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CORNUS.

Cornus florida, or Dogwood (Nat. Ord. Cornacea), is an indigenous tree found in most parts of the United States, and growing in the Middle States to the height of from fifteen to twenty feet. Its flowers are remarkable for large four-leaved white or pinkish involucres, which appear with us in May. The officinal portion is the BARK of the ROOT. It occurs in pieces of various sizes, more or less rolled, and of a reddish-gray color.

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Its taste is bitter, astringent, and slightly aromatic. It yields its virtues to water and alcohol, and contains cornin (cornic acid), resin, tannic and gallic acids, etc. The BARKS of Cornus sericea, or swamp dogwood, and of Cornus circinata, or round-leaved dogwood, possess analogous properties.

Effects and Uses.-Dogwood is deservedly esteemed the best substitute for cinchona among the native astringent bitters. It

is somewhat irritant, and not unfrequently disorders the stomach. Dose, in powder, gr. xx to 5j; of the fluid extract fɔ̃j or more.

SALIX.

The BARK of Salix alba, the White Willow, and other species of Salix (Nat. Ord. Salicaceae), is ranked among the astringent bitters. It is little employed, however, except in the form. of SALICINUM (salicin, C13H18O7, a glucoside) a neutral principle prepared from the bark of Salix Helix and other species of Salix, consisting of white, slender, silky crystals, inodorous but very bitter, soluble in water and alcohol, but not in ether. Salicin produces effects similar to those of salicylic acid (q. v.), and is employed in the same therapeutic range, especially in acute rheumatism. It renders the sweat alkaline. Dose, gr. x-xx, frequently repeated. It has antiseptic and antifermentative properties; it is not toxic.

PRUNUS VIRGINIANA-WILD-CHERRY.

The Wild-cherry has long been known under the name of Prunus Virginiana, which is still retained by the Pharmacopoeia. This name, however, belongs to another tree, the chokecherry; and the wild-cherry is now properly distinguished as Prunus serotina (Nat. Ord. Rosaceae). The medicinal portion is the BARK of the root and trunk, the former of which is the more active. It is found in the shops in pieces of various lengths and sizes, deprived of the epidermis and slightly curved, of a reddish-brown color and a bitter, slightly astringent, aro

matic taste.

It contains a bitter, amorphous principle* (not isolated), resin, starch, tannic and gallic acids, a ferment-principle not identical with emulsin, and yields on distillation a volatile oil, containing hydrocyanic acid, which does not pre-exist in the bark, but is formed by the reaction in water of the bitter principle and the ferment. The leaves also yield this oil. Boiling water impairs the virtues of the bark.

Effects and Uses.-Wild-cherry bark is tonic, with some astrin

* Pharma. Rundschau, Sept., 1887, p. 203, “On the Constituents of Wild Cherry Bark." Power and Weimar.

gency, and at the same time exercises a sedative influence on the nervous and circulatory systems, owing to the hydrocyanic acid which is developed in it. It is used with excellent effect as a sedative corroborant in the various forms of pulmonary irritation, particularly in the latter stages of pneumonia and in the hectic of phthisis. It is also a useful stomachic and tonic in a variety of cases. The infusion (4 parts to cold water enough to make the infusion weigh 100 parts), is given in the dose of fij, twice or thrice daily. Of the fluid extract the dose is f3j-ij. Of the syrup, an agreeable preparation, the dose is f3ss.

DIGESTIVE FERMENTS.

PEPSINUM-PEPSIN.

In connection with the subject of stomachic tonics, this article is entitled to brief mention. It is prepared from the rennets either of the calf, sheep or pig, taken from the animal as soon as killed, the best process being Scheffer's. The mucous membrane of well-cleaned, fresh hogs' stomachs is scraped off, chopped fine, and macerated for several days in water acidulated with hydrochloric acid; the strained and decanted clear liquid is mixed with a saturated solution of sodium chloride in water, and the separated pepsin after several hours is drained on a muslin strainer, and submitted to strong pressure. Pepsin, the ferment of the gastric juice, has the property, at 100° F. in an acid solution, of coagulating and dissolving albuminous principles. Two grains of pepsin, with an ounce of distilled water and my of hydrochloric acid, will dissolve 100 grs. of coagulated white of egg at 98° F. in about four hours. Of saccharated pepsin, "I part dissolved in 500 parts of water acidulated with 7.5 parts of hydrochloric acid should digest at least 50 parts of hard-boiled egg-albumen at 100° F. in five or six hours." Since alcohol impairs the digestive property of pepsin, preparations of it in wine are unreliable. Acid solutions favor its action, especially hydrochloric acid, and it may be combined with this acid if deficiency of the gastric juice be suspected. Glycerin is the most reliable agent for preserving the ferment of pepsin (Liebreich). The alkalies and mineral salts precipitate pepsin from solution, and hence are incompatible. Pepsin is now a good deal used in dyspepsia and in diarrhoea, especially

