(Leontodon Taraxacum.) Dens Leonis.
Dandelion.
Qualities. Odour, none; Taste, bitter, and somewhat sweet and acidulous. Chemical Composition. The active principles appear to consist of extractive, gluten, a bitter principle (not resinous), and tartaric acid. Solubility. Water extracts its virtues much better than spirit. Incompatible Substances. Infusion of Galls, Nitrate of Silver, Oxy-muriate of Mercury, Acetate of Lead, and Sulphate of Iron occasion precipitates in its solutions. Med. Uses. It has long enjoyed the reputation of proving beneficial in obstructions of the liver, and in visceral diseases; Bergius extols its use in these complaints, and recommends the recent root to be boiled in whey or broth. Dr. Pemberton has more recently added his testimony to its value; he observes that he has seen great advantage result from using the extract in chronic inflammation, and incipient schirrhus of the liver, and in chronic derangement of the stomach. Forms of Exhibition. In that of extract, or in decoction made by boiling ℥j of the sliced root in oj of water down to oss, adding to the strained liquid ʒj of Cream of tartar; the recent full grown root only should be used. Dose f℥jj, twice or thrice a day. Officinal Prep: Extract: Taraxaci. The roots are roasted and used at Gottingen by the poorer people for coffee, from which a decoction of them properly prepared can hardly be distinguished.[[663]] The leaves of this plant are blanched, and very commonly used on the continent as a salad.
TEREBINTHINA. L.E.D. Turpentine.
Most species of Pinus[[664]] may be made to yield (and many of them produce spontaneously) a remarkable resinous juice, usually called Turpentine: an appellation, however, which more properly belongs to the product of a different genus, called by Linnæus Pistachia, which contains the true Terebinthus[[665]] of the ancients.
Qualities. Consistence, semifluid and tenacious, but becoming more or less concrete by age; Odour, aromatic; Taste, pungent, austere, and astringent. It is inflammable. Solubility. It is entirely soluble in rectified spirit, but not at all in water; although it becomes miscible with that fluid, by the mediation of the yelk or the white of an egg, but more elegantly by that of vegetable mucilage, and forms a milky liquor. It is capable of entering into union with fixed oils. Chemical Composition. Resin, and an essential oil, the proportions of which vary according to the species of Pine from which it is obtained. They all, however, possess the same general chemical, as well as medicinal properties, viz. When internally taken, says Dr. Maton, they seem to warm the viscera, raise the pulse, and impart additional excitement to the vascular system; applied externally, they increase the tone of the part, counteract indolence of action, and deterge, as it were, ill-conditioned ulcers. Internal ulcerations indeed, especially of the urinary passages, as well as laxities of the seminal and uterine vessels, are supposed to be diminished by the exhibition of preparations of this nature. They certainly appear to act in a peculiar manner on the urinary organs, impregnating the water with a violet smell, and there are strong grounds for believing that its volatile element, developed by the powers of digestion, passes into the circulation, and is eliminated by the kidneys, whose secreting vessels are thus stimulated by its contact. (Page 93.) Pulmonary complaints, as obstinate coughs and asthmatic affections, have been said to give way to medicines of this class; yet, in modern practice, recourse is rarely had to them in such cases, and their exhibition is even considered hazardous. The ancients were accustomed to medicate their wines with various Terebinthinate substances, for the effect of which, see Vinum.
The particular preparations of Turpentine most employed in medicine, will be noticed under the different species.
1. Terebinthina Canadensis. L. (Pinus Balsamea. Resina Liquida.) Canada Turpentine, or Canada Balsam.[[666]] This is a transparent whitish juice, brought to this country from Canada, and apparently, says Dr. Maton, not very different in its qualities from the celebrated Balm of Gilead,[[667]] so high in esteem among the eastern nations, and so strongly recommended in a variety of complaints. Hitherto, however, it has not been much employed in England. Its odour is agreeable, and its taste strong and pungent.
2. Terebinthina Chia. L. (Pistachia Terebinthus.) Chio, or Cyprus Turpentine. The superiority of this species to all the products of the pine tribe, was well known to, and described by, most of the ancient writers on the materia medica. It is pellucid, with a bluish-green cast.
3. Terebinthina Vulgaris. L. (Pinus Sylvestris. Scotch Fir.) Common Turpentine. Horse Turpentine. This species is more coarse and dense than any other kind, and has an opaque light brown colour; its consistence may be compared to that of honey; the taste is very acrid, hot, and disagreeable, and the smell much less pleasant than either the Venice or the Strasburg turpentine. It is the kind which, as its name implies, is most commonly employed, and although inferior in quality to that of the turpentine tree, Pistachia Terebinthus (Chio or Cyprus), the Larch, Pinus Larix (Venice Turpentine), and the Silver Fir, Pinus Picea (Strasburgh Turpentine), especially for internal use, yet it is too often substituted for them in the shops of the druggist. The Colleges of London and Edinburgh direct the common turpentine to be used chiefly in external applications, for which it was also much employed by the ancients. Celsus mentions, “Resina liquida pinea,” as entering into the composition of many of his “Malagmata,” and the “Resina liquida,” of other writers would appear to be of the same kind. The Unguentum Elemi compositum contains this resinous juice as a principal ingredient.