Respiratory – Cytokine Balance Tincture

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

Botanical name: Vitis vinifera Vitis. A weak shrub, too familiar in our gardens to need much description. The trunk is covered with a rough bark; the branches are long, weak, and straggling; the leaves are roundish in the whole figure, but indented deeply into five or seven divisions, the lower are inconsiderable: the fruit is round, or oblong, juicy, and produced in great bunches. We use no part of the common vine, as it grows with us; but not to mention the several kinds of wine that are useful on different occasions, the dried fruit in the form of what we call raisins and currants, is in constant repute. Raisins of the sun, Malaga raisins, and currants all have the same virtue; they are good in coughs, and soreness of the lungs, and in consumptions. Vinegar is also a product of the grape: it is wine become sour, and spirit of wine and brandy of the very best kinds, are made from wine also by distillation. The substance called tartar, of which the cream of tartar is made, is only a salt of the grape, which sticks to the wine casks. So that we owe to the grape, more medicines than to any one simple whatsoever.

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

Botanical name: Curcuma longa The rhizome of Curcuma longa, Linné (Nat. Ord. Zingiberaceae). Southern and eastern Asia, and extensively cultivated in China, Hindustan, and other countries. Common Names: Turmeric, Curcuma. Principal Constituent.—Curcumin, a yellow coloring matter. Preparation.—Specific Medicine Curcuma. (A coloring agent.) Action and Uses.—While turmeric is a mild aromatic stimulant, it is almost wholly used as a test for alkalies, and to color ointments and other pharmaceutical products.

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 justi fied and have proved his theory correct.

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

Botanical name: Silybum marianum Fig. 57. Carduus marianus.Photo: Silybum marianum 5.The ripe seeds of Carduus marianus, Linné (Cnicus marianus, Silybum marianum, Gaertner). Nat. Ord.—Compositae. COMMON NAMES: Mary thistle, Milk thistle, St. Mary's thistle. Botanical Source.—Mary thistle is an annual, or biennial plant, glabrous, or but slightly wooly, growing to a height of 2 or 3 feet, and branching but little. Its leaves, which are shining and smooth above, are marked with white veins; the lower leaves are deeply pinnatifid, the lobes being broad and very prickly; the upper ones clasp the stem by prickly auricles, and are scarcely decurrent. The large, drooping flowerheads, with purple florets, are solitary and terminal upon the branches. The involucral bracts are very broad at the base and have a stiff, spreading leaf-like appendage, terminating in a long spine, and bordered at its base with prickles. The fruit is an achenium. The pappus hairs are simple. History and Description.—Mary thistle is indigenous to southern Europe. The part used in medicine is the fruit known as Fructus silybi, or Semen cardui mariae. The achenia are from 1/6 to 1/5 of an inch long, obovate, smooth, shining, and pale-brown in color, with striae of a black, or blackish hue. At the apex they are oblique and have a marginal crown of a yellowish color, from the center of which the style-base projects. They have no odor, but a mucilaginous and oleaginous, as well as bitterish, taste. They yield their virtues to diluted alcohol. The Homoeopathic mother tincture is prepared by covering the whole ripe seeds (1 part by weight) with diluted alcohol (2 parts), and letting stand in a dark, cool place in a well-stoppered bottle for 8 days, shaking twice a day. It is then decanted, strained, and filtered. The introduction of this medicine into Eclectic therapeutics is due chiefly to Prof. H. T. Webster, M. D. (Dynam. Therap.), and to Prof. Finley Ellingwood, M. D. (Ecl. Annual, Vol. I). Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—Carduus marianus is an old remedy, which had nearly passed out of use and has more recently been revived. Rademacher valued the seeds in hemorrhages associated with splenic or hepatic disorders. That it influences the parts supplied by the coeliac axis, particularly the distribution of the hepatic and splenic arteries, especially the latter, seems well established. Congestive conditions of the splenic circulation are those most benefited by it. To a lesser extent, the whole venous apparatus is influenced by this drug, giving power to the veins, and preventing varicoses and other dilatations. But little effect, however, is observed upon the hemorrhoidal circulation, as piles do not seem to be directly benefited by it. Dull, aching, splenic pain passing up under the left scapula, and associated with pronounced general debility and despondency is the indication for its use. It controls splenic pain even where no enlargement can be detected, and it is the remedy for hypertrophy of the spleen when non-malarial in character. Congestion of the liver, spleen and kidneys is relieved by its use. Bilious states, with stitches in the side and pain in the abdomen, hard and tender right hypochondrium, gall stones, jaundice, hepatic pain and swelling, vomiting of pregnancy, and leucocythemia, are conditions in which it is reported useful. Amenorrhoea, with wrong of the portal circulation, melaena, hemoptysis, and uterine hemorrhage, have all been successfully treated with it. Hematuria, with weight and pain in the pelvis, has been promptly met by 25-drop doses in water, twice a day. Painful dysuria, from urethral caruncle, and pelvic congestion have also been quickly relieved by it. A strong tincture (seed, ℥viii to alcohol Oj), or the homoeopathic mother tincture, in doses of from 1 to 20 drops. Specific Indications and Uses.—Splenic, hepatic and renal congestion, face sallow, appetite capricious; nervous irritability; despondency; physical debility; pain in either hypochondriac; pelvic tension and weight; congestion of the parts supplied by the coeliac axis; and non-malarial splenic hypertrophy.

