Histamine Tincture

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

Ephedra. Ephedra vulgaris Rich. (Fam. Gnetaceae.)—Nagai has extracted from this Japanese plant an alkaloid, ephedrine, which, according to Kinnossuke, produces in the lower animals acceleration of the pulse, with lowering of the blood pressure, elevation of the rectal temperature, dilatation of the pupils, convulsions, and death by arrest of the heart and respiration. (B. K. W., 1887.) Scriba found that a 10 per cent. solution dilates the pupil with certainty, in from forty to sixty minutes, without irritation, the dilatation not being complete, and the accommodation not at all or only slightly affected, and the pupils returning to normal in from five to twenty hours. An alkaloid has also been discovered in Ephedra distachya L., a shrub whose branches and root are used in Siberia as a remedy in gout and syphilis. According to Robert, this alkaloid is essentially different from, ephedrine, in not being mydriatic or poisonous. P. Spehr (A. J. P., 1892, 234) considers that E. vulgaris contains two alkaloids, ephedrine and pseudo-ephedrine, isomeric and of the formula C10H15ON, while E. monostachya contains a crystalline base melting at 112° C. (233.6° F.) and having the formula C13H19ON. This latter, as stated by Kobert, is not mydriatic or poisonous. See paper by E. Schmidt, A. Pharm., cd, 1912, Nos. 2 and 3, 154, 161. According to Gunsberg, pseudo-ephedrine is a powerful mydriatic, its 10 per cent. solution causing in fifteen minutes dilatation of the eye through excitement of the sympathetic nerve. Ephedra nevadensis S. Wats and E. antisyphilitica C. A. Meyer , which grow abundantly in the extreme Western United States, are used under the names of caynote, canutilo, whorehouse tea, as a remedy in gonorrhea. Loew thinks that their virtues reside in a peculiar tannin. Dose, of fluid-extract, from one to two fluidrachms (3.75-7.5 mils). In Texas E. trifurca Torr. is similarly employed.

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

EUPHRASIA.—EYBBBIGHT. The plant Euphrasia Qfl‘icinalis, Linné. Nat. Ord.—Scrophulariacese. COMMON NAME: Eyebright. Botanical Source—This is an elegant little annual plant, with a square, downy, leafy stem, simple or branched, and from 1 to 5 inches in height. The leaves are almost entirely opposite, ovate or cordate, downy, strongly ribbed and furrowed, the lowest crenate, and the floral with sharp, tooth-like serratures. The flowers are axillar , solitary, very abundant, and inodorous, with a brilliant variety of colors. The corolla varies much in size as well as in color, being com monly white, with deep purple streaks, and a yellowish alate. The up er lip of the corolla is galeate, emarginate, having 2 broad, spreading lobes; the lbwer lip is larger, spreading, 3-cleft, and the lobes are obtuse or notched. The calyx is campanulate and 4-cleft. Stamens 4, fertile under the upper lip; anthers violet, lower cells of the upper ones with a lon spur. Pod oblong and flattened. The seeds are numerous, oblong, and grooved lengthwise (L.-—G.). History and Chemical Composition—This is a small plant, indigenous to Europe and this country, bearing white or red flowers in July. The recent leaves are commonly em loyed; they are inodorous, but of a bitter, astringent taste. Water extracts the1r virtues. Enz (1859) examined the recent plant. He found 752 EXTRACTA ET EXTRACTA FLUIDA. it to contain mannit, (girape sugar, volatile oil in small amount, an acrid, bitter principle, cellulose, an other plant constituents, besides a number of acids of organic character, and tannin, the latter giving a deep-green coloration with ferric compounds, and a bright light- reen reaction with the salts of lead. Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage—Slightly tonic and astringent. Used with much benefit in the form of infusion or poultice, in catarrha-l ophthalmic; also of service in all mucous diseases attended with increased discharges; and in rough, hoarseness, earache, and headache, which have supervened in catarrhal affections. ,It- appears to s ecifically influence the nasal membranes and lachrymal apparatus. ' 'In acute catarr (fluent coryza), in which there is a profuse watery flow, it exerts its most specific action. It will not only be found of great utility to control inflam matory and catarrhal phases of the parts during or following an attack of measles, but will tend to avert unpleasant after-effects, as catarrhal conjunctivitis, nasal catruv-h, catarrhal deafness, etc. Catarrhal diseases of the intestinal tract may be treated with euphrasia. Four fluid ounces of the infusion taken every morning upon an empty stomach, and also every night at bedtime is asserted to have been found successful in curing epilepsy. Such extravagant statements are not calculated to inspire confidence in the use of medicines. Dose of specific euphrasia, 1 to 60 drops; the infusion (3i to aqua Oj), 2 fluid drachms to 4 fluid ounces. Specific Indications and Uses—Acute catarrhal diseases of the eyes, nose, and ears; fluent coryza with copious discharge of watery mucus. “Secretion of acrid mucus from eyes and nose with heat and pain in frontal sinus” (Scudder).

