Cholesterol Capsules

Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World, 1919, was edited by U. P. Hedrick. - Alfalfa

Medicago sativa Linn. Alfalfa. Lucerne. Europe and the Orient. The leaves are eaten by the Chinese as a vegetable.

The Dispensatory of the United States of America, 1918, Edited by Joseph P. Remington, Horatio C. Wood and others. - Garlic

Garlic. N. F. IV. Allium. English Garlic.—The genus Allium includes a large number of species, of which nearly seventy are indigenous in this country. Many, and perhaps all, of these species contain volatile oil upon which their activity depends. The cultivated garlic, of which the bulbs are official in the N. F., is Allium sativum L., for which, according to Griffith, A. canadense L., has been substituted and found efficient. Allium sativum, L., is a perennial plant with numerous bulbs which have a common membranous covering, from the base of which the fibers that constitute the proper root descend. The stem is simple, and rises about two feet. The leaves are long, flat, and grass-like, and sheathe the lower half of the stem. At the termination of the stem is a cluster of flowers and bulbs mingled together, and enclosed in a pointed spathe, which opens on one side and withers. The flowers are small and white, and make their appearance in July. This species of garlic grows wild in Sicily, Italy, and the south of France. The bulbs, or so-called cloves, are usually six or eight in number, oblong or wedge-shaped, and covered with dry membranous scales, with a pungent odor and a disagreeable and acrid taste. The N. F. description is as follows: "The fresh bulb of Allium sativum Linne (Fam. Liliaceae). Bulb subglobular, from 4 to 6 cm. in diameter, compound, consisting of from eight to fifteen bulbels and surrounded by one or two dry, whitish, membranaceous scales and attached to a flattened circular base from the lower portion of which arise numerous yellowish-white roots; bulbels more or less ovoid, in transverse section on three to four sided, the outer surface being convex, summit acute and narrowed into a thread-like fibrous portion, base truncate, each bulbel covered by one or two layers of whitish, membranaceous, scale-. like leaves, beneath which is the light brown or pinkish, thin and coriaceous layer of epidermis, cohering but easily separable from the solid portion of the bulbel. Odor of broken or bruised bulbels powerfully alliaceous, taste intensely pungent and persistent. Under the microscope, transverse sections of the bulbel show, three distinct portions: (a) the large fleshy scale consisting chiefly of parenchyma enclosing scattered vascular bundles, epidermis in both ventral and dorsal surfaces consisting of small tabular cells; (b) the middle layer nearly circular in outline, about 0.75 mm. in diameter, the tissues resembling those of the outer fleshy scale, but the cells containing numerous yellowish-brown plastids; (c) an innermost bright green layer consisting of a single leaf folded lengthwise along the midrib so that the ventral surfaces lie close together." The oil of garlic is of a dark brownish-yellow color, heavier than water, and decomposed at its boiling temperature. It may be purified by repeated distillation in a salt water bath, and is then lighter than water, of a pale yellow color, and not decomposed by boiling. Semmler obtained from garlic bulbs 0.09 per cent. of the volatile oil, sp. gr. at 14.5° C. (58° F.) 1.0525; it was yellow, having an intense odor and optically inactive. By fractional distillation he obtained four products, C6H12S2, C6H10S2, C6H10S3, and C6H10S4, which decomposed during distillation, and hence could only be obtained by distillation in vacuo. The oil, according to Semmler, is free from allyl sulphide, the latter having the sp. gr. 0.8991. (A. Pharm., 1892, p. 434.) The impure oil has an exceedingly pungent odor and a strong acrid taste, and, when applied to the skin, produces much irritation and sometimes even blisters. The pure oil combines with silver nitrate, forming a precipitate soluble in heated alcohol and afterwards separating in crystals. Besides this oil, fresh garlic, according to Cadet de Gassicourt, contains, in 1406 parts, 520 of mucilage, 37 of albumen, 48 of fibrous matter, and 801 of water. Bouillon-Legrange mentions among its constituents sulphur, a saccharine matter, and a small quantity of starch. The fresh bulbs yield upon pressure nearly a fourth part of juice, which is highly viscid, and so tenacious as to require dilution with water before it can be easily filtered. When dried, it serves as a lute for porcelain. It has the medicinal properties of the bulbs. Water, alcohol, and vinegar extract the virtues of garlic. Protracted boiling renders it inert. According to Semmler (A. Pharm., 1887, p. 927), Allium ursinum contains a volatile oil which consists mainly of vinyl-sulphide, C4H6S or (C2H3)2S. Medicinal Properties and Uses.—The use of garlic as a medicine and as a condiment can be traced to earliest antiquity. When taken internally, and even when applied externally, the oil is absorbed and imparts its odor to the breath, urine, perspiration, etc. The oil of garlic has some influence upon the human system as a general mild stimulant. Its chief value in medicine is for its local action upon the stomach and as a stimulant expectorant. The garlic itself is sometimes employed as a rubefacient which, by yielding its volatile oil to absorption, stimulates the nervous system, especially in the case of young children. The oil may often be given with advantage in chronic bronchitis and in the advanced stages of obstinate acute bronchitis. It is especially valuable in the treatment of children when there is a distinct nervous element. In catarrhal pneumonia of young children the bruised garlic cloves are often applied as a poultice to the lungs, and similar applications were formerly used upon the feet for the nervous restlessness or even the convulsions of young children. Garlic clove may be swallowed either whole or cut into pieces of a convenient size, but the syrup has replaced most other methods of administration. The dose in substance is from half a drachm to two drachms (2-7.7 Gm.) of the fresh bulb. That of the juice is half a fluidrachm (1.8 mils). A syrup is official in the N. F. (see Part III).

