Kidney – MoPP Tincture

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 1841 Thompsonian Materia Medica by Samuel Thompson - Cleavers

GALIUM APARINE.—Semina, Folia, Caulis, Radia. The seed, leaves, stalk and root. The stem limber, scabrous back wards. Leaves in about eights, lance-linear, mucronate, his pid above, margin and keel prickly. Branchlets nearly sim ple, about three flowered. Fruit, hooked, bristled. The clivers is an annual plant very common in the United States, growing in cultivated open fields, along fences, by the border of woods, &c. It has a bitter, herbaceous, and some what acrid taste, and is destitute of odor. The expressed juice is aperient, diuretic, and antiscorbutic, and has been used in dropsy, scrofula, and scorbutic eruptions. 662 THE THOMSONIAN º Medical uses.—The juice has proven useful in scorbutic eruptions, for which two ounces may be taken three times a day. The herb when green, prepared in the form of ointment or infusion, may be usefully applied to scorbutic difficulties or swellings upon the surface. It may be made into a strong tea and be freely used daily as a beverage, by those troubled with calculous ulcers, gravel, or any urinary difficulty. It is also useful in dropsy, as it operates as a hydragogue, a gentle ape rient and diuretic; it is also very useful for those who are troubled with costiveness and torpidity of the bowels.

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

Lappa. N. F. IV (U. S. P. VIII). Burdock Root. Radix Bardanae. Bassies. Beggars' Buttons. Cuckoo Button. Harebur. Bardane, Fr. Cod. Glouteron, Fr. Klettenwurzel, G. Bardana, It.—" The dried root of Arctium Lappa Linné, or of other species of Arctium (Fam. Compositae), collected from plants of the first year's growth." N.F. The stem of the burdock is succulent, pubescent, branching, and three or four feet in height, bearing very large, cordate, denticulate leaves, which are green on their upper surface, whitish and downy on the under, and stand on long footstalks. The flowers are purple, with heads globose, and in terminal panicles. The involucre consists of imbricated scales, with hooked extremities, by which they adhere to the clothing of man and the coats of animals. The achemes are oblong, somewhat compressed and three-angled, ribbed, truncate. Although a native of Europe, burdock is abundant in the United States, where it grows on the roadsides, among rubbish, and in cultivated grounds. There are three recognized species of Arctium in North America—viz., A. tomentosum (Lam.) Schk. (Woolly or Cottony Burdock); A. Lappa L. (Burdock, Clotbur or Great Bur); and A. minus Schk. (Common Burdock). It is described by the N. F. as "nearly simple, fusiform, of variable length from 5 to 20 mm. in diameter near the crown; frequently split or in broken pieces; externally grayish-brown, longitudinally wrinkled, the crown somewhat annulate, sometimes surmounted by a woolly tuft of leaf remains; fracture somewhat horny; a dark cambium separating the thick brownish bark from the yellowish porous and radiate wood, centrally hollow or containing a white, pith-like tissue. Odor slight; taste mucilaginous, sweetish, and slightly bitter. The powder is light brown and, when examined under the microscope, exhibits parenchyma cells of the cortex; the medullary rays and wood containing amorphous masses or sphere-crystals of inulin; yellow resin cells occur in the cortical parenchyma of young roots; wood fibers few; no starch and no calcium oxalate. Lappa yields not more than 6 per cent. of ash." N. F. Inulin has been found in it by Guibourt, and sugar by Fee, while F. E. Hendershott believes that it contains a glucoside, besides arabin and pectin and extractives. (Proceedings of Mich. Pharm. Assoc., 1887.) Trimble also obtained from the root a bitter, crystalline glucoside. (Ph. Era, 1888, p. 133.) Thos. Donaldson (A. J. P., 1890, p. 123) found 8.6 per cent. of yellow fixed oil and about 1 per cent. of white waxy matter. A small quantity of volatile oil (0.065 per cent.) has been found in burdock root according to Haensel's Report, Oct., 1902. The inulin usually exists in parenchymatous cells in a different state, but if sections of the green root be dehydrated by soaking in 95 per cent. alcohol, the inulin will be found in spheroidal form. An interesting account of burdock and its use as an edible vegetable in Japan, by Inazo Nitobe, may be found in A. J. P., 1897, 416. Uses.—Burdock root has been employed as a diuretic and diaphoretic alterative, especially useful in the gouty, scorbutic, and syphilitic and scrofulous diatheses; also in various chronic skin diseases, especially in psoriasis, prurigo, and acne. (M. S. Rep., 1868.) The fresh leaves have been employed both externally and internally in cutaneous eruptions and ulcerations. There is no sufficient reason, however, to believe it has any medicinal virtue. This fluidextract is recognized by the N. F. (see Part III). Dose, thirty to ninety grains (2.0-5.8 Gm.).