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

Botanical Source.—This plant is a perennial, herbaceous, dull-green plant, armed with minute rigid hairs or prickles, which transmit a venomous fluid when pressed. The stem is obtusely 4-angled, branching, 2 to 4 feet high, arising from a creeping and branching root, with fleshy shoots and many fibers. The leaves are opposite, petiolate, cordate, lance-ovate, spreading, conspicuously acuminate, coarsely and acutely serrate, the point entire, armed with stings, and are 3 or 4 inches long, and about half as wide. The flowers are small, green, monoecious or dioecious, in branching, clustered, axillary, interrupted spikes, longer than the petioles (W.—L.). History and Chemical Composition.—This is a well-known plant, common to Europe and the United States, growing in waste places, by woodsides, in hedges, and in gardens, flowering from June to September. A decoction of the plant, strongly salted, will quickly coagulate milk without imparting to it any unpleasant flavor. The leaves and root are generally used, and yield their virtues to water. A fabric, known as nettle-cloth, has been woven from the bast fibers of nettle. The young shoots have been boiled and eaten as a remedy for scurvy. The irritation caused by rubbing the sharp hairs of the nettle on the skin, is believed to be caused by the free formic acid which they contain (Gorup-Besanez, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1850, p. 181). According to G. Haberlandt (1886), the poisonous action of the hairs of the stinging nettle is not due to formic acid, but to an unorganized ferment or enzyme. Mr. B. Shoemaker (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1866, p. 493), who has found starch, gum, albumen, lignin, sugar, and two resins, in the root, believes the diuretic properties of the root to be due to a warm, penetrating, volatile oil. The leaves contain tannic and gallic acids, gum, wax, etc. (Saladin, 1830). L. Reuter (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1890, p. 11, from Pharm. Centralh., 1890) found the leaves of U. urens and U. dioica and the seeds of U. pilulifera to contain a non-nitrogenous glucosid, giving precipitates with some alkaloidal reagents. The juice of the fresh plant is said to evolve nitrous fumes upon being heated. This is probably due to the action of formic acid upon nitrates (E. Giustianini, Jahresb. der Pharm., 1896, p. 239). Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—Common nettle is astringent, tonic, and diuretic. A decoction is valuable in diarrhoea and dysentery, with profuse discharges, and in hemorrhoids, various hemorrhages, and scorbutic affections, and has been recommended in febrile affections, gravel, and other nephritic complaints. A strong syrup made of the root, combined with suitable quantities of wild-cherry bark and blackberry root, forms an excellent remedy for all summer complaints of children, and bowel affections of adults. In cholera infantum and other summer disorders of children, with profuse watery or mucous discharges, the following treatment gives excellent results: Rx Specific urtica, ʒss; water, ℥iii. Mix. Dose, a teaspoonful, every 1 or 2 hours. It is especially applicable in chronic diseases of the colon, with increased secretion of mucus. The leaves of the fresh plant stimulate, inflame, and even raise blisters on those portions of the skin with which they come in contact, and have, in consequence, been used as a powerful rubefacient. Paralysis is said to have been cured by whipping the affected limbs with them. Applied to bleeding surfaces, they are an excellent styptic. The seeds and flowers, given in wine, in doses not to exceed 1 drachm, have been reputed equal to cinchona in tertian and quartan agues—larger doses will, it is said, induce a lethargic sleep. The seeds, in doses of 14 or 16, and repeated 3 times daily, are highly recommended as a remedy for goitre, and to reduce excessive corpulence; they are also considered anthelmintic. The seeds may also be prepared in strong tincture with full strength alcohol, the dose of which, for goitre, would be from a fraction of a drop to 10 drops. Dr. J. D. McCann (Ec. Med. Gleaner, 1893, p. 62) praises this agent as a remedy for eczematous affections, and relates a case of stubborn eczema of the face, neck, and ears that was readily and completely cured by the following local application: Rx Specific urtica, flʒii; rose water, fl℥i. Mix. Apply every 3 or 4 hours. Several other cases have also yielded to it. A child with "a crust-covered head, with here and there a bleeding surface," that had long resisted treatment, yielded in a short time to softening applications of olive oil, thorough ablutions with soap and water, drying the parts, and applying the solution as above recommended. Some physicians prescribe the remedy internally at the same time that they are using it locally. It is also a remedy for chronic cystitis, with mucous discharges. Warts, rubbed with the freshly expressed juice of this plant, 3 or 4 times a day, continuing the application daily for 10 or 12 days, disappear without any pain being produced (M. Jaroschevitz). Dose of the powdered root or leaves, from 20 to 40 grains; of the decoction, from 2 to 4 fluid ounces; of specific urtica, 1/10 to 10 drops. Specific indications and Uses.—Chronic diarrhoea and dysentery, with large mucous evacuations; profuse secretion of gastric juice, with eructations and emesis; choleraic discharges; summer bowel diseases. of children, with copious watery and mucous passages; chronic eczematous eruptions.

