2. Washed safflower (dried and powdered), any quantity; aqueous solution of carbonate of sodium (containing 15% of carbonate), q. s. to form a thick paste; after some hours press out the red liquor, nearly neutralise it with acetic acid, put in cotton as before, and add acetic acid in slight excess; the next day remove the cotton and wash it in water holding in solution 5% of carbonate of sodium, until the colour is dissolved out, after which precipitate with citric acid, as before.
Prop., &c. An amorphous, brilliant, greenish powder; nearly insoluble in water, soluble in alcohol, forming a gorgeous purple solution, and in weak alkaline lyes giving an equally beautiful red one.
CAR′THAMUS. Syn. Saf′flower. In botany, a genus of composite plants, the most important species of which is Carthamus tinctorius, the safflower. The florets of this yield a beautiful pink dye (see above), and are sometimes used to adulterate hay saffron. The “cake saffron” of the shops consists entirely of safflower and mucilage. The fruits, commonly called “seeds,” yield by expression the useful oil known in India as Koosum oil.
CARUM (PTYCHOTIS) AJOWAN. Ind. Ph. Syn. Ajwain or Omum plant. Habitat. Tropical Africa? Much cultivated in India.— Officinal part. The fruit (Fructus Ptychotis, Ajwain fruit). Occurs in the form of minute umbelliferous fruits, which, examined with a lens, are seen to be covered with prominent tubercles, extremely aromatic, evolving, when rubbed, a strong odour resembling that of common thyme. Taste somewhat bitter, and very pungent. Its virtues reside in a volatile oil.—Properties. Valuable stimulant, carminative, and antispasmodic.—Therapeutic uses. In flatulence, flatulent colic, atonic dyspepsia, and diarrhœa, it is a remedy of much value.
Oil of Ajwain, or Omum (Oleum Ptychotis). The oil obtained by distillation from the fruit. Recently prepared, colourless, but soon acquires a yellowish tinge. It has the odour of the fruit, and an acrid burning taste. Sp. gr. about 0·88.—Dose, 1 to 3 drops on sugar or in emulsion.
Ajwain, or Omum Water (Aqua Ptychotis). Take of ajwain fruit, bruised, 20 oz.; water, 2 galls. Distil a gallon.—Dose, 1 to 2 fluid ounces. A valuable carminative; also useful in disguising the taste of disagreeable drugs, especially castor oil, and obviating their tendency to cause nausea and griping.
CARYOPH′YLLIN. C10H16O. Syn. Clove camphor, Clove resin. A crystalline substance, isomeric with ordinary camphor, which deposits from oil of cloves in needles.
CARYOPH′YLLUS. See Clove.
CASCARIL′LA. Syn. Cascarillæ cortex (B. P.), L. The bark of Croton eleutheria or the seaside balsam, a tree growing in the Bahamas and Jamaica. It is an aromatic bitter, stomachic, and tonic—Dose, 10 gr. to 30 gr., in the form of powder, infusion, or tincture; in diarrhœa, dysentery, dyspepsia, low fevers, intermittents, &c.
CASCARIL′LINE. Syn. Cascaril′lina. Prep. (Duval.) Cascarilla is exhausted with cold water by percolation, precipitated with acetate of lead, and the filtrate treated with sulphuretted hydrogen; the filtered liquid, after agitation with animal charcoal and filtration, is gently evaporated to dryness. The powder is redissolved in boiling alcohol and crystallised by very slow or by spontaneous