Colon – KLNZ Powder

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

Botanical name: Linum usitatissimum The ripe seeds of Linum usitatissimum, Linné (Nat. Ord. Linaceae). Levant and southern Europe; cultivated. Common Names: Flaxseed, Linseed. Principal Constituents.—Mucilage, a fixed, viscid oil (Oleum Lini), proteids (25 per cent), and a minute trace of amygdalin. Preparations.—1. Oleum Lini, Linseed Oil, (Oil of Flaxseed, Raw Lipseed Oil). A yellowish oil of a bland taste and peculiar odor, gradually thickening and darkening in the air and acquiring a strong taste and odor. Dose, ½ to 1 fluidounce. Raw (not boiled) oil only should be used. 2. Farina Lini, Linseed Meal, (Flaxseed Meal). For poultices. Action and Therapy.—External. Flaxseed and its oil are emollient. A flaxseed poultice (Cataplasma Lini) applied early upon inflamed and painful surfaces will relieve pain, cause relaxation, and sometimes resolution. If applied after pus begins to form it will hasten suppuration. Deepseated inflammation can often be aborted by the judicious use of a flaxseed poultice. The danger of favoring sepsis when used upon open or abraded tissues should be borne in mind. Equal parts of linseed oil and lime water form Carron Oil, the best primary dressing for burns and scalds. Linseed meal added to the wash water will assist in removing the odor of iodoform from the hands. Internal. An infusion of the seeds (½ ounce to Boiling Water, 16 fluidounces) is an excellent demulcent forming a pleasant mucilaginous drink for inflamed or irritated membranes. It is especially useful in gastro-intestinal and renal inflammations, and as a lenitive after acute poisoning by irritants. The addition of licorice root or lemon juice and sugar makes of the foregoing an agreeable linctus for irritative coughs and acutely inflamed bronchial mucous membranes. Linseed oil is a good laxative and is sometimes used as an enema to remove ascarides. Hemorrhoids have been cured by the laxative influence of linseed oil given in daily repeated doses of 1 to 2 ounces. Linseed oil may be given freely in poisoning by alkalies, when other bland oils are not at hand.

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

Glycyrrh. (Licorice Root, Licorice, Liquorice Root] "The dried rhizome and roots of Glycyrrhiza glabra typica Regel et Herder, known in commerce as Spanish Licorice, or of Glycyrrhiza glabra glandulifera Regel et Herder, known in commerce as Russian Licorice (Fam. Leguminosae). Preserve powdered and whole Glycyrrhiza in tightly-closed containers to which a few drops of chloroform or carbon tetrachloride are added from time to time to prevent attack by insects." U S. "Liquorice Root is the peeled root and peeled subterranean stem of Glycyrrhiza glabra, Linn., and other species of Glycyrrhiza." Br. Glycyrrhizae Radix, Br.; Radix Glycyrrhiza Hispanicae. Spanish Licorice Root; Reglisse, Fr. Cod.; Racine de Reglisse, Bois doux, Racine douce, Bois de Reglisse, Fr.; Radix Liquiritiae, P. G.; Spanisches Süssholz, Spanische Süssholzwurzel, Süssholzwurzel, G.: Liquirizia, It.: Regalia (Raiz de), Orozus, Palo dulce, Sp. Glycyrrhiza glabra has a perennial root, which is round, succulent, tough, and pliable, furnished with sparse fibers, rapid in its growth, and in a sandy soil penetrates deeply into the ground. The stems are herbaceous, erect, slightly branching, and usually four or five feet in height. The leaves are alternate, pinnate, consisting of several pairs of ovate, blunt, petiolate leaflets, with a single leaflet at the end, of a pale-green color, and clammy on their under surface. The flowers are violet or purple, formed like those of the pea, and arranged in axillary spikes supported on long peduncles. The calyx is tubular and persistent. The fruit is a compressed, smooth, acute, one-celled legume, containing from one to six small kidney-shaped seeds. There are two very distinct varieties of the plant yielding the root: in the typical form, or var. typica, the underground portion is spreading, producing slender rhizomes. This plant grows best on sandy soil near streams, usually not being found more than fifty meters from a body of water. It is indigenous to southern Europe and southwestern Asia, and is cultivated in England, Germany and Austria and has been grown on an experimental scale in the United States. The second variety, var. glandulifera, has been sometimes designated as a distinct species, because the entire plant is pubescent or roughly glandular. The underground portions are not spreading