Sabbatia

    Sabba'tia angula'ris, American Centaury. -- The herb, U.S.P. 1820-1870; United States.  Plant .3-.6 M. (1-2 degrees) high, stem branched above, square, smooth; leaves ovate, 2.5 Cm. (1') long, heart-shaped; flowers deep rose, central star greenish, wheel-shaped, 5-parted, bitter; contains bitter principle, fat, erythrocentaurin.  Used as tonic, febrifuge, diaphoretic, rheumatism, sore throat, fevers.  Dose, gr. 15-60 (1-4 Gm.).  S. Elliot'tii, Quinine Flower; S. campes'tris, and Erythrae'a Centau'rium, European Centaury; all may be used similarly.
 
 

    Salicinum.  Salicin, C₁₃H₁₈O₇, U.S.P.
    Salix and Populus, several species. A glucoside.
    Habitat.  Europe, N. Ameri ca; cultivated.
    Syn.  White Willow, Common European-, Duck-, Huntington-, Salicin Willow, Withe, Withy; Fr. Saule blanc, Salcine; Ger. Weidenrinde, Salicin.
    Sa'lix.  L. see etymology, above, of Salicaceae.
    Pop'u-lus. L  Poplar, fr. populus, the people -- being often planted along the public ways in Rome, where it was called arbor populi, tree of the people.
    PLANTS. -- These two juxta-positioned genera are composed mostly of large trees 15-18 M. (50-60 degrees) high, with flexible branches: Salix leaves, long pointed, entire or glandularly toothed; Populus leaves, broad, more or less heart-shaped, ovate, toothed; flowers May, both in catkins appearing before the leaves, dioecious, buds covered with scales, or a varnish; barks of both of genera resemble; that of Salix slips from the wood more readily.
    CONSTITUENTS. -- Salicin 1-3 p.c., tannin 12 p.c., extractive matter.
    Salicinum.  Salicin. -- Obtained by several methods: 1. Add litharge or basic lead acetate to hot concentrated decoction of young bark to remove tannin, gum, extractive; the filtrate contains salicin and some absorbed lead, the latter is separated by adding sulphuric acid and barium sulphide, while salicin, upon concentration of the filtrate, crystallizes out.  When basic lead acetate is used, the free acid should be neutralized with calcium carbonate, and then the filtrate evaporated.  2. Boil bark with milk of lime to remove tannin, evaporate filtrate to soft extract, digest this with alcohol, from which salicin will crystallize after distilling off the alcohol.  It is in colorless, silky, shining, needles or prisms, white, crystalline powder, odorless, very bitter taste, soluble in water (23.5), hot water (3.3), alcohol (88.5), hot alcohol (30) insoluble in chloroform, ether; aqueous solution (1 in 30) neutral. Levorotatory, melts at 200 degrees C. (392 degrees F.).  Tests.  1. Heat small portion in test-tube until brown, add distilled water (few cc.), + a drop of ferric chloride T.S. -- violet color.  2. With sulphuric acid -- red color, disappearing on adding distilled water; incinerate -- ash .05 p.c.  3. Heat gently .1 Gm. with potassium dichromate .2 Gm. + diluted sulphuic acid 2 cc. -- fragrant odor of salicylic aldehyde.  4. Aqueous solution (1 in 50) 10 cc., + 1 cc. tannic acid T.S., picric acid T.S., or mercuric potassium iodide T.S. -- no precipitate (abs. of alkaloids); another 10 cc., + a drop of ferric chloride T.S. -- not violet (abs. of salicylic acid).  Impurities: Heavy metals, alkaloids, salicylic acid.  Should be kept in well-closed containers.  Dose, gr. 10-30 (.6-2 Gm.).
    Commercial. -- The White Willow (Salix al'ba) and Crack Willow (S. frag'ilis) contain most tannin, the Purple Willow (S. purpu'rea) most salicin, it being even in the leaves, although largest quantity in bark of young wood.  Populus al'ba, P. angustifu'lia, P. acumina'ta, P. trem'ula, all yield salicin to a considerable extent.
    PREPARATIONS. -- (Unoff.): May give in powder, pill, syrup, water, or with glycyrrhiza extract, in small and frequent doses.
    PROPERTIES. -- Tonic, antiperiodic, antipyrretic, antiseptic, antiferment, non-toxic; slower, weaker, less depressing to heart than salicylic acid, like it -- circulates in the blood as sodium salycylate; converted in stomach into glucose and saligenin, eliminated by urine as saligenin, salicylic, salicyluric, salicylous acids.
    USES. -- Acute rheumatism, fevers; relieves pain, arterial swellings, intermittents (inferior to quinine), coryza, hay fever, influenza, neuralgia, diabetes.
    Externally -- gangrenous wounds, eczema, cancer, burns, fetid perspiration -- applied in solution with borax.
 

Salvia

    Sal'via officina'lis, (Garden, Meadow) Sage.--The dried leaves, U.S.P. 1840-1900; S. Europe, warm stony places; cultivated universally.  Perennial; stem semi-shrubby, .6 M. (2 degrees) high, quadrangular, gray-pubescent, branched; flowers, cymes, blue with white and purple, on woolly stalks, calyx tubular, 2-lipped, upper with 3, lower with 2 acute teeth; corolla tubular, bilabiate, lower in 3-rounded lobes, central one largest; fruit 4 achenes; seed solitary.  Leaves ovate-oblong, 3-7.5 Cm. (1 1/5-3') long, apex subacute, base subcordate, crenulate, thick, grayish-green, reticulate-veined, pubescent, petiolate; odor aromatic; taste aromatic, bitter, astringent; should be collected when flowering and dried carefully; solvents: diluted alcohol, boiling water; contains volatile oil .5-2 p.c., resin, tannin, bitter principle (similar to amaroid marrubiin), gum.  Stimulant, tonic, astringent, vulnerary, condiment; dyspepsia, colliquative sweats, seasoning fat fowl, pork; infusion (externally) -- ulcers of mouth, throat, indurated sores, nasal catarrh, suppression of mammary secretion; gargle may be sweetened (sugar, honey) and have added vinegar, alum, borax, potassium chlorate, etc.; ancients valued it highly.  Dose, gr. 15-60 (1-4 Gm.); fluidextract, mxv-60 (1-4 cc.); infusion, 5 p.c., 3j-2 (30-60 cc.); water (Aqua Salviae), distil 1 part with water 10; gargle.  S. praten'sis, S. Europe; S. lyra'ta, N. America, slightly aromatic, and S. polysta'chya, Chia-seed, Mexico, are aromatic and bitter, all being used interchangeably; infusions of either produce (hot) or check (cold) excessive sweating.
 

Sambucus

    Sambu'cus canaden'sis or S. ni'gra, Sambucus, Elder Flowers, N.F. -- Caprifoliaceae.  The air-dried flower with not more than 2 p.c. of foreign organic matter; N. America (damp places).  Semi-shrubby perennial, slightly woody, 1.5-3 M. (5-10 degrees) high; stem branching, smooth, fruit, ovoid drupe, 6 Mm. (1/4') long, red then purplish-black.  Flowers, small 2-3 Mm. (1/12-1/8') broad, shriveled; corolla cream-colored, brownish-yellow, rotate, campanulate, 5-lobed; stamens 5, anthers yellow, pollen with punctate markings; odor faintly sweet, aromatic; taste slightly bitter.  Powder, brownish-yellow -- soon becomes worm eaten unless a preservative (sodium chloride) is added; contains volatile oil .3-.5 p.c., resin, fat, wax, mucilage, tannin.  Stimulant, carminative, diaphoretic, sudorific, diuretic, alterative, flavoring; used mostly externally in fomentation, poultice, and ointment; rheumatism, erysipelas, abscesses, etc.; the water for cooling application to the eyes.  Dose, 3ss-1 (2-4 Gm.); 1. Fluidextractum Stillingiae Compositum, 12.5 p.c.  2. Species Laxative, 25 p.c.  S. ni'gra. -- Europe; tree, 4.5-6') thick, compound cymes smaller than the preceding.  S. Eb'ulus, Dwarf Elder.  All parts with strong, disagreeable odor, bitterish, acrid taste, the 4-seeded fruit, resembling elderberries; laxative; S. made'rensis, Madeira; less aromatic than S. nigra.
 

Sandarac

    Cal'litris quadrival'vis, Sandaraca (Sandarac). -- N. W. Africa It is a resin which exudes spontaneously or from incisions made through the bark; occurs in elongated pale yellow tears 5-15 Mm. (1/5-3/5') long, covered with whitish dust, of a glass-like luster, transparent, hard, brittle; odor and taste terebinthinate, balsamic, bitter, soluble in hot alcohol, ether; it resembles peas in size, often mixed with mastic, owing to its cheapness, but distinguished by being pulverulent when chewed (and not adhesive as with mastic); contains 3 resins, differing in solubility, also bitter principle; according to Tschirch -- sanduracolic acid 85 p.c., callitrolic acid 10 p.c., volatile oil (amount depending upon freshness); mild stimulant, mainly used in varnishes.
 

Sanguinaria

    Sanguina'ria canaden'sis, Santuinaria, Blood Root, N.F. -- The dried rhizome and roots with not more than 2 p.c. of foreign organic matter; N. America.  Perennial herb, in early spring puts forth a rounded palmate 5-9-lobed leaf and a slender scape 10-20 Cm. (4-8') high, bearing a large, single white flower; fruit, June, capsule (pod), oblong, many-seeded.  Rhizome horizontal, occasionally branched, subcylindrical, flattened, 2-7 Cm. (4/5-3') long, 5-15 Mm. (1/5-3/5') thick, dark brown, slightly annulate, few stem-scars, many broken filiform roots; odor slight; taste persistently acrid and bitter.  Powder, brownish-red, sternutatory -- numerous starch grains resembling those of wheat, latex cells with brownish resin masses, few tracheal fragments; solvents: alcohol, diluted acetic acid, water; contains chelerythrine, sanquinarine, protopine, B-homochelidonine, resin, starch, ash 8 p.c.  Systemic emetic, stimulating expectorant, sialagogue, alterative, tonic, acro-narcotic poison; chronic bronchitis, croup, asthma, gastro-intestinal catarrh, jaundice, dyspepsia, torpid liver.  Poisoning: Wash out the stomach, give diffusible stimulants, amyl nitrite, morphone, atropine.  Dose, expectorant, gr. 1-8 (.06-.5 Gm.); emetic, gr. 15-30 (1-2 Gm.); 1. Fluidextractum Sanguinariae (1st menstruum: hydrochloric acid 5cc., water 20, alcohol 75, 2d: 75 p.c. alcohol); 2.  Tinctura Sanguinariae, 10 p.c., dose, mv-60 -- 3j-2 (.3-4;  -- 4-8 cc.); 3. Syrupus Pini Albae Compositus, 4/5 p.c.  Acetum, 10 p.c.; Infusion, 5 p.c., 3ss-4 (15-120cc.).
 

