaceae. 
Common Names: Myrtle-leaved coriaria, Currier's sumach. 
Botanical Source.-This is a low, unarmed shrub of the Mediterranean 
regions. The leaves are opposite, entire, lanceolate, acute, short petiolate, and 
prominently 3-veined. The flowers are small, inconspicuous, in erect, terminal 
racemes. The sepals are 5, and imbricated in the bud. Petals 5, fleshy, gland- 
like and shorter than the calyx. The carpels are 5, distinct, and each is furnished 
with a long, thick, exserted stigma, which protrudes from the bud, and forms the 
most conspicuous part of the flower. The fruit is a small, black berry, not larger 
than a common pea. 
History.-This shrub grows in Mediterranean Europe and Asia, and has been 
cultivated in gardens for ornamentation and for the leaves, which yield a black 
dye. The leaves have likewise been employed to adulterate senna-a dangerous 
fraud, as, according to Dr. Masters, they have caused convulsions and subsequent 
coma. The most distinctive characteristic is to be found in the three prominent 
veins of the leaves, whereas senna leaves have but one. The fruit of this shrub is 
poisonous, having proved fatal to French soldiers at Catalonia, who ate of it. 
Description.- Coriaria leaves are from 1 to 1^ inches in length, smooth, 
entire, ovate-lanceolate, of a shiny bluish-green above, paler beneath, marked by 
a prominent mid-rib and two lateral nerves running near the border of the leaf 
nearly to the apex. They have an acrid, bitter, and very astringent taste. 
Chemical Composition.-The leaves contain a poisonous bitter principle, 
investigated by Riban (1865), and named coria,myrtin (C30HMO16). It is obtained 
by precipitating the aqueous extract of the leaves with subacetate of lead; filter- 
ing, treating the filtrate with sulphide of hydrogen; filtering again, and evapo- 
rating the filtrate to a syrupy consistence, from which substance ether dissolves 
the coriamyrtin; it may subsequently be purified by recrystallization from alco- 
hol. It is a neutral, white body, very bitter, forming in from 4 to 6-sided prisms, 
which are soluble in 70 parts of cold and slightly more soluble in boiling water; 
are very soluble in boiling and in 50 parts of cold alcohol, also soluble in ether, 
chloroform, and benzol, but only slightly so in carbon disulphide. Dilute acids 
split it into a substance resembling sugar, and a resin (Husemann and Hilger, 
Pflanzenstoffe, 1884). In addition to this principle, the leaves contain tannin and 
are used for tanning leather and dyeing black. For microscopical tests for coria- 
myrtin, see T. F. Hanausek, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1893, p. 135. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Both the leaves and berries are poison- 
ous. M. Riban gave about 3 grains of the bitter principle to a large dog, and, 
although it was immediately ejected, horrible convulsions occurred in about 20 
minutes, followed by death in 75 minutes; 1 grain of coriamyrtin killed rabbits, 
and the subcutaneous injection of 3% of a grain killed a rabbit in 25 minutes. The 
symptoms following its administration to these animals were rapid succussions 
of the head extending to all the limbs, clonic and tetanic convulsions coming 
on in paroxysms; contractions of the pupils, trismus, and foaming at the mouth; 
the animals died from asphyxia and nervous exhaustion. Autopsy revealed 
vessels gorged with brown blood, coagulated in the cardiac cavities, the pulmonary 
artery,.and the inferior vena cava; brown patches on the lungs; injection of the 
meninges; rapid cadaveric rigidity. No irritating action appeared upon the 
digestive tube. In cases where children have accidentally eaten the fruit, the 
symptoms have been a condition like that occasioned by alcohol (drunkenness), 
aphasia, frothing, purplish countenance, nausea, vomiting, convulsions, and death 
in from 15 to 20 hours. The plant has not yet been employed in medicine. The 
New Zealanders have a toot-poison, which is very destructive to human and animal 
life, and which, it is stated, is procured from Coriaria sarmentosa, Forster. Coriaria 
ruscifolia is also reputed poisonous. 608 
CORNU CERVINE USTUM.-CORNUS. 
CORNU CERVINE USTUM.-BURNED DEER'S HORN. 
Preparation.-Take the horns of the deer (Cervus virginianus) any time from 
the month of August to December, or from the time they are in velvet (until just 
before they fall oft), and when dry rasp them to a coarse powder. Place this in 
an iron vessel, cover it tightly, and put it in an oven, or other situation, where 
a strong heat can be gradually and increasingly applied. When the whole be- 
comes of a light-brown color, like roasted coffee, and is readily pulverizable, cool, 
pulverize it, and keep it in well-stoppered bottles. During the application of the 
heat, which should be gradual, the powder should be occasionally agitated. The 
powder, thus prepared, is of a light chocolate, or brown color, of a peculiar, slightly 
aromatic, animal charcoal odor, and a very faintly astringent taste. During the 
operation disagreeable fumes are evolved. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-A powerful styptic. Especially an 
American remedy, of much value in uterine hemorrhage and menorrhagia. Has also 
been found beneficial in dysentery, hemoptysis, and other hemorrhages. Dose of the 
powder, 1 drachm, every hour, until the hemorrhage ceases permanently, which 
is usually from the first to the third or fourth dose; or 1 drachm of the powder 
may be placed in a gill of hot water, and a tablespoonful of the infusion be given 
every 5 or 10 minutes. It is often given combined with the compound powder of 
ipecacuanha and opium, or with other agents, as capsicum and opium, etc. 
CORNUS.-DOGWOOD. 
The bark and bark of the root of Cornus florida, Linne 
Nat. Ord.-Cornaceae. 
Common Names: Dogwood, Flowering dogwood, Flowering cornel, Boxwood. 
Illustrations: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 136; Johnson, Med. Bot. 
of N. A., Pl. 5. 
Botanical Source.-Dogwood is a small, indigenous tree, from 12 to 30 feet 
high, with a very hard and compact wood, covered with a rough, brownish bark, 
much broken. It is a tree of tardy growth. 
The branches are opposite, spreading, 
smooth, and covered with a reddish bark, 
marked with rings at the place of the 
former leaves. The leaves are opposite, 
but partially expanded at the flowering 
time, ovate, acute, entire, petiolate, nearly 
smooth, dark - green and grooved above, 
and paler beneath, and marked with strong 
parallel veins. The flowers very small, of 
a greenish-yellow color, in heads or sessile 
umbels, upon peduncles an inch or more 
in length, surrounded by a large involucre, 
constituting the chief beauty of the tree 
when in flower. The involucre is com- 
posed of 4 white, nerved, obovate leaves, 
having their point turned abruptly down 
or up, so as to give them an obcordate ap- 
pearance. The calyx is superior and cam- 
panulate, with 4 obtuse, spreading teeth. 
The corolla is composed of 4 oblong, ob- 
tuse, reflexed petals. Stamens 4, erect; anthers oblong, with filaments inserted 
in their middle. Style shorter than the stamens, erect, bearing an obtuse stigma. 
The fruit is an oval drupe of a glossy scarlet color, containing a nut, or nucleus, 
with 2 cells and 2 seeds (L.-W.). \ 
History.-Cornus florida grows in various parts of the United States, but 
more abundantly in the middle states. It flowers in April and May, sometimes 
earlier and sometimes later than this, depending upon the climate. The fruit 
Fig. 87. 
Cornus florida. CORNUS 
609 
matures in autumn. This is one of the most conspicuous and handsome of our 
native trees when in bloom, and is frequently cultivated for its singular beauty. 
Its leaves turn red in the autumn. The wood is very compact and hard, and 
capable of receiving a high polish, and may be employed for many purposes. 
The American Indians extracted from the twigs and roots of this and other spe- 
cies a scarlet coloring matter for dyeing purposes. Dogwood bark was used con- 
siderably during the American Revolution as a substitute for Peruvian bark. 
Description.-The bark of the stem, branches, and roots, is the medicinal 
part. That from the root is the best. It is found in commerce in broken fra- 
ments, somewhat quilled, J or of an inch in thickness, ash-colored, with a red- 
dish tinge, very friable, and very readily reduced to a powder of a similar color; 
it has but little odor, and its taste is astringent and feebly aromatic. Its proper- 
ties are taken up by water or alcohol. 
Chemical Composition.-Geiger, in 1836, obtained from the bark of the root 
a bitter principle (cornine'), in pure form, and he proved that Carpenter's cornine 
is a mixture of calcium salts and the bitter cornine discovered by himself. 
Geiger's process is essentially as follows: Make a cold aqueous extract of the root- 
bark, shake with freshly prepared hydroxide of lead, filter, evaporate to dry- 
ness, abstract with absolute alcohol, filter again, add ether to turbidity, filter, and 
allow to evaporate spontaneously. Cornine crystallizes in silky needles, is soluble 
in water and alcohol, but sparingly soluble in ether. Its aqueous solution is pre- 
cipitated by basic, but not by neutral, acetate of lead; also by silver nitrate. 
Tannic acid, mercuric, ferric, and barium chlorides are without effect upon it 
(Husemann and Hilger, 1884). Prof. Maisch, in 1859, showed that cornine is 
liable to be decomposed by exposure to heat or the atmosphere. The bark was 
found by H. K. Bowman (1869) and Chas. F. Kramer (1882) to contain 3 per 
cent of tannin (Amer. Jour. Pharm.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Dogwood bark is tonic, astringent, and 
slightly stimulant. It forms an excellent substitute for Peruvian bark, having 
frequently proved efficient in periodic attacks when the foreign drug failed. It 
may be used in many cases where quinine is indicated and can not be adminis- 
tered, owing to idiosyncrasy, etc. It may be used with advantage in cases where 
tonics are required, in periodical fevers, typhoid fevers, etc. Its internal employ- 
ment increases the strength and frequency of the pulse, and elevates the tempera- 
ture of the body. It should be used in the dried state, as the recent bark is apt 
to derange the stomach, and cause more or less pain in the abdomen, but which 
may be removed by 10 or 15 drops of laudanum. It is useful in headaches from 
quinine, in general exhaustion and pyrosis. An extract of the bark prepared by 
boiling it in water, and evaporating to the proper consistence, will be found one 
of the best forms in which to administer it. Dose of the powdered bark, from 
20 to 60 grains, as often as required; of the extract, from 5 to 10 grains. The 
ripe berries formed into a tincture with brandy or whiskey, are a popular bitters 
among some country people; the flowers are occasionally used in the place of 
chamomile. Specific cornus, 1 to 20 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-"Tonic and antiperiodic; intermittent or 
miasmatic fevers; pyrosis; headache from quinine; general exhaustion" (Scud- 
der); feeble, relaxed tissues; pulse feeble and temperature subnormal; quinism. 
Related Species.-Cornus sericea, Linne. Swamp dogwood, Kinnikinnik, Rose-willow, Red- 
osier, Silky cornel, Red-willoiv. This is a shrub from 6 to 10 feet high. Stems several, erect, with 
a dark-red or purplish bark, and opposite, spreading branches, with downy twigs. Leaves 
opposite, from 2 to 4 inches long, half as wide, ovate, acuminate, varying from ovate and oval 
to lanceolate, nearly smooth above, with rather prominent veins, with a brown, silky down 
underneath, on petioles, from half an inch to an inch long. Flowers yellowish-white, small, 
disposed in large, terminal, depressed and woolly cymes or corymbs. Berries globose, bright- 
blue; stone compressed (L.-W.). Swamp dogwood is found in moist woods, and on the mar- 
gins of rivers, from Canada to Carolina, flowering in June and July. The bark is the official 
part, that of the root being preferred. It resembles the bark of the following species (C. cir- 
cinata) though it is not so warty and has a purplish tint. It possesses properties similar to 
to those of Cornus florida, being, however, more astringent and less bitter. It has been found 
useful in dyspepsia and diarrhoea, and, in the same doses, may be employed as a substitute for 
the C.florida, and administered in a similar manner. An infusion is valuable in checking 
vomiting, especially that common to pregnancy and disease of the uterus. It has also been highly 
recommended in dropsy, ulcers, malignant fevers, and as an antiseptic. 610 
CORYDALIS. 
Cornus circinata, L'Heritier. Round-leaved dogwood, Broad-leaved dogwood, Alder-leaved dog- 
wood, Round-leaved cornel.-A shrub growing from 6 to 10 feet high, with straight, slender, 
greenish and verrucose branches. Leaves large, about as broad as long, orbicular, or very 
broadly oval, opposite, acuminate, waved on their edges, somewhat rough above, downy be- 
neath. Flowers white, in small, spreading, depressed cymes, without an involucrum. Fruit, or 
berries, a bright-blue, becoming lighter colored as they ripen, small, soft, hollowed at base, and 
crowned with the persistent style (W.-G.). This plant is found in North America from Can- 
ada to the Carolinas, and west to Missouri, growing on river banks, copses, and elevated ridges, 
and flowering from May to August. The dried bark is usually greenish or grayish-white and 
warty when from young twigs, brown-gray from old branches, with shining-brown confluent 
verrucae, short, cylindrical, or semi-cylindrical pieces, having a slight odor, and a somewhat 
aromatic, astringent, and bitterish taste. It imparts its virtues to water, and, in chemical 
character, has thus far been found similar to Cornus florida (R. Gibson, 1880). An astringent 
tonic, which may be employed in all cases where such agents are indicated. An infusion of 
it may be made by infusing an ounce of the coarsely-powdered bark in a pint of boiling water, 
and may be given in doses of 1 or 2 fluid ounces, several times a day. It is useful in diarrhoea 
and dysentery, and also as a gargle in sore throat. One ounce of the bark affords 150 grains of an 
astringent, intensely bitter extract, which may be used with benefit. The medicinal virtues 
of the plant, as well as its doses, are similar to those of Cornus florida. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Bitter taste, aversion to food, continual nausea, indigestion. 
Tincture (3viii to dilute alcohol Oj) 20 to 60 drops, 3 times a day. 
CORYDALIS.-TURKEY-CORN. 
The tubers of Dicentra Canadensis, De Candolle (Bicuculla Canadensis (Goldie), 
Millspaugh ; Corydalis formosa, Pursh; Corydalis Canadensis, Goldie). 
Nat. Ord.-Fumariacese. 
Common Names: Turkey-corn, Squirrel-corn, Wild turkey-pea, Stagger-weed. 
Botanical Source.-This is an indigenous perennial plant, from 6 to 1'2 inches 
in height, and having a root-stalk bearing many small deep-yellow round tubers, 
about as large as peas. The leaves are ternately compound, with stalked divisions, 
incisely dissected into linear or oblanceolate segments, and decidedly glaucous 
underneath. The scape is slender and naked, rises from 8 to 12 inches in height, 
and bears a simple raceme of from 4 to 8 flowers, which are cordate-ovate, 5 lines 
broad at base and 7 to 9 lines long, short-petioled, nodding, greenish-white tinged 
with purple, and somewhat fragrant. The spurs or nectaries are short and rounded. 
The fruit is a many-seeded pod-like capsule. 
History.-This beautiful little plant has been considerably employed in medi- 
cine. It flowers very early in the spring, in this section of the country as early 
as March; and the root or tuber, which is a small, round ball, should be collected 
only while the plant is in flower. It grows in rich soil, on hills and mountains, 
among rocks and old decayed timber, and is found westward and south of New 
York to North Carolina. It must be distinguished from the Dicentra (Corydalis') 
Cucullaria, which flowers at the same time, and very much resembles it. 
Description.-The root or tuber of the Dicentra Canadensis (C. formosa, Pursh) 
when fresh is of a darkish-yellow color throughout, while the Dicentra Cucullaria 
(C. Cucullaria), or White ear-drop has a black cortex or rind, and is white inter- 
nally. When dried, the external covering of the tuber is of a light grayish-yellow 
color, about | of a line thick, inclosing an internal light-yellow substance; fre- 
quently it is of a dark color externally, and internally yellow or brownish-yellow. 
It has a faint peculiar odor, and a taste at first slightly bitter, succeeded by a 
somewhat, penetrating, peculiar, and persistent sensation, which gently influences 
the fauces, and increases the flow of saliva. Water or alcohol extracts its virtues. 
Chemical Composition.-The only analysis we find on record of this species 
of Corydalis (C. formosa, Pursh), is that of Mr. William T. Wenzell (Amer. Jour. 
Pharm., 1855, Vol. 27, p. 207), who found the root to contain corydaline, fumaric acid, 
yellow bitter extractive, acrid resin soluble in alcohol or ether, containing vola- 
tile oil, tasteless resin, soluble in alcohol and insoluble in ether, brown coloring 
matter, starch, albumen, bassorin, cellulose and cortical substance, and inorganic 
salts. The alkaloid corydaline occurs in several species of Corydalis, and was dis- 
covered in 1826, by Wackenroder, in the root of Corydalis cava, Schwgg. (C. tuberosa, 
De Candolle). It crystallizes in white prisms or fine needles, which melt at 135° 
C. (275° F.). It is odorless and tasteless in substance, but its alcoholic solution 
or the solutions of its salts are bitter. It is not soluble in water, soluble with COTO. 
611 
difficulty in alcohol, soluble in ether, chloroform, amyl alcohol, carbon disulphide, 
benzol, and turpentine. Its solution in alcohol has a strongly alkaline reaction. 
The formula for corydaline has been variously stated by different authors as 
ClbH19NO4 (Wicke), and C22H29NO4 (Dobbie and Lauder, Jour. Chern. Soc., 1892). 
Adermann's corydaline (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1890, p. 396) (C22H21NO4), is probably 
not identical with the body long known by that name. The alkaloids of Corydalis 
cava have been investigated more closely than the others. E. Merck (Archiv. der 
Pharm., 1893, p. 131), reports the occurrence of the following: Bulbocapnine, crys- 
tallizable, was present in largest quantity; fuses at 199° C. (390.2° F.); corydine, 
an amorphous alkaloid; corydaline, the alkaloid of Dobbie and Lauder, fusing at 
135° C. (275° F.), and a base melting at 218° C. (424° F.). The last alkaloid is 
probably not identical with Freund and Josephy's corycavine, isolated in 1893, 
together with bulbocapnine, from commercial corydaline. For Adermann's investi- 
gations, see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1890, p. 396. The preparation sold under the name 
Corydalin, as an old Eclectic concentration, is a mixture of corydalis constitu- 
ents. It has a dark yellowish-brown color, and not being a definite, proximate 
principle, should not be confused with the alkaloids. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This agent is peculiar to Eclectic 
practitioners, and was formerly much employed by them. It is tonic, diuretic, 
and alterative. In all syphilitic affections, it is an excellent tonic and alterative; 
and will likewise be found valuable in scrofula, and in many cases where tonics 
are indicated. As a tonic, it possesses properties similar to gentian, calumba, or 
other pure bitters; its alterative properties, however, render it of much value. In 
syphilis, especially in the constitutional form, when occurring in debilitated or 
broken-down constitutions, its efficacy is not equaled by any other agent as an 
alterative tonic; but from considerable experience with it, I am by no means 
satisfied that it exerts any real influence as an antisyphilitic, properly so-called, 
as has been heretofore believed (King). On the other hand, Webster and others 
regard it as a very valuable remedy in the disorders depending upon syphilis and 
scrofula, in the former comparing its action to that of Berberis aquifolium. It is 
claimed to be a remedy for syphilitic nodes, and particularly when they are recent. 
The tibia and the skull bones seem to be chiefly impressed by it. The periosteal 
shin p>ains of syphilitics are said to be promptly alleviated by corydalis. In syphi- 
litic ulcerations the drug should be given internally, and an infusion used locally. 
Prof. Locke recommends it in amenorrhoea, dysmenorrhoea, and leucorrhoea in atonic 
cases with a scrofulous or syphilitic diathesis. Also as a tonic to the digestive 
organs with enlargement of the abdomen due to atony, and declares it excellent 
in dysentery and diarrhoea with coated tongue, fetid breath, and poor digestion. 
It is likewise of value in the cachexia following miasmatic fevers. Dose of the 
infusion, from 1 to 4 fluid ounces 3 or 4 times a day; of the saturated tincture, 
from | to 2 fluid drachms; of corydalin, from to 1 grain 3 or 4 times a day. 
The infusion to be made of 4 drachms of the powdered bulb and 1 pint of boiling 
water. Specific corydalis, 10 to 60 drops. Webster expresses the hope that the 
Eclectics will not let the homoeopaths discover this remedy anew. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Syphilitic or scrofulous diathesis; yellow 
skin with lymphatic enlargements; syphilitic nodes. Increases waste and im- 
proves nutrition. 
COTO.-COTO BARK. 
The bark of an undetermined South American tree. 
History.-Coto bark is exported from the interior of Bolivia, but the tree 
from which it is derived is unknown. (The bark of Palicurea denstflora, Martius, 
is known in Brazil under the name Coto-cotop In. 1875, Dr.Wittstein received a 
few pounds for chemical examination, with the statement that it was produced 
by a species of Cinchona; this was disproved, however, by Harz, after a micro- 
scopic examination. In this country, coto bark and not Para-coto bark (see below), 
in substance, in tincture, or in fluid extract, is always used in medicine. 
Description.-Coto bark reaches us in pieces of from 4 to 12 inches in length, 
2 to 4 inches in width, and from | to inch in thickness; the outer or corky 
portion is about ^g of an inch in thickness, dark-brown internally, rusty upon 612 
COTO. 
the inner surface, and externally grayish-brown or blotched with spots of white. 
The surface is somewhat rough. Beneath the thin cork it is of a dark-cinnamon 
color; fibrous upon its inner surface and intermixed with some granular matter; 
but, toward the outer part the granular matter increases in proportion until the 
reverse is true. Its fracture presents very numerous points of a golden yellow. 
The odor of the bark is aromatic, especially when freshly broken, reminding one 
of mace or of a mixture of mace and cinnamon. The taste is intermediate 
between that of mace and allspice, finally becoming acrid and biting. The dust 
is irritating when inhaled. 
Chemical Composition.-Dr. Wittstein found this bark to contain a pale- 
yellow, aromatic, volatile oil, of less density than water, and biting to the taste; 
a volatile alkaloid resembling propylamin, and two resins, besides a tannin, 
starch, formic, butyric, and acetic acids, etc. In 1876, Jobst obtained a crystal- 
lizable body, cotoin, possessing the biting taste peculiar to the bark, and which he 
supposed represented its medicinal virtues. Cotoin was obtained by exhausting 
the powdered bark with cold ether, distilling the greater part of the solvent, treat- 
ing with light petroleum benzin, 6 parts (which caused the precipitation of a 
copious amount of resin), and evaporating the benzin solution to the point of 
crystallization. Afterward, by the same process of isolation, he found another 
crystalline, but non-pungent body in another sample of bark (since named Para- 
coto bark), and named it paracotoin. Still further examinations by Jobst and 
Hesse gave conflicting results, and later researches by the same chemists demon- 
strated that the discrepancies were due to the fact that two barks were upon the 
market under the name coto, and that only to the first, that examined by Witt- 
stein, should the term (coto) be applied; Para-coto bark being accepted as the 
name of the second (see Related Drug). 
Coto bark, according to the investigations of Jobst and Hesse (Lieb. Annal., 
Vol. 199, 1879, pp. 17-96; also see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1880, pp. 20-28), contains 
cotoin and dicotoin, the latter occurring in the mother liquors from the preparation 
of cotoin, and being regarded as its anhydride. Cotoin forms square prisms of 
a light yellowish-white color, having an intensely biting taste, and melting at 
130° C. (266° F.). The dust of cotoin causes violent sneezing and coughing. It 
is soluble in alcohol, ether, acetone, chloroform, carbon disulphide, and boiling 
water, and nearly insoluble in cold water. It is soluble in alkalies and alkaline 
carbonates, being again precipitated by mineral acids, and even carbonic acid gas. 
Its aqueous solution reduces gold and silver salts in the cold, and exhibits some 
characteristic color reactions with nitric and sulphuric acids, ferric chloride, etc. 
Its formula is C22H18Ofi, and tribromine-and triacetyl substitution products were 
obtained by the authors. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Coto bark, in the form of powder, 
tincture, or extract, has been successfully employed in diarrhoea; M. von Gietl 
considered it a specific in the several forms of diarrhoea. Burkhart and Rieker 
have found it to possess extraordinary virtues in intestinal catarrh, diarrhoea, and 
dysentery. Good results are obtained from it in some cases of cholera infantum, and 
strong endorsement has been accorded it as a remedy to control the colliquative 
sweats of phthisis. It has likewise been employed beneficially in colic, dental nerv- 
ous pains, in gout, and in rheumatism. The tincture made by percolating 1 part of 
the coarsely powdered bark with 9 parts of alcohol, may be given in doses of 10 
drops, repeated every 2 hours; the powder, in doses of f grain, repeated 4, 5, or 6 
times a day. The effects of the tincture and the powder are, however, very dis- 
agreeable, owing to the essential oil and the resinous principles present in them, 
producing a persistent, burning taste in the mouth, with increased flow of saliva, 
a burning sensation in the stomach, with eructations and vomiting, on which 
account the active principle, cotoin, has been substituted, as it does not occasion 
these unpleasant symptoms, and is fully as efficient. Cotoin is especially useful 
in cases in which opium and its preparations are contraindicated; its dose is very 
small, thus: In 4 fluid ounces of distilled water dissolve of a grain, or If grains 
of cotoin, and to this add 10 drops of alcohol and 1 ounce of syrup. The dose is a 
tablespoonful every 1 or 2 hours. 
Related Drug.-Para-coto Bark. Para-coto bark resembles coto bark in its general 
appearence, but has a much weaker odor, and only a faintly pungent, acrid taste. It reaches COTULA 
613 
market under the name Coto, and is packed in exactly the same manner, thus, it is said, ren- 
dering its substitution in commerce frequent. The principal constituents are, paracotoin, 
which crystallizes from an ethereal tincture of para-coto bark, in yellowish scales, and has the 
composition CigH^O#. Solution of hydrate of potassium, or of sodium converts it into para- 
cotoic acid (C19H17O7). Leucotin, a substance crystallizing in white prisms, is present in larger 
proportion, and is obtained by agitating the crystalline mass resulting from evaporation of the 
tincture of para-coto bark with glacial acetic acid. The leucotin dissolves in the acetic acid, 
and may be purified byrecrystallization from hot diluted alcohol, Its composition is C34H32O10. 
Oxyleucotin is obtained from the alcoholic mother liquor, after separation of paracotoin, and 
has the composition, C34II32O12. An agreeable volatile oil was also obtained by distillation 
of the bark with superheated steam, colorless, specific gravity 0.9275, and separable into 5 
distinct compounds by means of fractional distillation, with boiling points ranging from 
160° C. (320° F.) to 242° C. (467.6° F.). In addition to the foregoing, several other products 
were identified, e. g., dibenzoyl hydrocotoin (CssHssOg), hydrocotoin (C15II14O4), and piperonylic add 
(C8H8O4), and we refer the reader, if interested, to the original article, or the abstracts 
published in the Amer. Jour. Pharm., and in New Remedies, January, 1880 (see under Coto Bark; 
also see Ciamician and Silber, Chem. Centralbl., 1892. Vol. I, p. 751). 
COTULA.-MAY-WEED. 
The whole herb Maruta Cotula, De Candolle (Anthemis Cotula, Linne; Maruta 
feet Ida, Cassini). 
Nat. Ord.-Composites. 
Common Names: May-weed, Wild chamomile, Dog fennel, Dog chamomile. 
Botanical Source.-Maruta Cotula has an annual, twisted, tapering, fibrous 
root, with one or more stems, erect, branched, bushy, leafy, angular, furrowed, 
nearly smooth, and solid, from 1 to 2 feet 
high. Its branchesarecorymbose. The leaves 
are alternate, sessile, bright-green, smooth, or 
slightly hairy, bipinnatifid, and cut. The 
segments are narrow, flat, a little succulent, 
spreading, rather distant, not crowded or par- 
allel, and somewhat bristle - pointed. The 
flower-heads are solitary, on terminal, stria- 
ted, slightly downy peduncles. The invo- 
lucre is more or less hairy, its scales almost 
equal, obtuse, and slightly bordered. The 
disk is convex, lemon-colored, with the slen- 
der, bristle-shaped, or subulate, greenish 
scales not quite so tall as the opening florets. 
The rays are white, elliptical, 3-toothed, de- 
flexed, and close to the stalk, at night. The 
receptacle is highly conical, almost cylindri- 
cal, and beset with slender, permanent scales. 
The seeds are brown, obovate, furrowed, and 
sometimes rough, with minute tubercles (L.). 
History. - May-weed is indigenous to 
Europe, and is common in this country, where it is known as Wild chamomile, 
Dog fennel, etc. It may be found growing in waste places, in hard, dry soils, espe- 
cially along roadsides. Its flowers are white, and appear from June until Sep- 
tember. Every part of the plant is acrid and fetid, and, according to Linnaeus, is 
grateful to toads, and is annoying to fleas and flies. The whole plant is medi- 
cinal. Its taste is bitter and pungent; water or alcohol extract its properties. 
Chemical Composition.-Mr.W. H. Warner found it to contain oxalic, valeri- 
anic, and tannic acids, coloring matter, albumen, acrid oleoresin, insoluble bitter 
extractive, volatile oil, and various salts {Amer. Jour. Pharm.N o\. XXX, p. 390). 
From an analysis, in 1859, Pattone announced an alkaloid under the name 
anthemidine, and a crystallizable acid, of a bitter taste, and soluble in ether and 
alcohol, to which the name anthemidic acid was given. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Tonic, emetic, antispasmodic, emmena- 
gogue and epispastic. The cold infusion or extract may be substituted, as a 
tonic and antispasmodic, in all cases, for the foreign article. The extract may be 
used in sick headache, and in convalescence from fevers. A warm infusion may be 
Fig. 88. 
Maruta Cotula. 614 
COTYLEDON.- CREOSOTE M. 
used as an emetic or diaphoretic. It has been efficient in amenorrhoea. The Irvsh 
plant bruised and applied to the skin, will cause vesication, and the sores heal 
readily. A powerful epispastic is made by preparing the fresh leaves of M. Cotula 
and Polygonum punctatum, equal parts, and moistening them with a small quan- 
tity of spirits of turpentine. Dose of the infusion, from 1 to 4 fluid ounces, as 
often as required. 
COTYLEDON.-NAVELWORT. 
The plant Cotyledon Umbilicus, Linne (Umbilicus pendulinus, De Candolle). 
Nat. Ord.-Crassulacese. 
Common Names : Pennywort, Navelwort, Cotylet. 
Botanical Source.- A succulent, herbaceous perennial, having an erect stem 
about 6 inches in height, arising from a tuberous, fleshy root. The leaves are 
small, peltate, concave, fleshy, and somewhat rounded, with a repand-crenate bor- 
der, the upper leaves being smallest. The flower-stem bears a profusion of small 
pale or greenish-yellow, and bell-shaped, pendulous, tubular flowers arranged 
in a spike. 
History and Chemical Composition.-This succulent perennial is indige- 
nous to England and south and west Europe. It inhabits old rocks, stony ruins, 
and sandy situations, growing on dry banks. When dried, the plant is odorless, 
and possessed of a mucilaginous taste. If the plant be powdered and exposed to 
the air, it acquires a peculiar, fish-like odor, probably due to tri methylamine, which 
it has been found to contain. It also contains an ammonium salt, potassium 
nitrate, salts of potassium, sodium, calcium, oxide of iron, mucilage, cellulose, 
tannin, yellow coloring principle, chlorophyll, a volatile oil, and 95 per cent of 
water (fresh plant). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This plant was formerly bruised and 
applied to contused wounds. At one time it acquired a reputation, in England, as 
a remedy for epilepsy, but, after an extended trial, was discarded as worthless. Its 
composition is such that possibly the plant is not wholly inert. The fresh juice 
may be administered in doses of from to 1 fluid ounce, 3 times a day. 
CREOSOTUM (U. S. P.)-CREOSOTE. 
"A mixture of phenols, chiefly guaiacol and creosol, obtained during the dis- 
tillation of wood-tar, preferably of that derived from the beech, Fagus sylvatica, 
Linne (Nat. Ord.-Cupuliferte)"-(U. S. P.). 
Synonyms: Creasotum, Creasote. 
History and Preparation.-Creosote was discovered by M. Reichenbach in 
1830. It exists in impure pyroligneous acid, and in the tar obtained by the distilla- 
tion of wood, the latter yielding it in the greatest quantity. As regards the spelling 
of the word creosote (the British Pharmacopoeia prefers the spelling creasote), see Chas. 
Rice in Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1894, and Jos. Ince, Pharm. Jour., 1895, p. 305). Briefly 
creosote is prepared as follows (see Prof. S. P. Sadtler, Indus. Org. Chern., 189): 
The lower, tarry layer resulting from the destructive distillation of wood 
(see Acidum Aceticum Pyrolignosum) furnishes the material from which creosote is 
obtained. By distillation and rectification the tar is differentiated into an aqueous 
distillate containing wood spirit and pyroligneous acid, an oily distillate lighter 
than water, another distillate heavier than water, and the residual pitch. The 
creosote oils constitute the fraction of the heavier distillate collected between 
150° and 250° C (302° and 482° F.). These oils are abstracted by means of solu- 
tion of caustic soda, which separates the aqueous, creosote-bearing layer, from 
which the addition of sulphuric acid liberates the creosote. The oils are then 
further purified by distilling with steam, and finally rectifying in glass retorts. 
Creosote oils from wood-tar contain a little phenol (carbolic acid), which is more 
abundant in coal-tar creosote. Creosote contains the higher phenols and their 
methyl ethers, e. g., guaiacol (C6H4[OCH3].OH), creosol (C6H3.[CH3].[OCH3].OH), 
xylenol (phlorol) (C6H3[CH3].rOH), methyl-creosol, etc. Max Pfrenger (Archiv. der 
Pharm.) examined a certain specimen of birchwood creosote, and found it to consist 615 
of guaiacol and creosol in largest quantity, of cresol and xylenol (the homologues of 
phenol), in smaller amount, while phenol (carbolic acid) could not be identified. 
Description.-The official creosote is "an almost colorless,yellowish orpink- 
ish, highly refractive, oily liquid, having a penetrating, smoky odor, and a burn- 
ing, caustic taste; usually becoming darker in tint on exposure to light. Specific 
gravity, not below 1.070 at 15° C. (59° F.). Soluble in about 150 parts of water at 
15° C. (59° F.), but without forming a perfectly clear solution. With 120 parts 
of hot water it forms a clear liquid which, on cooling becomes turbid from the 
separation of minute oily drops. The filtrate from this yields a reddish-brown 
precipitate with bromine T.S. (distinction from carbolic acid). Soluble, in all pro- 
portions, in absolute alcohol, ether, chloroform, benzin, carbon disulphide, acetic 
acid, and fixed and volatile oils. It begins to boil at about 205° C. (402.8° F.), 
and most of it distills over between 205° and 215° C. (401° and 419° F.)'. When it 
is cooled to -20° C. (-4° F.), it becomes gelatinous, but does not solidify (differ- 
ence from carbolic acid). It is inflammable, burning with a luminous, smoky 
flame. Creosote is neutral or only faintly acid to litmus paper"-(U.S.P.). When 
concentrated it destroys the epidermis, dissolves iodine, phosphorus, sulphur, and 
black oxide of copper, reduces oxide of mercury at a boiling temperature, and 
dissolves the coloring matter of indigo, which is precipitated on the addition of 
alcohol and water. It also dissolves camphor and many of the resins. An aqueous 
solution preserves meat, which has been dipped into it. Concentrated nitric and 
sulphuric acids decompose it. 
Tests.-Creosote from wood-tar is liable to be adulterated with crude carbolic 
acid, or it may even be totally substituted by it. F. B. Eisenhart (Amer. Jour. 
Pharm., 1886, p. 593), showed that of 15 specimens analyzed, 8 were carbolic acid. 
In another instance (Massachusetts Health Report, see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1886, 
p. Ill), the extent of substitution was approximately 60 per cent. Creosote is 
sometimes impure by reason of the presence of some of the other principles (indif- 
ferent oils) formed by the destructive distillation of wood. Since pure creosote 
is completely soluble in concentrated acetic acid and solution of caustic potash, 
while the above adulterations rise to the top of the solution, this treatment 
affords a ready means of separation. If creosote leaves a stain on paper not 
removable by heat, it contains a fixed oil. 
Besides, the Pharmacopoeia gives the following tests: "On mixing equal 
volurnes of creosote and collodion in a dry test-tube, no coagulum should form. 
If 1 volume of creosote be mixed with 1 volume of glycerin, a nearly clear mix- 
ture will result from which the creosote will separate on the addition of 1 or more 
volumes of water. On adding to 10 Cc. of a saturated, aqueous solution of creo- 
sote 1 drop of ferric chloride T.S., the liquid will acquire a violet-blue tint which 
rapidly changes to greenish and brown, with formation, usually, of a brown pre- 
cipitate. (The preceding 3 tests show difference from and absence of notable 
quantities of carbolic acid). On mixing 2 Cc. of creosote with 8 Cc. of a 7.5 per 
cent solution of sodium hydrate, a clear, pale yellowish liquid results, which be- 
comes turbid when diluted with water, but clears up after 50 Cc. have been added 
(absence of neutral oils). If 1 Cc. of creosote be mixed with a warm, 20 per cent 
solution of potassium hydrate in absolute alcohol, a solid, crystalline mass will 
form upon cooling. If 1 Cc. of creosote be shaken with 2 Cc. of benzin and 2 Cc. 
of freshly prepared barium hydrate T.S., upon separating, the benzin should not 
be blue or muddy, and the aqueous layer should not have a red tint (absence of 
coerulignol and some other high-boiling constituents of wmod-tar) "-(U. S. P.). 
For a valuable paper on the distinctive tests for carbolic acid, cresylic acid (cresol), 
and creosote, by Alfred H. Allen, see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1879, p. 28-36. 
The above-mentioned ferric chloride test, while very sharp for carbolic acid 
alone (in the quantities above indicated, it yields, with coal-tar acids, a perma- 
nent violet-blue coloration), can not be used to identify carbolic acid when mixed 
with creosote. Fliickiger's test is said to overcome this difficulty (Amer. Jour. 
Pharm., 1892, p. 195). In principle it is as follows: 4 Cc. of creosote are mixed 
with 1 Cc. of ammonia water, the mixture heated to 60° C. (140° F.), spread in a flat- 
bottom dish to form a thin layer, and the vapors of bromine brought in contact with 
it. Pure creosote yields a brown color, turning green, while carbolic acid forms a 
deep blue. For the valuation of guaiacol in creosote consult the same reference. 
CREOSOTUM. 616 
CREOSOTUM. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Creosote, when applied to the mucous 
tissues, or to the denuded cutis, occasions sharp, burning pain, and if the article 
be the commercial variety, which generally contains carbolic acid, it coagulates 
the albumen of the tissues and may cause ulceration of the part. The action of 
creosote closely resembles that of carbolic acid, and, in view of the fact that a 
large part of so-called creosote employed in medicine is carbolic acid, many of the 
effects attributed to the former are those previously described under the latter 
agent. Creosote may be absorbed when applied to ulcerations, so that poisonous 
effects may be experienced. Taken internally to excess, pain in the abdomen, 
with bloody discharges, may occur, and fatal cases show destructive lesions of the 
parts over which the creosote has passed. As high as 500 drops of creosote have 
been taken in 24 hours, which goes to prove that, when pure, its physiological 
effects must be different from those of carbolic acid, the action of which it has 
always been thought to resemble, and the range of application of the two agents 
have been considered very similar. Its antiseptic power is fully equal to, if not 
superior, to that of phenol. A thorough investigation of the action of creosote has 
not as yet been made. Anatomical specimens may be kept in an aqueous solution 
of creosote, equally as well as in alcohol. Moldiness in ink may be prevented by 
the addition of a few drops of creosote to it; it is also added to preservative fluids 
for microscopical preparations for the same purpose. Creosote protects wood 
against most of the attacking insects, as the marine teredo, and the land white 
ant; also from moisture, fungi, and animal and vegetable life, and prevents dry 
rot and other species of decay. Probably carbolic acid would answer a better 
purpose in these several instances. Commercial creosotq (holding carbolic acid) 
forms a gelatinous compound with f its weight of collodion; this is not the case 
with pure beech-tar creosote. 
A poisonous dose of creosote occasions dimness of vision, fixation of the eyes, 
vertigo, diminution of the action of the heart, coma, and often convulsions. The 
treatment must be ammonia and stimulants to counteract the depression of the 
vital powers, the soluble sulphates with white of egg, oleaginous and mucilagi- 
nous drinks. 
Creosote is irritant, styptic, antiseptic, narcotic, escharotic, and probably 
diuretic. Internally, in small doses, it is sedative and ansesthetic. It is used in 
diabetes mellitus, epilepsy, hysteria, neuralgia, chronic catarrh, hemoptysis, hematemesis, 
chronic gonorrhoea and gleet, and to arrest nausea or vomiting occasioned by hysteria 
or pregnancy, but further and more accurate investigations are required before we 
can positively determine its value in these affections when internally adminis- 
tered. Its value in vomiting is enhanced by its property of partially paralyzing 
the sensitive gastric nerve filaments, and, like carbolic acid, it is undoubtedly of 
marked value in yeasty or other fermentation of the contents of the stomach. As 
early as 1833, Reichenbach claimed creosote as a remedy for phthisis. Following 
him came Elliotson (1834), Carmack (1836), and others, who made similar claims, 
but the remedy failed to find favor and its use for this purpose was dropped, to 
be revived again by Imlay, in 1876, since which time its use in this country has 
amounted to "a fad" with certain practitioners. Imlay only employed it by 
spray. It is, however, again fast losing ground as a remedy for consumption, the 
relief in cases apparently benefited now being attributed largely to the use of 
restoratives employed with it and the hygienic precautions observed. Even 
those who made a large use of it, upon the ground that it would destroy the 
tubercle bacillus, now admit that it possesses no such power, and that it does not 
in any way benefit the consumptive patient. On the contrary, when long taken, 
the patient becomes possessed of a disgust for medicine and food, while gastro- 
intestinal irritation is so far produced as to induce nausea, vomiting, and diar- 
rhoea, with the consequent nervous depression resulting from such a state. 
Externally, as more commonly used, it has been found efficient in scaly cuta- 
neous affections, burns, external wounds, capillary hemorrhage, indolent and gangrenous 
ulcers, also scrofulous, syphilitic and fistulous ulcers and scrofulous ophthalmia; as a 
gargle, in putrid sore throat, as an injection, diluted with oil of almonds, in chronic 
suppuration of the external meatus of the ear, and it is one of the most effective appli- 
cations in toothache, depending on exposure of the nerve. A saturated solution of 
camphor in creosote, applied by means of camel's hair pencil slightly moistened 617 
CRETA PR7EPARATA. 
with it, has been efficient in gangrene of the mouth. Creosote should most usually 
be sufficiently diluted, and used in the form of mixture, solution, or ointment. 
Dose, from 1 to 3 drops, diluted with 2 or 3 fluid ounces of weak aromatized muci- 
lage, 3 or 4 times a day. When employed in phthisis it is generally given with 
cod-liver oil, wine and gentian, etc. 
Creosote water (see Aqua Creosott) has been used as a local application in 
various ways to stimulate indolent ulcers and abscesses, to neutralize bad odors, and 
to stimulate mucous tissues, as of the mouth and throat. Internally, from 4 fluid 
drachm to 3 or 4 fluid drachms of aqua creosoti may be given for a dose. For 
inhalation, take 1 part of creosote to 3 of alcohol. 
Related Bodies.-Creosotum Carbonicum. A transparent, yellowish-brown, honey-like 
body, without odor, and having a feebly bitter taste, has been introduced under this name as a 
remedy for phthisis. It is soluble in the fatty oils, but not in water. By the action of alkalies, 
and when within the system it undergoes decomposition into carbonic acid gas and creosote. 
As much as 75 grains have been given in a day (Chaumier, 1892). 
Creosotal is the name given to the carbonate of creosote, containing 90 per cent of pure 
creosote and rich in guaiacol. For its properties and uses, see Amer. Jour. Pham., 1894, p. 40. 
CRETA PR^PARATA (U. S. P.)-PREPARED CHALK. 
Formula: CaCO3. Molecular Weight : 99.76. 
Synonym : Creta Inevigata. 
Source.-Chalk is an impure calcium carbonate, a substance that exists 
widely distributed over the globe, and constitutes a large share of the rock for- 
mations of the earth. It occurs in various modifications, e. g., in the form of 
limestone, marble, calc-spar (Iceland spar), and aragonite. It is the basic sub- 
stance in coral, and crustacean and mollusk shells. The bones and teeth of man 
and animals, and the solid portion of egg-shells, are composed chiefly of calcium 
carbonate. It is frequently found in pathological conditions of the human sys- 
tem, such as calcifications, and occasionally as renal calculi. The so-called otoliths 
in the internal ear of the human species are crystallized calcium carbonate. 
Chalk in quantities has not been found in the United States, but is obtained in 
abundance in the south of England, where it forms the immense chalk cliff's of 
the English channel, and along the adjacent coast of France. It occurs in the 
newest secondary strata, and constitutes, with its subordinate rocks, a distinct 
and peculiar formation. It is scarcely ever a perfectly pure calcium carbonate, 
always containing silica, alumina, iron, and fossil remains of land and marine 
animals, in great quantity, e. g., the shells of Foraminifera of microscopic size. 
Chemically it is impure carbonate of calcium, and is identical with marble (which 
see) in its relations to water, air, alcohol, heat, and acids. 
Chalk is termed by some writers native friable carbonate of lime. There are two 
kinds, hard and soft chalk; the latter is commonly preferred for medicinal pur- 
poses, though the former may be employed as well. It has an earthy appearance, 
white when pure, grayish-white or even reddish, when impure, inodorous, taste- 
less, opaque, insoluble, giving a sensation of roughness when touched, very friable, 
with an earthy fracture, leaving a white mark when drawn over a resisting sur- 
face, and having the specific gravity 2.3 to 2.7. Chalk is completely dissolved 
by hydrochloric acid, with the exception of the silica present; if this solution 
contains alumina, the addition of ammonia will cause a white precipitate; if it 
contains oxide of iron the precipitate will be in yellow-brown flakes. 
Preparation.-Chalk should not be employed as a medicine until it has been 
divested of its gritty particles by levigation and elutriation, as follows: Rub 
chalk into a paste, with a little water. Stir this into a large quantity of water, and 
when the coarse particles have subsided, pour off the supernatant turbid liquor, 
and let it settle. Decant the water, and dry the powder upon some flat, porous 
body. Molded it forms, when dried, conoid or pyramidal figures, which are 
known as prepared chalk. Whiting is chalk freed from its silicious particles. A 
finer grade, soft and smooth, is known as Paris or Spanish white; this when mixed 
with pigments, forms the basis of pastel pencils. 
Description.-Creta Pr^eparata (U.S.P.f "A white, amorphous powder, 
often molded into conical drops, odorless and tasteless; permanent in the air. 618 
Almost insoluble in water; insoluble in alcohol. Soluble in diluted acetic, hydro- 
chloric, or nitric acid with copious effervescence, but without leaving more than 
a trifling residue. When heated to redness, prepared chalk loses carbon dioxide 
and is converted into lime"-(U. S. P.). 
Tests.-"The solution in diluted acetic acid yields, with ammonium oxalate 
T.S., a white precipitate insoluble in acetic, but soluble in hydrochloric acid. 
If from the solution in diluted acetic acid the calcium be completely removed by 
precipitation with ammonium oxalate T.S., in slight excess, the filtrate should 
not be rendered very turbid upon addition of sodium phosphate T.S. and a little 
ammonia water (limit of magnesium). Another portion of the solution in acetic 
acid should not assume more than a slight bluish tint upon addition of potassium 
ferrocyanide T.S. (limit of iron). Another portion of the same solution should 
not be rendered turbid by the addition of barium chloride T.S. (absence of sul- 
phate). In another portion of the solution no precipitate should occur upon the 
addition of potassium dichromate T.S. (absence of barium)"-(U. S. P.). Pre- 
pared chalk has been largely adulterated with, or entirely substituted by calcium 
sulphate (powdered gypsum). The latter is whiter than prepared chalk, which 
has a grayish cast. Gypsum does not effervesce when treated with acids; the 
substitution may thereby be at once recognized. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Antacid, astringent, and absorbent. 
The animal cretaceous products probably act more kindly upon the stomach. 
Used in acidity of the stomach and acid diarrhoea, combined with aromatics and 
opium; externally to ulcers and burns, to absorb the ichorous discharges, and to pre- 
vent excoriation from pressure or friction. Dose, from 10 grains to 1 drachm. 
Related Drugs.-Testa Pr^eparata, Prepared oyster shell. The prepared shell of the 
Ostrea edulis, LinnA Class, Acephala; Order, Lamellibrauchia; Family, Ostracea. This product, 
but little used at the present time, was official in the U. S. P. of 1870. Its chief constituent is 
calcium carbonate, which is present to the extent of from 87 to 98 per cent, being contained in 
greater proportion in the internal pearly layer of the shell. Calcium phosphate, silica, and 
other earthy substances form the remainder of the inorganic material. The organic matter 
may amount to from 0.5 to nearly 5 per cent. 
Calcarea Carbonica or Calcarea Ost rearum (Hering), is essentially the same as Testa 
PRiEPARATA, and is a standard remedy among Homceopathists. The original process of prepa- 
ration as pursued by Hahnemann, was to break clean, thick oyster shells into small pieces, 
and after carefully selecting fragments of the inner, snow-white portion, to powder them. 
This was then used in making triturations. Prof. H. T.Webster is a strong advocate of the use 
of this remedy in strumous conditions with faulty action of the lymphatic glands. Lack of bone 
nutrition resulting in rickets and the head sweating of debilitated infants, are positive indica- 
tions for it. Mucorrhoea, or copious muco-purulent discharges as in bronchorrhaa, and in chronic 
post-nasal inflammations and chronic pharyngitis, marked results are claimed by this author, who 
also employs it in ngn-irritative vaginal and uterine leucorrhcea due to relaxed tissues. In lung 
affections and chronic coughs it is adapted where there is but little inflammation or fever. 
Chronic cases are best treated with it. It is said to be a positive agent in some cases of recent 
goitre. Webster employs the 3 x trituration in doses of 1 to 3 grains 3 or 4 times a day. Prof. 
Scudder gives as the specific indications for calcarea carbonica enlargement of lymphatic 
glands; pallid, inelastic skin; softness of tissues; diseases of the reproductive apparatus of 
women, with these symptoms (List of Spec. Ind.). 
Os Sepi.e, Cuttlefish bone.-The chalk-like bone found in the mantle of the Sepia officinalis, 
LinnA Class: Cephalopoda. Collected principally in the Mediterranean waters. This bone is 
white, calcareous, oval-oblong, convex on both surfaces, a portion of it being porous and easily 
broken, while the back part of the surface is hard, glossy, and smooth. Although containing 
minute quantities of calcium phosphate, the bone is chiefly made up of calcium carbonate 
(80 to 85 per cent); organic, gelatinous matter amounting to from 10 to 16 per cent is also 
present. Cuttlefish bone is largely used to furnish calcium carbonate to cage-birds. 
Corallium.-Coral. The calcareous skeleton of Corallium rubrum, Lamarck (Isis nobilis, 
Pallas and Linne), and Oculina virginea, Lamarck. Class: Polypiphera. Corals inhabit the 
bottom of some parts of the sea, and consist of branching skeletons, covered with pulpy animal 
tissues. These chalk-like skeletons were formerly employed in medicine for the same pur- 
poses as calcium carbonate, but are now chiefly collected as ornaments. The first species is of 
a dull-red color, while the second is milky-white, the color of the former being due to ferric 
oxide, which is present to the extent of nearly 5 per cent. The skeleton contains a variable 
and small quantity of animal matter, a little magnesium carbonate, but is mostly composed 
of calcium carbonate. The Homoeopaths use corallium rubrum in doses of 2 or 3 drops of the 
6 x dilution, 2 or 3 times a day, in convulsive and nervous coughs, not originating in the pulmonic 
tissues. Webster claims good results from it in whooping-cough. 
Lapides Cancrorum, Lapilli cancrorum, Calculi cancrorum, Oculi cancrorum, Crab's eyes, 
Crab's stones.-Calcareous concretions found in the stomach of Astacus fluriatilis, Fabricius (Class: 
Crustaceee), or Crawfish. These bodies are composed of about 64 per cent of calcium carbonate, 
CRETA PR.EPARATA. 619 
about 16 per cent of calcium phosphate, small amounts of other salts, ami the remainder of 
animal matter. They are circular, plano-convex, and have a concentric furrow on their flat 
surface. They range from | to A inch in diameter, the cross section exhibiting a series of con- 
centric layers. They effervesce in hydrochloric acid, in which they do not completely dis- 
solve, thus being distinguished from spurious crab's eyes, which are wholly dissolved by that 
acid. In the presence of boiling water crab's eyes assume a pinkish-red hue. 
Chel.e Cancrorum, Crab's claws.-Finely powdered crab's claws were formerly employed 
medicinally as an antacid and absorbent. They contain calcium carbonate, 60 parts; calcium 
phosphate, 14 parts; and of organic matter, 26 parts. 
Other Calcium Compounds.-Calcii Benzoas (Ca[C7H5O2]2.3H2O), Calcium benzoate. 
To a hot solution of benzoic acid add calcium carbonate in slight excess, filter, and evaporate 
to crystallization. Handsome radiating, tuft-like crystals, soluble in cold (1 in 18), and in 
boiling water (1 in 6); Used in 10-grain doses in struma, incipient hepatic cirrhosis, scrofulous 
conditions, and uric acid diathesis. 
Calcii Hippuras (Ca[C9H8NO3]2.3H2O), Calcium hippurate.-Prepare like the preceding, 
using hippuric acid in place of the salicylic acid. It resembles calcium benzoate. 
Calcii Hyposulphis (CaS2O36H2O), Calcium hyposulphite, Calcium thio-sulphate, Calcium 
sulpho-sulphate.-The hyposulphites closely resemble the sulphites in therapeutic action. They 
are more stable than the latter and easily dissolved by water. Upon adding an acid to their 
solutions, sulphur is precipitated. They are generally prepared by heating sulphur with a 
sulphite or bisulphite, in the presence of water. Hyposulphite of calcium may be prepared 
by boiling together lime (40), sulphur (400), and pure water (400), filtering, and then passing 
washed sulphur dioxide into the solution of calcium polysulphide formed until the former is 
decolorized. Carefully crystallize at a low heat, when 6-sided efflorescent crystals will form. 
A syrup may be prepared from 1 part of crystallized calcium hyposulphite, 2 parts of distilled 
water, and 17 parts of syrup of orange. Dose of syrup, 1 to 4 fluid drachms; of the salt, from 
5 to 20 grains. 
Calcii Salicylas (Ca[C7H5O3]2.2H2O).-Prepared by neutralizing a hot aqueous solu- 
tion of salicylic acid with calcium carbonate, and filtering, or by decomposing sodium salicyl- 
ate in solution with calcium acetate. It is a gritty, crystalline, white powder, feebly soluble 
in cold water (1 in 2000), and without taste or odor. Diluted acetic, sulphuric, hydrochloric, 
and nitric acids dissolve it. In doses of 5 to 25 grains it has been employed in the diarrhoeal 
disorders of children. It is not, however, very highly valued. 
Calcium Dithio-carbonate (CaCOS2j, Dithio-carbonate of lime.-An hygroscopic, orange- 
red, crystalline powder, sparingly soluble in water and in alcohol. In aqueous solution, if 
exposed to the air, it decomposes, sulphur and hydrogen sulphide being among the products. 
Pyogenic bacteria are said to be inhibited, but not destroyed, by a 1 per cent solution (Sabba- 
tini). Upon the human skin, irritation, burning, and pustulation may result from the appli- 
cation of a 20 per cent solution. Locally, it has been applied to stubborn skin affections, such as 
purulent venereal ulcers, eczema, lupus, psoriasis, and other cutaneous disorders. 
CROCUS. 
CROCUS (U. S. P.)-SAFFRON. 
" The stigmas of Crocus sativus, Linne"-(U. S. P.f 
Nat. Ord.-Irideae. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 274. 
Botanical Source.-Saffron is a perennial herb, with a roundish cormus; 
the integuments consisting of parallel fibers, distinct at the upper end. The 
leaves are radical, very narrow, linear, long, flaccid, revo- 
lute at the margin, with a longitudinal, white furrow 
above, and surrounded at the base with long membranous 
sheaths. The flowers are large, axillary, nearly or quite 
sessile on the bulb, with a 2-valved membranous, thin, 
transparent, radical spathe, appearing with the leaves, 
striate, with a long white tube, and purple, elliptical seg- 
ments. The style is filiform, with 3 stigmas deeply divided, 
linear wedge-shaped, and of a deep-orange color, hanging 
down on one side of the flower, fragrant, and notched at 
the points. The capsule is 3-celled, and many-seeded ; the 
seeds roundish (L.-W.). 
History.-Saffron is indigenous to Asia Minor, and is 
much cultivated in some parts of Europe. The greater 
portion in this country is shipped from Spain and France. 
The former country sends Spanish Alicante, or Valencia saf- 
fron, which is admixed, to some extent, with other varieties. The latter are con- 
sidered objectionable by the U. S. P. France sends Gdtinais, or French saffron 
which is a better grade than the Spanish. English and Austrian saffron are both 
Fig. 89. 
Crocus sativus; style with 
stigmas. 620 
CROCUS. 
of very fine quality, but do not reach our markets. Saffron is also cultivated in 
the United States, notably in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvanian product, which 
is of first quality, is often termed American saffron, a term which should not be con- 
founded with that of the florets of another plant-the Carthamus tinctorius-which 
is the true American saffron. The so-called African saffron is usually Carthamus 
florets, though the flowers of a south African plant (Lyperia crocea, Ecklon),of the 
natural order Scrophulariacem, have passed under that name. Saffron requires a 
rich soil, and the yield per acre is said to be about 35 pounds. Saffron blossoms 
in autumn, the flowers are in abundance, and mantle the fields with a flax-gray 
covering. Each flower has one style, on the summit of which are the smooth, 
shining, dark, orange-red stigmas. The flowers are gathered early in the morn- 
ing, just before they open; the stigmas are picked out, very carefully dried by the 
heat of a stove, and sometimes compressed into firm cakes. Five pounds of fresh 
saffron are required to yield one pound of dry (Ed.). The other parts of the 
flower are useless; of the stigmas it takes 7-0,000 to make one pound of saffron 
(P. L. Simmonds, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1891, p. 200). Saffron of commerce was 
formerly of two kinds, viz.: The Hay saffron, which is the best, and at present 
alone in use, consisting simply of the stigmata entangled together, and retaining 
their original deep-orange color; and the Cake saffron, which is in flexible cakes, 
about half a line in thickness, and of a dirty, brownish, orange tint, made by 
beating the stigmata together before they are quite dry. 
Description.-The U. S. P. thus describes saffron: "Separate stigmas, or 
three, attached to the top of the style, about 3 Cm. (1| inch) long, flattish-tubu- 
lar; almost thread-like, broader and notched above; orange-brown; odor strong, 
peculiar, aromatic; taste bitterish and aromatic"-(U. S. P.). Saffron imparts 
its properties to water, vinegar, or spirit. The best saffron is that which is recent, 
being very slightly damp, not readily reduced to powder, of a strong, acrid, dif- 
fusive odor, but free from any disagreeable smell when burned; it imparts a 
soapy-like touch between the fingers, coloring them orange. On account of the 
great volatility of the aromatic part of the saffron, it should be wrapped in blad- 
der, and preserved in a box, or tin case (Ed.). 
Chemical Composition.-The yellow aqueous-alcoholic extractive matter 
obtained in the early analyses of saffron by Vogel, Bouillon-Lagrange (1811), and 
Aschoff (1818), was called polychroit, on account of its property of changing color 
when acted upon by certain reagents. It was first obtained pure by Quadrat, in 
1851, and named crocin by Rochleder and Mayer, in 1862, who found it identical 
with the yellow coloring matter of Gardenia grandiflora, Loureiro, and established 
its glucosidal nature. When heated with acids, it splits into sugar and crocetin 
which Weiss (1868) proposed to call crocin, and retain the older name (polychroit) 
for the mother-substance. 
R. Kayser (Amer. Jour. Pha,rm., 1885) obtained crocin by first depriving saf- 
fron of its fatty matter by means of ether, extracting the coloring matter with 
cold water, and removing it from its aqueous solution by shaking with bone- 
charcoal, washing with cold water, evaporating to dryness, and extracting the 
coloring matter with 90 per cent alcohol, which upon evaporation left crociv as a 
brittle residue. It is soluble in water and dilute alcohol, less soluble in absolute 
alcohol, almost insoluble in ether. Its formula is C14H70O28. In strong sulphuric 
acid it dissolves with blue color, which first turns to violet, then cherry-red, and 
subsequently to brown. Heated with weak bases (e.g., baryta water), it is con- 
verted into crocetin (C34H46O9), insoluble in pure water, soluble in alcohol and 
alkaline liquids, and a peculiar sugar not quite identical with dextrose, hence 
called crocose. 
Picro-crocin, or Saffron-bitter (C38H66O17), Kayser observed to crystallize from 
ethereal extracts of saffron in colorless prismatic needles, melting at 75° C.(167° F.), 
and having a bitter, persistent taste. Soluble in water and alcohol, sparingly 
soluble in ether. It is a glucosid which, when acted upon by weak bases, resolves 
into crocose and a volatile oil (terpene, C10H16), which has the characteristic and 
intense odor of saffron. The same oil was prepared by R. Kayser by distilling 
saffron with steam in a current of carbonic acid gas. 
Adulterations and Tests.- Muscular fibers are said to have been used as 
an adulterant. They may be known by the odor of burning flesh, emitted on 621 
CROCUS. 
burning the suspected article. Rubbing between the finger and thumb, without 
staining the skin yellow, indicates that the saffron has been exhausted by water 
or spirit. According to J. Muller, genuine saffron immediately assumes an indigo- 
blue color, when acted upon by chemically pure sulphuric acid, while the adul- 
terations remain unchanged (Chern. Gaz., May 1845, p. 197). 
Saffron has ever been liable to various forms of adulteration, and the practice 
does not seem to have abated. It is frequently substituted in part, or entirely 
replaced by the florets of Carthamus tinctorius; yet substitution in this case may 
rather be due to ignorance, owing to the misleading name American saffron, affixed 
to this plant. Other substitutes are the worthless yellow styles of its flowers, or 
the florets of Calendula officinalis, the flowers of Arnica montana, the petals of 
red poppy, especially cut into shape for this purpose (C. Bernbeck, 1882), etc. 
Saffron is sometimes weighted by the addition of oil, or glycerin, or water, the 
gain from the latter source often being attained by storing the drug in damp 
places. Thus Dr. Niederstadt, in 1887, observed in "good" Spanish saffron 20 
per cent of moisture, while genuine saffron contains from 10 to 12 per cent (Caesar 
and Loretz, 1891). Sand and other mineral matters, as calcium sulphate, barium 
sulphate, or soluble salts, assodium sulphate (Beringer, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1889) 
have been used as adulterants of saffron, and are admixed by means of honey 
or syrup. These additions (if they do not consist of ammonium salts) naturally 
increase the amount of ash, which should be about 5 percent in good saffron. 
Adulteration of saffron with barium sulphate has been detected by Morpurgo 
{Drug. Circ., 1897, p. 129), microscopical examination having revealed abnormal 
crystals within the cells. Closer examination showed that the drug had been 
soaked in solution of a barium salt and then treated with solution of a soluble 
sulphate. In a similar sophistication with barium sulphate, the ash amounted to 
60 per cent ( Vierteljahreschrift von Hilger, etc., 1896). The addition of sugar, accord- 
ing to Dr. Niederstadt, is difficult to detect, since sugar is a natural constituent of 
saffron, amounting to 15 per cent. Another adulteration often reported, is the 
admixture of a large proportion of shredded fibers of sedge grass, tinged with saf- 
ranin (a coal-tar color), or with some nitrophenol compound (related to picric 
acid). Saffron may also be exhausted of its color and then dyed with yellow 
aniline or other yellow. 
The U. S. P. provides the following tests for saffron : Saffron should not in- 
clude the yellow styles. When pressed between filtering paper, it should not leave 
an oily stain. When chewed it tinges the saliva deep orange-yellow. When soaked 
in water, it should not deposit any pulverulent, mineral matter, nor show the 
presence of organic substances differing in shape from that described. On agitating 
1 part of saffron with 100,000 parts of water, the liquid will acquire a distinct yel- 
low color. Nb color is imparted to benzin agitated with saffron (absence of picric 
acid and some other coal-tar colors). On drying saffron at 100° C. (212° F.), it 
should not lose more than 14 per cent of its weight (absence of added water). When 
thus dried, and ignited with the free access of air, 100 parts of the dry saffron should 
not leave more than 7.5 per cent of ash (absence of foreign inorganic substances). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Emmenagogue and diaphoretic. It 
has been reputed of benefit in amenorrhoea, dysmenorrheea, chlorosis, hysteria, and in 
suppression of the lochial discharge. It arrests chronic discharges of blood from 
the uterus. In menorrhagia, with dark clotted losses, give 5 drops of specific cro- 
cus, or a teaspoonful of the infusion several times a day. Saffron is not the im- 
portant drug it was at one time. Like many of the old remedial agents, it is being 
supplanted by others that serve better the purpose. As a diaphoretic, it is used 
in febrile and exanthematous diseases, especially of children. In the latter it assists 
in producing the eruption, and is valuable in cases of retrocession of the same. 
Many consider this valuable agent as inert. Dose of the powder, from 12 to 40 
grains; of the tincture or syrup, from 1 to 2 fluid drachms; of the infusion (saf- 
fron, sj; hot water, Oj.), from 1 to 3 fluid ounces. Saffron is recommended for 
coloring tinctures, etc., but it is toe costly an article for this purpose. 
Related Species.-Gardenia grandiflora, Loureiro; Gardenia radicans, Thunberg; Garde- 
nia Jiurida, Linne. Nat. Ord.-Rubiacese. Europe and south Asia. The berries of these shrubs 
are used as a refrigerant and demulcent. The fruit pulp contains a coloring material identical 
with polychroit, and has been used in the Orient to impart a yellow color to fabrics. 622 
CUBEBA. 
CUBEBA (U. S. P.)-CUBEB. 
"The unripe fruit of Piper Cubeba, Lin ne filius" (U. S. P.) (Cubeba officinalis, 
Miquel). 
Nat. Ord.-Piperacea*. 
Common Name: Cubebs. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 243. 
Botanical Source.-This is a perennial plant, with a climbing stem, whose 
branches are round, of the thickness of a goosequill, ash-colored, smooth, and 
rooting at the joints; and when very young are minutely downy, as well as the 
petioles. The leaves are 4 to 6^ inches long by or 2 inches broad, petioled, 
oblong, or ovate-oblong, acuminate, rounded, or obliquely cordate at base, strongly 
veined, netted, coriaceous, and very smooth. The flowers are dicecious, and 
arranged in spikes at the end of the branches opposite the leaves, on peduncles 
the length of the petioles. The fruit is rather longer than that of black pepper, 
globose, and borne on pedicels from $ to £ inch long (L.). 
History and Description.-Piper Cubeba inhabits Java and Prince of Wales 
Island, Sumatra, Southern Borneo, and other isles in the Indian ocean, growing 
without cultivation in the forests. They are also cultivated to some extent in 
the coffee plantations of Java, being easy to grow when placed so as to climb the 
shade trees which are necessary in a coffee plantation. The fruit is gathered 
before it is fully ripe, and when dried is the part used in medicine. The fruit or 
berries are nearly globular, rough, grayish, somewhat lighter-colored than black 
pepper, of a rather pleasant, aromatic odor, and a hot, bitter, and somewhat cam- 
phoraceous taste. The cortical portion appears to have been thinner and less suc- 
culent than in black pepper, and contains within it a hard, spherical seed, which 
is whitish and oily. Cubebs are officially described as follows: "Globular, about 
4 or 5 Alm. (^ to inch) in diameter, contracted at the base into a rounded stipe 
about 6 or 8 Mm. (| to inch) long, reticulately wrinkled, blackish-gray, inter- 
nally whitish and hollow; odor strong, spicy; taste aromatic and pungent. Cubeb 
should not be mixed with the nearly inodorous rachis or stalks"-(U. S. P.). The 
volatile oil is much used in medicine. The powder of cubeb becomes inert after 
a time, in consequence of the loss of its volatile oil; hence, it is better to powder 
the drug only as required for use. 
Chemical Composition.-The more important constituents of cubebs are: 
Volatile oil (see Oleum Cubebee), fatty oil, cubebin, cubebic acid, and indifferent cubeb- 
resin, the latter two substances alone carrying the, diuretic qualities of the drug. 
Calcium and magnesium malates are also present. Cubebin, cubebic acid, and 
cubeb resin may be obtained in one operation according to explicit directions 
given by E. A. Schmidt in Archiv. der Pharm., 1870, pp. 1-49. Cubebin (C10HluO3 
according to Weidel, 1877), first obtained pure by Soubeiran and Capitaine, in 
1839, is present in about 2.5 per cent (Schmidt). It is an indifferent, crystalli- 
zable substance without taste or odor, but is bitter in alcoholic solution. It melts 
at 125° C. (257° F.), is insoluble in cold, and but little soluble in hot water; 
requires 76 parts of absolute alcohol for solution, and is much less soluble in 
weak alcohol. It is also soluble in about 27 parts of ether, likewise in benzene, 
acetic acid, and chloroform, the solution in the latter solvent being he vo-rotatory. 
Cubebin is soluble in concentrated sulphuric acid with blood-red color (Huse- 
mann and Hilger, 1882). Weidel (1877) found that when fused with caustic pot- 
ash, cubebin yields carbonic acid, acetic acid, and protocatechuic acid (CB1I3.[O1I]2. 
COOH). This fact, in connection with the observation of Pomeranz (1887), to the 
effect that cubebin yields, upon oxidation piperonylic acid (C6II3: [O.O.CHJCOOH), 
establish it to be a derivative of pyrocatechin (ortho-dioxybenzene) (CBH4[OH]2) 
Cubebic acid (C13HhO., Schmidt; C2gH.t0OrH.2O, Schultze, 1873), was obtained by 
Schmidt in the quantity of about 1.7 per cent. When pure it forms a white, 
resinous mass, insoluble in water, soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, stronger 
water of ammonia, and caustic alkali. It forms salts with alualies and the bases 
of heavier metals, the former being soluble in water. The sodium salt was ob- 
tained in crystals by Schultze. Concentrated sulphuric acid dissolves cubebic 
acid with crimson color, a reaction pointed out by E. M. Holmes (1885). as useful 623 
CUBEBA. 
in the detection of adulteration by "false cubebs (see Related Species). Cubeb resin 
(CltHHO5) is an indifferent substance, soluble in alcohol and alkalies, sparingly 
soluble in chloroform, ether, and carbon disulphide. The yield is from 2 to 3 
per cent. F. V. Heydenreich (1868) instituted a series of experiments to deter- 
mine whether the active principle of cubebs resided in its oil, its oleoresin, or 
in the cubebin. He concluded that the diuretic property of cubebs resides in its 
soft resin (now known as being composed of cubeb ic acid and cubeb resin); that 
cubebin is comparatively inert; and that the volatile oil is carminative and stimu- 
lant, producing in large doses the irritation common to analogous oils. These 
results were confirmatory of those previously announced by Bernatzik (1863). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Cubebs are mildly stimulant, expec- 
torant, stomachic, and carminative. They act more particularly upon mucous 
tissues, arresting excessive discharges, especially from the urethra. In large doses 
they produce increased frequency and fullness of pulse and augmented heat; 
occasionally they cause nausea, vomiting, burning pain, griping, or even purging. 
Sometimes they cause a rash-like eruption on the skin. They exercise an influ- 
ence over the urinary apparatus, frequently producing diuresis, rendering the 
urine of a deeper color, with a peculiar, aromatic odor. They have been success- 
fully employed in gonorrhoea, gleet, leucorrhoea, catarrh of the urinary bladder, chronic 
inflammation of the bladder, abscess of the prostate, chronic laryngitis and bronchitis, dys- 
pepsia due to an atonic condition of the stomach, etc. Generally, it is better to 
use them after the high inflammatory symptoms have subsided. If they do not 
afford benefit very soon, they should be used no longer. There has been much 
controversy as to whether this drug should be employed during the active stage 
of gonorrhoea, or after the active symptoms have subsided. Prof. Locke, whose 
experience has been large, declares in favor of it after the active inflammatory 
stage has passed, and that it should be employed only after the profuse discharge 
has ceased. He believes it contraindicated in all inflammatory states, and pre- 
fers it in the chronic form of gonorrhoea, believing it more successful than in the 
acute. In chronic gonorrhoea, 30 grains of the powdered berries are to be given 
3 times a day to produce an aggravated condition of the disease-a substitutive 
inflammation-and as this passes off the disease is decidedly better. This method 
should be persisted in until urination is painful, and then the dose should be 
lessened from day to day until a cure is effected. Christison states that he has 
known the use of cubebs to be frequently attended, like copaiba, with an ephem- 
eral synocha, followed by a prompt cessation of the gonorrhoeal discharge; in 
which disease they may be given in powder, along with water or milk, or made 
into a paste with copaiba. The following preparations have been successfully 
used in gonorrhoea and gleet: 1. Take of ethereal extract of cubebs, solidified 
balsam of copaiba, and carbonate of iron, of each 2 drachms; resin of podophyl- 
lum, 10 grains. Mix, and divide into pills of 4 grains each, of which 1 or 2 may 
be given 3 times a day. 2. Take of pulverized cubebs, podophyllum, white pond 
lily, of each ounce; Holland gin, 1 pint; macerate for several days, and give 
sufficient doses 3 times a day to act slightly on the bowels. 3. Take of solidified 
capaiba 2 ounces, ethereal extract of cubebs 1 ounce, oil of juniper a sufficient 
quantity; mix and divide into pills of 4 grains each, of which 1 or 2 may be 
taken 3 times a day. Not only does cubeba affect the urinary tract, but it acts 
upon all the mucous tissues of the body, restraining profluvia, giving tone, 
besides augmenting the appetite and improving digestion. While contraindicated 
in acute inflammations it is often of service in chronic inflammations. When in 
leucorrhcea the discharge is copious and offensive, give large doses (30 to 40 grains 
3 times a day), until a decided effect is made; then diminish the dose from day 
to day. Chronic inflammatory states of the female bladder and urethra, with constant 
urging and painful efforts to urinate, are relieved by 5-drop doses of specific 
cubeba given every 3 or 4 hours. Spermatorrhoea, cystic catarrh, nocturnal urinal 
incontinence of children, and prostatic abscess, are all benefited when the conditions 
are first aggravated by the larger dose, and the drug lessened as the treatment 
progresses. The urethral burning is the indication for it. The greater the debility 
the more pronounced are its effects. Use it for the scalding sensations often 
experienced by women in urinating, a condition common to the menstrual period, 
and for irritation and burning of the vulva. Prof. Scudder suggests the small 624 
CUMINUM. 
dose "in debility with irritation of the reproductive apparatus, prostatorrhoea, 
uneasiness and formication of the scrotum and anus, and diseases associated 
with reproductive weakness." 
Atonic respiratory troubles with profuse expectoration, are benefited by 5 to 10 
drop doses of specific cubeba on sugar every hour. It has been given in this 
manner and the berries smoked for the relief of nasal catarrh. The latter pro- 
cedure is often beneficial in hay fever. Equal parts of black German snuff and 
' powdered cubebs are stimulating and alterative in excessive catarrhal states of the 
nasal membranes; snuff into the nostrils several times a day (Locke). M. Trideau 
'Ound a syrup of cubebs, in connection with one of copaiba, to be almost a specific 
in croup. M. Berjeron has also met with great success in the same disease, but he 
prefers to administer the oleoresin of cubebs either in capsules or in emulsion, 
having the children take according to their ages from 15 to 60 grains per day. 
Chronic sore throat with great relaxation of the membranes and excessive secretion 
is benefited by specific cubeba suspended in syrup. Dose of cubebs in powder, 
from 5 grains to 1 drachm 3 times a day; of the tincture, | to 2 fluid drachms; 
of the oil, from 5 to 30 drops; of specific cubeba, 1 to 60 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Latter stage of gonorrhoea, after profuse 
discharges have ceased; chronic gonorrhoea; enfeebled states of the large intestine 
and rectum; subacute inflammations of the urinary passages; urethral burning; 
scalding of urine in females; irritation and burning of vulva; debility with pro- 
fuse discharges from the mucous tissues. 
Related Species and Products.-Piper Clutii, Cas. De Candolle (Cubeba Clusii, Miquel; 
Piper Afzelii, Lindley). This plant, from French Africa, furnishes a drug supposed to be more 
closely allied to black pepper than to cubebs; it almost always has a long stalk attached, and 
its size is about one-half less than that of the commercial drug. The color is ashen-gray, and 
the taste hot. It is known as African pepper, African cubebs, Host African black pepper, Ashantee 
pepper, and Guinea pepper. The plant with its ripened cluster of red fruit is regarded as one of 
the handsomest and most conspicuous specimens of African vegetation. Stanislas Martin 
found the chemical composition of African pepper to be nearly the same as the Sumatra or 
Malabar cubebs, and believes it to possess the same properties as these, provided it be per- 
fectly cleansed of its stalks. Stenhouse, however, in 1855, states that its proximate constituent 
is piperine, and not cubebin, thus bringing it closer to pepper than to cubebs. These berries 
are used as a condiment in tropical West Africa. 
Other Species.-The following plants also yield berries that more or less resemble cubebs, 
and some of which have been used as substitutions therefor. They are called " false cubebs." 
Cubeba Lowong, Miquel (Piper Lowong, Blume); Cubeba canina, Miquel (Piper caninum, Diet- 
rich); Cubeba Wallichii, Miquel (Piper ribesioides, Wallich); Cubeba crassipes, Miquel (Piper 
crassipes, Korthals), probably the Piper anisatum of Humboldt and Bonpland; and Lauras 
Cubeba Loureiro (see Pharmacographia). Mr. Holmes recommends as a useful test the bright, 
indigo-blue coloration that the genuine drug yields with solution of iodine, both in the form 
of powder and decoction (undoubtedly due to the action of iodine upon the essential oil of 
cubebs, and not to the presence of starch, as has been suggested), and the crimson color the 
drug imparts to strong sulphuric acid (see paper on this subject by E. M. Holmes, in Pharm. 
Jour. Trans., Aug., 1892, or Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1892, p. 494). 
CUMINUM.-CUMIN. 
The fruit of Cummum Cyminum, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Umbelliferaj. 
Common Name: Cumin. 
Botanical Source.-This is an annual herb, with an erect, round, slender, 
branched stem, about a foot high. The leaves are multifid, with long, filiform seg- 
ments. The flowers, small, white, or pink, are overtopped by the bracts, which, 
after flowering, are reflexed. The umbels, both partial and general, consist of about 
5 rays, with the involucres consisting of 2 or 3 filiform, 1-sided bracts. The fruit 
is about 2 lines in length, much longer than the pedicels, nearly tapering, but 
little contracted at the sides, fusiform, crowned by the short teeth of the calyx, 
densely covered with short rough hair upon the channels, and less densely upon 
the ridges, which are paler, filiform, and a little raised; the seeds or half-fruits, 
2 in number, are oblong, plano-convex, with the plane surfaces together (L.). 
History and Description.-This plant is cultivated in many parts of Europe 
though originally from Egypt. It is referred to in Scripture (Isaiah xxviii, 25-27, 625 
CUNILA. 
and Matt, xxiii, 23), and was a lesser titheable product in Palestine (Pharmaco- 
graphia}. The fruit or seeds are ovate or fusiform, of a light-brown or grayish 
color, writh 2 adhering concavo-convex fruits. The fruit resembles caraway, but 
is larger. Each seed dr fruit presents 5 filiform, rough, primary ridges, between 
which are 4 secondary ones, which are furnished with small prickles. Between 
each primary ridge is an elongated oil tube (vitta) besides 2 vitt® on the face of 
the mericarp. Insects often destroy the fruit. Their odor and taste is similar to 
that of caraway, but warmer, and not so agreeable. 
Chemical Composition.-Bley (1829) found the fruit to contain resin, fatty 
matter, gum, lignin, protein bodies, salts, largely composed of malates, extractive, 
and volatile oil. The volatile oil, which is the chief constituent, may be sepa- 
rated by distillation with water, and is of a yellowish color, thin, having a specific 
gravity varying from 0.890 and 0.930 at 15° C. (59° F.) (Schimmel & Co.), and 
possessing the taste and odor of the plant. This oil is a compound, consisting 
mainly of 2 oils, viz.: Cymol (cymene, or para-methyl-propyl-benzene, C1OHU), a 
hydrocarbon having the odor of lemons; cuminol (cumin-aldehyd) (C6H4[C3H7] 
CHO), an oxygenated substance possessing the odor of caraway. Lastly, a ter- 
pene, having the composition C10H16, was believed to have been obtained, in 1896, 
by Wolpian (see Schimmel's Report, Oct., 1896). When treated with nitric acid, 
cumin-aldehyd is oxidized to crystallizable cuminic acid (C10H12O2). Trapp (1858) 
obtained from the seeds of Cicuta virosa, Linne, essential oils identical with those 
of cumin oil. The yield of oil of cumin from raw material, according to Schim- 
mel & Co. (Semi-annual Report, Oct., 1893), is as follows: From Syrian fruit, 3 to 4 
percent; Maltese fruit, 3.5 percent; Moroccan fruit, 3 per cent; East Indian, 3 to 3.5 
per cent. Cymol has a density of 0.860 at 15° C. (59° F.),and boiling point near 
174° C. (345.2° F.). Cuminol has a density of 0.972 at 15° C. (59° F.), and boiling 
point near 229° C. (444.2° F.). Schimmel & Co. report in October, 1896, that the 
demand for cumin oil has been constantly decreasing and is now inconsiderable. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.- Highly stimulant and carminative, 
possessing medical properties similar to the other aromatic fruits of umbelliferous 
plants, but more stimulating. They are seldom used in the United States. Dose, 
from 15 to 60 grains. 
Related Drugs.-Nigella. Fennel flower. The seeds of two ranunculaceous plants, the 
Nigella sativa, Linne, Nutmeg flower, or Small fennel flower; and Nigella damascena, Linne, or Rag- 
ged Lady. They are natives of Syria and south Europe, and are cultivated in gardens. The 
leaves of these plants resemble those of fennel. The seeds of the first species are rough, 
triangular, ovate, two surfaces being flat and the other convex, about iV to inch long, exter- 
nally dull-black, and internally white and oleaginous. To the taste they are acrid, somewhat 
spicy, and pungent. In odor they are aromatic or camphoraceous, reminding some persons of 
nutmegs, others of cajuput. The seeds of ragged lady are occasionally sold under the name 
magnolia seeds. They have rounded angles, and a deeply-netted and corrugated testa. When 
rubbed they exhale an odor comparable with that of strawberries. The seeds of nutmeg flower, 
according to Husemann and Hilger, contain 1.5 per cent of an essential, colorless and fluores- 
cent oil, and consists of a substance C20H24O and a terpene (Fliickiger). Its odor differs from 
that of the seeds, and a fixed oil to the extent of 35 per cent, was obtained by Reinsch, in 
1841. Fliickiger has shown it to be composed of myristin, stearin, and palmitin. A yellow 
extract-like mass, having a bitter taste, was isolated by Reinsch and named nigellin. It is not, 
however, regarded as a distinct body. 
Melanthin (C2oll3307), a glucosid, was isolated by H. G. Greenish, in 1880. It is amorphous, 
acrid, foanls when shaken with water, is very soluble in alcohol, but scarcely soluble in water, 
benzin; benzol, ether, and carbon disulphide. Acids split it into glucose and melanthigenin 
(C14H23O2). Both principles impart a rose-red tint with pure sulphuric acid in about 15 minutes. 
The color changes to violet-red upon long standing. The seeds of Nigella damascena were 
observed by Greenish to yield to petroleum benzin a fluorescent principle, but contain no 
melanthin (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1882, pp. 10 and 304), and A. Schneider (1890) showed that this 
was due to a crystalline alkaloid which he named damascenine, the compounds of which, how- 
ever, are non-fluorescent. 
CUNILA.-DITTANY. 
The whole herb of Cunila mariani, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Labiat®. 
Common Names: American dittany, Mountain dittany, Stonemint. 
Botanical Source.-This is an indigenous, perennial plant, with a fibrous 
root, and smooth, slender, 4-angled, mostly purplish, corymbosely branched stems, 626 
CUPRI ACETAS. 
growing 1 or 2 feet high. The leaves are opposite, small, nearly smooth, ovate, 
serrate, subsessile, roundish or subcordate at the base, tapering to a point, and 
punctate with pellucid dots. The flowers are white or pale-red, pedunculated, 
with subulate bracts at the base of the 3-forked pedicels, in corymbose, axillary, 
and terminal cymes. The corolla is nearly twice as long as the calyx, pubescent, 
middle lobe longer than the others, upper lip erect, flat, emarginate, and lower 
lip spreading. The calyx is green, 10-ribbed, equally 5-toothed, hairy in the 
throat, and punctate. Stamens 2, erect, exserted, distant. Anthers small, didy- 
mous; stigma bifid, exserted; seeds 4, small, obovate (W.-G.). 
History and Chemical Composition.-Dittany is found growing in dry hills 
and woods, and on rocks, in nearly all parts of the United States, flowering from 
June to October. The herb is very fragrant, with a warm, spicy taste; its taste 
and odor are due to a volatile oil which may be procured by distillation. Mr. 
P. Milleman found the herb to contain a warm, pungent, delicately fragrant, vola- 
tile oil, tannic acid, a trace of glucose, gummy matter, considerable extractive 
matter, a part of which was bitter and acid, and dark-green resin; the ashes gave 
salts of potassium, calcium, magnesium, and iron (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1866, p. 495). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Stimulant, carminative, antispasmodic, 
and diaphoretic. Used freely in warm infusion to promote perspiration, to relieve 
flatulency, and as an emmenagogue. Popularly employed for colds, headaches, and 
fevers; also to relieve nervous headache, and hysterical disorders, colic, indigestion, and 
many nervous affections. The volatile oil possesses all the medicinal properties of 
the herb, and may be given in doses of from 5 to 10 drops. 
Related Species.-Dictamnus albus, Bastard dittany, White fraxinella. A bitter, aromatic 
root-bark used by Baron Storck for worms, epilepsy, hysteria, amenorrhoea, and intermittent fevers. 
Dose, 20 to 60 grains. 
CUPRI ACETAS.-COPPER ACETATE. 
Formula: Cu(C2H3O2)2+H2O. Molecular Weight: 198.86. 
Synonyms : Crystallized aerugo, Crystallized verdigris, Copper verditer, Flora virides 
aeris, Cupric acetate, Acetas cupricus, Cuprum aceticum, AEruga crystallisata, Arruga 
destillata. 
Preparation.-Acetate of copper is prepared by dissolving subacetate of cop- 
per (verdigris), in an excess of acetic acid, adding a small portion of water, filter- 
ing, and crystallizing the filtrate by evaporation It may also be prepared by the 
double decomposition of lead (or calcium) acetate and copper sulphate. It was 
known to the Arabs, who obtained it by dissolving verdigris in warm vinegar, 
decanting the supernatant fluid, evaporating in copper receptacles, and finally 
crystallizing the salt in wooden vessels. 
Description.-The neutral acetate of copper, or crystallized aerugo, also called 
Crystals of Venus (Cu[C2H3O2]2+H2O), is little used in medicine as such, but is 
employed in the form of an alcoholic solution known as Rademacher''s Tincture of 
Acetate of Copper. It forms small, dark-green, rhombic prisms, inclining to a bluish 
hue, of a feeble, acetous odor, a nauseous, metallic taste, efflorescent, soluble in 5 
parts of boiling water (15 of cold), partially soluble in alcohol (14 parts of hot and 
135 of cold), inflammable, burning in the open air with a beautiful green flame. 
Its solution in water is bluish-green, and when boiled evolves acetic acid and 
precipitates a basic salt colored dark-blue by ammonia water (or ammonium car- 
bonate) in excess. Stronger mineral acids liberate acetic acid from it. 
Tinctura Cupri Aceti Rademacheri.-Rademacher s Tincture of Acetate of 
Copper. Take crystallized copper acetate 1 part, warm water lOparts; solve. Add 
to the solution alcohol 8 parts. "The original process of Rademacher was by the 
double decomposition of crystallized sulphate of copper and crystallized acetate 
of lead, and we prefer it at the present day. It is as follows: Take of crystallized 
sulphate of copper and of crystallized acetate of lead, each 3 troy ounces; water, 
17 fluid ounces; alcohol, 13 fluid ounces. Powder the salts separately, and 
then rub them together in a mortar until they assume a pasty condition. Then 
gradually add the water, and afterward the alcohol. Place the mixture in a 
bottle, and after 14 days, carefully decant the clear dark-green or blue solution CUPRI ACETAS. 
627 
from the precipitate of lead sulphate, and filter it through paper" (Lloyd's Chem- 
istry of Medicines, p. 262). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-I. Cuprum, or Copper. Metallic copper 
seems to have but little influence upon the human system. Copper workers, who 
are constantly exposed to its dust, are not poisoned by it, though they are 
usually somewhat anemic and experience sensations of lassitude, vertigo, and 
gastric disturbances. Their gums present a greenish or olive-colored line, and 
their teeth, which also present the same discolorations, are often lost at an early 
day. They seem to be peculiarly free from choleraic and typhoid diseases. Those 
who work in copper leaf (bronze powder) are said to become subject to either 
diarrhoea or constipation, with abdominal tenderness and colic, nausea, vomiting, 
and have a retracted gum with a purplish line or edge, and a peculiar anemic 
appearance, emaciation, cough, and lack of muscular power. More recent experi- 
ments have demonstrated the fact that copper is at least not a cumulative poison, 
e. g., as lead, and the so-called "colique de cuivref asserted in the eighteenth 
century to be a definite disease, does not exist (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1884, p. 293). 
The soluble copper salts, however, produce a coppery taste, nausea, vomiting, 
severe colic, frequent bloody or black stools, quick, small, irregular, and sharp 
pulse, burning and thirst, syncope, dyspnoea, suppression of urine, or scanty 
urine, burning when being voided, intense headache, cramps and spasms, and 
finally death. This extreme action, however, is rare. 
II. Cupric acetate in the form of Rademacher's tincture is quite extensively 
employed in our school as a blood maker. Prof. Scudder preferred greened pickles 
to any other form of administration, and he points out the cases requiring cuprum 
(as the greened pickles and tincture of the acetate are known in Eclectic therapy), 
as those of anemia without great loss of flesh, the surface " pallid, yellowish, green- 
ish, or sometimes tawny, skin waxy, parts usually colored with blood, pale, with 
sometimes a greenish tinge." Tongue pale, broad, usually clean, bowels inactive, 
"pulse rather full, but without sharpness of stroke." He employed it in any 
condition of disease presenting these indications. Leucocythemia, chlorosis, and 
anemia yielded to it when other remedies failed. The soft, full, and doughy tis- 
sues gave way to firmer flesh, and the appetite and blood making were improved. 
It has been suggested (6 x trit.) in explosive cough, meeting conditions similar to 
those calling for drosera. It is particularly recommended in whooping-cough with a 
tendency to convulsions. Its use in paralysis depending upon sclerosis of the spinal 
cord has been advised, as it has also in the later stages of cerebrospinal meningitis 
where structural alteration is threatened. The general indications should guide 
to its selection. It should be remembered as a blood maker after severe hemorrhages 
or other exhausting discharges. Faulty nutrition in diseases of the ear, especially 
when dependent upon chlorosis, and with tinnitus as a prominent symptom, are 
admirably met with cuprum, £ to drop 4 times a day. Impaired hearing is 
usually present. Dose: Add of the tincture of the acetate or of specific cuprum, 
gtt. x to xx to aqua giv, and give a teaspoonful 4 times a day. Of the 6x tritura- 
tion 1 to 3 grains 3 or 4 times a day. The sulphate of copper in doses of to | 
grain fulfil practically the same indications. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Skin tawny, dirty, yellowish, greenish, pal- 
lid, or waxy; parts usually red are pale or greenish ; tongue broad, uncoated, and 
pale; gums blanched; pulse small, soft, and quicker than usual; bowels torpid 
with colorless discharges, and if loose, the pale evacuations resemble rice-water. 
Anemic states with dirty-greenish tinge, and without great loss of flesh; chloro- 
sis; tissues full, but soft and doughy; after hemorrhages or exhaustive discharges 
as a bloodmaker, when the skin is pale and transparent. 
Related Bodies.-Cuprum. Copper. Symbol: Cu. Atomic weight: 63.18. This metal 
appears to have been known even before the time of Moses. It exists native in different parts 
of the globe, especially near Lake Superior, Michigan, and Chili, and is found in a great 
variety of compounds, principally in the form of copper pyrites (double sulphide of copper 
andiron (CuFeS2, or Cu2Sd-Fe2S3). Copper glance (cuprous sulphide), another copper mineral, 
has the composition Cu2S. It is also found as malachite, a most beautiful velvety-green 
mineral, which is a combined copper carbonate and hydroxide (CuCO3+Cu[OH]2). Both 
oxides of copper (CuO and Cu2O) are occasionally found native. Copper is obtained from 
its ores by various metallurgical processes. In recent years the manufacture of copper by 
electrolytic decomposition of solutions of copper salts has been gaining ground. In the old 628 
CUPRI ACETAS. 
English process of copper smelting, the sulphur-bearing copper ores undergo several processes of 
roasting, iron slags being added at the proper stages, until nearly all the copper is converted 
into white metal, which is almost pure cuprous sulphide (Cu-S). This is again roasted, result- 
ing in the partial formation of CuO; the mixture, upon fusion in properly constructed furnaces,, 
next yields metallic copper and sulphurous acid, as follows: 2CuO-f-Cu2S=4Cu-|-SO2. The 
copper thus obtained (blister copper) is at last refined. Pure copper is a reddish, brilliant, 
ductile, sonorous, and malleable metal, of a nauseous, styptic taste, a peculiar disagreeable 
odor, harder than silver, fusing at 1091° C. (1996° F.), and on cooling it crystallizes in regular 
octahedrons and cubes. It is combustible, and is readily oxidized at a red heat, forming black 
scales on the surface. On exposure to moist air, it acquires a filmy-green coating of subcar- 
bonate of copper (or, if exposed to a salty atmosphere, of subchloride of copper), and has the 
specific gravity 8.914 to 8.952. As a conductor of electricity and heat it is one of the best we 
possess. Nitric acid readily dissolves it, but cold sulphuric, or even hot sulphuric acid (diluted) 
lias no action on it. Copper forms with oxygen principally 2 oxides and 2 lines of salts, known 
as the cuprous (lower) and cupric (higher). The copper directed by the British Pharmacopoeia 
is copper wire of about No. 25 gauge. In case of poisoning with copper after vomiting has 
been induced, and the stomach pump applied, albumen should be freely administered; also 
reduced iron, iron filings, or ferrocyanide of potassium (yellow prussiate of potash) in dilution, 
may be given. (For action of copper, see Cupri Acetas). 
Alloys of Copper.-Copper forms many useful alloys, the principal of which ar& as fol- 
lows: Brass-Copper 64, zinc 36; Bronze-Copper 80, tin 16, zinc 4; Gun Metal-Copper 
90, tin 10; Bell Metal-Copper 78, tin 22; Aluminum Bronze-Copper 95 to 90, aluminum 
5 to 10; German Silver-Copper 51, zinc 31, nickel 18. The proportion of zinc in brass, how- 
ever, is not always that given above, but may vary from 28 to 36 per cent. In fact, the pro- 
portion of parts in all alloys vary within certain limits. Both the brass and bronze of the 
ancients contained lead in addition to the other metals. A good statuary bronze is made of cop- 
per 91, zinc 6, tin 2, lead 1. 
Pigments Prepared from Copper.-Several copper pigments are employed in the arts 
and occasionally in medicine. Sometimes they are adulterated with barium, calcium, iron, 
lead and aluminum compounds. 
Scheele's Green. Mineral green.-A hydrogenated arsenite of copper (CuHAsO3). Pre- 
pared by precipitating solution of sulphate of copper with that of potassium or sodium arsen- 
ite. A poisonous grass-green compound, insoluble in water. This compound, under the name 
arsenite of copper, has recently been employed in minute doses (ro o- gr. in water, A^vi; tea- 
spoonful, frequently repeated), in dysentery, cholera infantum, and other infantile diarrhoeas. 
Paris Green. Schweinfurt green, Mitis green, Emerald green.-Chiefly composed of aceto- 
arsenite of copper (3CuAs2O4 -i-Cu[C2H3O2]2). A pale, grass-green, insoluble crystalline pow- 
der, the most poisonous of the cupro-arsenical compounds. It is extensively employea for 
the destruction of the Colorado potato beetle and other insects, and as a coloring material. It 
is prepared by boiling together arsenous oxide (As2O3) and verdigris. 
Bremen Blue. Bremen green.-Usually hydroxide of copper, though the subcarbonate is 
sometimes sold for it. If used with oil, it turns green by forming a soap, but, if used with 
water only, it retains its blue color. Hence the two names. 
Brunswick Green may be either an oxychloride or an oxycarbonate of copper. 
'Mountain Green. Mineral green (Scheele's green is also called Mineral green).-Powdered 
malachite, or manufactured oxycarbonate of copper. 
Blue Ash.-A pigment prepared from the mineral azurite (Mountain blue), which is tri- 
cupric carbonate (2[CO3Cu]-)-Cu[OH]2). It is made by a secret method. 
Verditer --Two copper preparations, known as Blue verditer and Green verditer, are used 
as pigments. The former is obtained by treating copper nitrate with chalk or with lime. If 
chalk be used, the product is a copper carbonate; if lime is employed, a mixture of calcium 
aud copper hydroxides results. Green verditer is chiefly a mixture of copper carbonate, with 
an excess of chalky material. It is prepared by the interaction of copper nitrate and calcium 
carbonate, or white marl. 
Other Copper Compounds.-Cuprum Ammoniatum. Ammoniated copper, Cupri ammonio- 
sulphas, Ammonix cupro-sulphas, Cupro-sulphate of ammonia. This salt is prepared by rubbing 
together until effervescence has ceased, 1 ounce of sulphate of copper with an ounce and a 
half of carbonate of ammonium; then place the residue in bibulous paper, and dry it on a 
porous brick. Finally, inclose in a well-stoppered bottle. The U. S. P. (1870) directed 3 parts 
of ammonium carbonate and 4 parts of copper sulphate, the product to be wrapped in bibu- 
lous paper, and dried by gentie heat. When prepared and made by the foregoing processes,'1 
the salt contains ammonium carbonate in excess. By dissolving 1 part of blue stone (copper 
sulphate) in 3 parts of ammonia water, and, after filtering, adding to the filtrate 6 parts oi 
alcohol, the pure salt will crystallize either as a deep blue crystalline powder, or in the form of 
long,flat prisms and needles, having the composition CuSO4.(NH3)4.II2O. The salt has an odor 
of ammonia, and a nauseous, metallic taste. It dissolves in 1J parts of cold water, but is decom- 
posed in a large quantity of water, a pale-blue powder (basic sulphate of copper) being precipi- 
tated ; excess of ammonia will prevent this. Exposed to the air, it loses its ammonia, a green 
powder resulting, which, being carefully heated, leaves a white residue, the neutral sulphate 
of copper. Acids, lime-water, and the fixed alkalies, form precipitates with a solution of the 
cupro-sulphate of ammonium; arsenous acid, in solution, gives a precipitate of Scheele's 
green. It is said to be a tonic, and has been used in chorea, hysteria, epilepsy, spasmodic asthma, 
and cramp of the stomach, in doses of from A grain, 2 or 3 times a day, cautiously increased to 5 
grains. It is generally given in pill form, with crumb of bread and carbonate of ammonium. It CUPRI SUBACETAS. 
629 
is said, in doses of 2 grains, 3 times a day (after meals), to be an efficient remedy in neuralgia 
of the fifth nerve. The usual medicinal dose of this salt is from J to 1 grain. In solution (a 
drachm of the salt to a fluid ounce of water) it has been used as an application to indolent 
ulcers to stimulate them ; and, still further diluted, to the eye, to remove slight specks on the 
cornea. In large doses it produces vomiting, purging, weakness, trembling, and paralysis. The 
antidotes are the same as named for poisoning by sulphate of copper. 
Oleate of Copper.-This product has been found of service in many forms of tinea tricho- 
phytosis. It is employed locally as an ointment of from 1 to 5 grains to 1 ounce of petrolatum. 
It is antiseptic, astringent, and antiparasitic. 
Cupki Oxidum, Cupric oxide (CuO=79.14), Copper monoxide, Black oxide of copper.-This 
is found native as melaconite. It may be obtained by calcining well-washed and dried carbon- 
ate of copper (prepared by precipitating solution of blue vitrol with solution of sodium car* 
bonate), and then by gradually heating it to redness in a Hessian crucible, the temperature 
being maintained about 30 minutes. When nearly cool transfer to glass-stoppered vials 
(Lloyd's Chemistry,p. 264;. Black oxide of copper is a heavy, soft, amorphous powder, black in 
color, tasteless and odorless. It should dissolve, without effervescing, in diluted nitric acid, 
or other diluted acids that dissolve it. An ointment (4 parts to 30 of lard) has been used to 
discuss chronic glandular enlargements. 
Copper Hydroxide, Cupric hydrate (Cu[0H]2).-Prepared by precipitating a solution of 
copper sulphate with a solution of an alkali. It is a blue substance that dissolves in ammonia 
to form a dark-blue fluid (the aqueous solution of the cuprum ammoniatum above described), 
which is capable of dissolving linen, cotton, and other " modifications of cellulose " (Lloyd's 
Chemistry, p. 264). 
Cupri Nitras (Cu[NO3]2-|-3H2O), Copper nitrate, Cupric nitrate.-According to the British 
Pharmacopoeia cupric hitrate is prepared by dissolving fine copper wire (about No. 25 gauge) in 
diluted nitric acid and crystallizing the salt, when the solution is sufficiently evaporated to 
admit of the formation of crystals on cooling not lower than 21.1° C. (70° F.). ft crystallizes as 
dark-blue, deliquescent prisms of very corrosive action. It forms with | of its weight of water 
(at a low temperature) a tabular salt of the composition Cu[NO3]2+6H2O. By absorption of 
atmospheric vapor, or on the addition of a slightly increased amount of water, it yields a styp- 
tic, corrosive liquid. Crystals'of cupric nitrate corrode the skin with great energy, are soluble 
in water or alcohol, and fuse when heated, parting with water and nitric acid, and leaving a 
green basic salt, which, still further heated, becomes pure oxide of copper. This salt has been 
used as a caustic to ulcers of various parts, as well as of the tongue and throat; the ulcer must 
first be dried, then apply the caustic, and cover the part with swreet oil (Braithwaite's Retrospect, 
Vol. XXV, p. 201). 
Cupri Chloridum, Chloride of copper, Cupric chloride (CuCl2 + [H2O]2=.134.2).-This may 
be easily prepared in crystals by dissolving cupric oxide in chlorhydric acid, and evaporating 
the solution. The salt is deposited in rectangular prisms of a fine grass-green, or blue-green 
color. It is exceedingly acrid and caustic, has the specific gravity 1.67, is very soluble in water, 
attracts moisture from the air, forming an oily liquid, and fuses at a moderate heat, becoming 
solid when cold. In doses of from 2 to 10 grains, in the form of pill or solution, it is said to be 
useful in epilepsy. The solution may be used externally for the same purpose as that of the 
nitrate of copper. 
Copper Carbonate.-This is the compound found on copper (copper rust), when the lat- 
ter is exposed to the atmosphere. It is also known as basic carbonate and subcarbonate of 
copper. When freshly made, by precipitating copper sulphate solution with solution of sodium 
carbonate, the bluish precipitate has the composition CuCO3+Cu(OH)2 + H2O, but on drying 
the water escapes, leaving CuCO3+Cu(OH)2. It has a greenish color after drying, and has 
been used as a pigment under the name mineral green. It should dissolve completely in diluted 
acids w'ith a green color, and in aqua ammonite with a blue color. 
CUPRI SUBACETAS.-SUBACETATE OF COPPER. 
Formula: (C2H3O2)2Cu.CuO + 6H,O. Molecular Weight: 196.68. 
Synonyms : Cupri subacetas, Cupric subacetate, Oxy-acetate of copper, Verdigris, 
/Erugo, Viride deris. 
Preparation.-Subacetate of copper, ox verdigris, was formerly prepared chiefly 
in the southern parts of France. It is formed by exposing sheet copper to the action 
of the acetous fumes which are evolved in the process of wine-making. The refuse 
of the grapes placed in heaps, passes into the acetous fermentation, whereby the 
copper sheets are oxidized, and the oxide so formed unites with free acid. About 
the end of 4 or 6 weeks this is removed by scraping, and the plates are again 
exposed to the further action of the grape refuse. The paste-like substance which 
is thus formed, from time to time removed from the plates, is pounded with mal- 
lets of wood, and bagged in white leather, each bag weighing from 25 to 30 pounds. 
It may also be made by sprinkling vinegar over the copper. 
Chemical Composition and Description.-Verdigris is an impure mixture of 
several basic acetates of copper. The method of preparation necessarily produces 630 
CUPPJ SULPHAS. 
a substance of varying composition,'containing more or less of foreign substances. 
The principal ingredient has the formula as given above. 
Commercial verdigris occurs in the form of hard lumps of irregular shapes, 
greenish-blue or bluish-green, often interspersed with light-green blotches, and 
when freshly broken is of partially crystalline structure. It is heavy and earthy. 
To the taste it is nauseous, styptic, and coppery, and in powdered form has a dis- 
agreeable, acetous odor. Alcohol does not dissolve it, and water partially dissolves 
it, at the same time decomposing it, precipitating a deep-green, insoluble, tribasic 
acetate, which ultimately becomes black, while the neutral acetate remains in the 
solution. Verdigris is speedily blackened by hydrogen sulphide; diluted sul- 
phuric acid, with the aid of heat, almost wholly dissolves it, from which solution 
no precipitate is caused by ammonia; hydrochloric acid dissolves it, with the 
exception of about 5 per cent of impurity; concentrated sulphuric acid decom- 
poses it, evolving acetous fumes; ammonia dissolves all but its impurities, form- 
ing an intense violet-blue solution. The so-called " verdigris " observed on copper 
vessels when exposed to moisture, is not an acetate of copper, but a carbonate. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Detergent and escharotic. Never used internally, 
but occasionally employed externally by some practitioners to remove syphilitic 
verrucas, fungous growths, and callous edges, and as an application to obstinate ulcers, 
ringworm, ringworm of the scalp, ophthalmia tarsi, etc. The powder may be sprinkled 
on the surface, or it may be used in the form of ointment. It is best employed as 
an escharotic when deprived of its water of crystallization by heat, which leaves 
an efflorescent mass. Verdigris is poisonous, and when swallowed, is decomposed 
by zinc and copper filings, in the dose of from | to 2 drachms, followed by the free 
use of warm water, and afterward subduing the inflammatory symptoms by the 
usual means; or wheat flour, milk, and white of egg may be freely administered 
in water, or sugar and water, and vomiting be produced as speedily as possible. 
CUPRI SULPHAS (U. S. P.)-COPPER SULPHATE. 
Formula: CuSO4+5H2O. Molecular Weight: 248.8. 
Synonyms : Blue stone, Blue vitriol, Cupric sulphate, Cuprum vitriolatum. 
Preparation.-Sulphate of copper, or blue vitriol may be made by dissolving 
copper in diluted sulphuric acid, with the addition of nitric acid, evaporating 
and crystallizing. Metallic copper is scarcely acted upon by diluted sulphuric 
acid, even when warmed, but the addition of sufficient nitric acid to oxidize it 
causes it to readily dissolve. The nitric acid-is reduced in this process, evolving 
vapors of nitric oxide (NO), which in contact with air, form red fumes of nitrogen 
peroxide (NO2). 
Description and Tests.-"Large, transparent, deep-blue, triclinic crystals, 
odorless, of a nauseous, metallic taste; slowly efflorescent in dry air. Soluble at 
15° C. (59° F.), in about 2.6 parts of water, and in 0.5 part of boiling water; 
almost insoluble in alcohol. When carefully and continuously heated to 30° C. 
(86° F.), the salt loses 2 of its 5 molecules of water (14.43 per cent), and is con- 
verted into a pale-blue, amorphous powder. Two more molecules of waterare lost 
at 100° C. (212° F.), while the fifth is retained until 200° C. (392° F.) is reached, 
when a white, anhydrous powder remains (63.9 per cent of the original weight). 
At a still higher temperature sulphur dioxide and oxygen are given off and a 
residue of black cupric oxide is left. The aqueous solution (1 in 20) has a blue 
color, and shows an acid reaction with litmus paper. If a drop of the solution 
be placed upon a bright piece of iron, it will produce a red stain of metallic cop- 
per. With potassium ferrocyanide T.S. the solution yields a deep reddish-brown 
precipitate. Barium chloride T.S. produces a white precipitate, insoluble in 
hydrochloric acid. If ammonia water be added to the solution, drop by drop, a 
pale-blue precipitate of cupric hydrate is formed which redissolves in an excess of 
ammonia water, forming a deep azure-blue solution, leaving no trace of residue 
undissolved (absence of iron, aluminum, etc.). If the aqueous solution (1 in 20) 
be heated to boiling with an excess of sodium hydrate T.S., until all of the cop- 
per has been converted into black cupric oxide, it will yield a filtrate which, after 
acidulation with acetic acid, should not be colored or rendered turbid by an equal 631 
CUPRI SULPHAS. 
volume of hydrogen sulphide T.S. (absence of arsenic, lead, zinc, etc.). If hydro- 
gen sulphide gas be passed through 10 Cc. of the solution slightly acidulated with 
hydrochloric acid, until all of the copper is precipitated as sulphide, the filtrate 
should, on evaporation, leave not more than a trace of residue (limit of iron, 
aluminum, alkaline earths, etc.) "-((7. £ P.). 
The pulvis sympatheticus of former times was the anhydrous white powder 
obtained by heating to about 200° C. (392 F.), while the aqua sapphirina was the 
deep-blue solution prepared by treating the pale-blue cupric sulphate with excess 
of ammonia. When less ammonia water is taken a green-blue precipitate of 
hydroxide of copper is formed, which dissolves if excess of ammonia is added, 
the well known deep-blue color resulting. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Sulphate of copper in small doses is 
astringent and tonic; in large doses a prompt emetic. When the tissues are 
sound and intact it seldom acts as an escharotic. The earlier notions in regard 
to its toxic qualities are not now entertained, and death in fact seldom results 
from its employment even in large doses, though a gastro-intestinal irritation 
may persist for some time. Usually, however, recovery from overdoses is prompt. 
In small amounts copper is now deemed an important blood maker in certain 
anemic conditions (see Acetate of Copper). The emetic action of sulphate of copper 
is prompt and decided, and without nausea and the depression following many 
other agents. For narcotic poisoning it is quicker and just as safe an emetic as 
zinc sulphate, while the dose is smaller, from 3 to 5 grains. Occasionally, how- 
ever, death results directly from sulphate of copper, gastro-intestinal congestion 
being the only discoverable post-mortem condition; when death has taken place 
some time after the ingestion of the salt, ulceration, sloughing, and perforation 
have been observed. The toxic symptoms of poisoning by this drug are: Head- 
ache, spasms, intestinal pain, vomiting, occasionally jaundice, collapse, and arrest 
of secretion of the urine. 
In cases of poisoning by sulphate of copper, administer pure reduced iron, or 
iron filings, which reduce the copper in an insoluble condition, empty the stomach 
by means of the stomach pump or by hypodermatic injection of apomorphine, 
and give white of egg freely in sugared water. Treat the subsequent inflamma- 
tion on general principles. Sulphate of copper is one of the many discarded 
remedies for epilepsy, and is said to be efficient, given in |-grain doses 3 times a day, 
in quartan agues. However, the salt is seldom used internally except as an emetic 
in narcotic poisoning and for pseudo-membranous croup after the false membrane has 
been thoroughly detached by other means. Prof. Scudder recommended it in the 
same class of cases in which he employed acetate of copper (see Cupri Acetos). 
Externally it is .occasionally employed as an escharotic or stimulant; and is 
applied by some practitioners to indolent ulcers, warts, callous edges, fungous growths, 
chancres, etc., and as a styptic to capillary hemorrhages, and as a wash in some cases 
of chronic ophthalmia, gonorrhoea, gleet, and leucorrhoea, stomatitis, and malignant sore 
throat, and we have found the solution of a few grains very efficient in rhus 
poisoning, promptly checking extension, though considerable smarting is produced 
and a faint bluish discoloration of the skin may persist for several days. For the 
eye, as a collyrium, 2 or 3 grains to the fluid ounce of water, will be sufficient in 
ordinary cases. In granulations of the lid and other affections of the eye, it is 
often desirable to use sulphate of copper in pencil form; this may be effected in 
two ways, viz.: 1. Mix and briskly triturate together 4 parts of the pulverized 
sulphate and 1 part of pulverized borax; the water of crystallization given out 
unites them into a plastic mass, readily molded into pencils. 2. Mix together 
pulverized sulphate of copper 2 parts, pulverized ordinary potash alum 1 part; 
gradually melt them together in a porcelain vessel, and pour the fused mass into 
cylindrical molds of bronze or copper, to prevent the precipitation of metallic 
copper; the molds should have a diameter of about J of an inch. Foltz does not 
favor the use of this remedy in eye disorders, believing other agents are as efficient 
and kindlier in action. He suggests, however, that it seems indicated in the 
transitional stage from acute to chronic trachoma, with pale, indolent follicles, and 
in old, chronic trachoma, with transverse, cicatricial bands across the conjunctiva, 
and the granulations undergoing atrophy (Webster's Dynam. Therap., 575). A 10 
per cent solution is favored to destroy fungous (thrush) growths in the ear, and to 632 
CURARE. 
cauterize after removal of tympanic cholesteatoma. From 2 to 10 grains of the salt 
dissolved in a fluid ounce of water, according to the circumstances under which it 
is to be employed, will form a stimulating lotion. Sulphate of copper enters into 
Fehling's Test Solution for diabetic sugar. Dose as an emetic, 3 to 5 grains; inter- 
nally, to | grain. 
Related Drug.-Cuprum Aluminatum. Aluminated copper, Lapis divinus.-Fuse together in 
a porcelain vessel at a moderate heat, pure copper sulphate, alum, and potassium nitrate, of 
each, 17 parts. Add to this, stirring thoroughly, a mixture of camphor and alum, finely pulver- 
ized, 1 part each. Pour upon a slab or plate, and when cool break into pieces and preserve in 
well-stopnered containers. 
CURARE.-WOORARI. 
The poisonous preparation, Curare. 
Source and History.-Curare is a frightfully poisonous extract, prepared by 
the savages of South America, for the purpose of poisoning the points of their 
arrows. It is known under various names, bearing a general resemblance, such 
as woorari, woorara, curari, cururu, ourari, wourali, etc. It is said to have been first 
brought to Europe by Sir Walter Raleigh. It was mentioned by the Fathers 
d'Acunja and d'Artieda, who visited the Amazon River in 1693 (New Remedies, 
1877). In 1745, De laCondamine brought the poison to the notice of the French 
Academy. It was carefully described by Waterton (1812) (Waterton's Wander- 
ings in South America), together with a process of preparation, as followed by the 
Macoushi Indians. 
Regarding its origin authorities disagree, but it is known that different tribes 
vary the plants that enter into its composition, and thus we have little reason to 
doubt the conflicting statements of travelers. Waterton states that a vine called 
by the Macoushi Indians "Wourali," is the poisonous agent; although, according 
to him, they add the fangs of vipers, and plants that simply give bulk to the 
extract. Bancroft (1769) obtained from the Accawan Indians, a receipt for mak- 
ing it from native plants, under local names, and from one of these plants (woo- 
rara) the extract seemed to derive its name. According to a more recent authority, 
Dr. Jobert, the Tecuna Indians, at Calderao (Brazil), prepare curare from Strychnos 
Castelnaei,Weddell, Cocculus toxiferus, Weddell, Didelphys cancrivora, a plant belong- 
ing to the Arum family, known as ^Tajaf a plant of local name "Toucan's 
tongue," and three Pip'teracete of the genus Artanthe. These are extracted with 
water, and evaporated to an extract. According to Jobert, the Strychnos Castelnaei 
and the Taja are the most poisonous of the constituents (New Remedies, April, 
1878, from Bulletin de Therapeutique). M. Planchon, in 1888 (Jour, de Pharm. et de 
Chim., p. 539), summarizing what was known regarding the botanical origin of the 
various kinds of curare, states that the curare of the Amazon is derived from 
Strychnos Castelnaeiana, Baillon (S. Castelnaei, Weddell) ; that of British Guiana from 
Strychnos toxifera, and that of French Guiana from Strychnos Crevauxii (named by 
Planchon). The curare of the Orinoco region, according to Gaillard's report, is of 
two kinds; one of weaker activity, from Strychnos Gubleri, used for hunting pur- 
poses, and another (strong curare) from Strychnos toxifera, a plant that extends 
over a vast territory in South America. 
Description and Chemical Composition.-In appearance curare seems to 
differ according to its origin and its age. Sometimes it is described as a syrup, 
into which the points of the arrows are dipped; again, it is of a hard, resinous 
appearance. It is, in reality, simply a vegetable extract, and may be expected to 
vary as much as other extracts; and we know that time and mode of preparation 
will change the general appearance of all solid extracts. In quality also, it rs 
uncertain; according to Blodgett (1878), the most active article presented a glis- 
tening fracture, and was of a dark-brown color. Doubtless, those specimens which 
contain the largest proportion of the extract from the species of Strychnos, or of 
Cocculus toxiferus, are most poisonous. Although, in 1828, Roulin and Boussin- 
gault announced the poisonous principle to be curarine, yet, tor some years after- 
ward, it was erroneously believed by many that curare depended upon strychnine 
and brucine for its poisonous property, for Oberdbrffer had announced that woo- 
rara, from three sources, yielded both strychnine and brucine, and Wittstein CURARE. 
633 
stated that both alkaloids are present in woorara from Brazil, and in the wood of 
Strychnos toxifera, Schomburghk. It is generally accepted, at the present day, that 
curare contains curarine, a very poisonous substance, resembling strychnine in 
some respects, but differing quite markedly in others. 
Curare is of a bitter taste, soluble in cold water to the extent of about 75 per 
cent, which fluid also extracts the poisonous substance known as curarine. Cura- 
rine (ClgH35N) (Sachs) is an alkaloid, and was discovered by Roulin and Boussin- 
gault. It is colorless or white, of a bitter taste, deliquescent to a certain extent 
in moist air, soluble in water, and in alcohol, less soluble in chloroform, and in- 
soluble in pure ether, benzol, oil of turpentine, and disulphide of carbon. It has 
an alkaline reaction, and unites with acids to form crystallizable salts. Accord 
ing to Sachs, it exists naturally as a sulphate. It may be separated from strych- 
nine, if mixed with that alkaloid, by benzin, in which substance, according to 
Fliickiger, curarine is insoluble. According to R. Bohm (1887) curarine is yellow 
and neutral in reaction. Its aqueous solution is fluorescent (greenish) and when 
evaporated, after the addition of a mineral acid, yields non-toxic, acicular crystals. 
Curare when treated with water, leaves from 5 to 50 per cent of a residue; the 
solution contains large amounts of another alkaloid of a non-poisonous character, 
soluble in diluted sulphuric acid, and named by Bohm curine. By treatment 
with iodide of methyl, curine yields an alkaloidal body exhibiting the poisonous 
activity of curare itself. Curine is amorphous, but may be crystallized from 
ethereal solutions. It is little soluble in water, but easily soluble in alcohol 
(Jahresber. der Pharm , 1887, p. 415). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Curare, or woorara, produces its poison- 
ous effects only when it has penetrated into the circulation, either by means of a 
wound, by rectal injection, or by inhalation (Pelouze and Bernard). When ap- 
plied to tiie skin it powerfully irritates. It first paralyzes the voluntary and then 
the involuntary muscles, death, when it occurs, being due to respiratory par- 
alysis. It is seldom toxic when introduced into the stomach, although it would 
be prudent to use some care in its internal administration, as fatal results are 
stated to have followed its ingestion in maximum doses, or when taken upon an 
empty stomach. However, saccharine urine and profuse perspiration are said to 
have been produced by its internal administration. The symptoms following its 
introduction into the circulation are muscular paralysis (which, more or less 
rapidly, becomes general), stupor, suspended respiration, sometimes convulsions, 
and death, the heart continuing to act for some time after all other indications of 
life have disappeared. It is stated that animals have recovered from its effects, 
even at this stage, artificial respiration having been resorted to before the heart 
had wholly ceased its action. The difference in the character, and in the rapidity 
of the symptoms observed in poisoning by this agent, is supposed to be due to a 
difference in its composition, and to its more or less rapid expulsion through the 
urinary organs. The causes of the phenomena produced by it are not satisfac- 
torily determined; they have been variously attributed to paralysis of the respira- 
tory nerve centers, and of the motor nerves; to a primary and direct action upon 
the heart; to a primary influence upon the nerve terminations, etc. It has no 
effect upon the pulse or physical temperature, and no perceptible change has 
beenobservedin the character of the blood nor in that of the solid textures; 
hence it can not be a blood poison. 
Vella (Pharm. Jour., 2d series,Vol. II), in 1861, decided that strychnine and 
the poisonous principle of curare, antidoted each other, basing his assertions upon 
actual experiments, in which large doses of both substances were administered to 
dogs without fatal effect, while afterward the same amount of strychnine alone, 
resulted in death, but caution must certainly be observed in the use of so power- 
ful a poison, even in the way of an antidote. In the N. Y. Med. Gaz., July, 1855, 
Drs. Brainard and Green announced that a solution of iodine 1 part, iodide of 
potassium 2 parts, and water 48 parts, acts as an antidote to the poison when the 
antidote is injected under the skin, and neutralizes it when mixed with its solu- 
tion. Extreme care must be employed both in handling and administering so 
deadly a substance. It should by no means be permitted to come into contact with 
a cut, abrasion, or scratch; indeed, it were safer never to handle it with the naked 
fingers; neither should we attempt to pulverize the dry article, as its inhalation 634 
CURCAS PURGANS. 
is dangerous. Mr. H. S. Wellcome exhibited, at the meeting of the American 
Pharmaceutical Association, held in Indianapolis, Ind., 1879, arrows brought by 
himself from South America and poisoned by the Indians with curare. These 
arrows had been dipped into a paste (soft extract), about % an inch of each point 
being covered with the poisonous extract. Mr. Wellcome informed Prof. Lloyd 
that the natives could antidote the poison if treatment was instituted at once, but 
that they refused to name the antidote. 
The therapeutical employment of curare has been suggested in certain severe 
and obstinate spasmodic affections, as in epilepsy, chorea, hydrophobia, and, more 
particularly, in tetanus. It is used by subcutaneous injections of its filtered aqueous 
solution, thus: Add curare 1 grain, to distilled water 24 minims; dissolve, let the 
solution stand 48 hours, and filter; of this, from 2 minims (^ grain) to 6 minims 
(| grain) may be used at one injection, carefully repeating the injections until 
relaxation of the muscles has been effected. Curarine, dissolved in water, with a 
few drops of sulphuric acid added, to facilitate its solution, is to be used in still 
smaller doses-from the to the part of a grain. It is doubtful whether 
this agent will ever come into general use as a medicinal remedy; at least, not so 
long as other medicines are known in which greater confidence can be placed. 
The diversity of action, attributable, in some instances, to its difference of compo- 
sition, in others to its inertness, or to its highly active qualities, render it an 
uncertain, as well as an unsafe, remedy. 
Related Substances.-Musculus venenosus, Mussel.-Owing to the presence probably of 
certain ptomaines, some mussels are poisonous, or, at least, edible mussels may become occa- 
sionally toxic, as, when kept in filthy water, abounding in amoeba, bacteria, etc. Brieger has 
shown that one of these animal bases (mytilotoxine, C6Hi5NO2) has physiological actions similar 
to curare. Mussels are rendered non-toxic by being boiled in weak alkaline solutions. (For 
an interesting account of this subject, see Vaughan and Novy's Ptomaines, etc., 1896). 
Malouetia nitida, Guachamaca.-A Venezuelan plant containing guachamacine, an alkaloid 
identical, according to Robert, with curarine (A. J. P., 1885). 
Chinotoxine, or Dichinolindimethylsulphate.-A new synthetic product is reputed to act 
like curare. 
CURCAS PURGANS.-PURGING-NUT. 
The seeds of Curcas purgans, Adanson {Jatropna Curcas, Linne). 
Nat. Ord.-Euphorbiaceae. 
Common Names: Purging-nut, Physic-nut, Barbadoes-nut. 
Botancial Source.-A large shrub, with a milky juice, and leaves that are 
heart-shaped, smooth, 5-lobed, and borne on leaf-stalks 2 or 3 inches long. The 
flowers are small, green, monoecious and in axillary, stalked cymes. The corolla 
and calyx are 5-parted, and the male flowers have 10 stamens. The ovary is 
3-lobed, 3-celled, and has a 3-parted style. The fruit is a fleshy black berry, and 
contains 3 seeds, about an inch in length. The kernel is oily, inodorous, sweetish 
to the taste, followed by acridity. 
History.-This is a large, thick-stemmed, lactiferous shrub, a native of the 
Cape de Verd Islands (Pickering), but cultivated as a hedge plant, as well as for 
its oil, and has also been naturalized in the West Indies, South America, and in 
most parts of the tropics. The plant was formerly referred to Jatropha, from which 
it differs in having a monopetalous corolla. The seeds are called Purging-nuts, 
Naces cathartics Americans, Semina ricini majoris, Semen curcadis, Ficus infermdis, 
Naces Barbadenses, Physic-nut, etc., {New Remedies, 1878, from Zeitschrift des Oesterr. 
Apoth. Vereins), and affords an oil, upon pressure, which is a drastic cathartic, and 
which has been used to adulterate croton oil. 
Description.-The seeds are about 1 inch long, oval, flattish on one surface, 
rounded on the opposite, each side presenting a slight elevation, running length- 
wise. It has a fissured testa of a blackish color. Taste at first sweet, afterward 
acrid. It has no odor and contains oil. 
Chemical Composition.-The oil was examined by M„J. Bouis (18-54) (Comptes 
Rendas,Vol. XXX iX) who obtained it from the nuts, by pressure, to the amount 
of 37 per cent. It is white, has a density of 0.910 at 16.-5° C. (62° F.), is almost 
insoluble in alcohol, easily saponified by soda, forming a white, hard soap. It is 
decomposed by heat, yielding, among other products, sebacic acid. When saponi- 635 
CURCUMA. 
tied by potash, if the resulting soap is decomposed by hydrochloric acid, a mix- 
ture of fatty acids is produced, from which, by pressure, from 18 to 20 per cent of 
a white, solid acid may be separated. This is soluble in hot alcohol, from which, 
on cooling, it is deposited in brilliant spangles. From its close resemblance to 
cetic acid (from spermaceti), Bouis named it isocetic acid. August Siegel, of Dorpat, 
who more recently (1893) investigated the seeds of Curcas purgans, found isocetic 
acid to be a mixture of palmitic and myristic acids, and isolated a peculiar fatty 
acid of the formula C15H28O3, which he called curcinoleic acid. Besides, he obtained 
from the seeds, previously deprived of their fatty oil, a toxic albuminoid sub- 
stance, soluble in water and resembling the poisonous principle of Amanita phal- 
loides. It was named curcin, and becomes inert when exposed to temperatures 
above 50° C. (122° F.),or when treated with precipitants. The percentage compo- 
sition of the seeds was found by Siegel as follows: Water, 7.2; ash, 10.2; oil, 33.86; 
sugar,coloring matter, cellulose, 47.83; albuminoids, 1.71 (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1893). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The seeds of Purging or Barbadoes- 
nut occasion emetic and drastic cathartic effects, accompanied with a burning 
sensation in the fauces and stomach, and other unpleasant, and even serious, 
symptoms. However, if the seeds be entirely deprived of their embryo, the eme- 
sis and other disagreeable sensations do not occur. The juice of the leaves acts 
as a rubefacient, and has been successfully employed, in the countries where the 
shrub grows, as a local application in rheumatic pains, in certain eruptive affections, 
and in piles. The oil, in the dose of 10 or 12 minims, is a cathartic, somewhat 
resembling croton oil in its action, though less severe. It may be used in all 
cases where the employment of croton oil is indicated. 
Related Species.-Curcas multifidus, Endlicher (Jatropha multifida, Linn6). South America. 
The seeds resemble somewhat the Barbadoes nut and yield an oil probably identical with that 
from the seeds of Curcas purgans. 
Anda Gomesii, Jussieu (Joannexia principis,\TA\ozo; Anda brasiliensis, Raddi). The Anda- 
atsu tree of Brazil, yielding purgative brown^ chestnut-like seeds, having the taste of peach- 
kernels. The seeds act violently as a purgative, and may even act as an emeto-cathartic. The 
reddish, limpid oil, of which the seeds yield about 50 percent, is also actively cathartic. By 
preparing the seeds in emulsion, the germ and testa being first removed, a griping constituent 
is avoided, and the oil may be used in the place of castor oil, the action of which it closely 
resembles. Doses of 3ii to 5iii act gently and efficiently. Large doses harshly overact. 
Jatropha macrorhiza. Jicama (Euphoriacese).- Northern Mexico and Texas. An active 
purgative in overdoses; a mild evacuant and cholagogue in doses of j drachm to 2 fluid drachms 
of the fluid extract. 
CURCUMA.-TURMERIC. 
The rhizome of Curcuma longa, Linne {Curcuma rotunda, Linne; Amomum 
Curcuma, Jacquin). 
Nat. Ord.-Zingiberacese. 
Common Names: Turmeric (long and round), Curcuma. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 269. 
Botanical Source.-This is a perennial plant, with the roots or tubers ob- 
long, palmate, and deep-orange inside. The root-leaves are about 2 feet long, 
lanceolate, long-petioled, tapering at each end, 
smooth, and of a uniform green color. The 
petioles are sheathing. The spike is erect, cen- 
tral, oblong, and green. Its flowers are dull 
yellow, arranged 3 or 5 together, surrounded 
by bracteolse (L.). 
History.-Turmeric is indigenous to sev- 
eral parts of southern and eastern Asia, and 
is extensively cultivated in China, Hindustan, 
and other countries, where it is propagated 
from cuttings of the root. Several varieties 
are found in commerce, their names being 
derived from the countries producing them 
Thus we have Chinese, Madras, Bengal, Java, 
and Cochin turmerics. The latter is thought to 
be derived from another species than Curcuma longa, Linn6, and though never 
Fig. 90. 
Long turmeric. 
Short turmeric. 636 
CURCUMA. 
used as turmeric in Cochin, the natives obtain from it a variety of arrow-root. 
The other varieties differ somewhat, though in general not enough to be noticed 
by inexperienced persons. The Chinese turmeric is generally preferred. Java 
turmeric is the least valuable, and is the product of Curcuma tonga, var. minor, 
Hasskarl. Curcuma is chiefly used as a condiment and for dyeing; the Bengal 
variety, which is of a deeper color, being generally preferred for the latter purpose. 
While the foregoing varieties of curcuma are recognized, the drug is generally 
distinguished in commerce by the terms long and round turmeric. The latter is 
the central or primary rhizome of the plant, while the former consists of the lat- 
eral or secondary rhizomes. Turmeric is largely used in the preparation of Tur- 
meric Test Paper, and also for coloring table mustard and some other food products. 
Description.-Long turmeric (curcuma tonga), when dry, is in slightly curved, 
subcylindrical, or oblong tubers, about 1 to 3 inches in length, and from | to | 
inch in diameter, often pointed or tapering at one end, yellowish externally, with 
transverse, parallel rings, internally deep-yellow or reddish-brown, marked with 
shining points (due to immersion in scalding water in order to facilitate the dry- 
ing process), dense, solid, having a short, granular fracture, and forming a lemon- 
yellow powder. Pound turmeric (curcuma rotunda), differs in being ovate, pear- 
shaped, or subspherical, occasionally pointed and crowned with leaf remains at 
the upper end. They are from to 2 inches long, and from f to inches in 
diameter. Turmeric has a peculiar, somewhat fragrant odor, and a bitterish, 
slightly acrid taste, like that of ginger, exciting a moderate degree of warmth in 
the mouth, and communicates a yellow color to the saliva. It yields its proper- 
ties to water or alcohol. 
Chemical Composition.--The yellow coloring matter, curcumin, was first 
obtained (impure) by Vogel and Pelletier; more recently it was prepared in pure 
and crystalline form by Daube (1870), and contemporaneously by Ivanow-Gajew- 
sky. It was further studied and some derivatives of it prepared by C. Loring 
Jackson and A. G. Menke, in 1882-83^ who determined the formula ChHhO4. 
These chemists obtained it from the root by first removing the fatty and volatile 
oil by means of ligroin, which removed 11 per cent of the weight of the root, then 
abstracting curcumin (contaminated with resins), by means of ether, and repeat- 
edly crystallizing from alcohol until the melting point became constant, viz.: 
178° C. (352.4° F.). The yield was 0.3 per cent. As thus obtained, curcumin crys- 
tallizes in amber-yellow prisms, appearing orange-yellow in reflected light, insolu- 
ble in water and diluted acids, sparingly soluble (1 in 2000) in benzene (Daube's 
sol vent, which refuses to dissolve the resins); easily soluble in ether, chloroform, 
and alcohol; also in diluted alkaline solutions with a striking red-brown, fluores- 
cent color. It is partly soluble, with crimson color, in concentrated acid solu- 
tions. Non-alkaline solutions exhibit green fluorescence. Chemically, curcumin 
is a substituted aromatic oxyacid, yielding vanillin writh weak oxidizers, and proto- 
catechuicacid when fused with caustic potash. 
Filtering paper saturated with an alcoholic solution of curcumin and dried, 
reacts like turmeric tincture (see below) towards acids, alkalies, and boric acid. It 
turns red-brown with alkalies which color becomes violet upon drying; the yellow 
color is restored with acids. When the paper is dipped into solution of boric acid, 
it turns orange-red (upon drying), and remains so even when it is afterward moist- 
ened with free mineral acid. Paper that has been turned to orange by boric acid 
will assume a blue color when it is moistened with diluted alkali. Schlumberger 
(1866) obtained crystal Wnwrosocyanin by heating an alcoholic solution of curcumin 
and boric acid with mineral acids and then allowing the blood-red solution to 
cool. It is insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol, this solution turning blue 
upon the addition of an alkali. 
A red compound of curcumin with boric acid was obtained in the form of a 
precipitate by the same author, by adding water to a mixture of alcoholic cureu- 
min and boric acid; boiling water removed therefrom all the boric acid, leaving a 
yellow resin which he called pseudo-curcumin. Strong sulphuric acid forms with 
curcumin a solution of crimson color, which color disappears upon dilution with 
water, a precipitate of yellow flakes resulting. 
About 1 per cent of an acrid volatile oil is present in curcuma root, one con- 
stituent of which, called turmerol, was isolated, in 1883, by C. L. Jackson and 637 
cusso. 
A. G. Menke, the boiling point being about 193° C. (379.4° F.). It has a pleasant 
aromatic odor, is lighter than water, and is oxidized by means of potassium per- 
manganate to terephthalic acid (C6H4[COOH]2). The presence of alkaloids in cur- 
cuma root was indicated by Ivanow-Gajewsky and by J. Cook. Kaehler, in 1870, 
obtained considerable amounts of acid potassium oxalate from an aqueous infu- 
sion of the root. 
Turmeric Tincture and Turmeric Paper.-Turmeric is much employed as 
a test for alkalies, w'hich render it reddish or brownish; white bibulous paper or 
paper not sized, is brushed over with the tincture or decoction, or dipped into 
one of them, and dried in a neutral atmosphere (see Reagents and Test Solutions of 
U. S. P., No. 59). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Turmeric is a mild, aromatic stimu- 
lant, but is seldom used in this country, except to color ointments and pharma- 
ceutical mixtures. 
Related Product.-Murraya Koenigii (Nat. Ord.-Rutacese), Curry leaves. The leaves of 
this tree, which grows wild in the mountains of the western coast of India, are quite exten- 
sively used as a condiment. They enter into the mixture known as Curry powder, largely 
used in pickling and cooking. In India the leaves are regarded as tonic and stomachic, and are 
given raw in dysentery and applied externally in skin eruptions. The Hindus employ an infusion 
of the leaves to check vomiting (Ainslie). The root is stimulant, and is in repute as a remedy 
for the bites of venomous animals (Dymock, Mat. Med. of Western India). An essential oil, two 
resins, and a bitter glucosid, koenigin, were obtained from the leaves. Simabolee oil is obtained 
from the seeds. The white, sweet-odored flowers of Murraya exotica lcultivated), yielded 
(De Vrij) the glucosid murrayin, (C18H22O10) (Dymock). 
CUSSO (U. S. P.)-KOUSSO. 
" The female inflorescence of Hagenia abyssinica (Bruce), Gmelin "-(U. S. P.). 
(Brayera anthelmintica, Kunth; Banksia abyssinica, Bruce). 
Nat. Ord.-Rosaceae. 
Common Names: Kooso, Cusso, Kousso, Kusso, Kosso, Oossoo. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 102. 
Botanical Source.-This is a tree growing about 20 feet high, with round, 
rusty, tomentose-villose branches, marked by the annular cicatrices of the fallen 
leaves. The leaves are crowded, alternate, interruptedly imparipinnate, and 
sheathing at the base. The leaflets are oblong, or elliptical-lanceolate, acute, ser- 
rate, villose at the margin and on the nerves of the under surface. The stipules 
are adnate to the petiole, which is dilated at the base, and amplexicaul. The 
flowers are dioecious, small, greenish, becoming purple; repeatedly dichotomous; 
and with pedicels with an ovate bract at the base. The so-called male flowers 
may be regarded as hermaphrodite flowers, inasmuch as the carpels are well de- 
veloped. Female flowers somewhat different in their structure. The outer seg- 
ments of the calyx are much more developed than in the female flowers, are 
4 or 5 times larger than those of the inner row, and placed somewhat below them; 
the petals are entirely wanting; the stamina are rudimentary and sterile. The 
ripe fruits are unknown (Kunth). 
History.-This plant was introduced into notice by a pharmacist of Paris, 
and its properties as an anthelmintic were investigated by the Academy of Medi- 
cine and the Academy of Sciences as early as 1847. It grows in Abyssinia, the 
flowers being the parts of the plant used. They are reduced to a fine powder, 
which is brownish, like jalap, bitter, somewhat nauseous, and possessed of an odor 
similar to scammony. The flowers, not powdered, have a somewhat fragrant 
odor, and a slight taste, which soon becomes nauseous and acrid. The plant was 
named in honor of Dr. Brayer, who first made its virtues known in Europe. 
Bruce, in his Travels, Vol. VII, appendix, gives a minute description of the plant, 
and calls it, in testimony of esteem for a friend, "Banksia abyssinica." Dr. Kirk, 
in the appendix to the second volume of the "Highlands of Ethiopia," by Sir 
W. C. Harris, calls it "Hagenia abyssinica''1 and states "that a cold infusion of the 
dried flowers and capsules, constitutes the famous drasticum purgans and anthel- 
minticum of the Abyssinians." Both the male and female inflorescence are col- 
lected, though the latter only are official in the U. S. P. The dried male flowers 
are of a pale, greenish-brown hue, and are frequently termed kooso-esels. The com- 638 
CYCLAMEN. 
mercial female Howers are of a light, brown-red color, and are known as red kooso. 
The inHorescence is collected before the ripening of the fruit, forming loose, dried 
panicles, which, as found in commerce, are often considerably broken. 
Description.-The U. S. P. thus describes the official cusso: "In bundles, 
rolls, or compressed clusters, consisting of panicles about 25 Cm. (10 inches) long, 
with a sheathing bract at the base of each branch; the two roundish bracts at the 
base of each flower, and the 4 or 5 obovate, outer sepals are of a reddish color, mem- 
branous and veiny; calyx top-shaped, hairy, enclosing 2 carpels or nutlets; odor 
slight, fragrant and tea-like; taste bitter, acrid, and nauseous''-(U. S. P.). 
Chemical Composition.-Wittstein found the flowers to contain gum, wax, 
bitter acrid resin, sugar, tasteless resin, fatty matter, chlorophyll, tannin, and 
lignin. The first-named resin is identical with koussin. 
A preparation named koussin was made by M. Pavesi and M. Vee, according 
to the following process: Treat kousso (300 parts) with alcohol (100 parts), and 
calcium hydrate (25 parts), at a temperature of 60° to 65.5° C. (140° to 150° F.). 
Also digest the residue with barley water (600 parts). Mix the solutions thus 
obtained, filter, and precipitate by means of acetic acid. The koussin thus 
obtained is yellow, bitter, resinous, non-crystallizable, and insoluble in cold alco- 
hol. Merck obtained it in well-defined rhombic crystals of sulphur-yellow color, 
readily dissolving in chloroform, ether, carbon disulphide, and benzol; less soluble 
in glacial acetic acid, and alcohol of specific gravity 0.818, and not at all soluble 
in water. Fliickiger (Pharmacognosie, 1891) states that koussin crystallizes best on 
cooling its solution in concentrated sulphuric acid, saturated at 15°C.(59° F.). 
11 is dissolved by alkalies, while acids reprecipitate it, unaltered, as an amorphous, 
white mass, which may be again obtained in crystals from solution in hot alco- 
hol. Koussin is not chemically altered by cautiously melting it; in this con- 
dition it remains as a yellow, amorphous, transparent mass, which, if simply 
touched with a minute portion of alcohol, instantly assumes the form of stellate, 
crystalline tufts. When treated with concentrated sulphuric acid, if water is 
added to the solution, amorphous wdiite koussin is precipitated. If the (yellowish) 
solution of koussin in concentrated sulphuric acid is allowed to stand for a few 
days, or if it be carefully warmed, a scarlet-red coloration makes its appearance, 
isobutyric acid, but not sulphurous acid, being formed as a by-product. On diluting 
the red solution with water, purple-red amorphous flakes are precipitated. These 
vary in composition from C22H21O10 to C23HMO10. Fluckiger and Buri assign to 
Merck's koussin the composition C8Jl38Ol0(Pharmacognosie, 1891). This principle 
has been variously termed kousin, kosin, koosein, brayerin, and teeniin. It is notable 
that the pure kousin is not so active an anthelmintic as the amorphous product 
obtained by Pavesi's method. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Purgative and anthelmintic. Used 
by the Abyssinians for tapeworm, to which they are very subject, and it is said 
they will not travel without having some of the kousso with them. The dose of 
the flowers in powder is a small handful, or about 4| drachms, which is to be 
macerated in about 3 gills of lukewarm water for 15 minutes. The infusion, 
with the powder suspended in it, is taken either in 1, 2, or 3 doses, quickly fol- 
lowing each other. It is recommended that lemon-juice, or tamarind water, 
should be taken freely before and after the kousso. The patient must be pre- 
pared by a low diet for 1 or 2 days previously, and by a dose of castor oil, or other 
purgative, and the kousso is to be taken on an empty stomach early in the day. 
The clear infusion has the color, and a somewhat similar taste, of very weak 
senna tea. Its operation is safe, speedy and most effectual, rarely causing any 
aamoyance or uneasiness, except a slight nausea, and this but seldom; occasion- 
ally emesis takes place, or diuresis. A gentle cathartic after its operation is also 
advisable. As far as it has been used, when fresh, it has not failed to kill and 
expel the worm. 
CYCLAMEN.-CYCLAMEN. 
The tuber of Cyclamen hederaefolium.WWXdQnow (Cyclamen europxum, Miller). 
Nat. Ord.-Primulacese. 
Common Names: Sow-bread, Hog's-bread. 
Illustration : Botanical Magazine, Plate 1001. CYCLAMEN. 
639 
Botanical Source and History.-Cyclamen hedersefolium is a native of Italy 
and Sicily, and is occasionally found naturalized in the wet, clayey soil of Eng- 
land. The leaves are all radical, on slender leaf-stalks; they 
are heart-shaped, finely-toothed on the margin, and variegated 
with light and dark-green color. The flowers are solitary and 
nodding, on long, slender stalks; they closely resemble the 
flowers of the American cowslip (Dodecatheon Meadia). The 
corolla is monopetalous, with a very short tube, and a large, 
reflexed, 5-parted limb, which gives the flower an odd appear- 
ance. The fruit is a many-seeded, 5-valved capsule. After 
flowering, the slender flower-stalk twists into a spiral curl, 
and, bending over, ripens the seed vessel on the surface of the 
ground. On account of the graceful little flowers, this and 
other species of Cyclamen, are often found in cultivation. The 
tubers of C. europaeum, Linne, and of C. persicum, Miller, are 
also used, and the various species have been employed in 
medicine from an early period. Pliny and Dioscorides advised 
the root as a curative agent in numerous affections. It occupied a place in the 
Pharmacopoeia Londonensis (1653), under the name Artanitae cydaminis, and in Lewis' 
Materia Medica (1761), as Arthanita. It was official in Germany about 120 years ago. 
Description and Chemical Composition.-The green root is an orbicular, 
flattened tuber, brown externally, white within, with blackish radicles. It con- 
tains about 80 per cent of moisture, and % per cent of ash. The constituents are 
saccharine matter, starch, gum, and cydamin (M. de Luca), which is the poisonous 
principle of the tuber. Cydamin was first obtained by Saladin, and named by 
him arthanitin. To prepare it, exhaust the dried and powdered tubers with alco- 
hol; filter this tincture, evaporate to dryness, extract the residue with alcohol; 
and then permit the solution, after filtration, to evaporate spontaneously in a 
cool, dark place. Whitish amorphous aggregations of cydamin will be deposited, 
which may be purified by re-solution in hot alcohol, and subsequent evaporation 
over sulphuric acid (Comptes Rendus, 1857). 
As obtained by M. de Luca, cydamin (C20H34O10), is white, amorphous, opaque, 
inodorous, friable, neutral, and of an acrid taste. It absorbs moisture in damp 
air, becomes gelatinous in a small quantity of cold water, and dissolves in 500 
parts of this fluid, rendering the liquid frothy, like soap-suds. In aqueous solu- 
tion, it is coagulated by a temperature of from 60° to 77° C. (140° to 170° F.), 
but the coagulated matter redissolves after a few days. It readily dissolves in hot 
alcohol, acetic acid, wood spirit, and glycerin, but is insoluble in chloroform, 
ether, oils, and disulphide of carbon; tannin precipitates it from its solutions. 
By the action of boiling diluted acids, glucose is formed, and a body called cycla- 
miretin (C15H,2O2); hence it is a glucosid. For further details regarding these sub- 
stances, see Husemann and Hilger (Pflanzenstoffef Both cydamin and the juice of 
the tuber are poisonous to man and fish, but the tubers are sought for and eaten 
by hogs with impunity, thus giving rise to the vulgar names applied to the plant 
-"sow-bread," or "hog's-bread." Cydamin, the chief active principle of this 
plant, has not been employed therapeutically; administered to small animals, it 
has occasioned their death in a few days. Its action has, by Bernard, been com- 
pared to curarine; and to saponin, senegin and smilacin, by Schroff. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The root or tuber of cyclamen, in its 
recent state, is a drastic cathartic, for which purpose it has been long in use among 
the peasantry of some parts of Europe. Its effects, however, are frequently very 
severe, as violent emesis, hypercatharsis, intestinal inflammation, cold sweats, 
tinnitus aurium, spasmodic movements, etc., which sometimes result in death. 
This severity of action is lessened by drying the tubers. In the dried state, 8 or 10 
grains of the powder, rubbed up with an equal quantity of starch or gum, will 
have a purgative effect. Formerly, an ointment was prepared from the fresh 
tubers, "ointment of arthanita," which was rubbed upon and around the umbili- 
cus of children, for the expulsion of worms, upon the abdomen of adults to cause 
emesis, and upon the region over the bladder to increase the urinary discharge. 
The fresh tubers, bruised and formed into a cataplasm, have been employed as a 
local stimulating application to indolent scrofulous swellings, abscesses, etc. 
Fig. 91. 
Cyclamen europaeum. 640 
Prof. Scudder (Spec. Medf states that the tincture is prepared from the tuber in 
early spring, or during the period of rest of the plant. He suggests a tincture to be 
made from the tubers of hot-house plants The special uses to be made of this 
tincture are to arrest severe emesis, particularly that depending upon brain disease, 
vertigo, tendency to fainting, inability to walk straight, and diarrhoea, with tor- 
mina and tenesmus. Tincture of cyclamen (§viii to alcohol Oj) gtt. v to aqua fl si v; 
teaspoonful every hour. Dose of powder. 5 grains; of decoction ($i to giii, in aqua 
Oj), 1 to 4 fluid drachms. 
CYDONIUM. 
CYDONIUM.-QUINCE-SEED. 
The seeds of Cydonia, vulgaris, Persoon (Cydonia europaea, Savi; Sorbus Cydonia, 
Crantz; Pyrus Cydonia, Linne). 
Nat. Ord.-Rosaceae. 
Common Name: Quince-seed. 
Illustrations: Kohler's Medizinal fflanzen,V ol. I, Plate 34; Bentley and Tri- 
men, Med. Plants, 106. 
Botanical Source.-This is a well-known shrub or tree, from 8 to 20 feet high. 
The leaves are oblong-ovate, obtuse at base, acute at apex, entire, smooth above, 
and tomentose beneath. The flowers are solitary, white with a purple tinge, 
large, and terminal. The pome or fruit is tomentose, obovoid, yellow when ripe, 
having a peculiar fragrance, and an austere, acidulous, astringent taste; cells 5; 
seeds many, in a thick, soluble mucus (W.-L.). 
History.-The quince tree is a native of Candia, but is cultivated extensively 
in this country and Europe, and its fruit is much employed in making jellies, 
preserves, etc. It grows wild in the forests north of Persia, not far from the Cas- 
pian Sea, and south of Caucasus, and also in Anatolia (De Candolle, Origin of 
Cultivated Plants, 1882). De Candolle also states that the fruit has been but little 
modified by cultivation, being as harsh and acrid yet as when known to the 
ancient Greeks. The parts used in medicine are the seeds. 
Description and Chemical Composition.-The seeds are ovate, acute, fiat 
on one side, convex on the other, being compressed triangularly, brown externally, 
with a reddish tinge, internally white, odorless, and of a bland, mucilaginous 
taste when whole, but when the testa is removed from the dicotyledonous embryo, 
the taste of the latter is somewhat like that of bitter almonds. The external 
coat of the seeds is composed of very fine cells, in which is lodged a large quan- 
tity of mucilage, which is taken up by cold or hot water. The decoction, evapo- 
rated to dryness, and powdered, will form a proper mucilage with water, in the 
proportion of 3 grains to the fluid ounce. One part of it gives a semi-syrupy 
consistence to 1000 parts of water. Pereira proposed to call this mucilage cydonin; 
he considered it a peculiar variety of gum, which, like arabin, being soluble in cold 
or boiling water, is different from cerasin and bassorin. This mucilage gelatinizes 
with perchloride of iron, but, unlike that principle, it is not affected by silicate of 
potassium. It has but little adhesive qualities, contains albumen and calcium 
compounds, is precipitated by alcohol, mercuric chloride, zinc chloride, neutral 
and basic acetate of lead, but is unaffected by sodium biborate in solution. Its 
composition is ClbH.2bOl4 (Kirchner and Tollens, 1875), and it may be obtained in 
a dry state to the extent of 20 per cent. Oxalic acid may be derived from it by 
treatment with nitric acid. The cotyledons contain fixed oil, and malic acid is 
present in the fruit to the extent of 3 to 3.5 per cent. Sixty grains of quince seeds 
will make a thick mucilage in 30 minutes, of 8 fluid ounces of water. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Decoction of quince seeds forms a 
demulcent mucilage, very useful in gonorrhoea, dysentery, aphthous affections, and 
excoriations of the mouth and fauces; also as a collyrium in conjunctival ophthalmia. 
A syrup prepared from the fruit, or the jelly, forms an agreeable article, either 
alone or added to drinks, for patients laboring under febrile diseases, diarrhoea, dys- 
entery, and nausea. The following preparation rubbed upon the parts twice daily, 
has been recommended to discuss slow inflammatory deposits and tumors. R Quince 
seed §iv, alcohol fl^viij. Macerate 20 days and express. Mix with an equal bulk 
of turpentine (Scudder, Spec. Med., 122). The mucilage should always be freshly 
prepared, as it sours readily. CYNARA.-CYNOGLOSSUM. 
641 
Related Species.-Cydonia japonica, Persoon (Pyrus japonica, Thunberg); Japan quince. 
This beautiful shrub, cultivated for ornamental effect, has handsome crimson or fire-red flowers, 
an acidulous fruit possessing a somewhat spicy fragrance, and smooth, shining, coriaceous, ser- 
rated, ovate-lanceolate leaves, acute at each extremity. Properties probably similar to those 
of the preceding plant. It is a native of Japan, and blooms in April and May. 
CYNARA.-GARDEN ARTICHOKE. 
The leaves of Cynara Scolymus, Linne (Cynara Cardunculus, var. sativa, Moris). 
Nat. Ord.-Composite. 
Common Names: Artichoke, Garden artichoke. 
Botanical Source.-This plant is perennial, with subspinose, pinnate, and 
undivided leaves. The heads are discoid and homogamous; the involucre dilated 
and imbricate; the scales ovate, with fleshy bases, emarginate and pointed; the 
receptacle setaceous; the pappus plumose and sessile; and the achenia not 
beaked (W.). 
History.-This well-known plant is a native of southern or Mediterranean 
Europe, and is cultivated in this country. The flowers, or heads, as they are 
commonly called, appear in August and September, and are the parts used; the 
succulent receptacle and part of the calyx-leaflets are the edible portions. In 
their young state, the heads, prepared with vinegar, salt, etc., are much valued by 
some persons. The corollas are used for coagulating milk. The juice of the 
leaves is amarous. This plant must not be confounded with the Helianthus tubero- 
sus or Jerusalem artichoke, a species of sunflower, the tuberous roots of which are 
sometimes used as a substitute for potatoes, and as feed for hogs. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Diuretic and alterative. Reputed very 
beneficial in dropsies, and has been efficient in rheumatism, gout, jaundice, tic-dou- 
loureux, etc. The recent leaves only should be used in the form of an extract, or 
alcoholic solution. Dose of the tincture, 30 to 60 drops, repeated 3 times a day; 
of the extract, 3 to 6 grains (Dr. Badely, in London Lancet, 1843, p. 556). 
Related Species.-Cynara Cardunculus, Linne; Cardoon. Native of Mediterranean Europe. 
Used as a food similarly to the above species. The Romans ate the flower receptacle under 
the name girello, as do also the Italians. It has been naturalized over a large extent of the 
Pampas of Buenos Ayres, and in Chili, and is now so plentiful as to be a hindrance to travel- 
lers (A. De Candolle, Origin of Cultivated Plants, 1882). 
CYNOGLOSSUM.--HOUND'S TONGUE. 
The leaves and root of Cynoglossum officinale, Lin ne. 
Nat. Ord.-Boraginaceee. 
Common Name: Hound's tongue. 
Botanical Source.-This is a biennial plant, with an erect, silky-pubescent 
stem, growing from 1 to 2 feet in height. The leaves are hoary, with soft down 
on both sides, lanceolate, acute, and entire-radical ones alternate at the base, 
petiolate; cauline ones sessile, clasping, with rounded or slightly heart-shaped 
(bases. The flowers are in terminal, panicled clusters, recurved at the end; the 
Jcalyx downy and 5-parted; the corolla reddish-purple, short, funnel-form, and 
vaulted; the throat or orifice closed by 5 converging, convex scales. Stamens 
shorter than the corolla. Achenia depressed, fixed laterally to the style; seeds 
rough, with hooked prickles (W.-G.). 
History.-This plant is met with in Europe and this country, growing in 
waste grounds and road-sides; its name is derived from the peculiar form of the 
leaf; it bears purple flowers in June and July. The root is preferred to the 
leaves; it has a heavy, mouse-like, unpleasant odor, which is removed by desic- 
cation, and a mawkish, amarous taste. The fresh plant is much more active 
than the dried. 
Chemical Composition.-Prof. Schlagdenhauffen and E. Reeb, in 1892 (see 
Amer. Jour. Pharm^, found the constituents of roots, stems, leaves, and seeds of 
Cynoglossum officinale identical with those of Heliotropium ewropaeum. The roots 
yielded by extraction with hot petroleum ether a red coloring matter identical 642 
CYNOGLOSSUM. 
with that from alkanna. An alkaloid, cynoglossine, was found to exist in the alco- 
holic extracts of the roots and the seeds of both plants, but not in the stems or 
the leaves. The authors could not establish for it any curarine-like physiological 
properties, as claimed by others. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Anodyne, demulcent, and astringent, 
and has been used in coughs, catarrhs, hemoptysis, diarrhoea, and dysentery. Exter- 
nally, in the form of a poultice, it has been found highly beneficial in scrofulous 
tumors, burns, goitre, and may be applied to recent contusions or inflammations with 
much advantage; also to remove the pain and soreness attending irritated, bruised, 
or chafed parts, giving complete and immediate relief, especially in excoriation of 
the feet from much traveling. The tincture, or the application of bruised fresh 
leaves will remove the swelling and ecchymosis consequent upon severe blows or 
bruises. Paralyzing effects are said to be produced by it in the vertebrate animals. 
Related Species.-Cynoglossum amplexicaule or Wild comfrey, affords a root which maybe 
substituted for the official comfrey. 
Cynoglossum Morisoni, De Candolle, called Virginia mouse-ear, Beggar's-lice, and Dysentery- 
weed, has been variously classed by botanists, as Rochelia virginiana, Myosotis virginica, and 
Echinospermum virginicum. It is an annual plant, with an erect, hairy, furrowed, very broadly 
branched and leafy stem, from 2 to 4 feet in height. Leaves from 3 to 4 inches long, oblong- 
lanceolate, acuminate, entire, remote, tapering at the base, thin, minutely downy underneath, 
scabrous above, lower ones petioled. Branches slender and remote, each terminating in a cen- 
trifugal, divaricate, dichotomous, hairy, paniculate raceme, leafy-bracted at the base. Flowers 
very small, white or pale-blue; pedicels nodding in fruit. Fruit convex, densely covered with 
prickles having barbed points. This plant is common throughout the United States, growing 
in rocky grounds and among rubbish, flowering in July (W.). The whole plant has anunpleas- 
ant odor. The root is the part used, and imparts its virtues to water. It is mucilaginous, 
tonic, and astringent, and has been found very efficient in diarrhoea and dysentery. From its 
excellent effect in these diseases, it has acquired the popular name of dysentery-root. It has 
also been used with marked advantage in cholera infantum, gastro-intestinal irritation of continued 
fever, and as a mild tonic during convalescence from acute disease. As a diuretic, it has 
been useful in cystitis, nephritis, and other diseases of the urinary organs. The root may be 
chewed, or given in powder or infusion ad libitum. It will probably be found useful in other 
diseases, where such a combination of properties is indicated. 
Echium vulgare, Linne; Viper's bugloss, Blue-weed.-Europe, naturalized in the United States, 
where, in the eastern and middle states, it is fast becoming a noxious weed, destroying the 
usefulness of whole fields, and requiring great labor for its eradication, from the fact that the 
plant must be uprooted, a very difficult task, as the root is often 3 or 4 feet in length, running 
straight down into the ground. It resembles a raw-hide whip, and is dark brown externally 
and w'hitish within. The plant has a wrhorl of radical leaves, from the center of which arise 
several stems curved like the forms of an umbrella (reversed), and covered with sharp spines 
that break off easily in the fingers. The flowers form long, terminal racemes, and are of a 
beautiful blue color marked with pink. The root, when properly burned, has been used as a 
fine-grade charcoal by artists. The plant is diuretic, besides possessing the pectoral properties 
of the above drug. 
Anchusa officinalis, Linn£; Bugloss, Ox-tongue.-This is a rough and hairy plant, bearing 
cymes of purple-blue flowers. Its root is white internally, and deep or blackish-brown exter- 
nally, resembling in shape that of alkanna. The herb, as well as the root, has a mucilaginous 
taste, and both have emollient properties. A cold, or nearly cold, infusion provokes diuresis; 
a hot infusion provokes diaphoresis. 
Pulmonaria officinalis, Linmi; Lungwort.-This is a rough plant with a stem about 1 foot in 
height. Radical leaves ovate, cordate, scabrous; cauline ones ovate and sessile; flowers blue, 
in terminal clusters; calyx prismatic, 5-angled, 5-toothed, and as long as the tube of the 
corolla; corolla infundibuliform, with acylindric tube, orifice hairy, in 5 lines alternating with 
the stamens; stigma emarginate; achenia roundish, obtuse, imperforate at base (W.). Lung- 
wort is an herbaceous perennial, growing in Europe and this country, in northern latitudes. 
In Europe it is a rough-leaved plant, but in this country the whole plant is smooth. The 
leaves are much used in France in cough mixtures. (For uses, see next species). 
Mertensia virginica, De Candolle, or Virginian lungwort, or Cowslip, is frequently employed 
in the United States; it is the Pulmonaria virginica of Linnseus, and the Lithospermum pulchrum 
of Lehman. It is a smooth, erect, and elegant plant, about 20 inches in height; radical leaves 
obtuse, obovate-elliptical, become from 5 to 6 inches long, and about two-thirds as wide, many- 
veined; cauline long-lanceolate, sessile. Flowers blue, in terminal clusters. Calyx 5-cleit, 
much shorter than the tube of the corolla, limb longer than the tube; corolla nearly an inch 
long, funnel-form, 4 times the length of the calyx, naked in the throat, and the much-spread- 
ing border slightly 5-lobed; stamensand style included; filaments slender. Disk bearing 2 
glands as long as the ovaries. The stem and leaves are usually pellucid-punctate. This plant 
is found in alluvial banks, growing from western New York to Georgia and the western states, 
and flowering in May. Being a showy plant, it is frequently cultivated. The leaves of this 
plant are the parts used; they are without odor, and have a faint, astringent, somewhat viscid 
taste. Water extracts their properties (W.-G.). This and the preceding plant are demulcent CYPRIPEDIUM. 
643 
and mucilaginous, and may be used in decoction whenever this class of agents is indicated. 
They have been much used in bleeding from the lungs, bronchial and catarrhal affections, and 
others disorders of the respiratory organs. 
Borago officinalis, Linne ; Borage.-Levant. Naturalized in Europe and the United States. 
It has a fleshy white root; the plant is hispid, and the flowers blue or reddish, and borne in 
terminal racemes. The plant is often cultivated in gardens, and is occasionally used for salad. 
When fresh the plant is saline to the taste, and has an odor faintly recalling that of the com- 
mon cucumber. The whole plant has been used in medicine. Braconnot and Lampadius 
found the plant to contain mucilage, resin, and a large amount of salts of potassium and cal- 
cium. Potassium nitrate has been found to the extent of 3 per cent. This plant is used to 
some extent in France, where it is employed in fevers and pulmonary complaints attended by 
excessive secretions. Owing to potassium nitrate, it is diuretic, and its mucilaginous prop- 
erties render it demulcent and emollient. A fomentation of the flowers is used for inflamma- 
tory swellings, and for internal use an infusion of it is prepared (1 to 2 drachms to water 1 pint). 
CYPRIPEDIUM (U. S. P.)-CYPRIPEDIUM. 
" The rhizome and roots of Cypripedium pubescens, Swartz, and of Cypripedium 
parviflorum, Salisbury"-(U. S'. P.). 
Nat. Ord -Orchideae. 
Common Names: Ladies'-slipper, Yellow ladies'-slipper, American valerian, Umbel, 
Nerve-root, Yellow moccasin-flower, Noah's ark. 
Illustration : Johnson's Med. Bot. of N. A., Plate VIII (Cyp. pub.). 
Botanical Source.-Cypripedium pubescens is an indigenous plant whose 
roots are perennial, fibrous, fleshy, undulated, or crooked, long, about a line in 
diameter, from which arise one or several round, leafy stems, growing from 12 to 18 
inches high. The leaves are from 3 to 6 inches long, by 2 or 3 broad, sheathing, 
oblong-lanceolate, entire, veined, cauline, acuminate, pubescent, alternate, and 
generally the same number on each side. Its flowers are large, very showy, termi- 
nal, and solitary. Segments 4. Lobe of the style triangular-oblong, and obtuse; 
the sepals ovate, oblong, and acuminate; the petals long, linear, and contorted; 
the lip shorter than the other petals, compressed laterally, very convex, and gib- 
bous above, pale-yellow, and from 14 to 2 inches long (B.-R.-W.). 
Cypripedium parviflorum has been considered a distinct species by some bota- 
nists, and as a mere variety by others. It differs from the above in having the 
lobe of the style acute, the leaves are broader, the flowers somewhat smaller, and 
the perianth more brownish-purple in color (W.). 
History.-This plant is found in most parts of the United States, in rich 
woods and meadows, flowering in May and June; its flowers are scentless. There 
are several varieties of it, all of which possess similar virtues, and the roots of 
which are undoubtedly collected, sold, and indiscriminately used with the official 
article (see Related Species'). 
The rhizomes and fibrous roots of these plants are the parts used in medicine. 
They should be gathered in autumn, cleansed from dirt, and carefully dried in 
the shade. They have a peculiar, slightly bitter, and rather nauseous taste, and 
a somewhat unpleasant odor. Alcohol, or boiling water, takes up their virtues, 
which, however, are impaired by boiling. 
Description.-"Of horizontal growth, bent, 10 Cm. (4 inches), or less, long; 
from 3 to 5 Mm. (^ to | inch) thick; on the upper side beset with numerous cir- 
cular, cup-shaped scars; closely covered below with simple, wiry roots, varying 
from 10 to 15 Cm. (4 to 6 inches) in length; brittle, dark-brown, or orange-brown; 
fracture short, white; odor peculiar, heavy; taste sweetish, bitter, and somewhat 
pungent"-(U. S. P.). 
Chemical Composition.-Mr. H. C. Blair (1866) found the root of Cypri- 
pedium pubescens to contain a volatile oil, a volatile acid, tannin, gallic acid, two 
resins, gum, glucose, starch, and ligneous matter; and salts of calcium, potassium, 
and magnesium. A more recent quantitative analysis by E. S. Beshore (Amer. 
Jour. Pharm., 1887, p. 395) confirms these results, except that the tannic principle 
is distinct from both tannic and gallic acids. Alkaloids were not present, except 
a weak basic substance obtained in distilling the drug with milk of lime. 
Cypripedin, an impure active principle, oleoresin-like, and incorrectly named 
cypripedin, has been procured from the root by a process similar to that named 644 
CYPRIPEDIUM. 
for oleoresins of iris, xanthoxylum, etc. It may be given in doses of from | to 2 
or even 3 grains, but is inferior to other preparations. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Tonic, stimulant, diaphoretic, and 
antispasmodic. Its chief value is as a nerve stimulant in atonic cases, improving 
both the circulation and nutrition of the nerve centers (Scudder). It is not a 
powerful agent. This root is valuable in all cases of nervous excitability or irrita- 
bility unconnected with organic lesions, allaying the irritability, lessening any 
accompanying pain, producing a more calm and cheerful condition of the body 
and mind, and consequently favoring mental tranquillity, or sleep. Hence it has 
been of service in hysteria, chorea, nervous headache, wakefulness and prostration in low 
fevers, epilepsy, from reflex irritation, and, indeed, in all cases of morbid irritability 
of the nervous system, from functional derangement or reflex irritation. It will 
be found very efficient in the nervousness, hypochondria, or mental depression accom- 
panying certain forms of derangement of the digestive organs, which is more gen- 
erally met with among females. Its action is greatly increased when combined 
with certain other agents, though this is not always necessary or advisable; thus, 
combined with Eupatorium aromatica and Scutellaria lateriflora, it has proved bene- 
ficial in neuralgia, delirium, and hypochondria. A soothing syrup for nervous irrita- 
tion of children is recommended by Prof. Scudder (Spec. Med.): R Specific cypri- 
pedium, compound tincture lavender, aa fl^ii; specific lobelia, fl^j; simple syrup, 
flgiii. Mix. The alcoholic extract is a good form of administration. 
The following preparation has been used in sick or nervous headache, not de- 
pendent on acid stomach: Take of Nepeta cataria, Scutellaria lateriflora, and 
Cypripedium pubescens in powder, of each, £ ounce, pour on a pint of boiling 
water, and infuse for 15 or 20 minutes. Dose, 1 fluid ounce of the warm infusion, 
after which, fluid ounce, every 4 hour, for 3 or 4 hours, or until the headache 
ceases. Used thus, during 3 or 4 attacks of headache, it is asserted to have invari- 
ably effected permanent cures of this distressing complaint. An infusion is said 
to be beneficial in the pains of the joints following scarlet fever. Although consid- 
ered by many practitioners superior to valerian, yet it will be found inefficient in 
many instances where the European article will prove beneficial. Prof. D. T. 
MacDougal (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1896, p. 218), points out that the leaves and stems 
of Cypripedium spectabile and C. pubescens exert a poisonous influence upon the 
human skin, and that the source of this property resides in the glandular hairs with 
which the plant is covered. Dose of alcoholic extract, from 10 to 20 grains; tinc- 
ture, from 1 to 3 fluid drachms; infusion, from 1 to 4 fluid ounces; of the powder, 
1 drachm in warm water, repeated as required; specific cypripedium, 10 to 60 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Insomnia, nervous irritability, neuralgia, 
and delirium, all from atony; menstrual irregularities, with despondency; tend- 
ency to dementia at climacteric; mental depression from sexual abuse. 
Related Species.-The following species of Cypripedium possess properties analogous 
to those of the official drug: 
Cypripedium spectabile, Willdenow; Showy ladies'-slipper.-Having crowded, ovate-lanceo- 
late leaves, embracing each other; lobe of the style elliptic-cordate, obtuse; sepals broad-ovate, 
obtuse; lip longer than the petals, cleft before, white striped with purple, 2 inches long, 1| 
inches broad; flowers very large, 2 or 3 on each plant, appearing in May and June. The 
whole plant pubescent (W.). 
Cypripedium acaule, Aiton; Low or Stemless ladies'-slipper.-Having a bulbous root with 
numerous fleshy fibers; scape leafless, 1-flowered; leaves radical, in pairs, oblong, obtuse ; lobe 
of the style round-rhomboid, acuminate, deflexed; lip longer than the lanceolate petals, cleft 
before, purple, or white, nearly 2 inches long, veiny; flowers solitary, terminal, with a single, 
lanceolate bract at the base, and appearing in May and June (W.-B.-R.). 
Cypripedium candidum, Willdenow; Small white, or White-flowered ladies' -slipper .-Having a 
leafy stem, oblong-lanceolate leaves; lobe of the style lanceolate, somewhat obtuse; lip rather 
shorter than the lance-linear petals, white, about J of an inch long; flowers terminal, solitary. 
The plant is slightly pubescent, seldom growing above a foot in height; the flowers appear in 
May and June (W.). 
Cypripedium, arietinum, Aiton, or Ram's-head ladies'-slipper.-Having a leafy stem ; elliptical, 
striate-veined, sessile, amplexicaul leaves; lobe of the style orbicular, somewhat obtuse; lip as 
long as the petals, saccate, obconic before, red, and white-veined, hairy at the orifice, about 
A inch long; perianth greenish-brown. The flowers are mostly solitary with a leafy bract at 
base, and appear in May and June (W.-B.-R.). 
Cypripedium spectabile and Cypripedium acaule are said to possess more narcotic properties 
than the others, especially when inhabiting dark swamps. DAMIANA. 
645 
DAMIANA.-DAMIANA. 
The leaves and top of Turnera aphrodisiaca,Ward and Vasey (Turnera diffusa, 
Willdenow, var. 'aphrodisiaca, Urban). 
Nat. Ord.-Turneracese. 
Common Name : Damiana. 
Botanical Source, History, and Description.-This drug was introduced, in 
1874, by Dr. F. O. St. Clair, and first appeared in the form of fluid extract, from 
the firm of Messrs. Helmick & Co., of Washington, 
D. C. Three distinct varieties or species of plants 
under the name of Damiana, are occasionally found 
upon the market, and are derived from as many 
different sources. In connection with the history 
of this drug, it may be stated that Mr. H. S. Well- 
come read a paper upon the subject before the 
New York Alumni Association of the Philadel- 
phia College of Pharmacy, October 15, 1875, at the 
same time exhibiting cuts of leaves, which were 
known upon the market, at that time, as "Dami- 
ana," reproduced by us (Fig. 92). 
The true Damiana, the kind originally intro- 
duced by Dr. F. 0. St. Clair, who obtained it from 
Mr. Eugene Gillespie, the United States Consul at Cape San Lucas, is derived 
from Mexico (see Fig. 93). It is evidently from a Mexican species of Turnera, 
supposed, by E. M. Holmes, to be a smooth-leaved variety of T. microphylla, De 
Candolle. Prof. Lester F. Ward, on the 
examination of authentic specimens ob- 
tained by Dr. St. Clair, concluded that the 
drug is obtained from an undescribed 
species of Turnera, which Prof. Vasey and 
himself designated Turnera aphrodisiaca, 
and this name we shall accept for the 
Mexican damiana, until further light is 
thrown upon the subject. The result of 
Prof. Ward's examination can be found 
in the Virginia Med. Monthly, April, 1876. 
We extend our thanks to Dr. St. Clair for 
the aid given us in our endeavor to ob- 
tain the complete history of this drug, as 
well as for the specimens of original dami- 
ana so kindly furnished by himself. In this connection we can say that the 
leaves of Fig. 93, marked A A, are drawn from the original lot of damiana 
imported by Dr. St. Clair, in 1872. 
The genus Turnera is a small family of chiefly tropical American plants allied 
to the Passifloreae. The flowers are small, yellow, and, in the species that produces 
damiana, subsessile near the end of the short branches. 
The calyx is tubular, hairy externally, colored like the 
petals, and 5-toothed at the apex. The petals are 5, yel- 
low, and inserted on the tube of the calyx. The fruit, 
specimens of which are often found with damiana leaves, 
are dry, 1-celled, globular, and about the size of a large 
hemp seed (Fig. 93, B B). They are warty and rough ex- 
ternally, open by 3 valves, and contain from 3 to 6 kidney- 
shaped seeds (Fig. 93, C, magnified), attached to 3 parietal 
placentae. Mexican damiana (Turnera aphrodisiaca), as found in market, consists 
of broken leaves mixed with fragments of the branches, and, sometimes, with seed- 
pods. The branches have a reddish-brown bark, and are covered, when young, 
with white, cottony hairs. The leaves (Fig. 93, natural size) are less than an 
inch long, obovate, wedge-shape, and taper at the base to a short, slender leaf- 
stalk-, when young, they are covered with a, slight pubesence, but become smooth 
Fig. 92. 
Mr. Wellcome's figures of Damiana 
(Chicago Pharmacist). 
Fig. 93 
Turnera aphrodisiaca (true Damiana). Natural size, 
Fig. 94. 
California Damiana (species of 
Turnera), % natural size. 646 
when old. They are distinctly pinnately veined, and the margin is toothed with 
from 8 to 10 teeth. 
A variety of damiana, closely resembling the preceding, is derived from Cali- 
fornia. It was ascertained by Mr. E. M. Holmes to be obtained from Turnera 
microphylla, De Candolle, a small shrubby plant, native of lower California and 
northern Mexico. The leaves resemble the Mexican, but are broader, and covered 
with hairs on both sides (Fig. 92, A, preceding page). 
A second kind of California damiana (also a species of Turnera) later made 
its appearance in the market. We are indebted to Mr. James G. Steele for the 
fact that this lot of damiana came from San Diego, California, and grew inland, 
at the southern part of the state. The leaves have the shape of the Mexican 
damiana, but are larger, and very hairy, especially underneath (Fig. 94, i natural 
size, preceding page). 
The most common sophistication, however, once sold freely under the name 
of Damiana, is obtained from Aplopappus discoideus, De Candolle, a Composite plant 
of the section Asteroideas. It is one ot the 
few rayless species of Aplopappus, and is 
referred by some to the genus Linosyris. 
It has no botanical relation to the true 
damiana, and can only be considered a 
sophistication. The leaves (Fig. 95, 
natural size, and Wellcome's Fig. 92, B, 
preceding page) of this plant, as found 
on the market, are thick, firm, and not 
so much broken up as the Turnera; the 
surface of the leaf is rough, resinous, 
dotted, the mid-rib being prominent; 
but the veinlets are indistinct. The 
teeth are toward the apex of the leaf, and are rather remote and sharp. This plant 
can readily be distinguished from the true damiana by the presence of numerous 
flower-heads, which are common in all the specimens examined by us (Fig. 95, A). 
They are borne in axillary clusters of from 4 to 6 heads. The involucre is bell- 
shaped, and consists of numerous coriaceous imbricated scales, pubescent on the 
tips. The achenia (Fig. 95, B, magnified) are covered with a dense appressed 
pubescence, and bear a tawny, scabrous, spreading, unequal pappus. 
The sensible properties of the leaves of all the varieties (or species) of Tur- 
nera found upon the market, under the name damiana, are similar. All have a 
fragrant odor, resembling lemon-balm, and a pleasant, slightly aromatic taste. 
The leaves impart their virtues readily to hot water, as well as to mixtures of 
water and alcohol. The spurious damiana, Aplopappus discoideus (Fig. 95), is en- 
tirely different. It resembles more nearly the Grindelias, both in odor and taste. 
It is very resinous, and imparts its characteristic properties most freely to strong 
alcohol. Water hardly affects it, and mixtures of water and alcohol imperfectly 
exhaust the resinous principles, and do not permanently retain in solution such 
portions as are extracted. This spurious damiana need never be unintentionally 
employed, as both the general appearance of the leaf, and the sensible character- 
istics, are entirely different from all the species of Turnera. It has been offered 
at half the price of true damiana. 
