383. RHAMNUS Frangula. THE BLACK OR BERRY-BEARING ALDER. Its Bark.—The internal bark of the trunk or root of the tree, given to the quantity of a dram, purges violently, occasioning gripes, nausea, and vomiting. These may be in good measure prevented by the addition of aromatics; but we have plenty of safer and less precarious purgatives.
384. RHUS coriaria. ELM-LEAVED SUMACH.—Both the leaves and berries have been employed in medicine; but the former are more astringent and tonic, and have been long in common use, though at present discarded from the Pharmacopoeias.
385. RIBES nigrum.—The juice of black currants boiled up with sugar to a jelly, is an excellent remedy against sore throats.
386. RUMEX Hydrolapathum. THE GREAT WATER DOCK.—The leaves of the docks gently loosen the belly, and have sometimes been made ingredients in decoctions for removing a costive habit. The roots, in conjunction with other medicines, are celebrated for the cure of scorbutic and cutaneous disorders, for which the following receipt is given by Lewis.
Six ounces of the roots of the water dock, with two of saffron; and of mace, cinnamon, gentian root, liquorice root, and black pepper, each three ounces, (or, where the pepper is improper, six ounces of liquorice,) are to be reduced into coarse powder, and put into a mixture of two gallons of wine, with half a gallon of strong vinegar, and the yolks of three egs; and the whole digested, with a moderate warmth, for three days, in a glazed vessel close stopped: from three to six ounces of this liquor are to be taken every morning on an empty stomach, for fourteen or twenty days, or longer.
387. SALVIA Sclarea. GARDEN CLARY. The Leaves and Seeds.—These have a warm, bitterish, pungent taste; and a strong, not very agreeable smell: the touch discovers in the leaves a large quantity of glutinous or resinous matter. They are principally recommended in female weaknesses, in hysteric disorders, and in flatulent colics.
388. SAMBUCUS Ebulus. DWARF ELDER, OR DANEWORT. The Root, Bark, and Leaves.—These have a nauseous, sharp, bitter taste, and a kind of acrid ungrateful smell: they are all strong cathartics, and as such are recommended in dropsies, and other cases where medicines of that kind are indicated. The bark of the root is said to be strongest: the leaves the weakest. But they are all too churlish medicines for general use: they sometimes evacuate violently upwards, almost always nauseate the stomach, and occasion great uneasiness of the bowels. By boiling they become (like the other drastics) milder, and more safe in operation. Fernelius relates, that by long coction they entirely lose their purgative virtue. The berries of this plant are likewise purgative, but less virulent than the other parts. A rob prepared from them may be given to the quantity of an ounce, as a cathartic; and in smaller ones as an aperient and deobstruent in chronic disorders: in this last intention, it is said by Haller to be frequently used in Switzerland, in the dose of a dram.
389. SANICULA officinalis. SANICLE. The Leaves.—These have an herbaceous, roughish taste: they have long been celebrated for sanative virtues, both internally and externally; nevertheless their effects, in any intention, are not considerable enough to gain them a place in the present practice.
390. SAPONARIA officinalis. SOAPWORT. The Herb and Root.—The roots taste sweetish and somewhat pungent; and have a light smell like those of liquorice: digested in rectified spirit they yield a strong tincture, which loses nothing of its taste or flavour in being inspissated to the consistence of an extract. This elegant root has not come much into practice among us, though it promises, from its sensible qualities, to be a medicine of considerable utility: it is greatly esteemed by the German physicians as an aperient, corroborant, and sudorific; and preferred by the College of Wirtemberg, by Stahl, Neumann, and others, to sarsaparilla.
391. SAXIFRAGA granulata.—Linnaeus describes the taste of this plant to be acrid and pungent, which we have not been able to discover. Neither the tubercles of this root, nor the leaves, manifest to the organs of taste any quality likely to be of medicinal use; and therefore, though this species of Saxifraga has been long employed as a popular remedy in nephritic and gravelly disorders, yet we do not find, either from its sensible qualities or from any published instances of its efficacy, that it deserves a place in the Materia Medica.—Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 551.