two pints of alcohol); Wine of Aloes (aloes a troy ounce, carda-. mom and ginger each 60 grains, to a pint of Sherry wine); Suppositories of Aloes contain each two grains of aloes-they may be used with a view to the removal of ascarides.

LEPTANDRA.

The ROOT of Leptandra Virginica, Culver's Root, or Culver's Physic (Nat. Ord. Scrophulariaceae), an herbaceous, perennial plant, three or four feet high, with leaves in whorls, and a long spike of white flowers, is now ranked as a valuable cholagogue cathartic. It consists of a dark-brown rhizome, from two to four lines in thickness, several inches in length, with numerous long slender radicals. The odour is feeble and disagreeable, the taste bitterish, somewhat nauseous and acrid. Water and alcohol extract its virtues, which depend on a peculiar principle, termed leptandrin. Dose of the powdered root, gr. xx. to 3j; of an impure resin (made by precipitating a tincture of the root), gr. ij-iv; a fluid extract also has been used.

SENNA.

Senna consists of the LEAFLETS of several species of Cassia (Nat. Ord. Fabaceae), small shrubs, which grow in the tropical regions of Asia and Africa. The species recognized as officinal are C. acutifolia, C. obovata, and C. elongata; and besides these, C. lanceolata, and C. Ethiopica, are also generally received as sources of the drug. The commercial varieties of senna, which are found in the United States, are the Alexandria, the Tripoli, the India, and the Mecca senna. 1. Alexandria senna, which comes from the port of this name in Egypt, is made up chiefly of the leaflets of C. acutifolia (which are yellowish-green, acute in shape, and less than an inch in length), intermingled with the pods, leafstalks, flowers, &c., of this plant. It contains also leaflets of C. obovata, known by their rounded, obtuse summits; and is, moreover, occasionally adulterated with the leaves of Cynanchum oleæ folium, distinguishable by their greater length, thickness, and firmness, from the

genuine leaves. 2. Tripoli senna, brought from Tripoli, consists of the leaflets of C. Ethiopica, which are shorter, less acute, thinner, and more fragile than those of C. acutifolia, and are generally much broken up. 3. India senna is produced in Arabia, but comes into commerce through the ports of Hindostan. It consists of the leaflets, intermixed with the leafstalks and pods, of C. elongata, and is readily recognized by the long, narrow, pike-like shape, and dark hue of the leaflets. A finer variety of India senna, cultivated at Tinnevelly, in Hindostan, has been known for some years past, which is distinguishable from the common sort of India senna, by the bright-green colour of the leaflets. 4. Mecca senna is a variety lately introduced, and consists of leaflets, intermediate in length between those of C. acutifolia and C. elongata, and has in mass a yellowish, tawny hue. Its source is not known with certainty, but it is probably the product of C. lanceolata. Cassia obovata has been lately found growing wild in abundance in Jamaica.

Commercial senna is prepared for use by separating the leaflets from the stalks, adulterations, &c.; the pods possess cathartic properties, but are less active than the leaves. The odour of senna is faint and sickly; its taste bitter, sweetish, and nauseous. It imparts its virtues to water and alcohol, its infusion being of a reddish-brown colour. The chemical composition of senna has long been an unsettled point. By the latest analysis, it has been found to contain a glucoside, cathartic acid (C180H96N2O2S), which is insoluble in water, stronger alcohol, and ether. Catharto-mannite, sennepicrin, and a reddish-brown compound, soluble in ether, resembling chrysophanic acid, have been also obtained.

Effects and Uses.-Senna is a prompt, efficient, and safe cathartic, well adapted to febrile and inflammatory cases; it operates on the entire track of the intestinal canal, and produces watery, feculent discharges. Its tendency to gripe may in a great measure be counteracted by combining aromatics or neutral salts with it; the addition of bitters promotes its cathartic activity. Administration.-The dose in powder is 3ss to 3ij; but it is usually given in infusion (a troy ounce to boiling water Oj with

Confectio senna

coriander, 3j), one-third for a dose, repeated. (made with senna, coriander, sugar, figs, and pulps of prunes, tamarinds, and purging cassia), is an excellent mild cathartic, much used for pregnant women; dose, 3ij. Of the fluid extract the dose is fɔ̃i to f3ss; a fluid extract of spigelia and senna is used as an anthelmintic.