Chemical Composition.-When distilled with water, the distillate from the 
leaves yields an essential oil. This oil is lighter than water, possesses the char- 
acteristic odor, and imparts to the plant its fragrance. Chlorophyll, hard and 
soft resin, tannin, sugar, albuminoids, gum, and ash were found by Parsons in 
true damiana. Potassium chloride was found in spurious damiana by E. S. Wayne, 
in 1876. According to a more recent analysis of the leaves of damiana, by F.W. 
Pantzer (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1887, p. 69), alkaloids and glucosids were not observ- 
able. The yield of volatile oil obtained by distillation was 0.5 per cent. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This drug has been almost eulogized 
for its positive aphrodisiac effects, acting energetically upon the genito-urinary 
organs of both sexes, removing impotence in the one, and frigidity in the other, 
whether due to abuses or age. Many physicians who have tried it, deny its pos- 
session of such virtues, but the friends of the Irug attribute their failures to the 
DAMIANA. 
Fig. 95. 
Aplopappus discoideus (spurious damiana). Natural size DECOCTA 
647 
use of the spurious articles. It will very likely be found to possess laxative, 
tonic, and diuretic properties only; and the aphrodisiac effects following its use, 
no more prove that these belong to it, than the same effects, that not unfre- 
quently appear after the employment of many other agents, prove that such 
agents possess similiar excitant virtues. Upon the system at large, it exerts a 
tonic influence, and is useful in some cases of chronic cystic and renal catarrh. It 
relieves irritation of the urinary mucous membranes, improves digestion, and over- 
comes constipation in some instances. In respiratory disorders, it may be employed 
to relieve irritation and cough, and, by its tonic properties, to check hypersecretion 
from the broncho-pulmonic membranes. The dose of the fluid extract is from 
| fluid drachm to fluid ounce; specific damiana, 5 to 60 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-To relieve irritation of the genito-urinary 
mucous surfaces. (Sexual weakness and debility, with nervousness and depres- 
sion [?]). 
Other Aphrodisiacs.-Hygrophila spinosa. India. Seeds reputed diuretic and aphrodisiac. 
Muira-Puama.-A Brazilian wood containing an alkaloid, and reputed strongly aphro- 
disiac. Its botanical source is unknown (Bull, of Pharm., 1892). 
Burka Gookeroo.-The carpels and whole plant of Tnbulus lanuginosus are said to be aphro- 
disiac and diuretic. A fluid extract of the fruit, in doses of 20 to 60 drops, is recommended for 
nocturnal pollutions. 
Sphoeranthus indicus, Mundi, Murmuria, Gorakhmundi, Kottakkarandai.-India. Contains a 
rich, cherry-red, volatile oil (Dymock). It is reputed deobstruent, alterative, tonic, and 
aphrodisiac. 
DECOCTA.-DECOCTIONS. 
The solution procured from the various parts of plants, by boiling them in 
water, is called a decoction. Decoctions are generally prepared from those articles 
which do not readily yield their active constituents to water, at a temperature 
below 100° C. (212° F.), yet it must be remembered, that as most plants contain 
starch, gum, and other inert matters, which are readily soluble in boiling water, 
these will generally be found associated with the remedial principles in a decoc- 
tion. Medicines containing volatile principles, or substances liable to be changed 
into insoluble and inert matters at a boiling heat, should never be subjected to 
decoction. When, however, decoction is determined upon, the drugs should be 
sliced, bruised, or powdered, according to their character, and placed in an earthen- 
ware, glass, or iron vessel of suitable size, the latter being lined internally with 
enamel. In most instances, tin vessels may be employed, but copper, brass, iron, 
or zinc vessels, on account of their liability to oxidation, or incompatibility with 
such principles as tannic acid, are apt to prove injurious, and should, not, there- 
fore, be used. The water employed should be pure and clear, and the boiling 
should not be continued for too long a period. The vessel should be kept cov- 
ered. The decoction should be strained before it cools. 
In decoctions where several drugs are employed, each should be placed in 
the boiling water at periods adapted to the time required to obtain its soluble 
constituents. Some plants require to be boiled for some minutes, while others 
yield all their virtues if added toward the termination of the process. Volatile 
agents should be added after the decoction, which should be kept closely covered 
until cold, has been removed from the fire. 
Decoctions are now seldom ordered from the pharmacist, but are made a 
matter of domestic management; hence, with but few exceptions, a list of decoc- 
tions is omitted herein, an explanation of the general rules relating to them being 
deemed sufficient. Physicians usually prepare decoctions by allowing 1 ounce of 
the drug to 1 pint of water, the dose depending on the activity of tbe agent, or 
the physiological effect required. 
Decoctions are liable to speedy change or decompostion; consequently they 
should be made in small quantities. Decoctions have been largely superseded by 
the more stable and elegant pharmaceutical preparations of the present. Owing 
to the fact, however, that many are occasionally employed, we give formulae for 
those most important. The U. S. P. gives the following general method for the 
preparation of decoctions: 648 
DECOCTUM ALOES COMPOSITUM.-DECOCTUM CETRARIA. 
"An ordinary decoction, the strength of which is not directed by the physi- 
cian nor specified by the Pharmacopoeia, shall be prepared by the following for- 
mula: Take of the substance, coarsely comminuted, fifty grammes (50 Gm.) 
[1 oz. av., 334 grs.]; water, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic cen- 
timeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 UI]. Put the substance into a suitable vessel pro- 
vided with a cover, pour upon it one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) 
[33 fl§, 391 UI] of cold water, cover it well and boil for 15 minutes. Then let it 
cool to about 40°C. (104° F.), express, strain the expressed liquid, and pass 
enough cold water through the strainer to make the product measure one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 UI]. Caution.-The strength of 
decoctions of energetic or powerful substances should be specially prescribed by 
the physician"-(U. 8. P.). 
The Pharmacopoeia, of 1880, directed decoctions of 10 per cent drug strength. 
Those of the present U. S. P. have a strength of 5 per cent, and .only two are 
recognized. 
Decoctions Formerly Official.-The following decoctions were official in the U. S. P. 
of 1870: Decoctum Chimaphila:, Decoction of Dpsissewa; Decoctum Cinchona; Flava:, Decoction 
of Yellow Cinchona; Decoctum Cinchona: Rubr.e, Decoction of lied Cinchona; Decoctum Cornus 
Florida:, Decoction of Dogwood; Decoctum Dulcamar.e, Decoction of Bittersweet; Decoctum Hjma- 
toxyli, Decoction of Logwood; Decoctum Hordei, Decoction of Barley; Decoctum Quercus Alba;, 
Decoction of White (Jak Bark; Decoctum Senega:, Decoction of Seneka; Decoctum Uv.e Ursi, 
Decoction of Uva Ursi. 
All were prepared (excepting decoction of barley) by boiling for 15 minutes a troy ounce 
of the drug in a pint of water, straining and finally bringing the finished product to 1 pint by 
adding to it a sufficient quantity of water. 
DECOCTUM ALOES COMPOSITUM (N. F.)-COMPOUND 
DECOCTION OF ALOES. 
Preparation. - Formulary number, 29: "Extract of aloes (U. 8. P.), ten 
grammes (10 Gm.) [154 grs]; myrrh, seven and one-half grammes (7.5 Gm.) [115 
grs.]; saffron, seven and one-half grammes (7.5 Gm.) [115 grs.]; potassium car- 
bonate, five grammes (5 Gm.) [77 grs.]; extract of glycyrrhiza, in powder, thirty- 
five grammes (35 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 102 grs.]; compound tincture of cardamom 
(U. S. P.), two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl§, 218 UI]; water, 
a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl£, 
391 UI]. Reduce the myrrh and extract of aloes to a coarse powder, mix this with 
the potassium carbonate and extract of liquorice in a suitable covered vessel, and 
pour on six hundred cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 fl 3, 138 UI] of water; boil for 
5 minutes and add the saffron. When cool, add the compound tincture of carda- 
mom, and allow the mixture to macerate for 2 hours; then filter through flannel 
and add enough water to make the product measure one thousand cubic centi- 
meters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 UI], This preparation should be freshly made when 
wanted for use"-(Nat. Form.). 
This decoction contains the same ingredients, and varies but little in propor- 
tions from that official in the British Pharmacopoeia. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage. - Compound decoction of aloes is 
employed like compound tincture of aloes and myrrh, though the decoction is 
less stimulating. A gentle cathartic and emmenagogue for atonic states, as consti- 
pation and amenorrhoea. Dose, £ to 2 fluid ounces. 
DECOCTUM CETRARIA (U. S. P.)-DECOCTION OF CETRARIA. 
Synonym: Decoction of Iceland moss. 
Preparation.-"Cetraria, fifty grammes (50 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 334 grs ]; water, 
a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 
391 UI], Cover the cetraria in a suitable vessel, with four hundred cubic centi- 
meters (400 Cc.) [13 fl^, 252 U|] of cold water, express after half an hour, and 
throw the liquid away. Then boil the cetraria with one thousand cubic centi- 
meters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 UI] of water for half an hour, strain, and add enough 649 
DECOCTUM GRANATI RADICIS.-DECOCTUM HORDEI. 
cold water, through the strainer, to make the product, when cold, measure one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 TTLJ "-(U. S. Pd). 
The object of macerating the moss in cold water is to remove a part of the 
bitter principle, a process objected to by many, who consider it no better than the 
ordinary demulcents, if it be deprived of this peculiar bitter. The British Phar- 
macopoeia directs decoction of Iceland moss to be boiled 10 minutes. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Cetrariaf The dose is from 2 to 4 
fluid ounces from 3 to 5 times a day. 
DECOCTUM GRANATI RADICIS.-DECOCTION OF 
POMEGRANATE ROOT. 
Synonym: Decoctum corticis radicis granati. 
Preparation.-Boil 2 ounces (av.) of sliced pomegranate-root bark in 2 pints 
(Imp.) of distilled water, until reduced to 1 pint (Imp.). Strain, and if neces- 
sary, by pouring sufficient distilled water on the contents of the strainer, bring 
the finished decoction to measure 1 pint (Imp.). This accords with the British 
Pharmacopoeia. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Used internally to expel tapeworms 
(see Granatum). Also as a wash for mucous, serous, and sanguineous fluxes, and for 
relaxed membranes and discharging ulcers. 
The following has been a standard with Eclectic physicians for many years: 
"Put 4 pints of water and 8 ounces of selected bark, into a kettle and boil well; 
then strain through muslin; press well. Add the contents of the strainer again 
to the same amount of water (4 pints), boil and strain as before. Mix the two 
liquids, and evaporate to the measure of 1 pint. Allow the decoction to cool before 
administering. 
Directions for Use.-"The patient should fast 1 day, and on retiring should take 
2 compound cathartic pills to loosen the bowels. Next morning on arising, take 
a good dose of Rochelle salts, and as soon as there is a profuse stool, take 2 or 3 
ounces of decoction of pomegranate. If it be retained on the stomach, the worm 
will probably pass with the next stool. If the decoction is vomited, as is prob- 
able give another dose, after waiting a couple of hours for the stomach to rest." 
DECOCTUM HjEMATOXYLI.-DECOCTION OF LOGWOOD. 
Preparation.-Take 1 ounce (av.) of logwood (in chips), 55 grains of coarsely- 
powdered cinnamon bark, and 1 pint (Imp.) of distilled water. Boil the logwood 
in a closed vessel for 10 minutes, adding the cinnamon toward the end of the 
boiling period. Strain, and, by pouring sufficient distilled water upon the con- 
tents of the strainer, bring the decoction to measure 1 pint (Imp.). 
The British Pharmacopoeia directs the foregoing method which is improved by 
continuing the boiling longer in order to better exhaust the chips. A former 
U. S. P. process directed 1 ounce of logwood in 2 pints of water, to be reduced 
by boiling to 1 pint. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Hxmatoxylon.) A mild astringent. 
Dose, from 1 to 2 fluid drachms (children), to 2 fluid ounces (adults) 
DECOCTUM HORDE!.-DECOCTION OF BARLEY. 
Synonym: Barley water. 
Preparation.-Wash 2 ounces (av.) of pearl barley in cold water and throw 
away the washings. Then boil the barley in a closed vessel for 20 minutes, in 1$ 
pints (Imp.) of distilled water, and strain. This accords with the British Phar- 
macopoeia. Boiling the barley for 1 or 2 minutes will remove mustiness or oth?r 
unpleasant extraneous matter, if present, better than washing in cold water. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-An admirable unirritating, nutritious, 
and readily digestible drink for fevers or irritable states of the gastro-intestinal and 650 
DECOCTUM PAPAVERIS.-DECOCTUM SCOPARII. 
urino-genital tracts. May be sweetened or acidulated when not contraindicated. 
Dose, 1 to 4 or more fluid ounces. 
DECOCTUM PAPAVERIS.-DECOCTION OF POPPIES. 
Preparation.-Boil, in a closed vessel, for 10 minutes, 2 ounces (av.) of 
bruised-poppy capsules in 1| pints (Imp.) of distilled water. Strain, and, by 
pouring sufficient distilled water on the contents of the strainer, bring the meas- 
ure of the decoction to 1 pint (Imp.). This is official in the Br. Pharm. The seeds 
should not be rejected, as they add to the emolliency of the preparation. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This is a feebly anodyne, emollient, and muci- 
laginous preparation, used locally as a fomentation to inflammatory parts. 
DECOCTUM SARSA.-DECOCTION OF SARSAPARILLA. 
Synonym: Decoctum sarsaparillse. 
Preparation.-Digest for 1 hour 2^ ounces (av.) of transversely cut Jamaica 
sarsaparilla in 1| pints (Imp.) of distilled water. Then, in a closed vessel boil 
for 10 minutes. Cool, strain, and by the addition of distilled water, if necessary, 
bring the finished product to the measure of 1 pint (Imp.) This accords with 
the British Pharmacopoeia. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Many prefer to use the bruised root, and 
to avoid boiling, for the longer the preparation is boiled the weaker it becomes. An 
infusion is preferable to the decoction. Digestion of the root at a temperature of 
about 80° C. (176° F.) is probably the best method. This decoction is but little em- 
ployed. Its uses are those of sarsaparilla. Dose, 2 to 4 fluid ounces 4 times a day. 
DECOCTUM SARSAPARILLA COMPOSITUM (U. S. P.)-COMPOUND 
DECOCTION OF SARSPARILLA 
Preparation.-"Sarsaparilla, cut and bruised, one hundred grammes (100 
Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]; sassafras, in No. 20 powder, twenty grammes (20 Gm.) 
[309 grs.]; guaiacum wood, rasped, twenty grammes (20 Gm.) [309 grs.] ; glycyr- 
rhiza, bruised, twenty grammes (20 Gm.) [309 grs.]; mezereum, cut and bruised, 
ten grammes (10 Gm.) [154 grs.] ; water, a sufficient quantity to make one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl5,391 1TL]. Boil the sarsaparilla and guaia- 
cum wood for half an hour in a suitable vessel with one thousand cubic centi- 
meters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 TTL] of water. Then add the sassafras, glycyrrhiza, 
and mezereum, cover the vessel well, and macerate for 2 hours. Finally strain, 
and add enough cold water, through the strainer, to make the product measure 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 RI]"-(U. S. P.f 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This decoction may be given in syphi- 
litic and scrofulous conditions as an alterative and mild diaphoretic. It is likewise 
employed in certain cutaneous, rheumatic, and other affections dependent on blood 
dyscrasia. Mezereum and sarsaparilla are its chief active agents. It is patterned 
after the Decoctum lusitanicum, or Lisbon diet drink. Somewhat similar prepara- 
tions are employed in Germany under the names Decoctum Zittmanni fortius, and 
Decoctum Zitmanni mitius, or Zittmann's stronger and milder decoctions, which contain, 
however, cinnabar and calomel. The compound decoction of sarsaparilla may 
be given in doses of 3 to 6 fluid ounces, 3 times a day. 
DECOCTUM SCOPARII.-DECOCTION OF BROOM 
Preparation.-The British Pharmacopoeia directs the preparation of decoction 
of broom essentially as follows: Boil in a covered vessel 1 ounce (av.) of broom 
tops in a pint (Imp ) of distilled water for 10 minutes. Strain and pour upon DECOCTUM TARAXACI.-DIERVILLA. 
651 
the residue in the strainer sufficient distilled water to produce a pint (Imp.) of 
the finished product. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is actively diuretic, and is useful 
in dropsical disorders. Care must be taken in its administration, as it may provoke 
renal and cystic irritation. The dose is about 2 fluid ounces, given so that from 
| to 1 pint is taken in 24 hours. 
Related Preparation.-Decoctum Scoparii Compositum. Compound decoction of broom. 
Take of broom-tops, juniper berries, and dandelion root, of each, | troy ounce; water, Ojss. 
Boil down to 1 pint. Dose, from 1 to 2 fluid ounces. 
DECOCTUM TARAXACI.-DECOCTION OF DANDELION. 
Preparation.-Slice and bruise 1 ounce (av.) of dried dandelion root, and 
boil it in 1 pint (Imp.) of distilled water for 10 minutes; strain, and pour upon 
the residue in the strainer enough distilled water to make the finished product 
measure 1 pint (Imp.). This is in accordance with the British Pharmacopoeia. A 
little orange peel added at the end of the boiling period, is said to increase its 
usefulness. It does not keep well and must be freshly prepared. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.- (See Taraxacum.) This may be em- 
ployed as a vehicle for the simple bitters. The dose is about 2 fluid ounces before 
meals. 
DECOCTUM ULMI.-DECOCTION OF ELM-BARK. 
Preparation.-Take 24 ounces (av.) of small pieces of elm-bark and boil in 
1 pint of distilled water, for 10 minutes, in a suitable covered vessel; strain, and 
pour upon the residue in the strainer sufficient distilled water to make the 
finished decoction measure 1 pint. This is in accordance with the British Phar- 
macopoeia, of 1867. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-A mucilaginous, astringent, and bitter 
decoction. (For uses see Ulmus). Dose, from 2 to 4 fluid ounces. Mucilage of slip- 
pery elm is preferable. 
DIERVILLA.-BUSH HONEYSUCKLE. 
The root, leaves, and twigs of Diervilla trifida, Moench {Diervilla canadensis, 
Muhlenberg). 
Nat. Ord.-Caprifoliaceae. 
Common Names: Bush honeysuckle, Gravelweed. 
Botanical Source.-This plant is a low shrub, with a branching, pithy stem, 
about 2 or 3 feet high. The leaves are from 2 to 4 inches long by 1 to 1| broad, 
ovate, acuminate, finely serrate, opposite, deciduous, and borne on short petioles. 
The peduncles are axillary and terminal, dichotomous, and from 1 to 3-flowered. 
The flowers are greenish-yellow. Calyx tube oblong, limb 5-cleft, with 2 bracts; 
corolla twice as long as the calyx, greenish-yellow, 5-cleft, funnel-shaped; border 
5-cleft, spreading. Stamens 5, which, with the style, are much exserted; stigma 
capitate. Capsule oblong, attenuate above, 2-celled, and naked, with many 
seeds (W.). 
History.-This is a woody shrub, growing in the United States from Canada 
to Carolina, in hedges and thickets, and by the sides of fences and rocks, flower- 
ing in June. The leaves, twigs, and roots are the parts used, and they yield their 
properties to alcohol, and boiling water in infusion. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Diuretic, astringent, and alterative. 
A cold infusion of the bruised leaves and twigs, used freely, has been very bene- 
ficial in inflammation of the bladder, with gravelly deposit in the urine, in nephritic 
and calculous affections, and in gonorrhoea. The root, in decoction or syrup, has 
been lauded for the cure of syphilis. Externally applied in erysipelas, or erysipela- 
tous inflammations, and over the inflamed surface occasioned by the rhus, ivy, or 
poison vine, it soon relieves the itching, burning, inflammation, and swelling. 652 
DIGITALIS. 
DIGITALIS (U S. P.)-DIGITALIS. 
"The leaves of Digitalis purpurea, Linne, collected from plants of the second 
year's growth"-(U. S. PN (Digitalis tomentosa, Link et Hoffmann). 
Nat. Ord.-Scrophularineie. 
Common Names: Foxglove, Purple foxglove. 
Illustrations: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 195; Woodville, Med. Bot., 
Plate 24. 
Botanical Source.-Foxglove is a handsome biennial plant, with a whitish 
root of numerous long and slender fibers. The stem is straight, wand-like, leafy, 
mostly simple, roundish, with several slight angles, downy, and 
3 or4 feet high. The leaves are alternate, ovate, or elliptic oblong, 
crenate, downy, rugged, and veiny, of a dull-green, tapering at the 
base into winged footstalks, the radical ones being largest. The 
flowers are numerous, large, pendulous, scentless, purplish-crimson, 
elegantly marked with eye-like spots, and hairy within, and are 
borne in terminal, 1-sided, erect, simple racemes. The corolla is 
monopetalous, campanulate, ventricose, contracted at the base, with 
an oblique limb ; upper lip emarginate, lower trifid, with the middle 
lobe the largest. The calyx is composed of 5 acute sepals, perma- 
nent, and much shorter than the corolla; the uppermost are nar- 
rowest. The stamens are didynamous, and inserted into the base 
of the corolla; anthers large, acute, naked; style simple; stigma 
bilamellate. The capsule is ovate, sharp-pointed, with a septicidal 
dehiscence; seeds many, small, grayish-brown, pitted,and oblong (L). 
History.-Foxglove is indigenous to the larger portion of 
Europe, and has been introduced into the United States, where it 
flowers in June and July. It grows in thickets, along woodland 
borders, and on the commons, preferring a sand-soil, not being 
often found where limestone abounds. Though also a mountain plant in the 
warmer portions of Europe, it is not found in the Swiss Alpsand Jura Mountains 
(Pharmacographiad, It has been naturalized in the Isle Chiloe of South Chili 
(Cunningham). The official part is the leaves, though the seeds will also be 
found efficient. The leaves should be collected from the second year's growth, 
while the plant is in bloom-Duncan says "before the inflorescence"-selecting 
only those which are fully developed, and separating from them the inert petioles 
and mid-veins; they should then be dried by exposure to a current of dry air, by 
being placed in a drying stove, or by being inclosed in a hot air press. Much 
care is necessary in preserving them for medicinal purposes. When well prepared 
the powder has a fine green color, and retains the intense bitterness of the fresh 
leaves. The leaves, when dried or in powder, should be placed in opaque, well- 
closed vessels, to protect them from the deleterious influence of dampness and 
light; and the drug should be renewed annually, as it loses its virtues by age. The 
seeds, though but little used, retain their properties much better than the leaves. 
Fresh foxglove leaves have a slight virose odor, which, by desiccation becomes 
feebly narcotic, with an acrid, bitter, disagreeable taste and a dark-green color. 
Their properties are yielded to alcohol, ether, water, or diluted acids. 
Description.-The I '. S. P. describes digitalis leaves as follows: " From 10 to 30 
Cm. (4 to 12 inches) long; ovate or ovate-oblong; narrowed into a petiole; crenate; 
dull green, densely and finely pubescent; wrinkled above; paler and reticulate 
beneath; midrib near the base broad; odor slight, somewhat tea-like; taste bitter, 
nauseous. An infusion prepared with 1 part of digitalis and 10 parts of boiling 
water, and allowed to cool, has a peculiar odor, turns blue litmus paper red, and, 
upon the addition of a few drops of ferric chloride T.S., acquires a darker tint, 
a brown precipitate appearing after a few hours. The infusion, diluted with 
3 parts of water, becomes turbid on the addition of a few drops of tannic acid 
T.S."-(U.S. Pf. 
Chemical Composition.-Digitalis, purpurea was first investigated chemic- 
ally by Destouches, in 1809, although the plant has been known in botanical lit- 
erature through the writings of Leonhard Fuchs since 1542. Dulong d'Astafort 
Fig. 96 
Digitalis pur- 
purea. DIGITALIS. 
653 
(1827) appears to have been the first to recognize the bitter substance, digitalin,"as 
an individual body, capable of forming an insoluble compound with infusion of 
galls (Archiv. der Pharm., 1870, p. 28). This reaction was employed by later observers 
in the making of digitalin, e. g., by Homolle and Quevenne. In 1844, the Societe 
de Pharmacie of Paris awarded a prize to these chemists for having succeeded in 
isolating the active principle of digitalis; yet their digitalin, though crystalline 
and no doubt purer than similar preparations of their predecessors, was by no 
means a uniform substance. Neither were the preparations obtained by later 
chemists, e.g.,Walz (1846-58), and K osman (1861 and later), individual substances. 
Nativelie (1867-74) prepared digitaline cristallisee, which at last was believed to be 
pure. Meanwhile a commercial distinction had been established between German 
digitalin (originating from Walz's preparation), an amorphous powder easily solu- 
ble in water and alcohol, less soluble in chloroform, and very little soluble in 
ether; and French crystalline digitalin (that of Homolle and Quevenne, and Nati- 
velle), easily soluble in chloroform and alcohol, but hardly soluble in water and 
ether. In this connection it may be stated that the French Codex gives detailed 
directions for the preparation of both digitaline amorphe and digitaline cristallisee, 
the yield of the latter being 1 gram from each kilogram of leaves. To Schmiede- 
berg (1874) we are indebted for a critical study of the more important digitalins 
of commerce. He arrived at the conclusion that these preparations were com- 
posed mainly of the following principles: Digitonin, digitoxin, digitalin, and digi- 
talein. The first is an inactive glucosid, while the three others have the property 
of acting upon the heart, digitoxin possessing this power in a most pronounced 
degree. The more recent researches of Kiliani have materially extended our 
knowledge of the chemical nature of these substances. 
Digitonin.-This medicinally inert substance was obtained amorphous by 
Schmiedeberg. Kiliani found that it will easily crystallize from 85 percent alco- 
hol, and that by means of this solvent it maybe abstracted from water-soluble 
commercial digitalin. When crystallized, digitonin is less soluble in water than 
when amorphous; its solution foams when shaken. It is little soluble in alcohol, 
insoluble in ether, chloroform, and benzin, and forms an insoluble tannate. 
Warmed with diluted hydrochloric acid, it splits into digitogenin (observed by 
Schmiedeberg), galactose, and dextrose (Kiliani, Ber. d. d. Chern. Ges., 1890). 
Digitoxin.-This forms the main constituent of Nativelle's digitalin. It is 
insoluble in water, although the presence of other digitalis glucosids or extractive 
matters may render it more soluble. It dissolves freely in alcohol and chloroform, 
slightly in ether, but is insoluble in petroleum ether (Keller, 1897). It yields a 
precipitate with tannic acid, but not with basic acetate of lead. Schmiedeberg 
could not establish the presence of sugar as a constituent of digitoxin, although 
he obtained toxiresin by the action of acids. Recently Kiliani succeeded in resolv- 
ing digitoxin (C31H50O10), into digitoxigenin and a substance, digitoxose (CyHlsO6), 
resembling sugar (Archiv. der Pharm., 1896, p. 481). 
Digitalein.-The existence of this substance as an individual body is ques- 
tioned by such authorities as Kiliani and C. C. Keller ( Ber. d. d. Pharm. Ges., 1897, 
p. 125), who pronounce it to be most likely a mixture of digitonin with traces of 
digitoxin and digitalin. 
Digitalin.-Schmiedeberg proved this to be a glucosid, but, excepting a resin- 
ous substance which he called digitaliresin, was unable to obtain a well defined 
product of hydrolysis. Homolle and Quevenne's digitalin he pronounced to be 
composed mainly of digitalin and digitaliresin. He also found that digitalin acts 
on the heart, but in a much milder form than digitoxin. It is soluble in water. 
Kiliani, considering digitalin a useful therapeutic agent, made it a commer- 
cial product under the name digitalinum verum, believing it to be a uniform sub- 
stance, notwithstanding its refusal to crystallize. He finally succeeded in resolv- 
ing it into digitaligenin, a well-defined crystalline body, dextrose, and digitalose 
(Archiv. der Pharm., 1892, p. 250; also see Pharm. Jour. Trans., 1895, p. 29, for 
details of preparation of digitalinum verum). As regards the therapeutic use of digi- 
talin, there has been a tendency in late years to give preference to digitoxin and 
the preparations containing it, although it was formerly discarded on account of 
its insolubility in water, as well as the violent action it exerts when in solution. 
(See Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1897, p. 450, for Keller's process of preparation). Keller's 654 
DIGITALIS. 
test for digitoxin is as follows: Dissolve digitoxin in glacial acetic acid contain- 
ing ferric chloride; float this solution upon strong sulphuric acid. At the line 
of contact a dark zone appears, and after a few minutes the acetic acid liquor 
becomes dark blue. This reaction takes place with of a milligramme of digi- 
toxin in 1 Cc. of acetic acid. As to the occurrence of the digitalis glucosids in 
leaves and seeds, Keller holds (1897) that digitoxin, digitonin, and digitalin in dif- 
ferent proportions may be obtained from both sources. The amount of digitoxin in 
the leaves was observed by him to vary from 0.26 to 0.62 per cent. Kiliani, on the 
other hand, remarks (Pharm. Jour. Trans., 1895, p. 120, and 1896, p. 289), that digi- 
talis seeds contained digitonin and digitogenin, and are besides the (more remote) 
source of his digitalinum verum, which does not occur in the leaves. The latter 
contain principally digitoxin, which is not to be found in the seeds. The rela- 
tion of Arnaud's digitaline cristallisee (see Jour. Pharm. Chim., 1889, pp. 454 and 514) 
to the aforenamed principles remains yet to be established. 
Other Constituents of Digitalis.-Morin (1845) isolated an acid substance which 
he called digitalic acid, which Fliickiger believed to have been malic acid merely; 
and volatile antirrhinic acid which resembles valerianic acid. Digitalosmin was 
an odoriferous substance having a nauseous taste, obtained by Walz in 1852. The 
sugar inosit, was discovered in the leaves by Marine, in 1864. The ash in the 
leaves was found by Fliickiger to be 10.56 per cent. Infusions of digitalis some- 
times gelatinize, owing to the precipitation of modified pectin matter, the result 
of the influence of micro-organisms. This change is facilitated (Dr. Forcke, Amer. 
Jour. Pharm., 1890), by the employment of the petioles in making the infusion, 
as they are richer in pectin matter than the leaf itself. The U. S. P., and other 
pharmacopoeias as well, direct that leaves of the second year's growth be employed, 
as the infusion from leaves collected in the first year are believed to be prone 
to gelatinize. 
Action and Toxicology.-In single large doses, digitalis is an irritant-nar- 
cotic poison, producing gastro-intestinal irritation, nausea, vomiting, and very 
abundant al vine evacuations. Its action is afterward spent upon the nervous 
system, causing vertigo, dimness of sight, delirium, convulsions, or a general 
debility, and finally death (E. & V.). A slow, feeble, irregular pulse and suppres- 
sion of urine are generally present. When given in medicinal doses, too long 
continued, or in quantities to exert an immediate action on the system, it causes 
an increased discharge of urine, reduces the pulse from 70 beats in a. minute to 
30, with languor, nausea, occasionally anxiety and salivation, a sense of weight, 
or constriction, obtuse pain in the head, giddiness, disordered vision, mental dis- 
turbance, and rarely spectral illusions; not unfrequently a huskiness of the voice 
is present, the result of irritation of the fauces, trachea, etc. The nausea pro- 
duced by digitalis, and more quickly by digitalin and digitoxin, is preceded by 
malaise, faintness, and depression, and is exceedingly distressing. Vomiting 
temporarily relieves it, the vomited material being first dark-green, afterward yel- 
low. Prostration becomes so great that the individual can not stand without 
help, and an intense disgust for food is experienced. Familiar objects are unrec- 
ognizable-a disturbed vision with yellowness or blueness supervening. Persons 
are recognized only by their voices. These effects, if not fatal, may last several 
days, the sleep being disturbed by nightmare and general unrest. Finally sound 
sleep and a voracious appetite quickly restore the individual to normal health. 
If the use of the remedy be persisted in, these effects will continue to increase 
until the poisonous symptoms, first referred to, become developed. Dr. Fuller 
states that digitalis stimulates the muscular fibers of the heart, and augments the 
contractility of the capillaries; when it kills it does so not by producing paralysis 
of the heart, but by giving rise to tonic contraction and spasm of that organ. 
Primarily, digitalis acts upon the heart as a stimulant, increasing the ten- 
sion and pulse rate; larger doses, acting as a sedative, reduce the pulse, but the 
tension remains unaffected. The diastole is prolonged while the systole is in- 
creased in vigor. A lethal dose produces a tetanic contraction of the heart mus- 
cle, particularly of the left ventricle, the heart being arrested in systole. The 
effect of the stronger systole and the prolonged dias.tole is a reduction of the num- 
ber of pulsations. Not only does a contraction of the heart muscle take place, 
but a marked contraction of the arterioles also results, so that the blood current DIGITALIS. 
655 
is reduced in size and the amount of blood sent through the arteries to the dif- 
ferent parts of the system is decreased. A rise of blood pressure then ensues from 
the resistance of the narrowed arterial calibre and increased systolic action- From 
the fact that, after the administration of full medicinal doses, a change of posture, 
as from the recumbent to upright position, occasions a greatly increased number 
of pulsations and a marked diminution of cardiac force, it has been assumed that 
no real power is imparted to the heart by digitalis. This has been explained by 
others as an occurrence only met with when the tonic action is about to verge into 
that of exhaustion from overstimulation. Lethal doses cause the tetanic contrac- 
tion above mentioned, obstructing the passage of blood through the organ and 
death takes place from spasm, resulting in syncope. In woman, digitalis, like 
ergot, causes contraction of the uterine fibers of an enlarged or gravid uterus, 
thereby arresting hemorrhage; in man it primarily lessens the supply of blood to 
the erectile tissues of the penis, preventing or enfeebling erections and conse- 
quently diminishing the venereal desires. 
Many affirm that digitalis has no direct diuretic power. In health it is 
known to generally lessen the secretion of both the solid and fluid constituents 
of the urine. Some contend that it slightly increases the flow of urine. It is 
more than probable that, when diuresis is the result of its administration, it is in 
those cases in which a diminished secretion of urine is due to debility or some 
other form of cardiac embarrassment. Others, however, maintain different views, 
and Brunton asserts that diuresis produced by it in dropsy is due to a special 
action of the drug upon the Malpighian bodies, and not to augmented blood 
pressure alone. 
Poisoning by digitalis may be produced by grain of digitalin (equal to 8 
grains of good powdered digitalis leaves), and Taylor (Med. Juris., p. 229) states that 
doses of from | to | grain would probably produce death. Cold, belladonna, ergot, 
etc., increase the activity of digitalis, while aconite opposes its action. According 
to Bartholow, the most complete antagonist to digitalis, physiologically speaking, 
is saponin. Strychnine is also a physiological antagonist. 
The poisonous effects of digitalis are best counteracted by first evacuating the 
stomach by the fre^ use of warm liquids and mechanical emetics, if any of it is 
supposed to remain in the stomach, and then administering brandy, wine, opium, 
black coffee, ammonia, ammonium carbonate, or other stimulants, with sinapisms 
to the wrists and ankles. Both external and internal heat should be used. A 
solution of tannic acid might be of service, by forming an insoluble tannate of 
digitalin. Preparations containing tannin, such as tea, etc., may be given. Iron 
sulphate and chloride are recommended by some as chemical antagonists. Digi- 
talin produces similar effects on the system with digitalis, but its internal admin- 
istration is hazardous, and demands much care and prudence. After death from 
digitalis the gastric membranes were found partially inflamed and the meninges 
of the brain much injected (Taylor). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-In medicinal doses, foxglove is seda- 
tive and secondarily diuretic. It has been employed with asserted advantage in 
febrile diseases, acute inflammations, insanity, neuralgia attended with irritative fever, 
asthma, hemoptysis, whooping-cough, palpitation of the heart, epilepsy, and as a diuretic 
in dropsy, connected with diseased heart or kidneys. As a sedative in feversand 
inflammations, its use is not to be commended, in view of the fact that it tends to 
produce unpleasant gastric disturbances and other disquieting symptoms. It has 
been claimed that it is of great service in scarlatina, both for the purpose of pro- 
ducing sedation and keeping the kidneys active, thus tending to avert post-scarla- 
tinal dropsy and uraemia. That it will do this without some heart debility being 
present also, is by no means well established, while, on the contrary, its unpleas- 
ant, nausea-provoking properties make it an undesirable remedy. The same is 
true of it in typhoid and other febrile disorders. It should always be used with 
care, on account of its cumulative effect, which may otherwise occasion an unex- 
pected fatality. Such cumulative action is not, however, likely to occur unless 
the dose be too large and too frequently repeated, thus overlapping the successive 
doses when, like any other remedy so administered, its effects will become cumu- 
lative. The old view of cumulative effects from small doses suddenly developing 
toxic symptoms, is not now held by many, yet it is proper to be cautious and to 656 
DIGITALIS. 
keep within the bounds of safety. When its constitutional effects become obvi- 
ous, the exhibition of the remedy should be omitted from time to time, in order 
to guard against the results of this alarming accumulation. When its sedative 
effect is too great, it is best counteracted by the use of wine and opium conjointly. 
Like ergot, by its contractile power over the capillaries, digitalis is a remedy 
for asthenic hemorrhage, metrorrhagia, menorrhagia, purpura hemorrhagica, epistaxis, 
and hemoptysis, though it is of less value in the last-named disorder than in those 
<>f uterine origin. However, as a remedy for hemorrhage it will not take an im- 
portant place when other drugs are so preeminently superior for this purpose. 
Digitalis has not found favor with the majority of practitioners of our faith in 
pulmonic and bronchial inflammations (except pulmonary congestion), as it has with 
some of the members of the Allopathic persuasion. No materia medica is so rich 
in efficient broncho-pulmonary remedies as the Eclectic, and, as digitalis is too 
uncertain in its effects in these disorders, and so liable to occasion intestinal dis- 
turbances, it is not likely to become at all important with us in this branch of 
therapy. In nervous disorders it has a limited usefulness. In chronic mania, acute 
maniacal delirium, and in delirium tremens it has been administered with asserted 
success, but as the indications for its selection, given by different observers, are 
diametrically opposed, it is difficult to make a selection of the proper cases. It 
is probable, however, that it is of some value in congestive hemicrania. Functional 
exophthalmic goitre, in the anemic young, and associated with cardiac weakness 
and dilated vessels, is often benefited by digitalis combined with restoratives. 
It is in heart troubles of an asthenic character, however, that digitalis shows its 
power as a true remedy. As a general statement it may be said that it is indi- 
cated by a weak, rapid, and irregular heart and low arterial tension-a condition 
of asthenia; and it is contraindicated by a strong, vigorous heart action, with 
high arterial tension-a sthenic state. As Prof. Locke very properly states, " digi- 
talis is the true opium for the heart." 
Digitalis primarily excites the vaso-motor nerves only, those which are lim- 
ited to the ventricular portion of the heart, contracting the blood vessels and heart 
muscle; temporarily quickens the heart's action, and secondarily, through par- 
alysis of those nerves, dilatation of the blood vessels ensues with consequent spasm 
of the muscular tissues. Hence in cardiac hypertrophy, when simply compensa- 
tory, it should not be given at all; in cardiac dilatation it should be given in doses 
to produce its physiological action. Digitalis acts as a sedative to an over-excited 
and irregular heart, and as a tonic to a weak and enfeebled heart. But its principal 
employment should be in dilated enfeebled heart with feeble and irregular pulse. 
According to some writers it is contraindicated in ramollissement and fatty de- 
generation of the heart, and in aortic regurgitation, while it is especially beneficial 
in aortic obstructive disease. 
That the slowing of the heart, with more powerful contractions and greater 
resistance to the blood current in the contracted arterioles produced by it, would 
render the drug inadmissible in a heart already enfeebled by fatty depositions, 
must be self-evident. Slight muscular degeneration is said not to contraindicate it, 
providing there are otherwise strong reasons for its use. But when aortic regurgi- 
tation occurs, which is due to faulty action of the valves (valvular insufficiency'), 
the heart is but relatively weak, and a stronger contraction is needed to force the 
current onward, and thus prevent, as far as possible, the valvular leakage. Of 
course, some hypertrophy exists here, but not enough to be compensatory. Given 
to physiological effects, in aortic stenosis, it may produce death. M. Legroux 
states that, when given to persons in feeble health, it increases the contractile 
power of the capillaries, causing increased arterial tension, lowering the tempera- 
ture of the body, diminishing the frequency of the heart beats, and relieving local 
congestions. It has, in this manner as before stated, been of service in pulmonic 
congestion, uterine and pulmonary hemorrhage, and in hemorrhoids. In cases where 
the circulation is generally active, with small, frequent, but regular pulse, aconite 
is preferable to digitalis. " Digitalis is indicated where there is a diminution of 
vascular tension; if the cardiac palpitations are purely nervous without any modi- 
fication of arterial tension, digitalis is of no value. Another indication for the 
use of digitalis is oedema, which shows an abnormal disposition of the cellules to 
admit the fluid material of the blood into them. It should not be employed in DIGITALIS. 
657 
heart diseases of aged persons, among those heart diseases that have already 
attained to a period of complete and continued asystole, nor in excessive dilatation 
of the heart, various cardiac degenerations, and other persistent conditions of a 
manifest (extreme) hyposthenia" (Ferrand). 
To sum up, digitalis is useful in the following conditions: In structural heart 
lesions, as dilated heart with mitral incompetence; in mitral stenosis and regurgitation, 
and in dilated right heart with tricuspid incompetence, and in relative or positive 
debility of the cardiac muscle. The mechanical trouble is a state of ischaemia, or lack 
of sufficient arterial blood in the left heart, while in the right heart and the entire 
systemic and pulmonic circulation there is venous stasis. Digitalis increases the 
power of the auricles and ventricles to empty themselves; prolongs the inter-con- 
tractile intervals, thus allowing the auricles sufficient time to more perfectly send 
the blood current into the ventricles. It restores and regulates a mechanical com- 
pensation or balance in the circulatory organs. The general symptoms leading 
to its selection are a weak, rapid, and irregular pulse, low arterial tension, cough, 
dyspnoea, pulsation of the jugular veins, a cyanotic countenance, deficient urina- 
tion, the secretion being high-colored, and oedema. 
Digitalis is contraindicated in simple compensatory hypertrophy, aortic steno- 
sis, fatty or other degenerations of the heart muscle, and atheromatous or other 
structural changes in the arteries. As a rule it should not be employed in the 
heart affections of old age, or when dilatation is excessive, and particularly when 
the flabby state of the heart muscle is due to degenerative changes. 
It was formerly believed and still the view is held by many, that the diuretic 
effect of digitalis is the result of its secondary action. If, however, the views 
more recently advanced, that it has also a special action upon the renal glomeruli 
be true, the reason for its well-earned reputation as a remedy in dropsy will be 
be more apparent. Digitalis has long been known as an efficient remedy where 
the dropsical condition was dependent upon cardiac irregularities and upon renal 
congestion. When the trouble is cardiac in origin it relieves by strengthening 
the heart action and producing capillary contraction. When of renal origin, 
obstructing the circulation, it relieves at least the tension of the renal capillaries, 
thus lessening engorgement and bringing about absorption and diuresis. In gen- 
eral dropsy it is indicated by the distressing dyspnoea, especially when in the 
recumbent posture, fullness and pulsation of the jugulars, pale or dusky counte- 
nance, scanty and high-colored urine, and quick, feeble, fluttering, and irregular 
pulse. When known to be associated with the cardiac lesions in which digitalis 
is indicated, it seldom fails to remove the dropsical effusion. It relieves chronic 
nephritis by lessening vascular tension in the renal capillaries, and in granular 
degeneration of the kidneys it is said to benefit by lessening the proportion of solids 
excreted, while the quantity of fluid is increased. While of doubtful utility in 
scarlatina, it is very serviceable in the anasarcous condition sometimes following 
that disease. Rheumatism, with threatened heart failure, is sometimes relieved 
by digitalis. Owing to its power of preventing erections, by limiting the supply 
of blood to the erectile tissues, it has proven itself of service in nocturnal seminal 
pollutions, particularly when the extremities are cold, the erections feeble, and the 
emissions oft-occurring. 
The leaves, bruised and mixed with warm water, and applied upon the abdo- 
men as a cataplasm, or the tincture mixed with warm flaxseed poultice, has been 
successful in urinary suppression. So great was the cutaneous absorption in one 
case that an enormous diuresis followed, producing death by exhaustion. With- 
out doubt many of the failures from the use of digitalis in properly selected cases 
are due to the quality of the drug employed. A recent study of digitalin by com- 
petent observers shows, however, that it is unreliable in therapy and does not 
adequately represent the crude leaf. In fact, the crude drug in infusion is, with- 
out doubt, the best preparation of digitalis for use in medicine, and that no 
uncertainty as regards quality should exist, the best English digitalis should be 
employed. The dose of digitalis, in powder, is from | to 1^ grains, repeated every 
4 or 6 hours; of the tincture, from 3 to 20 minims; of specific digitalis, 1 to 3 
minims; fluid extract, 1 to 2 minims; infusion (see Infusxum Digitalis'), J to 1 fluid 
ounce. The infusion should always be well shaken before administration, lest, in 
case of precipitation of digitalin, which has been thought to occur, an inordinate 658 
DIOSCOREA. 
quantity of the latter should be contained in the last dose administered. Weaker 
infusions than the official may be administered, and for diuretic purposes it should 
be remembered that its action is slow, sometimes not apparent until several days 
after administration. Consequently too much should not be given until its effects 
are produced, lest the cumulative effect should obtain. Of digitalin, from g1^ to-^ 
of a grain in syrup, or in pill mass, may be given for a dose, if it be found desir- 
able to use it-cautiously increasing to an amount not to exceed the of a grain. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Weak, rapid, irregular heart action, with 
low arterial tension ; weak heart sounds; dusky countenance, jugular pulsation, 
cough, and dyspnoea; oedema; anasarca with scanty, high-colored urine; renal 
congestion. An antidote to aconite, but slow in its action. 
Related Drugs.-Coronilla scorpioides. France. Cardot (1886) pronounces this legumi- 
nous plant an active heart poison. Its action is much like that of digitalis, both upon the 
heart and kidneys. Its effects, however, are more transient. Aglucosid, coronillin (CnH]2O5), 
has been separated from it by Schlagdenhauffen and Reel) (1889). It is a yellowish powder, 
soluble in water, amyl alcohol, and acetone, slightly so in chloroform and ether. Treated with 
nitric acid, containing some cupric chloride, it produces a characteristic red coloration (Amer. 
Jour. Pharm., 1891). If heated with hydrochloric acid (diluted) an amorphous, yellow resin 
(comnillein) is obtained; insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol, chloroform, and acetone. 
It has no perceptible physiological action (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1889). Much uncertainty 
exists as to the size of the dose of this drug, one observer stating that i grain is poisonous, 
while another recommends as high as 5 grains. It is suggested as a remedy for cardiac dropsy. 
Mauwin Bark.-Mozambique. The bark of a tree employed by the natives of eastern 
Africa as an "ordeal" poison. It resembles sassy bark and contains an alkaloid (mauwinum), 
obtained by E. Merck, in 1891. Alcohol, chloroform, and ether dissolve it. Its action is con- 
sidered similar to, but more transient than that of digitalin. 
Urechites suberecta, Savannah flower, Yellow-flowered nightshade (Nat. Ord.-Apocynacese). 
West Indies. Violent emeto-catharsis with convulsions are the symptoms attributed to this 
plant, which is said to be used as a poison by the negroes of Jamaica. Two glucosids of 
the digitalis group are found in the plant: Urechitin (C28H<208) and urechitoxin (Ci3ll2o05). 
Small doses of the plant are said to depress the heart's action, and, in larger doses, nausea, 
vomiting, marked general depression, increased action of the skin, and slowing of the pulse, are 
attributed to it. Death is produced by cardiac paralysis. The fluid extract, in doses of from 
2 to 10 drops, has been used in Jamaica in the treatment of sthenic fevers. 
DIOSCOREA.-WILD YAM. 
The rhizome of Dioscorea villosa, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Dioscoreaceae. 
Common Names: Wild yam, Colic-root, Rheumatism-root. 
Botanical Source.-Dioscorea villosa, Linne. This is an herbaceous, slender 
vine, found throughout the United States, but more common in the central and 
southern portions. The stem is a smooth green twiner, about the size of a goose- 
quill, twining from the right to the left, over fences, bushes, etc. The leaves are 
symmetrical and heart-shaped, gradually tapering to a sharp, acuminate point, 
and are borne on leaf stalks from 2 to 4 inches long. The lower leaves are in 
whorls of 4 or 5, with intervals of from 6 inches to a foot between, while those on 
the upper part of the vine are irregularly alternate. The margins of the leaves 
are entire and wavy in the larger leaves. The veins are generally 9, quite promi- 
nent, and gradually diverge from the top of the leaf-stalk. The under side of the 
leaves is clothed with a thick pubescence. The flowers appear in June or July, 
are dioecious, very small, and greenish-yellow. The male flowers are in com- 
pound loose spikes, with from 3 to 5 slender branches; the perianth is 6-parted, 
sessile, flattened, and has, near the base, 6 minute stamens. The female flowers 
are placed at intervals of J of an inch or 4 an inch apart, in simple, drooping, 
axillary spikes, consisting each, of from 4 to 8 flowers. The ovary is sessile, slen- 
der, about | of an inch in length, bearing at the summit a 6-parted, small perianth, 
and 3 short styles. The female flowers are succeeded by dry, brown fruit, which 
remains hanging among the limbs of shrubs in winter for some time after the herba- 
ceous stems of the plant have perished. They are sharply 3-angled, and have 3 
cells, each cell bearing 2 (or often, by abortion, 1) flat, membranous-winged seed. 
Dioscorea villosa, Linne, var. glabra.-This appears to be a distinct variety, 
chiefly differing from the preceding in the entire dissimilarity of its rhizome. 659 
DIOSCOREA. 
The plant closely resembles the true wild yam in its general shape and in the 
structure of its leaves, flowers, and fruit. The leaves, however, are entirely glabrous, 
and are not covered with a short pubescence underneath. The two plants like- 
wise appear to differ in their manner of growth, the D. villosa often growing in 
dense clumps, while the variety glabra is gen- 
erally found isolated. From the specific 
name given to this plant by Linmeus, it is 
evident that he was possessed of a specimen 
of the pubescent kind (or the true wild yam), 
and we have ventured to apply the designa- 
tion, var. glabra, to the variety distinguished 
by smooth leaves and knotty rhizome. Works 
upon botany recognize only Dioscorea villosa, 
but it has become necessary to classify the 
two rhizomee of commerce. Considerable at- 
tention has been given by me to the plants, 
and without an exception the form of the 
rhizome was indicated by the pubescence 
of the under surface of the leaf. I am, 
therefore, led to hold to the foregoing dis- 
tinctions until a better explanation is given 
(C. G. Lloyd). 
History.-The rhizome of Dioscorea vil- 
losa is a favorite therapeutical agent among 
Eclectic physicians, who have advanta- 
geously used it for more than 60 years. It is 
known as wild yam and colic root. The first 
specimens employed were from the Dioscorea 
villosa, with pubescent leaves (Fig. 97), and 
now known as the true wild yam. About 
the year 1850, botanic druggists noticed the 
admixture by root-diggers of the rhizomae represented by (Fig. 97,1), and for a con- 
siderable time rejected it as an adulteration. The diggers insisted, however, that 
both "roots" were obtained from vines almost identical in appearance (although 
they can distinguish between them), and finally purchasers were compelled to 
accept them, more especially as the true rhizomae became very scarce. The late 
Mr. H. M. Merrell, of Cincinnati, Ohio, to whom we are indebted for this informa- 
tion, stated that the first heavy shipments of the false " wild yam " root to Eastern 
houses were made about 1860, which article purchasers refused to accept, but after 
some correspondence, coupled with the fact that the true wild yam root could not 
at that time be obtained, the parties concluded to receive it. Since then the two 
rhizomae have been sold indiscriminately, although but little of the original drug 
is to be found in the market. Eclectic physicians are aware of the difference 
between these rhizomae, and refuse to use the "false" variety, insisting that it 
does not possess the medicinal properties, and can not safely be substituted for the 
"true." In this connection, we invite attention to the accurate engravings of 
each variety of the rhizomae in Fig. 97. 
The root loses its therapeutical virtues after the first year, and hence should 
be freshly gathered every year, and carefully dried. Water or alcohol extract 
its virtues. Several species of Dioscorea yield edible rhizomae, generally known 
as "yams." 
Description.--I. Dioscorea villosa, True wild yam. The rhizome of Dios- 
corea villosa (Fig. 97, 2), appears in market in slender, contorted pieces, from | of an 
inch to | an inch in diameter, and often 2 feet in length. It is oval, being flat- 
tened above and below, as it creeps in a horizontal position beneath the surface of 
the ground. It seldom throws out branches, but occasionally little protuberances 
project from its sides being from £ of an inch to an inch in length, and about 
as large in diameter as the primary rhizome. They are rounding at the extremity, 
and seem to indicate an abortive attempt of the rhizome to throw out branches; 
but they do not send up the vine. Along the upper side of the rhizome are stem- 
scars, which are about f of an inch apart. The epidermis is brown, thin, and scales 
Fig. 97. 
1. Dioscorea villosa, var. glabra. 
2. Dioscorea villosa. 660 
DIOSCOREA. 
off, more or less, upon drying, especially when the rhizome is gathered in the 
spring, but which is not the case with a good quality of it, when dug in autumn. 
The internal color of the dry rhizome is whitish, or slightly straw-colored, when 
gathered in the autumn, but it is often brown when collected early in the season; 
there is no bark to it. Under a magnifying glass the texture of a broken rhizome 
appears mealy and perforated with numerous woody bundles. Attached to the 
lower part of the rhizome, an abundance of strong, wiry-like fibers will be observed. 
Dioscorea villosa has one of the hardest of rhizomee, it being very difficult to pow- 
der or crush. It has no odor, and but little taste beyond a slight acridity after 
prolonged chewing. 
II. Dioscorea villosa, var. glabra; False wild yam.-The rhizome (Fig. 97, 1) 
of this plant resembles that of Collinsonia canadensis more nearly than it does the 
true D. villosa. It is found as a rough clump of a pound or more in weight when 
fresh, thickly branched, each branch shooting from the side of the main rhizome 
at an angle inclining backward and upward. The branches almost touch each 
other, are as large as the rhizome, and are from 1 inch to 3 inches in length. 
Along their upper surface are numerous cup-shaped stem-scars, which are about 
| to of an inch in diameter, and so thickly inserted as to intrude upon each 
other. (The vine of the true Dioscorea villosa, upon the contrary, springs from the 
main rhizome). The diameter of the rhizome and of the ramifications, is from 
| to f of an inch, and the length seldom more than 6 inches. Internally, the rhi- 
zome resembles that of the true wild yam, while the lower portion is, in like 
manner, covered with stout, fibrous rootlets. The color is generally a very much 
darker brown. 
Chemical Composition.-The virtues of this drug appear to reside in an 
acrid resin, almost insoluble in water, but readily extracted by alcohol. The 
so-called dioscorein is not a definite principle of the rhizome, but is simply a 
dried solid extract, and to call it otherwise is a misnomer. Kalteyer (1888) found 
a substance closely allied to saponin in considerable quantity in the rhizome. 
Wild yam contains an abundance of starch. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage. - In former editions I have termed 
this agent an antispasmodic, and solely for the reason that it cures bilious colic. 
And I can truly say that nearly all remedies have thus been classified, not from 
any positive knowledge of their action, but from the results following their 
administration. A change of classification based upon the known action of reme- 
dies is certainly desirable, and I am glad to observe that the attention of physi- 
cians has already been attracted in this direction. In the absence of any 
positive knowledge concerning the action of dioscorea, perhaps it would be better 
to say that it is a specific in bilious colic, having proved almost invariably 
successful in doses of £ pint of the decoction, repeated every half hour, or hour. 
Specific dioscorea may be given in 5-drop doses every 5 minutes. No other medi- 
cine is required, as it gives prompt and permanent relief in the most severe cases 
(Prof. J. King). In fact it is not only of value in bilious colic, but in all forms of 
colic and other painful abdominal neuroses, and all forms of gastro-intestinal irritation. 
If it does not relieve in one hour, the medicine should be discontinued. It 
has allayed the pain incident to the passage of biliary calculi when given with 
full doses of gelsemium (Webster). It has also proved valuable in painful cholera 
morbus attended with cramps, in neuralgic affections, in irritable conditions of the 
nervous system, especially when attended with pain or spasms, in spasmodic hiccough, 
obstinate and painful vomiting, gastralgia, and in one case of spasmodic asthma Prof. 
King effected a cure with it after several other means had failed. It will likewise 
allay nausea, also spasms of the bowels, and, combined with equal parts of the 
bark of Cornus sericea in decoction, is eminently beneficial in the nausea and vomit- 
ing of pregnancy. This root appears to exert an action especially upon enfeebled 
and irritable mucous tissues that become painful from spasmodic contractions of 
their muscular fibers; hence its value in bilious colic, in painful dysenteric tenesmus, 
in dysmenorrhcea the result of spasmodic irritation of the mucous membrane of the 
cervix uteri, and in spasmodic irritations of the gastric mucous membrane attended 
with pain, nausea, and vomiting. It is reputed useful in indigestion with hepatic 
derangement, in chronic hepatic congestion, and in the chronic gastritis of drunkards. 
It is also useful in after-pains. In ordinary cases the decoction of the root may 661 
DIOSPYROS. 
be given in doses of from 2 to 4 fluid ounces, and repeated every half hour until 
relief is obtained. By many the infusion or decoction is considered preferable to 
the tincture. The tincture is said to be a valuable expectorant and diaphoretic, 
and in large doses produces emesis. Dose of the tincture, from 20 to 60 drops; 
specific dioscorea, 5 to 40 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Bilious colic; other forms of colic with 
spasmodic contractions; yellow skin and conjunctiva, with nausea and colicky 
pains; tongue coated, paroxysmal abdominal pain, and stomach deranged; fre- 
quent small, flatulent, al vine passages; colic, with tenderness on pressure; 
sharp abdominal pain, made worse by motion. 
DIOSPYROS.-PERSIMMON. 
The bark and unripe fruit of Diospyros virginiana, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Ebenaceae. 
Common Names: Persimmon, Date-plum. 
Botanical Source.-This is an indigenous tree growing from 15 to 50 feet or 
more in height, its dimensions being larger at the South; the bark is rough and 
dark-colored; the branches alternate and spreading. The leaves are alternate, 
elliptic or ovate-oblong, abruptly acuminate, from 3 to 5 inches long, entire, 
smooth, shining, and glaucous beneath; the petiole, veins, and margin are puberu- 
lent. The Howers are obscure, pale, greenish-yellow, the fertile ones in axillary 
racemes, 1 to 3-flowered, the pedicels being shorter than the flowers; the sterile 
flowers are smaller and often clustered. Stamens 16 in the sterile flowers, 8 in 
the fertile, in the latter imperfect; the anthers of the sterile flowers are bilobed. 
The style is 2 to 4-cleft, and short; the stigma obtuse and spreading. The fruit 
is a round, golden-yellow berry, about an inch in diameter, containing a sweet 
and edible pulp, and from 6 to 8 hard, compressed seeds (W.-G.). 
History.-This is a well known indigenous tree, growing in woods and fields 
from Rhode Island to the western states and southward, flowering from April to 
July, ripening its fruit in September and October. The fruit is edible after expos- 
ure to frost. The unripe fruit and the bark are very astringent, and are the 
medicinal portions of the tree. (For description of fruit see Botanical Source). A 
beer is sometimes made from the fruit, and the fruit is made into a bread with 
wheat bran, known as persimmon bread, and then kept for the purpose of making 
beer by means of fermentation with hops. The roasted seeds have been used in 
some portions of the South as a substitute for coffee. 
Chemical Composition.-Water or alcohol extracts the virtues of the bark 
and unripe fruit. B. R. Smith found the unripe fruit to contain lignin, tannic 
acid, sugar, a little malic acid, and coloring matter; also, that when ripe the tan- 
nic acid almost disappears, while the sugar and malic acid become more abun- 
dant (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1846, 167). J. E. Bryan (1860) also found pectin pres- 
ent, and thought the tannin to be analogous to that of cinchona, catechu, etc., 
while others contend that it is identical with the tannin from oak and galls. The 
bark of persimmon was analyzed by F. E. Murphy (1889), and a crystalline body 
obtained by him from the ethereal extract investigated by Schleif (Amer. Jour. 
Pharm., 1890). He found it to be free from nitrogen, and allied to the resins. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Tonic and astringent. The bark has 
been used in intermittents, and both it and the unripe fruit have been beneficial in 
various forms of disease of the bowels, chronic dysentery, and uterine hemorrhage; used 
in infusion, syrup, or vinous tincture, in the proportion of 1 ounce of the bruised 
fruit to 2 fluid ounces of the vehicle, and 4 fluid ounce or more given to adults, 
and a fluid drachm or more to infants. The infusion may be used as a gargle in 
ulcerated sore throat. When ripe the fruit is very palatable, and as it matures at a 
time when fruits are generally departing for the season, the cultivation of the 
tree would undoubtedly be a valuable accession to our autumnal fruits. A kind 
of brandy is obtained by distillation of the fermented infusion. 
Related Species.-Diospyros Kaki, Linne filius, the Chinese date-plum or Japanese persim- 
mon, is a native of China and Japan, and is cultivated in India. The fruit is of a bright-red 
color, about the size of an ordinary apple; when ripe, it is eaten by the Chinese, and when 662 
DIRCA. 
dried, is made into sweetmeats. The bark is astringent, and probably resembles that of other 
species of Diospyros. The Japanese regard this persimmon as their best fruit, which they even 
eat before it ripens. When dried it resembles the fig. When fresh, and eaten with sugar and 
cream, it is said to be delicious. It is now cultivated in Florida ( U. S. Agr. Rep., 1890). J. Ishii, 
of Tokio, in 1895, found in the unripe fruit a considerable amount of tannin which disappears 
upon ripening; the pulp contains much dextrose and hevulose, while the seeds, being free 
from starch, contain a soft white material, mannane, convertible into mannose by boiling with 5 
per cent of sulphuric acid {Proc. Amer. Pharm. Assoc., 1896, p. 574). 
The bark of Diospyros Kaki has been advised as an astringent in chronic mucous affections, 
as in certain forms of dyspepsia, in diarrhoea and dysentery, in mucous diseases of the bladder and 
urethra, and as a local application in leucorrhoea, gleet, chronic conjunctivitis, and catarrhal affections. 
The fluid extract, diluted with water, may be applied locally, by injection, or by spray. By 
some physicians kaki is highly lauded as a remedy for gastro-intestinal irritation. Dr. J. W. 
Huckins (see Webster's Dynam. Therap., p. 359), regards it as an excellent remedy for dysentery, 
simple mucoid diarrhoea, chronic diarrhoea, and diarrhoea of typhoid fever, quickly relieving pain, 
tenesmus, and thirst, and checking the discharges; he also praises it in gastric catarrh, ulceration 
of the stomach, or bowels, and in catarrh of the rectum and colon. A decoction of 1 or 2 drachms of 
kaki to 1 pint of water, steeped A hour and cooled, is employed in doses of 1 to 4 tablespoonfuls 
every 1 to 4 hours as required. 
Diospyros obtusifolia, Willdenow; Mexico. Bark and leaves employed. Astringent tonic. 
Diospyros embryopteris, Persoon, or Indian persimmon tree, is found in India, Java, and neigh- 
boring tropical islands; but is not valued highly for its fruit, which is insipid. When green, 
they are very astringent, and are employed in tanning. The inspissated juice has been used 
in diarrhoea; it is thick and viscid, and has been employed in India as a preservative for coat- 
ing fishing nets, and the seams of boats. The unripe fruit was admitted into the Pharmacopoeia 
of India in the year 1868. 
DIRCA.-LEATHERWOOD. 
The bark of Dirca palustris, Linne. 
Nat Ord.-Thymelseacese. 
Common Names: Leatherwood, Moosewood, American mezereon, Wickopy. 
Botanical Source.-This indigenous shrub attains the height of 5 or 6 feet, 
having crooked, jointed, and spreading branches. The leaves are alternate, sim- 
ple, entire, on very short petioles, oblong-ovate, or obovate, downy when young, 
smooth and membranous when fully grown, and pale underneath. The flowers 
are axillary, yellow, appear long before the leaves; when young they are inclosed 
within a small, hairy, bud-like involucre, occupyinga sheath or cavity in the end 
of each flowering branch, usually in bunches of 3 together, with their peduncles 
cohering. Corolla none. Calyx funnel-shaped, inch long, with a contraction 
near the base and another in the middle. The stamens are 8 in number, much 
longer than the calyx, alternately a long and a short one, with rounded anthers. 
The ovary is ovate, placed obliquely, the style appearing to issue from one side; 
the style filiform, curved, longer than the stamens, and terminated by an acute 
stigma. The fruit is a small, oval, red or orange-colored berry, containing one 
seed (B.-W.). 
History, Description, and Chemical Composition.-This shrub is more 
common to the northern and eastern states, being occasionally met with in the 
west. It inhabits marshy places, low swampy woods, flowering in April and 
May. The bark is the part used ; it is very tenacious and fibrous, and hard to 
pulverize. It has a disagreeable odor, and a pungent taste, with considerable 
acrimony, producing ptyalism, which property it imparts to alcohol, and slightly 
to boiling water. It has been used for making ropes, thongs and baskets, and 
might be advantageously employed in the arts, for making paper, etc. The wood 
is white, soft, and very brittle. It has not been satisfactorily analyzed, though 
mucilage, an acrid resin, and bitter extractive have been found in it. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The bark is acrid, rubefacient, and 
vesicant when fresh. From 5 to 7 grains of it cause great gastric heat and uneasi- 
ness, with emesis and catharsis. In contact with the skin it produces rubefac- 
tion, followed by blisters, and the sores it occasions are frequently difficult to 
heal, forming very indolent and obstinate ulcers. If chewed it causes salivation, 
with burning pain in the tongue, gums, etc., and has thus proved useful as an 
irritant in paralysis of the tongue, toothache, facial neuralgia, etc. Bigelow says, that 
a decoction of the bark may be used as a sudorific and expectorant, in the place 
of senega. The berries produce vomiting, and are said to be a narcotic poison. DRACONTIUM. 
663 
DRACONTIUM.-SKUNK-CABBAGE. 
The rhizome, roots and seeds of Dracontium faetidum, Linne (Ictodes foetidus, 
Bigelow; Pothos foetida, Michaux; Symplocarpus foetidus, Salisbury). 
Nat. Ord.-Araceae. 
Common Names: Skunk-cabbage, Skunk-weed, Meadow-cabbage, Polecat-weed, Foetid 
hellebore. 
Illustrations: Millspaugh's Amer. Med. Plants, Plate 169; Meehan's Native 
Flowers and Ferns,Vol. I, Plate 15. 
Botanical Source.- Skunk-cabbage is a perennial plant, having a large, 
abrupt root or tuber, with numerous, crowded, verticillate, fleshy fibers, which 
extend some distance into the ground. The 
spathe, which appears before the leaves, is 
ovate, turgid, various in width, cucullate, spot- 
ted and striped with purple and yellowish- 
green, the top acuminate and incurved, the 
edges folded inward, auriculate at the base and 
at length coalescing. The flowers are dull- 
purple, tetrandrous, numerous, and situated 
within the spathe on an oval or subglobose, 
short pedunculated spadix. The calyx con- 
sists of 4 fleshy, wedge-shaped, truncate sepals, 
having the top and edges inflected. Corolla 
none. Stamens 4, opposite the sepals, with 
subulate filaments equal in length to the calyx; 
and oblong, exserted, 2-celled anthers. The 
style is 4-sided and tapering; the stigma min- 
ute and pubescent; the ovary roundish and 
concealed within the spadix. 
After the spathe decays, the spadix con- 
tinues to grow, and with it every part of the 
flowers except the anthers. When the fruit is 
ripe, the spadix has attained many times its original dimensions, while the 
calyx, filaments, and style are larger, very prominent and separated from each 
other. Within the spadix, at the base of each style, is a naked, round, fleshy 
seed, as large as a pea, white, tinged with green and purple, invested with a sepa- 
rate membranous coat, and with a prominent embryo situated in a depression 
at the top, and umbilicately attached to a large, solid perisperm. Sometime fol- 
lowing the flowers, numerous large, crowded leaves appear, which are oblong, 
cordate, acute, and smooth, with numerous fleshy veins of a pale color, and are 
borne on long, channeled petioles, furnished with large, oblong sheaths, and are 
of bright-green color, and often 20 inches long by 12 broad (L.-G.-W.). 
History.-This plant has been a troublesome one for botanists to dispose of. 
It has been variously annexed to Ictodes, Dracontium, and Pothos. Salisbury termed 
it Symplocarpus, a name which is preferred by many botanists. It is indigenous, 
growing plentifully in various parts of the United States, in moist grounds, flow- 
ering in March and April, and maturing its fruit in August and September. It 
forms a roughened globular mass, 2 or 3 inches in diameter, in decay shedding 
the bulblet-like seeds, which are i to 4 an inch in diameter, and filled with the 
singular, solid, fleshy embryo (G.). The whole plant has an extremely disagree- 
able odor, resembling the commingled odors of skunk and onions, which is most 
apparent when the plant is bruised, and which has given rise to the several names 
of Skunk-cabbage, Skunk-weed, Polecat-weed, and Meadow-cabbage. The parts used are 
the rhizome, with its rootlets, and the seeds. The rhizome should be gathered soon 
after the appearance of the spathe, or after the seeds have matured in autumn. It 
has the unpleasant odor of the plant, and, when fresh, a persistent, acrid taste. 
Description and Chemical Composition.-As found in commerce the drug 
is in somewhat cylindrical pieces, 2 inches or more in length, and about 1 inch in 
diameter, or, more commonly, in tranverse slices, very much compressed and cor- 
rugated. Its color externally is dark-brown, and internally whitish, or yellowish- 
Fig. 98. 
Draeontium fcetidum. 664 
DROSERA. 
white. Drying lessens the odor as well as the acridity of the plant, and age 
and exposure dissipate them entirely, consequently the root should be renewed 
annually. The seeds have been used and preferred as being more energetic than 
the root. They have an exceedingly acrid taste, and emit the fetid odor of the 
plant only when bruised. They preserve their virtues longer than the root. The 
properties of this plant are chiefly owing to a volatile substance, which loses its 
activity by desiccation, and is completely volatilized by subjection to an increased 
temperature. Alcohol or wTater extracts its virtues, and the aqueous infusion 
should be made by displacement. As far as we can ascertain, the only analysis 
on record of Symplocarpus foetidus is that of Mr. Jos. M. Turner (Amer. Jour. 
Pharm., 1836, Vol. VIII, pp. 1-10), who found the root to contain besides starch, 
fixed and volatile oils, "a peculiar substance, soluble in acids and precipitated by 
alkalies." In the seeds he found starch, gum, resin, albumen, fixed oil, wax, and 
coloring matter. 
Prof. Bastin showed the starch of Symplocarpus foetidus to be so character- 
istic of the drug as to allow its identification in cases where it is used as an adul- 
terant of commercial Veratrum viride (The Apothecary, 1893, p. 152). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-In large doses, according to Bigelow, 
skunk cabbage will cause sickness at stomach, vomiting, headache, dizziness, and 
impaired vision. In medicinal doses it is a stimulant, exerting expectorant, pow- 
erful antispasmodic, and faintly narcotic influences. Its action upon the nervous 
system is marked, relieving irritation, and it has a tendency to promote normal 
functional activity of the nervous structures. It has been successfully used in 
asthma, whooping-cough, nervous irritability, hysteria, epilepsy, and convulsions during 
pregnancy and labor; likewise in chronic catarrh, pulmonary, and bronchial affections. 
The powdered root or seed may be given in doses of from 10 to 40 grains, 3 times a 
day; but the most eligible mode of administration is a saturated tincture of the 
fresh root, of which 1 or 2 fluid drachms may be given for a dose. It enters into the 
composition of Acetous Emetic Tincture, Compound Emetic Powder, and several other 
old Eclectic preparations. 
DROSERA. -SUNDEW. 
The herb Drosera rotundifolia, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Droseracese. 
Common Names: Sundew, Round-leaved sundew. 
Botanical Source.-Sundew is a low, small, perennial, herbaceous, aquatic 
plant, also called Round-leaved sundew, with a fibrous root, from which arises the 
leaves, which are radical, small, and nearly round, depressed, 
lying flat upon the ground, and abruptly narrowed into the 
spreading hairy petioles. The scapes are erect, 5 to 8 inches 
high, at first coiled inward, and bearing a simple raceme. 
The flowers are arranged on one side, very small and white; 
the sepals are 5, united at the base, and persistent; the petals 
5 and convolute. Thestamens5; anthers adnate; styles 3 or5, 
each deeply 2-parted. Ovary single. Capsule 3 or 5-valved 
and many-seeded. The seeds are spindle-shaped, and the coat 
loose and chaff-like (W.-G.). 
History.-Sundew (Ros Solis) is a peculiar little plant, 
growing in Europe and this country, in bogs, and muddy 
shores of ponds and rivers, and flowering in July and August. 
It may be at once distinguished by the reddish glandular 
hairs with which the leaves are beset, and which are usually 
tipped with a small drop of a clammy fluid, appearing like 
a dew drop, glistening in the sun, this secretion being most 
abundant when the sun is at its highest, from which circum- 
stance it derives its name. The long, shining red hairs of 
this plant form beautiful objects for the microscope, under which they are seen to 
consist of an immense number of minute cells, regularly arranged, and exhibiting 
a most gorgeous variety of brilliant colors. They are very irritable, slowly curved 
inward, and entrap insects within their reach ; the fluid secreted from their points 
Fig. 99. 
Drosera rotundifolia. DUBOISIA. 
665 
also retains insects which settle upon it. The flowers only open in sunshine. 
The j uice of the plant is bitter, acrid and caustic. The medicinal preparation is 
the tincture of the recent plant. 
Chemical Composition.-Trommsdorf examined the juice of this plant (Chern. 
Centralbl., 1833), finding in it a free organic acid, probably malic acid, organic salts, 
and a red coloring principle, which formed an insoluble compound with acetate 
of lead. Reess and Will believed the free acid to be a mixture of formic, pro- 
pionic and butyrip acids, and Hager thought it to be malic and citric acids com- 
bined. Lugan obtained from the juice of the plant a crystallizable acid insoluble 
in chloroform ; besides, a greenish-brown resin, by successive treatment with ether 
and chloroform. It is soluble in both these solvents and possesses acrid proper- 
ties. According to Stein's experiments (Ber. d. Deutsch. Chern. Ges., 1879; also Amer. 
Jour. Pharm., 1880, p. 12), the free acid in Drosera intermedia was identified with 
citric acid, which acid probably occurs in all species of Drosera. A ferment also 
seems to be present, capable of converting albuminous substances into peptones. 
Experiments of H. Biisgen (see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1885, p. 106) would demon- 
strate that the plants of drosera are capable of assimilating animal food. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This agent appears to exert a peculiar 
action upon the respiratory apparatus, and its effects are best observed from the 
use of small doses. It is peculiarly adapted to dry, spasmodic, or explosive 
coughs, such as are met with in many cases of whooping-cough and measles-for the 
cough of the latter it being an almost absolute specific. The coughs met by 
drosera are those in which dryness of the air passages is marked, and there is 
irritation or even inflammation, and nervous irritation, particularly irritation 
of the base of the brain and of the parts supplied by the vagus. The special seat 
of most of the trouble seems to be centered in the larynx. Tickling in that 
organ, giving rise to spasmodic cough, is met by it, and while exceedingly useful 
in all coughs having the above characteristics, it appears to benefit best those 
cases associated with or following measles and whooping-cough. For the latter it 
may also be given as a prophylactic, and if the individual does contract the dis- 
ease, the influence of the medicine will have been early obtained. Sanguinarine 
nitrate acts well with it in dry, tickling cough. It has been found essentially 
useful in asthma, incipient phthisis, chronic bronchitis, with dry, spasmodic cough, 
and nervous or sympathetic cough, whether from pulmonary, cardiac, or gastric dis- 
ease. Two fluid drachms of the saturated tincture, or 1 drachm of specific drosera, 
may be added to 4 fluid ounces of water (or wine, if indicated), of which a tea- 
spoonful may be administered every 3 or 4 hours. In former times it was con- 
sidered a powerful aphrodisiac, and as a remedy to cure intermittents, insanity, and 
to promote delivery. The juice of the plant has been used as a local application 
for the cure of corns and warts. Dose, of the saturated tincture, 1 to 5 drops; 
specific drosera, -Ay to 5 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Expulsive or explosive, spasmodic cough, 
with dryness of the air passages; whooping-cough; cough of measles; uncontrol- 
able irritating cough. 
DUBOISIA.-DUBOISIA. 
The leaves of Duboisia myoporoides, Robert Brown. 
Nat. Ord.-Solanacese. 
Common Names: Corkwood elm, Orungurabie, Ngmoo (native names). 
Botanical Source.-This is a large shrub found in Australia and New Cale- 
donia. It has alternate, smooth, entire leaves, narrowed into a short leaf-stalk, 
which is articulated to the branches. The flowers are small, white, and disposed 
in large terminal panicles. The calyx and corolla are 5-parted, with obtuse lobes. 
The stamens are didynamous, with the rudiment of a fifth, and bear 1-celled 
anthers. The fruit is a small, black, 2-celled berry, which contains a few reniform, 
rough seeds. The genus Duboisia is intermediate between the natural orders 
Solanacese and. Scrophulariaeem, and was referred to the former by the older authors; 
Bentham, in the Flora of Australia, classes it with the latter, but more recent devel- 
opments regarding a natural constituent (duboisine), 'seem to indicate that its true 
place is among the Solanacese. 666 
DUBOISIA. 
History.-The honor of introducing this drug to the profession belongs to Dr. 
J. Bancroft, of Brisbane, Australia, who presented the plant to Baron von Mueller 
for botanical identification, and who, at his suggestion, experimented with it as 
a therapeutical agent, and presented the first paper on the subject to the Queens- 
land Philosophical Society of Australia, in October, 1877. Shortly afterward, he 
(Bancroft) sent specimens of the plant to the Museum of the British Pharmaceu- 
tical Society. In March, 1878, Mr. E. M. Holmes read a paper before the society on 
Duboisia my oporoides, its botanical history, etc., and nearly at ;the same time, a 
communication appeared in the London Lancet from Drs. Ringer and Tweedy, 
detailing a line of experiments upon its therapeutical action, in which the previous 
report of Dr. Bancroft was corroborated in every particular. Shortly afterward, 
Gerrard, of England, and Petit, of France (see Pharm. Jour. Trans., [3], Vol. VII, p. 
787), almost simultaneously announced the discovery of an alkaloid called duboi- 
sine or duboisina. F. von.Mueller and L. Rummell also announced their discovery 
of duboisine from D. myoporoides (Jour. Chem. Soc., January, 1879, p. 32), but as their 
alkaloid is an oily, volatile base, its identity with duboisine is questionable. 
Chemical Composition.-The chief constituent of this leaf, called duboisine 
by its discoverers, was found by Prof. A. Ladenburg to be identical with hyoscyamine 
(C17H23NO3) (Ber. d. Deutsch. Chem. Ges., 1880, p. 1257). The properties of duboisine 
are therefore described under hyoscyamine (see Hyoscyamus). Another isomeric alka- 
loid was obtained by Merck, called pseudo-hyoscyamine, forming yellowish needles 
of an acrid, bitter taste, soluble in alcohol and chloroform, slightly soluble in 
ether. Its melting point is 133° to 134° C. (271.4 to 273.2° F.), while hyoscyamine 
(duboisine), melts at 106° to 108° C. (222.8° to 226.4° F.) (Merck's Index, 1896). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The action of duboisia upon man and 
animals is very similar to that of belladonna, hyoscyamus, etc. Dogs and cats to 
which it has been administered, almost immediately commence walking with 
difficulty, stumbling over the least obstacle as though they were blind, and falling 
asleep as soon as they are left at rest, having the pupils largely dilated; these 
results also followed its introduction into the system by hypodermatic injection. 
Large doses internally, or by subcutaneous injection, occasion large pupillary dila- 
tation, dryness of the mouth and throat, increase the number of pulsations, and 
give rise to general debility, vertigo, and cephalalgia; the results are the same 
with man as with animals. The alkaloid, duboisine, produces similar effects. The 
sulphate of this alkaloid, subcutaneously injected in large doses, occasions a sort 
of intoxication, mental derangement, pupillary dilatation, incoordination of mus- 
cular motion, relaxation of the vesical and anal sphincters, and an increased tem- 
perature at first, succeeded by a very marked diminution. 
As an internal remedy, neither the shrub nor its alkaloid (except as hyoscya- 
mine) have come into general use. Used in this manner, duboisia will be found 
to possess properties similar to those of belladonna and its congeners. Duboisine, 
and its sulphate, are more commonly employed in this country, principally in 
ocular therapeutics; it has been found by Drs. Wecker and Galezowski, of Paris, 
to be a piompt and unirritating mydriatic, the mydriasis being accompanied 
with paralysis of the ciliary muscle, and consequently an absolute loss of accom- 
modation. The mydriasis produced does not appear to annoy the patient, nor 
to last as long as when occasioned by atropine; nor does the employment of the 
agent give rise to the intense conjunctival irritations (follicular conjunctivitis and 
eczema of the lids) so often following the application of atropine. It may be 
employed in all maladies of the eyes in which atropine is indicated, being contrain- 
dicated in glaucomatous conditions, and in diseased conditions of the fundus. 
From 2 to 4 grains of the sulphate of duboisine are dissolved in 1 fluid ounce of 
water, and of this solution from 2 to 5 drops may be instilled into one or both 
eyes as required; the mydriatic effect commences in a few minutes. The solu- 
tion of the sulphate of duboisine has likewise been successfully employed, by 
hypodermatic injection, for checking the pathological siveatings common to phthisis, 
etc., and also as an antidote to poisoning by mushrooms, antagonizing the paralyzing 
effect of muscarine on the heart. It is reputed palliative in exophthalmic goitre. 
The dose to be used will differ with various individuals, from the or to fy 
grain. The beginning dose should rarely exceed grain. For ophthalmic use 
1 to 4 grains to 1 ounce of distilled water. Care should be had in its use, as occa- DULCAMARA. 
667 
sionally untoward symptoms have been produced by reduced applications (see 
also Atropinae Sulphas, Belladonna, and Hyoscyamus). 
Specific Indications and Uses.-A substitute for atropine as a mydriatic, 
and to check colliquative sweating; antagonizes muscarine; mushroom poisoning. 
Related Species.- Duboisia Hopwoodii, F. von Mueller. This is the Australian Pitury, 
Ano known as piturie, pedgery, pitchiri, pitchery, and bedgery. It has long been known that the 
natives of Central Australia use the leaf of some shrub in order to invigorate themselves, 
after long marches, or when they are desirous of undergoing great fatigue, as during a battle. 
This leaf is used as a masticatory by the Australians in a manner similar to that of the coca 
leaves by the South Americans. It is asserted that when the natives chew pitury "in 
company," the quid is passed from one to another until all are satisfied, when one of the 
number preserves it by sticking it behind his ear (Maiden, Australian Useful Plants'). Dr. Ban- 
croft, of Brisbane, in 1872, made some physiological experiments with authentic specimens of 
pituri; yet the source of the drug was unknown until 1877, when Baron von Mueller identified 
it from a specimen of the leaves of the plant submitted to him by Mr. W. O. Hodgkinson ; 
accordingly, the pitury is Duboisia Hopwoodii, F. Mueller, a shrub found sparingly "from the 
Darling River and Barcooto to West Australia." But little is known of this shrub, as it grows 
in a country difficult of access. Staiger is probably the first who isolated from Duboisia Hop- 
woodii piturine, an alkaloid with which the "duboisine" of F. von Mueller and F. Rummel (see 
above), is most probably identical. A. W. Gerrard, in 1880, independently discovered the 
alkaloid piturine in this plant (Pharm, Jour. Trans., 1880). When fresh it smells like nicotine, 
but when older has a smell of pyridine. Its vapors affect the mucous membranes and cause 
violent headache. Some authorities (e. g., Petit, Jour. Pharm. Chim., 1879, p. 338), consider 
piturine identical with nicotine. Prof. Liversidge, however, points out some differences in their 
reactions, but otherwise they are quite similar (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1881, p. 357). Piturine 
(Ci2HieN2), was obtained by him in the ainountof l.Oand 2.4 per cent. It isa colorless alkaloid, 
volatile at ordinary temperatures, changing to yellow and brown rapidly when exposed to air 
and sunlight. It is soluble in .water, alcohol, and ether, is slightly heavier than water, and 
forms salts with acids, which, with oxalic acid, are capable of crystallizing. Its salts gradually 
lose the alkaloid by evaporation. Piturine is reported to antagonize the action of muscarine 
on the heart, but not so promptly as atropine. Dr. Bancroft states that this drug arrests the 
respiration of animals, and thus causes their death. The action of pitury is essentially differ- 
ent from that of duboisia. Applied to the eye, it first contracts, and then widely dilates the 
pupils; internally, small doses contract the pupils, while large doses produce a wide dilata- 
tion. Faintness, giddiness, trembling, pallor, quickened and shallow breathing, increased heart 
action, and sweating, are induced by it, and if the dose be large, drowsiness, ptyalisin, spas- 
modic muscular twitching, and spasmodic rigidity of the limbs are among its effects. 
DULCAMARA (U. S. P.)-DULCAMARA. 
"The young branches of Sola num Dulcamara, Linne" (U. S. P.). 
Nat. Ord.-Solanaceae. 
Common Names: Bittersweet, Woody night-shade, Violet-bloom, Scarlet-berry. 
Illustrations: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 190; Woodville, Med. Bot.,133. 
Botanical Source-Bittersweet, or Woody night-shade, is a woody vine, hav- 
ing a woody root, with a shrubby, flexuous, thornless, and branching stem, sev- 
eral feet in length; with an ashy-green bark on the 
stem and large branches. The leaves are alternate, 
acute, and generally smooth; the lower ones ovate 
or cordate; the upper ones more or less perfectly 
hastate, and all entire. The flowers are purple, 
drooping, and are borne on branching peduncles 
from the side of the stem, in spreading, cymose 
clusters. The calyx is very small, purplish, acute, 
persistent, and 5-parted. The corolla is rotate, pur- 
ple, with 5 reflexed segments, and 2 round, green 
spots at the base of each segment. The filaments 
are short; the anthers erect, opening by pores at the 
apex, yellow, and converging into a cone. Ovary 
roundish; style filiform; stigma simple and obtuse. 
The fruit is a scarlet, oval, juicy, bitter, and poison- 
ous berry, the seeds of which are many, plano- 
convex, and whitish (L.-W.-G.-B.). 
History and Description.-Bittersweet, also 
known by the names of Violet-bloom and Scarlet-berry, 
Fig. 100. 
Solanum Dulcamara. 668 
DULCAMARA. 
is common to both Europe and this country, growing on moist banks, around 
dwellings, and in low, damp grounds, about hedges and thickets, flowering in 
June and July. Its berries are ripened in autumn, and hang upon the vines for 
several months. The parts used in medicine are the roots and twigs, the latter 
only being official. The berries when eaten have certainly produced serious con- 
sequences, though considered by many to be harmless. The twigs should be col- 
lected in the autumn, after the dropping of the foliage; they have an unpleasant 
odor, which is lost by drying; and their taste is bitter, followed by some sweetness 
and a slight acridity. The dried twigs found in commerce are in pieces varying 
in length, having a greenish-gray epidermis, a light wood, and a very light and 
spongy pith. They impart their properties by infusion to boiling water, and also 
to diluted alcohol; long boiling impairs their medicinal activity. The U. S. P. 
describes dulcamara as follows: "About 5 Mm. inch] or less thick, cylindrical, 
somewhat angular, longitudinally striate, more or less warty, usually hollow in 
the center, cut into short sections. The thin bark is externally pale greenish, or 
light greenish-brown, marked with alternate leaf-scars, and internally green; the 
greenish or yellowish wood forms 1 or 2 concentric rings. Odor slight, taste bitter, 
afterwards sweet"-JU. S. P.). 
Chemical Composition.-Two proximate principles have been obtained from 
Solanum Dulcamara: Solanine, an alkaloidal principle, discovered by Desfosses, 
in 1820, in the berries of Solanum nigrum, and (1821) in the leaves and stems of 
S. Dulcamara; and dulcamarin, its bitter-sweet glucosid, was first isolated in pure 
form by E. Geisler, in 1875. Probably it is identical with a substance previously 
named picroglycion by Pfaff, and dulcarin by Desfosses (1821). It was again ob- 
tained by Biltz (1841), and later by Wittstein, who named it dulcamarin. 
Peschier (1828) demonstrated that solanine existed in the berries of dulca- 
mara in even larger quantity than in the leaves and stem; it also occurs in the 
sprouts of our common potato (see Solanum tuberosum, Related Species) and in vari- 
ous other Solanaceae, e. g., the tomato plant (G.W. Kennedy, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 
1873), etc. Desfosses obtained it from the ripe berries of the black night-shade 
(Solanum nigrum) by expressing the juice, adding ammonia, washing the precipi- 
tated alkaloid with cold water, and crystallizing from alcohol, after purifying 
with animal charcoal. Fresh sprouts of potatoes furnish it in greatest abundance. 
Solanine (C43HB9NO16, Kraut; C42H87NO15, Hilger) occurs either amorphous, in 
minute prisms, or in feathery crystals, having a bitter, somewhat acrid taste. 
Solanine fuses at 235° C. (455° F.). It is soluble in warm amyl alcohol, which 
abstracts it completely from alkaline solutions; is less soluble in boiling alcohol, 
still less in cold alcohol, considerably less in ether (1 in 4000), and requires 8000 
parts of boiling water for solution. The solution of solanine in alcohol tends to 
gelatinize upon cooling; the solution in amyl alcohol possesses this property in a 
pronounced degree (Dragendorff). Solanine has an alkaline reaction and com- 
bines with acids to form salts. Dilute mineral acids decompose solanine slowly 
at ordinary temperatures, and more rapidly at boiling heat, into sugar and solani- 
dine, another alkaloid which is soluble in cold ether and hot alcohol, but hardly 
soluble in water (Zwenger and Kindt, also Gmelin, 1859). O. Bach (1873) recom- 
mends as a test for solanine and solanidine, the behavior of these substances 
towards a mixture of equal volumes of concentrated sulphuric acid and alcohol; 
a trace of these alkaloids causes the appearance of a rose-red, then cherry-red color, 
which lasts for 5 or 6 hours, and is not interfered with by the presence of large 
quantities of morphine (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1873). 
Dulcamarin (C22H34O10) was obtained by E. Geissler (Archiv. der Pharm., 1875, 
p. 293) from the stems of dulcamara, by digesting the aqueous infusion with ani- 
mal charcoal until the peculiar, bitter-sweet taste was removed, washing the char- 
coal with water and abstracting by means of alcohol. After purification of the 
bitter-sweet extractive (by using of its lead compound), pure dulcamarin was 
obtained free from nitrogen (Wittstein's dulcamarin contained nitrogen), as an 
amorphous yellow substance, possessing the characteristic, bitter-sweet taste of 
the plant in concentrated form. It is soluble in alcohol and water (30 parts) and 
in acetic ether, but it is insoluble in ether, chloroform, and petroleum ether. 
Diluted sulphuric acid splits it into duleamaretin, a tasteless, resinous substance, 
and sugar. Solanine is poisonous. DULCAMARA. 
669 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Prof. Caylus, of Leipsic, who has made 
some careful experiments with solanine, as well as with the twigs of dulcamara, 
states that an extract of the twigs is from 5 to 10 times more active than the 
twigs, and solanine is 30 times more powerful than this extract. He considers 
the plant and its active principles to possess poisonous properties, which may 
prove fatal in large doses. All these preparations, when administered internally, 
cause renal congestion, and occasionally an augmented urinary secretion of an 
albuminous nature; they exert a depressing or paralyzing influence upon the 
respiratory nervous system, cause increased but enfeebled cardiac action, tetanic 
spasms of the thoracic muscles as well as those of the extremities, and increase 
the sensitiveness of the cutaneous nervous system; they exert no direct influence 
upon the brain, stomach, or bowels. He believes they act more particularly on 
the spinal cord and medulla oblongata, and recommends the acetate of solanine, 
in doses of to 1 grain, in pulmonary maladies, attended with spasm or irritation 
(Ann. de Ther., 1859, p. 24). 
Solanum Dulcamara is a mild narcotic, diuretic, alterative, diaphoretic, and 
discutient. In large doses it causes dryness and heat with stinging pain in the 
fauces, accompanied with thirst, sickness at stomach, vomiting, diarrhoea, prostra- 
tion or syncope, and spasmodic twitchings. With some persons it depresses the 
action of the heart and arteries, and causes a moderate degree of lividity on the 
hands and face. The head usually feels heavy and dizzy, and a cutaneous ery- 
thema may be developed. It is reputed antaphrodisiac, and has proved beneficial 
in mania attended with powerful excitement of the venereal functions. On the 
other hand, it is said to occasion venereal desires, and to induce heat and itching 
of the external female parts, attended with strangury. 
Dulcamara is a valuable remedy in most acute troubles, brought on by colds, 
and in chronic skin affections of a pustular, vesicular, or scaly character. It has 
been chiefly used in syrup or decoction in cutaneous diseases, syphilitic diseases, rheu- 
matic and cachectic affections, ill-conditioned ulcers, scrofula, indurations from milk, leucor- 
rhoea, jaundice, and obstructed menstruation. It is of more benefit in scaly cutaneous 
diseases than in others, as in leprosy, tetter, eczema, and porrigo, and especially in 
combination with guaiacum and yellow-dock root. 
Dulcamara is a remedy for catarrhal troubles, resulting from cold or suspended 
cutaneous action. Here the fractional doses should be employed. Suppression of 
the menses, with headache, nausea, and chilly sensations, when the flow has been 
arrested by cold, is a case for its exhibition. Dyspnoea, cough, and pain in the chest 
produced by exposure, are relieved by small doses. Catarrhal headache, from acute 
colds, and nasal catarrh are both benefited by bitter-sweet, w'hich is also a remedy 
for retrocession of eruptions, and to primarily develop tardy eruptions. Owing to its 
kindly action on the stomach and its influence in aiding secretion and excretion, 
it is a valuable alterative and should have a more general use. In vesical catarrh, 
aggravated by dampness, it has given good results. The same is true of catarrhal 
diarrhoea of children, and acute and chronic rheumatism in those who are much ex- 
posed or who dwell in cold or damp quarters. Nymphomania and satyriasis were 
successfully treated with it by Dewees. Pundendal itching and stitching pains have 
been relieved by it in small doses. Large doses have produced these troubles. 
Dr. Scudder suggests a trial of the drug in "small doses in those cases of chronic 
disease in which the circulation is feeble, the hands and feet cold and purplish, 
with fullness of tissues and tendency to oedema" (Spec. Med., 246). Equal parts 
of the twigs, yellow-dock root, and stillingia made into a syrup, form a valuable 
preparation for scrofulous affections, as well as syphilitic. Externally, in the form 
of ointment, it is employed as a discutient to painful tumors; also as an application 
to some forms of cutaneous disease, ulcers, and erysipelatous affections. Dose of the 
decoction or syrup, 1 or 2 fluid ounces; of the extract, from 2 to 5 grains; of the 
powdered leaves, from 10 to 30 grains; specific dulcamara, fraction of a drop to 30 
drops. Small doses act best. The decoction is prepared from 1 ounce of fresh twigs 
and sufficient water to produce, after boiling for 15 minutes, 1 pint of decoction. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Scaly skin affections; acute disorders due 
to colds and dampness; deficient capillary circulation in the skin; diminished 
cutaneous action with urinous odor; coldness and blueness of the extremities; 
full tissues with tendency to oedema. 670 
DULCAMARA 
Related Species.-Several other species of Solarium appear to possess medicinal power 
-among them are: Solanum tuberosum, Linne; Common potato. An extract of the herb, 
Solanum tuberosum (common potato), has been found useful in chronic rheumatic affections, gastric 
and intestinal spasm, cough, etc., in the dose of from | of a grain to 1 grain. Some practitioners 
have, however, employed it in these affections, and in very large doses, without observing any 
influence whatever. Probably cultivation, soil, climate, season, etc., exert some influence 
upon the medicinal powers of the plant. The potato itself has been eaten raw, either with or 
without vinegar, in cases of scurvy, and with good effect; occasionally it has caused narcosis, 
and slight purgation. Both raw and cooked the potato makes an excellent poultice. Consider- 
able potassium hydroxide may be procured from potato-stalks; and if they be gathered while 
the plant is in flower, and passed through an oil mill, the juice obtained is said to form a hand- 
some yellow dye, Wackenroder obtained solanine from potato sprouts. The green fruitsand 
the herb of the potato plant have also been shown to contain solanine and its allied bases 
solanidine and solaneine. In 1887, Dr. George Kassner demonstrated that weighable quantities 
of solanine will develop in injured potatoes when stored in a cellar (Amer..Jour. Pharm.). Traces 
of mydriatic alkaloids (hyoscyamine, etc.) have even been observed in Solanum tuberosum 
and allied species. 
Lycopersicum esculentum, Millspaugh ; (Solanum Lycopersicum).- Tomato, or Love-apple, like 
the potato, came originally from South America. Its fruit contains several acids (citric, oxalic, 
and malic acids having been shown to be present), a thick, adhesive, brownish, resinous-like 
substance, and the seeds probably contain an alkaloid. It is much used as an article of food 
in the United States, and is supposed to exert a healthy influence upon the liver and biliary 
organs. The leaves have a heavy, disagreeable odor, and contain oil, extractive, and solanine, 
which has been obtained from all the herbaceous portions of the plant (Kennedy, Amer. Jour. 
Pharm., 1873). Most of the Solanuins are nutritive, or possess medicinal virtues. 
Solanum Pseudo-capsicum, Jerusalem cherry.-A handsome, erect, dwarf tree-like shrub, a 
native of Mauritius, and bearing large scarlet berries. Poisonous. On account of the resem- 
blance of the fruit to cherries, children are liable to be poisoned by them. 
Solanum Melongena (or esculentum}, Egg-plant.-This plant yields an elongated, purple fruit 
known as the egg-apple, bimjal, or aubergine. It does not possess the agreeable properties of 
tomato, but when properly prepared is much esteemed as a vegetable. 
Solanum nigrum, Linne; Garden night-shade, Night-shade.-Solanum nigrum is a fetid, nar- 
cotic, bushy herb, with a fibrous root and an erect, branching, angular, herbaceous, thornless 
stem, 1 or 2 feet in height. Leaves undivided, ovate, toothed, and waved, smooth, lengthened 
out at the base, almost always with the lamina perforated and the margin erose; as if gnawed 
by insects. Umbels from the intermediate spaces between the leaves, solitary, peduncled, 
simple, downy, nodding. Flowers white or pale-violet, with a musky scent; anthers yellow. 
Berries globose, black, about the size of peas (L.-W.-G.). The Garden, or Elack night-shade, 
is found growing along old wralls, fences, and in gardens, in various parts of the United States, 
flowering in July and August. Another species, the Solanum virginianum, is abundant in this 
country. It has an erect, prickly stem; pinnatifid leaves, prickly on both sides; divisions 
sinuate, obtuse; margin ciliate; calyx prickly, and flowers blue, or whitish. The leaves of 
these plants are the parts employed, and yield their properties to water, alcohol, or fixed oils. 
Solanum nigrum is narcotic and sedative, and produces, when given in large doses, sick- 
ness and vertigo. One to 3 grains of the leaves infused in water, will, it is said, produce a 
copious perspiration, and often purge on the next day. They have been used in cancer, scurvy 
and scrofulous affections, being applied locally as a cataplasm, or in ointment, and also exhibited 
in small doses internally. Solanine, which was first obtained from this species by Desfosses, in 
1820, exists in it more abundantly than in the & Dulcamara, to which it is somewhat analogous 
in medicinal properties, with more active and energetic narcotic virtues. The berries are 
poisonous, causing torpor, burning in the stomach, fever, nausea, stupor, and insensibility; 
though this is denied by M. Dunal, of Montpellier. The plant is employed in the form of oint- 
ment only, as a discutient. 
Solanum paniculatum, Jerubeba.-Brazil. Considerably used by Brazilian physicians in 
anemia, liver disorders, amenorrhoea, vesical catarrh, and spleen disorders. It is regarded tonic, altera- 
tive, antiperiodic, antisyphilitic, antiblennorhagic, and drastic. The leaves, fruit, and root 
are employed both externally and internally. It is considered a good laxative to overcome 
chronic constipation. Jerubebine, an alkaloid, is contained in the root and fruit (F. V. Greene, 
Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1877, p. 506). 
Solanum bacciferum.-A variety of this plant yields the toxic susumber berries, from the 
eating of which several cases of poisoning have been reported. Another variety of the same 
species is said to be harmless, and its fruit is employed by the natives of Jamaica. 
Solanum Jacquinii, Willdenow (Solanum xanthocarpum, Schrader).-A drug of considerable 
repute in India, where it is valued as a diuretic, expectorant, and sialagogue. It is used in 
Bengal for dropsy, and, smoked in a pipe, gives relief in toothache. Catarrhal fevers, cough, and 
asthma are among the conditions said to be benefited by it (Dymock, Mat. Med. Western India) 
Lycium unibrosum, Humboldt and Bonpland. Nat. Ord.-Solanacese. South America. 
Lycium Afrum, Linnth-North Africa. The leaves of this and the foregoing species are em- 
ployed in infusion for the relief of numerous skin affections, particularly erysipelas. 
Lycium vulgare, Dunal (Lycium barbarum, Linne); Matrimony vine.-Indigenous to Mediter- 
ranean Europe and is found in the United States, both wild and cultivated. Its flowers are of 
a dull, purple-green hue. The leaves and bark have a sweet, followed by a faintly bitter, acrid 
taste. Lycine (C5HnNO2), in deliquescent, white, prismatic crystals, was obtained by Husemann 
and Marm6, in 1863, from the leaves and branches, the former yielding the larger amount of ECHINACEA. 
671 
alkaloid. Its identity with Scheibler's betaine (Liebrich's oxyneurine), from the juice of beet-root, 
was subsequently (Archiv. der Pharm., 1875, p. 216) proven by Husemanu. According to the 
latter, it does not pre-exist in the plant, but is developed during the process of obtaining it-i. e., 
heating in the presence of hydrochloric acid. Alkaloidal mydriatic principles, like those from 
belladonna, have been detected in this plant bv E. Schmidt and others (see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 
1890, pp. 13 and 492). 
ECHINACEA.-ECHINACEA. 
The root of Echinacea angustifolia, De Candolle. 
Nat. Ord.-Composita;. 
Common Names: Narrow-leaved purple cone-flower, Purple cone-flower, Cone-flower, 
Black sampson. 
Botanical Source.-Echinacea angustifolia is an herbaceous plant, the thick, 
black, pungent root of which sends up from year to year, a slender, sometimes 
somewhat stout stem, bristling with hairs, and from 2 to 3 feet high. The 
leaves (see illustration), which are 3-veined and hispid-pubescent, vary in 
shape from broad lanceolate to lance-linear. At the base they become 
slender, and the lowermost have short petioles. The involucre consists oi 
about 2 rows of lanceolate, scaly bracts. As the flower develops the disk 
is at first concave, but as the growth progresses it becomes ovoid, the recep- 
tacle taking on a sharply conical form. The linear-lanceolate, chaff-like 
bracts of the receptacle are firm, remain permanently attached, are boat- 
shaped and concave, and become narrowed into a stiff, spine-like crisp, 
extending beyond the disc-flowers. The ray-flowers are narrow, and from 
1 to 2 inches long. They are rose or purple, and drooping or pendant, 
and, while withering, are yet persistent. They are generally "imperfectly 
styliferous." Rarely these ray-flowers or ligules are white. The disc- 
florets are cylindraceous, presenting fine, erect teeth, and the tubular por- 
tion upon which the stamens are inserted, is scarcely a tube proper, but 
merely a ring. The fruit consists of acutely 4-angled akenes (1-seeded, 
dry, indehiscent pericarps, tipped with the remains of the style), of a firm, 
tough, yet cork-like texture. They are beset with a thick, crown-like pap- 
pus, which is extended somewhat into triangular teeth. 
History.-Conspicuous among the remedies introduced within recent 
years, echinacea undoubtedly takes the first rank. As with all new reme- 
dies, it has suffered the usual over-estimation, and the exaggerated claims 
made for it led Prof. Lloyd to view it with suspicion for a long time.. Prof. H. T, 
Webster (Dynam. Therapf, was the first to give an extensive, though sectional, 
account of the therapy of the drug. Though now a well-known drug, echinacea 
stands peculiarly alone in being essentially a new remedy. Many remedies which 
have lately been introduced can be traced back for years, and some of them for 
centuries, as having at some time occupied a place in either domestic or profes- 
sional practice, but our ancient scientific works are silent concerning this species 
of echinacea. Gray, in his Synoptical Flora of North America, published some years 
ago, wrote: "Used in popular medicine under the name black sampson," but since 
he refers to the plant as "black sampson," a name applied to Echinacea purpurea, 
it may be accepted that he referred to that drug. A careful search through the 
large number of works upon domestic medicine, herbals, medical botanies, and 
the so-called " irregular " works upon practice, contained in the Lloyd Library, 
failed to reveal even a mention of Echinacea angustifolia as a medicinal agent. 
In this connection, the following from the pen of Mr. C. G. Lloyd, who identified 
the drug first used by Dr. Meyer and Dr. King, will serve to distinguish between 
black sampson and Echinacea angustifolia: 
u Echinacea purpurea, Mcench, is a plant growing in the eastern states from 
Pennsylvania west. It was introduced in King's Dipensatory under the name of 
Rudbeckia purpurea, and the common name black sampson. Echinacea angustifolia, 
De Candolle, is an entirely different plant, found only in prairie regions, and not 
occurring east of the prairie regions of Illinois, and has never been used under the 
name black sampson. There is no mention of it in medical literature preceding 
the paper of Drs. Meyer and King." The first notices concerning echinacea are 
from Eclectic physicians, and the drug is, from start to finish, an Eclectic medicine. 
Fig. 101. 
Leaf. 
% natural 
size. 672 
ECHINACEA. 
Echinacea angustifolia is an indigenous plant of the composite order, growing 
chiefly in the western states, from Illinois to Nebraska, and southward through 
Missouri to Texas, thriving best in rich prairie soil. That which grows in 
marshy places is of inferior quality. It has also been stated that it grows in 
rocky and sandy soil. The plant, however, which is abundant in Kansas, 
Nebraska, and neighboring localities, is not mentioned by P. A. Rydberg, in his 
recently published Flora of the Sand Hills of Nebraska (Contributions to the U. S. 
F Nat. Herbarium, Vol. Ill, No. 3, 1895). The plant blooms from June to Augusi. 
Echinacea is sometimes known in Kansas as nigger-head, a name derived from the 
^shape and somber hue of its fruiting head. The scientific appellations are 
derived from physical features of the plant, and are therefore descriptive. The 
generic term Echinacea, is derived from the Greek echinos, meaning hedge-hog or 
sea-urchin, referring to the spiny, hedge-hog-like fruiting head; while the specific 
name angustifolia, comes from the two Latin words, angustus (narrow) and folium 
(leaf), contrasting thereby this species with the other forms of Echinacea, this 
being the narrow-leaved species. 
The introduction of echinacea into professional practice is due conjointly to 
Dr. H. F. C. Meyer, of Pawnee City, Neb., and the late Prof. John King. Tlie former 
had, for many years (since 1870), been using the plant without knowing its botani- 
cal position. In a letter to Prof. King (see E. M. J., 1887), in 1886, he communi- 
cated to the latter his uses of the drug, as he had employed it for 16 years. His 
claims for the remedy were based upon the conclusion that it was " an antispas- 
modic and antidote for blood-poisoning." The enthusiastic doctor had been using 
it in a secret mixture with wormwood and hops, which he had denominated 
"Meyer's Blood Purifier." Among his claims for it was its antidotal action upon 
the poison of various insects, and particularly that of the rattlesnake. Meyer 
stated that he even allowed a rattler to bite him, after which he bathed the parts 
with some of the tincture, took a drachm of it internally, and laid down and 
slept, and upon awakening all traces of swelling had disappeared! Prof. King 
wrote: "He (Dr. Meyer) kindly offered to send the writer a rattler 8 feet long, 
that the antidotal influence of the tincture upon dogs, rabbits, etc., bitten by said 
serpent, might be tested; but having no friendship for the reptile, and being 
unaccustomed to handling this poisonous ophidian, the generous offer was cour- 
teously declined." 
The following range of affections were those in which Dr. Meyer claimed suc- 
cess for this remedy : Malarial fever, cholera morbus, cholera infantum, boils,and 
internal abscesses, typhoid fever (internally and locally to abdomen); ulcerated 
sore throat, old ulcers, poisoning from rhus, erysipelas, carbuncles, bites and stings 
of bees, wasps, spiders, etc.; in nasal and pharyngeal catarrh, hemorrhoids, various 
fevers, including typhoid, congestive, and remittent; trichinosis, nervous head- 
ache, acne, scrofulous ophthalmia, milk crust, scald head, and eczema; also in 
colic in horses. Subsequent use of the drug has in a measure substantiated the 
seemingly incredulous claims of its introducer, for it will be observed that most 
of these conditions were such as might be due to blood depravation, or to noxious 
introductions from without the body-the very field in which echinacea is known 
to display its power. 
In the autumn of 1885, Dr. Meyer sent to Prof. J. U. Lloyd a quantity of the 
root, desiring the latter to enlighten him as to its botanical name. At the same 
time he expressed Dr. King a quantity of the tincture. Prof. Lloyd, question- 
ing the claims of Meyer, -wrote to him that he could not name the plant from 
the root alone, whereupon the latter shipped another quantity of the root, fol- 
lowed (September 28, 1886) by a specimen plant, which Mr. Curtis G. Lloyd then 
identified as Echinacea angustifolia of De Candolle (see paper by Prof. Lloyd on 
Echinacea, in E. M. Jour., Aug., 1897). 
Prof. King, appearing to have more faith than Prof. Lloyd in the possibilities 
of the new drug, took an active interest in it, and by experimenting extensively 
was soon convinced of its great value. His use of it led him to report success in 
obstinate naso-pharyngeal catarrh; in rheumatism (one case being of the articular 
variety); in cholera morbus and cholera infantum; in chronic ulcers of the leg 
(one case of which was complicated with an eczematous eruption of years' stand- 
ing) ; also in painful chronic hemorrhoids, vaginal leucorrhoea with ulceration of 673 
ECHINACEA. 
the os uteri, poisoning from poison ivy, and stings of wasps and bees, with very 
extensive swelling. Dyspepsia, with pain and great distress, aggravated by par- 
taking of food, and long resisting treatment, also yielded to it. Goss {Chicago 
Medical Times, 1888), who became interested in the drug, praised it as a remedy for 
mad dog bites, chronic catarrh, chronic ulcers, gonorrhoea, and syphilis. Dr. A. 
Parker, of Wilber, Neb., also reported success with it in an apparently hopeless 
case of septicaemia. Then followed the reports of Dr. Hayes (see below), whose 
statements did much to obtain general recognition for the drug. 
Description, Chemical Composition, and Preparations.-The root of echina- 
cea varies in thickness, from that of an ordinary lead pencil to that of the little 
finger. The deep-brown or reddish-brown epiderm is shrunken and 
wrinkled longitudinally, and is often disposed in spiral folds upon 
the subdermal portion of the root. The woody portion, as seen upon 
transverse section (see illustration of root), is composed of medullary 
rays, separated by a greenish, pulp-like substance. When broken the 
dried root exhibits a grainy and apparently rotten aspect. When 
chewed the root, if of good quality, imparts at first a sweetish taste, 
subsequently becoming acrid and pungent, and finally leaving a per- 
sistent tingling sensation, followed by a peculiar numbness of the 
tongue and fauces, seemingly intermediate in character between that 
produced by aconite and cocaine. It has been compared to the prick- 
ling produced by prickly ash, but is essentially different, lacking the 
peculiar aromatic qualities of the latter. 
Tincture of echinacea is transparent, and of a reddish-brown 
color. It mixes well with water, as does also the fluid extract, which 
gives at first no appreciable precipitation in that fluid. The prepara- 
tions chiefly employed by Eclectic practitioners, and from which the 
medicinal value of the agent has been determined, are specific echina- 
cea and Echafolta. The latter is simply a purified preparation of 
echinacea, free from coloring mattersand extraneous substances, such 
as chlorophyll, extractive, and other "plant dirt." Much of the root 
collected has little medicinal value. This is due not to poorly kept 
and cured roots alone, but chiefly to the locality in which it grows. 
Much of the drug collected in the marshes and lowlands east of the 
Mississippi is of this negative quality. The best quality of root comes 
from the prairie lands of Nebraska (J. U. Lloyd in E. M. J., 1897, p. 
427). The experience of the writer is to the effect that few drugs vary 
more in quality than crude echinacea. 
According to Prof. Lloyd, who has made a complete pharmaceu- 
tical study of this drug, extending over a period of 13 years (since 
1885), the best menstruum for the preparation of either the fluid extract or com- 
mon tincture of echinacea is a mixture of alcohol 4 parts, and water 1 part. His 
investigations of echinacea reveal the presence of minute quantities of an alka- 
loid, which is devoid of color and unimportant so far as its medicinal qualities are 
concerned. His earlier analyses failed to show the existence of this principle. The 
characteristic principles of the root are those substances linked to an acid organic 
body of a resinous character, nearly, if not quite colorless, and possessing, in an 
exalted degree, the persistently acrid qualities of echinacea-so intensely that it is 
distressing to the taste, even in very small amount, when pure. The stinging sen- 
sation affects the tip of the tongue for hours. But small quantities of it are pres- 
ent, even in the best root-"less than | to 1 per cent." (Adapted in part from 
article by Prof. J. U. Lloyd in E. M. Jour., August, 1897). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-As a therapeutic agent echinacea is 
often used both internally and locally at the same time; therefore in this article 
the internal and external uses will not be given separately, but collectively. And 
inasmuch as echafolta is a name given to distinguish a purified form of echinacea, 
the remarks concerning the one are equally applicable to the other, except in 
important surgical cases, where greater cleanliness is desired, when echafolta is to 
be preferred. 
Under the older classification of remedies, echinacea would probably be classed 
as an antiseptic and alterative. Strictly speaking, it is practically impossible to 
Fig. 102. 
Dried root. 
% natural size. 674 
ECHINACEA. 
classify an agent like echinacea by applying to it one or two words to indicate its 
virtues. The day is rapidly approaching when these qualifying terms will have 
no place in medicine, lor they but inadequately convey to our minds the thera- 
peutic possibilities of our drugs. Especially is this so with regard to such terms 
as alterative, stimulant, tonic, etc. If any single statement were to be made con- 
cerning the virtues of echinacea, it would read something like this: "A corrector 
of the depravation of the body fluids," and even this does not sufficiently cover 
the ground. Its extraordinary powers-combining essentially that formerly in- 
cluded under the terms antiseptic, antifermentative, and antizymotic-are well 
shown in its power over changes produced in the fluids of the body, whether 
from internal causes or from external introductions. The changes may be mani- 
fested in a disturbed balance of the fluids resulting in such tissue alterations as 
are exhibited in boils, carbuncles, abscesses, or cellular glandular inflammations. They 
may be from the introduction of serpent or insect venom, or they may be due to 
such fearful poisons as give rise to malignant diphtheria, cerebro-spinal meningitis, or 
puerperal and other forms of septicaemia. Such changes, whether they be septic 
or of devitalized morbid accumulations, or alterations in the fluids themselves, 
appear to have met their antagonist in echinacea. "Bad blood," so called, asthenia, 
and adynamia, and particularly a tendency to malignancy in acute and subacute 
disorders, seem to be special indicators for the use of echinacea. 
Outside of the claims made for this remedy by its introducer, which included 
many of the conditions for which it is now valued, it first attracted general notice 
as a remedy for septicaemia, in which malady it appeared to promise more than any 
remedy previously in use. The reports of Dr. Hayes (K M. J., 1888, pp. 68,142) 
gave an impetus to the use of the drug in this direction; since which time physi- 
cians, whose statements are valued, have lauded it as a remedy in various forms 
of blood-poisoning. Thus it has been successfully employed in injuries compli- 
cated with septic infection. A crushed hand, thought to be beyond aid, -with the 
intolerable stench of putrid flesh, was saved by the application of echinacea. It 
has given equally satisfactory results in alarming cases of venom infection, with 
great depression, from the bites of the rattlesnake, tarantula and other spiders, and 
from the stings of scorpions, bees, zvasps, etc. Prof. Webster, among others, speaks 
highly of its action in slow forms of cerebrospinal meningitis, using it as the basic 
remedy (in connection with' other indicated drugs), because of its sedative vir- 
tues, controlling, as he believes, the vascular area concerned in the nutrition of 
the cerebro-spinal meninges, and for its effects upon tjie general circulation. The 
cases benefited were those characterized by a slow, feeble pulse, or at least a pulse 
not appreciably quickened, with the temperature scarcely elevated, and cold ex- 
tremities. The evidences of cerebral disturbances were erratic. Headache, with 
a peculiar periodical flushing of the face, even to the neck, was present, and asso- 
ciated with these symptoms, dizziness and profound prostration. Prof. Webster 
was the first, we believe, to employ the remedy in this affection. He asserts that 
as a stimulant to the capillary circulation, no remedy is comparable with it, and 
that it endows the vessels w'ith a recuperative power or formative force, so as to 
enable them to successfully resist local inflammatory processes due to debility 
and blood depravation. 
While clinical evidence is strong in support of the curative action of echina- 
cea in diphtheria, the writer can not but feel that in some instances, at least, the 
reports have been based upon mistaken diagnoses, and upon non-malignant cases. 
He is forced to this view from a liberal use of the drug in several cases of a malig- 
nant type, in which it utterly failed to accomplish the results desired. Non- 
malignant forms of diphtheria tend to recovery, and we should be careful about 
endorsing remedies as curatives in such cases, lest we bring discredit upon a good 
remedy by making sweeping claims for it which can not be substantiated when 
the drug is put to a test in the severer forms of the disease. Nevertheless, in these 
non-malignant cases it appears to expedite convalescence. 
In the various forms of tonsilitis it has given better results, particularly in the 
necrotic form, with dirty-looking ulcerative surfaces. It comes well endorsed as 
a remedy for that malignant form of quinsy known in some of the western states 
as "black tongue." Echinacea Will contribute much to the cure of various catar- 
rhal affections of the nose, naso-pharynx, and other portions of the respiratory tract. ECHINACEA. 
675 
It is specially indicated by ulcerated and fetid mucous surfaces, with dusky or 
dark coloration, and a general debilitated habit. Many patients who have taken 
echinacea for other purposes have remarked its beneficial effects upon catarrh, 
from which they were suffering at the same time. Chronic catarrhal bronchitis and 
fetid bronchitis have been signally benefited by echinacea, and it has done that 
which few remedies can accomplish, i. e., it has overcome the stench of pulmonary 
gangrene, and, if given early, it is asserted to avert a gangrenous termination in 
pulmonic affections. A case of typhoid pneumonia reported by Shelley {Med. Gleaner, 
1894) with a "jet-black coating of the tongue," evidencing sepsis, iihproved rap- 
idly under echinacea, in about 2-drop doses every 3 hours. 
Echinacea is a good appetizer, and improves digestion. The writer has used 
it with good results in fermentative dyspepsia, with offensive breath and gastric pain 
as prominent symptoms, which was also aggravated upon taking food. It is also 
efficient in duodenal catarrh, and other forms of intestinal indigestion, with pain and 
debility. Few remedies are as efficient in ulcerative stomatitis, and in nursing sore- 
mouth it is asserted to be promptly curative. It has been praised in diarrhoea, 
cholera morbus, cholera infantum, and dysentery, all of the semi-inflammatory type, 
with a tendency to malignancy. Applied externally and given internally, it has 
been of service in aborting typhlitis and perityphlitis. 
Echinacea has been prominently mentioned as a remedy for fevers. In the 
eruptive fevers, as measles, chicken-pox, and scarlet fever, it has received some praise, 
especially for its control over the catarrhal phases of the former, and its influence 
in masking the odor and controlling the pain of the scarlatinal angina. The 
fevers, however, in which it has accomplished the best results are of the typhoid 
and typho-malarial types, as well as in sympathetic fevers from septic infection and 
rheumatic attacks. Notwithstanding that it has been recommended as one of the 
best antimalarial remedies, it appears to exert but little influence over periodicity. 
Prof. King reported signal failure in every case of ague in which he gave it a trial. 
Others, however, speak of it as a remedy for malaria when of an asthenic char- 
acter. Possibly in such conditions it might prove of value, as the fevers in which 
it has proved so successful have been chiefly characterized by adynamia. Very 
likely its usefulness here depends more upon its influence over the asthenia than 
upon the miasmatic poison. However, Dr. Snyder, of Cameron, Mo., a good 
authority, contends that it is an excellent remedy for chronic malaria, a personal 
use of it having first convinced him of its value. The doctor has not, however, 
given us the special cases to which it is adapted. Epidemic influenza (la grippe) is 
occasionally ameliorated by echinacea, and in all such cases, with great debility, 
it assists materially in securing a good convalescence. 
Puerperal fever, due to septicaemia, yields somewhat to echinacea with potas- 
sium chlorate and other indicated remedies; yet,in some cases it is inadequate to 
check the disease unless a thorough curetting of the womb, to insure against the 
absorption of imprisoned fragments of placenta or unhealthy discharges, be first 
resorted to. Frequently this proceduie alone, with a free use of hydrogen dioxide 
solution as a douche, is sufficient to cure, but a marked debility often persists. 
It is this debility that is so pronouncedly benefited by echinacea, and in two 
instances the writer has thought that the high temperature was averted, and the 
weakened system greatly sustained, by the liberal use of echinacea, until curet- 
ting had been accomplished. Others have been more fortunate in the use of the 
drug, giving it the credit of being the main agent in accomplishing cures. Its 
internal and local use is recommended. Hayes commends it in " mountain fever," 
an affection often mistaken for typhoid fever. 
Echinacea is in some respects a remedy for pain. It relieves the pain of ery- 
sipelas, and contributes largely to a resolution of the swelling when extensive, 
tense, and of a purplish-red hue. It is reported to have relieved the pain of can- 
cerous growths, particularly when involving the mucous membranes, as cancer of the 
fauces. Prof. Farnum calls attention to the wonderful rapidity with which the 
odor of carcinoma is overcome by echafolta. He strongly recommends it as an 
application for cancer, and relates a case of mammary cancer long held in check by 
it. He also advises its internal administration in cancerous cachexia. So great 
is the confidence placed in this agent by our foremost surgeons that they have 
been content to use it with sterilized water to cleanse and dress, after operations, 676 
ECHINACEA. 
discharging tubercular abscesses^ gangrene, empyema with gangrene of the lung, appendi- 
citis, and carcinoma of the breast and testicle (Farnum). Prof. L. E. Russell advises 
echafolta as a preventative of sepsis, giving it internally previously to operations, 
to act as an intestinal antiseptic, and, locally, as a corrective, to dress any trauma- 
tism showing signs of sepsis, and as a wash in abdominal and pelvic operations 
into which any organ has discharged septic contents. Phlegmonous swellings, old 
sores, erysipelas with sloughing phagedena, dissecting or surgical wounds, phlegmasia 
dolens, dermatitis venenata, and pus cavities should be treated with echinacea or echa- 
folta, both locally and internally. A most remarkable case came under the writer's 
care in which a high fever with marked adynamia, associated with the develop- 
ment of cellular abscesses and a hemorrhagic diarrhoea, yielded to echinacea and 
Rhus aromatica. Other medicines did but little good until these remedies were 
brought into use. The abscesses were of a non-active variety, somewhat painful, 
but not excessively so; they numbered about 10 or 12 at any given time in vari- 
ous parts of the body. The alvine discharges were passed involuntarily, except 
when kept under control by the fragrant sumach. The boy, whose age was but 
4 years, lingered in this condition for over 2 months. Echinacea surely kept the 
child alive, for whenever the dose, which was 10 drops every 3 hours, was lessened, 
the symptoms were greatly exaggerated. In spite of his low condition and the 
very unsanitary surroundings, recovery took place rapidly, as soon as the active 
symptoms subsided. 
Echinacea is highly endorsed as a topical dressing for malignant carbuncle. 
Painful mammitis has been very successfully treated with it, and, used as an injec- 
tion, it relieves the pain and inflammation in gonorrhoea. Several physicians 
have used it in syphilis, and declare it a good remedy for that disease, but this 
seems like claiming too much. It is, however, like thuja, efficient in allaying the 
pain and healing the ulcers, particularly of the mouth, throat, and tongue, affect- 
ing syphilitics. Dr. Snyder extols echinacea as an efficient remedy for impotence. 
It acts admirably in purulent salpingitis, contributing toward a cure and allaying 
the distressing pain. Evidence is abundant, concerning its value in leucorrhoea, 
with offensive discharges; and Webster reports it as valuable in erythematous or 
erysipelatous vulvitis, being especially effective in that form affecting strumous 
children. Echinacea is a remedy for eczema. It is adapted to chronic cases with 
sticky or glutinous exudations associated with asthenia and general depravity. 
Liberal doses should be administered for a prolonged period. A striking malady, 
which had been diagnosed as psoriasis, resulting from vaccination, came under the 
care of Prof. Ellingwood, of Chicago. A shedding of the hair and a diffuse skin 
disease, with loss of the nails and thick skin from the palms and soles ensued, 
followed by a destructive iritis of the left eye and corneal ulcer of the right eye. 
Prospects were fair for a fatal termination. Perfect recovery, with the exception 
of the loss of the left eye, followed the use of liberal doses of echinacea, together 
with syrup of iodide of iron and phospho-albumen. 
Dropsy after scarlatina is said to have been cured by echafolta. As this con- 
dition usually tends to a spontaneous cure it is difficult to determine how much 
any remedy contributes to such a result. Likewise echinacea has been recom- 
mended to prevent (!) hydrophobia. How one can prevent a result of this kind 
from a dog bite, and especially as the very existence of that so-called disease is 
denied by many, is not clear. Like many other new remedies echinacea has been 
reported curative in smallpox. It appears to have mitigated many of the severer 
symptoms of tubercular phthisis, and renders expectoration easier in "stone-cutter's" 
or "grinder's" consumption. It would be no great surprise if this remedy should 
prove effective in impressing a tubercular diathesis, thereby preventing a termi- 
nation in consumption. 
The dose of either specific echinacea or echafolta ranges from 1 to 5 drops; 
larger doses (even 60 drops) may be employed, but small doses are generally most 
efficient if frequently repeated. They may be given in water or syrup, or water 
and glycerin, as : R Echafolta, flsj to flsij; water, q. s., flsiv. Mix. Sig. Tea- 
spoonful every or 1 hour in acute cases; every 3 or 4 hours in chronic affections. 
If these preparations are to be dispensed in hot weather, or are to be used in fer- 
mentative gastro-intestinal disorders, the substitution of 1 ounce of glycerin for 
1 fluid ounce of the water is advisable. For external use both preparations may 677 
ELASTICA. 
be employed, though in point of cleanliness echafolta is to be preferred. Solutions 
of from 1 to 60 per cent strength may be applied by means of a saturated com- 
press every 2 hours, or oftener, if necessity demands. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-To correct fluid depravation, "bad blood," 
tendency to sepsis and malignancy, as in gangrene, sloughing and phagedenic 
ulcerations, carbuncles, boils, and various forms of septicaemia; foul discharges, 
with weakness and emaciation; deepened, bluish or purplish coloration of skin 
or mucous membranes, with a lowform of inflammation; dirty-brownish tongue; 
jet-black tongue; tendency to the formation of multiple cellular abscesses of semi- 
active character, with marked asthenia. Of especial importance in typhoid, sep- 
ticaemic and other adynamic fevers, and in malignant carbuncle, pulmonary 
gangrene, cerebro-spinal meningitis and pyosalpinx. Echafolta is advised as a 
cleansing wash in surgical operations, and to annul the pain of and to deodorize 
carcinomata. 
Related Species.-Rudbeckia laciniata, Linne; Thimbleweed. This plant, also known by 
the names of Cone-disk sunflower and Tall cone-flower, is a tall, showy, indigenous perennial 
plant, with a round, glabrous, stem, 3 to 8 feet in height. Leaves alternate, smooth or rough- 
ish ; lower ones pinnate, with from 5 to 7 cut or 3-lobed leaflets, petiolate; upper ones irregu- 
larly 3 to 5-parted; lobes ovate-lanceolate, pointed. Flowers large, terminal; pappus crenate; 
chaff truncate and downy at the tip. Rays 1 or 2 inches long, oblanceolate, bright-yellow, 
spreading or drooping. Disk oblong-conical and columnar in fruit, greenish-yellow (G.-W.). 
This plant grows in various parts of the United States, in damp places, low thickets, edges of 
swamps and ditches, etc., flowering from July to September. It was introduced into Europe 
from America and cultivated in Paris early in the seventeenth century (see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 
1872, p. 107). The whole herb is recommended to be used. It has not been investigated 
chemically. It imparts its properties to water. Thimbleweed is a valuable diuretic, tonic, and 
balsamic. Useful iu many diseases of the urinary organs, and highly recommended in strangury, 
Bright's disease (?), and wasting or atrophy of the kidneys. Dose of the decoction, ad libitum. 
Echinacea purpurea, Mcench (Rudbeckia purpurea, Linn£), variously called Red sunflower, 
Comb-flower, or Purple cone-flower, has a thick, black root, with branched, sulcate, smooth, or 
rough stems, 3 to 5 feet in height. Leaves alternate, 4 to 8 inches long, and about £ as wide, 
rough, with short, stiff bristles; lower ones broad-ovate, attenuate at base, 5-nerved, veiny, 
long-petioled, remotely-toothed; cauline ones lanceolate-ovate, acuminate, nearly entire. 
Heads large, solitary, on long peduncles. Disk thickly beset with the stiff, pointed, brown 
chaff. Rays from 15 to 20, 2 or 3 inches long, dull-purple, pendulous, bifid. This plant is 
common to the western prairies and banks, and is found also in the southern states, flowering 
from July to September. The root is very pungent to the taste, and has been popularly used 
in medicine under the name of Black sampson. It is stated to have been employed with much 
benefit in syphilis (W.-G.). Both of the above plants deserve a full and thorough investiga- 
tion from the profession. From all that I have been able to learn, the latter plant is equal to 
stillingia in medicinal efficacy (King). 
Bouvardia triphylla, Trompatila.-Mexico. Stem and small branches an aboriginal remedy 
for hydrophobia (A. J. P., 1874). 
Acerates decumbens.-New Mexico. Reputed specific for snake-bites (W. J. Wilson, M. D.). 
ELASTICA (U. S. P.)-INDIA-RUBBER. 
"The prepared milk-juice of various species of Hevea (Nat. Ord.- Euphor- 
biaceae), known in commerce as Para rubber"-(HS-P.). 
Synonyms: Caoutchouc, Gum elastic, Gummi elasticum. 
Botanical Source and History.-Caoutchouc, as it exudes from the trees, is a 
milk-like emulsion, wherein globules of caoutchouc proper are suspended in a 
gummy solution. It is produced by several plants chiefly of the natural orders. 
Euphorbiacex, Apocynacex, Urticacex, Asclepiadacex, and Artocarpex. The finest 
quality of rubber, that known as Pam rubber, comes from the Amazon district, and 
is produced by the Heveas. The Hevea guyanensis, Aublet (Siphonia elastica, of 
Persoon; Jatropha elastica, Linne filius) or Syringe-tree, of Brazil, furnishes a por- 
tion of the species that are official in the U. S. P. This tree generally averages 
about 65 feet in height, with a diameter varying from 30 to 40 inches. Frequently 
the trunk reaches 40 or 50 feet in height before branching. In collecting rubber, 
the natives fasten a small, swallow-nest-shaped, glazed dish around the base of the 
tree by means of clay; then, by means of a hatchet, sever the bark immediately 
above it, and the milky sap immediately exudes, and is collected in the dish 
below. Twenty trees yield, daily, about 2 pints, continuing this amount for some 678 
ELASTICA. 
months. The most favorable period for extracting it is from April to November, 
during dry weather; the trees having to be wounded afresh every day. Some 
allow it to coagulate in a small, square box, but this method' requires several 
days with subsequent slicing and pressure, to remove air and water; and some 
form it into bottles, tubes, etc., by dipping a mold of clay, fastened to the end of 
a stick, into the fresh juice, and immediately afterward holding it in thick smoke, 
produced by the combustion of oleaginous seeds. When the first layer has prop- 
erly solidified, it is dipped again, and so continued until a sufficient thickness 
has been obtained. The smoke coagulates the milk, and exposure for some time 
to the sun hardens it. A small quantity of alum, or the addition of acids or 
salt solutions, accelerates the coagulation of the milk, while ammonia has a con- 
trary effect, and is useful when the milk is required to be kept for some time in 
a liquid state. 
Other South American grades, more or less inferior to Para caoutchouc are 
known commercially as Pernambuco, Maranham, and Bahia caoutchouc, and are 
derived mainly from Hancomia speciosa, Gomez, an apocynaceous plant. Very 
large quantities of rubber are furnished by the Landolphias-L.florida, Bentham; 
L. gummifera, Lamarck, and L. owariensis, all climbing, apocynaceous plants of 
West Africa; while in East Africa rubber is yielded by Landolphia Petersiani and 
L. Kirkii, and various species of Vahea in Madagascar. Other plants of the same 
order yielding Borneo caoutchouc, are the Urceola elastica, Roxburgh; Urceola escu- 
lenta, Bentham (Chavannesia esculenta, De Candolle), and other species from the 
Malayan Islands and India. The Willughbeia edulis, Roxburgh, and other apocy- 
naceous plants yield the Chittagong variety. A kind of rubber is derived from 
Urostigma Vogelii, Miquel (Nat. Ord.- Artocarpeae) of Liberia in West Africa; Ficus 
indica, Linne, and Ficus religiosa, Linne, yield an inferior caoutchouc. 
The Ficus elastica, Roxburgh (Urostigma elastica, Miquel), is the chief source 
of East India caoutchouc, one variety being called Assam rubber. It has a trunk 
from 2 to 2£ feet in diameter, and from 40 to 60 feet high. The leaves are alter- 
nate, approximated, 3-foliate, articulate at the top of a long slender stalk, convex 
below, furrowed above, and swelled at its base; the leaflets are smooth,oval, acute, 
green above and cinereous beneath. The flowers are monoecious. Calyx 5-cleft. 
The fruit is oblong, greenish. 3-cornered, broadest at base, tricoccus, each coccus 
opening with 2 valves. The seed is ovate, brownish, variegated with black, with 
a thin, brittle testa, and a sweet, nut-like, pleasant kernel. It is frequently culti- 
vated as a hot-house plant. 
Ceara rubber is the product of Manihot Glaziovii, Mueller, native of the Rio de 
Janeiro district. This Brazilian species, unlike the others of that country, thrives 
in dry situations. Good qualities are also obtained from the following South 
American species: Hevea brasiliensis, Mueller; Hevea discolor, Mueller, both yield- 
ing Para rubber; Castilloa Markhamiana, Collins, and Castilloa elastica, Cervantes. 
The export of rubber from the city of Para (at the mouth of the Amazon River), 
in the year 1893, exceeded 42,000,000 pounds. An instructive, exhaustive, and 
admirably illustrated article on rubber and its industry in South America, with a 
long list of rubber-yielding plants, classified according to their botanical and geo- 
graphical origin, from the pen of Prof. H. H.Rusby, is to be found in the Drug- 
gists' Circular, 1894, p. 173. This valuable paper is too extensive to permit of con- 
densation in our pages, and we commend the original article to persons interested 
in the subject. Efforts are being made to cultivate caoutchouc-yielding plants in 
various parts of the world; the chief difficulty with regard to Hevea, according 
to Prof. Rusby, seems to lie in the great length of time required (from 12 to 35 
years), to bring the tree to a proper condition of productiveness. In Lagos, on 
the west coast of Africa, Kickxia Africana, Bentham (an apocynaceous plant, the 
seeds of which have become known as an adulterant of strophanthus seeds), is 
being cultivated with success, over 580,000 pounds having- been exported during 
the first half of the year 1895. This plant has advantages over the Landolphias 
on account of the climbing habits of the latter, which make cultivation difficult 
(G. M. Beringer, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1896, p. 212, from Kew Bulletin, 1895). 
Description.-Caoutchouc is black when coagulated by smoke, but when 
pure it is in thin, transparent layers, of a pale-yellow color, destitute both of 
taste and smell. Upon melting and subsequent cooling it remains in a semi- 679 
fluid, adhesive state, undergoing very little change for years, if protected from the 
action of light, but when exposed to the action of diffused daylight, in the air, 
it gradually absorbs oxygen, and becomes converted into an inelastic, viscid mass, 
soluble in alcohol. It is described by the Pharmacopoeia as follows: "In cakes, 
balls, or hollow, bottle-shaped pieces, externally brown to brownish-black, inter- 
nally brownish or of lighter tint; very elastic; insoluble in water, diluted acids, 
or diluted solutions of alkalies; soluble in chloroform, carbon disulphide, oil of 
turpentine, benzin, and benzol. When heated to about 125° 0..(257° F.), it melts, 
remaining soft and adhesive after cooling. Odor faint, peculiar; nearly tasteless. 
When pure, or nearly pure, India rubber floats on water"-(U. S'. P.). It is insolu- 
ble in alcohol, softens and swells up by long boiling in water, but resumes its 
former state on exposure to the air, and is soluble in pure ether, most fixed and 
volatile oils, and coal-tar naphtha, the latter and oil of turpentine being techni- 
cally convenient solvents. Hot alcohol and wood alcohol cause it to soften and 
swell. An excellent solvent for caoutchouc is a mixture composed of 6 parts of 
alcohol and 94 parts of sulphide of carbon. Its solutions in ether, oil of turpen- 
tine, and coal-tar naphtha, by evaporation, leave the gum in an elastic state, and 
on this principle water-proof cloth is made; the same is said to be the case with 
its solution in the oils of lavender, sassafras, and cajuput. The fixed oils, in dis- 
solving it destroy its elasticity. Under exposure to heat, caoutchouc first melts 
and then distills, yielding a mixture of several oily liquids, all of which, as well 
as pure caoutchouc itself, are hydrocarbons. Atmospheric air, ammonia, hydro? 
chloric and diluted sulphuric acids, exert no influence upon caoutchouc. Rubber 
tubing, it is said, may be prevented from becoming brittle by keeping it under 
water, which must be changed from time to time. 
Chemical Composition.-India rubber is a hydrocarbon having the general 
formula (CIOH1B)X. It is therefore, to be considered a polymer of terpene (C10H1B). 
Upon destructive distillation it yields oily substances, collectively called oil of 
caoutchouc {caoutchoucin), besides carbonic acid, carbon monoxide, hydrochloric 
acid, etc. This oil, when subjected to fractional distillation, may be separated into 
two fractions, one of low and the other of high boiling points. From the former, 
a hydrocarbon, isopren (C5H8), was isolated by Greville Williams (1860), having 
a specific gravity of 0.622, and a boiling point of 37° C. (98.6° F.). Bouchardat 
(1875) succeeded in obtaining from this oil, by polymerization, oils of higher 
boiling point, and the composition C10H16; and he even succeeded in obtaining 
artificial caoutchouc from isopren, which he therefore considers to be its basic prin- 
ciple. From the high boiling fraction Himly (Liebig's Annal. y cX. XXVII, p. 40), 
isolated the hydrocarbon caoutchin (C10H]6), which has a specific gravity of 0.654, 
and boils at 171° C. (339.8° F.). For a description of substances further evolved 
from India rubber, see Husemann and Hilger, Pflanzenstoffe, p. 511 
Caoutchouc in, or oil of caoutchouc, is said to be the lightest fluid known, and 
yet its vapor is denser than the heaviest of the gases. Mixed with alcohol, cacut- 
choucin dissolves all the resins, especially copal and India rubber, at ordinary 
temperatures, and it speedily evaporates, leaving them again in the solid state. 
It mixes with oils in all proportions, and but for its price would be valuable for 
the solution of resins in the manufacture of varnishes, and to replace turpentines 
for liquefying oil paints. Being very volatile it must be kept in closed vessels. 
Vulcanized India Rubber.-When caoutchouc in sheet-form is immersed 
in a bath of fused sulphur, heated to 121.1° C. (250° F.), it gradually takes up 
from 12 to 15 per cent of its weight of sulphur, but without undergoing any 
change in its chemical or physical properties; but if it be then heated for a few 
minutes to about 150° C. (302° F.), it produces the elastic vulcanized India rubber. 
The same vulcanized condition can also be produced either by kneading the 
India rubber with sulphur, and then exposing it to the necessary temperature; or 
by dissolving the India rubber in any known solvent, as turpentine, previously 
charged with sulphur. It may also be effected by immersing very thin sheets of 
caoutchouc in a solution of 1 part of chloride of sulphur in 60 parts of bisulphide 
of carbon; then simple exposure to the air causes it to take the character of vul- 
canized caoutchouc without the aid of heat. Thus treated, caoutchouc remains 
elastic at all moderate temperatures; in its ordinary state it is quite rigid ata 
temperature of 4.4° C. (40° F.); it is not affected by heat short of the vulcanizing 
ELASTICA. 680 
ELASTICA. 
point, and acquires extraordinary powers of resisting compression. It does not 
readily undergo solution in naphtha or turpentine; the sulphur gradually de- 
stroys its elasticity, rendering it brittle and subject to decay. 
Vulcanite.-If the vulcanized rubber be exposed to a still higher tempera- 
ture, 148.8° to 176.6° C. (300° to 350° F.), it assumes a carbonized appearance, 
becomes black, hard, and like horn, and is termed vulcanite or ebonite, and may be 
used for most purposes to which horn is adapted. However, it should not come 
into contact with silver or gold utensils, as the action of the sulphur tarnishes 
them. Vulcanite becomes negatively electric by friction, is one of the best insu- 
lators of electricity known, and appears to resist the action of nearly all solvents. 
A much higher percentage of sulphur (from 30 to 35 per cent) also enters into the 
preparation of this hard variety of vulcanized India rubber. For details regard- 
ing the manufacture of hard-rubber articles, and the treatment of India rubber 
in general, we refer the reader to Prof. S. P. Sadtler's most instructive Handbook of 
Industrial Organic Chemistry, 1895. 
Action, and Medical and Surgical Uses.-Caoutchouc is employed for a 
number of purposes, as rubbing out the writing made by lead-pencils; as a cement 
or lute by chemists and others, being first fused; for forming tubes of various 
kinds for surgical and other purposes; and it also enters largely into the prepa- 
ration of waterproof cloth. Innumerable surgical appliances and instruments 
are made of soft and hard rubber. It is preferred to metal in many instances 
where a non-corrosive material is desired, and its durability, lightness, firmness 
and cheapness are in favor of its selection. Tubes-drainage, stomach, and rec- 
tal-syringes, specula, catheters, bougies, pessaries, nipple-shields, dilators, truss- 
pads, artificial nose, ears, and other parts, orthopaedic and other surgical appli- 
ances are constructed from it. Rubber sheets, bed-pans, and when woven into 
fabrics, rubber cloth, and stockings, bandages, and other appliances for even com- 
pression, hot-water bags, etc., are among the many useful articles of which it 
forms the whole or a part. Indeed, its peculiar character has rendered it useful 
in various and numerous "ways in the arts, sciences, and for domestic purposes. 
Softened by heat, it has been applied over small bleeding orifices to check further 
hemorrhage; also to arrest toothache, by placing some of it in the abnormal cavity 
so as to protect the dental nerve from atmospheric action. Externally, it has 
been used as an ingredient of adhesive plasters and liniments. Caoutchouc dis- 
solved in oil of origanum or cajuput, and spread upon oil-silk or cloth, and 
allowed to dry, forms an excellent stimulating plaster for many local difficulties. 
Skin diseases, as eczema, psoriasis, etc., and burns and ill-conditioned ulcers have 
been treated by wearing next to the skin thin sheets of rubber or rubber cloth, 
which prevents the escape of the perspiration, thus rendering the parts moist and 
soft. Its use in these conditions is not commendable. Swelled testicles have been 
strapped and compressed by thin bands of caoutchouc, and for even compression 
and support the rubber stocking and other woven-rubber fabrics are extensively 
used in varicosities, hydrocele, varicocele, ventral hernix, pendulous abdomen, prolapse 
of the rectum and other similar conditions. A grain or 2 of caoutchouc has been 
administered in consumption, repeating it 3 times a day, but its results have not 
been such as to bring it into general use. It is seldom or never employed inter- 
nally, and certainly has nothing to recommend it in a medical sense. 
Related Preparations.-Marine Glue, or Cement, is made by digesting from 2 to 4 
parts of caoutchouc, cut into small pieces, in 34 parts of coal-tar naphtha, promoting solution 
by the application of heat, and by agitation. When the solution has the consistence of thick 
cream, add 62 or 64 parts of powdered shellac, and heat the mixture slowly, constantly stir- 
ring it, until complete fusion and combination have been affected. Pour the mixture while 
still hot on plates of metal, so that it may cool in thin sheets like leather. In using the cement 
put some of it into an iron vessel, and heat it to about 120° C. (248° F.), and apply it with a 
brush to the surfaces to be joined. 
Mineral Caoutchouc.-An undetermined substance, differing from petroleum products, 
and found in deposits a foot or less in depth in Australia, has been named mineral caoutchouc, 
from its marked resemblance to caoutchouc. Whether it is of animal or mineral origin is at 
present undetermined. 
Artificial Caoutchouc is an elastic body produced by acting upon a solution of glue with 
sodium tungstate and hydrochloric acid. The precipitate formed upon the addition of the latter 
is highly elastic at 29.5° to 40.5°C. (85° to 105° F.),and becomes solid and brittle upon cooling. 
The process was discovered, in 1871, by Prof. Sonnenschein (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1871, p. 471). 681 
ELATERINUM.-ELATERIUM. 
ELATERINUM (U. S. P.)-ELATERIN. 
Formula: C20H28O5. Molecular Weight: 347.20. 
"A neutral principle obtained from elaterium, a substance deposited by the 
juice of the fruit of Eeballium Elaterium (Linne), A. Richard {Nat. Ord.-Cucurbi- 
tace®) {U. S. P.). 
Preparation.-Elaterinum is the principle on which the active properties of 
elaterium depend. It was first obtained by Morries. Hennel procured it by sepa- 
rating the green resin (chlorophyll) from the crystalline matter of the alcoholic 
extract of elaterium (see Elaterium'), by ether, which took up the resin and left the 
elaterin. The latter was then purified by solution in hot alcohol and subsequent 
crystallization. 
According to Fliickiger {Pharmacographia), the best method of obtaining 
elaterin is to exhaust elaterium by means of chloroform; treat the solution so 
obtained with ether, upon which white crystals of elaterin at once separate. 
Wash with a small quantity of ether, and recrystallize the pure elaterin from 
chloroform. This process has been adopted by the British Pharmacopoeia. Good 
elaterium should yield from 20 to 25 percent of elaterin. Less is obtained as the 
fruit approaches maturity. As high as 50 per cent has been isolated (Walz). 
Description and Tests.-Pure elaterin, as officially described, occurs in "min- 
ute, white, hexagonal scales, or prismatic crystals, without odor, and having a 
slightly acrid, bitter taste; permanent in the air. Soluble, at 15° C. (59° F.), in 
4250 parts of water, and in 337 parts of alcohol; in 1820 parts of boiling water, 
and in 34 parts of boiling alcohol; also soluble in 543 parts of ether, or in 2.4 
parts of chloroform. At 190° C. (374° F.) the crystals begin to agglutinate, and 
at about 209° C. (408.2° F.) they melt, forming a yellowish-brown liquid. When 
ignited, they are consumed without leaving a residue. Elaterin is neutral to 
litmus paper. Elaterin is dissolved by solutions of the alkalies, and reprecipi- 
tated on supersaturating with an acid. When dissolved in cold, concentrated 
sulphuric acid, it causes the latter to become yellow at first, which color gradu- 
ally changes to scarlet. On dissolving some crystals of elaterin in melted carbolic 
acid, and then adding a few drops of strong sulphuric acid, a crimson color will 
be developed, which soon becomes scarlet. An alcoholic solution of elaterin 
should not be precipitated by tannic acid T.S., mercuric chloride T.S., or platinic 
chloride T.S. (absence of, and difference from, alkaloids) "-(U. S. P.). Elaterin is 
possessed of all the activity of elaterium, being considerably stronger and always 
more definite in strength and quality. Its alcoholic solution is the most active 
preparation. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Elaterium.) The dose of elaterin 
is from to | grain, the latter being a rather large dose. Not more than to 
grain should be administered as a beginning dose. 
ELATERIUM.-ELATERIUM. 
The feculence of the juice of the fruit of Eeballium Elaterium (Linne), A. 
Richard. {Eeballium officinale, Nees; Eeballium agreste, Reichenbach; Momordica 
Elaterium, Linne; Elaterium cordifolium, Moench). 
Nat. Ord.-Cucurbitacese. 
Common Namesand Synonyms (of plant producing it): Squirting cucumber, 
Wild cucumber, Wild balsam-apple, Cucumis agrestis, Cucumis asininus. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 115. 
Botanical Source.-The wild, or squirting cucumber, sometimes called wild 
balsam-apple, is a hispid, scabrous, and glaucous plant. The stems number sev- 
eral from the same root, and are cylindrical, prostrate, and without tendrils. The 
leaves are cordate, somewhat lobed, crenate-toothed, very rugose, supported on 
long stalks. The flowers are monoecious and yellow. Male flowers: corolla 
5-parted; calyx 5-cleft, with a short tube; stamens triadelphous, with yellow, 
connate anthers. Female flowers: filaments 3, sterile; styletrifid; ovary 3-celled. 
The fruit is oblong, obtuse at each end, hispid, disarticulating from its stalk with 682 
ELATERIUM. 
violence, expelling its seeds and mucus with considerable force, in consequence 
of the sudden contraction of the sides. The seeds are black, compressed, and 
reticulated (L.). 
History and Preparation.-The wild cucumber produces the Ecballii Fructus 
of the British Pharmacopoeia. It is indigenous to the south of Europe, growing 
on poor soils, in waste places, and flowering in July. It has been extensively 
cultivated in England for medicinal purposes, where, however, it dies in the win- 
ter. It could be cultivated in our country, as it thrives well, requiring but little 
attention. The medicinal part is obtained by sedimentation from the juice of the 
pulp, and forms the Elaterium of commerce. The process of the British Pharma- 
copoeia for preparing it is essentially as follows: Slice nearly ripe wild cucumbers, 
express the juice gently, and pass it through a fine hair sieve; then set it aside 
for some hours until the thicker part has subsided. Reject the thinner, super- 
natant liquid, transfer the greenish sediment to a linen strainer, allow it to drain, 
and then, by means of a gentle heat, dry it on a porous brick. Elaterium exists 
in the juice of the fruit in a soluble condition, but rapidly becomes insoluble 
when the juice is exposed to the air. Elaterium is seldom adulterated, its varia- 
tion in strength being due both to the difference in the time of its collection, and 
to faulty modes of preparation. Sometimes it is obtained by subjecting the pulp 
to too strong pressure, and in other instances, perhaps, by evaporating the juice 
to an extract. It is then called Elaterium nigrum, as against Elaterium album, which 
is made by the method herein described. 
Description.-Good elaterium is in light, brittle, flat flakes, about line or 1 
line in thickness, of a pale-gray color, with a slight greenish or yellowish tinge, 
having a feeble animal odor (slightly tea-like-Pharmacographia), and an intensely 
bitter, somewhat acrid taste. It frequently carries the marks of the muslin or 
paper containing it during its desiccation. It floats upon water, forms a green 
tincture with alcohol, and does not effervesce in diluted hydrochloric acid. Rec- 
tified spirit dissolves about half its weight, and such a solution concentrated and 
added to a warm caustic potash solution should yield a deposit of at least 20 per 
cent of colorless, crystalline elaterin {Brit. Pharm.). Elaterium of inferior quality 
is more or less curled, much darker colored, less brittle, and has a glistening frac- 
ture. It yields about 6 per cent of elaterin, while good elaterium yields from 
15 to 25 per cent. When obtained from the fruit collected in summer, elaterium 
may contain from 40 to 50 per cent elaterin. The Maltese elaterium is in larger 
flakes than the best English, is paler, with hardly a trace of green, is soft and 
friable, or chalky to the touch, and frequently contains starch, chalk, and other 
imuurities. It is inodorous, heavier than water, and effervesces with diluted 
hydrochloric acid. 
Chemical Composition.-Mr. Hennel obtained from elaterium 44 parts of 
elaterin, 17 parts of green resin, 6 of starch, 7 of saline matters, and 26 of woody 
fiber (P.). Pectin, gummy substances, and albumen have also been found in it. 
Its watery solution should be wholly or nearly free from starch, as shown by its 
behavior to iodine solution. Its most important constituent is the drastic prin- 
ciple elater in (C20H,gO5) (see Elaterinum). From the whole plant, including the 
root, four principles, said to be found also in elaterium, were detected by Walz in 
1859. They are the yellow, crystallizable glucosid, prophetin (found also in the 
fruit of Cucumis prophet arum, Linne); ecballin (ecballic acid), a bitter, acrid, amor- 
phous, resin-like body; amorphous, non-bitter hydro-el at er in; and an extremely 
bitter, amorphous body, elaterid. For a more detailed account of these substances 
see Husemann and Hilger, Pflanzenstoffe, p. 1353. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Elaterium is an energetic hydra- 
gogue cathartic, operating with great violence in doses of a few grains, causing 
diffuse inflammation of the stomach and bowels, characterized by vomiting, grip- 
ing pain, and profuse diarrhoea. It is the most powerful of our hydragogue pur- 
gatives, and for this purpose should be used only in plethoric states. In ordinary 
medicinal doses it produces copious watery evacuations, attended with consid- 
erabledepression of the circulation and nervous system, and most generally nausea 
and vomiting. Hence, it is often used in dropsy, especially pulmonary oedema and 
ascites, to aid in removing the effused fluid, as a revulsive in cerebral affections, and 
wherever a hydragogue or revellent effect is indicated. It has been used in this ELATERIUM. 
683 
manner in narcotic poisoning. It causes an enormous flow of watery serum from 
the blood and mucous structures, and it has been aptly said that one may be 
"bled through the tissues" with a full dose of elaterium. It also augments the 
urinary discharge. The dose of the common commercial article, as a cathartic, is 
from | to grain, administered every 1 or 2 hours until it operates; of Clutter- 
buck's elaterium, considered the best, and so named because it is prepared after 
the process recommended by Clutterbuck, from ^to^of a grain every 3 or 4 
hours; of elater in, from to of a grain, best given in form of tincture. A few 
grains of capsicum added to each dose of elaterium will prevent its nauseating 
effects. Morris recommends a tincture of elaterin made by dissolving 1 grain in 
1 fluid ounce of alcohol, to which 4 drops of nitric acid have been added; the 
dose is from 20 to 40 drops diluted with cinnamon water. Great care should be 
exercised in administering elaterium to the debilitated, or to old and infirm indi- 
viduals, and it is always contraindicated by gastro-intestinal inflammation. Prof. 
Locke recommends the following: In dropsy with liver complications, 14 Elaterium, 
gr.j; podophyllin, grs. ij; powd. ext. colocynth comp., grs. xvj; ext. hyoscyamus, 
q. s. to make a pill mass. Mix. Divide into 8 pills. Give 1 pill every 3 hours 
until the bowels are freely moved. In dropsy with heart complications, R Elaterium, 
gr.j; powd. digitalis, 5ss; powd. squill, 3ss; ext. hyoscyamus, q. s. to make a pill 
mass. Mix. Divide into 20 pills. Give 1 or 2 pills every 3 hours until the 
bowels move freely; after that 1 or 2 pills each day. For urxmic convulsions with 
ascites, particularly that following scarlatina, R Elaterium, gr.j; powd. ext. colo- 
cynth comp., grs. xv. Mix. Divide into 8 pills. Administer 1 pill every hour 
until free evacuations are produced {Syllabus of Ec. Mat. Med.}. In the latter con- 
dition, gelsemium, jaborandi, or apocynum may be associated with the elaterium 
treatment if indicated. "For the first time, I now introduce this article to the 
profession as a specific in chronic inflammation of the neck of the bladder, in which dis- 
ease I have successfully used it for many years. I am not aware of its ever having 
been named heretofore for this purpose. It is more especially useful in cases in 
which there is a constant, more or less painful sensation in the region of the neck 
of the bladder, where the urine passes in a torrent as if poured through the 
urethra, and where, after micturition, there is a violent, cramp-like aching in the 
parts, often extending over the whole lower pelvic region and thighs. The satu- 
rated tincture (elaterium gr.j, alcohol fisj), is employed in doses varying from 
5 to 30 minims; I usually mix it with simple sarsaparilla or other syrup, so that 
a teaspoonful of the mixture may be taken at a dose, and be repeated 3 or 4 times 
a day. It must be used carefully, so that it does not purge, although occasionally 
cases will be met with in which, if its purgative effect is produced by the first 
doses, its subsequent influence will be more decided. The dose should be small 
at first, and be gradually increased, as it can be borne. I have also found some 
good effects from it in chronic gastritis and chronic inflammation of other mucous 
membranes" (John King). It must be remembered that it is the minute dose 
that allays gastric irritation. Sore, tender, and heavy, or dragging sensations in 
the region of the bladder, or in the whole pelvic or perineal region, and accom- 
panied with tenesmic passage of urine containing an abundance of mucus or 
muco-pus, are relieved by small doses of elaterium more readily than by any 
other drug. It should also be remembered that in the administration of elate- 
rium only the smallest dose that will accomplish results should be used, for even 
small doses are apt to occasion emesis and other unpleasant results that may 
interfere with a successful treatment. 
For irritable and painful states of the bladder, the small dose is now preferred: 
R Specific elaterium gtt. v to x to aqua fisiv. Dose, a teaspoonful every 2 or 3 
hours. The ordinary dose of elaterium is from yy to grain; of elaterin toyo 
grain. It must be remembered that both elaterium and elaterin greatly vary 
in strength. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Chronic cystitis with "constant, more or less 
painful sensation in the region of the neck of the bladder, where the urine passes 
in a torrent as if poured through the urethra, and where, after micturition, there 
is a violent, cramp-like aching in the parts, often extending over the whole lower 
pelvic region and thighs" (King); deep soreness or tenderness in bladder, pelvis, 
or perineum, with tenesmic passage of urine loaded with mucus or muco-pus; 684 
ELEMI 
constipation. In cathartic doses: Dropsy of plethora; ascites and pulmonary 
oedema; cerebral congestion. 
Related Species. - Momordica buchu. Nat. Ord.- Cucurbitaceae. Brazil. Resembles 
squirting cucumber in its properties, though its drastic qualities are said to be harsher (Brit. 
Med. Jour., 1887). 
ELEMI.-ELEMI. 
A concrete oleoresin obtained by incisions, the source of which has not been 
determined, though thought to be from Canarium commune, Linne (Nat. Ord.- 
Burseracese). 
Synonyms : Resina elemi, Gummi elemi, Manila elemi. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 61. 
Botanical Source and History.-Several resinous bodies have at various 
times been placed in the European market under the name Elemi, all of which 
are believed to have been the products of plants of the natural order Burseracete. 
The British Pharmacopoeia recognizes a product from the Philippine Islands known 
as Manila elemi, thought to be derived from the species above named. 
Description.-Manila elemi, when recent, occurs in transparent, soft, granu- 
lar masses, consisting of a solution of solid resin in essential oil. Externally it 
has a light, canary-yellow color, and, as found in commerce, is largely solidified, 
presenting an opaque and granular fracture, due to the crystallization of the resin. 
Chips and other foreign substances are often found in the solid fragments. When 
wetted with a little alcohol, elemi readily disintegrates, showing a multitude of 
small, crystalline needles. It melts easily, a transparent fluid resulting. It has 
an aromatic, warm, acrid taste, and a fragrant odor, resembling that of the tere- 
binthinates, the drug in many respects closely resembling the latter class of sub- 
stances. It is insoluble in water, partly soluble in cold, and completely soluble 
in hot alcohol; easily soluble also in oil of turpentine and ether. 
Chemical Composition.-A neutral volatile oil, strongly dextrogyrate, color- 
less, and fragrant, was obtained to the extent of at least 10 per cent by the authors 
of Pharmacographia. Deville, on the other hand (1841), found oil of elemi to be 
Itevogyre. Maujean (1821) found in this drug two resinous bodies-one soluble 
in cold spirit, the other in hot spirit only. The principal constituent of the drug 
is the part soluble in cold alcohol. It is an amorphous, non-acid resin. The part 
insoluble in this solvent is a crystalline magma, soluble in hot alcohol, which, 
upon cooling, yields 25 per cent (of the original elemi) of a crystallizable resin, 
called amyrin by Baup (1851). It is also soluble in ether, chloroform, and carbon 
disulphide. Ciamician, in 1878, distilled it from zinc dust, obtaining toluene, methyl- 
ethyl-benzene, and ethyl-naphthalene. Vesterberg (1887) differentiated amyrin into 
two isomers of the formula C30H48.H,O, derived from two isomeric hydrocarbons 
(C30HJ of the melting points 135° C. (275° F.) and 194° C. (381.2° F.). Buri 
(1874), from the mother-liquors of amyrin, obtained a small quantity of an acid, 
which he called elemic acid (C35H46O4). It forms large crystals, melts at 150° C. 
(302° F.), is insoluble in water, soluble in alcohol, ether, and amyl alcohol. Bryai- 
din is a crystallizable, neutral substance, observed by Baup in the residual aqueous 
liquid obtained by the distillation of a mixture of water and the essential oil. It is 
soluble in hot water and crystallizes upon cooling. Fliickiger purified it by subli- 
mation in a current of carbonic acid and found its composition to be (C10H16)r3H,O, 
and its melting point 133.5° C. (271.5° F.). Dry hydrochloric acid gas causes 
bryoidin to undergo changes of color ranging from red to violet, blue and green. 
Amyrin remains unchanged under similar treatment. A bitter principle, already 
observed by Bonastre (1824) was obtained by Fliickiger in the mother liquors of 
bryoidin, in the form of a soft, resinous mass (Fliickiger, Pharmacognosie, 1891). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This agent closely resembles the tur- 
pentines, and undoubtedly might be substituted for them. The action of its 
oil and oil of turpentine are also similar. Elemi is, however, only used in Euro- 
pean medicine externally, in plaster and ointment form, as a dressing for burns, 
indolent sores, etc. 
Related Products.-Brazilian Elemi. The product of several species of Idea. A 
greenish-yellow, fragrant, translucent resin, sometimes opaque, whitish-gray or yellowish. It ELIXIRIA. 
685 
is composed of small needles. The odorous resin exuding from the trunks of species of Idea 
(e. g., I.Idcariba, De Candolle) is consumed as incense in the churches of French Guiana 
(P. L. Simmonds, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1895, p. 253). 
Mexican Elemi. Vera Cruz elemi.-The product of Amyris elemifera of Royle; also of 
Elaphriwn Jacquinianum (Burseratomentosa) and E. elemifera (Amer. Journ. Pharm, 1895, p. 253). 
Occurs in opaque (sometimes translucent) fragments or semi-cylindrical pieces, is pale-yellow 
or nearly white, and has an agreeable odor. It may be readily masticated. Treatment with 
cold alcohol reveals white needles, probably of amyrin. 
Mauritius Elemi.-The productof ColophoniaMauritiana, DeCandolle. Mauritius. When 
fresh this is a liquid, but subsequently hardens, and finally resembles the Manilla product, 
especially in the abundance of residual amyrin crystals by treatment with cold alcohol. 
African Elemi, or Oriental Elemi. Lubdn meyeti, Lubdn mati.- Exudes from Boswelli 
Frereana, Birdwood. Occurs in tears, fragments, or large stalactitic pieces, whose fracture is 
shell-like, exhibiting a transparent, amber-yellow interior. It is encrusted with a thin, 
opaque crust. The thin, paper-like, brown bark may be found adheringto the masses. The 
taste is mildly terebinthinous, while the odor is said to be agreeable, resembling a mixed odor 
of turpentine and lemon. Alcohol practically dissolves it. It was found to be a mixture of a 
dextrogyrate terpene (CioHie), and a probably laevogyre oxygenated oil (Pharmacographia'). 
Oil of Mexican Lignaloes is yielded by the wood of Bursera delpachiana. It has the 
combined fragrance of lemon and jasmine. 
ELIXIRIA.-ELIXIRS. 
Definition and History.-The term "Elixir" is an heirloom, and comes to 
us from the alchemist. Among the alchemical vagaries none stand more con- 
spicuous than the Elixir Vitse. The substance designated in alchemy as an elixir 
may be defined clearly, in the language of Boerhaave, as "An artificial body of 
such virtue and efficacy as that, being applied to any body of any of the three 
kingdoms, it shall improve its natural inherent virtues, so as to make it the most 
perfect thing in its kind. Thus, for instance, if applied to the human body, it 
will become an universal medicine, and make such a change, both in the solid 
and fluid parts thereof, as shall render it perfectly sound, and even maintain it 
in that state, until the parts, being slowly worn away and spent, death gently, 
and without a struggle, takes possession." 
Then came Paracelsus (b. 1493 d. 1541) who is generally accredited with in- 
stituting a new era in the study. He demonstrated that alchemy, which flour- 
ished in his day, and of which he was a zealous student, could be made ofl value 
to the physician. He originated the famous concoction "Elixir Proprietatis" made 
of saffron, aloes, and myrrh, claiming that who ever used it would "live as long as 
Methuselah;" then he died in his 47th year. Following this came the era of pro- 
prietary elixirs, all of them nasty and probably all frauds. Among these we may 
name Doffey's Elixir, Helmont's Elixir, Mynsicht's Elixir, Vigani's Elixir, etc. These 
naturally were imitated and gave lines of elixirs to the early pharmacopoeias. 
They were first introduced under fanciful names, which spoke of their uses, not 
of their constituents. They were all very disagreeable and usually bitter, being, 
in fact, compound tinctures. Finally, the original name became secondary and 
thus this class of compound tinctures, favorites in medicine until recently, were 
established. The following list will give the original (elixir) name of a few of 
these compounds and the resultant compound tincture, as it is still found in our 
pharmacopoeias: 
Elixir Salutis gave us Compound Tincture of Senna. 
Elixir Paregoricum gave us Camphorated Tincture of Opium. 
Elixir Proprietatis gave us Compound Tincture of Aloes. 
Elixir Stomachicum gave us Compound Tincture of Gentian. 
Elixir Sacrum gave us Tincture of Rhubarb and Aloes. 
Gradually the physician and pharmacist, under the march of civilization, 
revolted against these villainous concoctions. No aim had been made toward 
making them palatable; indeed, the contrary seemed evident. The London New 
Dispensatory (1770), however, named one elixir containing sugar. But at present, 
in European pharmacy and medicine, an elixir is still an alcoholic liquid free 
from sugar. 
In 1859, Mr. Alfred B. Taylor, of Philadelphia, published in the American Jour- 
nal of Pharmacy a formula for a sweetened " Elixir of CahsayaP The Druggists'1 686 
ELIXIRIA. 
Circular of the same year states that no previous formula had been published. 
Immediately manufacturers of pharmaceutical preparations threw lines of sweet- 
ened elixirs on the market. These were really cordials. In 1870 to 1874, the 
elixir mania was at its height. In 1871, Prof. J. Faris Moore, M. D., representing 
the American Pharmaceutical Association, on " Unofficial Preparations" included 
formulae for several of these popular mixtures. In 1872, Prof. C. Lewis Diehl read 
a paper on the elixir subject before the Louisville College of Pharmacy, which was 
published generally. The agitation was continued in the American Pharmaceu- 
tical Association, but finally the elixir craze died out, not, however, until a few of 
its members received recognition in the U. S. P. The American Elixir is a cordial, 
made of sugar, spirit, flavors, and drugs. It is not as disagreeable as the European 
Elixir and in that regard may be entitled to preference. Eclectic physicians have 
always opposed elixirs. In the following pages will be found formulae from the 
National Formulary, for those most important. For more extensive lists the reader 
is referred to the National Formulary, and Elixirs, by J. U. Lloyd. 
National Formulary Elixirs.-Elixir Ammonii Bromidi (N. F.), Elixir of ammonium 
bromide-Formulary number, 32: "Ammonium bromide, eighty-five grammes (85 Gm.) [3 oz. 
av.] ; citric acid, four grammes (4 Gm.) [62 grs.]; aromatic elixir ( U. S. P.), a sufficient quan- 
tity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 YTtJ. Dissolve the am- 
monium bromide and the citric acid in about five hundred cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 fl^, 
435 TT[ ] of aromatic elixir, by agitation. Then add enough aromatic elixir to make one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 HI], and filter, if necessary. Each fluid drachm 
contains 5 grains of ammonium bromide "-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Ammonii Valerianatis (N. F.), Elixir of ammonium valerianate.-Formulary num- 
ber, 33: "Ammonium valerianate, thirty-five grammes (35 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 103 grs.]; chloro- 
form, eight-tenths of a cubic centimeter (0.8 Cc.) [13 Th.]; tincture of vanilla ( U. S. P.), sixteen 
cubic centimeters (16 Cc.) [260 TT[ ]; compound tincture of cudbear (F. 419), sixteen cubic cen- 
timeters (16 Cc.) [260 1T[] > water of ammonia ( U. S. P.), aromatic elixir (U. S. P.), of each, a 
sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 THJ. Dissolve 
the ammonium valerianate in about seventy-five cubic centimeters (75 Cc.) [2 fl J, 257 TIT J of 
aromatic elixir, in a graduated vessel, and add enough water of ammonia, in drops, until a 
faint excess of it is perceptible in the liquid. Then add the chloroform, tincture of vanilla and 
compound tincture of cudbear, and finally, enough aromatic elixir to make one thousand cubic 
centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 TH]• Filter, if necessary. Each fluid drachm contains 2 
grains of ammonium valerianate. Note.-Should the odor of valerianic acid become percepti- 
ble after the elixir has been kept for some time, it may be overcome by slightly supersaturating 
with water of ammonia"-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Apii Graveolentis Compositum (N. F.), Compound elixir of celery.-Formulary num- 
ber, 36: "Fluid extract of celery seed (F. 139), sixty-two cubic centimeters (62 Cc.) [2 fix, 
46 TT[]; fluid extract of erythroxylon (U.S. P.), sixty-two cubic centimeters (62 Cc.) [2 flA 
46 TH]; fluid extract of kola (F. 175), sixty-two cubic centimeters (62 Cc.) [2 fl^, 46 TT[]; fluid 
extract of viburnum prunifolium ( U.S.P.), sixty-two cubic centimeters (62 Cc./[2 fl5, 46 1T[]; 
alcohol, one hundred and twenty-five cubic centimeters (125 Cc.) [4 fl^, 109 Th]; aromatic 
elixir ( U. S. P.), a sufficient quantity, to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 
391 TT[]. Mix the alcohol with two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc. [8 fl^, 218 TT[] 
of aromatic elixir. To this add the fluid extract of celery seed in several portions, shaking 
after each addition, and afterwards the other fluid extracts. Finally add enough aromatic 
elixir to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl?, 391 TQL allow the mixture to 
stand 24 hours, and filter. Note.-If this preparation is prescribed or quoted under its Latin 
title, it is recommended that the full title be given, so that the word 'Apii' may not be mis- 
taken for 'Opii' (Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Bismuthi (N.F.), Elixir of bismuth..-Formulary number, 37 : "Bismuth and ammo- 
nium citrate, thirty-five grammes (35 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 103 grs.]; water, hot, sixty cubic centi- 
meters (60 Cc.) [2 fl§, 14 TT[]; water of ammonia ( U. S. P.), and aromatic elixir ( U. S. P.), of 
each a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 TT[] 
Dissolve the bismuth and ammonium citrate in the hot water, allow the solution to stand until 
any undissolved matter has subsided; then decant the clear liquid, and add to the residue 
just enough water of ammonia to dissolve it. Then mix it with the decanted portion and add 
enough aromatic elixir to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fig, 391 IT) ]. 
Filter, if necessary. Each fluid drachm represents 2 grains of bismuth and ammonium cit- 
rate"-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Buchu (N. F.), Elixir of buchu.-Formulary number, 38: "Fluid extract of buchu 
(U. S. P.), one hundred and twenty-five cubic centimeters (125 Cc.) [4 fl§, 109 TIT J; alcohol, 
sixty-two cubic centimeters (62 Cc.) [2 flA 46 TT[]; syrup ( U. S. P.), sixty-two cubic centime- 
ters (62 Cc.) [2 fl§, 46 TIT]; magnesium carbonate, fifteen grammes (15 Gm.) [231 grs.]; aro- 
matic elixir ( U. S. P.), a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) 
[33 fl^, 391 1T[]. Mix the fluid extract of buchu with the alcohol, then add seven hundred and 
fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl§, 1731T[], of aromatic elixir, and the syrup. Incorporate* 
with it the magnesium carbonate, and filter. Finally, pass enough aromatic elixir through EL1X1RIA. 
687 
the filter to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 TTLJ* Each fluid 
drachm represents about 7J grains of buchu"-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Buchu Compositum (N. F.), Compound elixir of buchu.-Formulary number, 39: " Com- 
pound fluid extract of buchu (F. 144), two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl§, 
218 m]; alcohol, sixty-two cubic centimeters (62 Cc.) [2 63, 46 Bl] > syrup ( U.S. /*.), sixty-two 
cubic centimeters (62 Cc.) [2 fig, 46 Bl]; magnesium carbonate, fifteen grammes (15 Gm.) 
[231 grs.]; aromatic elixir (U. S. P.), a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centi- 
meters (1000 Cc. [33 fl3, 391 Bl]. Mix the compound fluid extract of buchu with the alcohol, 
then add five hundred cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 fis, 435 Bl] of aromatic elixir, and the 
svrup. Incorporate with it the magnesium carbonate, and filter. Finally, pass enough aromatic 
elixir through the filter to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 Bl ]. 
Each fluid drachm represents 15 minims of compound fluid extract of buchu"-(A7d. Form.). 
Elixir Buchu et Potassii Acetatis (N. F.), Elixir of buchu and potassium acetate.-Form ulary 
number, 40: "Potassium acetate, eighty-five grammes (85 Gm.) [3ozs. av.]; elixir of buchu 
(F. 38), a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 Till. 
Dissolve the potassium acetate in about seven hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) 
[25 fl3, 173 B[] of elixir of buchu ; filter, if necessary, and add enough elixir of buchu to make 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 Bl]. Each fluid drachm represents 
5 grains of potassium acetate and about 7 grains of buchu "-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Caffeinte (N. F.), Elixir of caffeine.-Formulary number, 41: " Caffeine, seventeen 
and one-half grammes (17.5 Gm.) [270 grs.]; diluted hydrobromic acid ( U. S. P.), four cubic 
centimeters (4 Cc.) [65 Bl]; syrup of coffee (F. 367), two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters 
(250 Cc.) [8 fl.5,218 Bl]; aromatic elixir ( U. S. P.), a sufficient quantity to make one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 6.5,391 Bl]. Rub the caffeine, in a mortar, with the diluted 
hydrobromic acid, and about one hundred and twenty-five cubic centimeters (125 Cc.) [4 63, 
109 B[] of aromatic elixir, until solution is effected. Then add the syrup of coffee, and lastly, 
enough aromatic elixir to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 Bl]. 
Filter, if necessary. Each fluid drachm contains 1 grain of caffeine -(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Calcii Hypophosphitis (N. F.), Elixir of calcium hypophosphite.-Formulary number, 
43: "Calcium hypophosphite, thirty-five grammes (35 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 103 grs.]; citric acid, 
four grammes (4 Gm.) [62 grs.]; aromatic elixir ( U. S. P.), a sufficient quantity to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl.5, 391 Bl]. Dissolve the calcium hypophosphite 
in nine hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fl .5, 308 Bl] of aromatic elixir, and filter. Dis- 
solve the citric acid in the filtrate, and pass enough aromatic elixir through the filter to make 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl ,5, 391 Bl]. Each fluid drachm contains 2 grains 
of calcium hypophosphite"-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Calcii Lactophosphatis (N. F.), Elixir of calcium lactophosphate.-Formulary number, 
44: " Calcium lactate, seventeen and one-half grammes (17.5 Gm.) [270 grs.]; phosphoric acid 
( U. S. P., 85 per cent), eight cubic centimeters (8 Cc.) [130 Bl] ; water, sixty cubic centimeters 
(60 Cc.) [2 fl^, 14 B[]; syrup ( U. S. P.), sixty cubic centimeters (60 Cc.) [2 fl^, 14 Bl]; aro- 
matic elixir ( U. S. P.), a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) 
[33 fl$, 391 B[]. Triturate the calcium lactate with the phosphoric acid, the water, and the 
syrup, until the salt is dissolved. Then add enough aromatic elixir to make one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fi^, 391 B]], and filter. Each fluid drachm represents 1 grain 
of calcium lactate, or about 1| grains of so-called calcium lactophosphate "-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Catharticum Compositum (N. F.), Compound cathartic elixir.-Formulary number, 
45: " Fluid extractof senna ( U. S. P.), one hundred and twenty-five cubic centimeters (125 Cc.) 
[4 fl.5, 109 B[]; fluid extract of podophyllum ( U. S. P.), sixty-two cubic centimeters (62 Cc.) 
[2 fl5,46 Bl]; fluid extract of leptandra (U. S. P.), fifty cubic centimeters (50 Cc.) [1 63,332 Bl ]; 
fluid extract of jalap (F. 162), fifty cubic centimeters (50 Cc.) [1 65, 332 B[ ]; potassium and 
sodium tartrate, one hundred and twenty-five grammes (125 Gm.) [4 ozs. av., 179 grs.]; sodium 
bicarbonate, sixteen grammes (16 Gm.) [247 grs.]; compound elixir of taraxacum (F. Ill), 
two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 65, 218 B[]; elixir of glycyrrhiza (F. 76), 
a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 n^, 391 Bl]. Mix 
the fluid extracts with the compound elixir of taraxacum; in the mixture dissolve the salts by 
agitation, and add enough elixir of glycyrrhiza to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 
Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 Bl]. The product should not be filtered, and should be shaken up whenever 
any of it is dispensed. The average dose for an adult is 2 fluid drachms"-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Chloroformi Compositum (N. F.), Compound elixir of chloroform.-Formulary number, 
46: " Chloroform, one hundred and ninety cubic centimeters (190 Cc.) [6 63, 204 Bl] ; tinc- 
ture of opium ( U. S. P.), one hundred and ninety cubic centimeters (190 Cc.) [6 fl204 Bl]; 
spirit of camphor (U. S. P.), one hundred and ninety cubic centimeters (190 Cc.) [6 63, 204 B]]; 
aromatic spirit of ammonia (U. S. P.), one hundred and ninety cubic centimeters (190 Cc.) 