    Oleum Santali.  Oil of Santal, U.S.P.
    Santalum album, Linne'.  A volatile oil distilled from the dried heart-wood, yielding not less than 90 p.c. of alcohols, calculated as santalol.
    Habitat.  S. India, E. Indian Islands, Malabar, Macassar (mountains); cultivated.
    Syn.  White Sandal Wood (young wood), White Saunders, Saunders, Yellow Sandal  (old wood), Almug; Ol. Santal., Santalwood Oil, Oil of Sandalwood, Oleum Ligni  Santali, Oleum Santali Flavi; Fr. Santal Citrin; Essence de Santal, Oleum Santali  aethereum; Ger. Gelber Sandel; Sandelol, Santelol, Ostendisches Sandelholsol.
    San'ta-lum.  L. See etymology, above, of Santalaceae.
    Al'bum.  L. albus, white or light -- i.e., the color of the sapwood.
    PLANT. -- Small tree 6-9 M. (20-30 degrees) high, bark grayish-brown; leaves oval, smooth, glaucous beneath; flowers small, numerous cymes; odorless, color variable, violet-pink, red, yellow.  Wood -- Santalum Album, Sandalwood, N.F.  The heart-wood with not more than 1 p.c. of foreign organic matter, yielding not less than 3.5 p.c. of volatile oil.  It is in billets, pieces, chips, varying shapes and sizes, heavy, hard, splitting easily, yellow inside (heart-wood), whitish (sapwood); odor characteristic, aromatic, persistent; taste peculiar aromatic.  The heart-wood only should be used, which natively is obtained by felling trees of .3 M. (12') diameter, hacking off sapwood, or allowing these trunks to remain on the ground until sapwood is eaten away fy ants, thereby becoming 10-20 Cm. (4-8') thick.  This, when rubbed, rasped, or heated, gives pleasant roseate odor.
    CONSTITUENTS. -- Volatile oil 1-5 p.c., resin, tannin.
    Oleum Santali.  Oil of Santal. -- This volatile oil, distilled from the wood, is a pale yellow, somewhat viscid, oily liquid, characteristic odor and taste of sandalwood, soluble in 70 p.c. alcohol (5), solution being slightly acid, sp. gr. 0.972, levorotatory; contains alcohols, calculated as santalol (most important constituent), C₁₅H₂₆O, 90 p.c., and santalal, C₁₅H₂₄O, both being decomposed by distillation over P₂O₅ -- santalol yielding santalene, C₁₅H₂₄; also present sesquiterpene, possibly acids.  Tests: 1. Australian oil, sp. gr. 0.953, and W. Indian oil, sp. gr. 0.965 are both dextrorotatory.  2. Should be clear in 10 vols. of 70 p.c. alcohol (abs. of cedar-wood oil, castor oil, other fatty oils.)  Should be kept cool, dark, in well-stoppered, amber-colored bottles.  Dose, mv-20 (.3-1.3 cc.
    ADULTERATIONS. -- Castor oil, other fixed oils, chloroform, gurjun balsam oil, volatile oil of copaiba and of cedar-wood, made from lead-pencil chips by distillation, etc.  While that distilled in India and Germany is a good article, that made in England is considered the best and purest, hence is more expensive.
    PREPARATIONS. -- I. WOOD: 1. Fluidextractum Santali Albi, N.F.  (alcohol), dose, 3ss-2 (2-8 cc.): Prep.: 1. Elixir Sabal et Santali Compositum, N.F., 6.5 p.c.  2. Tinctura Sabal et Santali, N.F., 6.5 p.c.; II. OIL (Unoff.): Capsules, Emulsion, Mass, Pills, Wafers.
    PROPERTIES. -- Astringent, stimulant, diuretic, disinfectant, expectorant.  Excreted by bronchial and genito-urinary mucous membranes, stimulating and disinfecting secretions of both.
    USES. -- Bronchitis, gonorrhea, chronic and subacute inflammations of mucous membranes, cystitis, pyelitis, chronic diarrhea.  Very much like copaiba and cubeb in action, and should be continued some time after discharges have ceased.  Extensively employed in perfumery.  The wood is used natively for fevers, indigestion, palpitation, inflammations, skin diseases; also as incense in Chinese temples, and by cabinet-makers for caskets, jewel boxes, and as a perfume.  There are three varieties: 2, Malabar; 2, Macassar; 3, W. Indian.
    Allied Plants.
    1. Santalum Freycinetia'num and S. pyrula'rium of the Sandwich Islands.  S. Ya'si of the Feejee Islands.  S. austro-caledon'icum of New Caledonia.  All 3 furnish oil of good quality.
    2. Venezuela Sandal Wood. -- Rutaceae.  This supplies the market with W. Indian sandalwood oil.
 
 

    Sassafras variifolium, (Salisbury) O. Kunize. A volatile oil distilled from the root.
    Habitat.  N. America -- Canada, Florida to Texas; sandy, light soil, in the open.
    Syn.  Sassaf., Saxifrax, Saloop, Ague Tree, Cinnamon Wood; Sassafras (Cortex) Radix;  Fr. Ecorce de Sassafras; Ger. Lignum Sassafras, Sassafrasholz, Sassafrasrinde; Sassaf.  Med.; Ol. Sassif., Sassafras Oil; Fr. Essence de Sassafras; Ger. Sassafrasol.
    Sas'sa-fras.  L. Sazum, rock, + frangere, to break -- i.e., grows in crevices of rocks; Sp.  for saxifrage, name given by Monardes, Spanish botanist of 16th century.
    Va-ri-i-fo'li-um.  L. varius, varying, + folium, leaf -- i.e., leaves of several forms on the  same tree, ovate, entire, 3-lobed and cuneate at base.
    PLANT. -- Shrub in the North, tree in the south, 9-24 M. (30-80 degrees) high, .3-.6 M. (1-2 degrees) thick; wood whitish, reddish, light, strong, durable, aromatic; bark of stem and large branches rough, deeply furrowed, grayish divisible into layers, young end-twigs smooth, green; leaves 10-15 Cm. (4-6') long, varying shape; flowers, March-May, dioecious, fragrant, appearing before leaves, small, greenish-yellow, racemes; fruit oval drupe, size of a pea, deep blue, 1-seeded.  Bark -- Sassafras, Sassafras, N.F.  The dried back of the root with not more than 4 p.c. of adhering wood, outer corky tissues or other foreign organic matter, yielding not more than 5 p.c. of acid-insoluble ash.  It is in irregular, transversely curved or quilled pieces, 1-15 Cm. (2/5-6') long, 1-4 Mm. (1/25-1/8') thick, orange-brown, nearly smooth, irregular ridges, inner surface reddish-brown, obscurely short-striate; fracture short, corky layer, yellowish-white inner bark; odor aromatic; taste slightly mucilaginous, astringent, pungent.  Powder, reddish-brown -- numerous starch grains, bast-fibers spindle-shaped, red masses of tannin, tracheae.  Dose, 3ss-1 (2-4 Gm.).  Pith -- Sassafras Medulla, Sassafras Pith, N.F.  The dried pith (stem) with not more than 1 p.c. of foreign organic matter, yielding not more than .5 p.c. of acid-insoluble ash.  It is in subcylindrical, curved pieces, 2-10 Cm. (4/5-4') long, 2-5 Mm. (1/12-1/5') thick, light-weight, whitish, occasional wood fragments adhering; fracture short; odor slight, sassafras-like; taste mucilaginous; mounts in water -- thin layer of mucilage from inner walls of cells; macerate several hours .5 Gm. with cold distilled water 25 cc., filter, mucilaginous solution with alcohol (1) -- no precipitate, unless excess added.
    CONSTITUENTS. -- I. BARK: Volatile oil 6-9 p.c., Sassafrid 9 p.c., tannin 6 p.c., resin, starch, gum, wax, ash 30 p.c.  II. PITH: Gum, volatile oil.
    Oleum Sassafras.  Oil of Sassafras. -- This volatile oil distilled from the root (better -- root-bark) with water or steam, is a yellow, reddish-yellow liquid, characteristic odor and taste of sassafras, soluble in 90 p.c. alcohol (2), solution being neutral, sp. gr. 1.070, dextrorotatory; contains chiefly safrol, C₁₀H₁₀O2, 80 p.c., pinene and phellandrene, C₁₀H₁₆, 10 p.c., d-camphor, 6.8 p.c., eugenol, C₁₀H₁₂O2, .5 p.c., cadinene, residue 3 p.c.  Should be kept cool, dark, in well-stoppered, amber-colored bottles.  Dose, mj-5 (.06-.3 cc.).
    Sassafrid. -- Supposed to be altered tannin, the result of oxidation, analogous to cinchona-red; some disclaim its presence in fresh bark; crystallizes in yellowish-brown granules, soluble in alcohol, insoluble in ether, solutions colored red by alkalies, precipitated by aklaline earths (carmine-red), ferric salts (greenish-brown), lead acetate (white) indodorous, nearly tasteless.
    PREPARATIONS. -- OIL: 1. Syrupus Sarsaparillae Compositus, 1/50 p.c.  2. Syrupus Eriodictyi Aromaticus, N.F., 1/20 p.c.  3. Syrupus Pini Albae Compositus, N.F., 1/50 p.c.  4. Syrupus Trifolii Compositus, N.F., 1/25 p.c.  BARK: 1. Fluidextractum Sarsaparillae Compositum, N.F., 10 p.c.  2. Syrupus Pini Albae Compositus, N.F., 7/10 p.c.  PITH: 1. Mucilago Sassafras Medullae, N.F., 3 p.c.  Dose, ad libitum.
    Unoff.  Preps.: BARK: Fluidextract, 3ss-12 (204 cc.).  Infusion (Tea).  Dose, ad libitum.
    PROPERTIES. -- Alterataive, diaphoretic, stimulant, emmenagogue.
    USES. -- To purify blood, skin diseases, rheumatism, syphilis.  Infusion valuable antidote for poison-ivy, internally and externally; it (tea) was popular at one time for so-called thinning the blood (alterative) in spring; given with sarsaparilla, guaiacum, mezereum, etc.; oil popular flavoring agent in confectionery, drinks, soaps, etc., antiemetic, antagonist to narcotic effect of tobacco, hyoscyamus, etc.
    Derivative Products:
    1. Safrolum, Safrol, C₁₀H₁₀O2 -- C₆H₃0₃H₈(OOCH₂). -- This chemically is the methylene ether of allyl pyrocatechol, occurring in the oils of camphor, star-anise, cinnamon, etc., and constitutes 80 p.c. of the oil of sassafras.  It is obtained chiefly from the red oil of camphor by collecting that fraction boiling at 230 degrees C. (446 degrees F.), purifying the same by repeated chilling and crystallization; it is a colorless or faintly yellow liquid, sassafras-like odor, sp. gr. 1.105, optically inactive, cooled to - 20 degrees C. (-4 degrees F.) solidifies to a mass of crystals, melting at 11 degrees C. (52 degrees F.), soluble in alcohol (1), 70 p.c. alcohol (30), miscible with ether, chloroform, boils at 233 degrees C. (451 degrees F.); heated with alcoholic potassium hydroxide solution forms isosafrol, which is less toxic than safrol; with bromine yields crystals of C₁₀H₅Br₅O₂.  Reduces arterial pressure by depressing vasomotor center; taken a long period produces fatty degeneration of heart, liver, and kidneys; it is eliminated as piperonalic acid.  Dose, mj-2 (.06-.13 cc.).
    2. Sassafras Lignum, Sassafras Wood. -- Contains little volatile oil; used like the bark, but very weak medicinally.
 