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

Botanical name: Taraxacum officinale The root of Taraxacum officinale, Weber, gathered in the autumn (Nat. Ord. Compositae). Native of Greece and a wayside weed in Europe and the United States. Dose, 5 to 60 grains. Common Name: Dandelion. Principal Constituents.—Inulin, sugar, laevulin, and an amorphous, bitter taraxacin. Preparation.—Specific Medicine Taraxacum. Dose, 1 to 60 drops. Specific Indications.—Anorexia, weak digestion, hepatic torpor, and constipation. Action and Therapy.—If prepared from recent root, taraxacum preparations may be classed with the simple bitters, having in addition a slight laxative, diuretic and alterative action. In association with other indicated remedies they may be used in catarrhal jaundice, with hepatic torpor, chronic constipation, and in catarrhal gastritis; also as a laxative-alterative in autointoxications giving rise to skin disorders and aphthous ulcers. It is contraindicated in weak and irritable or inflammatory conditions of the stomach and bowels, causing flatulence, pain, indigestion, and diarrhea. The best preparation is an extract of the fresh root.

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

Equisetum. Equisetum hyemale L. Horsetail. Scouring Rush. Prele, Fr. Schachtelhalm, G. (Fam. Equisetaceae.)—An indigenous plant, with slender annual stems from 3 to 9 dm. high, growing abundantly throughout the United States, and preferring wet places, as the banks of streams, etc. The plant derives its name of scouring rush from its use in scouring, for which it is fitted by the silicious character of the stems. Examined by F. J. Young (A. J. P., 1886, 419), it yielded to petroleum benzin as a solvent 1.4 per cent. of a brownish-green, semi-liquid, fixed oil, which was readily saponified. It also contained a green semi-solid resin, sugar, and mucilage. The infusion of the whole plant is used sometimes in dropsical and renal diseases, but Cow (A. E. P. P., 1912, lxx, p. 393) has shown that the diuretic action of equisetum is very feeble.