that occurring in infants or children, where the stools contain undigested food. It may be given in doses of gr. v-xx after each meal, suspended in syrup of orange-peel to disguise its disagreeable taste, or taken on bread. Of saccharated pepsin, the dose is gr. v to xx; of vinum pepsinæ, fɔ̃ss-j, an inferior preparation. Liquor pepsini is a solution of saccharated pepsin (40 parts) in hydrochloric acid (12 parts), glycerin (400 parts), and water (548 parts); dose, f5j-iv. It is probably more efficient in cases of children than of adults. When nourishment is to be given by the rectum (as when food is rejected by the stomach), the addition of pepsin and a little hydrochloric acid to animal broths for rectal injection is highly useful. Ingluvin is a preparation from the gizzard of the domestic fowl; it is an aid to digestion, its action depending, probably, more on the bitter principle which it contains, and which stimulates the gastric glands, than to any digestive action of the preparation itself. It is recommended to allay various forms of reflex vomiting, especially the vomiting of pregnancy. Dose, gr. v-xv.

PANCREATINUM-PANCREATIN.

This is obtained, by Mattison's process, from the pancreas of recently-killed animals, which is dissected and macerated in water acidulated with hydrochloric acid for about forty-eight hours, then separated, and the solution of pancreatin is passed through a pulp-filter until it is perfectly clear; to this clear solution is then added a saturated solution of sodium chloride, and allowed to stand until the pancreatin is separated; this is skimmed off, and placed upon a muslin filter and allowed to drain, after which it is washed with a less concentrated solution of sodium chloride, and then put under the press; when all the salt solution is removed, and the mass is nearly dry, it is rubbed with sugar of milk, and dried without heat, after which it is diluted until ten grains emulsify two drachms of cod-liver oil. Saccharated pancreatin is employed to promote the digestion of fatty matters, and may be administered in the form of emulsion, or dissolved in diluted alcohol or glycerin, or as a powder. As the activity of pancreatin is destroyed by acid, it should be given from 2 to 4 hours after meals. It is a good addition to cod-liver oil. Dose, gr. v-x. It is not officinal.

PAPAYA.

This is the dried juice of the half-ripe fruit of the Carica papaya (Nat. Ord. Papayacea), a white, slightly astringent powder, soluble in water, containing the ferment papäin. This principle has the property of digesting albuminoids and converting them into soluble albumen. According to Finkler, its action is that of a ferment, and not one of solution. Dr. Herschell * ascertained that it acted alike in acid, alkaline or neutral fluids, and that it would dissolve 1000 times its weight of fresh bloodserum. Antiseptics, as carbolic or salicylic acids, do not hinder its action. It has no effect on starch (Martin). It also dissolves intestinal worms and the diphtheritic membrane. It is said not to retain its activity except in the dry state. peutically it is employed as an aid to digestion in the various forms of dyspepsia, to dissolve the diphtheritic membrane, and as a tæniacide. Prof. Jacobit applies it to the diphtheritic membrane in glycerin, I part to 4; Schaffer uses it in water, strength 5 per cent.-both frequently applied with a brush. The dose is about gr. j-v, to be taken after meals in powder, aqueous solution, capsule, or compressed tablet.

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Further investigation and clinical experience are needed to place papaya on its proper therapeutical footing.

MINERAL TONICS.

FERRI PRÆPARATA-PREPARATIONS OF IRON.

The preparations of IRON (FERRUM), termed Ferruginea, Chalybeates, and Martial preparations, are the most important of the mineral tonics.

Physiological Effects.-Besides their local tonic-astringent effect, and their general corroborant action on the cerebro-spinal system, which they possess in common with the other mineral tonics, they exercise a restorative influence on the composition of the blood, by increasing the number of its coloring particles and the amount of its solid constituents. Iron is in fact a natural constituent of the blood, and is to be considered as a nutrient rather than a medicine. The effects of the chaly

* Brit. Med. Journ., April, 1886, p. 640.

† Journ. of Physiol., 1885, p. 336.

Therap. Gaz., 1886, p. 145.

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