and it produces a large fusiform root. This variety is indigenous to southeastern Europe and in western Asia. It is also cultivated to some extent in Russia. Asiatic licorice, known as "Chuntschir," is obtained from G. uralensis Fisch. The plant is found in Siberia, Turkestan and Mongolia, and it is claimed that the root is of better quality and is but little inferior to the best Russian licorice. (Pharm. Journ. Russ., 1908, p. 1063; also P. J., 1908, lxxxi, 164.) It is probable that a portion of the root from Italy and Sicily is the product of G. echinata, which grows wild in Apulia. This species is also abundant in the south of Russia, where, according to Hayne, sufficient extract is prepared from it to supply the whole Russian empire. Large quantities of licorice root are now imported for the purpose of making the extract. The annual imports of licorice root in the United States is enormous. Between 75,000,000 and 100,000,000 pounds are annually imported from Turkey and about half of this quantity from Russia. The U. S. Department of Agriculture has had Spanish licorice under cultivation in South Carolina and the plant thrives in various localities in this country. It is said that the soil and climatic conditions in the Coachella Valley of California are ideal for the growing of the licorice plant. Ozmun describes the plantation of licorice in Turkey and the Levant and the manner of harvesting and handling this article. The licorice plant has been cultivated according to precedence of date in Spain, Italy, Greece, The Ottoman Empire, Russia, China, Turkestan and Persia. (See Proc. A. Ph. A., 1905, p. 273, A. J. P., 1907, p. 39; Oil, Paint and Drug Sep., 1906, p. 37, and 1908, p. 22.) A species of Glycyrrhiza, G. lepidota Pursh., grows abundantly about St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, and flourishes from Colorado to New Mexico, westward into Nevada and Northern California and northward to Washington. It is probably the same as the licorice plant mentioned by Mackenzie as growing on the northern coast of this continent. Nuttall states that its root possesses in no inconsiderable degree the taste of licorice, and M. L. McCullough found it to contain 6.39 per cent. of crude glycyrrhizin, in contrast with 7.18 per cent. in the official species. (A. J. P., 1890.) Schneider reports that G. lepidota glutinosa Pursh., a native of California, is much like G. glabra and can no doubt be substituted for the true licorice. (Pacific Pharm., II, p. 144.) Properties.—The two varieties are described in the U. S. Pharmacopoeia as follows: "Spanish Licorice (also known as Italian, Levant, Persia, Turkish, or Arabian Licorice)—Nearly cylindrical, upper portion more or less knotty; usually in pieces from 14 to 20 cm. or more in length and from 5 to 20 mm. in thickness, externally yellowish-brown or dark brown, longitudinally wrinkled, the thinner rhizomes often having prominent alternate buds, the thicker rhizomes having distinct corky patches; fracture coarsely fibrous; internally lemon-yellow, radiate; bark from 1 to 3 mm. in thickness; wood porous, in narrow wedges, rhizome with small pith; odor distinctive; taste sweetish and slightly acrid. Under the microscope, transverse sections of pieces of the older rhizome of Spanish Licorice show a periderm of numerous layers of yellowish-brown cork cells, a phellogen and one or more rows of cells of the phelloderm, the cells showing a tendency to collenchymatous thickenings and with occasional monoclinic prisms of calcium oxalate; a middle bark of starch-bearing parenchyma and whitish groups of bast-fibers surrounded with crystal-fibers; inner bark with a very characteristic radial arrangement of phloem and medullary rays, the phloem consisting of wedges of small groups of bast-fibers and parenchyma, separated by an almost continuous, obliterated sieve tissue, the cells of the latter being very irregular in outline and with thick, highly refracting walls; medullary rays from 1 to 8 cells wide; wood characterized by broad wedges consisting of large tracheae with yellowish walls, small compact groups of wood-fibers and starch-bearing parenchyma alternating with the broad medullary rays; pith composed of parenchyma, the cells being large, more or less polygonal in outline and containing numerous starch grains, or prisms of calcium oxalate. In sections of roots the pith is absent. "Russian Licorice.