The 1841 Thompsonian Materia Medica by Samuel Thompson - Ginger

ZINGIBER OFFIcinALE. Radiz. The root.—The flow ers, spathaceous. Inner limb of the corolla with one lip. An ther, double, with a simple recurved horn at the end. Germen, inferior. Style enclosed in the ſurrow formed by the anther. The ginger root is creeping, perenneal, tuberous, and has a stem which is annual, and rises two or three feet in height, and is erect, round, solid, and enclosed in a membranous imbricated sheathing. The leaves are acute, smooth, lanceolate, from four to six inches in length, by about an inch and a half in breadth, and stand irregularly on the stalk. The flower stalk rises by the side of the stein, from six to twelve inches high, and like it is clothed with accuminate sheaths, but is destitute of leaves, and terminates in an obtuse, imbricated spike. The flowers are yellowish, and appear several at a time, be tween the bracteal scales. In Hindostan, this plant is indigenous, and it is cultivated in most parts of the East Indies, and of late in the West Indies al so, having heen introduced there from the East. The flowers are aromatic, and when the stems are bruised they are fragrant. The root is dug for use when about a year old. The crop is gathered in the West Indies in January and February, after the stems have decayed. After being cleansed, the root is scalded in boiling water, to prevent its growing, and is then dried for market. Thus pre pared, it is the ordinary ginger of commerce. It is mostly im ported from Calcutta, and is known by the name of East india ginger. In the West Indies another quality is prepared, by taking the best roots and removing their epidermis and drying them care fully in the sun. This is the white ginger of the shops, and is the most valuable. It comes from England, where it under. goes further preparation, by which it is much improved. It is called in this country, Jamaica ginger. The root is frequently brought from the West Indies in a green state, and is used and sold by the confectioners. The preserved ginger is made from young and tender roots, by removing their cortical covering, and boiling then in a syrup of sugar. It is translucent and tender when good. The green roots are an inch or more in length, somewhat flat on their upper and under surface, and knotty, and branch d irregularly, or lobed—externally of an ash color, internally MATERIA MEDICA. 595 fleshy and yellowish white. It frequently germinates while in the shops. Medical uses.—Ginger is a pleasant stimulant, and is often given to remove pain from the stomach and bowels, and the de ranged state of the digestive organs attendant upon gout. When chewed, it produces a copious flow of saliva; and when snuff. ed in the form of powder it excites sneezing. It is a useful re medy in paralysis of the tongue and fauces. It may be given in powder or infusion. The dose of the former is from half to a tea spoonful. The infusion may be prepared by adding half an ounce of the root bruised or powdered to a pint of boiling wa ter, and may be given in doses of from one third to two thirds of a tea cup full, which may also be sweetened, with the addi tion af a little milk, which will render it very palateable. This article may be used as a substitute for Cayenne, and stands second in rank to the peppers for its stimulating proper ties, and may be used to good advantage as a substitute, when capsicum cannot be procured. For pulmonary complaints, it has been proved a valuable re medy. The writer of this article was attacked with bleeding at the lungs. In addition to the usual courses of medicine, he was in the constant use of this article as a substitute for stronger stimulants. His method of preparing and using it was, to se lect the best and most perfectly cured roots, and remove the cu ticle, or the outside bark—then divide the root longitudinally through the centre, and put one half into his mouth, as he would tobacco; and the saliva would be immediately excited, from the stimulus which he swallowed, thus keeping the mouth, throat and stomach, under a gentle excitement; and as the root became soft and divided by maceration, he swallowed the particles, and in the course of an hour or two it was gone, and a new supply was taken in the same way; thus he kept in the constant use of this plant for months, until the difficulty was entirely eradicated and his lungs healed. At night on go ing to bed he would take a piece of the root into his mouth, where it would remain until the next morning, and before leav ing his bed he would masticate and swallow what remained in his mouth, which would warm his stomach and lungs, and then on leaving his bed he was sufficiently warm to prevent taking cold. Thus was a constant stimulant kept up day and night for months, which kept the animal warmth so steady and regu lar that the orifice was healed. Every person who has had a difficulty of the lungs, well knows the danger that is attendant upon exposure, in this changeable and often frigid climate. Those who have been re stored to health from that complaint, are aware of the great dif. ficulty in keeping the system in that extremely delicate and ge 596 THE THOMSONIAN nial temperature, so highly important for their welfare. Such patients.usually have had recourse to the West India climate, where the constant, steady, and genial rays, of a tropical sun, furnish nearly the same temperature naturally that we produce for ourselves artificially. Why shall we go to the West Indies to produce a change in the system by the natural temperature, when the same in effect can be brought about by artificial means in our own climate? The experiments upon the writer justified and have proved his theory correct.