Scopola

    Sco'pola carniol'ica, Scopola.--The dried rhizome containing .5 p.c. of mydriatic alkaloids, U.S.P. 1900; C. Europe, Germany, Austro-Hungary, Carniola.  Shrub, 20-60 Cm. (8-24') high, usually branchless; leaves oblong-lanceolate, wavy or notched toward apex, petiolate, reticulate, flowers tubular, campanulate, brownish-purple; fruit capsule, circumscissile, dehiscent.  Rhizome flexuous, cylindraceous, mostly in pieces 2.5-7.5 Cm. (1-3') long, .8-1.6 Cm. (1/3-2/3') thick, often split before drying; upper surface with large, closely set cup-shaped stem-scars, margins irregularly contracted, brownish, longitudinally wrinkled, obscurely annulate, nodular-roughened, fracture short, sharp; wood indistinctly radiate, central pith horny; nearly inodorous; taste sweetish, bitterish, acrid; solvents: 80 pc. alcohol, water partially; contains scopolamine .05 p.c., hyoscyamine .5 p.c., atropine, scopoletin, ash 7-10 p.c.  Mydriatic, analgesic, hypnotic, antiphlogistic; glaucoma, ptyalism, hyperidrosis.  Should not be given in renal affection nor in advanced age, and cases of poisoning should be treated as in belladonna.  Dose, gr. 1-3 (.06-.2 Gm.); extract, gr. 1/4-1/2 (.016-.03 Gm.); scopolamine, gr. 1/250-1/60 (.00025-.001 Gm.); S. japon'ica, Japanese Belladonna, plant resembles very    closely S. carniolica, differing only in having the style curved, calyx-teeth unequal, leaves less obovate with longer petioles; rhizome 10 Cm. (4') long, 12 Mm. 1/2') thick; this also yields atropine, scopolamine, etc.
 
 
Scutellaria

    Scutella'ria lateriflo'ra, Scutellaria, Skullcap, Mad-dog, N.F. -- The dried underground portion, with not more than 3 p.c. of foreign organic matter; N. America, United States, damp thickets, ditch banks.  Perennial herb .3-.6 M. (1-2 degrees) high; stem branched, smooth, quadrangular; leaves opposite, 5 Cm. (2') long, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, coarsely serrate, rounded at base, petiolate; flowers 6 Mm. (1/4') long, 1-sided axillary leafy racemes, pale blue corolla and bilabiate calyx, closed in fruit, upper lip helmet-shaped, including 4 didynamous stamens (upper pair shorter) odor slight; taste slightly bitter.  Powder, dark green -- numerous non-glandular hairs, glandular hairs, smooth pollen grains, chlorenchyma, epidermal cells and stomata, lignified fibers, narrow tracheae, occasional epidermal cells of corolla, fragments pink in chloral hydrate T.S.; solvents: diluted alcohol, boiling water; contains scutellarin, volatile oil, tannin, sugar, ash 12 p.c.  Tonic, nervine, antispasmodic; epilepsy, hysteria, nervous exhaustion, chorea, delirium tremens, tremors, spasms, muscular twitching, hyperesthesia, neuralgia, convulsions, intermittents, anuresis, hydrophobia.  Dose, 3ss-1 (2-4 Gm.); 1. Fluidextractum Scutellariae (diluted alcohol), dose, 3ss-1 (2-4 cc.); 2. Tinctura Viburni Opuli Composita, 1 p.c.  Decoction, 5 p.c., 3j-2 (30-60 cc.); Extract, gr. 5-10 (.3-.6 Gm.).  S. integrifo'lia, hairy, terminal racemes, S. pilo'sa, hairy, terminal racemes, leaves in distinct pairs, S. galericula'ta, nearly smooth, flowers single, axillary--all used interchangeably.
 

Selenicereus

    Selenice'reus grandiflo'rus, Cactus Grandiflorus, Night Blooming Cereus, N.F. -- Cactaceae.  The fresh succulent stem of the wild growing plant; Mexico, W. Indies, cultivated.  Small shrub, .3-1 M. (1-3 degrees) high; stem green, fleshy, branching; flowers white, sessile, large, fragrant, opening at night, petals and stamens numerous; fruit white berry, size of an egg.  Stem (drug) in pieces of varying length, 1.5-4 Cm. (3/5-1 3/5') thick, 5-9-angled, angles 2 Cm. (4/5') apart with tufts of 9-12 acicular spines, each 5 Mm. 1/5') long, and same number of bristles 1 Cm. (2/5') long, branched roots at irregular intervals; odor strong, herby; taste acidulous, mucilaginous; solvent: alcohol; contains cactine, acid resinous glucoside, resins, calcium oxalate.  Cardiac stimulant (tonic), diuretic, similar to digitalis, but non-cumulative, counter-irritant; cardiac palpitation and weakness, heart failure from valvular disease, angina pectoris, aortic regurgitation, dropsies, low fevers, Graves' disease, tobacco toxemia, sexual exhaustion.  Dose, gr. 5-10 (.3-.6 Gm.); 1. Tinctura Cacti Grandiflori, 50 p.c. (Alcohol), dose, mxv-30 (1-2 cc.).  Decoction, 5 p.c., 3j-2 (4-8 cc.); Fluidextract.
 

Senecio areus

    Senec'io au'reus, Senecio, Life Root Plant, Ragwort, Squaw-weed, N.F. -- The dried plant with not more than 10 p.c. of foreign organic matter; Eastern N. America.  Perennial herb .3-.6 M. (1-2 degrees) high, nearly smooth, fluted, sparingly clothed with small leaves, also a basal rosette, and several yellow heads (corymb) at summit, white floccose when young, then glabrous; radical leaves petiolate, rounded, 5-7 Cm. (2-3') broad, crenate-dentate, cordate; stem-leaves lyrately pinnate, then pinnatifid, sessile; heads slender, 12-25 Mm. (1/2-1') broad, involucral scales in 2 series closely appressed; rays 10, bright yellow, disk flowers many, small, bearing a glabrous achene, white pappus; odor characteristically aromatic; taste bitter, astringent, acrid, pungent.  Powder, dark green -- many twisted non-glandular hairs with thin walls and oily content; leaf tissue composed of chlorenchyma, epidermal cells, elliptical stomata; solvent: diluted alcohol; contains volatile oil, resin, bitter principle (senecin), tannin, ash 10 p.c.  Stimulant, diuretic, emmenagogue, vulnerary; atonic conditions, amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea; popular with "Eclectics," Homeopaths, and American Indians.  Dose, 3ss-1 (2-4 Gm.); 1. Fluidextractum Senecionis (67 p.c. alcohol), dose, 3ss-1 (2-4 Gm.); 1. Fluidextractum Senecionis (67 p.c. alcohol), dose, 3ss-1 (2-4 cc.).  Decoction, Infusion, each 5 p.c., 3j-2 (30-60 cc.).
 

Seronoa

    Sere'noa serrula'ta, Saw Palmetto Berries, N.F. -- Palmaceae.  The partially dried, ripe fruit with not more than 1 p.c. of foreign organic matter; should contain 10-15 p.c. of its natural moisture when used for pharmaceutical preparations; S. United States--near seacoast.  Small, stout, evergreen shrub, large underground trunk; leaves orbicular, .6-1 M. (2-3 degrees) long, .3-.6 M. (1-2 degrees) broad, 10-12-cleft, petioles aculate-serrate.  Fruit, 1-seeded drupe, similar to olive, ovoid, 1.5-3 Cm. ((3/5-1 1/5') long, 1-1.5 Cm. (2/5-3/5') broad, bluish-black, smooth, oily, shriveled from contraction of sarcocarp; epicarp and sarcocarp forming thin coriaceous shell enclosing thin reddish-brown endocarp which encloses an ovoid, reddish-brown seed; odor pronounced, aromatic; taste sweetish, aromatic, acrid.  Powder, yellowish-brown -- parenchyma cells of sarcocarp, yellowish amorphous substance, endosperm, large pores, stone cells: solvent: 80 p.c. alcohol; contains volatile oil .5-1 p.c., fixed oil 10-15 p.c., fat, alkaloid, resin, dextrin, glucose; seed--fixed oil 12 p.c.  Sedative, diuretic, expectorant, tonic, anticatarrhal; chronic bronchitis, phthisis, inflammation of genito-urinary tract, nose, larynx, atonic impotence.  Dose, gr. 15-60 (1-4 Gm.); 1. Fluidextractum Sabal (80 p.c. alcohol), dose, mxv-60 (1-4 cc.); 2. Elixir Sabal et Santali Compositum, 26 p.c. + triticum 26, fldext. zea 26, fldext. Sandalwood 6.5; 3. Tinctura Sabal et Santali, 20 p.c. + sandalwood 6.5 (80 p.c. alcohol), dose, 3j-2 (4-8 cc.).  Inhalation -- mix alcoholic solution with boiling water--inhale vapor.
 

Sesamum

    Ses'amum in'dicum; Oleum Sesami, Sesame Oil, Teel Oil, Benne Oil, N.F. -- Padaliaceae.  The fixed oil obtained from the seeds of one or more cultivated varieties; India, Africa, cul. In S. United States.  Annual herb, 1-1.3 M. (3-4 degrees) high, quadrangular, hairy; leaves lanceolate-ovate; flowers campanulate, 4 Cm. (1 3/5') long, pale purple; fruit, capsule, 2.5-5 Cm. (1-2') long, quadrangular, pericarp leathery, olive-green, dehiscent; seed 5 Mm. (1/5') long, testa thick, yellowish, variegated; contain fixed oil 47-56 p.c., proteins 22 p.c., mucilage 4 p.c., ash 4.8 p.c.  Oleum Sesami, pale yellow oily liquid; almost odorless, bland taste, slightly acid, slightly soluble in alcohol, miscible with ether, chloroform, petroleum benzin, carbon disulphide, sp. gr. 0.918; contains triglycerides of oleic (chiefly) and linleic acids 75 p.c., also myristin, palmitin, stearin 20-25 p.c., sesamin.  Laxative, demulcent, emolient, nutritious; similar to olive oil, but less agreeable and digestible; mostly in hair preparations, liniments; internally in emulsion.  Dose, 3ss-2 (15-60 cc.); 1. Linimentum Ammonia, 75 p.c., + aq. ammon. .25 p.c.; 2. Olea Infusa, 100 p.c.
 

Simarauba

    Simaru'ba ama'ra (S. officina'lis, S. medicina'lis, Quassia Simaruba). -- The bark (of root), U.S.P.1820-1870; Guiana to N. Brazil, W. Indies.  Tree 15-18 M. (50-60 degrees) high, crooked branches; leaves 22.5-30 Cm. (9-12') long, leaflets 3-5 pairs, 5-10 Cm. (2-4') long; flowers yellow; fruit drupe; bark flat, curved, or quilled, .5-1 M. (20-40') long, 3 Mm. (1/8') thick, yellowish-brown, striate, fibrous, bitter; contains picrasmin, resin, volatile oil, calcium oxalate.  Tonic, febrifuge, diuretic (large doses cause vomiting and purging); dysentery, diarrhea (dysentery bark), etc.; in infusion, decoction.  Dose, gr. 10-30 (.6-2 Gm.).
 

Simaba

    Sima'ba ce'dron and S. ferrugin'ea. -- Columbia, Brazil; resembles simaruba, but flowers hermaphrodite; fruit pear-shape, size of hen's egg.  Used natively as febrifuge and as antidote to poisonous animal bites.
 

Sinapis (Brassica) arvensis

    Brassica arven'sis (Sinapis'trum), Charlock, Wild Mustard. -- Europe, United States; an annual, troublesome weed; seed smoothish, dark brown, smaller and less pungent, than our official black mustard.  B. olera'cea, Cabbage, Europe; leaves large, smooth, glaucous, very different from cultivated varieties.  B. campes'tris; Europe, Russia, Asia.  Wild annual, .3-.6 M. (1-2 degrees) high, flowers bright yellow; of this we have several cultivated varieties which give edible roots and seeds of some value, thus: (a) var. Na'pus, Turnip -- seed larger than official black mustard, 1.6-2 Mm. (1/16-12') thick, brown or black, finely pitted, slightly acrid; (b) var. Ra'pa, Rape, Colza--seed larger than mustard or turnip, 2-1.5 Mm. (1/12-1/10') thick, finely pitted, blue-black, slightly acrid; both yield a bland, yellow fixed oil under the names of turnip-seed oil and rape-seed oil; (c) var. Rutaba'ga, Swedish Turnip -- seed also small and contain oil and pungency.
 