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

Botanical Source.—Parsley is a biennial plant with a fleshy, spindle-shaped root, and a round, striated, erect, smooth, branching stem. The radical leaves are biternate, bright-green, and borne on long, channeled petioles; the leaflets are rhomboidal-ovate, wedge-shaped at the base, deeply incised, the segments mucro mate and sometimes rounded. The upper leaves gradually become more entire and narrower, till the uppermost are simply ternate with linear segments. Unn bels terminal and axillary, pedunculated, with 5 to 8 rays. General involucre none, or 1 or 2 subulate, minute bracts; partial involucre with 6 or 8 setaceous bracts, much shorter than the pedicels, erect, forming a perfect whorl. The flowers are white or greenish ; the petals rounded, incurved, and scarcely emar ginate; the calyx with the limb obsolete; the disk short, conical, and somewhat crenulate; the styles diverging. The fruit is ovate, about a line long, compressed, pale greenish-brown, the back occupied by three elevated, pale primary ridges, the two others quite on the margin at the side. The stamens are longer than the corolla (L.). History.—Parsley is a European plant, and was known as early as the first century. It is now cultivated in nearly all moderate climates as a culinary vege table. The plant has a grateful aroma. The seeds, herb, and root, are the medici nal parts; the root has rather an agreeable odor, and a saccharine, slightly spicy taste, and should be used while fresh. The root and herb contain small quantities of a volatile oil; larger quantities are contained in the seeds. Chemical Composition.—The root, besides sugar, starch, mucilage, and 0.08 per cent of essential oil, contains a peculiar body, named by Braconnot (1843) apčim. The essential oil from the root has a specific gravity of 1,049, and upon standing, deposits crystals, probably of apiol (see below). Parsley seeds contain fatty Oil (about 22 per cent, Rump, 1836), volatile oil containing the well-defined crystallizable body apiol, tannin, gelatinous apiim (of Braconnot), and an oily sub stance apiol (Joret and Homolle, Jour. Pharm. Chim., 1855, p. 212). Parsley seeds yield, upon distillation with water about 2.8 per cent (4.27 per cent, H. C. Whit ney, 1880) of an essential oil (oil of parsley), part of which is heavier than water. Crystals of apiol (formerly called parsley camphor) are formed by exposing the oil to a low temperature. Some oils are semisolid, owing to the presence of large quantities of apiol. Apiol (C.H.O.) melts at 30°C. (86°F.), and boils at 294°C. (561.2°F.), hence is not easily volatilized with the vapors of boiling water. It has the characteristic taste, but only a faint odor of parsley. Its chemical com position was cleared up, by Ciamician and Silber (1888 and 1890). It is soluble in alcohol and ether; almost insoluble in water. Oil of parsley also contains laevo pineme (v. Gerichten, 1876). APIOL, of Joret and Homolle, is an oily liquid which has the odor and taste of parsley; it is not miscible with water, has a specific gravity of 1.078, and was introduced as a febrifuge capable of supplanting quinine. It is probably not a uniform body, and is prepared by abstracting an alcoholic extract of the seeds, with chloroform or ether, removing fat by triturating the evaporated residue with lead oxide, and after 48 hours filtering through charcoal. The oil thus obtained is probably identical with the heavy part of the volatile oil from the seeds. Also See paper on this subject by H. C. Whitney (New Remedies, 1880, p. 7). APIIN may be isolated from the seeds by extracting them with alcohol and removing apiol from the alcoholic extract by means of ether. The residue is purified by repeated solution in alcohol and precipitation with water. Similarly, apiim may be obtained from the herb, wherein it was first discovered. It is a white, tasteless, microcrystalline powder, soluble in warm alcohol and boiling Water. Upon cooling it falls out, forming a jelly in as dilute a solution as 1 in 1454 PHELLANDRIU M, 1500. It is soluble in alkalies, and is precipitated therefrom by acids. Aqueous solutions of apiim produce a deep blood-red coloration with ferric chloride (Bra connot). It is a glucosid, and is decomposed by the action of diluted acids into dextrose and apigemin (Lindenborn, 1867; v. Gerichten, 1876). Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—PARSLEY. Diuretic, relieving urinary irritation. Very useful in dropsy, especially that following Scarlatina, and other cranthematous diseases. Also used in retention of wrime, Strangwry, and gomorrhoea. Parsley Seeds have a powerful odor, somewhat like that of turpentine, and a spicy, pungent taste, and have been used as a carminative, and for the same purpose as the root—they are said to be very poisomous to the parrot. The seeds as well as the leaves, sprinkled on the hair, in powder, or in the form of an ointment, will effectually destroy vermin; the leaves, applied as a fonmentation, will, it is asserted, cure the bites or Stings of insects. The leaves, bruised, are a good applica tion to contusions, swelled breasts, and enlarged glands—reputed to “dry up the milk.” of wet-nurses. The oil is efficient as a diuretic, in doses of 3 or 4 drops a day; dose of the infusion, 2 to 4 fluid ounces, 3 or 4 times a day. APIOL.–In doses of from 7 to 15 grains apiol occasions a cerebral excitement similar to that caused by coffee, a sensation of vigor and composure, and warmth about the stomach; in doses of from 30 to 60 grains it causes intoxication, giddi mess, flashes of light, vertigo and ringing in the ears, etc. It is highly recom mended as a substitute for quinine in intermittent fevers, and has proved very effi cient. It has likewise been found valuable in menstrual derangements; as fetid men Struation, meuralgic dysmemorrhaea, newralgic wierine colic, amemorrhaea, etc.; also in the might-sweats of consumption. The dose is 3 to 6 grains, several times a day, begin ming a couple of days prior to menstruation, given in gelatin capsules, or formed into pills with medicinal amygdalin soap, and magnesia, gum, or yellow of egg.