The Tops of Broom.
Qualities. When bruised they yield an unpleasant odour, and a nauseous bitter taste. Solubility. Water and alcohol alike extract their active matter. Med. Uses. They certainly act as a powerful diuretic, and even prove so to animals that browse upon them. I have frequently exhibited them in the Westminster Hospital, with very great success in the form of decoction. By referring to my classification of diuretics, page 93, it will be seen that the Broom is placed under the second division of the first class; for analogy sanctions the theory, that the bitter element is separated by the powers of digestion, and carried to the kidneys by the medium of the circulation. (See Form. 113.) The ashes of this plant were extolled by Sydenham as a powerful diuretic, but the chemist has shewn that it is merely a fixed alkaline salt. Officinal Preparations. Extractum Cacuminum Genistæ. D.
SPIGELIA MARYLANDICA.
Pink Root. Radix.
[This is an herbaceous plant, growing native in the Southern states. It flourishes in rich, dry soils, and flowers from May to July. The root, which is composed of numerous slender fibres, when fresh, is of a yellowish colour, and has an insipid and nauseous taste. As it contains on analysis no resin, its proper menstruum is water. It is exclusively as an anthelmintic that the Pink Root is resorted to, and as such it possesses unquestionable power. When given to any extent it proves narcotic, and at the same time purgative. It is probably to this combination of properties that its efficacy as a vermifuge is to be attributed. It is chiefly against the Lumbrici that it has been used with success. It may be given in powder, in doses of from grs. x to xx, repeated every two hours. The more common and preferable mode of giving it, however, is that of infusion, made by putting ℥j of the root into a pint of boiling water. Of this, when cold, from ℥j to ℥iv may be given every two or three hours, according to the age of the patient. It should be recollected, that in its fresh state the Pink Root is much more active than when dried and kept for any length of time.]
SPIRÆA TRIFOLIATA.
Indian Physic. Radix.
[This plant abounds in the woods of hills and mountains, in every part of the United States. The root, which is the part used in medicine, is of a bitter taste, and yields by analysis extractive matter and resin. In its medicinal properties the Spiræa resembles the ipecacuanha of the shops. The full dose in powder is 30 grs.]
SPIRITUS. L. Spiritus Stillatitii.
Distilled Spirits.