[663, 204 Bl]; alcohol, two hundred and thirty-five cubic centimeters (235 Cc.) [7 63,454 Bl]; 
oil of cinnamon (cassia), five cubic centimeters (5 Cc.) [81 Bl]. Mix the chloroform with the 
alcohol, then add the oil of cinnamon, aromatic spirit of ammonia, spirit of camphor, and 
tincture of opium. Allow the mixture to stand a few hours, and filter in a well-covered funnel. 
Each fluid drachm represents about 1 grain of opium and 11 minims of chloroform. Note.- 
This preparation is called chloroform paregoric in some sections of the country. It is recom- 
mended that this title be abandoned, to prevent confusion with the official paregoric or Tinc- 
tura Opii Camphorata"-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Cinchona (N. F.), Elixirof cinchona, Elixir of calisaya.-Formulary number, 47: "Tinc- 
ture of cinchona ( U.S. P.), one hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (150Cc. I [5 fl§, 35 B[]; syrup 
( U. S. P.), one hundred and twenty-five cubic centimeters (125 Cc.) [4 fl^, 109 Bl]; glycerin, 688 
EL1X1R1A. 
one hundred and twenty-five cubic centimeters (125 Cc.) [4fl3,109 11]] ; aromatic elixir ( U.S.P.)r 
six hundred cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 fl5,138TT[]. Mix the liquids, allow to stand as 
long as convenient, anti filter through a wetted filter. Each fluid ounce represents about 14 
grains of yellow cinchona"-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Cinchona Detannatum (N. F.), Detannated elixir of cinchona, Detannated elixir of 
calisaya.-Formulary number, 48: "Detannated tincture of cinchona (F. 403), one hundred 
and fifty cubic centimeters (150 Cc.) [5 fl^, 35 TT[]; syrup ( U. S. P.}, one hundred and twenty- 
five cubic centimeters (125 Cc.) [4 fl§, 109 TT[] ; glycerin, one hundred and twenty-five cubic 
centimeters (125 Cc.) [4 fl.5, 109 TT[]; aromatic elixir ( U. S. P.), six hundred cubic centimeters 
(690 Cc.) [20 fl,5, 138 TT[]. Mix the liquids, and filter, if necessary. Each fluid ounce repre- 
sents about fourteen grains (14 grains) of yellow cinchona. Note.-This preparation may be 
used when elixir cinchome is directed in combination with preparations of iron, but may be 
replaced by compound elixir of quinine (F. 98), colored by the addition of fifteen cubic centi- 
meters (15 Cc.) [242 Uli°f compound tincture of cudbear (F. 419) toone thousand cubic centi- 
meters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl5, 391 TT[]"-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Cinchon.® et Ferri (N. F„), Elixir of cinchona and iron, Elixir of calisaya and iron, 
Ferrated elixir of calisaya.-Formulary number, 50: "Phosphate of iron (U. S. P.), thirty-five 
grammes (35 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 103 grs.]; water, boiling, sixty cubic centimeters (60 Cc.) [2 fl^, 
14 mJ; compound elixir of quinine (F. 98), a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic 
centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 TH ]• Dissolve the phosphate of iron in the boiling water, 
then add enough compound elixir of quinine to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 
Cc.) [33 fl.5, 391 TT[1 and filter. Each fluid drachm contains 2 grains of phosphate of iron "- 
(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Cinchona, Ferri et Strychnin.® (N. F.), Elixir of cinchona, iron and strychnine, 
Elixir of calisaya, iron and strychnine.-Formulary number, 55: "Strychnine sulphate, one hun- 
dred and seventy-five milligrammes (0.175 Gm.) [2.7 grs.]; water, fifteen cubic centimeters 
(15 Cc.) [242 mi 1 elixir of cinchona and jron (F. 50), a sufficient quantity to make one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 mi Dissolve the strychnine sulphate in the 
water and add enough elixir of cinchona and iron to make one thousand cubic centimeters 
(1000 Cc.) [33 fl.5, 391 m]- Each fluid drachm contains too grain of strychnine sulphate, and 
about 2 grains of phosphate of iron"-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Curassao (N. F.), Elixir of Curasao, Curasao cordial.-Formulary number, 58: "Spirit 
of Curasao (F. 348), sixteen cubic centimeters (16 Cc.) [260 m]) orris root, in fine powder, four 
grammes (4 Gm.) [62 grs.]; deodorized alcohol, two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 
Cc.) [8 d^, 218 mi> citric acid, seven grammes (7 Gm.) [108 grs.]; syrup ( U. S. P.), five hundred 
cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 fl§, 435 m]; magnesium carbonate, fifteen grammes (15 Gm.) 
[231 grains]; water, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) 
[33 fl^, 391 mi Mix the spirit of Curasao with the alcohol, add the orris root, the magnesium 
carbonate, and one hundred and eighty-five cubic centimeters (185 Cc.) [6 fl5,123m] of water. 
Allow the mixture to stand 12 hours, occasionally agitating; then pour it on a wetted filter, 
returning the first portions of the filtrate until it runs through clear, and pass enough water 
through the filter to make the filtrate measure five hundred cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 d^, 
435 m]- In this dissolve the citric acid, and finally add the syrup "-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Erythroxyli (N. F.), Elixir of erythroxylon, Elixir of coca.-Formulary number, 61: 
"Fluid extract of erythroxylon (U. S. P.), one hundred and twenty-five cubic centimeters 
(125 Cc.) [4 fl;}, 109 m]; alcohol, sixty-two and one-half cubic centimeters (62.5 Cc.) [2 fl?, 
54 m]I syrup ( U. S. P.), one hundred and twenty-five cubic centimeters (125 Cc.) [4 fl§, 109 m JI 
tincture of vanilla (U.S. P.), sixteen cubic centimeters (16 Cc.) [260 mil purified talcum 
(F.395), fifteen grammes (15 Gm.) [231 grs.]; aromatic elixir ( U. S. P.),a sufficient quantity to 
make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl$, 391 m]- Mix the fluid extract with 
the alcohol, the syrup, and six hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (650 Cc.) [21 11,5,470 TH ] of 
aromatic elixir, add the purified talcum and incorporate the latter thoroughly. Let the mix- 
ture stand during 48 hours, if convenient, shaking occasionally; then filter, add the tincture of 
vanilla to the filtrate, and pass enough aromatic elixir through the filter to make the product 
measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 mi- Each fluid drachm rep- 
resents 7| grains of erythroxylon (coca) "-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Ferri Hypophosphitis (N. F.), Elixir of hypophosphite of iron.-Formulary number, 
65: "Solution of hypophosphite of iron (F. 219), one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) 
[3 d^, 183 mi > aromatic elixir (U.S. P.), nine hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 d%, 
208 m,]- Mix, allow the mixture to stand a few days in a cool place, and filter, if necessary. 
Each fluid drachm contains 1 grain of hypophosphite of iron (ferric) "-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Ferri Phosphatis (N. F.), Elixir df phosphate of iron.-Formulary number, 67 : 
"Phosphate of iron ( U. S. P.), thirty-five grammes (35 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 103mil water, sixty 
cubic centimeters (60 Cc.) [2 fl,5, 14 TT[]; aromatic elixir ( U. S. P.), a sufficient quantity to make 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl,5, 391 TT[]. Dissolve the phosphate of iron in 
the water with the aid of heat; then mix this solution with a^sufficient quantity of aromatic 
elixir to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl,5, 391 D]]. Filter, if necessary. 
Each fluid drachm contains 2 grains of phosphate of iron "-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Ferri Phosphatis, Quinine et Strychnin.® (N. F.), Elixir of phosphate of iron, 
quinine and strychnine.-Formulary number, 69: "Phosphate of iron ( U. S. P.),seventeen and 
one-half grammes (17.5 Gm.) [270 grs.]; quinine (alkaloid), eight and three-fourths grammes 
(8.75 Gin.) [135 grs.]; strychnine (alkaloid), two hundred and seventy-five milligrammes 
(0.275 Gm.) [4.24 grs.]; alcohol, one hundred and thirty cubic centimeters (130 Cc.) [4 fl,5, 
190 TT[]; water, fifty cubic centimeters (50 Cc.) [1 fl§, 332 TT[]; aromatic elixir (U.S. P.),& sufli- EL1XIRIA. 
689 
cient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 113,391 TH]. Dissolve 
the alkaloids in the alcohol and add seven hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl§, 
173 H[] of aromatic elixir, then dissolve the phosphate of iron in the water, using heat, if 
necessary, and add to the previous mixture. Finally, add enough aromatic elixir to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl,5, 391 H] ]. Each fluid drachm contains 1 grain of 
phosphate of iron, | grain of quinine, and grain of strychnine. Note.-When this elixir is 
mixed with water, it may become cloudy or opaque through the separation of some of its con- 
stituents"-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Ferri Pyrophosphatis (N. F.), Elixir of pyrophosphate of iron.-Formulary number, 
70: " Pyrophosphate of iron ( U. S. /<), thirty-five grammes (35 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 103 grs.] ; water, 
sixty cubic centimeters (60 Cc.) [2 fl§, 14 H[]; aromatic elixir ( U. S. P.), a sufficient quantity 
to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 H[]. Dissolve the pyrophos- 
phate of iron in the water, and add enough aromatic elixir to make one thousand cubic centi- 
meters (lOOOCc.) [33 fls, 391 H[]. Filter, if necessary. Each fluid drachm contains 2 grains 
of pyrophosphate of iron"-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Ferri, Quinin.e et Strychnine (N. F.), Elixir of iron, quinine and strychnine.-For- 
mulary number, 71: "Tincture of citro-chloride of iron (F. 407), one hundred and twenty-five 
cubic centimeters (125 Cc.) [4 fl^, 109 H[]; quinine hydrochlorate, eight and one-half grammes 
(8.5 Gm.) [131 grs.]; strychnine sulphate, one hundred and seventy-five milligrammes (0.175 
Gm.) [2.7grs.]; alcohol, thirty cubic centimeters (30 Cc.) [1 fl3, 7 H[] ; aromatic elixir ( U.S. P.), 
a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl5, 391 H[]. Dis- 
solve the alkaloidal salts in about seven hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl,^, 
173 H[] of aromatic elixir, then add the tincture and the alcohol, and finally, enough aromatic 
elixir to make one thousand cubic centimeters (lOOOCc.) [33 fl^, 391 TQ]. Filter, if necessary. 
Each fluid drachm represents about 1 grain of ferric chloride, 1 grain of quinine hydrochlo- 
rate, and too grain of strychnine sulphate "-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Frangul.e (N. F.), Elixir of frangula, Elixir of buckthorn.-Formulary number, 72 : 
"Fluid extract of frangula ( U.S. P.), two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl§, 
218 Hl]; alcohol, sixty cubic centimeters (60 Cc.) [2 fl,5, 14 H[] ; compound elixir of taraxa- 
cum (F. Ill), two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl^,218H[]; aromatic elixir 
(U.S. P.), four hundred and forty cubic centimeters (440 Cc.) [14 fl^, 422H[]- Mix them, 
allow the mixture to stand during 48 hours, if convenient, and filter. Each fluid drachm repre- 
sents 15 grains of frangula"-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Gentian.® (N. F.), Elixir of gentian.-Formulary number, 73: " Fluid extract of gen- 
tian (U. S. P.), thirty-five cubic centimeters (35 Cc.) [1 fl3, 88H]]; compound spirit of carda- 
mom (F. 347), twenty-five cubic centimeters (25 Cc.) [406 H[]; solution of tersulphate of iron 
(U. S. P.), twenty-five cubic centimeters (25 Cc.) [406 Hl]; wTater of ammonia ( U. S. P.), 
twenty-eight cubic centimeters (28 Cc.) [455H[] j alcohol, water, aromatic elixir ( U. S. P.), of 
each, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl3, 391 Hl], 
Dilute the solution of tersulphate of iron with two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters 
(250 Cc.) [8 fl^, 218 TtT] of cold water, and add it, constantly stirring, to the water of ammonia, 
previously diluted with an equal volume of cold water. Collect the precipitate on a well 
wetted muslin strainer, allow it to drain completely, return it to the vessel, mix it intimately 
with two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl§, 218 H[] of water, and again 
drain. Repeat this operation once more with the same quantity of water. When the precipi- 
tate has been completely drained for the third time, fold the strainer, and press it gently so 
as to remove the water as completely as possible without loss of magma; then remove the 
magma into a tared bottle, and ascertain its weight. Now add to the magma one-fifth (|) of 
its weight of alcohol, the fluid extract, the compound spirit, and seven hundred and fifty cubic 
centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl§, 173 TT[] of aromatic elixir, and shake the mixture occasionally 
during 24 hours. Filter through paper, and pass enough aromatic elixir through the filter to 
make the product measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 HL]. Each 
fluid drachm represents about 2 grains of gentian"-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Gentian.® Cum Tinctura Ferri Ciiloridi (N. F.), Elixir of gentian with tincture of 
chloride of iron.-Formulary number, 74: "Tincture of citro-chloride of iron (F. 407), one hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl§, 183 H[]; elixir of- gentian (F. 73), nine hundred cubic 
centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fl3, 208 H[]. Mix and filter, if necessary. Each fluid drachm repre- 
sents about | grain of ferric chloride, and nearly 2 grains of gentian "-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Glycyrrhiz.e Aromaticum (N. F.), Aromatic elixir of glycyrrhiza, Aromatic elixir of 
liquorice. Formulary number, 77: "Fluid extract of glycyrrhiza ( U. S. P.), one hundred and 
twenty-five cubic centimeters (125 Cc.) [4 fl.^, 109 TH,]; oil of cloves, four-tenths of a cubic cen- 
timeter (0.4 Cc.) [6.5 TYL]; oil of cinnamon (Ceylon), four-tenths of a cubic centimeter (0.4 Cc.) 
[6.5 TTt]; oil °f nutmegs, one-fourth of acubiccentimeter (0.25 Cc.) [4 TY[]; oil of fennel, three- 
fourths of a cubic centimeter (0.75 Cc.) [12 Hl]; magnesium carbonate, fifteen grammes 
(15 Gm.) [231 grs.]; aromatic elixir (U. S. P.), a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic 
centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 H[]. Triturate the oils with magnesium carbonate, and 
gradually add eight hundred and seventy-five cubic centimeters (875 Cc.) [29 fl3, 282 H[] of 
aromatic elixir. Shake occasionally during an hour, filter, and pass enough aromatic elixir 
through the filter to make eight hundred and seventy-five cubic centimeters (875 Cc.) [29 fl§, 
282 H[] of filtrate. Add the fluid extract to the filtrate, mix, and filter, if necessary"-(Nat. 
Form.). Employed to mask the bitterness of quinine. 
Elixir Guarani (N. F.), Elixir of guarana.-Formulary number, 79: "Fluid extract of 
guarana ( U. S. P.), two hundred cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fl*, 366 H[]; aromatic elixir 
( U. S. P.), two hundred cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fls, 366Hl] 5 compound elixir of taraxacum 690 
ELIXIRIA. 
(F. Ill), six hundred cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 138 Till- Mix them ; allow the mix- 
ture to stand during 48 hours, if convenient, and filter. Each fluid drachm represents about 
12 grains of guarana "-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Hypophosphitum (N. F.), Elixir of hypophosphites.-Formulary number, 81: " Cal- 
cium hypophosphite, fifty-two and one-half grammes (52.5 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 373 grs.]; sodium 
hypophosphite, seventeen and one-half grammes (17.5 Gm.) [270 grs.]; potassium hypophos- 
phite, seventeen and one-half grammes (17.5 Gm.) [270 grs.]; citric acid, four grammes (4 Gm.) 
[62 grs.]; water, two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl.5, 218 TH.]; glycerin, 
thirty cubic centimeters (30 Cc.) [1 fl^, 7 Til]; compound spirit of cardamom (F. 347), thirty 
cubic centimeters (30 Cc.) [1 fl^, 7 ][[] > aromatic elixir ( U. S. P.), a sufficientquantity to make 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 115,391TT[]. Dissolve the hypophosphites and 
the citric acid in the water; then add the glycerin, compound spirit of cardamom, and enough 
aromatic elixir to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 tl5, 391 Tf[]. Filter, 
if necessary. Each fluid drachm contains 3 grains of calcium hypophosphite and 1 grain each 
of sodium and potassium hypophosphite"-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Hypophosphitum Cum Ferro (N. F.), Elixir of hypophosphites with iron.-Formulary 
number, 82: " Calcium hypophosphite, twenty-five grammes (25 Gm.) [386 grs.] ; sodium hypo- 
phosphite, seventeen and one-half grammes (17.5 Gm.) [270 grs.] ; potassium hypophosphite, 
eight and one-half grammes (8.5 Gm.) [131 grs.]; sulphate of iron, in clear crystals, thirteen 
grammes (13 Gm.) [201 grs.]; citric acid, fourgrammes (4 Gm.) [62 grs.]; water, two hundred 
and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl5, 218Til]; syrup ( U. S. P.), two hundred and fifty 
cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl5, 218 TTL]; aromatic elixir ( U. S. P.), a sufficient quantity to 
make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl5, 391 TQ]. Dissolve the hypophosphites 
in one hundred and seventy-five cubic centimeters (175 Cc.) [5 fl^, 440 TT[] of water, and add 
the syrup. Dissolve the sulphate of iron in the remainder of the w'ater, and mix this with the 
other solution. Then add three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fl?, 401 TH.] 
of aromatic elixir, set the mixture aside, in a cold place for 12 hours, and filter from the depos- 
ited calcium sulphate. Finally, dissolve the citric acid in the filtrate, and pass enough aro- 
matic elixir through the filter to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 
391 TT[]. Each fluid drachm contains about | grain of hypophosphite of iron (ferrous), about 
1 grain each, of the hypophosphites of calcium and sodium, and I grain of potassium hypo- 
phosphite "-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Lithii Citratis (N.F.), Elixir of lithium citrate.-Formulary number, 84: "Lithium 
citrate, eighty-five grammes (85 Gm.) [3 oz. av.]; aromatic elixir ( U. S. P.), a sufficient quan- 
tity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl5, 391 TH,]- Dissolve the lithium 
citrate in about nine hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30115, 208 11] ] of aromatic elixir, 
by agitation. Then add enough aromatic elixir to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 
Cc.) [33 fl5, 391 H[], and filter. Each fluid drachm contains 5 grains of lithium citrate"- 
(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Malti et Ferri (N. F.), Elixir of malt and iron.-Formulary number, 86: "Extract 
of malt, two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl^, 218TH.]; phosphate of 
iron (U. S. P.), seventeen and one-half grammes (17.5 Gm.) [270 grs.]; water, thirty cubic 
centimeters (30 Cc.) [1 115, " TR] 5 aromatic elixir ( U. S. P.), a sufficient quantity to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 1)5, 391 1T[]. Dissolve the phosphate of iron in the 
water by the aid of heat, mix the solution with the extract of malt previously introduced into 
a graduated bottle, and add enough aromatic elixir to make one thousand cubic centimeters 
(1000 Cc.) [33 115, 391 TRI- Set the mixture aside for 24 hours, and filter. Each fluid drachm 
represents 1 grain of phosphate of iron, and 15 minims of extract of malt. Note.-Extract of 
malt, most suitable for this preparation, should have about the consistence of Balsam of Peru, 
at a temperature of about 15° C. (59° F.) "-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Pepsini (N. F.), Elixir of pepsin.-Formulary number, 88 : " Pepsin ( U. S. P.), sev- 
enteen and one-half grammes (17.5 Gm.) [270 grs.]; hydrochloric acid (U. 8. P.), four cubic 
centimeters (4 Cc.) [65 TT[]; glycerin, one hundred and twenty-five cubic centimeters (125 Cc.) 
[4 115, 109 TT[]; compound elixir of taraxacum (F. 111), sixty-five cubic centimeters (65 Cc.) 
(2fl 5, 95 TR]; alcohol, one hundred,and seventy-five cubic centimeters (175 Cc.) [5115,441 IT] ] ; 
purified talcum (F. 395), fifteen grammes (15 Gm.) [231 grs.]; sugar, two hundred and fifty 
grammes (250 Gm.) [8 ozs. av., 358 grs.]; water, a sufficient quantity, to make one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl.5, 391 1T[ ]• Mix the pepsin with three hundred and fifty 
cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 6)5, 401 TT[] of water, add the glycerin and acid, and agitate 
until solution has been effected. Then add the compound elixir of taraxacum, alcohol, and 
the purified talcum, and mix thoroughly. Set the mixture aside for a few hours, occasion- 
ally agitating. Then filter it through a wetted filter, dissolve the sugar in the filtrate, and pass 
enough water through the filter to make the whole product measure one thousand cubic 
centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 TR]. Each fluid drachm represents 1 grain of pepsin"- 
(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Pepsini, Bismuthi et Strychnin.® (N. F.), Elixir of pepsin, bismuth and strychnine. 
-Formulary number, 89: "Strychnine sulphate, one hundred and seventy-five milligrammes 
(0.175 Gm.) [2.7 grs.]; elixir of pepsin and bismuth (F. 90), one thousand cubic centimeters 
(1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 TR]. Dissolve the strychnine sulphate in the elixir. Each fluid drachm 
represents T^o grain of strychnine sulphate, 1 grain of pepsin, and 2 grains of bismuth and 
ammonium citrate "-(Nat. Form.). This execrable combination, in a pharmaceutical sense, 
has been one of the most popular American elixirs. Possibly, its chief advantage rests in the 
minute amount of strychnine present, and the fact that the incompatible nature of the pepsin 
and bismuth precipitates the former and destroys the latter. 691 
ELIXIR AROMATICUM. 
Elixir Pepsini et Bismuthi (N. F.), Elixir of pepsin and bismuth.-Formulary number, 90: 
" Pepsin ( U. 8. P.), seventeen and one-half grammes (17.5 Gm.) [270 grs.]; bismuthand am- 
monium citrate, thirty-five grammes (35 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 103 grs.]; water of ammonia ( U. 8. P), 
a sufficient quantity; glycerin, one hundred and twenty-five cubic centimeters (125 Cc.) [4 fij, 
109 Tf[]; alcohol, one hundred and seventy-live cubic centimeters (175 Cc.) [5 fl5, 441 TTLJ; 
syrup ( U. 8. P.), two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fi^, 218 TH.]; compound 
elixir of taraxacum (F. Ill), sixty-five cubic centimeters (65 Cc.) [2 11$, 95 Tfi]; purified tal- 
cum (F. 395), fifteen grammes (15 Gm.) [237 grs.]; water, a sufficient quantity to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 1T[]. Dissolve the pepsin in two hundred 
and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fls, 218 TQ,] of water. Dissolve the bismuth ami am- 
monium citrate in sixty cubic centimeters (60 Cc.) [2 14 1T[] of warm water, allow the solu- 
tion to stand until clear, if necessary; then decant the clear liquid, and add to the residue just 
enough water of ammonia to dissolve it, carefully avoiding an excess. Then mix the two solu- 
tions, and add the glycerin, compound elixir of taraxacum, and alcohol. Thoroughly incor- 
porate the purified talcum with the mixture, filter it through a wetted filter, and pass enough 
water through the filter to make the filtrate measure seven hundred and fifty cubic centi- 
meters (750 Cc.) [25 fl.5,173 Tf[]. To this add the syrup. Each fluid drachm represents 1 grain 
of pepsin, and 2 grains of bismuth and ammonium citrate "-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Potassii Acetatis et Juniperi (N. F.), Elixir of potassium acetate and juniper.- 
Formulary number, 96: "Potassium acetate, eighty-five grammes (85 Gm.) [3 ozs. av.]; fluid 
extract of juniper (F. 164), one hundred and twenty-five cubic centimeters (125 Cc.) [4 fl^, 
109 TT[]; magnesium carbonate, fifteen grammes (15 Gm.) [231 grs.]; aromatic elixir ( U. 8. P.), 
a sufficient quantity, to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 TH], Tritu- 
rate the fluid extract of juniper with the magnesium carbonate, then add seven hundred and 
fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.; [25 fl§, 173 TTL] of aromatic elixir in which the potassium 
acetate has previously been dissolved. Filter, and add enough aromatic elixir through the 
filter, to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fig, 391 TR], Each fluid drachm 
represents 5 grains of potassium acetate and 7| grains of juniper "-(Nat. Form.'). 
Elixir Rhamni Purshian.e (N. F.), Elixir rhamnus purshiana, Elixir of cascara sagrada.- 
Formulary number, 101: "Fluid extract of rhamnus purshiana (U. 8. P.),two hundred and 
fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl,^, 218TTL] 5 compound elixir of taraxacum (F. Ill), seven 
hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl^, 173 TQ ]. Mix them. Allow the mixture 
to stand a few days, if convenient, and filter. Each fluid drachm represents 15 grains of rham- 
nus purshiana"-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Rhei (N. F.), Elixir of rhubarb.-Formulary number. 103: " Sweet tincture of rhu- 
barb (U. 8. P.), five hundred cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 fl^, 435 TT[] ; deodorized alcohol, 
sixty-five cubic centimeters (65 Cc.) [2 fl^, 95 Tf[]; water, one hundred and eighty-five cubic 
centimeters (185 Cc )[6 fl.5, 123 TH ]; glycerin, one hundred and twenty-five cubic centimeters 
(125 Cc.) [4 fl5, 109 n[]; syrup (U. 8. P.),one hundred and twenty-five cubic centimeters (125 
Cc.) [4 fix, 109 1TI]. Mix them and filter. Each fluid drachm represents about 2| grains of 
rhubarb"-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Rubi Compositum (N. F.), Compound elixir of blackberry.-Formulary number, 105: 
" Blackberry root, one hundred and sixty grammes (160 Gm.) [5 ozs. av., 282 grs.]; galls, one 
hundred and sixty grammes (160 Gm.) [5 ozs. av., 282 grs.] ; cinnamon, Saigon, one hundred 
and sixty grammes (160 Gm.) [5 ozs. av., 282 grs.]; cloves, forty grammes (40 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 
180 grs.]; mace, twenty grammes (20 Gm.) [309 grs.]; ginger, twenty grammes (20 Gm.) [309 
grs.]; blackberry juice, recently expressed, thirty-seven hundred and fifty cubic centimeters 
(3750 Cc.) [126 fl^, 385 TT[]; syrup ( U. 8. P.), eighteen hundred and seventy-five cubic centi- 
meters (1875 Cc.) [63 fl§, 1921T[]; glycerin, eighteen hundred and seventy-five cubic centi- 
meters (1875 Cc.) [63 fl,5, 192 TT[] ; diluted alcohol (U. 8. P.), a sufficient quantity to make ten 
thousand cubic centimeters (10,000 Cc.) [160,82 fl,5, 66 TH,]. Reduce the solids to a moderately 
coarse (No. 40) powder, moisten it with diluted alcohol, and percolate it with this menstruum 
in the usual manner, until twenty-five hundred cubic centimeters (2500 Cc.) [84 flg, 257 1T[] 
of percolate are obtained. To this add the blackberry juice, syrup, and glycerin, and mix 
thoroughly"-(Nat. Form.). 
Elixir Sodii Salicylatis (N. F.), Elixir of sodium salicylate.-Formulary number, 108: 
" Sodium salicylate, eighty-five grammes (85 Gm.) [3 ozs. av.]; aromatic elixir (U. 8. P.), a suf- 
ficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl,5, 391 TH. J. Dissolve 
the sodium salicylate in about eight hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fl5, 25TTL] of 
aromatic elixir, by agitation. Then add enough aromatic elixir to make one thousand cubic 
centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 TH ], and filter, if necessary. This preparation should be 
freshly prepared, when required for use. Each fluid drachm contains 5 grains of sodium sali- 
cylate"-(Nat. Form.). 
ELIXIR AROMATICUM (U. S. P.)-AROMATIC ELIXIR. 
Synonym : Simple elixir. 
Preparation.-"Compound spirit of orange, twelve cubic centimeters (12 
Cc.) [195 1T|]; syrup, three hundred and seventy-five cubic centimeters (375 Cc.) 
[12 fis, 327 Hl]; precipitated calcium phosphate, fifteen grammes (15 Gm.) [231 
grs.]; deodorized alcohol, distilled water, each, a sufficient quantity to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fi^, 391 Hl]. To the compound spirit 692 
of orange add enough deodorized alcohol to make two hundred and fifty cubic 
centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl5, 218 Uf]. To this solution add the syrup in several 
portions, agitating after each addition, and afterwards add, in the same manner, 
three hundred and seventy-five cubic centimeters (375 Cc.) [12 fls, 327 Tfl] of dis- 
tilled water. Mix the precipitated calcium phosphate intimately with the liquid, 
and then filter through a wetted filter, returning the first portions of the filtrate 
until a transparent liquid is obtained. Lastly, wash the filter with a mixture of 
one volume (1 vol.) of deodorized alcohol and three volumes (3 vol.) of distilled 
water, until the product measures one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) 
[33 fls, 391 ip]"-(U.S. P.). 
Action and Medical Uses.-Carminative; generally employed as a flavoring 
agent. 
ELIXIR PHOSPHORI.-EMPLASTRA. 
ELIXIR PHOSPHORI (U. S. P.)-ELIXIR OF PHOSPHORUS. 
Preparation.-"Spirit of phosphorus, two hundred and ten cubic centi- 
meters (210 Cc.) [7 fls, 48 hl]; oil of anise, two cubic centimeters (2 Cc.) [33 hl] ; 
glycerin, five hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (550 Cc.) [18 fl5, 287 hl ]; aro- 
matic elixir, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 
Cc.) [33 fls, 391 hl]. To the spirit of phosphorus, contained in a graduated bot- 
tle, add the oil of anise and glycerin, and mix them by repeatedly inverting the 
bottle, until they form a clear liquid. Then add aromatic elixir, in several por- 
tions, gently agitating after each addition, until a transparent liquid is obtained, 
and the product measures one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl£, 
391 hl]. Keep the product in dark, amber-colored, well-stoppered bottles, in a 
cool and dark place. Each cubic centimeter of elixir of phosphorus represents 
about | milligramme (0.00025 Gm.) of phosphorus"-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Phosphorus). Dose, from | to 1 
fluid drachm (equivalent to to grain of phosphorus). 
EMPLASTRA.-PLASTERS. 
Plasters are designed to be applied upon the skin or surface of the body; 
they are of much thicker consistence than cerates, require a certain degree of heat 
to soften them sufficiently for spreading, and are very adhesive when applied to 
any part of the body. They are intended to fulfil four indications, viz.: to give 
mechanical support or pressure to certain parts; to hold cut surfaces in contact; 
to protect parts from atmospheric action; and to produce sedative, stimulant, or 
other therapeutical influences, according to the nature of the medicines associated 
with them. They are most usually composed of resins combined with wax, fats, 
and other substances, and frequently in combination with the oleo-stearate and 
palmitate of lead or lead plaster as a basis. Plasters should be prepared in some 
metallic vessel, as tin, or iron, which, in consequence of the uprising many arti- 
cles undergo when heated, thereby augmenting their volume, should be consid- 
erably larger than required to hold the components of the plaster when in an 
unmelted condition. The heat should be continued no longer than is necessary 
to effect the proper amalgamation of the ingredients; and those of a volatile 
character should be added at as late a period during the cooling of the plaster as 
is consistent with their intimate combination with it. After having melted the 
wax and resinous substances, etc., together they should be strained while hot, to 
remove impurities, and, as the several articles required to form the plaster are 
added, the mass should be well stirred. Some plasters require to be stirred con- 
stantly till cold, while others are poured into cold water during their melted state, 
and worked by the hands, kneading them until nearly cold, and then form- 
ing them into cylindrical rolls, or sticks of various dimensions and shapes to suit 
the views of the operator. The cylinders are usually made by rolling portions 
of the plaster on a hard, smooth surface, kept constantly wet during the opera- 
tion. If some of the components of a plaster are soluble in water, the plaster 
should not be worked in this fluid, but be allowed to cool, either in the vessel in 
which it is prepared, or in pans or cylinders made for the purpose. As the action EMPLASTRA. 
693 
of the air exerts an influence upon plasters, it is advisable to cover them with 
paper or tin-foil, in order to protect them as much as possible against this influ- 
ence; and they should always be kept in dry and cool situations. Plasters should 
be hard and not adhesive, at atmospheric temperatures, and should not become 
too soft, but remain flexible and tenacious when exposed to the natural heat of 
the body. When a plaster softens under ordinary atmospheric warmth, it should 
be remelted, and more resin, or other of its solid constituents be added; if it is 
too firm, not being readily spread at a moderate heat, or not sufficiently adhesive 
when in contact with the body, a sufficient quantity of olive oil should be added 
upon remelting it. 
Plasters are spread upon various materials in accordance with the object for 
which they are used. If they are designed to act as mechanical supports, to 
exclude atmospheric air, etc., white sheepskin is the best material; if they are to 
be applied to ulcers, to surfaces exposed by the removal of the skin, or to wounds 
for the purpose of holding the divided surfaces in close contact with each other, 
some softer material may be used, as muslin, etc. Sometimes oiled silk, or india- 
rubber cloth is employed, and where economy is desired, they are spread on stout 
paper. After cutting the leather somewhat larger than the size desired, paste 
strips of paper, about | inch wide, along the edges of the leather, and after having 
spread the plaster within the space which they inclose, remove them. The plaster 
should be spread thinly and evenly, always leaving an unspread edge or border, 
J inch wide, which serves to protect the linen worn over it from adhering to it 
There are various modes of spreading the plaster; some melt the plaster in a suit- 
able vessel over a gentle fire, and spread it by means of a common spatula; others 
use an iron instrument made expressly for the purpose, which, when properly 
heated, they apply to the piaster; as this melts, the fused portion is dropped upon 
various parts of the leather, and the spreading is accomplished by carefully pass- 
ing the same heated iron over the surlace, carrying portions of the melted plaster 
along with it. Care must be taken not to heat the irons employed in spreading 
to too great a degree, else certain parts of the plaster may become volatilized or 
decomposed. When it is desired to obtain large quantities of plasters, they are 
spread by machines made for the purpose, and these factory-made spread plasters 
are now such favorites as to have practically displaced those of the pharmacist. 
Adhesive material spread upon silk, muslin, or paper, makes adhesive and 
court plasters, of which the official Emplastrum Capsici and Emplastrum Ichthyocolla? 
are examples. Such preparations are known in Europe under the name spara- 
drap. Porous plasters are those which have been closely perforated by means of a 
metal wheel beset with punches. Elegant plasters are now manufactured on a 
large scale by specialists who use rubber and other plaster bases. 
The following plasters containing mercury are official: 
Emplastrum Ammoniaci Oum Hydrargyro (U.S. P.), Ammoniac plaster with mercury.- 
"A mmoniac, seven hundred and twenty grammes (720 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 9 ozs., 174 grs.]; mer- 
cury, one hundred and eighty grammes (180 Gm.) [6 ozs. av., 153 grs.]; oleate of mercury, 
eight_grammes (8 Gm.) [123 grs.]; diluted acetic acid, one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) 
[33 fi,5, 391 TTL] J lead plaster, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
[2 lb. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]. Digest the ammoniac with the diluted acetic acid, in a suitable 
vessel, avoiding contact with .metals, until it is entirely emulsified; then strain, and evaporate 
the strained liquid by means of a water-bath, stirring constantly, until a small portion, taken 
from the vessel, hardens on cooling. Triturate the oleate of mercury with the mercury gradu- 
ally added, until globules of the metal cease to be visible. Next add, gradually, the ammo- 
niac, while yet hot; and finally, having added enough lead plaster, previously melted by means 
of a water-bath, to make the mixture weigh one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 
3 ozs., 120 grs.], and mix the whole thoroughly "-( U. S. P.). This plaster frequently excites 
an eczematous eruption, and may produce ptyalism. It is more active than plaster of mercury, 
and is used to discuss syphilitic swellings. It is not employed in Eclectic practice. 
Emplastrum Hydrargyri ( U. S. P.), Mercurialplaster.-" Mercury, three hundred grammes 
(300 Gm.) [10 ozs. av., 255 grs.] ; oleate of mercury, twelve grammes (12 Gm.) [185 grs.] ; lead 
plaster, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 
grs.] Triturate the mercury with the oleate of mercury in a fared capsule until globules of 
metal are no longer visible. Then place the capsule on a water-bath, add enough lead plaster, 
previously melted, to make the contents weigh one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 Ibs.av., 
3 ozs., 120 grs.], and mix the whole thoroughly "-( U. S. P.). Csed as a counter-irritant and 
stimulating discutient to remove syphilitic nodes, glandular swellings of syphilis, syphilitic engorge- 
ments of the liver, and splenic enlargements of malarial origin. May produce sore gums and 
ptyalism. Not employed in Eclectic medicine. 694 
EMPLASTRUM ACONITI.-EMPLASTRUM ARNICA. 
The U. S. P. of 1880 directed the following plasters, the amounts being those in the metric 
system as given in the National Formulary: 
Emplastrum Ammoniaci (N. F.) ( U. N. P., 1880), Ammoniac plaster.-Formulary number, 116: 
"Ammoniac, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]; diluted acetic acid, one 
hundred and forty cubic centimeters (140 Co.) [4 fl§, 352 T[[]. Digest the ammoniac with the 
diluted acetic acid, in a suitable vessel, avoiding contact with metals, until it is entirely emul- 
sionized; then strain and evaporate the strained liquid, by means of a water-bath, stirring 
constantly, until a small portion, taken from the vessel, hardens on cooling"-(Nat. Form.). 
Emplastrum Galbani (N. F.) ( U. S. J''., 1880), Galbanum plaster.-Formulary number, 120: 
"Galbanum, sixteen grammes (16 Gm.) [247 grs.]; turpentine, two grammes (2 Gm.) [31 grs.]; 
burgundy pitch, six grammes (6 Gm.) [92 grs.]; lead plaster, seventy-six grammes (76 Gm.) 
[2 ozs. av., 298 grs.]. To the galbanum and turpentine, previously melted together and strained, 
add, first, the burgundy pitch, then the lead plaster, melted over a gentle fire, and mix the 
whole thoroughly "-(Nat. Form.). 
Galbanum plaster of the British Pharm. consists of 1 ounce (av.) each of galbanum, ammo- 
niacum, and yellow wax, and 8 ounces (av.) of lead plaster. The galbanum and ammoniacum are 
melted together and strained, and subsequently the wax and lead plaster, also melted together, 
are added, and the whole mass thoroughly mixed together. 
Emplastrum Galbani Rubrum, or Emplastrum Oxycroceum.-The German Pharmacopoeia, 
of 1872, directed the following plaster, much employed by the German people in America: 
Melt together, with moderate heat, 6 parts each of resin, burgundy pitch, and yellow wax; 
strain; now add to 3 parts of turpentine, 2 parts each of powdered ammoniac and galbanum. 
Add this solution to the first part. Next add to the whole mixture 1 part of powdered saffron, 
and 2 parts each of powdered mastic, olibanum and myrrh, all previously intimately mixed, 
and mix the whole mass together. An excellent stimulating plaster for local affections. 
Emplastrum PiciS Canadensis (N. F.) (U. S. P., 1880), Canada pitch plaster.-Formulary 
number, 121: "Canada pitch, ninety grammes (90 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 76 grs.]; yellow wax, ten 
grammes (10 Gm.) [154 grs.]. Melt them together, strain the mixture, and stir constantly 
until it thickens on cooling"-(Nat. 'Form.). 
The following plasters are sometimes used: 
Emplastrum Ceruss.e (Emplastrum album coctum), White lead plaster.-Lead plaster, 60 parts; 
olive oil, 10 parts. Melt together. Add lead carbonate (in fine powder), 35 parts. This, with 
the addition of a little water, as needed, is to be boiled until a plaster consistence is obtained. 
This is a German official plaster. 
Mahy's Plaster resembles the preceding, excepting that it contains, in addition, pow- 
dered orris root and a small amount of wax. 
EMPLASTRUM ACONITL-ACONITE PLASTER. 
Preparation.-Take of aconite root, in coarse powder, 4 troy ounces, moisten 
it with 6 fluid ounces of alcohol, sp. gr. 0.835, and permit it to macerate 24 hours; 
then put it in a displacer, and pour on gradually alcohol, sp. gr. 0.835, a sufficient 
quantity to make a pint of tincture. Distill off j of the alcohol, evaporate the 
residue on a water-bath to a thick, syrupy consistence, then add lead plaster, in a 
melted state, 3| troy ounces, and stir constantly until it is properly incorporated 
with the soft resinous extract, and cools. 
Description.-This forms a brown, homogenous mass, weighing about 4 troy 
ounces. It should, when used, be spread in a thin layer on skin or oiled-silk, 
and may be used several times when its application has not been too long con- 
tinued at first. It is considered superior to that in which only aconitine enters, 
being more uniform in its strength and of equal efficacy. 
Action and Medical Uses.-It possesses the medicinal efficacy of the root, 
and has been found a valuable application in neuralgia, headache, rheumatic pains, 
painful tumors of the breast and other parts, and in inflammatory dysmenozrhoea 
(W. Procter, Jr.). 
EMPLASTRUM ARNICA (U. S. P.)-ARNICA PLASTER. 
Preparation.-•" Extract of arnica root, three hundred and thirty grammes 
(330 Gm.) [11 ozs. av., 280 grs.]; resin plaster, six hundred and seventy grammes 
(670 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 7 ozs., 277 grs.]; to make one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
[2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]. Add the extract to the plaster, previously melted by 
means of a water-bath, and mix them thoroughly"-(U. S. P.). 
Action and Medical Uses.-A stimulant, useful as an application to painful 
or sprained joints, chronic rheumatic pains, zveak back, etc. EMPLASTRUM AROMATHUM.-EMPLASTRUM CAPSICI. 
695 
EMPLASTRUM AROMATICUM (N. F.)-AROMATIC PLASTER. 
Synonym : Spice plaster. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 117: "Cloves, ten grammes (10 Gm.) 
[154 grs.]; cinnamon, Saigon, ten grammes (10 Gm.) [154 grs.]; ginger, ten 
grammes (10 Gm.) [154 grs.]; capsicum, five grammes (5 Gm.) [77 grs.]; camphor, 
five grammes (5 Gm.) [77 grs.]; cotton seed oil, thirty-five grammes (35 Gm.) 
[1 oz. av., 102 grs.]; leaa plaster, twenty-five grammes (25 Gm.) [386 grs.]. Melt 
together the lead plaster and cotton seed oil, with the aid of heat. Cool the 
mixture and, while it is still soft, thoroughly incorporate with it the aromatic 
ingredients, previously reduced to a very fine powder"-(Nat. Form.). 
Action and Medical Uses.- This is an excellent stimulating application 
for the relief of local pains, especially of the chest and abdomen, and to palliate 
the pains of rheumatism and neuralgia. 
EMPLASTRUM BELLADONNA (U. S. P.)-BELLADONNA 
PLASTER. 
Preparation.-"Alcoholic extract of belladonna leaves, two hundred grammes 
(200 Gm.) [7 ozs. av.,24 grs.]; resin plaster, four hundred grammes (400 Gm.) 
[14 ozs. av., 48 grs.]; soap plaster, four hundred grammes (400 Gm.) [14 ozs. 
av., 48 grs.] ; to make one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 
grs.]. Melt the plasters on a water-bath; then add the extract of belladonna 
leaves, and continue the heat, stirring constantly, until a homogeneous mass 
results"-(U. S. P.). For uses, see Belladonna. 
EMPLASTRUM BELLADONNA COMPOSITUM.-COMPOUND 
PLASTER OF BELLADONNA. 
Preparation.-Take of resin plaster, 5 troy ounces; alcoholic extract of bella- 
donna root, 1 troy ounce; alcoholic extract of conium maculatum, 1| troy ounces; 
pulverized iodine, 40 grains. Place the plaster in an earthenware mortar, and 
put this in hot water. When the plaster commences to melt, add the extracts of 
belladonna and conium, and rub the ingredients well together; then take the 
mortar from the water-bath, continuing the trituration, and, when nearly cool, 
add the iodine. The inspissated juices of the above narcotics are preferable to 
the ordinary extract in preparing this plaster. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This plaster may be used for the same purposes 
as the belladonna plaster, and is also an excellent application over scrofulous and 
other tumors, white-swelling, and goitre; and may likewise be applied over the region 
of the. liver and spleen for chronic affections of these organs, and over the lumbar 
vertebrae in severe dysmenorrhcea. Like the preceding plaster, it occasionally 
affects the constitution, and then requires to be omitted for a few days (J. King). 
EMPLASTRUM CAPSICI (U. S. P.)-CAPSICUM PLASTER. 
Synonym : Sparadrapuni capsici. 
Preparation.-" Oleoresin of capsicum, resin plaster, each, a sufficient quan- 
tity. Melt the resin plaster at a gentle heat, spread a thin and even layer of it 
upon muslin, and allow it to cool. Then, having cut off a piece of the required 
size, apply a thin coat of oleoresin of capsicum, by means of a brush, leaving a 
narrow, blank margin along the edges. A space of ten centimeters (10 Cm.) [3.94 
inches] square should contain about twenty-five centigrammes (0.25 Gm.) [3.85 
grains] of oleoresin of capsicum "-(U.S. P.). 
Action and Medical Uses.-This plaster is stimulant and slightly rubefa- 
cient. Tt may be applied where a mild counter-irritant is needed in neuralgic, 
rheumatic, and other painful conditions. 696 
EMPLASTRUM CAPSICI COMPOSITUM.-EMPLASTRUM ICHTHYOCOLLAS. 
EMPLASTRUM CAPSICI COMPOSITUM.-COMPOUND 
CAPSICUM PLASTER. 
Synonyms : Common strengthening plaster, Sear-cloth plaster. 
Preparation.-Take of rosin, 4 troy ounces ; yellow wax, 1 troy ounce; tinc- 
ture of capsicum, | pint. Melt the rosin and wax, and add the tincture; keep 
stirring by a gentle heat, until the alcohol is evaporated; then remove from the 
fire, and, when nearly cold, add pulverized camphor, 4 troy ounce; oil of sassa- 
fras, 45 minims. Stir until cold (Beach's Amer. Prac/. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This forms a gently stimulating and strengthen- 
ing plaster, and may be used in all cases where artificial support, prevention of the 
contact of atmospheric air, or mild stimulation is required. It was a great favorite 
with Eclectic physicians 25 years ago, and is still extensively used by them. 
EMPLASTRUM FERRI (U. S. P.)-IRON PLASTER. 
Synonyms : Strengthening plaster, Emplastrum /erratum, Chalybeate plaster, Em- 
plastrum martiale, Emplastrum roborans. 
Preparation.-" Ferric hydrate, dried at a temperature not exceeding 80° C. 
(176° F.), ninety grammes (90 Gm.) [3 oz. av., 76 grs.]; olive oil, fifty grammes 
(50 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 334 grs.]; burgundy pitch, one hundred and forty grammes 
(140 Gm.) [4 ozs. av., 411 grs.] ; lead plaster, seven hundred and twenty grammes 
(720 Gm.) [1 lb. av.,9 ozs., 174 grs.]; to make one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
[2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]. Melt the lead plaster and burgundy pitch by means 
of a water-bath, and add the olive oil; then add the ferric hydrate, and stir con- 
stantly until the mixture thickens on cooling"-(U. S. P.). 
Action and Medical Uses.-This plaster is stimulating, protective, and sup- 
porting. It is applied to the chest during the latter stage of pleurisy, to glandular 
enlargements, and to rheumatic joints and muscles. It is sometimes applied to weak 
backs. It has nothing in particular to recommend it. 
EMPLASTRUM ICHTHYOCOLLA (U. S. P.)-ISINGLASS 
PLASTER. 
Synonyms : Court plaster, Sparadrapum adhaesivum, Taffetas adhaesivum, Emplas- 
trum adhaesivum anglicum, Sericum anglicum. 
Preparation.-"Isinglass, ten grammes (10 Gm.) [154 grs.]; alcohol, forty 
grammes (40 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 180 grs.] ; glycerin, one gramme (1 Gm.) [15 grs.]; 
water, tincture of benzoin, each, a sufficient quantity. Dissolve the isinglass in a 
sufficient quantity of hot water to make the solution weigh one hundred and twenty 
grammes (120 Gm.) [4 ozs. av., 102 grs.]. Spread one-half of this, in successive 
layers, upon taffeta (stretched on a frame), by means of a brush, waiting after each 
application until the layer is dry. Mix the second half of the isinglass solution 
with the alcohol and glycerin, and apply it in the same manner. Then reverse 
the taffeta, coat it on the back with tincture of benzoin, and allow it to become 
perfectly dry. Cut the plaster in pieces of suitable length and preserve them in 
well-closed vessels. The above-directed quantities are sufficient to cover a piece 
of taffeta thirty-eight centimeters (38Cm.)[about 16 inches] square"-(U. S. P./ 
The glycerin is added to this plaster to give it pliability, while the benzoin renders 
it partially water-proof. Pharmacists now purchase all their court plaster from 
plaster manufacturers. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This is the ordinary isinglass plaster employed 
for covering minor injuries, as abrasions, slight cuts, pimples, etc. It should be ap- 
plied by moistening it with clean water, and never with saliva. 
Related Preparations.-Gelanthum. Gelanthum is a kind of varnish of the collodion 
class, having about the consistency of Unguentuni Glyceriui. It was devised by Dr. Unna. It 
is made by W. Mielck in Hamburg, apothecary of the Schwanen-Apotheke, who is also the 
proprietor of the copyrighted name Gelanthum. Unna endeavored to find a vehicle that EMPLASTRUM MENTHOL.-EMPLASTRUM OPII. 
697 
would allow the fixing of the various medicaments upon the skin, and which would be capable 
of drying quickly. This he at last accomplished by means of a combination of gelatin and 
tragacanth. Unguentum Caseini, which has hitherto been considered the best substance for 
this purpost', does not possess the property of absorbing all medicaments without decompo- 
sition, nor does it keep for an indefinite length of time. Nevertheless, Unna states that, in 
certain cases, unguentum caseini is preferable to gelanthum, since the casein salve is a better 
medium for carrying the different kinds of tar, and since casein itself exerts a beneficial influ- 
ence in the case of thickening of the epidermis. 
Preparation of Gelanthum.-The tragacanth, in pieces, is to be treated with 20 times its 
weight of cold water for 3 to 4 weeks, with frequent agitation ; then heated over steam for one 
day, and pressed through cheese cloth. The gelatin likewise is swollen in cold water (4 to 5 
parts), exposed for some time to steam under pressure, in order to deprive it of the tendency 
to gelatinize, and is then filtered through a steam filtering funnel. This filtrate is mixed with 
the tragacanth mucilage and the mixture heated for about 2 days in a steam bath, again 
strained, and finally mixed with 5 per cent of glycerin, some rose water (preferably a few 
drops of oil of rose), and thymol (2:10,000). The finished gelanthum contains about 2 per cent 
each of gelatin and tragacanth. This gelanthum may safely be mixed with as much as 50 per 
cent of ichthyol, 40 per cent salicylic acid, resorcin and pyrogallol, 5 per cent carbolic acid, 
or 1 per cent mercuric chloride without impairing its qualities as a varnish. Incompatibles 
incorporated into gelanthum are said not to act upon each other, still it is recommended to first 
triturate them, if in powder form, or as a viscid liquid, with water or spirits as the case may 
require; fats and oils should first be emulsified by means of gum Arabic. An addition of 20 
per cent glycerin, or of 40 per cent ichthyol does not affect the drying qualities of gelanthum. 
Gelanthe Creme is a preparation introduced by the Schwanen-Apotheke in Hamburg 
as a cosmetic, and consists oi 10 percent of fat and some perfume admixed with gelanthum 
(Pharm. Centralhalle, 1896, pp. 183 and 815). 
EMPLASTRUM MENTHOL.-MENTHOL PLASTER. 
Preparation.-Melt together resin, 7 ounces (av.),and yeuow wax, 1 ounce 
(av.). Stir into the mixture, as it cools, menthol, 2 ounces (av.). 
Action and Medical Uses.-This plaster is now official in the Br. Pharm. 
It is designed as a counter-irritant, and is used for local pains, neuralgic or rheu- 
matic in character, and in migraine. 
EMPLASTRUM MYRICK.-BAYBERRY PLASTER. 
Synonym : Green salve. 
Preparation.-Take of white gum turpentine and bayberry wax, each 2 troy 
ounces. Melt together, strain, and stir till cold. In winter a small quantity of 
olive oil may be added (Beach's American Practice'). 
Action and Medical Uses.-This forms a very valuable and efficient applica- 
tion to scrofulous and other ulcers; also to many cutaneous affections. It is often pre- 
pared of the consistence of an ointment for these purposes (see Bayberry Ointment). 
EMPLASTRUM OPII (U. S. P.)-OPIUM PLASTER. 
Synonyms: Emplastrum odontalgicum, Emplastrum cephalicum, Emplastrum 
opiatum. 
Preparation.-"Extract of opium, sixty grammes (60 Gm.) [2 ozs. av., 51 
grs.]; burgundy pitch, one hundred and eighty grammes (180 Gm.) [6 ozs. av., 153 
grs.]; lead plaster, seven hundred and sixty grammes (760 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 10 ozs., 
355 grs.]; water, eighty cubic centimeters (80 Cc.) [2 H5, 339Hl); to make one 
thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]. Rub the extract of 
opium with the water until it is uniformly soft, and add it to the burgundy pitch 
and lead plaster melted together by means of a water-bath; then continue the 
heat for a short time, stirring constantly, until the moisture is evaporated"- 
QU. S. P.) 
Action and Medical Uses.-This piaster is designed as an application to 
fulfil many of the purposes for which opium is used externally, as for the relief 
of painful parts, as in rheumatism, neuralgia, odontalgia, etc. 698 
EMPLASTRUM PICIS BURGUNDIC.E.-EMPLASTRUM PICIS COMPOSITUM. 
EMPLASTRUM PICIS BURGUNDIC.® (U. S. P.)-BURGUNDY 
PITCH PLASTER. 
Preparation.-"Burgundy pitch, eight hundred grammes (800 Gm.) [1 lb. 
av., 12 ozs., 96 grs.] ; olive oil, fifty grammes (50 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 334 grs.]; yellow 
wax, one hundred and fifty grammes (150 Gm.) [5 ozs. av., 127 grs.]; to make 
one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]. Melt together the 
burgundy pitch and yellow wax, then incorporate the olive oil, and stir con- 
stantly until the mass thickens on cooling"-(U. S. Pf. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This plaster is stimulant, and may be employed 
where a mild counter-irritant is demanded, as well as for a strengthening or sup- 
porting plaster. Occasionally the pitch plaster will be found to cause, and keep 
up a discharge of serum, and when it does so, it should be often renewed. 
EMPLASTRUM PICIS CANTHARIDATUM (U. S. P.)-CANTHARIDAL 
PITCH PLASTER. 
Synonyms: Warming plaster, Warm plaster. 
Preparation.-"Cerate of cantharides, eighty grammes (80 Gm.) [2 ozs. av., 
360 grs.J; burgundy pitch, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]. Melt the cerate of cantharides on a water- 
bath containing boiling water, and continue the heat for 15 minutes; then strain 
it through a piece of muslin of close texture so that the cantharides will be retained 
on the muslin. To the strained liquid add a sufficient quantity of burgundy 
pitch to make the whole weigh one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 
ozs., 120 grs.]; render the mixture homogeneous by stirring, remove the heat, and 
stir the mass until it thickens on cooling' '-(G. S. Pf. 
It is necessary that the cantharides be in very fine powder. The direction to 
strain the cerate through muslin is very essential, that none of the particles of can- 
tharides of any considerable size may come in contact with the skin and vesicate it. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This plaster is a mild counter-irritant, and is 
considered useful in chronic articular diseases, chronic rheumatism, and such chest 
diseases as chronic bronchitis, chronic pleurisy, and in pulmonary engorgement of tuber- 
cular character. Also applied in phthisis, asthma, whooping-cough, bronchial catarrh, 
hepatitis, etc. 
EMPLASTRUM PICIS COMPOSITUM.-COMPOUND 
TAR PLASTER. 
Synonyms: Irritating plaster. 
Preparation.-Take Burgundy pitch, 24 troy ounces; white turpentine, 16 
troy ounces; melt them together, add tar 48 troy ounces, stir well together and 
strain, remove from the fire, and add finely-powdered mandrake root, blood-root, 
poke-root, Indian turnip, each 10 troy ounces. Incorporate well together (T. V. 
Morrow). When it is desired to produce a more active preparation, and one which 
will act more promptly, euphorbium, in powder, 4 troy ounces, is added to the above. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This plaster is irritant,rubefacient, and suppura- 
tive. It is used extensively in many cases where counter-irritation or powerful 
revulsion is indicated, in neuralgia, rheumatism, and in the majority of painful 
chronic diseases. It acts more efficiently, and is much more adhesive when spread 
quite thin, on soft leather, than when spread on any kind of cloth; though it 
may bespread on oil-silk, india-rubber cloth, or other substance that will not absorb 
any portion of it. This plaster may be held in place by a bandage or two, as it 
has to be removed daily, but when it is desired to have a firmer adhesion to the 
skin, some adhesive plaster may be applied around the margin left on the mate- 
rial upon which the tar plaster is spread. When applied to a part of the body, 
it must be removed daily, for the purpose of thinly respreading the same piece of 
leather, or oil-silk, etc., with the plaster, which is to be immediately reapplied 
upon the part. This course is to be continued until the surface, to which it is EMPLASTRUM PLUMBI. 
699 
applied, commences discharging matter, after which it should be removed 2 or 3 
times a day, wiping it quite dry each time before respreading it, and likewise 
carefully drying the sore as much as possible. This latter is best accomplished 
by lightly pressing upon it soft pieces of dry cotton, linen, or lint, so as to absorb 
all the pus. The practitioner must bear in mind that he is never, no matter what 
maybe the condition of the sore or surrounding parts, to wet it; this will render 
it irritable and inflamed, and cause it to cease suppurating healthily, and even 
to require its immediate healing. 
This plaster is very painful, producing more or less irritability of the system, 
and should never be used except when its use is indispensable; when it becomes 
very painful and irritating, depriving the patient of sleep, orcausing him to com- 
plain loudly, it must be removed, and a slippery-elm poultice be applied. Many 
practitioners consider the disturbance of sleep, alone, as an indication for remov- 
ing the plaster, which may be reapplied when it is desirable to continue the sup- 
purative discharge for a longer time, as soon as the elm poultice has allayed the 
local irritation. If this is not required, the sore may be healed by some simple 
application, as simple cerate, a mixture of beeswax and tallow, red oxide of lead 
plaster, etc. Whenever the tar plaster or the dressing to the sore produced by it, 
are removed for renewal, the sore should each time be cleansed from matter in the 
manner referred to above. As the peculiar odor of the ingredients of this plaster 
may be observed in the excretions, there is no doubt but that they are absorbed 
into the system, and exert an alterative as well as a counter-irritating influence. 
EMPLASTRUM PLUMBI (U. S. P.)-LEAD PLASTER. 
Synonyms: Diachylon plaster, Emplastrum diachylon simplex, Litharge plaster, 
Emplastrum album coctum. 
Preparation.-" Lead oxide, three thousand two hundred grammes (3200 
Gm.) [7 lbs. av., 384 grs.]; olive oil, six thousand grammes (6000 Gm.) [13 lbs. 
av., 3 ozs., 282 grs.]; water, a sufficient quantity. Mix the lead oxide, previously 
passed through a No. 80 sieve, intimately with about | of the olive oil, by tritu- 
ration, and add the mixture to the remainder of the oil contained in a bright cop- 
per boiler of a capacity equal to at least 4 times the bulk of the ingredients. Then 
add one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 UI] of boiling water, 
and boil the whole together, over a fire,constantly stirring with a wooden spatula, 
until a small portion, when dropped into cold water, is found to be pliable and 
tenacious. From time to time add a little water to replace that lost by evapora- 
tion. When the contents of the boiler have acquired a whitish color and are per- 
fectly homogeneous,transfer them to a vessel containing warm water, and as soon 
as the mass has sufficiently cooled, knead it well with the water so as to remove 
the glycerin, renewing the water from time to time, as long as it may be neces- 
sary. Finally divide the mass into rolls of suitable size"-{U. S. P.). 
In the method here given, the formation of the plaster is rapid when the 
oxide of lead is in fine powder. Stirring facilitates the combination, by inti- 
mately mixing the particles, and preventing the oxide from adhering to the bot- 
tom of the vessel. To a practiced pharmacist the tenacity and consistence of 
the mass indicates when the reaction is complete. The reaction here involved, 
which is that of ordinary saponification, requires the addition of water as an indis- 
pensable ingredient, in order to make the formation of glycerin possible, as will 
be seen from the following equation which takes into account pure olein only: 
2C3H5(C18H33O2)3(oZem) -|-3PbO {lead o.ndc)4-3H.2O(?<;ofer)=3Pb(C18H33O2)2(/ea(Z oleate) 
+2 C 3 H 5 ( O H) 3 (g ly c e r in). 
Description and Tests.-Lead plaster, or diachylon, as it is frequently termed, 
is a grayish-white body, brittle when cold, plastic when warm, insoluble in water 
or alcohol, and partially soluble in ether. In the official description it is described 
as yellowish-white, but as a rule it is evenly grayish-white, unless old, when it 
changes on the surface to a yellowish or light-brownish hue. We have seen this 
plaster of a decidedly green color from the employment of " virgin " or the green 
olive oil. "A yellowish-white, pliable, and tenacious, but not greasy mass, gradu- 
ally acquiring a brownish tint on the outside. On treating 5 Gm. of lead plaster 700 
EMPLASTRUM PLUMBI IODIDE-EMPLASTRUM PLUMBI OXIDI RUBRUM. 
with 25 Cc. of benzol, a somewhat viscid and slightly turbid solution will result, 
which will separate into a clear and a gelatinous layer after some time, but which 
should not deposit any sediment (absence of uncombined lead oxide)"-(U. R P.). 
Action and Medical Uses.-Lead plaster is chiefly used as a basis for other 
plasters. It is used in surgery on account of its adhesiveness and mildness of local 
action, rarely causing irritation. It is used to keep the edges of wounds together, 
and as an application to blistered and chafed surfaces, and occasionally to some ulcers, 
all of which it serves to protect from atmospheric influence. The sedative char- 
acter of the lead used in its formation, probably assists its beneficial action. 
An ointment is in considerable use as a dressing for burns, scalds, and chil- 
blains, and various cutaneous affections accompanied with a burning or smarting 
sensation. It is prepared as follows: "Take of lead plaster, 24 troy ounces, melt 
it by a gentle heat, and, when melted, add to it oil of turpentine, 9 fluid ounces; 
linseed oil, 3 fluid ounces; oil of origanum, 16 fluid ounces; tincture of opium, 
3 fluid ounces. Stir the articles constantly until the mass has sufficiently cooled. 
This is applied by completely and thickly covering the affected part with the 
ointment, over which a layer of raw cotton is to be placed, and allowed to remain 
until the part is well. In the case of deep burns, should the pain return after a 
few hours, the ointment should be removed, softening it with some warm oil, and 
a cataplasm of elm bark, or flax seed, be applied. It is said to afford prompt 
relief. Should the burn be extensive, care must be taken not to apply the oint- 
ment over the whole of it, but only over a portion at a time. This old Eclectic 
ointment we have recognized under a fanciful proprietary name, extensively 
lauded to the regular profession as a wonderful remedy for burns. 
EMPLASTRUM PLUMBI IODIDE-IODIDE OF LEAD PLASTER. 
Preparation.-Take lead iodide, 1 part (2 ounces av.) ; lead plaster, 8 parts 
(1 pound av.); resin, 1 part (2 ounces av.). Melt the resin and lead plaster at the 
lowest possible temperature, add the lead iodide, in fine powder, and mix inti- 
mately. This accords with the Br. Pharm. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Discutient. Useful application for arthritis, rheu- 
matism, and for topical use on indurations, the result of inflammations. 
EMPLASTRUM PLUMBI OXIDI RUBRUM.-RED OXIDE OF 
LEAD PLASTER. 
Synonym: Black sales. 
Preparation.-Take of olive oil, 1 quart; rosin, beeswax, each, 1 troy ounce. 
Melt together in a capacious iron kettle and raise the mixture nearly to the 
decomposition point; then gradually add pulverized red lead, 12 troy ounces. 
Stir constantly ; when the lead is taken up by the oil, the mixture becomes brown, 
or shining black; then remove from the fire, and when nearly cold add of pulver- 
ized camphor, 80 grains. It should not be removed from the fire until its con- 
sistency is such that it maybe spread easily, which maybe ascertained by remov- 
ing small portions of it from time to time, on a knife, and testing this when cold. 
(Beach's American Practice'). 
This is practically the old Nuremburg plaster of the German Pharmacopoeias, the 
formula for which is as follows: Take of red lead, 8 troy ounces; olive oil, 16 
troy ounces; mix, and expose to a heat until the mixture assumes a brown or 
blackish appearance, and then add rosin, £ troy ounce; yellow wax, 1^ troy ounces; 
camphor, 2 drachms; stir thoroughly together. 
In the preparation of this, plaster it must be remembered that olive oil 
requires a heat of about 315.5° C. (600° F.) for ebullition; and should bubbles be 
observed when the heat is only 100° C. (212° F.), it will probably be owing to the 
presence of water. If the oil itself is not brought nearly to the boiling point, 
the red lead will not be acted upon; hence, the operator should not add this until 
the oil has been so far heated as to scorch a feather when dipped into it. Several 
preparations similar to these have been employed from time to time, one being 
the Universal, or Breast plaster, often sold as a secret nostrum under various names. EMPLASTRUM RESINAS.-EMPLASTRUM RESINjE COMPOSITUM. 
701 
It is made by boiling together, with constant stirring, red oxide of lead (in fine 
powder), 2 parts, and olive oil, 4 parts. When the melted mass has assumed a 
deep-brown color, add yellow wax, 1 part. This constitutes the Emplastrum fuscum, 
Emplastrum matris fuscum, Emplastrum novicum, Emplastrum nigrum, etc. Camphor 
(1 per cent) added to the above produces the Emplastrum fuscum camphoratum of 
the Germans. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This is a valuable application in burns, many cuta- 
neous affections, and syphilitic, scrofulous, fistulous, tin d all other species of ulcers. A 
preparation similar to the above is employed by many practitioners in preference. 
It is made as follows: Heat 2 quarts of linseed oil until it will scorch a feather; 
then gradually add 16 troy ounces of red lead in powder; when the red lead is taken 
up by the oil, and the mixture is black, remove from the fire, and when nearly 
cold add 2 troy ounces of oil of turpentine, and stir until the mixture is cold. 
Related Preparation.-Emplastrum Fuscum Camphoratum (N. F.), Camphorated brown 
plaster, Emplastrum matris camphoratum, Camphorated mother plaster.-Formulary number, 119: 
"Red oxide of lead, three hundred grammes (300 Gm.) [10 ozs. av., 255 grs.]; olive oil, six 
hundred grammes (600 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 5 ozs., 72 grs.]; yellow wax, one hundred and fifty 
grammes (150 Gm.) [5 ozs. av., 127 grs.] ; camphor, ten grammes (10 Gm.) [154 grs.]. Tritu- 
rate the red oxide of lead with a portion of the oil in a capacious copper kettle until a smooth 
paste results. Then add the remainder of the oil, excepting a small quantity required for 
trituration with the camphor, and boil the whole over a naked fire, under constant stirring, 
until gas bubbles rise, or until the red color of the mixture begins to turn brown. Then mod- 
erate the heat, but continue the stirring until the mixture has acquired a dark-brown color, 
and from time to time allow some drops of it to fall into cold water to test its consistence. 
When this is satisfactory, remove the vessel from the fire, add the wax in small pieces, and 
finally the camphor, previously rubbed to a smooth paste with a little olive oil. Mix thor- 
oughly, allow the mixture to become somewhat cool, and while it is still warm, pour the plaster 
into paper molds, previously coated with mucilage, containing about 5 per cent of glycerin, 
and dried. Note.-This preparation is official in the German Pharmacopoeia"-(Nat. FormA. 
The preceding closely resembles the Eclectic black salve. 
EMPLASTRUM RESINA (U. S. P.)-RESIN PLASTER. 
Synonyms: Adhesive plaster. Sticking plaster. 
Preparation.- "Resin, in fine powder, one hundred and forty grammes (140 
Gm.) (4 ozs. av., 411 grs.]; lead plaster, eight hundred grammes (800 Gm.) [1 lb. 
av.,12 ozs., 96 grs.]; yellow wax, sixty grammes (60 Gm.) [2 ozs. av.,51 grs.]; to 
make one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.); [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]. Melt the 
lead plaster and yellow wax together with a gentle heat, then add the resin, and, 
when it is melted, mix the mass thoroughly "-(U. S. P.). 
This preparation, when spread on muslin, forms the ordinary Adhesive plas- 
ter; as age impairs its adhesiveness, fresh supplies should be obtained frequently. 
Sometimes powdered Castile soap is added to it, which increases its plasticity 
without diminishing its adhesiveness, and renders it less brittle in winter. If a 
small band of adhesive plaster be used as though it were paper, the writing being 
made on its reverse side, then warmed and placed upon a bottle, it will form an 
excellent label for vessels kept in cellars and damp places. In place of ink, var- 
nish may be used, colored with vermilion, and then both ink and label resist the 
action of water and moisture. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This plaster is more irritating, as well as more 
adhesive than Lead plaster. It is used in surgery to hold the edges of wounds to- 
gether, to keep the dressings of ulcers, etc., in place, to make pressure upon, or give 
support to parts, and for the same purposes as the lead plaster. It is sufficiently 
irritating in its composition, without having any other stimulating agents com- 
bined with it. 
EMPLASTRUM RESINA COMPOSITUM.-COMPOUND 
RESIN PLASTER. 
Synonym: Adhesive and Strengthening plaster. 
Preparation.-Take of white resin, 12 troy ounces; yellow wax, burgundy 
pitch, tallow, of each, 1 troy ounce. Melt together, and add olive oil, pulverized, 702 
EMPLASTRUM SAPONIS.-EMULSA. 
camphor, and sassafras oil, of each, 1 drachm; West India rum, 1 fluid ounce. 
Incorporate well together, then pour the whole into cold water, and work it in the 
hands until cold, forming it into rolls or sticks (Beach's American Practice). 
Action and Medical Uses.-This forms an adhesive and strengthening plas- 
ter, used in rheumatism, weakness of the joints, wounds, ulcers, etc. It is possessed of 
considerable stimulating property, and has been frequently used by practitioners, 
yet, notwithstanding, it is an unscientific preparation, as the rum and tallow will 
not be found to unite readily. The Emplastrum Capsici Compositum, is a much 
better article to use for the same purposes. 
EMPLASTRUM SAPONIS (U. S. P.)- SOAP PLASTER. 
Preparation.-"Soap, dried and in coarse powder, one hundred grammes 
(100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]; lead plaster, nine hundred grammes (900 Gm.) 
[1 lb. av., 15 ozs., 327 grs.); water, a sufficient quantity. Rub the soap with 
enough water to reduce it to a semi-liquid state; then mix it with the lead plaster, 
previously melted, and evaporate to the proper consistence"-(U. S.P). It is im- 
portant that the soap be in powder form, in order to insure a perfect mixture 
with water, and that the water be afterward evaporated, so that the plaster will 
possess good adhesive qualities. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This plaster, spread on leather, is used as a dis- 
cutient and mechanical support. It will be found very useful as an application 
for constant wear, to aid in softening and removing corns, after they have been 
carefully shaved down. The addition of iodine and camphor will greatly improve 
its utility in this respect. 
EMPLASTRUM SAPONIS FUSCUM.-BROWN SOAP PLASTER. 
Synonyms: Emplastrum cerati saponis, Soap' cerate plaster. 
Preparation.-Boil together by means of a steam bath, lead oxide, 15 ounces 
(av.), and vinegar, 1 gallon (Imp.), with constant stirring, until the acid and the 
oxide combine. Add powdered curd soap, 10 ounces (av.), and again boil the 
mixture until the greater portion of the moisture is dissipated. Lastly, add yel- 
low wax, 12^ ounces (av.), and olive oil, 1 pint (Imp.), previously melted together. 
With constant stirring maintain the^heat until the remaining moisture has suffi- 
ciently evaporated to give a plaster consistence to the product. This product 
is in reality a cerate, and is the same as the Ceratum Saponis Compositum of the 
London Pharmacopoeia. A similar preparation is that of the U. S. P. (1870), as fol- 
lows: Take of soap plaster, 2 troy ounces; white wax, 24 troy ounces; olive oil, 
4 troy ounces. Melt together the plaster and the wax, add the oil, and after con- 
tinuing the heat a short time, stir the mixture until cool-(U. S. P., 1870). 
Gerrard proposes the substitution of acetic acid (18 ounces) in place of the 
vinegar. This quickens the process by shortening the time required for boiling. 
Action and Medical Uses.-This plaster is employed where a cooling seda- 
tive cerate is desired. It is adapted to chronic inflammatory swellings, as of scrofula, 
arthritic enlargements, etc. It also serves as an adhesive plaster. 
EMULSA.-EMULSIONS. 
The class emulsions comprises milk-like mixtures of liquids and solids. The 
term emulsion is restricted to oleaginous, fatty, or resinous bodies in a watery 
menstruum. The agents chiefly employed to emulsify fixed oils are the muci- 
lages of acacia, tragacanth, chondrus, dextrin, yolk of egg, and sometimes tinc- 
ture of quillaja; the latter, however, is somewhat toxic. Emulsions made with 
egg do not keep well. Acacia enters into the composition of most emulsions. 
Solutions of pancreatin or liquor potassa? are rarely used. Emulsions of volatile 
oils may be made by rubbing the oil with some solid intended as an ingredient, 
or with sugar, syrup, or glycerin. If it be such an oil as oil of turpentine the 703 
EMULSA. 
emulsion may be improved by first mixing it with an equal bulk of a fixed oil, 
as olive oil, oil of sweet almond, or oil of sesamum, and afterwards proceeding as 
with the fixed oils. With the resins suspension is effected by means of mucilages; 
with the gum-resins water only is required, inasmuch as the mucilage thus formed 
by the gummy material of the gum-resin holds the resinous particles in suspen- 
sion. Emulsions prepared by means of an alkaline emulsifier precipitate upon 
the addition of acids; emulsions prepared with mucilages or with the yolk of egg 
are precipitated by the addition of an excess of saline or alcoholic preparations, 
such as tinctures, wines, or fluid extracts. Emulsions, if properly prepared will 
not "crack," i. e., separate into oil and water upon standing. The National For- 
mulary gives the following general directions for the preparation of emulsions: 
Emulsiones (N. F.), Emulsions.-Formulary number, 123: "The successful for- 
mation of emulsions, whether of fixed or volatile oils, is most satisfactorily and 
expeditiously accomplished with acacia as the emulsifying agent. Hence, prefer- 
ence is given acacia in this Formulary, though other emulsifying agents are not 
ignored, and their use and application is exemplified in a number of alternative 
formulas for preparing emulsion of cod-liver oil. 
A. Emulsification.-" When acacia is used as the emulsifying agent, it is impor- 
tant that the oil, the acacia, and the water, shall primarily be in absolutely defi- 
nite proportion to each other by weight. This proportion is 8 parts of oil to 2 parts 
of acacia, and 3 parts of water. The oil (8), and acacia (2), in fine powder, are 
weighed into a mortar, and well mixed by trituration; the water (3), is then added 
in one portion, and the whole is triturated briskly until a thick, creamy emulsion 
is produced, the sides of the mortar being carefully scraped, and the mixture again 
triturated so as to insure the complete emulsification of all the oil. During warm 
weather, the water and oil should be cooled. The other ingredients may then be 
gradually added; first the flavoring, then the greater part of the water necessary 
to make the final quantity, then the syrup, etc. Finally, the quantity is adjusted 
by the addition of sufficient water. Alcoholic liquids should be added last, and 
should be previously mixed with a portion of the water. If these simple condi- 
tions and directions are carefully observed, and particularly, if the proportions by 
weight are accurate, a perfect emulsion is obtained with certainty and rapidity. 
"With other emulsifying agents-mucilage of Irish moss, mucilage of dex- 
trin, glycerite of egg, tincture of quillaja-the proportions need not be adjusted 
with the same minuteness. It suffices to place the emulsifier into a bottle or mor- 
tar, and to add the oil in small portions at a time, shaking or triturating briskly 
after each addition until emulsification is completed. Obviously, the preparation 
of this class of emulsions is very much facilitated by mechanical contrivances that 
are capable of producing brisk agitation and mingling of the two fluids, and such 
are necessarily resorted to when emulsions are to be made in large quantities for 
the market. 
B. Flavoring.-" Since no single or compound aromatic can be devised which 
would be acceptable under all circumstances as a flavoring for emulsion of cod- 
liver oil, the selection of the most suitable aromatic must be left to the prescriber 
or dispenser. Among those which are found to be most serviceable are the fol- 
lowing, the quantities given below being intended for one thousand cubic centi- 
meters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 Hl] of finished emulsion, though in some cases a 
smaller or a larger quantity, in the same proportion, may be preferable: 
(1) "Oil ofi gaultheria, four cubic centimeters (4 Cc.) [65 TH]. (2) Oil of gaul- 
theria, two cubic centimeters (2 Cc.) [32.5 TH]; Oil of sassafras, two cubic centime- 
ters, (2 Cc.) [32.5 Til]. (3) Compound spirit of orange (U. S. P.), one and one-half 
cubic centimeters (1.5 Cc.) [24 TIL). (4) Oil of gaultheria, two cubic centimeters 
(2 Cc.) [32.5 Hl]; oil of bitter almond, one-fourth cubic centimeter (0.25 Cc.) [4 TH]; 
oil of coriander, one-fourth cubic centimeter (0.25 Cc.) [4 TH], (5) Oil of gaultheria, 
one and one-half cubic centimeters (1.5 Cc.) [24 TH]; oil of sassafras, one and one- 
half cubic centimeters (1.5 Cc.) [24 Til] ; oil of bitter almond, one-fourth cubic centi- 
meter (0.25 Cc.) [4 Hl], (6) Oil of gaultheria, two and one-half cubic centimeters 
(2.5 Cc.) [41 Hl]; oil of bitter almond, two and one-half cubic centimeters (2.5 Cc.) 
[41 TTl], (7) Oil of neroli, one and one half cubic centimeters (1.5 Cc.) [24TT1]; 
oil of bitter almond, one and one-half cubic centimeters (1.5 Cc.) [24 TH]; oil of cloves, 
one-fourth cubic centimeter (0.25Cc.) [4 TT[]. 704 
EMULSUM AMMONIACI.-EMULSUM ASAFCETID.E. 
C. Preservation.-" When an emulsion of cod-liver oil is to be kept for some time, 
its deterioration may be prevented or retarded by the addition of sixty-five cubic 
centimeters (65 Cc.) [2 fls, 95 Til] of alcohol in the place of the same quantity of 
water, when making one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 TH.] of 
emulsion." 
EMULSUM AMMONIACI (U. S. P.)-EMULSION OF AMMONIAC. 
Synonyms: Mistura ammoniaci (Pharm., 1880), Lac ammoniaci, Emulsio ammo- 
niaci, Milk of ammoniac, Ammon iacum mixture. 
Preparation.-"Ammoniac, forty grammes (40 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 180 grs.]; 
water, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) 
[33 fl.5, 391 TTL]. Rub the ammoniac in a warmed mortar, with nine hundred 
cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 H5, 208 UI] of water, at first very gradually added, 
until a uniform emulsion results. Then strain the mixture into a graduated 
vessel, and wash the mortar and strainer with enough water to make the product 
measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl3,391Ul]"-(U. S. P.f 
Description and Dosage.-A milk-like preparation, hence its name, milk of 
ammoniac, the appearance being due to the suspended resinous and oleaginous 
bodies, the first of which largely precipitates upon standing. Acids slightly curdle 
the mixture. Uses, those of ammoniac. Dose, 1 to 4 fluid drachms. 
EMULSUM AMYGDALAE (U. S. P.)-EMULSION OF ALMOND. 
Synonyms: Mixtura amygdalae (Pharm., 1880), Milk of almond, Almond mixture, 
Emulsio simplex, Simple emulsion, Emulsio amygdalae, Emulsio amygdalarum. 
Preparation.-" Sweet almond, sixty grammes (60 Gm.) [2 ozs. av.,51 grs.]; 
acacia, in fine powder, ten grammes (10 Gm.) [15 grs.]; sugar, thirty grammes 
(30 Gm.) [1 oz.av.,25 grs]; water, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fis, 391 UI]. Having blanched the almonds, add 
the acacia and sugar, and beat them in a mortar until they are thoroughly mixed. 
Then rub the mass with nine hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fig, 208TTL] 
of water, at first very gradually added, until a uniform mixture results. Strain 
this into a graduated vessel, and wash the mortar and strainer with enough water 
to make the product measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 
391 TTL]. Mix the whole thoroughly "-(U. £ P.f 
Acacia is present in this formula ostensibly for its mechanical action, but it 
is wholly unnecessary, as it enables no more oil to be suspended, nor does it add 
to the keeping properties of the emulsion. Care should be exercised to select 
almonds that have not become rancid. Emulsion of almond is not permanent, the 
oleaginous portion separating to form a creamy upper stratum. In warm weather 
it readily sours. Alcohol and heat cause the separation of the ingredients, while 
acids coagulate the albuminous matter present, thus favoring separation. Emul- 
sion of almond has the appearance of milk, and possesses a bland taste. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This agent is demulcent and nutritive. 
It may be freely used in catarrhal disorders, irritated urinary passages, and dysentery. 
It forms an agreeable vehicle for medicines not acid in character. Dose,2 to 8 fluid 
ounces. 
EMULSUM ASAFCETID2E (U. s. P.)-emulsion of asafetida. 
Synonyms: Mistura asafoetidae (Pharm., 1880), Milk of asafoetida, Asafoetida mix- 
ture, Lac asafoetidae. 
Preparation.-"Asafetida, in selected tears, forty grammes (40 Gm.) [1 oz.av., 
180 grs.]; water, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters 
(1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 TH.]. Rub the asafetida, in a warmed mortar, with nine 
hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fls, 208 Til] of water, at first very gradu- 
ally added, until a uniform emulsion results. Then strain the mixture into a 
graduated vessel, and wash the mortar and strainer with enough water to make 
the product measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fig, 391 UI]. EMULSUM CHLOROFORMI.-EMULSIO OLEI MORRHUjE. 
705 
Mix the whole thoroughly"-(U. S. P.). About 18| grains of asafetida to the 
ounce of water are contained in this emulsion. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is the best preparation of asa- 
fetida. It is also used as an enema. Dose, | to 1 fluid ounce. 
EMULSUM CHLOROFORMI (U. S. P.)-EMULSION OF 
CHLOROFORM. 
Synonyms: Mistura chloroformi (Pharm., 1880), Chloroform mixture, Emulsio 
chloroformi. 
Preparation.-"Chloroform, forty cubic centimeters (40 Cc.) [1 flg, 169 1R]; 
expressed oil of almond, sixty cubic centimeters (60 Cc.) [2 flg, 14 RI]; traga- 
canth, in very fine powder, fifteen grammes (15 Gm.) [231 grs.]; water, a sufficient 
quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391RI], 
Introduce the tragacanth into a perfectly dry bottle of sufficient capacity, add the 
chloroform, and shake the bottle thoroughly, so that every part of the surface 
may become wetted. Then add about two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters 
(250 Cc.) [8 fl^, 218 TIT J of water, and incorporate it by vigorous shaking. Next 
add the expressed oil of almond, in several portions, shaking after each addition, 
and when the oil has been thoroughly emulsified, add enough water in divided 
portions, shaking after each addition, until the product measures one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 RI] "-(U. S. P.). 
This preparation is preserved by the chloroform, and does not separate on 
standing. It contains 4 per cent of chloroform, differing in this respect from the 
formula of 1880, which contained 5 per cent, and in addition camphor; yolk of 
egg being the emulsifying medium. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is a convenient and stable prepa- 
ration of chloroform, and may be used in the various forms of colic, as uterine, 
flatulent, renal, and biliary colic, and in gastralgia, hysteria, and other nervous derange- 
ments. Dose, | to 1 fluid ounce. 
Related Preparation.- Mistura Chloroformi ( U. S. P., 1880). "Purified chloroform 
8 parts, camphor 2 parts, fresh yolk of egg 10 parts, water 80 parts; to make 100 parts. Rub 
the yolk of egg in a mortar, first by itself, then with the camphor, previously dissolved in the 
chloroform, and lastlv with the water, gradually added, so as to make a uniform mixture "- 
(U. S. P.,1880). 
EMULSIO OLEI MORRHU.® (N. F.)-EMULSION OF 
COD-LIVER OIL. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 124: "Cod-liver oil, four hundred and 
sixty-four grammes (464 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 160 grs.]; acacia, in fine powder, one 
hundred and sixteen grammes (116 Gm.) [4 oz. av., 40 grs.]; syrup of tolu(G. S. P.), 
one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl^, 183 TR]; flavoring (F. 123. B), 
water, of each a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 
Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 Tfl], Triturate the oil and acacia together in a mortar. Care- 
fully weigh out one hundred and seventy-four grammes (174 Gm.) [6 ozs. av., 60 
grs.] of water, and add it at once to the mixture of oil and acacia, triturating 
briskly until a thick, creamy emulsion is produced. To this add the desired 
flavoring, the syrup of tolu, and enough water to make one thousand cubic centi- 
meters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391RI] of the finished emulsion "-(Nat. Form.). 
Alternative Formulas.-(For flavoring see Formula 123, B. Emnlsiones). Emulsion of 
cod-liver oil may also be prepared by any other method capable of emulsifying oil, the follow- 
ing formulas being given as examples: 
Irish Moss Emulsion of Cod-liver Oil.-"Cod-liver oil, five hundred cubic centimeters 
(500 Oc.) [16 fl^, 435 ; mucilage of Irish moss (F. 275), three hundred and twenty-five cubic 
centimeters (325 Cc.) (10 fl^, 475 Rf]; syrup of tolu (U. S. P.), one hundred cubic centimeters 
1^3 TH ]; flavoring (F. 123. B.), water, of each, a sufficient quantity to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl.T 391 TH]- Pour the mucilage of Irish moss into 
a suitable bottle, add the cod-liver oil in divided portions, shaking well after each addition, 
and when a perfect emulsion is formed, add the syrup of tohi and flavoring, and lastly, enough 706 
EMULSIO OLEI MORRHU2E CUM HYPOPHOSPHITE.-EMULSIO OLEI RICINI. 
water to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 U[]. Finally, mix the 
whole thoroughly together "-(Nat. Form.). 
Glyconin Emulsion of Cod-liver Oil.-" Cod-liver oil, five hundred cubic centimeters 
(500 Cc.) [16 fl3, 435 TT[]; glycente of yolk of egg (U. S. P.), one hundred and seventy-five 
cubic centimeters (175 Cc.) [5 113, 440 U[]; syrup of tolu (U. S. P.), one hundred cubic centi- 
meters (100 Cc.) [3 113, 183 U[]; flavoring (F. 123, B.), water, of each, a sufficient quantity to 
make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 U[]. Triturate the glycerite of 
yolk of egg (glyconin) in a mortar with the oil, added in small portions at a time, and thor- 
oughly incorporate each portion before adding the next. Then, continuing the trituration, 
gra lually add the syrup of tolu, and flavoring. Finally, add enough water to make one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl3, 391 U[], and mix the whole thoroughly together"- 
(Nat. Form.). 
Quillaja Emulsion of Cod-liver Oil.-" Cod-liver oil, five hundred cubic centimeters 
(500 Cc.) [16 fl^, 435 U[] ; tincture of quillaja ( U. S. P.), sixty-five cubic centimeters (65 Cc.) 
[2 613,394 U[] ; syrupoi tolu (U.S. P.), one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 11^,183 U]]; 
flavoring (F. 123, B.), water, of each, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centime- 
ters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl3, 391 U[]. Pour the tincture into a suitable bottle, then add the cod-liver 
oil in portions of about one hundred and twenty-five cubic centimeters (125 Cc.) [4 fl§, 109 U[] 
each, and shake after each addition until a perfect emulsion results. Next add the syrup of 
tolu, and the flavoring, and lastly, enough water to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 
Cc.) [33fl3, 391 U[ ]. Finally mix the whole thoroughly together. An 85 per cent emulsion of cod- 
liver oil may be prepared by mixing in the manner just prescribed: Cod-liver oil, eight hun- 
dred and fifty cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 fl§, 356 U[]; tincture of quillaja (U.S.P.), one 
hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl§, 183 U[]; flavoring (F. 123, B.), syrup of tolu 
(U. S. P.), of each, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) 
[33 fl3, 391 U[]. Note.-Emulsion of cod-liver oil made with quillaja should not be dispensed 
without the direction or consent of the prescriber"-(Nat. Form.). 
EMULSIO OLEI MORRHU.® CUM HYPOPHOSPHITE (N. F.)- 
EMULSION OF COD-LIVER OIL WITH HYPOPHOSPHITE. 
Preparation. - Formulary number, 129: " Cod-liver oil, four hundred and 
sixty-four grammes (464 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 160 grs.]; acacia, in fine powder, one hun- 
dred and sixteen grammes (116 Gm.) [4 ozs. av., 40 grs.]; any soluble hypophos- 
phite, seventeen and one-half grammes (17.5 Gm.) [270 grs.]; syrup of tolu 
{U. S. P.), one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl3, 183 U[]; flavoring 
(F. 123, B.), water, of each, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic cen- 
timeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 U[]. Emulsify the oil with the acacia and one 
hundred and seventy-four grammes (174 Gm.) [6 ozs. av., 60 grs.] of water, as 
directed under Emulsio Olei Morrhuse (F. 124), and add the flavoring. Then dis- 
solve the hypophosphite in sufficient water, mix this solution with the syrup, and 
add the mixture gradually to the emulsified oil. Lastly, add enough water to 
make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 U[], and mix the 
whole thoroughly. Note.-If several hypophosphites are required, equal parts of 
them may be used, amounting altogether to seventeen and one-half grammes 
(17.5 Gm.) [270 grs.] for the above formula. Varying quantities, larger or smaller 
than the above, may of course, be used upon prescription"-{Nat. Form.). 
EMULSIO OLEI RICINI (N. F.)-EMULSION OF CASTOR OIL. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 131: "Castor oil, thirty-two grammes (32 
Gm.) [1 oz. av.,56 grs.]; acacia, in fine powder, eight grammes (8 Gm.) [123 grs.]; 
tincture of vanilla {U. S. P.), two and one-half cubic centimeters (2.5 Cc.) [41 UI.J; 
syrup {U. S. P.), twenty cubic centimeters (20 Cc.) [325 UI]; water, a sufficient 
quantity to make one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl£, 183 U[]. Care- 
fully weigh the castor oil and the acacia into a mortar, triturate until well mixed; 
carefully weigh out twelve grammes (12 Gm.) [185 grs.] of water, and add at once 
to the mixture of oil and acacia, triturating briskly until a thick, creamy emul- 
sion is produced. To this add gradually, with stirring, a mixture of the syrup 
and tincture with a portion of the remaining water, and finally enough water to 
make one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fls, 183 UI]. The emulsion con- 
tains about one-third (|) of its volume of castor oil. The flavoring may be varied 
to suit prescription. It should be freshly prepared as required "-{Nat. Form.). EMULSIO OLEI TEREBINTHINjE.-ENEMATA. 
707 
EMULSIO OLEI TEREBINTHIN.® (N. F.)-EMULSION OF 
OIL OF TURPENTINE. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 132: "Oil of turpentine, twelve and one- 
half cubic centimeters (12.5 Cc.) [203 Hl]; acacia, in fine powder, two grammes 
(2 Gm.) [31 grs.]; yolk of egg, fifteen cubic centimeters (15 Cc.) [243 TT[]; aro- 
matic elixir (U. S. P.), fifteen cubic centimeters (15 Cc.) [243 Til] ; cinnamon water 
(U. S. P.), a sufficient quantity to make one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) 
[3 fls, 183 Til]. Triturate the acacia with the yolk of egg, then add the oil of tur- 
pentine very slowly, continuing the trituration, and finally add the aromatic 
elixir, and enough cinnamon water to make one hundred cubic centimeters (100 
Cc.) [3 fl§, 183 TTL], in the same manner"-(Nat. Form.). 
Emulsion of oil of turpentine, or any volatile oil, may also be prepared according to the follow- 
ing general formula: "Volatile oil, twelve and one-half cubic centimeters (12.5 Cc.) [2031T[] ; 
acacia, in fine powder, six grammes (6 Gm.) [93 grs.]; syrup, twenty-five cubic centimeters 
(25 Cc.) [4061TI] > water, a sufficient quantity to make one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) 
[3 fl§, 183 Til]. Pour the volatile oil into a dry bottle, and, having corked the latter, agitate it 
so that the inner surface may be completely wetted by the oil. Then add the acacia, and shake 
again. Finally add the syrup, and enough water to make one hundred cubic centimeters 
(100 Cc.) [3 fl^, 183Ttl], and mix thoroughly. Note.-If this general formula is applied to 
emulsion of oil of turpentine, and a product similar to that obtained by the first formula is 
desired, the syrup should be replaced by aromatic elixir, and the water by cinnamon water. 
If a so-called " emulsion " of a volatile oil is to be made more permanent, this may be accom- 
plished by incorporating with it a small portion of some bland fixed oil, such as expressed oil 
of almond. Usually, 1 volume of the fixed oil will be sufficient for 2 volumes of the volatile 
oil. In this case the mixture should be made in a mortar, by trituration, and under observa- 
tion of the rule laid down in general formula for emulsions (F. 123) "-(Nat. Form.). 
ENEMATA.-Clysters. 
Synonyms: Injections, Enemas, Lavements, Clysteria, Clysmata. 
Injections are medicinal agents in the form of infusion, decoction, or mix- 
ture, designed to be passed into the rectum, vagina, urethra, bladder, etc. Some- 
times pulverized ingredients are added to those intended for the rectum. They 
are usually thrown into the rectum to remove constipation, to allay inflammation 
of the lower intestines, to remove ascarides, to stimulate or nourish the system, to 
produce an influence upon distant organs by sympathetic action, as to occasion 
emesis, perspiration, uterine action, etc., and as a revulsive. When, from any 
cause whatever, medicines or liquid food can not be administered by mouth, they 
may be used in the form of a rectal injection, in about double the quantity 
required when taken into the stomach; though some care is necessary in propor- 
tioning the dose of powerful medicines. When an evacuation of the bowels is 
designed, as in bilious colic, apoplexy, convulsions, constipation, etc., the quantity of 
fluid should be large, 1 or 2 pints for an adult, repeating it every 10, 20, or 30 
minutes, until the object is effected. Children will require reduced amounts, 
according to their ages and susceptibilities. When it is desired to make an 
impression upon distant or neighboring parts, or upon the rectum itself, or to 
produce a constitutional influence, the injection should be given in as small an 
amount of fluid as is consistent with its activity or character, and should be held 
within the rectum as long as possible; and if the patient can not retain it, a warm 
compress of linen or muslin may be pressed upon the anus with a moderate 
degree of firmness, by the nurse, which will prevent the enema from being imme- 
diately evacuated. 
Injections into the vagina are intended to aid in restoring the normal con- 
dition of its walls, to assist in the cure of excoriation or ulceration of the cervix, to 
remove vaginal leucorrhoea, to produce a sedative influence upon the uterus, to 
induce premature delivery, etc. Uterine injections are designed to remove a low 
grade of inflammation of its mucous lining membrane, to cure ulceration in the canal of 
the cervix, to stimulate the organ to activity, etc. Urethral injections are to relieve 
inflammation of the urethra or bladder, to check chronic discharges from the urethra, heal 
ulceration of the bladder, stimulate the mucous lining membrane of the urethra, 708 
ENEMATA. 
and the prostate gland, etc. Injections into other parts are usually for the pur- 
pose either of removing foreign or unhealthy matters, allaying inflammation, or 
stimulating the parts to increased action. Very salutary effects are frequently 
obtained in this way, better than it is possible under certain conditions to pro- 
cure by administration of remedies by mouth. Many ingenious instruments at 
present are contrived for the administration of injections. 
Injections are a valuable mode of treatment in many diseases; indeed, some 
affections can not be readily nor permanently cured without them. They are 
found especially beneficial in bilious colic, in bilious, typhus, yellow, and congestive 
forms of fever, in dysentery and diarrhoea, etc. In infants, life has often been pre- 
served by their timely application, and the pains and dangers of the parturient 
woman have frequently been very materially lessened by their use. And yet, 
notwithstanding their value and importance, there are hundreds of families, 
especially in country places, who do not supply themselves with the articles 
necessary for their administration, but who depend entirely upon the physician, 
or perhaps a neighbor, for the use of a syringe. This is a very reprehensible 
omission, and, although not exactly within the province of this work, yet, from 
the evil results which I have seen depending upon a negligence of the above 
character, I can not refrain from making a few brief advisory remarks. Every 
individual, and more especially every family, is liable to sickness which may 
require the use of a syringe, and to depend upon the physician for its supply is 
certainly bad policy, for very few, especially those practicing in the country, fur- 
nish themselves with a quantity sufficient to meet the demands of the various 
families under their professional care; besides, very few physicians carry an 
article of this kind, and, in some diseases, the delay occasioned by sending for it 
may be death to the patient. No doubt, an immense number of patients, and 
more particularly among those residing in the country, die yearly, solely from 
the want of an instrument with which to administer an injection. It is, there- 
fore, a matter of duty with the practitioner, both to himself and to his patients, 
to strongly impress these facts upon those who patronize him professionally, and 
urge them by all means to make the necessary provisions. A rubber or metallic 
syringe, capable of holding a pint, and a smaller one of 3 or 4 fluid ounces, and a 
rubber bulb and tube syringe, or a fountain syringe, should be found in posses- 
sion of every family, as these can be adapted to meet any emergency requiring 
their use. 
Injections are emollient, stimulant, anodyne, purgative, antispasmodic, etc., 
and are most generally prescribed by the physician to suit the emergency of the 
case, without regard to official directions. For purposes of nutrition, as well as to 
reduce inflammation of the lower intestines, infusions of starch, of elm bark, of 
flaxseed, and of cornmeal, are. usually injected into the rectum, with a portion of 
laudanum added when inflammation is present; and in cases where the stomach 
rejects all food and medicine, and when this condition is accompanied with pros- 
tration, a proper quantity of wine, brandy, or some similar stimulant, may be added 
to the nutrient clyster, and repeated as often as the circumstances require (J. King). 
The following enemata are among the agents of this class in more common use: 
Enema Aloes, Enema of aloes.-Mix and rub together 40 grains of aloes, 15 grains of potas- 
sium carbonate, and 10 fluid ounces of mucilage of starch. This accords with the Br. Eharm. 
Uses same as for Enema Aloes Composita, which see. 
Enema Aloes Composita, Compound enema of aloes, Compound clyster of aloes.-Take of aloes 
40 grains, carbonate of potassium 15 grains, tincture of asafetida 3 fluid drachms, infusion of 
boneset 4 pint. Mix and rub them together. This is a stimulant, cathartic, and vermifuge 
clyster, and may be used with advantage for the removal of ascarides from the rectum; also in 
constipation, especially among females laboring under amenorrhaa (J. King). For the purpose 
of inducing catharsis large amounts should be used; for the destruction of ascarides, and to 
stimulate local parts, small quantities are preferable. 
Enema Catharticum, Cathartic enema, Cathartic clyster.-Take of common table salt A troy 
ounce, olive or castor oil 1 fluid ounce, molasses 2 fluid ounces, warm water 2 pints. Mix 
together. This is a very common laxative clyster, the ingredients of which are generally to be 
procured readily in every family. The above quantity is intended for an adult; it may be 
given at once, or be divided into 2 equal parts, to be used within 10 or 15 minutes of each other. 
It is generally employed in cases of constipation, or where a speedy evacuation of the bowels is 
desired. An injection is sometimes used for the above purposes, and in diarrhoea and dysentery, 
and, indeed, in almost every case where an enema is indicated, composed as follows: Take of 709 
EPIGffiA. 
sweet milk J pint, infusion of elm bark A pint, olive oil 2 fluid ounces, molasses 4 fluid ounces, 
bicarbonate of potassium A troy ounce. Mix. When there are painsand gripings in the lower 
intestines, laudanum 2 fluid drachm may be added to each injection (Beach's American Practice'). 
Enema Lobelias Composita, Compound enema of lobelia, Compound clyster of lobelia, Antispas- 
modic clyster.-Take of water | fluid ounce, compound tincture of lobelia and capsicum A fluid 
drachm. Mix together. This is a relaxant and antispasmodic clyster, and is used in cases of 
tetanus, convulsions, rigidity of the os uteri, and whenever its peculiar actions are indicated. The 
proportions, as given in the above formula are adapted to au infant from several weeks to a 
year old, laboring under an attack of convulsions; for adults, 2 fluid ounce or even more of the 
tincture, may be added to a sufficient quantity of water, and so in proportion (J. King). 
Enema Magnesii Sulphatis, Enema of magnesium sulphate, Enema catharticum.-Dissolve 
1 ounce (av.) of magnesium sulphate in 15 fluid ounces of mucilage of starch, add 1 fluid ounce 
of olive oil, and. mix. This accords with the Br. Pharm. This enema is of value in cerebral 
congestion where a derivative effect is desired and as an evacuant in obstinate constipation. Large 
amounts should be used. A simple solution of magnesium sulphate without the other ingre- 
dients would be just as effective. 
Enema Opii, Enema of opium, Clyster of opium, Enema sedativum, Enema anodynum.-Take 
of decoction of starch, or infusion of elm bark 1 fluid ounce, tincture of opium 20 minims. 
Mix them. The Br. Pharm. directs tincture of opium J fluid ounce, and mucilage of starch 
2 fluid ounces. This clyster is useful in irritation or inflammation of the bladder, uterus, or 
prostate gland, in obstinate emesis, in the passage of renal calculi, in nephritis, in dysentery, and in 
painful affections of the large intestines. It may sometimes be necessary to double or treble the 
quantity of tincture of opium named in the formula. It should be retained in the rectum as 
long as possible, and may be repeated every 1, 2, or 3 hours, and in severe cases even oftener, 
according to the urgency of the symptoms. If frequently employed it will produce the con- 
stitutional effects of the opium. 
Enema Tabaci, Enema of tobacco.-Infuse in a closed vessel for 30 minutes, 20 grains 
of leaf tobacco in 8 fluid ounces of boiling water (Br. Pharm., 1867). This enema is designed 
to produce nausea and consequent muscular relaxation in cases of strangulated hernia, ileus, 
fecal accumulations, and other bowel obstructions, to induce alvine evacuations. It must be 
carefully used. It has been used in tetanus, and for the destruction of ascarides. Not more 
than II ounces of this preparation should be employed at one injection. 
Enema Terebinthin®, Enema of turpentine.-Mix 1 fluid ounce of oil of turpentine with 
15 fluid ounces of mucilage of starch. This accords with the Br. Pharm. Of value in tym- 
panitic distension of the intestines when confined to the colon. Also used to destroy ascarides, and 
in hysteria and amenorrhoea, and is said to give marked relief from the pain produced by the 
presence of vesical calculus. 
Enema Terebinthin® Composita, Compound enema of turpentine, Compound clyster of turpen- 
tine.-Take of castor oil A fluid ounce, oil of turpentine 2 fluid drachms, camphorated tincture 
of opium 1 fluid drachm. Mix together. This injection is principally employed in flatu- 
lency, and tympanitic distension of the abdomen, especially during an attack of peritonitis. It may 
be repeated 2, 3, or 4 times a day. It may likewise be used in ascarides, obstinate constipation, 
and amenorrhoea. 
EPIGJEA.-TRAILING ARBUTUS. 
The leaves of Epig sea repens, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Ericaceae. 
Common Names: Trailing arbutus, Winter-pink, Gravel-weed, Gravel plant, Moun- 
tain-pink, Ground laurel, May-flower. 
Botanical Source.-This is a small trailing plant, indigenous, with woody 
stems from 6 to 20 inches long, and covered with a hairy pubescence in all its 
parts. Its leaves are evergreen, alternate, cordate-ovate, entire, 2 or 2| inches 
long, by 1^ wide, roundish at the end, abruptly tipped with a very short point, 
and borne on slender petioles. The flowers, which are very fragrant and white, 
or tinged with various shades of red, are disposed in small axillary clusters on 
short stalks. The corolla is hypocrateriform, tube cylindrical, longer than the 
calyx, hairy within; limb 5-parted and spreading. The calyx is green, 5-parted, 
with 3 large bracts at base; stamens 10, with filiform filaments; anthers oblong, 
awnless, dehiscent by two longitudinal openings. The capsule or pod is depressed, 
globular, 5-lobed, 5-celled, and many-seeded (W.-G.). According to Mr. Thomas 
Meehan, this is a dioecious plant. 
History.-This shrubby little plant grows in sandy woods, sometimes in 
rocky soil in the shade of pines, and is found from Newfoundland to Northwest 
Territory and Michigan, and south to Kentucky and Florida. Its flowers exhale 
a rich, spicy fragrance, and appear from March to May. It is much sought in 
early spring, and admired by flower lovers for its modest beauty and fragrance. 
Cattle that chew this herb are said to be seriously affected by it. The leaves 710 
EPIPHEGUS. 
which have an astringent, bitterish taste, are the medicinal parts, and yield their 
properties to water or spirits. 
Chemical Composition. - Trailing arbutus contains tannin, as shown by 
Jefferson Oxley (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1872, p. 253). He also observed a body giving 
some of the test reactions for gallic acid, but differing 
from the latter in not yielding pyrogallol by dry distilla- 
tion. Mr. Oxley also found formic acid and the following 
principles, which also occur in Uva ursi, which see: The 
glucosid arbutin (C12H16O7), urson (C20H32O2), and the very 
bitter glucosid ericolin (C34H56O21) or, according to Thal 
(C26H30O3). Grape sugar, gum, and coloring matter were 
found in addition to the constituents mentioned. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Trailing arbu- 
tus specifically influences the urinary organs. It is diu- 
retic and astringent. This is a very valuable American 
remedy, and is highly beneficial in lithic acid gravel, and 
all diseases of the urinary organs attended with vesical irrita- 
tion; it is superior to uva ursi, or foreign buchu, and where 
these have failed in producing benefit, this has succeeded. 
It may be used as a substitute for uva ursi. It renders the 
urine less irritating, and will be found of value to control 
vesical tenesmus, dysuria, and strangury. A discharge of 
bloody muco-pus is an indication for its exhibition. The 
fluid extract and specific epigaja are elegant preparations 
for all urinary difficulties. It enters into a very useful 
preparation termed Diuretic compound, which see under the head of Infusions. It 
has been occasionally used with advantage in diarrhoea, and bowel complaints of 
children. The infusion of the leaves may be drank freely. Dose of specific epigaea, 
10 to 30 drops in water every 2 to 6 hours; fluid extract, 10 to 40 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Uric acid deposits; irritable vesical mem- 
brane; voiding of urine containing blood or muco-pus; debilitated and relaxed 
bladder. 
Fig. 103. 
Epigsea repens 
EPIPHEGUS.-BEECH DROPS. 
The whole plant of Epiphegus virginiana, Barton (Epiphegus americanus, Nutt- 
all; Orobanche virginiana, Linne). 
Nat. Ord.-Orobanchacese. 
Common Names: Beech-drops, Cancer-root. 
Illustration: Meehan's Native Flowers and Ferns, Vol. II, p. 93. 
Botanical Source.-This plant is the Epiphegus americanus of Nuttall, the 
Orobanche virginiana of Linne, and is also known by the name of Cancer-root. It 
is a parasitic growth, with a smooth, fleshy, leafless stem, about 1 or feet in 
height, with slender and irregular branches given off along its whole length. The 
root is scaly, tuberous, and covered with stiff, short, and brittle radicles. Instead 
of leaves it has only a few scattered, inconspicuous, ovate scales, one at the base 
of each branch, of a yellowish or purplish color. The flowers are alternate, scat- 
tered on each branch, subsessile, the lower perfect and fertile, the upper usually 
imperfect and abortive. Calyx short and 5-toothed. Corolla of the perfect flow- 
ers 2-lipped; upper lip emarginate, lower 3-toothed; of the imperfect, slender, 
4-toothed, deciduous, 6 to 8 lines long, curved, whitish, and purple; upper tooth 
or lip broadest, notched at the apex, arched not longer than the others. The 
stamens are as long as the corolla; the filament smooth; the anthers 2-lobed, 
acute at the base; valveless and dehiscent in the middle. Stigma capitate, some- 
what emarginate. Capsule gibbous, truncate, oblique, 1-celled, compressed, half 
2-valved at the apex, with 2 approximate placentae on each. The seeds are very 
numerous, straw-colored, shining (L.-W.-G.). 
History and Description.-This plant is found throughout North America, 
parasitic upon the roots of beech trees, and flowering in August and September. 
The whole plant has a dull-red color, without any verdure. It has a disagreeable, 
astringent, and amarous taste, much lessened by desiccation. It yields its virtues EPILOBIUM. 
711 
to water. There are several other species of this genus, which are parasitic, and 
which possess analogous properties, as the Aphyllon uniflorum, Gray lOrobanche uni- 
flora, Linne), or One-flowered or Naked broomrape, and the Conopholis americanafNall- 
roth (Orobanche americana, Linne), or American broomrape, Squaw-root, or Cancer-root. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-An astringent. Used with benefit in 
hemorrhages of the bowels and uterus, and in diarrhoea. Said to cure cancer, but it 
possesses no property of the kind. In erysipelas, a decoction drank freely, and the 
parts bathed with it, has effected many cures. As a local application, the decoc- 
tion or poultice will arrest the tendency of wounds or ulcers to gangrene; a poultice 
of equal parts of poke, white oak, and beech-drops is very useful in herpetic affec- 
tions. Also useful as a topical application to obstinate ulcers, aphthous ulcerations, 
leucorrhcea, gleet, etc. The homoeopaths extbl it in headaches brought on by fatigue 
and journeys. This plant seems to exert an influence upon the capillary system, 
somewhat similar to that produced by the tincture of chloride of iron. Dose of 
the powder, from 10 to 15 grains. The decoction may be drank freely. 
EPILOBIUM.- WILLOW HERB. 
The leaves and root of Epilobium angustifolium, Linne, and Epilobium palustre, 
Linn6. 
Nat. Ord.-Onagraceae. 
Common Names: I. Epilobium angustifolium-Willow herb, Great willow herb, 
Rose-bay, Wickup. II. Epilobium palustre- Marsh epilobium, Wickop, Swamp willow 
herb. 
Botanical Source.-Epilobium angustifolium. This plant, sometimes known 
as Rose-bay, is the Epilobium spicatum of Lamarck; it is a perennial, indigenous 
plant, with a simple, erect stem from 4 to 6 feet in height. The 
leaves are scattered, lanceolate, sessile, smooth, subentire, with a 
marginal pellucid vein, from 2 to 5 inches in length, and one- 
fourth as wide. The flowers are large, numerous, very showy, 
pink-purple, and in a long terminal spike or raceme. The corolla 
has 4 deep, lilac-purple petals, clawed, and widely spreading. The 
calyx-tube is not prolonged beyond the ovary; the limb is 4-cleft, 
4-parted, and deciduous. Stamens 8, and as well as the style, 
turned to one side. The stigma has 4 linear, long, revolute lobes. 
The ovary and capsule are long, linear, 4-cornered, 4-celled, and 
4-valved; and the seeds numerous with a tuft of long hairs (W.- 
G.). Epilobium palustre has a terete, branching, somewhat hirsute 
stem, growing from 1 to 2 feet in height, sessile, lanceolate, or 
linear, entire or subdenticulate, smooth leaves, attenuate at base, 
rather acute, alternate; lower ones opposite, and from 1 to 3 inches 
long, and one-third as wide. The flowers are small, numerous, 
axillary, rose-colored, or purplish, and in the narrow-leaved variety 
(var. albidumf, white. The petals are small, obcordate, twice longer 
than the calyx; style included; stigma clavate; capsules 1 or 2 
inches long, not over | of an inch in diameter, borne on short pedicels, and 
pubescent. 
History and Chemical Composition. - Epilobium angustifolium, when in 
bloom is a conspicuous feature of our landscape, from July to September. It 
grows plentifully from Pennsylvania northward, and to some extent in the moun- 
tainous districts of North Carolina, and from thence westward and northward. 
Like fireweed (Erechtites hieracifolia), it may be found growing in one plA.ce one 
year, and the next year may disappear therefrom, and reappear in a new situation 
several miles distant. In some localities, however, it is almost constant, coming 
year after year in the same spot. This plant is known by various names, the 
best known of which are willow herb, wickup, and rose-bay. In contradistinction to 
other species known likewise as wickup and willow herb, it is called great willow 
herb. Willow herb is a perennial, growing along waysides, railroads, along the 
fences of pasture lands, as well as in new ground recently cleared by burning. 
Mr. C. J. Biddle found the root of Epilobium angustifolium to contain mucilage, 
Fig. 104. 
Epilobium angusti- 
folium. 712 
EPILOBIUM. 
tannin, starch, sugar, resin, and a crystalline calcium salt (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 
1877). Several species of epilobium are indigenous, Epilobium palustre or swamp 
epilobium being valued as possessing similar medicinal virtues to the plant in 
question. The roots of epilobium possess some activity, but the leaves are pre- 
ferred. They yield their virtues to water or alcohol. 
Epilobium palustre, or Swamp willow herb, grows in swamps and marshes from 
Pennsylvania to Arctic America, and westward to Oregon. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Epilobium has never attained a place 
in the front rank as a medicine. This is often the case with drugs that have not 
decided poisonous properties, or with such drugs as have not yielded to the chemist 
an active principle. That it has not attained prominence as a remedy is not 
the fault of the plant, for in certain cases of summer bowel troubles it is without 
an equal. The infusion is probably the best form of administration, though alco- 
holic preparations are not without remedial activity. Specific epilobium is a 
reliable preparation. The infusion is not unpleasant, its taste being somew'hat 
like that of tea. Epilobium is tonic, astringent, demulcent and emollient. The 
uses given for it are many, but we would particularly allude to its value in summer 
bowel complaints. It has a deserved reputation in chronic diarrhoea, and it has been 
known to give better service than other remedies in diarrhoeas following, or de- 
pendent in the first place on "camp or army diarrhoea." The infusion should be 
freely used. Several cases of diarrhoea of a watery character, due to change of 
drinking water, have been promptly checked by the infusion or the tincture. 
Certain forms of cholera infantum, especially with greenish discharges of undigested 
aliment, have been controlled by this agent in domestic practice, where the ordi- 
nary remedies prescribed by the physician failed to have any beneficial effect It 
is prominent as a remedy for muco-enteritis. Administered in very small doses it 
has proven effective in a large number of cases of typhoid dysentery. With Prof. 
Scudder, infusion of epilobium was a favorite remedy to correct and restrain the 
diarrhoea of typhoid or enteric fever. In this particular condition others attest its 
efficacy. It is a good remedy in intestinal irritation, as a wrong of intestinal diges- 
tion. It is indicated here by the pinched features, emaciation, and the slick, 
contracted tongue, the papillae being somewhat effaced. It is further indicated 
in bowel troubles by impairment of digestion with uneasy sensations in the abdo- 
men, amounting to pain, accompanied by diarrhoea and having the above symp- 
toms of bowel irritation. 
An infusion of the leaves will be found beneficial in leucorrhcea, menorrhagia, 
and uterine hemorrhage; and forms an excellent local application for ophthalmia, 
ulcerations of the numth and throat, and leucorrhcea. The leaves in poultice are a 
valuable remedy for foul and indolent ulcers. Dose of the infusion, sweetened if 
desired, from 2 to 4 fluid ounces, 5 or 6 times a day, or smaller doses may be 
repeated every 10, 20, 30 or 60 minutes as required. 
Epilobium palustre, marsh epilobium, wickop, or swamp willow herb, is said 
to be a valuable article in colic und. in irritable conditions of the intestines; in severe 
dysentery, camp diarrhoea, formerly known as "Mexican diarrhoea," and cramp of the 
stomach. In fact it acts similarly to willow herb. It has proved quite successful 
in some very severe cases of colic and dysentery, even after the failure of other 
agents. Prof. J. M. Scudder extols this plant very highly in the above diseases, 
and also in ulceration of the bowels attending typhoid fever, as it quiets irritation, 
gradually checks diarrhoea, and relieves tenderness and tympanitis. He pre- 
scribes a tablespoonful every hour of an infusion made by infusing an ounce of 
the herb in pint of boiling water. The dose of specific epilobium ranges from 
10 to 60 drops. The infusion may be freely used. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Prof. Scudder gives the following specific 
indications: " Diarrhoea, with colicky pain; feculent discharges with tenesmus; 
diarrhoea, with contracted abdomen; chronic diarrhoea, with harsh, dirty, con- 
tracted skin." Diarrhoea of typhoid fever; typhoid dysentery. 
Related Species.-Epilobium hirsutum, Linne; Great hairy willow herb, Fiddle-grass, Cod- 
lins-and-cream. Adventive from Europe, and found in waste places in eastern New England, 
Ontario, central New York, and in the ballast near seaports (Britton and Brown). Dr. Oliver 
(see Amer. Hom., 1897, p. 442) reports the case of a three-year-old boy, poisoned by eating Epilo- 
bium hirsutum. The symptoms were profound coma and recurring epileptiform convulsions. 713 
EQUISETUM.-ERECHTITES. 
EQUISETUM.-SCOURING RUSH. 
The plant Equisetum hyemale, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Equisetacete. 
Common Names: Scouring rush, Horse-tail, Shave-grass. 
Botanical Source.-This is a perennial plant, with simple, stout, erect, 
jointed, and hollow stems, marked with from 14 to 26 longitudinal furrows, the 
ridges rough with 2 rows of minute tubercles, growing from 2 to 3 feet in height, 
each stem bearing a terminal, ovoid spike. Frequently 2 or more stems are 
united at the base from the same root. The sheaths are from 2 to 3 lines long, 
from an inch to an inch and a half apart, ashy-white, black at the base and sum- 
mit, short, with subulate, black, awned, deciduous teeth, which leave a bluntly 
crenate margin. The fertile plants are mostly leafless. The fruit is placed under 
peltate polygons, being pileus-like bodies, arranged in whorls, forming a spike- 
like raceme, from 4 to 7 spiral filaments surround the spores, which resemble 
green globules, and which roll up closely around them when moist, and uncoil 
when dry (G.-W.). 
History and Chemical Composition.-This plant is common to the northern 
and western parts of the United States, growing in wet grounds, on river banks, 
and borders of woods, and maturing in June and July. Together with other 
Cryptogamia, this species abounds in the fossil remains of coal measures, indi- 
cating that they were once of gigantic dimensions, and formed a large part of the 
original flora of our globe. Silica enters largely into the composition of these 
plants, on which account they have been used to scour, rough polish, etc.; 1.4 per 
cent of a brownish-green, semi-fluid fixed oil, easily saponifiable, was abstracted 
from this plant by F. J. Young, by means of petroleum benzin (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 
1886, p. 420). The plant left 18.2 per cent of ash, and proved to be free from tan- 
nin, alkaloid, or glucosid. Mucilage, sugar, and a soft, green resin were shown 
to be present. The equisetic acid of Braconnot was found by Regnault to be 
identical with aconitic acid. The whole plant is medicinal, and imparts its prop- 
erties to water. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Diuretic and astringent. An infusion 
(gij to aqua Oj) drank freely, has been found beneficial in dropsy, suppression of 
urine, hematuria, gravel, and nephritic affections; and has also been used with advan- 
tage in gonorrhoea and gleet. This drug has a specific action in irritation of the 
bladder, and in dysuria with tenesmic urging, in the nocturnal urinal incontinence 
of children, and in urinal incontinence, the effect of cystic irritation, it is a 
very serviceable remedy. The infusion or the decoction of the green stalks 
is preferred. The ashes of the plant are very valuable in dyspepsia connected 
with obstinate acidity of the stomach, and may be given alone, or combined with 
powdered rosin, or hydrochlorate of berberine, etc. Dose of the pulverized 
ashes from 3 to 10 grains, to be repeated 3 or 4 times daily. The fresh juice 
may be given in 1 or 2 ounce doses, administered in water. Specific equisetum, 
5 to 60 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Cystic irritation; nocturnal urinal incon- 
tinence; tenesmic urging to urinate; dropsy; renal calculi. 
Related Species.-Equisetum hevic/atum, Braun, and Equisetum robustum, Braun, of the 
southern and western borders of our country, may be substituted for the above. 
Equisetum arvense, Linne; Common horse-tail.-Canada to Kentucky and Virginia. This spe- 
cies puts forth its sterile stems after the appearance of the fertile ones. It has the medicinal 
uses of Scouring rush. 
ERECHTITES.-FIREWEED. 
The entire plant and oil of Erechtites hitracifolia, Rafinesque (Senecio hieraci- 
folius, Linne). 
Nat. Ord.-Composita?. 
Common Name: Fireweed. 
Illustration: Lloyd's Drugs and Med. of N. A., Vol. II, Plate 38. 714 
ERECHTITES. 
Botanical Source.-This plant is the Senecio hieracifolius of Linnaeus. It has 
an annual herbaceous, grooved, thick, fleshy, branching, virgate panicled, and 
roughish stem, from 1 to 5 or even 8 feet high. 
The leaves are simple, alternate, large, lanceolate 
or oblong, acute, unequally and deeply toothed 
with acute indentures, sessile, and light-green; the 
upper ones often have an auricled clasping base. 
The flowers are greenish, or about the same hue as 
the plant, terminal, crowded, and destitute of rays. 
The involucre is smooth, large, tumid, and bristly 
at the base. The achenia are oblong and hairv 
(W.-G.). 
History and Description.-This is an indige- 
nous, rank weed, growing in fields throughout 
the United States, in moist woods, and in recent 
clearings, especially and abundantly in such as 
have been burned over, hence its vernacular name 
Fireweed. From the fact of its brittleness and con- 
sequent liability to be easily broken, it is seldom 
found where animals graze. It flowers from August 
to October, and resembles in appearance the sow- 
thistle (Sonchus oleraceus); the flowers somewhat re- 
semble those of lettuce. The whole plant is medici- 
nal, and yields its virtues to water or alcohol. It 
has a peculiar, aromatic, and somewhat fetid odor, 
very unpleasant to many persons, and a peculiar, 
slightly pungent, bitterish, rather disagreeable taste, with some astringency. 
The leaves, which are most generally employed, when dried are almost black, 
and by this characteristic, as well as by form, may be distinguished from those of 
Erigeron canadense, or Erigeronannuum, with which they are sometimes confused. 
The former plant is often erroneously called Fireweed. Erechtites is often incor- 
rectly spelled Erechthites. 
Chemical Composition.-The properties of Fireweed appear to reside in a 
volatile oil (see Oleum Erechtitis), which may be obtained from the plant by distil- 
lation with water, and which possesses in an eminent degree the taste and odor 
of the plant, and which is very persistent. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage - -Fireweed is reputed to be emetic, 
cathartic, tonic, astringent, and alterative, of which the most valuable are the 
latter three. Reputed an unrivaled medicine in diseases of the mucous tissues of 
the lungs, stomach, and bowels. A spirituous extract of the plant has been 
highly recommended by Dr. A. R. Wyeth, of Pennsylvania, in the treatment of 
cholera and dysentery, in the latter disease promptly arresting the muco-sanguine- 
ous discharges, relieving pain, and effecting a speedy cure. In the summer-com- 
plaint of children, he has found it to prove almost invariably successful, even in 
cases where other means had failed. 
Prof. Roberts Bartholow, at the instance of the authors of Drugs and Medicines 
of North America, experimented physiologically and therapeutically with true oil 
of fireweed. He found it to possess the general characteristics of the antiseptic 
group. It proved to be non-irritant to the stomach, and rather to improve the 
appetite and digestion. On account of its stimulating effects upon the gastro-in- 
testinal glands, and probably upon the pancreas, an abundant secretion is poured 
out, rendering the alvine evacuations easy, frequent, and copious, thus proving 
very useful in habitual constipation, and especially benefiting such cases with acid 
fermentation and flatulence. He states that " in membraneous enteritis, an affection 
difficult to cure, it has seemed to be, in a high degree, useful." It first stimulates 
the heart, dilates the arterioles, and sends a glow of warmth throughout the body. 
Secondarily, perspiration ensues, the sense of warmth is succeeded by a lowering 
of temperature, slowing of the pulse, and contraction of the arterioles. Following 
this is a rise in vascular tension. It is rapidly diffused, absorbed quickly, and 
quickly excreted, elimination taking place most largely by the lungs, and less so 
by the kidneys and skin. He concludes that its most important therapeutical 
Fig. 105 
Erechtites hieracifolia. ERGOT A. 
715 
action is in disorders of the parts by which it is eliminated, as chronic bronchitis, 
pulmonic affections, with catarrh of the air tubes, chest neuroses, and coughs of local 
origin. It may also be used by inhalation. Benefit was derived from its use 
in genito-urinary catarrh, pyelitis, gleet, cystitis, etc., the drug also allaying nervous 
irritability. Prof. Bartholow further suggests its value in 11 sciatica, muscular rheu- 
matism, and cognate affections." 
Prof. Hale, on part of the Homoeopaths, gives quite a list of the effects of the 
oil in tincture, in large doses, and concludes that its action is chiefly upon the 
vascular system. As oil of fireweed upon the market is generally oil of fleabane, 
it is very probable that the product used by the Homoeopaths has been the erige- 
ron oil. However, oil of erechtites is considered useful in passive hemorrhages from 
the kidneys, whether due to ""Bright's disease" or other renal disturbances. It has 
been used also, like oil of erigeron, in epistaxis, hemoptysis, hematemesis, profuse 
menorrhagia, and hemorrhage from the bowels. According to Hale large doses will 
increase the menses and bring them on early if used continuously in cold, torpid, 
phlegmatic individuals. It is a remedy for gonorrhoea, gleet, and gonorrhoeal orchitis. 
(See Oleum Erechtitisi) Dose, 5 to 10 drops of the oil upon sugar, in emulsion, or 
in capsules. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Catarrhal states of the mucous membranes; 
passive hemorrhages; "albuminuria, dropsy, pale, waxy skin, swelling of feet, 
scanty urine" (Watkin's Comp, of Ec. Med.). 
ERGOTA (U. S. P.)-ERGOT. 
Synonym : Ergot of rye. 
" The sclerotium of Claviceps purpurea (Fries), Tulasne (Class: Fungi), replac- 
ing the grain of rye, Secale cereale, hinne (Nat. Ord.-Gramineae). Ergot should be 
only moderately dried. It should be preserved in a close vessel, and a few drops 
of chloroform should be dropped upon it from time to time to prevent the develop- 
ment of insects. When more than one year old, it is unfit for use"-(U. S. P.). 
Nat. Ord.-Fungi-Ascomycetes. 
Synonyms: Spur, Spurred rye, Smut rye, Ergot of rye. 
History and Formation.-Ergot is the sclerotium, the second, intermediate, 
or dormant stage of Claviceps purpurea (Fries), Tulasne, a fungus replacing the 
grain of rye (Secale cereale, Lin ne). Ergot, or spur, as it 
is sometimes called, was formerly regarded as a dis- 
eased grain of rye, but as now understood the grain of 
rye is simply replaced with the fungous growth. No 
transformation occurs as was supposed, but the tissue 
of the caryopsis of the rye is destroyed (Pharmaco- 
graphiaf 
Ergot has been the subject of much investigation, 
particularly at the hands of Leveille, Meyen, Tulasne, 
and others. De Candolle (1816), believing with others 
that ergot was a distinct and complete fungus, named 
it Sclerotium Claris, while Fries denominated it Sper- 
mcedia Clavus. Queckett called it Ergotoetia abortifaciens, 
and Berkley, Oidium abortifaciens. Tulasne, however, 
placed it in the genus Claviceps, as an ascomycetous 
fungus, of which he described 3 species-one of which, 
the Claviceps purpxtrea, grows on rye, wheat, oats, and 
numerous pasture grasses. For a long period the ergot- 
ized condition of the rye was confounded with other 
and somewhat similar conditions met with in other 
cereals and in the fruits of sedges and grasses-para 
sitic maladies of crowded herbaceous plants growing 
side by side, year in and year out, in the same localities. The affection of the 
rye has been more thoroughly studied than some of those in other plants, probably 
on account of the former general use of rye as a food and the terrible consequences 
of epidemics of gangrene that have been traced to the contaminated grain, and 
also from the fact that it is one of the most important of medicinal substances. 
Fig. 106. 
1. Ear of rye with Ergot. 
2. Ergot. 
3. Ergotized rye 716 
ERGOTA. 
The generic name of the fungus, now recognized as the causative factor in the 
production of ergotized rye, is Claviceps, and is derived from the club-headed recep- 
tacles bearing the fructifications; the specific name, purpurea, refers to its purplish 
hue. The intermediate stage of the fungus is designated the sclerotium, spur, or 
ergot. Sclerotium signifies a hardened body, and ergot, derived from a French 
word (argot, a cock's spur), has reference to the spur-like shape of the sclerotium. 
The effect of the Claviceps, or fungus, is to apparently change the young fruit into 
an elongated, purplish-black, hard body which projects from the fruiting head of 
rye. This body is subcylindrical, curved, tapers bluntly at each extremity, and 
is an inch or more in length. Its outer surface is dark, being purple-black, while 
its interior is white and felt-like, being, in fact, "a densely compacted mass of 
fungus mycelium " (spawn, or branching network of hyphae, which latter are 
thread-like bodies or cells, having a protective membrane of cellulose inclosing 
protoplasm). Besides the protoplasm the mycelium cells contain about 35 per 
cent of oily food materials. The dark, spur-like body is the ergot, and Leveille, a 
French botanist, was the first to show it to be an aggregation of mycelium at rest 
and not, as formerly supposed, a diseased grain. 
Tulasne (1852), desirous of learning the fate of these bodies (ergot) after leav- 
ing the host plant (the rye), instituted experiments which led to the determi- 
nation of the true character of ergot and the fungus of which it is a part. He 
began his experimentation by sowing a number of the sclerotia (ergot), and these, 
after remaining at rest upon damp earth for several months, began to put forth 
from their surfaces little nodules or hillocks which, by lengthening, formed rod- 
like projections (stipes) of thick, white material, capped at the free extremity 
with plump, rounded expansions or heads (stroma') of a violet color. At first 
these club-like projections were thought to be distinct parasites, but were later 
proven to be mere expansions of hyphre growing out from the mycelium cells 
constituting the sclerotium, and pushing thei'r way from their point of origin 
in the pale-white interior through the thin-purple coat. In time the surface of 
the little purple head or stroma was found to have developed minute papillae, 
or wart-like projections, each presenting a minute orifice at its apex. The open- 
ing led directly into an ovoid cavity, directly below the papillae, known as the 
perithecium (conceptaculum). Subsequently there arose from the base of this ovoid 
cavity (perithecium) long, thin, tubular bodies, denominated asci or thecae (spore- 
sacs), as well as other asci in various stages of development. Inasmuch as the 
orifice of the papillae leads vertically downward into the perithecium, the asci, 
whose long axes are also vertical to the surface of the stroma, point toward the 
orifice in the papillary elevation. Within each of these asci there are long, 
slender, thread-like bodies without color, and from 6 to 8 in number, termed asco- 
spores. As these silky-white flocculent spores ripen they are shed as an agglutinated 
mass through the small orifices of the papillae by the bursting of the asci, and 
are then carried about by insects, rains, winds, and like agencies. This usually 
takes place at about the same time that the cereals are beginning to blossom. If 
now the ascospores' come in contact with the young flower of the rye, the latter is 
infected in the following manner, the result being that the mycelium takes pos- 
session of the base of the pistil. At various points the ascospores swell, and at 
these swellings give rise to small, slender branchlets, which quickly bore through 
the epidermis at the base of the flower. In about 10 or 12 days the lower portion 
of the flower is found to have been invaded by the mycelium, the slender, color- 
less hyphas of which soon project from the surface and envelop the young pistil 
in complex folds. From the tips of the hyphae, which terminate these folds, 
there "buds off" enormous numbers of very minute, colorless bodies, termed 
conidia, and at the same time the folds secrete a malodorous but viscid and sugary 
fluid of a yellowish color, which repels bees, but attracts flies, beetles, ants, etc., 
and is popularly known as the " honey dewy This saccharine fluid, in which are 
immersed the conidia, sticks to the proboscides, feet, and other parts of the visit- 
ing insects, and is thus carried to healthy flowers, where the conidia, in contact 
with the young flowers, behave exactly as do the ascospores-germinating and 
penetrating the pistil-base and developing in it a mycelium exactly like that pro- 
duced by the latter, and which, in a few days, produces new conidia and fresh 
honey dew, thereby establishing a new source of infection. ERGOTA. 
717 
The white mycelium and the honey dew with its contained conidia, consti- 
tutes what was formerly known as the sphacelia, a term indicative of the shrivelled 
gangrenous appearance of the tissues attacked. After the production of conidia 
and honey dew has progressed for several days, the pistil which normally would 
have developed into the grain, becomes a dead, shrivelled mass. The fact has 
already been referred to that the mycelium, which gives origin to the conidia and 
honey dew, has penetrated the floral base and pistil, forming in their tissues a 
dense, white felt-work. This now becomes more and more compact and increases 
in quantity, while the outer cells become first dark in color and then hard in 
texture, thereby developing the sclerotium of the fungus-the ergot, which, as its 
growth progresses and it becomes an elongated, spur-like body, carries before it 
the shrivelled, dead remains of the pistil and the sphacelia, which gave origin to 
the conidia. Thus the ergot matures just previous to the time for harvesting the 
rye and then drops off, rests upon the ground through the winter and early spring 
months, and in the summer germinates, and thus the ravages of the previous 
season are repeated. In this way it may go on for years, producing its sphacelia 
and developing its ergot parasitically upon the host plant, and then, after resting 
on the soil through the winter, it saprophytically develops its stromata upon the 
ergot-form or sclerotium. 
It will be observed from what has been narrated, that the life history of 
Claviceps presents 3 stages of development: (1) The development of the spha- 
celia, with its conidia and honey dew; (2) the dormant state of the compact my- 
celium of the fungus, or the produced ergot; (3) the fructification of the ergot 
exhibited in the germination of the ergot-form producing the stromata, perithecia, 
asci, and ascospores. The ergot, therefore, is but the intermediate or resting stage 
of the development of this interesting fungus {Claviceps purpurea}. The major 
portion of the preceding popular description of the formation of ergot was pre- 
pared from H. Marshall Ward's Diseases of Plants. 
Ergot should be gathered previous to harvest, and is said by M. Bonjean to 
be much more active after the fifth day of its formation. When we examine a 
number of ears of ergotized rye, we find that the number of grains on each spike 
which have become ergotized varies considerably; there may be one only, or the 
spike may be covered with them. Usually the* number is from 3 to 10. The 
mature ergot projects considerably beyond the pale®. It has a violet-black color, 
and presents scarcely any filaments and sporidia. Ergot is met with in all climes 
where cereals are grown, the bulk of the commercial product coming from Vigo, 
in Spain and Teneriffe, while considerable quantities are furnished by southern 
and cemtral Russia (see Pharmacograp hia). 
Description.-Ergot of commerce consists of grains which vary in length 
from a few lines to 1 inch, or even inches, and whose breadth is from £ to 4 
lines. Their form is cylindrical or obscurely triangular, with obtuse angles, 
tapering at the extremities (fusiform), curved like the spur of a cock, unequally 
furrowed on two sides, often irregularly cracked and fissured. The odor of a 
single grain is not detectable, but of a large quantity is fishy, peculiar, and nau-. 
seous. The taste is not very marked, but is disagreeable and very slightly acrid. 
The grains are externally purplish-brown or black, more or less covered by a 
bloom, moderately brittle, the fractured surface being tolerably smooth, and 
whitish or purplish-white. Their specific gravity is somewhat greater than that 
of water, though, when thrown into this liquid they usually float at first, owing 
to the adherent air. The lower part of the grain is sometimes heavier than the 
upper (P.). When ergot is examined under the microscope, its internal part is 
seen to be composed of minute hexagonal or rounded cellular tissue, the cells 
containing from 1 to 3 globules of oil; its violet or blackish coat consists of a 
layer of longitudinally elongated delicate cells, and its blooms consist of sporidia. 
Unless kept carefully excluded from the air, it softens and swells, and becomes 
infected with numerous brown insects, about the size of a pin's head, while at 
the same time it acquires a deep-black color and heavier odor. Its powder quickly 
becomes damp, and full of animalcules. It should always be used recently pul- 
verized, or, if kept in powder, it should be in well-closed and darkened vials, and 
with a few lumps of camphor added. It imparts its virtues to water or alcohol; 
long boiling renders it inert. The best ergot is dry, and easily broken, free from 718 
ERGOTA. 
insects, burns with a clear flame, and is incapable of forming a dark-blue pulp 
when its powder is triturated with iodine and water. 
The U. S. P. requires that ergot should conform to the following description: 
" Somewhat fusiform, obtusely triangular, usually curved, about 2 or 3 Cm. (f to 
inches) long, and 3 Mm. (^ inch) thick, 3-furrowed, obtuse at both ends, pur- 
plish-black, internally whitish with some purplish striae, breaking with a short 
fracture; odor peculiar, heavy, increased by trituration with potassium or sodium 
hydrate T.S.; taste oily and disagreeable. Old ergot, which breaks with a sharp 
snap, is almost or entirely devoid of a pinkish tinge upon the fracture, is hard 
and brittle between the teeth, and is comparatively odorless and tasteless, should 
be rejected"-(U. S. R). The U. S. P. directs the occasional addition, of a few 
drops of chloroform to ergot to prevent the development of insects. 
Chemical Composition.-Vauquelin is generally accredited with having 
made the first analysis of ergot of rye, but according to his own statements, a 
chemical analysis of ergot had been made by Model, of Strassburg, as early as 
1766 (Jour. Pharm. Chim., 1817, p. 164). Subsequent researches have brought out 
the most contradictory results, owing not only to the changeable character and 
the want of crystallizability, of the physiologically active drug constituents, but 
also to the tendency of various investigators to apply identical names to essen- 
tially different bodies, as well as to persistently uphold distinctions by name of 
substances that are essentially alike, if not identical. As a result, opinions are 
still divided, as to the chemical nature of the substances that constitute the active 
principles of ergot. Indeed, it seems as if this drug acts, as a whole, in a way 
that no constituent or mixture of products can do. At one time it was believed 
that the fatty oil which occurs in ergot in the amount of from 25 to 30 per cent, 
and upward, carried the medicinal properties of the drug, a belief probably due to 
the fact that the oil when obtained by expression or extraction with etner may 
hold in solution some of the active principles of ergot (ecboline). However, it was 
found that by abstraction, with petroleum ether, or with benzin, no ecboline will 
pass into the fatty oil (J. Denzel, Archiv. der Pharm., 1884, p. 314). The name ergotin 
has been applied to different substances by different authors. Wiggers (Prize 
Essay, 1831), extracted dried ergot, which had been previously deprived of its fatty 
oil by means of ether, with boiling alcohol, and after evaporating the solvent he 
treated the residue with water, which left the "ergotin" (Chemisches Centralbl., 
1832, p. 276). The ergotin of Bonjean (1843), was merely an aqueous extract of 
ergot purified by separating out gummy and albuminous matter by means of alco- 
hol (Amer. Jour. Pharm.,Vol. XV, p. 219). W. T.Wenzell, in 1864, isolated from 
ergot, as he supposed, two alkaloids, ecboline and ergotine, which later investigators 
(e. g., Blumberg, 1878), pronounced identical. Ecboline possessed the physiological 
action of ergot to a powerful degree. Both alkaloids he found combined in the 
drug with a peculiar acid which he called ergotic acid. Besides he observed a vola- 
tile constituent, propylamine, which he pronounced identical with the volatile seca- 
line previously observed by F. L.Winckler (1852). Walz established the presence 
of the volatile base, trimethylamine, which Brieger (1887) showed to be a product 
of decomposition of cholin, one of the constituents of ergot. 
Tanret, since 1875, maintains that the active principle of ergot is represented 
by a crystallizable alkaloid which he called ergotinine, having the formula 
C35H40N4O6. Amorphous ergotinine he obtained as a by-product. Dragendorff 
and Podwissotzky (1876), observed the ecbolic principle of ergot to reside in two 
non-alkaloidal substances which they named sclerotic acid and scleromucin. The 
former, existing in good ergot in the amount of from 4 to 4.5 per cent, is soluble 
in alcohol of 80 per cent and less; the latter is soluble in alcohol of 40 per cent 
and less, both are soluble in water, and are difficult to obtain free from ash. If 
these substances are really the active principles of ergot, it becomes evident why 
it is not admissible to remove gummy and albuminous matter by the addition of 
an excess of strong alcohol. In this connection see the interesting papers by 
C. Lewis Diehl, and by Prof. Hallberg, in Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1881 and 1883. 
Dragendorff and Podwissotzky, investigating also the coloring matters of ergot, 
found sclererythrin, sclerojodin, scleroxanthin, and sclerocrystallin, to which they added, 
in 1877, picrosclerotine (a poisonous, evanescent alkaloid, perhaps identical with 
Tanret's ergotine, etc.), and fusco-sclerotic acid (see Jahresb. der Pharm., 1876-77). 719 
ERGOT A. 
In 1884, R. Robert concluded from his researches that ergot contained three 
active principles, two of acid nature and one an alkaloid. Ergotic {ergotinic) acid, 
a glucosid containing nitrogen, is the principal constituent of sclerotic acid afore- 
mentioned, also of Bonjean's ergotin, and of the ergotin of Wernich, which he 
obtained by dialysis. It has the power of paralyzing the spinal cord, but does 
not produce ecbolic action. Sphacelic {sphacelinic) acid is a resin free from nitro- 
gen, probably the main constituent of the ergotin ofWiggers. It produces gan- 
grene. Cornutine, an exceedingly poisonous alkaloid, according to Robert is not 
identical with Tanret's ergotinine. Denzel (1884), however, believes it to be iden- 
tical with Wenzell's ecboline which, in turn he thinks to be the same substance as 
Tanret's ergotinine; likewise he believes the acid principles, ergotic acid (Robert), 
sclerotic acid (Dragendorff), and ergotic acid (Wenzell), to be identical. In 1894, 
C. C. Reller pronounced the identity of his cornutine with Tanret's ergotinine, 
Dragendorff's picrosclerotine, and Robert's cornutine, on the ground that they all gave 
the same color reaction with concentrated sulphuric acid (a few mgr. of alkaloid 
first colored the acid yellowish, and after a few hours a permanent violet blue). 
Reller also gave directions for the assay of ergot for coroutine (see Proc. Amer. 
Pharm. Assoc., 1895, p. 542, and A. R. L. Dohme, ib., p. 263). Within the last few 
years (since 1895), Dr. C. Jacoby's researches have come to the front. In his latest 
experiments he strove to exclude the deleterious action of water, alkalies, and 
temperatures above 60° C. (140° F.), hence the substances he obtained have a just 
claim on our attention. 
In 1895, the firm of C. F. Boehringer introduced Jacoby's spasmotin or sphacelo- 
toxin, as a most active educt from ergot {Pharm. Centralhalle, 1895, p. 265). In 1897, 
however, Jacoby observed that this substance was not a simple body, but was 
composed of three chemically different substances, chrysotoxin, secalintoxine, and 
sphacelotoxin proper. The latter forms the basic principle of the others, and the 
relation is as follows: Sphacelotoxin + (inert) secalin-secalintoxine; sphacelo- 
toxin -f- (inert) ergochrysin = chrysotoxin. Sphacelotoxin is a resin free from 
nitrogen, and combines the gangrenous with the uterine contractile action of 
ergot. Secalintoxin acts qualitatively like chrysotoxin, only the gangrenous 
action is more apparent on account of the greater tendency of the former to 
decomposition; hence the latter substance is preferred pharmacologically. In 
both cases sphacelotoxin, by decomposition in the organism, becomes the active 
principle. The mode of preparation and description of these bodies have recently 
appeared in print {Pharm. Centralhalle, 1898, p. 185), and may be summarized as 
follows: Chrysotoxin is a phenol-like body, also obtainable in crystalline form, hav- 
ing the composition C21H22O9. It.is prepared by depriving powdered ergot of its 
fat by means of petroleum ether, abstracting with strictly absolute ether, evapo- 
rating the solution to a syrup and precipitating with petroleum ether. By redis- 
solving in ether and fractionally precipitating with petroleum ether, pure chryso- 
toxin is obtained. This substance is insoluble in water, diluted acids, and petro- 
leum ether; soluble in ether, chloroform, alcohol, benzene, glacial acetic acid, etc. 
Caustic alkalies form golden-yellow solutions that are altered by warming. Pro- 
longed contact with excess of alkali converts it into inert ergochrysinic acid, 
precipitable by acids. This is probably a constituent of Robert's sphacelinic acid. 
Chrysotoxin is administered in the form of its sodium compound. 
Secalintoxine is a pronounced alkaloid contained in the first fractions in the 
preparation of chrysotoxin. The impure chrysotoxin is dissolved in ether, the 
alkaloid shaken out with diluted acetic acid, and precipitated by means of sodium 
carbonate. In pure form it is soluble in alcohol, acetic ether, chloroform, ben- 
zene, less soluble in ether, little soluble in water and weak alkalies, and insolu- 
ble in benzin and petroleum ether. With concentrated sulphuric acid it gave 
Roller's cornutine reaction, without being identical with this substance, as both 
differ markedly in their physiological actions. Evaporated on the water-bath 
repeatedly with alcohol and concentrated hydrochloric acid, traces of the alkaloid 
leave a beautiful violet-colored residue. Ergochrysin is a yellow, inert coloring 
matter, soluble in water and in glacial acetic acid. Secalin is obtainable, in crys- 
tals of several millimeters in length, from secalintoxin. It is a pronounced alka- 
loid, yet stated to be not identical with Robert's cornutine, nor Tanret's ergoti- 
nine, as it does not possess the contractile activity of the latter. It gives the 720 
ERGOTA. 
color reaction of secalintoxine in a more pronounced degree, and exhibits a beau- 
tifully blue fluorescence in alcoholic solution. It has the formula C29H5f)N6O14. 
Sphacelotoxin is obtained as a yellow resinous mass which soon turns greenish, by 
precipitating with petroleum ether an ethereal solution of secalintoxine. Crystals 
of secalin are also formed. Decomposition of secalintoxine into its components, seca- 
lin and sphacelotoxin, is best effected by means of lime. It contains traces only 
of nitrogen, and gives but faintly the secaliue reaction above mentioned. 
Other Constituents of Ergot.-Among these may be mentioned vegetable albu- 
men (Wiggers, 1831); ash (5 per cent, especially rich in phosphates); acetic, lactic, 
and formic acids, probably occurring in decomposed ergot only; cholesterin, 
recorded by Schoonbrodt (1863), though Tanret (1889) considers it peculiar to 
ergot, naming it ergosterin. It is probably identical with the substance that Wig- 
gers, in 1831, named cerin (see Wiggers, Jahresb. der Pham., 1869, p. 25). Leucin 
(amidocapronic acid) mannit, and reducing sugar, are also present in ergot. Wiggers 
observed a sugar peculiar to ergot, which was non-reducing and not readily fer- 
mentable. It was called mycose by Mitscherlich, and thought to be identical with 
trehalose by Muntz. Mucilage is present in ergot in appreciable amount. A pecu- 
liar, crystallizable body, vernin (C16H20N8O8-|-3H,O), discovered by E. Schulze and 
Von Planta, and found to occur in various plants, associated with asparagin, has 
also been observed in ergot (see Jahresb. der Pham., 1886, p. 15). 
In conclusion it maybe said that nowithstanding the voluminous literature on 
this subject and the patient work devoted to the chemistry of ergot, much remains 
yet to be done when it comes to affiliating the chemical record and the therapeu- 
tical constituents. It is evident, as before stated, that in therapy such prepara- 
tions as liquids containing natural groups of constituents, made by methods that 
do not use heroic chemistry, are as yet the logical preparations to be used by con- 
servative physicians. 
Detection of Ergot in Flour, Bread, etc.-Ergot may be detected when 
mixed with farinaceous substances, by the following method of M.Wittstein: 
Mix the suspected substance with a little water in a test tube, and cover with a 
layer of solution of caustic potash-if ergot be present, trimethylamine is disen- 
gaged, which has an unmistakable odor of fish-brine; the application of heat 
favors the development of this substance, but likewise quickly dissipates it. By 
simply mixing the bread or flour containing ergot with milk of lime and allowing 
it to stand for some time, the odor just described becomes apparent. 
Fliickiger (Pharmacognosie, 3d ed., 1891), favors Hilger's color test, which is 
carried out as follows: Shake 10 grammes of the flour suspected of containing 
ergot with 20 grammes of ether and 10 drops of diluted sulphuric acid (sp. g. 1.11), 
allow to stand for 6 hours, filter, and wash with sufficient ether to collect 20 
grammes of filtrate. Add 10 drops of a solution of sodium bicarbonate saturated 
in the cold, and shake; the red violet coloring matter, due to the presence of 
ergot, will then appear in the lower (aqueous) layer. The test gives good results 
even with 1 gramme of flour containing only 1 per cent of ergot. The color reac- 
tion remains permanent for weeks. For further chemical and some microscopical 
tests, see Fliickiger. To distinguish fresh from old ergot, Koster (Amer. Jour. 
Pham., 1885, p. 241), recommends macerating for some time 2 Gm. of the pow- 
der with 5 Cc. of ether. The resulting solution is colorless if the ergot is fresh, 
but yellowish if it is old. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-I. Ergot. Ergot exerts a remarkable 
effect on the human system, more especially when its use has been persevered in 
for some time. Its most serious influences are those occasioned by the continued 
use of affected rye as food, and which are manifested by certain symptoms termed 
ergotism, which assumes two types-convulsive ergotism and gangrenous. These two 
forms do not present well-defined pathological differences, though they differ in 
termination. The first form is characterized by weariness, giddiness, muscular 
contraction, formication, dimness of sight, voracious appetite, loss of sensibility, 
yellow countenance, convulsions, and death. The second is likewise accompa- 
nied by formication, voracious appetite, insensibility, and gangrene (either moist 
or dry) of the extremities, with dropping off of the toes. In doses of from 30 to 60 
grains, and especially when the stomach is in an irritable condition, it frequently 
causes vomiting and nausea. When given in large doses, it is apt to affect the 721 
ERGOTA 
cerebro-spinal system, as known by restlessness, heaviness of the bead, headache, 
vertigo, enlarged pupils, tinnitus aurium, and other symptoms of narcotism, with 
depressed heart and respiratory action, and gastro-intestinal irritation with sudden 
nausea and vomiting. These effects have been termed acute ergotism. It frequently 
lessens the action of the heart and arteries, though sometimes this is increased, 
with febrile symptoms, especially during parturition. A single dose, varying 
from 2 to 8 drachms, has occasioned vomiting, colic, pains, and headache; single 
doses of 20 to 40 grains have no great, influence under ordinary circumstances. 
The exact physiological action of ergot is still a matter of investigation, but 
the view chiefly held is that it acts mainly upon the vascular and nervous sys- 
tems, as follows: Microscopic examinations of the retina, spinal and cerebral 
meninges, and of the frog's foot, show its power to contract the arterioles. Ergot 
depresses the heart and dilates the veins, the effect of which is a deficient supply 
of blood to the arteries, causing an inactive contraction or in reality an arterial 
collapse. To this result is due its effects upon the nervous structures, causing an 
anemia of the cerebro-spinal axis and ganglionic centers and of the organic mus- 
cular structures. The primary effect of ergot on the circulation is a fall in blood 
pressure, but its ultimate effect is to induce a rise in blood pressure. 
The effects of ergot are not fully produced by the many so-called active prin- 
ciples of ergot. The action of ergotin, however, most closely resembles that of the 
parent drug. It has been shown by Kohler that Wiggers'ergotin has no effect 
upon the circulatory apparatus, but may induce intestinal cramps and violent 
gastro-intestinal inflammation, while Bonjean's ergotin is free from such effects, 
and slows the heart, contracts the arterioles, lessens temperature, and diminishes 
reflex phenomena. In very large doses the latter paralyzes the heart, and the 
muscular tissues fail to respond to the galvanic current. Ergotic acid is thought 
to be the active ingredient of Bonjean's ergotin. It must be used hypodermatic- 
ally, as it is destroyed in the stomach. It undoubtedly has hemostatic power, 
but does not cause uterine contractions. Sphacelic acid and cornutine (chiefly the 
latter;, are thought to be the effective agents in the induction of uterine contrac- 
tions, and to the former have been attributed the gangrenous effects of ergot. 
Ergot does not readily kill in a single large dose, fatal effects, when occurring, 
being developed from the long-continued use of small doses. A teaspoonful of 
tincture of ergot, taken 3 times a day for 11 weeks, was alleged to have caused 
the death of a woman 3 months pregnant. The only post-mortem features were 
inflammatory patches on the gastric mucous membrane (Taylor, Med. Juris.,p. 522). 
The treatment for acute ergotism is chiefly symptomatic. Cardiac stimulants, as 
caffeine, coffee, etc., or amyl nitrite by inhalation, may be employed. The hot 
bath and dry heat increase the effects of the medicinal treatment. 
Medicinally, ergot is chiefly used on account of its power of promoting uter- 
ine contraction in languid natural labors. When thus employed, it produces a 
strong, continued, and, as it were, spasmodic contraction of the uterus, seldom 
permitting any relaxation until the child is born, and often continuing for some 
minutes after. The contractions and pains caused by ergot are distinguished 
from those of natural labor by their continuance; scarcely any interval can be 
perceived between them, but a sensation is experienced of one continued forcing 
effort. Sometimes ergot causes no unpleasant effects on the system; and likewise 
fails to excite uterine contractions, which will be found the case with other par- 
turient agents. The causes of these failures are not known, being merely con- 
jectural. It is said that ergot poisons the child and causes its death. This may, 
probably, sometimes be the case, but I am induced to believe that the fatality 
more generally ensues in consequence of the long-continued and constant pres- 
sure of the contracted organ upon the cord and fetus, causing its utero-fetal cir- 
culation to cease, and thus destroying it by asphyxia (J. King). In support of 
the view that ergot probably does not directly operate in a poisonous manner 
upon the child, maybe cited the testimony of Uvedale West (see Taylor, Med. 
Juris., p. 521), who administered ergot during the births of 173 children, only 5 
of whom were still-born. In a state of pregnancy, ergot will undoubtedly occa- 
sion abortion, though it sometimes fails here likewise. However, many contend 
that it is incapable of producing abortion, but that it is effectual only after uter- 
ine contractions have already commenced-that, while it is an ecbolic it is not an 722 
ERGOT A. 
abortifacient. It also influences the non-gravid uterus, producing painful con- 
tractions or bearing-down pains, and on this account has been useful in checking 
menorrhagia, uterine hemorrhage, and in expelling polypus masses. 
As a parturient, its use should always be avoided, if possible, in first labors, 
nor is it to be used in the early stage of normal labor. In our opinion there are 
but two chief indications for the use of ergot in labor, and these are uterine inertia 
ami alarming hemorrhage, and as the latter is most frequently post-partum, a full 
hypodermatic injection of Lloyd's ergot should be given as soon as the head is 
born, when hemorrhage threatens. The conditions for safety and success are 
that the labor be somewhat advanced, the mouth of the womb being moderately 
dilated, that no mechanical obstruction to delivery exists, as deformity of the 
pelvis, rigidity of the os uteri, mal-presentation, or, disparity of the size of the 
child to the parts of the mother, and more especially that the only cause of the 
slow progress of labor is insufficiency of the uterine contractions in point of force 
or frequency. One or 2 drachms of the powder may be stirred in 4 fluid ounces 
of hot water, and, when sufficiently cool, may be given in teaspoonful doses every 
10 minutes until labor pains are induced ; usually in 15 or 20 minutes the labor 
pains increase in force and frequency, and gradually become continuous, and 
effect the expulsion of the child within an hour. A good fluid extract of ergot, 
or Lloyd's ergot (non-alcoholic), are equally as efficient as crude ergot. To simply 
increase labor pains already existing not more than 5 drops, every 20 or 30 min- 
utes are required; when speedy expulsion is sought, the dose should be 1 fluid 
drachm, by mouth or hypodermatically, every half hour or hour. When to be used 
simply to facilitate labor which is slowly progressing, the following was advised 
by Prof. J. M. Scudder: R Specific ergot, A^i; water, fl§ij. Teaspoonful every 
half hour or hour. Such doses exert a stimulant influence, strengthen uterine 
contractions, and aid dilatation of the os uteri. The cases usually calling for these 
doses are those with feeble circulation, puffiness of the face, and oedematous feet. 
If the os uteri be rigid, thick, and doughy, lobelia should be associated with it. 
In cases where the child is dead, and circumstances require prompt delivery, 
as, where the patient is greatly exhausted, or where the system becomes very irri- 
table, etc., ergot maybe administered, provided there be no obstruction to a safe 
delivery. It may likewise be administered to facilitate abortion when it has once 
commenced, as well as to check uterine hemorrhage in the gravid or non-gravid 
state. It may likewise be given for promoting the expulsion of a mole, hydatids, 
a clot of blood, or other uterine contents, when the womb has once begun to act. 
The practice of administering ergot to cause the expulsion of the placenta is not 
to be commended, for some of the worst cases of placental retention, especially 
when the placenta is adherent, have been caused by the constant contraction pro- 
duced, thus imprisoning the secundines until septic consequences have ensued. 
It is far better to remove the placenta by mechanical means, and then to use 
ergot in case hemorrhage of any consequence follows. Neither do we approve of 
the custom of administering to every parturient, at the close of labor, a dose of 
ergot. If there is a history of hemorrhage at or after previous confinements, or 
present indications of such an accident, or there is uterine inertia, such a pro- 
cedure is permissible and often imperatively demanded. But where no hemor- 
rhage occurs the imprisonment of placental tissuesand other debris, as well as the 
increased severity of the after-pains that usually occur, are a sufficient protest in 
themselves against the indiscriminate employment of a remedy so productive of 
harm as ergot. Ergot should never be administered unless there be present or 
impending complications imperatively demanding its exhibition. 
Ergot is an admirable remedy for hemorrhage, post-partum or otherwise. For 
this purpose ergotin (see below) is also frequently employed. It is useful in 
epistaxis, hematemesis, hematuria, menorrhagia, from large, spongy, subinvoluted 
womb, especially in scrofulous subjects, and in intestinal hemorrhage. It is some- 
times useful in the hemorrhages accompanying typhoid fever. It is particularly 
useful, combined with appropriate constitutional treatment, in a hemorrhagic diathe- 
sis. It has given good results in hemorrhagica purpura. Dysentery, with bloody 
evacuations, has been relieved by it, and given internally or applied by supposi- 
tory, it has given relief in hemorrhoids. It forms an excellent adjunct in the treat- 
ment of passive hemoptysis, the following having proven very serviceable in our 723 
ERGOT A. 
hands: R Specific ergot, tincture of cinnamon (oil), and specific lycopus, aa fl^ij. 
Mix. Sig Dose, 20 drops, in water, every hour until relieved. If the hemor- 
rhage be active, 60 drops may be given every half hour. Prof. Locke advises 
(Syllab. of Mat. Med., p. 386), the following at one dose, to be repeated every half 
hour if necessary: R Specific ergot, gtt. x; ipecac, grs. ss; gallic acid, grs. ij. Mix. 
He advises the same in post-partum hemorrhage, and in intestinal hemorrhage from 
typhoid fever. The action of ergot is enhanced by the conjoint administration of 
specific geranium, gallic acid, hamamelis, cinnamon, or lycopus. For the hemor- 
rhage from cancerous growths, Prof. Locke advises the dusting of the surface with 
finely-powdered ergot and covering with a cloth wrung from a weak phenol solu- 
tion. Ergot has given good results in aneurism, especially when small, and is 
accredited very serviceable in dilated heart, without lesions of the valves. 
Ergot has a decided action of the muscular fibers of the bladder. Large doses 
may contract the fibers so as to cause retention of urine. In incontinence of urine 
and other bladder affections due to relaxation of the sphincter vesicse, specific 
ergot in doses of from 10 to 30 drops in water, render good service. It may be 
combined with buchu as follows: R Specific ergot, fl^ss; specific buchu, fl^j; 
simple syrup, fl^ijss. Mix. Sig. One teaspoonful 3 or 4 times a day (Locke). 
Cystic paralysis is sometimes relieved by ergot, and particularly when due to over- 
distension of the bladder. Amenorrhcea, due to relaxed uterine tissues, or to con- 
gestive conditions, is relieved by specific ergot in small doses, and it is useful in 
leucorrhcea, due to similar causes. It is also a good remedy in the congestive form 
of dysmenorrhcea; here it may be associated with other appropriate remedies. As 
before stated, it is doubted by many whether ergot will excite uterine contrac- 
tions in any instance, unless a natural movement toward such action has com- 
menced, but, as previously remarked, there is no doubt of its influence upon the 
womb at other times than that of parturition. There is abundant evidence that 
small doses of ergot have prevented abortion. For uterine subinvolution ergot is one 
of the most positive of remedies. In small doses it has been recommended in 
painful dysmenorrhcea, where membraneous shreds pass off. Sometimes it has 
proved advantageous in fever and ague, but is rarely used for this purpose. The 
dose should range from 5 to 10 or 15 grains, or an equivalent amount of specific 
ergot, 3 times a day, but its use should not be persisted in too long, on account 
of its tendency to cause dangerous symptoms. It is not without value in sperma- 
torrhoea, gonorrhoea, and enlarged prostate. Small doses relieve false pains associated 
with fullness and uneasiness of the genitalia, and oedema with dullness, hebetude, 
and tendency to coma (Scudder). In skin diseases it has had a limited use in 
erythema, urticaria, prurigo, acne rosacea (locally and internally) and incipient furun- 
cles (locally). Locally, seborrhcea is well treated with the oil of ergot. 
Ergot is valuable in certain forms of nervous diseases. According to Dr. 
Brown-Sequard, ergot diminishes the blood in the spinal cord, by causing a con- 
traction of its blood vessels; dilates the pupil; acts more especially on the fibers 
of the womb and of the bladder and urethra, and appears to exert a more power- 
ful influence on the inferior portion of the spinal cord. He suggested that it be 
used in the same forms of paralysis and disease of the spinal cord, as belladonna. 
Bonjean's purified extract (ergotin), in the dose of from 2 to 10 grains, 2 or 3 times a 
day, is often employed in the spinal and cerebellar lesions resulting from mastur- 
bation and sexual excesses. The nervous disorders to w'hich ergot is adapted are 
those of a hyperemic or congestive character, and it is always contraindicated by 
anemia. It has been found particularly useful in congestive headaches, and particu- 
larly migraine, with flushed face, full pulse, and suffused eyes. Itsaction upon the 
circulation closely resembles that of belladonna,'and the general indications are 
much the same. In any trouble, "with enfeebled capillary circulation with tend- 
ency to congestion, especially of the nerve-centers, ergot may be prescribed wuth 
advantage" (Scudder). The indications are dull, full eyes, with pupillary dila- 
tation, fullness of the veins, slow pulse, sighing respiration and tendency to coma. 
With these indications it has been found very serviceable in paraplegia, cerebral 
hyperemia, chronic mania, recurrent mania, epileptic mania, acute myelitis, spinal con- 
gestion, etc. In mental disorders, dependent on intracranial congestion or obstruc- 
tion, with bleeding from the nose, dizziness, hebetude, or headache, and tinnitus, 
due to intracranial miliary aneurisms, ergot appears to render efficient service. 724 
ERGOTA. 
Fluid extract of ergot, or a paste of ergotin, locally applied, lias been of value 
in follicular pharyngitis. Foltz (see Webster's Dynamical Therapeutics, pp. 577 and 
621) is a strong advocate of the use of ergot in diseases of the eye. Thus, besides 
the common use of the drug for conjunctival congestion and for the hemorrhage 
following enucleation of the globe, he advises it in the following conditions: Super- 
ficial conjunctivitis and keratitis, in follicular conjunctivitis (claiming it better than 
any other drug), ophthalmia neonatorum, incipient trachoma, phlychtenulx, pannus, 
with great vascularization, and pinguecula. He declares it of no service in epis- 
cleritis or involvement of the deeper structures of the eye. As a collyrium, he 
advises Lloyd's ergot gtt. xv to xxx to sufficient water to make fluid ounce. 
Foltz further recommends full doses (Lloyd's ergot, to 1 fluid drachm) in relaxed 
or congested retinal vessels, hyperemia of the optic disc, and hemorrhage into the vitreous 
humor. In combination with boric acid he employs ergot locally by insufflation 
in purulent otitis media, with little discharge and a turgid tympanic membrane: 
R Boric acid, 3j; fluid extract of ergot (Squibb's), fl^ss. Mix. Triturate until 
dry. Ergot has given relief in exophthalmic goitre. Ergot and ergotin, both locally 
and internally, have been very effectual in reducing nasal hypertrophies. 
II. Ergotin.-The facility with which solution of ergotin may be employed 
in hypodermatic injections, its rapidity of action, and its efficiency,render it supe- 
rior to any other mode of administration. Yvon's solution (see Liq. Ergotd) is especi- 
ally available. (Bonjean's ergotin may be used for the same purposes.) When it is 
properly made it is innocuous, and occasions neither pain nor inflammation. It 
has been successfully employed in post-partum hemorrhages, the only unpleasant 
symptom observed being a sudden headache with vertigo, nausea, and syncope, 
which passes off in a few minutes by placing the patient in a horizontal position- 
but no symptoms resembling those of poisoning. Its effects are better manifested 
in passive hemorrhages due to inertia or atony of the uterus. The use of this solu- 
tion by subcutaneous injections has likewise been found efficient in excessive 
menorrhagia, epistaxis, hemoptysis, and other profuse and obstinate hemorrhages, as 
gastrorrhagia, enterorrhagia, cerebral hemorrhage, and in secondary hemorrhages follow- 
ing surgical operations. They have likewise been of service in uterine fibroma; the 
soft, vascular, hemorrhagic tumors, of rapid development during the sexual life, 
being more readily influenced by the ergotin; while, on the contrary, the long- 
standing, hard, voluminous, stationary tumors, which have formed adhesions 
or undergone fatty degeneration, especially with females who have reached or 
passed the critical age, are hardly, if at all, influenced by it. Subcutaneous injec- 
tions of ergotin have also proved effective in prostatic enlargement, goitre, prolapsus 
of the rectum, purpura hemorrhagica, internal aneurism, diabetes insipidus, paraplegia, 
paralysis of the bladder, and enlargement of the spleen, especially when the result of 
malarial influences. Ergotin has a special influence upon the fibers of the smooth 
muscles. M. Bernard, who has given considerable attention to the subject, sums 
up his conclusions as follows: Subcutaneous injections of ergotin act upon hem- 
orrhages by causing contraction of the smooth fibers of the blood-vessels, or of 
those of the organs enclosing them. They appear to act locally at the point where 
the ergotin is in contact with the tissues, but this action does not appear to be 
independent of the influence of the nervous system. Contraction of the smooth 
vascular fibers acts especially by modifying the tension of the blood; contraction 
of the fibers of the organs containing them acts especially by effacing their caliber 
-compressing them. Injections of ergotin appear to act efficiently, even in hem- 
orrhages of organs deprived of smooth fibers, or presenting few of them in their 
structure, as in gastro-intestinal hemorrhages, hemoptysis, and epistaxis. Hemorrhages 
of organs in which the smooth fibers predominate; that is to say metrorrhagia, 
are almost constantly cured or ameliorated by injections of ergotin. Their influ- 
ence is especially manifest in the gravid condition of the uterus, or in conditions 
approaching it, as moles and intra-uterine fibromas. It is likewise very energetic 
when the muscular fibei of the organ is healthy, even when a portion of the organ 
is already destroyed, as by cancer. In cases of metritis, and especially of fungous 
growths, their influence is about null. When carefully made, and a properly pre- 
pared solution is employed, no serious symptoms result. Bartholow employed 
successfully the hypodermatic injection of ergotin (2 grs.) for the radical cure of 
varicocele. Seldom more than two injections were necessary. The operation is 725 
ERGOTA. 
very painful, and care must be exercised not to puncture the veins, the solution 
simply being injected among the vessels. Varicosities have been similarly treated. 
The dose of ergotin, by hypodermatic injection, varies according to circumstan- 
ces, from -J of a grain to 5 grains per day. Some practitioners have even exceeded 
this quantity, using from 3 to 10 grains daily. The quantity of Yvon's solution 
of ergotin will, therefore, be from of a minim to 5 minims per day. The frac- 
tions of a minim may be made by adding water to the solution, thus : To obtain 
| of a minim, add 1 minim of the solution to 23 minims of distilled water; 4 
minims of this mixture will equal the f of a minim of solution. The injections 
should be made in the neighborhood of the diseased parts, and be repeated, ac- 
cording to the circumstances, every 2, 3, or 4 days. In uterine myoma, M. Gerard 
prefers to inject directly into the uterine tissue. In profuse hemorrhages, from 
3 to 5 or 10 minims may be used at a time, and, if necessary, may be repeated 
every 4, 8, or 12 hours, according to the urgency of the case, and the effect of the 
agent. In enlarged spleen, from 1 to 5 grains of ergotin have been injected daily. 
The dose of ergot depends upon the conditions for which it is to be used. For 
rapid expulsive purposes in labor, or for active hemorrhage, the dose ranges from 
5 to 30 grains, or from 5 drops to 2 fluid drachms of the fluid extract, or 5 to 60 
drops of specific ergot or Lloyd's ergot. Lloyd's ergot, being non-alcoholic and 
representing grain for minim, is an excellent preparation for hypodermatic use. 
For specific purposes the dose of good fluid preparations of ergot ranges from 1 to 5 
drops, seldom exceeding 10 drops. Bonjean's ergotin may be given internally 
to the extent of 10 grains, half that quantity being about the limit for hypo- 
dermatic use. The large doses above given are seldom required, about £ the 
stated amount being usually administered. Tanret's ergotinine may be used sub- 
cutaneously in doses not exceeding grain. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Uterine inertia during labor, when condi- 
tions are otherwise favorable for a safe delivery; hemorrhage due to atony, with 
weak pulse, cold surface, and dilated (sometimes contracted) pupils ; post-partum 
hemorrhage (large doses); to expel loosened foreign particles from the womb; 
congestion or hyperemia of any part; venous fullness; mental apathy; dullness, 
hebetude,and tendency to coma; fullness and uneasiness of genitalia, with oedema; 
congestive headache; hemiplegia and paraplegia, with hyperemia or congestion ; 
feeble circulation ; hyperemic or congestive eye and ear disorders; otorrhoea, dis- 
charge slight and membrane turgid. 
Other Forms of Ergot.-Ergot of Wheat. This form of ergot is hand-picked in France 
and Italy from the wheat intended for the manufacture* of vermicelli, pastes, etc. The ergots 
are thicker and shorter than those from rye, are said to retain their good qualities longer, and 
to be free from the deleterious action of the latter. 
Ergot of Oats.-More slender than the ergot of rye. Sometimes collected to mix with 
the latter, or to be sold per see (Le Perdriel, Pharmacographid). 
Ergot of Diss.-From Arundo Ampelodesmos, Cirillo. A reed grass of North Africa. It 
was first detected in 1842 by M. Durien de Maisonneuve, in Algeria (E. M. Holmes, Amer. Jour. 
Pharm., 1886, p. 203). It is from 1 to 3 inches long, about inch broad, curved, or if large, 
spirally twisted. Resembles ergot of rye in structure, and according to Lallemand, is said to 
possess double the activity of that product. 
Ergot-yielding Plant.-Rye. The grain of Secede cereale, Linne. Nett. Ord.-Graminese. 
Rye has a stem 4 to 6 feet high, hairy beneath the spike, in a wild state seldom over a foot 
high. Leaves lance-linear, rough-edged, and rough above, glaucous; lower ones, together with 
their sheaths, covered with a soft down. Rachis bearded on each side with white hairs. Glumes 
subulate, ciliated, scabrous, shorter than the florets, taken together with their awns. Outers 
paleee folded up, keeled, tri-nerved, with very long awns; the 2 nerves and awns very rough. 
Stamens 3. Ovary pyriform, pilose. Stigmas 2 (L.-W.). The native country of rye is not 
positively known, though supposed to have originated about the Caucasus; at the present 
day it is considerably cultivated among civilized nations. Ground into fine flour it is used as 
an article of diet in the form of bread or mush. Rye bread is not so light-colored, nor so 
readily digested as wheat bread. According to Einhof, the grain consists of about 64 per cent 
of meal, the balance being husk or bran, nearly 24 per cent, and moisture. The meal consists 
of starch 61.07, gum 11.09, gluten 9.48, albumen 3.28, saccharine matter 3.28, husk, salts, acid, 
etc. (P.). Rye is frequently attacked by the parasite Claviceps purpurea (Fries) Tulasne, the 
result being the production of the fungus, ergot. 
Rye-bread, or rye-mush, is laxative, especially to those unaccustomed to its use, and is 
sometimes taken to obviate costiveness. The dry flour allays the heat and itching of erysipelas and 
other affections of the skin when applied upon the affected parts. In the form of poultice it is 
often applied to discuss tumors or swellings, or to hasten their suppuration, when far advanced. 726 
ERIGERON. 
Green rye, when from 6 to 10 inches high, made into a salve by simmering in fresh cream, I 
have known to cure several most inveterate cases of tinea capitis; to be applied to the scalp 
twice a day (King). 
erigeron.-Canada fleabane. 
The plant Erigeron canadense, Linn£. 
Nat. Ord.-Composita?. 
Common Names: CoW s-tail, Canada fleabane, Scabious, Pride-weed, etc. 
Botanical Source.-This plant is known by the various names of Colt's-tail, 
Pride-weed, Scabious; also improperly called by some persons Horse-weed, Butter- 
weed, etc. It is an indigenous annual herb, with a high, branching, furrowed, 
and bristly-hairy stem, from 6 inches to 9 feet in height. The leaves are linear- 
lanceolate, and ciliate; the lower ones subserrate. The flowers are very small, 
numerous, white, and irregularly racemose upon the branches, constituting a large, 
terminal, oblong panicle. The involucre is cylindric; the rays minute, numer- 
ous, crowded, and short; and the pappus simple (W.-G.). 
History.-This plant is common to the northern and central portions of the 
United States, growing in fields and meadows, by roadsides, and in waste places, 
flowering from June to September. The very small, inconspicuous ray-flowers, 
which are multitudinous, the elongated involucre, and the simple pappus, will 
serve to distinguish it from other plants of the same family. The whole herb is 
medicinal, and should be gathered when in bloom, and carefully dried. It has a 
feeble but pleasant odor, and a subastringent and amarous taste, with some acri- 
mony, and yields its properties to alcohol, or water by infusion Its acridity is 
lessened by boiling, owing to the dissipation of its essential oik 
Chemical Composition.-Dr. Dupuy, who made an examination of the plant, 
found it to contain essential oil (see Oleum Erigerontis Canadensis}, tannic and 
gallic acids, bitter extractive, etc. The oil is not astringent to the taste, but has a 
styptic influence upon the system. It is of a colorless, or pale-yellow color, gradu- 
ally becoming darker-colored, and may be procured from the plant by distillation 
with water. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.- This plant is slightly tonic, with 
more active diuretic and astringent properties. The infusion has been found effi- 
cient in diarrhoea, gravel, diabetes, dropsical affections, dysuria of children, painful mic- 
turition. and in many nephritic affections. Erigeron is extremely useful for the 
arrest of capillary bleeding from any organ liable to hemorrhage, and to arrest pro- 
fuse watery secretions from the gastro-intestinal and renal tracts. For many 
years it has been a popular favorite to arrest watery diarrhoea, and for the choleraic 
stage of cholera infantum, where the evacuations gush suddenly and copiously from 
the child, it will be found one of the most important agents at our command. 
The infusion of the fresh plant freely administered, should be used, and this 
not only serves to check the diarrhoea, but also supplies the body with fluid, 
which is required to supply the loss of water occasioned by the depleting evacua- 
tions. Its use is suggested in cholera. The infusion may be given hot or cold, 
or sweetened, if desired, and will prove useful if it can be retained upon the 
stomach. A snuff of the powdered leaves has successfully checked epistaxis; while 
in bronchial disorders with bloody expectoration, a syrup is effective. The same 
may be used to allay the cough and lessen expectoration in pulmonary consumption. 
Locally, an infusion is useful in leucorrhcea. 
On account of its constringing power over the renal capillaries it has proven 
of value in hyper-urination, as in simple diabetes. The infusion is very serviceable in 
hemorrhages from the stomach, bowels, bladder, and kidneys. It is useful in metror- 
rhagia when not due to retained fragments of placenta, or other foreign bodies. 
Passive hemorrhages where stimulation is required are the cases for its exhibition. 