—Nearly cylindrical, somewhat tapering, sometimes split longitudinally, from 15 to 30 cm. in length and from 1 to 5 cm. in diameter; when deprived of the outer corky layer, it is externally pale-yellow; fracture coarsely fibrous; internally lemon-yellow; wood radially cleft; odor distinct; taste sweetish. Under the microscope, transverse sections of the rhizome and roots of Russian Licorice somewhat resemble those of Spanish Licorice, but the cork cells are absent. Powdered Glycyrrhiza is pale brownish-yellow (Spanish Licorice) or pale yellow (Russian Licorice); starch grains numerous, mostly single and elliptical or oval, and from 0.002 to 0.02 mm. in diameter; tracheae mostly with bordered pores; wood- and bast-fibers numerous, strongly lignified, very long, much attenuated at the ends and about 0.01 mm. in width; crystal-fibers with monoclinic prisms of calcium oxalate, the latter from 0.01 to 0.02 mm. in diameter, occasional fragments of reddish-brown cork cells occur in Spanish Licorice, but are practically absent in the Russian Licorice. Add 10 Gm. of powdered Glycyrrhiza to 100 mils of distilled water, allow the mixture to macerate for fifteen minutes with occasional stirring; and then heat it for one-half hour on a water bath. Filter the mixture and add through the filter enough water to make the filtrate measure 100 mils; not less than 0.2 Gm. of residue remains on evaporating 10 mils of this filtrate and drying it at 100° C. (212° F.). Glycyrrhiza yields not more than 7 per cent. of ash." U. S. "When 5 grammes are macerated with 50 millilitres of chloroform water for twenty-four hours, shaken occasionally and filtered, 10 millilitres of the filtrate evaporated in a flat-bottomed dish yield not less than 0.200 gramme of residue dried at 100° C. (212° F.). Ash not more than 6 per cent." Br. Formerly commerce was chiefly supplied with licorice root by Italy and Spain, but the amount coming from these sources is at present probably not more than 10 per cent. of the whole, the greater portion coming from Southern Russia, a large amount from Anatolia and Syria, and a little from Turkey and Persia. The Spanish variety has been most esteemed, but, according to H. N. Rittenhouse, the peeled Russian licorice is richer in glycyrrhizin and extractives than is any other variety, and is in fact the most valuable. Russian licorice is usually very large, quite sweet, but at the same time rather more bitter and acrid than is the Spanish variety. Licorice root is often worm eaten and more or less decayed; such root should be rejected, as should also the small fibrous roots often shipped from Spain. The best pieces are large, bright yellow internally, and have the layers and the bark distinct. Rusby has stated that he has seen ground licorice imported which apparently consisted of the peelings of Russian licorice. (Ph. Era, 1909, p. 634.) A character said by Rothrock (A. J. P., 1884) to be diagnostic is the occurrence of crystal fibers adjoining the wood and bast fibers. These are recognized in the official description of the powdered drug. In the Russian root the parenchymatous wood-cells are larger than in the Spanish. The powder is of a grayish-yellow color, when the root is pulverized without being deprived of its epidermis; of a pale sulphur-yellow, when the epidermis has been removed. Bobiquet found the following ingredients in licorice root: (1) a peculiar transparent yellow substance, called glycyrrhizin, of a sweet taste, scarcely soluble in cold water, very soluble in boiling water, with which it gelatinizes on cooling, thrown down from its aqueous solution by acids, readily soluble in cold alcohol, insusceptible of the vinous fermentation, yielding no oxalic acid by the action of nitric acid, and therefore wholly distinct from sugar; (2) a crystallizable principle named agedo'ite by Robiquet, but subsequently proved to be identical with asparagin; (3) starch; (4) albumen; (5) a brown acrid resin; (6) a brown nitrogenous extractive matter; (7) lignin; (8) salts of calcium and magnesium, with phosphoric, sulphuric, and malic acids. Flückiger states that a small amount of tannin is also always contained in the root, or rather its bark. The chief constituent, glycyrrhizin, C44H63NO18, Gorup-Besanez (Ann. Ch. Ph., 118) considered to be a glucoside, as on boiling with diluted acids it breaks up into glycyrrhetin and an uncrystallizable sugar capable of fermentation. Roussin (J. P. C., July, 1875) found that the sweet taste of the root was not owing to the free glucoside, but to its compound with ammonia. Habermann (Ann. Ch. Ph., 197) found that glycyrrhizin-ammonia was the acid ammonium salt of glycyrrhizic