Sinapis alba

    Sinapis alba.  White (Yellow) Mustard, U.S.P. 1830-1910. -- Plant and habitat similar to official.  Seed, 1-2 Mm. (1/25-1/12') thick, subglobular, testa yellowish, minutely pitted, embryo yellowish, oily, with curved hypocotyl, 2 conduplicate cotyledons; inodorous; taste mildly pungent, acrid; powder contains few or no starch grains; contains fixed oil 20-25 p.c., sinalbin, sinapine sulphocyanide, lecithin, albumin 28 p.c.,  gum and mucilage 19 p.c. (mainly in testa), myrosin, other proteins, ash 4 p.c.  Used for flavoring, etc., similar to the official, but milder in action as allyl isothiocyanate is not developed by macerating with water, but a weaker compound--acrinyl isosulphocyanide.
 
 

    Smilax medica, Chamisso et Schlechlendal, officinalis, Kunth, ornata, Hooker filius.  The dried root (rhizome and crown portion being excluded before grinding or powdering) with not more than 2 p.c. foreign organic matter, yielding not more than 2 p.c. (Mexican 4 p.c.) acid-insoluble ash.
    Habitat.  Tropical America, Mexico to Brazil; Andes and Chinqui Mountains, 1,200- 2,400 M. (4,000-8,000 degrees) elevation; swampy forests.
   Syn. Sarsap., 1. Mexican, Vera Cruz, Tampico Sarsaparilla; 2. Honduras, Bearded, Red  Sarsaparilla; 3. C. America, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Lima Sarsaparilla; Sarsae Radix; Fr.  Salsepareille du Mexique; Ger. Radix Sarasparillae, Sarsaparille.
    Smi'lax.  L. Bindweed, Gr...., the yew, fr....(Eng. smile), a scraper -- i.e., stems rough  with prickles.
    Med'i-ca.  L. medicus, medical, curative -- i.e., its healing properties.
    Of-fi-ci-na'lis.  L. officina, a work shop, = opus, work, + facere, to do, to make -- i.e.,  used in or belonging to the shop or store.
    Or-na'ta.  L. ornatus, fr. ornare, to adorn -- adorned, decorated, ornamented -- i.e.,  beautiful fruit and foliage.
    Sar-sa-pa-ril'la.  L. fr. Sp. zarzaparilla -- zarza, a bramble, + parra, a vine, or from  Parillo, a physician said to have discovered and employed it.
    PLANTS. -- Large perennial, thorny climbers; rhizomes short, thick, knotted, nodes thick, from which spring purplish-white roots 2-2.5 M. (6-8 degrees) long, and a few rootlets; stems many, stiff, woody, angular, ridged, subterete or quadrangular, prickles at nodes; leaves 10-30 Cm. (4-12') long, 7.5-15 Cm. (3-6') wide, petioles 5 Cm. (2') long, quadrangular, cordate, rounded lobes at base, entire, glabrous, leathery, dark glossy green; flowers dioecious, 10-20 together in umbels; fruit small berry, 8 Mm. (1/3') thick, red, 2-3-seeded.  ROOT (S. medica): Mexican, in loose bundles, or pressed bales, single bundles, 30-60 Cm. (12-24') long, composed of 20-35 folded roots attached to a crown with one or more stout stems; roots 3.5-6 Mm. (1/7-1/4') thick, usually shrunken forming sharp longitudinal ridges and broad furrows, often containing some blackish earth, grayish-brown, dark brown, finely hairy; nearly devoid of branches or fibrous rootlets; fracture brittle (cortex), tough and fibrous (central cylinder); cortex mealy, whitish, brownish, horny; woody zone yellow, porous; pith whitish, distinct; nearly odorless; taste mucilaginous, sweetish, acrid; (S. officinalis): Honduras, in compact cylindrical bundles, 30-55 Cm. (12-22') long, 8-15 Cm. (3-6') thick, composed of long, folded roots bound together by a number of circular turns; roots 2-5 Mm. (1/12-1/5') thick; dark-, reddish-brown, longitudinally wrinkled or finely furrowed, usually without earth, with occasional fibrous rootlets; fracture short, sometimes tough and fibrous (central cylinder); internally reddish-brown, dark brown, occasionally light gray cortex, a light yellow porous woody zone and a whitish pith; (S. ornata): Central American, Jamaica, in more or less compact, somewhat flattened bundles, 30-45 Cm. (12-18') long, 10-15 Cm. (4-6') broad, composed of folded roots loosely bound together by a few circular turns; roots 2-5 Mm. (1/12-1/5') thick, grayish, reddish-brown, longitudinally wrinkled, occasionally nearly smooth, rarely furrowed, without earth, bearing numerous coarse fibrous rootlets; fracture short or tough and fibrous in central cylinder, internally white or dark brown cortex, and porous wood zone, a yellow or white pith.  POWDER, grayish-brown -- numerous starch grains, .003-.023 Mm. (1/8300-1/1075') broad, spherical, biconvex calcium oxalate raphides, singly or in groups up to .15 Mm. (1/175') long; cells of hypodermis and endodermis with lemon-yellow, reddish-yellow porous walls (Mexican -- uneven or irregular thickening), cells being .08-.5 Mm. (1/1250-1/50') long; fragments of tracheae with thickenings, fibers with thin lignified or porous walls.  Solvents: diluted alcohol; boiling water, injured by continued boiling.  Dose, 3ss-2 (2-8 Gm.).
    Commercial. -- Sarsaparilla was carried to Europe from Peru, S. Domingo, Brazil, by the Spaniards in 1550, and has been in general use ever since.  Plants occur in very thick undergrowth that renders careful collection quite troublesome, which is effected by grubbing, pulling, etc., so as to avoid extermination; those fully grown often yield at first cutting 30-60 pounds (13.6-27 Kg.), and every 2 years thereafter smaller quantities of more slender, less starchy roots.  Collectors accept as best that having many roots from stem, persistent acrid taste, closely set prickles and thin leaves, and according to physical properties recognize two kinds (a) Non mealy: Mexican, Jamaica, thin, not cracked, red, brown, little or no starch, usually pasty, rarely in granules, somewhat horny with longitudinal and irregular folds; thought best as bark and pith are relatively small, roots have more rootlets, greater acridity, and yield most extract, dissolving clearly in cold water; (b) Mealy: Honduras, Para, more or less swollen, pale yellow, trnsversely cracked, considerable starch, usually in fine granules, seldom pasty.  There are four varieties: 1, Mexican, once thought valueless, but now, owing to acridity, most valuable; grows in Mexican Andes, around Orizaba, Vera Cruz, etc., being considered a variety of S. officinalis, with slender branches, and often without prickles; 2, Central American, Jamaica, grown chiefly in Costa Rica, some in the Amazon Valley, and called "Jamaica" as it is exported through that province; resembles Honduras, but redder, less wrinkled and amylaceous, and yields more extract; 3. Honduras, most popular, grown in Honduras, Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, C. America; enters market in bales, skins, 100 pounds (45.3 Kg.); 4, Para (Brazilian, Rio Negro, Lisbon -- S. Papyra'cea), in compact cylindrical bundles, 30-90 Cm. (12-36') long, 15-20 Cm. (6-8') thick, closely and neatly bound by a stem of a vine, and ends evenly trimmed; rootlets few, dark, amylaceous, acrid, resembling Honduras, and growing in N. Brazil, Guiana (Para, Maranham): considered a variety of S. officinalis, with older stems and lower branches remaining square, angles with flattened prickles and much more membranous leaves; rather rare, and the only one of the four varieties not recognized in U.S.P.
    The Guayaquil (S. officinalis), growing in W. Andes alleys, occasionally enters market, usually loose and carelessly packed in bales, rhizome and stem portions often included; roots dark with much fiber, bark furrowed, thick, somewhat amylaceous, internally pale yellow.  Roots are taken also from S. syphilit'ica (Colombia) S. glau'ca (Mexico) S. util'is (Jamaica), etc.
    CONSTITUENTS. -- Saponin-like substance (separable into 3 glucosides -- Sarsasaponin. Parillin, Smilasaponin) 3 p.c., volatile oil, resin, starch 10-15 p.c., pectin, coloring matter, calcium oxalate and other salts, ash 7-10 p.c.
    Sarsasaponin, C₂₂H₃₆O₁₀, is the most important component, being 3-4 times more active than the other two; it is crystallizable, soluble in water, alcohol, more so with heat.
    Parillin (Smilacin), C₂₆H₄₄O₁₀, crystallizable, soluble in water, alcohol, frothing with agitation, aqueous solution precipitated by lead acetates, tannin; boiled with diluted acids splits into sugar and parigenin.
    Smilasaponin, C₂₀H₃₂O₁₀, non-crystallizable, soluble in water, alcohol.
    PREPARATIONS. -- 1. Fluidextractum Sarasparillae.  Fluidextract of Sarsaparilla.  (Syn., Fldext. Sarsap., Fluid Extract of Sarsaparilla; Extractum Sarsae Liquidum; Fr. Extrait fluide de Salsepareille; Ger. Sarsaparillafluidextrakt.)
    Manufacture: Moisten, macerate for 6 hours in tightly-covered containers 100 Gm. with enough diluted alcohol, pack, percolate with same menstruum until exhausted, reserve first 85 cc., reclaim alcohol, evaporate to soft extract, which dissolve in the reserve, mix thoroughly, add menstruum q.s. 100 cc.  Dose, 3ss-1 (2-4 cc.).
    Preps.: 1. Syrupus Sarsaparillae Compositus.  Compound Syrup of Sarsaparilla.  (Syn., Syr. Sarsap. Co., Syrupus Sudorificus; Fr. Sirop de Salsepareille compose, Sirop sudorifique; Ger. Zusammengesetzter Sarsaparillsirup.)
    Manufacture: Fluidextract of sarsaparilla 20 cc., fluidextract of glycyrrhiza 1.5, oil of     sassafras, .02, oil of anise .02, methyl salicylate .02, alcohol 1.94, add this solution to syrup 76.5 cc.  Dose, 3j-4 (4-15 cc.).  Prep.: 1. Syrupus Bromidorum, N.F., 45 p.c.
    2. Fluidextractum Sarsaparillae Compositum, N.F., 75 p.c. + glycyrrhiza 12, sassafras 10, mezereum 3.  Dose, 3ss-1 (2-4 cc.).
 Unoff. Preps.: Compound Decoction 10 p.c. (+ sassafras 2, guiaiacum wood 2, glycyrrhiza 2, mezereum 1), 3j-4 (30-120 cc.).  Decoction.  Extract, gr. 5-10 (.3-.6 Gm.).  Extract Comp.; Syrup.
    PROPERTIES. -- Alerative, diuretic, diaphoretic, tonic.  Mostly believed to be of little service unless associated with other drugs, such as potassium iodide, guaiac, sassafras, mezereum, etc.
    USES. -- As a blood purifier in scrofula, cutaneous diseases, abscesses, ulcers, tertiary syphilis with mercuric chloride or potassium iodide or both; gout, rheumatism.
    Incompatibles: Alkalies, iodine, and corrosive sublimate is claimed to be converted into calomel by the compound syrup.  Smilax chi'na, S. Pseu'do-china, S. tamnoi'des, S. as'pera and Ca'rex arena'ria, German Sarsaparilla, are used like official.
 

