Qualities. Form, a thick tenacious liquid becoming concrete by age, in which state it is usually found in the shops. Taste, warm and sweetish. Odour, extremely fragrant, resembling that of lemons. Chemical Composition. Volatile oil, resin, and benzoic acid. Solubility. It is soluble in alcohol, forming a tincture which is rendered milky by water, but no precipitate falls. When dissolved in the smallest quantity of a solution of potass, its odour is changed into one that resembles clove pink. Medicinal Uses. It has been regarded as expectorant. In turning to the classification of expectorants, p. 102, it will be found to occupy a place in the second division of our first class, for it may be considered as capable of stimulating the pulmonary exhalants; whence its use in chronic coughs. Forms of Exhibition. It may be suspended in water by means of mucilage, or yolk of egg, but it is rarely employed except on account of its agreeable flavour;[[424]] its virtues are similar to those of the balsam of Peru. Officinal Prep. Tinct: Benzoin. comp: L.E.D. Tinct: Toluiferi Balsam: E.D. Syrup: Tolut: L.
BELLADONNÆ[[425]] FOLIA. L.E.D.
(Atropa Belladonna.) Deadly Nightshade.
Qualities. The leaves are inodorous. Taste, slightly nauseous, sweetish, and sub-acrid; their peculiar properties are not lost by drying. Chemical Composition. Vauquelin found that the leaves contained a substance analogous to albumen, salts with a base of potass, and a bitter principle on which its narcotic properties depended, and more lately the presence of an alkaline element has been detected, which has received the appellation of Atropia, the sulphate of which crystallizes very beautifully. Solubility. Water is the most powerful solvent of its active matter. Uses. It is a powerful sedative and narcotic, both as an internal medicine and as an external application; in this latter form, it alleviates local pains very effectually, but is liable to affect the nervous system. The recent leaves powdered, and made into an ointment with an equal weight of lard will be found an efficient form for many purposes; rubbed over the penis it prevents priapism and relieves chordee more effectually than any application which has been proposed. Forms of Exhibition. Every part of the plant is poisonous, and the berries from their beautiful appearance have often tempted the unwary; the leaves however furnish the most convenient and powerful form of exhibition; externally, they may be used as a poultice, internally, one grain of the dry leaves powdered, and gradually increased to 10 or 12 grains, or the leaves may be infused in boiling water in the proportion of four grains to two fluid-ounces, which may be given as a dose. A little of this infusion dropped into the eye permanently dilates the pupil, for which intention it has been successfully applied previous to an operation for the cataract. The extract of this plant, since its active principle is fixed, ought to possess activity, but as it occurs in commerce it is found to be very uncertain and variable, a circumstance which entirely depends upon the manner in which it has been prepared.[[426]] See Extractum Belladonnæ. An overdose of belladonna produces the most distressing and alarming symptoms, and so paralyzing is its influence, that vomiting can be hardly excited by the strongest doses of tartarized antimony; in such cases vinegar will be found the best antidote, or the affusion of cold water over the surface of the body, after the application of which, emetics are more likely to perform their duty, for physiological reasons explained in p. 85. Officinal Preparations. Extract: Belladonnæ L. Succus spissatus Atropæ Belladonnæ. E.
BENZOINUM. L.E. Benzoe. D. (Styrax Benzoin)
vulgo, Benjamin.
Qualities. Form, brittle masses, composed of white and brownish, or yellowish fragments; Odour, fragrant; Taste, scarcely perceptible. When heated, it exhales benzoic acid in the form of crystals. Chemical Composition. Resin, and a large proportion of benzoic acid. Solubility. It is readily dissolved by alcohol and æther, and is again separated from them by water; solutions of lime, and the fixed alkalies separate the benzoic acid from it, which can afterwards be recovered from such solutions by the addition of an acid. Uses. It is considered expectorant, and was formerly used in asthma, and other pulmonary affections; it has however fallen into disuse, and is now principally employed in perfumery, and odoriferous fumigations.[[427]] Officinal Preparations. Acidum Benzoicum L.E.D. Tinct: Benzoini comp:[[428]] L.E.D. Impurities. It is found in the market in various degrees of purity, the best is yellowish, studded with white spots: the worst is full of dross, and very dark or black.
BISMUTHI SUB-NITRAS L.
Qualities. Form, a white, inodorous, tasteless powder. Chemical Composition. Oxide of Bismuth in combination with some water and a little nitric acid. Solubility. It is insoluble in water and dilute acids, but is dissolved by the concentrated acids, and is again precipitated by water. The alkalies, Potass and Soda, also dissolve it, but sparingly; it is more soluble in ammonia. Uses. It was formerly employed as a cosmetic, under the name of Magistery of Bismuth, or that of Pearl White;[[429]] since, however, it becomes black from the operation of Sulphuretted Hydrogen and its compounds,[[430]] much inconvenience attends its application. Its medicinal powers appear to have been first noticed by Jacobi,[[431]] but the remedy attracted little or no attention until the publication of a paper upon the subject by Odier[[432]] of Geneva. The diseases in which its powers as a tonic have been more particularly displayed, are Gastrodynia, Pyrosis, and Dyspepsia attended with cholic. Dr. Marcet in a paper read in 1801 before the Medico-chirurgical Society of London, says, “I have had frequent opportunities of trying the oxide of Bismuth in spasmodic affections of the stomach in Guy’s Hospital, and those trials have fully confirmed the opinion which I formerly gave of the utility of this medicine.” The practitioner will receive a further confirmation of its value by referring to Dr. Bradsley’s Medical Reports: and Dr. Yeats has published in the Royal Institution Journal[[433]] a striking case illustrative of its efficacy.[[434]] Dose, gr. v to xv, in the form of pills.
BISTORTÆ RADIX. L.E.D.