acid, a nitrogenous acid, and gave the formula C44H62NO18.NH4 for it. He succeeded in extracting from the commercial "ammoniacal glycyrrhizin," glycyrrhizic acid, which may be considered to be the active constituent of licorice. It was obtained by dissolving the crude glycyrrhizin in glacial acetic acid at a boiling temperature, rapidly filtering, again treating the crystalline parts of the filtrate in the same manner, and finally purifying by repeated crystallizations from 90 per cent. alcohol. Its properties are peculiar, and account to a great extent for the singular behavior of liquid licorice preparations. With water, in which the substance is but little soluble at ordinary temperature, it forms a transparent, faintly yellow jelly. On mixing 1 Gm. of the body with 100 mils of water, the mixture after a few hours becomes so jelly-like that the open vessel may be inverted without losing any substance. It is insoluble in ether, but slightly soluble in absolute alcohol (even boiling), more so in alcohol of 90 per cent., and especially so when hot. Its solubility increases with the decrease of the percentage of alcohol. The apparent glucosidal character of glycyrrhizic acid Habermann explains by the fact that it breaks up on boiling with diluted sulphuric acid into glycyrrhetin and parasaccharic acid, according to the reaction: C44H63NO18 + 2H2O = C32H47NO4 + 2C6H10O8. (Ann. Ch. Ph., cxcvii; N. R., Sept., 1879.) By fusing glycyrrhizin with potassium hydroxide, Weselsky and Benedikt (Ber. d. Chem. Ges., 1876) obtained paraoxybenzoic acid. For methods of quantitatively determining glycyrrhizin, see Ext. Glycyrrh., p. 452. Uses.—Powdered licorice root is used for various pharmaceutical purposes as in the preparation of pills, either to give due consistence or to cover their surface and prevent them from cohering, and as a diluent of powdered extracts, etc. As a remedial agent it has been almost entirely replaced by the extract.

King's American Dispensatory By Harvey Wickes Felter and John Uri Lloyd 1898 - Marshmallow

Botanical Source.—Althaea officinalis is a peculiarly soft and downy, hoary, green herb, having a tap-shaped, rather woody root. It has several erect, simple stems, from 2 to 5 feet in height, round, leafy, tough, and pliant; the leaves are ovate or heart-shaped at the base, of various breadths, plaited, 5-ribbed, unequally serrated, petioled, soft and pliable, and more or less deeply divided into 5 acute lobes, The flowers are large, in very short, dense, axillary panicles, rarely solitary, of a delicate, uniform, blush color. The involucre has 8, 9, 10, or 12 divisions. The 1-seeded fruit is formed of numerous capsular carpels, closely and circularly arranged around the axis. History and Description.—This perennial herb is found commonly on the banks of rivers, and in salt marshes. It is indigenous to Europe, and portions of Asia, in some parts of which it is cultivated in great quantities for medical use; and moist, sandy soils are preferred. It flowers from July to September. The whole plant, but especially the root, abounds with mucilage. Although the plant grows to some extent in the United States, the root is principally obtained from Europe for medical purposes, that which comes from Germany being much whiter but not so thick as that from the south of France. As found in commerce, the root is in pieces 3 or 4 inches long, or more, roundish, about ½ inch in diameter, with a feeble odor and very mucilaginous taste. It should be chosen plump, and little fibrous; with a very white surface, well cleared of its yellowish epidermis, downy from the mode of dressing it with files; and possessing no moldy, acid, nor musty odor, and no acid taste. Sometimes it is met with divided lengthwise. The plant contains nearly 20 percent of mucilage—(Ed., Duncan). Both the flowers and leaves are occasionally employed by the Europeans. The root should be gathered in the early spring or autumn of the second (not later than the third) year's growth, and only the fleshy portions retained, the older, woody roots being valueless. The Pharmacopoeia of the United States directs that Althaea shall conform to the following description: "In cylindrical or somewhat conical pieces, from 10 to 15 Cm. (4 to 6 inches) long, 10 to 15 Mm. (.039 to .059 inch) in diameter, deeply wrinkled; deprived of the brown, corky layer and small roots; externally white, marked with a number of circular spots, and of a somewhat hairy appearance from the loosened bast fibres; internally whitish and fleshy. It breaks with a short, granular, and mealy fracture, has a faint, aromatic odor, and a sweetish, mucilaginous taste"—(U. S. P.). Chemical Composition.