Solanum carolinense

    S. Carolinen'se, Solanum, Horse-nettle, Berries, N.F. -- The air-dried ripe fruit with not more than 5 p.c. of immature fruit nor 2 p.c. of foreign organic matter; C. And S. United States.  Perennial herb, .3-.6 M. (1-2 degrees) high, stellate-pubescent, grayish-green, sharp yellow prickles.  Fruit, globose, shriveled, .8-2 Cm. (1/3-4/5') thick, orange-yellow, glabrous, fleshy, 2-celled, many-seeded, calyx persistent; stellate, pubescent, enclosing half of berry, seed orbicular, flat, yellow, shining; odor pepper-like; taste bitter, acrid.  Powder, brownish -- numerous fragments of seed-coat and epicarp, cells with yellowish amorphous content; solvent: diluted alcohol; contains solanine, solanidine, resin, fat, volatile oil, ash 6 p.c.  Tonic, antiepileptic, antitetanic; tetanus, epilepsy, convulsions -- albuminuria, pregnancy; better than bromides; disastrously fatal to cattle.  Dose, 3ss-1 (2-4 Gm.); 1. Fluidextractum Solani (67 p.c. alcohol), dose, 3ss-1 (2-4 cc.); Tincture.  S. panicula'tum, S. America; tonic, diuretic, antiperiodic; vesical catarrh.
 

Solanum dulcamara

    Sola'num Dulcama'ra, Dulcamara, Bittersweet, N.F. -- The dried stem with not more than 2 p.c. of foreign organic matter; Europe, Asia (N. America).  Climbing pubescent shrub, around dwellings, in thickets; leaves cordate, halberd-shaped, pubescent beneath; flowers purple, whitish; fruit oval red berry, many-seeded.  Stem woody at base, branching 3-4.5 M. (10-15 degrees) high, collected when 1-2 years old, autumn or early spring, cut into short sections, 8 Mm. (1/3') long, 5 Mm. (1/5') thick, cylindrical, hollow, angular, striate, warty; bark thin, greenish-brown, glabrous, wood yellowish, in 1-2 concentric rings; odor slight; taste bitter, then sweet.  Powder, greenish-yellow -- tracheae with pores, markings, wood-fibers, bast-fibers, cork cells, few hairs, starch grains, numerous microcrystals; solvents: diluted alcohol, water partially; contains dulcamarin (picroglycion, dulcarin) .4 p.c., solanine, resin, gum, wax, benzoic acid, starch, calcium lactate.  Narcotic, diuretic, diaphoretic, alterative, deobstruent; large doses produce vomiting, faintness, vertigo, convulsive muscular movements, dryness and constriction of the throat, thirst, diarrhea, weakened heart action, paralysis.   Cutaneous eruptions, rheumatism, gout, bronchitis, whooping-cough, nasal, vesical, and pulmonary catarrhs, mania with strong venereal desire, neuralgia.  Poisoning: Same as for belladonna.  Dose, 3ss-1 (2-4 Gm.); 1. Fluidextractum Dulcamarae (diluted alcohol), dose, 3ss-1 (2-4 cc.).
 

Solidago

    Solida'go odo'ra, Sweet or Anise-scented Golden-rod. -- The leaves and tops, U.S.P. 1820-1870; N. America.  Perennial herb, .6-1 M. (2-3 degrees) high, greenish-yellow, pubescent; leaves lanceolate, pelluciddotted, 2.5-5 Cm. (1-2') long, 12 Mm. (1/2') wide; flowers yellow, racemes; fruit achenes; odor and taste sweet, anise-like, more pronounced when bruised; contains volatile oil.  Stimulant, rubefacient, anodyne, carminative, diaphoretic, aromatic; hemorrhages, colic, neuralgia, amenorrhea, rheumatism; infusion, oil.  Dose, 3ss-2 (2-8 Gm.); oil, mj-5 (.06-.3 cc.).
 

Spigelia

    Spige'lia marylan'dica, Spigelia, Pinkroot. -- The dried rhizome and roots with not more than 10 p.c. of stems or other foreign matter, U.S.P. 1820-1910; United States, Maryland, southward.  Perennial herb, .3-.6 M. (1-2 degrees) high, purplish; leaves sessile, entire, ovate-lanceolate; flowers large, scarlet red, on one side of stem above the leaves; fruit 2-seeded.  Rhizome, horizontal, 1.5-5 Cm. (3/5-2') long, 2-5 Mm. (1/12-1/5') thick, dark brown, cup-shaped scars above, numerous roots beneath; fracture short, brittle, 3 zones -- pith, wood, bark; odor slightly aromatic; taste bitter, pungent.  Powder, grayish-brown -- starch grains, lignified tracheae, tracheids, bast-fibers, reddish-brown epidermal cells; solvents: diluted alcohol, boiling water; contains bitter principle (?), spigeline, volatile oil, resins, tannin, wax, fat, gum, ash 8-10 p.c.  Anthelmintic, toxic, mydriatic; large doses narcotic poison; to destroy round worms, usually associated with senna or calomel, or followed by Epsom salt.  Poisoning: Vertigo, dilated pupils, dry throat, convulsions, delirium -- diffusible stimulants: ammonia, brandy, amyl nitrite, atropine, digitalis, Dose, 3ss-2 (2-8 Gm.); children gr. 10-20 (.6-1.3 Gm.); Fluidextract (diluted alcohol);  Compound Infusion (Worm Tea), 15 Gm. + senna 10, fennel 10, manna 30, water q.s. 500 cc., 3ij-5 (60-150 cc.).  S. anthel'mia, Demerara Pink Root, Worm Grass. -- W. Indies.  Used for a long time by the native Indians as a vermifuge and narcotic; fresh root has nauseous odor, is bitter, acrid, and kills cattle.  Phlox' caroli'na, Farolina or Georgia Pink. -- This has a knotty and lighter colored rhizome with a central pith; it is also an anthelmintic, as is P. glaber'rima.
 

Spiraea

    Spirae'a tomento'sa, Hardhack. -- The root, U.S.P. 1820-1870; N. America; shrub, .6-1 M. (2-3 degrees) high, stem ferruginous, tomentous, leaves dark green, but rusty-white beneath; flowers purple; fruit 1-seeded pod; root consists of brown, bitter, astringent bark, and hard, white, tasteless wood; contains tannin, bitter principle, volatile oil.  Astringent, tonic; diarrhea, cholera infantum, hemorrhages, gonorrhea, ulcers, etc.; infusion, decoction, extract. Dose 3ss-1 (2-4 Gm.).
 

Stillingia

    Stillin'gia sylvat'ica, Stillingia, Queen's Root, N.F. -- The dried root with not more than 3 p.c. of foreign organic matter, and that which has been stored for more than 2 years must not be used; S. United States.  Perennial lactiferous (when wounded emits milky juice) herb, .3-1 M. (1-3 degrees) high; leaves lanceolate, sessile, serrate; flowers yellow, monoecious; fruit rough round capsule, 3-celled, each cell 1-seeded.  Root, terete, unequally tapering, rarely branched, 20-40 Cm. (8-16') long, .5-3 Cm. (1/5-1 1-5') thick; usually in cut pieces, 2-5 Cm. (4/5-2') long; reddish-brown, wrinkled, fracture fibrous; internally -- bark thick, spongy, fibrous with resin cells, easily separable from porous, radiate wood; odor distinct; taste bitter, acrid, pungent.  Powder, pinkish-brown -- numerous starch grains with central cleft, fragments with secretion cells bearing resin, tracheae, wood-fibers, bast-fibers, brownish cork cells, calcium oxalate crystals in rosettes; solvents: boiling water, diluted alcohol; contains sylvacrol (resin), volatile oil 3-4 p.c., glucoside, tannin 10-12 p.c., gum, starch, ash 5 p.c.  Alterative, expectorant, diuretic, diaphoretic, sialagogue, cholagogue, antivenereal; large doses emetic, cathartic, increases heart ation, circulation, various secretions; syphilis, scrofula, skin and chronic hepatic affections.  Dose, 15-30 gr. (1-2 Gm.); 1. Fluidextractum Stillingiae (diluted alcohol), dose, mxv-30 (1-2 cc.): Prep.: 1. Elixir Corydalis Compositum, 6 p.c.; 2. Fluidextractum Stillingiae Compositum, 25 p.c., + corydalis 25, blue flag, sambucus, chimaphila, aa 12.5, coriander 6.3, prickly ash berry 6.2, diluted alcohol q s. 100, dose, 3ss-1 (2-4 cc.): Prep.: 1. Syrupus Stillingiae Compositus, 25 p.c., glycerin 10, syrup 65, dose, 3j-4 (4-15 cc.).  Decoction, 5 p.c., 3j-2 (30-60 cc.), Extract, gr. 2-5 (.13-.3 Gm.), Tincture 10 p.c., 3ss-2 (2-8 cc.).  Stillingia sebif'era, L. sebum, tallow, + ferre, to bear; China; S. Carolina, Georgia, Florida--sea coast.  Tree 6-9 M. (20-30 degrees) high, fruit 3-celled, 3-seeded, imbedded in solid, inodorous fat (palmitin, stearin), melts at 44 degrees C. (112 degrees F.), called China or Vegetable Tallow; used for candles.
 

Strychnos ignatii

    Strychnos Igna'tii, Ignatia, Saint Ignatius Bean, Ignatia Amara, N.F. -- The dried ripe seed, yielding not less than 2 p. c. of alkaloids nor more than 1 p.c. of foreign organic matter; Philippine Islands.  Large climbing shrub; leaves ovate, acute, smooth, flowers white, tubular, racemes; fruit resembles a pear, pericarp brittle.  Seed, 24 imbedded in bitter pulp, 20-30 Mm. (4/5-1 1/5') long, 15 Mm. (3/5') broad and thick, heavy, hard, horny, angularly ovate, with obtuse angles, several sided, grayish-black, nearly smooth, few hairs; fracture granular and translucent in small fragments, small irregular cavity in center with embryo; nearly inodorous, intensely bitter.  Powder, grayish-brown -- cells of epidermis and seed-coat, polygonal cells with granular contents from endosperm, few hairs in spreading clusters, embryo tissue of small thin-walled cells; solvent: alcohol; contains more strychnine, but less total alkaloids than nux vomica -- strychnine .5-1.5 p.c., brucine .5-1.4 p.c., proteins 10 p.c., ash 4 p.c.  Properties, uses and poisoning similar to nux vomica.  Dose, gr. 1/2-3 (.03-.2 Gm.); 1. Extractum Ignatiae, Powdered Extract of Ignatia, 6 p.c. alkaloids, (75 p.c. alcohol), dose, gr. 1/8-1/2 (.008-.03 Gm.); 2. Tinctura Ignatiae, 10 p.c., 1/5 p.c. alkaloids (88 p.c. alcohol), dose, mv-20 (.3-1.3 cc.).  S. Tieu'te. -- Java; seed resemble nux vomica but smaller, whiter; contain strychnine, brucine; extract used natively for arrow poison.  S. potato'rum, India; seed subglobular, 12 Mm. (1/2') wide, brownish-gray, not bitter, no strychnine; used natively for clearing muddy water.  S. Colu-bri'na, India; yields true Lignum Colubrinum, for which nux vomica branches often are substituted.  All parts bitter and contain strychnine and brucine; once used as antidote to snake-bites, hence the name.  S. toxif'era (Castelnaea'na), Curara, Curare, Woorara, Urari. -- Brazil, Guiana.  Extract of bark (South American arrow poison), blackish, hygroscopic, bitter, friable, 75 p.c. soluble in water; contains curarine, C18H36N (yellowish-brown, bitter alkaloid), resin, fat.  Diaphoretic, sedative, irritant; best drug in tetanus.  Dose, gr. 1/10-1/3 (.006-.02 Gm.); curarine gr. 1/100 (.0006 Gm.) -- resembles digitalis in action.
 
