A Cyclopædia of Practical Receipts, Processes, and Collateral Information (part 10)

Confection, Aromat′ic. Syn. Aromatic elec′tuary; Confec′tio aromat′ica (Ph. L. & D.), Electua′′rium aromat′icum (Ph. E.), L. Prep. 1. (Ph. L.) Nutmegs, cinnamon, and hay saffron, of each 2 oz.; cloves, 1 oz.; cardamoms, ⁄2 oz.; prepared chalk, 16 oz.; white sugar, 2 lbs.; reduce the whole to a very fine powder, and keep it in a closed vessel. When wanted for use, mix it with water to the consistence of a confection.

2. (Ph. E.) Aromatic powder (Ph. E.), 1 part; syrup of orange peel, 2 parts; mix.

3. (Ph. D.) Aromatic powder and simple syrup, of each 5 oz.; clarified honey, 2 oz.; powdered saffron, ⁄2 oz.; mix, and add, oil of cloves, 30 drops.

4. (Commercial.)—a. Hay-saffron, cassia, and turmeric, of each 4 oz.; cardamoms, 1 oz.; starch, 8 oz.; precipitated chalk, 2 lbs.; white sugar, 4 lbs.; oil of nutmeg, 2 dr.; oil of cloves, 3 dr.; reduce the dry ingredients to fine powder, and pass it through a sieve (80 holes); then add the oils, and after well mixing them in, pass the whole through a coarse sieve (about 40 holes to the inch), to ensure perfect admixture.

b. Hay-saffron, 4 oz.; turmeric, 3 oz.; powdered starch, 8 oz.; precipitated chalk, 2 lbs.; white sugar, 4 lbs; oil of cloves and cassia, of each 3 dr.; oil of nutmeg, 2 dr.; essence of cardamoms, 1 oz.; boil the saffron and turmeric in 1 gallon of water, placed in a bright copper pan, for 10 minutes, then, without straining, add the chalk, starch, and sugar; mix well, and continue stirring until the mixture becomes quite stiff, then break it up, dry it thoroughly by the heat of a steam or water bath; next reduce it to fine powder, which must be passed through a fine sieve, as before; the oils and tincture are now to be added, and after being well mixed, and passed through a coarse sieve, it should be placed in a jar or bottle, and bunged up close. Very bright coloured.

Obs. In the wholesale trade this article is kept under two forms—one, in powder, as ordered by the College, and commonly called for distinction sake PULV′IS CONFECTIO′NIS AROMAT′ICÆ; the other, mixed up ready for use. In preparing the latter, it is a common plan to make a strong infusion or decoction of the saffron, and to use it to mix up the other ingredients, adding the aromatics last. (See 4, b.) When the price of precipitated chalk is an objection to its use, prepared chalk may be used instead. There is much anxiety evinced by the wholesale druggists to prepare this confection of a rich colour, without an undue expenditure of saffron, which is generally economised on account of its costliness. This confection is cordial, stimulant, antacid, and carminative.—Dose, 10 to 60 gr., either as a bolus or stirred up with a glass of water; in diarrhœa, acidity of stomach, heartburn, and any like affection, if accompanied by looseness of the bowels. In diarrhœa, English cholera, and flatulent colic, ⁄4 gr. of powdered opium may be added to each dose. See Powders, Powder of Chalk, Compound.

Confection of Bark. Syn. Confec′tio cincho′næ, L. Prep. 1. Yellow bark and white sugar, of each 1 oz.; capsicum, 1 dr.; simple syrup, 4 oz.

2. (St. B. Hosp.) Yellow bark, 6 dr.; ginger, ⁄2 dr.; treacle, 3⁄2 oz.—Dose, 1 to 6 dr., where the use of bark is indicated.

Confection of Cas′sia. Syn. Confec′tio cas′siæ (Ph. L.), L. Prep. (Ph. L.) Prepared cassia, ⁄2 lb.; manna, 2 oz.; prepared tamarinds, 1 oz.; syrup of roses, 8 fl. oz.; mix with heat, and evaporate to a proper consistence.—Dose, 2 dr. to 6 dr.; or more, as a laxative.

Confection of Cat′echu. Syn. Confec′tio cat′echu compos′ita (Ph. D.), L. Prep. (Ph. D.) Compound powder of catechu, 5 oz.; simple syrup, 5 fl. oz.—Dose, 10 gr. to 20 gr.; as an astringent, in diarrhœa, &c.; either alone or combined with chalk.