The volatile oil of Erigeron canadense acts as an astringent, and may be used 
as a local application to hemorrhoids, bleeding from small wounds, etc., likewise in 
rheumatism, boils, tumors, sore throat, and tonsilitis, in which it should be combined 
with goose-oil or some similar substance, being too acrid to use alone. Internally, 
it will be found useful in diarrhoea, dysentery, hemoptysis, hematemesis, and hematuria; 
from 4 to 6 drops of it on sugar, or dissolved in alcohol, and given in a little 
water, will be found a powerful remedy in uterine hemorrhage and menorrhagia. 727 
ERIODICTYON. 
acting promptly and efficiently; it may be repeated every 5 or 10 minutes if re- 
quired. The oil may be given in the profuse stage of gonorrhoea. The usual man- 
ner of administering it is in simple syrup. The plant may be given in the form 
of powder in doses of | or 1 drachm; or the infusion, which is the best form of 
administration, may be given in doses of from 2 to 4 fluid ounces 3 or 4 times 
a day, and oftener in bowel complaints; the aqueous extract is worthless, but the 
fluid extract may be given in teaspoonful doses. Specific erigeron, 1 to 30 drops; 
oil of erigeron, 3 to 10 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Capillary or passive hemorrhages; "painful 
diseases of the kidneys and bladder, and in diseased conditions of the mucous 
membranes attended with free discharges " (Scudder); choleraic discharges, sud- 
den, gushing, and watery, attended with thirst and cramping pain; hematuria, 
metrorrhagia, hemoptysis, epistaxis, and hematemesis. 
Related Species.-Erigeron annuum, Persoon; Various-leaved fleabane, Common fleabane, 
White-weed. This plant, also known as Erigeron heterophyUwm, is the Erigeron annuum of Per- 
soon, and many other celebrated botanists. It is a biennial herb with a branching root. 
Stems from 2 to 4 feet high, thick, branching, hispid with scattered hairs, terminating in a large, 
diffuse, corymbose panicue of large heads. Leaves hirsute, coarsely serrate ; lowest ones ovate, 
contracted at base into a winged petiole; stem leaves ovate-lanceolate, sessile, acute, entire* at 
both ends, highest ones lanceolate. Flowers numerous; disk-florets yellow; ray-florets capil- 
lary, white or purplish. Pappus plainly double, the outer a crown of minute chaffy-bristle- 
forin scales; the inner of scanty capillary bristles which are deciduous, or entirely wanting in 
the ray. This plant is common to the United States and Europe, being a very common weed 
in fields and waste grounds from Canada to Pennsylvania and Kentucky, and flowering from 
June to August (W.-G.). Properties, constituents, and uses same as those of next species 
(which see). 
Erigeron Philadtiphicum, Linne; Philadelphia fleabane.-The Erigeron Philadelphicum is the 
E. strigosum of Willdenow, and the E. purpureum of Aiton. It is a perennial herb, with a slen- 
der, pubescent or hirsute, leafy stem, 1 to 3 feet high, loosely corymbed at the summit, bear- 
ing a few small heads on long, slender peduncles; root yellowish and branching. Leaves from 
2 to 4 by from 6 to 9 inches, thin, with a broad midrib, oblong; lower ones spathulate, crenate- 
dentate; upper ones oblong-lanceolate, clasping by a heart-shaped base, subserrate. Flowers 
numerous; disk-florets yellow; ray-florets innumerable, very narrow', rose-purple or flesh 
color, twice as long as the hemispherical involucre. Pappus simple. Thewdiole herb is pubes- 
cent. This plant is found growing in common with the preceding variety, flowering at the 
same period (W.-G.). 
The medicinal virtues of this plant and the preceding are analogous, and they may 
be substituted the one for the other; they are, however, less astringent and more diuretic 
than the E. canadense. The plant should be gathered during the months of July, August, 
and September, or during the flowering season. They are slightly fragrant, have a subastrin- 
gent, somewhat bitter taste, and yield their virtues to alcohol, or to water by infusion. Mr. 
F. L. John obtained from 17 pounds of the dried herb but a drachm of greenish-yellow, power- 
ful, aromatic oil, with a disagreeable, bitter, pungent taste and sp. gr. 0.946 (Amer. Jour. Pharm. 
XXVII, 105). Diuretic, astringent, and tonic. The infusion is very efficient in affections of the 
bladder and kidneys, dysuria., especially of children, painful micturition, various forms of dropsy, 
gravel, and in hydrothorax connected with gout. ■ It has also been recommended as a diaphoretic 
in rheumatism, fevers, colds, etc., and as an emmenagogue in suppressed menstruation; and has been 
used with advantage in gout, some forms of cutaneous eruptions, and diabetes. Dose of the infu- 
sion, from 2 to 4 fluid ounces 3 or 4 times a day. 
ERIODICTYON (U. S. P.)-ERIODICTYON. 
"Theleaves of Eriodictyon glutinosum, Bentham"-(U. S. P.) {Eriodictyon cali- 
fornicum, Bentham; Wigandia californica, Hooker and Arnott). 
Nat. Ord.-Hydrophyllacese. 
Common Names: Yerba santa, Mountain balm, Consumptive's weed, Bear's weed. 
Illustrations: Hooker's Botany, Beech's Survey, Plate 88. 
Botanical History and Source.-This plant is generally known as Yerba 
santa (holy or sacred herb). It is shrubby, from 2 to 4 feet high, and is found 
growing in clumps, in dry situations throughout California, and northern Mexico, 
where it is very common in certain localities. The stem is smooth, branched 
usually from near the ground, and covered with a peculiar glutinous resin, which 
exudes abundantly from all parts of the plant, excepting the under side of the 
leaves. The leaves are thick, leathery, and evergreen, their upper surface being 
coated, somewhat like a varnish, with the aforementioned resin. They are alter- 728 
ERIODICTYON. 
nate, and attached by short petioles at an acute angle with the branch. In shape 
they are narrowly elliptical, from 2 to 5 inches long, and from £ to f of an inch 
in width. They are acute, and taper to a short leaf-stalk at the base. The upper 
surface is smooth and dark-green in color (sometimes black when dry). The 
under surface has a large, prominent mid-rib, and a close network of veins, and 
is covered, between the veins, with a close, white tomentum, 
which gives the surface a milky color. The margin of the 
leaf is dentate, with numerous unequal teeth, which are un- 
dulate and blunt. The flowers are bluish, and borne in 
terminal clusters, which consist of from 6 to 10 close, 1-sided 
racemes, that unroll as the flowers expand. The calyx is 
hairy, about the length of the corolla, and deeply 5-parted, 
almost to the base. The corolla is broadly tubular, about 
| an inch long, and has 5 short, obtuse, spreading lobes. The 
5 stamens are included in the corolla tube. The pistil con- 
sists of a free, ovate, hairy ovary, and 2 slender, diverging 
styles, with club-shaped stigmas. 
History.- Eriodictyon was mentioned by Prof. Maisch 
in March, 1875, at the meeting of the Philadelphia College of 
Pharmacy, a specimen of the plant being at the same time 
presented. The October Eclectic Medical Journal (1875) con- 
tained an article from Dr. J. H. Bundy, of California, upon 
"Yerba santa." This was followed by others, all speaking 
of it as Yerba santa. In February, 1876, Prof. J. M. -Scudder 
received specimens of the leaves from Dr. Bundy, and imme- 
diately had them identified botanically by C. G. Lloyd. They 
proved to be Eriodictyon ghbtinosum. Prof. Scudder published 
the botanical name in the Eclectic Medical Journal, March, 
1876, since which the plant has been generally recognized. 
The leaves are employed in medicine. They are fragrant 
even after long drying and exposure. Doubtless, oxidation or 
other modifications of the various resinous substances con- 
tinually develops this fragrant principle, which seems not to be a volatile oil. 
The taste is aromatic and sweetish, eventually acrid to a slight extent, but not 
bitter. The after-taste is sweet, resembling dulcamara, and is accompanied by a 
flow of saliva. 
Description.- Eriodictyon is thus described by the U.S.P.: "Oblong- 
lanceolate, 5 to-10 Cm. (2 to 4 inches) long, acute at the apex, and below nar- 
rowed into a short petiole, the margin sinuately toothed to nearly entire; upper 
surface green, smooth, and covered with a brownish resin; lower surface reticu- 
late and minutely white-tomentose; odor somewhat aromatic; taste balsamic 
and sweetish"-(U. S. P.). 
Chemical Composition.-The first article of interest regarding this plant, 
from a pharmaceutical point, appeared in the Chicago Pharmacist, February, 1876, 
from Mr. H. S. Wellcome. He gave a figure of the plant, and reported finding 
several resinous bodies. Mr. Charles Mohr {Proc. Amer. Pharm. Assoc., 1879, and 
Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1879, p. 545), upon distilling 10 pounds of the dried leaves 
with water, found the distillate free from volatile alkaloid, but it contained a 
small amount of an oily substance, of an aromatic odor and taste. The herb 
yielded to ether 8 per cent of a bitter, acrid resin, and to alcohol an inert resin; 
besides, Mr. Mohr found a peculiar, tannin-like glucosid, gum, green coloring 
matter, sugar, wax, etc. Rich. Thal, in 1883, announced the presence of ericolin 
(CMH30O3), a glucosid, in this plant. Rother (1887) obtained an acid resin form- 
ing soluble compounds with bases; these compounds, by double decomposition, 
precipitate quinine from solutions of its salts in the form of salts of quinium- 
resin. The latter compounds are singularly soluble in ammonia (ylmer. Jour. 
Pharm., 1887, p. 225). In 1888, Quirini, by extracting the drug with carbon disul- 
phide, obtained, beside a green resin, insoluble in benzol, eriodictyonic acid (C14HihO5), 
in yellow, deliquescent plates, soluble in benzol, and melting at 86° to 88° C. 
(186.6 to 190.4° F.). They have a sweetish-acid taste, and are closely related to 
phloroglucin. Prof. J. U. Lloyd, who has prepared considerable amounts of the 
Fig. 107. 
Eriodictyon glutinosum. 
% natural size. ERYNGIUM, 
729 
fluid extract of this plant (dried), strongly favors alcohol as the best agent for 
extracting and permanently holding the proximate resinous principles in solution. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Eriodictyon (or Mountain balm) has 
been recommended in the treatment of laryngeal and bronchial affections, and in 
chronic pulmonary difficulties generally. It has also been eulogized in the treatment 
of asthma and hay-fever, in combination with Grindelia robusta. That it possesses 
some efficiency as a stimulant, in the treatment of chronic mucous affections of the 
respiratory passages, is undoubtedly true; but that it deserves the high encomiums 
passed upon it in the treatment of laryngo-bronchial and chronic pulmonary maladies, 
admits of great doubt; at least, the writer has met with no success with it in any 
of the above diseases that was superior, or even equal, to the results obtained by 
some of our old and well-known remedial agents. It has likewise been advised 
in the treatment of hemorrhoids, and in chronic catarrh of the bladder. Catarrhal 
gastritis is said to have been successfully treated with it. The article is generally 
employed in the form of fluid extract and specific yerba santa. The dose of the 
former varies from 15 minims to 1 fluid drachm; of the latter, 10 to 30 minims, 
taken in a little syrup, and repeating the dose every 3 or 4 hours. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-"Chronic asthma with cough, profuse ex- 
pectoration, thickening of the bronchial mucous membrane, loss of appetite, 
impaired digestion, emaciation" (Watkin's Comp, of Ec. Med.). "Cough, with 
abundant and easy expectoration " (Scudder). 
ERYNGIUM.-WATER ERYNGO. 
The rhizome of Eryngium yucceefolium, Michaux {Eryngium aquaticum, Jussieu). 
Nat. Ord.-Umbelliferae. 
Common Names: Eryngo, Water eryngo, Buttonsnake root, Rattlesnake's master, 
Corn snakeroot. 
Botanical Source.-This plant is an indigenous perennial herb, with a single 
stem, from 1 to 5 feet in height. The root is tuberous. Its leaves are from 1 to 2 
feet long, by | an inch to H inches wide, broadly-linear, parallel veined, taper- 
pointed, grass-like, ciliate, and armed with remote soft spines. The bracts are 
tipped with spines, those of the involucels being entire and shorter than the heads. 
The flowers, which are white or pale and inconspicuous, are disposed in ovate- 
globose heads, which are pedunculate, and from | to 1 inch in diameter. The 
calyx is5-parted and permanent; the styles slender; the petals connivent, oblong, 
and emarginate, with a long, inflexed point. The fruit is scaly, top-shaped, and 
bipartile (W.-G.). 
History and Description.-This plant is a native of the United States, grow*- 
ing in swamps and low, wet lands, from Virginia to Texas, and especially on the 
prairie lands. It flowers in August. The root is the medicinal part. It has a dark- 
brown, very knotty rhizome, wrinkled horizontally, with many fibers of the same 
color, growing downward, furrowed or wrinkled longitudinally, and from a line 
to a line and a half in thickness. Internally it is yellowish-white, of a peculiar 
odor, somewhat resembling that of Iris versicolor, and a faintly-sweetish, mucilagi- 
nous, aromatic taste, succeeded by bitterness, some degree of pungency affecting 
the fauces, and a very slight astringency. It is easy to pulverize. Water or spirit 
extracts its properties. It has not been analyzed, but is worthy of attention. 
Eryngo was one of the earliest known remedies, and was declared by Dios- 
corides to be a specific against flatulence, hence the name eryngium, derived from 
the Latin erynge-Greek erugge (to eruct, to belch). Its common names are mater 
eryngo, button snakeroot, corn snakeroot, and rattlesnake's master. It was formerly 
lauded as an effective agent for the cure of rattlesnake-bites, hence the name rat- 
tlesnake's master and button snakeroot applied to it. It was likewise used for other 
bites and stings. A piece of the root was chewed and applied to the wound; at 
the same time a portion of the juice was swallowed. Much was claimed for it, 
but probably its virtues were very much overrated. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.- Eryngium is diuretic, expectorant, 
diaphoretic, and sialogogue. Large doses will cause emesis. The root, when 
masticated, produces a copious flow of saliva. As an expectorant and diaphoretic, 730 
ERYTHRONIUM. 
it is useful in chronic laryngitis and bronchitis, when there is free and abundant 
discharge of muco-pus. It has been recommended as a substitute for senega. It 
relieves chronic pharyngitis, when associated with laryngeal irritation. In general 
debility and dyspepsia it may be employed to improve the appetite and gastric 
functions. It is indicated here by persistent irritation with red and tender 
tongue, nausea, and easily provoked disgust for food. The diarrhoea of dentition, 
when most largely mucus, is controlled by eryngium. It has been a favorite drug 
in renal disorders, especially gravel, chronic nephritis, and atonic dropsy, when de- 
pendent on renal irritation. It lessens irritation of the reproductive organs of 
both the male and the female. By lessening the erectile power, it is valuable in 
those cases of nocturnal emissions accompanied by erection and urethral irritation, 
pain in the testes, and irritation of the bladder. It is frequently indicated ingonor- 
rhoea, gleet, and leucorrhoea. 
While a good remedy for the above-named purposes, it is as a remedy for 
vesical and urethral irritation that the drug is entitled to its high rank among spe- 
cific medicines. It may be employed in acute or chronic inflammatory or irrita- 
tive conditions, when accompanied by burning and itching in the bladder or the 
prostatic and spongy portions of the urethra. Uneasy sensations throughout the 
vesical, prostatic, and urethral portions of the urinary tract, which might lead to 
serious consequences, are relieved by it. Dull, aching, tenesmic pain is relieved 
by it combined with gelsemium. In acute cystitis it should be used with the indi- 
cated sedative. Reproductive disorders of women, with vesical complications, are 
readily controlled by it, being of special value where there is a burning, tenesmic 
pain-a condition frequently encountered in gynecological practice. It is par- 
ticularly valuable in dysuria from irritation, and in cases marked by determi- 
nation of blood to the bladder. It relieves the painful urination incident to gonor- 
rhoea. Like gelsemium, it is a first-class remedy for spasmodic urethral stricture. 
In chronic cystitis it is valuable when the secretions are scanty and when triple 
phosphates are present. It is a good remedy for vesical catarrh. It is always indi- 
cated in renal diseases with deep-seated burning, or burning pain. Urethral inflam- 
mation, with difficult micturition and irritable urethra in the aged, are conditions 
to which it is particularly adapted. It is said to relieve renal colic, dependent on 
the passage of renal calculi. Its power here is not important, except when com- 
bined with other indicated remedies. 
As with a large number of remedies, it has not escaped mention as a remedy 
for syphilis and scrofula. The pulverized root, in doses of 2 or 3 grains, has proved 
very effectual in hemorrhoids and prolapsus ani. Two ounces of the pulverized 
root, added to 1 pint of good Holland gin, has effected cures in obstinate cases of 
gonorrhoea and gleet; to be administered in doses of 1 or 2 fluid drachms 3 or 4 times 
a day. By some practitioners this root is employed as a specific in gonorrhoea, 
gleet, mucus diarrhoea, and leucorrhoea; used internally in syrup, decoction, or tinc- 
ture, and the decoction applied locally by injection. Dose of the powder, from 
20 to 40 grains; of the decoction, which was formerly principally used, from 2 to 4 
fluid ounces, several times daily. The best preparation is specific eryngium, the 
dose of which may range from 1 to 20 drops, administered in water. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-The indications for eryngium are burning 
pain, with vesical, renal, or urethral irritability; uterine irritation, with bladder 
disorders; painful micturition; frequent desire to urinate; frequent, scanty, and 
scalding urination ; cystic uneasiness; pain in the bladder extending to the loins; 
scanty urine, with frequent and ineffective attempts to empty the bladder; vesi- 
cal catarrh; mucous diarrhoea; dyspepsia, with persistent gastric irritation. 
ERYTHRONIUM.-ADDER'S TONGUE. 
The leaves and root of Erythronium americanum, Smith (Erythronium lanceo- 
latum, Pursh). 
Nat. Ord.-Liliacea?. 
Common Names: Adder's tongue, Dog's-tooth violet, Yellow snowdrop, Rattlesnake 
violet. Yellow erythronium. 
Botanical Source.-Adder's tongue is an indigenous, perennial herb, with a 
cornius or bulb at some distance below the surface, which is white internally, and ERYTHROPHLEUM. 
731 
fawn-colored externally. The scape is naked, slender, and 3 or 4 inches high. 
The leaves are 2, subradical, lanceolate, and involute at the point, pale-green, with 
purplish or brownish spots, about 5 inches long, and one of them nearly twice as 
wide as the other. The flower is single, drooping, yellow, liliaceous, spotted near 
the base, expanded and revolute in the sunshine, and closing somewhat at night 
and on cloudy days. The segments of the perianth are oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, 
the inner ones being bidentate near the base. Stamens 6, filaments flat, anthers 
oblong-linear. Ovary obovate; style club-shaped, longer than the stamens, 3-lobed 
at top, terminating in 3 undivided stigmas. The capsule is oblong-obovate, stipi- 
tate, and 3-valved; the seeds rather numerous and ovoid, with a loose membra- 
nous tip (W.-G.). 
History.-This is a beautiful little plant, among the earliest of our vernal 
flowers, found in rich, open grounds, or in thin woods throughout the United 
States; it flowers in April or May. The bulb and leaves are the parts used, and 
impart their virtues to water. The leaves are said to be more active than the 
root, and the dried drug much less active than when freshly gathered. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Emetic, emollient, and antiscrofulous 
when fresh; nutritive when dried. The fresh roots and leaves, simmered in 
milk, or the fresh leaves, bruised and applied as a poultice to scrofulous ulcers or 
tumors, together with a free internal use of an infusion of them, is highly recom- 
mended as a remedy for scrofula. The expressed juice of the plant, infused in 
cider, is reputed useful in dropsy, and for relieving hiccough, vomiting, and hema- 
temesis. Twenty-five grains of the fresh root, or 40 of the recently dried root, 
will operate as an emetic, though this result is sometimes uncertain. 
ERYTHROPHLEUM.-SASSY BARK. 
The bark of Erythrophleum guineense, Don (^Erythrophleum judiciale, Procter; 
Filltea suaveolens, Guillemin and Perrottet). 
Nat. Ord.-Leguminosse. 
Common Names: Sassy bark, Mancona bark, Teli, Bondou, Botcrane des floupes. 
Illustration : American Journal ofl Pharmacy ol. XXIII. 
Botanical Source and History.-Sassy bark is obtained from a large forest 
tree of Western Africa, and was first brought into notice by Prof. Procter (1851), 
who referred it to the genus Erythrophleum (Afzelius), and named it F.judiciale. 
Upon subsequent examination, Lindley identified it as the E. guineense, G. Don 
(Fillxa suaveolens, Guillemin and Perrottet). The tree has a close resemblance, 
both in leaves and fruit, to the Gymnocladus canadensis, or Coffee-nut tree of the 
United States. The leaves are bipinnately compound, and have ovate, acute leaf- 
lets, which are smooth, coriaceous, and alternate. The flowers are in dense, ter- 
minal, compound racemes; they are regular, and have a 5-cleft calyx, and 5 petals, 
imbricated in the bud; the 10 stamens are distinct and perfect. The fruit is a thick, 
leathery, brown legume, containing from 3 to 5 oblong, flat, albuminous seeds. 
The tree, when wounded, yields a red juice (whence the generic name), which, like 
the bark, is used by the natives as an ordeal, and as a poison for their arrows. 
Description.-The bark occurs in flattened, or more or less curved pieces, of 
various sizes, of a reddish-brown color, somewhat similar to the color of ferric 
hydrate, and usually having an external, corky covering, irregularly fissured; it 
is hard, friable, odorless, and astringent to the taste. 
Chemical Composition.-Prof. Procter, Jr. (1851), examined the bark, but 
failed to isolate the poisonous principle; he predicted its separation, and remarked 
that when found, it would "possess great activity," a prediction since verified by 
N. Gallois and E. Hardy, who, in 1876, succeeded in obtaining the alkaloid ery- 
throphleine, and demonstrating, by experiment, its fatal action upon animal life. 
Erythrophleine is an organic base, and may be obtained by extracting the bark 
with alcohol slightly acidulated with hydrochloric acid, evaporating the tincture 
to a small bulk, exhausting this, when cold, with warm distilled water, evapora- 
ting the resulting solution, adding ammonia (or sodium carbonate) to the residue 
until it has an alkaline reaction, and then agitating the mixture with acetic ether, 
from which the alkaloid may be obtained by evaporation. Erythrophleine is 732 
ESSENTLE.-EUCALYPTOL. 
crystalline, transparent, colorless, and soluble in water, acetic ether, alcohol, and 
amylic alcohol; only slightly soluble in ether, benzin, and chloroform. It forms 
salts with acids; is very poisonous, acting upon and paralyzing the heart. Curare, 
it is said, delays its effects. Boiled in the presence of diluted acids or alkalies 
erythrophleine yields manconine, a volatile, alkaloidal base, bearing some resem- 
blance to nicotine, and a non-nitrogenous erythrophleic acid. Procter found both 
tannic and gallic acids, gum, resin, and other minor constituents. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Sassy bark furnishes a red decoction, 
which is used by the natives on the western coast of Africa as an emeto-cathartic, 
and as a test for the detection of criminals; should it purge the person is consid- 
ered guilty, but if it causes vomiting only, he is deemed innocent. The action 
of the bark has been investigated by Dr. T. Lauder Brunton and Walter Pye, Esq., 
in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Vol. 167, Part II, and by Santos, 
Liebreich, and others. Used hypodermatically, it is stated to produce vomiting, 
but no catharsis. In large doses it occasions a progressive stupefaction, when 
administered to animals, with complete muscular relaxation, paralysis of the 
heart's action, and death. During the progress of these effects there may also be 
observed a period of restlessness, succeeded by vomiting, quickened and labored 
respiration, and finally convulsions. With man it is said to produce vomiting, 
vertigo, muscular relaxation, gradual cessation of the heart's movements, with 
dyspnoea, convulsions, and death. The cause of its effects appear, according to 
investigators, to be owing to the fact that it contracts the blood vessels, thus occa- 
sioning an increased blood pressure, resulting in the symptoms named. The alka- 
loid, erythrophleine, was at one time recommended as a substitute for cocaine in 
eye surgery. Its effects on the conjunctiva and cornea are so severe, however, 
that this idea has been abandoned, as the untoward symptoms do not subside for 
several days. Besides it is charged with being painful, as well as provocative of 
inflammation, cloudiness, and exfoliation of the corneal structures. Therapeu- 
tically, it has been found efficient in those affections in which an agent was indi- 
cated, combining narcotic, astringent, and cholagogue properties, as in diarrhoea, 
dysentery, passive hemorrhages, etc. It has likewise been suggested in dropsy, due to 
obstruction of the mitral valves, and in capillary hemorrhages. Prof. Scudder states 
that it may be "given to stimulate the capillary circulation, to increase secretion 
of urine, arrested by feeble circulation, and to check atonic diarrhoea." For this pur- 
pose he suggests the minute dose, a teaspoonful of a solution of 1 drop of the tinc- 
ture in 4 ounces of water. A tincture of the bark is probably the best form for 
administration in doses of from a fraction of a drop to 5 drops. Brunton and Pye 
consider the watery extract more powerful than the alcoholic. The powdered root 
is a violent sternutatory. 
ESSENTIAL.-Essences. 
Essences are alcoholic solutions of volatile oils differing from the official 
class of preparations known as Spiritus or Spirits, in strength only. Essences, as 
a rule, are about three times stronger than the spirits. The British Pharmacopoeia 
recognizes two essences, Essence of anise and Essence of peppermint. 
Essentia Anisi, Essence of anise.-Mix 1 fluid ounce of oil of anise with 4 fluid ounces of 
rectified spirit. This is in accordance with the British Pharmacopoeia. Properties same as oil 
of anise, which see. Dose, from 10 to 20 drops. 
Essentia Menth.b Piperita:, Essence of peppermint.-Mix 1 fluid ounce of oil of pepper- 
mint with 4 fluid ounces of rectified spirit. This accords with the formula of the British Phar- 
macopoeia. Properties those of oil of peppermint, which see. Dose, 10 to 20 drops. 
EUCALYPTOL (U. S. P.)-EUCALYPTOL. 
Formula: C10H18O. Molecular Weight: 153.66. 
"A neutral body obtained from the volatile oil of Eucalyptus globulus, Labil- 
lardi&re, and of some other species of Eucalyptus (Nat. Ord.-Myrtaceae). Euca- 
lyptol should be kept in well-stoppered bottles, in a cool place, protected from 
light"-(U. S. P.\ 
Synonyms : Cineol, Cajupvtol. EUCALYPTUS. 
733 
Preparation and History.-In preparing the oil of eucalyptus from eucalyptus 
leaves, that portion distilling between 170° C. (338° F.) and 178° C. (352.4° F.), is 
called crude eucalyptol. It may be purified by surrounding the crude eucalyptol by a 
refrigerating mixture, when eucalyptol separates in long, needle-like, colorless crys- 
tals. The crystals are then drained from their adherent oil, and the process of crys- 
tallizing is repeated several times. Eucalyptol may be obtained from other oils 
as well as from those of the various species of Eucalyptus (see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 
1889, p. 371). Thus it forms a constituent part of oils of cajuput and of rosemary, 
and is particularly abundant in the Oil of Santonica, from Artemisia pauciflora, Weber, 
which, in fact, is almost wholly composed of eucalyptol. Wallach and Brass, in 
1884, prepared it from the latter oil by forming a crystalline compound with 
gaseous hydrochloric acid, pressing off the mother-liquor, liberating the eucalyptol 
with water, purifying with caustic potash in warm alcoholic solution, and finally 
drying and rectifying the oil. According to Schimmel's Report (April, 1891), euca- 
lyptus oil from E. oleosa is also rich in eucalyptol, solidifying when put into a freez- 
ing mixture. Jahns, in 1885, found eucalyptol to possess the formula C]0H18O, and 
to be identical with cineol, a substance obtained by Wallach and Brass, in 1884, from 
oleum cynae, and found in turn to be identical with cajuputol, from oil of cajuput. 
In 1895, Mr. Scammell, in Adelaide (Australia), took out a patent for the prepa- 
ration of eucalyptol from oil of eucalyptus, the process consisting in the formation 
of a crystalline compound of phosphoric acid with eucalyptol, decomposable after- 
ward by water into its constituents (Pharm. Centralh., 1895, p. 419). A crystalli- 
zable acid may be produced by acting upon eucalyptol with nitric acid, while 
phosphoric anhydride (P2O5) converts it into eucalyptene (C10Hlb), and eucalyptolen. 
Description and Tests.-"A colorless liquid, having a characteristic, aro- 
matic, and distinctly camphoraceous odor, and a pungent, spicy, and cooling taste. 
Specific gravity, 0.930 at 15° C. (59° F.). Boiling point, 176° to 177° C. (348.8° 
to 350.6° F.). It is optically inactive (distinction from the oil of eucalyptus and 
many other volatile oils). When exposed to a temperature some degrees below 
0° C. (32° F.), or placed in a freezing mixture, it solidifies to a mass of colorless, 
needle-shaped crystals, which liquefy at-1° C. (30.2° F.). Soluble, in all pro- 
portions, in alcohol, carbon disulphide, and glacial acetic acid. If a portion of 
eucalyptol be shaken with an equal volume of sodium hydrate T.S.,it should not 
diminish in volume. Its alcoholic solution should be neutral to litmus paper, 
and should not assume a brownish or violet color on the addition of a drop of 
ferric chloride T.S. (absence of phenols) "-(U. S. P.f 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(Same as Eucalyptus, which see). 
EUCALYPTUS (U. S. P).-EUCALYPTUS. 
" The leaves of Eucalyptus globulus, Labillardiere; " "collected from the older 
parts of the tree"-(U. S. PA. 
Nat. Ord.-Myrtaceae. 
Common Name: Blue-gum tree. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, Plate 109. 
Botanical Source and History.-The genus, Eucalyptus, is noted as being 
an extensive and almost exclusively Australian family of trees; for, although 134 
species are recorded by Bentham {Flora Australiensis), as natives of that continent, 
only 2 or 3 species are found to grow in any other lands. The Eucalyptus trees 
are very numerous in their native country, and constitute an important feature 
in every landscape. They are sometimes shrubs, but generally trees, which often 
attain gigantic size. Most of the'species secrete a resinous substance, and hence 
are known to the Australian colonists as "gum trees." The leaves, which are 
always entire, are very variable in shape and position. In the young trees they 
are always opposite and horizontal, but, in older trees, they generally become 
alternate, and, by a peculiar twist of the leaf-stalks, present the edges instead of 
the flat surfaces to the ground, thus giving the Eucalyptus a strange appearance, 
different from that of any of our American trees. The flowers of the Eucalyptus 
trees are generally in umbellate clusters. The calyx is partially adnate to the 
ovary, and furnished in the bud with a conical lid or cap, covering the stamens, 734 
EUCALYPTUS. 
but which, when the flower expands, separates from tne lower part of the calyx 
by a circular dehiscence, and falls off' entire. There are no petals, but the stamens 
are numerous, and are sometimes united into 4 sets. The fruit, which is dry and 
enclosed in the hardened calyx, contains 3 or 4 cells, and usually ripens but 2 or 3 
seeds to each cell. 
The botanical history of the genus, Eucalyptus, is not yet thoroughly estab- 
lished. The leaves of the same species, at different stages of their growth, are 
extremely variable, and the species are so numer- 
ous and so closely allied, that positive specific 
differences are very difficult to find. The colo- 
nists classify them by the bark, which is either 
smooth, rough, or sometimes scaly. 
Eucalyptus globulus.-This is one of the most 
valuable of Australian trees, on account of the 
timber, which is strong and durable. It is a large 
tree, often exceeding 200 feet in height, and 
known to colonists as "blue-gum," although the 
name is applied to at least 6 other species. The 
Eucalyptus globulus is placed, by Bentham (Flora. 
Austr aliensis), in the series Normales, which have 
"perfect stamens with globular anther cells, open- 
ing longitudinally." The flowers are large, sessile, 
and produced in axillary clusters of 1 to 3. The 
mature leaves are from 6 to 12 inches long, and 
borne on wrinkled, twisted stalks, about 1 inch 
in lengtfi. They are narrowly lanceolate and fal- 
cate, with entire and thickened edges; they are 
obtuse or cordate at the base, and gradually taper- 
ing at the apex to an acuminate point. 3 heir 
texture is very firm, so that the leaves retain their 
shape without wrinkles when dried. The veins 
are confluent near the margin. The entire leaf is 
thickly sprinkled with pellucid oil dots, and the 
surface, when dry, with minute black specks. 
The leaves of Eucalyptus globulus constitute, 
in Australia and adjacent countries, the popular remedy against fevers, and espe- 
cially in obstinate palustrial fevers. They are firm, coriaceous, and, in the green 
state, resist the attacks of grasshoppers and locusts. They have a strong, agreeable, 
aromatic odor, and a warm, bitterish, and aromatic taste, which, as with pepper- 
mint leaves, is followed by a cool sensation in the mouth. 
Description.-The mature leaves, which are gathered from the older parts of 
the tree, are thus described by the U. S. P.: " Petiolate, lanceolately scythe- 
shaped, from 15 to 30 Cm. (6 to 12 inches) long, rounded below, tapering above, 
entire, leathery, grayish-green, glandular, feather-veined between the mid-riband 
marginal veins; odor strongly camphoraceous; taste pungently aromatic and 
somewhat cooling, bitter and astringent "-(U. S. P.). 
Chemical Composition.-The leaves have been analyzed by Cloez, Faust and 
Homeyer, M. F. A. de Hartzen, and Prof. E. S. Wayne. According to Cloez, they 
contain tannin in quite a large proportion, resinous matter, and an essential oil 
(see Oleum Eucalypti), which has been found to consist chiefly of eucalyptol (cineol, 
C10H18O) (see Eucalyptol). Rabuteau failed to discover a basic principle after hav- 
ing freed an alcoholic extract of the leaves from oil, tannin, and resin. H. Weber 
found a white crystalline body, mixed with an amorphous resinous mass, both of 
acid reaction; an acid yellow resin, of bitter taste; an acid named eucalyptic acid; 
and a neutral, crystallizable, bitter substance, soluble in ether and alcohol, and 
only slightly soluble in water. Prof. E. S. Wayne obtained a crystallizable acid 
resin, capable of producing, with ferric chloride, a brown-red reaction. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The oil of eucalyptus (which is chiefly 
eucalyptol) and eucalyptol, in small doses, are gentle stimulants; in large doses, 
thev occasion irritation of the throat and fauces, with increased flow of saliva; 
cephalagia, with extreme fatigue; frequency of the pulse; increased temperature; 
Fig. 108. 
Leaves and fruit of Eucalyptus globulus. EUCALYPTUS. 
735 
diminution of vascular tension; gastric irritability, and, not unfrequently, diar- 
rhoea, accelerated respiration, the peculiar odor of the oil being exhaled with the 
breath; and increase of the urinary excretion. In some instances a sort of intoxi- 
cation results from large doses (20 drops) of eucalyptol, and large doses of it and 
of eucalyptus produce some drowsiness and lack of power over the limbs. The chief 
eliminatory organs appear to be the lungs and kidneys, the drug causing an in- 
creased elimination of urea. Locally, the oil is irritant, particularly if not allowed 
to evaporate. 
Eucalyptus globulus has for a long time been known as a remedy for inter- 
mittent fever among the natives of the countries of its origin. It is stated that 
more than 40 years ago the corvette, "La Favorite" being in the vicinity of Botany 
Bay, had her crew nearly decimated by a pernicious fever, and that a perfect recov- 
ery ensued among those remaining upon using an infusion of the leaves of Euca- 
lyptus; the credit of this discovery is given to Dr. Eydoux and M. deSaivy. Dr. 
Ramel, of Valencia, is said to have introduced the remedy into Europe, in a state- 
ment made to the Academy of Medicine, in 1866; since which period its therapeu- 
tical virtues have been examined by many investigators. The emanations from 
this tree have, it has been reported, a strong antagonistic influence against those 
conditions termed malarial, and, on this account, it has been cultivated in various 
places in Europe where these conditions appear to have had a permanent existence. 
Notwithstanding the high encomiums passed upon this agent as an antipyretic 
by the majority of those who have tested it, there are certain other investigators 
whoare less enthusiastic ; thus, Dr. Burdell, who tested it in the miasmatic fevers 
encountered in the marshy district of Sologne, France, states that, though euca- 
lyptus has been sometimes found a febrifuge nearly equal to quinine, at other 
times it has proven to be discouragingly inefficient. (Indeed, the same may be 
observed of quinine and all other remedies, unless specifically indicated.) After 
thoroughly testing it in 123 cases, he concluded that it possessed but little or no 
antimalarial power. He states that the cures effected by it have been more frequent 
in the hospital than in the palustral localities, and which may be readily ac- 
counted for. Very often, as Chomel has shown, persons attacked with intermit- 
tent fever are cured in the hospital without any medicines having been employed. 
Dr. Carlotti, of Ajaccio, considers a quickly made decoction of the leaves to be of 
great value in those cases of intermittent fever that do not yield to quinine. He 
gives the decoction in doses of from 2 to 5 fluid drachms. Prof. Lockestates that 
it is not so useful in recent ague as cinchona bark, but better in chronic ague, "in 
cases attended with excessive discharges or drain upon the system, as diarrhoea, 
dysentery, etc." He recommends 10-drop doses of specific eucalyptus in chronic 
obstinate diarrhoea, when no ague is present. 
Aside from its alleged utility in intermittents, this agent has had other vir- 
tues attributed to it, as follows: The leaves and their preparations have been 
successfully used as a tonic and gently stimulating stomachic, in atonic dyspepsia, 
and in catarrh of the stomach and typhoid fever; also advised in mucous catarrhal 
affections generally; in pseudo-membranous laryngitis, in asthma, with profuse secre- 
tion, and in chronic bronchitis, with or without emphysema, and in whooping-cough; 
it has likewise proved efficient in chronic catarrh of the bladder, where the urine is 
high-oolored, contains an abnormal amount of mucus, or, perhaps, some purulent 
matter, and micturition is attended with much pain. More recently it has been 
recommended as a diuretic in the treatment of dropsy. Both the leaves and the 
oil, as well as eucalyptol, are excitants and deodorizers, and, as such, have been 
successfully employed as local applications in bronchial affections with fetid expec- 
toration, in ozena, in fetid or profuse mucous discharges, in vaginal leucorrhcea, 
offensive lochial discharges, gonorrhoeal discharges, indolent, fetid wounds or ulcers, 
cancerous ulcerations, in septicemia, and in gangrene. An excellent application in 
leucorrhcea, with relaxation of the vaginal walls, is prepared as follows: R Sea salt, 
1 lb.; fluid extract of eucalyptus, flsss. Place the salt in an earthenware or tin 
vessel, and pour upon it the extract and mix thoroughly. A half ounce of this 
preparation may be added to 1 pint of hot water and injected by means of a glass 
or metallic syringe. M. Bucquoy has found eucalyptus to exert a happy influ- 
ence in the treatment of pulmonary gangrene. M. Luton, and others, have derived 
considerable benefit from it, when locally applied in cancerous affections, in the 736 
EUONYMUS. 
form of a compress of lint moistened with the tincture. It has likewise been 
advised to prevent putrefaction of organic substances, and to deodorize sick- 
rooms and apartments containing unhealthy air. The leaves may, in some cases, 
be applied alone, directly to the part, in form of cataplasm; or they may be com- 
bined with other articles to form a poultice. The oil may be applied of full 
strength, or diluted with some other agent. In throat and pulmonary maladies, 
a tincture diluted, or a medicated water, may be inhaled in the form of spray; if 
the oil be employed, it may be dropped on some cotton placed in a small tube, 
from which the vapor may be inhaled. As a deodorizer, the tincture or the oil 
may be sprinkled or sprayed upon the offensive body, or the atmosphere of an 
apartment may be frequently sprayed with the same. Eucalyptol acts very much 
like the oil and both somewhat resemble turpentine in their effects. Like euca- 
lyptus, it is used in foul and purulent respiratory diseases, particularly fetid bronchor- 
rhcea, chronic bronchitis, pulmonary gangrene, and pulmonary tuberculosis, etc. 
The dose of eucalyptol and of the oil is from 2 to 10 drops, and it is more 
convenient to administer it in capsules. One part of either combined with 100 
parts'of cod-liver oil has proved serviceable in phthisis; it removes the offensive 
taste and odor of the fish oil. Eucalyptol is now given in many instances where 
the oil was formerly administered on account of the greater definiteness of the 
dose, as the oil depends for its virtues upon the percentage of eucalyptol present. 
Both have been given for the relief of migraine, and, externally applied, give 
relief in some forms of neuralgic and rheumatic pains. 
The leaves of eucalyptus, made up into cigars or cigarettes, and smoked, have 
been advised to afford relief in bronchial catarrh, asthma, and other affections of the 
respiratory organs. The question has been asked, may not the small amount of 
benefit that might be derived from the minute proportion of oil remainingintact, 
be more than overcome, and even prove injurious, from the irritating action of 
the smoke and of the empyreumatic products? 
The most agreeable and convenient forms of administration are the tincture, 
in doses of 10 to 30 drops; or the fluid extract in doses of 5 to 30 drops, in syrup; 
or, preferable to all, specific eucalyptus, from 10 to 30-drop doses in malarial 
troubles, and from 5 to 10-drop doses in other troubles. It may be given with 
glycerin or syrup, as it does not mix well with water. The dose of the oil and of 
eucalyptol is from 5 to 10 minims, preferably in capsules. 
Eucalyptus Honey, gathered by bees from eucalyptus flowers, is quite active, 
and has been recommended for parasitic and putrescent conditions, gonorrhoea, fevers. 
and catarrhal diseases. It is sedative to the heart, actively diuretic, and increases 
the elimination of uric acid. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Sensations of coldness and weight in the 
bowels; cold extremities; cold perspiration; perspiration during chill; chronic 
catarrhal diarrhoea; chronic vesical catarrh, the urine containing pus; unhealthy 
fetid secretions from any part; relaxed mucous tissues, with profuse secretion; 
pasty, badly-smelling coating upon the tongue; fetid false membranes; sore throat, 
with fetid odor; fetid and catarrhal states of the broncho-pulmonic tract; and, 
in large doses, in chronic ague with exhausting discharges. 
Related Drugs.-Eucalypti Gummi. This new addition to the British Pharmacopoeia is 
furnished by the bark of Eucalyptus rostrata, Schlechtendal, as well as other species of eucalyp- 
tus. It is an exudation from the bark and has a ruby-red color, and is the so-called red gum 
from these trees. It resembles kino, though less astringent and possessing a brighter appear- 
ance. It has a bitter taste. When pure, it is almost entirely dissolved by alcohol, and, added 
to water, forms a solution containing from 80 to 90 per cent of the drug, having a neutral reac- 
tion (see Botany Bay Kino). Dose, 2 to 10 grains. For an account of the properties of this 
gum, see P. L. Simmonds, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1895, p. 132. 
Anacharis Alsinastrum.-Thxs plant is a native of Canada, and is credited with anti-malarial 
properties. When introduced into districts where malaria and malarial diarrhoea are prevalent, 
it is said to diminish the number of cases of these disorders (Medical Bulletin). 
EUONYMUS (U. S. P.)-EUONYMUS. 
" The bark of the root of Euonymus atropurpwreus, Jacquin"-(U. S. Pf. 
Nat. Ord.-Celastrineae. 
Common Names: Wahoo, Indian arrow-wood, Burning bush, Spindle tree. EUONYMUS. 
737 
Botanical Source.-This is a small shrub or bush, with smooth branches, 
and rising from 5 to 10 feet in height. Its leaves are from 2 to 5 inches in length, 
about half as wide, opposite, on petioles 4 to 1 inch in length, elliptic-lanceolate, 
mostly acute at base, finely serrate, and pubescent beneath; the peduncles are 
opposite, slender, compressed, from 1 to 2^ inches in length, each with a cyme of 
from 3 to 6 flowers. The flowers are dark-purple, and usually pentamerous; the 
corolla about 24 lines in diameter, flat, inserted on the outer margin of a glandu- 
lar disc; the calyx flat, of 4, 5, or 6 united sepals; the stamens 5, with short fila- 
ments; the capsule or pod smooth, crimson, 5-angled, 5-celled, and 5-valved; the 
seeds, 1 or 2 in each cell, are inclosed in a red aril (W.-G.). 
History.-There are two species of Euonymus used in medicine-the spindle- 
tree, E. atropurpureus, and the burning bush, or E. americanus, to both of which 
the term Wahoo is indiscriminately applied. They grow in many sections of the 
United States, in woods and thickets, and in river bottoms, and flower in June. 
The bark of the root is the medicinal part. It has a bitter, and somewhat unpleas- 
ant taste. Water or alcohol extracts its virtues. 
Description.-The U. 8. P. thus describes this drug: "In quilled or curved 
pieces, from 2 to 5 Mm. (^ to A inch) thick; outer surface ash-gray, with blackish 
patches detached in thin and small scales; inner surface whitish or slightly tawny, 
smooth; fracture smooth, whitish, the inner layers of a laminated appearance; 
nearly inodorous; taste sweetish, somewhat bitter and acrid"-(U. S. Pi). 
Chemical Composition.-Charles A. Santos found in the aqueous distillate 
of the bark of Euonymus atropurpureus, a volatile oil (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1848, 
p. 83). Clothier, in 1861, detected starch, glucose, and pectin matter. In the fol- 
lowing year Mr. Wm. T. Wenzell (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1862, p. 385), found a non- 
crystal lizable, bitter principle, euonymin (not to be confused with the old Eclectic 
concentration of that name), asparagin, crystallizable and non-crystallizable res- 
ins, fixed oil, malic, citric, and tartaric acids, the peculiar euonic acid, and inor- 
ganic salts. The name euonymin was first affixed to the dried powdered solid 
extract about 50 years ago, and was included among the Eclectic resinoids or con- 
centrations. This is the only preparation used in medicine under the name 
euonymin, and must not be confused with the definite, proximate principle that 
follows, and which is only of chemical interest. Euonymin, as obtained from 
E atropurpureus by Prof. Meyer and Dr. Romin, of Dorpat, by an elaborate pro- 
cess (Pharm. Centralh., 1885, p. 220),is a crystalline glucosid which corresponds in 
its physiological action closely with digitalin. It is sparingly soluble in wrater and 
ether, and easily soluble in alcohol. In 1884, H. Paschkis (Pharm. Centralh., p. 196), 
called attention to the occurrence of mannit as a seemingly regular constituent of 
all species of Euonymus. Naylor and Chaplin (Chemist and Druggist, 1889, p. 822), 
identified a certain sweet substance which they had obtained from Euonymus atro- 
purpureus and provisionally named atropurpurine a few months before, as dulcit 
(C6HuO6), which is an isomer of mannit. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Euonymus has been in use among physi- 
cians for a long time. The bark is tonic, laxative,alterative, diuretic, and expecto- 
rant; the seeds are cathartic and emetic. In infusion, syrup, or extract, it has 
been successfully used in intermittent s, dyspepsia, torpid liver, constipation, dropsy, and 
pulmonary affections. Prof. Locke states " there are but few good stomach tonics, and 
this agent is one of them." It stimulates the biliary flow, and has considerable 
anti-malarial influence, and may be used in intermittents after the chill has been 
broken with quinine. It stimulates the nutritive processes and improves the 
appetite. It may be used with advantage in atonic dyspepsia, and in indigestion 
due to hepatic topor or following malarial fevers. It is a remedy for chronic ague, 
and the consequent obstinate constipation and gastric debility accompanying or fol- 
lowing it. A gin tincture (root to gin flgviij), is not without value in some cases 
of dropsy, particularly when associated with hepatic and renal inactivity. Dose of 
the tincture (§viij to alcohol 76 per cent Oj), from 1 to 4 fluid drachms; of the 
syrup, from 1 to 2 fluid ounces; of the hydro-alcoholic extract from 5 to 15 grains; 
of the powder, from 20 to 30 grains; of specific euonymus, 1 to 30 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.- Prostration with irritation of the nerve 
centers; periodical diseases, to supplement the action of quinine; anorexia, indi- 
gestion, and constipation, due to hepatic torpor. 738 
EUPATORIUM. 
Related Species.-Euonymus americaniw, Linne, or Strawberry-bush, is of a smaller size 
than the preceding variety, with smooth, 4-angled branches; leaves oval and elliptic-lanceo- 
late, sessile, subentire at the margin, acute or obtuse at apex, smooth, coriaceous, from J to 2 
inches in length, about one-third as wide. Peduncles round, longer than the leaves, with 
2, 3, or 4 flowers. Flowers somewhat larger than those of the preceding variety, yellow' and 
pink; capsule dark-red, rough-warty, depressed, not so copious as in the former plant (W.-G.). 
Uses similar to those of the preceding species. 
Euonymus europwus, Linne; Europe.-Cultivated somewhat in gardens. This species 
has lance-oblong leaves, smooth, shining, and serrate, and bears a flattened, 3-flowered pedicel, 
and greenish-u'hite, 4-parted flowers. The capsule is light-red, and the arillus of an orange- 
red color. It is not hardy in northern latitudes. In 1833, Riederer isolated in an impure 
state a body which he thought to be an alkaloid, and gave to it the name euonymine, and this 
body he believed to impart the bitter taste to the bark. According to Grundner (1847), this 
is simply a mixture of bitter extractive and resin. Kubel extracted a body bearing resem- 
blance to mannit, to which he gave the name euonymit. It is a crystallizable, saccharine 
principle differing from mannit in the fusing point and in crystalline structure (Jour, de 
Pharm., 1862). All species of Euonymus possess an orange coloring matter, and a bitter oil 
having this characteristic color may be obtained from the arillus of the European species by 
means of pressure. The fruit of this, as well as of the foregoing species has been used in 
ointment form for the destruction of lice. All parts of the plant are nauseous, emetic, and 
purgative, while the leaves are said to poison sheep and cattle. 
EUPATORIUM (U. S. P.)-EUPATORIUM. 
"The leaves and flowering tops of Eupatorium perfoliatum, Linne"-(U. S. PJ 
(Eupatorium connatum, Michaux). 
Nat. Ord.-Compositae. 
Common Names: Thoroughwort, Boneset, Indian sage. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 147. 
Botanical Source. - Boneset, or Thoroughwort, as it is also called, is an 
indigenous perennial herb, with a horizontal, crooked root. The steins are round, 
stout, rough, hairy, and from 1 to 5 feet high. The 
leaves are opposite, connate-perfoliate, each pair resem- 
bling a single leaf centrally perforated by the stem, and 
placed at right angles to it; they are rough, rugose, 
serrate, tapering to a long point, very veiny, downy 
beneath, and both combined are from 8 to 14 inches in 
length. The flowers, which are numerous and white, 
are arranged in dense, fastigiate, terminal corymbs; the 
heads are about 12-flowered; the scales of the cylin- 
drical, imbricated involucre linear-lanceolate; the flo- 
rets tubular, with 5-spreading segments, and a rough, 
down-like pappus, and the anthers blue or black, and 
included. The style is filiform, and divided into 2 
filiform, acuminate branches, which project beyond 
the corolla. The fruit or seeds are oblong, black, pris- 
matic, acute at base, and supported on a naked recep- 
tacle (W.-G.-L.). 
History and Description.-This is a well-known 
plant, growing in low grounds and on the borders of 
swamps, streams, etc., throughout the United States, flowering in August and 
September. The tops and leaves are the parts used. Alcohol or boiling water 
extracts its medicinal properties. Boneset is officially described as follows: 
" Leaves opposite, united at the base, lanceolate, from 10 to 15 Cm. (4 to 6 inches) 
long, tapering, crenately serrate, rugosely veined, rough above, downy and resin- 
ous-dotted beneath; flower-heads corymbed, numerous, with an oblong involucre 
of lance-linear scales, and with from 10 to 15 white florets, having a bristly pappus 
in a single row; odor weak and aromatic, taste astringent and bitter"-(f. S P). 
Chemical Composition.-Mr. W. Peterson (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1851, p. 209), 
isolated from the aqueous extract of the leaves of Eupatorium perfoliatum by 
successive treatment with alcohol, subacetate of lead and ether, a micro-crystal- 
line (feathery), very bitter substance, soluble in ether, but slightly soluble in 
water. Chlorophyll, gum, tannic acid, yellow coloring matter, salts, and lignin 
were also observed by him. Mr. Parsons (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1879, p. 343), found 
Fig. 109. 
Eupatorium perfoliatum. EUPATORIUM. 
739 
over 18 per cent of bitter extractive "soluble in water and alcohol, insoluble in 
ether." In the following year, Mr. George Latin (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1880, p. 392), 
found in the alcoholic extract made of the leaves and the tops of the plant, a 
crystallizable body, probably wax or resin, and eupatorin, the bitter principle which 
he proved to be a glucosid, soluble in alcohol, chloroform, ether, and boiling 
water. It develops a raspberry-like odor when heated with diluted sulphuric 
acid (Latin), or with diluted hydrochloric acid (Franz). A volatile oil was also 
observed. A complete analvsis of the leaves alone is recorded by F.W. Franz 
(Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1888, p. 77), while the root has been analyzed by H. F. Kaer- 
cher, who found nearly 5 per cent of inulin to be present (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1892, 
p. 511). C. H. Shamel obtained eupatorin both in amorphous and crystalline 
states by extracting an alcoholic extract with acidulated water, and abstracting the 
bitter principle with ether after neutralization with sodium carbonate. This sub- 
stance, which is free from nitrogen, forms a well-crystallizable nitrate of the for- 
mula C20H2.H.w.HNO3 (Amer. Jour. Pharm., from Amer. Chern. Jour., 1892, p. 224). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is a very valuable medicinal agent. 
The cold infusion, or extract is tonic and aperient; the warm infusion diapho- 
retic and emetic. As a tonic, it is useful in remittent, intermittent, and typhoid fevers, 
dyspepsia, and general debility; and combined with bitartrate of potassium and 
camphor, the powdered leaves have been serviceable in some forms of cutaneous 
disease. In intermittent fever, a strong infusion, as hot as can be comfortably swal- 
lowed, is administered for the purpose of vomiting freely. This is also attended 
with profuse diaphoresis, and sooner or later by an evacuation of the bowels. 
During the intermission, the cold infusion or extract is given every hour as a 
tonic and antiperiodic. It is not well adapted to ordinary cases of ague which 
may be cured with quinine, but is more particularly useful in the irregular cases 
which that drug does not seem to reach. The chill and succeeding fever is 
slight, the skin dry, and not,as a rule, followed by perspiration; there are "pains 
in the bones, praecordial oppression, and great thirst. If, however, the case is one 
in which the fever lasts all day, a slight sweating may follow at night. Another 
indication in ague is vomiting, especially of much bile" (Locke). Eupatorium 
given as above, or sometimes in small doses, may relieve headache of intermittent 
character when the intermissions are irregular. In epidemic influenza the warm 
infusion is valuable as an emetic and diaphoretic, likewise in febrile diseases, 
catarrh, colds, with hoarseness and pleuritic pains, and wherever such effects are 
indicated. In influenza it relieves the pain in the limbs and back. Its popular 
name, "boneset," is derived from its well-known property of relieving the deep- 
seated pains in the limbs which accompany this disorder, and colds and rheumatism. 
Often this pain is periosteal, and if neuralgic in character, or due to a febrile con- 
dition, eupatorium will relieve it. But it is not a remedy for periosteal pain due to 
inflammation or to organic changes in the periosteum. On the other hand, when 
given until the patient sweats, and then continued in 5-drop doses of specific eupa- 
torium, it has relieved the severe nocturnal muscular and "bone pains " of syphilis. 
In pneumonia, if an emetic is indicated in the early stage, this agent is as efficient 
as any that may be used; but it is of greater value in the latter stage when given 
as a syrup. This is kindly received by the stomach, improves digestion, and 
allays the irritable cough. It is a remedy for the cough of the aged, that cough in 
which there is an abundance of secretion, but lack of power to expectorate. The 
cough of measles, common colds, of asthma, and hoarseness are also relieved by it. 
Unless given in excess it acts as a good tonic to the gastric functions, increasing 
the appetite and power of digestion. The stomach disorders of the inebriate are, in 
a measure corrected by the use of small, tonic doses of eupatorium. Although 
slightly stimulant, it is of service in most inflammatory states, administered accord- 
ing to the indications given below. The warm infusion may be administered to 
promote the operation of other emetics. Externally, used alone or in combina- 
tion with hops or tansy, etc., a fomentation of the leaves applied to the bowels 
has been useful in inflammation, spasms, and painful affections. Dose of the pow- 
der, from 10 to 20 grains; of the extract, from 2 to 4 grains; of the infusion, from 
2 to 4 fluid ounces; of the syrup (1 pint of the decoction of 1 ounce of the herb 
sweetened with 2 pounds of white sugar), 1 to 4 drachms; specific eupatorium, 
1 to 60 drops. As an emetic administer the warm infusion freely. 740 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Pulse full and large, the current exhibiting 
little waves; skin full and hot with a tendency to become moist, even during the 
progress of fever, cough, embarrassed breathing, and pain in the chest; urine tur- 
bid and urination frequent; deep-seated aching pains in musclesand periosteum. 
EUPATORIUM PURPUREUM. 
EUPATORIUM PURPUREUM.-QUEEN OF THE MEADOW. 
The root of Eupatorium purpureum, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Compositse. 
Common Names : Queen of the meadow, Joe Pye weed, Trumpet-weed, Gravel-weed, 
Gravel-root, Joe-pie, Purple boneset. 
Botanical Source.-This plant is herbaceous, with a perennial, horizontal, 
woody caudex, with many long, dark-brown fibers, which send up one or more 
solid, glabrous, green, sometimes purplish stems, 5 or 6 feet in height, with a pur- 
ple band at the joints, about an inch broad. The leaves are from 3 to 6 in a whorl 
about 6 inches apart, oblong-ovate, or lanceolate, pointed, rugosely or feather- 
veined, coarsely serrate, slightly scabrous, with a soft pubescence beneath along 
the mid-vein and veinlets, thin, soft, borne on petioles an inch long, and from 
8 to 12 inches long, by 3 or 4 inches wide. The flowers are all tubular, purple 
or pinkish-purple, varying to whitish, and consist of numerous florets included 
in an 8-leaved calyx. The heads are in lax, very dense and compound corymbs 
of a cylindrical form, and from 5 to 10-flowered (W.-G.). 
History and Description.-Queen of the meadow grows in low places, dry 
woods or meadows, in the northern, western, and middle states, flowering in 
August and September. Its trivial name, Joe Pye weed, is said to have become 
attached to it through an Indian of that name, who lived in New England, and 
employed it as a diaphoretic in low fevers. The root is the medicinal part. As 
found in commerce, it consists of a blackish, woody caudex, from which proceed 
numerous long fibers, from 1 to 3 lines in diameter; externally they are covered 
with a dark-brown, longitudinally-furrowed cortex, beneath which the internal 
portion is white, or whitish-yellow, according to its age, the last color being the 
oldest. It has an odor somewhat resembling old hay? and a slightly bitter, aro- 
matic, and faintly astringent, but not unpleasant taste, and yields its properties 
to water by decoction, or to spirits. 
Chemical Composition.- Mr. J. B. Robinson, formerly of Cincinnati, ob- 
tained what he thought to be the active principle of the root, in the form of a 
dark-brown, solid resin, to which he gave the name eupatorine. It possessed a pecu- 
liar, slightly bitterish taste, but its therapeutical virtues were not established, 
In 1876, Prof. J. U. Lloyd donated to Prof. Maisch a specimen of a yellow, neu- 
tral, crystallized principle from the root of Eupatorium purpureum. The substance 
was quite soluble in hot, slightly so in cold alcohol, and insoluble in water; did 
not unite with dilute acids and was decomposable by strong sulphuric acid. As 
far as known to Prof. Lloyd, it was new to science and had no medicinal value. 
Mr. Lloyd s method of making this principle (euparin) is quoted by Prof. Trimble 
in the Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1890, p. 76. These crystals were found to be identical 
with a crystalline deposit afterward observed by Mr. E. G. Eberhardt in a fluid 
extract of the drug, and having the composition C12Hn0.(. It was not identical 
with quercitrin or quercetin. This formula was confirmed by C. C. Manger (Amer. 
Jour. Pharm., 1894). A complete analysis of the drug was made by Mr. F. M. Sig- 
gins (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1888, p. 121), and by Mr. G. II. Ray (ib., 1890, p. 73). The 
latter found volatile oil, fat, wax, yellow resin, soluble in ether, albuminoids, 
glucose, calcium oxalate, etc. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Queen of the meadow has diuretic, 
subastringent, stimulant, tonic, and antilithic properties. It has a specific action 
upon the renal tract, increasing both the fluid and solid constituents of the urine. 
As its influence upon the stomach is good, it may be used for a great length of 
time without ill results. While a fairly good remedy in some forms of dyspepsia, 
and chronic mucous diseases of the gastro-intestinal tract, its chief value lies in its 
efficiency in many disorders of the urino-genital passages. That it is a very valuable 
remedy in urinary calculi and gravel is admitted by many who can not believe 741 
that it has the power to dissolve the concretions. That it is. serviceable is prob- 
ably due to its control over vesical irritation, while, by its diuretic action, it may 
prevent the formation of these bodies. For this purpose the following prepara- 
tions and doses may be used: The infusion, 1 to 2 fluid ounces; the tincture, 
5 to 15 drops; specific gravel-root, 5 to 10 drops. Gravel-root has been used with 
excellent effect in dropsical affections, due to renal inaction, being especially valu- 
able in anasarca. After the removal of the effusion by catharsis, this agent may 
be administered to restore tone to the kidneys and to stimulate the absorbents, 
thus preventing the reaccumulation of the effusion. From 5 to 10 drops of specific 
gravel-root, in a teaspoonful of water, may be given every 3 hours, provided the 
patient is not greatly debilitated. Post-scarlatinal dropsy is benefited by it. 
Gravel-root is a superior remedy for many painful and irritable states of the 
urinary tract. Difficult and painful micturition, with frequent desire to urinate, 
the passage seemingly being obstructed, is an indication for this drug. It is 
indicated also by pain and weight in the loins, extending to the bladder, with 
the scanty voiding of high-colored urine, or when mixed with blood or solids. 
The special sedatives may be associated with it when there is vascular excita- 
tion. Chronic vesical irritation, a sense of heat being experienced in the bladder, 
and the urine milky and loaded with mucus, the deposit adhering to the ves- 
sel, are further indications for its selection. It is a remedy for strangury, espe- 
cially that resulting from fly-blister or irritating diuretics, with shooting, darting 
urethral pains, vesical tenesmus, and frequent micturition. In strangury, Prof. 
Locke recommends a rectal injection of 30 drops of tincture of opium in starch 
water, followed by the free administration of infusion of queen of the meadow. 
Keep the patient warm, and if this treatment is not fully effective, associate 
with it the hot hip-bath. Hematuria has been well treated with it, as have also 
those disagreeable sensations due to recent prostatic trouble, the active stage 
having passed. 
In that form of urinal incontinence of children, in which the vesical irritation 
is so great that the presence of a few drops of urine in the bladder causes a con- 
traction and expulsion of the contents of the organ, give 5 drops of specific gravel- 
root 3 times a day, the last dose upon retiring. The same dose or the infusion 
will alky the irritable bladder of pregnancy, and the agent is not without value in 
' i insipidus. With the vomiting of pregnancy there is sometimes associated a 
• '' oil/, .nd at each effort at coughing a little urine is expelled. In these cases give 
1 o op doses of specific gravel-root every 2 or 3 hours; if marked nervousness 
is a coi iplication give pulsatilla also. It is regarded more efficient than most 
diuretics in albuminuria. As a remedy for chronic urinary disorders it is a very 
useful igent, and fulfils many important indications. 
Queen of the meadow is asserted to be of value in gout and rheumatism. In 
those subject to chronic cough, associated with a weak circulation, and in indi- 
viduals suffering from asthma, chronic catarrh, and unduly prolonged whooping- 
cough, it has rendered very good service. 
Impotence is somewhat improved by the use of gravel-root, and in female dis- 
orders it is quite an important remedy. It controls chronic irritability of the womb 
and is beneficial in atonic states of that organ. When habitual abortion is due to 
prolapsus, retroversion, debility resulting from chronic inflammation, or other atonic 
states of the uterus, the tendency may be corrected by administering 5-drop doses 
of specific gravel-root 3 times a day. Used as an injection alone, or with some 
other astringent, it is of service in chronic amenorrhoea, with great debility and a 
continuous leucorrhceal flow. Dose of the decoction of queen of the meadow is from 
2 to 4 fluid ounces, 3 or 4 times a day; of the tincture (§viij to alcohol. 98 per 
cent, Oj), 1 to 30 drops ; of specific gravel-root, 1 to 30 drops, every 1 to 4 hours. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Vesical irritation; incontinence of urine; 
painful and frequent urination; urine scanty and milky, with mucoid or bloody 
admixture; uric acid diathesis; pain and weight in the loins extending to the 
bladder; skin hot, dry, and constricted. 
Derivatives and Related Species.-Eupurpurin. This is a member of the list of reme- 
dies once known as resinoids or concentrations. Being of an oleaginous nature it was included 
wth the oleoresins. The late Mr. William S. Merrell first prepared this oleoresin, and named it. 
It may be obtained by adding the alcoholic tincture of the root to twice its volume of water. 
EUPATORIUM PURPUREUM. 742 
and distilling off the alcohol, similar to the process for obtaining resin of podophyllum, oleo- 
resin of blue flag, etc., or better, by concentrating the alcoholic percolate of the drug by distil- 
lation and then pouring the thick residue into cold water. It is of a thick, pilular consistence 
and a dark greenish-brown color, having a faint peculiar smell, and a slightly nauseous taste. 
It is soluble in alcohol, more speedily when hot. Eupurpurin, or the oleoresin of queen of the 
meadow, as thus prepared by Mr. Merrell, was formerly regarded a valuable agent in many 
renal and genito-urinary affections; in doses of 3 grains, repeated every 3 or 4 hours, it is a most 
powerful diuretic. It may be given in pill form, either alone or combined with an equal 
quantity of castile soap. An excellent pill for many renal affections is composed of eupur- 
purin, 30 grains; extract of geranium, 20 grains; and extract of mix vomica, 1 grain. Divide 
into 10 pills. One of these pills may be given every 4 hours daily. Eupurpurin is scarcely 
ever employed at the present day, having given place to the more representative liquid prepa- 
rations of the plant. 
Eupatorium teucrifolium,W\\\dcno^ (Eupatorium verbenafolium, Elliott); Wild horehound, 
Rough boneset.-This is an indigenous, perennial plant, with an herbaceous, paniculate, pubes- 
cent stem, growing from 2 to 3 feet high, with fastigiate, corymbose branches above. Leaves 
opposite, sessile, distinct, ovate-oblong, ovate-lanceolate, rough, veiny, lower ones coarsely ser- 
rate toward the base, upper ones alternate, subserrate, often entire. Branches of the corymb, 
few, unequal. Flowers small, white, consist of 5 florets within each calyx; scales of the invo- 
lucre oblong-lanceolate, rather obtuse, at length shorter than the flowers (W.-G.). This 
plant grows in moist places from Canada to Florida, flowering in September and October. The 
whole plant is medicinal, possessing properties analogous to boneset, but not so unpleasantly 
bitter. Its active properties are taken up by alcohol or hot water. Tonic, diaphoretic, diuretic,, 
and laxative. Recommended by Dr. Jones, of Georgia, in intermittent and remittent fevers. It 
stimulates the sympathetic functions, and improves digestion and blood-making. Usually 
administered in infusion; 1 ounce of the dried leaves infused in a quart of water, of which 
half a teacupful may be given every hour or two, as warm as can be comfortably drank. It 
will prove diaphoretic or diuretic, according to the temperature in which the patient is kept, 
and likewise laxative. The cold infusion, or tincture, is tonic. The dose of a strong tincture 
ranges from 1 to 20 drops. 
Eupatorium aromaticumffAnne; White snake-root, Aromatic eupatorium, Hemp-weed. -This is 
a perennial plant, with a rough, slightly pubescent stem, about 2 feet in height, corymbose at 
the summit. Leaves from 2 to 4 inches long, about £ as wide, on petioles not quite an inch 
long, opposite, subcordate, lance-ovate, acute, 3-veined, obtusely serrate, smoothish, or very 
slightly pubescent. Involucre simple, pubescent; scales of the involucre nearly equal, in one 
row; flowers white, aromatic, in small corymbs; heads large, 10 to 15-flowered (W.). This is 
an indigenous plant, growing from Massachusetts to Louisiana, but especially throughout the 
middle states, and flowering in August and September.' The root is the medicinal part, and 
should be collected in September and October. It has a pleasant aromatic odor, and a bitter- 
ish taste. Its virtues are extracted by boiling water. An aromatic body, very much resem- 
bling coumarin, if not that principle itself, has been obtained from this plant, and also from 
Eupatorium incarnatum, Walter. Twenty-five grains of volatile oil were obtained by Chas. H. 
Blouch from 5| pounds of the rhizome of Eupatorium aromaticum (White snake-root) by dis- 
tillation with water (see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1890, p. 124). Diaphoretic, antispasmodic, expec- 
torant, and aromatic. Its influence upon the brain is pronounced, relieving irritation and pro- 
ducing normal functional activity. Used in the form of infusion or decoction in fever- of a 
typhoid character, connected with wakefulness ; also in pleurisy and pneumonia, as a diaphoretic 
and expectorant. In hysteria, hypochondria, nervous irritability, and flatulence, it is very benefi al: 
also reputed to have effected cures in aphthie, nursing sore mouth, chronic bronchitis, and chrm ic 
irritation of the bladder. Dose of the infusion or decoction, from fluid ounce to 4 fluid ounces 
of specific white snakeroot, 1 to 30 drops, well diluted, every 2 to 6 hours. It is sometime.- 
combined with sanguinaria and asclepias, in pulmonary diseases. Said to be valuable in gra" 
Eupatorium sessilifolium, Linn6; Upland boneset.- New England, western and southern 
states. Open woods in dry and mountainous situations. Said to possess properties simi r to, 
though weaker than boneset. Tonic. 
Eupatorium rotundifolium, Willdenow; Round-leaved hemp-weed; Wild horehound.- f rom 
Canada to Texas. Infusion has been employed in phthisis. 
Eupatorium ageratoides, Linne; White snake-root.- Rich woods of Canada and the United 
States. Diuretic, diaphoretic, and antispasmodic. 
Eupatorium hyssopifolium, Linne, and Eupatorium leucolepsis, Torrey and Gray, both milled 
11 Justice's iveed," have been used with success for curing the bites of snakes and poisonous m r mb 
They were employed for this purpose by John Justice, of South Carolina, in 1800, who rect ived 
a premium for disclosing his remedy. The former grows in dry situations from Massa huse: re 
west and south; the second in the sands, from Long Island south. 
Eupatorium cannabinum.-Europe. Cathartic. 
Eupatorium aya-pana.--Brazil. Leaves once much used as an aromatic, bitter tonic; 
resembling in properties the Eupatorium perfoliatum, though weaker in action. 
Eupatorium villosum, Bitter-bush.-Jamaica. Stimulant, bitter, and tonic. Employed in 
low stages in zymotic disorders as a general tonic. It is also used in the making of beer 
in Jamaica. 
Mikania Guaco, Willdenow. Nat.Ord.-Composite. This is a South American climbing vim-, 
closely allied to the Eupatoriums. The leaves are supposed, by the natives, to be i 1 medy 
for the bites of poisonous serpents, a property which they also attribute to Eupatorium ay a 
pana. The leaves of Mikania seandens, an herbaceous twiner, common to the eastern United 
EUPA TOR IU M PUR PUR EUM. EUPHORBIUM. 
743 
States, probably possess similar properties. This plant has been employed in scrofula, in cer- 
tain cutaneous maladies, in chronic rheumatism, in diarrhoea, and in cholera infantum. It has been 
administered in decoction, in syrup, and in fluid extract; the dose of the latter being from 
15 to 60 minims, 3 or 4 times a day. Age impairs the virtues of the plant. Dr. Hancock denies 
that this is the correct counter-poison, guaco, which he states is an Aristolochia. 
Ageratum conyzoides.-Brazil. Reputed emmenagogue (Barker Smith). 
Mata.-A Texan herb, probably the Eupatorium mcarnatum,Walter. In New Mexico it is 
smoked with tobacco, and, having in itself a tonka odor, is said to modify the disagreeable odor 
of stale tobacco smoke, as taken up by garments and apartments (see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1868). 
An aromatic principle, resembling, if not identical with coumarin, has been obtained from Eupa- 
torium incarnatum,Walter. 
EUPHORBIUM.-EUPHORBIUM. 
A gum-resin from Euphorbia resinifera, Berg. 
Nat. Ord.-Euphorbiacese. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 240. 
Botanical Source.-This leafless, cactus-like plant is a glaucous perennial 
growing 6 feet or more in height. Its ascending stems are fleshy and 4-angled, 
each side of the stem about 1 inch in width. The stems have spreading branches 
whose angles are clothed with divergent, horizontal stipules of a spinescent char- 
acter taking the place of leaves. These are arranged in pairs and converge at the 
base into an ovate, somewhat triangular disc; above each pair of spines is a 
depressed spot indicative of a leaf-bud. The flowers, which are borne on stalks on 
the summits of the branches, are 3 in number, 2 of them being borne on pedicles. 
The branches abound in a milky juice, which exudes and concretes on the surface 
of the plant when it is wounded. 
History.-Formerly it was not positively known from what plant this gum- 
resin was obtained, though Pereira believed it to be the Euphorbia canariensis, of 
the Canary Isles. From investigations by Berg, however, this view would seem 
to be erroneous, and the latter has established beyond doubt the true source of 
the drug, and has given us a full botanical description and figure of the plant in 
question, Euphorbia resinifera, Berg. It grows in Morocco, among the Atlas Moun- 
tains, and was well known to the ancients, as both Dioscorides and Pliny gave 
accounts of the collection of the resin on Mt. Atlas, and made notes of its extremely 
acrid properties ^Pharmacographia}. The drug is collected by making incisions 
into the stems, from which the milky fluid exudes and concretes on exposure to 
the air, incrusting the surface and particularly the spines in its downward flow. 
Finally, toward the latter part of the summer, it is gathered by the collectors, who 
are compelled to protect themselves from its irritating, acrid dust, by enveloping 
the mouth and nostrils with a cloth (see Euphorbia corollata for further history). 
Description.-In commerce euphorbium is found in irregular, yellowish, or 
brownish, slightly friable tears, of a wax-like appearance, often perforated with 
1 or 2 holes, united at the base, and usually mixed with the prickles of the plant 
and other impurities. They have hardly any odor, and that slightly aromatic, 
and a feeble taste, succeeded by considerable heat and persistent acrimony. 
Euphorbium is partially dissolved by water, forming a milk-like fluid when rub- 
bed up with it; its best solvents are alcohol, ether, and oil of turpentine. Euphor- 
bium must be powdered with great caution, as it excites violent sneezing, and 
even inflammation of the eyes. Thrown on the fire, euphorbium melts, swells, 
and burns with a pale flame, evolving an odor-like that of benzoic acid. 
Chemical Composition. - Euphorbium, according to Henke (Archiv. der 
Pharm., 1886, p. 729), consists of resin soluble in ether (26.95 per cent), resin in- 
soluble in ether (14.25), euphorbon (34.6) caoutchouc (1.1), malic acid (1.5), gum, 
salts (20.40), and ammonia-soluble matters (1.2). The intense acridity of the drug 
is due to the ether-soluble resin, which melts at from 42° to 43° C. (107.6° to 
109.4° F.). The resin insoluble in ether melts between 119° and 120° C. (246.4° 
ami 248° F.). Euphorbon (C13H22O, Fliickiger; CI5H24O, Hesse; C20H36O, Henke), 
was first obtained in an impure state by Dragendorff and Alberti, in 1864, and 
was four years later given its name and prepared pure by Fliickiger (Wittstein's 
Vierteljahresschrift, 1868, p. 89). It is a crystallizable substance, fusing at 68° C. 
(154.4° F.), (Henke), and yields upon treatment with phosphorus pentoxide, cer- 
tain hydrocarbons, as heptane (C7H16), octane (CSH18), and paraxylene (C6H4[CH3]2). 744 
EUPHORBIA COROLLATA. 
It is soluble in ether, benzin, benzene, chloroform, amylic alcohol, acetone, hot 
alcohol, and glacial acetic acid; almost insoluble in hot water, and precipitable 
by tannic acid. Henke prepared it by extracting the gum with petroleum ether 
and purifying the crystalline euphorbone thus obtained by dissolving it in ether, 
adding alcohol to permanent turbidity, allowing the yellow resin to subside, 
evaporating the clear liquid and crystallizing from benzin. It is tasteless, of neu- 
tral reaction, dextro-rotatory, and is not affected by diluted acids nor by alkalies. 
A bitter principle is also present, and may easily be obtained by boiling an alco- 
holic extract of the gum with water. This dissolves the bitter principle together 
with some of the acrid resin. The existence of Buchheim's bitter euphorbic acid, 
obtained (1875), by evaporating the acrid resin with alcoholic caustic potash, and 
precipitating with a diluted acid, is doubted by Fliickiger and Henke (Fliickiger, 
Pharmacognosie, 1891). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Emetic, cathartic, and errhine. Sel- 
dom, however, used for these properties, on account of its severity of action. Its 
principal use is externally as a rubefacient or vesicant. The following prepara- 
tion forms an excellent counter-irritant: Take of powdered euphorbium | drachm, 
coarsely powdered cantharides and mezereon bark, of each, 2 drachms, rectified 
spirits of wine 2^ fluid ounces. Mix together, digest for 8 days, then press and 
filter, and to the filtered tincture add, white colophony 1 ounce, white turpentine 
6 drachms. With this preparation, paper or silk may be coated three separate 
times, by means of a soft sponge, and, when dry, forms an excellent irritating 
plaster for rheumatic, gouty, and neuralgic pains. Powdered euphorbium is fre- 
quently added to the compound tar plaster to render it more active. 
Related Species.- HUra, Sand-bo.r tree. Two species of Hura, the Hura brasiliensis. 
Willdenow, and Hura crepitans, Linne, both of the Nat. Ord.-Euphorbiacea*, furnish medi- 
cines. The latter is indigenous to Central and South America, and to the West Indies. It is 
known as ajuapar. The seed capsules break with violence, scattering the seeds, which are 
used in Mexico under the name habilla or pepita de San Ignacio, as a drastic cathartic. They 
have a pleasant, sweet taste. The leaves, after being prepared in oil, are applied in rheuma- 
tism. An acrid, milky juice is obtained from the tree. This juice, as well as the seeds and 
bark, is emeto-cathartic, acting somewhat like the euphorbiaceous plants in general. The 
Hura brasiliensis is known in South America as assacou or ussacu. It differs from the preceding 
in having oblong, in place of ovate catkins. The bark casca de assacou, like to the first species, 
is acrid. The acrid principle of Hura has been named hurin. It is a crystallizable body 
obtained by precipitating with water an alcoholic extract of the evaporated milky juice, and 
dissolving the resinous matter in ether. When heated it volatilizes in acrid vapors. Nitrates 
and malates are likewise present. The seed integuments contain tannin, gallic acid, and color- 
ing substance, while the kernel yields albumen, solid fatty matter, salts, and a purgative 
fixed oil, which alcohol dissolves. The Brazilians use it as a remedy for elephantiasis or leprosy. 
Even the decoction may vesicate. It is powerfully irritant to the gastro-intestinal tract, pro- 
ducing violent emeto-cathartic effects. It is probably ineffectual, though mitigation of the 
disease, but not a cure, is reported from its use. 
Manchineel.-The Hippomane Mancinelli,IAnne, a West Indian tree possesses poisonous 
properties. Its fruit, resembling in color and size our common apple, is said to poison fish 
when placed in the water. The tree abounds in acrid, milky juice, the poisonous principle 
of which is volatile. Fat, resin, caoutchouc, volatile oil, gummy material, and mancinellin 
are, according to Ricord-Madianna, constituents of manchineel. The juice of the tree is highly 
irritating, causing vesication, and if in contact with the conjunctiva, producing a violent con- 
junctivitis. The Indians poison arrows with it; even sleeping underneath the tree is said to 
produce swelling of the body. Both the juice and the fruit produce inflammatory gastro- 
intestinal symptoms, with emeto-catharsis. 
EUPHORBIA COROLLATA.-LARGE FLOWERING SPURGE. 
The bark of the root of Euphorbia corollata, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Euphorbiaceae. 
Common Names: Large flowering spurge, Blooming spurge, Milk purslane, Snake 
milk, etc. (see History}. 
Illustration : Meehan's Native Flowers, Vol. I, p. 109. 
Botanical Source.-This plant has many common names, and in some sec- 
tions is improperly called Bowman s root. It is a perennial plant, with a round, 
slender, erect stem, 1 or 2 feet high, generally simple and smooth. The root is 
yellowish, large and branching. The leaves are scattered, sessile, oblong-ovate, or EUPHORBIA COROLLATA. 
745 
linear, entire, flat or revolute at the margin, smooth in some plants, very hairy 
in others, verticillate and opposite in the umbel, and from 1 to 2 inches in length. 
The flowers are in large, terminal umbels, with a corolla-like involucre, which is 
large, white, and showy. The umbels are 5-rayed, supported by as many brac- 
teal leaves; not infrequently a small axilliary branch or two arises from the sides 
of the stem below the umbel. The rays of the umbels are repeatedly trifid or 
dichotomous, each fork attended by 2 leaflets and a flower. The involucre is 
large, rotate, white, with 5 obtuse, petal-like segments; at the base of these divi- 
sions are 5 interior, very small, obtuse segments. Stamens 12; a great portion of 
the plants are wholly staminiferous. The fruit is a smooth, 3-lobed, 3-celled cap- 
sule; the cells are 1-seeded, and the seeds smooth (L.-W.). 
History.-Though not extensively used in medicine, many of the Euphor- 
bias are consumed in the Eclectic practice. That some of them are excellent 
remedies, and could well take the place of some other extensively used drugs, 
there can be no doubt. The Euphorbia Ipecacuanha and Euphorbia corolla,ta are old 
Eclectic drugs, while the E. hypericifolia was reintroduced, in 1874, by Dr. H. L. 
True (Eclectic Medical Journal, 1874), having been previously mentioned in the 
American Dispensatory. Though but little used, these drugs have staggered under 
a load of popular appellatives, some of them being peculiar to each plant named, 
others being shared by plants bearing no relation to the Euphorbias. Euphorbia 
Ipecacuanha is called wild ipecac and ipecacuanha spurge; E. corollata - blooming 
spurge, large flowering spurge, milkweed, snake's milk, hippo, picac, purge root, milk purs- 
lane, emetic root, apple root, Indian physic, ipecac, ipecacuanha and Bowman's root; 
E. hypericifolia-large spotted spurge, garden spurge, black purslane, milk purslane, eye 
bright, and fluxweed; E. pilulifera-pill-bearing spurge, asthma-weed and snake-weed. In 
view of this mass of confusing popular names, the physician will recognize the 
necessity of adhering to the botanical appellations for these plants. 
There are many other species of Euphorbia, though all possess widely diverse 
characteristics from those of our medicinal plants. In the dominions of the 
Mauritanian despot the plants abound as large succulent trees or bushes resem- 
bling cacti, but diftering from them in having a milky juice, which exudes on 
the slightest puncture. Nearly all the Euphorbias are more or less poisonous, and 
all exude this acrid milky fluid when broken. Like their fellow of the same 
natural order, the Ricinus communis, or Castor oil plant, most of them have cathartic 
powers, though some are astringent. An ornamental species, originally from 
Mexico, whose floral bracts are often 4 or 5 inches long and of a bright vermilion 
color, is familiar to flower lovers as "fire on the mountain, painted leaf, Mexican fire 
plant, or poinsetta" (E. heterophyIla). In Africa gum euphorbium is gathered from 
the E. resinifera. Incisions are made into the stems from which the juices flow 
freely. From its acridity great care must be exercised by the gatherer, as it 
produces a violent rhinitis. A species (E. Tirucalli) is in common use around 
Madras for hedging purposes. The leaves, which are used as vesicants, will not 
be partaken of by cattle. E. Lathyris was ordered by Charlemagne to be culti- 
vated in all monastic gardens on account of the value of its purgative seeds. Two 
species, the E. hybernica and E. piscatoria, will stupefy fish, a small quantity serv- 
ing to render the waters of a river poisonous to fish for a long distance down 
the stream. Though poisonous in the raw state, the E.edulis and E.balsamifera 
when boiled, may be eaten as pot-herbs, and the E. Cattimandoo furnishes a caout- 
chouc. In hot countries the milk of a certain species is employed as a caustic, 
while another furnishes the natives with an " arrow poison " by simply dipping 
the weapon in the milky juice. Anthelmintic properties are possessed by the 
Euphorbia thymifolia, Lin ne, of India. 
The scientific name Euphorbia is said to have been given to this genus of 
plants by a celebrated African monarch, King Juba of Mauritiana. This king 
was the son of the partisan Juba, of the wars of Pompey and Caesar. It is claimed 
that he was exceptionally learned and had some knowledge of botany and medi- 
cine. Having found purging properties in a plant growing in his dominion, he 
called the attention of his renowned court physician, Euphorbus, to it and named 
it in his honor-Euphorbia. The trivial name, spurge, seems to have arisen from 
the reputed property given by King Juba, as it is but a contraction of "espurge," 
a French term meaning to purge. 746 
EUPHORBIA COROLLATA. 
One of our early botanists, Nuttall, had a peculiar dislike to the Euphorbias, 
and could see no good in them, regarding them as dangerous and needless reme- 
dies. Rafinesque, who was more nearly Eclectic than any other of the earlier 
botanists, and whose views were those generally accepted by the Eclectic fathers, 
says of the E. corollata that it is a safer and better emetic than common ipecac, 
from the fact that its action may be regulated according to the quantity taken, 
which, as we all know, can not be done with the latter drug. This uncertainty 
is particularly noticeable in fluid preparations of ipecac. Rafinesque further 
notes the singular similarity of the Louisiana Indian name " peheca " and the 
Brazilian ^ipeca^ both meaning " emetic rooty Barton considered the E. ipecacu- 
anha of equal value to ipecac, besides possessing the advantage of having but little 
taste and odor. 
Euphorbia corollata is found in dry fields and woods throughout portions of 
Canada and the United States, flowering from June to September. The milky 
juice, which exudes freely from all parts of the plant when bruised, proves very 
irritating to the cutaneous structures, and, if kept in contact sufficiently long, 
will cause pustulation and even vesication. The root, or part used, when dried, 
is odorless and nearly tasteless. 
Description and Chemical Composition.-The root is from | of an inch to 
1 or 2 inches in diameter, 1 or 2 feet in length, odorless, and nearly tasteless, pro- 
ducing a pungency in the mouth and fauces after having been chewed for some 
time. It should be gathered in the fall. The bark of the root is the medicinal 
part. It is from | to 1| inch in thickness, constituting the major part of the root, 
and imparts its properties to alcohol or water. It forms a light, brownish-yellow 
powder, speckled throughout with innumerable fine dark spots, somewhat resem- 
bling a mixture of fine pepper and salt, with the exception of color. Dr. Zollic- 
koffer found it to contain resin, mucilage, and caoutchouc. It is possible, if not 
probable, that euphorbon is present, as it has been found in the E. Ipecacuanha. 
Kino and catechu are incompatible with this plant; when united with either, the 
medicinal powers of the Euphorbia are destroyed, while the astringency of the 
kino or catechu becomes entirely altered. Probably all vegetable astringents are 
incompatible with the agent under consideration. Opium interferes with its 
emetic operation, and should not, therefore, be given in combination with it, 
when emesis is desired. Acetic acid also interrupts its emetic influence, causing 
it to pass oft* by the bowels (Amer. Jour. Pharm.y o\. V, p. 166). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.- Euphorbia is emetic, diaphoretic, 
expectorant, and epispastic. Small doses are expectorant and diaphoretic. Larger 
doses produce emesis usually without much pain or spasm, nausea or giddiness. 
Overdoses will produce dangerous hyperemesis, or hypercatharsis, or both, and 
not infrequently give rise to an unpleasant inflammatory state of the alimen- 
tary canal. A dose that falls short of emesis usually proves cathartic. 
Fifteen or 20 grains of the powdered bark of the root will excite emesis. 
Four grains of the powdered root bark, given every 3 hours, will act as a diapho- 
retic; or the compound powder of ipecacuanha and opium may be employed for 
the same purpose, substituting the E. corollata for the ipecacuanha. In doses of 
3 grains, exhibited occasionally in a little honey, syrup or molasses, it operates as 
a useful expectorant, and may be administered in all cases where such action is 
desired. Even when given in large doses, it is apt to induce inflammation of the 
mucous coat of the stomach and bowels, with hypercatharsis. Occasionally when 
given as an emetic or cathartic, it causes distressing nausea, with considerable 
prostration. From 4 to 10 or 12 grains generally act as a cathartic. 
The principal use to which this drug was put by the early Eclectics was as 
an emetic or emeto-cathartic in dropsical conditions, but undoubtedly we possess 
better agents in this class of affections in digitalis and the apocynums. An emetic 
dose was given 2 or 3 times a week for hydrothorax and ascites. As an emetic, it 
should never be employed where there is great debility or when an inflammation 
of the digestive organs is present. It has been employed with success in amenor- 
rhcea. It has a direct action on mucous surfaces, and, when given in small 
doses is valuable to cheek inflammatory action of the stomach and bowels. Small 
doses relieve irritation, promote digestion, and increase functional activity. It 
rectifies irregularity of the bowels and rarely fails to overcome constipation if used 747 
EUPHORBIA HYPERICIFOLIA. 
as indicated. It is often indicated in diarrhoea and dysentery, especially the so-called 
bilious forms. Chronic bronchitis and laryngitis, with profuse mucous discharges, 
have been cured by it. Prof. King used it in several cases of partial deafness with 
tinnitus from extension of chronic catarrhal inflammation of the nares and throat to 
the Eustachian tubes. It is also indicated (in small doses) in catarrhal inflamma- 
tions with abundant mucous discharges, and especially if the patient be debili- 
tated. For this purpose it has served a good use in vesical catarrh. 
Dose of the powder as an emetic, 15 to 30 grains, every 15 minutes; tincture 
(emetic), 15 to 60 drops, every 15 minutes; for specific uses, tincture, fraction of a 
drop to 10 drops; specific euphorbia, to 10 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses. - Indications for both this drug and for 
E. Ipecacuanha are long-continued gastric irritation, irritative diarrhoea, dropsy 
with irritation of mucous tissues, and catarrhal discharges with debility. Tongue 
elongated and pointed with prominent papillae, uneasy sensation in the stomach; 
cholera infantum with hot and tender abdomen, constant desire to defecate, with 
greenish irritating stools. 
EUPHORBIA HYPERICIFOLIA.-LARGE SPOTTED SPURGE. 
The entire plant Euphorbia hypericifolia, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Euphorbiaceee. 
Common Names: Large spotted spurge, Garden spurge, Black purslane, Milk purs- 
lane, Eye-bright, Elux-weed. 
Botanical Source and History.-Euphorbia hypericifolia is a common weed, 
found in gardens and on cultivated land, in all parts of the United States. The 
stem is from 1 to 2 feet in leqgth, ascending, and much branched; it is smooth, 
and when the plant grows in sunny situations, is of a purple color. The branches 
are alternate, and proceed from opposite sides of the stem, giving the plant a flat 
appearance. The leaves are about an inch long, opposite, unequal at the base, 
and supported on very short leaf-stalks; they are oblong, obtuse, triple-veined 
from the base and serrulate, with numerous small, appressed teeth. The larger 
leaves have large purple spots near the center, which is very characteristic of the 
plant. The flowers are small, inconspicuous, and appear late in summer. They 
have the peculiar structure of the genus Euphorbia, and the involucrate clusters 
are borne from the forks of the branches on slender stalks about } inch long. 
The fruit is a 3-lobed carpel, containing 3 wrinkled, blackish seeds. The plant is 
minutely described in earlier editions of this Dispensatory, as follows: " This plant, 
also known by the names of Black purslane, Milk purslane, Eye-bright, etc., is an 
annual plant, with a smooth, somewhat procumbent, branching stem, from 1 to2 
feet high; branches dichotomous, divaricate-spreading. Leaves from to 1 inch 
in length, about one-fourth as wide, opposite, oblong, somewhat falciform, serrated, 
oblique or heart-shaped at base, often curved, 3 to 5-ribbed underneath, on very 
short petioles, often marked with purple oblong dots and blotches. Flowers small, 
white, numerous, disposed in terminal and axillary corymbs. Fruit mostly rather 
hairy; seeds 4-angled, obscurely wrinkled transversely " (W.-G.). 
History and, Chemical Composition.-Euphorbia hypericifolia is an indige- 
nous plant, growing in rich soil in waste and cultivated places, as old cornfields, 
but seldom in woods, and flowering from July to September. The whole plant 
is used, and yields its properties to water or alcohol; the leaves have a sweetish 
taste, succeeded by a sensation of harshness and roughness. The plant contains 
caoutchouc, resin, tannin, gallic acid, etc. (Wm. Zollickofler, 1833). No further 
analysis or chemical examination seems to have been made. Dr. H. L. True 
brought this drug forward in the Eclectic Medical Journal, 1874, since which time 
numerous articles have appeared in various medical journals, and at present the 
plant is in regular use among Eclectic physicians, having obtained a reputation 
in the treatment of bowel disorders. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Garden spurge acts principally upon 
the digestive tract and the sympathetic nervous system. Dr. True, its introducer, 
proved the remedy upon himself, using an infusion of leaves and tops (§ss to 
water Oj). He took 1| pints of the infusion at one dose. Shortly afterward, he 
experienced a fullnesss in the frontal and parietal regions, followed by a headache 748 
EUPHORBIA HYPERICTFOLTA. 
similar to that produced by macrotys, but less severe. The pain then centered at 
the top of the head and a characteristic heat was felt over the eyes. The mind 
could not be fixed upon anything but.the headache. There was no tinnitus nor 
vertigo, nor was sleep produced, though a feeling of drowsiness and languor super- 
seded the active stage. The maximum effect of the drug was produced in about 
2 hours and subsided in hours. An unpleasant fullness with oppression at the 
epigastrium accompanied the head symptoms. The drug proved so constipating 
that he was obliged to take physic the following day. He concluded that in large 
doses it acted primarily as a cerebral stimulant, and secondarily as a sedative to 
the brain and sympathetic nervous system. In no sense could it be called a nar- 
cotic. Dr. True found this drug to be very efficient as an injection for gonorrhoea, 
using it in several cases, some of them chronic, with complete success. The prin- 
cipal use, however, for which the drug was brought out, was for gastro-intestinal dis- 
orders. It is one of the most certain remedies for cholera infantum, having been 
employed where ipecac proved useless. Typhilitis, muco-enteritis, dysentery, and 
irritant diarrhoea are also cured by it when its indications are present, which 
are gastric irritation, or irritation of any portion of the mucous lining of the 
intestines. It is usually employed with specific aconite. It has been found of 
service in menorrhagia and leucorrhoea, both from debility, and is recommended 
for infantile pneumonia and bronchitis. It is also valuable in summer complaints of 
adults. Excellent results have attended its employment in cholera morbus. Its 
most marked property is that of removing gastro-intestinal irritation. The dose 
of the strong infusion of the plant (sss to boiling water Oj, infused hour) is, 
for a child, from 15 minims to 2 fluid drachms every hour; for an adult, from 
a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful every hour. Dose of specific spotted spurge, 1 to 10 
drops in water every 1 or 2 hours. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Gastro-intestinal irritation; cholera infan- 
tum; muco-enteritis; dysentery; vertigo, with constipation; "diarrhoea, the dis- 
charges being greenish and irritant; frequent desire to go to stool, which relieves 
sometimes without any motion" (Scudder). 
Related Species.-Euphorbia maculata, Linn6, or Spotted spurge, is possessed of similar 
properties, and has been used with advantage in the same formsof disease, cholera morbus, diar- 
rhoea, dysentery, etc. It is an annual plant, generally found growing with the E. hypericifolia, and 
possesses sensible properties analogous to those of this variety. It has a procumbent stem, 
spreading flat on the ground, much branched, and hairy; leaves opposite, oval or oblong, min- 
utely serrulate toward the end, unequal at the base, slightly 3-ribbed, smooth above, hairy 
and pale beneath, oblique at base, on short petioles, often spotted with dark-purple, from 3 to 6 
lines long, one-half as wide. Flowers white, solitary, axillary, much shorter than the leaves, 
appearing from July to October; female flowers naked. Filaments articulated; receptacle 
squamose; capsule 3-grained, smooth, pubescent, or warty; seeds 4-angled, obscurely wrinkled 
transversely, about one-third smaller than the E. hypericifolia (W.-G.). Zollickofler, in 1842, 
found resin, caoutchouc, and gallic and tannic acids in this species. 
Euphorbia prostata, Aiton, Swallowwort, a plant growing in the southwestern portions of 
the United States and Mexico, is one of the many so-called specifics against the bite of the 
rattlesnake, and other poisonous reptiles, spiders, etc. It is known to the natives of Mexico as 
gollindrinera. The fresh juice of the plant is procured by bruising it in a mortar, and then 
adding water and expressing it; the dose is 3 or 4 fluid ounces, repeated every 1,2, or 3 hours, 
or oftener, according to the urgency of the case; the bruised plant being at the same time 
applied to the wound. The plant grows in dry, hard, sandy soils, has long, thread-like, reddish 
stems, resembling somewhat the Coptis trifolia, and which become entangled with each other; 
leaves opposite, dark-green, obcordate, petaloid, from $ to £ inch long; flowers appear from 
April to November, are small, white, axillary, dark-purple at the orifice of the corolla tube; 
sepals 4; petals 4; root large, deep-brown. The whole plant contains an abundance of an 
odorless, insipid, milky juice. 
Euphorbia humistrata, Engelmann.-Mississippi valley. Resembles the preceding species. 
Euphorbia chiliensis, of Chili.-Is employed as a drastic cathartic. 
Euphorbia ocellata, Dur. and Hilg.-Pacific states. Contains gallo-tannic acid and resin. 
Used to antidote snakebites. 
Euphorbia lata, Engelmann.-United States. Cases of poisoning by seeds, reported near 
Philadelphia, by Harlan, producing serious gastro-intestinal disturbance, wuth excessive 
catharsis, followed by dilatation of pupils and stupor (Med. and Phys. Researches, p. 603). 
Euphorbia Lathyris, Linn£ ( Tithymalus Lathyris, Scopoli); Caper or Garden spurge.-A native 
of the south of Europe, but cultivated and somewhat naturalized in the United States, having 
been introduced into New Mexico and western Texas (Coulter). The seeds, which were for- 
merly used, under the name of semen cataputiw minoris, yield an expressed oil which is purga- 
tive, and deposits a crystalline mass upon standing. C>. Zander obtained 42 per cent of oil 
by extraction with carbon disulphide (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1878, p. 330). ^Esculetin (C9H8O4), EUPHORBIA IPECACUANHA. 
749 
is also one of its constituents (R. Tawara, Chern. Ztg., 1889, p. 1706). Five seeds have been 
known to purge, and also to provoke emesis. It is said to act somewhat like croton oil. In 
doses of 5 to 10 drops the pure oil is said to act mildly, but is liable to assume dangerous acrid 
properties. When recent the oil is without odor, colorless, and practically tasteless. Cases 
of poisoning by the seeds have been reported ( Bull, de Therap., Vol. CI, p. 541). The antidotes 
are opiates. The milky juice from this plant, collected in autumn, revealed under the micro- 
scope the presence of euphorbon, starch, and crystals of calcium malate (Henke, Archiv. der 
Pharm., 1886, p. 753). 
Euphorbia cremocarpus.-Pacific states. Contains resin, an acid, and a volatile oil. Used 
to stupefy fish to facilitate their capture (Proc. Cal. Coll. Pharm., 1885). 
Euphorbia Drummondii, Boissier.-Australia. This plant, according to Bailey and Gordon, 
is poisonous to sheep. It is also fatal to cattle. If eaten by them early in the morning, before 
the sun has dried the plant, the result is said to be nearly always fatal. Sheep will only eat it 
when grass is scarce. The head becomes enormously swollen, and the animal, being unable to 
support it, is forced to drag it over the ground. The ears also swell, and suppuration ensues. 
It is known to the natives as caustic creeper, milk plant, and pox plant. The Euphorbia alsinxflora, 
Bailion, is likewise poisonous to sheep ( Useful Native Plants of Australia, Maiden). Dr. J. Reid 
( Austral. Med. Guz., No. 61), is said to have isolated a crystalline alkaloid devoid of color from 
E. Drummondii, and named it drummine. He ascribes to it anaesthetic properties, which prop- 
erty is considered by some as doubtful (see also Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1887, p. 264). The entire 
subject of its chemistry needs verification. 
Euphorbia heterodoxa, Mueller.-Brazil. This plant is known as Alteloz, Aveloz, and Arveloz. 
The juice is said to act somewhat like jequirity. When fresh it produces dermatitis, and 
destroys diseased tissue without producing marked pain. Spread upon a granulating sore, it 
produces a profusion of pus, and placed upon morbid growths destroys them, layer after layer, 
and induces granulation. The acrid principle seems to reside in a resin. It has been used 
with reputed success in the treatment of cancerous growths and syphilitic chancroids. 
Euphorbia helioscopia, Linn6.-Texas and other parts of the United States. The juice of 
this plant is said to remove warty growths. 
Euphorbia marginata, Pursh; Snow-ondhe-mountain.-Cultivated in gardens in the United 
States. Produces effects like those of poison-oak (Bot. Gaz., 1890, p. 276). 
Manzanillo.-A West Indian Euphorbiacese, the juice of which is violently irritant, and 
when internally administered (20 drops), produced a fatal gastro-intestinal inflammation. It is 
diuretic, and in 2-drop doses is reputed actively purgative. The Cubans make use of it 
in tetanus. 
Mercurialis annua (Nat. Ord.-Euphorbiaceie). Europe. Reichardt, in 1863, obtained from 
this herbaceous plant a volatile base, mercurealine, which he describes as an oily base, analo- 
gous to coniine, of strongly alkaline reaction, possessing a penetrating, narcotic odor, and resini- 
fying when exposed to the air. It begins to distill at 140° C. i284° F.). E. Schmidt (1878), 
declares it identical in every respect with monomethylamine (CH3XH2), and to be associated 
in the plant with small amounts of trimethylamine. When boiled the plant is rendered non- 
acrid, and is used as a poultice. It was formerly regarded an important remedy in Europe, 
where it was variously lauded as a purgative, diuretic, emmenagogue, and antisyphilitic. A 
related European species, Mercurialis perennis, is likewise toxic 
EUPHORBIA IPECACUANHA.-AMERICAN IPECAC. 
The bark of the root of Euphorbia Ipecacuanha, Linne {Euphorbia gracilis, 
Elliott). 
Nat. Ord.-Euphorbiacese. 
Common Names: Wild ipecac, American ipecacuanha, Ipecac spurge, Carolina 
ipecac, White ipecac, Spurge, etc. 
Botanical Source.-This is a perennial plant, with a yellowish, irregular, 
fleshy root, very large in proportion to the plant it bears, running deep into the 
sand, sometimes extending to the depth of 6 feet. The stems 
from one root are numerous, suberect or procumbent, smooth, 
thick, .succulent, regular dichotomous, jointed at the forks, 
forming large branches on the surface of the ground, and from 
3 to 12-inches long. The leaves are inserted at the joints, 
opposite, 1 or 2 inches long, by J or | an inch wide, sessile, 
smooth, varying from oblong and circular to linear, and, in 
color from green to purplish. The flowers are solitary, on 
long peduncles from the forks of the stem, and small. Calyx 
spreading, with 5 exterior obtuse segments, with 5 small, gib- 
bous, inner segments or nectaries. The stamens are numerous, 
in 5 parcels, appearing at different times 2 or 3 together, with 
double anthers. The fertile flowers have a large, roundish, 
Fig. 110. 
Euphorbia Ipecacuanha. 750 
EUPHORBi A PILULIFERA. 
drooping, pediceled germ, crowned with 6 revolute stigmas. The capsule is 3-celled, 
containing 3 white, a reo late-pitted seeds (L.-W.-G.). 
History and Description.-This is an indigenous plant, found growing in 
dry, sandy soils, on Long Island, in New Jersey, and the middle and southern 
states, and flowering from May to August. As with the E. corollata, it yields a 
milky juice, which causes a pustular eruption when applied to the skin. The 
root is the part used in medicine. The fresh root is from 3 to 7 feet long, tuber- 
culated, and of a yellowish color; from to 1 inch in diameter, and of a very 
acrid taste. The dry root is light and brittle, without odor, and has a sweetish, 
not very disagreeable taste (E. & V.). The powdered root is of a light-brown, 
or light snuff-color, speckled similar to E. corollata. Water or alcohol takes up 
its active properties. Its incompatibles are probably the same as those of the 
E. corollata. 
Chemical Composition. - Analysis of this plant by C. Petzelt, in 1873 
(Amer. Jour. Pharm., p. 255), revealed the presence of resin, gum, glucose, starch 
in abundance, fixed oil, calcium sulphate, and other salts. The resin is dark in 
color, has at first a bitter taste, which subsequently becomes pungent and nausea- 
ting. This resin he believed to carry the active emeto-cathartic properties of the 
root. Small doses (| grain) acted as a hydragogue cathartic, while larger doses 
(1| to 2 grains) induced nausea and emesis. It is insoluble in benzin and ether, 
but dissolves in alcohol. The root is believed to contain a glucosid from the fact 
that the reaction for glucose is not apparent unless the root be first boiled with a 
diluted acid (Dilg, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1876, p. 485). Benzin extracts from the 
root, among other substances, euphorbon (see Euphorbiumf 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-It very much resembles the E. corol- 
lata in its action upon the system, but is less energetic. It may be employed 
as a substitute for it or for ipecac. It is emetic, diaphoretic, expectorant, and 
epispastic; and may be used in the same doses and for the same purposes as the 
E. corollata; in dropsical affections it is preferred by some practitioners. When 
given in cathartic doses, say from 3 to 10 grains, it is said to promote the men- 
strual discharge. As an emetic and cathartic, it has been found valuable in bilious 
colic, but is superseded in this disease by the Dioscorea villosa, which acts promptly 
and efficiently without any unpleasant symptoms. In dyspepsia, 1 or 2 grains, 
repeated 3 times daily, will be found useful. The dose of the powdered root is 
from 10 to 15 grains as a hydragogue; 1 to 3 grains as an expectorant and diapho- 
retic. It is occasionally used in jaundice and obstinate torpidity of the liver. It was 
formerly principally used by physicians as a hydragogue in dropsical affections; 
but, in recent years, it has been used to allay gastro-intestinal irritation and inflam- 
matory action, as in some forms of dysentery and diarrhoea. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-(Same as for E. corollata, which see). 
EUPHORBIA PILULIFERA.-PILL-BEARING SPURGE. 
The entire plant Euphorbia pihdifera, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Euphorbiacese. 
Common Names: Pill-bearing spurge, Snake-weed, Cat's-hair, Queensland asthma- 
weed, Flowery-headed spurge. 
Botanical Source.-A prostrate or ascending (erect, Coulter), pubescent, her- 
baceous annual, having a stein which forks at the base, bearing oblique, oblong- 
ovate leaves, opposite, serrate, and acute at both ends. The flower-heads,.which 
are cymose, minute, numerous, and crowded, are borne on a stalk which proceeds 
from only one leaf-axil. The involucres are minute and arranged in dense, short- 
stalked clusters, which are terminal. The gland-appendages are narrower obso- 
lete. The fruit is an acute-angled, hairy pod, inclosing the reddish 4-angled, 
transversely rugulose seeds. 
History and Chemical Composition.-This plant is found in most tropical 
and subtropical regions. In the United Statesit grows throughout the gulf states 
to Texas and New Mexico (Coulter). This plant reaches a height of 10 to 15 
inches, and has a red, fibrous root. The stalk, which is reddish, is covered with 
peculiar yellowish hairs. It grows well in almost any soil, and, in some countries, EUPHRASIA. 
751 
is a wayside weed and difficult of extermination. In Australia, where it is abun- 
dant, it is much esteemed by the laity as a remedy for coughs, colds, and bron- 
chial and pulmonary disorders in general, including asthma.' Its decoction gives 
an acid reaction with litmus paper. Chas. G. Levison, of 
San Francisco, who made a quantitative analysis of the 
plant (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1885, p. 147), found, among 
other substances, a trace of tannin, volatile substances, a 
non-volatile wax, salts of potassium, magnesium, sodium, 
and silica, starch, and several resins of a glucosidal char- 
acter, differing mainly in the strength of alcohol required 
to accomplish their solution. Euphorbia pilulifera was 
introduced to the medical profession by Parke, Davis & 
Co., of Detroit, through whose extensive advertising it 
became generally known. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage. - Euphorbia 
pilulifera is one of the tropical spurges. Its physiological 
effects are not pronounced, except that it is irritant to 
the gastro-intestinal tract, and may occasion epigastric 
distress with nausea. Upon other portions of the mucous 
surfaces and the skin it seems to be inactive. Its action 
is said to be confined chiefly, if not wholly, to the respira- 
tory and cardiac centers, and elimination takes place by 
the liver. It is brought forward as a reliable anti-asth- 
matic, being particularly adapted to spasmodic forms of 
asthma. Dyspnoea of cardiac disease has been relieved by it. 
It is recommended for chronic bronchitis in old people. It 
promoted expectoration, allayed cough, and exerted an 
anodyne influence in a case of pulmonary consumption. It 
has likewise given good results in emphysema. Dose of 
ordinary tincture, from 10 to 60 drops, as an anti-asthmatic, for which purpose it 
is highly valued in Australia. The leaves may be smoked in a pipe for paroxys- 
mal asthma. Infusion (§ss to aqua Oj), | to | fluid ounce; fluid extract, 10 to 30 
drops; specific asthma-weed, to 30 drops. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Spasmodic action of respiratory muscles, 
with bronchial irritation. 
Related Species.-Euphorbia parviflora. This species is mentioned merely on account 
of its having been used to adulterate, or as a substitute for, the above species, which it closely 
resembles. Its points of difference are: Less flowers in the flower-heads, minutely-papillose, 
obtuse seeds, and by having upon the invohicral glands a white appendage, of an obovate- 
orbicular shape. 
Fig. 111. 
Euphorbia pilulifera. 
EUPHRASIA.-EYEBRIGHT. 
The plant Euphrasia officinalis, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Scrophulariacese. 
Common Name: Eyebright. 
Botanical Source.-This is an elegant little annual plant, with a square, 
downy, leafy stem, simple or branched, and from 1 to 5 inches in height. The 
leaves are almost entirely opposite, ovate or cordate, downy, strongly ribbed and 
furrowed, the lowest crenate, and the floral with sharp, tooth-like serratures. The 
flowers are axillary, solitary, very abundant, and inodorous, with a brilliant 
variety of colors. The corolla varies much in size as well as in color, being com- 
monly white, with deep purple streaks, and a yellowish palate. The upper lip of 
the corolla is galeate, emarginate, having 2 broad, spreading lobes; the lower lip 
is larger, spreading, 3-cleft, and the lobes are obtuse or notched. The calyx is 
campanulate and 4-cleft. Stamens 4, fertile under the upper lip; anthers violet, 
lower cells of the upper ones with a long spur. Pod oblong and flattened. The 
seeds are numerous, oblong, and grooved lengthwise (L.-G,). 
History and Chemical Composition.-This is a small plant, indigenous to 
Europe and this country, bearing white or red flowers in July. The recent leaves 
are commonly employed; they are inodorous, but of a bitter, astringent taste. 
Water extracts their virtues. Enz (1859) examined the recent plant. He found 752 
EXTRACTA ET EXTRACTA FLCIDA. 
it to contain mannit, grape sugar, volatile oil in small amount, an acrid, bitter 
principle, cellulose, and other plant constituents, besides a number of acids of 
organic character, and tannin, the latter giving a deep-green coloration with ferric 
compounds, and a bright light-green reaction with the salts of lead. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Slightly tonic and astringent. Used 
with much benefit in the form of infusion or poultice, in catarrhal ophthalmia; 
also of service in all mucous diseases attended with increased discharges; and in 
cough, hoarseness, earache, and headache, which have supervened in catarrhal affections. 
It appears to specifically influence the nasal membranesand lachrymal apparatus. 
In acute catarrh ( fluent coryza), in which there is a profuse watery flow, it exerts its 
most specific action. It will not only be found of great utility to control inflam- 
matory and catarrhal phases of the parts during or following an attack of measles, 
but will tend to avert unpleasant after-effects, as catarrhal conjunctivitis, nasal 
catarrh, catarrhal deafness, etc. Catarrhal diseases of the intestinal tract may be treated 
with euphrasia. Four fluid ounces of the infusion taken every morning upon an 
empty stomach, and also every night at bedtime is asserted to have been found 
successful in curing epilepsy. Such extravagant statements are not calculated to 
inspire confidence in the use of medicines. Dose of specific euphrasia, 1 to 60 
drops; the infusion ('i to aqua Oj), 2 fluid drachms to 4 fluid ounces. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Acute catarrhal diseases of the eyes, nose, 
and ears; fluent coryza with copious discharge of watery mucus. "Secretion of 
acrid mucus from eyes and nose with heat and pain in frontal sinus" (Scudder). 
EXTRACTA ET EXTRACTA FLUIDA.-EXTRACTS AND 
FLUID EXTRACTS. 
Fluid and Solid Extracts.-Formerly these preparations were separated into 
two classes and were considered in different sections of the Pharmacopoeia. At 
present they are arranged therein successively in alphabetical order, in one gen- 
eral class. We shall thus consider them, first prefacing the formula? by appro- 
priate introductory remarks. 
Extracta Fluida.-Fluid Extracts. These are concentrated alcoholicliquids, 
and have the advantage over solid extracts in being prepared with less evapo- 
ration, and consequently less heat, whereby their activity is not so liable to 
impairment. With some drugs in which the medicinal virtues depend entirely 
upon a volatile fluid or evanescent substance, and can not be reduced to a solid 
extract or a dry condition, the fluid extract or a fluid representative, presents the 
only rational mode of drug administration. The established strength of fluid 
extracts preceding the U. S. P. of 1880, was 1 troy ounce of drug to 1 fluid ounce of 
the finished fluid extract. The present strength, with few exceptions, is 1000 
grammes of the drug to 1000 cubic centimeters of the finished fluid extract. This 
deviation from the original strength is so little as to be of no (tonsequence when 
taken in connection with the variation in drug quality and the personal equa- 
tions of the operator and patient. For all practical purposes, there is no distinc- 
tion between the therapeutical values of fluid extracts made by the old or the 
new pharmacopoeial standards. The menstruum employed in the preparation of 
fluid extracts varies according to the character of the energetic constituents of the 
plant; thus, many agents require only enough alcohol to preserve them, while 
those containing oils and resins require increased alcohol according to the degree 
of solubility in this menstruum. Great care and attention are required in mak- 
ing these preparations, from the fact that too high a temperature or too long an 
exposure to the action of the atmosphere frequently tends to decompose and 
render them worthless. One trouble relative to some of the fluid extractsis their 
natural tendency to subsequent decomposition; the result being the formation of 
precipitates that often contain valuable medicinal agents. But it does not neces- 
sarily follow that the result of decomposition is always accompanied by the forma- 
tion of sediments; in many cases liquids lose their therapeutic value and still 
remain comparatively transparent. 
The terms Essential tinctures, Concentrated tinctures, and Saturated tinctures have 
been applied to preparations similar to or identical with fluid extracts, but they 753 
EXTRACTA ET EXTRACTA FLUIDA. 
have long since been displaced by the name fluid extract, and are practically 
obsolete. The U. S. P. contains an extensive list of fluid extracts, but not as 
extensive as the catalogues of medicinal manufacturers. To these formulae we 
have added many others, but to give formulae for the entire line of commercial 
fluids is impracticable. The Pharmacopoeia contains general directions for perco- 
lation that can be easily adapted to unofficial extracts, the operator selecting the 
menstruum that is applicable to each drug. In addition to this, the National 
Formulary contains explicit general directions for making many unofficial fluid 
extracts, which general directions may appropriately be introduced before the 
official processes, these being given in detail by us. In our opinion, both these 
general methods may be improved upon, in many cases, by evading evaporation 
altogether. The official preparations are in accordance with the metric system, but 
those introduced from other sources are given in troy ounce and fluid measure. 
National Formulary General Directions.-Extracta Fluida (N. F.), Fluid 
extracts. Formulary number, 135: ''The fluid extracts for which formulas are given 
in this formulary, are intended to be of the same strength as the fluid extracts of 
the U. S. P., which directs that one hundred cubic centimeters (ICO Cc.) [3 fl^, 
183 hl] of fluid extract shall be obtained from one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) 
[3 ozs. av., 231 grs.] of the drug." 
General Processes.-" The fluid extracts of this formulary are to be prepared 
according to one of the following two processes, the particular one to be employed 
being designated in each case. These two processes are necessary because, in the 
preparation of some fluid extracts, two fluids are successively used, the first con- 
taining glycerin, and being in definite proportion to the drug used, while the 
second is free from glycerin, being intended for the exhaustion of the drug and 
subsequent evaporation. Accordingly, these menstrua are designated as Men- 
struum I (containing glycerin), and Menstruum 11 (containing no glycerin). As an 
alternative to either of these processes, a third process, dependent upon Fractional 
Percolation may be used. In this the use of heat is avoided, and it involves the 
use of only one kind of menstruum, even in the case of drugs for which two dif- 
ferent menstrua (I and II) are prescribed in this formulary. In the case of the 
latter, a sufficient quantity of Menstruum I must be prepared to serve throughout 
the process." 
Process A. The Menstruum Contains no Glycerin.-"Moisten one thou- 
sand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 oz., 120 grs.] of the drug with a sufficient 
quantity of the prescribed menstruum to render it distinctly damp, and to main- 
tain it so after several hours' maceration in a well-covered vessel. When the drug 
has ceased to swell, pack it in a suitable percolator, pour a sufficient quantity of 
the menstruum on top, and wffien the percolate begins to drop from the orifice, 
close the latter, cover the percolator, and allow the contents to macerate 24 hours. 
Then permit the percolation to proceed. Receive the first eight hundred and 
seventy-five cubic centimeters (875 Cc.) [29 fl^, 282111] of the percolate separately 
and set it aside. Then continue the percolation with the same menstruum until 
the drug is practically exhausted. Evaporate this second portion-at a tempera- 
ture sufficiently low to prevent the loss of any important volatile constituent- 
to a soft extract, and dissolve this in a sufficient quantity of menstruum so that 
when this is added to the reserved portion, the product will measure one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 1TL]. Allow the fluid extract to 
stand a few days, or longer if convenient, and filter, if necessary." 
Process B. The Menstruum Contains Glycerin.-"Moisten one thousand 
grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.] of the drug with a sufficient 
quantity of Menstruum I to render it distinctly damp and to maintain it so after 
several hours' maceration in a well-covered vessel. When the drug has ceased to 
swell, pack it in a suitable percolator and pour the remainder of Menstruum I on 
top. When this has just disappeared from the surface, follow it by a sufficient 
quantity of Menstruum II. As soon as the percolate begins to drop from the 
orifice, close the latter, cover the percolator, and allow the contents to macerate 
during 24 hours. Then permit the percolation to proceed. Receive the first eight 
hundred and seventy-five cubic centimeters (875 Cc.) [29 fl^, 282TU] of the perco- 
late separately and set it aside Then continue the percolation with Menstruum 
II, until the drug is practically exhausted. Evaporate this second portion-at 754 
EXTRACTA ET EXTRA*TA FLUIDA. 
a temperature sufficiently low to prevent the loss of any important volatile con- 
stituent-to a soft extract, and dissolve this in a sufficient quantity of Menstruum 
II, so that when this is added to the reserved portion, the product will measure 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl.5, 391 Hl J. Allow the fluid extract 
to stand a few days, or longer, if convenient, and filter, if necessary.'1 
Process C. Fractional Percolation.-"Take of the drug, in powder of the 
prescribed fineness, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.], 
and divide it into three portions of five hundred grammes (500 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 
1 oz., 279 grs.], three hundred and twenty-five grammes (325 Gm.) [11 ozs. av., 
203 grs.], and one hundred and seventy-five grammes(175 Gm.) [6 ozs. av., 76grs.], 
respectively. Moisten the first portion of the drug, five hundred grammes (500 G m.) 
[1 lb. av., 1 oz.,279 grs.] with the menstruum and percolate in the usual manner. 
Set aside the first one hundred and seventy-five cubic centimeters (175 Cc.) 
[5 fl.5, 440 Til] of percolate, and continue until fifteen hundred cubic centimeters 
(1500 Cc.) [50 fl.5, 346 Iff] more of percolate have passed, which must be received 
in several portions, so that the more concentrated will be separate from the last 
weak percolate. Then moisten the second portion of the drug, three hundred 
and twenty-five grammes (325 Gm.) [11 ozs. av., 203 grs.] with the more concen- 
trated percolates received during the preceding operation, after the first one hun- 
dred and seventy-five cubic centimeters (175 Cc.) [5 fls, 440Hl] have passed, and 
percolate again in the usual manner, using the several reserved percolates, suc- 
cessively, as menstrua. Set aside the first three hundred and twenty-five cubic 
centimeters (325 Cc.) [10 fl.5, 475Til], and continue the percolation until six hun- 
dred and fifty cubic centimeters (650 Cc.) [21 fl.5, 470 Hl] more have passed, 
which should also be received in several portions. Finally, moisten the third 
portion of the drug, one hundred and seventy-five grammes (175 Gm.) [6 ozs. av., 
76 grs.] with the most concentrated of the last reserved percolates, and proceed 
as directed for the second portion. Collect five hundred cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) 
[16 fl.5, 435 Hl] of percolate, and mix with the two portions (325 and 175 Cc.) pre- 
viously set aside, so as to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 
391 Hl] of fluid extract. Note.-If this method is applied to drugs for which 
Process B is directed, use a sufficient quantity of Menstruum I to obtain the 
required quantities of percolate, and omit the use of Menstruum II." 
U. S. P. General Directions for Percolation.-Fineness of powder. "The 
fineness of powder is expressed, in the Pharmacopoeia, either by descriptive words 
(generally so in the case of brittle or easily pulverizable substances), or in terms 
expressing the number of meshes to a linear inch of the sieve through which the 
powder will pass. The corresponding values, in terms of metric measures of 
length, are added below in parentheses, but it has not been deemed advisable, in 
this revision, to substitute them in the text of the Pharmacopoeia for those at 
present in use. 
"These different forms of expression correspond to each other as follows: 
should pass through a sieve having 80' 
or more meshes to the linear inch (30 
meshes to the centimeter). 
A very fine powder 
- No. 80 powder. 
should pass through a sieve having 60 
meshes to the linear inch (24 meshes to 
the centimeter). 
A fine powder 
-No. 60 powder. 
A moderately fine 
powder 
should pass through a sieve having 50 
meshes to the linear inch (20 meshes to 
the centimeter). 
-No. 50 powder. 
A moderately coarse 
powder 
should pass through a sieve having 40 
meshes to the linear inch (16 meshes to 
the centimeter). 
No. 40 powder. 
should pass through a sieve having 20 
meshes to the linear inch (8 meshes to 
the centimeter). 
A coarse powder 
=No. 20 powder. 
" In certain cases, powders of a different degree of fineness (e.g., No. 30, No. 12) 
are directed to be taken. 755 
EXTRACT A ET EXTRACT A FLU IDA. 
" When a substance is directed to be in powder of a limited degree of fineness, 
as specified by the number of meshes to the linear inch in the sieve, not more 
than | of the powder should pass through a sieve having 10 meshes more to the 
linear inch"-(U. S. P.). 
Percolation.-"The process of percolation, or displacement, directed in this 
Pharmacopoeia, consists in subjecting a substance or a mixture of substances, in 
powder, contained in a vessel called a percolator, to the solvent action of succes- 
sive portions of a certain menstruum in such a manner that the liquid, as it trav- 
erses the powder in its descent to the receiver, shall be charged with the soluble 
portion of it, and pass from the percolator free from insoluble matter. 
" When the process is successfully conducted, the first portion of the liquid, 
or percolate, passing through the percolator, will be nearly saturated with the 
soluble constituents of the substance treated ; and if the quantity of menstruum 
be sufficient for its exhaustion, the last portion of the percolate will be nearly 
free from color, odor, and taste, other than those of the menstruum itself. 
" The percolator most suitable for the quantities contemplated by this Phar- 
macopoeia should be nearly cylindrical, or slightly conical, with a funnel-shaped 
termination at the smaller end. The neck of this funnel-end should be rather 
short, and should gradually and regularly become narrower towards the orifice, 
so that a perforated cork, bearing a short glass tube, may be tightly wedged into 
it from within until the end of the cork is flush with the outer edge of the orifice. 
The glass tube, which must not project above the innersurface of the cork, should 
extend from 3 to 4 Cm. (about to 1^ inches) beyond the outer surface of the 
cork, and should be provided with a closely-fitting rubber tube, at least one-fourth 
longer than the percolator itself, and ending in another short glass tube, whereby 
the rubber tube may be so suspended that its orifice shall be above the surface of 
the menstruum in the percolator, a rubber band holding it in position. 
"The shape of a percolator should be adapted to the nature of the drug to be 
operated upon. For drugs which are apt to swell, particularly when a feebly alco- 
holic or an aqueous menstruum is employed, a conical percolator is preferable. A 
cylindrical, or only slightly tapering percolator may be used for drugs which are 
not liable to swell, and when the menstruum is strongly alcoholic, or when ether 
or some other volatile liquid is used for extraction. The size of the percolator 
selecteel should be in proportion to the quantity of drug extracted. When prop- 
erly packed in the percolator, the drug should not occupy more than two-thirds 
of its height. The percolator is best constructed of glass or stoneware, but, unless 
otherwise directed, may be made of any suitable material not affected by the drug 
or menstruum. 
" The percolator is prepared for percolation by gently pressing a small tuft 
of cotton into the neck above the cork, a thin layer of clean and dry sand being 
then poured upon the surface of the cotton to hold it in place. 
" The powdered substance to be percolated (which must be uniformly of the 
fineness directed in the formula, and should be perfectly air-dry before it is 
weighed) is put into a basin, the specified quantity of menstruum is poured on, 
and it is thoroughly stirred with a spatula, or other suitable instrument, until it 
appears uniformly moistened. The moist powder is then passed through a coarse 
sieve-No. 40 powders, and those which are finer, requiring a No. 20 sieve, whilst 
No. 30 powders require a No. 15 sieve for this purpose. Powders of a less degree 
of fineness usually do not require this additional treatment after the moistening. 
The moist powder is now transferred to a sheet of thick paper and the whole 
quantity poured from this into the percolator. It is then shaken down lightly 
and allowed to remain in that condition for a period varying from 15 minutes to 
several hours, unless otherwise directed ; after which the powder is pressed, by the 
aid of a plunger of suitable dimensions, more or less firmly, in proportion to the 
character of the powdered substance and the alcoholic strength of the menstruum ; 
strongly alcoholic menstrua, as a rule, permitting firmer packing of the powder 
than the weaker. The percolator is now placed in position for percolation, and, 
the rubber tube having been fastened at a suitable height, the surface of the pow- 
der is covered by an accurately fitting disk of filtering paper, or other suitable 
material, and a sufficient quantity of the menstruum poured on through a funnel 
reaching nearly to the surface of the paper. If these conditions be accurately 756 
EXTRACTA ET EXTRACTA FLU IDA. 
observed, the menstruum will penetrate the powder equally until it has passed 
into the rubber tube and has reached, in this, a height corresponding to its level in 
the percolator, which is now closely covered to prevent evaporation. The appa- 
ratus is then allowed to stand at rest for the time specified in the formula. 
"To begin percolation, the rubber tube is lowered and its glass end introduced 
into the neck of a bottle previously marked for the quantity of liquid to be per- 
colated, if the percolate is to be measured, or of a fared bottle, if the percolate is 
to be weighed; and by raising or lowering 
this receiver the rapidity of percolation may 
be increased or decreased as may be desira- 
ble, care being taken, however, that the rate 
of percolation, unless the quantity of mate- 
rial be largely in excess of the pharmaco- 
poeial quantity, shall not exceed the limit 
of 10 to 30 drops in a minute. A layer of 
menstruum must constantly be maintained 
above the powder, so as to prevent the access 
of air to its interstices, until all has been 
added, or the requisite quantity of percolate 
has been obtained. This is conveniently 
accomplished, if the space above the powder 
will admit of it, by inverting a bottle con- 
taining the entire quantity of menstruum 
over the percolator in such a manner that 
its mouth may dip beneath the surface of 
the liquid, the bottle, being of such shape 
that its shoulder will serve as a cover for 
the percolator. 
" When the dregs of a tincture, or of a 
similar preparation, are to be subjected to 
percolation, after maceration with all or 
with the greater portion of the menstruum, 
the liquid portion should be drained off as 
completely as possible, the solid portion 
packed in a percolator, as before described, 
and the liquid poured on, until all has 
passed from the surface, when immediately 
a sufficient quantity of the original men- 
struum should be poured on to displace the 
absorbed liquid, until the prescribed quan- 
tity has been obtained "-(U. S. P). 
Repercolation. - "Authority is given 
to employ, in the case of Fluid Extracts, 
where it may be applicable, the process of repercolation, without change of the 
initial menstruum"-(U. S. P). 
In addition to the foregoing, we will reproduce the following remarks from our 
1881 supplement, wherein we consider in detail some points that may prove of use. 
The Percolator should be of glass where moderate amounts of material are 
operated upon. Large quantities require tin or wood. In all cases they should 
be nearly cylindrical, slightly conical, and of such diameter that the 
powder would occupy at least 1 foot in perpendicular height when 
properly packed. 
To Prepare the Percolator for Percolation.-Provide a tapering cork 
which will perfectly close the exit or discharging aperture, so that 
when the percolate appears, the flow may be at once arrested. Then 
slice one side of the cork wedge-shape, commencing at the small end, 
as shown in Fig. 113, care being taken that the cut does notextend 
beyond that part of the cork which closes tightly the exit of the per- 
colator. Now, plate a layer of cotton upon the bottom of the perco- 
lator, as shown by Fig. 112, A; and, if convenient, a smooth layer of silver sand 
upon the cotton. 
112. 
The percolator. 
Fig. 113. 
The cork. 757 
EXTRACTA ET EXTRACTA FLUIDA. 
The 16 troy ounces of powder intended for percolation should, as soon as it is 
ready, be placed in the percolator, about one-fourth its bulk at a time; the surface 
should be smoothed after each addition, and then pressed as directed, for each drug. 
It is necessary that the pressure be even throughout the entire mass, otherwise the 
liquid will select the more porous portions, and thus yield a defective percolation. 
It is best to select some fiat circular body or disk to use in pressing the pow- 
der, and for this purpose a circular stick of wood with a smooth end, in thickness 
about two-thirds the diameter of the inside of the percolator, answers very well, 
care being taken that all portions of the surface of the powder are submitted 
alike to the pressure. 
By moderately, we understand the pressure of from 5 to 10 pounds; firmly, from 
15 to 20 pounds; and very firmly, the convenient pressure of one hand, not to 
exceed 50 pounds. Some little practice with a pair of spring balances will enable 
the operator to form an idea of the pressure required. Dr. E. R. Squibb, in New 
Remedies, Jan., 1879, suggests " moderately" as a pressure of 45 pounds; firmly, 60 
pounds; and hard, 75 pounds, or more. This will answer very well for large quan- 
tities, or where the pressure is exerted upon a considerable surface, as with "both 
hands," thus, in reality, reducing the actual pressure upon each square inch to, 
or below, that given by us, which is intended to apply to only 16 troy ounces of 
material. We are assured, from experience, that the operator will work to disad- 
vantage if a greater pressure is employed than advised by us. Having the pow- 
der properly packed, and the surface smooth, cut a piece of filtering paper to fit 
closely within the percolator, and place it upon the surface of the powder, and 
upon this place a few fragments of glass to retain it in position. Then add the 
menstruum, as directed, and cover the percolator with a plate or disk of ground 
glass, and, when the percolate appears, close the orifice tightly with the cork, and 
proceed according to the process given for making the particular extract. It must 
be observed that the cork is not inserted in the exit of the percolator until the 
percolate has appeared. When the period of maceration is over, gently twist and 
slowly withdraw the cork until the slit previously cut upon its side permits the 
liquid to pass in drops, without running in a stream. 
Extracta.-Extracts (solid extracts'). When an infusion, decoction, or tinc- 
ture is reduced to a soft, solid mass by evaporation, either spontaneous or arti- 
ficial, it is termed an Extract. If it be prepared from a decoction or infusion it is 
called a Watery, or Aqueous Extract; if from an alcoholic tincture, it forms an Alco- 
holic Extract; if both water and spirit are used in preparing it, it is termed a 
Hydro-alcoholic Extract; if ether, wine, or acetic acid be the menstruum from which 
it is made, it is called Ethereal, Vinous, or Acetous Extract, according to the fluid 
used. The most important point in the manufacture of extracts is to employ as 
a solvent a liquid that will take up the medicinal constituents of a remedy, and 
but little, if any, of its inert portions. The constituents of plants not desirable 
to extract are gum, coloring matters, saccharine matter, etc., and as these are solu- 
ble in water, and are usually less soluble in alcohol, in most cases alcohol is a bet- 
ter medium for obtaining the active principles. The best solvent to abstract the 
medicinal virtues of plants will be that fluid in which they are the most readily 
dissolved: thus, resins, oils, oleoresins, etc., require alcohol, and, occasionally 
ether: alkaloidal principles occasionally require acidulated fluids; bitter extrac- 
tive requires water; and some plants contain constituents that require two or more 
solvents, employed successively, the several residual extracts being mixed after 
they have all been thus obtained. In the preparation of an extract, the operator 
should previously acquaint himself with the nature of the principles contained 
in the drug, their solubility, their relations to heat and air, their volatility, etc., 
so that he may adopt the menstruum best calculated to remove the greatest 
amount of active matter, and should control the evaporation, so that this may 
not be injured by heat, or lost by volatilization. 
Probably no class of remedial agents requires more care in their preparation; 
for, if an extract be improperly prepared, either by employing a wrong solvent, 
or too much heat, it is not to be relied upon by the physician. In many cases 
the extract must be evaporated in vacuo, which operates against the pharmacist, 
for he can not afford this expensive apparatus. On this account it is very difficult 
for druggists or physicians to compete in this direction with manufacturers. 758 
EXTRACT A ET EXTRACT A FLUID A. 
In some cases glycerin is useful as a part of the menstruum, both as a solvent 
and to prevent subsequent drying of the extract. The U. S. P. contains the follow- 
ing directions for such preparations: "When it is desired to preserve a solid 
extract (for instance, of gentian, taraxacum, etc.) in a plastic condition, suitable 
for making pills, or for other purposes, it is recommended that there be incorpo- 
rated with it, after it has been evaporated to the proper consistence, and while it 
is still warm, 10 per cent of its weight of glycerin "-(U. S. Pi). 
Ordinarily, the plan adopted is, to obtain the juice, or tincture, of the plant, 
gently heat it to coagulate albuminous substances, filter or strain it, and then 
evaporate at a temperature ranging between 32.2° and 93.3° C. (90° and 200° F.), 
being careful not to raise it to the boiling point. A high temperature, as well as 
atmospheric action, will impair the efficiency of the preparation. 
In forming the solution for aqueous extracts, soft water, as free from foreign 
matters as possible, should be employed. Clean rain water, or the water from 
some of our lakes or rivers, will be found to answer quite as well as water which 
has been distilled. The articles to be acted upon by the fluid should be ground, 
but not too finely, the degree of fineness depending upon the substance used, and 
the resulting liquid should be obtained from them by the process of displacement. 
The evaporation should be conducted at as low a temperature, and as quickly as 
the nature of the solution will admit, using a broad, shallow dish. Long con- 
tinued evaporation by heat, under exposure to the atmosphere, is as detrimental 
to an extract as a boiling heat, hence the solutions should be procured in as con- 
centrated a form as possible. And in those instances where different solutions 
are obtained, the weaker ones should be the first evaporated; by this means, the 
more concentrated liquids will not be injured by too long an exposure to heat. 
When alcohol or ether is used in the preparation of extracts, it will be best 
to distill these fluids, not only for the purpose of saving them, but likewise to 
prevent the extracts from being impaired by atmospheric influence; a vacuum 
apparatus, however, will be superior to ordinary distillation, as these fluids may 
be evaporated at a much lower temperature. Hydro-alcoholic extracts are best made 
by first forming an alcoholic extract from the plant, then an aqueous extract, and 
combining the two while hot. Ethereal extracts are usually of a semi-fluid consist- 
ence. By means of Mohr's continuous displacing apparatus, as the percolated 
tincture falls into the receiver, the ether is driven off to pass again through the 
articles, and thus continues until all their strength is exhausted; the whole pro- 
cess of tincturing and forming an extract being thus performed at the same time. 
Extracts should be kept in glass, stone, or earthenware vessels, and be guarded as 
much as possible from the action of air and light, by covering them closely. The 
modes of preparing extracts are as follows: 
1. Aqueous Extracts.-Take of the leaves, root, bark, or other part of the plant 
employed, in powder more or less fine, 1 pound; water, a sufficient quantity. 
Mix the leaves, or roots, etc., with half their weight of clean, soft water; in 12 
hours put the whole into a displacement apparatus, and exhaust it by adding 
water to it from time to time, until the liquid which passes no longer contains 
any of the virtues of the plant, or part of it employed. Expose this filtered infu- 
sion to a temperature of 100° C. (212° F.), then strain it, and evaporate it in the 
vapor-bath at a temperature not to exceed 48.8° C. (120° F.), to the due consist- 
ence; or, the evaporation may be conducted in a vacuum apparatus. 
2. Alcoholic Extracts.-Take of the leaves, root, bark, or other part of the plant 
employed, in powder more or less fine, 1 pound; alcohol (or diluted alcohol), 
water, of each, a sufficient quantity. Mix the leaves, or root, etc., with half their 
weight of alcohol, or enough to thoroughly moisten them; in 24 hours put the 
whole into a displacement apparatus, and exhaust by adding alcohol to it from 
time to time, until 4 pints of tincture have been obtained. Then add clean, soft 
water, and continue until the liquid which percolates causes a slight turbidness 
of the previously filtered liquor, as it drops into it. (The object of adding the 
water toward the latter part of the process is to remove the alcohol absorbed by 
the powder; and as soon as this is affected, and the water commences to percolate, 
it causes a turbid condition of the filtered alcoholic fluid immediately around the 
drops as they fall into it.) Place the filtered liquor in a suitable vacuum appa- 
ratus, and remove the alcohol, and then, if necessary, evaporate the residue in the 759 
EXTRACTUM ACONITI. 
vapor-bath at a temperature not to exceed 48.8° C. (120° F.) to the due consist- 
ence; or, which is much better, the whole process of evaporation may be carried 
on in a vacuum apparatus. 
3. Hydro-alcoholic Extracts.-Take of the leaves, root, bark, or other part of the 
plant employed, in powder more or less fine, 1 pound; alcohol, 90 percent, water, 
of each, a sufficient quantity. Mix the leaves, or roots, etc., with half their weight 
of alcohol, or enough to thoroughly moisten them; in 24 hours put the whole 
into a displacement apparatus, and exhaust by adding alcohol to it from time to 
time, until it passes off without any taste of the article employed. Remove the 
greater part of the alcohol from this filtered tincture, and evaporate the remain- 
der to the proper consistence in one of the ways named in the preceding pages; 
that in vacuo being the best. 
To the powder in the displacement apparatus, add gradually water, a sufficient 
quantity, until the liquid which passes no longer contains any of the virtues of 
the plant employed. Expose this filtered infusion to a temperature of 100° C. 
(212° F.), then strain it, and evaporate it in the vapor-bath to the due consistence. 
Mix the alcoholic and aqueous extracts thus obtained, while each is hot, and stir 
constantly until cold. With a few exceptions, alcoholic extracts are found to be 
superior to any others. 
Any variation from the above process, in the preparation of the following 
extracts, will be explained under its appropriate head. 
Inspissated Juices are solid extracts made by evaporating the juices of fresh 
plants in vacuo. For an example see Extract of Taraxacum. 
EXTRACTUM ACONITI (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF ACONITE. 
Synonyms: Extract of aconite root, Extractum aconiti radicis. 
Preparation.-"Aconite, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
[2 lbs. av., 3 oz., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the powder with 
four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fig, 252 TH.] of alcohol, and pack it 
firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to saturate the pow- 
der and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the per- 
colator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, macer- 
ate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding alcohol 
until three thousand cubic centimeters (3000 Cc.) [101 H5, 212 Th] of tincture are 
obtained, or the aconite is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic cen- 
timeters (900 Cc.) [30 208 Hl] of the percolate, evaporate the remainder in a 
porcelain capsule, at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to one hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 H5, 183 Hl], add the reserved portion, and 
evaporate, at or below the above-mentioned temperature, until an extract of a 
pilular consistence remains"-(U. 8. Pi). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-As this preparation and that 
formerly prepared from the leaves and still used to some extent, bear the same 
title, it would seem appropriate to designate this extract Extractum Aconiti Radicis. 
We have taken the liberty to name that from the leaves Extractum Aconiti Folio- 
rum (see below). Extract of aconite has a yellowish-brown color, and possesses 
the properties of the root in a powerful degree; it may be used in rheumatism, 
neuralgia, gout, scrofula, cutaneous diseases, inflammatory and febrile diseases, and in all 
cases in which the use of aconite is admissible. When the extract is of good 
quality it causes numbness and tingling in the mouth and lips shortly after tak- 
ing it. The extract prepared from the root is much more active (from 6 to 9 times 
stronger) than that prepared from the leaves, and should be administered in 
smaller doses, from to f grain. The British Pharmacopoeia Extractum Aconiti 
is the inspissated juice of the fresh leaves and tops, and is prescribed as Extractum 
Aconiti Herbae. 
Extractum Aconiti Foliorum, Extract o f aconite leaves.-Exhaust coarsely powdered aco- 
nite leaves in a percolator with diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity. From the tincture thus 
made separate' the alcohol, and then carefully evaporate the residue until it is of the required 
consistence. Be careful not to spoil the extract by too high a temperature while evaporating it. 
The leaves should be recently dried. When the extract is prepared in large quantity a vacuum 
apparatus should be used in order to save the alcohol without exposure to a temperature that 760 
EXTRACTUM ACONITI FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM ALOES. 
would injure the active medicinal virtues of the aconite (see preparation of Alcoholic Extracts). 
This extract of aconite is from 6 to 9 times weaker than the official extract of aconite, which is 
prepared from the root. As both the latter preparation and this one bear the same name, we 
have taken the liberty to designate that prepared from the leaves as Extractum Aconiti Foliorum. 
The dose is from J to 1 grain 2 or 3 times a day, which may be increased to 2 grains if required. 
EXTRACTUM ACONITI FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF ACONITE. 
Synonyms : Extractum aconiti radicis fluidum, Fluid extract of aconite root. 
Preparation.-"Aconite, in No. 60 powder,one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
[2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 RI]. Mix seven hundred and 
fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl^, 173 111] of alcohol with two hundred and 
fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl^, 218 R[] of water, and having moistened 
the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [12 fl§, 252 RI] of the 
mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum 
to saturate the powder, and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as 
before, until the aconite is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic cen- 
timeters (900 Cc.) [30 113, 208 RI] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder, 
in a porcelain capsule, at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to a soft 
extract, dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to 
make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (lOOOCc.) [33 fl^, 
391 RI]"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Fluid extract of aconite has a 
vivid red-brown color, and represents in 1 minim about 1 grain of aconite root. 
It may be used in liniments and other local applications for the relief of rheumatic 
and neuralgic pains. For other uses, see Aconitzcm. The dose of fluid extract of 
aconite is from to £ minim. 
EXTRACTUM ALETRIDIS.-EXTRACT OF ALETRIS. 
Synonyms: Aletridin, A letr in, Extract of unicorn root. 
Preparation.- Exhaust coarsely powdered unicorn root with alcohol, proceed- 
ing in the same manner as explained for general preparation of alcoholic extracts. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This forms a very elegant and useful prepara- 
tion of unicorn root. It may be used as a tonic in cases of debility of the digestive 
organs, and is also asserted valuable in uterine difficulties, as prolapsus, amenorrhoea, 
dysmenorrhoea, etc. The dose is from to 2 grains, 3 times a day. 
EXTRACTUM ALETRIDIS FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF ALETRIS. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 137: " From the rhizome of Aletris farinosa, 
Linne (Stargrass). Process A (see F. 135). No. 60 powder. Menstruum: Diluted 
alcohol "-(Nat. Form.). 
In our opinion this fluid extract should be made with official alcohol. Aletris 
depends altogether for its therapeutical value on resinous bodies. It is a favorite 
Eclectic remedy and usage establishes that water added to the menstruum injures 
the product about in proportion to the water present. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Aletris). Dose, 1 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM ALOES (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF ALOES. 
Synonyms: Extractum aloes socotrinse, Extract of socotrine aloes. 
Preparation.-"Socotrine aloes, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 
231 grs.]; boiling distilled water, one thousand cubic centimeters (lOOOCc.) [33 fl3, EXT. ALSTON LE CONST. FLUIDUM.-EXT. ALSTON I.E SCHOLARIS FLUIDUM. 
761 
391 TTH. Mix the aloes with the water in a suitable vessel, stirring constantly 
until the particles of aloes are thoroughly disintegrated, and let the mixture stand 
for 12 hours; then pour off the clear liquor, strain the residue, mix the liquids, 
and evaporate to dryness by means of a water or steam bath "-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The process here employed is 
one of purification. The object sought in the large quantity of water used is the 
removal of the resin, which is not, however, wholly accomplished. Therefore the 
finished product does not dissolve perfectly clear in water. This results partly 
from organic decomposition, partly from the fact that an equilibrium is not estab- 
lished in 12 hours, and partly because a solution of water-soluble constituents 
makes a solvent that can hold in solution substances insoluble in pure water. 
The uses are those of aloes, and the dose from 1 to 10 grains. 
EXTRACTUM ALSTONIA CONSTRICTS FLUIDUM.-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF ALSTONIA CONSTRICTA. 
Preparation.-Take of the inner bark of Alstonia constricta, in very fine 
powder, 16 troy ounces; alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the powder with 
8 fluid ounces of alcohol. Cork tightly in a wide-mouth bottle, and permit the 
mixture to stand an hour in a warm situation. Then introduce it into a cylindrical 
percolator, 3 inches in diameter, previously prepared for percolation, according to 
directions given on page 756, and press very firmly. Cover the surface of the pow- 
der with a circular piece of filtering paper, held in position with a few fragments of 
glass or marble, and add alcohol until the percolate appears at the exit. Then 
cork the exit tightly; cover the percolator, and place.it in a warm situation. 
After 24 hours, loosen the cork, and permit the percolate to pass as fast as it will 
drop, without running in a stream, until 4 fluid ounces are obtained. Again close 
the exit, macerate 24 hours, and, in a manner like unto the preceding, draw' 4 
fluid ounces of percolate. Repeat the maceration, and, in like manner, draw a 
third portion of 4 fluid ounces. Reserve, and mix the three percolates; then con- 
tinue the percolation until 8 fluid ounces are obtained. Evaporate this latter 
portion until reduced to the measure of 2 fluid ounces, and mix with the reserved 
12 fluid ounces. The surface of the powder must be constantly covered with 
alcohol from the commencement, and until the end of the percolation. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.- (See Alstonia constricta'). Fluid 
extract of Alstonia constricta is of a dark yellowish-red color, odorless, and pos- 
sesses the intense bitterness peculiar to the drug. When prepared according to 
the foregoing formula, it seems to represent very nearly the entire sensible prop- 
erties of the bark employed, troy ounce to each fluid ounce of the finished extract. 
Dose, from 5 to 40 minims. 
EXTRACTUM ALSTON!^ SCHOLARIS FLUIDUM.-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF ALSTONIA SCHOLARIS. 
Preparation.-Take of the bark of Alstonia scholaris, in moderately fine 
powder, 16 troy ounces; of a menstruum of alcohol 3 parts, water 2 parts (by 
measure), a sufficient quantity; moisten the powder with 8 fluid ounces of the 
menstruum. Cork tightly in a wide-mouth bottle, and permit the mixture to 
stand an hour in a warm situation. Then introduce it into a cylindrical perco- 
lator, 3 inches in diameter, previously prepared for percolation, according to 
directions given on page 756, and press very firmly. Cover the surface of the 
powder with a circular piece of filtering paper held in position with a few frag- 
ments of glass or marble, and add fresh menstruum until the percolate appears at 
the exit. Then cork the exit tightly; cover the percolator and place in a warm 
situation. After 24 hours, loosen the cork and permit the percolate to pass as fast 
as it will drop, without running in a stream, until 4 fluid ounces are obtained. 
Again close the exit, macerate 24 hours, and, in a manner like unto the preced- 
ing, draw 4 fluid ounces of percolate. Repeat the maceration, and, in like man- 
ner, draw a third portion of 4 fluid ounces. Reserve, and mix the three percolates; 
then continue the percolation until 8 fluid ounces are obtained. Evaporate this 762 
EXT. ANGELICA: RADICIS FLUIDUM.-EXT. APII GRAVEOLENTIS FLUIDUM. 
latter portion until reduced to the measure of 2 fluid ounces, and mix with the 
reserved 12 fluid ounces. The surface of the powder must be constantly covered 
with the menstruum from the commencement, and until the end of the process 
of percolation. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Alstonia scholaris). Fluid 
extract of Alstonia scholaris is of a reddish color, odorless, possesses a bitterish 
taste, and as thus prepared, represents very nearly the quality of drug employed, 
troy ounce to each fluid ounce of the finished extract. Dose, 10 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM ANGELICA RADICIS FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF ANGELICA ROOT. 
Preparation. - Formulary number, 138: "From the root of Angelica Archan- 
gelica, Linne (Angelica). Process A (see F.135). No. 60 powder. Menstruum: Alco- 
hol, 3 volumes; water, 2 volumes"-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Angelica). Dose, 10 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM ANTHEMIDIS.-EXTRACT OF CHAMOMILE. 
Preparation.-"Take of chamomile flowers 1 pound (av.), oil of chamomile 
15 minims, distilled water 1 gallon. Boil the chamomile with the water until the 
volume is reduced to one-half; then strain, press, and filter. Evaporate the liquor 
by a water-bath until the extract is of a suitable consistence for forming pills, add- 
ing the oil of chamomile at the end of the process (Br. Pharm.). This is an aque- 
ous extract of deep-brown color, representing the odor and bitter taste of the flow- 
ers. An alcoholic extract may be prepared as follows: 
Extractum Anthemidis Alcoholicum, Alcoholic extract of chamomile.-Ex- 
haust chamomile flowers, bruised, 1 pound, with diluted alcohol a sufficient quan- 
tity, proceeding in the same manner as explained for the preparation of Alcoholic 
Extracts, on page 758. At the close of the process volatile oil of chamomile, 15 
minims, may be thoroughly incorporated with the extract, as advised by the 
British Pharmacopoeia. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Extract of chamomile is a tonic, and may be 
used in all cases where the crude article is indicated. It may be beneficially com- 
bined with other extracts, as of scullcap, cramp-bark, black cohosh, golden-seal, 
ladies'-slipper, etc. The dose of the alcoholic extract is from 1 to 5 grains 3 times 
a day; of the aqueous extract, 1 to 10 grains. 
EXTRACTUM ANTHEMIDIS FLUIDUM.-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF CHAMOMILE. 
Preparation.-Take of chamomile flowers in powder 16 troy ounces, of a 
mixture of alcohol 3 parts, water 2 parts, a sufficient quantity. Moisten; proceed 
according to formula of fluid extract of Alstonia scholaris ending with the word 
percolation. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This fluid extract of chamomile flowers is a 
tonic, and possesses all the properties of the crude article. Each fluid ounce of 
the extract represents a fluid ounce of the flowers; hence the dose is from 1 to 60 
drops, 3 times a day. It may be advantageously combined with the fluid extracts 
of cimicifuga, valerian, cypripedium, Scutellaria, etc. 
EXTRACTUM APII GRAVEOLENTIS FLUIDUM (N. F.)- FLUID 
EXTRACT OF CELERY. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 139: "From the seed of Apium graveolens, 
Linne (Celery). Process A (see F. 135). No. 60 powder. Menstruum: Alcohol, 2 vol- 
umes; water, 1 volume"-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Apium. graveolens). Dose, 10 to 30 minims. EXTRACTUM APOCYNI.-EXTRACTUM ARNICAS RADICIS. 
763 
EXTRACTUM APOCYNI.-EXTRACT OF BITTER ROOT. 
Synonym : Extract of Indian hemp. 
Preparation.-Exhaust coarsely powdered Indian hemp (Apocynum cannabi- 
num), 1 pound, with alcohol, water, of each, a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the 
same manner as explained for the preparation of Alcoholic Extracts, on page 758, 
This extract, either dried or not, has been sold and employed in therapeutics 
under the erroneous name of apocynin. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This extract is purgative, and either alone or 
in combination with extract of leptandra, has been employed in affections of the 
liver and stomach, in intermittents, and formerly in the low stage of typhoid fevers. 
It has also been employed with advantage as a diuretic and emmenagogue. The 
dose is from 1 to 10 grains, 2 or 3 times a day. 
EXTRACTUM APOCYNI FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF APOCYNUM. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of Canadian hemp. 
Preparation.-"Apocynum, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; glycerin,one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) 
[3 65, 183 61]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 65, 391 61]. Mix the glycerin with six hundred 
and fifty cubic centimeters (650 Cc.) [21 65, 470 61] of alcohol and two hundred 
and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl^, 218 61] of water, and having moistened 
the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 63, 252 61] of the 
mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum 
to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding, first, the remainder of the menstruum, and afterward a mixture of 
alcohol and water, made in the proportion of six hundred and fifty cubic centi- 
meters (650 Cc.) [21 65, 470 61] of alcohol to three hundred and fifty cubic centi- 
meters (350 Cc.) [11 US, 401 61] of water until the apocynum is exhausted. Reserve 
the first nine hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 63, 208 61] of the perco- 
late, and evaporate the remainder at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), 
to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough men- 
struum to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 
Cc.) [33 115,39161]"-(U. S. P.). In our opinion the glycerin has no value in 
this preparation, being inferior to alcohol. A better menstruum is a mixture of 
alcohol 3 parts, water 1 part. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Apocynum). Dose, 1 to 20 minims. 
EXTRACTUM ARALI7E RACEMOSE FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
Extract of aralia racemosa. 
Preparation. - Formulary number, 140: "From the root of Aralia racemosa, 
Linne (American spikenard). Process A (see F. 135). No. 60 powder. Menstruum: 
Alcohol, 2 volumes; water, 1 volume"-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Aralia racemosa). Dose, 10 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM ARNICA RADICIS (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF 
ARNICA ROOT. 
Preparation. - " Arnica root, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lb. av., 3 oz., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity. 
Moisten the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 !!§, 
2-12 61] of diluted alcohol, and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then 764 
EXT. ARNICA] RADICIS FLUIDUM.-EXT. AROMATICUM FLUIDUM. 
add enough diluted alcohol to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. 
When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, 
having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 24 hours. Then allow the per- 
colation to proceed, gradually adding diluted alcohol, until the arnica root is 
exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 65, 
208 Hl] of the percolate; evaporate the remainder to one hundred cubic centime- 
ters (100 Cc.) [3 fls, 1831TL], at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), mix 
the residue with the reserved portion, and evaporate, at or below the above men- 
tioned temperature, to a pilular consistence"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Arnica). A brown extract of 
feeble odor and a bitter, acrid taste. Used chiefly in plasters. Dose, 3 to 5 grains. 
EXTRACTUM ARNICA RADICIS FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF ARNICA ROOT. 
Preparation. - "Arnica root, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lb. av., 3 oz., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity, 
to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^; 391 Tfl]. Mix seven 
hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl^, 173 III] of alcohol with two 
hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 H5, 218 Hl] of water, and, having 
moistened the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fls, 
252 Hl] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add 
enough menstruum to saturate the powder, and leave a stratum above it. When 
the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and having 
closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to 
proceed, gradually adding menstruum, using the same proportion of alcohol and 
water as before, until the arnica root is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fl§, 208 1T[] of the percolate, and evaporate 
the remainder, at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to a soft extract; 
dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to make the 
fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 IR]" 
-(U.S.P.fl 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Arnica). A reddish-brown 
fluid possessing the bitter, acrid taste of arnica root. Dose, 10 to 30 minims. 
Related Preparation.-Extractum Arnica Florum Fluidum (N. F.), Fluid extract of 
arnica fioivers. Formulary number, 141: "From the flower heads of Arnica montana, Linn€ 
(Arnica). Process .1 (see F. 135). No. 40 powder. Menstruum: Diluted alcohol "-(Nat. Form.). 
EXTRACTUM AROMATICUM.-AROMATIC EXTRACT. 
Preparation.-Take of cinnamon, ginger, each, in fine powder, 3 troy ounces; 
cardamom, free from capsules, nutmeg, each, in fine powder, 1| troy ounces; sugar, 
9 troy ounces; alcohol of sp. gr. 0.817, a sufficient quantity. Mix all the pow- 
dered aromatics, put the mixture in a percolator, and gradually add alcohol until 
the mixture is exhausted; pour the resulting percolate over the sugar, evaporate 
at a low heat until dry, agitating constantly toward the end of the process. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This forms a pleasant stimulant and carmina- 
tive, which may be used in cases of flatulency, in gastric debility, and to render other 
medicines more palatable. It answers all the purposes of the "Aromatic poivder," 
now official, and "Aromatic confection," formerly official in the U. S. P. The dose is 
from 5 to 60 grains. Added to wine it forms a very good Aromatic wine. 
EXTRACTUM AROMATICUM FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-AROMATIC 
FLUID EXTRACT. 
Preparation.-Aromatic powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. 
av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic 
centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fig, 391 Th]. Moisten the powder with three hundred EXT. ASCLEPIADIS.-EXT. ASPIDOSPERMATIS FLUIDUM. 
765 
and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fls, 401 TTL] of alcohol, and pack it firmly 
in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to saturate the powder and 
leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, 
close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 
48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding alcohol until 
the aromatic powder is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred and fifty cubic 
centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 65, 356 Tfi] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder 
to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough alcohol 
to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) 
[33 115, 391 1H]. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-A rich, red-brown fluid, possess- 
ing a warm taste and aromatic flavor. Used for flavoring, and, in doses of | to 1 
fluid drachm, as a carminative. 
EXTRACTUM ASCLEPIADIS.-EXTRACT OF ASCLEPIAS. 
Synonym : Extract of pleurisy root. 
Preparation.-Exhaust coarsely powdered pleurisy root, 1 pound, with alco- 
hol, water, of each, a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the manner as explained 
for the preparation of Alcoholic Extracts on page 758 (J. King). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Alcoholic extract of pleurisy root is expectorant, 
tonic, laxative, and antispasmodic. It will be found useful in chronic and acute 
catarrhal coughs, rheumatic affections, dysentery, etc. From its peculiar action upon 
the ligaments of the uterus, it proves highly beneficial in prolapsus, and other dis- 
placements of this organ. The dose is from 3 to 10 or 15 grains, 3 times a day. 
EXTRACTUM ASCLEPIADIS FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF ASCLEPIAS. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of pleurisy root. 
Preparation.-"Asclepias, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl 5, 391 TTl]. Moisten the powder with 
four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 flg, 252 TTL] of diluted alcohol, and 
pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough diluted alcohol to 
saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding diluted alcohol, until the asclepias is exhausted. Reserve the first 
nine hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 115, 208 Hl] of the percolate, and 
evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, 
and add enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl£, 391 Til] (U. S. F.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Asclepias.) A brown-red fluid. 
Dose, 5 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM ASPIDOSPERMATIS FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT of aspidosperma. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of quebracho. 
Preparation.-"Aspidosperma, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.] ; glycerin, one hundred cubic centimeters 
(100 Cc.) [3 tig, 183 Hl]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 TH], Mix the glycerin with 
six hundred cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 Ils, 138 TH] of alcohol and three hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fls, 69 TH] of water, and, having moistened 
the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl^, 252 TH] of the 
mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum 
to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 766 
EXT. AURANTII AMARI FLUIDUM.-EXT. BELLA. FOLIO. ALCOHOLICUM. 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding, first, the remainder of the menstruum, and then a mixture of alcohol 
and water, made in the proportion of two hundred cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) 
[6 fl.s, 366 Iff] of alcohol to one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fls, 183Iff] 
of water, until the aspidosperma is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred 
cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fl^, 25 Iff] of the percolate, and evaporate the re- 
mainder at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.) to a soft extract; dissolve 
this in the reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to make the fluid extract 
measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 Iff) "-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Aspidosperma). Dose, 15 to 60 
minims. 
EXTRACTUM AURANTII AMARI FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF BITTER ORANGE PEEL. 
Preparation.-" Bitter orange peel, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity 
to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 Til]. Mix six 
hundred cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 fl^, 138 Iff] of alcohol with three hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fl5, 69 TH.] of water, and, having moistened the 
powder with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fl^, 401 Iff] 
of the mixture, pack it moderately in a conical percolator; then add enough men- 
struum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid 
begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely cov- 
ered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, 
gradually adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as 
before, until the orange peel is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred cubic 
centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fls, 25 Iff] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder 
at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to a soft extract; dissolve this 
in the reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to make the fluid extract 
measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 Iff]"-fU. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-When properly prepared from 
good orange peel this fluid has a yellowish-brown hue, and possesses the pleasant 
flavor and agreeable bitterness of the crude drug. Used chiefly as a flavoring agent. 
Dose, 1 fluid drachm. 
EXTRACTUM BAPTISE®.-EXTRACT OF BAPTISIA. 
Synonym : Extract of ivild indigo. 
Preparation.-Exhaust coarsely powdered bark of wild indigo root, 1 pound, 
with alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the same manner as 
explained for the preparation of Alcoholic Extracts. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This extract is antiseptic, with purgative and 
emetic properties when taken in large doses. It is especially advantageous in 
typhoid conditions of the system, in malignant ulcerations of the mouth and throat, in 
scarlatina, and in all cases where there is a tendency to putrescency or gangrene. It 
exerts a powerful stimulant effect on the glandular and nervous systems, and will 
be found useful in scrofula, obstinate hepatic torpor, etc. Its virtues are increased by 
combination with extract of leptandra, resin of podophyllum or cimcifuga. The 
dose is | grain, gradually increased to 1 or 2 grains, and repeated 3 times a day 
(J. King). 
EXTRACTUM BELLADONNA FOLIORUM ALCOHOLICUM (U. S. P.) 
ALCOHOLIC EXTRACT OF BELLADONNA LEAVES. 
Synonym : Extractum belladonna alcoholicuni (Pharm., 1880). 
Preparation.-"Belladonna leaves, in No. 60 powder,one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity. 
Mix two thousand cubic centimeters (2000 Cc.) [67 fl§, 301 TTL] of alcohol with 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl|, 391Iff] of water, and, having 
moistened the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl§ 767 
EXT. BELLA. RADICIS FLUIDUM.-EXT. BERBERIDIS AQUIF. FLUIDUM. 
252 lh] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough 
menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the 
liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having 
closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percola- 
tion to proceed, gradually adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alco- 
hol and water as before, until three thousand cubic centimeters (3000 Cc.) [101 fl^, 
212 hl] of tincture are obtained, or the belladonna leaves are exhausted. Reserve 
the first nine hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fl^, 208 hl] of the perco- 
late, evaporate the remainder at a temperate not exceeding 50° C. (122° F), to 
one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl,§, 183 hl], mix the residue with the 
reserved portion, and evaporate at or below the above-mentioned temperature to 
a pilular consistence"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This extract possesses the odor 
and taste of belladonna, and is greenish-brown or brownish-green in color. It is 
used chiefly, locally, to allay pain and to control spasm. Its internal use is the 
same as for belladonna. The dose ranges from | to grain, 3 times a day. 
EXTRACTUM BELLADONNA RADICIS FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF BELLADONNA ROOT. 
Synonym: Extractuni belladonnas fluidum (Pharm., 1880). 
Preparation.-" Belladonna root, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.] ; alcohol, water, each a sufficient quantity 
to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 lh ]. Mix eight 
hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fls, 25 hl] of alcohol with two hundred 
cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fls, 366 hl] of water, and, having moistened the 
powder with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fl 5,401 hl] 
of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough men- 
struum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid 
begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely 
covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to pro- 
ceed, gradually adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and 
water as before, until the belladonna root is exhausted. Reserve the first nine 
hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 flg, 208 hl] of the percolate, and evapo- 
rate the remainder at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to a soft 
extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to 
make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl 3, 
391 hl]"-(fl. & P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage. (See Belladonna.') Fluid extract of 
belladonna root has a reddish-brown color. The dose ranges from | to 2 minims. 
EXTRACTUM BERBERIDIS AQUIFOLII FLUIDUM.-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF BERBERIS AQUIFOLIUM. 
Preparation.-Take of the root of Berberis aquifolium, in moderately fine 
powder, 16 troy ounces; of a menstruum of alcohol, 3 parts, water, 2 parts (by 
measure), a sufficient quantity. Moisten the powder with 6 fluid ounces of the 
menstruum. Cork tightly in a wide-mouthed bottle, and permit the mixture to 
stand an hour in a warm situation. Then introduce into a cylindrical percolator, 
3 inches in diameter, previously prepared for percolation, according to directions 
given on page 756, and press moderately. Cover the surface of the powder wiih 
a circular piece of filtering paper, held in position with a few fragments of glass 
or marble, and add fresh menstruum until the percolate appears at the exit. 
Then cork the exit tightly; cover the percolator, and place it in a warm situa- 
tion. After 24 hours, loosen the cork, and permit the percolate to pass as fast as 
it will drop, without running in a stream, until 4 fluid ounces are obtained. 
Again close the exit, macerate 24 hours, and, in a manner like unto the preced- 
ing, draw 4 fluid ounces of percolate. Repeat the maceration, and, in like man- 
ner, draw a third portion of 4 fluid ounces. Reserve and mix the 3 percolates; 768 
EXT. BERBERIDIS VULGARIS FLUIDUM.-EXT. BRYONIA FLUIDUM. 
then continue the percolation until 8 fluid ounces are obtained. Evaporate this 
latter portion until reduced to the measure of 2 fluid ounces, and mix with the 
reserved 12 fluid ounces. The surface of the powder must be constantly covered 
with the menstruum from the commencement, and until the end of the process 
of percolation. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Berberis aquifolium). Fluid 
extract of Berberis aquifolium is of a yellowish-red color, odorless, or nearly so, and 
' very bitter to the taste, and, as thus prepared, represents very nearly the quality of 
the drug employed, troy ounce to each fluid ounce of the finished extract. Dose, 
5 to 20 drops. 
EXTRACTUM BERBERIDIS VULGARIS FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF BERBERIS VULGARIS. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 142: " From the bark of the root of Berberis 
vulgaris, Linne (Barberry). Process A (see F. 135). No. 60 powder. Menstruum: 
Alcohol, 3 volumes; water, 2 volumes"-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Berberis vulgaris). Dose, 5 to 30 minims. 
EXTRACTUM BOLDO FLUIDUM.-FLUID EXTRACT OF BOLDO. 
Synonym: Fluid extract of Peumus boldo. 
Preparation.-Take of boldo leaves, in very fine powder, 16 troy ounces; 
alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the boldo with 6 fluid ounces of alcohol. 
Cork tightly in a wide-mouth bottle, and permit the mixture to stand an hour in 
a warm situation. Then introduce it into a cylindrical percolator, 3 inches in 
diameter, previously prepared for percolation, according to directions given on 
page 756, and press very firmly. Cover the surface of the powder with a circular 
piece of filtering paper, held in position with a few fragments of glass or marble, 
and add alcohol until the percolate appears at the exit. Then cork the exit 
tightly; cover the percolator, and place it in a warm situation. After 24 hours, 
loosen the cork, and permit the percolate to pass as fast as it will drop, without 
running in a stream, until 4 fluid ounces are obtained. Again close the exit, mac- 
erate 24 hours, and in a manner like unto the preceding, draw 4 fluid ounces of 
percolate. Repeat the maceration, and, in like manner, draw a third portion of 
4 fluid ounces. Reserve, and mix the three percolates; then continue the perco- 
lation until 8 fluid ounces are obtained. Evaporate this latter portion until 
reduced to the measure of 2 fluid ounces, and mix with the reserved 12 fluid 
ounces. The surface of the powder must be constantly covered with alcohol 
from the commencement, and until the end of the process of percolation. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage. - (See Boldo'). Fluid extract of 
boldo is dark-green in color, of a disagreeable wormseed-like odor and taste, and 
as thus prepared, represents very nearly the quality of drug employed, troy ounce 
for each fluid ounce of the finished extract. Dose, 5 to 20 minims. 
EXTRACTUM BRYONIA FLUIDUM.-FLUID EXTRACT OF 
BRYONIA. 
Preparation.-Take of bryonia root, in moderately fine powder, 16 troy 
ounces; alcohol and water, each, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the bryonia with 
3 fluid ounces of water, and permit the mixture to stand 1 hour in a well-corked 
wide-mouth bottle. Then intimately rub it with 6 fluid ounces of alcohol, and 
allow the mixture to macerate an hour as before. Introduce this, with moderate 
pressure, into a cylindrical percolator, 3 inches in diameter, that has been pre- 
viously prepared for percolation, according to directions given on page 756. Cover 
the surface of the powder with a circular piece of filtering paper, held in position 
with a few fragments of glass or marble, and add a mixture of alcohol, by meas- 
ure, 2 parts, until the percolate appears at the exit. Then cork the exit tightly; 
cover the percolator, and place it in a warm situation. After 24 hours, loosen the EXTRACTUM BUCHU FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM CALAMI FLUIDUM. 
769 
cork, and permit the percolate to pass as fast as it will drop, without running in a 
stream, until 4 fluid ounces are obtained. Again close the. exit, macerate 24 
hours, and, in a manner like unto the preceding, draw 4 fluid ounces of percolate. 
Repeat the maceration, and, in like manner, draw a third portion of 4 fluid 
ounces. Reserve, and mix the three percolates; then continue the percolation 
until 8 fluid ounces are obtained. Evaporate this latter until reduced to the 
measure of 2 fluid ounces, and mix with the reserved 12 fluid ounces. The sur- 
face of the powder must be constantly covered with menstruum from the com- 
mencement, and until the end of the process of percolation. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Fluid extract of bryonia is dark 
red in color, and, as thus prepared, represents very nearly the quality of the drug 
employed, troy ounce to each fluid ounce of the finished extract. The prelimi- 
nary use of water in moistening this drug brings it to a condition which favors the 
ready permeation of the menstruum. (For uses, see Bryonia). Dose, 1 to 2 drops. 
EXTRACTUM BUCHU FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF BUCHU. 
Preparation.-" Buchu, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
[2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fig, 391 TIL], Moisten the powder with four hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 H5, 252 RI] of alcohol, and pack it firmly in 
a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to saturate the powder and 
leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, 
close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 
hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding alcohol, until 
the buchu is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred and fifty cubic centi- 
meters (850 Cc.) [28 fls, 356 RI] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder to 
a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough alcohol to 
make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000Cc.) [33 As, 
391 RI]"-(C. R F). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Fluid extract of buchu has a 
clear, deep-green color, and the taste and odor of buchu leaves. It is a gently 
stimulating diuretic, and may be used in chronic catarrh of the bladder, gravel, mor- 
bid irritation of the bladder and urethra, and other affections of the urinary organs. 
The dose is from 20 to 60 minims 3 times a day. 
Related Preparation.-Extractum Buchu Fluidum Compositum (N. F.), Compound fluid 
extract of buchu. Formulary number, 144: " Buchu, six hundred and twenty-five grammes (625 
Gm.) [1 lb. av., 6 ozs., 20 grs.]; cubeb, one hundred and twenty-five grammes (125 Gm.) [4 ozs. 
av., 179 grs.]; juniper, one hundred and twenty-five grammes (125 Gm.) [4 ozs. av., 179 grs.]; 
uva ursi, one hundred and twenty-five grammes (125 Gm.) [4 ozs. av., 179 grs.]. Process A 
(see F. 135). No.40 powder. Menstruum: Alcohol,2 volumes; water, 1 volume''-(Nat. Form.). 
EXTRACTUM CALAMI FLUIDUM (U. s. P.)-fluid 
extract of calamus. 
Preparation.-"Calamus, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lb. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity, to make one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 H5, 391 RI]. Moisten the powder with three 
hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fls, 401 RI] of alcohol, and pack 
it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to saturate the 
powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the 
percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, mac- 
erate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding 
alcohol until the calamus is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic 
centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fls, 208 RI ) of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder 
to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough alcohol 
to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) 
[33 fig, 391 RI)"-(tf <8. F.). 770 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This preparation has the charac- 
teristic taste and odor of calamus. If made from peeled calamus, it is of a brown- 
yellow color; if from unpeeled root, it has a deeper hue. Uses same as calamus. 
Dose, 5 to 20 minims. 
EXT. CALENDULA FLUIDUM.-EXT. CAMELLIA FLUIDUM. 
EXTRACTUM CALENDULA FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF CALENDULA. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 145 : "From the flowering herb of Calendula 
officinalis, Linne (Marigold). Process A (see F. 135). No. 40 powder. Menstruum: 
Alcohol, 2 volumes; water, 1 volume"-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Calendula). Dose, 2 to 20 minims. 
EXTRACTUM CALUMBA.-EXTRACT OF CALUMBA. 
Synonym : Extractum columbo. 
Preparation.-" Take of calumba root, cut small, 1 pound (av.); proof spirit, 
4 pints (Imp.). Macerate the calumba with 2 pints of the proof spirit for 12 
hours, strain and press. Macerate again with the same quantity of proof spirit, 
strain and press as before. Mix and filter the liquors, recover the spirit by 
distillation, and evaporate the residue by the heat of a water-bath until the 
extract is of a suitable consistence for forming pills" (Br. Pharm.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Calumba). Dose, 2 to 10 grains. 
EXTRACTUM CALUMBA FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF CALUMBA. 
Preparation.-"Calumba, in No. 20 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity, to 
make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 TTQ. Mix seven hun- 
dred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fig, 173 TH.] of alcohol with two 
hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 115,218 TTL] of water, and, having 
moistened the powder with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 flg, 
69 TH] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough 
menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid 
begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely 
covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to pro- 
ceed, gradually adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and 
water as before, until the calumba is exhausted. Reserve the first seven hundred 
cubic centimeters (700 Cc.) [23 fls, 321 TH.] of the percolate. Distill off the alcohol 
from the remainder by means of a water-bath, and evaporate the residue to a soft 
extract, dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to 
make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 
391 ffi]"-(17. 5. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Calumba). An intensely 
bitter, deep or orange-brown fluid. Dose, 10 to 30 minims. 
EXTRACTUM CAMELLIA FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF CAMELLIA. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 146: "From the commercial dried leaves 
of Camellia Thea, Link (Tea). Process B (see F. 135). No. 40 powder. Menstruum I: 
Alcohol, two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl^, 218 TH]; water, 
six hundred and eighty-five cubic centimeters (685 Cc.) [23 fl£, 78 Hl]; glycerin, 
sixty-five cubic centimeters (65 Cc.) [2 fl§, 95 TTl], Menstruum II: Alcohol, 1 
volume; water, 3 volumes. Note.-It is recommended that the best quality of 
commercial black tea, preferably "Formosa Oolong," be employed for this prepa- 
ration "-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Thea) Dose, 5 to 60 minims. 771 
EXT. CANNABIS INDIC .E.-EXT. CANNABIS INDICT FLUIDUM. 
EXTRACTUM CANNABIS INDIC2E (U. S. P.)- EXTRACT OF 
INDIAN CANNABIS. 
Synonym : Extract of Indian hemp. 
Preparation.-"Indian cannabis, in No. 20 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten 
the powder with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fls, 69 UI] of alco- 
hol, and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to 
saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding alcohol, until the cannabis is exhausted. Distill off the alcohol from 
the tincture by means of a water-bath, and evaporate the residue in a porcelain 
capsule, on a water-bath, to a pilular consistence "-(U. & P). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This forms a dark, dull-green 
extract, having the well-marked odor of hemp resin, is soluble in strong alcohol, 
ether, chloroform, olive oil, and oil of turpentine, the latter solution depositing 
minute, scaly crystals on standing; almost wholly soluble in benzol; not affected 
by alkalies; and with cold nitric acid, sp. gr. 1.38, it is slowly acted on, evolving 
red fumes, being converted into an orange-red resinoid substance, about as abun- 
dant as the resin treated, and which, when washed with water and dried, resemble 
minute fragments of gamboge (W. Procter, Jr., Proc. Amer. Pharm. Assoc., 1864, pp. 
246-7). Much of the drug, cannabis indica, is moldy, partly decayed, and unfit 
for use. As a rule, this extract of cannabis is dull in color, and inferior to the 
extract purified according to the following method, which yields a deep-green, 
alcohol-soluble preparation. Uses, those of cannabis. Dose, J, grain, increased 
gradually until its effects are produced. On account of the variability of the 
preparation, the dose is not definitely established. 
Related Preparation.-The following is Prof. Procter's method of preparing Purified, 
extract of Indian hemp: Extractum Cannabis Purificatum, Extract of Indian hemp, purified.- 
Take of the green extract of Indian hemp, imported from India, 11 troy ounces; triturate it 
thoroughly with alcohol, sp. gr. 0.820, li fluid ounces; and then add to it of the same alcohol, 
9 fluid ounces. Let the whole macerate for 36 hours, filter, and, w'hile on the filter, add more 
alcohol until the extract is thoroughly exhausted. Evaporate the filtrate to dryness in a water- 
bath, at a temperature not exceeding 65.5° C. (150° F.). The uses are the same as stated under 
Cannabis. This extract, being purified, and possessing greater uniformity of strength than 
the ordinary commercial extract, should be administered in somewhat smaller doses. For mak- 
ing chlorodyne, this preparation is to be preferred to the extract made of the herb by the pre- 
ceding process. 
EXTRACTUM CANNABIS INDICT FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF INDIAN CANNABIS. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of Indian hemp. 