 

    Strychnos Nux-vomica, Linne'.  The dried, ripe seed, yielding not less than 2.5 p.c. of alkaloids.
    Habitat.  India, Hindustan, E. India islands, Malabar, Ceylon, Java, N. Australia.
    Syn.  Nux Vom., Dog (Quaker, Bachelor's) Buttons, Vomit (Poison) Nut, Dog Poison,  Crow-fig, Ratabane, False Angustura, Columbrina, Ordeal-root, Nux Metella, Semen  Nuces Voicae; Fr. Noix vomique; Ger. Semen Strychni, Brachnuss, Krabhenaugen.
    Strych'nos.  L. fr. Gr...., night shade, equivalent to L. solanum, used anciently for  several poisonous plants, but not for the present one.
    Nux' Vom'i-ca.  L. Nux, a nut, + vomere, to vomit -- i.e., excessive doses may vomit, or  require vomiting to save life, small doses may allay it.
    PLANT. -- Small tree, 4.5-9 M. 15-30 degrees) high, trunk short, thick, crooked, branches irregular, bark yellowish-gray, nearly smooth; leaves exstipulate, 5-10 Cm. (2-4') long, roundish, oval, 3-5-nerved, apex acute, entire, shining; flowers in winter, whitish, funnel-shaped, 8 Mm. (1/3') long, paniculate cymes; fruit shining, globular, 4-5 Cm. (1 3/5-2') thick, rind thin, tough, orange-yellow when ripe, filled with poisonous white gelatinous pulp in which 1-5 seed are immersed irregularly.  SEED, orbicular, nearly flat, occasionally irregularly bent, 10-30 Mm. (3/5-1 1/5') broad, 4-5 Mm. (1/6-1/5') thick, very hard when dry; grayish, greenish-gray, covered with appressed hairs giving a silky luster; hilum -- a circular scar at the center of one of the flattened sides and connected with micropyle at the edge by a ridge; internally showing a thin, hairy seed-coat and large grayish-white endosperm, at one end of which is embedded a small embryo with 2 ovate 5-7-nerved cotyledons; inodorous; taste intensely, persistently bitter.  POWDER, light gray -- chiefly thick-walled endosperm cells containing fixed oil globules, few aleurone grains, lignified non-glandular hairs with walls having large pores, few spherical starch grains in tissues of adhering pulp.  Solvents: 75 p.c. alcohol; boiling water partially.  Dose, gr. 1/2-5 (.03-.3 Gm.).
    ADULTERATIONS. -- SEED: Rare -- as nothing resembles them closely; POWDER: Common -- various inert substances (increasing amount of hairs) and olive stones, often 50 p.c.  RASPED: "Vegetable ivory" (coroso, negrito), seeds of Phytel'ephas macrocar'pa (Australia, used natively for making buttons) and of Metrox'ylon vitie'se (socalled Australian "coroso," Fiji Islands, imported into Hamburg for the purpose; odorless, tasteless, bony, revealing decided structural differences under the microscope).
    Commercial. -- Plant resembles our dogwood and its fruit a small orange.  Seed are washed free of pulp and dried in the sun, the best being recognized by light color, ample breadth, thin edge, excessive silkiness, and prominent hilum; they may readily be powdered by breaking into small pieces and drying several days with hot air or carefully applied direct heat; powder should be uniform so as not to retard or prevent thorough exhaustion by menstruum.  There are four varieties valued in the order named: 1, Bombay; 2, Cochin (Calcutta); 3, Ceylon; 4. Madras.
    CONSTITUENTS. -- Alkaloids 2.5-4-5.3 p.c.: Strychnine .25 p.c., Brucine .5-2 p.c., Igasurine (probably impure brucine), all combined with igasuric (strychnic, tannic, caffeo-tannic) acid; Loganin, fixed oil, proteins 11 p.c., yellow coloring matter, gum, sugar 6 p.c., ash 1-3/5 p.c.   Dunstan and Short found total alkaloids to vary from 2.74 p.c. in small Madras to 3.9 p.c. in large, silky Bombay seed, of which 30-50 p.c. was strychnine.
    Strychnina, Strychnine, C₂₁H₂₂O₂N₂, N.F. -- This alkaloid is found not only in nux vomica, but also in other loganiaceous plants (seeds); it was discovered by Pelletier, 1818, and may be obtained by boiling powdered seed with acidulated (HCl or H₂SO₄) water, thus liberating tannic (igasuric) acid, mucilage, coloring matter, etc., and forming chlorides or sulphates of the alkaloids; concentrate and add milk of lime to decompose alkaloidal salts (forming CaCl2 or CaSO4) and to precipitate strychnine and brucine; wash precipitate, treat it with diluted alcohol to dissolve brucine, or with alcohol or benzene to take out strychnine, thus leaving brucine in the mother-liquor.  If diluted alcohol be used for brucine, then by boiling residue with alcohol strychnine is obtained; can purify with animal charcoal and reprecipitate with ammonia.  It is in colorless, transparent, prismatic crystals, white crystalline powder, odorless (must use great caution in tasting, and then only in very dilute solutions, which are exceedingly bitter -- 1 in 700,000), permanent, soluble in water (6420), boiling water (3100), alcohol (136), boiling alcohol (34), chloroform (5), benzene (180), very slightly in ether; saturated solutions alkaline, levorotatory; forms numerous salts (hydrochloride, nitrate, phosphate, sulphate, etc.).  With sulphuric acid containing 1 p.c. of ammonium vanadate -- deep violet-blue, changing to deep purple, cherry-red, incinerate 1 Gm. -- ash .1 p.c.; solution of .1 Gm. in sulphuric acid 2 cc. -- only pale yellow (abs. of readily carbonizable organic substances) until a fragment of potassium dichromate is added -- deep blue color, changing to deep violet, purplish-red, cherry-red, orange, yellow.  Add .1 Gm. to mixture of equal vols. nitric acid and distilled water -- may produce yellow color, but no red or reddish (abs. of brucine).  Impurities: Brucine, readily carbonizable organic substances; commercial strychnine contains some homo-strychnine, C₂₂H₂₄O₂N₂.  Dose, gr. 1/60-1/20 (.001-.003 Gm.)
    Strychninae Nitras, Strychnine Nitrate, C₂₁H₂₂O₂N₂.HNO₃, U.S.P. -- Syn., Strych. Nit: Fr. Azotate (Nitrate) de Strychnine; Ger. Strychninum nitricum, Strychninnitrat, Salpetersaures Strychnin.)  Obtained by dissolving strychnine (1) in diluted nitric acid (1,886), or strychnine (5), hot dist. water (50), dilute nitric acid q.s., when neutral evaporate, crystallize.  It is in colorless, glistening needles, white crystalline powder, odorless (must use great caution in tasting, and then only in very dilute solutions, which are exceedingly bitter -- 1 in 700,000, permanent, soluble in water (45), boiling water (10), alcohol (150), hot alcohol (80), glycerin (50), chloroform (105), insoluble in ether; saturated aqueous solution neutral, slightly acid, levorotatory; contains 84.13 p.c. of the alkaloid.  Tests: 1. Superimpose in a test-tube an aqueous solution of the salt upon diphenylamine T.S. -- a blue color at zone of contact; heated with hydrochloric acid--bight red.  2. Aqueous solution 1 in 100) 20 cc. acidulated with 2 drops diluted nitric acid, + 5 drops of silver nitrate T.S. -- no opelescence at once (abs. of chloride); similar solution 20 cc + 5 drops of barium nitrate T.S. -- no immediate turbidity (abs. of sulphate).  Should be kept dark in well-closed containers.  Dose, gr. 1/60-1/20 (.001-.003 Gm.).
    Strychninae Sulphas, Strychnine Sulphate, (C₂₁H₂₂O₂N₂)2.H₂HSO₄.5H₂O, U.S.P. -- (Syn., Strych. Sulph.; Fr. Sulfate de Strychnine; Ger. Strychninum sulfuricum, Strychninsulfat, Schwefelsaures Strychnin.)  Obtained by dissolving strychnine in diluted sulphuric acid, avoiding excess, evaporating filtrate, crystallizing.  It is in colorless, white, crystals, white, crystalline powder, odorless, efflorescent (must use great caution in tasting, and then only in very dilute solutions, which are exceedingly bitter -- 1 in 700,000), soluble in water 35, boiling water (7), alcohol (81), hot alcohol (26), chloroform (220), glycerin, insoluble in ether; saturated aqueous solution (1 in 50) neutral, slightly acid, levorotatory; contains 78.03 p.c. of the alkaloid.  Tests:  1. Aqueous solution with barium chloride T.S.--white precipitate, insoluble in hydrochloric acid.  2. Dried to constant weight at 100 degrees C. (212 degrees F.) -- loses 11 p.c. (all water of crystallization); ash .1 p.c.  Should be kept dark, in well-closed containers.  Dose, gr. 1/60-1/20 (.001-.003 Gm.).
