The Botanist's Companion Part 14

Med.

240. NICOTIANA Tabac.u.m. TOBACCO. Leaves. L. E. D.--Tobacco is sometimes used externally in unguents for destroying cutaneous insects, cleansing old ulcers, &c. Beaten into a mash with vinegar or brandy, it has sometimes proved serviceable for removing hard tumours of the hypochondres.

241. ORIGANUM Majorana. SWEET MARJORAM. Herb. L. E.-It is a moderately warm aromatic, yielding its virtues both to aqueous and spirituous liquors by infusion, and to water in distillation. It is princ.i.p.ally celebrated in disorders of old people. An essential oil of the herb is kept in the shops. The powder of the leaves proves an agreeable errhine.

242. ORIGANUM vulgare. POT MARJORAM. Herb. L. D.--It has an agreeable aromatic smell approaching to that of marjoram, and a pungent taste much resembling thyme, to which it is likewise thought to be more nearly allied in its medicinal qualities than to any of the other verticillatae, and therefore deemed to be emmenagogue, tonic, stomachic, &c.

The dried leaves used instead of tea are said to be extremely grateful.

They are also employed in medicated baths and fomentations.--Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 345.

243. OXALIS Acetosella. WOOD SORREL. Herb. L.--In taste and medical qualities it is similar to the common sorrel, but considerably more grateful, and hence is preferred by the London College. Boiled with milk, it forms an agreeable whey; and beaten with sugar, a very elegant conserve.--Lewis's Mat. Med.

244. PAPAVER Rhoeas. RED POPPY. Petals. L. E. D.--The flowers of this plant yield upon expression a deep red juice, and impart the same colour by infusion to aqueous liquors. A syrup of them is kept in the shops: this is valued chiefly for its colour; though some expect from it a lightly anodyne virtue.

245. PAPAVER somniferum. OPIUM POPPY. Gum. L. E. D.-Poppy heads, boiled in water, impart to the menstruum their narcotic juice, together with the other juices which they have in common with vegetable matters in general. The liquor strongly pressed out, suffered to settle, clarified with whites of eggs, and evaporated to a due consistence, yields about one-fifth or one-sixth the weight of the heads, of extract. This possesses the virtues of opium; but requires to be given in double its dose to answer the same intention, which it is said to perform without occasioning nausea and giddiness, the usual consequences of the other.

The general effects of this medicine are, to relax the solids, ease pain, procure sleep, promote perspiration, but restrain all other evacuations. When its operation is over, the pain, and other symptoms which it had for a time abated, return; and generally with greater violence than before, unless the cause has been removed by the diaph.o.r.esis or relaxation which it occasioned.

The operation of opium is generally attended with a slow, but strong and full pulse, a dryness of the mouth, a redness and light itching of the skin: and followed by a degree of nausea, a difficulty of respiration, lowness of the spirits, and a weak languid pulse.

With regard to the dose of opium, one grain is generally sufficient, and often too large a one; maniacal persons, and those who have been long accustomed to take it, require three or more grains to have the due effect. Among the eastern nations, who are habituated to opium, a dram is but a moderate dose: Garcias relates, that he knew one who every day took ten drams. Those who have been long accustomed to its use, upon leaving it off, are seized with great lowness, languor, and anxiety; which are relieved by having again recourse to opium, and, in some measure, by wine or spirituous liquors.

Similar Plants.--Papaver hybridum; P. Argemone.

246. PASTINACA Opoponax. OPOPONAX, or CANDY CARROT. Gum Opoponax. L.-- The juice is brought from Turkey and the East Indies, sometimes in round drops or tears, but more commonly in irregular lumps, of a reddish-yellow colour on the outside, with specks of white, inwardly of a paler colour, and frequently variegated with large white pieces.

Boerhaave frequently employed it, along with ammoniac.u.m and galbanum, in hypochondriacal disorders, obstructions of the abdominal viscera from a sluggishness of mucous humours, and a want of due elasticity of the solids.

247. PIMPINELLA Anisum. ANISEED. The Seeds. L. E. D.-These seeds are in the number of the four greater hot seeds: their princ.i.p.al use is in cold flatulent disorders, where tenacious phlegm abounds, and in the gripes to which young children are subject. Frederick Hoffman strongly recommends them in weakness of the stomach, diarrhoeas, and for strengthening the tone of the viscera in general; and thinks they well deserve the appellation given them by Helmont, intestinorum solamen.

248. PINUS sylvestris. SCOTCH FIR. Tar, yellow Resin, and Turpentine. L.

D.--Tar, which is well known from its oeconomical uses, is properly an empyreumatic oil of turpentine, and has been much used as a medicine, both internally and externally. Tar-water, or water impregnated with the more soluble parts of tar, was some time ago a very popular remedy in various obstinate disorders, both acute and chronic, especially in small-pox, scurvy, ulcers, fistulas, rheumatisms, &c.

