Colon – Dire Era Tincture

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

The root of Althaea officinalis Linne (Fam. Malvaceae) deprived of the brown, corky layer and small roots, and carefully dried. Preserve Althaea in tightly-closed containers, adding a few drops of chloroform or carbon tetrachloride from time to time, to prevent attack by insects." U.S. Radix Hibisci, Radix Bismalvae; Wymote, White Mallow, Mortification root; Racine de Guimauve, Guimauve, Fr.; Radix Althaeae, P. G.; Altheewurzel, Althee, Eibischwurzel; Eibisch, G.; Altea, Malvavischio, It.; Altea, Raiz de Malvavisco, Sp. Althaea officinalis is an herbaceous perennial, with a perpendicular branching root and erect woolly stems, from two to four feet or more in height, branched and leafy towards the summit. The leaves are described under Folio Althaea, p. 120. The flowers are terminal and axillary, with short peduncles, each bearing one, two, or three flowers. The corolla has five spreading, obcordate petals, of a pale rose color. The fruit consists of numerous capsules united in a compact circular form, each containing a single seed. The plant grows throughout Europe, inhabiting salt marshes, the banks of rivers, and other moist places. It is found also in this country, from New England to New York and westward to Michigan and Arkansas. It is largely cultivated in Europe for medicinal use, particularly in Germany, Belgium and France. The roots should be collected in autumn from plants at least two years old. They are usually prepared for the market by removing the outer layers. The commercial drug sometimes consists of the unpeeled root, which is sliced transversely and diagonally. Properties.—Althaea is usually cut into small pieces about 5 mm. in diameter, of a uniform grayish-white color and otherwise having the characters of entire roots; occasionally entire, slenderly tapering, attaining a length of 30 cm. and a thickness of 2 cm., externally whitish, longitudinally furrowed, frequently spirally twisted and covered with the somewhat loosened bast-fibers; fracture of bark fibrous, of wood short and granular; internally yellowish-white; bark 1 to 2 mm. thick, porous, due to mucilage cells, and separated from the slightly radiating wood by a distinct, grayish cambium zone; odor slight; taste sweetish, mucilaginous. The powder is whitish; starch grains numerous, from 0.003 to 0.02 mm. in diameter, usually with a long cleft at the point of origin of growth; sclerenchymatous fibers in groups, the walls being quite thick and more or less lignified; tracheae with scalariform thickenings or with bordered pores; calcium oxalate crystals few, in rosette aggregates from 0.02 mm. to 0.03 mm. in diameter. Add 1 Gm. of Althaea to 10 mils of cold water, allow it to stand with occasional stirring during thirty minutes, and filter through cotton; a pale yellow-colored mucilage is obtained, which is neutral to litmus and is colored a deep yellow on the addition of a few drops of potassium hydroxide T.S. The mucilage does not have a sour or ammoniacal odor. Althaea yields not more than 8 per cent. of ash." U. S. The abundant mucilage is situated chiefly in special cells, and can be seen to be in layers when alcohol is added. Kraemer (A. J. P., 1898, p. 285) proposed the use of an alcoholic solution of methylene blue for the differentiation of the mucilage. It, with starch and saccharine matter, is taken out by boiling water. The mucilage, without the starch, is extracted by cold water, which thus becomes ropy. A principle was discovered in the root by Bacon, which has been ascertained to be identical with asparagin, C4H8N2O3 + H2O. Boutron-Charland and Pelouze found it to belong to that class of organic principles which are convertible by strong acids, and other agencies, into ammonia and organic acids, and which are designated by the termination amide, being compounds of acid radicals with the group NHa. When such an amide is acted upon by acids, it is decomposed, the acid radical taking OH to form the free acid and the amide group taking H to form ammonia. Thus asparagin, which in this view should be called asparamide, is converted into ammonia and aspartic acid, C4H7NO4, and one molecule of the resulting ammonium aspartate corresponds with one molecule of asparamide and one of water. (J. P. C., xix, 208.) Asparagin, being now recognized aa a derivative of succinic acid, is called amido-succinamide, and the aspartic acid is called amido-succinic acid. It is found in various other plants besides the marshmallow, as in the shoots of asparagus, in vetches grown in the dark, in all the varieties of the potato, and in the roots of the comfrey and licorice plant. According to Pira, asparagin has acid properties. It has no therapeutic value. Betaine (trimethyl-glycocoll) has been obtained from Althaea by Orlow. (Ph. Z. R., 1898.) The roots of other Malvaceae are sometimes substituted for that of marshmallow, without disadvantage, as they possess similar properties. Among these are Althaea rosea Cav., or hollyhock, and Malva Alcea L. The dark purple flowers of a variety of A. rosea have been proposed as a test for acids and alkalies. A strong infusion of these flowers imparts to slips of white filtering paper a permanent purplish-blue color, which is reddened by acids, and rendered bluish-green by alkalies. ALTHAEA or MARSHMALLOW LEAVES, under the title of Folia Althaea, are official in the Swiss, German and Austrian Pharmacopoeias and as Althaea Folia in the National Formulary. The leaves are collected in June or July, while the plant is in flower, and dried. They are described in the N. F. as "the dried leaves of Althaea officinalis Linne (Fam. Malvaceae), without the presence of more than 5 per cent. of stems or other foreign matter." N. F. As seen in commerce they are "gray-green or yellowish gray-green and densely and finely tomentose throughout; petioles one-sixth to one-fifth as long as the blades; blades varying from 5 to 15 cm. in length and from 3 to 10 cm. in breadth, cordate or rhomboidal-ovate in outline, rounded or occasionally nearly truncate at the base, acute at the summit; margin doubly serrate-dentate, the principal teeth from one to three pairs, the lowest almost large enough to be regarded as lobes, the secondary very irregular, triangulate, acute, broader than long, the sinuses acute; two to four occasionally six principal veins originating with the midrib in the petiole, prominent underneath, terete; branches of the midrib arising at a wide angle, nearly straight, each terminating in a marginal tooth. Leaf thin, but appearing thick because of its hairy covering. Odor slight, scarcely characteristic; taste mucilaginous. The powdered drug is grayish to grayish-green and, when examined under the microscope, exhibits numerous unicellular, non-lignified stellate branching hairs, up to 0.6 mm. in length, usually occurring in clusters of two to six; few, short stalked, multicellular glandular hairs; calcium oxalate in rosette aggregates up to 0.025 mm. in diameter; fragments of the epidermal tissue with stomata, the latter about 0.025 mm. in length; few lamellated mucilage cells; usually a few pollen grains, spherical, spiny, up to 0.1 mm. in diameter. Althaea Leaves yield not more than 16 per cent. of ash." N. F. Uses.—The virtues of marshmallow are exclusively those of a demulcent. The decoction of the root is much used in Europe in irritation and inflammation of the mucous membranes. A syrup of althaea is official in the German Pharmacopoeia, and was introduced into the U. S. Pharmacopoeias of 1880 and 1890 (see U. S. D., 18th edition, p. 1327). Owing to its tendency to ferment rapidly it was not retained in the U. S. P. VIII or IX, but is found in the N. F. IV. (See Syrupus Althaeae.) The roots themselves, as well as the leaves and flowers, boiled and bruised, are sometimes employed as a poultice. In France the powdered root is much used in the preparation of pills and electuaries. It enters, as an ingredient, into one mass and two pills of the U. S. P.