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

Botanical name: Mahonia aquifolium Related entry: Berberis vulgaris The root of Berberis aquifolium, Pursh (Nat. Ord. Berberidaceae). Western United States from Colorado to the Pacific coast; cultivated also for ornament among shrubbery. Common Names: Oregon Grape, Mountain Grape. Principal Constituents.—Berberine, the yellow alkaloid (see Hydrastis) and two white alkaloids—berbamine and oxyacanthine. Preparation.—Specific Medicine Berberis. Dose, 1 to 30 drops. Specific Indications.—Syphilitic dyscrasia; chronic skin diseases, with blood dyscrasia with or without syphilitic taint; profusely secreting tumid mucous membranes; indigestion, with hepatic torpor. Action and Therapy.—This agent is alterative, tonic, and probably corrective to syphilitic constitutions, but without any proved specific action upon treponema. It stimulates secretion and excretion, improves digestion and assimilation; it activates the lymphatic system and ductless glands; and augments the renal secretion. It is a corrector and eliminator of depraved body fluids and assists thereby in good blood-making. In this way most likely its good effects are produced in such grave constitutional disorders as syphilis. Certainly the ravages of this disease are lessened under these circumstances and aggravated by general ill-conditions. If then syphilitic dyscrasia is benefited by this drug, and clinical results seem to show that it is, it is probably due to its general alterative effects in maintaining good elimination and good metabolic action of the organs vital to nutrition. Like hydrastis, Berberis aquifolium is an excellent peptic bitter and tonic to the gastric function, and is, therefore, a drug of much value in atonic dyspepsia, with hepatic torpor. Upon the mucosa its effects are like those of hydrastis controlling catarrhal outpouring and erosion of tissue. For this purpose it is useful in stomatitis and gastric and intestinal catarrh. Remotely it sometimes controls leucorrhoea. If these are associated with syphilis, it helps the latter to the extent that it controls these disorders. Berberis aquifolium has won its reputation chiefly as a remedy for the syphilitic taint. The more chronic the conditions or results of the disease, the more it has been praised. Some claim that if given early it will abort the tertiary stage, but this of course depends in most cases upon the resisting powers of the body and the care the patient takes of himself. Apparently berberis fortifies the resisting powers by its alterative and reparative action. The bone, mucosa, and cutaneous disorders following in the wake of syphilis seem to clear up under its persistent use, when given in appreciable doses. Whether it has any effect on the nervous damage from this taint is not yet apparent. It does, however, relieve the night pains and the shin pain of syphilitic periostitis. Syphilitic phagedena disappears under its use, and sometimes the anemia of syphilis yields to its nutritional improvement. It should be given freely in syphilitic leucoplakia of the tongue, mouth, and throat, where the mucosa is tumid and secreting excessively, and when emaciation and weakness with yellowish parchment-like skin are evident. At all events, though probably not a direct antisyphilitic, its general effect upon waste and nutrition is so beneficial that it should invariably be associated with other treatment in chronic syphilitic diathesis. Other dyscrasiae seem to be influenced by this drug. It aids to some degree to mitigate the miseries of the consumptive, and in chronic skin diseases its internal use has hastened the effects from external medication. Eczema, psoriasis (temporarily at least), and herpetic eruptions have disappeared under its persistent use. The specific medicine should be given in doses of from 10 to 20 drops well diluted, every 3 or 4 hours.