Qualities. Form, cakes, consisting of the stigmata of the flower, closely pressed together. Odour, sweet, penetrating and diffusive. Taste, warm and bitterish. Colour, a rich and deep orange red. Chemical Composition. One hundred parts consist of sixty-two of extractive, the remaining parts are chiefly ligneous fibre, with small portions of resin and essential oil. Bouillon Lagrange and Vogel have examined this extractive matter very accurately, and from the circumstance of its watery infusion assuming different colours when treated with different agents, they have named it polychroite. Thus chlorine and light destroy its colour, sulphuric acid changes it to indigo, which gradually becomes lilac, and nitric acid gives it a green hue. Solubility. It yields its colour and active ingredients to water, alcohol, proof spirit, wine, vinegar, and in a less degree to æther; the watery infusion, and the vinous tincture soon grow sour, and lose their properties, and the solution in vinegar becomes quickly colourless. Med. Uses. It is now never employed but for the sake of its colour or aromatic flavour, as an adjunct to other substances. It is much used in foreign cookery to colour rice, &c. Officinal Prep. Syrup. Croci. L. Tinct. Croci sativi. E. Confect. Aromat. L.D. (O). Pil. Aloes cum Myrrha. L. (G). Tinct. Aloes comp. L.E.D. (O) Tinct. Cinchonæ comp. L.D. Tinct. Rhei. L. (O). Tinct. Rhei comp. L. (O). Adulterations. It is not unfrequently sophisticated with the fibres of smoked beef, or the petals of flowers, especially of the marigold, (Calendula Officinalis,) and of the safflower, (Carthamus Tinctorius.) The former of these fraudulent ingredients is indicated by the unpleasant odour which arises when the saffron is thrown upon live coals; the latter, by infusing the specimen in hot water, when the expanded stigmata may be easily distinguished from the other petals of substituted flowers; a deficiency of colour and odour in the infusion indicates that a tincture or infusion has already been drawn from the saffron, and that it has been subsequently pressed again into a cake. In the market is to be found saffron from Sicily, France, and Spain, besides the English; that which is imported from Spain, is generally spoiled with oil, in which it is dipt with the intention of preserving it. The cake saffron sold in some of the less respectable shops, consists of one part of saffron and nine of marigold, made into a cake with oil, and then pressed; it is sold in considerable quantities for the use of birds, when in moult.
CUBEBA.[[481]] L. (Piper Cubeba.) Baccæ.
Cubebs, or Java Pepper.
This Indian spice, a native of Java, formerly held a place in our materia medica, and entered into the composition of mithridate and theriaca, but being inferior in pungency and aromatic warmth to pepper, it fell into disuse. Lately, however, it has been ushered into surgical practice for the cure of gonorrhœa, with all the extravagance of praise which usually attends the revival of an old, or the introduction of a new medicine.[[482]] It has been pronounced to be a specific in this complaint, if taken in the early stages, in the dose of a dessert-spoonful three times a day, in a sufficient quantity of water.[[483]] The Indians have been long acquainted with the influence which cubebs exerts upon these organs; thus Garcias, “Apud Indos cubebarum in vino maceratarum est usus ad exitandam venerem.” Chemical Composition. M. Vauquelin has lately made a very accurate analysis of this pepper, from which its composition may be stated as follows: 1. A volatile oil, which is nearly solid.—2. A resin, resembling Balsam of Copaiba.—3. Another and coloured resin.—4. A coloured gummy matter.—5. An extractive principle, similar to that which is found in leguminous plants.—6. Some saline substances. He considers the resin resembling the Copaiba, to be the peculiar matter in which that property resides, which imparts to it the power of curing gonorrhœa. As the qualities of this spice do not reside in volatile elements, an extract made with rectified spirit will be found to possess the whole of its virtues. The French, in their new Codex Medicamentarius, have introduced the cubebs into their list of materia medica. There is a precaution, with respect to the exhibition of Cubebs, which it is important for the practitioner to remember—to keep the bowels thoroughly open; for where hardened fæces are allowed to accumulate, the spice insinuates itself into the mass, and produces excoriations in the rectum. Adulterations. The “Turkey Yellow Berries,” i. e. the dried fruit of the Rhamnus Catharticus, are often substituted for the Cubebs, and the similarity between them is so great, that the casual observer may be easily deceived.
CUMINI[[484]] SEMINA. L. Cumin Seeds.
Qualities. Odour, strong, heavy, and peculiar; Taste, bitterish and warm. Chemical Composition. Gum, resin, and a yellow pungent oil, upon which the peculiar properties of the seeds depend. Solubility. Water does not extract more than their odour, but alcohol dissolves all the principles in which their virtues reside, and leaves upon evaporation a powerful extract. Medicinal Uses. Carminative and stomachic; they are however but rarely used, except as an ingredient in plasters.
CUPRI SULPHAS. L.E.D. Sulphate of Copper.
vulgo Blue Vitriol. Blue Copperas.
Qualities. Form, crystals, which are rhomboidal prisms. Colour, a deep rich blue. Taste, harsh, acrid, and styptic; they slightly effloresce; when treated with sulphuric acid, no effervescence occurs, a circumstance which at once distinguishes this salt from Œrugo. Chemical Composition. According to the latest experiments, it is an oxy-sulphate, consisting of one proportional of peroxide with two proportionals of sulphuric acid, and when crystallized, it contains ten proportionals of water; its beautiful colour depends on this last ingredient. Solubility. It is soluble in four parts of water at 60, and in less than two at 212°; the solution shews an excess of acid by reddening litmus. In alcohol it is insoluble. Incompatible Substances. Alkalies and their carbonates; sub-borate of soda; acetate of ammonia; tartrate of potass; muriate of lime; nitrate of silver; sub-acetate, and acetate of lead; oxy-muriate of mercury; all astringent vegetable infusions and tinctures. Iron immersed in the solution, precipitates copper in a metallic form; hence the exhibition of the filings of iron has been proposed as an antidote.[[485]] Medicinal Uses. It is emetic from grs. ij to xv. tonic gr. 1/4; it is, however, but rarely used internally except as an emetic; externally it is employed as an escharotic; and, in solution, as a stimulant to foul obstinate ulcers.[[487]] In the proportion of half a drachm to eight ounces of rose water, it forms a lotion which has been found very efficacious in phagedenic ulcers of the face, and in allaying itching when attended with erysipelatous inflammation about the anus and labia pudendi. It is also a styptic when applied in solution. Officinal Preparation. Solut. Cupri Sulphat. com. E. Cuprum Ammoniatum L.E.D. (I) (Form. 68.)
CUPRUM AMMONIATUM. L.D