Cassia Marilandica, American Senna, or Wild Senna (Nat. Ord. Fabaceae), possesses cathartic properties similar to those

of imported senna, but is less active. It is an indigenous plant, common in the Southern and Western States, growing to the height of three or four feet, with alternate leaves, composed of from eight to ten pairs of oblong, lanceolate, pale-green leaflets, and bearing handsome golden-yellow flowers and a pendulous fruit two to four inches long. An infusion of the LEAFLETS is given in doses one third larger than those of senna.

Several portions of Sambucus Canadensis, our indigenous common elder (Nat. Ord. Caprifoliaceae), a well-known shrub, from six to ten feet high, found in all the Atlantic States, possess medicinal properties. The flowers, which are officinal, are employed internally as a diaphoretic; externally as a discutient. The INNER BARK, which is without smell, and has a taste at first sweetish, afterwards slightly bitter, acrid, and nauseous, and contains a resin, with valerianic acid, and other principles, is a hydragogue cathartic, and in large doses emetic. It is deemed a valuable remedy in dropsy, particularly in dropsy dependent on albuminuria, in which affection specific alterative. virtues are attributed to it. It is given in decoction (an ounce boiled with two pints of water to a pint); dose, fiv. An infusion in cider is popularly employed.

DRASTIC CATHARTICS.

JALAPA-JALAP.

Jalap is the TUBER of Ipomea Jalapa or Exogonium purga, (Nat. Ord. Convolvulaceae), a climbing plant of Mexico, which derives its name from the city of Jalapa, near Vera Cruz. The tubers are imported either whole or in slices. When entire, they vary in size and shape from a walnut to a large pear, are hard and heavy-externally, brown and wrinkled, and internally, grayish. They have a heavy, sweetish, rather nauseous smell, and a sweetish, acrid, disagreeable taste. They yield

their virtues partly to water, partly to alcohol, and completely to diluted alcohol. In the shops, jalap is kept in the state of powder, which is of a yellowish-gray colour. Its active principle is a peculiar resin, which consists of two portions, one of which has been termed rhodeoretin; it contains also gum and starch, which is apt to be attacked by worms, the worm-eaten pieces becoming thus the most active.

Effects and Uses.-Jalap is a powerful hydragogue cathartic, operating with great promptness, and often causing much pain. In overdoses, it may produce dangerous hypercatharsis. It is employed as a hydragogue in dropsy, when it is often combined with cream of tartar; as a revulsive in cerebral and other affections, and to increase the activity of calomel in bilious fever. Dose, gr. xv to xxx; in combination, gr. x. Of the extract, which is made with alcohol and water, and contains the resin and gum, the dose is one half that of jalap. The compound powder of jalap (pulvis jalapæ compositus), contains one part of jalap and two parts of cream of tartar. The resin is extracted by solution in alcohol, and afterwards precipitated from the tincture by water (16 troy ounces of jalap percolated. with alcohol to a pint and a half, then reduced to six fluidounces by distillation, and precipitated with seven pints of water); dose, from four to eight grains. The tincture (six troy ounces to alcohol, diluted with one-half a measure of water, Oij), is added to cathartic mixtures. Dose, f3i-f3ss.

PODOPHYLLUM-MAY-APPLE.

Podophyllum peltatum, May-apple or Mandrake (Nat. Ord. Ranunculaceae), is a very common indigenous, herbaceous plant, with a long creeping, perennial root, and an upright stem about a foot high, separating at the top into two petioles, each supporting a large peltate leaf, divided into five or six lobes. At the fork of the petioles, it bears a single flower, which appears in May, the fruit ripening in September. The RHIZOME, which is the part used, is found in the shops in wrinkled, jointed pieces, about two lines in diameter, of a brown colour exter