Preparation.-"Indian cannabis, in No. 20 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity, to make 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 65, 391 UI]. Moisten the powder 
with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 65, 691T[] of alcohol, and 
pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to saturate 
the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from 
the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, 
macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding 
alcohol until the Indian cannabis is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred 
cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 115,208111] of the percolate. Distill off the alco- 
hol from the remainder by means of a water-bath, and evaporate the residue, in a 
porcelain capsule, to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add 
enough alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters 
(1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 UI]"-(U. >8. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage. - (See Cannabis). A deep-green 
fluid. Dose, | to 10 minims. In our opinion, a fluid extract made by dissolving 
a given amount of the purified extract of the preceding formula in official alcohol, 
is to be preferred to the foregoing. 772 
EXTRACTUM CAPSICI FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM CAULOPHYLLI FLUIDUM. 
EXTRACTUM CAPSICI FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF CAPSICUM. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of red pepper. 
Preparation.-"Capsicum, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.] ; alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 III]. Moisten the powder with five 
hundred cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 fl 5, 435 1TI] of alcohol, and pack it firmly 
in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to saturate the powder and 
leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, 
close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 
hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding alcohol, until 
the capsicum is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic centimeters 
(900 Cc.) [30 fl§, 208 hl] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder to a soft 
extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough alcohol to make 
the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 
391IR]"-I(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is a rich, brownish-red fluid 
possessing the characteristic properties of capsicum. It is likely to deposit a red- 
brown, flocculent sediment by age, which, however, seems not to impair its value. 
Dose, | to 2 minims. 
EXTRACTUM CASCARA SAGRADA.-EXTRACT OF 
CASCARA SAGRADA. 
Synonym: Extractum rhamni purshianee. 
Preparation.-"Take of Cascara sagrada, in No. 40 powder, 1 pound (av.), 
proof spirit, distilled water, of each, a sufficiency. Mix the cascara with 2 pints 
of the spirit, and macerate in a closed vessel for 48 hours; then transfer to a per- 
colator, and when the fluid ceases to pass, continue the percolation with water 
until 3 pints of liquid have been collected, or the cascara is exhausted. Evaporate 
the percolated liquid by a w^ater-bath until the extract has acquired a suitable 
consistence "-(Br. Pharm.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Rhamnus Purshiana.) A good extract for 
use in pills. Dose, 2 to 8 grains. 
EXTRACTUM CAULOPHYLLI.-EXTRACT OF CAULOPHYLLUM. 
Synonym: Extract of blue cohosh. 
Preparation.-Exhaust coarsely powdered blue cohosh root, 16 troy ounces, 
with alcohol, water, of each, a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the same manner 
as explained for the preparation of Alcoholic Extracts (see Resin of Blue Cohosh). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Alcoholic extract of blue cohosh is antispas- 
modic and parturient. It may be advantageously combined with extract of dios- 
corea, in bilious colic, flatulency, and griping pains arising from the use of drastic 
purgatives; with oleoresin of prickly ash bark, alcoholic extracts of cimicifuga or 
Scutellaria, in rheumatic affections; and with oleoresin of senecio, resin of cimici- 
fuga, alcoholic extracts of aletris, asclepias, or high cranberry bark, in uterine dis- 
eases. It will be found very useful in amenorrhoea and dysmenorrhoea; and forms 
with hydrochlorate of berberine an elegant remedy for deranged conditions of the 
stomach, dyspepsia, etc. It has also been found serviceable in after-pains. The 
dose is from 1 to 5 grains, 3 times a day (J. King). 
EXTRACTUM CAULOPHYLLI FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF CAULOPHYLLUM. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 147: " From the rhizome and rootlets of 
Caulophyllum thalictr oides, Michaux (Blue cohosh). Process A (see F. 135). No. 60 
powder. Menstruum: Alcohol, 3 volumes; water, 1 volume"-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Caulophyllum). Dose, 5 to 30 minims. 773 
EXTRACTUM CELASTRI FLUIDUM -EXTRACTUM CHIRATA? FLUIDUM. 
EXTRACTUM CELASTRI FLUIDUM.-FLUID EXTRACT OF 
CELASTRUS. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of false bittersweet. 
Preparation.-Take of the recently dried bark of the root of false bittersweet, 
in fine powder, 16 troy ounces; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten 
the powdered bark thoroughly with part of the diluted alcohol, and let it stand 
for 24 hours; then transfer it to a percolator, and gradually add diluted alcohol 
until 12 fluid ounces have been obtained. Set this aside; then add diluted alco- 
hol until the bark is exhausted; evaporate this to 4 fluid ounces, and add it to 
the 12 fluid ounces first obtained, so as to make a pint of fluid extract. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This fluid extract possesses the same virtues as 
the bark (see Celastrusf in doses of from | fluid drachm to 1 fluid drachm, 3 times 
a day. 
EXTRACTUM CHIMAPHIL^ FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF CHIMAPHILA. 
Preparation.-"Chimaphila, in No. 30 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fig, 391 hl]. Moisten the powder 
with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fis, 252 hl] of diluted alcohol, 
and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough diluted alcohol 
to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding diluted alcohol until the chimaphila is exhausted. Reserve the first 
seven hundred cubic centimeters (700 Cc.) [23 fig, 321 hf] of the percolate, and 
evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, 
and add enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 flg, 3911TL] '-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Chimaphild). A deep, brow-n- 
ish-green fluid of a somewhat thick consistence. It is inferior to the infusion as 
a remedy. Dose, 60 minims, well diluted, 3 or 4 times a day. 
EXTRACTUM CHIRATJE FLUIDUM (U. S. p.)-fluid 
EXTRACT OF CHIRATA. 
Preparation.-"Chirata, in No. 30 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to 
make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 TR]. Mix six hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 fls, 138111) of alcohol with three hundred 
cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fls, 69 hl] of water, and, having moistened the 
powder with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fla, 401 hl] 
of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator- then add enough men- 
struum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid 
begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely 
covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to pro- 
ceed, gradually adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and 
water as before, until the chirata is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred 
and fifty cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 fig, 356 hl] of the percolate. Distill off 
the alcohol from the remainder by means of a water-bath, and evaporate the 
residue to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough 
menstruum to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters 
(1000 Cc.) [33 fig, 391 hl] (U. S. P.f 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is a reddish-brown, intensely 
bitter fluid. Water fully extracts the virtues of chirata, but, as decomposition 
takes place by age, this is sought to be avoided by the addition of alcohol, which 774 
EXTRACTUM CIMICIFUG.E.-EXTRACTUM CINCHON.E, 
does not, however, wholly prevent subsequent deposition. This preparation is 
so little used as to make it a cumberer of the Pharmacopoeia. Uses, those of 
chirata. Dose, 10 to 30 minims. 
EXTRACTUM CIMICIFUGA (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF CIMICIFUGA. 
Synonym : Extract of black cohosh. 
Preparation.-"Cimicifuga, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.] ; alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the pow- 
der with two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl^, 218 UI] of 
alcohol, and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol 
to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding alcohol, until the cimicifuga is exhausted. Distill off the alcohol 
from the tincture by means of a water-bath, and evaporate the residue, on a w'ater- 
bath, to a pilular consistence"-(U. S. P.f 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Extract of black cohosh is almost 
black in color, and is representative of the crude drug. It is suggested that a 
menstruum containing | part water, will furnish as reliable a preparation. Extract 
of black cohosh possesses all thevirtues of the root, and in nervous derangements, 
as chorea, epilepsy, etc., is much superior to the resin from the root in action and 
efficiency. It is decidedly more narcotic and antispasmodic than this resin. I 
make extensive and successful use of it in epilepsy, chorea, delirium tremens (in 
which I combine it with quinine), nervous excitability,and many spasmodic affections. 
Persons subject to cramps will be speedily and permanently relieved by the em- 
ployment of this extract combined with the extract of cramp bark. The alcoholic 
extract of black cohosh may be used in all instances where the employment of the 
root is indicated. The dose is from 1 to 5 or 10 grains, 3 times a day (J. King). 
EXTRACTUM CIMICIFUG.® FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF ClMICIFUGA. 
Preparation.-"Cimicifuga, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl 5, 391 Hl]. Moisten the powder with two 
hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl§, 218 UI] of alcohol, and pack 
it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to saturate the 
powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the 
percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, 
macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding 
alcohol, until the cimicifuga is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic 
centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fls, 208 Hl] of the percolate, and evaporate the remain- 
der to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough alco- 
hol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) 
[33 fls, 391 ffi]"-(U. S. P.f 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This preparation has a dark, red- 
dish-brown color like laudanum, is transparent, and possesses the bitter, disagree- 
able taste of the root in a marked degree. Its flavor may be improved by the addi- 
tion of white sugar, and a small portion of some aromatic essence at the time of 
taking it. Fluid extract of black cohosh possesses tonic, narcotic, antispasmodic, 
alterative, and emmenagogue properties. It may be used with advantage in rheu- 
matism, neuralgia, scrofula, syphilis, amenorrheea, dysmenorrhea, chorea, and all dis- 
eases in which the root is indicated. The dose is from 10 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM CINCHONA (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF CINCHONA. 
Synonym : Extract of calisaya bark. 
Preparation.-"Cinchona, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.] ; alcohol, three thousand cubic centimeters (3000 EXTRACTUM CINCHONAS FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM COC^ FLUIDUM. 
775 
Cc.) [101 fls, 212 DI]; water, one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl 
391 ffi]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Mix the alcohol and water, and, 
having moistened the powder with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters 
(350 Cc.) [11 fls, 401 DI] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; 
then add enough menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. 
When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, 
having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the per- 
colation to proceed, gradually adding, first, the remainder of the menstruum, and 
then diluted alcohol, until four thousand cubic centimeters (4000 Cc.) [8 0,7 fls, 
122 Th] of the tincture are obtained, or the cinchona is exhausted. Distill off the 
alcohol from the tincture by means of a water-bath, and evaporate the residue, on 
a water-bath, to a pilular consistence"-(U. S. P.f 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-If the directions above given are 
closely followed, and too great a degree of heat avoided, a representative prepara- 
tion will result. Extract of cinchona has the bitterness of the bark, a red-brown 
color, and does not wholly dissolve in water. Its tendency to become tough in time 
may be prevented by incorporating with it while still warm, 10 per cent of glycerin. 
Its uses are those of cinchona, and the dose is from 10 to 30 grains. 
EXTRACTUM CINCHON® FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF CINCHONA. 
Synonyms: Fluid extract of yellow cinchona bark, Fluid extract ofcalisaya bark. 
Preparation.-"Cinchona, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; glycerin, two hundred cubic centimeters (200 
Cc.) [6 fls, 366 TTl]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity, to make one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 DI]. Mix the glycerin with eight 
hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fls, 25 DI] of alcohol. Moisten the 
powder with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fls, 401 Tfi] 
of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator, and pour on the remain- 
der of the menstruum. When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, 
close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 
hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, and, when the liquid in the perco- 
lator has disappeared from the surface, gradually pour on a mixture of alcohol 
and water, made in the proportion of eight hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) 
[27 fls, 25 TQ] of alcohol to two hundred cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fl^, 366 DI] 
of water, and continue the percolation until the cinchona is exhausted. Reserve 
the first seven hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl^, 173 DI] of the 
percolate, and evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the 
reserved portion, and add enough of a mixture of alcohol and water, using the 
same proportions as before, to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic 
centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 391 DI](U. S. P.f 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This preparation contains all the 
alkaloidal principles of cinchona, and has a rich deep red-brown color. It is mod- 
erately thin and translucent, and possesses the bitterness and astringency of the 
bark. Its properties are those of cinchona, and it may be used alone or in com- 
bination with other agents. Used chiefly as a tonic in doses of | to 1 fluid drachm. 
EXTRACTUM COC.® FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF COCA. 
Synonyms: Extractum erythroxyli fluidum (U. S. P., 1880), Fluid extract of cry- 
throxylon. 
Preparation.-"Coca, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
[2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity, to make one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl5, 391 TH], Moisten the powder with four 
hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (450 Cc.) [15 fl§, 104 TH] of diluted alcohol, 
and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough diluted alcohol 776 
EXT. COFFEE VIRIDIS FLUIDUM.-EXT. COLCHICI RADICIS. 
to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding diluted alcohol, until the coca is exhausted. Reserve the first eight 
hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fls, 25 TTl] of the percolate, and evaporate 
the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add 
enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic 
centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 m]"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Coca). Fluid extract of coca 
is of a deep greenish-brown or olive-brown color. It has the bitterness and astrin- 
gency of the leaves, as well as the feebly aromatic, tea-like flavor. Its odor is slight. 
Dose, 10 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM COFFE® VIRIDIS FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF GREEN COFFEE 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 148: "From the commercial, unroasted 
seeds of Coffea arabica, Linne (Coffee). Process B (see F. 135). No. 20 powder. 
Menstruum I: Alcohol, two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl 5, 
218111]; water, six hundred and eighty-five cubic centimeters (685 Cc.) [23 fl.s, 
78 hl]; glycerin, sixty-five cubic centimeters (65 Cc.) [2 fl§, 95 111]. Menstruum II: 
Alcohol, 1 volume; water, 3 volumes. Note.-It is recommended that the best 
quality of either of the commercial varieties known as Java or Mocha coffee be 
employed for this preparation "-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Caffea). Dose, 5 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM COFFE® TOST.® FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF ROASTED COFFEE. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 149: " From the commercial roasted seeds of 
Coffea arabica, Linne (Coffee). Process B (see F. 135). No. 20 powder. Menstruum I: 
Alcohol, two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl§, 2181TLJ ; water, 
six hundred and eighty-five cubic centimeters (685 Cc.) [23 fls, 78 Hl]; glycerin, 
sixty-five cubic centimeters (65 Cc.) [2 fl§, 95 Hl]. Menstruum II: Alcohol, 1 vol- 
ume; water, 3 volumes. Note.-See the note to the preceding"-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Caffea). Dose, 5 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM COLCHICI RADICIS (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF 
COLCHICUM ROOT. 
Synonyms: Extractum colchici aceticum ( U. S. P., 1870), Acetic extract of colchicum. 
Preparation.-"Colchicum root, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; acetic acid, three hundred and fifty cubic 
centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fig, 401 ntj; water, a sufficient quantity. Mix the 
acetic acid with fifteen hundred cubic centimeters (1500 Cc.) [50 fl5, 346 Hl] of 
water, and, having moistened the powder with five hundred cubic centimeters 
(500 Cc.) [16 fig, 435 HL] of the mixture, pack it moderately in a cylindrical glass 
percolator; then add enough menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum 
above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower 
orifice, and having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then 
allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding, first, the remainder of the 
menstruum, and then water, until the colchicum root is exhausted. Evaporate 
the percolate in a porcelain vessel, by means of a water-bath, at a temperature not 
exceeding 80° C. (176° F.), to a pilular consistence "-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is a soft extract, bitter to the 
taste and brown in color. Its solution in water is somewhat turbid. Uses those 
of colchicum, and employed mostly in pills. Dose, | to 2 grains. EXT. COLCHICI RADICIS FLUIDUM.-EXT. COLOCYNTHIDIS. 
777 
EXTRACTUM COLCHICI RADICIS FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
Extract of Colchicum root. 
Preparation.-"Colchicum root, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity 
to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 RI]. Mix six 
hundred cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 fl.5, 138 RI] of alcohol with three hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fl^, 69RL] of water, and, having moistened 
the powder with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fl§, 
401 1R] of the mixture, pack it moderately in a cylindrical percolator; then add 
enough menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When 
the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having 
closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation 
to proceed, gradually adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol 
and water as before, until the colchicum root is exhausted. Reserve the first eight 
hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 11.5,356 RI] of the percolate, 
and evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved por- 
tion, and add enough menstruum to make the fluid extract measure one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 RI] "-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Colchicum). Fluid extract of 
colchicum root has a deep brownish-red color and a bitter taste. Dose, 1 to 8 
minims. 
EXTRACTUM COLCHICI SEMINIS FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF COLCHICUM SEED 
Preparation.-Colchicum seed, in No. 30 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity, 
to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 RI], Mix six hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 fl.s, 138 RI] of alcohol with three hundred 
cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fl^, 69RI] of water, and, having moistened the 
powder with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fl5, 69 RI] of the mix- 
ture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum to 
saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. .Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and Water as before, 
until the colchicum seed is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred and fifty 
cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 fl 5, 3561R] of the percolate, and evaporate the 
remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough 
menstruum to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters 
(1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 RI] (T. N. P). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Colchicum). Dose, 1 to 8 minims. 
EXTRACTUM COLOCYNTHIDIS (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF 
COLOCYNTH. 
Preparation.-"Colocynth, dried, and freed from the seeds, one thousand 
grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient 
quantity. Reduce the colocynth to a coarse powder by grinding or bruising, and 
macerate it in thirty-five hundred cubic centimeters (3500 Cc.) [118 fl^, 167 RI] 
of diluted alcohol for 4 days, with occasional stirring; then express strongly and 
strain through flannel. Pack the residue, previously broken up with the hands, 
firmly in a cylindrical percolator, cover it with the strainer, and gradually pour 
diluted alcohol upon it until the tincture and expressed liquid, mixed together, 
measure five thousand cubic centimeters (5000 Cc.) [10 0, 9 fl^, 33 R[]. Distill ofl 
the alcohol from the mixture by means of a water-bath; evaporate the residue to 
dryness, and reduce the dry mass to powder. Extract of colocynth should be kept 
in well-stoppered bottles"-(U. S. P.). 778 
EXT. COLOCYNTHIDIS COMPOSITUM.-EXT. CONDURANGO FLUIDUM. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Used chiefly in preparing the compound extract. 
As water extracts a large amount of mucilaginous and other inert material, the pro- 
portion of water should never be greater than that above directed. This extract is 
laxative and cathartic, according to the dose employed. Dose, from to 2 grains. 
EXTRACTUM COLOCYNTHIDIS COMPOSITUM (U. S. P.) 
COMPOUND EXTRACT OF COLOCYNTH. 
Preparation-"Extract of colocynth, one hundred and sixty grammes (160 
Gm.) [5 ozs. av., 282 grs.]; purified aloes, five hundred grammes (500 Gm.) [1 lb. 
av., 1 oz., 279 grs.]; cardamom, in No. 60 powder, sixty grammes (60 Gm.) [2 ozs. 
av.,51 grs.]; resin of scammony, in fine powder, one hundred and forty grammes 
(140 Gm.) [4 ozs. av., 411 grs.]; soap, dried and in coarse powder, one hundred and 
forty grammes (140 Gm.) [4 ozs. av., 411 grs.]; alcohol, one hundred cubic centi- 
meters (100 Cc.) [3 fls, 183 Hl]. Heat the aloes, contained in a suitable vessel, on 
a water-bath, until it is completely melted; then add the alcohol, soap, extract of 
colocynth, and resin of scammony, and heat the mixture at a temperature not 
exceeding 120° C. (248° F.), until it is perfectly homogeneous, and a thread taken 
from the mass becomes brittle when cool. Then withdraw the heat, thoroughly 
incorporate the cardamom with the mixture, and cover the vessel until the con- 
tents are cold. Finally, reduce the product to a fine powder. Compound extract 
of colocynth should be kept in well-stoppered bottles"-QU. S. P.). This is the 
standard cathartic of tradition and authority. Devised before the discovery of 
resin of podophyllum, the expensive drug scammony, was introduced into it. 
Experience seems to demonstrate that not only may it be economically replaced 
by this resin, but with advantage to the effectiveness of the resultant extract. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Compound extract of colocynth is an active 
cathartic, and may be employed in all cases where catharsis is indicated. From 
the difficulty with which pure scammony can be obtained in this country, I 
would suggest as a substitute for it in the above formula, resin of podophyllum, 
in powder, one-fourth the amount of scammony resin named, and which, by no 
means, lessens the value or efficiency of the preparation. If a little good extract 
of hyoscyamus or one part of capsicum, or of oil of cloves, be added to the for- 
mula, it will tend very much to prevent any griping or other unpleasant action. 
This compound extract may be especially used in constipation, torpor of the liver, 
headache, etc., in doses varying from 3 to 20 grains (J. King). 
EXTRACTUM CONDURANGO FLUIDUM.-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF CONDURANGO. 
Preparation.-Take of condurango bark, in moderately fine powder, 16 troy 
ounces; of a menstruum of alcohol, 3 parts; water, 2 parts (by measure), a suffi- 
cient quantity. Moisten the condurango with 6 fluid ounces of the menstruum. 
Cork tightly in a wide-mouth bottle, and permit the mixture to stand an hour in 
a warm situation. Then introduce it into a cylindrical percolator, 3 inches in 
diameter, previously prepared for percolation, according to directions given on 
page 756, and press moderately. Cover the surface of the powder with a circular 
piece of filtering paper, held in position with a few fragments of glass or marble, 
and add fresh menstruum until the percolate appears at the exit. Then cork the 
exit tightly, cover the percolator, and place it in a warm situation. After 24 
hours, loosen the cork, and permit the percolate to pass as fast as it will drop, 
without running in a stream, until 4 fluid ounces are obtained. Again close the 
exit, macerate 24 hours, and, in a manner like unto the preceding, draw 4 fluid 
ounces of percolate. Repeat the maceration, and, in a like manner, draw a third 
portion of 4 fluid ounces. Reserve and mix the 3 percolates, then continue the 
percolation until 8 fluid ounces are obtained. Evaporate this latter portion until 
reduced to the measure of 2 fluid ounces, and mix with the reserved 12 fluid 
ounces. The surface of the powder must be constantly covered with the men- 
struum from the commencement, and until the end of the process of percolation. EXTRACTUM CONII.-EXTRACTUM CONTI FLUIDUM 
779 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Condurango). Fluid extract 
of condurango is dark, reddish-brown in color, of an aromatic taste, slight odor, 
and, as thus prepared, represents very nearly the quality of drug employed, troy 
ounce to each fluid ounce of the finished extract. Dose, 10 to 30 minims. 
EXTRACTUM CONII (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF CONIUM. 
Synonyms : Extractum conii alcoliolicum (U. S. P., 1880), Alcoholic extract of hem- 
lock fruit. 
Preparation.-"Conium, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grsj; acetic acid, twenty cubic centimeters (20 Cc.) 
[325 Tfl.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Mix the acetic acid with nine 
hundred and eighty cubic centimeters (980 Cc.) [33 fl.5,166H1] of diluted alco- 
hol, and, having moistened the powder with three hundred cubic centimeters 
(300 Cc.) [10 fl^, 69 Hl] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator. 
Then add enough menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above 
it. When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, 
and, having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow 
the percolation to proceed, gradually adding diluted alcohol, until three thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (3000 Cc.) [101 fl§, 212 Hl] of tincture are obtained, or 
until the conium is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic centimeters 
(900 Cc.) [30 fl^, 208Hl] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder, in a porce- 
lain capsule, at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to one hundred 
cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl^, 183 HI], mix this with the reserved portion, 
and evaporate, at or below the above-mentioned temperature, to a pilular consist- 
ence"- (U. S. P.f 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This extract was formerly pre- 
pared from the leaves, which gave a variable and uncertain product. As now 
prepared from the seeds, it is the most variable of the class of extracts. The 
acetic acid is added to fix the coniine, as it is thought to retard the changes 
which the product is liable to from heat and exposure. This extract is narcotic, 
and may be used in all cases where its peculiar influence is desired. The dose is 
fiom | grain to 1, 2, or 3 grains, 2 or 3 times a day. 
EXTRACTUM CONII FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF CONIUM. 
Synonyms : Fluid extract of conium seeds, Fluid extract of conium fruit, Extractum 
(onii fructus fluidum (U. S. P., 1870). 
Preparation.-"Conium, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; acetic acid, twenty cubic centimeters (20 Cc.) 
[325 Hl]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centi- 
meters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 Hl], Mix the acetic acid with nine hundred and 
eighty cubic centimeters (980 Cc.) [33 fl 5, 166111] of diluted alcohol, and, having 
moistened the powder with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 H5, 
69 Hl] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough 
menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the 
liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having 
closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation 
to proceed, gradually adding diluted alcohol, until the conium is exhausted. 
Reserve the first nine hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fl§, 208 Hl] of the 
percolate, and evaporate the remainder, in a porcelain capsule, at a temperature 
not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved 
portion, and add enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) (33 fl£, 391 TH ] "-((7. S. P.f 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Coniumf This process is 
based upon that of Prof. W. Procter, Jr. (Proc. Amer. Pharm. Assoc., 1859, pp. 
271-2; see also Amer. Disp., 15th ed., p. 993). Prof. Procter remarks that in each of 
the drugs (ergot, conium, lobelia) there exists an alkaloid united with an organic 780 
EXT. CONVALLARLE FLUIDUM.-EXT. CASTANEA FLUIDUM. 
acid, as a salt, which is so unstable in its nature, as to be with each drug partially 
decomposed by the ebullition of its solution; this tendency is almost completely 
controlled by acetic acid, at a temperature below 65.5° C. (150° F.), and a quite 
unexceptionable fluid extract is thus obtained. Fluid extract of conium has a 
brownish-green color, and the characteristic odor of conium, which is intensified 
by the addition of caustic potash. It contains the active properties of poison 
hemlock in a concentrated form, and may be given in doses of from 3 to 10 or 12 
minims, according to the effects produced. 
EXTRACTUM CONVALLARLE FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF CONVALLARIA. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of lily of the valley. 
Preparation.-"Convallaria, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 hl]. Moisten the powder 
with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl§, 252 hl] of diluted alcohol, 
and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough diluted alcohol 
to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding diluted alcohol, until the convallaria is exhausted. Reserve the first 
eight hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fl5, 25 hl] of the percolate, and 
evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, 
and add enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 65, 391 hl]"-{U. S. P.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This represents the virtues of the dry con- 
vallaria, but the fresh rhizome is employed in Eclectic medicine. Dose, from 
1 to 10 minims. 
Related Preparation.-Extractum Convallaria Florum Fluidum (N. F.). Fluid extract 
of convallaria flowers.-Formulary number, 150: " From the flowers of Convallaria majalis, Linn6 
[Lily of the valley). Process A (see F. 135). No. 40 powder. Menstruum: Diluted alcohol"- 
{Nat. Form.). This preparation is scarcely known, and might well be dropped. 
EXTRACTUM COPTIS FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF COPTIS. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 151: " From the rhizome and rootlets of 
Coptis trifolia, Salisbury {Goldthread'). Process A (see F. 135). No. 40 powder. Men- 
struum: Diluted alcohol"-{Nat. Form.). This preparation is seldom prescribed*, 
and possesses no qualities that commend it in any way above hydrastis. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-{See Coptis). Dose, 5 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM CASTANEA FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF CASTANEA. 
Synonym: Fluid extract of chestnut leaves. 
Preparation.-"Castanea, in No. 30 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av , 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; glycerin, one hundred cubic centimeters (100 
Cc.) [3 183 hl]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 Ho, 391 hl]. Pour five thousand cubic cen- 
timeters (5000 Cc.) [10O, 9 fls,33hl] of boiling water upon the powder, allowit to 
macerate for 2 hours, then express the liquid, transfer the residue to a percolator, 
and pour water upon it until the powder is exhausted. Evaporate the united 
liquids, on a water-bath, to two thousand cubic centimeters (2000 Cc.) [67 fl3, 
301 hl], allow this to cool, and add six hundred cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20A.5, 
138hl] of alcohol. When the insoluble matter has subsided, separate the clear 
liquid, filter the remainder, evaporate the united liquids to seven hundred cubic 
centimeters (700 Cc.) [23 fl^, 321 hl], allow this to cool, add the glycerin and EXTRACTUM CORNUS.-EXTRACTUM CORYDALIS FLUIDUM. 
781 
enough alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters 
(1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391W] {U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Castanea). This fluid extract 
is powerfully, but agreeably astringent in taste, and has a red-brown color. The 
boiling water readily extracts the active virtues of the leaves, and the extract is 
finally preserved by the addition of alcohol andpart of glycerin. In our opinion 
the infusion of the leaves, made fresh, is superior to this or any other pharma- 
ceutical preparation of chestnut leaves. Dose, to 2 fluid drachms. 
EXTRACTUM CORNUS.-EXTRACT OF CORNUS. 
Synonym : Extract of dogwood. 
Preparation.-Exhaust coarsely powdered dogwood bark with alcohol, water, 
of each, a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the same manner as explained for the 
preparation of Alcoholic Extracts, on page 758. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Extract of dogwood is tonic and antiperiodic and 
may be successfully used as a substitute for quinine, in many cases. It will be 
found useful in dyspepsia, debility of the stomach, and as a tonic in dropsical affections 
after the water has been evacuated. The dose is from 1 to 5 grains, 3 times a day. 
EXTRACTUM CORNUS FLUIDUM.-FLUID EXTRACT OF CORNUS, 
Synonym : Fluid extract of dogwood. 
Preparation.-Take of dogwood bark, in coarse powder, 16 troy ounces; alco- 
hol, 76 per cent, 4 pints; white sugar, 6 troy ounces; water, a sufficient quantity. 
Moisten the bark thoroughly with alcohol and let it stand 24 hours; then transfer 
it to a percolator, and gradually add the rest of the alcohol, returning a little of 
the first that passes till it runs clear. Reserve, by itself, of the first running, 4 fluid 
ounces; evaporate the remaining alcoholic tincture that comes through to 4 fluid 
ounces, and likewise set it aside. To the powder in the percolator add gradually 
cold water, a sufficient quantity, until the liquid that passes is but slightly im- 
pregnated with the properties of the dogwood; evaporate this latter solution to 
£ pint, then add the sugar, continue the evaporation until the syrup is reduced 
to 8 fluid ounces, and while warm, mix in the reserved tincture and extract, and 
make 1 pint of fluid extract. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Fluid extract of dogwood is tonic, stimulant, 
and slightly astringent. It may be used in all cases where tonics are indicated, and 
will be found beneficial in female debility, leucorrhoea, etc. The dose is from | to 2 
fluid drachms. 
EXTRACTUM CORYDALIS.-EXTRACT OF CORYDALIS. 
Synonym : Extract of turkey corn. 
Preparation.-Exhaust coarsely powdered root of turkey corn, with alcohol, 
water, each, a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the same manner as explained 
for the preparation of Alcoholic Extracts, on page 758. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This extract is tonic and alterative, and may 
be employed in all cases where tonics are indicated. It is useful in all scrofulous 
affections; and in syphilitic diseases, both primary and secondary, it will be found 
among our most efficient agents. The dose is from 1 to 5 grains, 3 times a day 
(J. King). 
EXTRACTUM CORYDALIS FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
Extract of corydalis. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 154: ''From the tubers of Dicentra cana- 
densis, De Candolle (Turkey corn). Process. A (see F. 135). No. 60 powder. Men- 
struum: Alcohol, 3 volumes; water, 1 volume"-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Corydalis). 782 
EXTRACTUM COTO FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM CUSSO FLUIDUM. 
EXTRACTUM COTO FLUIDUM.-FLUID EXTRACT OF COTO. 
Preparation.-Take of coto bark, in very fine powder, 16 troy ounces; alco- 
hol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the coto with 6 fluid ounces of alcohol. Cork 
tightly in a wide-mouth bottle, and permit the mixture to stand an hour in a 
warm situation. Then introduce it into a cylindrical percolator, 3 inches in 
diameter, previously prepared for percolation, according to directions given on 
page 756, and press very firmly. Cover the surface of the powder with a circular 
piece of filtering paper held in position with a few fragments of glass or marble, 
and add alcohol until the percolate appears at the exit. Then cork the exit 
tightly; cover the percolator, and place it in a warm situation. After 24 hours, 
loosen the cork, and permit the percolate to pass as fast as it will drop, without 
running in a stream, until 4 fluid ounces are obtained. Again close the exit, 
macerate 24 hours, and, in a manner like unto the preceding, draw 4 fluid ounces 
of percolate. Repeat the maceration, and, in like manner, draw a third portion 
of 4 fluid ounces. Reserve, and mix the three percolates; then continue the per- 
colation until 8 fluid ounces are obtained. Evaporate this latter portion until 
reduced to the measure of 2 fluid ounces, and mix with the reserved 12 fluid 
ounces. The surface of the powder must be constantly covered with alcohol from 
the commencement, and until the end of the process of percolation. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Fluid extract of coto is of a red- 
dish color, possesses an aromatic odor and a hot taste, followed by a numbness of 
the tongue, and, as thus prepared, it represents very nearly the quality of drug 
employed, troy ounce to each fluid ounce of the finished extract. A mixture of 
alcohol and water will produce a much darker fluid extract; but alcohol is the 
best solvent for the characteristic medicinal principles of the drug, and the color- 
ing matter observed in the aqueous extract is undesirable. The addition of water 
to the menstruum also renders the finished extract more prone to precipitation. 
EXTRACTUM CUBEBA FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
Extract of cubeb. 
Preparation.-"Cubeb, in No.60 powder,one thousand grammes (1000Gm.) 
[2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl$, 391Hl]. Moisten the powder with two hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fl§, 366 1U] of alcohol, and pack it firmly in a 
cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to saturate the powder and leave 
a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the 
lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. 
Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding alcohol, until the cubeb 
is exhausted. Reserve the'first nine hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fig, 
208HI] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve 
this in the reserved portion, and add alcohol to make the fluid extract measure 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl.s, 391 111] "-(G. & P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is a translucent, dark or 
olive-green fluid having the taste and odor of cubeb. It contains the resin and 
most of the essential oil. Formerly the oleoresin, made by means of ether, accord- 
ing to a process of Prof. Procter (Proc. Amer. Pharm. Assoc., 1859, pp. 272-3), was 
prepared and sold as fluid extract of cubeb. Fluid extract of cubeb possesses the 
virtues of cubeb, and may be given in the dose of from 10 to 30 minims, in water, 
hydro-alcoholic solution, emulsion, or in capsules, and repeated 3 times a day. 
EXTRACTUM CUSSO FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF KOUSSO. 
Synonyms: Extractum brayerse fluidvm (Pharm., 1880), Extractum koso fluidum; 
Fluid extract of bray er a. 
Preparation.-" Kousso, in Mo. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
[2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand EXTRACTUM CYPRIPEDII.-EXTRACTUM DIGITALIS. 
783 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl 3, 391 III]. Moisten the powder with four hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fls, 252TH] of alcohol, and pack it firmly in 
a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to saturate the powder and 
leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, 
close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 
hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding alcohol, until 
the kousso is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic centimeters (900 
Cc.) [30 fl5,208TH] of the percolate. Distill off the alcohol from the remainder 
by means of a water-bath, and evaporate the residue to a soft extract; dissolve 
this in the reserved portion, and add alcohol to make the fluid extract measure 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 TH]"-(C. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is a dark, brown-green fluid 
possessing a disagreeably bitter, acrid taste. It is a remedy for tapeworm, but 
the large doses necessary contain an objectionable quantity of alcohol. The 
dose has been stated as £ fluid drachm to 1 fluid ounce. More than fluid 
ounce, should not, however, be orescribed. 
EXTRACTUM CYPRIPEDII.-EXTRACT OF CYPRIPEDIUM. 
Synonym : Extract of yellow ladies'-slipper. 
Preparation.- Exhaust coarsely powdered yellow ladies'-slipper root, with 
alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the same manner as 
explained for the preparation of Alcoholic Extracts, on page 758. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This extract is tonic and antispasmodic, and 
may be used to fulfil all the indications of the crude root in hysteria, chorea, nervous 
headache, and nervous irritability. It may be, in many cases, advantageously com- 
bined with the alcoholic extract of scullcap. Its dose is from 1 to 5 grains 2 or 3 
times a day. 
EXTRACTUM CYPRIPEDII FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF CYPRIPEDIUM. 
Preparation.-"Cypripedium, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to 
make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fis, 391 Hl], Moisten the 
powder with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 401 Hl] 
of diluted alcohol, and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough 
diluted alcohol to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the 
liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having 
closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation 
to proceed, gradually adding diluted alcohol, until the cypripedium is exhausted. 
Reserve the first eight hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 fig, 
356 Hl] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve 
this in the reserved portion, and add enough alcohol to make the fluid extract 
measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 63, 391 Hl] ( U. S. Pi). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage. - This is a deep, reddish-brown 
fluid fully representing cypripedium. Fluid extract of cypripedium is tonic, nerv- 
ine, and antispasmodic, and may be beneficially employed in chorea, hysteria, nerv- 
ous headache, and all cases of nervous irritability and excitability. A few drops of oil of 
anise may be added to it to improve its flavor. The dose is from 10 to 30 minims 
3 times a day. 
EXTRACTUM DIGITALIS (U. S. P.)- EXTRACT OF DIGITALIS. 
Synonym : Extractum digitalis alcoholicum 
Preparation.-"Digitalis, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity. Mix 
six hundred cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 fl$, 138 HL] of alcohol with three hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fls, 69Hl] of water, and, having moistened 
the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 H3, 252 Hl] of the 784 
EXTRACTUM DIGITALIS FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM DIOSCOREA. 
mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum 
to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as before, 
until three thousand cubic centimeters (3000 Cc.) [101 fis, 212 Til] of tincture 
are obtained, or the digitalis is exhausted. Distill off the alcohol from the tinc- 
rture by means of a water-bath, and evaporate the residue, on a water-bath, at a 
temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.) to a pilular consistence"-([7. S. P.}. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Digitalis}. This is a green- 
ish-brown extract, and, as with conium, an excessive heat must be avoided in its 
preparation. It has not found much favor among therapeutists. The dose is 
[ grain gradually increased to 1 grain. It should be remembered that digitalis 
acts slowly, and the extract must not be pushed too rapidly. 
EXTRACTUM DIGITALIS FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF DIGITALIS. 
Preparation.-" Digitalis, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to 
make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fig, 391 hl]. Mix six hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 fig, 138 Til] of alcohol with three hundred 
cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fig, 69 hl] of water, and, having moistened the 
powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400Cc.) [13 fig, 252 hl] of the mix- 
ture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum to 
saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as before, 
until the digitalis is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred and fifty cubic 
centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 fig, 356 hl] of the percolate, and evaporate the remain- 
der, at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to a soft extract, dissolve this 
in the reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to make the fluid extract 
measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fig, 391 hl]"-(G. & P). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This produces a dark, greenish- 
brown, or greenish-black, fluid extract, which is likely to deposit a sediment on 
standing. The dose is from 4 to 2 minims. 
EXTRACTUM DIOSCOREA.-EXTRACT OF DIOSCOREA. 
Synonym : Dioscorein. 
Preparation.-Make a saturated tincture of the powdered root of Dioscorea 
villosa, and filter; add the tincture to its weight of water, and carefully distill off 
the alcohol; the resinoid principle will be left behind in the water, collect, dry, 
and pulverize it. This is the original formula as named to me by Mr. Wm. S. 
Merrell, for its preparation, about the time of its introduction to the profession. 
History and Description.-The profession is indebted to Mr. Wm. S. Merrell 
for the preparation and introduction of this agent; it having been first prepared 
by him in the winter of 1852-3. Dr. T. L. A. Greve states that the article which 
has been sold for some years past, and is still sold under the name of Dioscorein, 
is the alcoholic extract of the root, dried and powdered (King). This statement 
of Dr. Greve is in accordance with our views, and we believe that the term Dios- 
corein is improper. This preparation and a few others of similar composition are 
retained in the class of extracts which they occupied in preceding editions of 
this publication. (See remarks on resinoids and concentrations under Resina 
Podophylli). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Extract of dioscorea possesses the properties 
of the crude root in an eminent degree, and is undoubtedly as much a specific in 
bilious colic, as quinine is in intermittents. In a severe case of bilious colic, pro- 785 
EXTRACTUM DULCAMARAS.-EXTRACTUM EPIGASAS FLUIDUM. 
nounced past hope by several physicians, 4 grains rubbed up with a tablespoonful 
of brandy afforded prompt relief, and a repetition of the dose, in about 20 minutes 
from the time of taking the first, effected a cure. In ordinary cases, 1 or 2 grains 
of this extract may be administered every 5, 10, or 20 minutes, according to the 
urgency of the case. In flatulence, borborygmi, etc., it may be advantageously com- 
bined with ginger, extract of aletris, or of asclepias; in many forms of uterine 
disease its union with resin of black cohosh, oleoresin of senecio, resin of blue 
cohosh, etc., will prove very useful; and it may be combined with the extract of 
Cornus sericea, to overcome the nausea and vomiting of pregnant females. In cramp 
of the stomach, or painful spasmodic affections of the bowels, a pill or powder composed 
of equal parts of extract of dioscorea, resin of blue cohosh, and extract of high 
cranberry bark, will be found a remedy of great value, as well as in after-pains; 
the mixture should be given in 3 or 4-grain doses, and repeated every half hour 
or hour. It is strictly an American remedy, of great value. Dose, from 1 to 4 
grains, repeated as circumstances require (J. King). 
EXTRACTUM DULCAMARA.-EXTRACT OF DULCAMARA. 
Synonym: Extract of bittersweet. 
Preparation.-Exhaust the bark of the root and twigs of bittersweet, coarsely 
powdered, with alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the same 
manner as explained for the preparation of Alcoholic Extracts, on page 758. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-The extract of bittersweet possesses the active 
properties of the plant, and may be beneficially employed in scrofula, syphilis, cuta- 
neous diseases, and wherever the plant is indicated. The dose is from 2 to 10 or 20 
grains, 3 times a day. 
EXTRACTUM DULCAMARA FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF DULCAMARA. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of bittersweet. 
Preparation.-"Dulcamara, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 115, 391 TH]. Moisten the powder with 
four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fls, 252 Til] of diluted alcohol, and 
pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough diluted alcohol to 
saturate the powder, and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding diluted alcohol, until the dulcamara is exhausted. Reserve the first 
eight hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fls, 25 Til] of the percolate, and 
evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, 
and add enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 TH] "-([/. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Dulcamara'). A thickish, 
deep-brown fluid, representing the virtues of bittersweet. Dose, 10 to 60 minims, 
well diluted with water. 
EXTRACTUM EPIGJE^! FLUIDUM.-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF EPIG2EA. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of trailing arbutus. 
Preparation.-Take of the recently dried leaves of Epigfea repens, in coarse 
powder, 16 troy ounces; alcohol, a sufficient quantity; diluted alcohol, a sufficient 
quantity. Moisten the leaves thoroughly with some of the alcohol, and let it 
stand for 24 hours; then transfer to a percolator, and gradually add the rest of the 
alcohol, returning a little of the first that passes, until it runs clear. Reserve, by 
itself, of the first running, 12 fluid ounces; then add gradually a sufficient quan- 
tity of diluted alcohol, until the liquid that passes is but slightly impregnated 786 
EXTRACTUM ERGOTS.-EXTRACTUM ERGOTJE FLUIDUM. 
with the taste of the leaves; evaporate this latter solution to 4 fluid ounces, 
then mix in the reserved tincture and make 1 pint of fluid extract. This fluid 
extract is subject to disintegration, the product being a gelatinous pectin-like 
magma or mush. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-The fluid extract of trailing arbutus possesses 
diuretic and astringent properties, and will be found superior to the preparations 
of uva ursi, buchu, etc., in gravel, and various other disorders of the urinary 
organs. It may likewise be used in chronic diarrhoea and summer complaint. The 
dose is 1 fluid drachm, 3 or 4 times a day (J. King). 
EXTRACTUM ERGOTS (U. S. P).-EXTRACT OF ERGOT. 
Synonyms : Ergotin, Extractum hxmostaticum. 
Preparation.-"Fluid extract of ergot, one hundred and fifty cubic centi- 
meters (150 Cc.) [5 fl§, 35 UI]. Evaporate the fluid extract of ergot in a porcelain 
capsule, by means of a water-bath, at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), 
constantly stirring,until it is reduced to a pilular consistence"-(U S. Pi). 
The British Pharmacopoeia process is based on Bonjean's. It consists in evapo- 
rating to a syrupy consistence 4 fluid ounces of liquid ergot (prepared chiefly 
with water), adding 4 fluid ounces of rectified spirit, filtering, and evaporating to 
a soft extract. This corresponds with Bonjean's Ergotin. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Ergota). The U. S. P. process 
originated with Dr. Edward R. Squibb. The product is essentially that known 
as Ergotin. It is a pale-brown, or reddish-brown extract, wholly soluble in diluted 
alcohol, insoluble in cold alcohol, and dissolves in water, with the exception 
of a slight residue, yielding a garnet-red solution. Dose, 3 to 20 grains. It may 
be given hypodermatically by dissolving 5 parts in 7 parts each of water and 
glycerin, and filtering the solution. 
EXTRACTUM ERGOTS FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
Extract of ergot. 
Preparation.-"Ergot, recently ground and in No. 60 powder, one thousand 
grammes (1000 Gm ) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grsj; acetic acid twenty cubic centi- 
meters (20 Cc.) [325 111] ; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 H5, 391 UI]. Mix the acetic acid with nine 
hundred and eighty cubic centimeters (980 Cc.) [33 fls, 66 UI] of diluted alcohol, 
and having moistened the powder with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) 
[10 fls, 69 UI] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add 
enough diluted alcohol to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. 
When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, 
having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the per- 
colation to proceed, gradually adding diluted alcohol, until the ergot is exhausted. 
Reserve the first eight hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 H3, 
356 TR] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder, in a porcelain capsule, at a 
temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to a soft extract; dissolve this in the 
reserved portion, and add enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract meas- 
ure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl 3, 391 UI]"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This process gives a clear fluid, 
of a dark-brown color, somewhat red, possessing a taste like ergot, and developing 
the peculiar fishy smell of trimethylamine, wffien liquor potassie is added to it. 
This process is essentially that of Prof. W. Procter, Jr., who recommended the use 
of an acid to fix the alkaloidal principles. Prof. Procter suggested another pro- 
cess wherein ether was employed, but this was subsequently discarded. The fluid 
extract may be used as a substitute for ergot in all cases. It is pleasant to the 
taste, is always ready for use, requires a small dose, and acts promptly without 
nausea. The dose is from $ to 4 fluid drachms. A fluid drachm is about equal 
to 2 doses of powdered ergot. EXT. ERIODICTYI FLUIDUM.-EXT. EUCALYPTI FLUIDUM. 
787 
Related Preparation.-Fluid Ergot. Prof. C. S. Hallberg commends the following 
fluid ergot: "Upon the investigations of Dragendorff, Podwissotzky, Plumberg, and others 
having been made public, new processes were adopted for preparations that would conform to 
these theories. The writer constructed a formula for a preparation termed fluid ergot, in 
contradistinction to the official fluid extract. As this article has proved, during several years 
increasing use, its superiority over the ordinary fluid extract, and clinical experience sustained 
the views held in regard to it on theoretical grounds, the process for its preparation might be 
of interest. The powdered, purified ergot, prepared as above, is digested with twice its weight 
of water at 65.5° C. (150° F.), for 24 hours and expressed, the residue is again macerated in 
warm water for 12 hours. After settling, the expressed liquids are strained and evaporated 
separately, when both together measure one-half as much as the ergot employed. They are 
mixed and sufficient alcohol added to make the liquid of 25 per cent alcoholic strength, or 
one-third as much as the aqueous solution. After standing, the liquid is filtered and the 
gummy residue washed with so much 25 per cent alcohol as to make the filtered liquid measure 
three-fourths, or 75 per cent of the amount of the crude drug employed (volume for weight). 
To this glycerin is added to make the finished preparation represent the amount of crude ergot 
originally used (pint for pound). As will be seen, this preparation contains 18 per cent alcohol, 
rendering it unobjectionable for hypodermatic use. Fluid ergot is an opalescent, amber-colored 
liquid, possessing a peculiar musty odor. It remains pretty clear unless exposed for a long 
time to the light or atmosphere. It should, therefore, be kept in small, well-filled bottles in a 
cool, dark place" (Amer. Jour. Pharm.. 1883, p. 11). 
EXTRACTUM ERIODICTYI FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF ERIODICTYON. 
Synonym: Fluid extract of yerba santa. 
Preparation.-" Eriodictyon, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to 
make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 Hl]. Mix eight hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fl5, 25 Til] of alcohol with two hundred cubic 
centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fl^, 366 HL] of water, and, having moistened the powder 
with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl^, 252 H[] of the mixture, 
pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum to satu- 
rate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop 
from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the perco- 
lator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually 
adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as before, 
until the eriodictyon is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic centi- 
meters (900 Cc.) [30 fl 5, 208 HI] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder, at 
a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to a soft extract; dissolve this in the 
reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to make the fluid extract measure 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 Hl]"-(U. S. P.). Accord- 
ing to our experience, this preparation should be made with official alcohol. The 
characteristic constituents of the drug are resinous and incompatible with water. 
This fluid extract was introduced by Parke, Davis & Co., and it was through their 
efforts that it attained its present popularity. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Eriodictyon). The menstruum 
here employed fully extracts the virtues of yerba santa. Fluid extract of erio- 
dictyon is dark brownish-green in color, and possesses the exact odor and taste 
of the plant, and, if made with alcohol 0.820, represents very nearly the quality of 
drug employed, troy ounce to each fluid ounce of the finished extract. It may be 
used to conceal the bitter taste of quinine. The dose ranges from 10 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM EUCALYPTI FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF EUCALYPTUS. 
Preparation. - "Eucalyptus, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lb. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity 
to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 111]. Mix seven 
hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl^, 173 hl] of alcohol with two 
hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl^, 218 111] of water, and, having 
moistened the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl^, 
252Hl] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add 788 
EXTRACTUM EUONYMI.-EXTRACTUM EUPATORII. 
enough menstruum to saturate the powder, and leave a stratum above it. When 
the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and having 
closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation 
to proceed, gradually adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol 
and water as before, until the eucalyptus is exhausted. Reserve the first nine 
hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fig, 208TH.J of the percolate, and evapo- 
rate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add 
enough menstruum to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centi- 
meters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 Hl]"-(U. S. P.). We prefer the following formula: 
"Take of eucalyptus leaves, in moderately fine powder, 16 troy ounces; alco- 
hol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the eucalyptus with 6 fluid ounces of alcohol. 
Cork tightly in awide-mouth bottle, and permit the mixture to stand an hour in 
a warm situation. Then introduce it into a cylindrical percolator, 3 inches in 
diameter, previously prepared for percolation, according to directions given on 
page 756, and press very firmly. Cover the surface of the powder with a circular 
piece of filtering paper, held in position with a few fragments of glass or marble, 
and add alcohol until the percolate appears at the exit. Then cork the exit 
tightly; cover the percolator, and place it in a warm situation. After 24 hours, 
loosen the cork, and permit the percolate to pass as fast as it will drop, without 
running in a stream, until 4 fluid ounces are obtained. Again close the exit, 
macerate 24 hours, and in a manner like unto the preceding, draw 3 fluid ounces 
of percolate. Repeat the maceration, and, in like manner, draw a third portion 
of 3 fluid ounces. Lastly,- mix the 3 percolates. The surface of the powder must 
be constantly covered with alcohol from the commencement, and until the end 
of the process of percolation." 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Eucalyptus). Fluid extract 
of eucalyptus is dark brownish-green, or green, in color, and possesses the taste 
and odor of the leaves, and, as thus prepared, represents very nearly the quality 
of drug employed, troy ounce to each fluid ounce of the finished extract. In our 
experience this preparation should be made with alcohol. Water is injurious in 
proportion to the amount present. We, therefore, supplement the above with a 
formula long established in our hands and published in the supplement to the 
last edition of this Dispensatory. Dose, 1 to 10 minims. 
EXTRACTUM EUONYMI (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF EUONYMUS. 
Synonym: Extract of wahoo. 
Preparation.-"Euonymus, in No. 30 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm. [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity. Mix 
six hundred cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 fl^, 138 Hl] of alcohol with three hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fls, 69 Hl] of water, and, having moistened the 
powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl.5, 252 Hl] of the 
mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum 
to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins 
to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as 
before, until three thousand cubic centimeters (3000 Cc.) [101 fl .5, 212 H[) of 
tincture are obtained or the euonymus is exhausted. Distill off the alcohol from 
the tincture by means of a water-bath, and haying placed the residue in a porce- 
lain capsule, evaporate it, on a water-bath, to a pilular consistence"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Euonymus'). A brown or 
yellowish-brown extract, the dose of which is from 1 to 5 grains. 
EXTRACTUM EUPATORIL-EXTRACT OF EUPATORIUM. 
Synonym: Extract of boneset. 
Preparation.-Exhaust the tops and leaves of boneset, bruised, with water, a 
sufficient quantity, proceeding in the same manner as explained for the prepa- 
ration of Aqueous Extracts, on page 758. EXT. EUPATORII FLUIDUM.-EXT. FRANGULA FLUIDUM. 
789 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Extract of boneset is tonic and aperient, and 
may be'given with advantage in convalescence from exhausting diseases, inter- 
mittent fever, dyspepsia, debility of the digestive organs, and general debility. The dose 
is from 1 to 10 grains 2 or 3 times a day. 
EXTRACTUM EUPATORII FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF EUPATORIUM. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of boneset. 
Preparation.-" Eupatorium, in No.40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 63, 391 R[]. Moisten the powder with 
four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl§, 252 RL] of diluted alcohol, and 
pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough diluted alcohol to 
saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding diluted alcohol, until the eupatorium is exhausted. Reserve the "first 
eight hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 113,25 RI] of the percolate, and 
evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, 
and add enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 63, 391 RL] "-(U. S. P.). • 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Eupatorium). This is a dark 
green-brown or brownish-red liquid representative of the herb. Dose, from 10 to 60 
minims. 
EXTRACTUM FERRI POMATUM (N. F.)-FERRATED 
EXTRACT OF APPLES. 
Synonyms : Ferri malas crudus, Crude malate of iron. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 156: " Iron, in the form of fine, bright wire, 
and cut, twenty grammes (20 Gm.) [309 grs.]; ripe sour apples, one thousand 
grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.] ; water, a sufficient quantity. 
Convert the sour apples into a homogeneous pulp by pounding or grinding, and 
express the liquid portion. Then mix the latter with the iron in an enameled or 
porcelain vessel, macerate for 48 hours, and then apply the heat of a wrater-bath 
until no more bubbles of gas are given off, adding a little water from time to time 
to make up any loss by evaporation. Dilute the liquid with water to make it 
weigh one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.], and set it 
aside for a few days. Then filter, and evaporate the filtrate in the before-men- 
tioned vessel, to a thick extract, which should be greenish-black, and should yield 
a clear solution with water. Note.-This preparation is inserted here with the title 
under wffiich it is contained in the German Pharmacopoeia. In some others it is 
called more correctly, Extractum pomi (or pomorum) /erratum"-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-The uses and doses of this preparation are 
similar to those of citrate of iron and other ferruginous salts prepared with the 
common organic acids. It is a relic of European medieval medicine. 
EXTRACTUM FRANGULA FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF FRANGULA. 
Preparation.-"Frangula, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each a sufficient quantity to 
make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl£, 391RI]. Mix five hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (500 Co.) [16 65, 435 RI] of alcohol with eight hundred 
cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fl£, 25 RL] of water, and, having moistened the 
powder with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fl5, 401RL] 
of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough men- 
struum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid 790 
EXTRACTUM FUCI FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM GELSEMII FLUIDUM. 
begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely 
covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to pro- 
ceed, gradually adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and 
water as before, until the frangula is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred 
cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 115,25141] of the percolate, and evaporate the 
remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough 
menstruum to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters 
(1000 Cc.) [33 Ag, 391 UI] "-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Frangula). This preparation 
has a deep brownish-red color, and to the taste is both sweetish and bitter. It is 
an uncertain laxative. Dose, from 10 to 30 minims. 
EXTRACTUM FUCI FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
Extract of fucus. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 157: " From the thallus of Fucus vesiculosus, 
Linne (Bladder-icrack). Process A (see F. 135). No. 40 powder. Menstruum: Alcohol, 
3 volumes; water, 1 volume"-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Fucus). Dose, 5 to 15 minims. 
EXTRACTUM GALANG® FLUIDUM.-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF GALANGAL. 
Preparation.-Take of galangal root in fine powder, 16 troy ounces; alco- 
hol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the galangal with 6 fluid ounces of alcohol. 
Cork tightly in a wide-mouth bottle, and permit the mixture to stand an hour 
in a warm situation. Then introduce it into a cylindrical percolator, 3 inches in 
diameter, previously prepared for percolation, according to directions given 
on page 756, and press very firmly. Cover the surface of the powder with a 
circular piece of filtering paper, held in position with a few fragments of glass or 
marble, and add alcohol until the percolate appears at the exit. Then cork the 
exit tightly; cover the percolator, and place it in a warm situation. After 24 hours, 
loosen the cork, and permit the percolate to pass as fast as it will drop, without 
running in a stream, until 4 fluid ounces are obtained. Again close the exit, 
macerate 24 hours, and, in a manner like unto the preceding, draw 4 fluid ounces 
of percolate. Repeat the maceration, and, in like manner, draw a third portion of 
4 fluid ounces. Reserve and mix the 3 percolates; then continue the percolation 
until 8 fluid ounces are obtained. Evaporate this latter portion until reduced to 
the measure of 2 fluid ounces, and mix with the reserved 12 fluid ounces. The 
surface of the powder must be constantly covered with alcohol from the com- 
mencement, and until the end of the process of percolation. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Fluid extract of galangal is of a 
reddish color, and possesses the exact odor and taste of the drug. It should not be 
black, or thick, and if such is the case with any specimen, it may be inferred that 
the menstruum used was a mixture of alcohol and water, instead of alcohol. Alco- 
hol freely extracts all the sensible properties of galangal, and the mixture of water 
or glycerin is objectionable. (For uses, see Galanga). Dose, 5 to 30 minims. 
EXTRACTUM GELSEMII FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF GELSEMIUM. 
Preparation.-"Gelsemium, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 UI]. Moisten the powder with 
three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 69 KI] of alcohol, and pack 
it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to saturate the 
powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the 
percolator, close ihe lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, EXTRAOTUM GENTIAN^.-EXTRAOTUM GENTIANS FLUIDUM. 
791 
macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding 
alcohol, until the gelsemium is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic 
centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fl^, 208 HL] of the percolate, and evaporate the remain- 
der to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough alco- 
hol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) 
[33 fl 5, 391 Hl]"-(U. 8. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Gelsemium). This fluid has 
a deep reddish-brown color and the bitter taste and characteristic odor of gelse- 
mium. Eclectic physicians have no confidence in this or any other preparation 
made of dry gelsemium root. This, too, notwithstanding the assertions of some 
who claim that the alkaloid gelsemine dominates the drug, and is identical in both 
the fresh and the dry root. Dose, 1 to 5 minims. 
EXTRAOTUM GENTIANS (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF GENTIAN. 
Preparation.-"Gentian, in No. 20 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.j; water, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the powder 
with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl 5, 252 TR] of water, and let it 
macerate for 24 hours; then pack it in a conical percolator, and gradually pour 
water upon it until the infusion passes but slightly imbued with the properties of 
the gentian. Reduce the liquid to three-fourths of its bulk by boiling, and strain; 
then, by means of a water-bath, evaporate to a pilular consistence''-(U. & P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Extract of gentian is a tenacious, 
shining, dark-brown or blackish product, very bitter to taste, but pleasant in odor. 
The principles are extracted by cold water, while the starch and pectin remain in 
the powder. By subsequent boiling the albuminous matter is separated. This 
extract is a tonic, and may be used wherever this indication is present, either 
alone or in conjunction with other tonics. The dose is from 1 to 10 grains. 
EXTRAOTUM GENTIANJE FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF GENTIAN. 
Preparation.-" Gentian, in No. 30 powder,one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
[2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 1RT Moisten the powder with three 
hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fl^, 401 TIT J of diluted alcohol, 
and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough diluted alcohol 
to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding diluted alcohol, until the gentian is exhausted. Reserve the first 
eight hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fls, 25 Til] of the percolate. Dis- 
till off the alcohol from the remainder by means ol a water-bath, and evaporate 
the residue to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add 
enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic 
centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fig, 391 RI] (U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This extract has a dark reddish- 
brown color, is translucent and free from sediment, and transparent in thin 
strata. It possesses the taste and odor of gentian. Tonic, and may be given in 
doses of from to 1 fluid drachm, which represent | to 1 drachm of gentian root. 
It may be variously combined with other agents to meet particular indications. 
For instance, should an aperient tonic, with antacid properties be desired, the 
following form may be used: Take of fluid extract of gentian, 2 fluid ounces; 
fluid extract of rhubarb, 2 fluid drachms; bicarbonate of potassium, 1 drachm; 
tincture of ginger, 2 fluid drachms. Mix. One fluid drachm of this mixture 
will be equal to about 40 grains of gentian, 6 of rhubarb, and 3 of bicarbonate of 
potassium If a chalybeate tonic is desired, the following may be employed. 
Take of citrate of iron and quinine, 1 drachm; water,6 fluid drachms; dissolve, 792 
EXT. GENTIAN Ji FLUIDUM COMPOSITUM.-EXT. GERANII. 
and add fluid extract of gentian, 2 fluid ounces. A fluid drachm of this mixture 
will represent about 45 grains of gentian, and 3 grains of citrate of iron and 
quinine (Wm. Procter. Jr.). Dose, 1 to 10 grains. 
EXTRACTUM GENTIANS FLUIDUM COMPOSITUM. 
COMPOUND FLUID EXTRACT OF GENTIAN 
Preparation.-Take of gentian, in coarse powder, 16 troy ounces; bitter 
orange peel, coriander seeds, of each, in coarse powder, 4 troy ounces; water, alco- 
hol, each, a sufficient quantity. Macerate the gentian in 2| pints of water for 
12 hours, and introduce it into a percolator; allow the infusion to pass slowly, 
adding water at intervals until 5 pints of the liquid have passed. Evaporate 
this to 10 fluid ounces. Macerate the orange peel and coriander seeds in a mix- 
ture of 8 fluid ounces of alcohol, and 4 fluid ounces of water for 12 hours; intro- 
duce them into a percolator, and add gradually a sufficient quantity of diluted 
alcohol to displace 12 fluid ounces of tincture. Evaporate this to 6 fluid ounces 
by a gentle heat, 48.8° C. (120° F.), add it to the solution of gentian while hot, 
and strain. When finished, the fluid extract should measure a pint (Wm. Proc- 
ter, Jr.). This formula can be simplified to advantage by mixing the powders 
and percolating in the usual manner. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The compound fluid extract of 
gentian is a colored, thin, syrupy liquid. In the preparation of it 1 should 
prefer prickly ash berries to the coriander, both on account of their flavor and 
well-known influence on mucous tissues. Tonic and carminative, and may be 
given in doses of from to 1 fluid drachm (J. King). 
EXTRACTUM GERANII - EXTRACT OF GERANIUM. 
Synonym : Geraniin. 
Preparation and History.-This article was formerly obtained by making a 
saturated tincture of the root of Geranium maculatum, filtering, distilling off a 
part of the alcohol, adding water to the residue, and evaporating to dryness. 
Many manufacturers have preferred to make it by evaporating an aqueous decoc- 
tion of the root to dryness. Dr. T. L. A. Greve has given me the following state- 
ment: "Formerly, the dried and powdered resin of Geranium maculatum was 
sold under the name of geraniin, but was found to be nearly inert; the dried alco- 
holic extract was then substituted for it under the same name. By the ordinary 
mode of desiccating this extract, the red tannin, upon which the activity of the 
root principally, if not exclusively, depends, is almost wholly decomposed, and 
the resulting 'geraniin' is quite worthless. Avery good preparation may, how- 
ever, be obtained, by evaporating a saturated tincture of the root to the consist- 
ence of thin syrup, then spreading this on glass plates with a brush, and when 
dry scraping off with a knife. The geraniin thus formed is in thin scales, very 
astringent, and possesses in a great degree, the active properties of the root." This 
latter is the article now used by the profession (J. King). 
This is especially an American remedy. It was first prepared by Mr. Wm. S. 
Merrell, of Cincinnati, according to the first formula given above, who introduced 
it to the profession under the name of Geraniin', it was a black substance, form- 
ing a dark-brown glistening powder of a faint odor, somewhat like that of 
molasses, and an astringent, acidulous taste, leaving a flavor in the mouth some- 
what resembling that of good green tea. Like many other concentrated agents, 
the name selected for it was entirely inappropriate (see Concentrations'). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Extract of geranium is a powerful astringent, 
and, unlike tannic acid in its action, does not cause a dryness of the mucous sur- 
faces with which it comes in contact, but produces its therapeutical influence 
upon them with the continuance of their natural moisture. On this account 
and in connection with its not unpleasant taste, it may be substituted for tannic 
acid in many of the diseases in which this acid is employed. It may be employed 
in all instances where astringents are indicated. It has been found a superior EXTRACTUM GERANII FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM GLYCYRRHIZA. 
793 
article, both in the first and second stages of dysenteric diarrhoea, diarrhoea, and 
cholera morbus. Equal part^ of extracts of geranium and dioscorea, and resin of 
blue cohosh, will be found a valuable mixture in diarrhoea and cholera morbus, 
when much pain and flatulency are present; the mixture may be given in 
6-grain doses to an adult, every 15 or 20 minutes, or as often as the urgency of 
the case may require. Extract of geranium will be found efficient in hemorrhages, 
hematuria, menorrhagia, leucorrhoea, gleet, diabetes, etc. In colliquative diarrhoea it 
answers an excellent purpose, either alone, or in combination with quinine. 
Externally, it may be applied to ulcers, and combined with alum and gum Arabic, 
it forms an excellent application to bleeding wounds and in epistaxis. Dose of the 
extract, from 1 to 5 grains or more, repeated as required; it may be given in 
syrup, molasses, gruel, water, or port wine. 
EXTRACTUM GERANII FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF GERANIUM. 
Preparation.-"Geranium, in No. 30 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.J; glycerin, one hundred cubic centimeters (100 
Cc.) [3 fl§, 183 Hl]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391111]. Mix the glycerin with nine hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fl^, 208 TiT] of diluted alcohol, and, having 
moistened the powder with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) 
[11 fl§, 401 Til] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then 
add enough of the menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. 
When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, 
having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the per- 
colation to proceed, gradually adding, first, the remainder of the menstruum, 
and afterwards diluted alcohol, until the geranium is exhausted. Reserve the 
first seven hundred cubic centimeters (700 Cc.) [23 fl^, 321 HI] of the percolate, 
and evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved por- 
tion, and add enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fig, 391 Hl]"-(U.S. Pi). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Geranium). This is a deep 
reddish-brown fluid, with a powerfully astringent taste and but very little odor. 
It is subject to gelatinization in common with other preparations containing 
the so-called "red tannates," and it is not uncommon to find the extract change 
to a brown magma or mush. Dose, | to 2 fluid drachms. 
EXTRACTUM GLYCYRRHIZA (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF 
GLYCYRRHIZA. 
Synonym : Extract of liquorice. 
" The commercial extract of the root of Glycyrrhiza glabra, Linne (Nat. Ord.- 
Leguminosse) "-(U. S. P.). 
Source, History, and Description.-The black cylindrical sticks met with 
in commerce are an extract of liquorice root (Extractum Glycyrrhizx), which is 
prepared in some of the southern European countries; they are in the form of 
hard, black cylinders, which are prepared by inspissating the decoction in copper 
kettles, till the mass is thick enough to become firm on cooling. Water slowly 
dissolves from f to || of it, alcohol only about |, and acquires an acrid taste, while 
the residuum is purely sweet, and entirely soluble in water. 
The impure extract is in slightly compressed and cylindrical sticks, about 6 
inches long, and from 9 to 12 lines in diameter, being enveloped in sweet bay 
leaves. The best kind is dark brownish-black, smooth, shining, brittle when cold, 
tough and flexible when warm, very sweet and soluble in water. It should be 
freed from impurities for internal use. 
The U. S. P. describes extract of glycyrrhiza: "In flattened, cylindrical rolls, 
from 15 to 18 Cm. (6 to 7 inches) long, and from 15 to 30 Mm. (| to 1| inch) thick; 
of a glossy black color. It breaks with a sharp, conchoidal, shining fracture, and 794 
EXT. GLYCYRRHIZA FLUIDUM.-EXT. GLYCYRRHIZA PURUM. 
has a very sweet, peculiar taste. Not less than 60 per cent of it should be soluble 
in cold water"-(U. S. Pf. To purify liquorice, the crude extract is dissolved in 
water without boiling, the solution strained, and evaporated to the proper consist- 
ence. (See purified extract of liquorice.) If the water be boiled during the puri- 
fication, much of the impurity may be taken up, which is not desirable. Immense 
amounts of extract of liquorice, in the form of mass extract, are imported into this 
country for the use of tobacconists, who employ it to sweeten plug chewing tobacco. 
EXTRACTUM GLYCYRRHIZA FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF GLYCYRRHIZA. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of liquorice root. 
Preparation.-"Glycyrrhiza, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; ammonia water, fifty cubic centimeters (50 Cc.) 
[1 fig, 332 1T[]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 391 Til]. Mix the ammonia water with three 
hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fls, 69 Th] of alcohol and six hundred 
and fifty cubic centimeters (650 Cc.) [21 fl.5,470 Th] of water, and, having moistened 
the powder with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fig, 401 TH] 
of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical glass percolator; then add enough 
menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid 
begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and having closely cov- 
ered the percolator, macerate fox' 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, 
gradually adding, first, the remainder of the menstruum, and then a mixture of 
alcohol and water, made in the proportion of three hundred cubic centimeters 
(300 Cc.) [10 fl^, 69 Til] of alcohol and six hundred and fifty cubic centimeters 
(650 Cc.) [21 fl§, 470 Til] of water, until the glycyrrhiza is exhausted. Reserve 
the first seven hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl§, 173 Hl] of 
the percolate, and evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the 
reserved portion, and add enough of the mixture of alcohol and water to make 
the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fig, 
391 Hl] (U. 5. P.f 
Description and Medical Uses.-(See Glycyrrhiza}. Unlike the product of 
the U. S. P., 1880, this fluid extract contains no glycerin, but some ammonia, 
which renders the glycyrrhizin soluble, making the preparation sweeter and 
stronger. No ammonia is contained in the Liquid extract of liquorice {Extractum 
Glycyrrhizae Liquidum) of the British Pharmacopoeia. Fluid extract of glycyrrhiza 
is intended to facilitate the dispensing of extract of liquorice in cough mixtures, 
and for concealing the bitter taste of quinine and quinine mixtures, aloes, and 
other unpleasantly bitter medicines. By adding fluid extract of liquorice (1 part) 
to simple syrup (7 parts), a syrup of liquorice may be prepared, useful in extempo- 
raneous prescribing of quinine. It must be remembered that mixtures of quinine 
and liquorice produce unsightly precipitates, which must not be filtered. Fluid 
extract of liquorice occasionally deposits its glycyrrhizin as a brown precipitate. 
When this occurs the addition of a small amount of ammonia water will redis- 
solve it. 
EXTRACTUM GLYCYRRHIZA PURUM (U. S. P.)-PURE 
Extract of Glycyrrhiza. 
Synonyms: Pure extract of liquorice, Extractum glycyrrhizae depuratum, Succus 
liquiritiae depur atus. 
Preparation.-"Glycyrrhiza, in No. 2P powder, one thousand grammes (J000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]; ammonia water, one hundred and fifty cubic 
centimeters (150 Cc.) [5 H5, 35 Til]; distilled water, a sufficient quantity. Mix 
the ammonia water with three thousand cubic centimeters (3000 Cc.) [101 U5, 
212 Til] of distilled water, and, having moistened the powder with one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 Hl] of the menstruum, let it macerate for 
24 hours. Then pack it moderately in a cylindrical glass percolator, and gradu- 
ally pour upon it, first, the remainder of the menstruum, and then distilled water, 795 
EXTRACTUM GOSSYPII.-EXTRACTUM GOSSYPII RADICIS FLUIDUM. 
until the glycyrrhiza is exhausted. Lastly, evaporate the infusion, by means of 
a water-bath, to a pilular consistence"-(U. S. P.). 
Description and Medical Uses.-(See Glycyrrhiza). This is a brown extract, 
possessing a pleasant sweet taste. It mixes clear with water. The object of the 
ammonia is to render the glycyrrhizin soluble. Care must be taken in its prepa- 
ration, lest too great a heat should impart to it an empyreumatic flavor. It is 
used as a protective demulcent and lenitive in laryngo-broncho-pulmonic affections, 
but chiefly as an adjuvant in various mixtures, and to disguise the bitterness of 
quinine, with which it forms an insoluble compound. All mixtures of quinine 
and liquorice should be given in substance, never filtered. 
Related Preparation.-Extractum Glycyrrhiza Depuratum (N. F.), Purified extract 
of glycyrrhiza, Purified extract of liquorice.-Formulary number, 158: "Extract of glycyrrhiza, 
in sticks; water, each, a sufficient quantity. Put a layer of well-washed rye-straw over the 
bottom of a keg or other suitable tall vessel. Then put a single layer of sticks of extract of 
glycyrrhiza, broken into coarse pieces, over it. Continue to put in alternate layers of straw 
and extract of glycyrrhiza until the vessel is full, or the whole of the extract has been disposed 
of. Fill the vessel with cold water, and allow it to remain for 3 days. Then draw off the solu- 
tion which has formed, by means of a faucet, or siphon, or otherwise, refill the vessel with 
cold water, and proceed as before. Mix the several solutions obtained, allow any suspended 
matter to subside, decant the clear solution, and strain the remainder without pressure. 
Finally evaporate the liquid on a water-bath to the consistence of a pilular extract. Note.- 
Purified extract of glycyrrhiza should not be confounded with the official pure extract of glycyr- 
rhiza ( Extractum Glycyrrhizx Purum)"-(Nat. Form.). See above. 
EXTRACTUM GOSSYPII.-EXTRACT OF GOSSYPIUM. 
Synonym : Extract of cotton-root bark. 
Preparation.-Exhaust the recent inner bark of the root of the cotton plant, 
in small pieces, with water, a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the same manner 
as explained for the preparation of Aqueous Extracts, on page 758. The pilular 
extract should be placed in small jars, and kept well covered, to prevent, as much 
as possible, any loss of its virtues. Unless made of the recent root it will be inert, 
and even then it is a question as to whether the heat of concentration does not 
materially affect the product. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Extract of cotton-root bark is emmenagogue 
and abortifacient. It will be found useful in amenorrhoea and dysmenorrhoea, com- 
bined with belladonna and quinine. The dose is from 1 to 5 or 10 grains, 3 times 
a day (J. King). 
EXTRACTUM GOSSYPII RADICIS FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
Extract of Cotton-root Bark. 
Preparation.-"Cotton-root bark, in No. 30 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; glycerin, two hundred and fifty cubic 
centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fls, 218B1]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 Bl], Mix the glycerin with 
seven hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fls, 173 BI] of alcohol, 
and, having moistened the powder with five hundred cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) 
[16 11^,435Bl] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add 
enough menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When 
the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having 
closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation 
to proceed, gradually adding, first, the remainder of the menstruum, and then 
alcohol, until the cotton-root bark is exhausted. Reserve the first seven hundred 
cubic centimeters (700 Cc.) [23 fl§, 321 Bl] of the percolate, and evaporate the 
remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough 
alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 
Cc.) [33 fls, 391 Bl] (U. N. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Gossypium}. This prepara- 
tion is a bright-red fluid. It should be prepared from the recently dried root 
bark. Dose, to 1 fluid drachm. 
Gossypium fluid extract is typical of those red-tannin liquids that disin- 
tegrate spontaneously. The product is a brown magma and a watery serum. No 796 
EXT. GRINDELIA FLUIDUM.-EXT. HAMAMELIDIS FLUIDUM. 
explanation has been given for this change, which occurs without warning, and 
which may affect only a few bottles in a batch. 
EXTRACTUM GRINDELIA FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF GRINDELIA. 
Preparation.-"Grindelia, in No. 30 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 oz., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 HIT Moisten the powder with three 
hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fls, 69 HI] of alcohol, and pack it firmly 
in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to saturate the powder and 
leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, 
close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 
hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding alcohol until the 
grindelia is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred and fifty cubic centimeters 
(850 Cc.) [28 fl3, 356 Hl] of the percolate. Distill off the alcohol from the remain- 
der by means of a water-bath, and evaporate the residue to a soft extract; dissolve 
this in the reserved portion, and add enough alcohol to make the fluid extract 
measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl3, 391 Hl]"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Grindelia). This well repre- 
sents the virtues of grindelia, the activity of which probably depends upon its resin 
and essential oil, alcohol being, therefore, the proper menstruum. It is a dark 
brown-green fluid, having the characteristic odor of the plant, and does not mix 
well with water owing to the abundance of resinous material present, which sepa- 
rates when so treated. This fluid extract was originated by Parke, Davis & Co., 
of Detroit, to whom belongs the credit of its introduction. Dose, 10 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM GUARANJE FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF GUARANA. 
Preparation.-"Guarana, in No. 80 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to 
make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 H5, 391 111]. Mix seven hun- 
dred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fig, 173 111] ot alcohol with two 
hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 H3,218 Hl] of water, and, having 
moistened the powder with two hundred cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fl^, 
366 Hl] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough 
menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid 
begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely 
covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to pro- 
ceed, gradually adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and 
water as before, until the guarana is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred 
cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 113,25 Hl] of the percolate. Distill off the alcohol 
from the remainder by means of a water-bath, and evaporate the residue to a soft 
extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to 
make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl3, 
391 Hl] "-(£/. N. F). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Guarana). This is a dark 
reddish-brown fluid, of an astringent bitter taste. If too little alcohol be used in 
the menstruum, as in former processes, a heavy precipitate falls. Glycerin, in our 
opinion, is desirable as a part of the menstruum, both as a solvent and as a pre- 
ventive of precipitation. Dose, from 20 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM HAMAMELIDIS FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF HAMAMELIS. 
Preparation.-" Hamamelis, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; glycerin, one hundred cubic centimeters (100 
Cc.) [3 fl3, 183 TH]; alcohol, water, each a sufficient quantity. Mix the glycerin EXTRACTUM IDEM ATOX YLL-EXTRACTUM HUMULI FLUIDUM. 
797 
with five hundred cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 113, 435 Hl] of alcohol, and eight 
hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 113,25 Hl] of water, and, having moistened 
the powder with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 113, 
401 Hl] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a conical percolator; then add enough 
menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid 
begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely cov- 
ered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, 
gradually adding, first, the remainder of the menstruum, and then a mixture of 
alcohol and water, made in the proportion of five hundred cubic centimeters (500 
Cc.) [16 fl£, 435 Hl] of alcohol to eight hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27113, 
25 Hl] of water, until the hamamelis is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hun- 
dred and fifty cubic centimeters .(850 Cc.) [28 113, 356H1] of the percolate, and 
evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, 
and add enough menstruum to make the fluid extract measure one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl3, 391 Hl] "-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Hamamelis). This fluid has 
a deep red-brown color, and the bitter and astringent taste of witch-hazel leaves. 
This fluid extract fully represents the virtues of hamamelis and may be em- 
ployed to fulfil the indications for that drug, particularly where the action of an 
astringent is desired. It should not be confounded with Aqua Hamamelidis, which 
is often called extract of witch-hazel. Dose, from 10 to 30 minims. 
EXTRACTUM HjEMATOXYLI (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF 
HjEMATOXYLON. 
Synonyms : Extract of logwood, Extractum ligni campechiani. 
Preparation.-" Haematoxylon, rasped, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; water, ten thousand cubic centimeters (10,000 Cc.) 
338 fl^, 66 Til]. Macerate the haematoxylon with the water for 48 hours. Then 
)oil (avoiding the use of metallic vessels) until one-half of the water has evapo- 
rated; strain the decoction while hot, and evaporate to dryness"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The above process should not 
be carried on in an iron vessel, on account of the astringent principle present. 
Extract of logwood should be a dry, non-hygroscopic, fragile, pulverulent mass, 
of a ruby-red color and a sweet taste, followed by astringency. Brande states that 
20 pounds of the extract may be obtained from a hundred-weight of the rasped 
wood. The usual yield, however, is about 12 per cent. Old extract becomes very 
hard, frequently passing through the bowels undissolved when given in pills, 
and should, therefore, not be used in their preparation, but only in solutions. It 
forms a nearly clear, ruby-red solution in water. It is largely prepared where 
logwood is indigenous, and is much used in the arts. 
Extract of logwood is astringent and tonic, and will be found useful in diar- 
rhoea, dysenteric diarrhoea, relaxed conditions of the bowels succeeding cholera infan- 
tum, and in chronic laryngitis or bronchitis accompanied with considerable mucous 
expectoration. The dose is from 5 to 30 grains, 2 or 3 times a day. In 3 cases of 
chronic diarrhoea, with mucous, bloody, and purulent discharges of the bowels, 
from ulceration of the colon, Prof. A. J. Howe, M. D., succeeded in arresting the 
abnormal evacuations, when several approved remedies had been tried in vain, 
by means oi a strong solution of extract of logwood. About 2 ounces of the 
extract were dissolved in a pint of warm water, of which, when cold, a tablespoon- 
ful was given for a dose, repeating it every 3 hours. 
EXTRACTUM HUMULI FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF HOPS. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 160: " From the strobiles of Humulus Lupu 
lus, Linne (Hops). Process A (see F. 135). No. 20 powder. Menstruum: Alcohol, 
5 volumes; water, 3 volumes"-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.- (See Humulus). Dose, 10 to 60 minims. 798 
EXTRACTUM HYDRANGEA FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM HYOSCYAMI. 
EXTRACTUM HYDRANGEA FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF HYDRANGEA. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 161: " From the root of Hydrangea arbo- 
rescens, Linne {Seven barks'). Process A (see F. 135). No. 60 powder. Menstruum: 
Alcohol, 3 volumes; water, 2 volumes"-{Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.- (See Hydrangea). Valuable in irritable condi- 
tions of the urethra and bladder, from the presence of stone or gravel, etc., and to 
change the character of lithic urine. ' The dose is from to 1 fluid drachm. 
EXTRACTUM HYDRASTIS.-EXTRACT OF HYDRASTIS. 
Synonym: Extract of golden seal. 
Preparation.-Mix powdered golaen-seal root with enough diluted alcohol to 
thoroughly moisten it; in 24 hours put the whole into a percolator, and exhaust 
with diluted alcohol. Distill the alcohol from this filtered tincture, and evapo- 
rate the remainder to the consistence of an extract. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This extract possesses all the tonic virtues of 
the root, and may be used in all cases where it is indicated. In many instances 
it will be preferable to the hydrochlorate of berberine, on account of the insolu- 
bility of the latter. The dose is from 2 to 5 grains, 3 times a day (J. King). 
EXTRACTUM HYDRASTIS FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF HYDRASTIS. 
Preparation.-" Hydrastis, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lb. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; glycerin, one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) 
[3 fig, 183 Bl] ; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 Bl]. Mix the glycerin with six hundred 
cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 115,138 Bl] of alcohol, and three hundred cubic 
centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fl^, 69 Bl] of water, and, having moistened the powder 
with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 11.5, 69 Bl] of the mixture, 
pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum to satu- 
rate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop 
from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the perco- 
lator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually 
adding, first, the remainder of the menstruum, and then a mixture of alcohol and 
water, made in the proportion of six hundred cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 fl 5, 
138 Bl] of alcohol to three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fls, 69 Bl] of 
water, until the hydrastis is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred and 
fifty cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 fl^, 356Bl] of the percolate. Distill off the 
alcohol from the remainder by means of a water-bath, and evaporate the residue 
to a soft extract; dissolve this in the the reserved portion, and add enough men- 
struum to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 
Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 Bl] "-(6; S'. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Hydrastis). This prepara- 
tion has a dark brownish-yellow color, and the characteristic and bitter taste of 
golden seal. The glycerin has no value that we can discover, and might well be 
replaced with advantage by a like volume of alcohol. Dose, 10 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM HYOSCYAMI (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF HYOSCYAMUS. 
Synonyms: Extractum hyoscyami alcoholicum, Extract of henbane. 
Preparation.-"Hvoscyamus, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, two thousand cubic centimeters 
(2000 Cc.) [67 fl5, 301 Bl]; water, one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 
fls, 391 Bl]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Mix the alcohol and water, 799 
and, having moistened the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) 
[13 fl5, 252 Hl] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add 
enough menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When 
the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having 
closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation 
to proceed, gradually adding, first, the remainder of the menstruum, and then 
diluted alcohol, until three thousand cubic centimeters (3000 Cc.) [101 fls, 
212 Hl] of the tincture are obtained, or the hyoscyamus is exhausted Reserve the 
first nine hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fl208 Til] of the percolate, 
and evaporate the remainder, at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to 
one hundred cubic centimeters (100Cc.) [3 fl^, 183Til]; mix this with the reserved 
portion, and evaporate, at or below the before-mentioned temperature, to a pilular 
consistence"-(U. S. P.}. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Hyoscyamus}. This extract 
has a greenish-brown or olive color, with the heavy narcotic odor of henbane. Old 
extracts of hyoscyamus exhibit crystals, which are said to be those of potassium 
nitrate and sodium chloride. Even the official extract is not considered a first- 
class therapeutical agent. It contains, in a measure, the medicinal virtues of the 
henbane, and may be administered whenever this drug is indicated. The dose is 
from | to 2 or 3 grains, 3 times a day. The smallest dose must first be given, and 
the quantity gradually increased until the desired influence is experienced. 
EXTRACTUM HYOSCYAMI FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM IGNATIK AMAR^. 
EXTRACTUM HYOSCYAMI FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF HYOSCYAMUS. 
Preparation.-"Hyoscyamus, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs.,120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity 
to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391Hl]. Mix two 
thousand cubic centimeters (2000 Cc.) [67 115,301 Hl] of alcohol with one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 Hl] of water, and, having moistened 
the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl§, 252 Hl] of the 
mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum 
to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as before, 
until the hyoscyamus is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic centi- 
meters (900 Cc.) [30 fls, 208 Til] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder, at 
a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to a soft extract; dissolve this in the 
reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to make the fluid extract measure 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 Til]"-(U. S. Pf. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This forms an elegant and durable 
preparation of hyoscyamus. In percolation the fluid should be allowed to pass 
very slowly, that thorough exhaustion of the leaves may take place. It has a 
very deep greenish-brown hue, and the narcotic odor of henbane. This extract 
possesses all the virtues of hyoscyamus, and may be given wherever the influence 
of the plant is desired. The dose is 5 minims, increased cautiously to 30 minims, 
or until the desired action is obtained. 
EXTRACTUM IGNATIK AMAR®.-EXTRACT OF IGNATIA. 
Synonym: Extract of St. Ignatius'bean. 
Preparation.-Take of St. Ignatius'beans, 1 pound, bruise them in an iron 
or brass mortar until reduced to small fragments or very coarse powder; moisten 
them with water in a covered vessel, and apply heat until the tissues of the pieces 
become soft, and can be bruised into a pulpy mass. Mix this mass with alcohol, 
0.820, twice its bulk, and macerate in a close vessel and in a warm place for 24 
hours, then place in a percolator, and add alcohol until 10 or 12 pints of tincture 
have been obtained. Distill off the alcohol, heat the residue in a water-bath until 800 
EXTRACTUM IPECACUANHA FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM IRIDIS. 
reduced to the consistence of a soft extract. About 10 per cent of a brown extract 
will be thus obtained, of a peculiar heavy odor, and an intensely bitter taste. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Ignatia}. Analogous to those of nux 
vomica, but probably more efficient in nervous diseases, headaches, etc. The dose 
is about | grain, 2 or 3 times a day. It is an active and dangerous preparation, 
and must be used with care (W. Procter, Jr.). 
EXTRACTUM IPECACUANHA FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF IPECAC. 
Preparation.-" Ipecac, in No. 80 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
[2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, wrater, each, a sufficient quantity to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl3, 391 Hl], Mix seven hundred and 
fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl^, 173 Hl] of alcohol with two hundred and 
fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 113,218111] of water, and, having moistened 
the powder with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fl§, 
401 Hl] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator ; then add enough 
menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid 
begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely 
covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to 
proceed, gradually adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and 
water as before, until the ipecac is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic 
centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fl5, 208 Hl] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder, 
at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to a soft extract; dissolve this in 
the reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to make the fluid extract measure 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 flg, 391 HL]''-(G. >8. Pf. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Ipecacuanha}. This is a thin 
and transparent, deep reddish-brown fluid, with the bitterish, subacrid, nauseous 
flavor and taste of ipecac. In the preceding revisions of the G.£P, this fluid 
extract was made by a process so different as to necessitate special mention. Then 
the oleoresins were precipitated by water from the evaporated percolate, which 
was afterward alcoholated enough to preserve it. Acetic acid was also employed. 
By this method a fluid extract was obtained, capable of mixing with water or syrup 
in all proportions, the product being clear. The present U. S. P. process produces 
a fluid that neither has the odor of acetic acid, nor is it capable of making a clear 
syrup by direct admixture with simple syrup (see formula for making syrup of 
ipecac). Dose, as expectorant, 1 to 5 minims; as an emetic, 15 to 30 minims. 
EXTRACTUM IRIDIS (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF IRIS. 
Synonym : Extract of blue flag. 
Preparation.-"Iris, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
[2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the powder 
with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl3, 252 Hl] of alcohol, and 
pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to saturate 
the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from 
the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, 
macerat-e for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding 
alcohol, until three thousand cubic centimeters (3000 Cc.) [101 65, 212 HI] of 
tincture are obtained, or the iris is exhausted. Distill off the alcohol from the 
tincture by means of a water-bath, and evaporate the residue, on a water-bath, to a 
pilular consistence"-(G. N. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is a dark-brown extract 
possessing the odor and taste of the drug. The alcoholic extract of blue flag is a 
valuable cathartic and alterative. In doses of from 1 to 5 grains or more, it will 
be found a useful purgative in cases of obstinate constipation, hepatic torpor, indiges- 
tion, amenorrhoea, etc As a laxative the dose should be smaller. In larger doses 
it will produce hydragogue results, and may be given with advantage in chronic 
pulmonary affections, dropsy, worms, etc. In doses to fall short of catharsis, it EXTRACTUM IRIDIS FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM JALAPA FLUIDUM. 
801 
becomes a valuable alterative, and will be found especially useful in rheumatic 
diseases, scrofula, syphilis, etc., and will frequently cause ptyalism. A few grains 
of ginger or capsicum will prevent any harshness of action. As an alterative, 
the dose is from | to 1 grain 3 times a day (J. King). 
EXTRACTUM IRIDIS FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
Extract of iris. 
Synonym: Fluid extract of blue flag. 
Preparation.-" Iris, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
[2 lb. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 Til]. Moisten the powder with four hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 65, 252 Hl] of alcohol, and pack it firmly in 
a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to saturate the powder and 
leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, 
close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 
hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding alcohol until the 
iris is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) 
[30 fl^, 208 Hl) of the percolate. Distill oft the alcohol from the remainder by 
means of a water-bath, and evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve 
this in the reserved portion, and add enough alcohol to make the fluid extract 
measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 TH]"-{U.S.P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-A dark red-brown fluid. When 
mixed with water a copious precipitate results; even a few drops impart an opales- 
cence to much water. This fluid extract is subject to disintegration in a similar 
way to that of gossypium, although the change is not as frequent. The result, 
when alteration occurs, is a copious brown magma, that sometimes is abundant 
enough to render the liquid thick like mush. This fluid extract holds the virtues 
of blue flag in a concentrated state, and may be used in syphilis, dropsy, scrofula, and 
all diseases in which the crude article is indicated. The dose is from a fraction of a 
drop to 20 drops. 
EXTRACTUM JALAP-ffi (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF JALAP. 
Preparation.-"Jalap, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm,.) 
[2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the powder 
with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fls, 401 TH] of alco- 
hol, and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to 
saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding alcohol until the jalap is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred 
cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fl^, 308111] of the percolate. Distill off the alcohol 
from the remainder by means of a water-bath, and add the residue to the reserved 
portion, and evaporate to a pilular consistence"-{U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The use of water in the prepa- 
ration of this extract has been abandoned, since it was learned that it extracted 
none of the active constituents of the drugs. Moreoyer, it increased the bulk by 
dissolving inert matter, and rendered the extract more liable to become hygro- 
scopic, and consequently to harden. Extract of jalap is a deep-brown, tenacious 
extract. It is cathartic in doses of from 10 to 20 grains, but is seldom used alone, 
being generally added to pills to increase their laxative or cathartic effect. 
EXTRACTUM JALAPA FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF JALAP. 
Preparation.- Formulary number, 162: "From the tuberous root of Exogo- 
nium Parga. Bentham {Jalap). Process A (see F. 135). No. 60 powder. Menstruum: 
Alcohol ''-{Nat. Form.). 802 
Like the preparations of other resinous drugs this fluid extract precipitates 
copiously, when mixed with water, and such mixtures must be well shaken before 
administration. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Jalapa). Dose, 10 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM JUGLANDIS.-EXTRACTUM KRAMERIiE. 
EXTRACTUM JUGLANDIS (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF JUGLANS. 
Synonym : Extract of butternut. 
Preparation.-"Juglans, in No. 30 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten 
the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl^, 252 TH] of 
diluted alcohol, and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough 
diluted alcohol to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the 
liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having 
closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation 
to proceed, gradually adding diluted alcohol, until three thousand cubic centi- 
meters (3000 Cc.) [101 212 111] of tincture are obtained, or the juglans is 
exhausted. Distill off the alcohol from the tincture by means of a water-bath, 
and evaporate the residue, on a water-bath, to a pilular consistence"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Diluted alcohol, as shown by 
B. F. Moise, Jr. (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1881, p. 153), is the best menstruum for but- 
ternut extract. This is of a dark or reddish-brown color, a caramel-like odor, and 
a bitterish, somewhat astringent taste. In preparing the extract, the bark of the 
root should be collected between April and July, and used while fresh. It is used 
chiefly as a gentle cathartic, acting upon the bowels without disposing them to 
subsequent constipation. The dose is from 10 to 30 grains. 
EXTRACTUM JUGLANDIS FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF JUGLANS. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 163: "From the inner bark of the root of 
Juglans cinerea, Linne (Butternut). Process A (see F. 135). No. 40 powder. Men- 
struum: Diluted alcohol"-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Juglans). Dose, 10 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM JUNIPERI FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF JUNIPER. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 164: " From the fruit of Juniperus communis, 
Linne (Juniper). Process A (see F. 135). No. 10 powder. Menstruum: Diluted alco- 
hol "-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Juniperus). Dose, 5 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM KRAMERIA (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF KRAMERIA. 
Synonyn: Extract of rhatany. 
Preparation.-" Krameria, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; water, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the powder 
with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fls, 69 Til] of water, pack it in 
a conical glass percolator, and gradually pour water upon it, until the infusion 
passes but slightly imbued with the astringency of the krameria. Heat the liquid 
to the boiling point, strain, and evaporate the strained liquid, by means of a water- 
bath, at a temperature not exceeding 70° C. (158° F.), to dryness "-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Good extract of rhatany is of a 
dark-red color, somewhat glossy, non-hygroscopic, faintly odorous, powerfully 
astringent, and almost wholly dissolved by water. Its evaporation should be per- 
formed quickly (or else in vacuo), as the atmosphere speedily oxidizes its active EXT. KRAMERIA FLUIDUM.-EXT. LACTUCARII FLUIDUM. 
803 
principles, impairing them, and rendering them more or less insoluble. The bark 
of the root furnishes the greatest amount of extract, and that prepared with water 
is superior to that made with alcohol. For some purposes a soft extract is pre- 
pared by stopping the evaporation at the proper time. Much of the extract of 
rhatany found in commerce is of an inferior quality. It does not keep well, 
becoming brittle and hard by age, even in close containers. Extract of rhatany 
may be used whenever an astringent is required; in some calces it will be found 
preferable to any other agent of this class. The soft extract may be advanta- 
geously used as a local application to ulcers, hemorrhoids, and fissures of the anus. 
The dose is from 5 to 20 grains. 3 or 4 times a day. 
EXTRAOTUM KRAMERLE FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
Extract of krameria. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of rhatany. 
Preparation.-"Krameria, in No. 30 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]; glycerin, one hundred cubic centimeters(100 Cc.) 
[3 fl3, 183 TH]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic 
centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl3,391 Hl]. Mix the glycerin with nine hundred cubic 
centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fl3,208111] of diluted alcohol, and, having moistened the 
powder with four hundred cubic centimeters(400 Cc.) [13 fl3, 2521H] of the mix- 
ture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical glass percolator; then add enough menstruum 
to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop 
from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the per- 
colator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually 
adding, first, the remainder of the menstruum, and afterwards diluted alcohol, 
until the krameria is exhausted. Reserve the first seven hundred cubic centi- 
meters (700 Cc.) [23 fl3, 321Hl] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder to 
a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough diluted 
alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 
Cc.) [33 fl3, 391 TH] (L7. S. Pf. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Krameria). X deep brown- 
red, decidedly astringent fluid. It may be used where the amount of alcohol 
contained in the tincture is objectionable, and besides, possesses greater astrin- 
gency than the latter preparation. It is prone to disintegrate, behaving like 
other red-tannate fluids (see Fluid Extract of Gossypium). Dose, 10 to 60 minims. 
EXTRAOTUM LACTUCARII FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF LACTUCARIUM. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 166: " Lactucarium, in coarse powder, one 
hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av.,231 grs.]; ether, one hundred and twenty- 
five cubic centimeters (125 Cc.) [4 fig, 109 TH J ; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient 
quantity. Add the lactucarium to the ether contained in a tared flask having the 
capacity of six hundred cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 fl3, 138 Hl], and let it 
macerate for 24 hours; then add three hundred cubic centimeters(300 Cc.) [10 fl3, 
69 Hl] of water, and shake the mixture well. Fit a bent glass tube into the 
neck of the flask, and, having immersed the flask in hot water, recover the ether 
by distillation. When all the ether has distilled over, remove the tube, and, after 
thoroughly shaking the contents of the flask, continue the heat for £ hour. Let 
the mixture cool, add one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av.,231 grs.] of alco- 
hol, and enough water to make the whole mixture weigh five hundred grammes 
(500 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 1 oz., 279 grs.]; after maceration for 24 hours, with occasional 
agitation, express and filter the liquid. Return the dregs to the flask and macer- 
ate them with two hundred grammes (200 Gm.) [7 ozs. av.,24 grs.] of a mixture 
of alcohol and water made in the proportion of 1 part of alcohol to 3 parts of 
water; repeat the maceration 2 or 3 times, successively, with fresh portions of 
the mixture, until the dregs are tasteless, or nearly so. Mix and filter the liquids 
thus obtained, and concentrate them, by means of a water-bath (the first expressed 804 
EXTRACTUM LAPPAS.-EXTRACTUM LEONURI 
liquid by itself), until the combined weight of the liquids is sixty grammes (60 
Gm.) [2 ozs. av.,51 grs.]; mix the liquids, add forty grammes (40 Gm.) [1 oz., av., 
180 grs.] of alcohol, and let the mixture cool in the evaporating vessel, stirring 
the mixture frequently, and during the intervals keeping the vessel well covered. 
When cool, add enough alcohol to make the mixture weigh one hundred grammes 
(100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]; transfer the liquid to a flask, and add enough 
water to make the ffiixture measure one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) 
[3 fl^, 1831TL], using the water so required to rinse the evaporating vessel. Shake 
the mixture occasionally, during several hours (and frequently, if a portion of 
the precipitate is found to be tenacious), and, when a uniform mixture results, 
set it aside for 24 hours, so that any precipitate formed may subside. Decant the 
clear liquid, transfer the precipitate to a filter, and, after thoroughly draining it 
into the decanted liquid, wash it with a mixture of alcohol and water made in 
the proportion of 3 parts of alcohol to 4 parts of water, until the washings pass 
tasteless. Concentrate the washings, by evaporation, to a syrupy consistence, mix 
with the decanted liquid, and add enough of the last-named mixture of alcohol 
and water to make the whole measure one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) 
[3 fl.s, 183 UI], Lastly, after 24 hours, having meanwhile shaken the fluid extract 
occasionally, filter it through paper" (Nat. Form.}. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Lactucarium}. Dose, 1 to 5 grains. 
Related Preparation.-Extractum Lactuc.e (Br.), Extract of lettuce, Extractum lactucee 
virosae, Thridacium. The British official preparation is merely the inspissated juice of Lactuca 
virosa. Feebly hypnotic. Dose, 5 grains. 
EXTRACTUM LAPP.®.-EXTRACT OF LAPPA. 
Synonym : Extract of burdock. 
Preparation.-Exhaust burdock root, coarsely powdered, or in pieces, with 
water, a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the same manner as explained for the 
preparation of Aqueous Extracts, on page 758. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Extract of burdock is principally used as an 
alterative, in scrofula, syphilis, cutaneous affections, etc. Dose, from 5 to 20 grains, 
3 times a day. 
EXTRACTUM LAPP.® FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF LAPPA. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of burdock. 
Preparation.-" Lappa, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
[2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 Til], Moisten the powder with 
four hundred cubic centimeters 1400 Cc.) [13 H5, 252 hl] of diluted alcohol, and 
pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough diluted alcohol to 
saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding diluted alcohol, until the lappa is exhausted. Reserve the first eight 
hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fls, 25TH] of the percolate, and evaporate 
the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add 
enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic 
centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl*, 391H11"-(U. S. P.}. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Lappa}. A dark brown-red 
fluid. Dose, J to 2 fluid drachms. 
EXTRACTUM LEONURL-EXTRACT OF LEONURUS. 
Synonym : Extract of motherwort. 
Preparation.-Exhaust the recently dried herb of Leonurus cardiaca, in coarse 
powder, with alcohol, water, each,a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the same man- 
ner as explained for the preparation of Alcoholic Extracts, on page 758 (J. King). EXTRACTUM LEPTANDRA. 
805 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Extract of motherwort is emmenagogue, nerv- 
ine, and antispasmodic, and may be used with advantage in all forms of disease 
in which the cold infusion of the herb is recommended. The dose is from 3 to 6 
grains, every 2 or 4 hours. It may be advantageously combined with the extracts 
of asclepias, black cohosh, nerve root, cramp bark, scullcap, etc. 
EXTRACTUM LEPTANDRJE (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF 
Left andra. 
Preparation.-"Leptandra, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity. Mix 
seven hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl£, 173 Hl] of alcohol with 
two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl£, 218TH] of water, and, 
having moistened the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl§, 
252 TH] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add 
enough menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When 
the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having 
closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation 
to proceed, gradually adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol 
and water as before, until the leptandra is exhausted. Distill off the alcohol from 
the tincture by means of a water-bath, and evaporate the residue, on a water- 
bath, to a pilular consistence"-(C7. S. P.). 
Description and History.-This is a blackish-brown extract, partially dis- 
solving in water, a deep-brown, bitter solution resulting. (For remarks concern- 
ing Leptandrin and Extract of Leptandra, see Leptandra). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Extract of leptandra is a powerful cholagogue, 
with but slight laxative influence; except given in very large doses its cathartic 
powers are but very feeble. It is one of the most efficient and important agents 
among those of American origin, being the only known medicine that efficiently 
stimulates and corrects the hepatic secretions and functional derangements of the 
liver, without debilitating the system by copious alvine evacuations. It may be 
safely and efficiently employed in the treatmentof diarrhoea, cholera infantum, some 
forms of dyspepsia, typhoid fever, and all diseases connected with biliary derange- 
ments. Combined with resin of podophyllum it is a prompt and effectual remedy 
in epidemic dysentery, often effecting a permanent cure in from 12 to 18 hours; in 
dysentery, with irritable bowels, it may be used alone with advantage, or com- 
bined with camphor, as in such cases its union with resin of podophyllum is con- 
traindicated. In intermittents it renders the action of quinine, when united with 
it, more certain, and prevents the liability to a return of the disease, at least for 
the season, and is likewise highly beneficial in infantile remittent fever, and in peri- 
odic diseases generally, of an obstinate character, in which quinine alone seems 
to produce little or no result. It may also be used in many other combinations 
with much advantage, as with hydrochlorate of berberine, or dried ox-gall, in 
some dyspeptic affections, jaundice, piles, etc., or with oleoresin of blue flag, extract 
of wild indigo, extract of poke, extract of turkey corn, resin of blue cohosh, and 
other active principles, in various forms of disease. Dose of extract of leptandra, 
from | to 5, 6, or 7 grains, every 3 or 4 hours, according to the action or effect 
desired. Some practitioners neglect the use of this agent, because it does not act 
so powerfully as resin of podophyllum, and hence lose the influence of a very 
important remedy in functional derangements of the liver, and other organs essen- 
tial to digestion. The above remarks refer to both the ordinary extract and the 
dried extract, heretofore known as " Leptandrin " (King). In relation to the dried 
extract (leptandrin) Prof. Hill observes, and which observations will apply with 
equal force to the ordinary extract: 
" This is not, strictly speaking, a cathartic. It is aperient, alterative, and 
tonic. Its effects on the liver are peculiar. In cases of children afflicted with 
summer complaint, where there is evidently a lack of the proper biliary secretion, 
but where, owing to the already irritated condition of the bowels, the ordinary 
medicines for arousing the liver are inadmissible, this article seems to be the very 
thing needed. While it acts freely upon the liver, instead of purging, it seems 806 
EXTRACTUM LEPTANDR/E FLUIDUM. 
only to change the discharges from the light and watery or slimy condition, to a 
darker and apparently bilious state, rendering them more and more consistent, 
until they become perfectly natural, without having been arrested entirely, or at 
any time aggravated. It at the same time seems to act as a tonic, restoring the 
tone of the stomach and increasing the strength and activity of digestion. It is a 
most valuable remedy in dyspepsia. 
"The dose is from | to 1 grain every 1 or 2 hours in acute cases, and from 
1 to 2 grains, 3 times a day, in chronic cases. It is valuable to combine with resin 
of podophyllum as a remedy in dyspepsia and chronic hepatitis. 
" In the epidemic dysentery, w'hich has prevailed for the past two seasons in 
many parts of our country, this article has been of great service. It was usually 
given with the best success after evacuating the bowels freely, with a combination 
of resin of podophyllum and dried extract of leptandra or rhubarb. (I have 
omitted the old incorrect names of leptandrin and podophyllin, in the original, and 
substituted the correct ones [King]). For this purpose, give from to 1 grain 
every hour, gradually lengthening the intervals as the discharges become darker. 
Though it may not be applicable in all cases of dysentery, it is doubtless one of 
the most useful articles in this dangerous disease." 
In cholera infantum, a disease which sometimes sets at defiance all the skill of 
the physician, Prof. King met with excellent success with the following combina- 
tion : Take of dried extract of leptandra, 6 grains; quinine, 3 grains; camphor, 
1| grains; ipecacuanha, £ grain. Mix and divide into 12 powders of which 1 may 
be given every 2 or 3 hours, and its use continued thus for several days. Its 
action at first is to increase the alvine passages and apparently augment the dis- 
ease, but in a few days the character of the evacuations changes, they become 
more and more normal, as well as more regular in their appearance ; after which, 
1 or 2 powders per day for a week, will render the cure permanent. This pow- 
der, in large doses for adults, will be found very efficient in painful diarrhoea and 
dysentery, as well as in severe pains depending upon intestinal irritation. The fol- 
lowing has also been of advantage in cholera infantum: Triturate together, char- 
coal 1 drachm, -with dried extract of leptandra 3 grains, and divide into 12 pow- 
ders, of which 1 powder is to be given every 2 or 3 hours until the evacuations 
become more natural, after which, give 1 or 2 powders a day for a few days. 
Extract of leptandra will be found to act with more certainty when it is given 
in a soluble form, as in tincture, weak solution of potassa, etc. Like hydrochlorate 
of berberine, and other concentrated preparations which are insoluble in water, it 
frequently passes through the alimentary canal unchanged, when given in the 
form of powder. 
EXTRACTUM LEPTANDRA FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF LEPTANDRA. 
Preparation.-" Leptandra, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 hl], Mix seven hundred 
and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl^, 173 hl] of alcohol with two hundred 
and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl 5, 218 hl] of water, and, having moist- 
ened the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl§, 252 hl] 
of the mixture, pack it moderately in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough 
menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the 
liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having 
closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation 
to proceed, gradually adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol 
and water as before until the leptandra is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fl5, 25 hl] of the percolate, and evaporate the 
remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough 
menstruum to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters 
(1000 Cc.) [33 flg, 391 hl] "-(U. S. P.Y 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Leptandra). This is a dark, 
reddish-brown, very bitter fluid. It is laxative, cholagogue, and tonic, and may EXTRACTUM LOBELIA'? FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM LUPULINI. 
807 
be advantageously substituted for the root in all cases. The dose is from 10 to 60 
minims, 1, 2, or 3 times a day. As a laxative, it is preferable to the extract, 
when dried. 
EXTRACTUM LOBELIA FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF LOBELIA. 
Preparation.-" Lobelia, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av ,3 ozs., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 1TL]. Moisten the powder 
with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fl^, 401 Iff.] of diluted 
alcohol, and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough diluted 
alcohol to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid 
begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely 
covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to pro- 
ceed, gradually adding diluted alcohol, until the lobelia is exhausted. Reserve 
the first eight hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (8-50 Cc.) [28 fl§, 356 1TL] of the 
percolate, and evaporate the remainder, at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. 
(122° F.), to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough 
diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centime- 
ters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 m]"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is a dark greenish-brown 
fluid exhibiting the acrid and nauseating properties of lobelia. It may be used 
wherever lobelia is indicated. The dose is from 5 minims to 1 fluid drachm, 
according to the effect required, and which are equivalent to 5 grains to 1 drachm 
of the powder. 
EXTRACTUM LOBELIA FLUIDUM COMPOSITUM.-COMPOUND 
FLUID EXTRACT OF LOBELIA. 
Preparation.-Take of recently dried bloodroot, skunk-cabbage root, and 
lobelia seed and leaves, each, coarsely powdered, 4 troy ounces; alcohol, diluted 
alcohol, each, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the powders mixed together, with 
sufficient alcohol, and let them stand for 24 hours; then transfer the mixture to 
a percolator, and gradually add alcohol, returning a little of the first that passes, 
until it runs clear. Reserve, by itself, of the first or strongest percolate, 12 fluid 
ounces; then pour diluted alcohol on the residuum in the percolator, until the 
liquid that comes through has very little of the color or taste of the medicine; 
evaporate this latter solution to 4 fluid ounces by a heat considerably below the 
boiling point, and while warm mix in the reserved tincture, and make 1 pint of 
fluid extract. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This fluid extract is emetic, expectorant, and 
antispasmodic, and may be used as a substitute for the acetated tincture of blood- 
root; A fluid drachm of the extract is equivalent to about 1 drachm of the pow- 
der; the dose is from 10 to 60 minims, according to the desired effect (E. S.Wayne). 
EXTRACTUM LUPULINI.-EXTRACT OF LUPULIN. 
Preparation.-Take of commercial lupulin, 4 ounces; alcohol, 8 fluid ounces. 
Place the lupulin loosely in a percolator, cover with alcohol, and allow it to stand 
an hour. Then gradually add alcohol until 2 pints of filtered liquor are obtained, 
or the drug is practically exhausted. Distill or evaporate off the alcohol, reduc- 
ing the residue to the consistence of a soft extract. The above extract contains 
the medicinal principles of the lupulin unimpaired, is of uniform strength, and 
is in a form convenient for pills. Commercial lupulin yields about 40 grains of 
extract to 1 drachm of the grains. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.- (See Lupulinum). This extract possesses the 
active properties of the hops in an eminent degree, and may be used in all cases 
where lupulin is admissible. The dose is from 2 to 10 grains, 3 times a day. 808 
EXTRACTUM LUPULINI FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM MALTI. 
EXTRACTUM LUPULINI FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF LUPULIN. 
Preparation.-" Lupulin, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 
120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters 
(1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 TR]. Moisten the lupulin with two hundred cubic centi- 
meters (200 Cc.) [6 fl.5,366 RI] of alcohol, and pack it firmly in a cylindrical per- 
colator. Then add enough alcohol to saturate the lupulin and leave a stratum 
above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower 
orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then 
allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding alcohol, until the lupulin is 
exhausted. Reserve the first seven hundred cubic centimeters (700 Cc.) [23 fl§, 
321 RI] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve 
this in the reserved portion, and add enough alcohol to make the fluid extract 
measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl3, 391 TR]"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Lupulinum). A dark reddish- 
brown fluid, possessing the taste and odor of hops. Owing to its resinous nature, 
it can not be mixed with aqueous preparations without the presence of some 
emulsifying medium. Robbins suggests that lupulin be packed unmoistened to 
avoid the formation of a mass which is percolated with difficulty. This fluid 
extract may be used wherever lupulin is indicated; 1 fluid drachm is equivalent 
to 1 drachm of lupulin, so the dose can be readily proportioned. It may be advan- 
tageously combined, at times, with fluid extract of Scutellaria, wild cherry, or 
valerian, etc. 
EXTRACTUM MALTI.-EXTRACT OF MALT. 
Preparation.-Take of fresh barley malt any desired amount, water, a suffi- 
cient quantity; heat the water to a temperature of from 37.7° to 65.5° C. (100° to 
150° Fj, and moisten the malt with a portion of it. Pack the moistened malt 
loosely, in a cylindrical percolator of suitable size, and then add more of the 
water, at the same temperature, until the percolate appears at the exit. Now close 
the exit with a cork, and allow the whole to macerate, in a warm place, for from 
3 to 6 hours. At the expiration of this time, open the exit, and allow the perco- 
lation to proceed, adding fresh supplies of heated water, until the percolate has 
yielded, in weight, an amount equal to twice that of the malt employed. Lastly, 
evaporate at a temperature ranging from 80° to 94° C. (about 180° to 200° F.), 
with constant stirring to the consistence of a soft extract. The only full-strength, 
diastase-bearing extract of malt is made by means of a vacuum apparatus. 
Description.-In the preceding process, if the operation of the percolation be 
neglected, or if the percolate be allowed to stand a short time previous to evapo- 
ration, fermentation will speedily ensue, and the resulting extract will have an 
acid, disagreeable taste. If the temperature be permitted to rise above the boil- 
ing point of water after the extract has become somewhat concentrated, a burnt 
flavor will be imparted to it. The diastase is destroyed at a less temperature. 
Extract of malt is a translucent, reddish-brown, adhesive substance, of an agree- 
able, somewhat sweetish, but not positively saccharine taste. An infusion of pure 
malt has the correct flavor peculiar to fresh malt, and evaporation does not 
appreciably increase its sweetness; therefore, should any extract of malt have a 
decidedly syrup-like taste, it may be suspected that some sweetish substance has 
been added to it, either to overcome the effects of fermentation or to increase the 
consistence of the extract without the proper evaporation. Glucose appears to 
be peculiarly adapted for these purposes, and, if the fermentation be not excessive, 
the addition of this substance will accomplish both objects. This is, probably 
the only adulterant that will be found. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This article was introduced into this country 
from Germany, where it had been used for some time as a tonic and nutrient in 
anorexia, chronic bronchitis, phthisis, asthma, dyspepsia, convalescence from exhaust- 
ing maladies, and in all diseases accompanied by general debility, and impair- 
ment of the vital powers; its beneficial effects in these diseases appear to be due 809 
EXTRACTUM MALTI COMPOSITUM.-EXTRACTUM MALTI FLUIDUM. 
to the diastase and the nutritive principles entering into its composition. It 
forms an excellent substitute for malt liquors in those cases where even a gentle 
stimulant is contraindicated. At the present time our manufacturers have thrown 
many malt preparations upon the market into which iron, cod-liver oil, pepsin, 
quinine, iodides, etc., enter, and apparently without regard to the compatibilities 
or incompatibilities of the articles thus thrown together; and it is doubtful 
whether such mixtures exert as beneficial results in the diseases for which they 
are recommended, as would ensue were the drugs taken separately and alternately, 
with the malt extract. The dose of extract of malt is from 1 to 4 fluid drachms 
in milk, or in soup, repeating it 3 times a day. 
Related Preparations.-Maltine. This is a specialty of the Maltine Manufacturing 
Company of New York City. It is recommended as a palatable, stable and uniform extract 
of malt of high diastatic power, differing from other malt extracts in containing in addition to 
the virtues of malted barley the nutritive principles of wheat and oats. 
Maltine Plain, is used extensively as a digestant, nutrient, adjunct infant food, galacta- 
gogue, and vehicle. The following maltine preparations are also in common use: (1) Maltine 
with Cod-liver Oil; (2) Maltine with Pepsin and Pancreatin; (3) Maltine with Hypophosphites-.lime, 
soda, iron; (4) Malto- Yerbine, containing active principles of Yerba. Santa; (5) Maltine Ferrated- 
iron pyrophosphate; (6) Maltine with Phosphate of Iron, Ovinia and Strychnia; (7) Maltine with 
Peptones-beef; (8) Maltine with Wine of Pepsin; (9) Maltine with Coca Wine; (10) Maltine with 
Cascara Sagrada. 
EXTRACTUM MALTI COMPOSITUM.-COMPOUND 
EXTRACT OF MALT. 
Synonym : Extract of malt and hops. 
Preparation.-To 1 part of fresh hops, ground, add 9 parts of malt (1 in 10), 
and make an extract in the same manner as directed for the simple extract of 
malt. The odor of the hops is not observed in this preparation owing to the sub- 
sequent evaporation, but the bitter taste remains quite distinct. There are many 
mixtures at present upon the market that contain a greater or lesser amount 
of extract of malt, but it is not in accordance with our purpose to describe them. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This preparation differs from the preceding 
only in the presence of hops, which may impart to it a slight hypnotic influence. 
It may be used in the same cases, and in the same doses, as named for the extract 
of malt. 
EXTRACTUM MALTI FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF MALT. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 168: "Malt, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.J; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity. 
Reduce the malt to a coarse powder, not finer than No. 20. Moisten it with five 
hundred cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 £5, 435 111] of a mixture of 1 volume of 
alcohol and 3 volumes of water, and set it aside well covered, until it has ceased 
to swell. Then mix it with as much of the menstruum as it will take up with- 
out dripping, pack it uniformly, but without pressure, in a percolator, and add 
enough of the before-mentioned menstruum to cover it. When the liquid begins 
to drop from the orifice, close the latter, and allow the contents to macerate dur- 
ing 24 hours, adding from time to time more menstruum, if necessary, to keep 
the malt just covered. Then remove the cork and allow the percolation to pro- 
ceed until the percolate weighs seven hundred and fifty grammes (750 Gm.) 
[1 lb. av., 10 ozs., 199 grs.]. Set this aside, well corked, until any suspended 
matters have been deposited. Then decant the clear liquid and preserve it for 
use. Note.-The product thus obtained may be regarded as being practically equiva- 
lent to the drug in the proportion of minim for grain, the apparent excess of 
dissolved matters present in the first portions of the percolate being offset by 
the soluble matters still remaining in the drug, when the percolation is inter- 
rupted "-(JNat. Form.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Fluid extract of malt possesses 
the taste of fresh malt, but is not sweet, and as prepared by the preceding process, 
will not ferment. It represents in each fluid ounce the soluble principles of 1| 810 
EXT. MANGIFERjE FLUIDUM.-EXT. MENISPERMI FLUIDUM. 
troy ounces of malt. It is a thin, yellow or brownish-yellow liquid. (For uses, 
see Maltum.) The dose varies according to the individual and effects desired (see 
Extractum Malti). 
EXTRACTUM MANGIFERA FLUIDUM.-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF MANGIFERA. 
Preparation.-Take of the bark of Mangifera indica, in moderately fine 
powder, 20 troy ounces; of a menstruum of glycerin, 6 fluid ounces; water, 10 
fluid ounces (by measure), a sufficient quantity. Add the powder to 64 fluid 
ounces of the menstruum, in a suitable vessel, and let it macerate for 24 hours, 
with occasional stirring. Then place it in a muslin strainer, and express; filter 
the expressed liquid through paper. Return the material within the muslin 
strainer to the vessel, add 32 fluid ounces of water, and allow this to macerate for 
24 hours, when it must be expressed and filtered, as at first. Mix the two filtrates, 
and, by means of a water-bath, evaporate until the fluid is reduced to 13 fluid 
ounces, when 3 fluid ounces of alcohol is to be added. Mangifera indica is one of 
the most difficult substances we have ever attempted to extract by percolation, 
providing the menstruum is adapted to take up the tannates, with which the 
bark abounds. In such a case, the menstruum will seldom penetrate beyond an 
inch or so into the powder, even if it is very coarse; therefore, we prefer and 
employ maceration. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Fluid extract of mangifera is of a 
dark, ruby-red color when in thin layer, of a peculiar odor, and a sweetish (glycerin), 
and very astringent taste. This preparation was introduced to the medical pro- 
fession by Dr. M. F. Linquist, of New Haven, Conn. (For uses, see Mangifera.) 
Dose, 15 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM MATICO FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF MATICO. 
Preparation.-" Matico, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000Gm.) 
[2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 TIL]. Mix seven hundred and 
fifty cubic centimeters (7-50 Cc.) [25 fl^, 173 1TI] of alcohol with two hundred and 
fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl£, 218 Hl] of water, and, having moistened 
the powder with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 69 TH] of the 
mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum 
to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as before, 
until the matico is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred and fifty cubic 
centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 115,356111] of the percolate, and evaporate the remain- 
der to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough men- 
struum to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 
Cc.) [33 fig, 391 Hl]"-(t/. N. P.f 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Matico). This preparation 
well represents the virtues of matico, although in our opinion a better represen- 
tative results when alcohol alone is employed, instead of a mixture of alcohol and 
water. It is of a greenish-black color as made by the official process, of a green 
color when made with alcohol only. Dose, 20 minims to 2 fluid drachms. 
EXTRACTUM MENISPERMI FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF MENISPERMUM. 
Synonyms: Fluid extract of yellow par ilia, Fluid extract of Canadian moonseed. 
Preparation.-"Menispermum, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs , 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make EXTRACTUM MEZEREI FLUIDUM.- EXTRACTUM MITCHELL.E. 
811 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 65, 391 Hl]. Mix six hundred 
cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 fl£, 138 Hl] of alcohol with three hundred cubic 
centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fls, 69 Hl] of water, and, having moistened the powder 
with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl^, 252 H[] of the mixture, 
pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum to satu- 
rate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop 
from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the perco- 
lator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually 
adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as before, 
until the menispermum is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic 
centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fls, 208 Hl] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder 
to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough men- 
struum to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters 
(1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 Hl]"-(^ & 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Menispermum}. This is an 
unpleasantly bitter, dark, reddish-brown liquid. Dose, 15 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM MEZEREI FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF MEZEREUM. 
Preparation.-"Mezereum, in No. 30 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 115, 391 DI]. Moisten the powder with 
four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 115,252111] of alcohol, and pack it 
firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to saturate the powder 
and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the perco- 
lator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, macerate 
for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding alcohol, 
until the mezereum is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic centi- 
meters (900 Cc.) [30 fl5, 208 Hl] of the percolate. Distill off the alcohol from 
the remainder by means of a water-bath, and evaporate the residue, at a tempera- 
ture not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved 
portion, and add enough alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 flg, 391 m]"-(U. S. P.). 
Description and Medical Uses.-This is an acrid green liquid, used chiefly 
to maintain a discharge from blistered parts. It is used in the preparation of 
Linimentum Sinapis Compositum. The British Pharmacopoeia directs an ethereal 
extract of mezereum used in the compound liniment of mustard (see below). It is 
scarcely used at all in America. 
Related Preparations.-Extractum Mezerei jEthereum (Br.), Ethereal extract of meze- 
reum.-This is prepared essentially as follows: Prepare a strong alcoholic tincture of mezereum 
bark, and distill until a mass of the consistence of a soft extract is left behind; agitate with 
ether, decant the ethereal solution, distill off the ether, and convert the residue into a soft 
extract of the consistence of honey. 
Extractum Mezerei Fluidum (N. F., U. S. P., 1880), Fluid extract of mezereum.-Formulary 
number, 170: " From the bark of Daphne Mezereum, Linne, and of other species of Daphne (Meze- 
reum). Process A (see F. 135). No. 30 powder. Menstruum: Alcohol"-(Nat. Form.). 
EXTRACTUM MITCHELL^.-EXTRACT OF MITCHELLA. 
Synonym : Extract of partridge berry. 
Preparation.-Exhaust the recently dried herb, Mitchella repens, in coarse 
powder, with alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the same 
manner as explained for the preparation of Alcoholic Extracts, on page 758. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Mitchella'). This extract is an invaluable 
preparation, and possesses the active medicinal virtues of the plant. It is 
employed more especially on account of its tonic influence upon the uterus; and 
in diseases of this organ it may be usefully combined with extracts or resins 
of black cohosh, or caulophyllum, or extract of aletris, oleoresin of senecio, etc. 
The dose is from 1 to 10 grains, 3 times a day (J. King). 812 
EXTRACTUM MYRICA£.-EXTRACTUM NUCIS V0M1C.E. 
EXTRACTUM MYRICK.-EXTRACT OF MYRICA. 
Synonyms : Extract of hayberry bark, Myricin. 
Preparation.-Make a saturated tincture of bayberry bark, filter, distill off a 
portion of the alcohol, and evaporate the remainder by means of a water-bath, 
until the mass is of an extractive consistence. The profession is indebted to 
the late Dr. F. D. Hill, of this city, for first preparing and introducing this article. 
The term myricin, sometimes affixed to a dried extract of bayberry, is thus dis- 
posed of by Dr. King: "It is much to be regretted that so many of our active 
medicinal preparations have recived names which justly belong to pure chemical 
principles, notwithstanding such names were given from no improper motives. 
It is absolutely necessary that we drop these misnomers for others more in accord- 
ance with the characters of the preparations, and the sooner this is done, the 
sooner will we be relieved of the charge of empiricism in these matters." 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This extract is a stimulant and astringent, and 
will be found a very advantageous remedy in chronic diarrhoea and dysentery, in 
dysentery with typhoid symptoms, and in colliquative diarrhoea of phthisis; in 
scarlatina it may be given with advantage, while a decoction of the bark is 
employed as a gargle; it will likewise be found a useful remedy for aphthous affec- 
tions, when given internally, and applied locally. It forms an efficient applica- 
tion to tender, spongy, bleeding gums, and an excellent snuff for polypus, also for 
headache and catarrhal affections. It is likewise beneficial in jaundice, and in com- 
bination with extracts of leptandra and apocynum, I have successfully treated 
several cases of this affection. In some instances of cholera, it will be serviceable, 
given in combination with extract of geranium. Combined with extract of lep- 
tandra, resin of podophyllum, or some other cathartic, it may be employed with 
benefit in the latter stages of typhoid fever. Dose, from 2 to 10 grains of the pow- 
der, which may be repeated as often as required (King). 
EXTRACTUM NUCIS VOMICA (U. S. P.)- EXTRACT OF 
NUX VOMICA. 
Preparation.-"Nux vomica, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; acetic acid, fifty cubic centimeters (50 Cc.) 
[1 fl£, 332TH.]; alcohol, water, ether, sugar of milk, recently dried and in fine 
powder, each, a sufficient quantity. Mix alcohol and water in the proportion of 
seven hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl§, 173TU] of alcohol to 
two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl.^, 218 III] of water. Mix 
the powder with one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391Hl] of the 
mixture, to which the acetic acid had previously been added, and let it macerate, 
in a well-covered vessel, in a warm place, during 48 hours. Then pack it tightly 
in a cylindrical glass percolator; gradually pour menstruum upon it, and continue 
the percolation until the nux vomica is practically exhausted. Distill off the alco- 
hol by means of a water-bath, transfer the remainder to a tared capsule, and evapo- 
rate it until it weighs about one hundred and fifty grammes (150 Gm.) [5 ozs. av., 
127 grs.]. Transfer it to a bottle of the capacity of about five hundred cubic centi- 
meters (500 Cc.) [16 fl.5, 435 Tf[], and wash the capsule with about fifty cubic 
centimeters (50 Cc.) [1 fl£, 332 TH] of warm water, adding the washings to the 
bottle and mixing the contents thoroughly. When the liquid extract is cold, 
add to it | of its volume of ether, stopper the bottle, and bring the extract and 
ether into intimate contact by gently agitating and frequently inverting the bot- 
tle,- avoiding violent shaking so as to prevent the formation of an emulsion. Pour 
off the ethereal layer as closely as possible, and repeat this treatment with ether 
several times, until a few drops of the ethereal layer no longer impart a perma- 
nent, greasy stain to filtering paper. Then transfer the contents of the bottle 
back to the tared capsule, using a sufficient quantity of warm water for washing. 
Recover the ether from the united ethereal washings, add to the oily residue 
about fifteen cubic centimeters (15 Cc.) [243 TH] of boiling water, and then acetic 
acid, in drops, until the mixture has a permanent acid reaction. Then filter it 813 
EXTRACTUM NUCIS VOMICAE. 
through a moistened filter, and wash the filter with a little water. Add the filtrate 
to the extract in the capsule, evaporate until the residue weighs about two hun- 
dred grammes (200 Gm.) [7 ozs. av.,24 grs.], and allow it to become cold. Then 
determine its weight exactly, remove four grammes (4 Gm.) [62 grs.] of the mass, 
and assay this by the process given below, using the amounts of liquids there 
directed for two grammes (2 Gin.) [31 grs.] of dry extract. In another portion 
of five grammes (5 Gm.) [77 grs.] determine the amount of water by drying it, 
in a flat-bottomed capsule, at 100° C. (212° F.), until it ceases to lose weight. From 
the results thus obtained ascertain, by calculation, the amount of total alkaloids 
and of water contained in the remainder of the mass, add to this enough well- 
dried sugar of milk to bring the quantity of alkaloids in the final dry extract to 
15 per cent, then evaporate the mass to complete dryness, reduce it to powder, 
and transfer it to small, well-stoppered bottles"-(U. S. P.). 
Assay (U. S. P.)-"Extract of nux vomica, when assayed by the following 
process, should be found to contain 15 per cent of total alkaloids. 
Assay of Extract of Nux Vomica.-"Extract of nux vomica, dried at 100° C. 
(212° F.), two grammes (2 Gm.), alcohol, ammonia water, water, chloroform, deci- 
normal sulphuric acid (V.S.), centinormal potassium hydrate V.S., each, a suf- 
ficient quantity. Put 2 Gm. of the dried extract of nux vomica into a glass sepa- 
rator, add to ft 20 Cc. of a previously prepared mixture of 2 volumes of alcohol, 
1 volume of ammonia water (specific gravity 0.960), and 1 volume of water, and 
shake the well-stoppered separator until the extract is dissolved. Then add 20 Cc. 
of chloroform and agitate during 5 minutes. Allow the chloroform to separate, 
remove it as far as possible, pour into the separator a few cubic centimeters of chlo- 
roform, and, without shaking, draw this off through the stop-cock to wash the outlet 
tube. Repeat the extraction with 2 further portions of chloroform of 15 Cc. each, 
and wash the outlet tube each time as just directed. Collect all the chloroformic 
solutions in a wide beaker, expose the latter to a gentle heat, on a water-bath, 
until the chloroform and ammonia are completely dissipated, add to the residue 
10 Cc. of decinormal sulphuric acid, measured with great care from a burette, stir 
gently, and then add 20 Cc. of hot water. When solution has taken place, add 
2 Cc.of brazil wood T.S.,and then carefully run in centinormal potassium hydrate 
V.S., until a permanent pinkish color is produced by the action of a slight excess 
of alkali upon the brazil wood indicator. Divide the number of cubic centimeters 
of centinormal potassium V.S. used by 10, subtract the number found from 10 
(the 10 Cc. of decinormal acid used), multiply the remainder by 0.0364 and that 
product by 50 (or, multiply at once by 1.82), which will give the percentage of 
total alkaloids in the extract of nux vomica, it being assumed that strychnine 
and brucine are present in equal proportion, and the above factor being found by 
taking the mean of their respective molecular weights rounded off to whole num- 
bers ([334+394]h-2=364) "-(U. S. Pf. 
A study of the foregoing formula for making the extract, shows that the use 
of ether is simply that of a fat remover. In our opinion, gasoline, or even benzin 
is its equal and is cheaper. 
Extract of nux vomica, as now made by the official process, has a light color, 
owing to the presence of much milk sugar. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Nux Vomica). This is an 
intensely bitter, yellow-brown extract, of a somewhat variable percentage of 
strychnine, but usually about 6 per cent. Of total alkaloids the official demand 
is 15 per cent. It is used chiefly in pills. This extract contains the powerful 
properties of nux vomica, but necessarily varies in strength, as above stated, on 
account of the want of a uniform quantity of strychnine in the seeds. It may be 
employed in cases where the action of this agent is required. It is very useful in 
cases of obstinate constipation, and may be employed in the following combination : 
Take extract of butternut, 2 grains; resin of podophyllum, grain; and extract 
of nux vomica, ]?of a grain; mix thoroughly together and form a pill, which is a 
dose, and may be repeated 2 or 3 times daily, or until the desired effect is pro- 
duced. The dose of the above extract of nux vomica is from J to 2 grains, repeated 
2 or 3 times a day, and carefully watching its effects. The small dose of the drug 
permits of a lower alkaloidal standard, and the interest of manufacturers should 
be considered whenever possible. 814 
EXTRACTUM NUCIS VOMICA FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM OPII. 
EXTRACTUM NUCIS VOMICJE FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF NUX VOMICA. 
Preparation.-"Nux vomica, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; acetic acid, fifty cubic centimeters (50 Cc.) 
[1 115, 332 1TL]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity. Mix alcohol and water 
in the proportion of seven hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl£, 
173 TT[] of alcohol and two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl,^. 
218 Til] of water. Moisten the powder with one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 
Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 Tfl] of the mixture, to which the acetic acid had previously been 
added, and let it digest, in a well-covered vessel, in a warm place, during 48 hours. 
Then pack it in a cylindrical glass percolator, and gradually pour menstruum upon 
it, until the nux vomica is practically exhausted. Distill off the alcohol by means 
of a water-bath, transfer the remainder to a tared capsule, evaporate it until it 
weighs about two hundred grammes (200 Gm.) [7 ozs. av., 24 grs.], and allowit to 
become cold. Then determine the weight exactly, remove four grammes (4 Gm.) 
[62 grs.] of the mass, and assay this by the process given under extract of nux 
vomica (see Extractum Nucis Vomicsef using the amounts of liquids there directed 
for two grammes (2 Gm.) [31 grs.J of dry extract. From the results thus obtained 
ascertain, by calculation, the amount of total alkaloids in the remainder of the 
mass, and then add to the latter, first, three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) 
[10 115,69111] of alcohol, and afterward a sufficient quantity of a mixture of 3 
volumes of alcohol and 1 volume of water, so that each one hundred cubic centi- 
meters (100 Cc.) [3 fl.s, 183 Iff] of the finished fluid extract shall contain one and 
five-tenths grammes (1.5 Gm.) [23 grs.] of total alkaloids "-(L7 8'. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Nux Vomica). This liquid is 
about one-tenth as strong as the extract of nux vomica. A fluid extract comparing 
with this one may be made by dissolving the proper amount of the solid extract 
in an hydro-alcoholic menstruum, one-fourth part of which is water. Dose, | to 3 
minims. 
EXTRACTUM OPII (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF OPIUM. 
Preparation.-"Powdered opium, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. 
av., 231 grs.]; sugar of milk, recently dried and in fine powder, water, each, a 
sufficient quantity. Triturate the powdered opium in a mortar thoroughly with 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl,5, 3911T[] of water, repeat the 
trituration occasionally, in the course of 12 hours, then filter through a rapidly- 
acting, double filter, and wash the filter and residue with water, until the filtrate 
is nearly colorless. Concentrate the filtrate and washings in a tared capsule, on a 
water-bath, until the residue weighs about two hundred grammes (200 Gm.) [7 ozs. 
av.,24 grs.], and allow it to become cold. Then determine the weight exactly, 
transfer twelve grammes (12 Gm.) [185 grs.] of it to an Erlenmeyer flask, having a 
capacity of about one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl^, 183 ffi], and deter- 
mine in this portion the amount of morphine by the process of assay given below, 
using the quantities of liquids there directed for four grammes (4 Gm.) [62 grs.] 
of the dry extract. In another portion of five grammes (5 Gm.) [77 grs.] determine 
the amount of water by drying it in a flat-bottomed capsule, at 100° C. (212° F.), 
until it ceases to lose weight. From the results thus obtained ascertain, by calcu- 
lation, the amount of morphine and of water contained in the remainder of the 
extract, add to this enough well-dried sugar of milk to bring the quantity of mor- 
phine in the final dry extract to 18 per cent, then evaporate the whole to dryness, 
reduce it to powder, and transfer it to small, well-stoppered vials"-(f'.S.P). 
Assay (IT. S. P.), Assay of Extract of Opium.-"Extract of opium, dried at 
100° C. (212° F.), four grammes (4 Gm.); ammonia water, two and two-tenths 
cubic centimeters (2.2 Cc.); alcohol, ether, water,each, a sufficient quantity. Dis- 
solve the extract of opium in 30 Cc. of water, filter the solution through a small 
filter, and wash the filter and residue with water, until all soluble matters are 
extracted, collecting the washings separately. Evaporate in a tared capsule, first, 
the washings to a small volume, then add the first filtrate, and evaporate the whole EXTRACTUM OPII LIQUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM PAPAVERIS. 
815 
to a weight of 10 Gm. Rotate the concentrated solution about in the capsule 
until the rings of extract are redissolved, pour the liquid into a tared Erlenmeyer 
flask having a capacity of about 100 Cc., and rinse the capsule with a few drops of 
water at a time, until the entire solution weighs 15 Gm. Then add 7 Gm. (or 
8.5 Cc.) of alcohol, shake well, add 20 Cc. of ether, and shake again. Now add the 
ammonia water from a graduated pipette or burette, stopper the flask with a sound 
cork, shake it thoroughly during 10 minutes, and then set it aside, in a moder- 
ately cool place, for at least 6 hours, or over night. 
" Remove the stopper carefully, and, should any crystals adhere to it, brush 
them into the flask. Place in a small funnel 2 rapidly-acting filters of a diameter 
of 7 Cm., plainly folded, one within the other (the triple fold of the inner filter 
being laid against the single side of the outer filter), wet them well with ether, and 
decant the ethereal solution as completely as possible upon the inner filter. Add 
10 Cc. of ether to the contents of the flask, rotate it, and again decant the ethereal 
layer upon the inner filter. Repeat this operation with another portion of 10 Cc. 
of ether. Then pour into the filter the liquid in the flask, in portions, in such 
a way as to transfer the greater portion of the crystals to the filter, and, when 
this has passed through, transfer the remaining crystals to the filter by washing 
the flask with several portions of water, using not more than about 10 Cc. in all. 
Allow the double filter to drain, then apply water to the crystals, drop by drop, 
until they are practically free from mother-water, and afterwards wash them, drop 
by drop, from a pipette, with alcohol previously saturated with powdered mor- 
phine. When this has passed through, displace the remaining alcohol by ether, 
using about 10 Cc., or more, if necessary. Allow the filter to dry in a moderately 
warm place at a temperature not exceeding 60° C. (140° F.), until its weight 
remains constant, then carefully transfer the crystals to a tared watch-glass and 
weigh them. The weight found, multiplied by 25, represents the amount of crys- 
tallized morphine obtained from 100 Gm. of the extract"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Opium). This is essentially 
a purified extract, the inert matter having been removed in its preparation. It 
has been found that many persons who can not take the crude drug without 
experiencing many unpleasant symptoms, can take the extract without its being 
followed by any of these symptoms. The dose is | to | grain. The extract may be 
combined with other extracts, and may, if desired, be dissolved in water. 
EXTRACTUM OPII LIQUIDUM.-LIQUID EXTRACT OF OPIUM. 
Preparation.-The British Pharmacopoeia directs the preparation of this fluid 
extract of opium as follows: "Take of extract of opium 1 ounce (av.), distilled 
water 16 fluid ounces, rectified spirit 4 fluid ounces. Macerate the extract of 
opium in the water for an hour, stirring frequently; then add the spirit and 
filter. The product should measure 1 pint (Imp). It contains 22 grains of 
extract of opium, nearly, in 1 fluid ounce. Sp. gr., from 0.985 to 0.995 "-(Br. Ph.). 
In point of non-nauseating qualities this preparation is superior to other liquid 
preparations of opium, except the deodorized tincture of opium. This prepara- 
tion contains those principles of opium soluble in water, and is preserved by the 
presence of the alcohol, which proportion, according to some pharmacists, should 
be somewhat increased to give it greater stability. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Uses, same as Opium. Dose, 10 to 30 minims. 
EXTRACTUM PAP AVERIS.-EXTRACT OF POPPY. 
Preparation.-"Take of poppy capsules, freed from the seeds, and in No. 20 
powder, 1 pound (av.); rectified spirit, 2 ounces (Imp.) ; boiling distilled water, a 
sufficiency. Mix the poppy capsules with 2 pints of the water, and infuse for 
24 hours, stirring frequently; then pack in a percolator, and, adding more of the 
water, allow the liquor slowly to pass until about a gallon has been collected, or 
until the residue is exhausted. Evaporate the liquor by a water-bath until it is 
reduced to a pint, and, when cold, add the spirit. Let the mixture stand for 
24 hours, then separate the clear liquor by filtration, and evaporate this by a 816 
EXTRACTUM PAREIRA.-EXTRACTUM PHYSOSTIGMATIS. 
water-bath until the extract has acquired a suitable consistence for forming pills" 
-{Br. Pharm.). This preparation is seldom employed in America. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-fSee Papaveris Capsulae). Dose, 2 to 5 grains. 
EXTRACTUM PAREIRA.-EXTRACT OF PAREIRA. 
Preparation.-"Take of pareira root, in No. 40 powder 1 pound (av.), boil- 
ing distilled water, a sufficiency. Digest the pareira root with a pint of the water 
for 24 hours, then pack in a percolator, and, adding more of the water, allow the 
liquor slowly to pass until about a gallon has been collected, or the pareira is 
exhausted. Evaporate the liquor by a water-bath until the extract has acquired 
a suitable consistence for pills"-{Br. Ph.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Pareira). A diluted alcoholic menstruum 
will, in our opinion, make a better preparation, and one freer from inert matter. 
Dose, 10 to 30 grains. 
EXTRACTUM PAREIRA FLUIDUM (U. S. PJ-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF PAREIRA. 
Preparation.-"Pareira, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; glycerin, one hundred cubic centimeters (100 
Cc.) [3 fl$, 183 H[]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 II5, 391 Hl]. Mix the glycerin with seven 
hundred and twenty cubic centimeters (720 Cc.) [24 fl^, 66 TH] of alcohol, and one 
hundred and eighty cubic centimeters (180 Cc.) [6 fl^, 42 Hl] of water, and hav- 
ing moistened the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 H5, 
2521H] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough 
menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the 
liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having 
closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation 
to proceed, gradually adding, first, the remainder of the menstruum, and after- 
ward a mixture of alcohol and water, made in the proportion of four hundred 
cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl5, 252 Hl] of alcohol, to one hundred cubic centi- 
meters (100 Cc.) [3 fl^, 183 Hl] of water, until the pareira is exhausted. Reserve 
the first eight hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 fl^, 356 Hl] of the 
percolate. Distill off the alcohol from the remainder by means of a water-bath, 
and evaporate the residue to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, 
and add enough menstruum to make the fluid extract measure one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 Hf]"-{U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Pareira). This is a brown, bit- 
ter fluid. A weaker alcoholic menstruum is said to produce as efficient a product. 
We question the usefulness of the glycerin. Dose, 15 to 90 minims, largely diluted. 
EXTRACTUM PETROSELINI RADICIS FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF PARSLEY ROOT 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 171: " From the root of Petroselinum sativum, 
Hoffmann {Parsley'). Process A (see F. 135). No. 40 powder. Menstruum: Diluted 
alcohol"-{Nat. Form.). Commercial parsley root is prone to injury by insects. 
Care should be exercised in the selection of the drug, and market-ground parsley 
root should be excluded if the whole root is to be had. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Petroselinum). Dose, 10 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM PHYSOSTIGMATIS (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF 
PHYSOSTIGMA. 
Synonym : Extract of calabar bean. 
Preparation.-"Physostigma, in No. 80 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten EXT. PHYTOLACCA.-EXT. PHYTOLACCA RADICIS FLUIDUM. 
817 
the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fls, 252 hl] of alco- 
hol, and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to 
saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding alcohol until three thousand cubic centimeters (3000 Cc.) [101 fls, 
212 hl] of tincture are obtained, or the physostigma is exhausted. Reserve the 
first nine hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fls, 208hl] of the percolate, 
and evaporate the remainder, at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), 
to one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl^, 183 hl]; mix this with the 
reserved portion, and evaporate, at or below the before-mentioned temperature, 
on a water-bath, to a pilular consistence"-(Cl £ P). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Physostigma). In the prepa- 
ration of this extract, the menstruum directed in the official process should 
be strictly adhered to. Diluted alcohol produces a greater yield of extract, but 
at its alkaloidal expense. Extract of physostigma well represents calabar bean, 
and is of a green-brown color. Dose, ^g to | grain. 
EXTRACTUM PHYTOLACCA.-EXTRACT OF POKE. 
Preparation.-Exhaust the recently dried leaves of poke, in coarse powder, 
with diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the same manner as 
explained for the preparation of Alcoholic Extracts, on page 758. Extract of poke 
prepared in this manner, is superior to that prepared in the ordinary way with 
water. The leaves employed in the preparation of the extract should be gathered 
immediately previous to the ripening of the berries, at which period they are the 
most active. An extract is prepared from the poke-root in the same manner. An 
extract formed by evaporating the expressed juice'of the recent ripe berries is 
frequently employed, and has been recently highly lauded as an antifat. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-These various extracts of poke are emetic and 
purgative in large doses; in medicinal doses they are alterative, and are especially 
useful in syphilitic, mercurw-syphilitic, and rheumatic diseases, and particularly in the 
osteocopic pains of mercurio-syphilis. They lose their virtues by age, and should be 
freshly prepared every year. The dose is from 1 to 5 grains, or more, 3 timesaday. 
The inspissated juice of poke-berries (Succus inspissatus phytolaccae baccaef is fre- 
quently employed as a valuable agent in rheumatism; it is milder than the extract 
prepared from the root or leaves. The dose, both as an antifat and in rheumatism, 
is from 2 to 5 grains 3 times daily. Since, so far as we know, all advertised anti- 
fat remedies are given by specialists in connection with heavy doses of cathartics, 
the inference is that the cathartic deserves the credit for the loss of flesh. 
EXTRACTUM PHYTOLACCA RADICIS FLUIDUM (U. S. P.) 
FLUID EXTRACT OF PHYTOLACCA ROOT. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of poke-root. 
Preparation.-"Phytolacca root, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to 
make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 Til]. Mix six hundred 
cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 fls, 138 111] of alcohol with three hundred cubic 
centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fl^, 69 Hl] of water, and, having moistened the powder 
with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fls, 252 TH] of the mixture, 
pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum to satu- 
rate the powder, and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop 
from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and having closely covered the perco- 
lator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually 
adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as before 
until the phytolacca root is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred cubic 
centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fl3, 25 TH] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder, 818 
EXTRACTUM PILOCARPI FLUIDUM. 
at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to a soft extract; dissolve this in 
the reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to make the fluid extract meas- 
ure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fis, 391 HT]"-(U. S. P). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-As poke-root is of little value unless fresh, 
it is very probable that this preparation will be of little value in therapy. Dose, 
from 5 to 10 minims, 3 or 4 times a day. 
EXTRACTUM PILOCARPI FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF PILOCARPUS. 
Synonym: Fluid extract of jaborandi. 
Preparation.-"Pilocarpus, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1U00 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391TH.]. Moisten the powder 
with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fls, 401 Hl] of 
diluted alcohol, and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough 
diluted alcohol to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the 
liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having 
closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation 
to proceed, gradually adding diluted alcohol, until the pilocarpus is exhausted. 
Reserve the first eight hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 fi§, 
356 HL] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder, at a temperature not 
exceeding 50° C. (122° F.),to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, 
and add enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 63, 391 TIL] "-(U. S. P.). 
In our experience, a preparation to be preferred when its keeping qualities 
are considered, is made with official alcohol only as the menstruum. We there- 
fore introduce the following process from our Supplement, 1881: 
Extractum Pilocarpi Pennatifolii Fluidum, Fluid extract of Pilocarpus pen- 
natifolius, Fluid extract of jaborandi.-Take of jaborandi leaves, in very fine powder, 
16 troy ounces; of alcohol and acetic acid, each, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the 
powdered leaves with a mixture of 6 fluid ounces of alcohol and 2 fluid drachms 
of acetic acid. Cork tightly in a wide-mouth bottle, and permit the mixture to 
stand an hour in a warm situation. Then introduce it into a cylindrical perco- 
lator 3 inches in diameter, previously prepared for percolation, according to direc- 
tions given on page 756, and press very firmly. Cover the surface of the powder 
with a circular piece of filtering paper, held in position with a few fragments of 
glass or marble, and add alcohol until the percolate appears at the exit. Then 
cork the exit tightly; cover the percolator, and place it in a warm situation. 
After 24 hours loosen the cork, and permit the percolate to pass as fast as it will 
drop without running in a stream, until 4 fluid ounces are obtained. Again close 
the exit macerate 24 hours, and, in a manner like unto the preceding, draw 4 
fluid ounces of percolate. Repeat the maceration, and, in like manner, draw a 
third portion of 4 fluid ounces. Reserve and mix the three percolates; then con- 
tinue the percolation until 8 fluid ounces are obtained. Evaporate this latter 
portion until reduced to the measure of 2 fluid ounces, and mix with the reserved 
12 fluid ounces. The surface of the powaler must be constantly covered with alco- 
hol from the commencement, and until the end of the process of percolation. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Pilocarpus'). Fluid extract 
of jaborandi, when prepared with alcohol and acetic acid, is dark-green in color, 
almost odorless, possesses the taste of the drug, and, as thus prepared, represents 
very nearly the quality of the drug employed, troy ounce to each fluid ounce of the 
finished extract. If the fluid extract be made as in the official process, with mix- 
tures of water and alcohol, the dark-colored extractive matters of the leaves are 
dissolved, and the extract will have a dark reddish-brown color, is more given 
to precipitation, but will not be as satisfactory as though made with alcohol, 
either from a pharmaceutical or a therapeutical point of view. The addition of 
the acetic acid favors the extraction of the pilocarpine, and by using it in con- 
nection with alcohol, both the volatile oil and alkaloid of the drug are dissolved. 
Dose, 1 to 15 minims. EXT. PIPERIS METHYSTICI FLUIDUM.-EXT. PODOPHYLLI. 
819 
EXTRACTUM PIPERIS METHYSTICI FLUIDUM.-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF PIPER METHYSTICUM. 
Preparation.-Take of the root of Piper methysticum, in moderately fine 
powder, 16 troy ounces; of a menstruum of alcohol, 3 parts, water, 2 parts (by 
measure), a sufficient quantity. Moisten the powdered root with 6 fluid ounces 
of the menstruum. Cork tightly in a wide-mouth bottle, and permit the mix- 
ture to stand an hour in a warm situation. Then introduce it into a cylindrical 
percolator, 3 inches in diameter, previously prepared for percolation according to 
directions given on page 756, and press moderately. Cover the surface of the 
powder with a circular piece of filtering paper, held in position with a few frag- 
ments of glass or marble, and add fresh menstruum until the percolate appears 
at the exit. Then cork the exit tightly; cover the percolator, and place it in a 
warm situation. After 24 hours, loosen the cork, and permit the percolate to pass 
as fast as it will drop, without running in a stream, until 4 fluid ounces are ob- 
tained. Again close the exit, macerate 24 hours, and, in a manner like unto the 
preceding, draw 4 fluid ounces of percolate. Repeat the maceration, and, in like 
manner, draw a third portion of 4 fluid ounces. Reserve and mix the 3 perco- 
lates; then continue the percolation until 8 fluid ounces are obtained. Evapo- 
rate this latter portion until reduced to the measure of 2 fluid ounces, and mix 
with the reserved 12 fluid ounces. The surface of the powder must be constantly 
covered with menstruum from the commencement, and until the end of the pro- 
cess of percolation. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Piper methysticum). Fluid 
extract of Piper methysticum is of a reddish-brown color, and imparts the taste 
of the root. It is odorless, and, as thus prepared, represents very nearly the 
quality of drug employed, troy ounce to each fluid ounce of the finished extract. 
This is our formula, introduced in the Supplement in 1881. The National For- 
mulary practically directs the above menstruum and process. 
EXTRACTUM PLANTAGINIS CORDATE.-EXTRACT OF 
PLANT AGO CORD AT A. 
Synonym : Extract of water plantain. 
Preparation.-Exhaust the recently dried root of water plantain, in coarse 
powder, with alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the same 
manner as explained for the preparation of Extractum Hydrastis. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Hydro-alcoholic extract of water plantain is 
astringent, and has been used with much success in Asiatic cholera, diarrhoea, and 
dysentery. The dose is from 1 to 10 grains, repeated every 1, 2, or 3 hours, as 
the urgency of the case requires (Wm. S. Merrell). 
EXTRACTUM PODOPHYLLI (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF 
PODOPHYLLUM. 
Synonyms : Extract of mandrake, Extract of May apple. 
Preparation.-"Podophyllum, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity. Mix 
eight hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 H5, 25 Th] of alcohol with two hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fls, 366 IR] of water, and, having moistened 
the powder with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 Ha, 69 UI] of the 
mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum 
to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as be- 
fore, until the podophyllum is exhausted. Distill off the alcohol from the tinc- 
ture by means of a water-bath, and evaporate the residue, on a water-bath, to a 
pilular consistence"-(U. S. P). 820 
EXT. PODOPHYLLI FLUIDUM.-EXT. POLYGONI FLUIDUM. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is a dark-brown extract. As 
an alterative, this may be given in doses of from 4 to 2 or 3 grains; as a purgative, 
from 3 to 12 grains. It may be used as a substitute for jalap in all cases where a 
purgative is required. Although not so active as an extract made with official 
alcohol, it is more useful. 
EXTRACTUM PODOPHYLLI FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF PODOPHYLLUM. 
Synonyms : Fluid extract of May apple. Fluid extract of mandrake. 
Preparation.-" Podophyllum, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity, to 
make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl.?, 391 Til], Mix eight 
hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fl?, 25 Hl] of alcohol with two hundred 
cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fl?, 366111] of water, and, having moistened the 
powder with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fl?, 69Hl] of the 
mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum 
to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as be- 
fore, until the podophyllum is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred and 
fifty cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 fl?, 356 Hl] of the percolate. Distill oft'the 
alcohol from the remainder by means of a water-bath, and evaporate the residue to 
a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough menstruum 
to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) 
[33 fl?, 391 HI]"-(U. S.P.f 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is a deep brownish-red fluid. 
It is not much valued in therapy. Dose, 5 to 20 minims. 
EXTRACTUM POLYGONI.-EXTRACT OF POLYGONUM, 
Synonym : Extract of water pepper. 
Preparation.-Exhaust the recently dried herb of water pepper, in coarse 
powder, with water, a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the manner explained 
for the preparation of Aqueous Extracts, on page 758. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Extract of water pepper is stimulant, diuretic, 
and emmenagogue, and is especially useful in amenorrhoea and chronic affections of the 
kidneys. It is devoid of the pepper taste of fresh water pepper, which constituent is 
too evanescent to withstand such manipulation. The dose is from 2 to 10 grains, 
3 or 4 times a day. 
EXTRACTUM POLYGONI FLUIDUM.-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF POLYGONUM. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of water pepper. 
Preparation.-Take of the recently dried leaves of water pepper, in coarse 
powder, 16 troy ounces; alcohol, diluted alcohol, each, a sufficient quantity. 
Moisten the leaves thoroughly with alcohol, and let them stand for 24 hours; then 
transfer them to a percolator, and gradually add alcohol, returning a little of the 
first that comes through, till it passes clear. Reserve, by itself, of the first perco- 
late, 12 fluid ounces; then gradually add a sufficient quantity of diluted alcohol 
to the residuum in the percolator, until the liquid that comes through has very 
little of the color or taste of the water pepper. Evaporate this latter solution to 
4 fluid ounces, and, while warm, mix in the reserved tincture, and make 1 pint 
of fluid extract. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Fluid extract of water pepper possesses the prop- 
erties of the dry herb, and may be given whenever that drug is indicated. It is espe- 
cially useful in uterine diseases. The dose is from 10 to 60 minims, 3 or 4 times a day. 821 
EXT. POLYMNIS FLUIDUM.-EXT. PRUNI VIRGINIANS FLUIDUM. 
EXTRAOTUM POLYMNIA FLUIDUM.-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF POLYMNIA. 
Synonyms: Fluid extract of uvedalia, Fluid extract of bear's foot. 
Preparation.-Take of the root of Polymnia uvedalia, in moderately fine 
powder, 16 troy ounces; alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the powder with 
6 fluid ounces of alcohol. Cork tightly in a wide-mouth bottle, and permit the 
mixture to stand an hour in a warm situation. Then introduce it into a cylin- 
drical percolator, 3 inches in diameter, previously prepared for percolation, accord- 
ing to directions given on page 756, and press very firmly. Cover the surface of the 
powder with a circular piece of filtering paper, held in position with a few frag- 
ments of glass or marble, and add alcohol until the percolate appears at the exit. 
Then cork the exit tightly, cover the percolator, and place it in a warm situation. 
After 24 hours, loosen the cork, and permit the percolate to pass as fast as it will 
drop, without running in a stream, until 4 fluid ounces are obtained. Again close 
the exit, macerate 24 hours, and, in a manner like unto the preceding, draw 4 
fluid ounces of percolate. Repeat the maceration, and, in like manner, draw a 
third portion of 4 fluid ounces. Reserve and mix the 3 percolates; then continue 
the percolation until 8 fluid ounces are obtained. Evaporate this latter portion 
until reduced to the measure of 2 fluid ounces, and mix with the reserved 12 fluid 
ounces. The surface of the powder must be constantly covered with alcohol from 
the commencement, and until the end of the process of percolation. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Fluid extract of Polymnia uve- 
dalia is reddish-brown in color, of a disagreeable fetid odor and taste, and, as thus 
prepared, represents very nearly the quality of the drug employed, troy ounce to 
each fluid ounce of the finished extract. Any addition of water or glycerin to 
the alcohol composing the menstruum, is to be avoided, as they occasion loss of 
resinous constituents. (For uses, see Polymnia). Dose, 10 to 60 minims. 
EXTRAOTUM PRUNI VIRGINIANS.-EXTRACT OF 
WILD CHERRY. 
Preparation.-Take of wild cherry bark, in coarse powder, alcohol, a sufficient 
quantity. Moisten the bark with a pint of alcohol, let it stand 24 hours, then 
transfer to a displacement apparatus, and gradually add alcohol until it passes off 
nearly tasteless. Evaporate by a gentle heat, or spontaneously ; too great a degree 
of heat will spoil the extract. Wild cherry bark yields to alcohol 22 per cent of 
dry, deep-red, bitter, astringent extract, containing amygdalin. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-It has been suggested that this extract may 
be rendered available for extemporaneous prescriptions in the following manner, 
so as to get the sedative power of the bark associated with all its tonic qualities, 
thus: Take of alcoholic'extract of wild cherry bark, 2 drachms; emulsion of 
sweet almonds, | pint; triturate the extract with a portion of the emulsion till 
dissolved, and then add the remainder and mix. It should not be used for 
several hours after it is prepared. The dose is a tablespoonful, and it may be 
sweetened with sugar or syrup. Before administration it must be shaken, as the 
coagulum formed by the tannin of the extract acting on the albumen of the emul- 
sion is not to be removed (W. Procter, Jr.). 
• EXTRAOTUM PRUNI VIRGINIANS FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF WILD CHERRY. 
Preparation.-" Wild cherry, in No. 20 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; glycerin, one hundred cubic centimeters (100 
Cc.) [3 fl^, 183 1TL]; alcohol, water, each a sufficient quantity to make one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 HIT Mix the glycerin with two 
hundred cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fl^, 366111] of water, and, having mois- 
tened the powder with the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical glass percolator, 822 
EXTRACTUM PTELE.E.-EXTRACTUM QUASSIA. 
and, having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours; then gradually 
add menstruum, made in the proportion of eight hundred and fifty cubic centi- 
meters (850 Cc.) [28 115,356 UI] of alcohol to one hundred and fifty cubic centi- 
meters (150 Cc.) [5 fls, 35 Tfi] of water, and allow the percolation to proceed until 
the wild cherry is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred cubic centimeters 
(800 Cc.) [27 fig, 25 UI J of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder, at a tempera- 
ture not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved 
portion, and add enough menstruum to make the fluid extract measure one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 UI]"-(U. S. Pf. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Prunus Virginiand). This 
preparation has been the subject of constant change of formula in each succeed- 
ing Pharmacopoeia. The present formula is thought to be an improvement upon 
all of its predecessors. However, barring its troublesome manipulation, the modi- 
fied formula of Prof. W. Procter, Jr., has been considered by competent judges an 
excellent preparation. Procter's process will be found below. This extract is a 
dark, wine-red, transparent liquid, not syrupy in consistence, and possessed of a 
bitter, hydrocyanic taste. If it be desired to make a preparation free from astrin- 
gency, strips of isinglass, previously softened in water, may be added to the aque- 
ous solution, which will remove the tannic acid. 
This may be used wherever wild cherry bark is indicated. One fluid drachm of 
it represents 30 grains of the bark, 2 fluid ounces of the infusion, or a tablespoonful 
of the syrup. Four fluid ounces of this fluid extract may be added to 12 fluid 
ounces of simple syrup to form a syrup of wild cherry bark. Dose, 10 to 60 minims. 
Procter's Formula.-Fluid Extract of Wild Cherry. Take of wild cherry bark, 24 troy 
ounces; sweet almonds, 3 troy ounces; pure granulated sugar, 36 troy ounces; alcohol, 88 per 
cent, and water, each, a sufficient quantity. Macerate the powdered bark in 2 pints of alcohol 
for 8 hours, introduce it into a percolator and pour on alcohol till 5 pints have passed, observ- 
ing to regulate the passage of the liquid by a cork or stop-cock. Introduce the tincture into a 
capsule (or distillatory apparatus, if the alcohol is to be regained), and evaporate it to a syrupy 
consistence; add J pint of water, and again evaporate till the alcohol is entirely removed. 
Beat the almonds, without blanching, into a smooth paste with a little of the water, and then add 
sufficient to make the emulsion measure 1| pints, and pour it in a quart bottle previously con- 
taining the solution of the extract of the bark, cork it securely, and agitate occasionally for 24 
hours, so as to give time for the decomposition of the amygdalin. The mixture is then to be 
quickly expressed and filtered into a bottle containing the sugar, marked to hold 3 pints. 
Water should be added to the dregs, and they again expressed till sufficient filtered liquid is 
obtained to make the fluid extract measure 3 pints (W. Procter, Jr.). A superior fluid extract 
of wild cherry, may be made by freely moistening the coarse powdered bark, 16 troy ounces, 
and sweet almonds, beaten to a paste with just enough water, 1A troy ounces, with a mixture 
of equal parts of glycerin and water; cover and let them macerate for 4 days; pack uniformly 
in a percolator, and gradually add of the mixture of equal parts of glycerin and water, until 
11 fluid ounces have been used altogether. Then gradually add alcohol until enough has 
passed to make the whole amount of fluid extract equal to 1 pint. It will be seen that this 
process is a modification of the formula of Prof. Procter, the advantage being that the manipu- 
lation is more simple. The dose of these extracts is that of the official preparation. 
EXTRACTUM PTELE®.-EXTRACT OF PTELEA. 
Synonym : Alcoholic extract of shrubby trefoil. 
Preparation.-Exhaust the recently dried bark of the root of Ptelea trifoliata, 
in coarse powder, with alcohol, proceeding in the manner explained for the prepa- 
ration of Alcoholic Extracts, on page 758. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This extract is an elegant preparation, and 
may be used in all cases where ptelea is indicated. The addition of water to the 
alcohol injures the preparation. The dose is from 2 to 10 grains. 
EXTRACTUM QUASSIA (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF QUASSIA. 
Preparation.-" Quassia, in No. 20 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; water, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the pow- 
der with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl^, 252 TH] of water, pack 
it firmly in a conical percolator, and gradually pour water upon it until the infu- EXT. QUASSIA FLUIDUM.-EXT. RHAMNI PUR8HIAN.E FLUIDUM. 
823 
sion passes but slightly imbued with bitterness. Reduce the liquid to £ of its 
bulk by boiling, and strain ; then evaporate, by means of a water-bath, to a pilular 
consistence"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is a concentrated, deep- 
brown or black, bitter extract, becoming dry and crumbling with age. Dose, 
usually with other bitter tonics, 1 to 2 grains. 
EXTRACTUM QUASSIA FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF QUASSIA. 
Preparation.-"Quassia, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391HI]. Mix three hundred 
cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fl^, 69 TIT J of alcohol with six hundred cubic centi- 
meters (600 Cc.) [20 fls, 138 Hl] of water, and, having moistened the powder with 
four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 65, 252 Hl] of the mixture, pack it 
firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum to saturate the 
powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the 
percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, macer- 
ate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding men- 
struum, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as before, until the quassia 
is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fla, 
208 Tfi] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve 
this in the reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to make the fluid extract 
measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 H[] "-(a s. p.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Quassia). This is a brownish- 
yellow, persistently bitter fluid. The dose is from 5 to 20 minims, well diluted 
with water. 
EXTRACTUM QUILLAJA FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF QUILLAJA. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 172: " From the bark of Quillaja Saponaria, 
Molina {Soap bark). Process A (see F. 135). No. 40 powder. Menstruum: Diluted 
alcohol "-{Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Quillaja). This preparation is used mainly 
to produce froth in beverages. A few drops will make soda syrups foam liberally. 
Dose, 1 to 20 minims. 
EXTRACTUM RHAMNI PURSHIANJE FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF RHAMNUS PURSHIANA. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of cascara sagrada. 
Preparation.-"Rhamnus purshiana, in No. 60 powder, onethousand grammes 
(lOOOGm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 63, 391 Hl]. Moisten the powder 
with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl^, 252 hl] of diluted alcohol, 
and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough diluted alcohol to 
saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding diluted alcohol, until the rhamnus purshiana is exhausted. Reserve 
the first eight hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 65, 25 TH] of the percolate, 
and evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved por- 
tion, and add enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 TH]"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Fluid extract of Rhamnus purshi- 
ana is dark yellowish-red in color, almost odorless, of a disagreeable bitter taste, 824 
EXT. RHAMNI PURSH1ANUE FLUIDUM AROMATICUM.-EXT. RHEI. 
and, as thus prepared, represents very nearly the quality of drug employed, troy 
ounce to each fluid ounce of the finished extract. This preparation, now made 
official for the first time, is extensively used as a remedy for habitual constipation. 
It was introduced through the efforts of Parke, Davis & Co., who gave it great 
conspicuity and liberal advertisements. The drug was first mentioned by Dr. 
Bundy, but the conspicuity of the fluid extract is clearly to be credited to this 
energetic firm. Dose, 10 to 45 minims. 
EXTRACTUM RHAMNI PURSHIAN.® FLUIDUM AROMATICUM 
(N. F.)-AROMATIC FLUID EXTRACT OF RHAMNUS PURSHIANA. 
Synonym: Aromatic fluid extract of cascara sagrada. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 173: "Rhamnus purshiana, in No. 60 pow- 
der, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]; glycyrrhiza, 
in No. 40 powder, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]; calcined 
magnesia, one hundred and twenty-five grammes (125 Gm.) [4 ozs. av., 179 grs.] ; 
glycerin, two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 11.5,218 RI]; com- 
pound spirit of orange (U. S. Pi), ten cubic centimeters (10 Cc.) [1621R]; alcohol, 
five hundred cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 Us, 435 1R] ; water, diluted alcohol, 
(U. S. P.), each, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters 
(1000 Cc.) [33 115, 391 R[]. Mix the powdered drugs and the magnesia with two 
thousand cubic centimeters (2000 Cc.) [67 115, 3011R] of water, macerate for 12 
hours and then dry the mixture on a water-bath at a gentle heat. Mix the glyc- 
erin and the alcohol with two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc) [8 115, 
218 1R] of water, and percolate the dried powders with this menstruum, followed 
by diluted alcohol, according to the directions given under Process B (see F. 135). 
Reserve the first eight hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 Us, 
356 1R] that pass, and set this aside. Continue the percolation with diluted alco- 
hol to practical exhaustion, evaporate this second portion to a soft extract, dissolve 
it in the reserved portion, and add the compound spirit of orange and sufficient 
diluted alcohol to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 RI] 
of fluid extract"-{Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-An agreeable aromatic laxative. Dose, 10 to 45 
minims. 
Under the name of Cascara Cordial, Parke, Davis & Co. have long made a pala- 
table preparation of cascara, which enjoys the confidence of those who use it. 
Kasagra, or Cascara Aromatica, is a liquid preparation of cascara sagrada, used exten- 
sively by physicians, made by Frederick Stearns & Co., of Detroit. Both these 
preparations are very pleasant to the taste, being destitute of all bitterness. 
EXTRACTUM RHEI (U. S. P)- EXTRACT OF RHUBARB. 
Preparation.-"Rhubarb, in No. 30 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity. Mix 
eight hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 flo, 25 1R] of alcohol with two hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 115, 366 RI] of water, and, having moistened 
the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 115,252 RL] of the 
mixture, pack it firmly in a conical percolator; then add enough menstruum to 
saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop 
from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the per- 
colator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually 
adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as before, 
until the tincture passes nearly tasteless. Reserve the first one thousand cubic 
centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 115,3911R] of the percolate, and set it aside in a warm 
place, until it is reduced by spontaneous evaporation to five hundred cubic cen- 
timeters (500 Cc.) [16 A3, 435RI], Evaporate the remainder of the percolate, in 
a porcelain vessel, by means of a water-bath, at a temperature not exceeding 70° C. 
(158° F.), to the consistence of syrup. Mix this with the reserved portion, and EXT. RHEI FLUIDUM.- EXT. RHOIS AROMATICS FLUIDUM. 
825 
continue the evaporation, at or below the before-mentioned temperature, until 
the mixture is reduced to a pilular consistence"-(G. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Rheum). Great care is re- 
quired in the preparation of this extract, as both the tonic and purgative proper- 
ties of rhubarb are very apt to become deteriorated by the process. Only a gentle 
heat must be employed. The extract prepared by evaporation in vacuo, will be 
found decidedly the best; it possesses the odor and taste of the root. Extract of 
rhubarb, only when well and carefully prepared, possesses virtues similar to the 
drug itself, and may be given in pill form, or in solution in doses of from 5 grains 
to | drachm. 
EXTRACTUM RHEI FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF RHUBARB. 
Preparation.-"Rhubarb, in No. 30 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to 
make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 TIL]. Mix eight hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fl§, 25 Til] of alcohol with two hundred cubic 
centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fl^, 366 1TL] of water, and, having moistened the powder 
with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [ 13 fl5,252 Hl] of the mixture, pack 
it firmly in a conical percolator; then add enough of menstruum to saturate the 
powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the 
percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, 
macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding 
menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as before, until the 
rhubarb is exhausted. Reserve the first seven hundred and fifty cubic centimeters 
(750 Cc.; [25 fl^, 173 Til] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder, at a tem- 
perature not exceeding 70° C. (158° F.), to a soft extract; dissolve this in the 
reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to make the fluid extract measure 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 3911R] "-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Rheum). This is a very dark 
red-brown liquid, possessing the characteristic taste and odor of rhubarb. This 
product remains fluid for a much longer period than those formerly official, in 
which sugar, glycerin, etc., were employed. Precipitation is likely to occur by 
age. This is an efficient preparation, fairly representative of the virtues of the 
rhubarb, and may be administered in all cases where that drug is admissible. The 
dose for an adult is from to 1 fluid drachm, which are equivalent to similar 
quantities of the root. When it is desired to disguise the taste, in cases where 
stimulants are not contraindicated, 6 or 8 fluid drachms may be added to 8 fluid 
ounces of the above, of a mixture composed of equal parts of tincture of prickly- 
ash berries, tincture of ginger, and essence of sassafras. 
EXTRACTUM RHOIS AROMATICS FLUIDUM.-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF RHUS AROMATICA. 
Preparation.-Take of the bark of the root of Rhus aromatica, in fine pow- 
der, 16 troy ounces; alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the powder with 6 
fluid ounces of alcohol. Cork tightly in a wide-mouth bottle, and permit the 
mixture to stand an hour in a warm situation. Then introduce it into a cylin- 
drical percolator, 3 inches in diameter, previously prepared for percolation accord- 
ing to directions given on page 756, and press very firmly. Cover the surface of 
the powder with a circular piece of filtering paper, held in position with a few 
fragments of glass or marble, and add alcohol until the percolate appears at the 
exit. Then cork the exit tightly; cover the percolator, and place it in a warm 
situation. After 24 hours, loosen the cork, and permit the percolate to pass as 
fast as it will drop without running in a stream, until 4 fluid ounces are obtained. 
Again close the exit, macerate 24 hours, and, in a manner like unto the preceding, 
draw 4 fluid ounces of percolate. Repeat the maceration, and, in like manner, 
draw a third portion of 4 fluid ounces. Reserve and mix the three percolates, then 
continue the percolation until 8 fluid ounces are obtained. Evaporate this latter 826 
EXT. RHOIS GLABR.E FLUIDUM.-EXT. ROS^ FLUIDUM. 
portion until reduced to the measure of 2 fluid ounces, and mix with the reserved 
12 fluid ounces. The surface of the powder must be constantly covered with alco- 
hol from the commencement, and until the end of the process of percolation. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Fluid extract of Rhus aromatica 
is of a brownish color, and possesses the disagreeable, turpentine-like odor and 
taste of the root. It should not be made with a menstruum containing water or 
glycerin, as these bodies prevent the resinous constituents of the root from dissolv- 
ing. As prepared by the foregoing formula, the extract represents very nearly those 
constituents of the root soluble in alcohol, troy ounce to fluid ounce, For uses, 
see Rhus aromatica. Dose, 5 to 60 minims, in water, glycerin and water, or syrup. 
EXTRACTUM RHOIS GLABRA FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF RHUS GLABRA. 
Synonym: Fluid extract of sumach-berries. 
Preparation.-"Rhus glabra, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]; glycerin, one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) 
[3 183111]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic 
centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 115, 391 UI]. Mix the glycerin with nine hundred cubic 
centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 H5, 208 UI J of diluted alcohol, and, having moistened 
the powder with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 
401 UI] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add 
enough menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When 
the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having 
closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation 
to proceed, gradually adding, first, the remainder of the menstruum, and after- 
wards diluted alcohol, until the rhus glabra is exhausted. Reserve the first eight 
hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fi.5, 25 UI] of the percolate, and evapo- 
rate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and 
add enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic 
centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 UI] "-(G. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.--(See Rh/us glabra). This agent is 
of a dark-red color, and has the agreeably acidulous and constringing taste of the 
berries from which it is prepared. (For fluid extract of the bark, see below.) Fluid 
extract of sumach is tonic, astringent, and antiseptic. It will be found beneficial 
in scrofula, gonorrhoea, diarrhoea, dysentery, and in mercurial sore mouth and saliva- 
tion. The dose is from fluid drachm to 1 fluid drachm, 3 times a day. 
Related Preparation.-Fluid Extract of Rhus Glabra Bark, Fluid extract of sumach 
bark. Take of the recently dried bark of Rhus glabra, in coarse powder, 16 troy ounces; 
alcohol, diluted alcohol, each, a sufficient quantity. Add sufficient alcohol to the bark to 
thoroughly moisten it, and let it macerate for 24 hours; then transfer the mixture to a perco- 
lator, and gradually add alcohol, returning a little of the first that passes, till it runs clear. 
Reserve by itself, of the first percolate 12 fluid ounces. Then pour diluted alcohol on the 
residuum in the percolator, until the liquid that passes has very little of the taste of the 
sumach; evaporate this latter solution to 4 fluid ounces, and while warm mix in the reserved 
tincture and extract, and make 1 pint of fluid extract. Used same as the preceding. 
EXTRACTUM ROSjE FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)- FLUID 
EXTRACT OF ROSE. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of red rose. 
Preparation.-"Red rose, in No. 30 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; glycerin, one hundred cubic centimeters (100 
Cc.) [3 H3, 183 111]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 TH,]. Mix the glycerin with nine hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 H5, 208UI] of diluted alcohol, and, having 
moistened the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 H5, 
252 TH] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical glass percolator; then add 
enough menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When 827 
EXTRACTUM RUBI FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM RUMICIS FLUIDUM. 
the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having 
closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation 
to proceed, gradually adding, first, the remainder of the menstruum, and after- 
ward diluted alcohol, until the red rose is exhausted. Reserve the first seven hun- 
dred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fli?, 173 hl] of the percolate, and 
evaporate the remainder in a porcelain capsule, at a temperature not exceeding 
50° C. (122° F.), to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add 
enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic 
centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl5, 391 hl] "-([/. S P.f 
Description, Medical Uses, and. Dosage.-This fluid has a deep-red color, 
and the odor of rose. To the taste it is pleasantly subastringent. It may be 
added to mouth washes and gargles, and employed to disguise the taste of mag- 
nesium and sodium sulphates, etc. Dose, 30 minims to 2 fluid drachms 
EXTRACTUM RUBI FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF RUBUS. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of blackberry bark. 
Preparation.-" Rubus, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
f2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; glycerin, one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) 
3 fl .5, 183 hl]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl ,5, 391 hl]. Mix the glycerin with six hundred 
cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 fl^, 138 hl] of alcohol and three hundred cubic 
centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fls, 69 hl] of water, and, having moistened the powder 
with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [1111,5,401 hl] of the mix- 
ture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum to 
saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding, first, the remainder of the menstruum, and afterwrard a mixture of 
alcohol and water, made in the proportion of six hundred cubic centimeters (600 
Cc.) [20 fl§, 138 hl] of alcohol and three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) 
[10 O, 69 hl] of water, until the rubus is exhausted. Reserve the first seven 
hundred cubic centimeters (700 Cc.) [23 fl^, 321 1h] of the percolate. Dis- 
till off the alcohol from the remainder by means of a water-bath, and evapo- 
rate the residue to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add 
enough of the mixture of alcohol and water, using the last-named proportions, 
to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) 
[33 fls, 391 hl] (U. S. P.f 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-A strongly astringent, dark red- 
brown, translucent liquid. Dose, 30 minims to 2 fluid drachms. 
