Distillation with water separates from the flowers of koso a stearoptene-like oil having the odour of koso, and traces of valerianic and acetic acid. No such body as the Hagenic Acid of Viale and Latini (1852) could be detected by Bedall.
Commerce—Koso is brought to England by way of Aden or Bombay; some appears also to reach Leghorn, probably carried thither direct from Egypt.
Uses—The drug is employed solely as a vermifuge, and is effectual for the expulsion both of Tænia solium and of Bothriocephalus latus. The Abyssinian practice is to administer the flowers in substance in a very ample dose, which is sometimes attended with alarming and even fatal results.
The notion that the action of the drug is partially mechanical and due to the hairs of the plant, prevails in England, and has led to the use of an unstrained infusion of the coarsely powdered flowers. This remedy, from the quantity of branny powder (2 to 4 drachms) that has to be swallowed, is far from agreeable; and as it occasions strong purgation and sometimes vomiting, it is not often prescribed.[983]
The fruit of the koso tree, a small indehiscent achene, is stated by M. Th. von Heuglin[984] to act even more powerful than the flowers; he calls it (or the seed?) Kosála. It would appear that the fruits have been used as an anthelmintic two centuries ago in Abyssinia.[985] Dragendorff (1878) found them to be rich in fatty matters, but devoid of an alkaloid.
PETALA ROSÆ GALLICÆ.
Flores Rosæ rubræ; Red Rose Petals, Rose Leaves, True Provins Roses; F. Pétales de Roses rouges, Roses de Provins; G. Essigrosenblätter.
Botanical Origin—Rosa gallica L., a low-growing bush, with a creeping rhizome throwing up numerous stems. The wild form with single flowers occurs here and there in the warmer parts of Europe,[986] including Central and Southern Russia, and Greece; also in Asia Minor, Armenia, Kurdistan, and the Caucasus. But the plant passes into so many varieties, and has from a remote period been so widely cultivated, that its distribution cannot be ascertained with any exactness. As a garden plant it exists under a multitude of forms.
History—The use in medicine of the rose dates from a very remote period. Theophrastus[987] speaks of roses being of many kinds, including some with double flowers which were the most fragrant; and he also alludes to their use in the healing art. Succeeding writers of every age down to a recent period have discussed the virtues of the rose,[988] which however is scarcely now admitted to possess any special medicinal property.
One of the varieties of R. gallica is the Provins Rose, so called from having been long cultivated at Provins, a small town about 60 miles south-east of Paris, where it is said to have been introduced from the East by Thibaut VI., Count of Champagne, on his return from the Crusades, a.d. 1241. But it appears that he went then to Navarre and in later times never resided in the Champagne. Be this as it may, Provins became much celebrated not only for its dried rose petals, but also for the conserve, syrup and honey of roses made from them,—compositions which were regarded in the light of valuable medicines.[989]