The Family Herbal, 1812, was written by John Hill. - Angelica Seed

Botanical name: Angelica archangelica Angelica. A LARGE and beautiful plant kept in our gardens, and found wild in some parts of the kingdom. It grows to eight feet in height, and the stalks robust, and divided into branches. The leaves are large, and composed each of many smaller, set upon a divided pedicle; they are notched at the edges, and of a bright green. The flowers are small, but they stand in vast clusters, of a globose form: two seeds follow each flower. Every part of the plant is fragrant when bruised, and every part of it is used in medicine. The root is long and large: we use that of our own growth fresh, but the fine fragrant dried roots are brought from Spain. The whole plant possesses the same virtues, and is cordial and sudorific; it has been always famous against pestilential and contagious diseases. The root, the stalks candied, the seeds bruised, or the water distilled from the leaves, may be used, but the seeds are the most powerful. It is also an ingredient in many compositions.

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

Botanical name: Chamaemelum nobile Plate 08.Chamaemelum. A COMMON low wild plant, of a beautiful green, a fragrant smell, and with flowers not unlike daisies. It is frequent on damp heaths, and gets no good by being brought into gardens. It grows larger there, but has less efficacy. In its wild state it spreads its branches upon the ground, taking root at the joints. The stalks are round, green, and thick; the leaves are very finely divided, and of a dark blackish green colour. The flowers grow upon long foot-stalks, and are white at the edge and yellow in the middle: the flowers are most used. Those which are raised for sale are double, and they have very little virtue in comparison of the single ones. They are to be taken in tea, which is a pleasant bitter; or in powder they are excellent for disorders of the stomach, and have sometimes cured agues, as many other bitters will. The tea made of them is also good against the colic, and works by urine.

