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.)
99/504
![Crotonis Tiglii, oleum, D. Tiglii oleum, [U. S.] L. Crotonis oleum, E. Crotonoil. Expressed oil of the seeds of Croton Tiglium. A native of the continent of India, the Molucca Islands and Ceylon ; belonging to the Natural family Euphorbiacecz, and to the Linnaean class and order Moncecia Monadelphia. Botanical Characters.—A moderate-sized tree, with a smooth bark; Leaves, oblongo-ovate, acuminate, with two flat round glands at the base ; Flowers, white, in terminal racemes; Fruit, ovate and triangular, some- what bigger than a hazel nut, three celled, each cell one seeded. Physical Properties.—Groton seeds (Grana Tiglii) are of an irregularly-oval shape, about 6 lines long, 2^ lines thick, and 3 lines broad ; they are of a greyish-brown colour, and marked with the ramifications of the raphe ; they contain internally a pale yellowish- white albumen, which envelopes the embryo with its large leafy cotyledons. From the kernels, croton oil is obtained by pressure ; it is thicker than castor oil, of a pale amber colour, has a feeble sick- ly odour, and an intensely acrid taste. The kernels yield about half their weight of oil. Chemical Properties.—Croton oil consists of a peculiar acid named Crotonic acid, dissolved in a bland fixed oil; it is to the acid that the properties of the oil are due. Croton oil is insoluble in alco- hol even with the aid of heat, but is very soluble in sulphuric ether, and in the fixed and volatile oils. Adulterations.—Castor oil is the only substance employed to adul- terate croton oil, it may be readily detected by its solubility in alco- hol, the test adopted by the Edinburgh College :— when agitated with its own volume of pure alcohol and gently heated, croton oil sepa- rates on standing, without having undergone any apparent diminution. Therapeutical Effects.—Croton oil is an acrid cathartic, opera- ting speedily, and producing frequent watery evacuations ; it does not in general give rise to nausea or griping, and is consequently to be preferred in most cases to other cathartics of equal power. It is used chiefly in obstinate constipation, in comatose affections, and in dropsy. In the various forms of convulsive and neuralgic diseases, it is a most valuable cathartic; given in frequently repeated small doses in such affections, I have in several cases found it a complete specific. Cro- ton oil should not be employed in extreme debility, or where there is any tendency to inflammation in the digestive organs. Dose and Mode of Administration.—Min. j. or min. ij.—In cases where the patient is unable or unwilling to swallow, it may be dropped on the tongue, or dissolved in ether may be rubbed on the abdomen. If it can be avoided, however, it should never be administered in a fluid form, as it causes a most disagreeable acrid impression in the back of the throat; it may be made into pill with conserve of roses or liquorice powder, or one or two minims may be added to any of the common purgative pill masses, and thus given in divided doses until it operates.—Sapo Crotonis, (Croton oil, 2 parts ; liquid caustic soda, 1 part). Dose, gr. i. to gr. iij. Elaterium, [U. S.] D. L. E. Elaterium. The fruit, fecula and leaves, D.—the fresh, fruit, L.—the feculence of the juice of the fruit, E., of Momordica Elaterium (Ecbalium asreste). The Wild or 7*](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21143602_0099.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