—Althaea-root contains starch, pectin, mucilage, sugar, lignin, calcium phosphate, fixed oil, a viscid material, and asparagin (A. Buchner). Asparagin (C4H8N2O3.H2O), is a colorless, crystallizable body, without taste or odor. Ether and alcohol do not dissolve it, but it is extracted from the root with water, from which it may be crystallized by concentrating the solution. Its reactions prove it to be amido-succinamic acid, having the formula: CO2N.CH2.CHNH2.CONH2. When boiled with acids or alkalies, it splits into ammonia and amido-succinic acid or aspartic acid (C4H7NO4). Asparagin is distinguished by its optical activity, being laevo-rotatory in aqueous solution, which changes to dextro-rotatory by the action of acetic acid. Asparagin, when pure, is stable in solution, but is susceptible to fermentation in the presence of albuminoid substances, whereby it is converted into ammonium succinate. Asparagin was discovered by Vauquelin and Robiquet, in 1805, in the juice of the asparagus plant, and in the marshmallow root, as althein, by M. Bacon, in 1826. It is identical with agedoite, found by Caventou in liquorice root (Jour. de Pharm., xiv., 177), and is found in many other plants, e. g., comfrey, dahlia, potatoes, the roots of Robinia Pseudacacia, etc. The mucilage (free from starch) of the root is extracted with cold water; the starch by boiling water. Ɣ Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—The root of this plant, as well as of each of the below mentioned plants described as substitutes, is demulcent and diuretic, and may be used indiscriminately, the one for the other. They will be found valuable, in the form of decoction, in diseases of the mucous tissues, as hoarseness, catarrh, pneumonia, gonorrhoea, vesical catarrh, renal irritation, acute dysentery, and diarrhoea. In strangury, inflammation of the bladder, hematuria, retention of urine, some forms of gravel, and indeed in nearly every affection of the kidney and bladder, their use will be found advantageous. Much use is made of them combined with equal parts of spearmint, in urinary derangements. They are likewise efficacious in gastro-intestinal irritation and inflammation. As the decoction soon decomposes, or becomes moldy or acid, it should always be made in small quantities, not more than 1 or 2 pints at a time, according to the temperature of the weather. Ɣ Externally, marshmallow root is very useful in the form of poultice, to discuss painful, inflammatory tumors, and swellings of every kind, whether the consequence of wounds, bruises, burns, scalds, or poisons; and has, when thus applied, had a happy effect in preventing the occurrence of gangrene. The infusion or decoction may be freely administered. Photo: Alcea ficifolia 4.Related Species.—Althaea rosea, Cavanilles. (Alcea rosea, Linné). Common garden hollyhock. Native of China. Cultivated for its beauty in gardens. The flowers, capsules, and root are used for similar purposes as the marshmallow. The purple flowers are preferred, a concentrated infusion of which colors white bibulous paper a fast purple-blue, which is turned a blue-green by alkalies, and red with acids. The root contains a considerable amount of mucilage, and is sometimes used as an emollient and demulcent. Althaea taurinensis, De Candolle. South Europe. Use, same as of Althaea officinalis. Photo: Malva sylvestris 12.Malva sylvestris, Linné. Common mallow. This is a perennial, hairy herb, sometimes called High-mallow; has a tapering, branching, whitish root, and an erect, round stem 2 or 3 feet high. Leaves alternate, deep-green, soft, downy, serrated, plaited, with 7 acute lobes, oil hairy petioles; uppermost with fewer, but deeper and more acute lobes than the lower ones. Flowers large, numerous, of a shining purple, veiny, on simple, aggregate, hairy axillary stalks. Calyx 5-cleft. Petals 5, inversely cordate, thrice the length of the calyx. Stamens indefinite, monadelphous. Pollen large, whitish. Ripe carpels reticulated at the back.—(L.