Venom & Sting Tincture

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

—This plant is an herb with a perennial, tap-shaped, very milky root, with a dull-brownish epidermis. The leaves are radical, numerous, spreading, of a bright, shining green, quite smooth, tapering downward, sessile, pinnatifid, with runcinate, sharp, unequally toothed lobes. The scape or flower stem is longer than the leaves, erect, round, smooth, brittle, maked, hollow, 5 or 6 inches in height, and bears a single, yellow head. The flowers are of a uniform golden-yellow, in round heads, 1% inches in diameter, expanding in the morning and fine weather only. Involucre double; external scales small, closely pressed, and spreading or reflexed; internal ones in one row, erect, and linear ; all frequently callous-horned at the apex. Florets numerous, strap-shaped, equal, and 5-toothed. Stamens with hair-like filaments. Receptacle naked, convex, and dotted. Ovary obovate; style slender and cylindrical; stigmas 2, revolute. Achenia oblong, ribbed, roughened on the ribs, apex prolonged into a very slender, thread-like beak, bearing the pappus of copious, soft, and white capillary bristles. After blossoming the inner involucre closes for a time, the slender beak elongates and raises up the pappus while the fruit is forming, the whole involucre is then reflexed, exposing to the wind the naked fruits, with the pappus displayed in an open globular head, nearly 2 inches in diameter (L.-G.—W.). History and Description.—This plant is a native of Greece, but is now found growing abundantly in Europe and this country, in fields, gardens, and along roadsides, flowering from April to November. There are some other species recognized by botanists, that appear to possess the same medicinal powers. The young leaves are frequently used as a Salad or greens. The whole plant, when broken or wounded, exudes a white, bitter juice, the sensible qualities of which are said to be greater during period of inflorescence. The root only is the official part, and should be collected while the plant is in flower, or preferably in autumn. When recent, it is from 3 to 5 inches or more in length, from 3 to 9 lines in diameter, tap-shaped, fleshy, dull-yellow or brownish externally, white internally, inodorous, and bitter. As found dried in pharmacy, it is considerably diminished in size, having lost more than half its weight, and corrugated lengthwise. As re quired by the U. S. P., it is slightly conical, about 30 Cm. (12 inches) long, and 1 or 2 Cnn. (3 to # inch) thick above, crowned with several short, thickish heads, somewhat branched, dark-brown, longitudinally wrinkled, when dry breaking with a short fracture, showing a yellowish, porous central axis, surrounded by a thick, white bark, containing numerous milk-vessels, arranged in concentric cir cles; inodorous, bitter. It should be free from the root of Cichorium Intybus, Linné (Nat. Ord.—Compositae), which closely resembles it, but is usually paler, and has the milk-vessels in radiating lines”—(U. S. P.). Dandelion root should preferably be used in the recent state. Prying, as well as long boiling, impairs its virtues. Alcohol or boiling water extracts its properties. Chemical Composition.—Taraxacum root contains invulin, the quantities of which vary considerably with the season. Dragendorff (1870) found 24 per cent in root collected in October, and only 1.74 per cent in root collected in March, shortly before blooming, at which season the milky juice is abundant. The root also contains variable quantities of reducing sugar (17 per cent in March), and lºvulin (18.7 per cent). (See constituents at various seasons, by L. E. Sayre, in Proc. Amer. Pharm. Assoc., 1893, p. 82; also paper, by Charles Symes, in Pharm. Jour. Trams.,Vol. X, 1872, p. 361.) Other constituents of taraxacum root are a resin, soluble in chloroform and ether, insoluble in alcohol; a resin soluble in alcohol; taraxacerin of Kromayer (1861), a white waxy substance, crystallizing in cauli flower-like formations, and tarawacin (Polex, 1839), a bitter, amorphous principle, which, in concentrated solutions, forms precipitates with a number of alkaloidal TAXUS. 1915 reagents. Kromayer obtained these two principles from the inspissated milky juice of the root (leontodonium) by treating it with hot water. This leaves taraza cerin undissolved, which may then be obtained pure by recrystallization from hot alcohol. Prof. Sayre (Proc. Amer. Pharm. Assoc., 1897, p. 223) assigns to it the formula C.H.O. The aqueous extract of leontodonium contains the bitter prin ciple; this is abstracted by charcoal, and the latter boiled out with alcohol. The latter is distilled off, the residue dissolved in water, precipitated by means of basic lead acetate, the lead removed from the filtrate by hydrogen sulphide, and the solution evaporated to dryness, and an acrid resin removed by ether. The residue is bitter tarawacin. (For a bibliography of taraxacum, see L. E. Sayre, Proc. Amer. Pharm. Assoc., 1876, p. 165.) A. van Zwaluwenburg and M. Gomberg (Proc. Amer. Pharm. Assoc., 1899, p. 305) also observed the presence of minute quantities of a Substance giving alkaloidal reactions; however, the authors doubt its alkaloidal nature. Other constituents of taraxacum root, at least of partly fermented ex tracts, are calcium lactate and mannite. The leaves and stems, according to Marmé (1864), contain the sugar inosite. The incinerated root leaves 5 to 7 per cent of ash. Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—Dandelion root, when dried, possesses but little medicinal virtue; when recent, it is a stomachic and tonic, with slightly diuretic and aperient actions. It has long been supposed to exert an influence upon the biliary Organs, removing torpor and engorgement of the liver as well as of the spleen. It is also reputed beneficial in dropsies, owing to want of action of the abdominal organs, in uterime obstructions, chronic diseases of the skin, and impairment of the digestive functions. It should not be used by those whose digestive organs are weak, as it is apt to occasion dyspepsia, flatulence, pain, and diarrhoea. The addi tion of cream of tartar to its decoction will render it more diuretic and laxative. Prof. King states that, as far as his experience with this article had gone, he thought its virtues had been overrated. Nevertheless, it is a slow, but efficient agent when properly prepared for use. The existence of an irritable condition of the stomach or bowels, or acute inflammation, contraindicate its employment. Dose of the decoction, 1 to 2 fluid ounces; of the extract, from 5 to 30 grains; of a strong tinc ture of the fresh root (5 viii to alcohol, 76 per cent, Oj), from 1 to 30 drops. Specific Indications and Uses.—Loss of appetite, weak digestion, hepatic torpor, and constipation.

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

Common Names: Narrow-leaved Purple Coneflower, Purple Coneflower, Coneflower. Principal Constituents.—Minute traces of an unimportant alkaloid and an acrid body (½ to 1 per cent), probably of a resinous character linked with an organic acid. The latter is the chief active principle of the drug. Preparations.—1. Specific Medicine Echinacea. Dose, 1 to 60 drops, the smaller doses being preferred. Usual method of administration: ℞. Specific Medicine Echinacea, 1-2 fluidrachms; Water, enough for 4 fluidounces. Mix. Sig.: One teaspoonful every 1 to 3 hours. 2. Echafolta. (A preparation of Echinacea freed from extractive and most of the coloring matter. It also contains a small added quantity of tincture of iodine. The label states that is iodized). Dose, 1 to 60 drops. Usually administered the same as the specific medicine; except when iodine is contraindicated, or is undesired. 3. Echafolta Cream. An ointment for external use. Specific Indications.—"Bad blood"; to correct fluid depravation, with tendency to sepsis and malignancy, best shown in its power in gangrene, carbuncles, boils, sloughing and phagedenic ulcerations, and the various forms of septicemia; tendency to formation of multiple cellular abscesses of a semi-active character and with pronounced asthenia; foul discharges with emaciation and great debility; dirty-brownish tongue; jet-black tongue; dusky, bluish or purplish color of the skin or mucous tissues, with a low form of inflammation. It is of special value in typhoid states, in which it is indicated by the prominent typhoid symptoms—dry tongue, sordes on tongue and teeth, mental disturbances, tympanites and diarrheal discharges—and in malignant carbuncle, pyosalpinx, and thecal abscesses. Action.—The physiological action of echinacea has never been satisfactorily determined. It has been held to increase phagocytosis and to improve both leukopenia and hyperleucocytosis. That it stimulates and hastens the elimination of waste is certain, and that it possesses some antibacterial power seems more than probable. Upon the mucous tissues echinacea causes a quite persistent disagreeable tingling sensation somewhat allied to, but less severe, than that of prickly ash and aconite. It increases the salivary and the urinary flow, but sometimes under diseased conditions anuria results while it is being administered. In the doses usually given no decided unpleasant symptoms have been produced; and no reliable cases of fatal poisoning in human beings have been recorded from its use. Occasionally bursting headache, joint pains, dry tongue, reduced temperature and gastro-intestinal disturbances with diarrhea are said to have resulted from large doses of the drug. Therapy.