EXTRACTUM RUMICIS.-EXTRACT OF RUMEX. 
Synonym : Extract of yellow dock. 
Preparation.- Exhaust coarsely powdered yellow dock root, with alcohol, 
water, each, a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the manner explained for the 
preparation of Alcoholic Extracts, on page 758 (E. S. Wayne). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This extract is tonic and alterative, and is 
efficient in scrofula and cutaneous diseases. It is most generally given in combi- 
nation with some other alterative, as extract of poke, cimicifuga, dulcamara, cory- 
dalis, etc. The dose is from 1 to 5 grains, 3 times a day. 
EXTRACTUM RUMICIS FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF RUMEX. 
Synonym: Fluid extract of yellow dock. 
Preparation.-"Rumex, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 oz., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one 828 
EXT. SABINA FLUIDUM.-EXT. SAXGUINAREE FLUIDUM. 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 H5, 391 Hl], Moisten the powder with 
three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fls, 401 Hl] of diluted 
alcohol, and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough diluted 
alcohol to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid 
begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely 
covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to pro- 
ceed, gradually adding diluted alcohol until the rumex is exhausted. Reserve the 
first eight hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fls, 25 Hl] of the percolate, and 
evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, 
and add enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl.5, 391 TTL]"-{U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-{See Rumex). This dark reddish- 
brown fluid has a bitter and astringent taste, and well represents the crude drug. 
Dose, 10 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM SABINA FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF SAVINE. 
Preparation.-"Savine, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
[2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 H5, 391 Hl], Moisten the powder with two hun- 
dred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 115,218 Hl] of alcohol, and pack it 
firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to saturate the pow- 
der and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the per- 
colator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, macerate 
for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding alcohol, 
until the savine is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic centimeters 
(900 Cc.) [30 H5, 208 Hl] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder at a tem- 
perature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.) to a soft extract; dissolve this in the 
reserved portion, and add enough alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl.5, 391 Hl] "-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Sabina). This preparation 
contains the active constituents of savine, and has a dark, browmish-green color. 
It precipitates when mixed with water. Dose, 2 to 15 minims. 
EXTRACTUM SANGUINARIA.-EXTRACT OF SANGUINARIA. 
Synonym : Extract of bloodroot. 
Preparation.-Exhaust coarsely powdered bloodroot, with alcohol, water, 
each, a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the manner explained for the prepara- 
tion of Alcoholic Extracts, on page 758. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This preparation of bloodroot is expectorant, 
alterative, and emmenagogue, and may be used with benefit in pulmonary and 
hepatic diseases, jaundice, and amenorrhcea. Externally, it forms a mild caustic, and 
and may be advantageously applied to indolent ulcers and fistula-in-ano. It possesses 
the virtues of the root. The dose is from | to 1 grain (J. King). 
EXTRACTUM SANGUINARIA FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF SANGUINARIA. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of bloodroot. 
Preparation.-"Sanguinaria, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lb. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; acetic acid, fifty cubic centimeters (50 Cc.) 
[1 fls, 332 Hl] ; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 Hl]. Mix the alcohol and water in the 
proportion of seven hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl^, 173 Hl] 
of alcohol, and two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 flg, 218 TH] 
of water. Moisten the powder with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) 
[10 H.5, 69 Hl] of the mixture, to which the acetic acid had previously been added, 829 
EXT. SARSAP. FLUIDUM.-EXT. SARSAP. FLUIDUM COMPOSITUM. 
and let it macerate, in a well-covered vessel, in a warm place, during 48 hours. 
Then pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator, and gradually pour menstruum 
upon it, until the sanguinaria is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred and 
fifty cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 fl^, 356TH] of the percolate, and evaporate 
the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add 
enough alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centi- 
meters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 TH] "-(G. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Sanguinaria). This is a deep- 
red fluid with the tendency, as with all fluid preparations of bloodroot, to precipi- 
tation. The formula is improved, in this regard, by using official alcohol instead 
of alcohol diluted with water, and that, too, without injuring the drug energy of 
the product. It well represents the crude drug. Dose, from J to 5 minims. 
EXTRACTUM SARSAPARILLA FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
extract of Sarsaparilla. 
Preparation.-"Sarsaparilla, in No. 30 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity 
to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 TH.]. Mix three 
hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fis, 69 1R.] of alcohol with six hundred 
cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 fls, 138 fit] of water, and, having moistened 
the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fig, 252 1R.] of the 
mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum 
to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as before, 
until the sarsaparilla is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred cubic centi- 
meters (800 Cc.) [27 Hs, 25 1R] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder to a 
soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough menstruum 
to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) 
[33 113,391 RI]"-(U.S.P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is a somewhat thick, opaque 
fluid, of a deep red-brown color, and a sweetish and persistent, sub-acrid taste. It 
is fast losing its popularity as a remedy. Dose, 30 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM SARSAPARILLA FLUIDUM COMPOSITUM (U. S. P.) 
COMPOUND FLUID EXTRACT OF SARSAPARILLA. 
Preparation.-"Sarsaparilla, in No. 30 powder, seven hundred and fifty 
grammes (750 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 10 ozs., 199 grs.]; glycyrrhiza, in No. 30 powder, one 
hundred and twenty grammes (120 Gm.) [4 ozs. av., 102 grs.]; sassafras,in No.30 
powder, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]; mezereum, in 
No.30 powder, thirty grammes (30 Gm.) [1 oz.av.,25 grs.]; glycerin, one hundred 
cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 H5, 183 RV; alcohol, water, a sufficient quantity 
to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 65, 391 TH] Mix the 
glycerin with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 691R] of alcohol 
and six hundred cubic centimeters (600 Cc.) [20 65, 138 111] of water, and, hav- 
ing moistened the mixed powders with four hundred cubic centimeters (400Cc.) 
[13 fig, 252 111] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add 
enough menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When 
the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having 
closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation 
to proceed, gradually adding, first, the remainder of the menstruum, and after- 
ward a mixture of alcohol and water, made in the proportion of three hundred 
cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fl§, 69 UT] of alcohol to six hundred cubic centi- 
meters (600 Cc.) [20 fig, 138 RI] of water, until the powder is exhausted. Reserve 
the first eight hundred cubic centimeters (800Cc.) [27 fV, 259 fit] of the percolate, 830 
EXTRACTUM SCILL/E FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM SCOPARII FLUIDUM. 
and evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved por- 
tion, and add enough of a mixture of alcohol and water, using the last-named 
proportions, to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters 
(1000 Cc.) [33 fl', 391 Hl]"-(^ & 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This preparation depends for 
its virtues chiefly upon the mezereum, and the utility of the latter is even ques- 
tionable. It is intended to replace the compound decoction of sarsaparilla. Inas- 
much as the latter contains guaiacum, an active constituent, in our opinion this 
compound fluid extract is the less efficient of the two. This fluid extract is re- 
puted alterative, and may be used in scrofula and secondary syphilis. The dose is 
a fluid drachm, which is equivalent to a drachm of the root, 3 or 4 times a day. 
EXTRACTUM SCILL® FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF SQUILL. 
Preparation.-" Squill, in No. 20 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
[2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.] ; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 RI]. Mix seven hundred and 
fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fls, 173 1R] of alcohol with two hundred and 
fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl§, 218 RI] of water, and, having moistened 
the powder with two hundred cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fl§, 366 RI] of the 
mixture, pack it in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum to satu- 
rate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop 
from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the perco- 
lator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually 
adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as before, 
until the squill is exhausted. Reserve the first seven hundred and fifty cubic 
centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 65, 173 RI] of the percolate, and evaporate the remain- 
der to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough men- 
struum to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 
Cc.) [33 fls, 391 RI]"-(^ & P f 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Scilla). This preparation has 
a deep, clear, brown-red color, and a bitter, acrid taste. Alcohol appears to extract 
the active constituents, though this is best accomplished by the use of diluted 
acetic acid. It is also suggested that the fluid extract be prepared half strength 
(Amer. Drug., 1886, p. 202). Dose, 1 to 5 minims, largely diluted with water. 
EXTRACTUM SCOPARII FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF SCOPARIUS. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of broom. 
Preparation.-"Scoparius, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.J; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 RI]. Moisten the powder with 
three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 As,401 RI] of diluted alco- 
hol, and pack firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough menstruum to 
saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding diluted alcohol, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as 
before, until the scoparius is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred and fifty 
cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 fl£, 356 RI] of the percolate, and evaporate the 
remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough 
menstruum to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters 
(1000 Cc.) [33 fl3, 391 RI] (U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Scoparius): This is a deep 
olive-hued liquid of the bitter taste and peculiar odor of broom. An unimportant 
precipitate may fall. This is intended as a diuretic, but is not so active in this 
respect as the infusion, and is inferior to that preparation. Dose, 15 to 60 minims. EXTRACTUM SCUTELLA RLE.-EXTRACTUM SENEGA FLUIDUM. 
831 
EXTRACTUM SCUTELLARIA.-EXTRACT OF SCUTELLARIA. 
Synonym : Extract of scullcap. 
Preparation.- Exhaust the recent dried herb, scullcap, in powder, with 
diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the manner explained for the 
preparation of Alcoholic Extracts, on page 758. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Scutellaria). Extract of scullcap is tonic, 
nervine, and antispasmodic. It has been used with advantage in cases of nervous 
excitability, chorea, zvakefulness, and restlessness; it may be used alone or in combi- 
nation with the alcoholic extracts of cimicifuga, cypripedium, or asclepias. The 
dose is from 1 to 5 grains, 3 or 4 times a day. 
EXTRACTUM SCUTELLARIA FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF SCUTELLARIA. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of scullcap. 
Preparation.-"Scutellaria, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 hl]. Moisten the powder 
with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (350 Cc.) [11 fls, 401 hl] of 
diluted alcohol, and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough 
diluted alcohol to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the 
liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having 
closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation 
to proceed, gradually adding diluted alcohol, until the Scutellaria is exhausted. 
Reserve the first eight hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fls, 25 hl] of the 
percolate, and evaporate the remainder, at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. 
(122° F.), to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough 
diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters 
(1000 Cc.) [33 As, 391 hl]"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Scutellaria'). This prepara- 
tion has a dark green-brown color. Diluted alcohol, however, does not produce 
a very permanent preparation. Fluid extract of scullcap is tonic, nervine, and 
antispasmodic, and is a very convenient and eligible form of administering the 
active principles of the plant. It may be used in all cases where the herb is indi- 
cated. The dose is from | to 1 fluid drachm, 3 or 4 times a day (J. King). 
EXTRACTUM SENEGA FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
Extract of Senega 
Synonym : Fluid extract of seneka. 
Preparation.-"Senega, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
[2 lb. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; ammonia water, fifty cubic centimeters (50 Cc.) [1 fl^, 
332 hl]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic 
centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 ID], Mix the ammonia water with seven hun- 
dred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl,5,173 Th] of alcohol and two hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fig, 366 hl] of water, and, having moistened 
the powder with four hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (450 Cc.) [15 104 hl] 
of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical glass percolator; then add enough 
menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the 
liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having 
closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation 
to proceed, gradually adding, first, the remainder of the menstruum, and then a 
mixture of alcohol and water, made in the proportion of seven hundred and fifty 
cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fig, 173hl] of alcohol to two hundred and fifty 
cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl§, 218 hl] of water, until the senega is exhausted. 
Reserve the first eight hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 fl^, 
356 Th.) of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder, in a porcelain capsule, to 832 
EXT. SENN/E FLUIDUM.-EXT. SENNyE FLUIDUM DEODORATUM. 
a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough of the last- 
mentioned mixture of alcohol and water to make the fluid extract measure one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl£, 391 RI]"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is a rather thin, deep-brown 
fluid, having the acrid taste and peculiar odor of senega. Senegin is better 
extracted by water than by a menstruum strongly alcoholic, though when water 
is used pectinous matter loads the product so that after a time gelatinization 
»takes place. As a hydro-alcoholic menstruum containing one-third water thor- 
oughly extracts the properties of senega, and with the presence of ammonia to 
'prevent gelatinization, the fluid keeps well, it has been suggested that the official 
menstruum is unnecessarily too strongly alcoholic. By age, this fluid extract is 
liable to precipitate a gelatinous substance (pectic acid), which may be redis- 
solved by the cautious addition of a few drops of ammonia water. Fluid extract 
of senega possesses all the properties of the root, and may be given drachm for 
drachm, in all cases in which the root is indicated. It may also be added to 
syrup, honey, and other articles, to form senega syrup, expectorants, etc. 
EXTRACTUM SENNJS FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF SENNA. 
Preparation.- "Senna, in No. 30 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 Tf[]. Moisten the powder 
with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fls, 252 of diluted alcohol, 
and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough diluted alcohol 
to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding diluted alcohol until the senna is exhausted. Reserve the first eight 
hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 445, 25 UI] of the percolate, and evaporate 
the remainder to a soft extract, dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add 
enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic 
centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 W]"-(G. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Senna). In this process, the 
aromatics and Hoffman's anodyne of former processes are omitted. The earlier 
preparations were also too thick and gave heavy deposits. Glycerin, added to 
later processes, did not improve the product, so it is now omitted. When it is 
desirable to aromatize this fluid extract, add 16 minims of oil of cloves dissolved 
in £ fluid ounce of tincture of ginger to the quantity of the formula. If the 
senna is passed through a sieve 50 or 60 meshes to the inch, and a funnel- 
shaped percolator be used, the first pint of tincture will contain most of the 
valuable portion of the senna, and by observing precautions in its evaporation, it 
is not injured in the process. As the aromatics are omitted, the fluid extract can 
be employed to make other fluid extracts, tinctures, or syrups, into which senna 
enters. This forms a neat preparation of senna of a deep-brown color and the 
characteristic taste and odor of the leaves. An inert precipitate often separates 
in large amount, and deposits upon the sides and bottom of the container. Dose, 
I to 4 fluid drachms. The purgative dose for an adult is fluid ounce. 
EXTRACTUM SENNJE FLUIDUM DEODORATUM (N. F.) 
DEODORIZED FLUID EXTRACT OF SENNA. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 174: "Senna, in No. 60 powder, one thou- 
sand grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.j; alcohol, water, each a suffi- 
cient quantity. Moisten the senna with three hundred and fifty cubic centimeters 
350 Cc.) [11 fls, 400 TH ] of alcohol, pack it firmly in a percolator, and percolate it 
with alcohol until it is practically exhausted by this menstruum. The alcoholic 
percolate thus obtained is rejected, and the alcohol may be recovered therefrom 
by distillation. Then take out the moist powder, dry it, and prepare a fluid EXT. SENN.E ET JALAP.E FLUIDUM.-EXT. SERPENTARLE FLUIDUM. 
833 
extract by the process and menstruum below mentioned: Process A (see F. 135), 
Menstruum: Diluted alcohol"-{Nat. Form.}. 
This preparation is intended to carry the laxative qualities of senna without 
the griping constituents. These are removed by the preliminary percolation by 
means of alcohol. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Senna}. Dose, 1 to 2 fluid drachms. 
EXTRACTUM SENNjE ET JALAPA FLUIDUM.-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF SENNA AND JALAP 
Synonym: Fluid extract of antibilious physic. 
Preparation.-Take of senna, in coarse powder, 16 troy ounces; jalap root, 
in coarse powder, 8 troy ounces; alcohol, a sufficient quantity; carbonate of 
potassium, 6 drachms; white sugar, 8 troy ounces; diluted alcohol, a sufficient 
quantity; oil of cloves, 40 minims; oil of anise, 20 minims. Mix the senna and 
jalap together, and add a sufficient quantity of alcohol to thoroughly moisten 
them, and let the mixture stand for 24 hours; then transfer it to a percolator, and 
gradually add alcohol, returning a little of the first that passes till it runs clear. 
Reserve by itself, of the first percolate, 16 fluid ounces. Then add a sufficient 
quantity of diluted alcohol to the residuum in the percolator, until the liquid 
passes but very little impregnated with the properties of the medicine; evaporate 
this latter solution to 4 fluid ounces, then add the sugar, the carbonate of potas- 
sium, the oils ofcloves and anise, previously dissolved in a little alcohol, also the 
reserved tincture, and make 1^ pints of the fluid extract. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This is a concentrated form of the compound 
powder of jalap, and may be given with safety in all cases where a purgative is 
required. Should any resinous matter be deposited, it must be dissolved in alco- 
hol and combined with the extract; the addition of the carbonate of potassium is 
to enable the resinous matter deposited during evaporation, to be dissolved; also 
to aid in counteracting the griping property of the medicine. The dose for an adult 
is 1 fluid drachm, which is about equivalent to 1 drachm of the powder (J. King). 
EXTRACTUM SENECIONIS FLUIDUM.-FLUID. 
EXTRACT OF SENECIO. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of life-root. 
Preparation.-Take of the recently dried herb Senecio aureus, in coarse pow- 
der, 16 troy ounces; alcohol, diluted alcohol, each a sufficient quantity. Add a 
sufficient quantity of the alcohol to the herb to thoroughly moisten it, and allow 
the mixture to macerate for 24 hours; then transfer it to a percolator, and gradu- 
ally add alcohol, returning a little of the first that passes, till it runs clear. 
Reserve, by itself, of the first percolate, 12 fluid ounces. Then pour gradually on 
the residuum in the percolator, a sufficient quantity of diluted alcohol, until the 
liquid that passes is but slightly impregnated with the properties of the life-root 
herb; evaporate this latter solution to 4 fluid ounces, and while warm mix in the 
reserved tincture, and make 1 pint of fluid extract. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Senecio}. This fluid extract possesses the 
medicinal virtues of the life-root, and forms a useful agent in amenorrhoea, either 
alone or in combination with the fluid extracts of black cohosh, water-pepper, etc. 
It may likewise be used advantageously in the other diseases in which the root is 
found efficient. Th® dose is from to 1 fluid drachm, 3 or 4 times a day (J. King). 
EXTRACTUM SERPENTARLE FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF SERPENTARIA. 
Preparation.-"Serpentaria, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to 
make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fig, 391 RI]. Mix eight 
hundred cubic centimeters (800 Cc.) [27 fl^, 25 RI] of alcohol with two hundred 834 
EXT. SPIGELI/E FLUIDUM.-EXT. SPLGELLE FLUIDUM COMPOSITUM. 
cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fl§, 366 UI] of water, and, having moistened the 
powder with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fl^, 69 UI] of the 
mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical glass percolator; then add enough men- 
struum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid 
begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely 
covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to 
proceed, gradually adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol 
and water as before, until the serpentaria is exhausted. Reserve the first nine 
hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 113,208 hl] of the percolate, and evapo- 
rate the remainder, at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to a soft 
extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to 
make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 
391 m]"-(U. S.P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Serpentaria). This is a thin 
and transparent, deep reddish-brown concentrated tincture, having the bitter taste 
and characteristic odor of Virginia snake-root. It fully represents the virtues of 
the drug. This fluid extract forms a useful tonic, which may be used where the 
root is admissible. The dose is from 15 to 45 minims, 3 or 4 times a day. 
EXTRACTUM SPIGELIA FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF SPIGELIA. 
Preparation.-"Spigelia, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl$, 391 I'll]. Moisten the powder 
with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fls, 69 Hl] of diluted alcohol, 
and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough diluted alcohol to 
saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding diluted alcohol, until the spigelia is exhausted. Reserve the first 
eight hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 fl^, 356 Hl] of the perco- 
late, and evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved 
portion, and add enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 HI]"-(JJ. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Spigelia). This is a deep- 
brown translucent, concentrated tincture, possessing the taste of the crude drug. 
In the original process sugar was employed; this was supplanted, in 1870, by50 
per cent of glycerin; at the present time both have been discarded, the preparation 
having been found to keep well without them. This forms a fluid extract which 
may be employed in all cases where pink-root is indicated. The dose for an adult 
is from 2 to 4 fluid drachms; for a child 1 or 2 years of age, from 10 to 30 minims. 
EXTRACTUM SPIGELLffi FLUIDUM COMPOSITUM -COMPOUND 
FLUID EXTRACT OF SPIGELIA. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of entozoic powder. 
Preparation.-Take of pink-root, swamp milkweed, mandrake, bitter-root, 
each, in fine powder, 2^ troy ounces; balmony, in moderately fine powder,5 troy 
ounces; alcohol, diluted alcohol, each, a sufficient quantity. Add a sufficient 
quantity of the alcohol to the powders to thoroughly moisten them, and allow the 
mixture to macerate for 24 hours; then transfer it to a percolator, and gradually 
add alcohol until 12 fluid ounces have passed, which set aside. Then gradually 
add diluted alcohol to the residuum in the percolator, until it is exhausted; 
evaporate this in a water-bath, to 4 fluid ounces, and, while warm mix in the 
reserved tincture, and make 1 pint of fluid extract. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This fluid extract may be used instead of the 
compound powder of spigelia, in doses of from 5 to 8 drops for a child a year old, 
or from 10 to 20 drops for an adult, repeating the dose every hour until it acts EXT. SPIGELIA ET SENNA FLUIDUM.-EXT. STILLINGIA. 
835 
freely upon the bowels, after which administer the dose 3 times a day, for several 
days in succession. A very pleasant preparation for worms may be made by add- 
ing 1 part of this fluid extract to 12 parts of simple syrup, of which the dose for a 
child a year old is a teaspoonful, and for an adult a tablespoonful, to be repeated 
in the same manner as named in the preceding doses. This will answer espe- 
cially for those children who can not take the entozoic powder (J. King). 
EXTRACTUM SPIGELI® ET SENN® FLUIDUM.-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF SPIGELIA AND SENNA. 
Preparation.-Take of coarsely-powdered pink-root, 16 ounces (av.) ; senna, 
in coarse powder, 8 ounces (av.); white sugar, 24 ounces (av.); carbonate of potas- 
sium, 1 ounce (av.); oil of caraway, oil of anise, each, 4 drachm; diluted alcohol, 
a sufficient quantity. Moisten the pink-root and senna with diluted alcohol, and 
macerate for 48 hours. Then introduce them into a percolator, and gradually add 
diluted alcohol until 5 pints have passed. Evaporate this in a water-b4th to 20 
fluid ounces, ana add the carbonate of potassium, which prevents any resinous 
substance from being precipitated, and also modifies the griping action of the 
senna. Triturate the oils with a portion of the sugar, then with the whole of it, 
add this to the evaporated liquid, and dissolve the sugar by a gentle heat. The 
whole should measure 2 pints (W. Procter, Jr.). 
This fluid extract may also be prepared by mixing together fluid extract of 
pink-root, 5 fluid ounces; fluid extract of senna, 3 fluid ounces, dissolving in 
them carbonate of potassium, 2 drachms, and oils of caraway and anise, each, 10 
minims (W. Procter, Jr., Proc. Amer. Pharm. Assoc., 1859, p. 276). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-This fluid extract, which is an elegant prepa- 
ration, is quite a pleasant medicine, possessing both cathartic and anthelmintic 
properties. An adult may take half a fluid ounce or an ordinary tablespoonful 
for a dose; and a child 2 to 4 years old, 1 fluid drachm or a teaspoonful. 
EXTRACTUM STERCUL!® FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF STERCULIA. 
Synonym: Fluid extract of kola (cola). 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 175: " From the seeds of Sterculia acuminata, 
R. Brown (Cola; Kola). Process B (see F. 135). No. 20 powder. Menstruum I: Alco- 
hol, two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl$, 218TH]; water, six 
hundred and eighty-five cubic centimeters (685 Cc.) [23 fl^, 78 TIL]; glycerin, sixty- 
five cubic centimeters (65 Cc.) [2 fl§, 95UI], Menstruum JI: Alcohol, 1 volume; 
water, 3 volumes"-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Kola). This fluid extract does not mix 
well with water. The dose is from 10 to 30 minims. 
EXTRACTUM STILLING!®.-EXTRACT OF STILLINGIA. 
Synonym: Extract of queen's-root. 
Preparation.-Exhaust the recent root of stillingia, cut into small pieces, with 
alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the manner explained 
for the preparation of Alcoholic Extracts, on page 758. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Stillingia). In large doses the extract of 
stillingia is emetic and cathartic, for which actions it is but little employed in 
medicine, on account of the nausea, prostration, and burning sensation at the 
stomach caused by it. In small doses it is a valuable alterative, peculiar to Ameri- 
can practice, and may be efficiently used in all diseases requiring alterative reme- 
dies. It is usually given in combination with other alteratives, the virtues of which 
it appears to increase. The compound syrup of stillingia is now more generally 
used in practice, but this extract will be found useful in cases where pills are 
preferred to fluid preparations. The dose is 1, 2, or 3 grains, 3 times a day. 836 
EXT. STILLTNGI/E FLUIDUM.-EXT. STRAMONII SEMINIS. 
EXTRACTUM STILLING!® FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
Extract of stillingia. 
Preparation.-" Stillingia, in No. 40 pow'der, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs.av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 TH.]. Moisten the powder 
with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fls, 69 DI] of diluted alcohol, 
and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough diluted alcohol 
to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding diluted alcohol, until the stillingia is exhausted. Reserve the first 
eight hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 fls, 356 DI] of the perco- 
late, and evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved 
portion, and add enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one 
thousand" cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 TH] "-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Stillingia). A dark reddish- 
brown liquid, with a bitter and pungent taste. It is apt to gelatinize with age. 
Employed chiefly in scrofula, syphilis, and skin affections. Dose, 10 to 45 minims. 
Related Preparation.-The following is the old formula for Fluid extract of queen's-root 
of this Dispensatory: Bronchial Elixir.-Take of the recently gathered root of stillingia, 
cut into small pieces, 16 troy ounces; white sugar, 8 troy ounces; oil of caraway, 1 fluid drachm ; 
diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the root with diluted alcohol, and let the mix- 
ture stand for 24 hours; then transfer it to a percolator, and continue the percolation with 
diluted alcohol. Reserve the first 12 fluid ounces. Then pour diluted alcohol on the residuum 
in the percolator, until the liquid that comes through is but slightly impregnated with the 
properties of the stillingia; add the sugar, and evaporate by a moderate heat to 4 fluid ounces, 
then mix in the reserved tincture and the oil of caraway, and make 1 pint of fluid extract. 
This fluid extract possesses all the active properties of the queen's root, in a concentrated form, 
1 fluid drachm being equal to 1 drachm of the root. On account of its great activity it is never 
used in scrofula, syphilis, etc., in which the more agreeable and sufficiently active and efficient 
compound syrup of stillingia is preferred. It has been, however, found very efficient in bron- 
chitis, laryngitis, and various pulmonary affections. The dose is from 2 to 5 or 10 drops, to be 
placed upon the tongue, and allowed to pass very slowly into the stomach. 
EXTRACTUM STILLING!® FLUIDUM COMPOSITUM (N. F.) 
COMPOUND FLUID EXTRACT OF STILLINGIA. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 176: "Stillingia, two hundred and fifty 
grammes (250 Gm.) [8 ozs. av., 358 grs.J; corydalis (root), two hundred and fifty 
grammes (250 Gm.) [8 ozs. av., 358 grs.]; iris, one hundred and twenty-five 
grammes (125 Gm.) [4 ozs. av., 179 grs.]; sambucus, one hundred and twenty- 
five grammes (125 Gm.) [4 ozs. av., 179 grs.]; chimaphila, one hundred and 
twenty-five grammes (125 Gm.) [4 ozs. av., 179 grs.]; coriander, sixty-five grammes 
(65 Gm.) [2 ozs. av., 128 grs.]; xanthoxylum berries, sixty grammes (60 Gm.) 
[2 ozs. av.,51 grs.]. Reduce the drugs to a moderately coarse (No. 40) powder, 
and prepare a fluid extract in the usual manner by the process and menstrua 
below mentioned: Process B (see F. 135). Menstruum I: Alcohol, five hundred 
cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 fl§, 435 Til]; glycerin, two hundred and fifty cubic 
centimeters (250 Cc.) [3 fl§, 218 Til]; water, two hundred and fifty cubic centime- 
ters (250 Cc.) [8 fl§, 218Til], Menstruum II: Diluted alcohol"-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-Chiefly employed as an alterative in scrofula, 
syphilis, rheumatism, and allied disorders. Dose, 10 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM STRAMONII SEMINIS (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF 
STRAMONIUM SEED. 
Synonyms: Extractum stramonii (Pharm., 1880), Extract of stramonium. 
Preparation.-"Stramonium seed, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs ]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity. EXTRACTUM STRAMONII SEMINIS FLUIDUM. 
837 
Moisten the powder with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 flg, 
69 Uf] of diluted alcohol, and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then 
add enough diluted alcohol to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. 
When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, 
having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the 
percolation to proceed, gradually adding diluted alcohol until three thousand 
cubic centimeters (3000 Cc.) [101 fljj, 212 UI] of tincture are obtained, or the stra- 
monium seed is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic centimeters 
(900 Cc.) [30 fl 5, 208UI] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder, at a tem- 
perature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to one hundred cubic centimeters (100 
Cc.) [3 fls, 183 UI] ; mix this with the reserved portion, and, by means of a water- 
bath, evaporate, at or below the before-mentioned temperature, to a pilular con- 
sistence"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This preparation is now prepared 
from the seed instead of the leaves, as in the U. S. P., 1870. Below we give formula 
for an extract from the leaves, which we have designated Extractum Stramonii 
Foliorum Extract of stramonium seed is preferable either to an alcoholic or an 
aqueous extract of the leaves, or their inspissated juice. It is, in large doses, a 
narcotic poison; in medicinal doses it is anodyne and antispasmodic, and may 
be administered with benefit in painful and periodic diseases, nervous excitability or 
irritability, gastritis, enteritis, peritonitis, dysmenorrhoea, rigidity of the os uteri, etc. It 
may also be applied externally in rheumatic and neuralgic pains, and to reduce 
local inflammations. The dose is from | to grain, 3 times a day. 
Related Preparation.-Extractum Stramonii Foliorum, Extract of stramonium leaves. 
Exhaust recently dried stramonium leaves, in coarse powder, in a percolator with diluted alco- 
hol, a sufficient quantity. (If the diluted alcohol be prepared with a mixture of acetic acid 
(2 parts), and water (1 part), instead of water alone, it will form a more powerful extract). 
From the tincture thus made, separate the alcohol, and then carefully evaporate the residue 
until it is of the required consistence. Be careful not to spoil the extract by too high a tem- 
perature while evaporating. When made in large quantity, it should be in vacuo, so that too 
elevated a temperature may be avoided, and also that the alcohol may be saved (see prepa- 
ration of Alcoholic Extracts, on page 758). 
EXTRACTUM STRAMONII SEMINIS FLUIDUM (U. S. P.) 
FLUID EXTRACT OF STRAMONIUM SEED. 
Synonyms: Extractum stramonii fluidum (Pharm. 1880), Fluid extract of stramo- 
nium. 
Preparation.-" Stramonium seed, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity 
to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fi^, 391 UI]. Mix seven 
hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl^, 173UI] of alcohol with two 
hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl£, 218 UI] of water, and, having 
moistened the powder with two hundred cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fl^, 366 UI] 
of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough men- 
struum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid 
begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely 
covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to 
proceed, gradually adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and 
water as before, until the stramonium seed is exhausted. Reserve the first nine 
hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fl^,208UI] of the percolate, and evapo- 
rate the remainder, at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F)., to a soft 
extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to 
make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 
391 UI]"-;(U.S. P). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Stramonium). This fluid has 
a deep-brown color, and, in our opinion, is improved if it be made with official, 
instead of diluted alcohol. In this case the color will be much lighter and the 
liquid will be less syrupy. The fixed oil of stramonium has no medicinal value, 
but nothing is gained by separating it from the drug by preliminary percolation 
with ether or benzol. Dose, | to 2 minims. 838 
EXTRACTUM SUMBUL FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM TARAXACI. 
EXTRACTUM SUMBUL FLUIDUM.-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF SUMBUL. 
Preparation. - Take of sumbul root, in moderately fine powder, 16 troy 
ounces; alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the powder with 6 fluid ounces 
of alcohol. Cork tightly in a wide-mouth bottle, and permit the mixture to stand 
an hour in a wrarm situation. Then introduce it into a cylindrical percolator, 
3 inches in diameter, previously prepared for percolation, according to directions 
given on page 756, and press very firmly. Cover the surface of the powder with 
a circular piece of filtering paper, held in position with a few fragments of glass 
or marble, and add alcohol until the percolate appears at the exit. Then cork 
the exit tightly; cover the percolator, and place it in a warm situation. After 24 
hours, loosen the cork, and permit the percolate to pass as fast as it will drop, 
without running in a stream, until 4 fluid ounces are obtained. Again close the 
exit, macerate 24 hours, and, in a manner like unto the preceding, draw 4 fluid 
ounces of percolate. Repeat the maceration, and, in like manner, draw a third 
portion of 4 fluid ounces. Reserve and mix the three percolates; then continue 
the percolation until 8 fluid ounces are obtained. Evaporate this latter portion 
until reduced to the measure of 2 fluid ounces, and mix with the reserved 12 
fluid ounces. The surface of the powder must be constantly covered with alcohol 
from the commencement, and until the end of the process of percolation. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Fluid extract of sumbul has a 
dark reddish-brown color, a disagreeable and acrid taste, and possesses the musk- 
like odor of the root, and as thus prepared, represents very nearly the quality 
of drug employed, troy ounce to each fluid ounce of the finished extract. Water 
or glycerin are detrimental, inasmuch as either will prevent the solution of the 
resin of the root, and can not, in return, dissolve a single therapeutical constituent 
known to us, that is insoluble in alcohol. When the fluid extract is made with 
mixtures of alcohol and water, it is very much darker in color than when alcohol 
only is employed, but is inferior as a therapeutical agent. (For uses, see Sumbul). 
Dose, 10 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM TARAXACI (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF 
TARAXACUM. 
Synonym : Extract of dandelion. 
Preparation.-" Taraxacum, freshly gathered in autumn, a convenient quan- 
tity; water, a sufficient quantity. Slice the taraxacum, and bruise it in a stone 
mortar, sprinkling water over it from time to time, until it is reduced to a pulp; 
then express and strain the juice, and evaporate it in a vacuum apparatus, or in a 
shallow porcelain dish, by means of a water-bath, to a pilular consistence. Keep 
the extract in a close vessel, and cover its surface with a cloth, which ought to be 
moistened occasionally with a little ether or chloroform"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Dandelion root, for the above 
purpose, should be collected in September, October, or November. The juice 
procured by the above method should be evaporated in shallow vessels, by means 
of steam heat; but the best extract is obtained by evaporation in vacuo. In the 
process of the British Pharmacopoeia, the clear liquid obtained by expressing the 
crushed fresh root is directed to be heated to 100° C. (212° F.),and maintained at 
that point for 10 minutes. This is a wise provision, as the albumen contained in 
the juice is thereby coagulated, and may subsequently be removed by straining. 
In the evaporation of this extract, too much heat or too long an exposure to the 
air will spoil it. When the extract is good, it is brownish, not blackish, bitter and 
aromatic, and not sweet. A blackish-sweet extract is more or less impaired. The 
extract should be renewed annually, as it loses its virtues by age and exposure. 
Extract of dandelion is tonic, diuretic, and aperient. It is much recom- 
mended in affections of the liver, spleen, and kidneys, in dropsical diseases, etc. I have 
made much use of various preparations of dandelion, and the effects are far from 
being so decided and beneficial as the testimony of writers led me to suppose; we 839 
EXTRACTUM TARAXACI FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM TRI PKT FLUIDUM. 
have several agents vastly superior to it in medicinal efficacy, in the diseases for 
which it is prescribed. The dose of the extract is from 10 to 60 grains, 3 times 
a day (J. King). 
EXTRACTUM TARAXACI FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF TARAXACUM. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of dandelion. 
Preparation.-"Taraxacum, in No. 30 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 Tf[]. Moisten the powder 
with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 11$, 69 111] of diluted alcohol, 
and pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough diluted alcohol 
to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding diluted alcohol, until the taraxacum is exhausted. Reserve the first 
eight hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 fl ,5, 356TH] of the perco- 
late; distill off the alcohol from the remainder by means of a water-bath, and 
evaporate the residue to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and 
add enough diluted alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic 
centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 flg, 391 W]"-{U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is a red-brown, bitterish- 
sweet liquid. Fluid extract of dandelion may be administered in all cases when 
the influence of this drug upon the system is desired. The dose is 1 or 2 fluid 
drachms, 3 times a day. Some practitioners speak very highly of the therapeu- 
tical influence of dandelion; others, myself among the number, do not (J. King). 
EXTRACTUM TRILLII FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF TRILLIUM. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 177: " From the rhizomes of Trillium erectum, 
Linne, and other species of Trillium {Beth root). Process A (see F. 135). No. 40 pow- 
der. Menstruum: Alcohol, 3 volumes; w ater, 2 volumes "-{Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Trillium). Dose, 5 to 30 minims. 
EXTRACTUM TRITICI FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF TRITICUM. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of couch-grass. 
Preparation.-" Triticum, finely cut, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
[2 lbs. av., 3 oz., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 TT[]. Pack the triticum in a 
cylindrical percolator, pour boiling water upon it, and allow the percolation to 
proceed, supplying boiling water as required until the triticum is exhausted. 
Evaporate the percolate to seven hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) 
[25 fl^, 173 Til], and, having added to it two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters 
(250 Cc.) [8 fl 3. 218Til] of alcohol, mix well and set it aside for 48 hours. Then 
filter the liquid and add to the filtrate enough of a mixture of alcohol and 
water, made in the proportion of 1 volume of alcohol to 3 volumes of water, to 
make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl,5, 
391 TH]"-(G. S. P.). 
The German Pharmacopoeia directs that 1 part of couch-grass be digested for 
6 hours in 5 parts of boiling water, filtered, and evaporated to an extractive 
consistence. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.- (See Triticum). This forms a 
sweet, brown extract. It is employed in some demulcent infusion for its influ- 
ence upon the mucous tissues of the lungs, bowels, and genito-urinary organs. It 
is less valuable than the decoction. Dose, 2 to 6 fluid drachms. 840 
EXTRACTUM TURNER.E FLUIDUM.-EXTRACTUM UV.E URSI. 
EXTRACTUM TURNERS FLUIDUM.-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF TURNERA. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of damiana. 
Preparation.-Take of the leaves of damiana, in moderately fine powder, 16 
troy ounces; of a menstruum of alcohol, 3 parts, water, 2 parts (by measure), a 
sufficient quantity. Moisten the powdered leaves with 6 fluid ounces of the men- 
struum. Cork tightly in a wide-mouth bottle, and permit the mixture to stand 
an hour in a warm situation. Then introduce it into a cylindrical percolator, 
3 inches in diameter, previously prepared for percolation, according to directions 
given on page 756, and press very firmly. Cover the surface of the powderwith a 
circular piece of filtering paper, held in position with a few fragments of glass or 
marble, and add fresh menstruum until the percolate appears at the exit. Then 
cork the exit tightly; cover the percolator, and place it in a warm situation. After 
24 hours, loosen the cork, and permit the percolate to pass as fast as it will drop, 
without running in a stream, until 4 fluid ounces are obtained. Again close 
the exit, macerate 24 hours, and, in a manner like unto the preceding, draw 4 fluid 
ounces of percolate. Repeat the maceration, and, in like manner, draw a third 
portion of 4 fluid ounces. Reserve and mix the 3 percolates; then continue the 
percolation until 8 fluid ounces are obtained. Evaporate this latter portion until 
reduced to the measure of 2 fluid ounces, and mix with the reserved 12 fluid 
ounces. The surface of the powder must be constantly covered with menstruum 
from the commencement, and until the end of the process of percolation. 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Damiana). Fluid extract 
of damiana has a fragrant, herbaceous, balm-like odor and taste, and, as thus 
prepared, represents very nearly the quality of the drug employed, troy ounce 
to each fluid ounce of the finished extract. 
EXTRACTUM URTICA FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF URTICA. 
Preparation.- Formulary number, 179: "From the root of Urtica dioica, 
Linne (Nettle). Process A (see F. 135). No. 40 powder. Menstruum: Diluted alco- 
hol"-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Urtica). This preparation is liable to disin- 
tegration and precipitation, often changing to a gelatinous magma. Dose, 5 to 20 
minims. 
EXTRACTUM UVjE URSI (U. S. P.)-EXTRACT OF UVA URSI. 
Preparation.-"Uva ursi, in No. 30 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity. Mix 
two hundred cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fls, 366 TG] of alcohol with five hun- 
dred cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 fl$, 435 TG] of water, and, having moistened 
the powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fls, 252 TG] of the 
mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical glass percolator; then add enough men- 
struum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid 
begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely 
covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to 
proceed, gradually adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and 
water as before until the uva ursi is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred 
cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) f30 fl.5, 208 Til] of the percolate; evaporate the remain- 
der, at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to one hundred cubic centi- 
meters (100 Cc.) [3 fl^, 183TT[]. Mix this with the reserved portion, and evapo- 
rate at or below the before-mentioned temperature, on a water-bath, to a pilular 
consistence "-(U. S. P.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Uva Ursi). This extract may be given in 
capsules in doses of 10 to 60 grains. EXT. UV.E I'ltSI FLUIDUM.-EXT. VANILL.E FLUIDUM. 
841 
EXTRACTUM UV^l URSI FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF UVA URSI. 
Preparation.-"Uva ursi, in No. 30 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; glycerin, three hundred cubic centimeters (300 
Cc.) [10 fl.5, 69 RL] ; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make one thou- 
sand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl.5, 391 ffij. Mix the glycerin with two 
hundred cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fl.5, 366 TR] of alcohol and five hundred 
cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 fl^, 435 RL] of water, and, having moistened the 
powder with four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl^, 252 RI] of the mix- 
ture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical glass percolator; then add enough menstruum 
to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to 
drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the 
percolator macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradu- 
ally adding, first, the remainder of the menstruum, and afterward a mixture of 
alcohol and water, made in the proportion of two hundred cubic centimeters 
(200 Cc.) [6 fls, 366 RI] of alcohol to five hundred cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) 
[16 fl3, 435 R[] of water, until the uva ursi is exhausted. Reserve the first nine 
hundred cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fl5, 208 RL] of the percolate, and evapo- 
rate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add 
enough of the mixture of alcohol and water to make the fluid extract measure 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 RL] "-(U. SL P). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Uva IJrsi). This is a deep- 
brown fluid of a sweet-bitterish and astringent taste. This fluid extract may 
be used wherever uva ursi is indicated, in doses of a fluid drachm. It has been 
found very useful in irritable conditions of the bladder, associated with 3 to 5 fluid 
ounces of the fluid extract of lupulin. 
EXTRACTUM VALERIANS FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF VALERIAN. 
Preparation.-"Valerian, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 
Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to make 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl.5, 3911R]. Mix seven hundred 
and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl5, 173 RL] of alcohol with two hun- 
dred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl.5, 218 RL] of water, and, having 
moistened the powder with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fl 5, 
69 RL] of the mixture, pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough 
menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid 
begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely cov- 
ered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, 
gradually adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alcohol and water as 
before, until the valerian is exhausted. Reserve the first eight hundred and fifty 
cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 fl.5, 356 RI] of the percolate, and evaporate the re- 
mainder, at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.),to a soft extract; dissolve 
this in the reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to make the fluid extract 
measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl.5, 391 RI]"-(U. S. P.f 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Valerian). This is a deep 
reddish-brown fluid, representing valerian root in odor and taste. It holds the 
virtues of valerian in a concentrated state, and may be used when desired to 
obtain the influence of that agent. It may also be combined with various 
other fluid extracts, as of cimicifuga, cypripedium, senecio, etc. The dose is 1 or 2 
fluid drachms, 3 times a day, or oftener if required. 
EXTRACTUM VANILLA FLUIDUM.-FLUID EXTRACT OF VANILLA. 
Preparation.-Take of choice vanilla, 1 troy ounce sugar, 14 troy ounces; deo- 
dorized alcohol, 4 fluid ounces; diluted alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity. 
Cut the vanilla in short transverse slices, beat it to a pulp with 2 ounces of sugar 842 
EXTRACTUM VANII.L.E FLUIDUM. 
and a little alcohol, put the mixture in a small percolator, and pour gradually on, 
first, the alcohol, and afterward diluted alcohol, till 12 ounces of tincture are 
obtained. Add 2 ounces of sugar to this tincture, evaporate it at 48.8° C. (120° F.), 
till reduced to 6 fluid ounces; then add the remainder of the sugar and 5 ounces 
of water, or as much as is sufficient to make a pint of fluid extract. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Vanilla). This extract embodies all the 
aroma of the beans, and is well adapted for both pharmaceutical and culinary 
uses. Two fluid ounces added to 2 pints of simple syrup, form an excellent 
syrup of vanilla, or if a perfectly transparent syrup be desired, 2 ounces of the fluid 
extract may be triturated with 2 drachms of carbonate of magnesium, to which 
| pint of water may be added gradually; then filter, mix the liquid with another 
| pint of water, and add 2| pounds (troy) of sugar, dissolve with gentle heat, and 
strain (Wm. Procter, Jr.). In our experience, great care must be exercised in 
the selection of vanilla. The short beans (vanillons) are not fitted for use other 
than as tobacco flavors, and seem not to be much, if any, superior to tonka beans 
for that purpose. 
Flavoring Extracts and Essences.-Under the names Flavoring Extracts and Essences, 
mixtures of ethers, solutions of oils, and in some cases tinctures of fruits, are employed in 
culinary operations and in syrups. These aie important as soda water flavors, and chiefly for 
this purpose do we introduce a few standard extracts of this description, taking the formulae 
from "Elixirs and Favoring Extracts," by J. U. Lloyd. 
Flavoring Extract of Chocolate.-Powdered chocolate, 4 ounces; syrup, water, of 
each, a sufficient amount. Rub the chocolate in a mortar, with syrup gradually added, until 
reduced to a cream, then add syrup enough to bring to the measure of 8 fluid ounces, after 
which add 1 pint of water. Pour the mixture into a pan and bring it to a brisk boil and then 
allow to cool. This extract is of uncertain quality, owing to the variation in commercial 
chocolates. It is never transparent, and is likely to deposit considerable sediment. It will 
ferment in hot weather, and must either be made in small amounts or put into small bottles 
that are well filled and kept in a cool place. Some persons flavor extract of chocolate with 
vanilla, but in our experience it is not always acceptable. 
Flavoring Extract of Coffee.-Freshly roasted Java coffee, 8 ounces; alcohol and water 
mixed in the proportion of alcohol 12, water 4, a sufficient amount. Powder the coffee coarsely, 
moisten with the mixed alcohol and water, and pack in a previously prepared, suitable per- 
colator. Cover the powder with the menstruum (about 20 ounces), and when the percolate 
appears, close the exit and allow the coffee to macerate 24 hours; then continue the perco- 
lation until 1 pint is obtained. The remarks we have made concerning the quality of chocolate 
will apply also to coffee. The process we commend produces an extract that represents the 
coffee very accurately, and in our opinion the addition of syrup ami glycerin is undesirable. 
Flavoring Extract of Ginger.-Jamaica ginger, freshly powdered, 2 ounces; alcohol a 
sufficient amount. Pack the powder in a percolator prepared for percolation. Cover with 
alcohol (using about 20 fluid ounces), and when the percolate appears, close the exit of the per- 
colator, and macerate for a period of 24 hours. Then percolate slowly until 1 pint of the perco- 
late is obtained. The strength maybe increased or diminished to suit the taste of the operator, 
the quality desired governing in this direction. The diluted alcohol may also be replaced 
with alcohol. 
Flavoring Extract of Ginger {Soluble).-Fluid extract of ginger {U.S. P.), 4 fluid 
ounces; magnesium carbonate, water, alcohol, of each, a sufficient amount. Evaporate the 
fluid extract to 1 fluid ounce; add enough magnesium carbonate to form a creamy mixture, 
then water to bring to the measure of 8 fluid ounces, rubbing well together, and filter. To the 
filtrate add enough alcohol to make a total of 16 fluid ounces. Color, if desirable, with caramel. 
Some persons wish a hot, peppery taste; this is made by using a few drops of tincture of cap- 
sicum. The operator can determine the necessity for this addition, and modify the extract to 
suit the whim of his patrons. 
Flavoring Extract of Lemon {Good, from the oil).-Oil of lemon, 1 fluid ounce ; alcohol, 
15 fluid ounces. Mix them together, and after a few days, filter if a precipitate forms. Then 
color to suit the taste with a little tincture of curcuma. 
Flavoring Extract of Lemon.-Grate off the outer rind of 4 lemons. Put this into a 
wide-mouth bottle and pour upon it a pint of alcohol, and add thereto | fluid ounce of fresh 
oil of lemon. Macerate, with occasional shaking, for 4 days, and filter. Color the filtrate to 
suit the taste with a sufficient amount of tincture of curcuma. 
Flavoring Extract of Nectar.-This is one of the fanciful titles that have been given 
to a soda water syrup that is quite popular. The following formula produces a mixture that 
gives general satisfaction: Flavoring extracts, of vanilla, 3 fluid ounces; of lemon, 6 fluid 
ounces; of orange, 4 fluid ounces; of strawberry, 3 fluid ounces. Mix these together, ami, if 
necessary, filter through a little carbonate of magnesium. 
Flavoring Extract of Orange (Good).-Add 1 fluid ounce of sweet oil of orange to 15 
fluid ounces of alcohol, and color the mixture to suit the taste with tincture of curcuma modi- 
fied with a little cochineal color. The manipulator should bear in mind, in the making of 
flavoring extract of orange, that the demand is for an extract of a dark-yellow color, whereas, in EXTRACTUM VERATRI VIRIDIS FLUIDUM. 
843 
making an extract of lemon the demand is for an extract of a much lighter color. The various 
shades can easily be made with different proportions of curcuma tincture and cochineal. 
Flavoring Extract of Pineapple.-Extract of pineapple is a favorite with some persons, 
although most people select one of the preceding flavors. It may be said that the majority 
prefer lemon, vanilla, and orange, but next, perhaps, to these comes pineapple. Extract of pine- 
apple is not made from the fruit, neither is it made from the oil nor a product of the fruit. It 
is an association of ether flavors which reminds one of the odor of pineapples. The base of 
pineapple extract is butyric ether, to which are added other substances to modify its harshness. 
Flavoring Extract of Pineapple (Strong).-Butyric ether, 2 fluid ounces; diluted alcohol, 
14 fluid ounces. Mix them together and flavor to suit the taste with a little tincture of cur- 
cuma, and modify with enough cochineal color to overcome the bright yellow of the curcuma. 
Flavoring Extract of Raspberry.-That which we have written concerning artificial 
flavoring extract of strawberry (see below) may be applied to the flavoring extract of raspberry. 
While some formulae that we have seen are complex and demand the use of rare ethers, we 
have not observed that the products more nearly resemble the flavor of fresh raspberries than 
an extract made of cheaper ingredients. We have not as yet found any mixture that will 
more than remind us of the rich fragrance of the ripe, red raspberry. Indeed, in the raspberry 
season the artificial imitations of this fruit are far from being satisfactory, although they may 
be used when the fruit is out of season. The formula for the extract of strawberry is usually 
adopted, we believe, as that of extract of raspberry, the difference being that the color is 
intensified in the raspberry. However, we have found the following process to give satisfaction 
in a commercial way, and we therefore introduce it as a formula for flavoring extract of rasp- 
berry: Fluid extract of orris root, 2 fluid ounces; acetic ether, | fluid ounce; oil of cognac, 
10 drops; butyric ether, 5 drops; diluted alcohol, 1(5 fluid ounces. Mix the ingredients, color 
to a dark red with tincture of cochineal, and after a few days filter, if necessary. 
Flavoring Extract of Rose.-Oil of rose, 20 drops; alcohol, 4 fluid ounces; water, 12 fluid 
ounces; diluted alcohol, 16 fluid ounces. Dissolve the oil of rose in the diluted alcohol, and 
color with cochineal color to suit the taste. 
Flavoring Extract of Sarsaparilla.-Oil of wintergreen, 4 ounce; oil of sassafras, 
4 ounce; alcohol, 5 fluid ounces; water, 10 fluid ounces; caramel, a sufficient quantity. Tritu- 
rate'the mixed oils with magnesium carbonate, enough to form a thick cream, then with the 
mixed alcohol and water, and filter. To the filtrate add enough caramel to color it dark brown. 
This extract is designed to represent the drug neither in flavor nor in quality, but, upon the 
contrary, is made up of flavors that have been adopted and affixed to the syrup or beverage 
sold under the name sarsaparilla, and is foreign altogether to the drug. It is used as a flavor 
for mineral water beverages and soda syrups, and is a mixture of wintergreen and sassafras, 
and its connection with sarsaparilla drug is imaginary. 
Flavoring Extract of Strawberry.-Fluid extract of orris root, 4 fluid ounce; acetic 
ether, 1 fluid drachm; oil of cognac, 5 drops; alcohol, 4 fluid ounces; diluted alcohol, 4 fluid 
ounces; water, 20 fluid ounces; cochineal color, a sufficient quantity. Mix the ingredients well 
together. Color to a bright strawberry-red with the cochineal color, and, after a few days, 
filter if necessary. Extracts of strawberry, as is well known, are made from mixtures of ethers, 
and, while the flavor is pleasant, and often reminds one of strawberry fruit, still we can not 
say that the artificial flavors with which we are acquainted compare with the odor of the fresh 
fruit. They will answer for making syrups when the fruit is out of season, or when a true 
juice of the fruit can not be obtained, but we must say that we do not commend these artificial 
extracts as being representatives of the fruit itself. The formulae that we present are such as 
will produce good trade extracts. 
Flavoring Extract of Wintergreen.-Oil of wintergreen, 1 fluid ounce; alcohol, 15 fluid 
ounces. Mix them together. This extract may be made of fresh berries, but not of the flavor 
strength produced by the foregoing formula. There is, perhaps, a freshness in the extract that 
is made of the berries that is wanting in the solution of the oil; but few persons, however, can 
procure fresh wintergreen berries. In selecting oil of wintergreen, it is to be borne in mind 
that the commercial oil is likely to be either oil of white birch or synthetical oil. 
EXTRACTUM VERATRI VIRIDIS FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF VERATRUM VlRIDE. 
Synonyms : Fluid extract of American hellebore, Fluid extract of American veratrum. 
Preparation.-"Veratrum viride, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 391 ffi]. Moisten the powder with 
three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 fl£, 69iT[] of alcohol, pack it firmly 
in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to saturate the powder and 
leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, 
close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 
hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding alcohol, until the 
Veratrum viride is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic centimeters 844 
EXT. VERBASCI FLUIDUM.-EXT. VIBURNI OPULI FLUIDUM. 
(900 Cc.) [30 fls, 208 Til] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder, at a tem- 
perature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to a soft extract; dissolve this in the 
reserved portion, and add enough alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 Hl]"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Veratrum). This preparation 
holds the alkaloids and resins of veratrum in solution, and is about 24 times 
stronger than tincture of veratrum. Dose, to 2 minims. 
EXTRACTUM VERBASCI FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF VERBASCUM. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 180: "From the leaves and flowers of Ver- 
bascum Thapsus, Linne (Mullein). Process A (see F. 135). No. 20 powder. Men- 
struum: Diluted alcohol"-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Verbascum). Dose, 10 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM VERBENA FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF VERBENA. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 181: "From the root of Verbena hastata, 
Linne (Vervain). Process A (see F. 135). No. 40 powder. Menstruum: Diluted 
alcohol"-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Verbena). Dose, 10 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM viburni.-extract of viburnum. 
Synonyms: Extract of high cranberry bark, Alcoholic extract of cramp-bark, 
Viburnine. 
Preparation.-Exhaust coarsely-powdered bark of Viburnum opulus, with 
alcohol, water, of each a sufficient quantity, proceeding in the manner explained 
for the preparation of Alcoholic Extracts, on page 758. 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Viburnum opulus). Extract of high cranberry 
bark is tonic and antispasmodic, and may be used in all cases in which the high 
cranberry bark is indicated. In uterine difficulties it may be advantageously com- 
bined with some uterine tonic, as resins of caulophyllum or cimicifuga, oleoresin 
of senecio, alcoholic extract of aletris, etc. In bilious and flatulent colic, and spas- 
modic pains of the stomach and bowels, it will be found very efficient in combination 
with extract of dioscorea. The dose of it is from 1 to 10 grains, 3 times a day 
(J. King). 
EXTRACTUM viburni OPULI FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF VIBURNUM OPULUS. 
Synonym: Fluid extract of cramp-bark. 
Preparation.-"Viburnum opulus, in No. 60 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient quantity to 
make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 H[]. Mix seven hun- 
dred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl.V 173 111] of alcohol with two hun- 
dred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 H.s, 218 Hl] of water, and, having 
moistened the powder with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) [10 65, 
69Hl] of the mixture, pack it moderately in a cylindrical percolator; then add 
enough menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. When 
the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having 
closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percola- 
tion to proceed, gradually adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alco- 
hol and water as before, until the Viburnum opulus is exhausted. Reserve the 
first eight hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 65, 356Hl] of the 
percolate, and evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the EXT. VIBURNI PRUNIFOLII FLUIDUM.-EXT. ZE^E FLUIDUM. 
845 
reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to make the fluid extract meas- 
ure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl§, 3914H]"-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Viburnum). This is a red- 
dish-brown fluid, having an astringent taste, and practically no odor. It is 
official for the first time. Dose, to 1 fluid drachm. 
EXTRACTUM VIBURNI PRUNIFOLII FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF VIBURNUM PRUNIFOLIUM. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of black haw bark. 
Preparation.-"Viburnum prunifolium, in No. 60 powder, one thousand 
grammes (1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av., 3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, water, each, a sufficient 
quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 141]. Mix 
seven hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (750 Cc.) [25 fl5,173 UI] of alcohol with 
two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl§, 218hl] of water, and, 
having moistened the powder with three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) 
[10 fig, 69 4T[] of the mixture, pack it moderately in a cylindrical percolator; then 
add enough menstruum to saturate the powder and leave a stratum above it. 
When the liquid begins to drop from the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, 
having closely covered the percolator, macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the perco- 
lation to proceed, gradually adding menstruum, using the same proportions of alco- 
hol and water as before until the Viburnum prunifolium is exhausted. Reserve 
the first eight hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (850 Cc.) [28 fl5, 356141] of 
the percolate, and evaporate the remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the 
reserved portion, and add enough menstruum to make the fluid extract measure 
one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 65, 391 141] "-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This agent has a deep reddish- 
brown color and a bitter, astringent taste. Dose, 10 to 60 minims. 
EXTRACTUM XANTHOXYLI FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF XANTHOXYLUM. 
Synonym : Fluid extract of prickly ash. 
Preparation.- "Xanthoxylum, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes 
(1000 Gm.) [2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.]; alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391 111]. Moisten the powder with 
two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 flg, 218H1] of alcohol, and 
pack it firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to saturate 
the powder and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from 
the percolator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, 
macerate for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding 
alcohol, until the xanthoxylum is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred 
cubic centimeters (900 Cc.) [30 fls, 2081R] of the percolate, and evaporate the 
remainder to a soft extract; dissolve this in the reserved portion, and add enough 
alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 
Cc.) [33 115,391 (U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.- (See Xanthoxylum). This is a 
reddish-brown liquid possessing the acrid pungency of the crude drug. Fluid 
extract of prickly ash bark is a stimulant, tonic, alterative, and sialogogue, and 
may be used in all cases where the bark is indicated or desired. The dose is from 
10 to 60 minims, 3 times a day (J. King.) 
EXTRACTUM ZEJE FLUIDUM (N. F.)-FLUID EXTRACT OF ZEA. 
Synonyms : Extractum stigmatum maydis fluidum, Fluid extract of corn silk. 
Preparation.-Formulary number, 182: "From the stigmata of Zea Mays, 
Linne (Indian corn). Process A (see F. 135). No. 40 powder. Menstruum: Diluted 
alcohol''-(Nat. Form.). 
Medical Uses and Dosage.-(See Zea). Dose, 4 to 2 fluid drachms. 846 
EXTRACTUM ZINGIBERIS FLUIDUM-FABIANA. 
EXTRACTUM ZINGIBERIS FLUIDUM (U. S. P.)-FLUID 
EXTRACT OF GINGER. 
Preparation.-"Ginger, in No. 40 powder, one thousand grammes (1000 Gm.) 
[2 lbs. av.,3 ozs., 120 grs.j; alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand 
cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 115,391 Hl]. Moisten the powder with two hun- 
dred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 113,218 111] of alcohol, and pack it 
firmly in a cylindrical percolator; then add enough alcohol to saturate the powder 
and leave a stratum above it. When the liquid begins to drop from the perco- 
lator, close the lower orifice, and, having closely covered the percolator, macerate 
for 48 hours. Then allow the percolation to proceed, gradually adding alcohol 
until the ginger is exhausted. Reserve the first nine hundred cubic centimeters 
(900 Cc.) [30 fl3, 208111] of the percolate, and evaporate the remainder, at a tem- 
perature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), to a soft extract; dissolve this in the 
reserved portion, and add enough alcohol to make the fluid extract measure one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 Hl] "-(U. S. P.). 
Description, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Zingiber). This is a trans- 
parent, brownish-red fluid, exhibiting strongly the sensible properties of ginger. 
Its strength is five-fold that of the tincture. Dose, from 1 to 20 minims. 
FABIANA.-FABIANA. 
The leaves and branches of Fabiana imbricata, Ruiz and Pavon. 
Nat. Ord.-Solanacese. 
Common Name: Pichi. 
Botanical Source.-Fabiana is a tree-like shrub which grows from 15 to 20 
feet high, and has short, thick, bluish-green leaves, which are densely imbricated 
on the branches. The flowers are single, terminal, 
white or purplish, and tubular, with the corolla much 
longer than the calyx. The fruit is a 2-celled, 2-valved 
capsule, enclosing sub-globular, angular seeds. 
History.-This tree-like shrub grows on the dry, 
sandy hill-tops of Chili. Though belonging to the 
solanaceous family, it has, when not in bloom, the 
general appearance of a conifer. The tender portions 
of the plant are covered with a peculiar, greenish- 
gray resin, unaffected by water, and affording protec- 
tion to the plant by preventing the too rapid evapo- 
ration of its moisture. The whole plant has a bluish- 
green aspect. Its Chilian name is Pichi. The drug 
imparts its virtues to alcohol, the tincture yielding a 
heavy precipitate when added to water. Pichi was 
introduced into American commerce by Parke, Davis 
& Co., of Detroit, Mich. 
Description.-The larger branches abound in 
resin, and are covered with ash-colored bark, finely 
beset with minute longitudinal, elevated, and minute 
protruding glands, exhibiting when magnified, a lus- 
trous, resinous appearance. The younger branches 
or branchlets, are densely covered with the imbri- 
cated leaflets, which are scale-like, long, broad-ovate, 
sessile, entire, glaucous, and of a blue-green hue. The wood is yellow. 
Chemical Composition.-The results of chemical analyses of this drug are 
somewhat at variance with each other. Dr. Rusby, who studied the plant at the 
place of its growth, believed the bitterness of the drug to be due to an alkaloid 
contained in its abundant resin. A. B. Lyons succeeded in isolating from an 
ethereal solution of the drug a small amount (less than 0.1 per cent), of a sub- 
stance whose acid solution was bitter and gave the usual reactions for alkaloids. 
The supposed alkaloid was provisionally named fabianine. Besides, Mr. Lyons 
Fig. 114. 
Fabiana imbricata. FARINA TRITICL 
847 
found a neutral, crystallizable, tasteless principle, insoluble in water but soluble 
in ether; furthermore a fluorescent body closely resembling the glucosid aesculin, 
the characteristic constituent of horse-chestnut; also a volatile oil and a bitter 
resin in great quantity, soluble in alkalies from which solution it was precipitated 
by acids; it is not fluorescent, is soluble in ether and chloroform, and sparingly 
soluble in water and petroleum ether (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1886, p. 65). The ether- 
soluble crystalline compound alluded to was analyzed by Prof. Trimble and Mr. 
Schroeter, and its formula ascertained to be (C18H31O)X. H. C. Loudenbeck (Amer. 
Jour. Pharm.,1891, p. 434),-made a complete analysis of the drug, and obtained 
the fluorescent principle in crystalline form. It had a bitter taste and yielded an 
intense blue fluorescence writh ammonia water, and a rose-red fluorescence in acid 
solution. The author doubts the existence of an alkaloid in this drug. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Pichi has not been extensively em- 
ployed by Eclectic practitioners. It is reputed a diuretic, tonic, and hepatic 
stimulant. It favorably influences digestion, and the hepatic benefit derived 
from it is believed by many to be the indirect result of its effects upon stomach 
digestion. Dyspepsia and jaundice have been treated with it. As a diuretic, it acts 
similarly to the terebinthinates and balsams, and like them, is of no value in 
structural renal disease, but of benefit only in functional disorders, and particularly 
those of a catarrhal type. It has been successfully employed in cystic catarrh, both 
acute and chronic, and is said to be a popular remedy in Chili, for both hepatic 
and urinary calculi. Gonorrhoea, and prostatitis accompanying or following that 
complaint, are said to be benefited by it. Notwithstanding its irritant character 
(in large doses), and the view held that it is contraindicated in structural kidney 
disease, benefit has been claimed from its use as an antihemorrhagic in albumi- 
nuria when bleeding is associated with the latter disorder. An infusion (si to 
water Oij), is given in wineglassful doses every 4 hours; dose of the fluid extract, 
£ to 1 fluid drachm every 4 hours, in capsules or flavored emulsion. It precipi- 
tates in water unless the latter be alkalinized. In doses of from 5 to 20 drops 
Prof. Webster speaks well of the fluid extract to relieve urinary irritation, dysuria, 
vesical tenesmus, and cystitis. It is also recommended in nocturnal urinal inconti- 
nence, renal congestion (when no organic changes exist), and in alkalinized solution 
in the uric acid diathesis. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Cystic irritation, dysuria, and vesical tenes- 
mus, all with catarrhal discharge; vesical pain with frequent urination. 
FARINA TRITICL-WHEATEN FLOUR. 
The sifted flour of the grain of Triticum sativum, Lamarck (Triticum vulgare, 
Villars). 
Nat. Ord.-Graminaceie. 
Common Names : Common flour, Wheat flour. 
Illustration (of plant): Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 294. 
Botanical Source.-This plant, the common winter wheat, described as Triti- 
cum sativum,nut. hybernum, has a fibrous root, and a round, smooth, straight stem, 
3 to 4 feet or more in height, the internodes being somewhat inflated. The leaves 
are lance-linear, veined, roughish above, with truncate and bristly stipules. The 
flowers are borne on a 4-cornered, imbricated, terminal spike, 2 or 3 inches in 
length, with a tough rachis. The spikelets are crowded, broad-ovate, about 4-flow- 
ered; the glumes ventricose, ovate, truncate, mucronate, compressed below the 
apex, round and convex at the back, with a prominent nervure. The paleae of the 
upper florets are somewhat bearded. The grains are loose (W.-L.-Wi.). 
History.-Several species of Triticum are cultivated in different countries, 
among which may be named the Triticum sativum ( Triticum vulgare), the species 
most generally raised in this country and Europe. It has two varieties, Triticum 
aestivum, or spring wheat, and Triticum hybernum, or winter wheat. Linnaeus con- 
sidered these as distinct species, but botanists of the present day generally refer 
them to one common stock. Barley and oats have the perianth attached to the 
grain, which is not the case with wheat. Wheat is supposed to be a native of 
Central Asia, in the country of the Baschkirs. The medicinal part is the seeds, 848 
FARINA TRITICI. 
deprived of their husk, and ground to a fine flour. Wheat is subject to ravages 
from several parasitical fungi, viz.: (1) Bunt, smut-balls, or pepper-brand, produced 
by Uredo Caries, and giving a disgusting odor to the flour. This fungous plant is 
also called Tilletia Caries, and infests corn grains and other grasses. (2) Smut, dust- 
brand, or burnt-ear, produced by Ustilago segetum (Uredo segetum, Ustilago carbo'). 
(3) Rust, red-rag, red-robin, or red-gum, caused by the young state of Puccinia grami- 
nis. (4) Mildew, produced by the more advanced growth of P. graminis. (5) Ergot, 
caused by the Claviceps purpurea, and which is as powerful in its action on the 
uterus as ergot of rye. Two diseases of wheat are produced by parasitical animal- 
cules, viz. : (1) Ear-cockle, purples, or pepper corn, caused by a microscopic, eel-shaped, 
animalcule, called Vibrio tritici, or Anguillula tritici. (2) Wheat midge, an abortion of 
the grains caused by a minute, 2-winged fly called Cecidomyia tritici (P.). 
Description and Chemical Composition.-Flour is the finely sifted, amyla- 
ceous constituent of the wheat; the broken, integumentary structures constitute 
bran. Good wheat flour is very white, has a faint, peculiar odor, and is nearly 
tasteless. One hundred parts of air-dry wheat contain, on an average, 13.37 per 
cent moisture, 12.04 per cent gluten and other nitrogenous matter, 1.91 per cent 
fatty matter, 69.07 per cent starch, gum, dextrin, and sugar, 1.9 per cent crude 
fiber, and 1.71 per cent ash. These figures, recorded by J. Kbnig (Nahrungs und 
Genuss-mittel, 3d ed., 1893), represent the average of 1358 analyses of wheat from 
all parts of the globe. The ash consists of silica, and phosphates of potassium, 
calcium, magnesium, and sodium, these bases also occurring as sulphates and 
chlorides. According to the same authority, the composition of wheat-bran is 
subject to great variation, and the average of 166 analyses is as follows: 15.66 per 
cent moisture, 14.61 per cent nitrogenous matter, 3.9 per cent fat, 53.6 nitrogen- 
free extractive matter (starch), etc., 6.7 per cent crude fiber, and 4.94 per cent ash. 
Richardson and Crampton (1886) found allantoin £ per cent, a quickly drying oil, 
wax, cane sugar, and a sugar possessing strongly dextrogyre properties. The 
proportion of these constituents in wheat grains varies according to climate, soil, 
mode of culture, quality of manure, time of cutting, etc. The starch, which con- 
stitutes at least one-half of wheat grains is of finer quality, and of greater density 
than that from most other sources (see Amylum). The nitrogenous or protein 
matter of wheat consists of small amounts of vegetable albumin (about 1.6 per cent), 
and predominant amounts of the proteids of gluten, viz.: Gluten casein (Liebig's 
vegetable fibrin), insoluble in alcohol, and gluten fibrin, gliadin (glutin or vegetable 
gelatin) and mucedin, the latter three being soluble in alcohol of about 80 per cent 
strength (Ritthausen). The gluten of wheat is usually assumed as the most per- 
fect form of that principle, and is more abundant in wheat than any other grain, 
rendering wheat flour superior in the manufacture of bread. It is through the 
presence of gluten that flour can be made into bread. The added quantity of 
yeast causes vinous fermentation, with evolution of carbonic acid gas, which ex- 
pands the gluten into vesicles, and gives to the baked bread its spongy character. 
If wheat flour be kneaded into a paste with a little water, it forms a tenacious, 
elastic, soft, ductile mass. This is to be washed cautiously, by kneading it under 
a small stream of water till the water no longer carries off any starch, and runs 
off colorless; gluten remains. It is of a gray color, exceedingly tenacious, ductile, 
and elastic, has a peculiar smell, and is nearly tasteless. On exposure to the air 
it slowly dries, forming a hard, brittle, slightly transparent, dark-brown substance, 
resembling glue, which breaks like glass, with a vitreous fracture, imbibes water, 
but loses its tenacity and elasticity by boiling. It decomposes rapidly in a moist 
atmosphere, emitting a very offensive odor. Gluten casein in its reactions exhibits 
some resemblance to the casein of milk. It is insoluble in pure water, soluble in 
alkaline water, and precipitated from this solution by acids. It is separated from 
the gluten of the wheat by treatment with successive portions of alcohol of definite 
strength, in 'which it is insoluble. Gluten fibrin, mucedin, and gliadin, the constitu- 
ents of gluten proper, are soluble in alcohol of 60 to 80 per cent, their separation 
being effected by their difference in solubility in water. Gliadin or vegetable 
gelatin is the constituent that imparts to the gluten its cohesive qualities. 
As regards the wheat flour of the markets, we prefer flour ground in the stone 
mill, bolted in the old style, rather than the white starch flour known as patent 
process flour. A more recent view of the composition of gluten is that adopted 849 
FARINA TRITICI. 
by Osborne as recorded by Dr. H. W. Wiley ^Principles and Practice of Agricultural 
Analysis, 1897,Vol. Ill, p. 436), from which the following is an abstract: "The 
gluten of wheat is composed of two proteid bodies, gliadin and glutenin. Gliadin 
contains 17.66 per cent, and glutenin 17.49 per cent of nitrogen. Gliadin forms a 
sticky mass when mixed with water, and is prevented from passing into solution 
by the small amount of mineral salts in the flour. It serves to bind together the 
other ingredients of the flour, thus rendering the dough tough and coherent. 
Glutenin serves to fix the gliadin, and thus to make it firm and solid. Glutenin 
alone can not yield gluten in the absence of gliadin, nor gliadin without the help 
of glutenin. Soluble metallic salts are also necessary to the formation of gluten, 
and act by preventing the solution of the gliadin in water, during the process of 
washing out the starch. No fermentation takes place in the formation of gluten 
from the ingredients named. The gluten which is obtained in an impure state 
by the process above described, is therefore not to be regarded as existing as such 
in the wheat kernel or flour made therefrom, but to arise by a union of its elements 
by the action of water." 
The milky liquid produced by washing wheat flour, as above named, contains 
in solution gum, sugar, and vegetable albumen. Vegetable albumen may be obtained 
by allowing this fluid to deposit its starch, pouring off the supernatant liquor, and 
heating it to 60° to 71.1° C. (140° to 160° F.); flakes of coagulated albumen are 
formed. Vegetable albumen is soluble in water, but when coagulated by heat it is 
insoluble; it is also insoluble in alcohol and ether. When dry it is opaque, white, 
gray, brown, or black, according to circumstances, and is not adhesive like gum. 
Solutions of alkalies readily dissolve it. Vegetable albumen possesses nearly all the 
characters of animal albumen, and is considered identical in composition with it. 
Wheat is now much subject to adulteration in this country by the wholesale 
admixture of white corn flour; the most we have to fear, however, is diseased 
wheat; but an examination under the microscope will at once detect parasitical 
growths, or their spores, etc. 
Action and Medical Uses.-Wheat is very nutritive when made into bread 
or cakes and baked. Toasted bread, infused in water, forms an agreeable and 
lightly nourishing drink for invalids, especially those suffering from febrile or in- 
flammatory attacks. It may be sweetened with loaf sugar, or a little molasses, and 
flavored, if desired, with strawberry juice, raspberry juice, lemon juice, etc., or 
the syrups of these fruits may be added to flavor it. Wheat flour is occasionally 
used to lessen the itching and burning sensations produced by urticaria, scalds, burns, 
erysipelas, etc.; rye-flour, however, is considered to act more efficiently. It is to 
be dusted upon the affected parts. It cools the part, excludes the air, and absorbs 
any discharges present, forming with them a crust which effectually protects the 
part underneath. When bread is soaked in milk, boiling hot, it forms the emol- 
lient bread and milk poultice; a small quantity of sweet lard or olive oil added 
improves it; yeast, with or without charcoal, mixed with this, forms an excellent 
antiseptic poultice; or, if powdered mustard be added, a sinapism is formed. 
When a bread poultice is applied to inflamed parts, the addition of a solution of 
borax w'ill frequently facilitate its action. When it is desired to administer very 
small doses of remedial agents, this may be accomplished by mixing them with 
the crumb of bread (mica panis) in pill form. But nitrate of silver, if used thus, 
will be converted into a chloride, by the reaction ensuing between it and the salt 
in the bread. Wheat flour lightly baked, so as to acquire a pale buff tint, forms 
an excellent food for infants, invalids, and convalescents. It may be boiled with 
milk or milk and water, and lightly salted or sweetened as desired. 
A very useful article of diet for patients, suitable in nearly all chronic affections 
has been recommended by Dr. T. J. Wright, of Cincinnati: The seeds of wheat 
are to be well cleansed by several washings in cold water, saving only those which 
sink to the bottom. Cover these with water, allow them to stand for 12 or 15 
hours, then pour off the water, add some more, and boil for 2 or 4 hours, or until 
the spermoderm is cracked, then remove the wheat from the wrater. When cold 
it is ready for use. Small quantities only should be prepared at a time, especially 
in warm weather. This may be eaten with molasses, or sugar, the same as with 
boiled rice, or it may be boiled in milk or water, and be formed into a gruel, with 
the addition of a sufficient amount of Indian meal. It is nutrient and laxative. 850 
FEL BOVIS. 
Bran (Furfures Triticif in decoction or infusion, is sometimes employed as an 
emollient foot-bath; it is also taken internally as a demulcent in catarrhal affections. 
Its continued use causes a relaxed condition of the bowels. Bran poultices are some- 
times used, warm, in abdominal inflammations, spasms, etc. Bread made from un- 
sifted flour has been found beneficial in indigestion and constipation. The following 
forms a good bread for patients laboring under diabetes. Wash coarse wheat bran 
thoroughly with water on a sieve until the water passes through clear; dry this in 
an oven, grind it to a fine powder, and to 7 eggs, 1 pint of milk, pound of butter, 
and a little ginger, add enough of the bran flour to make a paste; divide into 
7 equal parts, and bake in a quick oven, say from 20 to 25 minutes (P.). 
Related Species.- Vicia Faba, Linn^ (Faba vulgaris, Moench), Horse bean, Windsor bean. 
The seeds of this plant furnish a flour known as Farina Fab^e. The seeds contain 2 parts of 
sugar, 2 parts of fat, 36 parts of starch, 9 parts of gummy matter, and 24 parts of legumin. The 
stalks and husks.of this bean, when calcined and digested in white wine, are diuretic; the 
flowers, in aqueous infusion, are reputed efficient in gravel and gout; and the flour has long 
been a domestic remedy in Europe for diarrhoea. 
Phaseolus vulgaris, Linne; Kidney bean; Common bean.-This bean furnishes a flour, Farina 
Phaseoli, whose composition does not vary greatly in proportions from that of the foregoing. 
The legumes are likewise diuretic, and, according to Soltsien (Archiv. der Pharm., 1884, p. 29), 
yield an alkaloid, phaseoline. 
Lolium temulentum, Linne (Lolium arvense, Withering); Bearded darnel.-This plant is of 
interest chiefly from the fact that its fruit, or caryopsis, is frequently found with wheat or 
other grains, and is reputed to possess intoxicant and poisonous qualities. Though common 
in the grain fields of Europe and western Asia, it is not plentiful in this country, where it has 
been introduced by sowing grain containing its seed. The fruit is about J inch long, oblong- 
ovoid, usually covered with the palie, smooth, with a convex outer and furrowed inner sur- 
face, and of a light-brown color. Internally, the seed is whitish, farinaceous, and has a starchy, 
bitter taste, but no odor. Several attempts have been made to isolate the toxic principle. 
The ordinary grain constituents are found in the fruit, a large portion of which (30 to 50 per 
cent) consists of circular, non-striated starch cells, about | the size of those of wheat. The 
toxic principles of the plant, according to Ludwig and Stahl (1864), are an amorphous, bitter, 
acrid, yellowish glucosid, dissolving in water, ether, and alcohol, and a fixed oil of an acrid 
character. Others believed the poisonous body to be an acid substance, while still others 
have ascribed its action to an oily, non-saponifiable body. Lol Un, an acrid, dirty-white 
amorphous body, was isolated by Bley, in 1838. P. Antze (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1891, p. 568) 
found what be supposed wrere two alkaloidal bodies, loliine (volatile) and temulentine, which 
were shown by Hoffmeister (1892) to be respectively impure ammonia and a mixture contain- 
ing some of the narcotic principle discovered by him, to which he applied the name temuline. 
This is an amorphous alkaline body, probably a pyridine derivative, and soluble in water. An 
amorphous alkaloid and a nitrogenized acid were also detected by the same author. Temu- 
line is poisonous (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1892, p. 611). The symptoms produced by lolium are 
analogous to those of alcoholic intoxication. Horses, sheep, and dogs are poisoned by it, while 
cows and hogs remain unaffected, and ducks and quail fatten upon it. Headache, dizziness, dis- 
ordered vision (sometimes yellow), tinnitus aurium,pr0ecordial oppression and anxiety,lingual 
paresis, vomiting, diarrhuea, increased renal action, muscular tremors, cold perspiration, and 
deep narcosis, sometimes proving fatal, are the effects upon man. Lolium has been applied 
as a poultice to arrest pains of a neuralgic and rheumatic character, and in pleurisy. Liquors were 
once adulterated with darnel, and some even suspect its use at the present day, to add to the 
intoxicating qualities of some beverages. 
Phalaris, Canary seed.-The fruit of Phalaris canariensis, Linn£, of the Mediterranean 
basin. It is much used as a food for birds, and, mixed with wheat or rye, has been ground 
into flour for the use of man. Poultices are also made of it. The fruit is small (|inch) 
flattened, elliptic or ovate, covered by a shining yellow-gray paleae. The kernel is brownish 
externally, white internally, inodorous, and feebly bitter. The fruit (Fructus canariensis, 
or Semen canariensis) is composed mainly of starch. 
FEL BOVIS (U. S. P.)-OX-GALL 
"The fresh bile of Bos Taurus, Linne. Class: Mammalia. Order: Ruminan 
tia"-(U. S. Pi). 
Synonyms: Fei tauri, Fei bovinum, Bills bubula. 
Source and Description.-The bile of the ox, the fluid secretion of the liver, 
is of variable consistence, being sometimes limpid, but more commonly viscid and 
ropy. It is denser than water, but mixes with this fluid in every proportion. As 
described by the F. S. P. it is a "brownish-green or dark-green, somewhat viscid 
liquid, having a peculiar, unpleasant odor, and a disagreeable, bitter taste. Specific 
gravity 1.018 to 1.028 at 15° C. (59° F.). It is neutral, or has a faintly alkaline 851 
FEL BOVIS. 
reaction on litmus paper"-{U. S. P.f It is employed in the preparation of puri- 
fied ox-gall (see Fei Bovis Purificatum). 
Chemical Composition.-Ox-gall consists of about 90 per cent of water, the 
rest being composed mainly of two classes of substances peculiar to bile, called 
"gall acids" and "gall pigments." Besides, there are present fatty matter (palmitin, 
stearin, olein, soaps), mucus, albuminous and mineral matter, and traces of urea; 
also the base, cholin, and a crystallizable monatomic alcohol, named cholesterin. 
Cholesterin (C26H43.OH) forms the chief ingredient of certain biliary calculi, 
especially those of human beings. It is also a normal constituent of the brain, 
the blood, of pus, the intestines, and the yolk of eggs. It also occurs in the seed- 
embryo of many plants, although an analogous body, phytosterin, frequently takes 
its place therein. Cholesterin is insoluble in water, soluble in chloroform, ether, 
and boiling alcohol, crystallizing upon cooling, and fuses at 145° C. (293° F.). 
It does not dissolve in diluted acids, nor does boiling with caustic alkali affect it 
in the least. When cholesterin is dissolved in chloroform and an equal volume 
of strong sulphuric acid is added, the cholesterin solution assumes a bluish-red, 
or violet-red color. When placed into a porcelain dish, the color changes from 
blue to green and finally yellow (Salkowski's Test). 
The coloring matters of bile or gall pigments largely reside in the following: 
I. Bilirubin (C16H]gN2O3) is the chief coloring principle of bile, and is a red 
body of an acid character, and is found in appreciable quantities in gall stones in 
the form of a calcium compound. Usually amorphous, it may be obtained in crys- 
tals from its chloro formic solution. It is less soluble in alcohol, sparingly so in 
ether, and insoluble in water. The alkali compounds of bilirubin are insoluble in 
chloroform, a behavior that affords a means of its isolation. The close connection 
of bilirubin with the haematin obtainable from blood, has been suggested. 
II. Biliverdin (C32H3fiN4OH), a green pigment of the bile, is formed by oxida- 
tion of bilirubin, especially in alkaline solution, by mere exposure to the air. 
Biliverdin, as thus obtained, is soluble in alcohol and alkalies, but not in water, 
chloroform or ether. Acids precipitate it from its alkaline solutions. 
III. Bilifuscin (C16H.,0N2O4, Staedeler) is a brown pigment, soluble in alcohol 
and nearly insoluble in ether, chloroform, and water. As to other bile pigments, 
biliprasin, bilihumin, and bilicyanin have been abstracted from gall stones. 
Gmelin's Test for bile pigments, which is very delicate, and may be applied 
to the examination of urine for these pigments, is carried out as follows: Render 
the suspected liquid faintly alkaline in a test tube, and allow a solution of nitric 
acid, containing a small amount of nitrous acid, to pass below this liquid. A play 
of colors will then be noticed at the line of demarkation in the following order 
from above downward: Green, blue, violet, red, and reddish-yellow. (For an 
explanation of the chemical processes involved in this reaction, see Hammarstin 
and Mandel, Tert Book of Physiological Chemistry, 1893, p. 154.) 
The gall acids are of 2 groups, and exist in bile in the form of sodium salts. 
These acids are: 
I. Glycocholic acid (C26H43NO6) which contains nitrogen, but no sulphur, and 
occurs mostly in the bile of herbivora. 
II. Taurocholic acid (C20H45NSO7) which, as the formula indicates, contains 
both nitrogen and sulphur. It is the main constituent of the solids in the bile 
of man and carnivora, also of oxen, sheep, and goats. 
Glycocholic acid (the cholic acid of Strecker and Gmelin), when boiled with ex- 
cess of alkali, is split into nitrogen-free and crystallizable cholic acid (Strecker's 
cholalic acid, C24H40O5), and glycocoll {glycin, or amido acetic acid, CH2.NH,.C00H), 
the interesting compound obtained also by the decomposition of hippuric acid 
and of gelatin. Glycocholic acid forms silky acicular crystals more soluble in 
hot than in cold water, soluble in alcohol, sparingly soluble in ether. Its solu- 
tions have a bitter-sweetish taste. The aqueous solutions of its salts with alka- 
lies are precipitated by solutions of heavy metals, also by the addition of an acid. 
Taurocholic acid (CMH45NSO7) {choleic acid of Strecker) occurs in silky needles, 
readily soluble in water and alcohol, but insoluble in ether. When boiled with 
alkalies it readily splits into cholic acid and taurin (C2H4[NH2].SO3H), or amido 
isxthionic acid, a crystallizable substance, soluble in hot water. It has a neutral 
reaction, since it is both a base and an acid, yet it forms salts with alkalies. 852 
FERRI ACETAS.-FERRI ARSENAS. 
The bile acids give Pettenkofer's reaction, which takes place with both the 
glycocholic and the taurocholic acids, owing to their common constituent, cholic 
acid; yet a variety of cholic acids are known, one of these having received the 
name fellic acid. Pettenkofer's reaction is executed, according to directions of 
the U. S. P., as follows: "A mixture of 2 drops of ox-gall and 10 Cc. of water, 
when treated, first, with a drop of a freshly prepared solution of 1 part of sugar in 
4 parts of water, and afterward with sulphuric acid, cautiously added, until the 
precipitate first formed is redissolved, gradually acquires a brownish-red color, 
changing, successively, to carmine, purple, and violet "-(U. S. P.). 
Fel Bovis Purificatum (U. S. P.), Purified ox-gall, Purified ox-bile, Fei tauri 
depuratum. Preparation.-"Take fresh ox-gall, three hundred cubic centimeters 
(300 Cc.) [10 fig, 70 TH.]; alcohol, one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl^, 
183 Til]. Evaporate the ox-gall, in a tared porcelain capsule, on a water-bath, to 
about one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 oz. av.,231 grs.], then add to it the 
alcohol, mix the whole thoroughly, and set it aside, well covered, for 3 or 4 days. 
Then decant the clear solution, filter the remainder, and, having mixed the 
liquids and distilled off the alcohol, evaporate the remainder to a pilular consist- 
ence"- (U. S. P.). 
Description.-Purified ox-gall is officially described as a "yellowish-green, soft 
solid, having a peculiar odor, and a partly sweet and partly bitter taste. Very 
soluble in water and in alcohol. A solution of 1 part of purified ox-gall in about 
100 parts of water behaves towards sugar and sulphuric acid in the same manner 
as the solution mentioned under ox-gall (see Fel Bovis). An aqueous solution of 
purified ox-gall should be clear, and should remain transparent upon the addi- 
tion of an equal volume of alcohol (evidence of proper purification) "-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.- Hepatic, aperient, and tonic. The 
chief use of this product is for constipation, depending upon intestinal atony. 
Used in intermittents, dyspepsia, torpor of the liver, jaundice, colic, diarrhoea, dysentery, 
etc., when these depend upon a faulty secretion of bile. Five to 8 grains of inspis- 
sated gall neutralize the constipating and narcotic effects of 1 grain of opium, 
without injuring the sedative influence. Dose, from 1 to 10 grains. 
A mixture of inspissated ox»bile, 3; extract of conium, 1; soda-soap, 2; olive 
oil, 8; has been highly extolled as a local application to effect the resolution of 
hypertrophied organs. Bonorden found applications of bile to the eye by instilla- 
tion, or by means of a hair pencil, 5 or 6 times a day, very beneficial in kindred 
conditions of the eye, as pannus, corneal opacity, and staphyloma (Med. Times and 
Gaz., 1858, p. 353). 
FERRI ACET AS.-FERRIC ACETATE. 
Formula: Fe26C2H3O2. Molecular Weight: 464.96. 
Synonym : Acetate of iron. 
Preparation.-(See Liquor Ferri Acetatisf 
Description.-This solution has a deep-red color, and an acid and strongly 
chalybeate taste. The salt can not be obtained in dry state, and the solution is 
liable to decomposition. It is incompatible with alkalies and their carbonates, the 
strong acids, and vegetable astringent infusions. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Tonic and astringent, and possesses 
the general medical properties of the preparations of iron. A diluted solution of 
it, with a few drops of creosote, will be found a valuable injection in leucorrhmi. 
Dose, 5 to 20 drops, in water (see Tinctura Ferri Acetatisf 
Specific Indications and Uses.-(See Tinctura Ferri Acetatisf 
FERRI ARSENAS.-IRON ARSENATE. 
Formula: Fe32AsO4. Molecular Weight : 445.18. (As regarded by some, it 
is Ferroso-ferric Arsenate, 3Fe(FeO)AsO4+16H2O; molecular weight, 1086.74). 
Synonyms : Ferrum arsenicum, Ferrous arsenate, Arsenias ferrosus. 
Preparation.- Dissolve sodium acetate 3 parts, and dried sodium arsenate 
4 parts, in boiling distilled water 32 parts; pour this solution into another hot FERRI BROMIDUM 
853 
solution made by dissolving ferrous sulphate 9 parts, in distilled water 48 parts. 
Wash the precipitate well and dry it (see Lloyd's Chemistry of Medicines). In the 
preparation of this salt the British Pharmacopoeia directs sodium arsenate (dried 
at 148.9° C. [300° F.]) 15^ parts, ferrous sulphate 20f parts, and sodium bicarbon- 
ate 4£ parts. The product is dried on a porous brick at a temperature not higher 
than 37.7° C. (100° F.), in a warmed air chamber. 
Description.-The dense white precipitate thrown down has the composi- 
tion Fe32AsO4, but even in the process of preparation, this salt, as it dries through 
the atmospheric oxidation, changes to various shades of green and blue, finally 
becoming olive or blue-green in color. It is then regarded as ferroso-ferric arsenate 
(3Fe[FeO] AsO4.16H2O), and very much resembles blue phosphate of iron, with 
which it may be confounded. It is an amorphous, tasteless, odorless powder. 
Water or alcohol will not dissolve it, though its solution may be effected by 
diluted acids. It reacts with both ferrocyanide and ferricyanide of potassium, 
with the former yielding a pale-blue precipitate, and with the latter, a denser, 
deeper blue precipitate. Its hydrochloric acid solution should not be precipitated 
by barium chloride (absence of sulphates). If a small portion be boiled with a 
solution of caustic potash in excess, filtered, and treated with nitric acid to exact 
neutralization, solution of nitrate of silver will give a brick-red precipitate of silver 
arsenate. A yellow precipitate (arsenic sulphide), is produced by treating a solu- 
tion of this salt with hydrogen sulphide. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The action of this salt is due chiefly to 
the arsenic, as the proportion of iron is very insignificant. Carmichael applied 
this agent as a caustic to cancerous ulcers in the following form: Take of arsenate 
of iron 1 part, phosphate of iron 4 parts, spermaceti cerate 12 parts; triturate 
together. Biett has used it in herpetic, scrofulous, and cancerous affections, in doses 
of of a grain, once or twice a day, in pill form, thus: Take of arsenate of iron 
3 grains, powdered marshmallow 4 drachm, extract of hops 2 drachms, simple 
syrup, a sufficient quantity; beat well together and divide into 48 pills. Dose of 
ferrous arsenate, to £ grain, 3 times a day. 
FERRI BROMIDUM.-FERROUS BROMIDE. 
Formula: FeBr2. Molecular Weight : 215.40. 
Synonyms: Bromide of iron, Ferrum bromatum. 
Preparation and Description.-Bromine combines directly with iron to form 
bromide of iron, represented by the above formula and molecular weight. When 
the two elements are placed together, the chemical reaction is violent, with evo- 
lution of heat, and large amounts of bromine are lost by evaporation. For this 
reason, precautions must be taken to control the reaction. Theoretically, 56 parts 
of iron are sufficient for 160 parts of bromine; yet, in practice, it is advisable to 
use a larger proportion of the former. The following process is sufficiently prac- 
tical for the preparation of bromide of iron on a small scale: Into a chemical 
flask introduce 2 fluid ounces of distilled water and 1 troy ounce of clean, coarse 
iron turnings, or iron wire, and surround the flask with ice and water; now add 
£ ounce (troy) of bromine, and agitate occasionally, until the solution has almost 
lost its red color; to the solution, wffien cold, again add a like amount of bromine, 
and, when the reaction is finished, add another | ounce (troy) of bromine, and so 
continue successively until a total of 2 troy ounces of bromine has been used; after 
each addition, permit the reaction to cease, and the liquid to cool. Now warm 
the flask, and, when the solation has acquired a greenish color, filter quickly; 
wash the excess of iron and the liberated carbon (that is always present in the 
iron), with a little distilled water, and filter into the former solution. Transfer 
this solution at once into a clean iron dish, placed upon a sand bath, and quickly 
evaporate, until a portion, removed upon a glass rod, will solidify upon cooling; 
then remove the dry salt, immediately, into well-stoppered bottles. When the 
reaction is completed with the first portion of bromine, the solution of bromide 
of iron possesses the power of dissolving bromine, and consequently, the follow- 
ing portions of bromine are dissolved and diluted, thus modifying the chemical 
action. Solution of bromide of iron absorbs oxygen with avidity, and the most 854 
FERRI CARBONAS SACCHARATUS. 
rapid evaporation will not entirely prevent it. Bromide of iron is of a grayish- 
black color, acquiring a rusty color upon exposure. It is used in aqueous solu- 
tion preserved with sugar (see Syrupus Ferri Bromidif 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Bromide of iron is an uncertain and 
poisonous agent, and if employed at all internally, it should be with the greatest 
caution. It is highly probable that the iron furnishes but a very minute amount 
of any therapeutic value it may possess; and the constant tendency to decompo- 
sition renders it an undesirable agent. It is stated to have proved efficient in 
scrofulous and tuberculous diseases, in glandular enlargements, in some cutaneous affec- 
tions, in muscular hypertrophy, erysipelas, leucorrhoea, spermatorrhoea, bronchocele, amen- 
orrhoea, and even in phthisis. It is given internally in the form of syrup in doses of 
to 1 fluid drachm, and the solution also is applied locally, by means of a camel's 
hair pencil, or a feather, to the external maladies. Its virtues, if any, are undoubt- 
edly due to the bromine present; on this account some other of the bromides that 
may be safely administered should be employed when a bromide is indicated; 
and should iron be also indicated, it can be given separately. Bromide of iron 
is considerably employed in the manufacture of bromide of potassium. 
FERRI CARBONAS SACCHARATUS (U. S. P.)-SACCHARATED 
FERROUS CARBONATE. 
Formula of Anhydrous Ferrous Carbonate: FeCOs. Molecular Weight: 
115.73. 
Synonyms : Saccharated carbonate of iron, Ferri carbonas saccharata, Carbonas 
ferro^us saecharatus. 
Preparation.-"Ferrous sulphate, fifty grammes (50 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 334 
grs.]; sodium bicarbonate, thirty-five grammes (35 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 103 grs.]; 
sugar, in fine powder, distilled water, each, a sufficient quantity to make one 
hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]. Dissolve the ferrous sulphate 
in two hundred cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fl.^, 366 Iff] of hot distilled water, 
and the sodium bicarbonate in five hundred cubic centimeters (500 Cc.) [16 fl§, 
435 Bl] of distilled water at a temperature not exceeding 50° C. (122° F.), and 
filter the solutions separately. To the solution of sodium bicarbonate contained 
in a flask having a capacity of about one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) 
[33 fl5, 391 HL], add, gradually, the solution of ferrous sulphate, and mix thor- 
oughly by rotating the flask. Fill up the flask with boiling distilled water, cork 
it loosely, and set the mixture aside. When the precipitate has subsided, draw 
off the clear, supernatant liquid by means of a siphon, and then fill the flask 
again with hot distilled water, and shake it. Again draw off the clear liquid, and 
repeat the washing with hot distilled water in the same manner until the de- 
canted liquid gives not more than a slight cloudiness with barium chloride test- 
solution. Finally drain the precipitate thoroughly on a muslin strainer, trans- 
fer it to a porcelain capsule containing eighty grammes (80 Gm.) [2 oz. av., 360 
grs.] of sugar, and mix intimately. Evaporate the mixture to dryness, by means 
of a water-bath, reduce it to powder, and mix intimately with it, if necessary, 
enough well-dried sugar to make the final product weigh one hundred grammes 
(100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]. Keep the product in small, well-stoppered bot- 
tles (a 8. p.f . 
The reaction involved herein takes place according to the following equation: 
FeSO4+2Na2HCO3=FeCOs+Na2SO4-]-CO2-|-H2O. The precipitate of ferrous car- 
bonate rapidly absorbs oxygen from the air, turns brown and gradually parts with 
its carbon dioxide. The sugar added to the moist carbonate is believed to envelop 
its particles and thus protect them from oxidation. The precautions taken in the 
preparation of Vallet's inass has this point in view, inasmuch as the precipitate of 
ferrous carbonate is to be washed out with water containing syrup. 
Description.-The U. S. P. describes saccharated carbonate of iron as " a 
greenish-brown powder, gradually becoming oxidized by contact with air, without 
odor, and having at first a sweetish, afterward a slightly ferruginous, taste. Only 
partially soluble in water, but completely soluble in hydrochloric aoid, with copi- 
ous evolution of carbonic acid gas, forming a clear, greenish-yellow liquid"- FERRI CHLORIDUM. 
855 
(U. S. P.). Cold water dissolves the sugar and a small quantity of iron, and if the 
solution be heated, it becomes yellow and turbid from the separation of hydrated 
peroxide of iron, with evolution of carbon dioxide. 
Tests.-" If 1 Gm. of saccharated ferrous carbonate be dissolved in 5 Cc. of 
hydrochloric acid, and the solution diluted with water to the measure of 50 Cc., 
portions of this solution will afford a blue precipitate with both potassium fer- 
rocyanide T.S and potassium ferricyanide T.S., but should not be affected by 
barium chloride T.S. (absence of sulphate). If 1.16 (1.1573) Gm. of saccharated 
ferrous carbonate be dissolved in 10 Cc. of diluted sulphuric acid, and the solu- 
tion diluted with water to about 100 Cc., it should require about 15 Cc. of deci- 
normal potassium permanganate V.S. to impart a permanent pink tint to the 
liquid, corresponding to about 15 per cent of ferrous carbonate (each cubic centi- 
meter of the volumetric solution indicating 1 per cent of pure ferrous carbon- 
ate)"- (U. S. P.f 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This is a useful chalybeate tonic, supe- 
rior to the carbonate of iron, but not equal to Vallet's pills of carbonate of iron, in 
in which the metal is more completely protected from oxidation (see Pilulse Ferri 
Carbonatisf The dose is from 5 to 20 grains, in pill; it renders the stools greenish- 
black. 
FERRI CHLORIDUM (U. S. P.)-FERRIC CHLORIDE. 
Formula: Fe2Cl6+12H.2O. Molecular Weight : 539.5. 
Synonyms : Chloride of iron, Perchloride of iron, Sesquichloride of iron, Ferri per- 
chlor idum,, Ferrum muriaticum oxydatum, Chloridum vet chloruretum ferricum. 
Preparation.-" Take of Iron, in the form of fine, bright wire, and cut into 
small pieces, fifteen grammes (15 Gm.) [232 grs.]; hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, 
distilled water, each, a sufficient quantity. Introduce the iron wire into a flask 
having a capacity of about two hundred cubic centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 Us. 
366 Til], pour upon it fifty-four grammes (54 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 396 gr=.J of hy- 
drochloric acid, previously diluted with twenty-five cubic centimeters (25 Cc.) 
[406 TH] of distilled water, and let the mixture stand in a moderately warm place 
until effervescence ceases; then heat it to the boiling point, filter it through paper, 
and having rinsed the flask and iron wire with a little hot distilled water, pass 
the rinsings through the filter. To the filtered liquid add twenty-eight grammes 
(28 Gm ) [432 grs.] of hydrochloiic acid, add the mixture slowly and gradually, 
in a stream, to eight grammes (8 Gm.) [124 grs.] of nitric acid, contained in a 
capacious porcelain vessel, and warm gently. After effervescence ceases, apply heat, 
by means of a sand-bath, until the liquid is free from nitrous odor. Then test a 
few drops of the liquid, diluted with water, with freshly prepared potassium ferri- 
cyanide test-solution. Should this reagent produce a blue color, add a little more 
nitric acid, drop by drop, as long as effervescence is observed, and evaporate off 
the excess. Then add five grammes (5 Gm.) [77 grs.] of hydrochloric acid, and 
enough distilled water to make the whole weigh sixty grammes (60 Gm.) [2 ozs. 
av , 51 grs.], and set this aside, covered with glass, until it forms a solid crystal- 
line mass. Lastly, break the salt into pieces, and keep it in a glass-stoppered 
bottle, protected from light"-(U. S. P.f 
This process does not differ materially from Wittstein's, for an account of 
which see King's American Dispensatory, 15th ed., p. 1010. Metallic iron is rapidly 
acted on and dissolved in the above process, ferrous chloride (FeCl2), being formed 
in the first stage. The hydrogen gas set free possesses a disagreeable smell, which 
is due to admixed hydrocarbons originating from part of the carbon contained 
in the iron. The second stage of the process consists in the oxidation of the fer- 
rous to ferric chloride in the presence of hydrochloric acid, by the action of the 
nitric acid. A sufficient amount of hydrochloric acid must be present in the 
liquid in order to avoid the presence of basic or oxychloride (see Tests, below). 
Another method of preparing solution of ferric chloride consists in dissolving 
ferric oxide in hydrochloric acid. 
Description.-Ferric chloride is officially described as follows: "Orange-yel- 
low, crystalline pieces, odorless, or having a faint odor of hydrochloric acid, and 
a strongly styptic taste. Very deliquescent in moist air. Freely and completely 856 
FERRI CHLORIDUM. 
soluble in water and alcohol; also in a mixture of 1 part of ether and 3 parts of 
alcohol. At 35.5° C. (96° F.), the salt melts, forming a reddish-brown liquid. 
When strongly heated, it decomposes with the loss of water and hydrochloric 
acid, while the anhydrous salt sublimes, leaving a residue of ferric oxide"- 
(U. S. P.\ Exposed to the light the salt becomes of lighter color, giving off a 
part of its chlorine and becoming ferrous chloride; the action of air and light 
must therefore be avoided. 
Tests.-"The dilute, aqueous solution of the salt is acid to litmus paper, 
yields a brownish-red precipitate with ammonia water, a blue one with potassium 
ferrocyanide T.S., and a white one, insoluble in nitric acid, with silver nitrate 
T.S. If the iron be completely precipitated from a solution of the salt by an 
excess of ammonia water, the filtrate should be colorless, and should not yield 
either a white or a dark-colored precipitate with hydrogen sulphide T.S. (absence 
of zinc or copper); nor should it leave a fixed residue on evaporation and gentle 
ignition (absence of salts of the fixed alkalies). On adding a clear crystal of fer- 
rous sulphate to a cooled mixture of equal volumes of concentrated sulphuric 
acid and a moderately dilute solution of the salt, the crystal should not become 
colored brown, nor should there be a brownish-black color developed around it 
(absence of nitric acid). If to a dilute solution of the salt a few drops of freshly 
prepared potassium ferricyanide T.S., be added, a pure brown color should be 
produced, without a tinge of green or greenish-blue (absence of ferrous salt). A 
1 per cent aqueous solution of the salt, when boiled in a test-tube, should remain 
clear (absence of oxychloride). If 0.56 (0.5588) Gm. of the salt be dissolved in a 
glass-stoppered bottle (having a capacity of about 100 Cc.), in 10 Cc. of water and 
2 Cc. of hydrochloric acid, and, after the addition of 1 Gm. of potassium iodide 
the mixture be kept for half an hour at a temperature of 40° C. (104° F.), then 
cooled and mixed with a few drops of starch T.S., it should require 20 Cc. of deci- 
normal sodium hypophosphite V.S. to discharge the blue or greenish color of the 
liquid (each cubic centimeter of the volumetric solution indicating 1 per cent of 
metallic iron) "-(U. S. P.f 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Perchloride of iron is given in solution 
(see Liquor Ferri Chloridi), and is a powerful styptic. Internally, it has been suc- 
cessfully administered in epistaxis, hemoptysis, hematemesis, menorrhagia, uterine and 
other hemorrhages of a passive character, and in hydruria, urinal incontinence, and 
catarrh of the bladder, the dose being from 5 to 10 drops in a sufficient quantity of 
water, and repeating it 2, 3, or even 4 times a day. It has been used with asserted 
success in pharyngeal diphtheria. It has also been used in surgery, in the treat- 
ment of aneurism and varicose veins; a few drops of the concentrated solution of 
the perchloride is injected into the arteries or veins, under the influence of which 
all the blood within a distance of 2 or 3 lines is converted in a few minutes into 
a solid clot. Its use in aneurism has been abandoned owing to its having pro- 
duced suppurative infiltration, or fatal embolism. It has not yet been determined 
what is the real mode of action of this salt on the blood. According to some, it 
coagulates the whole of the blood and all its elements; according to others, it acts 
only on the fibrin, and others, again, contend that its action is confined to the 
albumen. A solution of the salt, as named above, is the best form of preparation, 
though it decomposes on standing. 
Perchloride of iron arrests arterial or venous hemorrhage resulting either from 
accident, or as a consequence of surgical operations. Hemorrhage from the bowels may 
be checked by an enema composed of from 20 to 25 drops of a concentrated 
solution of perchloride of iron to 7 ounces of fluid. Hemorrhage from an abscess 
may be checked by injecting a solution composed of 10 drops of the concentrated 
solution to 7 fluid ounces of water. Twenty drops to 34 fluid ounces of water has 
been successfully used as an injection in chronic gonorrhoea or leucorrhoea, in weak 
and lymphatic subjects. As a local or external hemostatic, from 3 to 5 parts of 
perchloride of iron may be dissolved in 100 parts of distilled water; lint may be 
thoroughly moistened with this, and applied upon the seat of hemorrhage, with 
more or less pressure. One part of perchloride of iron to 500 parts of distilled 
water, and the solution sweetened and administered internally in proper doses, 
checks the most profuse hemorrhages in from 24 to 36 hours, and is also useful in 
chronic diarrhoea; without the sweetening, it is useful as an injection in uterine FERRI CITRAS. 
857 
flooding, cholera, colliquative diarrhoea, etc. Many deaths have been attributed to 
its use in strong solutions as a means of arresting uterine hemorrhage. Mr. J.T. 
Lawrence says: "If the solid perchloride of iron be kept in a bottle, a small por- 
tion of it after a time deliquesces into a thick brown fluid, which is constantly 
kept in a state of supersaturation by the undeliquesced portions of the salt. This 
liquid, applied by means of a spun-glass brush, to a bleeding surface, arrests the 
bleeding almost instantaneously. This mode of application is particularly valu- 
able in applying the styptic to such cases as excision of the tonsils, bleeding from 
the deeper-seated vessels of the gums, etc." The solution is considered effective 
in destroying vascular nsevi, erectile tumors, and the granulations of ingrown nails. It 
has also been applied in chilblains, scrofulous ulcers, hospital gangrene, siveating feet, 
and rectal prolapse. Dense, confluent granulations within the tympanic cavity are 
removed with a crystal or strong solution of chloride of iron with less pain than 
with silver nitrate (Foltz). ' 
Jeannel proposed a perchloride of iron for therapeutical purposes, containing 
5 molecules of oxide of iron. It is prepared with 100 parts of pure hydrochloric 
acid of sp. gr. 1.15, and 522 parts of ferric hydroxide containing 75 parts of water. 
Dissolve cold by trituration in a glass mortar, and filter. It forms a limpid, deep, 
garnet-red fluid, with an astringent, but not bitter taste. It very strongly coagu- 
lates blood and albumen, and the coagulum does not become redissolved, as is 
the case when the official perchloride is used; it is not painful when applied 
to wounds; may be readily dried on plates placed in a stove heated to 40° C. 
(104° F.), yielding blackish-brown, very soluble laminae, which, when powdered, 
form an excellent local application for modifying wounds affected with hospital 
gangrene, abscesses of a bad character, phagedenic chancres, etc. 
Related Salt.-Ferrum Chloratum, Ferrous chloride, Chloridum ferrosum, Ferrum muria- 
ticum oxydulatum. Formula: FeCl2. Molecular weight: 126.64. This salt may be easily made by 
digesting in a porcelain vessel iron turnings (1 part), in hydrochloric acid (4 parts), the latter 
having been previously diluted with distilled water (2 parts). The mixture is to be warmed, 
filtered, and carefully evaporated until the bulk is reduced to the measure of that of 3 parts 
of the acid employed. Add a little hydrochloric acid and allow it to crystallize in a cool situa- 
tion (Lloyd's Chern, of Med.). Ferrous chloride forms pale-green crystals, and contains 4 mole- 
cules of water. In moist air it deliquesces, changing in color by oxidation gradually, from 
green to yellow. As stated before, the first step in the preparation of ferric chloride consists in 
the making of ferrous chloride. In Germany a Liquor Ferri Chloratum is prepared. Ferrous 
chloride has been given in doses of from 1 to 5 grains in that country. 
FERRI CITRAS (U. S. P.)-FERRIC CITRATE. 
Formula: Fe2(C6H5O,)2 (for anhydrous salt). Molecular Weight : 488.84. 
Synonyms : Citrate of iron, Insoluble (?) citrate of iron, Ferrum citricum oxydatum, 
Citras ferricus. 
Preparation.-" Take of solution of ferric citrate, a convenient quantity. 
Evaporate the solution on a water-bath, at a temperature not exceeding 60° C. 
(140° F.), to the consistence of syrup, and spread it on plates of glass, so that, 
when dry, the salt may be obtained in scales. Keep the product in well-stoppered 
bottles, protected from light"-(U.S.P.). 
Description and Tests.-"Thin, transparent, garnet-red scales, without 
odor, and having a slightly ferruginous taste. Slowly but completely soluble in 
cold water, and readily soluble in hot water, but diminishing in solubility by age. 
Insoluble in alcohol. When strongly heated, the salt chars, and finally leaves a 
residue of ferric oxide, which should not have an alkaline reaction upon litmus 
paper (absence of citrates or tartrates of the fixed alkalies). The aqueous solu- 
tion of the salt has an acid reaction, and is not precipitated, but rendered darker 
in color, by ammonia water. With potassium ferrocyanide T.S. it produces a 
bluish-green color or precipitate, which is increased and rendered dark-blue by the 
subsequent addition of hydrochloric acid (difference from iron and ammonium 
citrate). When heated with potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., it affords a 
brownish-red precipitate, without evolving any vapor of ammonia. If a 10 per 
cent solution of the salt be deprived of its iron by boiling it with an excess of 
potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., and the filtrate be slightly acidulated with 858 
FERRUM DIALYSaTUM. 
acetic acid, a portion of the cooled liquid, mixed with a little calcium chloride 
T.S., and again heated to boiling, will gradually afford a white, crystalline pre- 
cipitate. Another portion of the acidulated and cooled liquid, when allowed to 
stand for some time, should not deposit a white, crystalline precipitate (absence 
of tartrate). If 0.56 (0.5588) Gm. of the salt be dissolved in a glass-stoppered bot- 
tle (having a capacity of about 100 Cc.) in 15 Cc. of water and 2 Cc. of hydro- 
chloric acid, with the aid of a gentle heat, and, after the addition of 1 Gm. of 
potassium iodide, the mixture be kept for half an hour at a temperature of 40° C. 
(104° F.), then cooled, and mixed with a few drops of starch T.S., it should re- 
quire about 16 Cc. of decinormal sodium hyposulphite V.S. to discharge the blue 
or greenish color of the liquid (each cubic centimeter of the volumetric solution 
indicating 1 per cent of metallic iron)"-(U. S. P.). 
Iron and ammonium citrate is often sold under the name of soluble citrate 
of iron. ' 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-(See Ferri et Ammonii Citrus'). Dose, 
2 to 10 grains, in aqueous solution or pill. 
FERRUM DIAL YSATUM.-DIALYZED IRON. 
Synonyms : Liquor Jerri dialysatus, Liquor ferri oxychlorati. 
Preparation.-The Paris Pharmaceutical Society (1876) adopted the follow- 
ing process: To 100 grammes (34 fluid ounces) of solution of ferric chloride, sp. gr. 
1.245, 35 grammes (1| fluid ounces) of ammonia water, sp.gr. 0.923 (=20.26 per 
cent) are slowly added, with constant stirring, and as soon as a clear solution has 
formed it is introduced into the dialyzer (see Dialysis below); the surrounding 
water, during the process of dialyzation, being frequently changed. When the 
contents of the dialyzer (as may be determined by testing a small portion from 
time to time) cease to precipitate a solution of nitrate of silver, and give no acid 
reaction, the operation is suspended. 
Dr. W. H. Pile recommends the addition of solution of carbonate of sodium 
to the solution of chloride of iron, until a small portion of the resulting precipi- 
tate remains undissolved, and then to proceed with the dialysis. In this case, 
chloride of sodium passes through the septum. We believe the process now in 
general favor is to add freshly precipitated ferric hydrate to the solution of ferric 
chloride, until saturation ensues, and then dialyze the resulting liquid. In all 
cases the results of the operation are similar, and the solution within the dialyzer 
should, after the completion of the process, be brought to the proper standard by 
drying a given portion, and then adding distilled water in sufficient quantity to 
make 100 parts by weight of the solution contain 5 parts of the dry residue. 
Description and Chemical Composition.- Dialyzed iron has a deep-red 
color, and is miscible with distilled water, glycerin, and syrup. Fixed organic 
acids, alkalies, and salts form with it a clear jelly. It is odorless and almost 
tasteless, merely imparting a slight rough sensation to the tongue. In composi- 
tion it is a very basic oxychloride, and, as found in the market, differs considera- 
bly in constitution. It is not, as some have supposed, a neutral solution of oxide 
of iron. Specimens that are neutral to litmus paper, and that fail to show the 
presence of chlorine upon simply adding nitrate of silver to the solution of iron 
will, as Prof. Maisch has shown, give distinct precipitates, when a slight excess of 
ammonia water is previously added to the dialyzed iron, the mixture then filtered 
and the clear filtrate tested with solution of nitrate of silver. (For exhaustive 
articles on the subject we refer the reader to Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1877-78). 
According to the analyses of Prof. Trimble (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1878, p. 61), 
6 specimens of commercial dialyzed iron varied in composition from Fe2Cl6.llFe3O3 
to Fe2Cl6.31Fe.2O3. No specimen contained 5 per cent of solid matter, the highest 
being 4.831 per cent, the lowest 2.514 per cent. The specific gravity of 5 per cent 
dialyzed iron, according to Dr. W. H. Pile, is 1.029. Mr. E. B. Shuttleworth 
(Canad. Pharm. Jour., 1877), states, however, that it is 1.034 if the evaporation of 
the solution tested has been conducted over an exposed water-bath, and 1.04O 
when the perfectly dry residue is 5 per cent. If calcined, a residue of 5 per cent 
indicates a solution of specific gravity 1.046. If the process of dialysis is carried FERRI ET AMMONII CITRAS. 
859 
to excess, the resultant solution is prone to thicken. This is often observed in 
dialyzed iron where extra care has been taken that the process be carried to the 
utmost extent (see Dialysis below). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Dialyzed iron has been presented to 
the medical profession as a remedy devoid of any styptic, disagreeable taste, pro- 
ducing no heartburn, eructations, constipation, diarrhoea, or gastric disturbance, 
occasioning no blackening of the teeth, and being a ferric solution in a form 
closely resembling that of the iron in the blood. It has likewise been recom- 
mended as an antidote for poisoning by arsenic, fully as efficient as the hydrated 
sesquioxide of iron. Its dose is from 20 to 50 drops daily, or from 5 to 12 drops 
repeated 4 times a day. It may be dropped upon a lump of sugar, or be taken in 
a little water, wine, or coffee. This preparation has been recommended in all 
cases in which the administration of iron is indicated, but it has not given gen- 
eral satisfaction among those who have employed it; and from what has been 
gathered from those who have tested it as an arsenical antidote, it certainly ap- 
pears to be an uncertain and unreliable remedy. Prof. Depaire, of the University 
of Brussels (Jour. de Medecine de Bruxelles, 1877) considers that this agent should be 
ranked among the least active of ferruginous preparations. Bouchardat, of Paris, 
France, says: "Theoretically, dialyzed iron appears to me to be the most un- 
trustworthy of the ferruginous preparations in which the ferric oxide occurs, and 
for two reasons-the iron called dialyzed, does not pass through the dialyzer, it 
must then be illy adapted for absorption ; under the influence of very small 
quantities of alkali, of alkaline earths, of acids, of divers substances contained in 
the food, it becomes converted into an insoluble compound." Physicians in Ger- 
many frequently prescribe it as follows: Take of dialyzed iron, cinnamon water, 
each, 15 fluid drachms; glycerin, alcohol, each, 2| fluid drachms; mix. The dose 
of this for an adult is a dessertspoonful, repeated 3 or 4 times a day. Each 
spoonful contains 2.14 grammes (33 troy grains) of dialyzed oxide of iron, or 10 
centigrammes (1^ troy grains) of dry oxide of iron. 
Dialysis.-The name dialysis was applied, by Graham, to the act of separating certain 
bodies when in solution, by taking advantage of the fact that some substances pass more 
readily than others through certain gelatinous bodies. Those most diffusible, either crystallize 
or are closely related to crystalline classes, hence called crystalloids. The less diffusible prove 
to be those incapable of crystallizing, usually prone to assume the gelatinous form, being dis- 
tinguished as colloids. The principle of dialysis has, occasionally, for some years, been applied 
in practice, as in separating arsenous anhydrid, and other metallic poisons, from liquids con- 
taining organic matter; also in the separation of the crystallizable constituents of urine, as 
urea, etc. A layer of gelatin will serve as a dialyzer, but a septum of animal membrane, such 
as bladder, or a piece of parchment, is better adapted to the purpose. The dialyzer is gener- 
ally made by tying a sheet of parchment over a wooden hoop, or over a glass or rubber cylin- 
der, or even over the wide open end of a funnel. The liquid to be dialyzed is then placed 
inside the vessel thus made, and the whole arrangement is permitted to float upon distilled 
water. In case the vessel is heavy, it is better to support it in such a manner that the surface 
of the liquid within the dialyzer will be a little above the surface of the surrounding water. 
This is necessary to prevent an excessive inflow of water, which, in some cases, renders the 
liquid very dilute before dialysis has progressed to any great extent. 
From 9 to 14 days are generally required to complete the operation, but the process is 
influenced by the depth of the solution within the dialyzer, the extent of surface exposed, and 
the quality of the membrane employed, as well as by the attention given to a frequent change 
of the water in which the dialyzer floats. The most rapid work is accomplished with a con- 
stantly changing water below, and a thin stratum of liquid above, the membrane. The pro- 
cess of dialysis came into extensive use as a means of making dialyzed iron, but this prepa- 
ration, in recent years, has largely fallen into disuse. 
FERRI ET AMMONII CITRAS (U. S. P.)-IRON AND 
AMMONIUM CITRATE. 
Synonyms : Ammonio-ferric citrate, Ammonio-citrate of iron, Citrate of iron and 
ammonium, Soluble citrate of iron, Ferrum citricum ammoniatum, Ferro-ammonium 
citricum, Ferri ammonio-citras. 
Preparation.-"Take of solution of ferric citrate, one hundred cubic centi- 
meters (100 Cc.) [3 fl .5, 183 Hl]; ammonia water, forty cubic centimeters (40 Cc.) 
[1 fl,5, 169 Tfl]. Mix the solution of ferric citrate with the ammonia water, evapo- 
rate the mixture, by means of a water-bath, at a temperature not exceeding 60° C. 860 
FERRI ET AMMONJI CITRAS. 
(140° F.), to the consistence of syrup, and spread it on plates of glass, so that, 
when dry, the salt may be obtained in scales. Keep the product in well-stoppered 
bottles, protected from light"-(U. S. P.). 
As made by the foregoing process, ammonio-ferric citrate has the rather con- 
stant composition, Fe(C6H5O7)NH4OH (R. Rother, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1887, p. 170). 
The following process is taken from Lloyd's Chemistry of Medicines: a Dissolve the 
ferric oxide from 1 pint of solution of persulphate of iron (tersulphate U. S. P.), 
by digesting it in a porcelain dish, at a temperature of 82.2° C. (180° F.), with 4 
ounces (av.) of citric acid, and 5 fluid ounces of solution of citrate of ammonium. 
(Solution of citrate of ammonium for this purpose is made by dissolving 8 ounces 
(av.) of citric acid in an excess of ammonia water, and evaporating the product 
until it is reduced to the measure of 16 fluid ounces). When solution is com- 
plete, evaporate the product to the consistence of syrup, and dry by spreading 
it on plates of glass and exposing it to the temperature of from 37.7° C. to 50° C. 
(100° to 120° F.)." 
Description and Tests.-Iron and ammonium citrate is officially described 
as occuring in "thin, transparent, garnet-red scales, without odor, and having a 
saline, mildly ferruginous taste; deliquescent in moist air. Readily and com- 
pletely soluble in water, but insoluble in alcohol. When strongly heated, the salt 
chars, and finally leaves a residue of ferric oxide, which should not have an alka- 
line reaction towards litmus paper (absence of citrates or tartrates of the fixed 
^Ikalies). The aqueous solution of the salt is neutral to litmus paper. The 
aqueous solution is not precipitated, but rendered darker in color by ammonia 
water. With potassium ferrocyanide T.S., the solution does not give a blue color 
or precipitate, unless it be acidulated with hydrochloric acid (difference from 
ferric citrate). When heated with potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., it affords a 
brownish-red precipitate, and vapor of ammonia is evolved. If a 10 per cent solu- 
tion of the salt be deprived of its iron by boiling it with an excess of potassium 
or sodium hydrate T.S., and the filtrate slightly acidulated with acetic acid, a 
portion of the cooled liquid mixed with a little calcium chloride T.S., and again 
heated to boiling, will gradually deposit a white, crystalline precipitate. Another 
portion of the acidulated and cooled liquid, when allowed to stand for some time, 
should not yield a white crystalline precipitate (absence of tartrate). If 0.56 
(0.5588) Gm. of the salt be dissolved in a glass-stoppered bottle (having a capacity 
of about 100 Cc.) in 15 Cc. of water and 2 Cc. of hydrochloric acid, and, after the 
addition of 1 Gm. of potassium iodide, the mixture be kept for half an hour at 
a temperature of 40° C. (104° F.), then cooled, and mixed with a few drops of 
starch T.S., it should require about 16 Cc. of decinormal sodium hyposulphite 
V.S. to discharge the blue or greenish color of the liquid (each cubic centimeter 
of the volumetric solution indicating 1 per cent of metallic iron)"-(U. S. P.). 
Being more soluble than citrate of iron, this salt is the substance usually pre- 
scribed and sold under the name Citrate of iron or Soluble citrate of iron. Should 
it deliquesce in the air, too much ammonia has been used in its production; if 
sour and of acid reaction, an excess of citric acid has been employed; and if dusty 
or finely divided, an excess of oxide of iron is present (Lloyd's Chern, of Med.). 
Ammonia is evolved when the salt is calcined. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This salt, as well as citrate of iron, is a 
pleasant, ferruginous tonic, and may be given to children in ordinary cases of 
debility, struma, anemia, tabes mesenterica, etc. It does not constipate, and is easily 
assimilated, and is therefore a good iron tonic in dyspepsia with gastric irritability 
and marked anemia. The dose of either is from 4 to 10 grains in pill, or in water 
flavored with orange-peel, syrup, etc. The citrate is best given in the form of 
pill. The ammonio-citrate is not adapted for use in pill. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Anemia; skin pale, translucent, membranes 
pale, respiration accelerated; appetite morbid; patient restless and nervous. 
Related Compound.-Ferri et Zinci Citras, Iron and zinc citrate. This preparation is 
but little used. It forms in brownish-green scales, and has a ferruginous and slightly metallic 
taste. As, in addition to the citrates of iron and zinc, it contains ammonia, it is more properly 
an "ammonio-citrate of iron and zinc." Used as a tonic in cases where iron is not contrain- 
dicated, as, in anemia, chorea, epilepsy, and other diseases o f the nervous system The dose is from 
2 to 5 grains, 2 or 3 times a day (H. N. Draper). 861 
FERRI ET AMMONII SULPHAS. 
FERRI ET AMMONII SULPHAS (U. S. P.)-IRON AND 
AMMONIUM SULPHATE. 
Formula: (NH4)2Fe2(SO4)4.24H2O. Molecular Weight : 962.1. 
Synonyms*: Ammonio-ferric sulphate, Ammonia-ferric alum, Sulphas ammonico 
ferricus, Ferri ammonio-su/phas, Ferrum ammonia-sulphuricum, Ferrum sulphuricum 
oxydatum ammoniatum, Alumen ammoniacale ferricum, Ferrum sulfuricum oxydatum 
ammoniatum. 
Preparation.-The U. S. P. (1870) presents a formula for the preparation of 
this salt, in which it is recommended to "heat 2 pints of a solution of tersulphate 
of iron (see Liquor Ferri Tersulphatis) to the boiling point, then add to it 4^ troy 
ounces of sulphate of ammonium, and when this is dissolved, to set the fluid 
aside to crystallize, wash the crystals quickly with very cold water, wrap them in 
bibulous paper, and dry them in the open air." According to Lloyd's Chemistry of 
Medicines, it is not necessary to boil thesolution; a temperature of 65.5° 0. (150° F.) 
is sufficient. 
Description and Tests.-According to Rose, pure ammonio-ferric alum is 
white, becoming colored only in aqueous solution, through the formation of a 
basic iron salt, a change which may be prevented by acidulating the solution with 
sulphuric acid. As usually met with in commerce, it is of amethyst-like color. 
"Ferric ammonium sulphate should be kept in well-stoppered bottles"-(G. S.P.f 
The U. S. P. describes it as occurring in "pale violet, octahedral crystals, 
without odor, and having an acid, styptic taste; efflorescent on exposure to the 
air. Soluble in 3 parts of water at 15° C. (59° F.), and in 0.8 part of boiling 
water; insoluble in alcohol. When strongly heated, the crystals fuse, lose their 
water of crystallization, swell up, and finally leave a pale-brown residue. The 
aqueous solution of the salt has a slightly acid reaction, and yields with potas- 
sium ferrocyanide T.S. a blue precipitate, and with barium chloride T.S. a white 
precipitate insoluble in hydrochloric acid. With potassium or sodium hydrate 
T.S. it yields a brownish-red precipitate, and if the mixture be heated, vapor of 
ammonia is evolved. If all the iron be precipitated from a solution of the salt by 
treating it with an excess of potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., the resulting fil- 
trate, when neutralized with hydrochloric acid, and then mixed with ammonia 
water, should not yield a white, gelatinous precipitate (absence of aluminum). 
If 0.56 (0.5588) Gm. of the salt be dissolved in a glass-stoppered bottle (having 
a capacity of about 100 Cc.) in 15 Cc. of water and 2 Cc. of hydrochloric acid, 
and, after the addition of 1 Gm. of potassium iodide, the mixture be kept for h 
hour at a temperature of 40° C. (104° F.), then cooled, and mixed with a few 
drops of starch T.S., it should require not less than 11.6 Cc. of decinormal sodium 
hyposulphite V.S. to discharge the blue or greenish color of the liquid (each 
cubic centimeter of the volumetric solution indicating 1 per cent of metallic 
iron)"-(U.S.P.f 
Iron Alum was brought to the notice of the profession by Dr. Wm. Tyler 
Smith. Beside the ammonio-ferric alum before described, there exist other iron 
alums, in which the ammonium is replaced by potassium or sodium or other 
alkali metals. The potassio-ferric alum (Fe„[SO4]3.K2SO4.24H,O) (which is prepared 
exactly like ammonio-ferric alum, except that potassium sulphate is employed in 
the place of ammonium sulphate), has long been used in St. Mary's Hospital, 
London, as a more powerful astringent than common alum, and not liable to pro- 
duce the stimulating effects of other salts of iron. Ammonio-ferric alum possesses 
similar properties. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Dr. Wm. Tyler Smith speaks very 
highly of these iron alums in leucorrhoea in doses of from 3 to 10 or 15 grains, in 
infusion of columbo, or in water, repeated 3 times a day. They have also been 
found useful in choleraic diarrhoea, dysentery, and other disorders in which tonicity 
and astringency are required. They are more effective than the perchloride of 
iron, being at the same time less stimulating, more easily assimilated, and rarely 
causing any nausea or headache. Occasionally they induce slight constipation, 
which may be obviated by an occasional laxative, as magnesium sulphate, com- 
pound licorice powder, etc. 862 
FERRI ET AMMONII TARTRAS. 
Related Preparation.-Ferroso-Aluminic Sulphate. Sulphate of aluminum and iron 
('A]2Fe[SO4]4.24H2O). This substance may be formed by dissolving in an excess of sulphuric 
acid, recently precipitated ferrous carbonate and recently precipitated alumina in such propor- 
tions as are demanded by the above formula. By evaporating the solution thus formed, if kept 
in a warm situation, it deposits crystalline tufts of the ferroso-aluminic sulphate. It was intro- 
duced by Sir James Murray as an astringent, styptic, and anthelmintic. For its astringent effects 
it has been employed in bowel disorders, night-sweats, and leucorrhcea. The dose is from 5 to 10 
grains in water. Locally used in relaxed palate and uvula, sluggish ulcers, and hemorrhages. 
FERRI ET AMMONII TARTRAS (U. S. P.)-IRON AND 
AMMONIUM TARTRATE 
Synonyms : Ammonio-ferric tartrate, Ammonio-tartrate of iron, Ferri ammonio- 
tartras, Ferrum tartaricum ammoniatum. 
Preparation.-The following official process is practically based on that elabo- 
rated by Prof. Procter in 1841 (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1841): " Solution of ferric sul- 
phate, one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fig, 183 Hl]; tartaric acid, 
twenty-nine grammes (29 Gm ) [448 grs.]; distilled water, two hundred cubic 
centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fl5, 366 Hl]; ammonia water, water, each, a sufficient 
quantity. To one hundred and ten cubic centimeters (110 Cc.) [3 fig, 345 Hl] of 
ammonia water, previously diluted with two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters 
(250 Cc.) [8 fl^, 218 HI] of cold water, add, with constant stirring, the solution of 
ferric sulphate, previously diluted with thirteen hundred cubic centimeters (1300 
Cc.) [43 fig, 460 Til] of cold water. When the precipitate has subsided, draw off 
the clear, supernatant liquid by means of a siphon, then mix the precipitate inti- 
mately with about fifteen hundred cubic centimeters (1500 Cc.) [50 fig, 346 TH] of 
cold water, again draw off the clear liquid, and repeat the washing with water in 
the same manner until the decanted liquid gives not more than a slight cloudi- 
ness with barium chloride test-solution. Then transfer the precipitate to a wet 
muslin strainer, allow it to drain, and express the water as completely as possible. 
Dissolve one-half of the tartaric acid in the distilled water, neutralize the solu- 
tion exactly with ammonia water, then add the other half of the tartaric acid, and 
dissolve it by the application of a gentle heat. Now add the moist ferric hydrate 
in successive portions, stirring constantly, and continue the heat, which should 
not exceed 60° C. (140° F.), until the hydrate is dissolved. Filter the solution 
while hot, evaporate it in a porcelain vessel, at or below the above-mentioned tem- 
perature, to the consistence of syrup, and spread it on plates of glass, so that, 
when dry, the salt may be obtained in scales. Keep the product in well-stoppered 
bottles, protected from light"-(U. S. Pi). 
In this process ammonium tartrate is first formed by neutralizing one-half 
the tartaric acid with ammonia water, and this by the further addition of acid, 
becomes a bitartrate. This is then digested with freshly made ferric hydroxide, 
the solution filtered, and cautiously evaporated, the double salt being then dried 
and scaled. 
Description and Tests.-The official salt forms "thin, transparent scales, 
varying in color from garnet-red to reddish-brown, without odor, and having a 
sweetish, slightly ferruginous taste; slightly deliquescent in the air. Very soluble 
in water; insoluble in alcohol. When strongly heated, the salt chars, emits fumes 
having an odor of burning sugar, and finally leaves a residue of ferric oxide, 
which should not have an alkaline reaction upon litmus paper (absence of citrates 
or tartrates of the fixed alkalies). The aqueous solution of the salt is neutral to 
litmus paper, and is not precipitated, but rendered darker in color by ammonia 
water. With potassium ferrocyanide T.S. it does not afford a blue color or pre- 
cipitate, unless it be acidulated with hydrochloric acid. When heated with 
potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., it yields a brownish-red precipitate, and vapor 
of ammonia is evolved. If a 10 per cent solution of the salt be deprived of its 
iron by boiling it with an excess of potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., the filtrate, 
when slightly acidulated with acetic acid, will gradually deposit a white, crystal- 
line precipitate. If 0.56 (0.5588) Gm. of the salt be dissolved in a glass-stoppered 
bottle (having a capacity of about 100 Cc.) in 15 Cc. of water and 2 Cc. of hydro- 
chloric acid, and after the addition of 1 Gm. of potassium iodide, the mixture be FERRI ET P0TASS1I TARTRAS. 
863 
kept for half an hour at a temperature of 40° C. (104° F.),then cooled, and mixed 
with a few drops of starch T.S., it should require about 17 Cc. of decinormal 
sodium hyposulphite V.S. to discharge the blue or greenish color of the liquid 
(each cubic centimeter of the volumetric solution indicating 1 per cent of metal- 
lic iron)"-(U. S.Rf 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-A mild chalybeate, containing a small 
proportion of iron, but having the advantage of free solubility. Dose, 5 to 30 
grains. 
Related Compound.-Ferri et Quinine Tartras, Iron and quinine tartrate, Ferro-tart rate 
of quinine. Take of crystallized tartaric acid, distilled water, each, by weight, 2 ounces; moist 
hydrated oxide of iron (ferric hydroxide), pure quinine, of each, a sufficient quantity. Boil 
the tartaric acid and the distilled water together in a glass or porcelain vessel; as soon as the 
acid is dissolved, add the iron as long as the fluid will dissolve it. Heat the mixture until the 
deep blood-red fluid becomes clear, and then add the quinine until the fluid ceases to dissolve 
it. Evaporate the solution by means of gentle heat to the consistence of thick syrup, and 
spread it in thin layers on glass to dry (Prof. J. M. Sanders). This salt is much more soluble 
than the citrate of iron and quinine. It forms in scales of a beautiful crimson color. It is 
incompatible with astringent vegetable infusions, strong acids, alkalies, and their carbonates. 
The ferro-tartrate of quinine is a valuable tonic, and may be used with benefit in chlorosis, 
amenorrhoea, debility, anemia, and during the remissions or intermissions from fever; also in 
scrofula, and whenever the union of quinine with a chalybeate is indicated. The dose is from 
3 to 5 grains, 3 times a day, either in solution or in the form of pill. 
FERRI ET POTASSII TARTRAS (U. S. P.)-IRON AND 
Potassium Tartrate. 
Synonyms : Potassio-ferric tartrate, Tartarated iron, Tartarized iron, Fer ro-t artrate 
of potassium, Ferrum tartaratum, Ferri potassio-tartras, Ferrum tartar izatum, Ferri-Kali 
tartaricum, Tartras ferrico-potassicus, Tartras potassio-ferricus, Tartras ferrico-kalicus. 
Preparation.-"Solution of ferric sulphate, one hundred cubic centimeters 
(100 Cc.) [3 183 TTL]; potassium bitartrate, thirty-eight grammes (38 Gm.) 
El oz. av., 149 grs.]; distilled water, three hundred cubic centimeters (300 Cc.) 
10 69 Th]; ammonia water, water, each, a sufficient quantity. To one hun- 
dred and ten cubic centimeters (llOCc.) [3 fl^, 345 Th] of ammonia water, pre- 
viously diluted with two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 
218 Th.] of cold water, add, under constant stirring, the solution of ferric sulphate, 
previously diluted with thirteen hundred cubic centimeters (1300 Cc.) [43 fl^, 
460 TTL] of cold water. When the precipitate has subsided, draw off the clear, 
supernatant liquid by means of a siphon, then mix the precipitate intimately 
with about fifteen hundred cubic centimeters (1500 Cc.) [50 fl^, 346 Th] of cold 
water, again draw off the clear liquid, and repeat the washing with water in the 
same manner until the decanted liquid gives not more than a slight cloudiness 
with barium chloride test solution. Then transfer the precipitate to a wet muslin 
strainer, allow it to drain, and express the "water as completely as possible. Mix 
the potassium bitartrate with the distilled water, in a porcelain vessel, heat the 
mixture, on a water-bath, to a temperature not exceeding 60° C. (140° F.), and 
gradually add the moist ferric hydrate, stirring constantly until it is dissolved. 
Filter the liquid while hot, and let the filtrate stand in a cool, dark place for 24 
hours. Then stir it well with a porcelain or glass spatula, so that the precipitate 
which has formed in it may be thoroughly incorporated with the liquid. Now 
add, very cautiously, just enough ammonia water to dissolve the precipitate, 
evaporate the solution in a porcelain vessel, at or below the above-mentioned 
temperature, to the consistence of syrup, and spread it on plates of glass, so that, 
when dry, the salt may be obtained in scales. Keep the product in well-stoppered 
bottles, protected from light"-(U. S. Pf. 
This process very properly directs the addition of ammonia water in order to 
render the compound soluble, as recommended by G. H. Charles Klie ( Amer. Jour. 
Pharm., 1876, p. 170). J. U. Lloyd has shown (New Remedies, 1879, p. 324) that 
an excess of ammonia will cause darkening of the solution and the formation of 
a gelatinous tarry precipitate, and that it is absolutely necessary to restrict the 
ammonia water to the amount necessary to redissolve the reddish precipitate. 
This process had been used by him in a manufacturing way for several years. 864 
FERRI ET QUININ.E CITRAS. 
Description and Tests.-"Thin, transparent scales, varying in color from 
garnet-red to reddish-brown, without odor, and having a sweetish, slightly ferru- 
ginous taste; slightly deliquescent in the air. Very soluble in water; insoluble in 
alcohol. When strongly heated, the salt chars, emits fumes having an odor resem- 
bling that of burning sugar, and finally leaves a dark-brown residue, having a 
strongly alkaline reaction, and effervescing with acids (distinction from iron and 
ammonium tartrate). The aqueous solution of the salt is neutral to litmus paper, 
j and is not precipitated, but rendered darker in color, by ammonia water. With 
potassium ferrocyanide T.S. it does not afford a blue color or precipitate unless it 
be acidulated with hydrochloric acid. When heated with potassium or sodium 
hydrate T.S.,it yield a brownish-red precipitate, and a slight odor of ammonia is 
evolved. If a 10 per cent solution of the salt be deprived of its iron by boiling 
it with an excess of potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., the filtrate, when slightly 
acidulated with acetic acid, will gradually deposit a white, crystalline precipitate. 
If 0.56 (0.5588) Gm. of the salt be dissolved in a glass-stoppered bottle (having a 
capacity of about 100 Cc.) in 15 Cc. of water and 2 Cc. of hydrochloric acid, and, 
after the addition of 1 Gm. of potassium iodide, the mixture be kept for half an 
hour ata temperature of 40° C. (104° F.), then cooled, and mixed with a few drops 
of starch T.S., it should require about 15 Cc. of decinormal sodium hyposulphite 
V.S. to discharge the blue or greenish color of the liquid (each cubic centimeter 
of the volumetric solution indicating 1 per cent of metallic iron)"-(U.S.P.). 
Of the ferric scale salts, this is one of the richest in iron. Some regard it as a 
double salt whose formula is Fe2(C4H4O6)3+K2C4H4O6+H2O. Fliickiger regards its 
composition as C,H4O6K2d-C4H4O6(Fe2O2)-|-H.>O (Pharm. Chemie., 1879, p. 848). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-On account of its pleasant taste and 
lack of marked astringency, and its kindly action upon the gastro-intestinal tract, 
as well as the large proportion of iron it contains, this is regarded as one of the most 
valuable of the iron compounds. Constipation is not so likely to follow its admin- 
istration as from other chalybeate preparations. Dose, 5 to 20 grains, in solution, 
before meals. 
FERRI ET QUININE CITRAS (U. S. P)-IRON AND 
QUININE CITRATE. 
Synonyms: Ferri et quinise citras, Citrus ferrico-quinicus. 
Preparation.-"Ferric citrate, eighty-five grammes (85 Gm.) [3 ozs. av.] ; 
quinine, dried at 100° C. (212° F.), to a constant weight, twelve grammes (12 Gm.) 
[185 grs.]; citric acid, three grammes (3 Gm.) [46 grs.]; distilled water, a suffi- 
cient quantity to make one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]. 
Dissolve the ferric citrate in one hundred and sixty cubic centimeters (160 Cc.) 
[5 fl^, 197 Hl] of distilled water, by heating on a water-bath, at a temperature not 
exceeding 60° C. (140° F.). To this solution add the quinine and citric acid, pre- 
viously triturated with twenty cubic centimeters (20 Cc.) [325 Hl] of distilled 
water, and stir constantly until the quinine and citric acid are dissolved. Lastly, 
evaporate the solution, on a water-bath, at a temperature not exceeding 60° C. 
(140° F.), to the consistence of syrup, and spread it on plates of glass, so that, 
when dry, the salt may be obtained in scales. Keep the product in well-stoppered 
bottles, protected from light"-(U.S. P.). 
The process employed by the British Pharmacopoeia is complicated, and the 
salt, in consequence of the use of ammonia in its preparation, is much more 
soluble than that of the U. S. P. 
Description and Tests.-Citrate of iron and quinine varies in solubility and 
color (yellow-green to brown-red), according to the method of producing it. The 
salt of the British Pharmacopoeia has a greenish, golden-yellow hue. The official 
salt of the U. S. P. has never been in great demand on account of its slow solu- 
bility, the soluble iron and quinine citrate being preferred (see Ferri et Quininee Citras 
Solubilis). The salt should not be exposed to sunlight. 
"Thin, transparent scales, of a reddish-brown color, without odor, and hav- 
ing a bitter, mildly ferruginous taste; slowly deliquescent in damp air. Slowly 
but completely soluble in cold water, more readily soluble in hot water, and but 
partially soluble in alcohol. Its solubility is diminished by age. When strongly FERRI ET QUININAE CITRAS SOLUBILIS. 
865 
heated the salt chars, and finally leaves a residue of ferric oxide, which should not 
have an alkaline reaction upon litmus paper (absence of citrates or tartrates of 
the fixed alkalies). The aqueous solution of the salt has an acid reaction. On 
the addition of a slight excess of ammonia water the color of the solution is deep- 
ened, and a white, curdy precipitate is produced. The filtrate from this precipi- 
tate does not afford a blue color with potassium ferrocyanide T.S., unless it be 
acidulated with hydrochloric acid. Another portion of the filtrate, treated with 
an excess of potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., deposits a brownish-red precipi- 
tate. If a 10 per cent solution of the salt be deprived of its iron and quinine by 
boiling it with an excess of potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., and the filtrate 
slightly acidulated with acetic acid, a portion of the cooled liquid, mixed with 
a little calcium chloride T.S., and again heated to boiling, gradually deposits 
a white, crystalline precipitate. Another portion of the acidulated and cooled 
liquid, when allowed to stand for some time, should not deposit a white, crystal- 
line precipitate (absence of tartrate)"-(U. S. P.). 
Estimation of the Quinine.-"Dissolve 1.12 (1.1176) Gm. of iron and qui- 
nine citrate in a capsule, with the aid of a gentle heat, in 20 Cc. of water. Trans- 
fer the solution, together with the rinsings of the capsule, to a separator, allow the 
liquid to become cold, then add 5 Cc. of ammonia water and 10 Cc. of chloroform, 
and shake. Allow the liquids to separate, draw off the chloroform layer, and 
shake the residuary liquid a second and a third time with 10 Cc. of chloroform. 
Allow the combined chloroformic extracts to evaporate spontaneously, in a tared 
capsule, and dry the residue at a temperature of 100° C. (212° F.), to a constant 
weight. This residue should weigh not less than 0.1288 Gm. (corresponding to 
at least 11.5 per cent of dried quinine), and should conform to the reactions and 
tests of quinine (see Quinina) "-(U. S. Pf. 
Estimation of the Iron.-" Heat the aqueous liquid, from which the quinine 
has been removed in the manner just described, on a water-bath, until the odor 
of chloroform and ammonia has disappeared, allow it to cool, and dilute it with 
water to the volume of 50 Cc. Transfer 25 Cc. of the liquid to a glass-stoppered 
bottle (having the capacity of about 100 Cc.), add 2 Cc. of hydrochloric acid and 
1 Gm. of potassium iodide, and allow the mixture to stand for half an hour at a 
temperature of 40° C. (104° F.). After it has been allowed to cool, and been 
mixed with a few drops of starch T.S., it should require about 14.5 Cc. of deci- 
normal sodium hyposulphite V.S. to discharge the blue or greenish color of the 
liquid (each cubic centimeter of the volumetric solution indicating 1 per cent of 
metallic iron)"-(U. S. P.). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-A valuable tonic, useful in all cases 
where iron and quinine are indicated, and especially in the anemia following 
malarial fevers. Dose, 5 to 10 grains, in solution or pill, repeated 3 times a day. 
Related Compound.-Ferri et Quinine Citras cum Strychnina, Iron and quinine 
citrate with strychnine, Ferri et quinines stry^hnineeque citras. Take of citrate of iron and qui- 
nine, 490 grains; crystals of strychnine, citric acid, each, 5 grains; water, 5 fluid ounces. Dis- 
solve the citrate of iron and quinine in 4| fluid ounces of the water, and, having dissolved the 
strychnine and citric acid in the remaining J fluid ounce of water by boiling, mix the solu- 
tions, evaporate to a syrupy consistence, and spread on glass plates to dry in scales. One 
grain of strychnine, 20 grains of quinine, and 79 grains of citrate of iron, are contained in 
each 100 grains of this preparation. The scales exactly resemble those of citrate of iron and 
quinine, but have a more persistently bitter taste. The presence of strychnine may be 
detected in the residue from the evaporation of the chloroformic solution of the alkaloids by 
the usual color tests. This may be used in all cases of nervous debility, anemia, chlorosis, dyspep- 
sia, torpor of liver, constipation, etc., in which the use of iron, quinine, and strychnine is indi- 
cated; it, together with the one later to be described (Ferri et Strychnines Citras), is the safest, 
if not the best, means of exhibiting strychnine. Five grains of the preparation contain -fa of 
a grain of strychnine. The dose is from 2 to 5 grains, 2 or 3 times a day. 
FERRI ET QUININJS CITRAS SOLUBILIS (U. S. P.)-SOLUBLE 
IRON AND QUININE CITRATE. 
Preparation.-" Ferric citrate, eighty-five grammes (85 Gm.) [3 ozs. av.]; 
quinine, dried at 100° C. (212° F.), to a constant weight, twelve grammes (12 Gm.) 
[185 grs.]; citric acid, three grammes (3 Gm.) [46 grs.]; ammonia water, distilled 866 
water, each, a sufficient quantity to make one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. 
av.,231 grs.]. Dissolve the ferric citrate in one hundred and sixty cubic centi- 
meters (160 Cc.) [5 fls, 197TIT] of distilled water, by heating on a water-bath at a 
temperature not exceeding 60° C. (140° F.). To this solution add the quinine 
and citric acid, previously triturated with twenty cubic centimeters (20 Cc.) 
[325 TTL] of distilled water and stir constantly until the quinine and citric acid are 
dissolved. Then add gradually and with constant stirring, fifty cubic centime- 
ters (50 Cc.) [1 fl5, 332 RI], or a sufficient quantity of ammonia water, so that, 
after the addition of each portion of the latter, the precipitated quinine will be 
redissolved and the liquid acquire a greenish-yellow tint. Lastly, evaporate the 
solution on a water-bath, at a temperature not exceeding 60° C. (140° F.), to the 
consistence of syrup, and spread it on plates of glass, so that, when dry, the salt 
may be obtained in scales. Keep the product in well-stoppered bottles, protected 
from light "-(U. S. P.). This salt became official in the U. S. P. of 1890. 
Description and Tests.-"Thin, transparent scales, of a greenish, golden- 
yellow color, without odor, and having a bitter, mildly ferruginous taste; deli- 
quescent in damp air. Rapidly and completely soluble in cold water, but only 
partially soluble in alcohol. When strongly heated, the salt chars, and finally 
leaves a residue of ferric oxide, which should not have an alkaline reaction upon 
litmus paper (absence of citrates or tartrates of the fixed alkalies). The aqueous 
solution of the salt has a slightly acid reaction. On the addition of a slight ex- 
cess of ammonia water the color of the liquid is deepened, and a white, curdy 
precipitate is produced. If a portion of the filtrate from this precipitate be mixed 
with some potassium ferrocyanide T.S., it does not afford a blue color or precipi- 
tate, unless it be acidulated with hydrochloric acid. Another portion of the fil- 
trate, treated with an excess of potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., gives a brownish- 
red precipitate. If a portion of the salt be heated with potassium or sodium 
hydrate T.S., vapor of ammonia will be evolved. If a 10 per cent solution of the 
salt be deprived of its iron and quinine by boiling it with an excess of potassium 
or sodium hydrate T.S.,and the filtrate slightly acidulated with acetic acid, a por- 
tion of the cooled liquid, mixed with a little calcium chloride T.S., and again 
heated to boiling, will gradually deposit a white, crystalline precipitate. Another 
portion of the acidulated and cooled liquid, when allowed to stand for some time, 
should not give a white, crystalline precipitate (absence of tartrate). Soluble 
iron and quinine citrate, when assayed for quinine and iron by the method 
described under Ferri et Quininae Citrus, should respond to the requirements for 
the latter"-(U. S.P.). 
This preparation differs from the preceding in its ready solubility owing to 
the ammonia used in its production. It is the salt that should be used in mak- 
ing solutions of iron and quinine citrate. The ammonia-free salt (Ferri et Quininae 
Citrus) is, however, better adapted for pills. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.- Same as for Fern et Quininae Citrus, 
which see. 
FERRI ET STRYCHNIN.E CITRAS. 
FERRI ET STRYCHNINE CITRAS (U. S. P.)-IRON AND 
STRYCHNINE CITRATE. 
Synonym: Ferri et strychnias citrus (LT. & P., 1870). 
Preparation.-" Iron and ammonium citrate, ninety-eight grammes (98 Gm.) 
[3 ozs. av., 200 grs.]; strychnine, one gramme (1 Gm.) [15.4 grs.]; citric acid, one 
gramme (1 Gm.) [15.4 grs.]; distilled water, one hundred and twenty cubic cen- 
timeters (120 Cc.) [4 fl^, 28 TT[], to make one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. 
av.,231 grs.]. Dissolve the iron and ammonium citrate in one hundred cubic 
centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fls, 183 TH.J of distilled water, and the strychnine, together 
with the citric acid, in twenty cubic centimeters (20 Cc.) [325 TTL] of distilled 
water. Mix the two solutions, evaporate the mixture by means of a water-bath, 
at a temperature not exceeding 60° C. (140° F.), to the consistence of a syrup, and 
spread it on plates of glass, so that, when dry, the salt may be obtained in scales. 
Keep the product in well-stoppered bottles, protected from the light"-(U. S. P.). 
This preparation is merely a mixture of ammonio-ferric citrate and strych- 
nine citrate. It should not be prescribed in solution, as Dr. E. R. Squibb has FERRI FERROCYANIDUM. 
867 
shown {Ephemeris, 1888), that it rapidly decomposes, even in a few hours, throwing 
down a white deposit. Strychnine, to the extent of 50 per cent, was found in this 
sediment, hence the danger of using it in solution. If it must be used in this 
manner the liquid should be well shaken before taking each dose. It may be 
given in pill form. The salt should contain about.1 per cent of strychnine. 
Description.-" Thin, transparent scales, varying in color from garnet-red to 
yellowish-brown, without odor, and having a bitter, slightly ferruginous taste; 
deliquescent in damp air. Readily and completely soluble in water, but only 
partly soluble in alcohol. When strongly heated, the salt chars, and finally leaves 
a residue of ferric oxide, which should not have an alkaline reaction upon litmus 
paper (absence of citrates or tartrates of the fixed alkalies). The aqueous solution 
of the salt is slightly acid to litmus paper, and is not immediately precipitated, 
but rendered darker in color, by ammonia water. With potassium ferrocyanide 
T.S., it does not yield a blue color or precipitate, unless it be acidulated with 
hydrochloric acid. On heating it with potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., a 
brownish-red precipitate is produced, and vapor of ammonia evolved. If a 10 per 
cent solution of the salt be deprived of its iron and strychnine by boiling it with 
an excess of potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., and the filtrate slightly acidulated 
with acetic acid, a portion of the cooled liquid mixed with a little calcium chlo- 
ride T.S., and again heated to boiling, will gradually deposit a white, crystalline 
precipitate. Another portion of the acidulated and cooled liquid, when allowed 
to stand for some time, should not deposit a white, crystalline precipitate (absence 
of tartrate) "-(U. S. P.f 
Estimation of the Strychnine.-"Dissolve 2.24 (2.2352) Gm. of iron and 
strychnine citrate, in a separator in 15 Cc. of water, add 5 Cc. of ammonia water, 
and 10 Cc. of chloroform, and shake. Allow the liquids to separate, draw off the 
chloroform layer, ano shake the residuary liquid a second and a third time with 
10 Cc. of chloroform. Allow the combined chloroformic extracts to evaporate 
spontaneously in a tared capsule, and dry the residue at a temperature of 100° C. 
(212° F.), to a constant weight. This residue should weigh not less than 0.02 Gm. 
nor more than 0.0224 Gm. (corresponding to not less than 0.9 nor more than 1 
per cent of strychnine), and should respond to the reactions and tests of strych- 
nine (see Strychnind) "-(U. S. P.). 
Estimation of the Iron.-"Heat the aqueous liquid, from which the strych- 
nine has been removed in the manner just described, on a water-bath, until the 
odor of chloroform and ammonia has disappeared, allow it to cool, and dilute it 
with water to the volume of 100 Cc. Transfer 25 Cc. of the liquid to a glass-stop- 
pered bottle (having the capacity of about 100 Cc.), add 2 Cc. of hydrochloric 
acid and 1 Gm. of potassium iodide, and allow the mixture to stand for half an 
hour, at a temperature of 40° C. (104° F.). After it has been allowed to cool, and 
been mixed with a few drops of starch T.S., it should require about 16 Cc. of 
decinormal sodium hyposulphite V.S., to discharge the blue or greenish color of 
the liquid (each cubic centimeter* of the volumetric solution indicating 1 per cent 
of the metallic iron)"-(U.S. P.f 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This preparation is useful in debility, 
dyspepsia arising from atony, chlorosis, chorea, suppressed menstruation, etc. Five 
grains contain of a grain of strychnine. The dose is from 1 to 4 grains in pill, 
cautiously increased to 6 grains, 2 or 3 times a day. It should not be given in 
solution. 
FERRI FERROCYANIDUM.-FERRIC FERROCYANIDE. 
Formula: Fe7Cy18 = Fe7(CN)18=Fe4(FeCy6)s = Fe43Fe(CN)6. Molecular 
Weight: 858.8. 
Synonyms : Prussian blue, Paris blue, Williamson's blue, Ferrocyanide of iron, Ferro- 
cyanuret of iron, Ferri ferrocyanuretum, Insoluble Prussian blue, Ferrum ferrocyana- 
tum, Ferrum borussicum, Ferrum zooticum, Coeruleum borussicum, Cyanuretum ferroso- 
ferricum, Ferrocyanidum ferricum. 
Preparation.-This is formed by precipitating a solution of ferrocyanide of 
potassium (yellow prussiate of potash, Fe2Cy12K8 or 2FeCy6K4), with a solution of 
ferric sulphate or ferric chloride in excess. The U. S. P, of 1870, directed potassium 868 
FERRI HYPOPHOSPHIS. 
ferrocyanide'9 troy ounces; solution of ferric sulphate, 1 pint; water, 3 pints. 
The potassium salt to be dissolved in 2 pints of the water, and the iron solution 
in 1 pint. Add the solution of the potassium salt gradually with constant stir- 
ring, to the iron solution, filter, and wash the blue precipitate with boiling water, 
dry, and powder the product. The following reaction takes place: 3Fe2Cy]2K8-b 
4Fe2Cl6=24KCl+2Fe4(FeCy6)3. To free the compound from adherent potassium 
salt considerable washing is required. It retains about 18 molecules of H2O 
when dried at a temperature near 40° C. (104° F.), but on subjecting it to a higher 
heat this is gradually dissipated. 
Description.-Prussian blue, when well made, is of a beautiful dark-blue 
color, without taste or odor. The broken surfaces of the fragments are of a beau- 
tiful bronze color, and the compound when triturated, yields a handsome deep- 
blue powder. It is not dissolved by water, alcohol, ether, oils, or diluted acids. 
It is decomposed by the concentrated acids, with a variety of phenomena. The 
alkalies also decompose it, forming solution of ferrocyanides and a precipitate of 
ferric hydroxide. Heated in the air, it burns slowdy, leaving ferric oxide and 
earthy matters if any are present. Oxalic and other organic acids dissolve it, 
forming a beautiful deep-blue solution, the solution in the former being called 
Washing-blue, and is often known as Soluble Prussian blue (not to be confused with 
the True soluble Prussian blue of Berzelius, for which, see Ferric Potassium Ferro- 
cyanide). When Prussian blue is boiled with diluted hydrochloric acid, filtered, 
and ammonia added to it, no precipitation of hydroxides of aluminum, lead, etc., 
nor blue coloration (due to copper), takes place if the drug be pure. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Prussian blue is tonic, sedative, and 
febrifuge; and was introduced as a remedy in periodic diseases, in conjunction 
with sulphate of quinine, by the late Prof. I. G. Jones, who used it wfith great suc- 
cess in the treatment of these diseases. He did not regard the febrile or inflam- 
matory symptoms as contraindicating its use, provided the disease was, in the 
least degree, of a periodical character. It has been successfully used in intermittent, 
congestive, bilious, and typhoid fevers, especially during the remissions, and also in 
typhoid pneumonia; the dose is 3 or 4 grains, combined with the same quantity of 
sulphate of quinine, to be repeated every 3, 4, or 5 hours, according to the nature 
of the case. Prussian blue has likewise been successfully used in diarrhoea, sum- 
mer complaint of children, pertussis, dyspepsia, epilepsy, hysteria, chorea, and facial neu- 
ralgia. It is now seldom employed. The dose is usually from 1 to 5 grains, 3 
times a day. 
Related Compounds. - Potassium Ferri-ferrocyanide (K2FeV2[C3N3]4Fei2-)j Ferric 
potassium ferrocyanide. This is the True soluble Prussian blue of Berzelius, and is prepared by 
pouring a solution of ferric sulphate or chloride into a solution of potassium ferrocyanide in 
excess, and washing the precipitate to free it from sulphate or chloride of potassium or other 
foreign substances. The salt thus made will dissolve in pure water, but not in salt solutions; 
hence it is precipitated from its aqueous solution by various salts. It is not used in medicine 
(see Lloyd's Chem. of Med.). 
Potassium Ferro-ferricyanide (K2Fe2[Fe2Cyi2] ), a soluble substance identical in com- 
position with the foregoing, is produced when a solution of a ferrous salt is added to an excess 
of a solution of ferricyanide of potassium (red prussiate of potash). 
Ferricyanidum Ferrosum (Fe3[Fe2Cyi2]),Turnbull's blue, Ferrous ferricyanide.-This is the 
blue precipitate produced when ferricyanide of potassium (red prussiate of potash) is added to 
the solution of a ferrous salt. The reaction is made use of in testing in order to distinguish 
between ferrous and ferric salts. 
In this connection it is probably well to briefly recapitulate the color reactions that take 
place between ferro- and ferricyanide of potassium on the one hand, and ferrous and ferric salts 
on the other. Ferrocyanide and ferric salt, blue precipitate (soluble Prussian blue); ferrocya- 
nide and ferrous salt, white precipitate, turning blue rapidly when exposed to the air; ferri- 
cyanide and ferrous salt, blue precipitate (Turnbull's blue); ferricyanide and ferric salt, brown 
solution. 
FERRI HYPOPHOSPHIS (U. S. P.)-FERRIC HYPOPHOSPHITE. 
Formula: Fe26(PH2O2). Molecular Weight: 501.04. 
Synonyms: Hypophosphite of iron, Ferrum hypophosphorosum, Hypophosphis 
ferricus. 
Preparation. - This preparation may be made by double decomposition 
between solution of ferric chloride or ferric sulphate, and solution of hypophos- FERRI HYPOPHOSPHIS. 
869 
phite of sodium. If the ferric salt is free from excess of acid, the hypophosphite 
of iron will separate as a precipitate when the solutions are mixed, after which it 
may be washed with distilled water and then dried. Owing to a certain degree of 
solubility of the salt in water, however, much is lost in the washings. It is custo- 
mary in practice to use ferrous hypophosphite, as a component of the popular phar- 
maceutical preparation, Syrup of the Hypophosphites. In this case the solution of 
ferrous hypophosphite is made by double decomposition between solution of hypo- 
phosphite of calcium and solution of ferrous sulphate (J. U. Lloyd, in Chemistry 
of Medicines}. An acceptably pure ferric hypophosphite may be prepared accord- 
ing to Mr. F. X. Moerk, by dissolving in a flask calcium hypophosphite (30 Gm.= 
1 oz. av., 25 grs.) in distilled water (100 Cc.-3 fl^,183 Hl). Gradually add solu- 
tion of ferric chloride (49.5 Gm.=l oz. av., 326 grs.). Agitate well as each portion 
is added. After allowing the mixture to stand for 3 days, frequently shaking it, 
filter and w'ash the precipitate well. This process is based upon the observation 
that the flocculent precipitate of ferric hypophosphite becomes crystalline upon 
prolonged standing. In this condition it is less soluble in water, and can thus be 
conveniently washed without much loss (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1889, p. 393). 
The National Formulary directs as follows: "Formulary number, 183: Ferri 
Hypophosphis (N. F.), Hypophosphite of iron, Ferric hypophosphite.-Iron and ammo- 
nium sulphate (U. S. P.}, in perfect crystals, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) 
[3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]; sodium hypophosphite, sixty-seven grammes (67Gm) [2 ozs. 
av., 159 grs.]; distilled water, a sufficient quantity. Dissolve the iron and ammo- 
nium sulphate in four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl5, 252 Hl], and 
the sodium hypophosphite in one hundred and twenty-five cubic centimeters 
(125 Cc.) [4 65, 109 Th] of distilled water, and, if necessary, filter each solution. 
Then mix them, and stir thoroughly; after a short time transfer the mixture to a 
close linen or muslin strainer, and -wash the precipitate with distilled water, until 
the washings run off tasteless. Transfer the strainer to a warm place and when 
the contents are dry, preserve them for use. Hypophosphite of iron (ferric) may 
also be prepared in the following manner: 
"Calcium hypophosphite, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 
grs.]; solution of chloride of iron (U. S. P.}, distilled water, of each, a sufficient 
quantity. Dissolve the calcium hypophosphite in twelve hundred cubic centi- 
meters (1200 Cc.) [40 65, 277 Hl] of distilled water, and filter the solution. To 
this add solution of chloride of iron, in small portions, stirring well each time, 
and allowing the precipitate to subside before adding a fresh portion. Toward 
the end, remove a small quantity of the clear supernatant liquid, add to it some 
solution of chloride of iron diluted with ten times its volume of water, and 
observe whether any turbidity occurs either at once or after a few minutes. If it 
remains clear, the precipitation may be regarded as complete. Then transfer the 
mixture to a close linen or muslin strainer, and wash the precipitate with dis- 
tilled water until the washings run off tasteless. Transfer the strainer to a wyarm 
place, and, w'hen the contents are dry, preserve them for use. Note.-Hypophos- 
phite of iron is rendered soluble in water by mixing it with about an equal 
weight of potassium citrate, or some other alkali citrate. Theoretically, 100 
grammes of iron and ammonium sulphate will yield 51.9 grammes, and 100 
grammes of calcium hypophosphite will yield 85.3 grammes of dry hypophos- 
phite of iron (ferric)"-(Nat. Form.}. 
Description and Tests.-The U. S. P. describes hypophosphite of iron as 
"aw'hite or grayish-white powder, odorless and nearly tasteless; permanent in 
the air. Only slightly soluble in water, more readily in the presence of hypo- 
phosphorous acid, or in a warm, concentrated solution of an alkali citrate, form- 
ing with the latter a green solution. When strongly heated in a dry test-tube, 
the salt evolves spontaneously inflammable hydrogen phosphide gas, and, on 
complete ignition, leaves a residue of ferric pyrophosphate. The salt is readily 
oxidized by nitric acid or other oxidizing agents. If to 0.5 Gm. of the salt 5 Cc. 
of acetic acid be added, no effervescence should occur (absence of carbonate), and 
if the mixture be subsequently heated to boiling, the filtrate, upon cooling, should 
afford no turbidity with ammonium oxalate T.S. (absence of calcium). If 0.5 Gm. 
of the salt be boiled with 10 Cc. of potassium or sodium hydrate T.S., a reddish- 
brown precipitate will be produced; and if to the filtrate from the latter, slightly 870 
FERRI I0DIDUM SACCHARATUM. 
acidulated with hydrochloric acid, magnesia mixture be added, and subsequently 
an excess of ammonia water, no crystalline precipitate should be produced 
(absence of phosphate). If 1 Gm. of ferric hypophosphite be mixed with 10 Cc. 
of water, then 10 Cc. of diluted sulphuric acid and 50 Cc. of decinormal potassium 
permanganate V.S. added, and the mixture boiled for 15 minutes, it should require 
not more than 3 Cc. of decinormal oxalic acid V.S. to discharge the red color 
(corresponding to at least 98.1 per cent of the pure salt)"-(U. S. P). 
"Ferric hypophosphite should be kept in well-stoppered bottles"-(U.S.P.f 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This salt is preferably administered 
in syrup, though it may be given in pill or powder. It is used in anemic states 
associated with cerebral enfeeblement. Dose, 5 to 10 grains. 
FERRI IODIDUM SACCHARATUM (U. S. P.)-SACCHARATED 
FERROUS IODIDE. 
Formula (Ferrous iodide): Fel2. Molecular Weight : 308.94. 
Synonyms: Ferrum iodatum saccharatum, Saccharated iodide of iron. 
Preparation.-"Take of iron, in the form of fine, bright wire, and cut into 
small pieces, six grammes (6 Gm.) [93 grs.]; reduced iron, one gramme (1 Gm.) 
[15.5 grs.]; iodine, seventeen grammes (17 Gm.) [262 grs.]; distilled water, sugar 
of milk, recently dried, each, a sufficient quantity to make one hundred grammes 
(100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]. Mix the iron wire, iodine, and twenty cubic cen- 
meters (20 Cc.) [325 Hl] of distilled water in a flask of thin glass, shake the 
mixture occasionally, until the reaction ceases, and the solution has acquired a 
green color and lost the smell of iodine; then filter it through a small wetted 
filter into a porcelain capsule containing forty grammes (40 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 180 
grs.] of sugar of milk. Rinse the flask and iron wire with a little distilled water, 
pass the rinsings through the filter into the capsule, and evaporate on a water- 
bath, with frequent stirring, until a dry mass remains. Transfer this quickly to a 
heated iron mortar, reduce it to powder, and mix it intimately, by trituration, 
with the reduced iron and enough sugar of milk to make the final product weigh 
one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231 grs.]. Transfer the powder at 
once to small and perfectly dry bottles, which should be securely stoppered, and 
kept in a cool and dark place"-(U. S. P.f 
This preparation should contain 20 per cent of ferrous iodide. Iron and 
iodine react upon each other with the production of heat, yielding ferrous iodide 
(Fel2). The water merely acts as a solvent of the product, and to mitigate the 
violence of the reaction. Volatilization of iodine should be checked by immer- 
sion of the flask in cold water. On the other hand, should the reaction take 
place too slowly toward the close of the operation, a gentle heat may be applied. 
Some prefer to add the ingredients fractionally, and not all at one time, as directed 
in the official process. To do this the water and iodine may be placed in the 
flask, and the iron added gradually, allowing the reaction to nearly complete 
itself before adding a fresh portion. The object in adding the reduced iron at the 
close of the operation is to preserve the preparation, as, if any iodine is subse- 
quently liberated, the iron will unite with it. 
Description and Tests.-"A yellowish-white or grayish, very hygroscopic 
powder, without odor, and having a sweetish, ferruginous taste. Soluble in 7 
parts of water at 15° C. (59° F.), forming a nearly clear solution, but only par- 
tially soluble in alcohol. When strongly heated, the compound swells up, evolves 
the odor of iodine and of burning sugar, and, on complete ignition, leaves a resi- 
due which should yield nothing soluble to water (absence of the salts of the fixed 
alkalies). The aqueous solution has a slightly acid reaction, and gives with 
potassium ferricyanide T.S. a blue precipitate. If the aqueous solution be mixed 
with a little starch T.S., and afterward with a few drops of chlorine water, it will 
assume a deep-blue color. This color should not be developed in the aqueous 
solution by starch T.S. alone (absence of free iodine). If 1.55 (1.5447) Gm. of 
saccharated ferrous iodide be dissolved in about 20 Cc. of water, in a small flask, 
and to this solution be successively added, first, 22 Cc. of decinormal silver nitrate 
V.S., then 5 Cc. of diluted nitric acid and 5 Cc.of ferric ammonium sulphate T.S., FERRI IODIDUM SACCHARATUM. 
871 
it should not require more than 2 Cc. of decinormal potassium sulphocyanate 
V.S. to produce a reddish-brown tint which persists after shaking (corresponding 
to about 20 per cent of pure ferrous iodide)"-(U. S. Pi). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The action and uses of saccharated 
iodide of iron are identically those of ferrous iodide. The influence of iodide of 
iron upon the system resembles that caused by the ferruginous salts more than 
that occasioned by iodine. As a tonic it improves the appetite, invigorates the 
digestive organs, and blackens the al vine evacuations, diminishing their offensive 
odor. Sometimes it acts as a laxative, but more generally as a diuretic. It is 
also tonic, alterative, and emmenagogue. It has been efficiently used in scrofula, 
chlorosis, secondary syph ilis, amenorrhcea, chronic rheumatism, chronic cutaneous diseases, 
fluor albus, asthenic dropsy, old visceral engorgements, atonic dyspepsia, and in all cases 
where there is torpor in the system of nutrition, where there is paucity of red 
globules in the blood, and the fluid is too thin. On account of its tendency to 
decomposition when exposed to the air, it should always be given in solution or 
syrup (see Liquor Ferri lodidi and Syrupus Ferri lodidi). In the anemia of scrofula, 
phthisis, etc., it imparts strength, improves the appetite and digestion, and in- 
creases secretion. Here the syrup should be given with cod-liver oil. It has 
been given with marked success in hydrocephalus, and in dysmenorrhoea, and in 
anemic scrofulous females. From 5 to 10 drops of the syrup, 3 times a day, relieves 
the incontinence of urine in anemic children. Iodide of iron has, however, been 
given in pill form, being protected from deleterious agencies by the addition of 
gum and sugar, or tragacanth and honey (see flmer. Jour. Pharm.^N.,71, and 
CHI., 138). The liquor ferri iodidi, evaporated to a proper consistence for mak- 
ing pills, would probably form a better mode of administering this salt in a solid 
state, than when made by the above process (see Pilulae Ferri lodidi). The dose of 
iodide of iron is 3 grains, gradually increased to 8 or 10 grains, 3 times a day. 
Related Preparations.-Ferri Iodidum, Ferrous iodide, loduretum ferrosum, Iodide of iron. 
Take of iodine, 2 ounces and 2 drachms; pure iron filings, 6 drachms; distilled water, cold, 4J 
fluid ounces. By a former method, the iodine was mixed with the water, and the iron filings 
gradually added, with constant stirring of the mixture. This was then heated until it acquired 
a greenish hue, filtered, and evaporated to dryness in an iron vessel. 
Messrs. T. and H. Smith subsequently directed as follow's: Put the aforementioned ingre- 
dients into a flask, boil till the liquid loses its dark color, then filter it rapidly into another 
clean flask, and, without delay, place the flask over the flame of a gas-burner, and evaporate the 
liquid at a boiling heat. The ebullition is allowed to proceed until the liquid passes from a 
green shade into black. The iodide may now be obtained either as a crystallized hydrate, or 
in an amorphous anhydrous form; first, as a crystallized hydrate (FeI2-|-4H2O), by dipping an 
iron wire or glass rod into the liquid in the flask at short intervals, till, on removing and cool- 
ing, the iodide is found to form a dry and hard crust on the rod. When the evaporation has 
reached this point, remove the flask from the fire, and the fused iodide will crystallize on 
cooling. To obtain the anhydrous iodide, the evaporation must be carried still'further. The 
period for bringing the application of heat to a close, may be judged of by occasionally plac- 
ing a piece of cold glass over the mouth of the flask, and suspending the heat when moisture 
ceases to be condensed on the glass. A pure anhydrous, spongy, ferrous iodide will then be 
found in the flask, and may be removed by breaking the container. The compound should, 
without the least delay, be coarsely bruised in a warm, dry mortar, and then placed in small 
bottles and well corked (T. and H. Smith). 
Iodide of iron is a dry, greenish-gray or greenish-black, crystalline mass, odorless, and of a 
sweetish, astringent taste, somewhat resembling iodine. Water or alcohol forms with it, w hen 
freshly made, a greenish solution having an acid reaction; in the air, on being kept, it deli- 
quesces, forming ferric oxide and ferric iodide, and will not be wholly soluble, forming a yellow 
or brown solution. Gently warmed it melts, and by a further action of heat, water, and air, con- 
tinually evolves iodine vapors, and leaves a grayish-brown mass, consisting of ferrous iodide, 
ferric iodide, and ferric oxide. If the dried mass be heated to redness, all the iodine is given 
off, and the iron remains as oxide. As regards the keeping qualities of this substance, see 
Syrupus Ferri lodidi. The salt is incompatible with vegetable astringents, sodium, potassium, 
hydroxide, and other alkalies, liquor calcis, metallic salts, etc. 
Dupasquier's Paste.-Considerable use has been made of Pr. Dupasquier's paste, or pills 
of protiodide of iron (ferrous iodide); it is prepared as follows: Take of iodine, 121 grains; 
iron, 242 grains; distilled water, 378 grains. Introduce the whole into a small flask, which 
should be plunged during 8 or 10 minutes in water warmed to about 75° C. (167° F.), so that no 
portion of the iodine shall be volatilized. Agitate the mixture frequently. At first the liquid 
becomes brown, but soon becomes perfectly colorless, or, at most, retains a nearly impercep- 
tible green hue. Filter rapidly, and pour the solution into an untinned iron vessel; add pure 
honey, 302 grains; evaporate rapidly, until a syrupy consistence is attained ; then add at inter- 
vals, continually agitating with an iron spatula, powder of gum tragacanth, 184 grains. Form 872 
FFRRI LACTAS. 
into a mass, and divide into 200 pills; each pill contains about $ of a grain of protiodide of 
iron, and will remain a long time unaltered. Blancard's Pills are similar, but are sugar- 
coated as soon as made. 
Ferric Iodate, Iodate of iron, Iodate of sesquioxide of iron (2Fe2[IO3]6,Fe2O3.24H2OL-Add 
solution of ferric chloride (5 fluid drachms;, to water (4 fluid ounces). Precipitate this solution 
with another solution composed of potassium iodate (1 ounce) in water (10 fluid ounces). The 
precipitate is tasteless, does not attack the teeth, and has been recommended to take the place 
of iodide of iron. 
FERRI LACTAS (U. S. P.)-FERROUS LACTATE. 
Formula: Fe(C:jH5O3)24-3H2O. Molecular Weight: 287.34. 
Synonyms: Lactate of iron, Lactas ferrosus. 