—G.). Malva rotundifolia, Linné. Low-mallow, or Round-mallow, called by children who are fond of eating the fruit, cheeses; has a fusiform root and prostrate stem; leaves of a fine, delicate texture, roundish, cordate, or somewhat reniform, crenate, obtusely 5 or 7-lobed, on long, hairy petioles. Flowers pale-pink, deeply-notched petals, on aggregate, axillary peduncles. Fruit depressed-globose, composed of the numerous carpels arranged circularly (W.). The M. sylvestris is a native of Europe, and is naturalized in this country, growing abundantly in fields, roadsides, and waste places, and flowering from May to October. The whole plant, especially the root, abounds in mucilage. The M. rotundifolia, a very common, troublesome plant, growing around dwellings and in cultivated rounds together with other species of this genus, possesses similar properties, and they may be substituted for each other. The herb and flowers are inodorous, with a weak, herbaceous, mucilaginous taste. Water extracts their mucilage, and acetate of lead precipitates the solution. The root and seeds maybe also used, as they contain much mucilage. Ɣ The blue infusion, or tincture of the flowers, is turned green by alkalies, and red by acids, thus forming an exceedingly delicate indicator. Mallows possesses the properties common to mucilaginous herbs. An infusion forms an excellent demulcent in coughs, irritations of the air passages, flux, affections of the kidneys and bladder, etc. It may also be used in injection. The herb, bruised, forms a good emollient cataplasm to boils and inflammatory conditions of external parts. Low-mallows makes a good ointment for use on sores in horses. Photo: Malva neglecta.Malva vulgaris, Fries. (Malva neglecta, Wallroth). Europe. Together with leaves of M. sylvestris, the source of German official Mallow-leaves. Abutilon Avicennae, Gaertner. (Sida Abutilon, Linné). Indian mallows. Velvet leaf. Indigenous to the Levant. Naturalized in Europe and the United States, where it is a common weed. Emollient and diuretic. Cultivated in China as a substitute for hemp. Hibiscus Moscheutos, Linné (Hibiscus palustris). Marsh rose hibiscus. U. S. Marsh hibiscus has a root very much resembling that of the Marshmallow, possesses exactly the same properties, and may be as effectually used. It is a tall, showy, perennial plant, growing in salt marshes, near salt springs, and on wet prairies, and flowers in August. Hibiscus virginicus, Sweat weed. Marshes along the Atlantic from New York southward. Has the mucilaginous properties of the Althaeas. Hibiscus esculentus, Linné (Abelmoschus esculentus, Guillemin and Perrotett). (See Hibiscus). Abelmoschus moschatus, Moench (Hibiscus Abelmoschus, Linné). (See Hibiscus). Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis, Linné. China rose. The bark of the stem is reputed emmenagogue, while the root is employed in the Eastern world like Marshmallow. It is a cultivated species. Photo: Hibiscus trionum.Hibiscus Sabdariffa, Linné. Africa. Red sorrel. Cultivated in tropical climes. It is known in the Mexico-Texan regions as Jamaica. The calyx, which contains mucilage, malic, tartaric, and possibly oxalic acids, in a free state, is the part employed. Sida floribunda, Peru. Contains an abundance of mucilage. The leaves, which are thickly beset with minute, stiff spines, are reputed a mechanical vermifuge (Martinet). Sida rhombifolia. Queensland hemp. Jelly leaf. Contains an abundance of mucilage, and is employed as a poultice and a remedy in respiratory complaints. Species.—SPECIES PECTORALES (N. F.), Pectoral Species. Species ad infusum pectorale. Breast tea. (German Pharmacopoeia). Formulary number, 344: "Althaea, peeled, 8 parts, coltsfoot leaves, 4 parts; glycyrrhiza, Russian, peeled, 3 parts; anise, 2 parts; mullein flowers, 2 parts; orris root, 1 part. Cut, bruise, and mix them. Note.—Coltsfoot leaves are derived from Tussilago Farfara, Linné. Mullein flowers are from Verbascum Thapsus, G. Meyer. Infusum pectorale (pectoral infusion, or infusion of pectoral species), is made by infusing 1 troy ounce of the above preparation, in the usual manner, so as to obtain 10 fluid ounces of strained product"—(Nat. Form.) As the name of this preparation implies, it is employed by the Germans in various pulmonic complaints, attended with cough. SPECIES EMOLLIENTES(N. F.), Emollient species. Emollient cataplasm. (German Pharmacopoeia). Formulary number, 342: "Althaea leaves, mallow leaves, melilot tops, matricaria, flaxseed, of each, equal parts. Reduce them to a coarse powder, and mix it uniformly. Note.—Mallow leaves are derived from Malva vulgaris, Fries, and Malva sylvestris, Linné. Melilot tops are the leaves and flowering branches of Melilotus officinalis, Desrousseaux, and Melilotus altissimus Thuilliers"—(Nat. Form.). This is designed for the ready preparation of an emollient poultice for various inflammations, swellings, etc.