—External. Echinacea is a local antiseptic, stimulant, deodorant, and anesthetic. Alcoholic preparations applied to denuded surfaces cause considerable burning discomfort, but as soon as the alcohol is evaporated a sense of comfort and lessening of previous pain is experienced. Its deodorant powers are remarkable, especially when applied to foul surfaces, carcinomatous ulcerations, fetid discharges from the ears, and in gangrene. While not wholly masking the odor of cancer and gangrene it reduces it greatly, much to the comfort of the sick and the attendants. Echinacea is useful as an application where decay is imminent or taking place, reparative power is poor, and the discharges saneous and unhealthy. It is especially valuable in sluggish ulcers, bed sores, stinking tibial ulcers, and ulcers of the nasal mucosa, due either to ozaena or to syphilis. The greater the tendency to lifelessness and dissolution of the tissues and the more pronounced the fetid character of the discharges, the more applicable is echinacea. Used by spray it is effective to remove stench and to stimulate repair in tonsillitis, the angina of scarlatina, and though not alone capable of curing diphtheria, either by external or internal use, it stimulates the near-necrosed tissue to activity and overcomes the fetid odor, thus contributing in a large measure to aid more specific agents. A 10 to 50 per cent solution may be used to cleanse abscess cavities, to apply to ragged wounds from barbed wire, tin, and glass, wounds which for some reason are very painful and heal sluggishly. For this purpose we prefer ℞. Echafolta (or Echinacea), 1 fluidounce; Asepsin, 15 grains; Tincture of Myrrh, 2 fluidrachms; Sterile Water, enough to make 4 fluidounces. Mix. Apply upon sterile gauze, renewing at reasonable periods. This also makes a good mouth wash for foul breath and to remove odor and stimulate repair in pyorrhea alveolaris, spongy and bleeding gums, and aphthous and herpetic eruptions. Echinacea is sometimes of value in eczema, with glutinous, sticky exudation, and general body depravity; to give relief to pain and swelling in erysipelas, mammitis, orchitis, and epididymitis; to allay pain and lessen tumefaction in phlegmonous swellings; and to dress syphilitic phagedena. As a local application to chilblains it has done good service, and in poisoning by Rhus Toxicodendron is relied upon by many as one of the best of local medicines. We have found it especially useful in dermatitis venenata after denudation of the cuticle when ulcers form and the neighboring glands swell. Echinacea has a greater record for success than any single medicine for snake bites and insect bites and stings, and it may be used full strength to relieve the intolerable itching of urticaria. Some have asserted that it will abort boils. For the treatment of carbuncle, after thoroughly incising, a 50 per cent solution to full strength echinacea or echafolta may be freely used, syringing the channels with it. This gives great relief from pain and insures a quicker recovery. For all the above-named purposes either echinacea or echafolta may be used: the latter is usually preferred where a cleanlier appearance is desired. Moreover, in most of the conditions named repair takes place much sooner and in better form if the remedy is given internally concomitantly with its external use. Internal. Echinacea is stimulant, tonic, depurative, and especially strongly antiseptic; it is in a lesser degree anesthetic and antiputrefactive. The necessity for remedies that possess a general antiseptic property and favor the elimination of caco-plastic material is most marked when one is treating diseases which show a depraved condition of the body and its fluids. Such a remedy for "blood depravation," if we may use that term, is echinacea. No explanation of its action has even been satisfactorily given, and that a simple drug should possess such varied and remarkable therapeutic forces and not be a poison itself is an enigma still to be solved, and one that must come as a novelty to those whose therapy is that of heroic medicines only. If there is any meaning in the term alterative it is expressed in the therapy of echinacea. For this very reason has a most excellent medicine been lauded extravagantly and come near to damnation through the extravagant praises of its admirers. Echinacea is a remedy for autoinfection, and where the blood stream becomes slowly infected either from within or without the body. Elimination is imperfect, the body tissues become altered, and there is developed within the fluids and tissues septic action with adynamia resulting in boils, carbuncles, cellular tissue inflammations, abscesses, and other septicaemic processes. It is, therefore, a drug indicated by the changes manifested in a disturbed balance of the fluids of the body resulting in tissue alteration: be the cause infectious by organisms, or devitalized morbid accumulations, or alterations in the blood itself. It is pre-eminently useful in the typhoid state, and many physicians administer it regardless of any other indication throughout enteric fever as an intercurrent remedy. Echinacea is especially to be thought of when there are gangrenous tendencies and sloughing of the soft tissues, as well as in glandular ulcerations and ulcers of the skin. It is not by any means a cure-all, but so important is its antiseptic action that we are inclined to rely largely on it as an auxiliary remedy in the more