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

The herb of Scutellaria lateriflora, Linné”—(U. S. P.). The green herb is preferred in Eclectic pharmacy. Nat. Ord.—Labiatae. COMMON NAMES: Scullcap, Skullcap, Madweed. ILLUSTRATION: Strong's American Flora (opposite page 100). Botanical Source and History.—We introduce this plant, accompanied with illustrations, to overcome the confusion that has existed in commercial circles re garding the plant ordinarily sold as Scullcap. The official species is the Scutellaria lateriflora, but the larger part of the drug sold upon the market under that name is de rived from two other species of Scutellaria. The genus Scutellaria is well characterized by the calyx, which in all the species consists of 2 round lips closed in fruit, the upper lip of which has a helmet-shape appendage, giving to it the appearance of a mask or cap; hence the common name Scullcap. Scwtellaria lateriflora, Linné, the official scullcap, is the most widely-distributed of the species. It is common in every section of the United States, and is found grow ing in damp places on the banks of streams, and in simi lar situations. Inasmuch as this is the proper Scullcap to use in medicine, and as it is often confounded with other species, we will give a close description of the plant (see Fig. 225). The stem is slender, herbaceous, 4-angled, much branched, and from 1 to 2 feet high; it is smooth, green when the plant grows in shady situations, but turns brown on exposure to the sun. The leaves are small, from 1 to 2 inches long, and about one-half as wide, ovate, rounded at the base, and acute at the apex. They are smooth, cremate, and are borne on opposite leaf Fig. 225. ſº stalks, which are about 1 inch long. The flowers appear Scutellaria lateriñora. late in summer, and are borne in numerous, slender, simple, one-sided racemes, Fig. 226. b Scutellaria versicolor. from the axils of the leaves; they are small, opposite, and have short pedicels, subtended at the base by small bracts. The calyx is about the length of the pedicel, and has the peculiar helmet-shape charac teristic of the genus. When the fruit is mature, the calyx splits in the base, the upper lip falling away, the lower one remaining. The corolla is small, blue, about one-fourth of an inch long; it has a slender, exserted tube, and 2 sub equal lips, the upper of which is arched, the lower, spreading. The stame m s are 4, and included in the corolla. The fruit consists of 4 small nutlets. Scutellaria versicolor, Nuttall, and Scutellaria canescens, Nuttall, are the species generally collected by herbalists, and substituted for Scutellaria lateriflora. We present an engraving of Scutellaria versi color, and both this and S. canescens can readily be distinguished from official Scullcap, by their being much more robust, having thicker stems, and growing 1740 SCUTELLARIA. from 2 to 4 feet high. The flowers are large in both, being 1 inch long; and instead of being borne in very slender, lateral racemes, as with S. lateriflora, they are borne in a single, large, terminal, branched raceme. The leaves are also much larger than those of S. lateriflora, being from 2 to 4 inches long, and nearly as broad. They are cordate at the base, and acute at the apex. The leaves of S. versi color are thin, Softly pubescent, and of a bright-green color; those of S. canescens are thick in texture, light-green, and often variegated with a purple line around the margin. Scullcap is an indigenous herb, growing in damp places, meadows, ditches, and by the sides of ponds, flowering in July and August. Besides the names given above it is known by the names of Blue scullcap, Side-flowering scullcap, Mad-dog weed, and