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

Botanical name: Rumex crispus The root of Rumex crispus, Linné (Nat. Ord. Polygonaceae). A common weed introduced from Europe, and found abundantly in this country in waste places, among rubbish, and in cultivated grounds. Dose, 5 to 60 grains. Common Name: Yellow Dock. Principal Constituents.—Yellow Dock has not been satisfactorily analyzed. Preparation.—Specific Medicine Rumex. Dose, 1 to 60 drops. Specific Indications.—Vitiated blood with chronic skin disorders; low glandular and cellular deposits with tendency to indolent ulcers; feeble recuperative power; chronic sore throat, with glandular engorgement and hypersecretion; cough, with shortness of breath and praecordial fullness; dry, irritative laryngo-tracheal cough; stubborn, dry summer cough; nervous dyspepsia, with epigastric fullness and pain extending into the chest. Action and Therapy.—Rumex is decidedly alterative and might be used more extensively for that purpose. It should especially be brought into requisition in depraved states of the body fluids with tendency to chronic skin disorders, with glandular engorgement, tendency to ulceration, and slow recuperative powers. It is especially valuable in strumous patients with low deposits in the cellular and glandular tissues which break down easily but are very slow to repair. In small doses the specific medicine is also useful in nervous dyspepsia with epigastric fullness, and pectoral pain from gaseous distention of the stomach. It is also serviceable in laryngeal irritation, with cough of the types alluded to under Specific Indications.

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

Properties.—Cascara sagrada occurs in commerce in the form of small broken pieces, often more or less flattened out into a somewhat compressed mass, and also as separated quills of varying length and size. The bark is "Usually in flattened or transversely curved pieces, occasionally in quills; bark from 1 to 5 mm. in thickness; outer surface dark brown or brownish-red, longitudinally ridged, often nearly covered with grayish or whitish lichens, bearing small blackish apothecia, sometimes with numerous lenticels, and occasionally with mosses; inner surface light yellow, light brown, or reddish-brown, longitudinally striate, turning red when moistened with solutions of the alkalies; fracture short, with projections of bast-fibers in the inner bark; in cross section inner bark shows diagonal or curved medullary rays, forming converging groups, the outer bark showing yellowish groups of stone cells which are especially apparent on moistening the freshly cut surface with phloroglucinol T.S. and hydrochloric acid; odor distinct; taste disagreeable, bitter, and slightly acrid. Under the microscope, a transverse section of Cascara Sagrada shows an outer yellowish-brown or reddish-brown corky layer consisting of 10 to 15 or more rows of cells; stone cells in outer bark in tangentially elongated groups of 20 to 50 cells, the walls being very thick and finely lamellated; medullary rays 1 to 4 cells wide, 15 to 25 cells deep, the contents being colored red upon the addition of solutions of the alkalies to the sections; bast-fibers in tangentially elongated groups in the inner bark, the walls being thick and strongly lignified; crystal fibers around the bast-fibers with individual crystals from 0.008 to 0.015 mm. in length; parenchyma with spheroidal starch grains about 0.003 to 0.008 mm. in diameter, or with calcium oxalate either in rosette aggregates or prisms from 0.01 to 0.02 mm. in diameter. Add 0.1 Gm. of powdered Cascara Sagrada to 10 mils of hot water, shake the mixture occasionally until cold, filter it and add sufficient water to make 10 mils; on the addition of 10 mils of ammonia water to this liquid, it is colored an orange-yellow. Macerate 0.1 Gm. of powdered Cascara Sagrada with 10 drops of alcohol, boil the mixture with 10 mils of water, when cold filter it and shake the filtrate with 10 mils of ether; a yellow ethereal solution separates. Shake 3 mils of this ethereal solution with 3 mils of ammonia water; the separated ammoniacal solution still possesses, on diluting with 20 mils of water, a distinct, yellowish-red color. The powder is light brown to olive brown, showing characteristic elongated groups of bast-fibers associated with crystal fibers, the crystals in the latter being in the form of monoclinic prisms from 0.008 to 0.015 mm. in length; stone cells in large groups, the cells having thick and finely porous walls; fragments of parenchyma and medullary ray