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.)
120/504
![&c. If castor oil be at all rancid it becomes very acrimonious, caus- ing much irritation, and sometimes even troublesome diarrhoea. Dose and Mode of Administration.—f§ss. to fgij., by the mouth or in the form of enema; it is best taken floating on the surface of water to which some aromatic tincture, as of cascarilla, or of orange peel, has been added ; or it may be made into an emulsion with yolk of egg or with mucilage. M. Parola has recently proposed the sub- stitution of an ethereal or alcoholic tincture of castor-oil seeds for the oil itself. He states as the result of numerous trials he has made, that the tinctures are four times as strong as the oil, than which they are less irritant and less apt to produce vomiting. The tinctures (for which M. Parola does not give any formula) may be readily prepared by macerating §viij. of the seeds, freed from the seed-coats and bruised, in Oj. of rectified spirit or of ether for 7 days and filtering; the dose of either would be from f3ij. to f3iij-—Castor oil purgative emulsion, P. (Castor oil, f§i.; yolk of egg, 1; mint water, f§ss.; water, f§ij. ; simple syrup, f§j. ; mix). Sufficient for one dose.— Castor-oil draught, Righini. (Gum arabic, in fine powder, 3ij- ! pure water, fgiij. ; make a mucilage with a small quantity of the water; and add, of castor oil, f|j. ; mix carefully and pour in the rest of the water with constant agitation ; and finally add the filtered juice of one orange and f§j. of simple syrup). The nauseous taste of the oil is completely concealed in this draught, the only objection to which is its bulk. Sambucus nigra, D. L. E. The Common Elder*—Elder flowers are officinal in the three pharmacopoeias; the berries, and inner bark of the stem are also officinal in the Dublin Pharmacopoeia. It is a small, indigenous tree, belonging to the Natural family Caprifoliacea, and to the Linnaean class and order Pentundria Digynia. The inner bark possesses cathartic properties, but it is at present never employed. It was used by Sydenham and Boerrhave as a hydragogue in passive dropsies. It is given in decoction, prepared by boiling §j. of the bark in Oij. of water, down to Oj. The dose of this decoction is from fgij. to f§iv. Scammonium, [U. S.] D. L. E. Scammony; Gum-resin obtained from Convolvulus scammonia. A native of Greece, and various parts of the Levant, where it is found growing in hedges and bushy places. It is placed in the Natural family Convolvulacea, and in the Linnaean class and order Pentandria Monogynia. Botanical Characters.—Root, very thick, fusiform, fleshy, abounding in a milky juice ; Stems, smooth, herbaceous, climbing; Leaves, pointed, hastate; Flowers, on long, solitary peduncles, yellowish, with purple stripes. Preparation.—The inspissated juice of the root, which constitutes scam- mony, is procured as follows :—The earth having been cleared away, the top of the root is sliced off obliquely about two inches below where the stems spring from it; as the juice flows out it is received in shells and exposed to the air until it thickens ; each root, although generally four feet in length, and three or four inches in diameter, yields only about two drachms of scam- mony. Physical Properties.—Fine scammony, Virgin scammony, is in amorphous masses, weighing from two ounces to half a pound each,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21143602_0120.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
