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.)
42/504
![wards by a brisk purge.—Oleum Filicis-maris, Dr. Pesciiier. (Tne tufts of the rhizome are reduced to a moderately fine powder, exhausted with ether and the ethereal liquor distilled.) Dose, min. xx. to mm. xxx. dropped on sugar, or made into an emulsion with almond mixture ; half of this dose is given at bed-time, and the remainder the following morning ; if it do not purge, an active cathartic should be given in the afternoon of the same day. Mucuna, [U. S.] L. E. Dolichos pruriens, D.—Cowitch, or Cowhage. The hairs from the pods of Mucuna pruriens, L. E.—of Dolichos pruriens, D. This plant, Decandolle's nomenclature for which has been adopted in the London and Edinburgh pharmacopoeias, is a native of the West Indian islands, belonging to the Natural family Leguminosa (Fabacece, Lindley), and to the Linnaean class and order Diadelphia Decandria. Botanical Characters.—A twining shrub, bearing purplish flowers, with a disagreeable, alliaceous odour, in axillary racemes ; succeeded by coriaceous legumes, each containing three to five seeds. Physical Properties.—The entire legumes, with the hairs at- tached, are usually imported ; they are shaped like the letter f, of a brownish color, from two to four or five inches long, thickly clothed with strong brown bristles or setae, which, examined by the micro- scope, appear finely acuminate and serrated towards the point; these bristles separate easily and adhere obstinately to the skin, producing intolerable itching, accompanied with intense heat, and sometimes pain and swelling. Chemical Properties.—The hairs contain tannin, according to Martius, but no acrid principle. Therapeutical Effects.—The operation of cowitch, as an anthel- mintic, seems to be completely mechanical; the minute hairs wound- ing and irritating the worms, thus obliging them to let go their hold on the coats of the intestine, which is protected from injury by its mucous secretion. It is chiefly serviceable in cases of ascarides and lumbrici, having but little effect on the tape-worm ; indeed by many practitioners it is esteemed, and not without reason, as the best vermifuge for the lumbrici. Dose and Mode of Administration.—The legumes are dipped in syrup, and then scraped, so as to remove the setae ; this process is re- peated with fresh legumes until the syrup acquires the consistence of honey ; of this a tea-spoonful is given to a child, or a table-spoonful to an adult, for three successive mornings before breakfast, and the last dose followed by a brisk purge. Petroleum Babbadense, D. L. E. Petroleum ; Rock oil; Bar- ladoes tar. A 'mineral production, found floating on the waters of springs and lakes in several of the West India Islands. This substance, though still retained in the British pharmacopoeias, is altogether discarded from practice. It was formerly employed in cases of tape-worm, both inwardly in the form of emulsion, and ex- ternally by friction over the abdomen. Punica Granatum, radicis cortex, D. Granati radix E. Pomegranate bark; Bark of the root of Punica Granatum.—A. native](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21143602_0042.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