cells colored red upon the addition of solutions of the alkalies; starch grains either free or in parenchyma cells, the individual grains being somewhat spheroidal, from 0.003 to 0.008 mm. in diameter; calcium oxalate in monoclinic prisms or rosette aggregates from 0.01 to 0.02 mm. in diameter; occasional fragments of reddish-brown cork." U. S. "In quilled, channelled, or nearly flat pieces from one to two millimetres thick, but varying in length and width. Cork nearly smooth, dark purplish-brown, marked with transversely elongated lenticels, but usually more or less covered with patches of silvery-grey lichen. Inner surface reddish-brown, with faint transverse corrugations and longitudinal striations. Fracture short, but near the inner surface somewhat fibrous. In transverse section, scattered groups of sclerenchymatous cells in both cortex and bast; the parenchymatous cells contain a yellow substance which is colored violet by solution of sodium hydroxide. Odor characteristic but not powerful; taste nauseous, bitter and persistent." Br. For articles illustrating the pharmacognosy of Cascara bark see Kraemer, A. J. P., 1912, p. 385; Miller, J. A. Ph. A., 1912, p. 1207; and Farwell, J. A. Ph. A., 1914, p. 649. According to the analysis of A. B. Prescott (N. P., Feb., 1879), it contains a very bitter brown resin (which is colored a vivid purple-red by potassium hydroxide); a red resin; a light yellow resin; tannic, malic, and oxalic acids; a neutral crystallizable substance; and a volatile oil. H. F. Meier and J. Le Roy Webber have pointed out in addition the presence of a ferment, glucose, and ammonia. According to these investigators, to the action of the ferment are attributed the unpleasant results attending the administration of "fresh bark"; "seasoned bark"—i.e., such as has been kept a year or two—owes its valuable properties as a laxative, free from griping, to the fact that the ferment has exhausted itself; the laxative properties, they state, reside in the resins, and the tonic effects are due to the crystalline principle. (A. J. P., 1888, 91). Schwabe (A. Pharm., ccxxvi, 569) found emodin, or trioxymethylanthraquinone, which he believes is the active principle. Dohme and Engelhardt (Proc. A. Ph. A., 1897, 193) have shown the analogy of cascara sagrada with Rhamnus Frangula by obtaining a glucoside to which they give the name of purshianin. This decomposes, yielding emodin. and a dextrorotatory non-fermentable sugar, while the frangulin of buckthorn yields emodin and rhamnose as the sugar. Purshianin forms brown-red needles, melting at 237° C. (458.6° F.). Dohme and Engelhardt failed to obtain in a pure form (Proc. A. Ph. A., 1898, 340) the bitter principle of cascara sagrada. Le Prince (C. R. A. S., 1892, 286) claimed to have obtained the active principle of cascara bark in a crystalline form, which he named cascarine; his results are doubted by Jowett who believes that cascarine and purshianin are impure forms of emodin. Jowett (Proc. A. Ph. A., 1904, 288) in an exhaustive paper concludes that the active principle of cascara is contained in that portion of an alcoholic extract which is soluble in water and precipitable by lead subacetate and in that portion of the regenerated lead subacetate precipitate which is soluble in ethyl acetate. Pietsch states that a glucoside from the bark of cascara sagrada which has been named peristaltin has the composition C14H18O8. (Th. M., 1910, No. 1, p. 35.) Uses.—Cascara sagrada belongs to the group of vegetable cathartics whose activity depends upon the presence of one or more oxides of methylanthraquinone. This group includes aloes, cascara, rhubarb, and senna. In cascara the active principle appears to be emodin, which is trioxymethylanthraquinone, and which appears also to be the purgative principle of aloes. The action of this principle is chiefly to excite peristalsis in the colon, although after large doses there is probably also some effect upon the upper bowel. As the action is chiefly upon the lower intestine it is not to be recommended as a laxative where it is desired to clean out the bowel, but in the treatment of chronic constipation it acts very favorably. It often appears to restore tone to the relaxed bowel and in this way produce a permanent beneficial effect. The bark itself is rarely used, either the extract or fluidextract being eligible preparations. The addition of belladonna to overcome any tendency to gripe is an advantage. Ordinarily a single dose is given at bedtime but in some cases better results are obtained by exhibiting smaller doses after meals.