Preparation.-The U. S. P. (1870) process consists in digesting a solution of 
lactic acid (1 ounce) in distilled water (1 pint) with iron filings (| ounce) until the 
reaction ceases; filter into a porcelain vessel and crystallize. Evaporate the mother 
liquor to one-half in an iron vessel, filter hot, and set aside to obtain additional 
crystals. The following process is based upon the double decomposition ensuing 
between calcium lactate and ferrous sulphate: Take of calcium lactate, 12^ 
ounces; pure crystallized ferrous sulphate, 8| ounces; boiling water, cold distilled 
water, of each, 62| ounces, by weight; lactic acid, a sufficient quantity. Dissolve 
the lactate of calcium in the boiling water; also dissolve the sulphate of iron in 
the cold distilled water; then filter each of these solutions, mix them in a vessel; 
feebly acidulate the mixture with lactic acid, and heat in a salt-water bath, con- 
stantly stirring until the completion of the double decomposition. The sulphate 
of calcium formed is to be removed by filtering, and the filtrate is to be quickly 
reduced to one-half by evaporation in an iron vessel (or, if porcelain be used, some 
iron filings must be added). Filter the concentrated liquid, and, on cooling, it 
forms crystals of lactate of iron, which should be washed with alcohol, and dried 
on bibulous paper (Lepage). 
Lactate of iron was introduced to the profession by Gelis and Conte. 
Description.-"Pale, greenish-white crusts, consisting of small, needle-shaped 
crystals, having a slight, peculiar odor, and a mild, sweetish, ferruginous taste. 
Slowly but completely soluble in 40 parts of water at 15° C. (59° F.), and in 12 
parts of boiling water; freely soluble in a solution of an alkali citrate, yielding a 
green solution; almost insoluble in alcohol. When strongly heated, the salt 
froths up, gives out dense, white, acrid fumes, chars, and finally leaves a brownish- 
red residue. The aqueous solution of the salt has a greenish-yellow color, a 
slightly acid reaction, and gives with potassium ferricyanide T.S. a deep blue, and 
with potassium ferrocyanide T.S. a light blue precipitate"-((7. S. P). 
Tests.-"A 2 per cent aqueous solution of the salt should not afford with 
lead acetate T.S., nor, after acidulation with hydrochloric acid, with hydrogen 
sulphide T.S., more than a whitish opalescence (limit or absence of sulphate, chlo- 
ride, citrate, tartrate, malate, etc., and of foreign metals). The aqueous solution, 
acidulated with nitric acid, should not afford more than a slight opalescence with 
barium chloride T.S., or with silver nitrate T.S. (limit of sulphate or chloride). 
If 25 Cc. of the aqueous solution (1 in 50), mixed with 5 Cc. of diluted sulphuric 
acid, be boiled for a few minutes, then precipitated by an excess of potassium or 
sodium hydrate T.S., the filtrate, mixed with a few drops of alkaline cupric tar- 
trate V.S., and heated to boiling, should not afford a red precipitate (absence of 
sugar). If a portion of the salt be triturated with strong sulphuric acid, no offen- 
sive odor should be developed (absence of butyric acid), nor should any gas be 
evolved (absence of carbonate), and the mixture, after standing for some time, 
should not assume a brown color (absence of sugar, gum, or other readily carboni- 
zable impurities). If 1 Gm. of the salt, contained in a porcelain crucible, be 
moistened with nitric acid, and carefully ignited, it should leave a residue of 
ferric oxide weighing not less than 0.270 nor more than 0.278 Gm. This residue 
should not have an alkaline reaction upon litmus paper, nor yield anything solu- 
ble to water (absence of foreign salts) "-(U. S. P.f 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Lactate of iron has been found efficient 
in anemia, amenorrhoea, dysmenorrhcea, and other diseases in which the preparations 
of iron are usually of service. The dose is from 1 to 3 grains, gradually increased 873 
FERRI OXIDUM HYDRATUM. 
and repeating it at periods of 3 or 4 hours. As it is not superior to other chaly- 
beates, its costliness will probably prevent it from coming into general use. 
FERRI OXIDUM HYDRATUM (U. S. P.)-FERRIC HYDRATE. 
Formula: Fe,(OH)6. Molecular Weight: 213.52. 
Synonyms : Ferric hydroxide, Hydrated oxide of iron, Hydrated sesquioxide of iron, 
Moist peroxide of iron, Ferri peroxidum. 
Preparation.-"Solution of ferric sulphate, one hundred cubic centimeters 
(100 Cc.) [3 tl.5, 183 TR] ; ammonia water, one hundred and ten cubic centimeters 
(110 Cc.) [3 fi£, 345 Til]; water, a sufficient quantity. To the ammonia water, 
previously diluted with two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl^, 
218 Hl] of cold water, add, under constant stirring, the solution of ferric sulphate, 
previously diluted with one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 
391 TTt] of cold water. As soon as the precipitate has subsided, draw off the clear 
liquid by means of a siphon, then mix the precipitate intimately with about one 
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fls, 391TH] of cold water, again draw 
off the clear liquid after subsidence of the precipitate, and repeat this operation, 
until a portion of the decanted liquid gives not more than a slight cloudiness with 
barium chloride test-solution. Finally transfer the precipitate to a wet muslin 
strainer, and, after it has drained, mix it with sufficient cold water to make the 
mixture weigh two hundred and fifty grammes (250 Gm.) [8 ozs. av., 358 grs.]. 
" When ferric hydrate is to be made in haste, for use as an antidote, the 
washing may be performed more quickly, though less perfectly, by transferring 
the precipitate at once to a wet muslin strainer, pressing forcibly with the hands, 
until no more liquid passes, and then adding enough water to make the whole 
weigh about two hundred and fifty grammes (250 Gm.) [8 ozs. av., 358 grs.]. 
Note.-" The ingredients for preparing ferric hydrate as an antidote should 
always be kept on hand in bottles containing, respectively, two hundred cubic 
centimeters (200 Cc.) [6 fls, 366 Til] of the solution of ferric sulphate, and two 
hundred and twenty cubic centimeters (220 Cc.) [7 115,211 Iff] of ammonia water. 
Ferric hydrate, thus prepared, is a brownish-red magma, wffiolly soluble in hydro- 
chloric acid without effervescence"-{U.S. P.). 
While the U. S. P. process directs the use of ammonia as a precipitant, that 
of Br. Pharm. directs solution of soda. The resulting preparation in the first in- 
stance is a tasteless, brown-red magma, while that of the latter is directed to be a 
tasteless, non-magnetic, brownish-red powder, containing but 10 per cent of mois- 
ture. Probably magnesia, which in itself has some antidotal power over arsenic, 
is a better precipitant than either ammonia or soda solution, when the preparation 
is to be used as an antidote (see next article, Ferri Oxidum Hydratum cum Magnesia). 
Two precautions must be observed in regard to the U. S. P. product if the prepa- 
ration is to possess antidotal properties: First-Heat should be avoided in its 
preparation, the product being most effective when made at the ordinary tempera- 
ture. Secondly-It should be recently prepared, and the magma, when rubbed with 
water, should be non-granular, forming a smooth mass readily and completely solu- 
ble in both acetic and hydrochloric acids, without effervescing, otherwise it re- 
fuses to unite with arsenous acid. Ferric hydroxide (U. S. P.) unites readily with 
the weaker acids, and has the important property of forming an insoluble com- 
pound with arsenous acid. If dried, in consequence of the loss of a portion of its 
water, it becomes an oxyhydrate (Fe2O2[OH]2) of a reddish color, and incapable of 
uniting with arsenous acid; hence it is then of no value as an antidote to that 
poison. It has been proposed to keep the magma under water in order to retard 
this change, but even then, in a little time, it loses half of its combined water and 
becomes changed to a brick-red ferric oxyhydrate (Fe2O3.Fe2[OH]6). Excessive 
heat or freezing produces similar results. The small amount of ammonium sul- 
phate remaining in the oxide, when prepared hurriedly as before directed, in a 
case of poisoning, is not objectionable. When the oxide is intended for the 
preparation of other ferruginous compounds, as, for instance, citrate of iron, it 
should be washed by displacement on a cloth filter, till the washings cease to be 
precipitated by chloride of barium. 874 
FERRI OXIDUM HYDRATUM. 
Description.- Ferric hydroxide, as prepared by the above process, is a soft 
magma of a reddish-brown tint, practically odorless and tasteless, insoluble in 
water, but dissolving readily in hydrochloric acid, forming a golden-yellow solu- 
tion. Heated to redness, it loses its water, and then combines with difficulty 
with arsenous acid. Effervescence with hydrochloric acid, indicates the presence 
of carbon dioxide; when the solution in hydrochloric acid is precipitated by 
ammonia water and the precipitate filtered, oxalate of ammonium will cause a 
precipitate in the filtrate if calcium be present. If the solution in hydrochloric 
acid gives a blue precipitate with ferricyanide of potassium, it contains ferrous 
oxide; if, after dissolving it in hydrochloric acid, there is a white, gelatinous 
residue, soluble in caustic potash, it is silica, arising from its probably being made 
with potassium hydroxide containing silica instead of with ammonia. An excess 
of ammonia water strikes a blue color when oxide of copper is present; should 
the color not be clear, supersaturate with acetic acid, and add solution of ferro- 
cyanide of potassium, which causes a brownish-red precipitate if the smallest 
trace of copper be present. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This agent is unfitted for the same 
therapeutical applications as the other iron compounds. It is, however, univer- 
sally accepted as the antidote to be employed in cases of arsenical poisoning. Proba- 
bly the ferrous arsenate acts by enveloping the particles of acid, thus rendering 
them insoluble, and preventing their absorption until an emetic may be adminis- 
tered or the stomach pump used. It may be given freely in tablespoonful doses 
every 5 or 10 minutes, followed by means to evacuate the stomach. 
Related Oxides.-Ferri Peroxidum Hydratum (Fe2O3.H2O, or Fe2O2[OH]2). Mole- 
cular Weight: 177.60. Ferric oxyhydrate, Hydrous peroxide of iron, Ferrum oxydatum fuscum, 
Ferric hydricum, Oxydum ferricum hydratum, Rubigo, Ferrugo. This deep reddish-brown powder 
is obtained by drying the moist ferric hydrate (hydroxide) at a heat not above 100° C. (212°F.). 
It contains about 10 per cent of moisture. It should completely dissolve in diluted hydro- 
chloric acid without effervescence. Heated to dull redness in a test tube it gives off moisture 
(Br. Pharm., 1867). It is scarcely soluble in acetic acid. The brown hematites, occuring in 
nature as minerals, are composed of ferric hydroxides. 
Ferri Oxidum Nigrum, Black oxide of iron (Fe3O4 or FeO.Fe2O3), Ferri oxidum magneti- 
cum, Magnetic oxide of iron, Ferroso-ferric oxide, Ferrum oxydatum magneticum, Ethiops martial, 
Martial Ethiops, Oxydum ferroso-ferricum.-Take of sulphate of iron, 6 ounces; sulphuric acid 
(commercial), 21fluid drachms; pure nitric acid, 4| fluid drachms; stronger aqua ammoniae, 
4£ fluid drachms; boiling water, 3 pints. (The above fluid measures are Imperial). Dissolve 
half the sulphate in half the boiling water, and gradually add the sulphuric acid; boil; add 
the nitric acid by degrees, boiling the liquid after each addition briskly for a few minutes. 
Dissolve the rest of the sulphate in the remainder of the boiling water; mix the two solu- 
tions thoroughly, and immediately add the ammonia in a full stream, briskly stirring the 
mixture at the same time. Collect the black powder on a calico-filter; wash it with water till 
the water is scarcely precipitated by a solution of nitrate of barium, and dry it at a tempera- 
ture not exceeding 82.2° C. (180° F.) (Ed.). 
Black oxide of iron thus prepared forms a jet-black, or grayish-black mass, with a velvety 
appearance, and is attracted by the magnet. It is odorless and tasteless, dissolves in hydro- 
chloric acid without effervescence and without a residue, from which yellowish solution it is 
precipitated by ammonia. Its hydrochloric solution gives the blue coloration with both ferro- 
and ferricyanides of potassium. It is converted by strong heat into red ferric oxide. The scales 
( ferri sguamie), which are struck from red-hot iron by the blacksmith's hammer, the ^Ethiops 
martis of the old Materia Medicas, consist of chemical combinations of the ferrous oxide and 
ferric oxide in variable proportions. They are prepared for medicinal use by washing them, 
freeing them from impurities by the magnet; triturating them, and separating the fine powder 
by the method directed for making prepared chalk. It is, however, inferior in medicinal vir- 
tue to the black oxide as prepared above. Magnetic iron ore (magnetic oxide) consists of ferric 
and ferrous oxides in molecular proportions. This is an excellent iron tonic, is not changeable 
when exposed to the atmosphere and dampness, is more readily soluble in the fluids of the 
stomach than the sesquioxide, and produces no local irritation. Dose, 5 to 20 grains. 
Ferri Oxidum Rubrum, Ferric oxide(Fe2O3). Molecular weight: 159.68. Ferriperoxydum. 
Ferri sesquiox'dum, Peroxide of iron, Sesguioxide of iron, Caput mortuum, Crocus martis ad stringens. 
Colcothar.-Exposesulphate of iron to heat, until the water of crystallization is expelled. Then 
roast it by an intense fire so long as acid vapors arise. Wash the ferric oxide until the wash- 
ings, when examined by litmus, appear free from acid. Lastly, dry it on bibulous paper (Dub.). 
In this process the water and sulphuric acid of the crystallized sulphate of iron are expelled ; 
the iron is oxidized by the oxygen of the air and partly at the expense of a portion of the sul- 
phuric acid, which is thereby reduced to sulphurous acid. M. A. Vogel recommends the fol- 
lowing as a preferable method of preparing a red oxide of iron or colcothar, for polishing 
glass and metals, without any previous washing. Into a solution of sulphate of iron made 
with boiling water and filtered, a concentrated solution of oxalic acid is poured, until the yel- FERRI OXIDUM HYDRATUM. 
875 
low precipitate of oxalate of iron is no longer formed. When the liquor has entirely cooled 
and ceased to deposit, the precipitate is washed on a cloth with hot water until the water 
ceases to acquire an acid reaction. The oxalate of iron, not yet perfectly dry, is in the next 
place heated on a plate of iron over a charcoal fire or lamp. The decomposition of the salt 
commences at about 204.4° C. (400° F.), and at a temperature a little higher than this the red 
oxide of iron is formed in a very finely divided state. 
Red oxide of iron is an odorless and tasteless, dark, crimson-red powder, not magnetic, 
insoluble in water, dissolved, but not readily, by hydrochloric acid without any gas being 
evolved, and forming a golden-yellow solution, which is not changed to blue by ferricyanide 
of potassium unless ferrous oxide is present. It is anhydrous, and has been called Colcothar 
and Crocus martis adstringens. This compound exists native mainly in the form of hematite, or 
red hematite. It is but little employed as a medicine at the present day, but is largely con- 
sumed in the arts. Colcothar in finely divided state, is used as a polishing powder for glass 
and metals under the name polishing rouge, or polirroth. The iron paints known as Venetian, 
English, and Berlin reds, are chiefly composed of ferric oxide. Peroxide of iron possesses tonic 
and somewhat styptic properties, and is used principally in strumous and neuralgic affections, in 
combination with extract of conium. The dose is from 2 to 8 grains, 3 or 4 times a day. It 
may also be used in the preparation of iron plaster. 
Styptic Powder.-The red or styptic powder is prepared by merely submitting sulphate 
of iron 2 parts, and alum 1 part, to a red heat, and continuing it until a reddish substance is 
formed; it undoubtedly contains a portion of acid. It is powerfully astringent and styptic, and 
is used as an application to bleeding piles and external hemorrhages; it is usually applied in the 
form of ointment, but may also be given internally for the same purposes. 
Ochres.-These are natural mixtures of calcareous or argillaceous earths and oxides of 
iron and manganese in variable proportions. They appear in commerce in powder or masses 
(stone ochres). Their colors largely depend upon the quantity of iron present, and upon its 
degree of oxidation. Occasionally heat is employed to modify the color. The chief ochres are 
yellow ochre, red ochre, brown ochre, Spanish brown, Indian red, French ochre (yellow), Roman ochre, 
(brown-yellow becoming purple-red when heated), and Oxford ochre (brownish-yellow less in- 
tense than that of Roman ochre). 
Indian Red, Red ochre.-From isle of Orrnus, in the Persian Gulf. A purple-red pigment 
whose color is due to the presence of ferric oxide. 
Umber, Terra umbra.-Klaproth states that 100 parts of this mineral contain the follow- 
ing substances: Alumina (5), silica (13), manganese (20), ferric oxide (48), water (14). The 
commercial variety, which is called raw umber, comes from the island of Cyprus. Umber is 
light, fine, and dense in texture, dry, and has a rich, light-brown color. When rubbed with 
the finger nail it assumes a gloss. Burning changes it to the beautiful and distinctive deep- 
brown known as the color of burnt umber. Both this and raw umber are much used in painting. 
Ferrum Oxidatum Saccharatum, Ferric saccharate, Saccharated oxide of iron, Saccharated 
iron.-Add gradually, with stirring, a solution of sodium carbonate (26 parts), in water (150 
parts), to a mixture of solution of ferric chloride, sp. gr. 1.281 (30 parts), and water (150 parts), 
until complete precipitation has taken place. Wash the salt by repeated decantations with 
water, until it no longer gives evidence of chlorides, then drain the precipitate on muslin and 
squeeze it. Now add to the residue powdered sugar (50 parts), and solution of soda, sp. gr. 1.70 
(5 parts), and heat the mixture on a steam-bath to complete solution. Dry by evaporation, 
and powder the salt, and finally add enough powdered sugar to produce 100 parts, by weight, of 
ferric saccharate. This salt is official in the German Pharmacopoeia. It forms a red-brown 
powder; its taste is mildly ferruginous and sweet. Distilled water completely dissolves it,, 
forming a feebly alkaline, red-brown solution. This solution, unless hydrochloric acid be pres- 
ent, is unaffected by potassium ferrocyanide. Hydrochloric acid, however, causes at first a 
dirty-green coloration, followed by the gradual formation of a deep-blue precipitate. This 
compound contains about 3 per cent of iron. It enters into a syrup, also official in the German 
Pharmacopoeia, the Syrupus Ferri Oxydati, or Syrup of soluble ferric oxide, made by mixing 
equal parts of distilled water, saccharated iron, and simple syrup. This contains, therefore, 
1 per cent of metallic iron, and is of a deep red-brown color. Upon the statement of Kohler of 
Halle, saccharated oxide of iron seems to be of importance in poisoning by arsenous acid 
(arsenic). Kohler prefers it to other antidotes for this poison. 
Ferri Subcarbonas, Subcarbonate of iron. Crocus martis aperiens, Crocus martis aperiticus, 
Precipitated carbonate of iron, Red oxide of iron, Sesquioxide of iron, Aperitive saffron of Mars.-It is 
prepared by double decomposition: Take of sulphate of iron, 4 pounds; carbonate of sodium, 
4 pounds and 2 ounces; boiling water, 6 gallons (Imp.). Dissolve the sulphate and carbonate 
separately, each in 3 gallons of water. Mix the solutions together while yet hot, and then let 
the precipitate subside. Pour off the supernatant liquor, wash the precipitate repeatedly with 
water, and dry it (Lond.). 
This process is about the same as that of the U. S. P. of 1870, which directed sulphate of 
iron, 8 ounces; sodium carbonate, 9 ounces, and water, 8 pints. The salt is to be prepared 
without heat being employed. By exposure to the air during the washing and drying, the 
ferrous carbonate is converted into ferric oxide by the action of the oxygen of the atmosphere, 
while carbon dioxide is disengaged. It usually contains a small portion of undecomposed fer- 
rous carbonate, and is known by the name subcarbonate of iron, which distinguishes it from the 
ferric oxide of the preceding article; It should not be exposed to a red heat for the purpose of 
improving its red color, as it becomes changed in its character as well as in its medicinal effi- 
cacy. When dried at the temperature of the air it is mainly the oxyhydrate (Fe2O3.Fe2LOH]8). 
Commercial subcarbonate of iron is a brownish-red powder, of a somewhat astringent taste, 876 
FERRI OXIDUM HYDRATUM CUM MAGNESIA.-FERRI PHOS. SOLUBILIS. 
odorless, not magnetic, and not dissolved by water. It is soluble in hydrochloric acid, with 
feeble effervescence, which solution affords a deep-blue precipitate with the ferrocyanide ol 
potassium, a purplish-black precipitate with tincture of nut-galls, a brownish-red precipitate 
with the alxalies, and a red color with sulphocyanic or meconic acid. It also gives a blue pre- 
cipitate with ferricyanide of potassium, thus showing the difference between this compound 
and ferric hydroxide. If it contain copper, that metal will be deposited on a bright rod of iron 
dipped into the above solution. After the ferric oxide has been thrown down by ammonia 
from the hydrochloric solution, the supernatant liquor should give no indication of any other 
metal in solution when chloride of barium, ferrocyanide of potassium, or hydrogen sulphide 
are added. In large doses it is apt to occasion nausea, with a heavy sensation in the epigastric 
region, and other dyspeptic symptoms; it also renders the stools black. It is an excellent 
chalybeate tonic and alterative, and has been successfully used in chorea, neuralgia, chlorosis, 
and anemia. Sometimes used in intermittent fever, when connected with an anemic condition, 
or where the nutritive functions are deranged. In chronic diarrhoea and dysentery, enlargement of 
the liver and spleen, epilepsy, dropsy, cancer, scrofula, and diseases of the urinary organs connected 
with debility, it has been successfully used. The dose is from 5 grains to 2 drachms, 3 times a 
day; there is, however, no necessity for large doses of any of the chalybeates, as the system 
can take up but a small portion daily of any of the iron compounds. 
FERRI OXIDUM HYDRATUM CUM MAGNESIA fU. S. P.)-FERRIC 
HYDRATE WITH MAGNESIA. 
Synonyms: Arsenic antidote, Antidotum arsenici. 
Preparation.-"Solution of ferric sulphate, fifty cubic centimeters (50 Cc.) 
[1 11.5, 332 UI]; magnesia, ten grammes (10 Gm.) [154 grs.]; water, a sufficient 
quantity. Mix the solution of ferric sulphate with one hundred cubic centime- 
ters (100 Cc.) [3 fl3, 183 TT[] of water, and keep the liquid in a large, well-stoppered 
bottle. Rub the magnesia with cold water to a smooth and thin mixture, trans- 
fer this to a bottle capable of holding about one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 
Cc.) [33 fl^, 391 TTL], and fill it with water to about three-fourths of its capacity. 
When the preparation is wanted for use, shake the magnesia mixture to a homo- 
geneous, thin magma, gradually add to it the iron solution, and shake them to- 
gether until a uniform, smooth mixture results. 
Note.-"The diluted solution of ferric sulphate, and the mixture of magnesia 
with water, should always be kept on hand, ready for immediate use"-(U.S. Pf. 
This preparation, intended as an antidote to arsenic, is a mixture of ferric 
hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, and magnesium sulphate. It should be 
freshly prepared so that the ferric hydroxide will be in its most efficient condi- 
tion, and not impaired, as is certain to be the case if the preparation be kept for 
a length of time. It is not necessary to separate the liquid from this preparation, 
as none of the ingredients are in any way caustic or objectionable, the magnesium 
sulphate present being desirable as a cathartic to carry off by the bowels such por- 
tions of the insoluble arsenical compound as may not be ejected in the act of 
emesis, or removed by the stomach-pump. As an excess of magnesia is used in 
preparing it, acidity is avoided. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Antidote to arsenical poisoning. It 
should be administered like the ferric hydroxide. The magnesia itself is some- 
what antidotal to arsenous acid, beside acting as a cathartic. 
FERRI PHOSPHAS SOLUBILIS (U. S. P.)-SOLUBLE 
FERRIC PHOSPHATE. 
Synonyms : Ferri phosphas of U. S. P. (1880), Soluble phosphate of iron, Sodioferric 
citro-phosphate, Ferri et sodii citro-phosphas, Ferrum phosphoricum cum natrio citrico. 
Preparation.-"Ferric citrate, fifty grammes (50 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 334 grs.]; 
sodium phosphate, uneffloresced, fifty-five grammes (55 Gm.) [1 oz. av.,411 grs.] ; 
distilled water, one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl^, 183 TTl]. Dissolve 
the ferric citrate in the distilled water by heating on a water-bath. To this solu- 
tion add the sodium phosphate, and stir constantly until it is dissolved. Evapo- 
rate the solution on a water-bath, at a temperature not exceeding 60° C. (140° F.), 
to the consistence of thick syrup, and spread it on plates of glass, so that, when 
dry, the salt may be obtained in scales. Keep the product in dark amber-colored, 
well-stoppered bottles"-(U. S. P.). FERRI PHOSPHAS SOLUBILIS. 
877 
This modern salt was at first called Ferri Phosphas, but the Pharmacopoeial 
Committee of 1890 very properly designated it as Soluble ferric phosphate, thus pre- 
venting it from being confounded with True ferric phosphate. It is a different 
preparation from that of former pharmacopoeias and of the British Pharmacopoeia, 
which is an amorphous, slate-blue powder, and contains at least 47 per cent of 
ferrous phosphate (Fe3[PO4].28H3O), together with ferric phosphate and some oxide. 
The present U. S. P. salt, on the other hand, is in the form of bright-green scales, 
and is probably a sodio-ferric citro-phosphate, the formula for which is not given. 
The British preparation is insoluble in water, while that of the U. S. P. is soluble. 
To insure the scales from turning wrhite by age, a perfectly uneffloresced sodium 
phosphate must be employed, as directed in the above formula. 
Description and Tests.-" Thin, bright-green, transparent scales, without 
odor, and having an acidulous, slightly saline taste. The salt is permanent in 
dry air when excluded from light, but becomes dark and discolored on exposure 
to light. Freely and completely soluble in water, but insoluble in alcohol. The 
aqueous solution of the salt has a slightly acid reaction. With potassium ferro- 
cyanide T.S. the solution gives a blue color, but does not yield a blue precipitate, 
unless it has been acidulated with hydrochloric acid. If 1 Gm. of the salt be 
boiled with 10 Cc. of potassium or sodium hydrate T.S.,a reddish-brown precipi- 
tate will be produced, and if the colorless filtrate from this precipitate be strongly 
acidulated with hydrochloric acid, then magnesia mixture added, and subse- 
quently a slight excess of ammonia water, an abundant, white crystalline precipi- 
tate will be produced. If a portion of the filtrate from this precipitate be acidu- 
lated with acetic acid, and heated to boiling, no further precipitate should be pro- 
duced (absence of pyrophosphate). If 0.56 (0.5588) Gm. of the salt be dissolved 
in a glass-stoppered bottle (having a capacity of about 100 Cc.) in 15 Cc. of water 
and 2 Cc. of hydrochloric acid, and, after the addition of 1 Gm. of potassium 
iodide, the mixture be kept for | hour at a temperature of 40° C. (104° F.), then 
cooled, and mixed with a few drops of starch T.S., it should require about 12 Cc. 
of decinormal sodium hyposulphite V.S. to discharge the blue or greenish color 
of the liquid (each cubic centimeter of the volumetric solution indicating 1 per 
cent of metallic iron) "-(U. S. Pf. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This salt has uses similiar to those 
enumerated below under Ferri Phosphas. Dose, 5 to 10 grains. Ferric phosphate 
is one of the special sedatives of the Schuessler system of therapy, and is used in 
the beginning of febrile and inflammatory troubles before exudations occur. It is 
employed by some practitioners where a persistent high temperature exists in 
threatened structural disease, and in those lingering febrile states which tend to 
chronicity, or where there is great adynamia with fever (Webster). Salpingitis, 
pelvic cellulitis, and scleroses of the liver, all in the early stage, are treated with this 
remedy and potassium chloride in alternation, to check the inflammatory pro- 
cess. R Ferric phosphate, 3 x trit., grains v, aqua flgiv. Mix. Dose, teaspoonful 
every hour. 
Related Compounds.-Ferri Phosphas, Phosphate of iron, Ferr oso-ferric phosphate, Phos- 
phas-ferr oso-femeus, Ferrum phosphoricum. The British Pharmacopoeia directs that ferrous sul- 
phate (3 ounces, Imp., or 60 grammes) and phosphate of sodium (2f ounces. Imp., or 55 
grammes) be each dissolved in boiling distilled water (30 ounces, or 600 cubic centimeters). 
Cool the solutions to between 37.8°and 54.4°C. (100°and 130°F.). Add the solution of sodium 
salt to the solution of iron salt, at the same time adding a little of solution of sodium bicar- 
bonate (| ounce, Imp., or 15 grammes, in a little distilled water). Thoroughly mix the solu- 
tions, filter through calico, wash the precipitate with hot distilled water until the filtrate gives 
no precipitate with barium chloride, and dry at a temperature not above 48.9° C. (120° F.). 
When solutions of ordinary phosphate of sodium and sulphate of iron are brought to- 
gether, a white precipitate is formed, which, so long as the sulphate of iron is in excess, is a 
hydrated tribasic phosphate of iron of the composition Fe3(PO4)2+8H2O. This precipitate 
acquires, almost directly after its formation, a bluish-gray shade which, by washing, becomes 
somewhat stronger. When exposed to the air the precipitate becomes, as it dries, blue 
throughout. 
Ferrous phosphate is a beautiful lavender-blue, odorless and tasteless powder. When 
exposed to a moderate warmth it instantly loses its blue color, becoming a greenish-gray; 
more strongly heated, the water is given off, the ferrous converted into a ferric salt, and the 
residue becomes grayish-brown. It is not dissolved by water, but dissolves in acids. Hydro- 
chloric acid forms a greenish-yellow solution with it; in this solution ferricyanide of potas- 
sium readily detects the ferrous oxide by its blue precipitate, and sulphocyanide of potassium 878 
FERRI PYROPHOSPHAS SOLUBILIS. 
the ferric oxide, by its blood-red color. If the hydrochloric solution is thrown down by 
excess of ammonia, the supernatant liquid must be colorless; a blue color would denote cop- 
per (Witt.). 
Phosphate of iron is a valuable chalybeate tonic. It has been recommended as a remedy 
in cancer, to be used internally, and also applied to the diseased part; likewise to restore and 
invigorate the virile powers. Marked advantage has been derived from its use in febrile dis- 
eases. The dose is from 1 to 10 grains, 3 times a day. Dr. Routh has met with much success 
in some cases of anemia and debility, brought on by venereal or other excesses, over-study, and 
depressing diseases, by the use of another preparation of phosphate of iron, a superphosphate, 
which he has found better adapted for a speedy cure than other preparations of iron. It has 
likewise been of much benefit in cases of virile weakness from onanism, or other causes. It is 
prepared by adding as much phosphate of iron as the metaphosphoric acid (IIP03),ina 
boiling state, would take up, and allowing it to cool. The proportions will be found nearly 
2 of acid to 1 of the phosphate. The solution obtained is of a semi-transparent, greenish or 
slaty hue, which hardens on exposure to the air for a day ; but mixed with liquorice powder 
or flour, it can be at once made up into pills. The compound is soluble in any proportion of 
water, and free from any nauseous, inky taste. Whether it is a superphosphate of iron, or the 
mere solution of the phosphate in the acid, remains yet to be determined. It does not gripe 
nor constipate, and has proved beneficial in cases of debility, where there is a prevalence of 
nervous symptoms, or a large quantity of phosphates voided by urine. Dose, 1 or 2 grains, 
3 times a day-in some instances combined with an equal proportion of phosphate of quinine. 
Ferri Phosphas Albus, Ferric phosphate, White phosphate of iron.-Formula: Fe2(PO4)2 
4H2O. Molecular Weight: 373.8. If solution of ferric phosphate (4 ounces) be mixed with 
solution of sodium acetate (1 ounce), and sodium phosphate in solution be added, ferric phos- 
phate precipitates as a white salt. When washed and dried at 100° C. (212° F.) a white, or 
yellow-white and tasteless powder results. Mineral acids (diluted), tartaric, and citric acids, 
as well as alkali citrates readily dissolve it, the latter giving green solutions. Alkalies de- 
compose it. 
Milk of Iron (Lac ferri).-This is a mixture of the freshly prepared ferric phosphate in 
water, the mixture containing from 1 to 1.2 per cent of the salt. 
The following formula appeared in the first edition of the National Formulary: 
Ferri Phosphas Effervescens (N. F.), Effervescent phosphate of iron.-"Phosphate of iron 
(U. S. P., 1880), 40 parts ; bicarbonate of sodium, 600 parts; tartaric acid, 540 parts; sugar, in very 
fine powder, 620 parts. Triturate the ingredients, previously well dried, to a fine, uniform 
powder. If the compound is required in form of a granular powder, mix it with alcohol to a 
soft paste, and rub this through a No. 20 tinned-iron sieve or enamelled colander. Then dry it, 
and reduce it to a coarse, granular powder. Ninety (90) grains (or about a heaped teaspoonful) 
of the above compound, represents 2 grains of phosphate of iron ''-(Nat. Form., first edition). 
FERRI PYROPHOSPHAS SOLUBILIS (U. S. P.)-SOLUBLE 
FERRIC PYROPHOSPHATE. 
Synonyms: Ferri pyrophosphas of U. S. P. (1880), Pyrophosphate of iron with 
sodium citrate, Sodio-ferric citro-pyrophosphate, Ferrum pyrophosphoricum cum sodio 
citrico, Ferri et sodii citro-pyrophosphas, Pyrophosphas ferricus cum citrate sodico. 
Preparation.-"Ferric citrate, fifty grammes (50 Gm.) [1 oz. av., 334 grs.l; 
sodium pyrophosphate, uneffloresced, fifty grammes (50 Gm.) [1 oz.av., 334 grs.]; 
distilled water, one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fls, 183 TR], Dissolve 
the ferric citrate in the distilled water, by heating on a water-bath. To this solu- 
tion add the sodium pyrophosphate, and stir constantly, until it is dissolved. 
Evaporate the solution, on a water-bath, at a temperature not exceeding 60° C. 
(140° F.), to the consistence of thick syrup, and spread it on plates of glass, so 
that, when dry, the salt may be obtained in scales. Keep the product in dark 
amber-colored, well-stoppered bottles '-(U. S. P.f 
Ammonium citrate was formerly used in the preparation of this compound. 
(For Dr. E. R. Squibb's process, employing the ammonium salt, see King's Ameri- 
can Dispensatory, 15th ed., p. 1028). Owing to the fact that true ferric pyrophos- 
phate (Fe4[P2O7]3) is not soluble in water, the U. S. P. has wisely changed the name 
of this compound from Pyrophosphate of Iron to Soluble Ferric Pyrophosphate. 
Soluble pyrophosphate of iron is thought to be composed of sodio-ferric citrate, 
sodio-ferric pyrophosphate, and ferric citrate in an uncombined condition. 
Description and Tests.-The U. S. P. describes this salt as follows: "Thin, 
apple-green, transparent scales, without odor, and having an acidulous, slightly 
saline taste. The salt is permanent in dry air, when excluded from light, but 
becomes dark and discolored on exposure to light. Freely and completely solu- 
ble in water, but insoluble in alcohol. The aqueous solution of the salt has a FERRI SULPHAS. 
879 
slightly acid reaction. With potassium ferrocyanide T.S. it gives a blue color, 
but does not yield a blue precipitate, unless it has been acidulated with hydro- 
chloric acid. If 1 Gm. of the salt be boiled with 10 Cc. of potassium or sodium 
hydrate T.S., a reddish-brown precipitate will be produced, and if the colorless 
filtrate from this precipitate be strongly acidulated with hydrochloric acid, then 
magnesia mixture added, and subsequently a slight excess of ammonia water, no 
precipitate should be produced (distinction from and absence of ferric phosphate). 
If a portion of the filtrate be acidulated with acetic acid, and heated to boiling an 
abundant, white, flocculent precipitate (pyrophosphate) will be produced. If 0.56 
(0.5588) Gm. of the salt be dissolved in a glass-stoppered bottle (having a capacity 
of about 100 Cc.) in 10 Cc. of water, then 10 Cc. of hydrochloric acid, and subse- 
quently 40 Cc. of water added, and, after the addition of 1 Gm. of potassium 
iodide, the mixture be kept for| hour at a temperature of 40° C. (104° F.), then 
cooled, and mixed with a few drops of starch T.S.,it should require about 10 Cc. 
of decinormal sodium hyposulphite V.S. to discharge the blue or greenish color 
of the liquid (each cubic centimeter of the volumetric solution indicating 1 per 
cent of metallic iron)"-(U. S. Pf. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Pyrophosphate of iron is an excellent 
chalybeate tonic, and may be given in all cases where iron is indicated; from its 
ready solubility it may be added advantageously to many syrups and solutions. 
Its dose is from 2 to 5 grains, repeated 2 or 3 times a day. It appears to thor- 
oughly influence the system, but without any unpleasant or harsh action. 
Preparations.-Syrup of Pyrophosphate of Iron. This preparation may be made by 
dissolving 160 grains of soluble pyrophosphate of iron in 4 fluid ounces of warm water, and mix- 
ing this solution with 12 fluid ounces of simple syrup. Each tablespoonful will contain 5 grains 
of the salt. Owing to the tendency to mould by age, it must be prepared fresh when wanted. 
Liquor Ferri Pyrophosphatis, Solution of ferric pyrophosphate.-Ferric pyrophosphate, 
120 grains; water, 5 fluid drachms. Make an aqueous solution by means of heat, filter while 
still hot; mix glycerin (2 fluid drachms) with the filtrate, and bring the product to the measure 
of 1 fluid ounce by the addition of water. This is according to Rother's method, and forms a 
permanent ferric pyrophosphate solution (Drug. Circular, 1886, p. 99). 
Related Compound.-Ferri et Sodii Pyrophosphas, Natrium pyrophosphoricum ferratum, 
Sodio-ferric pyrophosphate. This compound is prepared by dissolving sodium pyrophosphate 
(200 parts) in water (400 parts) and adding an aqueous solution of ferric chloride just short 
of the formation of a permanent precipitate. Mix the greenish solution thus formed with 
alcohol (1000 parts). The result is a white precipitate which forms a non-crystalline powder 
on drying, dissolving with difficulty in water. Ferric chloride added to the solution causes 
a precipitate of ferric pyrophosphate. 
FERRI SULPHAS (U. S. P.)-FERROUS SULPHATE. 
Formula: FeSO4+7H2O. Molecular Weight: 277.42. 
Synonyms : Sulphate of iron, Sulfas ferrosus, Ferrum vitriolatum purum, Vitriolum 
martis purum. When impure, Green vitriol and Copperas. 
Preparation.-In a glass flask, or, on the large scale, in a leaden vessel, are 
mixed 6 parts of concentrated sulphuric acid with 24 parts of water, and 4 parts 
of pure iron (turnings or filings); the whole, frequently stirred with a porcelain 
or wooden spatula, is allowed to digest for 1 day; the vessel is now heated as long 
as any gas is evolved, then filtered, the hot filtrate mixed with J part of concen- 
trated sulphuric acid, and allowed to stand 2 days in a cool spot. The crystals 
which have formed, are freed from the mother liquor, and spread out on paper, if 
possible, in the sun to dry; then kept in a well-closed bottle or stone jar. The solu- 
tion yields, on concentration, a considerable portion of salt, and from the above 
proportion of ingredients, 17 parts of ferrous sulphate are obtained (Wittstein). 
" Concentrated sulphuric acid has no action on iron in the cold, but mixed 
with a certain portion of water, a lively effervescence ensues, with evolution of 
hydrogen gas. The free carbon of the iron separates in black flakes, while the 
combined carbon, at the moment of liberation, combines with hydrogen, and is 
given off as methane or marsh gas (CH4), imparting to the hydrogen its unpleas- 
ant odor. If traces of phosphorus and sulphur are present, the evolved gases are 
not free from ill-smelling phosphide and sulphide of hydrogen." 
"Ferrous sulphate should be kept in well-stoppered bottles"-(U. S. P). 880 
FERRI SULPHAS. 
Description.-The official salt occurs in "large, pale bluish-green monoclinic 
prisms, without odor, and having a saline, styptic taste; efflorescent in dry air. 
On exposure to moist air, the crystals rapidly absorb oxygen, and become coated 
with brownish-yellow, basic ferric sulphate. Soluble in 1.8 parts of water at 
15° C. (59° F.), and in 0.3 part of boiling water; insoluble in alcohol. When 
slowly heated to 115° C. (239° F.),the crystals fall to powder, and lose 38.84 per 
cent of their weight (6 molecules of water of crystallization) "-(U. S. P.f 
A solution of sulphate of iron when exposed to the air becomes of a yellow 
color, and contains ferroso-ferric salt, while a yellow basic ferric salt separates. 
When heated, sulphate of iron fuses in its water of crystallization, leaving upon 
evaporation a white powder, which heated more strongly in the air absorbs oxygen 
and becomes red; heated gradually to redness, it evolves sulphuric acid, water, 
and sulphurous acid, while a dark crimson-red powder of pure ferric oxide remains. 
Tests.-Any contamination of sulphate of iron by ferric sulphate may be 
known by the gray or greenish-yellow color of the crystals, and chemically shown 
by sulphocyanide of potassium, which renders its solution blood-red. 
The U. S. P. directs the following tests: "The aqueous solution of the salt 
has an acid reaction, and, even when highly diluted, gives with potassium ferri- 
cyanide T.S. a blue color, or precipitate, and with barium chloride T.S.,a white 
precipitate insoluble in hydrochloric acid. If 1 Gm. of the salt be dissolved in 
about 25 Cc. of water, the solution heated to boiling, oxidized with nitric acid, and 
then mixed with a slight excess of ammonia water, the filtrate from the reddish- 
brown precipitate should be colorless, and should not be affected by hydrogen 
sulphide T.S. (absence of copper, zinc, etc.). If another portion of the filtrate be 
evaporated to dryness, and then ignited, it should not leave more than a trace of 
residue (limit of salts of the fixed alkalies). If 1.39 (1.3871) Gm. of the salt be dis- 
solved in about 25 Cc. of water, and the solution acidulated with sulphuric acid, 
not less than 50 Cc. of decinormal potassium permanganate V.S. should be required 
to impart to the liquid a permanent pink color (each cubic centimeter of the volu- 
metric solution indicating 2 per cent of crystallized ferrous sulphate)"-(G. 8. P.). 
The impure sulphate of iron (copperas) met with in commerce should not be 
used in medicine. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.- In small doses, sulphate of iron 
causes more or less constipation, is absorbed, and acts as a tonic, astringent, and 
emmenagogue; it blackens the stools. In large doses, it causes pain, heat, uneasi- 
ness at the pit of the stomach, and retchings and emesis. In excessive doses, it 
is an irritant poison, acting chemically on the albumen and other organic con- 
stituents of the tissues. The stomach is more or less injured by a long-continued 
use of it. It has been used as a. tonic in scrofula, dyspepsia, chlorosis, amenorrhaa, 
and in debility following protracted diseases. In phthisis pulmonalis the following 
preparation has been found very serviceable; it relieves cough, assists expectora- 
tion, improves the appetite and digestive functions, and invigorates the whole 
system: Take of commercial sulphate of iron 6 drachms; whiskey or good Hol- 
land gin, pint; mix together. The dose is | fluid drachm every 2 hours. As an 
astringent, sulphate of iron is given in humid asthma, passive hemorrhages, chronic 
mucous catarrh, leucorrhoea, gleet, diabetes, old dysenteric affections, etc. The dose is 
from | to 6 grains in pill form. Prof. A. J. Howe states that "a strong solution 
of sulphate of iron has effected cures of diabetes, and may sometimes be success- 
fully employed in dropsies arising from various causes. A solution holding 10 
grains of the sulphate to 1 fluid ounce of water, may be given in doses of from 
2 to 4 fluid drachms, repeated 3 or 4 times a day. In some instances where diu- 
retics and hydragogue cathartics have been employed without beneficial results, 
the sulphate of iron has produced the happiest effects." From 1 to 10 grains of 
the sulphate of iron dissolved in 1 fluid ounce of boiling water has been found 
useful as a collyrium in chronic ophthalmia, a wash (or, with lard, as an ointment) 
in erysipelas and some eczematous skin diseases, and as an injection in gleet and 
chronic dysentery, prolapsus of the rectum, etc. Cancerous parts, particularly of the 
uterus, may be washed with a solution of 1 drachm of the salt to 1 pint of water. 
An injection of 2 grains to 1 pint of water relieves bleeding piles. Applied locally 
the solution does good service in chancroid. Sulphate of iron has been used as a 
disinfectant, particularly in correcting foul odors from cesspools, drains, vaults, FERRI SULPHAS EXSICCATUS.-FERRI SULPHAS GRANULATUS. 
881 
etc. It may be used freely, either in substance or in solution, the products being 
sulphate of ammonium and hydrated sulphide of iron. Sulphate of iron becomes 
changed when in contact with the atmosphere, and which alteration may be pre- 
vented by sprinkling the crystals of this salt with alcohol, or with sweetened 
water, and keeping them in well-closed vessels. Mr. Welborn has succeeded in 
preserving them by a still more simple method, viz.: by placing a small frag- 
ment of camphor in the upper part of the vessel containing the ferrous salt. Ani- 
mal tissues become mummified when taken from a solution of neutral sulphate of 
iron (3 per cent) in which they have been immersed for some time. A weak 
solution of ferrous sulphate is one of the most effective applications to rhus poison- 
ing. Dose, £ to 6 grains, or 3 x trit., 1 to 5 grains. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-General relaxation and languor of the sys- 
tem; uterine inactivity; amenorrhoea. Locally, to rhus poisoning. 
FERRI SULPHAS EXSICCATUS (U. S. P.)-DRIED 
FERROUS SULPHATE. 
Formula: Approximately, 2FeSO4+3H2O. Molecular Weight : 357.28. 
Synonyms: Ferri sulphas exsiccata, Dried sulphate of iron, Dried ferrous sulphate. 
Preparation.-"Ferrous sulphate, in coarse powder, one hundred grammes 
(100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av.,231 grs.]. Allow the salt to effloresce at a temperature of 
about 40° C. (104° F.), and then heat it in a porcelain dish, on a water-bath, con- 
stantly stirring, until the product weighs from sixty-four to sixty-five grammes 
(64 to 65 Gm.) [2 ozs. av., 11$ grs., to 2 ozs. av., 128 grs.]. Lastly, reduce the 
residue to a fine powder, and transfer it at once to perfectly dry, well-stoppered 
bottles"-(U.S. P.f 
Description.-"A grayish-white powder, slowly but completely soluble in 
water, and conforming approximately to the reactions and tests given under Ferri 
Sulphas"-(U. S. P.f The granulated sulphate is best adapted for the prepara- 
tion of the anhydrous salt. With extra care the salt may be heated to 280° C. 
(536° F.), without loss of the acid, at which point the last molecule of water is 
driven off. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Same as sulphate of iron ; to be used 
in pill form. Externally, in solution, as an astringent lotion for indolent ulcers, 
and as an injection in leucorrhoea and gonorrhoea of females. 
FERRI SULPHAS GRANULATUS (U. S. P.)-GRANULATED 
FERROUS SULPHATE. 
Formula. FeSO4-|-7H2O. Molecular Weight: 277.42. 
Synonyms: Ferri sulphas pr^cipitatus (Pharm., 1880), Ferri sulphas granulata, 
Precipitated ferrous sulphate. Granulated sulphate of iron, Precipitated sulphate of iron. 
Preparation.-"Ferrous sulphate, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. 
av., 231 grs.]; distilled water, one hundred cubic centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl^, 
183 IffJ; diluted sulphuric acid, five cubic centimeters (5 Cc.) [81 UI]; alcohol, 
twenty-five cubic centimeters (25 Cc.) [406 Hl]. Dissolve the ferrous sulphate in 
the distilled water previously heated to boiling, add the diluted sulphuric acid, 
and filter the solution while hot. Evaporate the solution immediately in a fared 
porcelain capsule, on a sand-bath, until it weighs one hundred and fifty grammes 
(150 Gm.) [5 ozs. av., 127 grs.], and then cool it quickly under constant stirring. 
Transfer the product to a glass funnel stopped with a plug of absorbent cotton, 
and when it has thoroughly drained, pour upon it the alcohol. When this also 
has drained, spread the crystalline powder on bibulous paper, dry it quickly in 
the sunlight, or in a dry room, at the ordinary temperature, and transfer it at 
once to perfectly dry, well-stoppered bottles"-(U. S. P.f 
Description.-"Granulated ferrous sulphate is a very pale, bluish-green, crys- 
talline powder, which should conform in every respect to the reactions and tests 
given under Ferri Sulphas"-(U. S. P.f Granulated sulphate of iron does not 882 
FERRI SULPHIDUM. 
oxidize as readily as does the ordinary sulphate, and is preferred to that salt in 
making dried sulphate of iron, and also the syrup of phosphate of iron. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Uses same as Ferrous Sulphate,which see. 
FERRI SULPHIDUM.-FERROUS SULPHIDE. 
Formula: FeS. Molecular Weight : 87.86. 
Synonyms: Sulphide of iron, Sulphuretum ferrosum, Sulphuret of iron, Ferri sul- 
phuretum, Protosulphide of iron. 
Preparation.-Sulphide of iron may be made by heating an iron rod to a 
full white heat in a forge, applying a stick of sulphur to the end of the rod, and 
allowing the fused globules of sulphide which form to fall into a deep vessel filled 
with water. These should be free of sulphur and kept in a close vessel. In this 
process, to be successful the iron must be*raised to a full white heat; at a lower 
temperature the sulphur is merely fused on its surface.; but if the heat be high 
enough, the two bodies unite with the emission of brilliant sparks, when the fer- 
rous sulphide is instantly formed, and falls in a fused and incandescent state, 
and, on being received in the water, brownish-yellow globules are obtained, hav- 
ing a somewhat crystalline texture (Wittstein). An inferior preparation may be 
obtained by mixing thoroughly together sublimed sulphur 1 part,' and iron filings 
3 parts. Heat the mixture in a covered crucible till it becomes red hot, then 
remove the crucible from the fire, still keeping it covered, and allow the action to 
go on without any further heat (Ed.). 
Several sulphides of iron are known, but only one used in pharmacy, viz.: 
the ferrous sulphide. Iron and sulphur combine at a red heat to form this sul- 
phide. The excess of sulphur vaporizes, and, coming in contact with the air, 
ignites to form sulphur dioxide (SO2). Three hundred and fifty parts of iron 
require 200 parts of sulphur, but an excess of the latter is always necessary, as, 
before the combination of the two is complete, a portion has been volatilized. 
When made by the second process, the crucible must not be opened until quite 
cool, otherwise the mass absorbs oxygen with avidity, becoming partly converted 
into a sulphate of iron. 
Description.-Sulphide of iron varies in appearance according to its mode 
of preparation; by the first-named process it is yellowish, by the second a dark- 
gray mass, heavy, full of blisters, of a partly metallic luster, odorless, and tasteless. 
Kept in a close vessel, it undergoes no change; exposed to the air, especially if 
moist, it oxidizes and acquires an inky taste. In diluted sulphuric or hydro- 
chloric acid it must, with a powerful evolution of hydrogen sulphide gas, gradu- 
ally and almost entirely dissolve (a thorough solution must not be expected on 
account of the carbon in the iron), and the gas must be entirely absorbed by a 
solution of acetate of lead, else it contains free hydrogen (Wittstein). 
Uses.-Sulphide of iron is used in pharmacy and analytical chemistry for 
procuring Hydrogen Sulphide (Hydrosulphuric acid or Sulphuretted hydrogen gas). 
Hydrogen Sulphide.-Formula: H2S. Molecular Weight: 33.98. It maybe prepared 
as follows: Diluted sulphuric or hydrochloric acid is added to sulphide of iron in a proper 
vessel, when the sulphuretted hydrogen is disengaged as a gas, and may be collected over 
warm water, or solution of salt. The reaction is represented by the following equation: 
FeS+H2SO4- H2S-|-FeSO4. The excess of water in the diluted acid promotes the action by 
keeping in solution the salt which forms. Sulphide of hydrogen is a transparent, colorless 
gas having the odor of rotten eggs and a specific gravity of 1.178 to 1.19. It reddens litmus, 
burns in the air with a bluish flame, producing sulphurous acid gas and water, and depositing 
sulphur on the sides of the vessel in which it is burned. In bottles not quite full or imper- 
fectly corked, its aqueous solution becomes milky, a white powder of sulphur is thrown down, 
and this can go on until the water contains no scent of the gas. This is owing to the combi- 
nation of the atmospheric oxygen with the hydrogen, forming water. If the washing of this 
gas is omitted it may contain sulphuric acid, known by chloride of barium rendering it turbid. 
Water absorbs two or three times its volume of the gas, and acquires its smell and a nauseous, 
sweetish taste. Sulphide of hydrogen blackens white lead and solutions of the salts of lead, 
copper, bismuth, etc. Under a pressure of 17 atmospheres at 10° C. (50° F.), it condenses into 
a limpid fluid of sp. gr. 0.9, and which freezes at -85° C. (-122° F.), forming a white, crystal- 
line, translucent substance. When respired, even although much diluted with air, it is highly 
deleterious, and as it is often formed where animal matters or excrements putrefy, as in bury- 
ing vaults or cloacae, it not infrequently causes the death of the workmen who suddenly come FERRI VALERIANAS. 
883 
in contact with it. When air is moderately diluted with it, respiration causes immediate 
insensibility with depression of all the powers of life; still more diluted, it causes convulsions, 
and air but slightly contaminated with it, causes nausea, debility, and headache. The smell 
of the gas ought, in all cases, to be viewed as a warning of danger. 
From many metallic solutions hydrogen sulphide gas precipitates.the metal in the form 
of sulphide. Upon the difference in the solubilities of these sulphides is based an analytical 
classification of the metals, an important subject that we can not, however, consider in detail. 
The gas is usually generated in the well-known Kipp's apparatus, but numerous other and 
simpler devices have been suggested. 
Hydrogen sulphide, as it exists naturally in some mineral waters, is undoubtedly of value 
in cutaneous disorders, particularly those in which calcium sulphide is beneficial. The Bergeon 
method of rectal injection of hydrogen sulphide for the cure of phthisis proved to be injurious 
instead of beneficial. 
FERRI VALERIANAS (U. S. P.)-FERRIC VALERIANATE. 
Synonyms: Valerianate of iron, Ferrum valerianicum. 
Preparation.-This compound may be made as follows: Take clean iron fil- 
ings, put into a Wedgewood mortar, add gradually an equal weight of valerianic 
acid, and stir constantly. In an hour add distilled water; gently warm the whole 
in a flask and filter. The surface in contact with the air soon becomes covered 
with a crystalline layer of the iron valerianate; collect this on a filter, and expose 
as before, repeating the process as long as crystals are obtained (Ruspini). It is 
generally made, however, by acting upon solution of ferric chloride or ferric sul- 
phate with solution of sodium valerianate. The following is Wittstein's method: 
To a solution of 3 parts of crystallized ferric chloride in 100 parts of water, add a 
cold solution of sodium valerianate, made by saturating 5 parts of oily valerianic 
acid in 60 parts of water, with sodium carbonate, and then boiling the liquid to 
expel all the carbon dioxide. The valerianic acid drives off the carbon dioxide 
from the sodium carbonate, and uniting with the base, forms a neutral salt. 
Fifteen hundred parts of the terhydrated valerianic acid require 1790 parts of 
crystallized carbonate of sodium. If this neutral solution is added in sufficient 
quantity (as long as it causes a precipitate), to a solution of ferric chloride, or 
any persalt of iron, a dark brick-red precipitate of valerianate of iron is formed, 
and readily soluble sulphate or chloride of sodium. Forty-five hundred parts of 
valerianic acid saturated with sodium carbonate require 2704 parts of crystallized 
ferric chloride, or 3513 parts of dry ferric sulphate. The affinity between the 
oxide of iron and valerianic acid is so feeble that a gentle heat will remove most 
of the acid; consequently, the precipitation should take place only when cold. 
The precipitated valerianate of iron is to be washed with a little cold water, and 
dried at a temperature not exceeding 20° C. (68° F.). If too much water be used, 
or if the washing be continued, the acid will be removed. 
Its composition, which is variable, depends on the processes by which it 
is made. 
Description and Tests.-This salt is officially described as " a dark brick-red, 
amorphous powder of somewhat varying chemical composition, having the odor 
of valerianic acid, and a mildly styptic taste; permanent in dry air. Insoluble 
in cold water, but readily soluble in alcohol. Boiling water decomposes it, setting 
free the valerianic acid, and leaving ferric hydrate. When slowly heated, the salt 
parts with its acid, without fusing, but, when rapidly heated, it fuses and gives 
off inflammable vapors having the odor of butyric acid, and, on complete igni- 
tion, leaves a residue of ferric oxide. The stronger acids decompose the salt with 
the liberation of valerianic acid. If 0.56 (0.5588) Gm. of the salt be dissolved in 
a glass-stoppered bottle (having a capacity of about 100 Cc.) in 2 Cc. of hydro- 
chloric acid and 15 Cc. of water, and after the addition of 1 Gm. of potassium 
iodide the mixture be kept for half an hour at a temperature of 40° C. (104° F.), 
then cooled and mixed with a few drops of starch T.S., it should require not less 
than 15 nor more than 20 Cc. of decinormal sodium hyposulphite V.S. to dis- 
charge the blue or greenish color of the liquid (each cubic centimeter of the 
volumetric solution indicating 1 per cent of metallic iron) "-(U. S. P.f 
" Ferric valerianate should be kept in small, well-stoppered bottles, in a cool 
and dark place"-(U. S. P.f Valerianate of iron is not extensively employed 
by Eclectic practitioners. 884 
FERRUM. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Valerianate of iron is a nervo-tonic, 
and will be found serviceable in nervous disorders, hysteria, chorea, neuralgia, chlorosis, 
and anemic conditions with excitability or irritability of the nervous system. The 
dose is 1 or 2 grains in pill form, repeated 3 or 4 times a day. 
FERRUM (U. S. P.)-IRON. 
Symbol: Fe. Atomic Weight : 55.88. 
"Metallic iron in the form of fine, bright, and non-elastic wire"-(U. S. P.). 
The British Pharmacopoeia directs annealed iron wire (diameter 0.005 inch) or 
wire nails, both to be free from oxide. Iron filings {Ferri Ramenta) were directed 
by the U. S. P., of 1850. 
Source, History, and Preparation.-No metal is of more utility to mankind, 
or more abundantly dispersed throughout the globe than iron. Independently 
of its existence in the form of ores, it is found to a greater or less extent as a con- 
stituent of earths, minerals, and organized substances. It is found in meteoric 
stones, and forms an essential constituent of the blood in man and many animals, 
and is one of those metals which, under certain circumstances, may be employed 
medicinally with safety and advantage to the human constitution. 
Iron occurs in its native state, and in combination with other substances 
forming iron ores. Its most common ores are the sulphide of iron (pyrites), the 
oxides, such as magnetic iron ore (Fe3O4), red and brown hematite, micaceous, 
and clay iron ores; and the carbonate, phosphate, sulpharsenide, etc., of iron. A 
superior iron is obtained from those ores known as magnetic, red hematite, or 
micaceous; these are found in abundance in Sweden. Spain, France, and Ger- 
many likewise furnish the carbonate, clay iron ore, brown hematite, etc. In this 
country iron is procured in large quantity, principally from the magnetic, mica- 
ceous, and clay iron ores, and some of the ores, especially those of the Atlantic 
states, are at least equal to the best ore from Sweden. 
As the character of the ores differs, the modes of procuring the iron from them 
will vary according to the kind of ore. Ores containing sulphur can not be used 
in the metallurgy of iron, only the oxides, carbonates (spathose ores), and clay 
iron stones being employed. The argillaceous ores and the brown hematites 
(hydrated ferric oxides) undergo a preliminary process of calcination by mixing 
them with coal and burning the mixture either in open heaps, or in properly con- 
structed roasting furnaces. The roasted iron ore thus prepared is mixed with 
flux and fuel, and exposed to a strong heat in a blast furnace. The flux is gen- 
erally limestone, which separates the alumina and silica; the fuel is charcoal, 
coke, or anthracite. The impurities which fuse with the flux are termed the slag, 
which floats above the melted iron, and flows in a constant but slow stream over 
the dam, on the opposite side from that where the metal is to flow. As soon as 
the process is perfected, the orifice through which the slag flowed is closed, the 
blast stopped, and the melted iron is run into molds, forming what is known as 
"pig iron," or "cast iron." Two varieties of cast iron exist, differing mainly in 
the form of the carbon present. In white cast iron the carbon exists as carbide of 
iron in combination; in gray cast iron most of the carbon exists free as graphite. 
The presence of manganese in the ore induces the formation of white cast iron (or 
specular pig iron), while silica has a tendency to produce gray cast iron. 
Cast iron is used to make malleable iron and steel, both containing considerably 
less carbon. The proportion of carbon determines their properties. To effect the 
expulsion of the excess of carbon, the " pigs" undergo certain processes of refining 
and puddling, in properly constructed furnaces, in which the carbon is gradually 
burnt out by a free access of air and constant agitation; phosphorus and sulphur 
also disappear. Finally the iron is removed from the furnace, and either ham- 
mered or rolled into long flat or round pieces, forming the ordinary soft or malle- 
able iron. Cast iron contains from 3 to 6 per cent of carbon, malleable iron only 
from 0.15 to 0.5 per cent, while steel stands intermediate between the two. Dimi- 
nution of carbon raises the fusing point of iron. Steel can be hardened by dip- 
ping it red hot into cold water, subsequent annealing, often called tempering, being 
required to deprive it of its brittleness. It may be obtained by different pro- FERRUM. 
885 
cesses, and is now manufactured in great quantities from pig iron by the Bessemer 
process, which consists in burning out the excess of carbon by means of a cur- 
rent of air forced through the molten pig iron contained in a specially con- 
structed pear-shaped vessel, called the converter. The heat of the combustion of 
the carbon is sufficient to maintain the metal in a molten condition. Sheet iron 
with a coating of tin is known as tin plate; coated with zinc it is known as gal- 
vanized iron. 
Description and Properties.-Iron has a grayish color, when pure alm<st 
silver white. Its fracture is granular, or irregularly foliaceous, with a metallic 
luster; when polished it has great brilliancy, which is rapidly lost under exposure 
to moisture and air combined. Its taste is peculiar and somewhat astringent, 
and it emits a peculiar smell when rubbed. It has great tenacity and ductility, 
and considerable malleability, but not so much as gold, silver, copper, etc. Its 
specific gravity is 7.788, which increases by rolling or drawing. When absolutely 
pure, it fuses only at a very intense heat, 1800° C. (about 3300° F.), while white 
pig iron fuses at about 1100° C. (2012° F.). It is attracted by the magnet. Iron 
wire, having a little cotton tied to its extremity, plunged into oxygen gas or 
into liquid air while the cotton is in flames, burns brilliantly. Damp atmosphere 
soon tarnishes its surface, and gradually changes it into a brown or red powder, 
well known under the name of rust, which is hydrated ferric oxide. Iron com- 
bines with oxygen and forms two oxides, ferrous oxide, protoxide, or monoxide of 
iron (FeO), and the ferric oxide, peroxide, or sesquioxide of iron (Fe2O3), and these 
united form the black oxide (FeO-|-Fe2O3=Fe3O4). A ferric acid, or teroxide of iron 
(FeO3), has likewise been described. It is not known free, and is very easily 
decomposed. Iron unites readily with sulphur, with iodine if moisture be present, 
with most of the metals, and with all the non-metallic elements, hydrogen per- 
haps included. It forms salts with the acids, which are generally soluble and 
crystallizable. 
The salts of ferrous oxide, for the most part, pass into ferric oxide salts, from 
their absorption of oxygen. Hence, they act in some cases as reducing agents; 
gold is completely reduced from its solutions by sulphate ot iron (ferrous sul- 
phate}. Ferrous oxide is influenced by the magnet. 
Ferric oxide (sesquioxide, or peroxide of iron) (Fe2O3) occurs native as red hema- 
tite and specular iron ore. It is not influenced by the magnet. For its mode of 
preparation see under Ferri Oxidum Hydratum. 
The native magnetic oxide of iron, or black oxide (the loadstone) is a heavy, 
black mineral, strongly attracting iron filings or steel. Its formula is Fe3O4. It is 
formed when iron is subjected to red heat and hammered, the black scales in 
smith shops being an example. 
Iron forms 2 lines of salts, corresponding to the two oxides named-the 
higher (ferric) and the lower (ferrous) salts. Ferrous salts are usually produced 
when iron is acted upon by diluted acids under exclusion of atmospheric oxygen. 
Ferric salts require for their production in addition the intervention of a strong 
oxidizing agent, e. g., nitric acid as well as an additional amount of the acid 
whose salt is desired. Hydrated ferrous salts are bluish-green, or, if anhydrous, 
whitish. The oxalate is an exception, being yellow. Ferric salts are, as a rule, 
dark colored; the normal ferric salts being yellow-brown or brown if hydrated, 
and whitish in anhydrous state; the basic ferric salts are brown or brown-red. 
Hydrochloric acid dissolves such ferric salts as refuse to dissolve in water. 
Tests.-" Ferrous Salts, in slightly acid solution, produce white precipi- 
tates with ferrocyanide of potassium. This precipitate rapidly absorbs oxygen 
from the air and turns blue. Ferrous salts are prone to absorb oxygen from the 
air and pass into ferric salts, therefore the precipitate is usually of a bluish-white 
color from the presence of ferric salts. If the solution of a ferrous salt be mixed 
with a solution of ferricyanide of potassium (red prussiate of potash), a deep blue 
precipitate at once results, insoluble in hydrochloric acid. 
" Ferric Salts form blue precipitates with ferrocyanide of potassium (yellow 
prussiate of potash). If the solution of ferric salt is alkaline it must be rendered 
acid with acetic acid, and if it contain free mineral acid, add an excess of an 
alkaline acetate before applying the test. Ferric salts in neutral or moderately 
acid solution, strike a blood-red color with potassium sulphocyanide. This test 886 
FERRUM. 
is extremely delicate. An alkaline acetate in excess prevents the reaction." Tinc- 
ture of galls or solutions of tannin produce with iron salts a black precipitate of 
tannate of iron. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Iron in its metallic form has no action 
on the system; when swallowed in this state it becomes oxidized, apparently at 
the expense of the water in the stomach, for eructations take place, having a dis- 
agreeable chalybeate taste, and an odor of hydrogen. It was formerly usually 
given in the form of iron filings, in doses of from 5 to 10 grains. Now, when 
metallic iron is desired, reduced iron, in doses of from 1 to 5 grains, is usually 
selected. The proper method of obtaining iron filings for medicinal purposes, is 
to take a piece of soft, malleable, pure iron, and file it down; those obtained from 
the blacksmith's workshop, whether cleansed by the magnet or not, are impure 
and not fit for internal administration. Iron wire is generally sufficiently pure 
for the preparation of filings. 
The various ferruginous preparations are termed chalybeate tonics ; most of 
them also possess astringent properties. When taken for some time in small 
doses, they have the property of strengthening and sometimes accelerating the 
pulse, improving digestion, exciting the functions of the various organs, and 
augmenting the number of the red or coloring particles of the blood. When ad- 
ministered internally, iron probably enters the blood, as, after its exhibition, it 
has been detected in the urine, milk, and blood. Whether it increases the iron 
of the blood, is still an unsettled question, although it renders that fluid more 
florid. When iron has been taken to too great an extent, it produces more or 
less thirst, pain in the head or a sense of fullness, increased heat of the body, 
dizziness, laborious respiration, distension of the limbs, and other manifestations 
of vascular excitement. The indications for the use of the preparations of iron 
are "debility, feebleness, and inertia of the different organs of the body, atony 
(marked by a soft, lax, flabby condition of the solids), and defect of the red cor- 
puscles of the blood-as where there i£a general deficiency of this fluid (anemia, 
oligaemia) or a watery condition of it (hydraemia, serous crasis, leucophlegmatic tem- 
perament)" (P.). 
These indications of Pareira, perhaps, can not be improved upon at the pres- 
ent time. Prof. Scudder regarded the deep, solid, blue discoloration of the mucous 
tissues and tongue, the coloring sometimes deepening to purplish, as the best in- 
dication for iron and its salts. Probably anemia is one of the best indications for 
iron, especially where the supply of red corpuscles is gradually and permanently 
diminished. If the loss is due to hemorrhages or other debilitating effects, and 
the digestive function is in good operation, food would probably be more bene- 
ficial than iron; but when the digestion and assimilation are impaired, iron be- 
comes a most important remedy. Not only does it increase the number of red 
discs, but causes them, when pallid and shrunken, to become florid and plump; 
their oxygen-carrying powers are increased and better assimilation and nutrition 
is the result. On the other hand, in anemia, after the proper number and condi- 
tion of red discs have been attained, its further administration becomes harmful, 
and, while iron is an important factor in the treatment of this condition, it must 
not be forgotten that it should constitute only a part of the treatment, and that 
proper food and hygienic measures should go hand in hand with its administra- 
tion. Some contend for, and it has been the custom for years to give iron in 
enormous doses. Inasmuch as but a very little iron can be assimilated and elabo- 
rated in the blood, it would appear that the smaller doses would be less apt to 
provoke gastro-intestinal irritation, thus favoring their absorption. For this 
reason many prefer the small and even the minute dose, for all excess over that 
which is elaborated is discharged in the faeces, and undoubtedly large doses harm 
by provoking constipation and other effects not calculated to improve digestion 
and assimilation. Eclectic physicians, as a rule, have favored the small doses. 
When iron is not assimilated and when provocative of gastric disorders, it does 
harm, and this is particularly the case in certain nervous disorders and particularly 
in epilepsy. In nervous disorders, it should not be employed unless there is 
clearly an impoverished condition of the blood. Iron and its compounds are, of 
course, only palliative in structural diseases, as cancer, interstitial nephritis, tubercu- 
losis, etc. Active hemorrhage, as a rule, contraindicates the use of iron. Menorrhagia, FERRUM. 
887 
however, when profuse and watery, is benefited by it, as well as cases of scanty 
menses with a pale How. In both instances the blood is lacking in red discs. 
Passive hemorrhages, on the contrary, are well treated with iron salts, particularly 
those made astringent by their union with the acidulous radical of the mineral 
acids. Iron is of value in malarial disorders, only in those cases in which the 
trouble has lasted long enough to induce a marked impoverishment of the blood 
itself. Ferrocyanide of iron, however, is thought by some to have some antidotal 
power over malaria. Iron is, therefore, applicable where the blood is poor in 
quality through a deficiency of its red corpuscles, and when associated with 
this there is marked debility, nervous depression, exhaustive discharges, and 
feeble digestion. Bearing in mind the indications, it is useful in the following 
disorders in which its salts have been efficiently employed: Chorea, hypertrophy 
of the spleen, neuralgia, uterine debility, scrofula, leucorrhcea, rachitis, anemic and chlo- 
rotic conditions, chronic discharges from enfeebled and relaxed mucous tissues, chronic par- 
alysis, atonic dyspepsia, albuminuria, desquamative nephritis, diabetes, etc. The thera- 
peutical influence of the several medicinal salts of iron are nearly the same, but 
where they become improved or qualified by union with other agents, reference 
will be made thereto under their respective captions. As a rule, in erysipelas the 
tincture of the chloride is preferred; the iodide is preferred as an alterative; the 
salicylate in fetid intestinal discharges; the phosphate in nervous depression ; in 
excessive anemia the stronger preparations like the chloride, sulphate, and acid 
solution of iron; in ordinary debility the ammonio-citrate, citrate of iron and potas- 
sium, or the pyrophosphate, etc., are usually selected. When iron is in the form of 
ferrous oxide it is generally more active than where it is present as a ferric oxide. 
The preparations of iron are contraindicated in fever, acute inflammation, con- 
gestion of important organs, active hemorrhages, intestinal irritation, in persons 
subject to determinations of blood to the head, or affected with habitual constipa- 
tion. The various salts and their doses will be given under their respective heads. 
The dose of reduced iron is from 1 to 5 grains; of iron filings, 1 to 10 grains. 
Specific Indications and Uses.-Anemia, with debility, solid bluish color 
of the membranes and tongue; muscular relaxation. 
Iron Salts.-Ferri Salic ylas, Ferrous salicylate. Make solutions by dissolving ferrous 
sulphate (100 parts) in boiling water (200 parts), and of sodium carbonate (110 parts) in boil- 
ingwater (200 parts). Filter the separate solutions, and, when cold, mix them together. Wash 
the resultant precipitate by decantation until all the sulphate of sodium is separated. Place 
the magma in a porcelain vessel and suspend the carbonate in water, and then dissolve it by 
the addition of salicylic acid, gently heating the mixture to facilitate solution. Filter, place on 
a water-bath, and dry by evaporation. This salt possesses properties more akin to those of 
salicylic acid than to iron. It is claimed to be the most efficient iron salt for hypoderdermatic 
use. Internally, it has been given in the fetid diarrhoea, of infants, acute rheumatism of the joints, 
aphthae, erysipelas, and diphtheria. It is regarded as a sedative, febrifuge, and diaphoretic. 
Ferri Albuminas, Ferric albuminate, Albuminate of iron.-Prof. C. Lewis Diehl's process for 
the preparation of this compound (see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1880, p. 177-190), is essentially as 
follows: Mix 10 troy ounces of egg albumen with its bulk of water, and make another solu- 
tion of 125 minims of official ferric chloride solution diluted with 10 fluid ounces of water. 
Mix the solutions and filter. To the filtrate add 10 fluid ounces of saturated solution of chlo- 
ride of sodium, put the resultant precipitate on a wet muslin strainer, and wash it with a mix- 
ture of sodium chloride in saturated aqueous solution (salt, 1 part, and water, 3 parts) until but 
a feeble iron reaction results in the filtrate. Drain the magma dry as nearly as possible by 
strong pressure, and complete the drying by atmospheric exposure. Finally, powder the pro- 
duct. This process gives a cinnamon-brown powder, which dissolves in water, especially if the 
latter be made slightly acid with hydrochloric acid. Owing to the fact that a little sodium 
chloride is present, the otherwise tasteless albuminate has a slight taste of common table salt. 
This salt is preferred by many on account of its rapid absorption, as a remedy for anemia and 
chlorosis. It may be administered alone or in combination in pill, but the best method is to 
administer a freshly prepared solution of 20 to 25 or 30 grains in water. Gastric ulcer, irritative 
stomach disorders, and the complications of the menopause, all in anemic persons, have been suc- 
cessfully treated with it. 
Ferri et Magnesii Citras, Iron and magnesium citrate.-Dissolve freshly prepared ferric 
hydroxide, 2 ounces, in a moderately hot solution of citric acid, 3 ounces. Then saturate the 
foregoing liquid with magnesium carbonate. Filter, evaporate on a water-bath to a syrupy 
state, dry, and scale from glass. This salt forms transparent, soluble, greenish-yellow scales, 
having a faintly acid and feebly ferruginous taste. Alcohol and ether do not dissolve it. The 
dose ranges.from 5 to 10 grains. 
Ferri et Bismuthi Citras, Iron and bismuth citrate.-This compound it not a definite salt, 
and is prepared by adding ferric ammonio-citrate to citrate of bismuth dissolved in an ammo- 
niacal aqueous solution. It has been used in dyspeptic disorders. 888 
FERRUM. 
Ferri Tannas, Ferric tannate, Tannate of iron.-Ferric tannate may be produced as a bluish 
or greenish-black precipitate by treating cold ferric solutions with solution of tannin; also, by 
exposing to the atmosphere a mixture of tannin and a ferrous compound. The composition 
of tannate of iron varies somewhat according to the conditions observed in its preparation. 
Concentrated organic and the mineral acids decompose it, while boiling in water reduces it to 
a ferrous salt. Tannate of iron possesses tonic and astringent properties. It has been used 
with benefit in chlorosis, amenorrhoea, chronic diarrhoea, and in the diarrhoea accompanying some 
febrile diseases, etc. The dose is 2 or 3 grains made into pills, and gradually increased, so that 
in the course of a day 30 grains may be given. Tannate of iron does not stain the teeth. 
Ferri Oxalas, Ferrous oxalate (FeC2O4.2H2O/.-Molecular weight: 179.58. The U. S. P. 
of 1870 prepared this salt by mixing solution of ferrous sulphate (2 ounces of salt) and oxalic 
acid (436 grains). " When a solution of ferric hydroxide in aqueous oxalic acid is exposed to 
the action of sunlight, carbon dioxide is evolved, and the ferrous salt is precipitated in fine 
lemon-colored glistening crystals (Roscoe and Schorlemmer). It is nearly tasteless, odorless and 
permanent, being but sparingly soluble in water (cold or hot), but dissolving in warm diluted 
sulphuric acid, and in cold hydrochloric acid. It is regarded by some (Hayem), as the best of 
the chalybeates; while others consider it a feeble agent. The dose is from 2 to 3 grains. 
Ferri Benzoas, Ferric benzoate (Fe2[C7H5O2]66H2O).-Molecular Weight: 945.8. Pre- 
cipitate ferric sulphate solution with a strong solution of either ammonium or sodium ben- 
zoate. "Wash the precipitate on a filter with a small portion of cold water, press the salt, and 
dry it. This forms an almost tasteless brown-orange powder, which, when heated to 135° C. 
(275°F.), loses water and becomes brown The salt is decomposed at a higher heat, benzoic 
acid subliming. Alcohol and water partially dissolve it, the undissolved residue being basic 
ferric benzoate. This agent is employed where the action of benzoic acid with iron is desired. 
Dose, 3 to 5 grains. 
Ferri Malas, Ferrous malate, Extractum ferri pomatum.-Digest for several days iron filings 
(3 or 4 per cent) with expressed sour-apple juice, at an elevated temperature. After reaction 
is complete, filter and evaporate. A variable amount of iron is present in this preparation 
which is quite popular in Europe. The German Pharmacopoeia recognizes a Tinctura ferri pomata 
consisting of the blackish-green ferrous malate 1 part, made into solution with cinnamon water 
(containing alcohol j^-part by weight) 9 parts. Ferrous malate prepared as above, is, of course, 
not a definite preparation. It is mildly chalybeate, and does not color the teeth. The dose of 
the salt is 4 or 5 grains; of the tincture from 20 to 60 drops. 
Ferri Stearas, Stearate of iron-Is made by dissolving separately, in about three times 
their weight of water, 1 part of sulphate of iron, and 2 parts of hard soap, and then mixing the 
solutions; the resulting greenish precipitate is to be separated, dried, melted by a gentle heat, 
spread on cloth, and used like an ordinary plaster. 
Ferri Succinas ([C4H4O4]2Fe2[OH]2), Succinate of iron, Succinate of peroxide of iron.-Take 
of succinate of ammonium, 1 ounce; so'ution of ferric sulphate, 2 ounces; distilled water, a 
sufficient quantity. Dilute the solution of tersulphate of iron with 8 ounces of the distilled 
water, and having dissolved the succinnate of ammonium in 4 ounces of the distilled water, 
warm the solutions and mix them together, continuing the heat moderately (not to exceed 
76.6° C. [170° F.]), until the succinate of iron is completely precipitated. Wash the precipitate 
with distilled water until the washings will no longer give a precipitate with chloride of 
barium and aqua ammonite, and keep the hydrate under water in a stoppered bottle. The suc- 
cinate of ammonium employed herein is prepared as follows: Take of aqua ammonise, sp. gr. 
0.960,1 fluid ounce; succinic acid, £ fluid ounce. By the aid of a gentle heat dissolve the suc- 
cinic acid in the ammonia water; then evaporate the solution sufficiently (very little), and set 
it aside to crystallize. 
Prof. W. T. Wenzell (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1891, p. 272), has shown that the basic salt that 
is formed in the preparation of ferric succinate is insoluble in a cold solution of succinic acid 
or ammonium succinate, but is very soluble in ammonium citrate. He recommends Liquor 
Ferri et Ammonii Succinatis, holding in solution a compound of the composition, Fe2O.(C4H4 
O4)2.3(NH4)2.C8H5O7. 
Freshly precipitated succinate of iron has a light rose-pink color, which, on drying the 
salt, becomes brick-red. In the moist state it is rapidly and completely dissolved (when dry 
with more difficulty), by hydrochloric acid, w'ithout effervescence, producing a yellow solution 
which yields a copious blue precipitate with ferrocyanide of potassium, but no precipitate with 
ferricyanide of potassium. It should be constantly kept in the moist state, and under water, 
otherwise it becomes hard and gritty. This salt of iron was introduced to the profession in 
1867 (Amer. Jour. Med. Sciences, p. 51), by Dr. T. H. Buckler, of Baltimore, Md., as a remedy in 
biliary calculi. To dissolve the cholesterin of which gall-stones are chiefly composed, he recom- 
mends the use of chloroform in doses of a teaspoonful 3 times a day, after each meal, continu- 
ing its use for several days that these calculi may become dissolved. In cases where there are 
severe paroxysms of pain, the doses should be given every hour while the pain lasts. To con- 
trol the fatty or cholesteric diathesis, and thus prevent the further formation of these calculi, 
the hydrated succinate of iron must be used continuously for6 or 12 months, in doses of lOor 12 
grains after each meal, though if considerably more be taken it will produce no unpleasant 
results. This succinate will also be found useful for leucophlegmatic persons disposed to 
obesity or to fatty degenerations of vital structures. 
Ammonii et Ferri Chloridum, Ammonio-chloride of iron, Ammoniated iron, Ammbnium chlo- 
ratum ferratum, Ferrum ammoniatum.-Mix ferric chloride (9 parts), with ammonium chloride 
(32 parts), and with constant stirring, evaporate to dryness. It forms a reddish-orange, crys- 
talline powder, somewhat deliquescent, strongly saline, and styptic in taste. Water and 889 
FERRTM REDUCTUM. 
diluted alcohol dissolve it entirely. It contains ferric chloride (Fe2Cl6) 7.25 per cent. It was 
formerly used in doses of from 4 to 12 grains, in rickets, scrofula, amenorrhwa, epilepsy, anemia, 
and general debility. Its disagreeable taste is somewhat masked by syrup of liquorice. When 
prepared by sublimation, the yellow product is known as Flores (or Ens) martis. 
FERRUM REDUCTUM (U. S. P.)-REDUCED IRON. 
Synonyms: Ferrum redactum, Iron by hydrogen, Iron reduced by hydrogen, Powder 
of iron, Quevenne's iron, and Ferri pulvis. 
Preparation.-Reduced iron is prepared by the action of hydrogen gas upon 
pure red-hot ferric oxide, the following reaction taking place: Fe2O34-H6=Fe2+ 
3H2O. The process is usually carried out by means of a combustion furnace in 
an iron reduction tube (a gun-barrel). After the reduction, the current of hydro- 
gen must be maintained until the contents of the tube are cool. The reduced 
iron is then to be withdrawn and preserved in a dry, stoppered bottle. For 
details of the process, see Br. Pharm., 1867. The U. S. P. directed the employment 
of subcarbonate of iron in the preparation of ferric oxide, and the purification of 
the hydrogen gas by allowing it to pass successively through diluted solution of 
subacetate of lead and milk of lime. The process of the British Pharmacopoeia of 
1867, directs the drying of the hydrogen. Care must also be taken that the sul- 
phuric acid employed is free from arsenic. (For some valuable remarks on pre- 
paring iron by hydrogen, see paper by Prof. W. Procter, Jr., in Amer. Jour. Pharm., 
Vol. XIX, p. 11, and Vol. XXVI, p. 217). 
Description and Tests.-This preparation was introduced into medicine by 
Quevenne, as a substitute for porphyrized iron. When of a black color it should 
be rejected. It oxidizes rapidly in damp air, and hence should be kept in dry 
and wTell closed bottles. When placed on an anvil and struck with a hammer, it 
yields a bright, shining scale. The magnet strongly attracts it. 
The U. S. P. describes reduced iron as follows: uA very fine, grayish-black, 
lusterless powder, without odor or taste; permanent in dry air. Insoluble in 
water or alcohol. When treated with diluted sulphuric acid, it causes the evolu- 
tion of nearly odorless hydrogen gas, which should not affect paper moistened 
with lead acetate T.S. (absence of sulphide), and on applying a gentle heat, the 
iron should dissolve in the acid without leaving more than 1 per cent of residue. 
When ignited, in contact with air, it glowsand is converted into black ferroso 
ferric oxide. If 1 Gm. of reduced iron be shaken with 5 Cc. of water, the liquid 
should not change the color of litmus paper. If 0.5 Gm. of reduced iron be added 
to 5 Cc. of arsenic-free hydrochloric acid, and the mixture be poured upon a filter 
while still effervescing, 1 Cc. of the clear filtrate should, after the addition of 2 
Cc. of stannous chloride T.S. (see List of Reagents, Bettendorff's Test for Arsenic), 
together with a small piece of pure tin foil, and gentle heating, show no brown 
coloration within half an hour (limit of arsenic) "-(U. S. Pf. 
Estimation of Metallic Iron.-" Introduce 0.56 (0.559) Gm. of reduced iron 
into a glass-stoppered bottle, add 50 Cc. of mercuric chloride T.S., and heat the 
bottle, well stoppered, during one hour on a water-bath, frequently agitating. 
Then allow it to cool, dilute the contents with water to the volume of 100 Cc. and 
filter. To 10 Cc. of the filtrate, contained in a glass-stoppered bottle (having a 
capacity of about 100 Cc.),add 10 Cc. of diluted sulphuric acid, and subsequently 
decinormal potassium permanganate V.S., until a permanent red color is pro- 
duced. The number of cubic centimeters of the volumetric solution required, 
when multiplied by 10, will indicate the percentage of metallic iron. To confirm 
the assay, decolorize the liquid by a few drops of alcohol, then add 1 Gm. of potas- 
sium iodide, and digest for half an hour at a temperature of 40° C. (104° F.). The 
cooled solution, mixed with a few drops of starch T.S., should require not less 
than 8 Cc. of decinormal sodium hyposulphite V.S. to discharge the blue or green- 
ish color (each cubic centimeter of the volumetric solution indicating 10 per cent 
of metallic iron) "-(U. S. Pf. 
According to the U. S. P. assay directions, reduced iron should contain 80 per 
cent of metallic iron. Yet great variations have been observed in commercial 
specimens, reaching as low a limit as 18 per cent, due partly to incomplete reduc- 
tion, partly to deterioration by oxidation in moist air. Mr. L. F. Kebler (Amer. 890 
FICUS. 
Jour. Pharm., 1896, p. 198), found 6 commercial specimens to vary in metallic iron 
from about 38 to 84 per cent. Among adulterations of reduced iron has occurred 
plumbago (graphite), the presence of which, however, can easily be recognized by 
being insoluble in diluted sulphuric acid. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-When this powder of iron is properly 
prepared, and not without, it forms a valuable tonic, and is considered to be supe- 
rior to any other form of metallic iron for medicinal employment. It is without 
inky flavor, and is not liable to blacken the teeth. Its tendency to oxidize, and 
the unpleasant eructations of hydrogen gas to which it gives rise, render it objec- 
tionable. It may be used in chlorosis, anemia, and in all diseases in which there 
is a deficiency of red blood corpuscles. It may be used to antidote acute poison- 
ing from the copper compounds. The dose is from 1 or 2 to 10 or 12 grains, in 
pill or bolus, but preferably suspended in water. 
Related Preparation.-Ferrum Pulveratum, Pulverized iron, known also as Porphyrized 
iron (Ferrum porphyrisatum), and Alcoholized iron (Ferrum alcoholisatum). This is a European 
product, liable to be confounded with reduced iron. It is prepared by mechanical processes 
(filing, etc.), from a good grade of cast iron, and thus necessarily contains carbon. It is denser 
than reduced iron, which it resembles, but it exhibits a luster (which the former lacks), and 
the hydrogen evolved from it has an unpleasant odor, that from reduced iron being inodorous. 
It refuses to burn when touched with a flame. It dissolves in hydrochloric and sulphuric 
acids, leaving a small amount of black, undissolved substance, and should exhibit but traces 
of hydrogen sulphide. 
FICUS (U. S. P.)-FIG. 
" The fleshy receptacle of Ficus Carica," Linne, "bearing fruit upon its inner 
surface"-(U. S. P.). 
Nat. Ord.-Urticacete. 
Common Namesand Synonyms: Fici, Figs; Fructus caricae, Ficus passa, Caricae. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 228. 
Botanical Source.-The fig tree is usually about 10 or 12 feet in height, but 
in warm latitudes exceeds this by 8 or 12 feet additional. The trunk is crooked, 
usually about 4 foot in diameter, with a grayish or grayish-brown bark, and round, 
green, or russet branches, covered with a coarse, short down. The leaves are alter- 
nate, large, rough on the upper side, coarsely downy beneath, cordate, 3 or5-lobed, 
or almost entire, coarsely serrated, and petioled. The flowers are green, placed 
upon the inside of a turbinate, fleshy, closed receptacle, in the axils of the top 
leaves; male flowers, near the umbilicus, stamens 3, calyx 3-lobed; female flowers, 
calyx 5-lobed, ovary 1. The receptacle or fruit is solitary, axillary, more or less 
pear-shaped or almost round, succulent, sweet and pleasant to the taste. The 
seeds are small and numerous (L.-Wo.). 
History and Chemical Composition.-The fig tree is believed to be a native 
of Persia and Asia Minor, but at present is raised in all mild latitudes. The 
structure of its fruit is peculiar; at first it is nothing more than a fleshy recep- 
tacle, but, as it advances to maturity, minute flowers form in a cavity which oc- 
cupies the center of the mass and communicates outwardly by a small round 
aperture at the summit, and these flowers are succeeded by many small roundish 
seeds. While young, the fig abounds, like the trunk and branches, with a milky, 
aromatic,acrid juice, destitute of sweetness; but as it matures, sugar and mucilage 
are formed, and the acridity disappears. Its shape is generally turbinate or pear- 
shaped, of the size of an apricot, of various colors, some being whitish, others red- 
dish. or yellow, with a small pit or depression at the larger end, and of an agree- 
able, sweet, mucilaginous taste, and, when ripe, is sweet, high-flavored, and whole- 
some, but if eaten to excess, occasions flatus, intestinal pains, and looseness of 
the bowels. Figs are generally dried in the sun, sometimes in ovens, and are 
packed in baskets or drums. If left until perfectly ripe they dry on the trees, 
and are gathered as dried figs. The Smyrna figs are best. They are more or less 
flattenel by pressure, and are covered with saccharine granules, which, in summer, 
contain numerous minute insects, are of a yellowish or brownish color, and rather 
translucent. The Smyrna or Turkey figs are pulpy and large, while a smaller, 
dried variety is known as Greek figs. Figs that retain their natural form some- 
what, not having been compressed in packing, are known as natural figs, while FCENICULUM. 
891 
another commercial variety is known as pulled figs, on account of having been 
rendered supple by kneading. They contain sugar of figs, 62.5; fatty matter, 0.9; 
extractive with chloride of calcium, 0.4; gum with phosphoric acid, 5.2; woody 
fiber, seeds, and water, 1.60 (P.). Starch is abundant in the unripe fig. The milky 
juice of the common fig tree (Ficus Carica) contains a digestive ferment (see Amer. 
Jour. Pharm., 1880, p. 628, and 1887, p. 150). 
Description.-Figs are officially described as follows : "Compressed, of irregu- 
lar shape, fleshy, brownish, or yellowish, covered with an efflorescence of sugar; 
of a sweet, fruity odor, and a very sweet, mucilaginous taste. When softened in 
water, figs are pear-shaped, with a scar or short stalk at the base, and a small, 
scaly orifice at the apex; hollow internally; the inner surface covered with numer- 
ous yellowish, hard achenes"-(U. S. P.). 
Action and Medical Uses.-Figs are nutritive, emollient, demulcent, and 
aperient, and are used in costive habits, and to flavor gruels, decoctions, etc. Roasted 
or boiled, they may be applied as a suppurative poultice to gum-boils, buboes, car- 
buncles, etc. A poultice of dried figs and milk will remove the stench of cancer- 
ous and fetid.ulcers (Billroth). 
Related Species.-Mesembryanthemum crystallmum, Inland (Nat. Ord.-Ficoideae); Diamond 
fig, Ice plant. Europe. This plant has round-ovate leaves, and whitish or reddish blossoms. 
The plant is covered with vesicles, which glisten in the light, and is odorless and saline to the 
taste. Its juices contain salts, chiefly sodium and potassium compounds, oxalates being espe- 
cially prominent. It has been used in Europe for various cystic disorders, chiefly enuresis and 
dysuria, dropsy, and as a demulcent in pulmonic complaints. Dose of expressed juice, 3iv in a 
day. In South Europe it is gathered to furnish alkali for glass works (Hogg). 
Mesembryanthemum edule, Hottentot's fig.-Sandy plain of Cape of Good Hope. Fruit edible 
and leaves used as pickles. Juice reputed useful externally in burns, and internally in thrush 
and dysentery (Hogg). 
Mesembryanthemum tripolium, Rose of Jericho, Flower of Crete.-The natives of South Africa 
administer the water in w'hich the fruit has lain to women to facilitate easy delivery in labor 
(Hogg). 
FCENICULUM (U. S. P.)-FENNEL. 
" The fruit of Foeniculum capillaceum, Gilibert "-( U. S. Pf) (Foeniculum vulgare, 
Gaertner; Foeniculum officinale, Allioni; Anethum Foeniculum, Linne; Meum Foenicu- 
lum, Sprengel). 
Nat. Ord.-Umbelliferae. 
Common Names and Synonym: Common fennel, Fennel fruits, Fennel seeds, Sweet 
fennel, Roman fennel; Semen foeniculi. 
Illustration: Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 123. 
Botanical Source and History.-Fceniculum capillaceum (Foeniculum vul- 
gare), or Common fennel, is a biennial or perennial plant, with a whitish, tap-shaped 
root, the whole herb being smooth, and of a deep glaucous green. The stems are 
3 or 4 feet high, erect, solid, round, striated, smooth, leafy, and copiously branched. 
The leaves are alternate and triply pinnate; the leaflets acute; thread-like, long, 
more or less drooping; the petioles with a broad, firm, sheathing base. The flowers 
are in large, terminal, very broad, flat umbels, with very numerous smooth, angu- 
lar, rather stout rays; partial rays much more slender, short, and very unequal. 
Bracts or involucres are wanting. Calyx none. Styles very short, with large, 
ovate, pale-yellow base. The fruit is ovate, not quite 2 lines long, about a line in 
breadth, pale, bright brown and smooth; the ridges are sharp, with but little 
space between each; the lateral ones being rather the broadest; they are termi- 
nated by a permanent conical disk. The Index Kewensis considers the species 
Fceniculum vulgare, Miller, to represent those variously described as F. capillaceum, 
F. officinale, F. dulce, F. Panmorium, and others. Fennel is a native of Europe, 
growing wild upon sandy and chalky ground, and flowering in July (L.). 
Fceniculum officinale, Merat and De Lens, or Large fennel, is very much like 
the preceding, and the two are sometimes confounded; but its leaves are smaller, 
leaflets shorter, fruit paler, twice as heavy, much longer, somewhat curved, of a 
sweeter and more agreeable taste (L.). It inhabits the southern parts of Europe, 
and is naturalized in this country. 
Fceniculum dulce, De Candolle, or Sweet fennel, and sometimes confounded 
with F. capillaceum, has somewhat the appearance of the latter, only it is not so 892 
FCENUM GR.ECUM. 
large, seldom exceeding 12 inches in height, and the rays of its umbels being less 
in number by at least one-half; the fruit likewise varies considerably, being nar- 
row, oblong, 3 lines long, pale, dull brown, smooth ; ridges sharpish, with a space 
between each for a convex line, indicating the vittse, the lateral ones rather the 
broadest. It inhabits the same countries as the preceding variety, and is culti- 
vated for culinary purposes. 
At one time these plants were placed in the genus Anethum, Linne, but De 
Candolle and Gaertner removed them to the present genus on account of the dis- 
similarity of the seed. 
The seeds or mericarps of these plants possess nearly the same peculiar, agree- 
able spicy odor and flavor. There are 3 kinds in commerce, the Sweet fennel, which 
is also known as Roman fennel, and is of a pale green color; the brown fruits are 
known as German or Saxon fennel, while those from the uncultivated plants of 
France are called Bitter or Wild fennel. These species differ also in the length of 
their seeds, the Roman being the longest, and in the character of their striations. 
An East Indian variety, termed Indian fennel, is derived from F. Panmorium. De 
Candolle, now held to be a variety of F.capillaceum of Gilibert. The latter is not 
common in American markets. Water, at 100° C. (212° F.), takes up their proper- 
ties by infusion, but not so thoroughly as alcohol. Fennel Root is employed 
somewhat in Europe. Its taste and odor is that of fennel, though milder. 
Description.-" Oblong, nearly cylindrical, slightly curved, from 4 to 8 Mm. 
(| to | inch) long, brownish or greenish-brown; readily separable into the 2 promi- 
nent mericarps, each with 5 light brown, obtuse ribs, 4 oil-tubes on the back, and 
2 or 4 oil-tubes upon the flat face; odor and taste aromatic, anise-like"-(I/. 8'. Pf. 
Chemical Composition.-The aromatic properties of these seeds are due to a 
volatile oil (see Oleum Fceniculi). The fruits also contain sugar, ash (about 7 per 
cent), and about 12 per cent of fixed oil; the root, sugar, starch, and volatile oil. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Carminative, stimulant, galactagogue, 
diuretic, and diaphoretic. Used in flatulent colic, and as a corrigent of unpleasant 
medicines. May be used in amenorrhoea and in suppressed lactation. Dose of pow- 
dered seeds, from 10 to 30 grains; infusion (grs, xl. to aqua Oss), 1 teaspoonful 
(infants) to wineglassful (adults). 
FCENUM GR.ECUM.-FENUGREEK. 
The seeds of Trigonella feenum graecum, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Leguminosae, 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, Plate 71. 
Botanical Source.-The source of this drug is the cultivated plant which 
grows to the height of 1 foot. Its stem is almost simple and bears trifoliate leaves. 
The leaf segments are articulated, obovate or oblong, wedge-shaped, and denticu- 
late. The flowers are of a light yellow hue, sessile, and solitary. The fruit is a 
beaked, compressed, curved legume, containing about 15 or 16 seeds. 
History and Description.-Fenugreek is an annual plant, native of west 
Asia, but is naturalized in Africa, south Europe, and India. It is cultivated for 
its seeds in Germany, France, Africa, and Asia. The seeds are small (| inch long, 
| inch broad, y^inch thick), hard, compressed, oblique, rhombic, having an oblique 
groove on each flattened surface. Externally they are pale brownish-yellow and 
yellow internally. Their odor is to some persons decidedly disagreeable, yet aro- 
matic. The taste is mucilaginous, bitter, and nauseous. The powder is occasion- 
ally adulterated with starchy material, which may be detected with iodine since 
the seeds of fenugreek are free from starch. Powdered fenugreek is usually pur- 
chased by pharmacists, owing to the difficulty of powdering the seeds. Large 
quantities of powdered fenugreek are consumed in "condition powders," and as 
constituents of mixtures used in the treatment of hogs. 
Chemical Composition.-Fenugreek seeds, as before stated, contain no starch ; 
their constituents area little tannin, mucilage, volatile and fixed oils, and a pecu- 
liar bitter body. Jahns found the alkaloid, trigonelline (C7H7NO2) and choline 
(C5H15NO2), the latter base being also a constituent of certain animal secretions 
(see Fei Bovis). FORMALDEHYDUM. 
893 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The Greeks were acquainted with 
fenugreek, it being one of the important medicines employed by that people. 
The only property worth mentioning is its emolliency. A poultice (or plaster or 
ointment) of the powdered seeds, or a decoction, has been used on inflamed parts, 
and the latter has been used as a rectal and vaginal wash to soothe irritation or 
inflammation; it has likewise been used to allay irritation of the throat and breath- 
ing passages. The decoction is prepared from 1 ounce of the seeds and 1 pint of 
water. Burns, etc., may be dressed with its bland oil. The infusion or tincture 
may be used as a tonic to improve digestion. It relieves uterine irritation and acts 
as an emmenagogue. Respiratory irritation is thought to be relieved by its internal 
use, and a sack of the ground seeds is regarded as a valuable application in chronic 
affections of the stomach, bowels, and liver (Scudder, Spec. Med.). 
FORMALDEHYDUM.-FORMALDEHYDE. 
Formula: H.COH=CH2O. Molecular Weight: 29.93. 
Synonyms: Formic aldehyde, Methyl aldehyde, Oxymethylene. 
Source, History, and Preparation.-Formaldehyde is a gas, and was discov- 
ered in 1867, by Von Hoffman, who obtained it by passing the vapor of a mixture 
of methylic alcohol and air over red-hot, finely-divided platinum. A useful modi- 
fication of this process by Prof. 0. Loew, is described in Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1886, 
p. 440. Formaldehyde is of great importance in the physiology of vegetable life. 
According to Baeyer it is produced in plants from carbon dioxide and atmos- 
pheric moisture, by the action of the sun's rays in the presence of the chlorophyll 
of the leaves, thus: CO2+H.2O=CH.2O-|-2O. It then becomes the mother-sub- 
stance of carbohydrates, e.g., starch and sugar (0. Loew's formose). Baeyer declares 
formaldehyde to be the natural protector of the tender portions of the plant 
against bacterial invasion. 
Formaldehyde was introduced into medicine by Berlioz and Trillat in 1890. 
Its germicidal properties, however, had been established by Loew in 1888. The 
preparations that have been used in medicine, and for economic purposes, are 
40 per cent solutions of this gas, forms of which are known by the trade names 
formalin, formal, etc. For disinfecting purposes, formaldehyde maybe prepared 
conveniently by the lamp process introduced in recent years, whereby the gas is 
generated, as in Hoffmann's process, by incomplete combustion of methyl alcohol. 
In this connection it may be said that a simple and effective formaldehyde lamp 
is manufactured for physicians' use by Eli Lilly & Co., of Indianapolis (Amer. 
Jour. Pharm., 1897, p. 223). 
Description and Tests.-Solution of formaldehyde (40 per cent), as found 
in commerce, is a very volatile, pungent, peculiarly aromatic fluid. It has an 
acid reaction, due to the presence of formic and acetic acids, and a density of 
1.070. It hardens animal tissues, and renders gelatin insoluble, even in hot water 
and alkaline media. It should be kept securely stoppered. Formaldehyde, when 
warmed with an ammoniacal silver solution, reduces silver, which deposits a mir- 
ror on the vessel. This property is shared by aldehydes in general. A distinct- 
ive reaction which affords a means for an easy quantitative determination of 
formaldehyde, consists in its combination with ammonia, hexamethyleneamine 
resulting. This compound, which is crystallizable, and has the composition 
(CH2)6N4, yields formaldehyde again upon distillation with sulphuric acid. Of 
the various qualitative tests proposed for formaldehyde, O. Hehner's Test is sen- 
sitive and fairly characteristic. It is said to detect 1 part of formaldehyde in 
200,000 parts of liquid, and is carried out as follows: To the liquid to be tested, 
e. g., the distillate from a sample of milk, etc., add 1 or 2 drops of a w'eak solution 
of phenol (1 drop of phenol to 1 fluid ounce of water). Into a test-tube introduce 
a layer of concentrated, colorless sulphuric acid. Carefully pour the suspected 
liquid in a layer over the sulphuric acid so that but slight admixture takes place 
at the surface. If formaldehyde is present it will be indicated by a pink or vivid 
crimson zone. It should not give an orange-yellow or brown coloration (absence 
of acetic aldehyde in strong solution). Lebbin's Test is very delicate, detecting 1 
part of formaldehyde in 10,000,000 parts of water. It is conducted as follows: To 894 
FORMALDEIIYDUM. 
the liquid to be tested add a small quantity of a 50 per cent alkali solution (sodium 
or potassium hydroxide), followed by 1 drop of a 5 per cent solution of resorcin. 
Boil the mixture. If formaldehyde is present a crimson solution results. No 
yellow or brown coloration should result (absence of acetic aldehyde). For other 
tests, as well as an interesting resume of the subject of formaldehyde, see F. C. J. 
Bird, Pharm. Jour., 1896, Vol. Ill, p. 269, or Amer. Jour. Pharm., 189-6, p. 617. 
Action, Economic and Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Formaldehyde is ex- 
ceedingly volatile, and the vapor given off from its solutions is irritant to the 
nasal, faucial, and ocular mucous membranes. When concentrated it affects the 
cutaneous tissues similarly to phenol, leaving the surfaces roughish, white, and 
after a time insensitive. Its application to the skin does not produce pain. Of 
its internal effects but little is known. No ill effects followed the ingestion of a 
considerable amount of the 1 per cent solution (Rideal), and of the paraform- 
aldehyde as large a dose as 90 grains has been administered as an intestinal 
antiseptic without harmful results. Owing to its action upon ammonia and 
ammonia bases, hydrogen sulphide, mercaptan, etc., forming odorless compounds, 
it has been used both in solution and vapor as an effective deodorant, the putres- 
cent odor of decaying flesh being instantly removed by it. A very small quantity 
of the 10 per cent solution quickly deodorizes feces, brine, putrid meat, etc. Not 
only does it overcome odors, but it exhibits remarkable preservative powers. Thus 
the vapor from a pledget of cotton impregnated with 6 or 8 drops of the 40 per 
cent solution will preserve fish, meat, etc., for several days in a well covered vessel, 
even in hot weather. Neither odor nor taste is imparted to flesh thus preserved. 
Such organisms as give rise to lactic and butyric fermentation as well as other 
organisms producing secondary fermentation, are destroyed by formaldehyde. 
This can be accomplished with solutions (1 to 20.000 to 1 to 10,000) which are too 
weak to interfere with the development and growth of the Saccharomyces cerevisise, 
or with the production of alcohol. 
Tables have been made for the use of formaldehyde solutions in various 
directions, which, however, are largely as yet experimental. The generation of 
formaldehyde gas for purposes of disinfection and sterilization has recently 
assumed importance. Specially constructed lamps have been devised for the 
direct generation of the vapor, either from methyl alcohol or from the polymer- 
ized formaldehyde or paraformaldehyde. Rooms, cellars, vaults, libraries, hospi- 
tals, schools, furniture, drapings, surgical dressings and appliances, etc., may be 
deodorized and disinfected by means of this gas. This substance has the advan- 
tage of being non-injurious to fabrics, metals, wood, and the common colors, except 
violet and light red. Prof. F. C. Robinson (Jour. Amer. Public Health Assoc.}, states 
that at least a quart of methyl alcohol should be used in disinfecting an ordinary 
living-room. Several hours exposure to the gas destroyed the pathogenic bacteria 
of typhoid fever and diphtheria, even when folded between mattresses (Robinson). 
Koch's bacillus tuberculosis and other bacteria are said to be destroyed by it, the 
bacillus subtilis and bacillus mesenterica being possible exceptions. Roux, Trillat. 
Bose, Wortmann, Stahl, Aronson, and Berlioz, are among the European experi- 
menters who endorse formaldehyde as the leading disinfectant and antibacterial 
agent. In this country DeSchweinitz and Kinyoun (Public Health Reports,Nol. XII, 
No. 5,1897), have made extensive investigations. Test-cultures of bacteria have 
been the means used to demonstrate the active and destructive properties of the 
gas upon pathogenic micro-organisms.- Kinyoun states it difficult to disinfect 
the interior of closed books, although it is claimed to be accomplished by others, 
and he questions its effectiveness in the interior of upholstered furniture, etc., 
unless very large amounts of the gas be employed. To accomplish results an 
exposure of at least one day is necessary, and the larger the quantity generated 
the better the results. 
The various published reports would lead one to believe that the uses of form- 
aldehyde for disinfecting purposes are practically without limit. This, however, 
proves not to be the case, for well-conducted experiments have satisfactorily de- 
monstrated that it is of value chiefly as a surface disinfector, and is of doubtful 
utility when deep penetration is required (Doty, N. Y. Med. Jour.}. It has also 
been shown that it acts best in a chamber from which the air has been exhausted. 
Park and Guerard of the New York City Health Department, who made compre- 895 
FORMALDEHYDUM. 
hensive and thorough bacteriological tests with formaldehyde, endorse it only for 
surface disinfection, and state that the cost of disinfection by it is not greater 
than when sulphur is employed (see paper by G. L. Taylor, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 
1898, pp. 195-201). 
The germicidal power of formaldehyde is undoubtedly due to its chemical 
combination with albuminous and nitrogenous materials, as bacteria are albumin- 
oid in character and feed upon albuminoids. The penetrating properties of form- 
aldehyde were demonstrated by Roux and Trillat by exposing to the gas liberated 
in a room gelatin-coated cubes of glass, whereby the gelatin was rendered insolu- 
ble even in hot water. Though destructive to micro-organisms, formaldehyde is 
innocuous to the higher forms of life. Unfortunately, it has practically no effect 
upon bedbugs, lice, roaches, etc. Formaldehyde has been advised as a preservative 
of vegetable solutions and botanical specimens. Unless in considerable amounts, 
it fails to prevent the formation of mold, as its action upon the low forms of 
vegetable life is not so pronounced as upon bacteria. Formaldehyde is used in 
photography for hardening purposes. It is declared superior to absolute alcohol, 
chromic acid, or corrosive sublimate for hardening histological materials, as the 
tissues become hard in three days, retain their cell forms, do not become brittle, 
and stain well. 
Formaldehyde has had a limited use in practical medicine. Painted upon 
the parts the solution gives relief and prevents extensive inflammation from the 
bites of gnats, mosquitoes, and small animals. Generated in a room, the vapor is said 
to drive away mosquitoes, flies, and similar pests. Washing the feet and wiping 
the inner soles of the shoes with the solution (2 per cent) is said to be effectual 
in fetid sweating of the feet-bromidrosis. Salter, of Guy's Hospital {Brit. Med. 
Jour., 1896), praises it in ringworm of the scalp. It has been advised to sprinkle 
formaldehyde upon the clothing and bedding of those suffering from typhoid fever, 
while for the purpose of disinfecting the excreta it is regarded with much favor. 
In diphtheria it has been vaporized and the vapor inhaled so as to reach parts 
inaccessible by ordinary methods of making local applications. Its clinical value 
in this disease remains, however, to be established. Dr. Solis-Cohen {Therap. Gaz., 
1897), regards it as the best agent for the local treatment of the various forms- 
ulcerative, infiltrative, and vegetative-of tuberculosis. He first cleanses and cocai- 
nizes the parts, after which they are thoroughly rubbed with a 1 to 10 per cent 
solution of commercial formalin-practically equivalent to £ to 4 per cent of formic 
aldehyde. Used in a properly constructed inhaler, the diluted vapor from formalin 
and water has been advised as useful in catarrhal respiratory affections and in the 
early stages of pulmonary tuberculosis. Whooping-cough appears to have been alle- 
viated by the inspired vapor generated directly into the apartments of the patient 
or when used in the form of spray. 
Solution of formaldehyde, in strength varying from 1 to 5 per cent, appears 
to give excellent results in gonorrhoea, particularly in gonorrhoeal vaginitis. It may 
be used for other infectious diseases of the genitalia. Prof. De Smet {Rev. Int. de Med. 
et de ChirJ reports 60 cases of gonorrhoea in women, in which formaldehyde gave 
complete satisfaction. The vulva was first washed with a wrarm 1 per cent solu- 
tion, after which, by means of a speculum, he poured a 2 to 5 per cent solution 
into the vagina and by means of a swab, worked this into the folds of the vagina, 
and about the cervix uteri. Where the infection had reached the cervico-uterine 
cavity a 2 per cent solution was injected into it. In cases where the cervix was 
ulcerated a formalin-impregnated (1 per cent) tampon of cotton or gauze was 
placed upon the sore and allowed to remain 2 or 3 hours. In severe cases of fun- 
gous blennorrhagic endometritis the parts were first curretted. The burning of the 
mucous membrane produced by the 5 per cent solution is but transitory. 
Probably the greatest field for formaldehyde outside of its use as a general 
disinfectant, particularly in zymotic diseases, will be in surgical practice. The 
vaporization of wounds with it has already received the endorsement of practical 
men. For irrigation purposes in accidental or surgical wounds a 1 per cent solution 
has been found most practical. Prof. L. E. Russell {Er. Med. Jour., 1898, p. 296) 
recommends it for rendering aseptic instruments and diseased tissues. He used 
a full strength solution of formaldehyde to mop out the pelvic cavity after the 
removal of a large tubo-ovarian abscess, some of the contents of which had escaped 896 
FORMALDEHYDUM. 
into the surrounding parts. He formerly advised it half strength for washing out 
pus cavities, and for packing, directed gauze wrung out of equal parts of form- 
aldehyde and sterilized water, but further use of it leads him to offer the follow- 
ing: "After a more extended use of formaldehyde, I am quite satisfied that it is 
a remedy that will require more care in its use upon open wounds or in the cavi- 
ties mentioned than I had been led to believe from my former experience. To 
illustrate, I have been treating a carcinoma of the recurring form, following a 
^breast excision, and I used the pure formaldehyde hypodermatically to check 
the infiltration of the carcinoma into the cutaneous and subcutaneous tissue. I 
i<>und that by this method of treating the lesion it produced mummification of 
the skin and an escharotic condition of considerable importance. 1 therefore in- 
structed the nurse to moisten pieces of gauze with the full strength formaldehyde 
and apply it to the skin-tissue over the region of the carcinoma. I found that, 
by the confinement of this gas by the gauze coverings, it produced an anaesthesia 
of the skin, and the formaldehyde infected the subcutaneous tissue to the depth 
of J inch, making necrotic and completely mummifying the tissue beneath the 
moistened piece of gauze. I shall, therefore, have to correct the impression that 
I first formed of this new remedy in the treatment of pus cavities and contaminated 
wounds; that is to say, it must be used greatly diluted from that which I first 
suggested by way of experiment in the use of this new remedy for new conditions. 
I now believe that we have the ideal remedy to assail carcinomatous tissue where 
it would seem impossible to use the knife, or in those cases where the patient 
would not submit to more heroic treatment. I can readily see where this new 
remedy would be one of the best known in cases of carcinoma uteri, in those 
conditions where the discharge had become so offensive and where the invasion 
of the carcinoma had become so extensive that only palliative means could be 
resorted to. This remedy, in wounds of little contamination, should be used in 
the proportion of, say 1 to 20 or 50; and in those conditions where there seems to 
be a pyogenic membrane, it could be used in the proportion of 1 to 5 or 10. I 
do not know at this time just what results we should obtain in the use of this 
remedy if it be applied to diseased tissue and not protected by gauze, but allowed 
to evaporate. I am of the opinion that it could not even act as an escharotic; 
but if used with the gauze, covering the tissue and excluding the chances of 
evaporation, I believe it far excels any cancer plaster or escharotic ever presented 
to the profession, inasmuch as it anaesthetizes the tissue, stops almost instantly 
on its application the offensive odor, and penetrates deeply and speedily into the 
tissues exposed to its influence as above described. For irrigations and dressings 
with formaldehyde, I believe that the proper strength would be 1 ounce of the 
commercial strength to 1,000 of distilled water. Where the wound is infected, it 
can be increased to 5 volumes to 1,000 volumes of water" (K M. J., 1898, p. 435). 
Altogether formaldehyde appears to have a promising future, and careful 
experimentation will determine its field of usefulness. Meanwhile, let us not 
expect too much of it, nor should we condemn it if it does not accomplish all 
that we are led to expect, until thorough tests have been given it at the hands of 
our physicians and surgeons. 
Related Preparations.-Paraformaldehyde ([CHohOj), Paraformic aldehyde. Trioxy- 
methylene. This is a polymerized form of formaldehyde, and may be obtained by warming an 
aqueous solution of this gas, whereby part of it escapes and the remainder is transformed into 
a solid, crystalline substance, of the above composition, insoluble in water, alcohol, and ether. 
Its fusing point is 152° C. (305.6° F.), but it evolves vapors of formaldehyde at temperatures 
below 100° C. (212° F.). It may be used to disinfect bandages and other dressings. 
Tannoform (CH2[CuH9O9]2).-A condensation product of formaldehyde and tannic acid, 
occurring as a light reddish-white powder. At 230° C. (446° F ), it melts with decomposition. 
Water does not dissolve it, but it is soluble in alcohol, ammonia water, and such alkaline solu- 
tions as those of soda or sodium carbonate. Tannoform is tasteless and in doses of 15 grains is 
said to be non-irritant to mucous tissues. It is employed chiefly as a siccative antiseptic in the 
treatment of hyperidrosis and bromidrosis, in which it is said to excel salicylic acid. It is also 
reputed useful in old wounds, ulcers, weeping eruptions, bed-sores, ozena, soft chancre, and diabetic 
pruritis. Dr. Sziklai has recently employed this compound with marked success in diarrhoea 
and intestinal catarrh (see Pharm. Centralh., 1897, p. 776). It may be used pure and in from 
20 to 50 per cent triturations with starch or talcum. An ointment is sometimes preferred. 
Bromalin (C6Hi2N4.C2H5Br), Bromethyl-formin, Hexamethylenetetramine-bromethylate.- 
White crystalline powder or colorless scales, readily soluble in water. When heated with 
sodium carbonate formaldehyde is evolved. In solution it has but little taste, but it is best FRANCISCEA. 
897 
administered in capsules or in mixtures sweetened with syrup of orange. Reputed in doses 
of 30 to 60 grains a good nerve sedative for women and children, particularly those suffering 
from neurasthenia or epilepsy. In the latter disease it is regarded as less powerful than potas- 
sium or sodium bromides, but is reputed to be free from their deleterious effects. 
Glutol, Formalin-gelatin.-This odorless powder is reputed a non-irritative and non-toxic 
antiseptic dressing for wounds. For fresh wounds it should be applied freely soon after the 
injury, and allowed to remain on the parts until they are healed. In older injuries we are 
directed to change the primary dressing in 24 hours. It may be used upon burns, in sinues, etc. 
FRANCISCEA.-MANACA. 
The root and stem of Franciscea uniflora, Pohl (Brunfelsia Hopeana, Bentham). 
Nat. Ord.-Solanacese. 
Common Names: Mercurio-vegetal, Manaca, Manacdn, Camganiba, Geratacdca. 
Botanical Source.-This shrub is much branched, and is extremely variable 
as regards the shape of the leaves presenting obovate, oblong, obtuse, or acute 
ones on the same branch. The leaves are alternate, from 1 to 3 inches long, nar- 
rowing at the base, smooth, and, in texture, intermediate between coriaceous and 
membranaceous. The flowers are usually solitary, white, blue, or violet, and ter- 
minal on the smaller branches. Stamens 4, and ovary 2-celled, and surrounded 
by a fleshy ring. Stigma is coated with a glutinous, green, fungoid substance, 
serving to retain the pollen (DeC.). 
History and Description.-This plant is occasionally cultivated in green- 
houses. It is a native of the American equatorial sections. Two kinds of manaca 
are found in commerce (white and red}, being undoubtedly of different botanical 
origin. Jamaica dogwood (Piscidia Erythrina} is known in some sections of South 
America under the name manaca. The leaves are sometimes employed medici- 
nally as well as the root and stems. As found in commerce, the drug consists of 
both stem and root, in pieces ranging from | to 1 inch in thickness, and 6 to 8 
inches in length. The wood is hard, tough, and yellowish-red in color, and sur- 
rounds a narrow pith; the bark, which closely adheres to the wood, is deep-brown 
in color and smooth when young, but in the older species the bark is rust-brown, 
rough, and scaly. It has a bitter taste, but no odor. Fluid extract of manaca 
was introduced to the American medical profession through the efforts of Parke, 
Davis & Co. 
Chemical Composition.-The drug was analyzed by R. Lenardson, of Dorpat, 
1884, who found the bark and the wood of root and stem to contain two proximate 
principles, one a weak, amorphous alkaloid of bitter taste, which (previously indi- 
cated by Prof. Dragendorff) he called manacine; the other fluorescent body is most 
probably identical with gelsemic acid. Manacine is toxic in large doses, soluble in 
water and alcohol, but insoluble in ether and chloroform. Its solutions are prone 
to decomposition, a brownish resin being formed. Brandl, in 1895, found that 
manacine decomposes in the presence of water at higher temperatures, a new com- 
pound, manaceine, and a resinous and fluorescent substance resulting, the latter 
being identical with sesculetin (Jahresb. der Pharm.}. A complete analysis of the 
drug, by John L. Erwin, is reported in the Pharmacology of the Newer Materia Medica, 
1892, published under the auspices of Parke, Davis & Co. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This agent was introduced as a remedy 
for rheumatism, the decoction having been so employed by the people living in 
the region of the Amazon. It was also reputed to be a remedy for syphilitic 
complaints, hence its name, vegetable mercury. Manaca has an influence Over the 
nervous structures and the glands, being particularly diuretic. Painful sensa- 
tions in the back and head are said to be the first effects of the decoction, which 
sensations are followed by profuse diaphoresis. Moderate doses induce emesis 
and purgation, greenish stools being passed. Gastro-intestinal effects from large 
doses may produce death, while its immoderate employment during pregnancy 
has occasioned abortion. Undoubtedly the agent acts in rheumatic complaints 
much like mezereum, guaiac, etc. It may be given in the subacute forms of rheu- 
matism affecting the muscles and tendons, but is of little or no value in that form 
affecting the joints. Dull, heavy pains and soft skin, without fever, seem to 
be the symptoms indicating it. The dose of the fluid extract of manaca is from 
10 to 60 minims. 898 
FRAGARIA. 
FRAGARIA.-WOOD STRAWBERRY. 
The fruit, leaves, and root of Fragaria vesca, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Rosacese. 
Common Names : English strait-berry, Alpine strawberry, Wood strawberry. 
Botanical Source.-Strawberry is a perennial plant, with a creeping, knotty 
root. The stems are trailing, with stolons often creeping several feet. The leaves 
are pubescent and trifoliate; the radical ones on long foot-stalks; the leaflets 
obovate-wedge form, coarsely serrate, and subsessile; the stipules lanceolate-oblong, 
cohering with the base of the petiole. The flowers, borne on scapes, are white, one 
or several; the peduncles are erect or nodding. The calyx is concave, deeply 
5-cleft, with an equal number of alternate exterior segments or bracteoles; petals 
5, and obcordate. Stamens numerous and small; styles deeply lateral; stigmas ses- 
sile and small; ovaries numerous. The receptacle in fruit is much enlarged and 
conical, becoming pulpy and scarlet, bearing the minute dry achenia scattered 
over its surface. In this species the achenia are superficial on the conical or 
hemispherical fruiting receptacle, not sunk in pits; in the F. Virginiana the ache- 
nia are imbedded in the deep pits of the receptacle (W.-G.). 
History and Chemical Composition.-This is a European species, presenting 
exhaustless varieties, which are extensively cultivated, flowering from April to 
May, and ripening its fruit in May and June. The F. Virginiana, Ehrhart, or wild 
strawberry; F. canadensis, or mountain strawberry; F. grandiflora, or pine-apple 
strawberry, and the other varieties possess similar properties. The fruit of all the 
varieties is highly fragrant and delicious, the cultivated varieties frequently being 
very large. The fruit contains about equal parts of citric and malic acids, sugar, 
mucilage, pectin, water, peculiar volatile aroma, woody fiber, and pericarps. The 
root contains a glucosid called fragariamarin, not easily soluble in water, alcohol, 
or ether. Upon hydrolysis with acids it splits into sugar and fragarin, a red amor- 
phous substance (C. E. Sohn, Dictionary of Active Principles of Plants, 1894). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The fruit, used very freely, has been 
highly spoken of in calculous disorders, likewise in gout, and the juice will dissolve 
the hard concretion called " tartar," which forms on the teeth, and without in- 
juring them. With some, strawberries disagree, causing disordered digestion, and 
frequently a rash-like eruption on the surface. The grains or seed-like pericarps 
are indigestible, and sometimes cause irritation of the bowels. Strawberry-juice, 
or the syrup, added to water, forms a refreshing and useful drink for febrile 
patients; care being taken that the grains are removed by filtering or expressing 
the juice or syrup through a piece of muslin. Strawberries eaten with cream are, 
as a rule, injurious to dyspeptics. The leaves are slightly astringent, and have 
been used, in infusion, in diarrhoea, dysentery, and intestinal debility; the roots are 
diuretic, and have been beneficially used, in infusion, in dysuria, gonorrhoea, etc. 
The leaves of the wild strawberry, gathered after the ripening of the fruit, and 
dried in the sun, or in heated pans, afford a greenish and slightly astringent infu- 
sion, like that of the Chinese tea, with similar diaphoretic, diuretic, and excitant 
properties. 
FRANGULA (U. S. P.)-FRANGULA. 
"The bark of Rhamnus Frangula," Linne, "collected at least one year before 
being used"-{U. S. P.) (Frangula Alnus, Miller; Frangula vulgaris, Reichenbach). 
Nat. Ord.-Rhamneee. 
Common Names: Buckthorn (U. S. P., 1880), Alder buckthorn. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 65. 
Botanical Source.-The alder buckthorn is a smooth shrub growing to the 
height of from 10 to 15 feet. Its leaves are oval, obovate, or elliptic, broad, ob- 
tuse, and entire, or scarcely sinuate. The under surface is faintly downy. The 
flowers, which are greenish and hermaphrodite, are borne in the axils to the num- 
ber of 2, 3,.and 5. All the floral parts are 5 in number. The fruit is a nearly 
black (first red) berry, about the size of the common pea, and contains rounded- 
angular (2 or 3) seeds. FRANKENIA. 
899 
History and Description.-This shrub grows in wet situations throughout 
Europe, Siberian Asia, and the North African coast. It is improperly called Black 
alder in some parts of Europe. The bark is collected from the larger branches 
and the young tree-trunks in the spring of the year. It should not be used until 
at least a year old. The U. S. P. describes the drug as follows: "Quilled, about 
1 Mm. inch) thick; outer surface grayish-brown, or blackish-brown, with num- 
erous small, whitish, transversely-elongated lenticles; inner surface smooth, pale 
brownish-yellow; fracture in the outer layer short, of a purplish tint; in the inner 
layer fibrous and pale yellow; when masticated,coloring the saliva yellow; nearly 
inodorous; taste sweetish and bitter"-(U. S. P.). It yields with cold water a yel- 
low, and with hot water, a brown colored infusion. 
Chemical Composition.-This bark contains tannin, purgative extractive 
matter, an amorphous, non-purgative bitter, and an odorous, volatile principle 
not yet isolated. The chief constituent, however, is the glucosid frangulin (Cassel- 
mann), or rhamnoxathin (C21II20O9, Schwabe, and confirmed by T. E. Thorpe and 
A. K. Miller, 1892). Carbon disulphide extracts it from the bark, and the prin- 
ciple may be recrystallized from ether or alcohol (see Proc. Amer. Pharm. Assoc., 
1892). This body forms silky-lustrous, lemon-yellow crystals. Yellow needles are 
obtained by sublimation. Frangulin dyes cotton, wool, and silk. It is inodorous 
and tasteless, soluble in alkaline solutions (with a vivid purple color), but little 
soluble in ether or cold alcohol, and not at all soluble in water. Upon hydrolysis 
with dilute acids it yields emodin (ClftH]0O5) (or tri-oxy-methyl-anthra quinone') and 
rhamnose (frangula sugar) (C6H12O3) (Proc. Amer. Pharm. Assoc., 1892, p. 719). Im- 
pure frangulin was named avornin by Kubly, in 1866. Emodin from this source 
was identified as such by Liebermann and Waldstein, in 1876, the name frangulic 
acid (frangulinic acid) having been previously affixed to it by Faust, in 1869. Both 
principles (frangulin and emodin) are only to be found in aged bark (Amer. Jour. 
Pharm., 1888, p. 515). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.- Nausea, colicky pain, and violent 
emeto-catharsis are the effects produced by fresh frangula bark. When dried, 
however, it loses some of its acridity, and then acts as a purgative only. Both 
the alvine and renal discharges are colored dark-yellow by it. Narcotic symptoms 
have been produced by eating the berries and seeds, the toxic effects having been 
probably produced by the prussic acid contained in the seeds. The decoction has 
been administered in dropsies, and the same preparation as well as an ointment of 
the recent bark, has been used for the cure of itch. Its chief value, however, is as a 
laxative and cathartic, being quite popular for these effects with the Germans. 
It resembles senna and rhubarb in action, according to some, being harsher, but is 
regarded by Squibb as milder than either. It is a remedy for chronic constipation, 
from 1 to 3 doses of 20 minims of the fluid extract being administered in water in 
the course of a day. If desirable to evacuate the bowels at once, a fluid drachm 
may be given at bedtime. An elixir (4 parts of fluid extract to 12 parts of elixir 
of orange) may be given in from 1 to 2 fluid drachm doses; of the decoction 
(4 ounce of bark to $ pint of water) the dose is a tablespoonful. 
FRANKENIA.-YERBA REUMA. 
i 
The plant Frankenia grandifolia. 
Nat. Ord.-Frankeniaceae. 
. Common Name: Yerba reuma. 
Botanical Source and Chemical Composition.-This plant constitutes what 
is now known throughout the eastern United States as the drug "Yerba reuma." 
This is a small shrubby plant, with a prostrate, much-branched stem, about 
6 inches long. It is a native of California, and is found in abundance in 
sandy localities near the coast. The leaves are opposite, entire, obovate, tapering 
at the base, and ending in a small, mucronate point. The flowers are sessile, 
between the forks of the branches, small, and of a bright-pink color. The calyx 
is tubular, 5-angled, 5-toothed, and hairy externally. The petals are 5, slightly 
longer than the calyx, and attenuated to slender claws. The stamens are 6 or 7, 
and about the length of the petals. The pistil consists of a 1-celled, many-seeded 900 
FRASERA. 
ovary, and 3 slender styles, united for about two-thirds of the way, and stigmatose 
along the inner surface. This plant is very salty to the taste, having an astrin- 
gent after-taste. It contains tannin to the amount of about 6 per cent, as seen 
from an analysis of the plant by Carl Jungk in Pharmacology of the Newer Materia 
Medica, 1892. Yerba reuma was introduced by Dr. J. H. Bundy, of Colusa, Cal., 
through an article contributed to New Preparations, Vol. Il, p. 2, 1878. Parke, 
Davis & Co., under whose auspices that journal was published, brought the fluid 
extract before the medical profession, and are entitled to the credit of its intro- 
duction (see New Preparations, 1877-78, and 1879). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This plant has been recommended as 
a mild astringent, having a favorable action upon diseased mucous membranes, 
and is serviceable in diarrhoea, dysentery, vaginal leucorrhoea, gonorrhoea, gleet, and 
catarrh. The dose of the fluid extract is from 5 to 25 minims; when diluted 
with water, it may be applied locally by injection or spray. 
FRASERA.-AMERICAN COLUMBO. 
The root of Frasera Carolinensis,Walter (Frasera Walteri, Michaux). 
Nat. Ord.-Gentianacese. 
Common Name: American columbo. 
Botanical Source.-American columbo is an indigenous plant, with a trien- 
nial, long, fusiform, horizontal, rugose, and yellow root, and a smooth, erect, solid, 
cylindrical, or subquadrangular, succulent, dark-purple stem, from 4 to 9 feet in 
height, 1 or 2 inches in diameter at the base. The leaves are smooth, oblong- 
lanceolate, acutish, sessile, feather-veined, entire or wavy, subcarnose, from 3 to 12 
inches, by 1 to 3, in whorls of 4 to 6, rarely opposite, decreasing in size as they 
approach the summit. The flowers are tetramerous, 1^ inches in diameter, yel- 
lowish-white or greenish-yellow, with brown-purple dots, a large purple pit or 
gland near the base bordered by a strong and even fringe. They are borne in 
terminal, compound, pyramidal, leafy, or bracteated, verticillate panicles. The 
calyx is deeply 4-parted, the segments being acute, and shorter than the oblong, 
obtusish petals; corolla wheel-shaped. Stamens 4, shorter than the corolla, and 
alternating with its segments; filaments subulate, anthers large, oblong, versa- 
tile, and yellow; ovary oblong, attenuated into a short style; stigma bifid and 
distinct; capsule or fruit oval, compressed, acuminated with the persistent style, 
and yellowish; and the seeds few, large, imbricated, elliptical, and wing-margined 
(L.-G.-W.). 
History and Description.-This plant grows west of the Alleghanies, on the 
borders of lakes and in the rich soils in the middle and southern states, bearing 
flowers in June and July, which, however, together with the stems, are not devel- 
oped until the third year, the root-leaves only, in the meantime, being visible. 
The part used is the root, which should be gathered in October and November of 
the second year of the plant,or in March and April of its third year; it is hard, 
fusiform, and wrinkled; as met with in commerce it is in dried, transverse slices, 
with a brown epidermis slightly tinged with red, yellow cortex, and a spongy, 
straw-colored center. Its taste is bitter, and its properties are taken up by wine, 
water, or alcohol of sp.gr. 0.935. The root of this plant has been mistaken for 
that of calumba, but it may be determined from the latter, which, on account of 
the starch it contains, strikes a blue color with tincture of iodine, while the Ameri- 
can plant undergoes no change of color. Sulphate of iron produces a blackish- 
green color with an aqueous solution of the American root, but does not affect the 
foreign root. Tincture of galls gives a dirty-gray precipitate when added to the 
tincture of calumba. A transverse section of calumba shows a series of concentric 
circles, with diverging lines, which are absent in the American root. Sliced frasera 
root has been sold as American gentian. 
Chemical Composition.-American columbo has been investigated by Doug- 
lass (Amer. Jour. Pharm.^Nol.VI, p. 177), W. R. Higginbotham (Ibid., 1862, p. 23), 
and F. W. Thomas (Ibid., 1868, p. 309). These authors found it to contain gum, 
tannic acid, resin, saccharine, fatty and waxy matter, pectic acid, yellow coloring 
matter, and bitter extractive. Mr. Thomas obtained also some yellow acicular FRAXINUS. 
901 
crystals, and established the absence of albumen, starch, and berberine. In 1873 
Mr. G. W. Kennedy showed its chemical relationship to gentian-root by isolating 
from Frasera Walteri, by a somewhat complicated process, two principles found 
in gentian, viz.,the bitter and neutral gentiopicrin (C20H30O12), soluble in alcohol 
and water, insoluble in ether, and gentisic acid (CuH10O5), yellow crystals of acid 
reaction, insoluble in water, soluble in alcohol and ether. 
John U. Lloyd, in 1880 (Amer. Jour. Pharm.,p. 71), published a simple process 
for the preparation of the yellow crystals, specimens of which were submitted to 
Mr. Kennedy (1881), and identified as the gentisic acid obtained by him. Addi- 
tionally, it was found that ferric chloride produced a deep-green coloration with 
these crystals. Prof. E. L. Patch, reviewing these results experimentally (see Proc. 
Amer. F'harm. Assoc., 1881, p. 457), concluded that Kennedy's gentisin from Frasera 
Walteri, was not identical with gentisin obtainable from gentian root, but was in 
all probability a new substance. In 1891 (Ph arm. Rundschau, p. 143), H. Trimble 
and J. U. Lloyd resolved the yellow crystals into two substances differing chiefly 
in their melting points. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-The recent root of American columbo 
is said to cause purging and vomiting; but when dried it is a simple tonic, which 
may be used wherever mild tonics are indicated. Dr. Scudder (Spec. Med., 139), 
regards it a "stimulant to the circulation,''and states that it "will doubtless 
exert the same influence upon all the vegetative functions." Obstinate constipa- 
tion has been relieved by its persistent use. Dose of the powder, from 20 to 60 
grains; of the infusion, from 1 to 4 fluid ounces, 3 or 4 times a day; of specific 
frasera, 5 to 30 drops, well diluted, every 2 to 6 hours. 
FRAXINUS.-ASH. 
The bark of Fraxinus sambucifolia, Lamarck, and Fraxinus americana, Lin ne 
(Fraxinus acuminata, Lamarck; Fraxinus Epiptera, Michaux; Fraxinus alba, Marsh), 
and other species of Fraxinus. 
Nat. Ord.-Oleaceae. 
Common Names: I. Black ash, Elder-leaved ash; II. White ash. 
Botanical Source and History.- Fraxinus sambucifolia is a tree which 
attains the height of from 40 to 70 feet. The trunk is covered with a bark of a 
darker hue than that of the white ash, less deeply furrowed, and from 1 to 2 feet 
in diameter. The wood is purplish, very tough and elastic, and less durable than 
the white ash. The leaves are from 9 to 16 inches in length, composed of about 
7 leaflets, which are sessile, ovate-lanceolate, serrate, rugose, shining, round-oblique 
at the base, smooth above, and red-downy on the veins beneath. Calyx and corolla 
both wanting; buds of a deep-blue color. The samara is elliptical-oblong, and 
very obtuse at both ends. This species grows in swamps and moist woods in the 
northern states and Canada, blossoming in May. The young saplings are much 
employed in making hoops, and the mature trunks for baskets. The leaves when 
bruised exhale the odor of elder (W.-G.). 
Fraxinus americana of Linnaeus, or the Fraxinus acuminata of Lamarck, is a 
large forest tree, which grows from 50 to 80 feet high; it often rises more than 
40 feet without a branch, and then expands into a regular summit of an equal 
additional height. The trunk is covered with a gray, furrowed, and cracked bark, 
and the branchlets are smooth and greenish-gray. The leaves are a foot or more 
in length, opposite, pinnate, consisting of about 7 leaflets, which are petiolate, 
oblong, shining, acuminate, entire or slightly toothed, and glaucous beneath. The 
flowers are whitish-green, disposed in loose panicles, the fertile ones with a calyx, 
the barren ones without. Corolla wanting. The calyx is small and 4-cleft, the 
buds of a rust color. The samara is spatulate-linear, obtuse, with a long narrowed 
base. The white ash is chiefly confined to the northern states and Canada, grow- 
ing in rich woods, and blooming in April and May. Its wood is light, elastic, and 
durable, furnishing a most excellent timber for carriage-frames, bars, hand-spikes, 
agricultural implements, etc. (W.-G.). 
Chemical Composition.-There are several species of this tree, all of which 
possess medicinal virtues, probably of a similar character. The bark is the part 902 
FUCUS VESICULOSUS. 
used, the properties of which are extracted by water. John M. Bradford, in 1882, 
found the bark of Fraxinus americana to contain, among other substances, an 
acid and neutral resin, sugar, and gum, and a minute quantity of volatile oil. 
H. M. Edwards obtained in minute quantity a bitter alkaloid, which he believed 
to constitute the active principle of the drug. The presence of tannin has also 
been observed (Amer. Jour. Pharm.,1882, p. 282, and 1883, pp. 117 and 370). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-Tonic and astringent. An extract of 
the black ash used as a plaster is very valuable in salt-rheum and other cutaneous dis- 
eases. The infusion may be used internally as a tonic, and for all purposes where 
a combination of astringency with tonic influence is indicated. The white ash is 
also cathartic, and has been found beneficial in some cases of constipation, and also 
in dropsical affections. It may be used in the form of infusion or in bitters. The 
bark in white wine, is said to be efficient in curing ague-cake, or enlarged spleen. 
The seeds are said to prevent obesity. Dose of specific fraxinus, 10 to 60 drops. 
Related Species.-Fraxinus excelsior, Linne, Common European ash. This species is in- 
digenous to Europe, and is cultivated in this country for shade and ornament. A variety is 
known, F. excelsior, var. pendula, or Weeping ash. The bark of F. excelsior had considerable 
reputation at one time in Europe as a remedy for intermittents. The leaves, which are laxative 
and purgative, according to the quantity taken, have been used successfully in gouty and 
arthritic rheumatic complaints. The leaves contain considerable amounts of calcium malate, 
tannin, some free malic acid, mannit, dextrose, inosit, gum, quercitrin, and a very aromatic 
volatile oil, of the composition C10H20O2 (Gintl and Reinitzer, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1883, p. 371). 
The bark contains a glucosid, bitter and crystalline, known as fraxin or paviin (see JEsculus 
Hippocastanum). Its formula is CieHisOio. Diluted acids split it into glucose (C6Hi2O6) and 
fraxetin (CioH8G5). The fruit contains mucilage, tannin, an acrid, resinous body, a bitter sub- 
stance, and a green oil of a disagreeable odor (Keller). Fraxinit (Mouchon's), is a purgative, 
extract-like body, and is in all probability mannit (Husemann and Hilger, Pflanzenstoffe, 1884). 
Fraxinus viridis, Michaux; Green ash.-Used in Mexico. Leaves and bark tonic; root 
diuretic. 
FUCUS VESICULOSUS.-BLADDER-WRACK. 
The marine plant, Fucus vesiculosus, Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Fucoidese. 
Common Names : Bladder-wrack, Sea-wrack, Cut-weed, Kelp-ware, Black-tang, Quer- 
cus marina. 
Illustration : Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, 304. 
Botanical Source.-Fucus vesiculosus is a perennial sea-weed. Its root is a 
hard, fiattish disk. The frond or thallus ranges from a few inches to 4 feet in 
length, and from 2 lines to an inch in width, is flat, furnished with 
a midrib throughout its length, occasionally twisted in a spiral 
manner, repeatedly dichotomous, the angles of the dichotomy acute, 
except when a solitary vesicle happens to be placed there; the ster- 
ile branches are obtuse, and often notched at the extremity. The 
air-vessels vary from the size of a pea to a hazel-nut, and are placed 
in pairs, situated at irregular intervals in different parts of the 
frond; sometimes 2 or 3 pairs are arranged next to each other; and 
they are rarely altogether wanting. The receptacles are terminal, 
compressed, mostly ovate or elliptical, about £ inch long, but vary- 
ing from nearly spherical to linear-lanceolate, and from | inch to 
nearly 2 inches long; they are mostly in pairs, but are sometimes 
solitary, and occasionally forked. They are filled with a clear, taste- 
less mucus. The whole frond is proliferous in a remarkable degree 
in cases of injury, throwing out numerous new shoots from the 
injured part (L.) 
History, Description, and Chemical Composition.-Fucus vesi- 
culosus, Sea-wrack, or Bladder fucus, is a common marine plant, grow- 
ing upon the sea shores of Europe and America. Its substance is rather thick, 
but flexible and tough, with a dark, olivaceous, glossy-green color, paler at the 
extremities, and becoming black by drying. Its odor is strong, its taste quite 
disagreeable, and it contains cellulose, mucilage, mannit, odorous oil, coloring and 
bitter matters, sodium, and potassium combined with iodine, bromine, and chlo- 
rine. The ash of this plant amounts to about 3 per cent; of this ash, iodine con- 
Fig. 115. 
Fucus vesiculoeus. FUMARIA. 
903 
stitutes about 0.7 percent. On account of the iodine contained in its charcoal, 
known as Vegetable ethiops (Mi thiops vegetabilis), it has been found beneficial in 
scrofulous enlargements of the glands; the plant being incinerated in a covered 
crucible, and the charcoal given in doses of from 10 grains to 2 drachms. When 
burned in the open air it yields kelp; it is used as a manure in some places, and 
is also fed to cattle during the winter. Probably other species of Fucus have 
analogous virtues. 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.- M. Duchesne Duparc recommended 
an infusion of this plant or the extract in pill form for the purpose of lessening 
obesity. It requires to be used 3 or 4 weeks before this effect will be observed, 
which is preceded with an augmented secretion of urine, presenting a black pel- 
licle upon its surface upon standing for a short time. Others have confirmed this 
statement regarding it. Later experiments by numerous good observers do not 
seem to indicate that sea-wrack has any power as a fat-reducer, but that the reduc- 
tion which takes place in some instances is undoubtedly due to the dietary meas- 
ures which are a part of the treatment. It is thought, however, to have some 
power of toning muscular fiber, and has been suggested to prevent fatty degenera- 
tion of the heart. It influences the kidneys, lessening renal congestion and result- 
ant irritation, and is therefore of service in acute desquamative nephritis; it also 
relieves cystic irritation and chronic inflammation of the bladder. Take of specific 
fucus from 5 to 20 drops, every 3 hours. It was at one time recommended to re- 
move deposits and tissue hypertrophies, as well as benign and malignant tumors. It is 
a remedy which deserves a careful investigation, especially in regard to its influ- 
ence over waste and nutrition. It acts quite powerfully upon the glandular sys- 
tem as an alterative, and is recommended for menstrual derangements with weak, 
flabby uterine walls. Dose, of specific fucus, 5 to 30 drops. 
Related Species.-The following plants are thought to possess similar properties, the 
first mentioned having been allowed by the French Codex as a substitute for bladder-wrack: 
Fucus siliquosus, Linne ( Cystoseira siliquosa, Agardh; Halidrys siliquosa, Lyngbye), Fucus serratus, 
Linne, Fucus natans, Linne (Sargassum bacciferrum, Agardh), Fucus nodosus, Linne (Fucodium 
nodosum, Agardh/ Fucus digitatus contains much more iodine (7 or 8 times as much) than 
bladder-wrack 
FUMARIA.-FUMITORY. 
The plant Fumaria officinalis Linne. 
Nat. Ord.-Fumariacese. 
Common Name: Fumitory. 
Illustration: Johnson's Med. Bot. of N. A,Fig. 104. 
Botanical Source.-This is an annual glaucous plant, with a sub-erect, much- 
branched, spreading, leafy, angular stem, growing from 10 to 15 inches high. The 
leaves are mostly alternate, bipinnate, or tripinnate; the leaflets are wedge-shaped, 
cut into flat, lanceolate segments. The flowers are small, flesh-colored, tipped 
with crimson, nodding, the pedicles becoming erect in fruit. The racemes are 
opposite to the leaves, stalked, erect, many-flowered, and rather lax. The bracts 
are lanceolate, acute, and not half the length of the pedicles, especially when in 
fruit. Petals 4, unequal, one of them with a short, rounded spur at the base. The 
calyx is colored, toothed, and deciduous. The fruit or nut is ovoid or globose, 
indehiscent, emarginate, 1-seeded, and valveless, and the seed crestless (W.-G.). 
History and Description.-This plant is found growing in cultivated soils 
in Europe and this country, bearing red flowers in June and July. The leaves, 
which are generally used, have no odor, but a bitterish taste, and, when fresh, fur- 
nish a large quantity of an aqueous, bitter, and inodorous juice, which possesses 
their therapeutical properties, and which is soluble in water, wine, or alcohol. 
Chemical Composition.-The most prominent constituents of fumitory are 
an alkaloid fumarine, fumaric acid, and considerable amounts of inorganic matter, 
especially potassium salts. Upon incineration, Fumaria officinalis leaves about 
8 per cent of potassium carbonate (Busemann and Hilger, Pflanzenstoffe, 1884). 
Fumarine was probably first obtained by Peschier, in 1829, and later investigated 
by Hannon (1852), Preuss (1866), and others. It forms colorless, monoclinic 
prisms, bitter in solution, soluble in alcohol, amyl alcohol, chloroform, benzene. 904 
FUMARIA. 
and carbon disulphide, little soluble in water, insoluble in ether. It is closely re- 
lated to the corydaline of Adermann (see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1890, p. 396). Accord- 
ing to Reichwald (Jahresb. der Pharm., 1889, p. 406), it has the formula C21H19NO4. 
More recently Battandier observed its occurrence in a papaveraceous plant, Glau- 
cium corniculatum, var. phoeniceum, and a variety of other plants (Ibid., 1892, p. 139). 
Fumaric acid (C2H2[COOH]2-C4H4O4), occurs in a number of different plants, e. g., 
in Iceland moss, and was first isolated from fumitory, in 1833, by Winckler. 
Fumaric acid is obtained by heating malic acid (C4H6O5) with water acidulated 
with sulphuric acid, to 180° C. (356° F.), whereby 1 molecule of water is split off. 
It occurs in colorless prisms or stellate scales, is somewhat soluble in cold, more 
soluble in hot water, to which it imparts an acid reaction; is also soluble in alco- 
hol and ether, and forms salts with bases mostly soluble in water, but all of which 
are insoluble in absolute alcohol (Husemann and Hilger). 
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-It is a weak tonic, very much used in 
cutaneous diseases, in jaundice, obstructions of the abdominal viscera, scurvy, and in 
cases of debility of the digestive organs (E.and V.). It is also slightly diaphoretic 
and aperient. Dose of the infusion, a wineglassful every 2 or 3 hours; of the 
expressed juice, % wineglassful, 2 or 3 times a day. Two ounces of the tops and 
flowers infused in 3 pints of Madeira wine, and taken twice a day in doses of from 
2 to 4 fluid ounces, will strengthen the stomach and improve the appetite. GENERAL INDEX 
OF 
BOTANY, MATERIA MEDICA, CHEMISTRY, AND PHARMACY. 
4 C. E. MIXTURE 121 
A. Abelmoschus esculent's 159 
moscbatus 159 
Abies balsamea 1 
canadensis 1 
nigra 2 
Abrin 3 
Abrotine 6 
Abrus precatorius 2 
Absinthe 5 
Absinthin 5 
Absinthium 4 
vulgare 4 
Abslnthol 5 
Abstracta 7 
Abstracts 7 
Abutilon Avicenn:e 159 
Acacia 7 
arabica .. .7, 9 
Catechu 466 
decurrens 9 
homalophylla 9 
horrida 9 
molissima 9 
nilotica 7, 9 
pycnantha 9 
Senegal 7, 9 
Seyal, var. fistula 9 
stenocarpa 9 
vera 7 
verek 7 
Acerates decumbens 677 
Aceta 11 
Acetal 14 
Acetanilid 11 
Acetanilide 11 
Acetanilidum 11 
Acetas cupricus 626 
Acetbromanilid 13 
Aceto-ortho-toluid 224 
Acetone 13, 21 
Acetonum 13 
Acetophenone 14 
Acetum 14 
antisepticum 16 
aromaticum 16 
britannicum 14 
cantbaridis 17 
crudum 14 
destillatum 14, 16 
gallicum 14 
ipecacuanhse 17 
lobelia; 17, 18 
opii 18 
purum 16 
sanguinariee 18 
scillae 18 
Acetylamidobenzene 11 
Acetyl hydrate 20 
Acetylmethylide 13 
Achillea Ageratum 20 
atrata 20 
Millefolium 19 
moschata 19, 20 
nana 20 
nobilis 20 
Ptarmica 20, 212 
Achillein 19, 20 
Achilleine 19, 20 
Achilletine 20 
Acid - A-phenyl-B-oxypro- 
pionie 305 
abric 3 
absinthic 5 
acetic 20, 22, 24, 414, 440 
' aldehyde of trichlo- 
retted 503 
camphorated 24 
diluted 23, 24 
glacial 20, 21, 24 
achilleic 19 
aconitic 19 
48, 102, 106, 115, 713 
adonitic 115 
aerial 43 
agaric 361, 362 
agaricinic 362 
ailanthic 132 
aloetic 150, 151 
alorcinic 151 
amido-acetic 851 
amido-capronic 720 
amido-isaethionic 851 
amido-succinamic 158 
amido-succinic 158 
ammistearic .. 595 
amygdalic 186 
anacardic 196 
anemonic 199 
anemoninic 199 
angelic 267, 279 
anisic 210 
anthemidic 613 
antimonic 218 
antimonous 218 
antirrhinic 654 
arabic 10 
arsenic 282 
anhydrous 282 
arsenious . 25 
arsenous 25, 282 
aspartic 158 
atropic 305, 340 
azaleinic 73 
azotic 67 
auric 315 
benzoic 30, 460 
betulinamaric 350 
betulinic 350 
betulo-resinic 350 
Acid, bombic 49 
boracic 33 
boric 33 
caffeic 382 
caffeo-tannic 382, 390 
cahincic 390 
camphoric 416, 417, 418 
camphoricum 417 
camphresinic 417 
can th ar ic 429 
cantharidic 429 
capronic 21 
carbazotic 79 
carbolic 35, 36, 37, 460 
crude 35, 36 
iodized 41 
synthetic 36 
carbonic 43 
anhydrous 43 
carminic 574 
carthamic 452 
caryophyllinic 454 
catechuic 467 
catechu-tannic 467 
cerotic 476 
cetraric 486 
chelidonic 492 
chelidoninic 492 
chinovic 547 
chlorhydric 56 
chloronitrous 71 
cholalic 851 
choleic 851 
cholic 851, 852 
chromic 44 
chrysammic 150, 151 
chrysatropic 335 
chrysophanic 46 
cinchomeronic 556 
cinchonic 547 
cinchoninic 556 
cinchotannic 547 
cinnamic, 320 
. .321, 323, 344, 559, 566, 589 
citric 47 
saccharated 49 
cocaic 566 
cocatannic 565 
coccerylic 574 
coccinic 574 
cochenillic 574 
columbic 405 
copai vic 600 
cresotic 82, 86 
cresotinic 86 
cresylic 41 
cubebic 622, 623 
cuminic 625 
curcinoleic 635 
cyanhydric 59 
I II 
GENERAL INDEX. 
Acid, delphinic 99 
dextro-tartaric 97, 98 
dichloracetic 25 
digallic 51, 94 
digitalic 654 
dimethyl-protocatechuic. 100 
di oxy benzoic 467 
dioxysalicylic 51 
dioxysuccinic 97 
diphosphoric, bibasic .... 76 
ecballic 682 
elaic 72 
elaidic 73 
elemic 684 
equisetic 713 
ergochrysinic 719 
ergotic 718, 719, 721 
ergotinic 719 
eriodictyonic 728 
erythrophleic 732 
etnidene-lactic 64 
ethylene-lactic 65 
ethylidene-lactic 64 
eucalyptic 734 
euonic 737 
euphorbic. 744 
fellic 852 
ferric 885 
ferulaic 286 
filicic 300, 301 
filitannic 300 
filixolic .300 
filosmylic 300 
fluorhydric 62 
formic 49, 279 
frangulic 899 
frangulinic. 899 
fumaric 486, 903, 904 
fusco-sclerotic 718 
gallic 51 
gallotannic 94 
gambogic.. .414 
gelsemic 897 
gentisic 901 
glycocholic 851 
glycolic 184 
gummic 10 
hennotannic 144 
hippuric 31 
homosalicylic 86 
hydriodic 52 
hydrobromic, diluted..54, 55 
hydrochloric 56, 57 
crude 57 
diluted 57 
hydrocyanic 186, 188 
diluted 59 
hydrofluoric 62 
hydrosulphuric 882 
hypophosphorous 63 
diluted 63 
isanemonic 199 
isatropic 305, 566 
isethionic 118 
isobutyric 279, 638 
isocetic 635 
isocinnamic 566 
isolactic 64 
isopentoic 99 
isopropyl-acetic 99 
isuvitinic 414 
kinic 382, 543, 547 
kinovic 547 
lactic, 64 
concrete 65 
diluted 65 
laevo-tartaric 98 
lauro-stearic 485 
lichenic 486 
licheno-stearic 486 
linoleic 73 
Acid, lycoctonic 106 
malic 593, 902 
mandelic 186, 305 
margosic 318 
marine 56 
mesotartaric 98 
meta-arsenic 282 
meta-copai vic 600 
metagummic 10 
metapectic 10 
metaphosphoric 77 
diluted 79 
monobasic 76 
meta-tartaric 98 
mimmotannic 467 
monochloracetic 25 
moric 144 
moritannic 144 
muriatic 56 
diluted 57 
dephlogisticated 246 
myristic 485 
myronic 433 
nitric 67 
crude 67 
diluted 68 
fuming 68 
monohydrated 67 
nitrohydrochloric 70 
diluted 72 
nitromuriatic 70 
diluted 72 
nitrophenisic 79 
nitrophenolic 79 
nitropicric 79 
nitroso-nitric 68 
nitrous, commercial '68 
oleic 72 
glyceride of 112 
ophelic 502 
ortho-arsenic 282 
orthoboric 33 
ortho-oxybenzoic 81 
orthophenol-sulphonic... 40 
orthophosphoric 76, 77 
oshaic 267 
oxalic 74 
oxybenzoic 81 
oxycopaivic 600 
oxymuriatic 246 
oxy myristic 267 
oxypropionic 64 
oxy toluic 86 
palmitic, glyceride of.... 112 
pannic 301 
paracotoic 613 
para-cumaric 151 
paralactic 65 
para-oxy benzoic 151 
pararosolic 208 
para-tartaric 98 
pectic 451 
phenic 35 
phenylglycolic 186 
phenyl-hyd r a z i n-1 se v u- 
linic 223 
phenylic 35 
phenylmethylpvrazol car- 
boxylic 224 
phenylo-boric 41 
phosphoric 76, 77 
diluted 76, 77, 78 
glacial 76, 78 
diluted 79 
normal 76 
picric 79 
piperonylic 613, 622 
protocatechuic.. .467, 622, 638 
prussic 59 
pteri tannic 300 
pyridine-dicarbonic 556 
Acid, pyroarsenic 282 
pyroligneous 21, 23 
pyro-tartaric 414 
quinic 547 
quinoline-carbonic 556 
quinotannic 547 
quinovic 468, 547, 548 
racemic, 98 
rhabarberic 46 
ricinoleic 73 
rosolic 208 
rutic 433 
salicylacetic 86 
salicylic 81 
salicylous 81 
salicyl-sulphonic 86 
sarcolactic 64 
sativic 73 
sclerotic 718, 719 
sebacic 73 
sozolic 40 
sphacelic 719, 721 
sphacelinic 719 
stearic 86, 485 
glyceride of 112 
succinic 5 
sulphocarbolic 40 
sulpholeic 73 
sulphonic 40 
sulpho-oleic 73 
sulphoricinic 73 
sulphoricinoleic 73 
sulphosalicylic 86 
sulpho-sulphonic 86 
sulphuric 87, 88 
anhydrid 88 
aromatic 91 
diluted 89 
fuming 88 
sulphurous 91, 92 
tannaspidic 300 
tannic 51, 94 
tartaric 97 
saccharated 99 
taurocholic 851 
terephthalic 637 
thiocarbonic 442 
trichloracetic 24 
trinitrophenic 79 
trioxybenzoic 51 
tropic 305 
uric 98 
valerianic 99 
valeric 99 
vapor 43 
veratric 100 
viridenic 382 
Acide quinovique 543, 548 
Acids, gall 851 
Acidum aceticum 20, 22 
dilutum 23 
glaciale 21 
arsenosum 25 
azoticum 67 
benzoicum 30 
sublimatum 30 
boracicum 33 
boricum 33 
borussicum 59 
camphoricum 417 
carbolicum 35, 36 
crudum 35 
impurum 35, 36 
iodatum 41 
carbonicum 43 
citri 47 
citricum 47 
saccharatum 49 
chlorhydricum 56 
chloronitrosum 70 
cliromicum 44 GENERAL INDEX. 
III 
Acidum chrysophanicum .. 46 
fluorhydricum 62 
formicum 49 
gallicum 51 
hydriodicum 52 
hydrobromicum dilutum. 54 
hydrochloratum 56 
hydrochloricum 56, 57 
dilutum 57 
hydrocyanatum., 59 
dilutum 59 
hydrofluoricum 62 
hypophosphorosum dilu- 
tum 63 
iodhydricum 52 
lacticum 64 
dilutum 65 
limonis 47 
limonorum 47 
limonum .* 47 
metaphosphoricum dilu- 
tum 79 
muriaticum 56 
nitri 67 
nitricum 67 
dilutum 68 
fumans 68 
nitrohydrochloricum 70 
dilutum 72 
nitromuriaticum 70 
dilutum 72 
nitroso-nitricum 68 
oleicum 72 
ortho-amido-salicylicum.. 86 
oxalicum 74 
phenicum 35 
phenylicum crystallisa- 
tum 35 
phenylo-boricum 41 
phenylo-salicylicum 86 
phosphoricuin 76, 77 
dilutum 76, 77, 78 
glaciale 76, 78 
dilutum 79 
picricum 79 
pyrolignosum 21 
pyrophosphoric 76, 77 
salicylaceticum 86 
salicylicum 81 
stearicum 86 
sulphuricum 87, 88 
aromaticuin 91 
dilutum 89 
fumans 88 
sulphurosum 91 
tannicum..' 94 
tartaricum 97 
saccharatum 99 
trichloraceticum 24 
valerianicum 99 
valericum 99 
Acoiyctine 100, 102, 106 
Aconine 100, 106 
Aconite 101 
American 107 
Chinese 106 
Japanese 106 
Nepaul 106 
Aconiti folia 102 
radix 101 
Aconitia 100 
Aconitina 100 
Aconitine 100, 102, 106, 108 
Aconitinum 100 
Aconitum 101 
Chinense 106 
ferox 106 
Fischeri 106, 107 
heterophy 11 um 106 
Japonic um 106 
AconitumLycoctonum 102, 106 
napellus 101, 106 
palrnatum 106 
reclinatum 108 
uncinatum 108 
variabile 101 
vulgare 101 
Acorin 391 
Acorn-sugar 547 
Acorus Calamus 390 
Acraconitine 106 
Actsea alba 108, 469 
rubra var. spicata 469 
spicata 109 
var. arguta 110 
var. rubra 110 
Adansonia digitata 110 
Adansonin Ill 
Adder's tongue 730 
Adeps Ill 
benzoinatus 112 
lanse hydrosus 113 
Adiantum 114 
capillus Veneris 114 
pedatum 114 
Adonidin (e) 115 
Adonidodulcit 115 
Adonidoquerci trin 115 
Adonis aestivalis 116 
autumnalis 116 
vernalis 115 
Aigle Marmelos 330 
.Enas afer 431 
ASrial acid 43 
.Eruga destillata 626 
.Erugo 629 
crystal lisata 626 
crystallized 626 
uEsculetin 748, 897 
.Esculin 847 
jEsculus flava 117 
glabra 116 
parviflora 117 
pavia 117 
.Ether 117 
aceticus 122 
formicicus 123 
forinicus 123 
fortior 117 
hydriodicus 125 
hydrobromicus 124 
methyl-ethylicus 123 
methylicus 123 
petrolei 341 
pyroaceticus 13 
sulphuricus 117 
.Ethiops, martis 874 
vegetabilis •. 903 
.Ethyl bromidum 124 
iodidum 125 
.Ethyleni bichloridum 126 
ASthylenum chloratum... .126 
African ammoniac 171 
cubebs 624 
elemi 685 
lilac 317 
marigold 401 
pepper 434, 624 
saffron 452, 620 
Agar-agar 526 
Celebes 526 
Macassar 526 
Agaric, fly 363 
larch 361 
oak 382 
purging 361 
surgeon's 362 
white 361 
Agaricin 362 
Agari cinum 361 
Agaricol 361 
Agaricus albus 361 
chirurgorum 362 
Agaricus muscarius 363 
Agathin 223 
Agathotes Chirayta 502 
Agave Americana 128 
Mexicana 129 
pulque 129 
virginica 128 
vivipara 129 
Agedoite 158 
Ageratnm conyzoides 743 
Agrimonia Eupatoria 129 
parviflora 130 
small flowered 130 
Agrimony 129 
sweet-scented 130 
Aguamiel 128 
Aguardiente 321 
Ailanthus excelsa 132 
glandulosa 130 
malabarica 132 
Ailanto 130 
Air, fixed 43 
volatile 169 
Ajuapar 744 
Alabaster 400 
Albany beech-drops 605 
Albumen, vegetable... .848, 849 
Alcea rosea 159 
Alchemilla vulgaris 130 
Alcohol 132, 134 
absolute 132, 133, 134 
absolutum 132, 134 
amyl 139 
amylic 139 
atnylicum 139 
benzylic 320 
camphyl 418 
cocceryl 574 
deodoratum 132, 135 
deodorized 132, 135 
diluted 132, 135 
dilutum 132, 135 
ethyl 132 
ethylic 132 
methyl 21, 140 
methylicum 140 
pentyl 139 
phenylic 35 
primary amyl 139 
pyroligneous 140 
pyroxylic 140 
sulfuris 441 
tertiary amylic 191 
trichloramidoethylic 511 
vini 132 
vinic 132 
wood 140 
Aldehyde, cinnamic 559 
formic 893 
methyl 893 
paraformic 896 
Aldehydum trichloratum. .503 
Alder, black 146, 899 
buckthorn 898 
common 146 
mountain 147 
red 146 
smooth 146 
tag 146 
Alder-leaved dogwood 610 
Aleppi cardamoms 445 
Aletridin 760 
Aletrin 760 
Aletris farinosa... .141, 487, 488 
Algarobia glandulosa 9 
Alhenna 144 
Alisma plantago 143 
var. Americanum 143 
Alkali, fixed 169 IV 
GENERAL INDEX. 
Alkali, marine 169 
mild volatile 173 
volatile 169, 173 
Alkanet 143 
Alkanet-red 143 
Alkanna tinctoria 143 
Alkermes 575 
Allanite 484 
Allantoin 848 
Allium Ascalonicum 146 
Cepa 146 
Porrum 146 
sativum 145 
Schoenoprasum 146 
Allspice 455 
Allyl tribromide 146 
Almond, bitter.... 184, 185, 187 
milk of 704 
sweet 185, 186 
Alnus glutinosa 147 
rubra 146 
serrulata 146 
viridis 147 
Aloe abyssinica 148 
American 128 
Barbadensis 148 
capensis 148, 150 
false 128 
ferox 148 
indica 148 
Lingua 148 
littoralis 148 
lucida 148 
perfoliata var. vera 148 
Perryi 148 
purificata 150 
socotrina 148 
spicata 148 
spiked 148 
vera 148 
vulgaris 148 
Aloe-bitter 150 
Aloes 148 
Barbadoes 148, 149 
bitter extractive .150 
caballine 150 
cape 148, 150 
Curacao 148 
hepatic 148, 150 
horse 150 
Jafferabad 148, 150 
Moka 150 
Natal 150 
purified 150 
shining *... .150 
socotrine. 148, 149, 150 
Zanzibar 148 
Aloesin 150 
Aloetin 150 
Aloin 150, 152 
Aloinum 152 
Aloisol 151 
Aloxanthin 151 
Alpine straw.berry 898 
Alpinia Cardamomum 445 
Alpha-homochelidonine... .492 
Alpha-propyl-piperidine.. .593 
Alstonamine 156 
Alstonia bark 153 
constricta 153 
scholaris 156 
spectabilis 156 
Alstonicine 154 
Alstonidine 154 
Alstonine 154, 156, 157 
Althsea officinalis 157, 340 
rosea 159 
taurinensis 159 
Althein 158 
Alum 160 
ammonia 160 
Alum, ammonio-ferric 861 
ammonium 160 
burnt 161, 162 
cake 165 
concentrated 165 
curd 162 
dried 161, 162 
iron 861 
potash 160 
potassio-ferric 861 
potassium 160 
slate 160 
stone 160 
whey .• 162 
Alu men 160, 161 
ammoniacale ferricum .. .861 
exsiccatum 161, 162 
ustum 161 
Alumina 164 
hydrated 162 
Alumini acetas 164 
aceto-tartras 164 
chloridi 164 
hydras 162 
nitras 164 
sulphas 165 
Aluminii et ammonii sul- 
phas 160 
et potassii sulphas 160 
Aluminium, bronze 164 
Aluminum (aluminium).. .163 
acetate 164 
aceto-glycerinate 164 
aceto-tartaricum 164 
aceto-tartrate. 164 
chloride 164 
hydrate 162 
hydroxide 162 
nitrate 164 
oxide 164 
sulphate 165 
sulphocarbolate 42 
Aluminum and iron, sul- 
phate 862 
Alunite 160 
Al veloz 749 
Amadou 362 
Amandin 186 
Amanita muscaria 363 
phalloides 363, 635 
Amani tine 363 
Amani tin 363 
Amaranth 167 
Amaranthusatropurpureus.167 
caudatus 167 
hypochondriasis 167 
melancholicus ruber 167 
Amargosin. 326 
Amarilla fina 541 
Ambergris 167 
Ambra grisea 167 
cinerea 167 
Ambrein 167 
Ambrosia artemisisefolia.. .168 
elatior 168 
tall 168 
trifida 168 
var. integrifolia 168 
American aconite 107 
aloe 128 
broomrape 711 
col umbo 404, 900 
cowslip 639 
cranberry 547 
custard-apple 297 
dittany 625 
gentian 900 
ipecacuanha 749 
ivy 184 
mezereon 662 
pulsatilla 200 
American saffron..452, 620, 621 
sarsaparilla 261 
senna 457 
spikenard 262 
valerian 643 
water-hemlock 595 
whiskey 134 
worm seed 494 
Amethyst, oriental 164 
Amiden 193 
Amido-azobenzene 207 
Amidobenzene 205 
Ammi Visnaga 595 
Ammonia 169 
cupro-sulphate 628 
gas 169 
muriate 177 
nitrate 180 
phosphate 181 
sesquicarbonate 173 
sulphate 183 
water 241 
Ammoniac 170 
African 171 
cake 170 
gum 170 
milk of 704 
oil 171 
resin 171 
Ammoniacum.. 170 
Ammonise benzoas 171 
hydrochloras 177 
murias 177 
nitras 180 
phosphas . .181 
sesquicarbonas 173 
Ammonii arsenas 176 
benzoas 171 
bromidum 172 
carbonas 173 
chloridum 177 
et ferri chloridum 888 
iodidum 179 
molybdas 176 
nitras 189 
phosphas 181 
pi eras 182 
sodii phosphas 182 
sulphas 183 
uras 176 
valerian as 183 
cupro-sulphas 628 
Ammonio-ferric alum 861 
citrate 859 
sulphate , 861 
tartrate 862 
Ammonium arsenate 176 
benzoate 171 
benzoicum 171 
biborate 176 
bicarbonate 176 
borate 176 
bromide 172 
carbamate 174, 176 
carbazotate 182 
carbonate 173 
chloratum ferratum 888 
chlorhydrate 177 
chloride 177 
purified 177 
embellicum 176 
formiate 51 
hydrochlorate 177 
hydrochloratum depura- 
tum 177 
iodide 179 
jodatum 179 
molybdate 176 
muriaticum depuratum. .177 
nitrate .180 GENERAL INDEX. 
Ammonium nitrate, fused.. 181 
nitricum 180 
phosphate 181 
phosphomolybdate 176 
phosphoricum 181 
picrate 182 
salicylate 176 
sodium phosphate 182 
sulphate 183 
sulphuricum 183 
urate 176 
valerate 183 
valerianate 183 
Amomum angustifolium.. .446 
Card amomum 445, 446 
Curcuma 635 
globosum 446 
granum paradisi 446 
Korarima 446 
maximum 446 
Melagueta 446 
repens 445 
subulatum 446 
xanthioides 446 
Ampelopsin 184 
Ampelopsis Botrya 184 
quinquefolia 184 
Amydalus communis var. 
Amara 184 
Persica 187 
Amygdala amara 184, 185 
dulcis 185 
Amygdalin 186, 187, 188 
Amyl hydrate 139 
hydride 191 
hydroxide 139 
nitras 190 
nitrate 190 
nitris , 188 
nitrite 188 
Amylaether nitrosus 188 
Amylene 191 
hydrate 191 
Amylenum 191 
hydratum 191 
Amyli iodidum 195 
Amylin 193 
Amylum 192 
cannae .194 
iodatum 195 
manihot 195 
maranta* 195 
oryza 194 
soiani 194 
tritici 194 
Amy ri n 684, 685 
Amyris elemifera 685 
Anacardium occidentale .. .195 
orientale 196 
Anacharis Alsinastrum 736 
Anagallis arvensis 197 
coerulea 197 
Analgen 499 
Analgesin (e) 220 
Anchusa officinalis 642 
tinctoria 143 
Anchusin 143 
Andaassu tree 635 
brasiliensis 635 
Gomesii 635 
Andira anthelmintica 198 
Araroba 198, 264, 526 
fraxifolia 264 
inermis 197 
retusa 198 
Andirin 198 
Andrographis paniculate.. .502 
Anemone cernua 200 
camphor 199 
coronaria 200 
cylindrica 200 
Anemone Ludoviciana 200 
nemorosa 198 
Nuttalliana 200 
patens 200 
var. Nuttalliana 200 
pratensis 199, 200 
Pulsatilla 199, 200 
ranunculoides 200 
sylvestris ., 200 
virginiana 200 
wood 198 
Anemonin 199, 201 
Anemopsis californica 202 
Anethene 203 
Anethi fructus 203 
Anethol 6, 210 
Anethum Fmniculum 891 
graveolens 203 
Angelica Archangelica..99, 206 
at ro p u r p u rea 265 
garden 226 
great 265 
high.. .• 265 
hirsute 266 
officinalis 266 
purple 265 
sativa 266 
tree 262 
triquinata 265 
Angelicin 267 
Angeliin amargosa 198 
Angelin 198 
Angustura 203 
Angosturin 204 
bark 203 
false 205 
Brazilian 205 
Anguillula aceti 15 
tritici 848 
Angusturine 204, 205 
Anhalonine 376 
Anhalonium Lewinii 376 
Anil .' 205 
Anilin 205 
Anilina 205 
Aniline 205, 207 
black 209 
blue 208 
camphorate 207 
colors 207 
inks 209 
red 208 
(analin) sulphate 207 
yellow 207 
Anilini sulphas 207 
Anilinurn 205 
Anise 209 
star 210 
Aniseed 209 
Anisum 209 
vulgare 209 
Anisodus luridus 340 
Anisol 576 
Annatto 144 
Annotta 144 
Brazilian 144 
flag 144 
French 144 
Spanish 144 
A nona triloba 297 
Antennaria arenari um 211 
dioica 211 
margaritacea 210 
plantaginifolia 211 
Anthemidine 613 
Anthemidis flores 211 
Anthemis arvensis 212 
Cotula 613 
nobilis 99, 211, 212 
Anthophyl li 455 
Anthracene 151 
Anthrakokali 441 
simple 441 
sulphuretted 441 
Anthrarobin 527 
Anthriscus Cerefolium 595 
Anthro-arobin 527 
Antidotum arsenici 876 
Antiemetic drops 436 
Antifebrin 11 
Antifebrinum 11 
An tihydropi n 431 
Antikamnia 13 
Antimonial glass 218 
kermes 219 
Antimonic sulphide 219 
Antimonii arsenas 218 
et potassii tartras 213 
iodide 218 
oxidum 215 
oxysulphuretum ....219, 220 
po tassio-tar tras 213 
pentasulphidum 220 
sulphidum 216 
purificatum 217 
sulphuretum 217 
aureum 219 
prsecipitatum 219 
trichloridum 218 
Antimonium 218 
crudum . 217 
diaphoreticum 218 
nigrum 217 
tartaratum 213 
tartarisatum (tartariza- 
tum) 213 
sulphuratum 219 
Antimonous-antimonic ox- 
ide 216, 218 
Antimonous oxide 215, 218 
oxychloride 216 
sulphide 216 
Antimony 21$ 
arsenate 218 
ash 218 
black 216, 218 
butter of 218 
crocus of 213, 218 
crude 216, 217 
diaphoretic 218 
Howers of 215 
flowers, Argentine 215 
iodide 218 
liver of 218 
muriate 218 
ochre 215 
oil of 218 
oxide 215 
oxysulphuret 220 
pentasulphide 219 
saffron of 213 
sesquichloride 218 
sulphide 216, 220 
amorphous precipita- 
ted 219 
purified 217 
golden 219 
sulphurated 219 
sulphuret, golden .220 
tartarated.. 213 
tartarized 213 
trichloride 218 
trisulphide 216 
purified 217 
teriodide 218 
terchloride 218 
trioxide 215 
white 215 
Antimony and potassium 
tartrate 213 
Antinervin 13 
Antipyrin (e)' 220 
V VI 
GENERAL INDEX. 
Antipyrin(e), benzoate 223 
salicylate 223 
salol 224 
Antipyrinum 220 
amygdalicum 223 
Ants, red 50 
Antisepsin 13 
Antiseptin 13 
Antiseptol 13 
Antithermin 223 
Aperitive saffron of Mars .. .875 
Aphyllon uniflorum 711 
Apis mellifica 224, 475 
Apium virus 224 
Aplopappus discoideus 646 
Apoatropine....'. 335 
Apocodeine 577 
Apocolchiceine > 579 
Apocynum androsaemifo- 
lium 226, 228 
canhabinum. .. .225, 226, 228 
hypericifolium 225 
Apocynin 226, 227, 228, 229 
Apocynein 227, 229 
Apodicinchonine .546 
Apomorphinae hydrochlo- 
ras 229 
Apomorphine hydrochlo- 
rate 229 
sulphate 231 
Apoquinamine 544 
Apple, bitter 585 
elephant 331 
root 745 
wood 331 
Aqua 231 
acidi carbonici 240 
ammoniae 241 
ammoniae fortior 241, 243 
anethi 244 
anisi 244 
< aurantii florum 244 
aurantii florum fortior... .244 
amygdalae amarae 243 
camphorae 245 
carbolisata 40 
carbon ica 240 
carui 245 
castorei 460 
chlori 245 
chloroform! 247 
cinnamomi .247 
creosoti 247 
destillata 231, 248 
ex lacu 233 
ex palude 232 
fluvialis 232 
foeniculi 248 
f on tana 232 
fortis 67 
double 67 
single 67 
hamamelidis 249 
spirituosa 249 
hedeomae 249 
hydrogenii dioxidi 249 
laurocerasi 253 
menthae piperitae 254 
viridis 254 
nivalis 232 
picis liquidae 259 
pimentae 259 
pluvialis 232 
puteana 232 
regia 70, 71 
regis 70 
fortior 260 
rosarum 260 
rosae 260 
sambuci 260 
sapphirina 631 
Aqua sedativa 260 
Aquae medicatae 239 
minerales 233, 254 
Arabis lyrata 434 
Aralia californica 262 
edulis 263 
hispida 261 
nudicaulis 261 
papyrifera 263 
racemosa 262 
spinosa 262 
Araliin 263 
Araliretin 263 
Arabin 10 
Arabinose 10 
Aranea diadema 264 
Arariba rubra 264 
Araroba 46, 264 
Arbol de la Cera 477 
Arbutin 495, 710 
Arbutus, trailing 709 
Archangelica atropurpurea. 265 
hirsuta ' 266 
officinalis 266 
sativa 266 
Arctium Lappa 340 
Areca Catechu 268, 466 
nut 268 
Arecaidine 269 
Arecaine 268 
Arecoline 268 
Arekane 268 
Argemone mexicana 269 
Argenti nitras 271 
dilutus 275 
fusus 275 
chloridum 274 
cyanidum 269 
et potassii nitras 275 
iodidum 270 
oxidum 276 
Argentic oxide 276 
Argentum 274 
cyanatum 269 
foliatum 274 
iodatum 270 
nitricum f u s u m m i t i - 
gatum 275 
ox yd atu m 276 
purificatum 274 
Argilia 165 
ferruginea 165 
Argols 97 
Arica bark 535 
Aricine 544, 545, 546 
Arisaema triphyllum 283 
Armenian bole 165 
Armoracia 277 
rusticana 277 
sativa 277 
Arnica alpina 281 
Chamissonis 281 
Claytonia 281 
flowers 279 
foliosa 281 
lanceolata 281 
mollis 281 
mon tana 278 
nudicaulis 281 
root 279 
Arnicae flores 279 
radix 279 
Arnicin 279 
Arnicina(e) 279 
Arnotta 144 
Arrack 134 
Arrowroot 195 
Portland 284 
Arrow-wood, Indian 736 
Arseni iodidum 281 
Arsenii iodidum 281 
Arsenias ferrosus 852 
Arsenic 25, 282 
antidote 876 
bromide 30 
disulphide 282 
iodide 30, 281 
oxide 282 
pentoxide 282 
trioxide 25 
trisulphide 282 
white 25 
white oxide 25 
yellow sulphide 282 
Arsenici iodidum 281 
Arsenicum e.. .282 
album 25 
jodatum 281 
Arsenious anhydrid 25 
oxide 25 
trioxide 25 
Arsenium 282 
Arsenous bromide 282 
chloride • 282 
iodide 281 
Arsenum 282 
jodatum 281 
Arsin 26 
Arsine 282 
Artanitae cyclaminis 639 
Artemisia Abrotanum 6 
Absinthium 4, 99 
Abyssinica 6 
arbuscula 6 
Chinensis 6 
Dracunculoides 6 
Dracunculus 6 
filifolia 6 
frigida 6 
Indica 6 
Ludoviciana 6 
Maritime, var. Stechman- 
niana 6 
pauciflora 733 
Pontica 6 
tridentata 6 
trifida 6 
vulgaris 6 
Arthanita 639 
Arthanitin 639 
Artichoke 641 
garden 641 
Jerusalem 641 
Arum Colocasia 284 
macula turn 284 
orixense 284 
Sieboldii 288 
triphyllum 283 
Arundo Ampelodesmos ... .725 
Arveloz 749 
Asafcetida 284 
Asarabacca 288 
Asarene 287 
A sarin 287, 288 
Asarit 288 
Asarol 287 
Asaron 288 
Asarone 288 
Asarum camphor 288 
canadense 287 
Europaeum 288 
Asclepiadin 293 
Asclepias Cornuti 291 
curassavica 293 
flesh colored 292 
gigantea 293 
incarnate 292 
var. pulchra. 293 
syriaca 291 
tuberosa 288 
Vincetoxicum 293 
Asclepidin 291 GENERAL INDEX. 