serious varieties of disease—even those showing a decided malignancy—hence its frequent selection in diphtheria, small-pox, scarlet fever, typhoid fever and typhoid pneumonia, cerebro-spinal meningitis, la grippe, uremia, and the surgical and serpent and insect infections. Foul smelling discharges are deodorized by it and the odor removed from foul smelling ulcers and carcinomata, processes not alone accomplished by its topical use but aided greatly by its internal exhibition. In puerperal fever, cholera infantum, ulcerated sore throat, nasal and other forms of catarrh and in eczema and erysipelas it fulfills important indications for antisepsis. Echinacea was introduced as a potent remedy for the bites of the rattlesnake and venomous insects. It was used both externally and internally. Within bounds the remedy has retained its reputation in these accidents, it probably having some power to control the virulence of the venom, or to enable the body to resist depression and pass the ordeal successfully; nevertheless fatalities have occurred in spite of its use. For ordinary stings and bites its internal as well as external use is advisable. In the acute infectious diseases echinacea has rendered great service. Throughout typhoid fever it may be given without special regard to stated periods, but wherever a drink of water is desired by the patient, from 5 to 10 drops of Specific Medicine Echinacea may be given in it. Having no toxic power, and acting as an intestinal antiseptic, this use of it is both rational and effective. Cases apparently go through an invasion of this disease with less complications and less depression when the drug is so employed. The same is true of it in typhoid, pneumonia, septicaemia, and other septic fevers. It has the credit of regulating the general circulation, and particularly that of the meninges in the slow forms of cerebrospinal meningitis, with feeble, slow, or at least not accelerated pulse, temperature scarcely above normal, and cold extremities; with this is headache, a peculiar periodic flushing of the face and neck, dizziness, and profound prostration (Webster). It is evidently a capillary stimulant of power in this dreaded disease, in which few remedies have any saving effect. Echinacea has aided in the recovery of some cases of puerperal septicemia. Obviously other measures are also required. In non-malignant diphtheria, echinacea, both locally and internally, has appeared to hasten convalescence, but in the light of present day therapeutics it is folly to expect echinacea to cure the malignant type. A wide experience with the drug in such cases convinces us that we are leaning upon a slender reed when we trust alone to such medicines as echinacea and lobelia in malignant diphtheria. As many non-malignant cases tend to quick recovery, the use of good remedies like echinacea undoubtedly hastens the process. But to assume that it will cure every type of the disease because it succeeds in aiding the milder forms to recover is to bring a good medicine into unmerited discredit. Moreover, when these claims were originally made, and probably in good faith, there was no exact means of establishing the bacterial nature of the disease, hence many tonsillar disorders were called diphtheria. The latter were, of course, benefited by it, for in tonsillitis, particularly the necrotic form with stinking, dirty-looking ulcerations, it is an excellent remedy. Echinacea is said to be a good agent in a malignant form of quinsy known as "black tongue"; and in "mountain fever", closely allied to and often diagnosed as typhoid fever. Echinacea is justly valued in catarrhal conditions of the nasal and bronchial tracts, and in leucorrhoea, in all of which there is a run-down condition of the system with fetid discharge, and often associated with cutaneous eruptions, especially of an eczematous and strumous type. Chronic catarrhal bronchitis and fetid bronchitis are disorders in which it has been used with benefit, and it is said to ameliorate some of the unpleasant catarrhal complications of pulmonary tuberculosis, and particularly to render easier expectoration in that form known as "grinder's consumption". Patients suffering from common nasal and bronchial catarrhs have been greatly improved by echinacea when taking the drug for other disorders. Its stimulating, supporting and antiseptic properties would make echinacea a rational remedy for such disorders, particularly if debility and general tissue depravity were coexistent with the catarrh. As a rule echinacea is of little or no value in agues, yet physicians of malarial districts assert it is of benefit in chronic malaria when of an asthenic type. Altogether likely its value, if it has any, lies in the betterment of the asthenia, rather than to any effect it may have upon the protozoal cause of the disease. In so-called typho-malarial fever it does good just in proportion as the typhoid element affects the patient. Both it and quinine would be rational medication. Echinacea possesses