1198
ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA.
to determine its power in this respect, compared with other bitters, aT1found it much superior to several of them. . i e
Uses.— Quassia is employed in the same cases as several other sinjPbitters, some of which have been already noticed (see p. 79 and “ \Though I am not disposed to place much confidence in the above q 1 } 0statements of Barbier, Kraus, and Kurtz, yet a cautious practitio^would avoid employing it in amaurosis and cerebral affections.is principally employed in dyspepsia, anorexia, and other stomach "orders of a functional kind of an atonic character, more especially " joccurring in a gouty subject. Though it has been beneficially CID P °^ aI1in intermiitents, few practitioners will, I suspect, use it, when theyprocure cinchona, quina, or arsenic. , r
Kraus suggests that it may be useful in intolerance of light, and o ^diseases of the eye, accompanied with great sensibility without f e ' CI j] a .congestion; yet only (he adds) as an adjuvant to hyoscyamus and bedonna. .
An infusion of quassia has been proposed as a wash in compoundtures, wounds, and ulcers, to keep off insects. In its use, however,should bear in mind the effect which Kurtz states was produced ondog by a wash of this kind. .
1. Infusum Quassias, L. E. D. (Quassia wood, in chips, 9 ik
3j. D.] ; Boiling [distilled, L.] Water , Oj. [Oss. Z>.] Macerate forthours in a lightly covered vessel, and strain [through linen or calico, '—Tonic . Generally employed in dyspeptic and other stomach a■tions. It has an advantage over some other vegetable bitterdnlusthat chalybeates can be combined with it, without changing its c0Dose, fSj. to fSiij. It is in common use as a fly-poison. „ ■
2 . Tinctura Quassias, E. D. (Quassia in chips, 5 j .; Proof
Oj. and fjxvij. [Oij. wine measure, DJ Digest for seven days, ^fiiter).—Dose f‘3ss. to f3ij. This tincture possesses all the bitternesthe wood. - gC d,
3. Tinctura Quassias composita, E. (Cardamom-seeds br .Cochineal bruised, of each 5ij.; Cinnamon, in moderately fine p°'^Quassia in chips, of each 5iij.; Raisins, §iv.; Proof Spirit, Oj- a ”| uU ,n,Digest for seven days, strain the liquor, express strongly the reS j- rcC te(l
and filter. This tincture may also be obtained by percolation,as 6 piefor the Compound Tincture of Cardamom [see p. 696], proy 1 ^ pgij.quassia be rasped or in powder).—An aromatic tonic. Dose, f5J - 1
under
the
Other Medicinal Simarubaeece.
The wood of Quassia amara (Liun. E.) has been employed in medicinename of Surinam quassia wood ( lignum quassia surinamense). e highly
Fermin mentions that about the year 1714 the flowers of this shrub W ^ gt jsvalued at Surinam on account of their stomachic properties. In 1730, j ea )er ?said to have been found in the collection of Seba, a celebrated spice- f e ver 1,1Amsterdam . Haller tells us that a relative of his took quassia for an epideuiQij s |,ed *1742, and that it was then a well-known medicine. In 1763 Linnaeus P p flie * rcCdissertation on this medicine, in which he states that he received specimens g ur inai»>from one of his pupils, C. D. Dahlberg, a military officer and counsellor s ] a ve
who had become acquainted with the medical qualities of the root through anamed Quassia, who employed it as a secret remedy in the cure of endemic ^ onoU r 0fevers of that place. From this circumstance Linmeus named the tree ^ sa t^the slave, Quassia. Rolauder, who returned from Surinam in 1756 ’ t Tsuspected 0 ‘and conversed with this black, who was almost worshipped by some, and