Turpentine is an extract also from the same tree, which is used for various purposes of medicine and the arts.

249. PINUS Abies. SPRUCE-FIR. Burgundy Pitch. L. E. D.--This is entirely confined to external use, and was formerly an ingredient in several ointments and plasters. In inveterate coughs, affections of the lungs, and other internal complaints, plasters of this resin, by acting as a tropical stimulus, are frequently found of considerable service.-- Woodville's Med. Bot.

250. POLYGONUM Bistorta. BISTORT. The Roots. L. E. D.--All the parts of bistort have a rough austere taste, particularly the root, which is one of the strongest of the vegetable stringents. It is employed in all kinds of immoderate haemorrhages and other fluxes, both internally and externally, where astringency is the only intention. It is certainly a very powerful styptic, and is to be looked on simply as such; the sudorific, antipestilential, and other like virtues attributed to it, it has no other claim to, than in consequence of this property, and of the antiseptic power which it has in common with other vegetable styptics.

The largest dose of the root in powder is one dram.

251. PRUNUS domestica. FRENCH PRUNES. The Fruit. L. E. D.--The medical effects of the damson and common prunes are, to abate heat, and gently loosen the belly: which they perform by lubricating the pa.s.sage, and softening the excrement. They are of considerable service in costiveness accompanied with heat or irritation, which the more stimulating cathartics would tend to aggravate: where prunes are not of themselves sufficient, their effects may be promoted by joining with them a little rhubarb or the like; to which may be added some carminative ingredient, to prevent their occasioning flatulencies. Prunelloes have scarce any laxative quality: these are mild grateful refrigerants, and, by being occasionally kept in the mouth, usefully allay the thirst of hydropic persons.

252. PUNICA Granatum. POMEGRANATE. Rind of the Fuit. L. E. D.--This fruit has the general qualities of the other sweet summer fruits, allaying heat, quenching thirst, and gently loosening the belly. The rind is a strong astringent, and as such is occasionally made use of.

253. PYRUS Cydonia. QUINCE. The Kernels. L.--The seeds abound with a mucilaginous substance, of no particular taste, which they readily impart to watery liquors: an ounce will render three pints of water thick and ropy like the white of an egg. A syrup and jelly of the fruit, and mucilage of the seeds, used to be kept in the shops.

254. QUEROUS pedunculata. OAK. Bark. L. E. D.--This bark is a strong astringent; and hence stands recommended in haemorrhagies, alvine fluxes, and other preternatural or immoderate secretions.

255. RHAMNUS catharticus. BUCKTHORN. Berries. L. E.--Buckthorn-berries have a faint disagreeable smell, and a nauseous bitter taste. They have long been in considerable esteem as cathartics; and celebrated in dropsies, rheumatisms, and even in the gout; though in these cases they have no advantage above other purgatives, and are more offensive, and operate more churlishly, than many which the shops are furnished with: they generally occasion gripes, sickness, dry the mouth and throat, and leave a thirst of long duration. The dose is about twenty of the fresh berries in substance, and twice or thrice this number in decoction, an ounce of the expressed juice, or a dram of the dried berries.

256. RHEUM palmatum. TURKEY RHUBARB. Roots. L. E. D.--Rhubarb is a mild cathartic, which operates without violence or irritation, and may be given with safety even to pregnant women and to children. In some people, however, it always occasions severe griping. Besides its purgative quality, it is celebrated for an astringent one, by which it strengthens the tone of the stomach and intestines, and proves useful in diarrhoea and disorders proceeding from a laxity of the fibres. Rhubarb in substance operates more powerfully as a cathartic than any of the preparations of it. Watery tinctures purge more than the spirituous ones; whilst the latter contain in greater perfection the aromatic, astringent, and corroborating virtues of the rhubarb. The dose, when intended as a purgative, is from a scruple to a dram or more.

The Turkey rhubarb is, among us, universally preferred to the East India sort.

The plant is common in our gardens, but their medicinal powers are much weaker than in those from abroad.

RHODODENDRON Chrysanthemum. YELLOW-FLOWERED RHODODENDRON. See No. 290.

257. RHUS Toxicodendron. POISON-OAK. Leaves. L. E.--Of considerable use in paralytic affections, and is much used in the present day.

It is, however, often subst.i.tuted by the Rhus radicans, which has not the medical properties that this plant has; and it is to be regretted that the leaves of both species are so much alike, that, when gathered, they are not to be distinguished.