    Brucine (Brucina), C₂₃H₂₅O₄N₂. -- Named after James Bruce (1730-1794), a Scotch traveler, and obtained in extracting strychnine; occurs in rectangular, octahedral crystals, containing 4H₂O, soluble in water (850), readily in chloroform, alcohol, ammonia, creosote; forms numerous salts, less bitter than strychnine, 12 times weaker, 3 times slower physiologically; by some considered to be strycnine + resin, as it has same action.  Test: 1. With nitric acid--blood-red color, changing to orange-yellow; now add stannous chloride, sulphurous acid, or any deoxidizing agent--violet-red (this completely bleaches morphine-red).  Dose, gr. 1/12-1/2 (.005-.03 Gm.).
    Igasurine (Igasuria), fr. Malay, igasura, the nux vomica. -- Obtained from mother-waters of strychnine and brucine after their precipitation with lime; occurs in white crystals; by some claimed to be a mixture of 9 alkaloids, mostly brucine; others doubt its existence.
    Igasuric Acid. -- Identical with tannic or caffeo-tannic acid, amorphous, dark green with ferric salts, by hydrolysis yields glucose and caffeic acid.
    Loganin, C₂₅H₃₄O₁₄. -- Bitter glucoside, in white prisms, soluble in water, alcohol; with sulphuric acid--red, then purple, and splits into dextrose and loganetin.
    PREPARATIONS. -- SEED: 1. Extractum Nucis Vomicae.  Extract of Nux Vomica.  (Syn., Ext. Nuc. Vom., Powdered Extract of Nux Vomica; Fr. Extrait de Noix vomique; Ger. Extractum Strychni, Brechnussextrakt.)
    Manufacture: Macerate, percolate 100 Gm. with 75 p.c. alcohol containing acetic acid 1 p.c. until exhausted, reclaim alcohol, concentrate to 20 cc., transfer to flask or separator, add water 15 cc. + purified petroleum benzin 20 cc., shake thoroughly several minutes, decant benzin layer, shake residue again with purified petroleum benzin 10 cc., decant benzin layer, reject benzin solutions.  Evaporate fat-free residue on water-bath to dryness, stirring frequently; assay and add q.s. dried starch for extract to contain 15.2-16.8 -- l6 p.c. of the alkaloids.  Pulverize, mix thoroughly, pass through fine sieve.  Should be kept in small, wide-mouthed, tightly-stoppered bottles.  Dose, gr. 1/8-1/2 (.008-.03 Gm.): Preps.: 1. Pilulae Aloes et Podophylli Compositae, N.F., 1/4 gr. (.016 Gm.).  2. Pilulae' Ferri, Quininae, Aloes et Nucis Vomicae, N.F., 1/4 gr. (.016 Gm.).
    2. Tinctura Nucis Vomicae.  Tincture of Nux Vomica.  (Syn., Tr. Nuc. Vom.; Fr. Teinture de Noix-vomique; Ger. Tinctura Strychni, Brechnusstinktur, Krahenaugentinktur.)
    Manufacture: 10 p.c.  Similar to Tinctura Veratri Viridis, page 104, 1st menstruum: 75 p.c. alcohol containing 1 p.c. of acetic acid, 2d menstruum: 75 p.c. alcohol; contains .237-.263 -- .25 Gm. of alkaloids in each 100 cc.  Dose, mv-20 (.3-1.3 cc.).
    3. Fluidextractum Nucis Vomicae, N.F., (75 p.c. alcohol, 2.5 Gm. alkaloids in each 100 cc.  Dose, mj-5 (.06-.3 cc.).  STRYCHNINE: 1. Elixir Ferri Pyrophosphatis, Quininae et Strychninae, N.F., 1/125 gr. in each 3j.  2.  Elixir Pepsini, Bismuthi et Strychninae, N.F., 1/100 gr. in each 3j.  3.  Liquor Hypophosphitum Compositus, N.F., 1/200 gr. in each 3j.  4.  Pilulae Aloini, Strychninae et Belladonnae, N.F., 1/125 gr. in each.  5.  Pilulae Aloini, Strychninae et Belladonnae Compositae, N.F., 1/125 gr. in each.  6.  Pilulae Ferri, Quininae, Strychninae et Arseni Fortiores, N.F., 1/20 gr. in each.  7.  Pilulae Ferri, Quininae, Strychninae et Arseni Mites, N.F., 1/50 gr. in each.  8.  Pilulae Laxativae Compositae, N.F., 1/125 gr. in each. 9.   Syrupus Ferri Quininae et Strychninae Phosphatum, N.F., 1/80 gr. in each 3j.  10.  Syrupus Hypophosphitum Compositus, N.F., 1/80 gr. in each 3j.  STRYCHNINE NITRATE: 1. Elixir Glycerophosphatum Compositum, N.F., 1/160 gr. in each 3j.  2.  Syrupus Phosphatum cum Quinina et Strychnina, N.F., 1/125 gr. in each 3j.  STRYCHNINE SULPHATE: 1. Elixir Cinchonae Alkaloidorum, Ferri, Bismuthi et Strychninae, N.F., 1/100 gr. in each 3j.  2. Elixir Cinchonae Alkaloidorum, Ferri et Strychninae, N.F., 1/100 gr. in each 3j.  3. Elixir Ferri, Quinonae et Strychninae, N.F. 1/100 gr. in each 3j.)
    Unoff. Preps.: Abstract (seed), gr. 1/4-2 (.016-.13 Gm.).  Decoction (leaves) -- externally in rheumatism.  Elixirs, Solutions, Syrups of various salts of strychnine.
    PROPERTIES. -- Motor excitant, spinant, tonic, stomachic, respiratory, cardiac, muscular, and nervous stimulant, antiseptic, poisonous.  Strychnine and nux vomica are identical, increasing the vascularity of gastric mucous membrane, secretion of gastric juice, and peristalsis by stimulating the intestinal muscular coat (purative), stimulates direct the cardiac muscles or the motor ganglia and nerves of special sense; strychnine, full dose, gr. 1/10 (.006 Gm.), gives dilated pupils, jerky limbs, spasmodic respirations, stiff lower jaw, cerebral tension, shuddering, depression, facial smile or grin.  Thebaine (opium) acts similarly.  The spasms of tetanus are constant, of strychnine intermittent, with meaningless smile, the modified lockjaw, absence of wound, and rapidly developed symptoms differentiate the two.  Strychnine is absorbed rapidly, but eliminated slowly by urinary, salivary, and cutaneous channels.
    USES. -- Strychnine was used first in paralysis, and now in atonic dyspepsia, gastric catarrh, bowel atony, pregnancy and phthisis vomiting, nervous cough bronchitis, anemia, paralytic condition, lead palsy, inebriate and diphtherial paralysis, amaurosis from lead, tobacco, alcohol, paralysis of bladder, incontinence of urine, sexual impotence, tetanus, chorea, epilepsy, delirium tremens, spermatorrhea, neuralgia, dysmenorrhea, diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, antidote to chloral hydrate, morphine, physostigmine.  A tolerance for it is established quickly, but gr. 1/12 (.005 Gm.) has killed, while gr. 1/2-2 (.03-.13 Gm.) as a rule is considered fatal; extract, gr. .3 (.2 Gm.) also have killed.
    Poisoning: Strychnine, gr. ½ (.03 Gm.), or more, produces within half an hour difficult breathing, sense of suffocation and impending death, muscular rigidity, stiffness of neck, tonic or persistent convulsions of all extensor muscles, coming on at intervals 3-30 minutes, lasting a few seconds to one or more minutes, these quickly recurring at every noise, touch or peripheral irritation, between convulsions complete relaxation, face dusky and with ghastly grin, angles of mouth drawn back and upward, body curved so as to rest on head and heels, eyeballs prominent, pupils dilated during paroxysm, eyes fixed and open, lips livid, great thirst but unable to drink owing to spasms of jaws, respiration suspended during convulsions, pulse feeble and rapid, involuntary defecation and urination, lockjaw, death in 2-3 hours from asphyxia; mind clear until near the end, when carbon dioxide narcosis (cyanosis), exhaustion and nervous storm set in.  Place in horizontal position, in dark room remote from all noise, use evacuants, (stomach-pump, emetics, purgative), follow with antidotes: tannin dissolved in water, charcoal, potassium permanganate; if ingested relax (convulsions) with chloroform or ether, and give by rectum potassium bromide gr. 60 (4 Gm.) and chloral hydrate, gr. 40 (2.6 Gm.) in starch water; amyl nitrite, (soluble iodides, tobacco, opium, physostigmine, atropine, conium, cannabis).  Empty bladder often (catheter), practice artificial respiration.
    Incompatibles: Chloral hydrate, potassium bromide, tobacco, chloroform, ether, tannin, bromides, iodides, chlorides.
    Synergists: Motor excitants, ergot, ustilago, electricity, cold.
    Allied Product:
    1.  The bark was once (1806-1837) upon the market in England and Holland, being mixed usually with Angustura, and since then has been known as  False Angustura Bark; it is poisonous, gray, cork patches rust-color, warty, inside brown, fracture smooth, no white striae (calcium oxalate); contains strychnine, brucine, etc.  The wood is used in domestic practice; all portions are medicinal.
 