The Family Herbal, 1812, was written by John Hill. - Milk Thistle

Botanical name: Silybum marianum Plate 48.Carduus mariae. A very beautiful plant, common by road sides, but wanting only to have been a native of Greece, or the Indies, to be esteemed one of the most elegant vegetables in the world. The leaves rising from the root are two feet long, and more than a foot broad, of a beautiful deep green, variegated ail over with irregular lines of a milk white, dentated deeply at the edges, and prickly. They spread themselves into a round of more than a yard diameter, and when they grow out of the way of dust, make a most charming appearance. A single stalk rises in the midst of these. It is five feet high, round, thick, very firm, upright, and divided at the top into a few branches. The leaves on it are like those from the root, and variegated with white in the same manner. At the tops stand the flowers, which are of the nature of those of other thistles, but twice as big, and vastly more beautiful. The flowery part is of a deep and fine purple; the head itself is composed of beautiful scales arranged with great regularity, and each terminating in a single and very strong prickle; the root is long and thick; the seeds are winged with down. The root and seeds are used. An infusion of the fresh root removes obstructions, and works by urine; it is good against the jaundice. The seeds beaten up into an emulsion with barley-water are good in pleurisies. The young leaves with the prickles cut off, are excellent boiled in the way of cabbage; they are very wholesome, and exceed all other greens in taste.

The Eclectic Materia Medica, Pharmacology and Therapeutics Written by Harvey Wickes Felter, M.D. 1922 - Hawthorn

Botanical name: Crataegus The ripe fruit and bark of (1) Crataegus Oxyacantha, Linné, and (2) other species of Crataegus. (Nat. Ord. Rosaceae) 1. England and other parts of Europe and in Central and Northern Asia; 2. America. Common Names: (1) English Hawthorn, May; (2) Haw, Red Haw, Hawthorn, Thorn. Principal Constituents.—The fresh bark contains a water soluble, crystallizable, bitter body little soluble in alcohol. The flowers of the English hawthorn contain trimethylamine (N[CH3]3), a circulatory depressant. Preparation.—Specific Medicine Crataegus. Dose, 5 to 60 drops. Specific Indications.—Tentatively the indications for crataegus may be stated thus: Cardiac weakness, with valvular murmurs, sighing respiration, or other difficult breathing, especially when associated with nerve depression or neurasthenia; mitral regurgitation, with valvular insufficiency; cardiac pain; praecordial oppression; dyspnea; rapid and feeble heart action; marked anemia, associated with heart irregularity; cardiac hypertrophy; and heart-strain, due to over-exertion or accompanying nervous explosions. Action and Therapy.—The bark, fruit and leaves of several species of the genus Crataegus have in the past been used as astringents and tonics. Though a well-known wild shrub of thickets and commonly cultivated hedge and ornamental plant, the English hawthorn seems to have largely escaped the exact investigators of medicinal plants until a quite recent date. In fact, crataegus is one of the most recently introduced medicinal agents of plant origin. Furthermore, it is distinctive in occupying almost wholly a position in cardiac therapy, though recognized to some extent as a general tonic. Investigators are divided as to its activity, some claiming it only as a functional remedy, while others go so far as to claim it curative of many heart irregularities, even in the presence of an actual organic disease of that organ. Among the conditions in which crataegus is accredited with good work are angina pectoris, endocarditis, myocarditis, and pericarditis, valvular incompetency with or without enlargement of the rings, rheumatism of the heart, dropsy depending on heart disorders, neuralgia of the heart, tachycardia, and in atheromatous conditions of the vessels. The exact indications are as yet none too well determined, enthusiastic admirers of the drug having unwittingly overestimated its power. There is no doubt, however, of its value in many of the conditions mentioned, especially the functional types; and there can be no question as to its value as a tonic to the heart-muscle. It is not poisonous, has no cumulative effect, and apparently from reports of a large number now using it, may be useful to control many of the symptomatic results depending upon a badly functionating or tired heart. Crataegus has been suggested to rest that organ and thereby guard against arteriosclerosis. It is a new remedy still on trial; and as yet with no rational explanation of its reputed powers. The smaller doses are suggested as more likely to succeed than full doses.

The Dispensatory of the United States of America, 1918, Edited by Joseph P. Remington, Horatio C. Wood and others. - Linden

Linden Tree.—The dried flowers of Tilia europaea L., and of other species of Tilia (Fam. Tiliaceae), are official in the German Pharmacopoeia under the head of Flores Tiliae. The flowers are yellowish or greenish-white having 5 sepals and 5 petals. The 5 original stamens, by chorisis have each developed a cluster and at the base occurs in addition, a spatulate petal-like body opposite each of the petals. The pistil has a 5-locular ovary which is surmounted by a single style and a 5-toothed stigma. The flowers contain a colorless, fragrant, volatile oil. The bark has been said to contain a neutral body, tiliadin, and a glucoside, tilicin. (See A. J. P., 1890; P. J., 66, 105.) The infusion is used as a household remedy to relieve hysteria and indigestion.