656

ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEMCA.

case of poisoning, is to evacuate the stomach; the second, to allay theinflammatory symptoms which may supervene.

Al'lium sati'vum, Linn. L. E. D .—Common or Cultivated Garlic.

Sex. Syst. Hexandria, Monogynia.

(Bulbus L. D. E.)

History. —This plant was well known to the ancients. The Greekscalled it <m>po2ov. It was used by Hippocrates .

Botany. Gen. Char .— Flowers umbellate, with a membranous spathe.Perianth six-parted, permanent, equal. Stamens inserted into the baseof the perianth; filaments cither all alike, or every other one tricuspidate,with the anther on the middle point. Style subulate; stigma simple*Capsule usually obtusely three-cornered or three-lobed, depressed, three-celled, bursting into three valves through the dissepiments, and containingtwo or one black angular seed in each cell. ( Lindley.)

Sp. Char.— Bulb surrounded by smaller ones. Leaves linear, entire-Umbel bulbiferous, globose. Spathe ovate, rounded. Segments of theperianth ovate, obtuse. Pistil and stamens exsert, (Decandolle, Sot-Gall.) Stem about two feet high. Flowers whitish.

Har. ? South of Europe. ? Egypt. ? Persia . Cultivated in kitchengardens. It flowers in July.

Description.— The bulb, E. [bulbus, L. D.], is composed of clovedeach furnished with its proper envelopes. Its odour is strong, irritating*and characteristic: its taste is acrid.

Composition. —Cadet (Gmelin, Handb. d. Chem. ii. 1836) analyze^garlic. lie found the constituents to be acrid volatile oil, extractie e(a little), gum, woody fibre, albumen, and water. The ashes contain^’ 1alkaline and earthy salts. Bouillon-Lagrange has detected, besides these*sulphur , starch, and saccharine matter, ( Journ. de Pharm. t. ii. p. 358.)

Oil of garlic has a very acrid taste, a strong smell, and yellow colour. It is bca vl ' efthan water, and is soluble in alcohol. It contains sulphur, and hence, in burning, P r0 'duces sulphurous acid. According to Cadet, 20 lbs. of garlic yielded only six draeh>" sof essential oil. It strikes a black colour when rubbed with oxide of iron. I* lS apowerful irritant, and when applied to the skin causes irritation. The Hindoos, ac-cording to Dr. Ainslie, {IVfat. Indica , i. 151) prepare a stimulating expressed oil if 0garlic, which they give internally in ague, and use externally in palsy and rheuniat^

Physiological Effects.— Garlic is a local irritant. Swallowed jtoperates as a tonic and stimulant to the stomach. Its volatile oil he'comes absorbed, quickens the circulation, occasions thirst, and is throw®out of the system by the different excretories; the activity of which 1promotes, and to whose excretions it communicates its well-kno" 11odour. Large doses occasion nausea, vomiting, and purging. Pui^(quoted by Wibmer, Die Wirk. d. Arzneim ) says the expressed juice ha 5proved fatal.

Uses.— Employed by the cook as a flavouring ingredient in variousmade dishes, sauces, &c. Rarely used by the medical practitionerInternally it has been exhibited as a stimulant and stomachic 1,1enfeebled digestion; as an expectorant in old chronic catarrhs; as adiuretic in atonic dropsies; and as an anthelmintic. Externally it ^been employed as a resolvent in indolent tumors; as a local irritant 0rubefacient applied to the feet to cause revulsion from the head or chesLas an autispasmodic liniment (composed of oil and garlic juice) in i» lair