ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA.

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volatile acrid principle (oil) which renders them local irritants. . Severalof them are employed as condiments. In medicine, we use mustard '<as a rubefacient and emetic ; horse-radish as a masticatory ; and garlicas a stimulating expectorant. From their beneficial effects in scurvy, thesubstances of this group have been denominated antiscorbutics.

b. The second group contains the aromatic plants of the familyLabiatce, several of which are used in cookery under the name of sweetor savoury herbs, and the carminative fruit of several umbelliferousplants. Volatile oil is the active principle of the whole group. In the klabiate plants this resides in small receptacles in the leaves, while in the 'umbelliferous fruit it is contained in clavate vessels called vittce, situated .in the pericarpial coat. Cooks employ some of the substances of thisgroup to form seasoning for certain kinds of dishes or meats. Theliqueur-maker uses some of them for flavouring his cordials. In medi-cine we employ them principally as flavouring or carminative substances.Thus they are added to many other medicaments, the unpleasant odouror taste of which they are intended to cover, and whose nauseating pro-perties they check. They are also useful in flatulency, and in spas-modic affections of the alimentary canal, especially the flatulent colic ofchildren.

c. The third group consists of the substances called spices ( aromata .)These are the products of warm climates, as the Molucca oi Spice Islands , Ceylon, the West Indies, &c., and are obtained from the ordersScitamineee, Lauracece, Myrtacem, Piperaceee, Myristaceee, &c. Theyowe their strong and grateful odour and taste principally to an acrid fvolatile oil. When applied to the skin, some of them (as pepper) act as |powerful acrids, and excite local inflammation. Taken internxlly, in 1moderate quantities, they stimulate the stomach, create a sensation of |warmth in this viscus, and promote digestion and assimilation. In )larger quantities they occasion thirst, increase the fulness of and accele- jrate the pulse, and produce a febrile condition of body. In doses of two ’drachms, nutmegs have acted as narcotics.

Sjiices are distinguished from the last group of stimulants l>y their •more agreeable flavour, by their greater acridity, by their less tendencyto occasion nausea, and by their more powerful agency in promoting the »assimilation of substances reputed difficult of digestion. Both groups, ^however, yield condiments. \

In domestic economy spices are employed, partly for their agreeable \flavour, and partly to promote the digestion of those kinds of food |which, experience has shown, are not by themselves easily or readily |digested. 1

In medicine they are used as flavouring ingredients, as carminatives, 1as antispasmodics, and as cordials or stimulants. Thus they are added |to other medicines to correct their nauseous flavour, or their griping qua- |lities. They are given to relieve flatulency and cramp at the stomach; |to assist digestion in enfeebled or relaxed habits ; to allay griping pains Jof the bowels, and to check purging in some mild forms of diarrhoea. $Some of them (pepper and ginger) are applied to the skin as rubeficients, ,or arc chewed as masticatories. Pepper has been successfully employed :in intermittents, cubebs in gonorrhoea. The volatile oil of some of thespices (as of cloves or allspice) is occasionally placed in the hollaw of acarious tooth to allay tooth-ache.