Medicines, their uses and mode of administration : including a complete conspectus of the three British pharmacopoeias, an account of all the new remedies, and an appendix of formulae / by J. Moore Neligan.
- John Neligan
- Date:
- 1849
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Medicines, their uses and mode of administration : including a complete conspectus of the three British pharmacopoeias, an account of all the new remedies, and an appendix of formulae / by J. Moore Neligan. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
104/504
![more or less deeply and in different 'directions ; externally rugose, compact, dark brown ; whitish or yellowish within, marked with concentric zones. The flat pieces are merely transverse slices of the entire tubers. The fracture of jalap root is marbled and compact, presenting many brilliant points, (resin) ; the odour is faint but very nauseating; the taste, nauseous and acrid. It is pulverised with difficulty. Chemical Properties.—Jalap is composed of hard and soft resin, bitter extractive, gummy extractive, albumen, uncrystallizable sugar, gum, mucilage, starch, and colouring matter. The resin, its active principle, exists in the proportion of from ten to fourteen per cent, it is soluble in alcohol, while water dissolves only the non-cathartic components of the root. The starch is often eaten by insects, such pieces are said to be worm-eaten, they are the most active as they contain in proportion to their weight more resin- Jalap resin is of a slightly yellow colour, odourless and tasteless when pure ; insoluble in water or ether, but readily soluble in alcohol. It assumes a beautiful crimson colour when moistened with strong sulphuric acid, and allow- ed to stand for a quarter of an hour. Adulterations.—Jalap root, as met with in English commerce, can be scarcely said to be adulterated ; at one time slices of white Bryony root were mixed with it, but the white colour and intense bitterness of the spurious root rendered the fraud easy of detection. On the Continent many forms of spurious or counterfeit jalaps are met with mixed with the true root; they may, for the most part, be distinguish- ed by being very rugose, of a reddish or rose colour internally, not compact, with a faint odour, and almost insipid. The purity of jalap resin may be readily ascertained by its action with sulphuric acid, as the beautiful crimson colour above described is not manifested if any other resin be present. Therapeutical Fffects.—Jalap is a powerful cathartic, operating principally upon the small intestines ; administered in too large a dose, it causes violent hypercatharsis afid inflammation. In medicinal doses it is certain in its operation, increasing the peristaltic action and promoting the secretions and exhalations of the alimentary canal without causing any irritation ; consequently it is frequently and beneficially prescribed for children. Its chief use as a cathartic, is in simple constipation without inflammation, in ascites, in scrofulous affections, and in verminous diseases ; in the two latter, it is beneficial- ly combined with calomel; in dropsy, with cream of tartar. It some- times produces salivation, if its use be long persisted in. Jalap pro- duces purging if applied to a wound or to the surface of the body, the cuticle having been previously removed by means of a blister. Dose and Mode of Administration.—In powder, gr. x. to gr. xxx., for an adult; gr. ij. to gr. viij., for children ; it may be given made into a bolus, or suspended in water or any simple decoction.—Pulvis Jalapa compositus, D. L. [U. S.] E. (Jalap powder, Ibss.) §iij., L.; §L, [U. S.J E.); bitartrate of potash, Ibj. (§vi., L. [U. S.] §ij., E.); (ginger, 5ij. L.) ; rub to very fine powder, and mix). Hydragogue cathartic ; Dose, 3ss., to 5iss.—Extractum Jalapa, D. L. (Jalap root, bruised (powdered, L.), Ibi. (ITniss., L.) ; rectified spirit, by measure ibiv. (cong. j., L.) ; water (distilled, L.), cong. j. (cong., ij. L.) ; ma- cerate in the spirit for four days, and pour off the tincture ; boil down](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21143602_0104.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