Confection of Copai′ba. Syn. Confec′tio copai′bæ, L. Prep. 1. (Berton.) Copaiba and powdered cubebs, of each 2 oz.; alum, 1 oz.; opium, 5 gr.; mix well.

2. (Swediaur.) Turpentine, 1 oz.; copaiba, ⁄2 oz.; mix; add mucilage of gum Arabic, 1 oz.; triturate to an emulsion, and further add, conserve of roses, 4 oz.

3. (Traill.) Copaiba, 2 oz.; oatmeal, q. s. to form an electuary; then add, conserve of roses, 1 oz.

4. (Voght.) Copaiba and powdered cubebs, of each 4⁄2 dr.; yolk of 1 egg; conserve of roses, ⁄2 oz. All the above are excellent medicines in gonorrhœa.—Dose, 1 to 3 dr., three or four times a day, made into boluses, and covered with the fresh emptied skin of a prune before being swallowed; in gonorrhœa, gleet, &c.

Confection of Cream of Tar′tar. Syn. Confection of bitar′trate of potas′sa; Confec′tio potas′sæ bitartra′tis, L. Prep. 1. Cream of tartar and powdered sugar, of each 1 oz.; simple syrup, 2 oz.; 1 nutmeg, grated.—Dose, 2 dr. to 6 dr.

2. (St. B. Hosp.) Bitartrate of potassa and simple syrup, of each 3 oz.; ginger, 1 dr.—Dose, 1⁄2 dr. to 5 dr. Both are laxatives well adapted for women and children.

Confection of Hem′lock. Syn. Confec′tio co′nii, L. Prep. (Marshall Hall.) Fresh hemlock leaves beaten up with an equal weight of sugar.—Dose, 10 to 20 gr. as a bolus, 2 or 3 times daily, where the use of hemlock is indicated. The confection of other narcotic plants may be made in the same way.

Confection of Hips. Syn. Con′serve of hips, Confection of dog-rose, Conserve of d.-r.; Confec′tio ro′sæ; cani′næ (Ph. L.), Conser′va ros′æ fruc′tûs (Ph. E.), L. Prep. 1. (B. P.) Hips, 1 part; refined sugar, 2 parts; beat the hips in a stone mortar, rub the pulp through a sieve, add the sugar, and mix thoroughly.—Dose, 60 grains or more.

2. (Ph. L.) Fruit of the dog-rose, without the seeds (carpels), 1 lb.; pound it to a pulp, add, gradually, powdered white sugar, 20 oz.; and beat them together until thoroughly incorporated.

3. (Ph. E.) Pulp of hips, 1 part; white sugar, 3 parts; as No. 1.

4. (Wholesale.) Pulped hips, 2 cwt.; fine white sugar, 3 cwt.; incorporate them without applying heat.

Obs. Both this and the confection of red roses have a brighter colour, if made without heat, or touching metallic vessels. On the small scale it is generally made by beating the ingredients together in a marble mortar, but in large quantities by grinding in a mill. Great care must be taken to remove the seeds (carpels) with the hair surrounding them, before pulping the fruit, as they are apt, like the hairs of cowhage, when swallowed, to produce vomiting, itching about the anus, &c. This conserve is slightly laxative, and is principally used for forming pills. It is very apt to candy by keeping.

Confection of Ipecacuan′ha. Syn. Confec′tio ipecacuan′hæ, L. Prep. (Bories.) Ipecacuanha, 12 gr.; sulphur, 20 gr.; orris root, 1 dr.; syrup of mallows and manna, of each 2 oz.—Dose. A teaspoonful, 2 or 3 times daily; in hooping-cough, dyspepsia, &c.

Confection of Iron, Subcarbonate. (St. B. Hosp.) Subcarbonate (peroxide of iron), ⁄2 oz.; treacle, a sufficient quantity.—Dose, ⁄2 dr.

Confection of Jal′ap. Syn. Confec′tio jal′apæ, C. j. compos′ita, L. Prep. (St. B. Hosp.) Jalap, 4 dr.; ginger, 1 dr.; bitartrate of potassa, 3 oz.; treacle, 5 oz.—Dose, 1 to 3 dr. as a purgative.

Confection of Kermes. (L. P. 1745.) Strained juice of kermes, 3 lbs.; rose water, 6 fl. oz.; white sugar, 1 lb.; oil cinnamon, 10 gr.

