1212 ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA.

tractive with which the resin is mixed, or which resides in the frag® 6of bark contained in the resin.

Under the use of small and repeated doses of guaiacum, various cstitutional diseases sometimes gradually subside, and a healthy con®of system is brought about with no other sensible effect of the rcl1 ' ^than perhaps the production of some dyspeptic symptoms, and a s lf, T j Jtendency to increased secretion. We designate this inexplicable, tn° 3not less certain, influence over the system, by the term alterative. .

When we give guaiacum in moderately large doses, or to pletlu ,rlC oeasily-excited individuals, we observe the combined operation of anand stimulant. The local symptoms are, the dryness of the mouttb ^sensation of heat at the stomach, nausea, loss of appetite, and a 1 .condition of bowels. The stimulant operation is observed partly ®vascular system, but principally in the exhaling and secreting _° r o «.especially the skin and kidneys. Dr. Cullen justly observes that it sC an( lto stimulate the exhalents more in proportion than it does the heartgreat arteries. If diluents be exhibited, and the skin kept warnu taeum acts as a powerful sudorific; whereas, when the surface ® * b,cool, perspiration is checked, and diuresis promoted. By continue 1 ..it has caused a mild salivation (Burdacli, Syst. d. Arzneim- A*

S. 283.) _ __ . ^ c l ? ,

The stimulant influence of guaiacum is extended to the pelvic ' Cl '' r0 .and thus the hemorrhoidal ancl menstrual discharges are somewhat I,moted by it. But there is no reason for supposing that the pelvic 0are specifically affected by it. In very large doses guaiacum causes ^and burning in the throat and stomach, vomiting, purging, pyrexi a >headache. i sC c

In its operation on the system guaiacum is allied to the balsamspp. 74 and 3!)8). Dr. Cullen considered its resinous part to beanalogous to the balsams and turpentines.

2. Of the Wood. —The operation of the wood is similar to, th ^milder than, that of the resin. Any activity which the wood coi«u • ^

cates to boiling water must depend on the extractive, as the resin i ssoluble in this fluid. Med-)

Pearson ( Observ. on the Effects of various articles of the Mat- t ]jp. 8. Lond. 1800) says, that the decoction excites a sensation of " ‘ t j )Cin the stomach, produces dryness of the mouth, with thirst, increase^ .j-

natural temperature of the skin, renders the pulse more frequent, :al _j Vthe patient lie in bed and take the decoction warm, it proves mode ^sudorific; but if he be exposed freely to the air, it acts as a ^ r;ill s

Continued use occasions heartburn, flatulence, and costiveness.

{Heilmittellehre, 612) mentions a measle-like eruption over the 'body, as being produced by large doses of the wood. ,

3. Of the Bark. —The bark acts in a similar way to the w°ot • a tnandot (Wibmer, Wirk. d. Arzn. u. Gifte. Bd. ii. S. 411) in.i eC ^'th 0eight in the morning, three ounces of an aqueous infusion of it 1

fin#

veins of a young man of twenty years of age. In half an hour a - ^ing fit came on, with colicky pains, followed by two stools; this s iremained till five o’clock in the evening. ( pro'

Uses. —In the employment of guaiacum the acrid and stimuli iuperties of this resin are to be remembered. The first unfits it t ;l)i'cases of impaired digestion, where there is irritation or great sus r