no mean anti fermentative power, and by its local anaesthetic effect obtunds pain. When an offensive breath, due to gaseous eructation, and gastric pain are present, it proves a good medicine in fermentative dyspepsia. The symptoms are aggravated upon taking food. It is also serviceable in intestinal indigestion with pain and debility and unusually foul flatus, and has been recommended in duodenal catarrh. We can see no reason why it should not have some salutary effect in both gastric and duodenal ulcer, for it antagonizes putrefaction, tissue solution, and pain. In ulcerative stomatitis and nursing sore mouth, in both of which it is very effectual, it should be used both internally and locally. When dysentery, diarrhea, and cholera infantum occur in the debilitated and the excretions are more than commonly foul, both in odor and shreds of tissue, echinacea is a serviceable adjunct to other treatment. The dose of either specific medicine echinacea or echafolta ranges from 1 to 5 drops; larger doses (even 60 drops) may be employed, but small doses are generally most efficient if frequently repeated. They may be given in water or syrup, or a mixture of water and glycerin, as: ℞ Specific Medicine Echinacea, 1-2 fluidrachms;Water, to make 4 fluidounces. Mix. Sig.: Teaspoonful every ½ or 1 hour in acute cases; every 3 or 4 hours in chronic affections. If these preparations are to be dispensed in hot weather, or are to be used in fermentative gastro-intestinal disorders, the substitution of ½ ounce of pure glycerin for 1 fluidounce of the water is advisable. NOTE: Echafolta (now iodized) should be given internally only when iodine is not contraindicated, or is desirable. Formerly, before being iodized, it was used internally in the same manner and for the same purposes as Echinacea. The Echafolta should be reserved for external use. Echafolta Cream is an admirable form in which to use Echafolta, where an ointment is desired, being a useful unguent in the various skin disorders in which Echafolta or Echinacea is indicated.

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

Botanical name: Althaea officinalis Plate 32.Also see: Common Mallow - Marsh Mallow - Vervain Mallow - Musk Mallow Althaea. A tall wild plant, of the mallow kind, frequent with us about salt marshes, and the sides of rivers where the tides come. It grows to four feet in height. The stalk is round, upright, thick, and somewhat hairy. The leaves are large, broad at the base, small at the point, of a figure approaching to triangular, and indented round the edges: they are of a whitish green colour, and soft to the touch like velvet. The flowers are large and white, with sometimes a faint blush of reddish. They are of the same size and shape with those of the common mallow. The root is most used. It is white, long, and thick, of an insipid taste, and full of a mucilaginous juice. Boiled in water, and the decoction made strong, it is excellent to promote urine, and bring away gravel, and small stones; it also cures stranguries, and is good in coughs. Its virtues are the same with those of the common mallow, but in a greater degree.

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

Botanical Source.—This is a perennial acaulescent plant with a round scape 1 to 3 feet in height, arising from a fibrous root. The leaves are ovate, smoothish, somewhat toothed, 5 to 7-nerved, each of which contains a strong fiber which may be pulled out, and abruptly narrowed into a long, channeled petiole. The flowers are white, very small, imbricated, numerous, and borne on a cylindrical spike 5 to 20 inches long. Small plants are frequently found with the spikes only ½ to 2 inches long, and the leaves and stalks proportionately small. The stamens and styles are long; the seeds numerous (G.—W.). History and Chemical Composition.—Plantain is a well-known herb, growing in rich, moist places, in fields, by the roadsides, and in grass plats, and is common in Europe and America. It flowers from May to October. The root has a somewhat sweetish, salty taste; the leaves are bitterish and unsavory. The plant loses its medicinal activity by drying. All its preparations should be made from the freshly-gathered roots and tops. Water or alcohol extracts the virtues of the plant. The leaves contain chlorophyll, resin, wax, albumin, pectin, citric and oxalic acids (Th. Koller, N. Jahrb. f. Pharm., 1868, p. 139). Upon incineration, they leave 12.8 per cent ash. Sugar is present, while alkaloids and glucosids are absent (D. Rosenbaum, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1886, p. 418). The root, according to Strawinsky (ibid., 1898, p. 189), contains starch, wax, fatty matter, dextrose, saccharose, mucilage, traces of tannin, but no alkaloid or glucosid. The ash was 24.7 per cent, moisture 6.9 per cent. Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—Plantain is alterative, diuretic, and antiseptic, once considered vulnerary. The tops and roots, in strong decoction, have been highly recommended in syphilitic, mercurial, and scrofulous diseases, in the dose of from 2 to 4 fluid ounces, 3 or 4 times a day. It is likewise reputed beneficial in menorrhagia, leucorrhoea, hematuria, colic, cholera infantum, aphthae, diarrhoea, dysentery, incipient phthisis, pulmonary hemorrhage, dysuria, and hemorrhoids. The specific medicine may be employed in these disorders. The juice taken internally, in doses of 1 fluid ounce every hour, and also applied to the wound, is in high repute as an antidote to the bites of venomous serpents, spiders, and insects. It is a remedy for toothache from dental caries, the cavity being cleansed and specific plantago major applied on cotton to the sensitive pulp, renewing every half hour. Its internal use is said to control toothache through its effects upon the trifacial, tic-douloureux being benefited in the same manner. The same preparation, locally applied, often relieves earache. Bedwetting in children, due to relaxed vesical sphincter, with profuse colorless discharge of urine, is said to be relieved by plantago. Externally, the bruised leaves, or an ointment made with them, is useful in wounds, ulcers, ophthalmia, eczema, erysipelas, and some other cutaneous affections. The best forms of administration are the juice dissolved in diluted alcohol, and evaporated by gentle heat to the consistence of an extract; and specific plantago major, the dose of which is from 1 to 5 drops. Specific Indications and Uses.—Locally, toothache and earache. Related Species.—Plantago lanceolata, Linné; Lance-leaved plantain, has properties similar to common plantain. Its leaves contain much bitter matter. Locally applied, it has proved a haemostatic for small bleeding surfaces. Plantago cordata, Lamarck.—This is an indigenous perennial plant, known likewise as the Heart-leaved plantain. It is an acaulescent herb, with stout, naked scapes, 1 or 2 feet in height. Leaves radical, cordate-ovate, broad, smooth, somewhat toothed, thickish, about 6 inches long, 6 or 8-ribbed below, with a thick midrib, on long, stout petioles. Flowers small, whitish, somewhat imbricate, the lower one scattered, and on elongated spikes which are from 6 to 8 inches long; bracts ovate, obtuse. Calyx and corolla lobes very obtuse. Pyxis a third longer than the calyx, 2-celled, with 2 seeds in each cell (G.—W.). This plant grows in moist places, and along the banks of rivers, from New York and New Jersey to Tennessee, also from Ohio to Wisconsin, and flowers from April to August. The root is the part used, and it yields its properties to water. The root of Plantago cordata is astringent, anodyne, antispasmodic, and antiemetic. The decoction and extract have been successfully used in Asiatic cholera, checking the disease in a short time; they have likewise proved beneficial in dysentery. The plant is certainly deserving of more extended investigation, for it directly influences the nervous system, controlling irritation. A poultice of the roots is recommended as an application to old, indolent ulcers, bruises, wounds, etc. It allays inflammation and reduces swelling. Plantago Psyllium, Linné; Flea-wort, Flea-seed plant.—South Europe and Barbary. The seeds of this species are flea-colored, boat shaped, and shining on the convex surface. They yield a mucilage, used in southern Europe as that of flaxseed, slippery elm, etc., is used in this country. The seeds, in tablespoonful doses, in a glass of water, before dinner, have been successfully employed to relieve chronic constipation. The Plantago arenaria, Waldstein and Kittaibel, and Plantago Cynops, Linné, also contain mucilage. Plantago Ispaghula, Roxburgh (Plantago decumbens, Forskal), Spogel or Ispaghul seed.—This little plant is common throughout northwestern India, Arabia, and neighboring countries. The seeds are the parts used. They are about ⅛ of an inch in length, and half as broad, concave on one side, convex upon the opposite, and according to the Pharmacographia, are so light as to require 100 to weigh a single grain. Spogel seed have long been employed in India, and, in 1868, were admitted to a position in the Pharmacopoeia of that country. (For an illustration of this plant, see New Remedies, 1878, p. 68.) Spogel seed are very mucilaginous, and form a thick jelly with water. They are employed, either in substance or in decoction, in India, for the treatment of diarrhoea and dysentery. In chronic diarrhoea, they are often given whole, in doses of from 1 to 2 drachms, mixed with a little syrup, or powdered and mixed with sugar and water. When bruised and moistened with water, the seeds are often used by physicians, in India, as an emollient poultice. Dr. O. S. Laws (Calif. Med. Jour., 1899) calls attention to a plant of the Plantago family, growing in damp situations in southern California and Arizona, as a valuable local remedy for nasal catarrh. He applies equal parts of the tincture of the roots, water and glycerin, on cotton placed in the nasal fossae. He calls it Plantago aquatica; it is probably Alisma Plantago.