ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEOICA.

764

tliisor

& * Jo

common use, as emetic tartar ; while the chance of causing purging 1S ’in some cases, an objection to its use; and its greater cost sometimes l ,rechides its employment on a large scale in pauper establishments. Fricti°with it on the abdomen have been used to promote alvine evacuations >but it frequently fails to produce the desired effect. To promote the asorption of the oil in these cases, it should be dissolved in etheralcohol, and the frictions are to be assiduously made.

Administration. — Croton seeds are rarely or never used incountry. Their farina may, however, be given in doses o"two. Croton oil is exhibited in doses of one to two or three drops ^some instances it is simply placed on the tongue, as in coma, tetan ^mania, &c.; or it may be taken in a tea-spoonful of syrup. * 1 ■ jmethods of administering it are objectionable, on account of the aC ..,taste produced. The usual mode of employing it is in the form of P Jmade with conserve of roses or bread-crumb. Some haveit in the form of emulsion, flavoured with some carminative 01 ^balsamic substance; but the burning of the mouth and throat,which it gives rise, is an objection to its use. A tincture may be $ lpared by digesting either the oil or the seeds in alcohol. Croton s ° fprepared with croton oil and caustic soda, is kept by Mr. M° rS j a !of Southampton How, Russell Square. It is, in fact, a crotonate of s °

It may be used as a purgative, in doses of from one to three grains-has been said that the alkali diminishes the acrimonious property °t ^oil without affecting its cathartic powers—a statement, however, "a 1is highly improbable. . ^

Antidotes. —In a case of poisoning by the seeds or oil, the first jis to remove the oil from the stomach. Mild, demulcent, and enlW j t . ( ldrinks are then to be given. Alkaline substances have been reconiinen ^as chemical antidotes, but their efficacy is not proved. Full cl° seS ;i .,opium will be requisite to check the diarrhoea. To relieve a failingculation, ammonia may be given, and the warm bath employed-combat the inflammatory symptoms, blood-letting may be used,condition of the vascular system permit its employment.

eif'I'oif tb®

Cro'ton Eleute'ria, Swartz, E.— The Sea side Bal'sam or Sweet

Sex. Syst . Monoecia, Monadelphia.

(Cortex, Bark; Cascarilla, E.)

Ifood-

i History. — Cascarilla or Eleutheria bark was first mentioned ^Stisser in 1686 (He machinis fumiductoriis, Hamburgh, 1686), ativ'h 1 ®time it was used in this country, mixed with tobacco, for smoking- , \1754 Catesby (Nat. Hist, of Carolina, Florida , and the Bahama Islo® ^noticed and figured a plant, which, he said, grew plentifully on mo* 1the Bahama Islands , and yielded Cascarilla bark, or, as he called it, “ eIlatlieria bark, La Cliacrilla.” This plant is generally supposed to jthe Croton Cascarilla, Linn. (C. lineare, Jacq.); and several reasonsme, at one time (see Lond. Med. Gaz. vol. xx. p. 489), to think thatmight be the source of the cascarilla bark of the shops—an opinion a Lentertained by Dr. Wood ( United States Dispensatory ). Dr. Lindlef tMed. p. 179) adduced several reasons for believing that the Croton f ^teria was the true species, as Drs. Wright and Woodville had. ali'*-'^asserted. The subsequent receipt, by Dr. Lindley, of specimens of thepl a