 

    Styrax Benzoin, Dryander, or other  species.   The balsamic resin with not more than 1 p.c. foreign organic matter (Siam), yielding 75 (Sumatra) -90 ( Siam) p.c. alcohol-soluble extractive and 1 (Sumatra) -.5 (Siam) p .c. acid-insoluble ash.
    Habitat.  East Indies -- Sumatra, Siam, Java, Borneo, Malay Peninsula, Laos; cultivated;  grown upon interior hills and sea coast plantation.
    Syn.  Gum Benjamin, Benzoin Laural, Benjamin tree, Resina Benzoe, Asa Dulcis; Fr.  Benjoin (de Sumatra); Ger. Benzoe Benzoe.
    Sty'rax.  L. see etymology, above, of Styraceae.
    Ben-zo-i'num.  L. fr. Ar. luban, jawa, -- lu - ban - join, contracted, lit. "Incense of Java,"  in universal use.
    Ben-so'in.  The original word and mostly used.
    PLANT. -- Handsome tree, medium height, with dense spreading crown; bark grayish, tomentose; leaves oblong, downy, 7.5-12.5 Cm. (3-5') long, acuminate, dentate; flowers inside reddish, outside white, hairy anthers 2-celled.  BALSAMIC RESIN: Sumatra Benzoin, in blocks, lumps of variable size made up of tears compacted together with reddish-brown resinous mass; tears yellowish-brown, fresh fracture milky-white; hard, brittle, softened by heat; odor aromatic, when boiled with water suggesting cinnamic acid or storax; taste aromatic, slightly acrid -- gritty on chewing; Siam Benzoin, in pebble-like tears of variable size, compressed, yellowish-brown, separate or slightly agglutinated, fracture milky-white, hard, brittle, softened by heat; odor agreeable, balsamic, vanilla-like; taste aromatic, slightly acrid -- plastic on chewing.  Tests: 1. Alcohol dissolves 75 (Sumatra)-90 (Siam) p.c., the solution being acrid, and milky with water.  2. Heat fragments in test-tube -- sublimate formed just above melted mass, in plates, small rod-like crystals strongly polarizing light (Sumatra), or in long rod-shaped crystals slightly polarizing light (Siam).  3. Ethereal solution added to small quantity of sulphuric acid -- brownish-red (Sumatra), purplish-red (Siam).  4.  Heat .5 Gm. with potassium permanganate T.S. 10 cc. -- Sumatra only develops odor of benzaldehyde.  5. Treat 1 Gm. with warm carbon disulphide 15, + 5 cc. filtrate spontaneously evaporated -- residue not over 12.5 p.c., and responds to tests of benzoic acid.  Impurities: Rosin, foreign resins, etc.  Dose, gr. 5-30 (.3-2 Gm.).
    ADULTERATIONS. -- Wood, bark, splinters, earthy matter, stones, resinous matrix (in cake benzoin -- remaining behind when treated with alcohol or sublimed), 10-40 p.c.
    Commercial. -- Trees contain no resin-receptacles and only the unhealthy afford resin -- a pathological product (tannate transformation resulting from wounding)--which is obtained, July-Nov., from both wild and cultivated plants over 6 years old having a trunk 15-20 Cm. (6-8') thick, by making between the ground and the first branches longitudinal or oblique incisions, or a circle of notches through the bark into which the white liquid resin slowly exudes; after 3 months, when dry and hard (concreted), it is picked out, cut or scraped off with knives or sharp sticks, placed into baskets, and assorted according to size, cleanness, and quality, the larger tears (marbles, almonds) commanding the higher price.  Each tree yields annually about 3 pounds (1.5 Kg.) for 12 years, when they are cut down; the first 3 years' product called natively head benzoin, is best, being more fragrant and filled with white tears; the next 7-8 years' yield, belly benzoin, is browner, with less white tears, while by felling the trees and splitting the stems an inferior quality, foot benzoin, "foots," is scraped off, being dark and mixed with wood, bark, etc.  These names correspond to our superior, medium, inferior -- both having the same relative values, 105, 45, 18.  It is received at the Sumatra ports in cakes wrapped in matting, there softened by heat, packed into chests, and sent to Penang and Singapore, thence into commerce; in Siam it is conveyed on bullocks' backs to Menam River, thence via Bangkok to market in cubical blocks.  There are five varieties -- the first two being recognized by U.S.P.: 1, Sumatra, grayish-brown, with many white tears mixed with resinous matrix of unknown origin, reddish-brown with age; 75 p.c. soluble in alcohol, odor weak, storax-like; inferior kinds with few or no tears, but many chips of wood, bark, etc., especially in the center -- "drossy" or "false packed;" 2, Siam, best, reddish brown, in small or large tears; 90 p.c. soluble in alcohol, odor strongest, most agreeable, vanilla-like, taste bitter; occurs in two forms: (a) tears--almond-shaped lumps, often 2.5 Cm. (1') long, more or less flattened; (b) amygdaloid -- tears agglutinated with reddish-brown matrix; 3, Penang, similar to Sumatra, but odor even more storax-like, and possibly from other species of Styrax; 4, Palembang, free from tears, pale reddish-brown, opalescent luster (due to moisture, becoming moldy), little odor; contains benzoic acid, no cinnamic acid nor vanillin; tincture gives flocculent precipitate, not milkiness, in water; seldom reaches our market; 5, False (Catappa -- Bu'ceras Termina'lia) angutifo'lius -- Combretaceae); whitish-brown aromatic exudate obtained by incisions; resembles benzoin slightly; used as incense in E. India.  While the quality of all varieties depend upon the amount of tears, yet the Sumatra its the great article of commerce, although the Siam is purest, least variable, and best flavored.
    CONSTITUENTS. -- Sumatra: Benzoic acid 10-20 p.c., Cinnamic acid, small amount or wanting, Resins, Vanillin .1-1 p.c., volatile oil (benzoic acid ester -- aromatic, neutral) .3 p.c., styracin 2-3 p.c., styrol, benzaldehyde, phenyl-proply cinnamate, 2 esters 75 p.c. (of which 92.6 p.c. is resinotannol, 7.4 p.c. benzoresinol) -- yielding cinnamic acid 33 p.c.; Siam: less benzoic acid, little or no cinnamic acid, more vanillin, 1-1.5 p.c., benzoresinol benzoate, C16H26O, 5 p.c. (long white prisms), resinotannol benzoate, C₁₂H₁₄O₃, 57 p.c., ash 2 (Sumatra) -2.5 (Siam) p.c.
    Acidum Benzoicum.  Benzoic Acid, C₆H₅COOH, U.S.P. -- (Syn., Acid Benz., Acidum Benzoicum Sublimatum, Flores Benzoes, Flowers of Benzoin; Fr. Acide benzoique, Fleurs de Banjoin; Ger. Benzoesaure, Benzoeblumen.)  This organic acid -- English variety, is obtained (wet process) by boiling benzoin several hours with milk of lime, filtering while hot, supersaturating filtrate with hydrochloric acid, allowing to crystallize, purifying; or more frequently (dry process) by the sublimation of benzoin (sometimes having an equal weight of sand added) between the temperatures 140-180 degrees C. (284-366 degrees F.).  It is made also from hippuric acid (horse and cattle urine, furnishing the German benzoic acid), as well as synthetically from phthalic acid (naphthalene), C₆H₅CH₃, by passing chlorine into it (boiling) until ceasing to gain weight, thereby converting it first into benzo-trichlride, and then treating this with water under pressure -- C₆H₅CCl₃ + 2H₂O = C₆H₅COOH + 3HCl; it is lustrous scales, friable needles; natural -- white, yellowish, darker on exposure to light, slight odor of benzoin; synthetic--white, odorless, slight odor of benzaldehyde; pungent acid taste, somewhat volatile at moderate temperature, freely with steam; soluble in water (275), boiling water (18), alcohol (2.3), boiling alcohol (1.5), chloroform (4.5), ether (3), benzene (10), carbon disulphide or tetrachloride (30), oil of turpentine (23), solutions of alkali hydroxides, fixed and volatile oils, sparingly in petroleum benzin; melts at 120 degrees C. (248 degrees F.); saturated solution acid; contains not less than 99.3 p.c. of C₆H₅COOH; the sublimed is most soluble in water and contains volatile oil imparting odor; melts at 121 degrees C. (250 degrees F.); ash -- .05 p.c.  Tests: 1. Warm for 5 minutes .1 Gm. synthetic acid + sulphuric acid 2 cc. -- not darker than light yellow, acid from benzoin -- light brown (abs. of readily carbonizable substances).  2. Dissolve .3 Gm. in hot water 15 cc., + N/10 potassium permanganate -- no odor of benzaldehyde (dif. from cinnamic acid).  Impurities: Chlorinated compounds, cinnamic acid, readily carbonizable substances.  Should be kept cool, dark, in well-closed containers.  Dose, gr. 5-15 (.3-1 Gm.).
    Cinnamic Acid, C₉H₈O₂. -- Obtained by agitating filtered ethereal solution with weak sodium hydroxide solution (to remove benzoic acid and vanillin), distilling off ether, saponifying pure esters by boiling with sodium hydroxide solution several hours, acidifying, boiling, filtering, cooling, when crystals appear.  The two acids may be separated by their different degree of volatility, benzoic acid melting at 121.4 degrees C. (250.5 degrees F.) and the two mixed (1 cinnamic, 2 benzoic) at 25.5 degrees C. (78 degrees F.).
    Resins. -- One is extracted along with benzoic acid by boiling solution of potassium carbonate in excess; another is dissolved from the residue by ether, while the third is affected by neither solvent, hence left as a residue.  With melted potassium hydroxide get paroxybenzoic acid, C₇H₆O₃, protocatechuic acid, C₇H₅O₄, and pyrocatechin, C₆H₆O₂.
    Vanillin, C₉H₈O₃. -- Is obtained by treating Siam benzoin with caustic lime, precipitating benzoic acid with hydrochloric acid and shaking liquid with ether.
    PREPARATIONS. -- BENZOIN: 1. Adeps Benzoinatus.  Benzoinated Lard.  (Syn., Adeps Benz., Benzoated Lard, Unguentum Benzoini, Axungia Balsamica -- Benzoinata or Benzoata; Br. Adeps Benzoatus; Fr. Axonge Benzionee; Ger. Adeps Suillus Benzoinatus, Benzoe (Benzoinirtes-schmalz)
    Manufacture: 1 p.c.  Melt lard 100 Gm. on water-bath, add Siam benzoin, in coarse powder, 1 Gm., mix thoroughly, heat gently, 60 degrees C. (140 degrees F.), for 2 hours, covering the vessel, strain, stir occasionally while cooling; when for hot-weather use, may replace 5 p.c. (or more) of the lard by white wax.  Should be kept cool, in well-closed containers impervious to fat.
    Preps.: 1. Ceratum 70 p.c.  2. Ceratum Cantharidis, 20 p.c.  3. Unguentum, 80 p.c.  4.    Unguentum Hydrargyri Fortius, 25 p.c.  5. Unguentum Sulphuris 85 p.c.  6. Ceratum    Camphorae N.F., 40 p.c.  7. Mulla Acidi Salicylici, N.F., 10 p.c.  8. Mulla Hydrargyri    Chloridi Corrosivi, N.F., 5 p.c.  9.  Mulla Zinci, N.F., 20 p.c.  10.  Pasta Zinci      Sulphurata, N.F., 70 p.c.  11.  Unguentum Plumbi Iodidi, N.F., 90 p.c.  12. Unguentum    Potassii Iodidi, N.F., 80 p.c.  13. Unguentum Stramonii, N.F., 65 p.c.  14. Unguentum    Sulphuris Alkalinum, N.F., 65 p.c.  15. Unguentum Veratrinae, N.F., 90 p.c.
    2.   Tinctura Benzoini.  Tincture of Benzoin.  (Syn., Tr. Benz.; Fr. Teinture de Benjoin; Ger. Tr. Banzoes, Benzoetinktur.)
    Manufacture: 20 p.c.  Similar to Tinctura Cardamomi Composita, page 137; menstruum: alcohol.  Dose, 3ss-1 (2-4 cc.); largely externally.
    Prep.: 1. Unguentum Picis Compositum, N.F., 2 p.c.
    3. Tinctura Benzoini Composita.  Compound Tincture of Benzoin.  (Syn., Tr. Benz. Co., Friar's or Turlington's Balsam, Tinctura Balsamica, Balsamum
    Commendatoris, Elixir Traumaticum; Fr. Teinture balsamique, Baume du Commandeur de Permes; Ger. Persischer Wundbalsam.)
 Manufacture: 10 p.c.  Similar to Tinctura Cardamomi Composita, page 137 -- using benzoin 10 Gm., aloe 2, storax 8, tolu 4; menstruum: alcohol.  Dose, 3ss-1 (2-4 cc.); mostly externally.
    4. Sevum Benzoinatum, N.F., 3 p.c.
    Preps.: 1. Mulla Acidi Salicylici, N.F., 80 p.c.  2. Mulla Creosoti Salicylata, N.F., 65 p.c.  3. Mulla Hydrargyri Chloridi Corrosin N.F., 90 p.c.  4. Mulla Zince, N.F., 70 p.c.
    II.  BENZOIC ACID: 1. Tinctura Opii Camphorata, 2/5 p.c.
    Unoff. Prep.: Benzoic Acid Lozenge (Br.), each ½ gr. (.03 Gm.).
    PROPERTIES. -- Stimulant, expectorant, antiseptic, diuretic, antipyretic.  It is eliminated slightly by the skin, salivary glands, and broncho-pulmonary mucous membrane, but mostly by the kidneys, where it is converted into hippuric acid, which renders alkaline urine acid, increases the flow, disinfects and stimulates the genito-urinary tract.
    USES. -- Chronic laryngitis, diarrhea, dysentery.  Locally the tincture as a stimulant and proective to wounds, to arrest coryza.  Benzoic acid -- for bronchitis, uric acid deposits, cystitis, acute gonorrhea, phosphatic gravel, incontinence of urine, rheumatism.  Bright's disease, albuminuria, dressing to wounds, ulcers.
    Incompatibles: The tinctures with all aqueous preparations.
 

Swertia

    Swer'tia Chiray'ita, Chirata, N.F. -- The dried plant with not more than 3 pc. of foreign organic matter; N. India -- mountains.  Annual plant, 1 M. (3 degrees) high, cylindrical above, quadrangular below, smooth, yellowish-brown, branched; wood yellowish -- thin, enclosing large yellowish, easily separable pith; root simple, 7 Mm. (1/4') thick near the crown; leaves opposite, sessile, ovate-lanceolate, entire; flowers small, panicled, 4-lobed calyx and corolla; fruit capsule, ovoid, many-seeded; odor slight; taste intensely bitter.  Powder, yellowish-brown -- numerous tracheae, lignified fibers, abundant pith parenchyma cells with lignified walls, epidermis with stomata, seed, fragments of seed-coat, pollen grains, cells with brown resin and tannin masses; solvents: diluted alcohol, water partially; contains ophelic acid, chiratin, ash 6 p.c. (K, Ca, Mg, carbonates and phosphates).  Tonic, febrifuge, stomachic, laxative, antispasmodic, hepatic, stimulant, large doses nauseate; indigestion, constipation, chronic bronchitis, similar to gentian and calumbo. Dose, gr. 15-30 (1-2 Gm.); 1. Fluidextractum Chiratae (diluted alcohol), dose mxv-30 (1-2 cc.); Tincture 10 p.c. (67 p.c. alcohol), 3ss-1 (2-4 cc.).  S. angustifo'lia and S. pulchel'la have entire square stems, pith thin or wanting; less bitter but used to adulterate the preceding.
 

Symplocarpus

    Spathye'ma (Symplocar'pus) fae'tida, Skunk Cabbage. -- The dried rhizome and roots, U.S.P. 1820-1870.  Perennial, spathe appears first in spring, covered with purplish spots and stripes, flowers dull purple, leaves .3-.6 M. (1-2 degrees) long, .3-.4 M. (12-15') wide.  Rhizome obconical, truncate, 7.5-10 Cm. (3-4') long, 5 Cm. (2') thick.  Many rootlets, brownish-gray, inside whitish, many wood-bundles, whole plant fetid, more so when triturated, taste acrid, biting; contains volatile oil, gum, fat, resin, starch.  Emetic, diuretic, antispasmodic, stimulant, narcotic; asthma, chronic catarrh, rheumatism, chores, hysteria, dropsy, bronchitis, in infusion, tincture.  Dose, gr. 5-15 (.3-1 Gm.).