VII 
Asclepin 293 
Asclepion 292, 293 
Asepsin 13, 294 
borated (solution) 297 
liquid 296 
soap 297 ■ 
Aseptanilide 297 
Aseptol 40 
Ash, black 901 
common European 902 
elder-leaved 901 
green 902 
poison 500 
weeping 902 
white 500, 901 
Ashantee pepper 624 
Ashy crown bark 535 
Asimina triloba 297 
Asiminer 297 
Asiminine 298 
hydrochlorate 298 
Asparagin 158, 299, 737 
Asparagus officinalis 299 
Aspidin .300 
Aspidium Athainanicum.. .301 
Filix-mas 299 
marginale 299 
rigidum 301 
Aspidosamine 302 
Aspidosperma Quebracho- 
bianco 301 
Aspidospermatine 302 
Aspidospermine 302 
Asplenium Adiantum nig- 
rum 115 
Filix-fcemina 301 
ruta muraria 115 
Scolopendrium 301 
thelypteroides. 301 
Trichomanes 115 
Assacou 744 
Assam rubber 678 
Astacus fluviatilis 618 
Aster aestivus 304 
cordifolius 304 
heart-leaved 304 
New England 304 
Novae-Angliae 304 
puniceus 303 
red-stalked 303 
tortifolius 304 
white-tipped 304 
Asthma-weed 745 
Queensland .750 
Atees 106 
Atherosperma moschata... .360 
micrantha 360 
Atherospermine 360 
Atis > 106 
Atisine 106 
Ativish 106 
Atropa Belladonna 331 
Mandragora 340 
Atropamine 305, 335 
Atropia 304 
sulphate 305 
Atropina 304 
Atropinae salicylas 308 
santonicum 308 
sulphas 305 
valerianas 308 
Atropine 304 
305, 334, 335, 340 
salicylate 308 
santonate 308 
sulphate 305 
valerianate 308 
Atropurpurine 737 
Atrosin 335 
Aubergine 670 
Aurantiamarin 310 
Aurantii amari cortex 309 
dulcis cortex 310 
flores 311 
Auri cyanidum 315 
chloridum 315 
et ammonii chloridum.. .315 
et sodii chloridi 312 
iodidum 315 
oxidum 315 
pulvis 315 
Auric trichloride 315 
Aurin 208 
Aurine 37 
Auripigmentum 282 
Auro-potassium cyanide... .315 
Aurous iodide. 315 
Aurum 314 
bromidum 315 
foliatum 315 
Australian fever-bark 153 
gum 9 
Aveloz 749 
Avena sativa 315 
A venae farina 316 
Avenin .316 
Avornin 899 
Axunge Ill 
Azadirachta indica 318 
Azaleine 208 
Azedarach 317 
Azobenzene 207 
Azo dyes 207 
Azotas argenticus fusus ... .275 
Azure 30 
Azurite 628 
BACTYRILOBIUM FIS- 
TULA 456 
Bael fruit 330 
Indian 330 
Bahia caoutchouc 678 
powder 264 
Balm, mountain 727 
Balm on y 493 
Balsam-apple, wild 681 
Balsam copaiba 599 
co paiva 599 
capivi 599 
gurjun . 602 
Lagam 602 
Peru 318 
Peruvian, dry 321 
white 321 
Tolu 322 
virgin 321 
Balsamito 321 
Balsamo bianco 321 
catolico % 321 
Balsamum Peruvianum ....318 
Tolutanum 322 
Baneberry 109 
red 110 
white 108 
Banksia abyssinica 637 
Baobab 110 
Baptigenin 325 
Bap tin 324, 325 
Baptisia alba 326 
tinctoria 323 
Baptisine 324 
Baptisin 324, 325, 326 
Bapti toxin e 324, 325 
Barbadoes-nut 634 
Barbaloin 150 
Barbarea vulgaris 433 
praecox 433 
Barbary gum 9 
Barberry 345 
Barii bromidum 329 
carbonas 327 
chloridum 328 
Barii dioxidum 326 
hydroxidum 327 
iodidum 328 
nitras 328 
sulphas 329 
Barium , 327 
bromide 329 
carbonate 327 
chloride 328 
dioxide 326 
hydrate 327 
hydroxide 327 
iodide 328 
monoxide 326, 327 
nitrate 328 
oxide, hydrated 327 
peroxide 326 
sulphate 329 
Bark, extract, precipitated.497 
Barm 482 
Barosma betulina 371 
camphor 372 
crenata 371 
crenulata 371 
Eckloniana. 371 
serratifolia 371 
Barus camphor 418 
Baryta 327, 329 
carbon ica 327 
water 327 
Barytes 329 
Bastard dittany 626 
ipecacuanha 293 
saffron 452 
turnip 367 
Baume Caledonien 583 
Bead-tree 317 
Bean, common 850 
horse 850 
kidney 850 
tree 460 
Windsor 850 
Bearded darnel 850 
Bear's weed 727 
Beaver 459 
poison 595 
Bebeerine 373 
sulphate 329 
Beberiae sulphas 329 
Beberinse sulphas 329 
Beberine 329 
sulphate 329 
Bedgery 667 
Beech-drops 710 
Albany 605 
Beer, spruce 2 
Wermuth 5 
Beggar's-lice 642 
Beggar-ticks, common 351 
cuckold's 351 
swamp 351 
Bel 330 
Bela 330 
Belae fructus 330 
Belladonna 331 
horn-like 333 
Japanese 339 
leaves 331, 332 
mealy 333 
root 331, 332, 333 
woody 333 
Belladonnas folia 331, 332 
radix 331, 332 
Belladonnine 304, 305, 335 
Bengal quince 330 
Benjamin, flowers 30 
Benzalcohol 320 
Benzaldehyde 186 
Benzanilid (e) 13 
Benzene 340 
Benzenum 340 VIII 
GENERAL INDEX. 
Benzidam 205 
Benzin (e) 340, 341 
petroleum 341 
Benzinum 341 
Benzoin 342 
flowers 30 
belly 343 
foot 343 
gum 342 
head 343 
Penang 343 
Siam 343 
storax-smelling 343 
Sumatra 343 
Benzoinuin 342 
Benzol (e) 340 
Benzopy ri ne 223 
Benzoyl-acetyl-aconine 102 
Benzoylanilide 13 
Benzoyl-ecgonine 566, 572 
Benzoyl-pseudo-tropeine.. .556 
572 
Benzoyl triacetonalkamine. 33 
aconine 106, 108 
morphine 33 
quinine 33 
tropeine 33 
Benzoylvinyldiacetonalka - 
mine 572 
Benzylic alcohol 320 
benzoate 320 
cinnamate 320 
Bengal turmeric 635 
Berbamine 345, 347 
Berberine 345 
347, 405, 603, 604, 901 
Berberis aquifolium 346 
347, 349 
canadensis 346 
Fendleri 347 
glumacea 349 
nervosa 347, 349 
pinnata 347, 349 
repens 347, 349 
vulgaris 345 
Berbine 345, 347 
Berlin red 875 
Betaine 671 
Beta-colchico-resin 579 
Beta-homochelidonine 492 
Beta-iso-amylene 191 
Beta-naphthol-antipyrine . .223 
Betel nut 268 
Betula alba 350 
Alnus 147 
camphor 350 
lenta 349 
papyracea 350 
Betulin 350 
Bhang 423 
Bhel 330 
Bibirine sulphate 329 
Bicuculla Canadensis 610 
Bidens bipinnata 350 
cernua 351 
connata 351 
frondosa 351 
tripartita 351 
Bigarade orange 309 
Bignonia Catalpa 460 
capreolata 461 
Bikh 106 
Bikhma 106 
Bikli 106 
Bilicyanin 851 
Bilifuscin 851 
Bilihumin 851 
Biliprasin 851 
Bilirubin 851 
Bilis bubula 850 
Biliverdin 851 
Bimjal 670 
Bind-with 562 
Birch, black 349 
canoe 350 
cherry . 349 
European 350 
mahogany 349 
sweet 349 
tar 350 
white 350 
Bird pepper 434 
Bird's nests, edible 526 
Bis 106 
Bish 106, 108 
Bish ma 106 
Bismuth, benzoate 358 
carbonate 353 
cerium salicylate 358 
citrate 351 
cream of 353 
gallate 359 
glance 357 
hydrated oxide 353 
lactate 358 
magistery of 356 
nitrate 358 
normal 358 
ochre 357 
oxide 353 
oxycarbonate 353 
oxychloride , 358 
oxyiodide 358 
oxy nitrate 355 
phosphate 358 
salicylate 358 
subcarbonate 353 
subgallate 359 
subiodide 358 
subnitrate 355 
tannate 359 
ternitrate 35.8 
trisnitrate 356 
valerianate 359 
white 355 
oxide 356 
Bismuth and ammonium cit- 
rate 352 
Bismuthi ammonio-citras . .352 
benzoas 358 
carbonas 353 
citras 351 
et ammonii citras 352 
gallicum basicum 359 
lactas 358 
nitras 358 
oxidum 353 
hydratum 353 
oxychloridum 358 
phosphas 358 
salicylas 358 
subcarbonas 353 
subgal las 359 
subiodidum 358 
subnitras 355 
tan n as 359 
valerianas 359 
Bismuthous nitrate 358 
Bismuthum 357 
album 355 
citricum 351 
ammoniatum 352 
hydrico-nitricum 355 
oxydatum 353 
purificatum 358 
subcarbonicum 353 
subnitricum 355 
tannicum 359 
trisnitricum 358 
Bismuthyl carbonate 353 
chloride 358 
iodide 358 
Bitter almond 184, 185, 187 
apple 585 
bark 153 
bush 742 
candy-tuft 432 
cress 433 
cucumber 585 
fennel 892 
orange 309 
orange-peel 309 
root 225, 228, 229 
Bittersweet 667 
climbing 473 
false 473 
Bitter weed 168 
Bixa Orellana 144 
Bixin 144 
Black alder 146, 899 
antimony 218 
ash 901 
birch 349 
bryonia 367 
bryony 367 
cherry 331 
cohosh 528 
draught 18 
drop 18 
grains 573 
hellebore 115 
lead 440 
maiden hair 115 
night-shade 670 
purslane 745, 747 
root 390 
sampson. 671, 677 
spruce 2 
snakeroot 528, 529 
tang 902 
willow-bark 465 
Bladder fucus 902 
wrack 902 
Blatta orientalis 431 
Blazing star 141, 487 
Bleaching powder 408 
Blessed thistle 563 
Blood orange 310 
Blood-purifier, Myer's 672 
Bloodweed. 293 
Blooming spurge 744, 745 
Blue ash 628 
bottle 564 
Blue, Bremen 628 
clematis 563 
cohosh 468, 469 
gum tree 733 
jasmine 563 
mountain 628 
Paris 867 
pimpernel 197 
Prussian 867 
insoluble 867 
soluble 868 
true soluble 868 
stone 630 
Turnbull's 868 
vitriol 630 
washing 868 
weed 642 
Williamson's 867 
Blueberry 469 
Blumea balsamifera 419 
camphor 418 
lacera 419 
Boldina 360 
Boldine 360 
Boldo 359 
Boldoa fragrans 359, 360 
Boldoglucin 360 
Bol du 359 
Bold us 359 
Bole, Armenian 165 GENERAL INDEX. 
IX 
Bole, Lemnian 165 
Boletus chirurgorum 362 
laricis 361 
purgans 361 
Bolivian bark 535 
Bolus alba 165 
Armena 165 
rubra 165 
Veneta 165 
Bondou 731 
Bone 398 
ash 399 
black 437 
cuttlefish 618 
earth 399 
phosphate 397 
Boneset 738 
purple 740 
rough 742 
upland 742 
Bonplandii trifoliata 203 
Bookoo 371 
Borage 643 
Borago officinalis 643 
Borneene 416, 419 
Borneo camphor.. 415, 418 
caoutchouc 678 
Borneol 416, 418 
Bornyl acetate 1 
Borocalcite 33 
Boro-phenol 41 
Bos Taurus 850 
Boswellia Frereana 685 
Bougies 481 
Bell's 481 
elastic 481 
Goulard's 481 
Hunter's 481 
Piderit's wax 481 
Swediaur's white .481 
Bourane des floupes 731 
Bouvardia triphylla 677 
Bovista aiganteum 364 
Bowdichia major 323 
Bower, ladies' 561, 562 
Virgin's 561, 562 
curled 563 
sweet-scented 563 
upright 562 
whorl-leaved 563 
Bowman's root... .226, 744, 745 
Box 373 
Boxwood 608 
Bran 848, 850 
Brandy 134 
peach 187 
Brasiletto 144 
Brass 628 
Brazil powder 264 
wood 144 
Brazilein 144 
Brazilian angustura 205 
annotta 144 
elemi 684 
Brazilin (brasilin) .144 
Brayera anthelmintica 637 
Brayerin 638 
Bread, Indian 364 
persimmon 661 
St. John's 457 
Breast tea 159 
Brigham weed 309 
Bristle-stem sarsaparilla... .261 
Broad leaved dogwood 610 
pepperwort 432 
Bromacetanilid 13 
Bromal 366 
alcohol ate 366 
hydrate 366 
Bromalin 896 
Bromaloin 150 
Bromamide 366 
Bromethyl-formin 896 
Bromi chloridum 366 
Bromine 364 
chloride 366 
Bromoform 366 
Bromol 366 
Bromopyrine 223 
Bromuni 364 
Bronze 628 
aluminum 628 
aluminium 164 
statuary 628 
Broomrape, American 711 
naked 711 
one-flowered 711 
Brucea ferruginea 205 
Brucine 205 
Brunfelsia Hopeana 897 
Bryoidin 684 
Bryonia africana 370 
alba 367, 404 
americana 370 
black 367 
dioica 367 
epigaea 370 
red 367 
laciniosa 371 
Bryonin 368, 371 
Bryonitin 368 
Bryoretin 368 
Bryony 367 
black 367 
white 404 
Buchu 371 
intermediate 372 
long 372 
round 371 
short 371 
Buckeye, fetid 116 
large 117 
Ohio 116 
red 117 
small-flowered 117 
smooth 116 
sweet 117 
Buckthorn 898 
alder 898 
Buena magnifolia 455 
Bugloss 642 
dyer's 143 
viper's 642 
Buku 371 
Bulbocapnine 611 
Bunt 848 
Bur-marigold 351 
Burning bush 736 
Buro elachi 446 
Burra Gookeroo 647 
Bursera delpachiana 685 
tomentosa 685 
Bush honeysuckle 651 
Burnt-ear 848 
Butter color 144 
Butterfly-weed 288 
Butterweed 726 
Buttonbush 474 
Buttons, muscale .376 
Buttonsnake root 729 
Buttonwood 474 
Butyl-chloral hydras 512 
Butyl-chloral hydrate 512 
Butyl-iso-sulphocyanide... .433 
Buxine 373 
Buxus sempervirens 373 
suffruticosa 373 
pABBAGE, SKUNK 663 
meadow 663 
tree 197 
Cactus fimbriatus 376 
Cactus flagelliformis 376 
grandiflorus 374 
large-flowered 374 
mammillaris 376 
Melocactus 376 
Opuntia 376 
paniculatus 376 
sweet-scented 374 
vanilla 374 
Cacur 587 
Cadinene 1 
Cadmii iodidum 377 
sulphas 377 
Cadmium 377 
bromide 378 
carbonate 378 
iodide 377 
iodatum 377 
sulphate 377 
sulphuricum 377 
Cresalpinia Brasiliensis 144 
crista 144 
echinata 144 
Sappan 144 
vesicaria 144 
Caffea 378 
Caffe ia 385 
Caffeidine 386 
Caffeina 385 
citras 388 
citrata effervescens 389 
Caffeime sodii-benzoas 389 
sodii-salicy las 389 
Caffeine 176, 379, 382, 385 
citrate 388 
citrated 388 
diiodide-hydro-iodide ... .389 
effervescent citrated 389 
triiodide 389 
sodio-benzoate 389 
sodic-salicylate .389 
valerianate 389 
Caffeol... 382 
Cahinca 389 
root 389 
Cahincetin 390 
Cahincigenin 390 
Cabin cin 390 
Cai nan a 390 
Cainca 389 
Caincetin ; .390 
Cajuputol 732, 733 
Cake-meal 462 
saffron 620 
Caladium acre 284 
esculentum 284 
Calamine 391 
cerate 478 
Calamus 390 
Calcarea ostrearum 618 
Calcaria 406 
carbonica 618 
pra?cipitata 393 
chlorata 408 
hydrica 408 
hypophosphorosa 395 
muriatica 394 
phosphorica 397 
Calcii benzoas 619 
bromidum 392 
carbonas prsecipitatus... .393 
chloridum 394 
hippuras 619 
hydras 408 
hypophosphis 395 
hyposulphis. . 619 
iodas 397 
iodidum 396 
oxidum 406 
oxysulphuretum 412 
phosphas 397 GENERAL INDEX 
X 
Calcii phosphas praecipita- 
tus 397 
salicylas 619 
sulphas 399, 400 
exsiccatus 399 
sulphis 400 
Calcis hydras 406 
Calcium benzoate 619 
bromide 392 
carbonate, precipitated.. .393 
chloratum 394 
chloride 394 
di thio-carbonate 619 
fluoride 62 
hippurate 619 
hydrate 408 
hydroxide 406, 408 
hypochlorite 408 
hypophosphite 395 
hy pophosphorosum 395 
hyposulphite 619 
-iodate 397 
iodatum 396 
iodide 396 
monosulphide 410 
monoxide 406 
phosphate, precipitated. .397 
phosphoricum 397 
sulphate, native 400 
dried 399 
sulphide 410 
crude 410 
sulphite 400 
sulpho-sulphate 619 
thio-sulphate 619 
Calculi cancrorum.: 618 
Calendula 401 
arvensis 403 
officinalis 401 
Calendulin 402 
California fever-bush 553 
Calisaya 536 
bark 533, 535, 540 
Calla TEthiopica 284 
Egyptian 284 
Calliandra Houstoni 553 
Callitriche austinii 403 
autumnalis 403 
heterophylla 403 
verna 403 
Calotropis gigantea 293 
Hamiltonii 293 
procera . 293 
Calum ba 403 
Calx 406 
chlorata 408 
chlorinata 408 
extincta 406 
sulphurata 410 
usta 406 
viva 406 
Cambodia 412 
Camboge 412 
Cambogia 412 
Camganiba 897 
Camphene 417 
Camphol 418 
Camphor, anemone 199 
artificial 417 
asarum 288 
ball 480 
barosma 372 
Barns 418 
Blumea 418 
Borneo 415, 418 
bromated 419 
carbolated 419 
Champaca 419 
Chinese 415 
d ryo balan ops 418 
Dutch 415 
Camphor, flowers of 415 
Formosa 415 
Japan 415 
laurel 415 
tree 415 
Malayan 418 
monobromated 419 
Ngai 418 
salicylated 419 
Sumatra 418 
tub 414, 415 
Camphora 414 
betula 350 
carbolisata 419 
monobromata 419 
offleinarum 414 
phenolata .. .419 
salicylata v. .419 
Camphyl alcohol 418 
Canada deabane 726 
pitch 1 
snakeroot 287 
thistle 560 
Canadian hemp 225 
Canarium commune 684 
Canary seed 850 
Cancerillo 293 
Cancer-root .710, 711 
Canella alba 421 
Winterana 421 
Canellin 422 
Caninana 390 
Canker-root 602 
Canna 194 
edulis 194 
starch 194 
Cannabene 424 
hydride 424 
Cannabin 424 
Bombelan's 425 
tannate 425 
Cannabindine 425 
Cannabinine 424 
Cannabis indica 422, 423 
sativa 422, 423 
Canoe birch 350 
Cantharides 427 
Cantharidin 428 
Cantharis atrata 431 
cinerea 431 
inarginata 431 
mekena 431 
Nuttalli 431 
officinalis 427 
vesicatoria 427 
vitfata 431 
vulnerata 431 
Caoutchin 679 
Caoutchouc 677, 743 
artificial 680 
Bahia 678 
Borneo 678 
Chittagong 678 
Maran ham 678 
mineral 680 
Para 678 
Pernambuco 678 
Caoutchoucin 679 
Cape gum r 9 
Caper 433 
spurge 748 
Capivi 599 
Capparis .Egyptiaca 433 
coriacea 433 
cy nophal lophora 433 
ferruginea 433 
lodada 433 
spinosa 433 
Capsaicin 435 
Capsella Bursa-pastoris 431 
Capsicin 435 
Capsicol 435 
Capsicum annuum 434 
cerasi forme 434 
chlorocladum 434 
cordiforme 434 
fastigiatum 434 
frutescens 434 
grossum 434 
longum 434 
minimum 434 
Caput mortuum 874 
Carabaya bark 535 
Caragahen 524 
Carapa guianensis 318 
Touloucouna 318 
Caraway 453 
fruit 453 
seed 453 
Carbasus carbolata 41 
Carbo animal is 398, 437 
purificatus 437 
earn is 438 
e ligni 438 
ligni 438 
ossium 437 
praeparatus 438 
vegetabilis 438 
Carbon.. 440 
amorphous 440 
bisulphide 441 
dioxide 43 
disulphide 441 
oxychloride 515 
tetrachloride 444 
trichloride 444 
Carbonas ammonicus 173 
ferrosus saccharatus 854 
Carbonei bisulphidum 441 
disulphidum 441 
tetrachloridu m 444 
Carboneum chloratum 444 
Carbonic anhydride 43 
Carbonii tetrachloridum .. .444 
Cardamine amara 433 
' hirsuta 433 
pratensis 433 
Cardamom 445 
bastard 446 
Bengal 446 
Ceylon 446 
Chinese 446 
cluster 446 
Java 446 
Korarima 446 
large 446 
long 446 
Madagascar 446 
Nepal 446 
round 446 
Chinese 446 
seeds 445, 446 
varieties 446 
wild 446 
of Siam 446 
winged Bengal 446 
xanthioid 446 
Cardamoms, Aleppi 445 
Madras 445 
Malabar 445 
Cardamomum 445 
Malabar i cu m 445 
minus 445 
Cardol 196 
Cardoon 641 
Carduus benedictus 563 
marianus 447 
Carica dodecaphylla 448 
Papaya 298, 448 
spinosa 448 
Caricae 890 
Caricine 449 GENERAL INDEX. 
XI 
Carmin antik 574 
Carmine 574, 575 
Carmine-red 574 
Carnahuba wax 477 
Carnauba wax 477 
Carolina ipecac 749 
Carota 450 
Carotin 267, 451, 474 
Carpaine 449 
Carragaheen 524 
Carrageen 525 
Carrageenin ... 525, 526 
Carragheen 524 
Carraigeen 525 
Carron oil 510 
Carrot root 451 
seeds 451 
wild 450 
Carthagena bark 535 
Carthamin 452 
Carthamus tinctorius. .452, 620 
moschatus 457 
Caryophylli aromatica 453 
Caryophyllin 454 
CaryophyHum regium 455 
Caryophyllus 453 
aromaticus 453 
Carum Carui 453 
Carvi 453 
Carvacrol 416 
Casca de assacou 744 
Cascara aromatica 824 
cordial 824 
Cascarilla 455 
bark (tree) 455 
Calisaya 536 
fina amarilla 541 
Cascarillae cortex 455 
Cascarillin(e) 456 
Cascinum fenestraturn 404 
Casein, gluten 848 
Cashew-nut 195 
oriental 196 
Cassia Absus 4 
bacil laris 457 
bark 557, 558 
brasiliana 457 
buds 560 
caryoph yllata 560 
Chamaecrista 458 
cinnamon 557, 558 
dwarf 458 
Fistula 456 
grandis 457 
horse 457 
lignea 558 
marilandica 457 
mollis 457 
moschata 457 
purging 456 
twigs 560 
Cassuvium pomiferum 195 
Castanea dentata 458 
pumila 459 
vesca 458 
var. Americana 458 
vulgaris 458 
Cas tel la. N ic h ol son ii 326 
Castilloa elastica 678 
Markhamiana 678 
Casto reum 459 
Castor in 460 
Castor 459 
Americanus 459 
Fiber 459 
Catalpa bignonioides 460 
cordifolia 460 
speciosa 460 
syringa'folia 460 
tree 460 
Cataplasm, carrot 462 
Cataplasm, charcoal 461 
chlorine 464 
conium 462 
cranberry 463 
elm 464 
emollient 159 
hemlock 462 
lobelia 463 
mustard 463 
poke-root 463 
stramonium 464 
yeast 462 
Cataplasma carbonis 461 
carota? 462 
communis 462 
conii 462 
dauci 462 
emolliens 462 
fermenti 462 
flax seed 462 
lini 462 
linseed 462 
lobelia) 463 
oxycocci 463 
pbytolaccse 463 
rubefaciens 463 
sinapis 463 
sodae chlorinata 464 
stramonii 464 
ulmi 464 
Cataplasmat a 461 
Cataplasms 461 
Cataria vulgaris 465 
Catechin. 467, 468 
Catechol 467 
Catechu 466 
black ...' 466 
pale 467 
pallidum 467 
Catechu-red 467 
Catechuretin 467 
Catgut, carbolated 41 
ligatures, Lister's 41 
Cathartocarpus bacillus... .457 
brasiliana 457 
Fistula 456 
moschatus 457 
Catmint 465 
Catnep 465 
Catnip 465 
Cat's hair 750 
Caulophyllin 469, 470 
Caulophylline 470 
Caulophyllum thalictro- 
ides 468 
Caustic creeper 749 
lime 406 
of Filhos, 407 
Cayaponia globulosa 587 
Cayaponine 587 
Cayenne cinnamon 558 
. pepper 434 
Ceanothine 472, 473 
Ceanothus americanus 472 
azureus 473 
cceruleus 473 
ovalis 473 
reclinatus 473 
Ceanothus-red 473 
Ceara rubber 678 
Cecidomyia tritici 848 
Cedar gum 10 
red 10 
Cedrela Australis 10 
Celandine 491 
great 491 
Celastrin 474 
Celastrus scandens 473 
Celebes agar-agar 526 
Cellulose, starch 193 
Cement, marine 680 
Centaurea benedicta 563 
calcitrapa 564 
cyanus 564 
Century plant 128 
Cephalanthin 474, 475 
Cephalanthus occidentalis. .474 
Cephaletin 474 
Cephalin 474 
Cera alba 475 
Hava 475 
Cerasin 10 
Cerata 477 
Cerate 477 
blistering 479 
calamine 478 
camphor 478 
compound . 478 
cantharides 479 
extract of 479 
croton-oil 480 
Goulard's 480 
lard 477 
lead subacetate 480 
resin 481 
rose 4s0 
savine 481 
simple 477 
spermaceti 479 
Turner's 478 
Cerates 477 
Ceratonia siliqua 457 
Ceratum 477 
adipis 477 
calaminse 478 
camphoric compositum.. .478 
camphoratum 478 
cantharides 479 
cetacei 479 
croton is 480 
extractum cantharidis... .479 
labiale album 479 
plum bi subacetas 480 
resinae 481 
rosatum 480 
sabina? 481 
saponis compositum 702 
simplex 477 
Cerei 481 
Cereoli 481 
Cereus fimbriatus 376 
flagelliformis 376 
grandiflorus 374 
night-blooming 374 
paniculatis 376 
Cerevisiae fermentum 482 
Ceric oxide 484 
Cerii bromidum 484 
carbonas 484 
nitras 484 
oxalas 483 
Cerin 476, 720 
Cerite 483, 484 
Cerium 484 
chloride 483 
dioxide 484 
oxalate 483 
oxalicum : 483 
sesquioxide 484 
Cerolein 476 
Cerous oxalate 483 
oxide 483, 484 
Virginian us 608 
Ceroxylbn andicolum 477 
Cetaceum 484 
Cetin 485 
Cetraria islandica 486 
Cetrarin 486 
Cetyl alcohol 485 
hydrate 485 
palmitate 485 
Cervantite 215 XII 
GENERAL INDEX. 
Ceylon cinnamon 558 
moss 526 
Chserophyllum sativum... .595 
Chagual gum 10 
Chairamidine 544 
Chairami ne 544, 546 
Chalk, hard 617 
precipitated 393 
prepared 617 
red 165 
soft 617 
Chamseliretin 489 
Chamaelirin 489 
Chamtelirium 141 
luteum 487 
Chamomile 211 
common 212 
corn 212 
dog 613 
English 211 
German 212 
Roman 211 
wild 212, 613 
Cham paca camphor 419 
Champacol 419 
Charas 423 
Charcoal 438 
animal 437 
purified 437 
meat 438 
willow 439 
wood 438 
Charta cantharidis 490 
epispastica 479, 490 
potassii nitratis 490 
sinapis 491 
vesicatoria 490 
Chartie 490 
Chavannesia esculenta 678 
Chelse cancrorum 619 
Chelandine 491 
Chelerythrine 492 
Chelidonine 492 
Chelidonium Glaucium... .493 
majus 491 
Chelidoxanthin 492 
Chelone glabra 493 
Chenopodin 495 
Chenopodium album 495 
atnbrosioides 494, 495 
var. anthelminticum .. .494 
Bonus-Hen ricus 495 
botrys 495 
quinoa 495 
vulvaria 495 
Chernies 575 
Cherry birch 349 
black 331 
Jerusalem 670 
Chervil 595 
Chestnut 458 
Chick pea 74 
Chicken-toe 604 
Chick weed, red 197 
water 403 
Chicory 528 
Chillies ... 434 
Chimaphila corymbosa 495 
maculata 496, 497 
umbellata 495 
Chimaphilin 496 
China cinerea 533 
fusca 533 
grisea 533 
morada 553 
nova 455 
orange 310 
pallida 533 
regia 533 
rose 159 
rubra 533 
Chinamine 544 
Chinasaure 543, 547 
Chincapin 459 
Chinese aconite 106 
blistering Hies 431 
camphor 415 
cinnamon 557, 558 
date-plum 661 
gelatin 526 
isinglass 526 
moxa 6 
sumach 130 
turmeric 635 
Chinidin 553 
Chinioidinum 497 
Chinoidin 497, 542 
Chinoidina 497 
Chinoidine 497 
borate 498 
citrate 498 
hydroch loride 498 
tannate 498 
Chinoidini boras 498 
citras. 498 
hydroch loras 498 
tan n as 498 
Chinoidinum 497 
Chinol 500 
Chinoleine 499 
Chinolina 498 
Chinoline monohypochlo- 
rite 500 
Chinotoxine 634 
Chinova-bitter 548 
Chinovin 543, 548 
Chinquapin 459 
Chiococca anguifuga 390 
densifolia 390 
racemosa 389 
Chionanthin 501 
Chionanthus virginicus ... .500 
Chirata 502 
Chota 502 
hill 502 
purple 502 
small 502 
southern 502 
sweet 502 
Chiratin 502 
Chiratogenin 502 
Chi ray ta 502 
Chiretta 502 
Chittagong caoutchouc 678 
Chives 146 
Chloral 503 
alcoholate 511 
benzaldoxime 512 
butylicum 512 
camphorated 504, 512 
camphoratum ' 512 
carbamide 512 
carbol 512 
carbolated 512 
cyanhydrate 511 
cyanhydrin 511 
et camphora 512 
formamide 511 
formamidum 511 
hydrate 503 
hydrocyanate 511 
hydrocyanin 511 
hydrous 503 
mentholated 512 
Chloral and camphor 512 
Chloralacetaldoxime 512 
Chloralacetoxime 512 
Chloralamide 511 
Chloral-ammonium 511 
Chloralcenophoroxime 512 
Chloralimide 512 
Chloral-men th ol 512 
Chloralnitroso-beta naphtol 512 
Chloraloin 150 
Chloralose 511 
Chloraloximes 512 
Chloral-phenol 512 
Chloraluni 164 
formamidatum 511 
Chloral-urethane 511 
ethylated 511 
Chloramyl 524 
Ch lor-anodyne 524 
Chloridum calcicum 394 
ferrosum 857 
vel chloruretum ferricum.855 
Chlorinated lime 408 
Chlorine > 246 
available 408, 409 
Chlorocarbon 444 
Chlorocodid 577 
Chlorodyne 524 
Chloroform 513 
salicylide 514 
Chloroformum 513 
purificatum 513 
Chlorogenine 154 
Chlorophenol ... 41 
Chlorphenol 41 
Chloruretum ammonicum. .177 
Chokedamp 7 43 
Cholesterin .. .348, 361, 720, 851 
Cholin 718, 851 
Choline 363, 391, 892 
Chondodendron tomento- 
sum 373 
Chondrus crispus 524 
mamillosus 524 
Chota chirata 502 
Chromic anhydride 44 
Chromium trioxide 44 
Chrysarobin(e) 264, 265, 526 
Chrysarobinum 526 
Chrysotoxin 719 
Churee Chentz 110 
Churrus.. 423 
Cicer arietinum 74 
Cichorium Endivia 528 
Intybus 528 
Cicuta maculata 591, 595 
virosa 595, 625 
Cicutaria aquatica 595 
Cicutine 592, 595 
Cicutoxin 595 
Cigarettes, medicated 490 
Cigar tree 460 
Cimicifuga racemosa. ...469, 528 
Cimicifugin 529, 530, 532 
Cinchamidine 543 
Cinchene 556 
Cinchocerotin 548 
Cincholine 544, 546 
Cinchona 533, 542 
amygdal i folia 535 
asperifolia 535 
australis 533 
bark 533 
bicolorata 205 
bitter 548 
Boliviana 536, 552 
Calisaya ... .533, 534, 535, 536 
537, 538, 540, 542, 548, 549 
var. Javanica 546 
var. Josephiana... .536, 537 
var Ledgeriana 536,540, 542 
caloptera 535 
carabayensis 535 
caroli niana 553 
coated 540 
cordifolia 535 
corymbosa 549 
elliptica 535 
euneura 535 XIII 
GENERAL INDEX. 
Cinchona, flava 533, 540 
glandulifera 535 
hirsuta 535 
Howardiana 534 
Humbold tiana 535 
lanceolata 535 
lancifolia 535, 549, 553 
var. oblonga 535 
Ledgeriana 549, 552 
light Calisaya 552 
lucumaefolia 535 
macrocalyx 535 
micrantha 535, 538 
mi cran thee 534 
Mutisii 535 
nitida 535, 538 
nova surinamensis.. .543, 548 
officinalis 533, 534, 535 
536, 540, 541, 542, 549, 553 
ovata 535 
var. rufinervis 552 
ova tee 534 
Pahudiana 534, 535 
pallida 533 
Pal ton 535 
Pavoniana 534 
pedunculata 553 
peruviana 535 
pitayensis 535 
pubescens 535, 549 
var. Pelletieriana 535 
purpurascens 534, 535 
purpurea 535 
quilled bark 540 
rosulenta 546 
rubra 533, 541, 542 
rufinervis 535 
rugosa 535 
rugosae 534 
scrobiculata 535, 552 
succirubra 533 
535, 536, 538, 540, 541, 542 
546, 548, 549, 553 
Triante 535 
tucujensis 535, 553 
umbellul ifera 535 
uncoated 540, 541 
Weddelliana .534 
Cinchona barks, Arica 535 
ashy crown 535 
Bolivian 535 
Calisaya.533,535, 536, 540, 552 
Carabaya 535 
Carthagena 535 
cascarilla calisaya 536 
cinchona 533 
Columbian 535 
crown 533, 535, 541 
Cuenca 541 
culisaya 536 
cuprea 543, 544 
Cusco 535, 543, 544 
druggists' 540 
false Loxa 535 
fiat 540 
Calisaya 552 
grey 535 
Jaen 535 
Jesuit's bark 536 
hard yellow 540, 542 
Huamalies 535 
Huanuco 535, 541 
Lima 535 
Loja 541 
Loxa 533, 535, 536, 541 
manufacturers' 540 
Maracaibo. ..535, 540, 542, 543 
pale 540, 541 
Peruvian 533 
Pal ton 535 
Payta 544, 545 
Cinchona barks, Peruvian. .533 
Pitayo 535 
Puerto Cabella 542 
quilled 540 
red.533, 535, 536, 540, 541, 542 
Cusco 535 
fraudulent 553 
Peruvian 533 
Santa Ana 535 
soft Columbian 535 
spurious 553 
table 540 
white 544, 545 
yellow 533, 535, 536, 540 
Cinchonamine ... .543, 545, 547 
Cinchona-red 548 
insoluble 548 
soluble 547 
Cinchonas flavae cortex 533 
pallidae cortex 533 
Cinchoniae sulphas 556 
Cinchonicine 544, 546 
Cinchonidinae salicylas 555 
sulphas 553 
Cinchonidine 543 
544, 545, 547, 548, 553 
hydrobromide 555 
salicylate 555 
sulphate 553 
Cinchonina 555 
Cinchoninae sulphas 556 
Cinchonine 542 
543, 547, 548, 553, 555 
acid sulphate 557 
hydrochloride 557 
sulphate 556 
Cinchotannin 547 
Cinchotenidine 554 
Cinchotenine 556 
Cinchotine... .543, 545, 556, 557 
Cinchovatine 544, 545, 546 
Cinene 419 
Cineol 419, 732, 733, 734 
Cinis antimonii 218 
Cinnamein 320 
Cinnamodendron cortico- 
sum 422 
mac ran th um 422 
Cinnamomine 559 
Cinnamomum Burmanni.. .558 
var. Kiainis 558, 560 
Camphora 414, 415 
Cassia 557, 558, 559 
Culilawan 560 
iners 558 
nitidum 558 
Sai gon i cum 559 
Tamala .. 558 
xanthoneuron 560 
zeylanicum 558, 559 
Cinnamon : 557 
Cassia 557, 558, 559 
Cayenne 558 
Ceylon 558, 559 
Chinese 557 
chips 559 
Java v 558 
Saigon 558, 559 
Cinnamyl cinnamate 321 
Cin nam yl-cocaine 566 
Citras bismuthicus 351 
ferrico-quinicus 864 
ferricus 857 
Citrullus Colocynthis 585 
Citrus Aurantium 310, 311 
var. amara 309 
Bigaradia 309 
deliciosa 310 
dulcis 310 
vulgaris 309, 311 
Cissampelos Pareira 373 
Cissus hederacea 184 
quinquefolia 184 
Ci rsium arvense 560 
Clavelli cinnamomi 560 
Claviceps purpurea 715, 725, 848 
Clematin 561 
Clematine 562 
Clematis alpina 563 
angustifolia 109 
blue 563 
cirrhosa 562 
crispa 563 
dioica 563 
Flammula., 563 
integrifolia 199 
ligusticifolia 563 
mauritiana 563 
Pitcheri 563 
recta 561, 562 
sylvestris 562 
verticil laris 563 
Viorna 561, 562 
virgin iana 561 
Vitalba 562 
Viticella 563 
wild 562 
Climbers 562 
Climbing bittersweet 473 
staff-tree 473 
Cloth, vesicating 479 
Clove-bark 560 
Clove fruits 455 
Clove-stalks 455 
Cloves 453 
Cloves, mother 455 
pink 455 
royal 455 
Cluster-flowered snowberry.389 
Clutea Eluteria 455 
Clysmata 707 
Clyster, aloes, compound.. .708 
an ti spasmodic 709 
cathartic 708 
lobelia, compound 709 
opium 709 
turpentine, compound... .709 
Clysteria 707 
Clysters 707 
Cnicus benedictus 563 
marianus 447 
Coal, anthracite 440 
bituminous 440 
hard 440 
soft 440 
Cobalt-glance 282 
Cobalt, tin-white 282 
Cobaltic arsenide 30 
oxide 30 
Cobaltum 282 
Coca 564 
Cuzco 565 
Huanuco 565 
Trujillo 565 
Truxillo 565 
Cocainae hydrochloras 568 
Cocaine 565 
benzoate 572 
borate 572 
citrate 572 
hydrpbromate 565, 572 
hydrochlorate., 568 
muriate 568 
nitrate 572 
phenate 572 
Cocaicine 566 
Cocamine 566 
Cocash 303 
Coccerin 574 
Cocculus pal mat us 403 
Coccus cacti 573 
ilicis 575 XIV 
GENERAL INDEX. 
Coccus sinensis 477 
toxiferus 632 
Cochin turmeric 635 
Cochineal 573, 574 
Honduras 573 
silver 573 
Zaccotilla 573 
Cochlearia Armoracia 277 
officinalis 278, 433 
rusticana 277 
Cochlospermum Gossypium 9 
Cockleburr 129 
Cockroach 431 
Codaga pala 156 
Codeia 575 
Codeina 575 
Codeine phosphate 577 
hydrochlorate 577 
Codeinum 575 
Codlins and cream 712 
Ceeruleum borussicum 867 
Ccerulignol 615 
Coffea arabica 378, 385 
liberica 378 
Coffee 378 
leaves 378 
varieties 378 
Coffeine 385 
Cognac, genuine 134 
Cohosh, black 528 
blue 468 
false 469 
red 110 
white 108 
Colchiceine 579 
Colchici radix 578 
semen 578 
Colchicine 578, 579 
Colchico-resin 579 
Colchicum autumnale 577 
root 578 
seed 578 
Colcothar 88, 874, 875 
Cold-cream, camphor 480 
rose 480 
Colic-root 658, 659 
Coilalia esculenta 526 
Collinsonia canadensis 580 
Collinsonin 582 
Collodion 582 
blistering 583 
cantharidal 583 
compound salicylated... .584 
corn 584 
croton oil 584 
iodized 584 
iodoform 584 
flexible 584 
Pavesi's styptic 585 
styptic 584 
Coilodium 582 
cantharidale 583 
cantharidatum 583 
flexile 584 
haemostaticum 584 
iodatum 584 
iodoformatum 584 
salicylicum compositum..584 
stypticum 584 
tannatum .585 
tiglii .584 
vesicans 583 
Colloid, styptic 584 
Colloids 859 
Colocasia antiquorum 284 
macrorrhiza 284 
Colocynth pulp 585 
Colocynthein 586 
Colocynthin 586 
Colocynthis officinarum... .585 
Colocynthitin 586 
Colombin 404 
Colombo 403 
American 404 
wood 404 
Colophonia Mauritiana 685 
Colorado cough root 267 
fina 541 
Cotton, chloro-carbolated. ..512 
wild 291 
Coltsfoot 287 
Colt's-tail 726 
Columbian bark 535' 
Columbin 404 
Columbine 405 
Cohimbo 403 
American 900 
false 404 
Comb-flower 677 
Comfrey, wild 642 
Common alder 146 
bean 850 
beggar-ticks 351 
chamomile 212 
European ash 902 
fennel 891 
fleabane 727 
garden hollyhock 159 
horsetail 713 
leek 146 
mallow 159 
oat 315 
pigweed 495 
potato 670 
puff-ball 524 
wheat 192 
Comptonia asplenifolia 588 
Conchairamidine 544, 546 
Conchairamine 544, 546 
Conchinamine 543, 546 
Conchinine 543 
Con cusconidine 544 
Concusconine 544, 546 
Cone-flower 671 
narrow-leaved, purple... .671 
purple 671, 677 
tall 677 
Cone-disk sunflower 677 
Conessi bark 156 
Conessine 156 
Condor vine '. 589 
Condurangin 589 
Condurango 588 
Conduransterin 589 
Con fectio opii 590 
rosm 590 
sennae 590 
composita 591 
sulphuris 591 
terebinthinae.... 591 
Confection, aromatic 764 
opium-. 590 
rose 590 
senna, compound 591 
sulphur 591 
turpentine 591 
Confections 589 
Confectiones 589 
Conglutin 186 
Conhydrine 592, 593 
Coni cine 592, 593 
Coniine 592, 593, 595, 749 
benzoate 584 
hydrobromate 594 
hydrochlorate 594 
Conium leaves 592 
inaculatum 209, 591 
Conopholis americana 711 
Conquinamine 543, 546 
Conserve, rose 590 
Conserves 589, 590 
Consumptive's weed 727 
Contrayerva 595 
Convallamaretin 597 
Convallamarin 597 
Convallaretin 597 
Convallaria biflora 598 
commutata 598 
majalis 596 
multiflora 598 
Polygonatum 598 
racemosa 598 
Convallarin 597, 598 
Copaiba, 599 
Langsdorffii 599 
Maracaibo 600 
Para 600 
Copaifera coriacea 599 
guianensis 599 
Langsdorffli 599 
officinalis 599 
Copalch i-bark 303 
Copernicus cerifera 477 
Copper 627 
acetate 626 
Rademacher's tincture..626 
ace to-arsen i te 628 
aluminated 632 
ammoniated 628 
arsenite 628 
black oxide 629 
blister 628 
carbonate 629 
chloride 629 
gambogiate 414 
glance 627 
hydroxide 629 
monoxide 629 
nitrate 629 
oleate 629 
oxy-acetate 629 
pyrites 627 
spirit 20 
subacetate 629 
sulphate 630 
verditer 626 
Copperas 879 
Coptine 603 
Coptis anemonaefolia 604 
asplenifolia 604 
occidentalis 604 
Teeta 604 
tri folia 602 
Coral 618 
Coral-root 604 
Corallin, red 208, 574 
yellow 208 
Corallium rubrum 618 
Corallocarpus epigaea 370 
Corallorhiza innata 604 
Macraei 604 
multiflora 604 
odontorhiza 604 
Wisteriana 604 
Cordial, blackberry 606 
cascara 824 
Curacao 688 
Cordiale rubi fructus 606 
Cori amyrtin 607 
Coriander 606 
fruit 606 
Coriandrum sativum 606 
Coriaria myrtifolia 607 
myrtle-leaved 607 
ruscifolia 607 
sarmentosa 607 
Corkwood elm 665 
Corn chamomile 212 
Corn-flower 564 
Corn snakeroot 729 
Corn-starch 192 
Cornel, flowering 608 
round-leaved 610 GENERAL INDEX. 
XV 
Cornel, silky 609 
Cornine 609 
Cornu cervinae ustum 608 
Cornus circinata 610 
florida 608 
sericea 609 
Cornutine 719, 721 
Coronilla scorpioides 658 
Coronillein 658 
Coronillin 658 
Corsican moss 526 
Cortex caryophyllatus 560 
china fuscus 533 
chinae calisayae 533 
regiae 533 
ruber 533 
eluteriae 455 
thuris 455 
Corundum 164 
Corycavine 611 
Corydalin 611 
Corydaline 610, 611, 904 
Corydalis Canadensis 610 
cava 610, 611 
Cucullaria 610 
formosa 610 
tuberosa 610 
Cory di ne 611 
Cossoo 637 
Coto 611, 613 
bark 611 
Coto-coto 611 
Cotoin 612 
Cotyledon Umbilicus 614 
Coty let 614 
Coumarin 742, 743 
Cowbane 595 
spotted 595 
Cowslip 642 
American 639 
Crab's claws 619 
eyes 618 
stones 618 
Cranberry, American 547 
Crane willow 474 
Crataegus Oxyacantha 347 
Crawf&h 618 
Crawley 604 
Cream of bismuth 353 
of tartar tree 110 
Creasote 614 
Creasotum 614 
Cremor bismuthi 353 
Creolin 42 
Creosol 615 
Creosotal 617 
Creosote, birch wood 614 
sulphoricinate 73 
Creosotum 617 
carbonicum 614 
Cresol 21, 37, 614, 615 
Cresols 41 
Cress, bitter 433 
early* win ter 433 
garden 432 
Indian 433 
marsh 433 
Para 434 
penny 432 
rock 434 
small bitter 433 
swine 434 
wall 434 
wart .434 
water 433 
winter 433 
Creta laevigata 617 
praecipitata 393 
praeparata 617 
rubra 165 
Croce tin 620 
Crocin 620 
Crocose • -620 
Crocus martis a d s t r i n- 
gens..; 874, 875 
aperiens 875 
aperitivus 875 
of antimony 218 
sativus 619 
Crossopterine 553 
Crossopteryx febrifuga 553 
Cross spider 264 
Croton Cascarilla 455 
chloral 512 
hydrate 512 
Eluteria 455 
Malambo 456 
pseudo-china 303, 456 
Crowfoot, wind 198 
Crown bark 533, 535, 541 
Cryolite 62 
Crystalline 205 
Crystalloids 859 
Crystals of Venus 626 
Cubeb (s) 622 
Cubeba canina 624 
crassipes 624 
Clusii 624 
Lowong 624 
officinalis 622 
Wallichii 624 
Cubebin 622 
Cubeb-resin 622, 623 
Cubebs, false 624 
Cuckolds 351 
Cuckoo-flower 433 
Cuckoo-pint 284 
Cucumber, bitter 585 
squirting 681 
wild 681 
Cucumis agrestis 681 
asininus 681 
Colocynthis 585 
Hardwickii 587 
myriocarpus 587 
prophetarum 587, 682 
Pseudo-colocynthis 587 
trigonus 587 
var. pubescens 587 
Cudweed 211 
Cuenca bark 541 
Culilawan bark 560 
Culisaya 536 
Cumin 624 
Cumin-aldehyd 625 
Cuminol 625 
Cuminum Cyminum 624 
Cundurango 588 
Cunila mariana 625 
Cuprea bark 543, 544, 553 
Cupreine 543, 545 
Cupri acetas..., 626 
ammonio-sulphas 628 
chloridum 629 
nitras 629 
oxidum 629 
subacetas 629 
sulphas 630 
Cupric acetate 626 
chloride 629 
hydrate 629 
nitrate 629 
oxide 629 
subacetate 629 
sulphate 630 
Cuprous sulphide 627 
Cuprum 627 
aceticum 626 
aluminatum 632 
ammoniatum 628 
vi,triolatum 630 
Curacao oranges 311 
Curare 632 
Curari 632 
Curarine 632, 633, 634 
Curcas multifid us 635 
purgans 634 
Curciu 635 
Curcuma 635 
longa 635, 636 
var. minor 636 
rotunda 635, 636 
Curcumin 636 
Curine 633 
Currier's sumach 607 
Curry leaves 637 
powder 637 
Cursed thistle 560 
Cururu 632 
Cuscamidine 544, 546 
Cuscamine 544, 546 
Cusco bark 535, 543, 544 
Cusconidine 543, 546 
Cusconine 543, 546 
Cusparia bark 203 
febrifuga 203 
Cuspariae cortex 203 
Cusparidine 204 
Cusparin 204 
Cusparine 204 
Custard-apple 298 
American 297 
Cusso • 637 
Cutch 466 
Cut-weed 902 
Cuzco coca 565 
Cyanine 499 
Cyanuretum ferroso - ferri- 
cum 867 
Cyclamen europ.uum.. .638, 639 
hederaefolium 638 
persicum 639 
Cyclamin 197, 639 
Cyclamiretin 639 
Cydonia europsea 640 
japonica 641 
vulgaris 640 
Cydonin 640 
Cydonium 640 
Cymene 5, 416, 625 
Cymol 416, 625 
Cynanchutn Vincetoxicum .293 
Cynara Cardunculus 641 
var. sativa 641 
Scolymus 641 
Cynoglossine 642 
Cynoglossum amplexicaule.642 
Morisoni 642 
officinale 641 
Cyphomandra botacea 47 
Cypripedin 643 
Cypripedium acaule 644 
arietinum 644 
candidum 644 
parviflorum 643 
pubescens 643 
spectabile 644 
Cystoseira siliquosa 903 
Cytisin 279, 288 
Cytisine 325 
Cytisus Laburnum 325 
DAGGET 350 
Dalbergia miscolobium., .264 
Damascenine 625 
Damiana 645, 646 
Mexican 645 
Dammara australis 583 
Daphnandra repandula 360 
micrantha 360 
Darnel, bearded 850 
Date-plum 661 
Chinese 661 XVI 
GENERAL INDEX. 
Daucus Carota 450 
David's root 389 
Dead oil 35 
Deadly nightshade 331 
Death camass 599 
Death-cup 363 
Decocta 647 
Decoction,aloes, compound.648 
barley 648, 649 
bittersweet 648 
broom 650 
compound 651 
cetraria 648 
cinchona, red 648 
yellow 648 
dandelion 651 
dogwood 648 
elm-bark 651 
Iceland moss 648 
logwood 648, 649 
pipsissewa .648 
pomegranate root 649 
poppies 650 
sarsaparilla 650 
compound 650 
seneka 648 
uva ursi 648 
white oak bark 648 
Zittmann's milder 650 
stronger 650 
Decoctions 647 
Decoctum aloes compositum 648 
cetrariee 648 
chimaphilse 648 
cinchonae flavae 648 
rubra? 648 
corn us floridae 648 
corticis radicis granati... .649 
dulcamaras 648 
granati radicis 649 
haematoxyli 648, 649 
hordei 648, 649 
lusitanicum 650 
Papaveris 650 
quercus albae 648 
sarsae 650 
sarsaparilla? 650 
compositum 650 
scoparii 650 
compositum 651 
senegee 648 
taraxaci 651 
ulmi 651 
uvae ursi 648 
Zittmanni fortis 650 
mi tins 650 
Deer's horn, burned 608 
Dehydrodimethylphenypy - 
razine 220 
Delphinus giobiceps 99 
Dentaria bulbifera 433 
diphylla 433 
enneaphylla 433 
he terop h y 11 a 433 
laciniata 433 
maxima... 433 
Depilatory, Martin's 412 
Dermatol ». .359 
Desoxyalizarin 527 
Devil tree of India 156 
Devil's bit 487 
Devil's turnip 367 
Dextrin 194, 195 
white 195 
Dextrinum 195 
Dextrose 194, 902 
Diachylon 699 
Diadem spider 264 
Dialysis 859 
Diammonium orthophos- 
phate 181 
Diamond 440 
anthracite 440 
black 440 
fig 891 
Dian th us Caryophyllus 455 
Diaptherin 499 
Diaspore 162 
Diastase 132, 194 
Diazo-benzene-chloride 207 
Diazo compounds 207 
Dibenzoyl hydrocotoin 613 
Dibutyryl-phloroglucin ... .300 
Dicentra Canadensis 610 
Dichinoli n d i m e th yl s ul- 
phate 634 
Dicinchonicine 544, 546 
Dicinchonine..498, 592, 544, 546 
Diconchinine 498. 542, 546 
Dicotoin 612 
Dictamnus albus 626 
Dicypellium caryopjiylla- 
tum.. 560 
Didelph y s can cri vora 632 
Diervilla trifida 651 
canadensis 651 
Diethyl-Acetal 14 
Digitalein 653 
Di gi tai igen i n 653 
Digital in 653 
Digitaline amorphe 653 
Digitalinum verum 653 
Digitaliresin 653 
Digitalis purpurea 652 
tomentosa 652 
cristallisee 653, 654 
Digitalose 653 
Digitalosmin 654 
Digitogenin 653 
Digitonin 653 
Digitoxigenin 653 
Digitoxin 653 
Digitoxose 653 
Dihomocinchonine 544, 545 
Dill-fruit 203 
Dill-fruits 203 
Dill seeds 203 
Dimethyl-ethyl carbinol.... 191 
Dimethyl-Ketone 13 
Dimethyl-oxyquinizine ... .220 
Dioscamphor 372 
Dioscorea villosa 658, 659 
var. glabra 658, 660 
Dioscorein 660, 784 
Diosma betulina 371 
crenata 371 
crenulata 371 
odorata .371 
serratifolia 372 
Diosmin 372 
Diosphenol 372 
Diospyros Kaki 661 
virginiana 661 
Diospyros obtusifolia 662 
embryopteris 662 
Dioxymethyl - an t h raqui- 
none 46 
Di pentene 419 
Diphenylamine 207 
Diquinicine 544 
Diquinidine 544, 546 
Dirca palustris 662 
Dita ; 156 
bark 156 
Ditaine 157 
Ditamine 157 
Dittany 625 
American 625 
bastard 626 
mountain 625 
Doctor gum 9 
Dodecatheon Meadia 639 
Dog chamomile 613 
Dog-fennel 613 
Dogwood 608 
alder-leaved 610 
broad-leaved 610 
flowering 608 
Jamaica 897 
pond .474 
round-leaved 7... .610 
swamp 609 
Dog's bane 228 
Dog's-tooth violet 730 
Doornboom tree 9 
Dorema Ammoniacum 170 
Aucheri ... 171 
Dorstenia Contrayerva 595 
brasiliensis 595 
dracena 596 
Houston! 596 
opifera 596 
robustum 171 
tubicina 596 
Dracontium foetidum 663 
Dragon-root 283 
Dragon's claw 604 
Drink, Lisbon diet 650 
Drops, antiemetic 436 
Drosera intermedia 665 
rotundifolia 664 
Dryobalanops aromatica... .418 
camphor 418 
Camphora 415, 418, 419 
Dryopteris marginalia.. 299, 300 
Filix-mas 299 
Drummine 749 
Duboisia Hopwoodii 667 
myoporoides 665 
Duboisine (a) 665, 666 
Dukhunee 502 
Dulcamara 667 
Dulcamaretin ' 668 
Dulcainarin 668 
Dulcarin 668 
Dulcit 737 
Dulse 526 
Dust-brand 848 
Dutch camphor 415 
liquid 126, 127 
Dwale 331 
Dwarf-box 373 
Dwarf cassia 458 
elder 261 
Dyer's bugloss 143 
saffron 452 
weed 433 
Dyes, azo 207 
Dysen tery-weed 642 
Double spruce 2 
Doundake 475 
PAGLE-VINE 588 
Ear-cockles 848 
Ear-drop, whitg 610 
Earth, bone A .. .399 
East India gum 9 
Eau de fleurs d'Oranger... .244 
Eau sedative de Raspail... .260 
Eau sedative, Raspail's 260 
Ebonite 680 
Ebur ustum 437 
Ecballii fructus 682 
Ecballin 682 
Ecballium agreste 681 
Elaterium 681 
officinale 681 
Ecboline 718, 719 
Ecgonine 565 
Echafol ta 673 
Echicaoutchin 157 
Echicerin 157 
Echinacea angustifolia 671 GENERAL INDEX. 
XVII 
Echinacea purpurea... .671, 677 
Echinospermum virgini- 
cum 642 
Echiretin 157 
Echitamine 156, 157 
Echitein 157 
Echitenine 157 
Echites antidysenterica... .156 
caryophyl lata 156 
Curura 156 
insignis 156 
longiflora 156 
malabarica 156 
pubescens 156 
syphilitica 156 
Echitin 157 
Echium vulgare 642 
Edible moss 526 
Egg-apple 670 
Egg-plant 670 
Egyptian cal la 284 
gum 9 
arabic tree 7 
thorn 7 
Eleeodendron maculosum... 10 
Elaphomyces granulatus.. .364 
Elaphrium elemifera 685 
Jacquinianum 685 
Elastica 677 
Elaterid 682 
Elaterin 681, 682 
Elaterinum 681 
Elaterium 681 
album 682 
cordifolium 681 
Maltese 682 
nigrum 682 
Elaylum chloratum 126 
Elder, dwarf 261 
prickly 262 
wild 261 
Elder-leaved ash 901 
El Kellah 595 
Elecampane 340 
Electuaries 589, 590 
Electuarium sulphuris 591 
terebinthinatum 591 
theriaca 590 
Electuary, compound 591 
lenitive 590 
senna 590 
Elemi 684 
African 685 
Brazilian 684 
Manila 684 
Mauritius 685 
Mexican 685 
oriental 685 
Vera Cruz 685 
Elephant apple 331 
Elettaria Cardamomum... .445 
major 446 
repens 445, 440 
Eleuthera-bark tree 455 
Elixir ammonii bromidi... .686 
valerian atis 686 
ammonium bromide 686 
valerianate 183, 686 
apii graveolentis composi- 
tum 686 
aromatic 691 
aromaticum 691 
blackberry, compound. . .691 
bismuth 686 
bismuthi 686 
bronchial 836 
buchu 686 
compositum 687 
compound 687 
buchu and potassium ace- 
tate 687 
Elixir buchu et potassii ace- 
tatis 687 
buckthorn 689 
calcii hypophosphitis 687 
lactophosphatis 687 
calcium hypophosphite. .687 
lacto phosphate 687 
caffeinae 687 
caffeine 687 
calisaya 685, 687 
detannated 688 
ferrated 688 
iron and strychnine... .688 
calisaya and iron 688 
cascara sagrada 691 
catharticum compositum.687 
celery, compound 686 
chloroform, compound. ..687 
chloroform! compositum.687 
cinchona 687 
.and iron 688 
detannated 688 
iron and strychnine... .688 
cinchome 687 
detannatum 688 
et ferri 688 
ferri et strychninae 688 
coca 688 
compound cathartic 687 
curassao 688 
Doffey's 685 
erythroxyli 688 
erythroxylon 688 
ferri hypophosphitis 688 
phosph at is 688 
phosphatis, quinines, et 
strychnines 688 
pyrophosphatis 689 
quinines et strychnine. 689 
frangula 689 
frangulae 689 
gentian 689 
with tinct. of chloride 
of iron 689 
gentiame 689 
cum tinctura ferri chlo- 
ridi 689 
guarana 689 
guaranee 689 
glycyrrhiza, aromatic ... .689 
glycyrrhizee aromaticum..689 
Helmont's 685 
hypophosphite of iron. ...688 
hypophosphi tes 690 
with iron 690 
hypophosphitum 690 
cum ferro 690 
iron, quinine, and strych- 
nine 689 
liquorice, aromatic 689 
lithii citratis .690 
lithium citrate 690 
malt and iron 690 
malti et ferri 690 
Mynsicht's 91, 685 
paregoricum 685 
pepsin 690 
pepsin and bismuth 691 
pepsin, bismuth and 
strychnine 690 
pepsin i 690 
bismuthi et strychnines.690 
et bismuthi. .* 691 
phosphate of iron 688 
iron,quinine and strych- 
nine 688 
phosphori 692 
phosphorus 692 
potassii acetatiset juniperi 691 
potassium acetate and j u- 
niper 691 
Elixir proprietatis 685 
pyrophosphate of iron... .689 
rhamni purshianse 691 
rhamnus purshiana 691 
rhei 691 
rhubarb 691 
rubi compositum 691 
sacrum 685 
salutis 685 
simple 691 
sodii salicylatis 691 
sodium salicylate 692 
stomachicum 685 
Vigani's 685 
vitae 685 
vitriol 91 
vitrioli Mynsichti 91 
Elixiria 685 
Elixirs 685 
Elm, corkwood 665 
Emerald, oriental 164 
Emery y 164 
Emetic root 745 
Emodin 46, 899 
Emplastra 692 
Emplastrum aconiti 694 
adhaesivum anglicum 696 
album coctum 694, 699 
ammoniaci 694 
cum hydrargyro 693 
arnicae 694 
aromaticum 695 
belladonnas 695 
com posi turn 695 
cantharidis 479 
capsici 693, 695 
compositum 696 
cephalicum 697 
cerati saponis 702 
cerussae 694 
compositum 698 
diachylon simplex 699 
epispasticum 479 
ferratum 696 
ferri 696 
fuscum 701 
cam phoratum 701 
galbani 694 
rubrum 694 
hydrargyri 693 
ichthyocollas 693, 696 
marti'ale 696 
matris camphoratum 701 
fuscum 701 
menthol 697 
myricae 697 
nigrum 701 
novicum 701 
odon talgicum 697 
opiatum 697 
opii 697 
oxycroceum 694 
picis burgundicae 698 
canadensis 694 
can tharidatum 698 
compositum 698 
plum bi 699 
iodidi 700 
oxidum rubrum 700 
resinae 701 
compositum 701 
roborans 696 
saponis 702 
fuscum 702 
spermatis ceti 479 
vesicans 479 
vesicatorium 479 
Empleurum serrulatum... .371 
Emulsa 702 
Emulsin 186, 188 
Emulsio ammoniaci 704 XVIII 
GENERAL INDEX. 
Emulsio amygdalae 704 
amygdalarum 704 
chloroform! 705 
olei morrhme 705 
cum hypophosphite... .706 
ricini 706 
terebinthinae 707 
simplex 704 
Emulsion, almond 704 
ammoniac 704 
any volatile oil 707 
asafoetida 704 
castor oil 706 
chloroform 705 
cod-liver oil 705 
glyconin 706 
Irish moss 705 
quillaja 706 
with hypophosphite... .706 
oil of turpentine 707 
simple 704 
Emulsions 702 
Emulsum ammoniaci 704 
amygdalae 704 
asafoetidae 704 
chloroformi 705 
Endive, garden 528 
Enema aloes 708 
composita 708 
compound 708 
anodynum 709 
cathartic 708 
catharticum 708, 709 
lobelia, compound 709 
lobeliae composita 709 
magnesii sulphatis 709 
magnesium sulphate 709 
opii 709 
opium 709 
sedativum 709 
tabaci 709 
terebinthinae 709 
composita 709 
tobacco 709 
turpentine 709 
compound 709 
Enemas 707 
Enemata 707 
English chamomile 211 
red 875 
strawberry 898 
Ens martis 889 
Eosin 208 
blue 208 
yellow 208 
Eosine 574 
Epeira diadema 264 
Ephedra antisyphilitica... .309 
monostachya 309 
vulgaris 309 
Ephedrine 300 
Epigsea repens 709 
Epilobium angustifolium . .711 
hirsutum 712 
marsh 711 
palustre 711 
var. albidum 711 
Epine vinette 345 
Epiphegus americanus 710 
virginiana 710 
Equisetum arvense 713 
hyemale 713 
lawigatum 713 
robustum 713 
Erechtites hieracifolia..711, 713 
Ergochrysin 719 
Ergosterin 720 
Ergot 715, 725, 848 
diss 725 
fluid 787 
oats 725 
Ergot, rye 715 
wheat 725 
Ergota 715 
Ergotin 721, 724, 786 
Bonjean's 786 
Ergotin (e) 718 
Ergotinine 718, 719 
Ergotcetia abortifaciens ... .715 
Ericolin 710, 728 
Erigeron annuum 714, 727 
canadense 714, 726 
heterophyllum 727 
Philadelphicum 727 
purpureum 727 
strigosum 727 
Eriobotrya japonica 188 
Eriodictyon californicum . .727 
glutinosum 727 
Eryngium aquaticum 729 
yuccmfolium 729 
Eryngo 729 
water 729 
Erythronium americanum. 730 
lanceolatum 730 
yellow 730 
Erythrophleine 731 
Ery throphleum guineense. .731 
judiciale 731 
Erythroxiline 565 
Erythroxylon Coca ... .564, 572 
var. Spruceanum 565 
Erythroxylon nova grana- 
tense 566 
Esenbeckia febrifuga 205 
Esenbeckine 205 
Esprit d'Iva 20 
Essence, almonds 186 
anise 732 
de petit grain 310 
hemlock 1 
peppermint 732 
spruce 2 
Essences 732 
flavoring 842 
Essentia anisi 732 
menthse piperita? 732 
Essen tiae 732 
Ethal 485 
Ethane, monobromo 124 
Ethene chloride 126 
Ether 117 
acetic 122 
amyl-nitrous 188 
capsules 120 
chloric 128, 524 
concentrated 119 
formic 123 
gelatinized 119, 120 
hydric 117 
hydriodic 125 
bydrobromic 124 
hydrochloric 128 
monochlorinated 128 
methyl 123 
methyl-ethyl 123 
methylen-dimethyl 124 
methylic 123 
ozonic 253 
pearls 120 
petroleum 341 
pyroacetic 13 
sulphuric 117 
vinic x 117 
washed 119 
xylostyptic 584 
Ethiops martial 874 
Ethoxy-caffeine 388 
Ethydene chloride 128 
dichloride 128 
Ethyl acetate 122 
bromide 124, 125 
Ethyl chloride 128 
hydroxide 132 
iodide.. ., 125 
oxide 117 
Ethylen hydrate 117 
Ethylene bichloride 126 
Ethylidene chloride... .128, 515 
Ethyl-naphthalene 684 
Ethyl-piperidine 592 
bromide 125 
Eucaine "A" "B" 572 
Eucalyptene 733 
Eucalypti gummi 736 
Eucalyptol 732, 734 
crude 733 
Eucalyptolen 733 
Eucalyptus globulus.. .732, 733 
oleosa 733 
rostrata 736 
Eucluuma gelatime 526 
spinosum 526 
Eugenia aromatica 453 
caryophyllata 453 
Eugenin 454 
Eugenol 419, 422, 454, 559 
Eugenol-methyl-ether 288 
Euonymin 737 
Euonymine 738 
Euonymit 738 
Euonymus americanus 737, 738 
atropurpureus 736, 737 
europams 738 
Euparin 740 
Eupatorin 739 
Eupatorine 740 
Eupatorium ageratoides... .742 
aromatic 742 
aromaticum 742 
aya-pana 742 
cannabinum 742 
conn atu m 738 
hyssopi folium 742 
incarnatum 742, 743 
leucolepsis 742 
perfoliatum 738 
purpureum 740 
rotundifolium 742 
sessili folium 742 
teucrifolium 742 
verbena' folium 742 
villosum 742 
Euphorbia alsinaeflora 749 
balsamifera 745 
canariensis 743 
Cattimandoo 745 
chiliensis 748 
corollata 744, 745 
cremocarpus 749 
Drummondii 749 
edulis 745 
gracilis 749 
helioscopia 749 
heterodoxa 749 
heterophylla 745 
humistrata 748 
hybernica 745 
hypericifolia 745, 747 
Ipecacuanha ... .745, 746, 749 
lata 748 
Lathyris 745, 748 
maculata 748 
marginata 749 
ocellata 748 
parviflora 751 
pilulifera 750 
piscatoria 745 
pros! rata 748 
resinifera 743, 745 
thymifolia 745 
Tirucalli 745 
Euphorbium 743 GENERAL INDEX. 
XIX 
Euphorbon 743 
744, 746, 749, 750 
Euphrasia officinalis 751 
Eupurpurin 741 
European birch 350 
masterwort 102 
Everlasting, mouse-ear 211 
pearl-flowered life 210 
pearly 210 
Evodia febrifuga 205 
Evodine 205 
Exacum, species 502 
Exalgin (e) 13 
Exodyne 13 
Extract, acetous 757 
aconite 759 
leaves 759 
root .759 
alcoholic 757 
aletris 760 
aloes 760 
socotrine 760 
apples, ferrated 789 
aqueous 757 
arnica root 763 
aromatic 764 
asclepias 765 
baptisia 766 
bark, precipitated 497 
bayberry bark 812 
belladonna leaves, alco- 
holic 766 
« bitter root 763 
bittersweet. 785 
black cohosh 774 
bloodroot 828 
blue cohosh 772 
blue-flag 800 
boneset 788 
burdock 804 
butternut 802 
calabar bean 816 
calisaya 774 
calumba 770 
cascara sagrada 772 
caulophyllum 772 
chamomile 762 
alcoholic 762 
cimicifuga 774 
cinchona 774 
colocynth 777 
compound 778 
Colombo 770 
conium 779 
cornus 781 
corydalis 781 
cotton-root bark 795 
cramp-bark, alcoholic... .844 
cypripedium 783 
dandelion 838 
digitalis 783 
dioscorea .. 78.4 
dogwood ;. .781 
dulcamara 785 
ergot 786 
ethereal 757 
euonymus 788 
eupatorium 788 
gentian 791 
geranium 792 
glycyrrhiza 793 
pure 794 
purified 795 
golden seal 798 
gossypii 795 
haematoxylon 797 
hemlock bark 1 
fruit, alcoholic 779 
henbane 798 
high cranberry bark 844 
hydrastis 798 
Extract, hydro-alcoholic .. .757 
hyoscyamus 798 
Indian cannabis 771 
ignatia 799 
hemp 763, 771 
purified 771 
iris 800 
jalap 801 
juglans 802 
krameria 802 
lappae 804 
leonurus 804 
leptandra 805 
lettuce 04 
liquorice 793 
liquid 794 
pure 794 
purified 795 
logwood 797 
lupulin 807 
malt 808 
and hops 809 
compound 809 
mandrake 819 
may-apple 819 
mezereuro, ethereal 811 
mitchella 811 
motherwort 804 
myrica 812 
nux vomica 812 
opium 814 
liquidum 815 
pareira 816 
partridgeberry 811 
physostigma 816 
plantago cordata 819 
pleurisy root 765 
podophyllum 819 
poke 817 
polygonum 820 
poppy 815 
ptelea 822 
quassia 822 
queen's-root 835 
rhatany 802 
rhubarb 824 
rum ex 827 
sanguinaria 828 
scullcap 831 
Scutellaria 831 
shrubby trefoil, alcoholic.822 
St. Ignatius' bean 799 
solid 757 
stillingia 835 
stramonium 836 
leaves 837 
seed 836 
taraxacum 838 
unicorn root 760 
uva ursi 840 
viburnum 844 
vinous 757 
wahoo 788 
water pepper 820 
plantain 819 
watery 757 
wild cherry 821 
indigo 766 
witch hazel 249 
yellow dock 827 
ladies' slipper 783 
Extracta 757 
fluida 752, 753 
Extracta et extracta fluida..752 
Extracts, alcoholic 758 
aqueous 758 
ethereal 758 
flavoring 842 
fluid 752, 753 
hydro-alcoholic 758, 759 
solid 752, 757 
Extractum aconiti 759 
fluidum 760 
foliorum 759 
herbae 759 
radicis 759 
fluidum 760 
aletridis 760 
fluidum 760 
aloes 760 
socotrinae 760 
alstonia constrictae fluid- 
um 761 
scholaris fluidum 761 
angelicae radicis fluidum..762 
antbemidis 762 
alcoholicum 762 
fluidum 762 
apii graveolentis fluidum .762 
apocyni 763 
fluidum 763 
araliae racemosae fluidum .763 
arnicae florum fluidum .. .764 
radicis 763 
fluidum 764 
aromaticum 764 
fluidum 764 
asclepiadis 765 
fluidum 765 
aspidospermatis fluidum..765 
aurantii amari fluidum.. .766 
baptisiae 766 
belladonnae alcoholicum..766 
fluidum 767 
foliorum alcoholicum. .766 
radicis fluidum 767 
berberidis aquifolii fluid- 
um 767 
vulgaris fluidum 768 
boldo fluidum 768 
brayerae fluidum 782 
bryonise fluidum 768 
bucbu fluidum 769 
compositum 769 
calami fluidum 769 
calendulae fluidum 770 
calumbae 770 
fluidum 770 
camellias fluidum 770 
cannabis indicae 771 
fluidum 771 
purificatum 771 
capsici fluidum 772 
cascarae sagradae 772 
castaneae fluidum 780 
caulophylli 772 
fluidum 772 
celastri fluidum 773 
chimaphilae fluidum 773 
chiratae fluidum 773 
cimicifugae 774 
fluidum 774 
cinchonae 774 
fluidum 775 
cocae fluidum 775 
coffeae tostae fluidum 776 
viridis fluidum 776 
colchici aceticum 776 
radicis 776 
fluidum 777 
seminis fluidum 777 
colocynthidis 777 
compositum 778 
columbo 770 
condurango fluidum 778 
conii 779 
alcoholicum 779 
fluidum 779 
fructus fluidum 779 
convallariae fluidum 780 
florum fluidum 780 
coptjs fluidum 780 GENERAL INDEX. 
XX 
Extractum cornus 781 
fluidum 781 
corydalis 781 
fluidum 781 
coto fluidum 782 
cubeb® fluidum.. 782 
cusso fluidum 782 
cypripedii 783 
fluidum 783 
digitalis 783 
alcoholicum 783 
fluidum 784 
d ioscore® 784 
dulcamar® 785 
fluidum 785 
epig®® fluidum 785 
ergot® 786 
fluidum 786 
eriodictyi fluidum 787 
erythroxyli fluidum 775 
eucalypti fluidum 787 
euonymi 788 
eupatorii.. 788 
fluidum 789 
ferri pomatum 789, 888 
frangul® fluidum 789 
fuci fluidum 790 
galang® fluidum 790 
gelsemii fluidum 790 
gentian® 791 
fluidum 791 
compositum 792 
geranii 792 
fluidum 793 
glycyrrhiz® 793 
depuratum 794, 795 
fluidum •.... .794 
liquidum 794 
purum 794 
gossypii 795 
radicis fluidum 795 
grindelia* fluidum 796 
guaran® fluidum 796 
hamamelidis fluidum ... .796 
h®matoxyli 797 
h®mostaticum 786 
humuli fluidum 797 
hydrange® fluidum 798 
hydrastis 798 
fluidum 798 
hyoscyami 798 
alcoholicum 798 
fluidum 799 
ignati® amar® 799 
ipecacuanh® fluidum 800 
iridis 800 
fluidum 801 
jalap® 801 
fluidum 801 
juglandis 802 
fluidum.. 802 
juniperi fluidum. 802 
koso fluidum 782 
krameri® 802 
fluidum 803 
lactuc® 804 
viros® .804 
lactucarii fluidum 803 
lapp® 804 
fluidum 804 
leonuri 804 
leptandr® 805 
fluidum 806 
ligni campeachiana 797 
lobeli® fluidum 807 
compositum 807 
lupulini 807 
fluidum 808 
malti 808 
compositum 809 
fluidum .809 
Extractum mangifer® fluid- 
um 810 
matico fluidum 810 
menispermi fluidum 810 
mezerei fluidum .. .811 
®thereum 811 
mitchell® 811 
myric® 812 
nucis vomic® 812 
fluidum 814 
opii 814 
liquidum 815 
papaveris 815 
pareir® 816 
fluidum 816 
petroselini radicis fluid- 
um 816 
physostigmatis 816 
phytolacc® 817 
radicis fluidum 817 
pilocarpi fluidum .. .818 
pinnatifolii fluidum... .818 
piperis methystici fluid- 
um 819 
plantaginis cordat® 819 
podophylli 819 
fluidum 820 
polygoni 820 
fluidum 820 
polymni® fluidum 821 
pomi ferratum 789 
pomorum ferratum 789 
pruni Virginian® 821 
fluidum 821 
ptele® 822 
quassi® 822 
fluidum 823 
quillaj® fluidum 823 
rhamni purshian® 772 
ar o m aticu m 824 
fluidum. 823 
rhei 824 
fluidum 825 
rhois aromatic® fluidum .825 
glabr® fluidum 826 
ros® fluidum 826 
rubi fluidum 827 
rumicis 827 
fluidum 827 
sabin® fluidum 828 
sanguinari® 828 
fluidum 828 
sarsaparill® fluidum 829 
compositum 829 
scill® fluidum 830 
scoparii fluidum 830' 
scutellari® 831 
fluidum 831 
senecionis fluidum 833 
seneg® fluidum 831 
senn® fluidum 832 
deodoratum 832 
et jalap® fluidum 833 
serpentari® fluidum 833 
spigeli® et senn® fluidum .835 
fluidum 834 
compositum 834 
sterculi® fluidum 835 
stigmatum maydis fluid- 
um 845 
stillingi® 835 
fluidum 836 
compositum 836 
stramonii 836 
foliorum 837 
fluidum 837 
semin is 836 
fluidum 837 
sumbul fluidum 838 
taraxaci 838 
fluidum 839 
Extractum trillii fluidum.. 839 
tritici fluiduni 839 
turner® fluiduni 840 
urtic® fluiduni 840 
uv® ursi 840 
fluidum 841 
valerian® fluidum 841 
vanill® fluidum 841 
veratri viridis fluidum... .843 
verbasci fluidum 844 
ver ben® fluidum 844 
viburni 844 
opuli fluidum 844 
prunifolii fluidum 845 
xanthoxyli fluidum 845 
ze® fluidum 845 
zingiberis fluidum 846 
Eyebright 745, 747, 751 
T7ABA VULGARIS 850 
" Fabiana imbricata 846 
Fabianine 846 
Fagus Castanea 458 
dentata 458 
puinila 459 
sylvatica 614 
False aloe 128 
angustura bark 205 
bittersweet 473 
cohosh 469 
col umbo 404 
grape 184 
hellebore 115 
Loxa bark 535 
saffron 452 
sarsaparilla 261 
Solomon's Seal 598 
spikenard 598 
unicorn root 141, 487 
wild yam 660 
Farina fab® 850 
phaseoli 850 
tritici 847 
Farinose 193 
Fasay 171 
Fat, hydrous wool 113 
Fatsia papyrifera 263 
Feather geranium 495 
Fei bovinum 850 
bovis 850 
purificatum 852 
tau ri 850 
depuratum 852 
Fennel, bitter...' 892 
common 891 
dog 613 
fruits 891 
German 892 
Indian 892 
large 891 
Roman 891, 892 
Saxon 892 
seeds 891 
sweet 891 
wild 892 
Fennel-flower 625 
small 625 
Fenugreek 892 
Feraconitine 106 
Fern, meadow 588 
sweet 588 
gale 588 
maidenhair 114 
Fernambuco wood 144 
Feronia elephantum 331 
Ferri acetas 852 
albuminas 887 
ammonio-citras 859 
ammonio-sulphas 861 
ammonio-tartras 862 
arsenas 852 GENERAL INDEX. 
XXI 
Ferri benzoas 888 
bromidum 853 
carbonas saccharata 854 
saccharatus 854 
chloridum 855 
citras 857 
et ammonii citras 859 
sulphas 861 
tartras 862 
et bismuthi citras 887 
et magnesii citras 887 
et potassii tartras 863 
et quinae citras .. .*. 864 
et quininae citras 864, 866 
solubilis 865 
cum strychnina 865 
strychninaeque citras.. .865 
tartras 863 
et sodii citro-phosphas .. .876 
citro-pyrophosphas.. .878 
py rophosphas 879 
et strychnue citras 866 
et strychninae citras 866 
et zinci citras 860 
ferrocyan idum 867 
ferrocyanuretum 867 
hypophosphis 868, 869 
iodidum 871 
saccharatum 870 
lactas 872 
Ferri-Kali-tartaricum 863 
Ferri malas 888 
crudus 789 
oxalas 888 
oxidum hydratum 873 
cum magnesia 876 
magneticum 874 
nigrum 874 
rubrum 874 
perchloridum 855 
peroxidum '.873 
hydratum 874 
peroxydum 874 
phosphas 876, 877 
albus 878 
effervescens 878 
solubilis 876 
potassio-tartras 863 
pulvis 889 
py rophosphas 878 
solubilis 878 
ramenta 884 
salicylas 887 
sesquioxidum 874 
squamae 874 
stearas 888 
subcarbonas 875 
succinas 888 
sulphas 879 
exsiccata 881 
exsiccatus 881 
granulata 881 
granulatus 881 
praecipitatus 881 
sulphidum 882 
sulphuretum 882 
valerianas 883 
tan n as 888 
Ferric acetate 852 
albuminate 887 
benzoate 888 
chloride 855, 857 
citrate 857 
ferrocyanide 867 
hydrate 873 
with magnesia 876 
hydricum 874 
hydroxide 873 
hypophosphite 868, 869 
iodate 872 
oxide 874, 885 
Ferric oxide, red 874 
oxyhydrate 874 
phosphate 878 
soluble 876, 877 
true.. 877 
potassium ferrocyanide.. .868 
pyrophosphate, soluble.. .878 
saccharate 875 
tannate 888 
valerianate 883 
Ferricyanidum ferrosum.. .868 
Ferro-ammouium citricum.859 
Ferrocyanidum ferricum.. .867 
Ferroso-aluminic sulphate. .862 
Ferroso-ferricarsenate. .852, 853 
oxide 874 
phosphate 877 
Ferrous arsenate 852 
bromide 853 
carbonate, saccharated .. .854 
chloride 857 
ferricyanide 868 
hypophosphite 869 
iodide 871 
saccharated 870 
lactate 872 
malate 888 
oxalate 888 
oxide 885 
salicylate ... 887 
sulphate 879,885 
dried 881 
granulated 881 
precipitated 881 
sulphide 882 
Ferrugo 874 
Ferrum 884 
arsenicum 852 
alcoholisatum 890 
ammoniatum 888 
ammonio-sulphuricum.. .861 
borussicum 867 
bromatum 853 
chloratum 857 
citricum ammoniatum .. .859 
oxydatum 857 
dialysatum 858 
ferrocyanatum 867 
hypophosphorosum 868 
iodatum saccharatum... .870 
muriaticum oxydatum.. .855 
oxydulatum 857 
oxydatum fuscum 874 
magneticum 874 
saccharatum 875 
phosphoricum 877 
cum natrio citrico 876 
porphy risatu m 890 
pul veratum 890 
pyrophosphoricum c u m 
sodio citrico 878 
redactum 889 
reductum 889 
sulfuricum oxydatum am- 
moniatum 861 
sulphuricum oxyd a t u m 
ammoniatum 861 
tartaratum 863 
tartaricum ammoniatum.862 
tartarizatum 863 
valerianicum 883 
vitriolatum purum ,879 
zooticum 867 
Ferula alliacea 285 
asafoetida 284 
foetida 284 
Narthex 284 
Scorodosma 284 
tingitana., 171 
Fetid buckeye 116 
goosefoot. 495 
Fever bark 153 
Australian 153 
Fever-bush, California 553 
Feverfew 212 
Fever-twig 473 
Fibrin, gluten 848 
vegetable 848 
Fici 890 
Ficus Carica 890, 891 
indica 678 
infernalis 634 
passa 890 
religiosa 678 
Fiddle-grass 712 
Fig 890 
diamond 891 
Hottentot's 891 
Indian 376 
Figs 890 
dried 890 
Greek 890 
natural 890 
pulled 891 
Smyrna 890 
Turkey 890 
Filix-red 300 
Fillsea suavolens 731 
Fire on the mountain 745 
Fireplant, Mexican 745 
Fireweed 711, 713 
Five leaves 184 
Fixed air 43 
alkali 169 
Flag annotta 144 
sweet 390 
Flavoring essences 842 
extracts 842 
extract, chocolate 842 
coffee 842 
ginger 842 
soluble 842 
lemon 842 
nectar 842 
orange 842 
pineapple 843 
raspberry 843 
rose 843 
sarsaparilla 843 
strawberry 843 
wintergreen 843 
Fleabane, Canada 726 
common 727 
Philadelphia 727 
various-leaved 727 
Flesh-colored asclepias 292 
Flies, Chinese blistering... .427 
Spanish 427 
Flindersia maculosa 10 
Flora virides aeris 626 
Flores antimonii 215 
benzoes 30 
chamomillae Roman®... .211 
cartham i 452 
cassue 560 
martis 889 
Flour 848 
common 847 
rice 194 
wheat 847 
wh eaten 847 
Flower of Crete 891 
Flowering cornel 608 
Flowers of antimony 215 
of Benjamin 30 
of benzoin 30 
of camphor 415 
Flowery-headed spurge 750 
Fluid extract, aconite 760 
root 760 
aletris 760 
alstonia constricta 761 XXII 
GENERAL INDEX. 
Fluid extract, alstonia 
scholaris 761 
American hellebore 843 
veratrum 843 
angelica root 762. 
antibilious physic 833 
apocynum 763 
aralia racemosa 763 
arnica flowers 764 
root 764 
aromatic 764 
asclepias 765 
aspidosperma 765 
bear's foot 821 
berberis aquifolium 767 
vulgaris 768 
belladonna root 767 
bitter orange peel 766 
bittersweet 785 
blackberry bark 827 
black-haw bark 845 
blood root 828 
blue Hag.., 801 
boldo 768 
boneset 789 
brayera 782 
broom 830 
bryonia 768 
buchu 769 
compound 769 
burdock 804 
calamus 769 
calendula 770 
calisaya bark 775 
calumba, 770 
camellia 770 
Canadian hemp 763 
moonseed 810 
capsicum 772 
cascara sagrada, 823 
aromatic 824 
castanea 780 
caulophyllum 772 
celastrus 773 
celery 762 
chamomile 762 
chestnut leaves 780 
chimaphila 773 
chirata 773 
cimicifuga 774 
cinchona 775 
coca 775 
cola 835 
colchicum, acetic 776 
root 776, 777 
seed 777 
condurango 778 
conium 779 
fruit 779 
seeds 779 
convallaria 780 
dowers 780 
coptis 780 
corn silk 845 
cornus 781 
corydalis 781 
co to 782 
cotton-root bark 795 
couch-grass 839 
cramp-bark .844 
cubeb 782 
cypripedium 783 
damiana 840 
dandelion 839 
digitalis 784 
dogwood 781 
dulcamara 785 
entozoic powder 834 
epigiea 785 
ergot 786 
eriodictyon 787 
Fluid extract, erythroxy- 
lon 775 
eucalyptus 787 
eupatorium 789 
false bittersweet 773 
frangula 789 
fucus 790 
galangal 790 
gelsemium 790 
gentian 791 
compound 792 
geranium 793 
ginger 846 
green coffee 776 
grindelia 796 
guarana 796 
glycyrrhiza 794 
hamamelis 796 
hops 797 
hydrangea 798 
hydrastis 798 
hyoscyamus 799 
Indian cannabis 771 
hemp 771 
ipecac 800 
jaborandi 818 
jalap 801 
j uglans 802 
juniper 802 
kola 835 
kousso 782 
krameria 803 
lactucarium 803 
lappa 804 
leptandra 806 
life-root 833 
lily of the valley 780 
lobelia 807 
compound 807 
lupulin 808 
malt 809 
mandrake 820 
mangifera 810 
matico 810 
may-apple 820 
menispermum 810 
mezereum 811 
nux vomica 814 
pareira 816 
parsley root, 816 
peumus boldo 768 
phytolacca root 817 
pilocarpus 818 
pennatifolius 818 
piper methysticum 819 
pleurisy root...' 765 
podophyllum 820 
poke-root 817 
polygonum 820 
polymnia 821 
prickly ash 845 
quassia 823 
quebracho 765 
queen's root 836 
quillaja 823 
red pepper 772 
red rose 826 
rhamnus purshiana 823 
aromatic 824 
rhatany 803 
rhubarb 825 
rhus aromatica 825 
glabra 826 
bark 826 
roasted coftee 776 
rose 826 
rubus 827 
rumex 827 
sanguinaria 828 
sarsaparilla 829 
compositum 829 
Fluid extract, savine 828 
scoparius 830 
scullcap, 831 
Scutellaria 831 
senecio 833 
senega 831 
seneka 831 
senna 832 
senna and jalap 833 
deodorized 832 
serpen taria 833 
spigelia 834 
compound 834 
and senna 835 
squill 830 
sterculia 835 
stillingia 836 
compound 836 
stramonium 837 
seed 837 
sumach bark 826 
sumach-berries 826 
sumbul 838 
taraxacum 839 
trailing arbutus 785 
trillium 839 
triticum 839 
turkey-corn 781 
turnera . .840 
urtica 840 
uva ursi 841 
uvedalia 821 
valerian 841 
vanilla 841 
veratrum viride 843 
verbascum 844 
verbena 844 
viburnum opulus 844 
prunifolium 845 
xanthoxylum 845 
yellow dock 827 
cinchona bark 775 
parilia 810 
yerba santa 787 
zea 845 
water-pepper 820 
wild cherry 821, 822 
Fluor-spar 62 
Fluorescein 208 
Fluxweed 745, 747 
Fly agaric 363 
potato 431 
Spanish 431 
Folia, aconiti 102 
aurantii 309 
Fceniculum capil lace urn 
891, 892 
dulce 891 
officinale 891 
Panmorium 891 
vulgare 891 
Foenum grsecum 892 
Foetid hellebore 663 
Formal 893 
Formaldehyde 893 
Formaldehydum 893 
Formalin 893 
Formalin-gelatin 897 
Formica rufa 50, 431 
Formosa camphor 415 
Formose 893 
Fouquieria splendens 477 
Foxglove 652 
purple 652 
Fragaria canadensis 898 
grandiflora 898 
vesca 898 
virginiana 898 
Fragariamarin 898 
Fragarin 898 
Franciscea unitlora 897 GENERAL INDEX. 
XXIII 
Frangula Alnus 898 
vulgaris 898 
Frangulin 899 
Frankenia grandiflora 899 
Frasera Carolinensis 900 
Walteri 404, 900 
Fraxetin 902 
Fraxin 902 
Fraxinella, white 626 
Fraxinit 902 
Fraxinus acuminata 901 
alba 901 
Americana 901 
Epiptera 901 
excelsior 902 
var. pendula 902 
sambucifolia 901 
viridis 902 
French annotta 144 
marigold 401 
saffron 619 
Fringe-tree 500 
Fructus aurantii 309 
canariensis 850 
cannabis 423 
caricie 890 
cassias fistulas 456 
silybi 447 
Fucodium nodosum 903 
Fucus amylaceus 526 
bladder 902 
crispus 524 
digitatus 903 
Helminthocorton 526 
natans 903 
nodosus 903 
serratus 903 
siliquosus 903 
vesiculosus 902 
Fuh-ling ,364 
Fuligo ligni 440 
splendens 440 
Fuligokali 441 
Fuller's earth 165 
Fumaria officinalis 903 
Fumarine 903 
Fumitory 903 
Fungus chirurgorum . .362, 364 
muscarius 363 
Fuchsin 208 
Fuchsin e 207 
Furfures tritici 850 
Furfurol 21 
Fusel oil .139 
oils 133 
Gadolinite 484 
Galipea febrifuga 203 
Cusparia 203 
officinalis 203 
Galipidine 204 
Galipine 204 
Gam beer 467 
Gambier 467 
Gambir 467 
Gamboge 412 
cake 413 
Ceylon 413 
lake 413 
pipe 413 
Ganja 423 
Gan j ah 423 
Garcinia Cambogia 413 
elliptica 413 
Hanburii 412, 413 
Mangostana 330 
Morelia 413 
var. pedicellata ... .412, 413 
pictoria 413 
Garden angelica 266 
artichoke 641 
Garden cress 432 
endive 528 
marigold 401 
nasturtium 433 
night-shade 670 
peppergrass 432 
spider 264 
spurge 745, 747, 748 
tulip 599 
Gardenia fiorida 621 
grandiflora 620, 621 
radicans 621 
Garlic 145 
Garrya Fremonti 553 
Garry ine 553 
Gas, ammonia 169 
carbonic acid 43 
hydrochloric acid 57 
laughing 181 
olefiant 126 
phosgene 515 
sulphuretted hydrogen...882 
sylvestre 43 
Gasteria Lingua 148 
Gatinais saffron 619 
Gaultheria procumbens..81, 82 
Gaultherin 350 
Gauze, carbolized 41 
Gedda gum 8 
Geoflfroya inermis 197 
jamaicensis 197 
retusa 198 
vermifuga 198 
Gel an the creme 697 
Gel anthum 696 
Gelatina lichenis islandica..487 
Gelatina lichenis islandica 
saccharata sicca 487 
Gelatin, Chinese 526 
Japanese 526 
vegetable 848 
Gelidium cartilagineum... .526 
corn eum 526 
Gelose 526 
Gelosine 526 
Gentiana 502 
Chi ray ta 502 
Gentian, American 900 
Gentiopicrin .901 
Georgia bark 553 
Geraniin 792 
Geranium, feather 495 
Geratacaca 897 
German chamomile 212 
fennel 892 
tinder 362 
Giant puff-ball 364 
Solomon's seal 598 
Gibbsite 162 
Gigartina acicularis 525 
Helminthocorton 526 
mamillosa 524 
pistillata 525 
Gin, Holland 134 
Ginger, Indian 287 
wild 287 
Girello 641 
Glacialin 35 
Glaucine 493 
Glaucium corniculatum... .493 
var. phoeniceum 904 
luteum 493 
Glauco-picrine 493 
Gleditschia ferox 309 
triacanthos 309 
Gleditschine .309 
Gliadin 848, 849 
Globe flower 474 
Gloiopeltis tenax 526 
Glucose 902 
Glue, liquid. 70 
Glue, marine 680 
Gluten 848 
casein 848 
Glutenin 849 
Glutin 848 
Glutol 897 
Glycerin trioleate 72 
Glycerite, bismuth nitrate. .358 
Glycin 851 
Glycocoll 851 
Glycozone 253 
Glycyrrhiza glabra 793 
Glycyrrhizin 3 
Gnaphalium dioicum 211 
var. plantaginifolium . .211 
margaritaceum 210 
plantagineum 211 
plantaginifolium 211 
polycephalum 211 
Goa powder 264 
Gold 314 
bromide 315 
chloride 315 
cyanide 315 
hydroxide 315 
iodide 315 
moss 314 
powdered 315 
pulverized 315 
Gold and sodium chloride . .312 
Gold-ammonium chloride..315 
Gold-leaf...; 315 
Gold-thread 602 
Golden sulphur 219, 220 
Gollindrinera 748 
Gomme d'acajou 196 
Gonolobus Cundurango ... .588 
Good King Henry 495 
Goontch 3 
Goosefoot, fetid 495 
Gorakh mu n di 647 
Gotterbaum 130 
Gowik Chentz. 110 
Grain oil 139 
oils 133 
Grains, black 373 
of Paradise 446 
silver 573 
Grana Paradisi 446 
sylvestra 574 
Gran ilia 574 
Granulose, starch 193 
Grape, false 184 
mountain 346 
Oregon 346 
Graphite 440 
Gravel plant 709 
Gravel-root 740 
Gravel-weed 651, 709, 740 
Great angelica 265 
celandine 492 
hairy willow herb 712 
ragweed 168 
Solomon's seal 598 
willow herb 711 
Greek figs 890 
Green ash 902 
Bremen 628 
Brunswick 628 
emerald 628 
mineral 628, 629 
mitis 628 
mountain 628 
Paris 628 
Scheele's 628 
Schweinfurt 628 
vitriol 879 
Greenockite 377 
Grey bark 535 
Groats 315 
prepared 315 XXIV 
Ground holly 495 
laurel 709 
Guachamaca 634 
Guachamacine 634 
Guaco 743 
Guaiacol 21, 467, 614, 615 
Guanine 176 
Guano 74, 176 
Guaranine 385 
Guaza 423 
Guinea grains 446 
pepper 434, 624 
Gum acacia ...' 7 
ammoniac 170 
arabic 7 
Australian 9 
Barbary 9 
Benjamin 342 
benzoin 342 
cape 9 
cedar 10 
chagual 10 
doctor 9 
East India 9 
Egyptian 9 
elastic 677 
euphorbium 745 
Gedda 8 
Hashabi 7 
hemlock 1 
Hogg 9 
India 9 
Jiddah 8 
Kauri 583 
Kordofan 8 
leopard tree 10 
maguey 129 
mezquit 9 
mezquite 9 
mimosa 7 
Mogador 9 
Morocco 9 
muckeet 9 
musquit 9 
red 736 
Savakin 9 
Senegal 8 
Sennaar 9 
Sennari 9 
Suakin 9 
Talca 9 
Talha 9 
Turic 8 
• Turkey 8 
wattle 9 
white Sennaar 8 
Gummi arabicum 7 
elasticum 677 
elemi 684 
mimosse 7 
Gummigutt 413 
Gummi-resina ammonia- 
cum 170 
gutti 412 
Gunj 3 
Gunja 3 
Gunjaii 423 
Guraji spice 446 
Gurgonje 3 
Gurjun balsam 602 
Gutta gamba 412 
Gutti 412 
Guvacine 269 
Gynandropsis pentaphyIla..433 
Gypsum 400 
dried 399 
fibrous 400 
HABHAL-HABASHI 446 
Habilla de San Ignacio. .744 
Haemostatic, Pagliari's 344 
Hagenia abyssinica 637 
Hairy Solomon's seal 598 
Hakkin 284 
Halidrys siliquosa 903 
Halymenia edulis 526 
pal mat us 526 
Hamamelis, distillate of... .249 
distilled .249 
Hancornia speciosa 678 
Hardback 580 
Hardwickia pinnata 602 
Hard yellow bark 540, 542 
Hartshorn 173 
Hart's-tongue 301 
Hart's truffle 364 
Hashab 7 
Hashabi el Jesire.. 9 
gum 7 
Hashiscin 425 
Hashish 423 
Hashshashin 423 
Hay saffron 620 
Hazlewort 288 
Heal-all 580 
Heart-leaved aster 304 
Heavy earth 327 
spar 327, 329 
Hebradendron cambogi- 
oides 413 
Hedge vine 562 
Heel habashee 446 
Heil 446 
Helianthin 208 
Helianthus tuberosus 641 
Heliotropium europaeum.. .641 
Hellebore, black 115 
false 115 
fcetid 663 
Helleborus niger 115 
trifolius 602 
Helminthocorton 526 
Helonias 141 
bullata 489 
dioica 487, 488 
lu tea . 487 
Helopeltis Antonii 538 
Hematite 875 
red 875 
Hematites, brown 874 
Hemlock 1, 592 
gum 1 
poison 592 
spotted 592 
spruce 1 
Hemp, Canadian 225 
Indian 225, 228, 229, 422 
Queensland 159 
Hempseed 423 
Hemp-weed 742 
round-leaved 742 
white Indian 292 
wild 168 
Henna 144 
Hepar antimonii 218 
calcis 410 
sulphuris calcareum 410 
Heptane 342, 743 
Herb Christopher 109 
Herba botryos mexicanae.. .495 
catariae 465 
cochleariae 433 
nasturtii pratensis 433 
nepette , 465 
Hercules' club 262 
Hesperetin 310 
Hesperidin 309, 311, 312 
Heteromeles arbutifolia.... 188 
Hevea braziliensis 678 
discolor 678 
guyanensis 677 
Hexachlorethane 444 
GENERAL INDEX. 
Hexamethylenetetramine - 
bromethylate 890 
Hexane 342 
Hibiscus Abelmoschus 159 
esculentis 159 
Moscheutos 159 
palustris 159 
Rosa-Sinensis 159 
Sabdariffa 159 
virginicus 159 
High angelica 265 
High-mallow 159 
Hill chirata 502 
colocynth of India 587 
Hing 285 
Hingra 285 
Hippo 745 
Hippocras 447 
Hippomane Mancinella... .744 
Hirundo esculenta 526 
Hive-bee 224 
Hofmann's violet 208 
anodyne liquor 134 
Hogg gum 9 
Hog's-b read 638 
Hog-weed 168 
Holarrhena africana 156 
antidysenterica 156 
Holland gin 134 
Holly, ground 495 
Hollyhock, common garden 159 
Holy thistle 563 
Homatropine 305 
Homburg's pyrophorus ... .161 
Homocinchonicine ... .544, 545 
Homocinchonidine 543,545, 553 
Homocinchonine 543, 545 
Homoquinine 543, 545, 547 
Honduras cochineal 573 
Honey, eucalyptus 736 
water 128 
Honey-bee 224 
Honeysuckle, bush 651 
Horehound, wild 742 
Horn poppy 493 
Hone-balm 580 
Horse bean 850 
cane 168 
cassia 457 
Horseradish 277 
Horse-tail 713 
common 713 
Horse weed 168, 580, 726 
Hottentot's fig 891 
Hound's tongue 641 
Huamalies bark 535 
Huanuco bark 535, 541 
Coca 565 
Huile de copau 599 
Hura brasiliensis 744 
crepitans 744 
Hurin 744 
Hydrastis canadensis...... .349 
Hydrobryoretin 368 
Hydrocarotin 451 
Hydrochrysamide 151 
Hydrocinchonidine... .543, 545 
Hvdrocinchonine 543 
545, 556, 557 
Hydrocotoin 613 
Hydroconchinine 545 
Hydro-elaterin 682 
Hydrogen acetate 20 
ammonium carbonate 
174, 176 
arsenide 282 
arseniuretted 26, 282 
bromide 54 
chloride 56 
dioxide 249 
fluoride 62 GENERAL INDEX. 
XXV 
Hydrogen iodide 52 
monoxide 231 
peroxide 249 
sulphate 87 
sulphide 882 
Hydroquinidine 543, 545 
Hydroquinine 543, 545 
Hyoscyamine 666 
Hydroxylamine hydrochlo- 
ride 527 
Hydrozone 253 
Hygrine 566 
Hygrophila spinosa 647 
Hyoscine 305, 335, 340 
Hyoscyamine 305, 335, 340 
Hyoscyamus niger 335 
Scopolia 340 
Hypnal 511 
Hypnone 14 
liquid 14 
Hypophosphis calcicus 395 
ferricus 868 
Hypoquebrachine 302 
[BERTS AMARA 432 
A Ice, camphor 478, 480 
plant 891 
Iceland lichen 486 
moss • 486 
Icica Icicariba 685 
Ictodes foetidus 663 
Illicium Anisatum 210 
Imperatoria Ostruthium.... 102 
India gum 9 
India-rubber 677 
vulcanized 679 
Indian arrow-wood 736 
bael • 330 
bean-tree 460 
bread 364 
cannabis 422 
corn 192 
cress 433 
fennel .' 892 
fig 376 
ginger 287 
hemp 225, 228, 422 
mallows 159 
lilac 317 
liquorice 2 
opobalsamum 321 
persimmon tree 662 
uhysic 745 
quince 330 
sage 738 
turnip 283 
Indigo, prairie 326 
Indigo-weed 323 
Indigo, wild 323 
Injections 707 
Ink, indelible 273 
red 575 
stamping 209 
In komankomo 301 
Inks, aniline 209 
indelible 209 
Inosit 654, 902 
Inula Helenium 340 
Inulin 279, 528, 739 
lodacetanilid 13 
lodantifebrin 13 
lodanti pyrin 223 
lodidum cadmicum 377 
lodina rhombifolia 303 
lodopyrin (e) 223 
loduretumammonicum... .179 
amyli 195 
arseniosum 881 
ferrosum 871 
Ipeca 746 
Ipecac 745 
Ipecac, Carolina 749 
spurge 749 
white 749 
wild 745, 749 
Ipecacuanha 745 
American 750 
bastard 293 
spurge 745 
Irish moss 524 
whiskies 134 
Iron 884 
acetate 852 
albuminate 887 
alcoholized 890 
alum 861 
ammoniated 888 
ammonio-chloride 888 
ammonio-citrate 859 
ammonio-tartrate 862 
arsenate 852 
black oxide 874, 885 
bromide 853 
by hydrogen,. 889 
carbonate, precipitated.. .875 
saccharated 854 
cast 884 
chloride 855 
citrate 857, 860 
insoluble 857 
soluble 858, 859, 860 
dialyzed 858, 859 
ferrocyanide 867 
ferrocyanuret 867 
filings .884 
gambogiate 414 
gray cast 884 
hydrated oxide 873 
sesquioxide 873 
hydrous peroxide 874 
hypophosphite 868, 869 
iodate 872 
of sesquioxide 872 
iodide 871 
saccharated 870 
lactate 872 
magnetic oxide 874, 885 
malate, crude 789 
malleable 884 
milk of 878 
moist peroxide 873 
monoxide 885 
nitroso-sulphide 516 
oxide, red.. 875 
saccharated 875 
perchloride 855 
peroxide .'.874, 885 
phosphate 877 
effervescent 878 
soluble 876 
white 878 
pig 884 
porphyrized 890 
powder .889 
protosulphide 882 
protoxide 885 
pulverized 890 
pyrophosphate, with so- 
dium citrate 878 
Quevenne's 889 
reduced .. / 889 
by hydrogen 889 
saccharated 875 
sesquichloride 855 
sesquioxide 874, 875, 885 
specular pig 884 
stearate 888 
subcarbonate 875 
succinate 888 
of peroxide 888 
sulphate 879, 885 
dried 881 
Iron sulphate, granulated.. .881 
precipitated 881 
sulphide 882 
sulphuret 882 
superphosphate 878 
tannate 888 
tartarized 863 
tartrated 863 
teroxide 885 
valerianate 883 
white cast 884 
Iron and ammonium cit- 
rate 859 
sulphate 861 
tartrate 862 
and bismuth citrate 887 
and magnesium citrate.. .887 
and potassium tartrate.. .863 
and quinine citrate 864 
soluble. 864, 865 
with strychnine 865 
and quinine tartrate 863 
and strychnine citrate... .866 
and zinc, ammonio-citrate 860 
and zinc citrate 860 
Isatropyl-cocaine 566 
Ishpingo 560 
Isinglass, Chinese 526 
Japanese 526 
Isis nobilis 618 
Iso-amyl nitrite 188 
Isohesperidin 310 
Isolichenin 487 
Isopentene 191 
Isopren 679 
Iva 20 
Ivain . 20 
Ivaol 20 
Ivory-black 437 
Ivy, American 184 
TACK-IN-THE-PULPIT.. .283 
" Jaen bark 535 
Jaffna moss 526 
Jamaica 159 
cabbage tree 197 
dogwood 897 
Jamaicine 198 
Japaconine 106, 108 
Japaconitine 106, 108 
Japan camphor 415, 416 
quince 641 
wax 477 
Japanese aconite 106 
belladonna 339 
gelatin.' 526 
isinglass 526 
persimmon 661 
potatoes 284 
Jaracatia 448 
Jasmine, blue 563 
Jateorhiza palmata 403 
Jatropha Curcas. 634 
elastica 677 
macrorhiza 635 
multifida 635 
Java cinnamon 558 
tea 497 
turmeric 635 
Javanine 544, 546 
Jelly, Iceland moss 487 
leaf v. .159 
Jequiriti 3 
Jequiritin .-. 3 
Jequirity 2 
Jerubeba 670 
Jerubebine 670 
Jerusalem artichoke 641 
cherry 670 
oak 494, 495 
Jesuit's bark 536 XXVI 
GENERAL INDEX. 
Jetoline 209 
Jicama 635 
Jiddah gum 8 
Joannesia principis 635 
Joe-pie 740 
Joe Pye weed .. .740 
Juices, inspissated 759 
Justice's weed 742 
17 ALUMB 404 
I* Kali kutki 156 
Kaolin 165 
Kao-pen 267 
Karit 587 
Karvi-turai 587 
Kasagra 824 
Kathira 9 
Kauri gum 583 
Kei line 595 
Kelp 903 
Kelp-ware 902 
Keith 171 
Kermes 575 
mineral 219, 220 
minerale 219 
Khaya senegalensis 318 
Kickxia Africana 678 
Kidney bean 850 
Kina du Rio Nunez 475 
Kinarrest 538 
Kinnikinnik 609 
Kinone 382, 547 
Kino vic-bitter 548 
Kinovin 543, 547, 548 
Knob-root 580 
Knob-weed 580 
Koenigin 637 
Koosein 638 
Kooso 637 
red 638 
Kooso-esels 637 
Korarima 446 
Kordofan gum 8 
Kosin 638 
Kosso 637 
Kottakkarandai 647 
Kousin 638 
Koussin .638 
Kousso 637 
Krystallmehl .. .334 
K r y stal 1 san d 334 
Kunch 3 
Kurchicine 156 
Kusso 637 
Kyanol 204 
Laburnum... 325 
Lac ammoniaci 704 
asafoetidae 704 
ferri 878 
Lactas ferrosus 872 
Lactide 65 
Ladies' bower 561, 562 
mantle 130 
Ladies'-slipper 643 
low 644 
ram's-head 644 
showy 644 
small white 644 
stemless 644 
white-flowered 644 
yellow 643 
Lagam balsam 602 
Lakes 163 
Lalo 110 
Lamb's quarter 495 
Lampblack 440 
Landolphia florida 678 
gummifera 678 
Kirkii 678 
owariensis 678 
Landolphia Petersiana 678 
Lanolin 113 
sulphurated 114 
Lapides cancrorum 618 
Lapilli cancrorum 618 
Lapis divinus 632 
infernalis 275 
nitratus 275 
lazuli 164 
smiridis 164 
smyris 164 
Lappa 340 
Larch agaric 361 
Lard Ill 
benzoinated 112 
hog's Ill 
oil 112 
prepared Ill 
Large buckeye 117 
fennel 891 
flowering spurge 744, 745 
spotted spurge 745, 747 
Laserpitin 267 
Laserpitium latifolium 267 
Laughing gas 181 
Laurel camphor 415 
Laurus Camphora 414, 415 
Cinnamomum 558 
Cubeba 624 
Lavements 707 
Lawsonia alba .144 
Lazulite 164 
Lead, black 440 
gambogiate 414 
Leather flower 563 
Leatherwood 662 
Leek, common 146 
Legumin 316 
Lemon, essential salts 75 
salt of 75 
Leon tin 470 
Lloyd's 470, 472 
Leontice thalictroides 468 
Leopard tree 10 
gum 10 
Leopard's bane 278 
Lepidin : 432 
Lepidium campestre 432 
Iberis 432 
intermedium 432 
latifolium 432 
ruderale 432 
sativum 432 
virginicum 432 
Letheon 120 
Leucin 720 
Leucoline 498, 499 
Leucotin 613 
Levisticum officinale 267 
Lichen, Iceland 486 
islandicns 486 
starch 486 
Lichenin 486 
Lichenoid 487 
Life everlasting, plantain.. .211 
Ligatures, Lister's catgut... 41 
Light oils 341 
Lignite 440 
Ligulin 267 
Ligusticum acteifolium... .267 
filicinum 267 
Levisticum 267 
sinense 267 
Lilac, African 317 
Indian 317 
Persian 317 
Lilium convallium 596 
Lily, May 596 
of the valley 596 
Lima bark 535 
Lime 406 
Lime, air-slaked 406 
bisulphite 401 
bone phosphate 397 
brown acetate 22 
burned 406 
caustic 406 
chloride 408 
chlorinated 408 
di th iocarbon ate 619 
gray acetate 22 
hydrate 406, 408 
hypophosphite, 395 
iodate 397 
iodide 396 
milk of 406 
native friable carbonate. .617 
over-burnt 406 
poor 406 
precipitated phosphate.. .397 
quick 406 
slaked 406, 408 
sulphite 400 
sulphurated 410 
superphosphate 399 
Lip-salve 480 
red 480 
white 480 
Liquid glue 70 
Liquor acidi arsenosi 30 
ammoniacal 169 
ammonia' 241 
arseni et hydrargyri io- 
didi 30 
arsenici chloridi 30 
barii chloridi 328 
bismuth 352 
calcii chloridi 395 
ferri chloratum 857 
dialysatus 858 
et ammonii succinatis. .888 
oxychlorate 858 
pyrophosph atis 879 
Hoffman's anodyne 134 
Hollandicus 126 
potassii arsenitis 30 
Liquorice, Indian 2 
wild 2, 261 
Lisbon diet drink 650 
Lithospermum pulchrum . .642 
tinctoria 143 
Liver of antimony 218 
Lizard's tail 203 
Llipta 564 
Loadstone 885 
Loja bark 541 
Loliin 850 
Loliine 850 
Lolium arvense 850 
temulentum 850 
London paste 407 
Loquat 188 
Lotio ammoniacalis cam- 
phorata 260 
Lovage 267 
Love-apple 670 
Love vine.. 561, 562 
Lovely bleeding 167 
Low ladies'-slipper 644 
mallow7 159 
Loxabark 533, 535, 536, 541 
Loxopterygine 303 
Loxopterygium Lorentzii . .303 
Luban mati 685 
meyeti 685 
Luffa acutangula var. amara.587 
echinata 587 
operculata 587 
Luna cornea 274 
Lunar caustic 275 
Lungwort 642 
Virginian 642 GENERAL INDEX. 
XXVII 
Luteolin 433 
Lycaconine 106 
Lycaconitine 106 
Lycine • 670 
Lycium Afrum 670 
barbarum 670 
umbrosum 670 
vulgare 670 
Lycoctonine 106 
Lycoperdon Bo vista... .364, 524 
cervinum 364 
giganteum 364 
solid um 364 
Tuber 364 
Lycopersicum esculenturn..670 
Lyperia crocea 620 
Lysol 1 41 
Lytta Gigas 431 
vesicatoria 427 
If ACH2ERIUM FERTILE.303 
Maclura aurantiaca 144 
Macrotin 529, 530 
Macrotyn 529, 530 
Macrotys 529 
Mad-dog weed 143 
Madras cardamoms 445 
turmeric 635 
Magenta 208 
Magisterium bismuthi 355 
Maguey 128 
gum 129 
Magnolia seeds 625 
Mahogany birch 349 
tree 318 
Mahonia 348 
aquifolium 346 
pinnata 349 
Maidenhair 114 
black 115 
fern 114 
white 115 
Maize 192 
Majun 423 
Malabar cardamoms 445 
Malachite 627 
green 208 
Malambo-bark 456 
Malayan camphor 418 
Male-fern 299 
Mallow, common 159 
high 159 
Indian 159 
leaves 159 
low 159 
round 159 
Malouetia nitida 634 
Maltese elaterium 682 
orange 310 
Maltin e 809 
f errated 809 
plain 809 
with cascara sagrada 809 
coca wine 809 
cod-liver oil 809 
h y pophosph ites 809 
pancreatin and pepsin..809 
peptones 809 
phosphate of iron, qui- 
nine and strychnia...809 
wine of pepsin 809 
Malto-dextrin 194 
Malto-yerbine 809 
Maltose 194 
Malva neglecta 159 
rotundifolia 159 
sylvestris 159 
vulgaris 159 
Mamseiro 448 
Mamao 448 
Mammillaria simplex 376 
Manaca 897 
red 897 
white 897 
Manacan 897 
Manaceine 897 
Manacine 897 
Manchineel 744 
Mancinellin 744 
Mancona bark 731 
Manconine 732 
Mandragora 340 
autumnalis 340 
officinalis 340 
vernalis 340 
Mandragorine 340 
Mandrake 340 
Mangosteen 340 
Manihot Glaziovii 678 
Manila elemi 684 
Mannane 662 
Mannit 720, 737, 902 
Mannitan 547 
Mannite 102, 559 
Mannose 662 
Manzanillo 749 
Maracaibo bark 535 
540, 542, 543 
copaiba 600 
Maraham caoutchouc 678 
Mardarin orange 310 
Margarin 112 
Marginal shield-fern 299 
Margosa bark 318 
Margosine 318 
Marigold 401 
African 401 
French 401 
garden 401 
Marine alkali 169 
Marking-nut 196 
Marsdenia Condurango 588 
Marsh epilobium 711 
Marsh-mallow 157, 340 
Marsh rose hibiscus 159 
Martial Ethiops... . 874 
Maruta Cotula 212, 613 
foetida 613 
Mary gold 401 
Mary thistle 447 
Massoy-bark 558, 560 
Masterwort 265 
European 102 
Mastocarpus mamillosus.. ..524 
Mata. 743 
Mata-peroo 588 
Matonia Cardamomum 445 
Matricaria Chamomilla 212 
Parthenium 416 
Matrimony vine 670 
Mauritius elemi 685 
Mauwin bark 658 
Mauwinum 658 
May-flower 709 
May lily 596 
weed 212, 613 
Meadow fern 588 
cabbage 663 
saffron 577 
scabish 303 
Medicago root 340 
sativa 340 
Meetha 502 
Melaconite 629 
Melan th igen i n 625 
Melanthin 625 
Melegueta pepper 446 
Melia Azedarach 317 
Azadirachta 318 
dubia 318 
Melocactus communis 376 
Meloe vesicatorius 427 
Menispermum palniatum . .404 
Mercurealine 749 
Mercurialis annua 749 
perennis 749 
Mercurio-vegetal 897 
Mercury, vegetable 897 
Mertensia virginica 642 
Mesenibryanthemum crys- 
tallinuni 891 
edule 891 
tripolium 891 
Metachloral 503 
Meta-cresol 41 
Meta-kresol 574 
Metal, bell 628 
gun 628 
white 628 
Wood's 358 
Methosin (e) 220 
Methoxylmethane 123 
Methozine 220 
Methyl sesculin 340 
Methyl-arecaidine 269 
Methyl-benzene 323 
Methyl-benzoyl-ecgonine.. .565 
Methyl-coniine 592, 593 
Methyl-creosol 614 
Methyl-ethyl-benzene 684 
Methyl-ethyl-oxide 123 
Methyl-eugenol 287 
Methyl-sanguinarine 492 
Metbyl-tetra oxyanthraqui- 
none 151 
Methyl-theobromine.. .385, 386 
Methyl-tyrosin 198 
Methylacetanilid 13 
Methylal 124 
Methylamine, acetate 21 
Methylanthracene 151 
Methylene blue 209 
hydrate 123 
Methyl morphine 575 
orange 208 
oxide 123 
violet 208 
Methy loxychinizin 220 
Metl 128 
Meum Foeniculum 891 
Mexican damiana 645 
elemi 685 
fire-plant 745 
tea 495 
Mezcal 128 
Mezereon, American 662 
Mezquitgum 9 
Mezquitegum 9 
Microcosmic salt 182 
Midge, wheat 848 
Mignonette 433 
Migranin 224 
Mikania Guaco 742 
scandens 742 
Mildew 848 
Milfoil 19 
musk 20 
Milk plant 749 
purslane 744, 745, 747 
snake 744 
thistle 447 
of almond 704 
of ammoniac 704 
of asafoetida 704 
of iron 878 
of lime 406 
Milkweed 229, 291, 745 
common 291 
swamp 292 
Mimosa arabica 7 
Catechu 466 
Senegal 7 
Mineral green 629 XXVIII 
GENERAL INDEX 
Mineral spirit 43 
Min j ak-lagam 602 
Mishmee bitter 604 
Mispickel 25, 282 
Mistura ammoniaci 704 
amygdal® 704 
asafeetid® 704 
chloroformi 705 
Mithridate mustard 432 
Mithridatum 590 
Mitigated caustic 275 
Mixture, A. C. E 121 
almond 704 
ammoniacum 704 
asafeetida 704 
chloroform .705 
Hope's 69 
Mocassin flower, yellow... .643 
Mogador gum 9 
Momeea 423 
Momordica buchu 684 
Elaterium 681 
Monkey-bread tree 110 
Monkshood 101 
Monobromantipyrin 223 
Monobromo ethane 124 
Monobromphenylacetamide 13 
Monochlorantipyrine 511 
Monochlorphenol 41 
Monomethylamine 749 
Monotropa procera 606 
Moosewood 662 
Moradeine 553 
Moradin 553 
Morocco gum 9 
Moronobea coccinea 10 
Mormon tea 309 
Morphine 269 
methyl 575 
Morung elachi 446 
Moschatine 20 
Mosi 486 
Moss, Ceylon 526 
Corsican 526 
dried saccharated Iceland 487 
edible 526 
gold 315 
Iceland 486 
Irish 524 
Jaffna 526 
Mossa 486 
Mountain alder 147 
balm 727 
dittany 625 
grape 346 
mahogany 349 
pink 709 
rush 309 
sage 6 
strawberry .. 898 
Mouse ear 304 
everlasting 211 
Virginia 642 
Mouth-root '.. .602 
Moxa 6 
Chinese 6 
Moxas 491 
Mucedin.1 848 
Mucilage, gum arabic 10 
Muckeet gum 9 
Mucor mucedo 15 
Mudar-bark 293 
Mugwort 6 
western 6 
Muira-Puama 647 
Mundi 647 
Murmuria 647 
Murray a exotica 637 
Kcenigii 637 
Murray in 637 
Mus 486 
Musca cellaris 15 
Muse® Hispanic® 427 
Muscale, buttons 376 
Muscarine 363 
Musculus venenosus 634 
Musk milfoil 20 
Musquash root 595 
Musquit gum 9 
Mussel 634 
Mustard, mithridate 432 
Mutteepal 132 
Mycoderma aceti 15 
cerevisi® 15 
Mycose 720 
Mylabaris bif asci ata 431 
cichorii 431 
lunata 431 
phalerata 431 
Myoctonine 106 
Myosotis virginica 642 
Myrica asplenifolia 588 
Comptonia 588 
j alapensis 477 
Myricin 476, 812 
Myricyl palmitate 476 
Myriocarpin 587 
Myristin 574 
Myrosin 278, 432 
Myrospermum balsamife- 
rum 323 
of Sonsonate 318 
Pareir® 318 
Toluiferum 322 
Myroxocarpin 321 
Myroxylon Pareir® 318 
319, 321 
pedicellatum 321 
Peruiferum 321 
punctatum 323 
Toluifera 319, 322 
Myrtus caryophyllatus 453 
Mytilotoxine 634 
Naked broomrape.. .711 
Napaconitine 102 
N-Methyl - benzoy Itetrame- 
thyl-g-oxypiperidin-car- 
bonic acid-methy tester. .572 
Napelline 100, 102, 106 
Naphtha aceti 122 
crude 341 
solvent 341 
vi trioli 117 
wood 21, 140 
Naphthalene 20 
Naphthol sulphoricinate.... 73 
Naphthopyrine 223 
Nard, wild 288 
Narrow-leaved purple cone- 
flower 671 
Narthex asafeetida 284 
Nascent wintergreen 13 
Nasturtium, garden 433 
officinale 433 
palustre 433 
Nataloin 150, 151 
Native quinine of Australia.153 
Natrium pyrophosphoricum 
ferratum 879 
Nauclea Gambir 467 
Navel orange 310 
Navelwort 614 
Necklace weed 108 
Nectandra Rodi®i 373 
Nectandrine 329 
Nepaline 106 
Nepaul aconite 106 
Nepeta Cataria 465 
var. citriodora 465 
Nerium antidysentericum. .156 
Nerve-root 643 
New England aster 304 
New Jersey tea 472 
Ngai 418 
camphor 418 
Ngmoo 665 
Nicaragua wood 144 
Nicotine 667 
Nigella damascena 625 
sativa 625 
Nigellin 625 
Nigger head 672 
Night-shade, black 670 
deadly 331 
garden 670 
woody 667 
yellow-flowered 658 
Nim bark 318 
tree of India 318 
Nitras argenticus fusus 275 
Nitrobenzene 341 
Nitrobenzol 341 
Nitrogen hydrate 67 
monoxide 181 
Nitrosylchloride 71 
Nitrous oxide 181 
Nitrum Hammans 180 
Noah's ark 643 
Nopal .573 
Nuces Barbadenses 634 
cathartic® American®... .634 
Nutmeg Hower 625 
MAK. JERUSALEM 494 
Oak of Jerusalem 495 
Oat 315 
Oatmeal 316 
Ochre, antimony 215 
bismuth 357 
brown 875 
French 875 
Indian red 875 
Oxford 875 
red 875 
Roman 875 
Spanish brown 875 
yellow 875 
Ocotilla wax 477 
Octane «... .743 
Ocuba wax 477 
Oculi cancrorum 618 
Oculina virginea 618 
(Esypum 113 
Ohio buckeye 116 
Oidium abortifaciens 715 
Oil, ammoniac 171 
bitter almonds 186 
Borneo camphor 419 
callicoonah 318 
camphor 419 
caoutchouc 679 
capsicum, ethereal 437 
Carron 510 
corn-spirit 139 
crab 318 
dead 35 
elemi 684 
fatty, of ergot 718 
Formosa camphor 419 
fusel 139 
grain 139 
hemlock 1 
kundah 318 
lard 112 
meadow-sweet 82 
•Mexican lignaloes 685 
mustard, volatile 433 
neat's foot 399 
neroli 310 
of antimony 218 
peach 187 
Peru balsam 321 GENERAL INDEX. 
XXIX 
Oil, pine-needle 1 
potato-spirit 139 
red 72 
santonica 733 
scurvy-grass 433 
Simabolee 637 
spermaceti 485 
spruce 1 
star anise 210 
Sumatran camphor 419 
vitriol 87 
commercial 88 
Nordhausen 88 
wormwood 5 
Oils, fusel 133 
grain 133 
light 341 
Ointment, arthanita 639 
basilicon 481 
glycerin of lead subace- 
tate 480 
Gondret's ammoniacal... .243 
resin 481 
savin 481 
Old man 6 
Old man's beard 500, 562 
gray beard 500 
Olefiant gas 126 
Olein 112 
Oleite 73 
Oleoresina, Hardwickia ... .602 
Oleoresin, asclepias 291 
Oleum absinthii 5 
amygdalae expressum 186 
anthemidis 211 
badiana 210 
betulinum 350 
bubulum 399 
camphorse 419 
carui 453 
copai bae 600 
erechtitis 714 
muscovitum :... .350 
rusci - .350 
One-flowered broomrape... .711 
Onion 146 
Onosma echioides 144 
Ooda 503 
Ophelia angustifolia 502 
Chirata 502 
densifolia 502 
elegans 502 
multiflora 502 
pulchella 502 
Opobalsamum, Indian 321 
Opopanax Chironium 171 
Opuntia cochinillifera 573 
vulgaris 376 
Orobanche virginiana 710 
Orange III 208 
3P 208 
Poirrier's 208 
berries 309 
Bigarade 309 
bitter 309 
blood 310 
China 310 
Curacao 311 
flowers 311 
Maltese 310 
mandarin 310 
navel 310 
Osage 144 
peel, bitter 309 
Portugal 310 
Seville 309 
St. Michael's 310 
swallow-wort 288 
sweet 310 
Orangettes 309, 311 
Orchidocarpum arietinum. .297 
Ore, magnetic iron 874 
Oregon grape 346 
Orellana 144 
Orellin 144 
Orleana 144 
Orexin 500 
hydrochloride 499 
Oriental amethyst 164 
cashew-nut 196 
elemi 685 
emerald 164 
topaz 164 
Orobanche americana 711 
uniflora 711 
Orpiment 25, 282 
red 282 
Orsein 398 
Orthite 484 
Ortho-amido-toluene 206 
Ortho-cresol 41 
Ortho-dimethyl benzene... .429 
Ortho-dioxybenzene 622 
Ortho-oxycy mol 416 
Ortho - oxyethylana - mono- 
benzoyl-amidoquinoline.499 
Ortho-xylene 429 
Orthosiphon stamineus 497 
Orthosiphonin 497 
Orungurabie 665 
Oryza sativa 194 
Os 398 
sepiae 618 
ustum 399 
Osage orange 144 
Osha root 267 
Osier, red 609 
Ostrea edulis 618 
Otoliths 617 
Ourari 632 
Ovis Aries 113 
Oxalas cericus 483 
Ox-bile, purified 852 
Ox-gall 850 
purified 852 
Oxidum argenticum 276 
Ox-tongue 642 
Oxyacanthine 345, 347, 349 
Oxy camphor 417 
Oxychinaseptol 499 
Oxydum antimonicum 215 
bismuthicum 353 
calcicum 406 
ferricum hydratum 874 
ferroso-ferricum 874 
stibicum 215 
Oxy-ethyl-methyl-tetra hy- 
dropyridine 305 
Oxyleucotin 613 
Oxy methylene 893 
Oxyneurine 671 
Oxyquinaseptol 499 
Oyster-shell, prepared 618 
Ozone 253 
pACHYMA COCOS 364 
P Paeonin 208 
Painted leaf 745 
Pale bark 541 
barks 540 
Peruvian bark 533 
Palicurea densiflora 611 
Palmitin 112 
Palton bark 535 
Panbotano bark 553 
Pannum 301 
Papain 448, 449 
Papal cross spider 264 
Papaw 297, 448 
true 298 
Papaya vulgaris 448 
Papayotin 449 
Paper, asthma 490 
blistering 490 
cantharides 490 
mustard 491 
potassium nitrate 490 
rice 264 
saltpetre 490 
turmeric 637 
Papers, medicated 490 
Pappoose-root 468, 469 
Para-amido-toluene 206 
Parabuxine 373 
Parabuxinidine 373 
Para caoutchouc 678 
cress 434 
copaiba 600 
rubber 677 
Paraconiine 593 
Paracotoin 612, 613 
Para-coto bark 611, 612 
Para-cresol 41 
Paraformaldehyde 894, 896 
Para-methyl - propyl - b e n - 
zene 625 
Paramonobromacetanilid... 13 
Paramono - bromphenylace - 
tamide 13 
Paraxylene 743 
Pareira brava, common 
false 373 
true 373 
Paricine 544, 546 
Paris white 617 
Parmelia parietina 46 
Parsley, spotted 595 
Parsnip turnip 367 
water ' 595 
Partridge-pea 458 
Pasque flower 200 
Paste, arsenical, Rousselot's. 29 
Dupasquier's 871 
London 407 
Rousselot's arsenical 29 
starch 193 
Vienna 407 
Pastel pencils 617 
Pastinacine 595 
Paviin 902 
Pawpaw 297, 448 
Payta bark 544, 545 
Paytamine 544, 545 
Pay tine 544, 545 
Pea, chick 74 
partridge 458 
sensitive 458 
Peach wood 144 
tree 187 
Pear, prickly 376 
Pearl-flowered life everlast- 
ing 210 
Pearl white 358 
Pearly everlasting 210 
Pectase 51 
Pectin 451 
Pectose 451 
Pedgery 667 
Peheca 746 
Pelosine 373 
Penang benzoin 343 
Pencil flower 470 
Pencils, pastel 617 
Penicillium glaucum 15 
Penny cress... 432 
Pennywort 614 
Pental 191 
Pentane 342 
Pentene 191 
Pepita de San Ignacio 744 
Pepper, African 434, 624 
Ashantee 624 
bird 434 GENERAL INDEX. 
XXX 
Pepper-brand 848 
Pepper, Cayenne 434 
corn 848 
Guinea 434, 624 
Melegueta 446 
pod 434 
red .434 
West African black 624 
Pepper-grass 432 
garden 432 
wild 432 
Pepperwort 433 
broad-leaved 432 
Pernambuco caoutchouc.. .678 
wood 144 
Persian lilac 317 
Persica vulgaris 187 
Persimmon 661 
Japanese 661 
tree, Indian 662 
Peru balsam 318, 321 
tree 318 
Peruvian bark 533 
Peruvin 320 
Petit grains, essence de 310 
Petroleum benzin 341 
ether 341 
Pettymorrel 262 
Peucedanum graveolens... .203 
Peumus Boldus 359, 360 
Phalaris canariensis 850 
Phallin 363 
Phaseolus vulgaris 850 
Pheasant's eye 115 
Phellandrene 267, 419 
Phenamid 205 
Phenazon (e) 220 
Phenazonum 220 
Phenerythen 37 
Pheno-salyl 41 
Phenol 21, 35, 36 
camphor 419 
camphorated 419 
dimethylated 151 
iodatum . • • • • 41 
iodized 41 
hydrate 35 
liquefied 40 
Phenolid 13 
Phenolph talein 208 
Phenolum natrio sulphori- 
cinicum 73 
Phenopyrine 223 
Phenylacetamide 11 
Phenylamine 205 
Phenylbenzamid(e) 13 
Phenyldihydrochinazol in 
h y d roc h 1 ora te 499 
Phenyldihydroquinazoline 
hydrochloride 499 
Phenylmethyl-ketune 14 
Phenyldimethylpyrazolon. .220 
Phenylene brown 207 
Philadelphia fleabane 727 
Phlorol 21, 614 
Phlorol-ester 279 
Phloroglucin 414, 467, 728 
Phosgene gas 515 
Phosphas ammonicus 181 
Phosphas-ferroso-ferricus... 877 
Photoxylon 583 
Phthaleines 208 
Physeter macrocephal us.... 167 
484 
Physic, Dow's 71 
white liquid 71 
Physic-nut 624 
Physostigma venenosum... .267 
348 
Phytosterin 267, 348, 851 
Picac 745 
Picea canadensis 1 
Pichi 846 
Picraconitine 100 
Picradonidin 115 
Picro-crocin 620 
Picroglycion 668 
Picropyrine 223 
Picrorrhiza Kurroa 156 
Picrosclerotine 718, 719 
Pigweed, common 495 
Pigments, gall 851 
Pill, Plummer's alterative. .220 
Pill-bearing spurge ... .745, 750 
Pills, Asiatic 30 
Blanchard's 872 
Pilzatropin 363 
Pimenta 455 
Pimpernel, blue 197 
red 197 
scarlet 197 
Pimpinella anisum 209 
magna 268 
Saxifraga 268 
Pimpinellin. 268 
Pinckneya pubens 553 
Pine, Prince's 495 
Pine-apple strawberry 898 
Pine-drops 605 
Pinene 1, 286, 288, 419 
Finns canadensis 1 
Kennedy's concentrated 
extract 1 
Kennedy's white 1 
Piper Afzelii 624 
anisatum 624 
Piper betle leaves 268 
Piper caninum 624 
Clusii 624 
crassipes 624 
Cubeba 622 
Lowong 624 
Melegueta 446 
ribesioides 624 
Piperine 624 
Pipsissewa 495 
Piscidia Ery thrina 897 
Pita 128 
Pitayo bark 535 
Pitch, Canada 1 
Pitchery 667 
Pitchiri 667 
Piturie 667 
Piturine 667 
Pitury 667 
Plantain life everlasting... .211 
water 143 
Plaster 400 
aconite 694 
adhesive 701 
and strengthening 701 
ammoniac 694 
with mercury 693 
arnica 694 
aromatic 695 
bayberry 697 
belladonna 695 
compound 695 
blistering 479 
breast 700 
brown soap 702 
Burgundy pitch 698 
camphorated cantharidal.479 
brown 701 
mother 701 
Canada pitch 694 
cantharidal pitch 698 
capsici 695 
capsicum, compound 696 
chalybeate 696 
common strengthening . .696 
court 344, 696 
Plaster, diachylon 699 
galbanum 694 
iodide of lead 700 
iron 696 
irritating 698 
isinglass 696 
land 400 
lead 699 
litharge 699 
Maliy's 994 
menthol 697 
mercurial 693 
Nuremburg 700 
opium 697 
red oxide of lead 700 
resin 701 
compound 701 
sear-cloth 696 
soap 702 
cerate 702 
spice 695 
sticking 701 
strengthening 696 
tar, compound 698 
universal '700 
warm 698 
warming 698 
white lead 694 
of Paris 399 
Plasters 692 
porous 693 
Pleurisy root 288 
Plumbago 440 
Podalyria tinctoria 323 
Pod pepper 434 
Poele bark 156 
Pogonob us febrifugus 553 
Poinsetta 745 
Poison ash 500 
hemlock 592 
parsley 592 
Polanisia graveolens 433 
Polecat-weed 663 
Polirroth 875 
Polychroit 620, 621 
Polygonatum bifloruni 598 
co mm utatu m 598 
giganteum 598 
multiflorum 598 
officinale 598 
Polypodium Filix-mas 299 
incan um 301 
Polyporus fomentarius 362 
igniarius 362 
officinalis 361 
pi ni col a 362, 363 
Poly solve 73 
Ponchishuiz 293 
Pond dogwood 474 
Poor man's weather-glass... 197 
Poppy, horn 493 
prickly 269 
Porcelain clay 165 
Porcelia triloba 297 
Porphyrine 154 
Portland arrowroot 284 
sago 284 
Portugal orange 110 
Potassa cum calce 407 
Potassio-ferric tartrate 863 
Potassium, acid oxalate.... 75 
binoxalate 74, 75 
gambogiate 414 
ferri-ferrocyanide 868 
ferro-ferricyanide 868 
f erro- tartrate 863 
oleate 73 
Pota'o 668 
common 670 
Potato-starch 194 
Potatoes, Japanese 284 GENERAL INDEX. 
XXXI 
Pothos fcetida 663 
Poultice, alum 465 
bread 464 
carrot 462 
charcoal 461 
chlorinated soda 464 
chlorine 464 
cranberry 463 
elm 464 
flaxseed 462 
hemlock 462 
Indian meal 464 
linseed 462 
lobelia 463 
molasses 464 
mustard 463 
phytolacca 463 
poke root 463 
potato 465 
slippery-elm 464 
stramonium 464 
yeast 462 
Poultices 461 
Pourretia lanuginosa 10 
Powder, aromatic 764 
asepsin and sodium bicar- 
bonate 297 
Bahia 264 
bleaching 408 
Brazil 264 
Curry 637 
Goa 264 
of Alg*iroth 216 
of iron 889 
red 875 
ringworm 264 
styptic 875 
Vienna 407 
Pox plant 749 
Prairie indigo 325 
senna 458 
Premna taitensis 284 
Prickly ash, southern 262 
elder 262 
pear 376 
poppy 269 
Pride of China 317 
of India 317 
Pride-weed 726 
Prince's feather 167 
pine 495 
Proof spirit 135 
Prophetin 682 
Propylamine •... .718 
Prosopsis dulcis 9 
juliflora 9 
Protoquinamicine 544, 546 
Protopine 492 
Prunus Amygdalus 185 
var. Amara 184 
var. fragilis 185 
Pseudaconine 100, 106 
Pseudaconitine 100, 106 
Pseudo-codeine 577 
Pseudo-conhydrine... .592, 593 
Pseudo-curcumin 636 
Pseudo-hyoscyamine 666 
Pseudotropine 305, 566 
Pterospora Andromedea... .605 
Pucci nia gramin is 848 
Puerto Cabella bark 542 
Puffball 364 
common 524 
giant 364 
Puharee 502 
Pulmonaria officinalis 642 
virginica 642 
Pulque 128 
distilled 128 
Pulsatilla, American 200 
Nuttailiana 200 
Pulvis Salis Carolini factitii 
effervescens 258 
Kissingensis factitii effer- 
vescens 258 
sympatheticus 631 
Vichyani factitii efferves- 
cens 259 
Vichyani factitii efferves- 
cens cum lithio 259 
Pumex 165 
Pumey 165 
Pumice stone 165 
Purge root 745 
Purging agaric 361 
cassia 456 
Purging-nut 634 
Purple angelica 265 
boneset 740 
cone-flower 671, 677 
chi rata .502 
foxglove 651 
Purples 848 
Purslane, black 745, 747 
milk 744, 745, 747 
Puya lanuginosa 10 
Pyoktanin 208 
aureum 208 
blue 208 
cceruleum 208 
yellow 208 
Pyrazole 223 
Pyrethrum Parthenium... .212 
416 
Pyre tin 440 
Pyrites, arsenical 25 
Pyrocatechin 467, 622 
Pyrocatechol 21 
Pyrogallol 52 
Pyrogallopyrine 223 
Pyrola chlorantha 497 
elliptica 497 
rotundifolia 497 
secunda 497 
umbellata 495 
Pyropborus, Homberg's... .161 
Pyrophosphas ferricus cum 
citrate sodico 878 
Pyrrhopine 492 
Pyrus Cydonia. 640 
japonica 641 
Queensland asthma- 
weed 750 
hemp 159 
Queen of the meadow 740 
Quebrachamine 302 
Quebrachine 302 
Quebrachit 301 
Quebracho .301 
Colorado 303 
flojo 303 
Quercitin 467, 468 
Quercitrin 211, 902 
Quercus coccifera 575 
lusitanica, var. infectoria. 94 
marina 902 
Quequiri 3 
Quicklime 406 
Quinamia 544 
Quinamicine 544, 546 
Quinamidia 546 
Quinamidine 543, 544, 546 
Quinamine 543, 544, 547 
Quina morada 553 
Quince, Bengal 330 
Indian 330 
Japan 641 
Quince-seed '... .640 
Quinicine 544, 546 
Quinidine 542 
543, 544, 547, 548 
Quinidin 553 
Quinine 542, 543, 547, 548 
amorphous 497, 542 
ferro-tartrate 863 
Quinoa, red 495 
Quinoidina 497 
Quinoidine 497, 542 
Quinoidin 497 
Quinoline 498, 556 
hydrochlorate 499 
salicylate 499 
tartrate 499 
Quinone 382, 547 
Quino-quino 323 
Quinovin 543, 548 
Quinquina Africaine 475 
Radix abri 3 
aconiti 101 
gentianse alb.e 267 
Ragged lady 625 
Ragweed 168 
great 168 
Raiz pretta 390 
Ram's-head ladies'-slipper. .644 
Ranunculus acer 199 
reptans 199 
sceleratus 199 
Ratanhin 198 
Ratti 3 
Rattleroot 528, 529 
Rattlesnake violet 730 
Rattlesnake's master.. .128, 729 
Rattle weed 528, 529 
Realgar 25, 282 
Rectified spirits 132 
Red alder 146 
ant 431 
baneberry 110 
bark 335, 533, 541 
barks 540 
Berlin 875 
bryonia 367 
buckeye 117 
cedar 10 
chick weed 197 
cinchona 533, 542 
bark 536 
cockscomb 167 
cohosh 110 
corailin 574 
Cusco bark 535 
English 875 
head 293 
kooso 638 
oil 72 
pepper 434 
pimpernel 197 
quinoa 495 
red Peruvian 533 
sorrel 159 
Venetian 875 
Red-gum 736, 848 
Red-osier 609 
Red-rag 848 
Red-robin 848 
Red-root 472 
Red-stalked aster 303 
Reddle 165 
Redwood tree 318 
Remijia pedunculata 553 
Purdieana 545, 546, 553 
Renealmia Cardamomum ..445 
Reseda odorata 433 
luteola 433 
Resin, ammoniac 171 
cubebs .622, 623 
of aloes 150 
of cimicifuga 530 
Resina elemi 684 
Resin o-amara 150 XXXII 
GENERAL INDEX. 
Resinous yellow of wall lich- 
ens 466 
Resorcylalgin 223 
Retene 21 
Rhamnose 899 
Rhamnoxanthin 899 
Rhamnus Frangula 898 
Rhaphidophora vitiensis... .284 
Rhei ne 46 
Rheumatic-weed 304 
Rheumatism-root 658 
Rheumine 46 
Rbizoma pann® 301 
Rhubarb 46 
yellow 46 
Rhus Coriaria 94, 607 
Metopium 10 
succedaneum 477 
Toxicodendron 184 
Ribes lacustre 468 
Rice 194 
•flour 194 
paper 264 
tree 263 
starch 194 
Richardia ®thiopica 284 
Rich-leaf 580 
Rich weed 168, 580 
Ringworm powder 264 
Rochelia virginiana 642 
Rock cress 434 
Rohun (a) tree 318 
Roman chamomile 211 
fennel 891, 892 
wormwood 6, 168 
Rosaniline 207 
Rose-bay 711 
Rose-colored si Ik weed 292 
Rosein 208 
Rose of Jericho 891 
Rose-willow 609 
Rosocyanin 636 
Ros Solis 664 
Rouge 88 
polishing 875 
Rough boneset 742 
Round-leaved cornel 610 
dogwood 610 
hemp-weed 742 
Round mallow 159 
Royal water 71 
Rubber, Assam 678 
Ceara * 78 
India 677 
Para 677 
vulcanized Indian 679 
Rubigo 874 
Rubrica fabrilis. 165 
Ruby 164 
Rudbeckia laciniata 677 
purpurea 671, 677 
Ruizia fragrans 360 
Rum 134 
Rush, mountain 309 
scouring 713 
Rust 848 
Rutin 433 
Rye 725 
bread 725 
ergot 715 
smut 715 
spurred 715 
OABZI 423 
k) Saccharomyces cerevis- 
i® 132, 482, 894 
Safflor yellow 452 
Safflower 352 
Saffron 619 
African 452 
American 452, 620, 621 
Saffron, bastard 452 
cake 620 
dyer's.... 452 
false 452 
French ..- 619 
Gatinais 619 
hay 620 
meadow 577 
Spanish Alicante 619 
Valencia 619 
Saffron-bitter 620 
Safrol 419 
Sage brush 6 
Indian 738 
mountain 6 
Sago 195 
Portland 284 
Sal ammoniac.. 177 
Glauber's secrete 183 
vitriolic 183 
ammoniacum 177 
ammonium secretum 
Glauberi 183 
Carolinum factitium 258 
essentiali tartari 97 
Kissingense factitium... .258 
sedativum Hombergi 33 
Vichyanum factitium... .259 
volatile 173 
siccum 173 
Salazolon 223 
Sal bromalide -. 13 
Salicin 460 
Salicyl aldehyde 460 
Salicylaldehyde alpha-me- 
thylphenyl-hydrazone. .223 
Salicyi-bromanilide 13 
Salicyl hydruret 81 
Salicylide-chloroform 514 
Salipyrazolon 223 
Salipyrine 223 
Salix nigra 465 
Salol sulphoricinate 73 
Salt, artificial Carlsbad. ...258 
Kissingen 258 
Vichy 259 
effervescent artificial Kis- 
si ngen 258 
powder of artificial 
Carlsbad 258 
Kissingen 258 
Vichy 259 
with lithium 259 
granular effervescent arti- 
ficial Carlsbad 258 
Kissingen 259 
Vichy 259 
with lithium .. .259 
microcrosmic 182 
of lemon 75 
of sorrel 75 
Preston's 173 
Schlippe's 220 
sedative of Homberg 33 
smelling 173, 175 
spirit 56 
volatile 173 
Salt-rheum weed 493 
Salve, black 700 
green 697 
red lip 480 
white lip 480 
Samadera Indica 205 
Sambucus nigra 99 
Samfen wood 144 
Sampson snake-root 304 
Sand-box tree 744 
Sanguinarine 269, 492, 493 
Santa Ana bark 535 
Santonin 6 
Saponin 197, 470, 660 
Sappan wood 144 
Sappliire 164 
Saprol 42 
Sarcocephalus esculentus.. .475 
Sargassum bacciferrum 903 
Sarsaparilla, American 261 
bristle-stem 261 
false 261 
wild 261, 563 
Sassafras g®sianum 560 
tree 360 
Sassoline 33 
Sassy bark 731 
Satin-spar 400 
Sa tween 156 
Saururus cernuus 203 
Savakin gum 9 
Savannah flower 658 
Saxifrage, small burnet... .268 
Saxon fennel 892 
Scabious 726 
Scandix Cerefolium 595 
Scarlet-berry 667 
Scarlet pimpernel 197 
Schmirgel 164 
Schist, aluminous 160 
Sclererythrin 718 
Sclerocrystallin 718 
Scleroderma granulatus ... .364 
Sclerojodin 718 
Scleromucin 718 
Sclerotium Clavis 715 
Scleroxanthin «.718 
Scolopendrium officinarum.301 
Scopolamine 335, 340 
Scopoleine 340 
Scopoleines .340 
Scopolia atropoides 335 
carniolica 335, 339, 340 
Japonica 339, 340 
Scopoletin 340 
Scopoline 340 
Scor alosma fmtida 284 
Scouring rush 713 
Scurvy grass 278, 433 
yellow 433 
Sea salt, spirit 56 
Sea-wrack 902 
Secale cereale 715, 720 
Secalin 715 
Secaline 721 
Secalintoxine 719, 720 
Selenite 400 
Semecarpus Anacardium.. .196 
Semen, abri 3 
arec® 268 
canariensis 850 
cardui mariae 447 
cataputi® minoris 748 
curcadis 634 
foeniculi 891 
Semina ricini majoris 634 
Senebiera didyma 434 
Senecio hieracifolius 713 
Senegal gum 8 
Senna, American 457 
prairie 458 
wild 457 
Sennaar gum 9 
white ,. 8 
Sennari gum 9 
Sensitive pea 458 
Sepia officinalis 618 
Sericurn anglicum 696 
Seriocarpus tortifolius 304 
Seville orange 309 
Shallot 146 
Shave-grass 713 
Shellflower 493 
Shepherd's purse 431 
sprout 431 XXXIII 
GENERAL INDEX. 
Shield fern, marginal 299 
Shot bush 261 
Showy ladies'-slipper 644 
Siam benzoin 343 
Sida Abutilon.-. 159 
floribunda 159 
rhombifolia 159 
Siddhi. ... 423 
Sienna, burnt 165 
raw 165 
Sierra salvia... 6 
Silk, vegetable 293 
Silkweed 291 
rose-col ored 292 
swamp 292 
Silky cornel 609 
Silver . 274 
am monio-ch loride 275 
Berthollet's fulminating. .276 
chloride 574 
cochineal 573 
cyanide 269 
German 628 
grains 573 
horn 274 
iodide 270 
leaf 274 
nitrate 271 
diluted 275 
fused 275 
molded 275 
oxide 276 
refined 274 
wire 274 
Silver and potassium ni- 
trate 275 
Silybum marianum 447 
Sinapism 463 
Sinapism us 463 
Sipeerin 329 
Siphonia elastica 677 
Sipirine 329 
Sirop de capillaire 114 
Sisymbrium Nasturtium .. .433 
Sium angustifolium 595 
lati folium 595 
lineare 595 
nodiflorum 595 
sisarum 595 
Skirret 595 
Skunk bush 553 
cabbage 663 
weed 663 
Slevogtia orientalis 502 
Small bitter cress 433 
burnet saxifrage 268 
chirata 502 
fennel flower 625 
flowered agrimony 130 
buckeye 117 
spikenard 261 
white ladies'-slipper 644 
Smaller Solomon's seal.... 598 
Smalt 30 
Smalts 30 
Smelling salt 173 
salts 175 
Smilacina racemosa - 598 
Smoke wood 562 
Smooth alder 146 
buckeye 116 
Solomon's seal 598 
Smut.. 848 
rye 715 
Smut-balls 848 
Smyrna figs 890 
Snakehead 493 
Snake milk 744 
Snakeroot, black 528 
Canada 287 
corn 729 
Snakeroot, Sampson i .304 
white 742 
Snakeweed 367, 745, 750 
Snake's milk 745 
Sneeze wort 20, 212 
Snowball, wild 472 
Snowberry 389 
cluster-flowered 389 
Snowdrop tree 500 
yellow 730 
Snow-on-the-mountain 749 
Soap, asepsin 297 
hard 73 
soft 73 
Socaloin 150, 151 
Soda water 240 
Sodio-citro-phosphate ..876, 877 
Sodio-citro-pyroph osphate..878 
Sodio-ferric pyrophosphate.879 
Sodium cresorate 86 
oleate 73 
sulphoricinoleate 73 
Soffioni 33 
Soft Columbian bark 535 
Solaneine 670 
Solanidine 668, 670 
Solanine 668, 670 
Solanum bacciferum 670 
Dulcamara 64, 667 
esculentum 670 
Jacquinii 670 
Lycopersicum 670 
Melongena 670 
nigrum 668, 670 
paniculatum 670 
Pseudo-capsicum 670 
tuberosum 668, 670 
Virginian um 670 
xanthocarpum 670 
Solomon's seal 598 
giant 598 
great 598 
false 598 
hairy 598 
smaller 598 
smooth 598 
spiked 598 
true 598 
Solutio solventis mineralis.. 30 
Solution, ammonia 241 
ammonium citrate 860 
arsenical 30 
borated asepsin 297 
Clemens' 30 
Declat's (ammonium va- 
lerianate) 183 
De Valangin's 30 
Donovan's 30 
Esbach's 80 
ferric-pyrophosphate 879 
Fowler's 30 
hydrogen dioxide 249 
peroxide 249 
Pearson's arsenical 30 
Solutol 42 
Solveol 42 
Solvine 73 
Somnal 511 
Sont 7 
Soot 440 
wood 440 
Sophora tinctoria 323 
Sophorine 325 
Sorbus Cydonia 640 
Sorrel, red 159 
salt of 75 
Sour gourd tree 110 
Southern chirata 502 
prickly ash 262 
wood 6 
Sow-bread 638 
Soymida febrifuga.. 318 
Sozal 42 
Spanish, annotta 144 
Alicante saffron 619 
flies 427 
needles 350 
white 617 
Sparadrap 693 
Sparadrapum adhsesivum . .696 
capsici 695 
Spargancin 299 
Spargin 299 
Spasmotin 719 
Species ad infusum pecto- 
rale 159 
emollient 159 
emollientes 159 
pectoral 159 
pec to rales 159 
Sperm whale 167 
Spermaceti 484 
Spermcedia Clavus 715 
Sphacelotoxin 719, 720 
Sphairococcus compressus . .526 
crispus 524 
Helminthocorton 526 
lichenoides 526 
mamillosus 524 
Sphoeranthus indicus 647 
Spleenwort 115 
Spider, cross 264 
garden 264 
papal cross 264 
web of diadem 264 
Spignet 262 
Spiked Solomon's seal 598 
Spikenard 262 
American 262 
California 262 
false.' 598 
small 261 
Spilanthes oleracea 434 
Spindle tree 736 
Spiraea ulmaria 82 
Spirit, ants 50 
chloroform 521 
copper 20 
methylated 141 
mineral 43 
nitre 67 
proof 135 
pyroacetic 13 
pyroligneous 140 
pyro xy lie 140 
crude 140 
rectified 132 
volatile 43 
wine 132 
Spirit of magnanimity 49 
salt 56 
sea salt 56 
Spirits, hartshorn 169 
Spiritus aceticus aethereus. .123 
formicarum 50, 431 
formyli terchloridi 524 
nitri acidus 67 
pyroaceticus 13 
pyroxylicus rectificatus. .140 
recti ficatus , 132 
Spodium 437 
Spongio-pil i ne 461 
Spoon wort 433 
Spotted cowbane 595 
hemlock 592 
parsley 595 
spurge 748 
tree 10 
water-hemlock 595 
wintergreen 497 
Spruce, black 2 
double 2 XXXIV 
GENERAL INDEX 
Spruce, hemlock 1 
Spunk 362 
Spur 715 
Spurge.1 749 
blooming 745 
caper 748 
flowery-headed 750 
garden 745, 747, 748 
ipecac 749 
ipecacuanha 745 
large flowering 744, 745 
spotted 745, 747 
pill-bearing 745, 750 
spotted 748 
Spurred rye 715 
Squaw-root 468 
469, 528, 529, 711 
Squaw-weed 303 
Squirrel-corn 610 
Squirting cucumber 681 
Ssant 7 
St. John's bread .457 
St. Mary's thistle 447 
St. Michael s orange 310 
Staff-tree 473 
Staff-vine 473 
Stagger weed 610 
Stalagmitis cambogioides . .413 
Steatina 478 
Steatins 478 
Steatinum 478 
Star anise 210 
flower 304 
thistle 564 
Starch 192 
canna 194 
corn 192 
iodide 195 
iodized 195 
paste 193 
potato 194 
rice 194 
wheat 194 
Stargrass 141, 488 
Starwort 141, 487, 488 
drooping 487 
water 403 
Stearin 112 
Steel ,f 884 
Stemless ladies'-slipper 644 
Stenocarpine 309 
Stibium 218 
oxydatum 215 
Stibnite 217, 218 
Stick wort 129 
Stilbene 320 
Stimmi 217 
Stirps Cinchona.1 Calisayae 
: 534, 535 
micranthae 534, 535 
officinalis 534, 535 
ovatie 534, 535 
rugosu; 534, 535 
Stonemint .625 
Stone-root 580 
Strawberry, Alpine 898 
bush 738 
English 898 
mountain 898 
pine apple 898 
wild 898 
wood 898 
Strychnos Castelmei 632 
Castelmeiana :... .632 
Crevauxii 632 
Gubleri 632 
N ux vomica 205 
toxifera 632, 633 
Stylophorine 4f)2 
Stylophorum diphyllum.. .492 
Stylosanthes elatior 472 
Styptic colloid 584 
Pagliari's .344 
Styracin 321 
Styrax Benzoin 342 
Styrol 344 
Suakin gum 9 
Subazotas bismuthicus 355 
Subcarbonas bismuthicus . .353 
Subnitras bismuthicus 355 
Succory 528 
wild 528 
Succus inspissatus phytolac- 
cai baccae 817 
liquiritiae depuratus 794 
Sucupira 323 
Suffloni 33 
Sugar, frangula 899 
kinovic 547 
Sui nt 113 
Sulfas ferrosus 879 
Sulfure de calcium 412 
Sulfuretuni stibicum .217 
Sulphas ammonico ferricus.861 
ammonicus 183 
cadmicus 377 
Sulphomorphid 231 
Sulphopbenol 40 
Sulphur auratum 219 
antimonii 220 
dioxide 91 
golden 219, 220 
stibiatum aurantiacum.. .220 
Sulphuretum ferrosum 882 
Sulphuric anhydrid 88 
Sulphurous anhydride.. .91, 92 
Sumach, Chinese 130 
Currier's 607 
Sumatra benzoin 343 
camphor 418 
Sundew 664 
rou nd-leaved 664 
Sunflower, cone-disk 677 
red 677 
Surgeon's agaric 362 
Surinamine 198 
Sus scrofa. Ill 
Susumber berries 670 
Swallow'wort 748 
orange 288 
white 293 
Swamp beggar-ticks 351 
dogwood 609 
milkweed 292 
silk weed 292 
Swamp-willow herb. ..711, 712 
Sweatweed 159 
Sweet almonds 185, 186 
birch 349 
buckeye 117 
chi rata 502 
fennel 891, 892 
fern .588 
flag 390 
orange 310 
scented agrimony 130 
Sweetwood tree 455 
Swertia Chirata 502 
Swietenia febrifuga 318 
Mahogoni 318 
Swine cress 434 
Symplocarpus foetidus 663 
Synaptase 186 
Syringa persica 317 
Syringe tree 677 
Syrup, calcium phosphate. .397 
h y pophospb i tes 869 
liquorice 794 
pyrophosphate of iron... .879 
soluble ferric oxide 875 
Syrupus calcii phosphas 398 
Syrupus ferri oxydati 875 
rp^NIIN 638 
-I- Taffetas adhaesivum 696 
blistering 479 
Tag alder 146 
Tageteserecta., 401 
patula 401 
Taj a 632 
Talca gum 9 
Tai ba gum 9 
Tall ambrosia .168 
cone-flower 677 
Tamus communis 367 
Tang-Kwei 263 
Tannas bismuthicus 359 
Tannin 51, 94 
Tanninum 94 
Tannoform 896 
Tapioca 195 
Tar, birch 350 
Taracanin 431 
Taro 284 
Tarragon 6 
Tartar, crude 97 
emetic 213 
Tartarus emeticus 213 
Tartras ferrico-kalicus 863 
ferrico-potassicus 863 
potassio-ferricus 863 
Tauri n 851 
Tayuya root 370 
Tea bug 538 
Java 497 
Mexican 495 
Mormon 309 
New Jersey 472 
w'horehouse 309 
Tecoma radicans 461 
Teli 731 
Telletia Caries 848 
Tellicherry bark 156 
Temulentine 850 
Temuline 850 
Terra alba 165 
di sienna .165 
Japonica 466, 467 
lemnia 165 
ponderosa 327 
Tripolitana 165 
umbra 875 
Terra sigillita 165 
Terpenes 416 
Terpin hydrate 445 
Test, BettendorfTs 27 
Fleitmann's 27 
Helmer's 893 
Lebbins' 893 
Marsh's 26 
Reinsch's .... 26 
Testa pneparata 618 
Tetano-cannabene 424 
Tetrachlor-methane 444 
Tetradymit 357 
Tetrahydro-B-naph thy lam- 
ine 309 
Tetramethyl thionin chlo- 
ride 209 
Tetterwort 491 
Thallochlor 486 
Thea sinensis 385 
Theine 385 
Theobromine 176 
Theriaca 590 
Thilanin 114 
Thilanine 114 
Thimbleweed 200, 677 
Thiophen 341 
Thiosinamin 278 
Thistle, blessed 563 
Canada 560 
cursed 560 
holy 563 GENERAL INDEX. 
XXXV 
Thistle, Mary 447 
milk 447 
St. Mary's 447 
star 564 
Thlaspi arvense 432 
Bursa-pastoris 431 
carnpestris 432 
Thorn-apple 347 
Thorn, Egyptian 7 
Thoroughwort 738 
Thousand leaf 19 
Thridacium 804 
Thymo-hydro-quinone - di - 
methyl-ether 279 
Tincal 33 
Tinctura am brae 168 
apis mellificae .. .224 
aromatica acida 91 
capsici concentrata 437 
chinoidini 498 
cupri aceti Rademacheri...626 
ferri ppm ata 888 
formicarum 431 
pimpinellae 268 
Tincture, aloes, compound .685 
apis 224 
chinoidine 498 
gentian, compound 685 
Huxham's 542 
opium, camphorated 685 
pimpinella. 268 
Rademacher's (copper ace- 
tate) 626 
rhubarb and aloes 685 
senna, compound 685 
turmeric 637 
Tinctures, concentrated... .752 
essential.. 752 
saturated 752 
Tinder 362 
German 362 
Tipa tree 303 
Tita 604 
Tithymalus Lathyris 748 
Tolene 322 
Tolu balsam 322 
tree 322 
Toluene 323, 341, 684 
Toluidene 206 
Toluifera Balsamum . ..318, 323 
var. Baillon 318 
Pareirse 318 
Peruifera 321 
punctata 323 
Toluol 323 
Tolypyrin 223 
Tolypyrinum salicylatum. .223 
Toly sal 223 
Tomato 670 
de la paz 47 
Tonga 284 
Tongine 284 
Tongue-grass 432 
Toot-poison 607 
Toothache bush (tree) 262 
Tooth-pick plant 595 
Toothwort 433 
Topaz, oriental 164 
Torula aceti 15 
cerevisise 132, 482 
To-sai-shin 288 
Touch wood 362 
Tons les Mois 194 
Toxi resin 653 
Toyon 188 
Trailing arbutus 709 
Traveller's ivy 561 
joy 562 
Tree, Anda-assu 635 
angelica 262 
bean 460 
Tree, blue-gum 733 
cabbage 197 
camphor laurel 415 
cascarilla bark 455 
catalpa 460 
cigar 460 
cream of tartar 110 
doornboom 9 
Egyptian gum arabic 7 
eleutbera-bark 455 
fringe 500 
Indian bean 460 
persimmon . 662 
Jamaica cabbage 197 
leopard 10 
mahogany 318 
monkey-bread 110 
peach 187 
Peru balsam 318 
redwood 318 
rice paper 263 
rohun (a) 318 
sand-box . 744 
sassafras 360 
snowdrop. 500 
sour gourd 110 
spindle 736 
spotted 10 
staff. 473 
climbing 473 
sweet-wood 455 
syringe 677 
Ti pa 303 
Tolu balsam 322 
toothache 262 
white wood 421 
wild cinnamon 421 
of Heaven 130 
Trianosperma ficifolia 370 
Tribromhydrin 146 
Tribromomethane 366 
Tribromophenol 366 
Tribulus lanuginosus .647 
Trichloracetyloxydhydrat ..503 
Trichloraldebyd (e) 503 
Trichloraldehyde hydrate . .503 
Trichloraldehyd-phenyl-di- 
methylpyrazolon 511 
Trichlorbutyl-aldehyde ... .512 
Trichlormethyl - hydrocar - 
bonoxyd 503 
Trichlorphenol 41 
Triethylphosphine 442 
Trehalose 720 
Trigonella feenum graecum . 892 
Trigonelline 892 
Trimethylamine 391 
614, 718, 749 
Tri methylene 191 
Trimethylxanthine i385 
Trinitrophenol 79 
Triolein 72 
Trioxy-methyl -anthra-qui - 
none 46, 899 
Trioxymethylene 896 
Triphenylmethane 207 
Tripoli 165 
Triticum aestivum 847 
Trompatilla 677 
hybernum 847 
sativum 194, 847 
var. hybernum 847 
vulgare 192, 194, 847 
Tropa-cocaine 572 
Tropseolin D 208 
Tropaeolum majus 433 
minus 433 
Tropeines 305, 566 
Tropidine 305 
Tropine 305 
True cardamomum majus. .446 
True Solomon's seal 598 
wild yam. 659 
Truffle 364 
hart's 364 
Trujillo coca 565 
Trumpet creeper 461 
flower 461 
Trumpet-weed 740 
Truxillo coca 565 
Tshuking 6 
Tsuga canadensis 1 
Tuber cibarium 364 
root 288 
Tuckahoe 364 
Tulip, garden 599 
Tulipa Gesneriana 599 
Tulipine 599 
Turic gum 8 
Turkey-corn 610 
Turkey figs 890 
gum 8 
Turkey-pea, wild 610 
Turmeric 635 
Bengal 635 
Chinese 635 
Cochin.r 635 
Java 635 
long 635, 636 
Madras 635 
round 635, 636 
Turmerol 636 
Turnera aphrodisiaca 645 
diffusa, var. aphrodisiaca.645 
microphylla 6-15, 646 
Turnip, bastard 367 
devil's 367 
Indian 283 
parsnip. 367 
Turtlebloom 493 
Turtlehead 493 
Tussol 223 
Typlionium Brownii 284 
TTLEXINE 325 
U Ultramarine 164 
Ultraquinine 543, 545 
Ulvina aceti 15 
Umbel 643 
Umbelliferon 171, 286 
Umber 875 
burnt 875 
raw 875 
Umbilicus pendulinus 614 
Umschlag 234 
Uncaria acida 468 
Gambier 466, 467 
Uncomoco m o 301 
Unguentum camphoratum .478 
glycerini plumbi subace- 
tatis 480 
resinae 481 
sabinae 481 
Unicorn 488 
false 488 
Unicorn-root 141, 487 
false 141, 487 
Upland boneset 742 
Ural 511 
Uralium 511 
Urceola elastica $78 
esculenta 678 
Urea 851 
Uredo Caries 848 
segetum 848 
Urechites suberecta 658 
Urechitin 658 
Urechi toxin 658 
Urostigma elastica 678 
Vogelii 678 
Urson 710 
Urtica dioica 50 XXXVI 
GENERAL INDEX, 
Urtica urens 50 
Ussucu 744 
Ustilago carbo .848 
segetum 848 
Utees 106 
[Tvaria triloba 297 
VAGNERA RACEMOSA .598 
' Valencia saffron 619 
Valentinite 215 
Valerene 191, 418, 419 
Valerian, American 643 
Valeriana officinalis 99 
Valerianas bismuthicus... .359 
Valerianus ammonicus 183 
Vanillin 323, 344, 456, 636 
Vanillons 842 
Vapor, acid 43 
Various-leaved fleabane... .727 
Vegetable ethiops 903 
jelly 451 
mercury 897 
silk 293 
Velvet leaf 159 
Venetian red 165, 875 
Venus, crystals of 626 
Vera Cruz elemi 685 
Verdigris 629 
crystallized 626 
Verditer blue 628 
green 628 
Vernin 720 
Vesicating cloth 479 
Vesuvine 207 
Vibrio tritici 848 
Viburnine 844 
Viburnum opulus 99 
Vicia Faba 850 
Vienna paste 407 
powder 407 
Vincetoxicum officinale... .293 
Vincetoxin 293. 589 
Vinegar 14 
antiseptic 16 
aromatic 16 
Henry's 24 
bloodroot 18 
British malt 14 
cantharides 17 
distilled 14, 16 
eels 15 
French wine 14 
ipecacuanha 17 
lobelia 17, 18 
mother 15 
opium 18 
pyroligneous 21 
radical 21 
rectified wood 21 
sanguinaria 18 
squill 18 
Vinegars 11 
medicated 11 
Vinetine 345, 347 
Vinum camphoratum 419 
Violet-bloom 667 
Violet, dog's-tooth 730 
Violet, Hoffmann's 208 
methyl 208 
rattlesnake 730 
Violet-wood 9 
Viper's bugloss 642 
Virgin balsam 321 
Virgin's bower 561, 562 
curled 563 
sweet-scented 563 
upright 562 
whorl-leaved 563 
Virginia creeper 184 
mouse-ear 642 
Virginian lungwort 642 
Viride aeris 629 
Visnagin 595 
Visnagol 595 
Vitis hederacea ' 184 
quinquefolia 184 
Vitriol, ammoniacal 183 
blue 630 
calcined 87 
elixir 91 
green 87, 879 
oil 87 
Vitriolum martis purum.. .879 
Vitrum antimonii 218 
Volatile alkali 169, 173 
mild 173 
air 169 
salt 173 
spirit 43 
Vulcanite 680 
WAHOO 736 
'' Wake-robin 283 
Wakhma 106 
Wall cress 434 
Wart cress 434 
Wash, white 408 
Wash ing-blue 868 
Water 231 
ammonia 241 
anise 244 
artificial Seltzer 240 
barley 649 
bary ta 327 
bitter almond 243 
camphor 245 
caraway 245 
carbol ized 40 
cherry-laurel 253 
chlorine 245 
chloroform 247 
cinnamon 247 
creosote 247, 617 
dill 244 
distilled 231, 248 
double orange-flower 244 
elder-flower 260 
eryngo 729 
fennel 248 
hamamelis 249 
hard 231 
honey 128 
lake 233 
marsh 232 
medicinal 231 
mineral 231, 240 
orange-flower 310 
orange flowers 244 
oxygenated 249 
parsnip 595 
pennyroyal 249 
peppermint 254 
phenol 40 
pimento 259 
plantain 143 
quadruple orange-flower .244 
rain 232 
river 232 
rose 260 
stronger 260 
royal 71 
sea 257 
sedative 260 
simple orange flower 244 
snow 232 
soda 240 
soft 231 
spearmint 254 
spring 232 
stronger ammonia 243 
orange flower 244 
tar 259 
Water, triple orange flower.244 
rose 260 
well 232 
witch-hazel 249 
Water-chick weed 403 
Water-hemlock 595 
American 595 
spotted 595 
Water star-wort 403 
Waters, acidulous 255, 257 
alkaline 256, 258 
calcic 257 
carbonated 256 
chalybeate 255 
ferruginous 255 
medicated 239 
mineral 254 
purgative 256, 258 
saline 256, 257 
silicious 256, 258 
sulphur 255, 257 
sulphuretted 255 
thermal 257, 258 
Wattle gum 9 
Wax, black 485 
Carnahuba 477 
Carnauba 477 
insect white (of China).. .477 
Japan 477 
Ocotilla 477 
Ocuba 477 
white 475 
yellow 475 
Waxen churrus 423 
Waxwork 473 
Web of diadem spider 264 
Weeping ash 902 
Weld 433 
Welter's bitter 79 
West African black pepper.624 
Western mugwort 6 
Wheat, common 192 
midge 848 
Wheat-starch 194 
Whiskies, Trish 134 
White agaric 361 
ash 500, 901 
baneberry 108 
beads 108 
birch 350 
bryony 404 
cinchona bark 544, 545 
cohosh 108 
ear-drop 610 
flowered ladies'-slipper.. .644 
fraxinella 626 
Indian hemp 292 
ipecac 749 
liquid physic 71 
maidenhair 115 
metal 628 
snake-root 742 
swallow-wort 293 
vine 562 
wash 408 
White-headed old man 200 
White-tipped aster 304 
White-weed 727 
White wood tree 421 
Whiting 617 
Whorehouse tea 309 
Wickop 711 
Wickopy 662 
Wickup" 711 
Wigandia californica 727 
Wild balsam-apple 681 
Wild carrot 450 
chamomile ' . .212, 613 
cinnamon tree ...421 
clematis .., 562 
comfrey 642 XXXVII 
GENERAL INDEX. 
Wild cotton 291 
cucumber 681 
elder 261 
fennel 892 
ginger , 287 
hemp 168 
horehound 742 
indigo .323 
ipecac .745, 749 
liquorice 2, 261 
nard 288 
pepper-grass 432 
sarsaparilla 261, 563 
senna 457 
snowball 472 
strawberry 898 
succory 528 
turkey-pea 610 
vine 562 
wood vine 184 
yam ,. .658, 659 
Willow, crane 474 
red 609 
rose 609 
Willow-herb 711 
great 711 
great hairy 712 
swamp 711 
Willughbeia eduli? 678 
Wind crowfoot 198 
flower 198, 200 
root..... 288 
Windsor bean 850 
Wine, aromatic 764 
camphor 419 
cashew 196 
spirit of 132 
Wintera 422 
Winterana Canella 421 
Wintergreen 495 
nascent 13 
spotted 497 
Winter-pink 709 
Winter's bark 422 
Witch-hazel, distilled 249 
Witherite 327 
Wolfsbane 101 
Wood alcohol 140 
anemone, 198 
apple 331 
Wood, Brazil 144 
Woodbine 184 
Wood-flower 200 
Wood naphtha 21, 140 
southern 6 
strawberry 898 
vine, wild 184 
violet 9 
Woody nightshade 667 
Wool fat, hydrous 113 
Woorara 632 
Woorari 632 
Wormseed 6, 494 
American 494 
Wormwood 4 
Roman 6, 168 
Wort 482 
Wourali 632 
Wrightia antidysenterica... 156 
Wrightine 156 
VANTHIN 474 
■A-Xan thine 176 
Xylenol 151, 614, 615 
Xyloidin 194 
VAM, WILD 658, 659 
1 false 660 
Yam, true wild 659 
Yarrow 19 
Yeast 482 
beer 482 
bottom 482 
brewers' 482 
dry 482 
lower 482 
patent 482 
top 482 
upper 482 
Vienna 482 
Yellow bark 535, 540 
barks 540 
cinchona 533, 536 
erythronium 730 
Yellow-flowered night- 
shade 658 
Yellow, King's 282 
ladies'-slipper 643 
moccasin flower 643 
rocket 433 
scurvy grass 433 
snowdrop 730 
Yellow'-seed 432 
Yerba mansa 202 
reuma 899 
santa 727 
7 ACC ATILLA COCH1- 
' J NEAL 573 
Zanaloin 151 
Zea Mays 192 
Zerechtit 6 
Zinc stearate 87 
Zuh 171 
Zygadenus venenosus 598