Hoodwort. The whole plant is official, though but the mature leaves and flowering tops should be employed. It should be gathered while in flower, dried in the shade, and kept in well-closed tin vessels. Alcohol or boiling water extracts its properties. It is officially described as “about 50 Cm. (20 inches) long, smooth; stem quadrangular, branched; leaves opposite, petiolate, about 5 Crm. (2 inches) long, ovate-lanceolate or ovate-oblong, serrate; flowers in axil lary, one-sided racemes, with a pale-blue corolla and bilabiate calyx, closed in fruit, the upper lip helmet-shaped; odor slight; taste bitterish’—(U. S. P.). The drug loses its properties largely when dried, and by age becomes inert; hence the many failures in therapy from the use of scutellaria. Chemical Composition.—Scutellaria lateriflora contains volatile and fixed oil, tannin, gum, sugar, and a bitter principle (Cadet de Gassicourt, 1824). C. O. Myers and H. R. Gillespie (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1889, p. 555) obtained this bitter princi ple in the form of acicular crystals by treating an alcoholic extract of the drug with water and abstracting the principle from the aqueous solution with ether. The authors found it to be a glucosid; the presence of tannin in the drug could not be verified. From the root of Scutellaria lanceolaria, Miquel (Scutellaria baicalensis, Georgi), growing in Japan. Takahashi (1889) isolated scutellarin (C, H.O.), crystallizing in yellow tasteless needles, sparingly soluble in hot water, soluble in other simple Solvents and in alkalis. It is not a glucosid, and seems to be physiologically inert. Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—Scullcap is tonic, nervine, and anti spasmodic. This is one of those valuable agents which a certain class of physi cians consider inert; yet it has proved especially useful in chorea, convulsions, tremors, intermittent fever, neuralgia, and many nervous affections. In delirium tremens, an infusion drank freely will soon produce a calm sleep. In intermittents it may be beneficially combined with lycopus. Where teething has impaired the health of children, an infusion may be given with advantage. In all cases of mervous excita bility, restlessness, or wakefulness, attending or following acute or chronic diseases, from physical or mental overwork, or from other causes, it may be drank freely with every expectation of beneficial results. The warm infusion has a tendency to keep the skin moist; the cold has a tonic influence, and either may be drank freely. When its soothing effects have ceased, it does not leave an excitable, irritable condition of the system, as is the case with some other nervines. Scull cap has been extolled as a remedy in hydrophobia, but this is still a matter of uncer tainty. That it influences the cerebro-spinal centers, controlling nervous irrita tion there can be no doubt, and this fact is well illustrated by its control over functional cardiac disorders, due to purely nervous causes, with or without hys terical manifestations, and exhibiting intermittency of pulse. Specific scutellaria well represents the plant. Half an ounce of the recently dried leaves or herb, to % pint of boiling water, will make a very strong infusion. Dose of specific scutelº laria, 1 to 30 drops; of Scutellarin, 1 to 5 grains; fluid extract, 1 to 60 drops. Specific Indications and Uses.—Nervousness, attending or following acute or chronic diseases, or from mental or physical exhaustion, teething, etc.; nervous mess manifesting itself in muscular action; tremors, subsultus, etc.; hysteria, with inability to control the voluntary muscles; functional cardiac disorders of a purely nervous type, with intermittent pulse.