ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA.
902
cask 8 ’
who dispose of it to the white traders. By these it is packed inor more commonly in large bales, weighing from three hundred to ^hundred and fifty pounds. That contained in casks is to be prele ^ _ jjjless liable to be damp and mouldy. Owing to the imperfect ma ^which the plant is dried, it seldom happens that packages ot it J rea j )r igli tmarket free from dirt and mouldiness, and having the stalks of a ^s,colour. Some parcels have been recently brought free from th e are dand have commanded more than double the price of the drug p r Fin the usual way” ( United States Dispensatory). . fi .jtb
Description. —The dried plant ( herba spigelue), as usually r° ein the shops, is of a greyish green colour, a faint odour, 311(1 hrai icb'taste. The root ( radix spigelue) consists of numerous, slender,ing, dark brown fibres, issuing from a short, dark brown rhizome-Composition. —The herb and root have been analyzed by Wacke ^(Gmelin’s Handb. d. Chem. ii. 1298). Feneulle ( Journ. de ^ arin ' an ihA'p. 197) probably analyzed this plant under the name of Spig e ^ iamintica.
Resin, with chloropbylle. 2’40
Peculiar resin . 0'50
Peculiar tannin . 17-20
Woody fibre. 75 20
Malate of potash, and chloride of
potassium . 2-10
Malate of lime. 4-20
Fixed oil ..
Acrid resin, with some fixed oi
Peculiar tannin .
Bitter acrid extractive .■*
Woody fibre (which yields mof ashes).
74
g.lj
10-3®4-89
g-2' 6 ‘ J
Root of spigelia.
Herb of spigelia. 101-90
■
kitjer
1. Bitter extractive .—Feneulle ascribes the activity of Spigelia to a brown> ver tig°tractive, like that of the purgative Leguminosae . Taken internally, it ca '.')
and a kind of intoxication. It is, I presume, identical with the bitter acridof Wackenroder . o(]S tast e ‘
2. Resin .—This is described, by Wackenroder , as having an acrid, n aUS ,
It is soluble in ammonia and in oil of vitriol. It evolves ammonia when b ea
ot l * 1 * 1 '" 6
Physiological Effects. —The physiological effects of this ro mad enot been accurately determined ; but the observations hithert c g.shew them to be those of a local irritant (or acrid) and narcotic su
In the ordinary dose (one or two drachms for adults) it has ver ^jjth^'sensible effect on the system, though it may act efficaciously as an tr o-mintic. In larger doses it appears to operate as an irritant to the 8 .^g,intestinal canal, and gives rise to purging and sometimes to s jtthough its effects in this way are very uncertain. In poisonous^ . eT tig 0 ’operates as a cerebro-spinant or narcotic, giving rise to ' A
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dimness of vision, dilated pupils, spasms of the facial muse ^sometimes even to general convulsions. Spasmodic movements ^ ^eyelids have been observed among the most common attendannarcotic action. The death of two children, who expired in con' oa r-was attributed by Dr. Chambers to the influence of spigelia. . nl rg tl: ”cotic effects are said to be less apt to occur when the medicine Iand to be altogether obviated by combining it with cathartics- llS cdanger from its employment cannot be great, as it is in very g eIie ^yt’tin the United States , both in regular and domestic practice, and' ve