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

Sage. Salvia. U. S. VIII. Garden Sage. Meadow Sage. Save. Picked Sage. Sauge Officinale, Fr. Cod. Sauge, Fr. Folia Salviae, P. G. Salbei, G.—"The dried leaves of Salvia officinalis Linné (Fam. Labiatae)." U. S. VIII. Salvia officinalis, or common garden sage, is a perennial plant, about two feet high, with a quadrangular, pubescent, branching, shrubby stem, furnished with opposite, petiolate, ovate-lanceolate, crenulate, wrinkled leaves, of a grayish-green color, sometimes tinged with red or purple. The flowers are blue, variegated with white and purple, and are disposed on long terminal spikes, in distant whorls, each composed of a few flowers, and provided with ovate, acute, deciduous bracts. The calyx is tubular and striated, with two lips, of which the upper has three acute teeth, the under two. The corolla is tubular, bilabiate, ringent, with the upper lip concave, and the lower divided into three rounded lobes, of which the middle is the largest. The filaments are supported upon short pedicels, to which they are affixed transversely at the middle. Sage grows spontaneously in Southern Europe, and is cultivated abundantly in our gardens. There are several varieties, differing in the size and color of their flowers, but all possessing the same medicinal properties. The flowering period is in June, at which time the plant should be cut, and dried in a shady place. The leaves were officially described as "long and stoutly petiolate, the blade elliptical or ovate-oblong, 3 to 7 Cm. long, obtuse or subacute at the summit, rounded or subcordate at the base, finely crenulate, thick, grayish-green, very pubescent, especially on the under surface, conspicuously reticulate-veined; odor aromatic; taste aromatic, bitter, and somewhat astringent." U. S. VIII. Both the leaves and the flowering summits have a strong, fragrant odor, and a warm, bitterish, aromatic, somewhat astringent taste. They abound in a volatile oil, which may be obtained separate by distillation with water. Muir (J. Chem. S., 37, p. 678) found it to contain a terpene boiling at 156° C. (312.8° F.), another boiling at 171° C. (339.8° F.), thujone, C10H16O, a liquid boiling at from 197° to 203° C. (386.6°-397.4° F.), and ordinary camphor, C10H16O. In the fresh oil the first terpene predominates. On standing, the amount of thujone increases, and then the camphor. The oil from English leaves contains also a sesquiterpene, C15H24, of the boiling point 260° C. (500° F.). Wallach (Ann. Ch. Ph., 1889) states that the first portions contain pinene and cineol, but the greater portion consists of thujone, C10H16O (formerly called salviol). Ferrous sulphate strikes a black color with infusion of sage. Sage unites slightly tonic, astringent, and aromatic properties. By the ancients it was highly esteemed; it is at present little used, except as a condiment, but has been given in dyspepsia, also for colliquative sweats. According to Cadeac and Meunier (Lyons Med., May, 1891), the volatile oil of sage is a violent epileptiform convulsant, resembling in its action the oil of absinthe, but less powerful. The dose of the powdered leaves is from twenty to sixty grains (1.3-3.9 Gm.). Dose, of the infusion (one oz. in one pint of boiling water), two fluidounces (60 mils). Although the Salvia officinalis was the only species of this genus which was recognized by the U. S. P. VIII, many other species share the feeble medicinal properties of sage. S. pratensis L., S. Aethiopis L., S. glutinosa L., and S. Sclarea L., or clarry, have been officially recognized in Europe, but are less agreeable than is S. officinalis and are not much used; the leaves of S. Sclarea are said to be introduced into wine in order to impart to it a muscatel taste. The infusion of the Rocky Mountain sage, probably S. lanceolata Willd., is affirmed by A. Comstock (T. G., 1887, 660) to be valuable as a diaphoretic in malarial and rheumatic fevers, taken in the form of hot infusion, and when cold to be distinctly tonic and astringent. The dose of fluidextract is half a fluidrachm (1.8 mils). The seeds of various sages contain enough farinaceous and mucilaginous material to make them useful as food. In the Western United States the ordinary sages of the plains are highly esteemed for fattening cattle, which eat their ripened tops freely (these sages must be distinguished from the so-called "sage brushes" of the West, which belong to the genus Artemisia). Chia, is the seeds of one or more species of salvia largely used in Mexico and Southern Arizona by the natives as food. It is affirmed that the variety known as Chia pinoli is yielded by S. columbaria (see Report U. S. Geogr. Surveys, 100th Merid., vol. vi, 48). S. Chia was described in the Farmacopea Mexicana as a new species, yielding chia, but Mariano Bascena affirms (La Naturaleza, 1881) that the common chia-yielding sage of Mexico is S. polystachya Ort., while Chia asul is yielded by S. patens Cav. Guibourt is probably in error in ascribing chia to S. hispanica L. The chia seeds are used not only when crushed as food and for the making of mucilaginous poultices, but also for the preparation of a mucilaginous drink, prepared by adding a teaspoonful of the seed to a tumblerful of cold water, allowing it to stand for half an hour, sweetening and flavoring to taste. Chia seeds are described as follows: "The seed is oblong-ovate, somewhat flattish, from 1 to 8 mm. in length, at one end there is a small, dark line, forming a slight projection, which is the microphyle of the seed, and this, when exposed to moisture, opens in a star-shaped or scalloped manner, emitting the growing embryo. The seed is smooth and glossy, and is surrounded by a transparent epithelium, swelling very largely when in water. The testa is darkish-gray, striated with dark brown lines, running diagonally, and dotted, forming a very beautiful variegated surface; when pressed or crushed under a spatula it bursts at the hilum, exposing the cotyledons and the oil cells, leaving an oily stain upon paper. Internally the testa is dark, grayish-brown, perfectly smooth, glossy, and devoid of the external variegations or striae. It contains the embryo, with the radical pointing towards the hilum, and a white, mucilaginous substance much resembling unrendered fat." (A. J. P., May, 1882, 227-229.) The European species, Salvia verticillata L., S. Verbenaca L., S. horminum L. and S. viridis L., all indigenous to Central or Southern Europe, are also noted for the mucilaginous character of their seeds, and have on this account been employed to remove foreign substances from the eye. S. Verbenaca is sparingly naturalized in waste places in the Middle and Southern States.