Confection of Mer′cury. Syn. Confec′tio hyrar′gyri, C. mercuria′lis, L. Prep. 1. Stronger mercurial ointment (Ph. L.), 1 part; conserve of roses, 3 parts.

2. (Dr D. Davis.) Mercury and manna, equal parts; treacle, q. s.; triturate until the globules of mercury disappear.

Dose, &c. The same as those of mercurial pill.

Confection of Ni′tre. Syn. Confec′tio potas′sæ nitra′tis, L. Prep. 1. Nitre, 1 part; confection of roses, 6 parts; oil of juniper, a few drops.

2. (St. B. Hosp.) As the last, without the juniper. Both are used in gonorrhœa.

Confection of O′pium. Syn. Confec′tio o′pii (B. P.), Electua′′rium o′pii (Ph. E.), L. Prep. 1. (B. P.) Compound powder of opium, 192 gr.; syrup, 1 oz.

2. (Ph. L.) Powdered opium, 6 dr.; long pepper, 1 oz.; ginger, 2 oz.; caraways, 3 oz.; tragacanth, 2 dr.; reduce to fine powder, and keep it in a closed vessel; for use, add to it by degrees hot syrup, 16 fl. oz. (i.e. 3⁄2 dr. of the powder to each fl. oz. of syrup). It contains 1 gr. of opium in every 36 gr.

3. (Ph. E.) Aromatic powder, 6 oz.; senega, 3 oz.; opium, diffused in a little sherry, ⁄2 oz.; syrup of ginger, 1 lb. Contains 1 gr. of opium in every 43 gr.

Uses, &c. This confection is intended as a substitute for the once celebrated Mithridate, philonium, and theriaca of the old Pharmacopœias. It is stimulant, anodyne, and narcotic.—Dose, 5 to 30 gr.; in flatulent colic and diarrhœa unaccompanied by fever.

Confection of Or′ange Flowers. Syn. Confec′tio flor′um auran′tii, L. Prep. 1. Orange flowers, 1 part; white sugar, 2 parts; beat together to a confection.

2. (Tadei.) Orange flowers, 1 part; simple syrup, 3 parts; evaporate to a proper consistence. Both are used as agreeable adjuncts or vehicles for other medicines. The first is the best article.

Confection of Or′ange Peel. Syn. Confection of orange, Conserve of orange peel; Confec′tio auran′tii (Ph. L.), Conser′va auran′′tii (Ph. E.), Conser′va aurantio′′rum (Ph. L. 1824), L. Prep. (Ph. L. and E.) External rind of the fresh orange, separated by rasping, 1 lb.; beat it in a stone mortar with a wooden pestle to a pulp, then add white sugar, 3 lbs.; and beat them together until incorporated.

Uses, &c. This confection is an agreeable tonic and stomachic; it is much used as an adjunct to bitter and purgative powders, and as a vehicle for the sesquioxide of iron.

Confection of Pep′per. Syn. Confection of black pepper, Conserve of b. p.; Ward’s paste; Confec′tio piperis (B. P.), C. p. ni′gri (Ph. D. & Ph. L. 1836), Electua′′rium pip′eris (Ph. E.), L. Prep. 1. (B. P.) Black pepper, in fine powder, 2 parts; caraway, in fine powder, 3 parts; clarified honey, 15 parts; triturate.—Dose, 60 to 120 gr.

2. (Ph. L.) Black pepper and elecampane, of each 1 lb.; fennel, 3 lbs.; white sugar, 2 lbs.; reduce to a very fine powder, and keep it in a covered vessel; for use, add it, gradually, to honey, 2 lbs.; and beat the whole to a paste (i. e., 2 oz. of honey to each 7 oz. of powder).

3. (Ph. E.) As the last, but using liquorice powder instead of elecampane, and at once making a confection.

4. (Ph. D.) Black pepper and liquorice root, of each ⁄2 oz.; refined sugar, 1 oz.; oil of fennel, ⁄2 fl. oz.; honey, 2 oz.; mix.—Dose, of each of the above, 1 to 3 dr., two or three times daily, for 3 or 4 months; in piles, fistula, &c., unaccompanied with inflammatory symptoms. Or, it may be used as a suppository. It is intended as a substitute for the once celebrated nostrum, ‘Ward’s Paste for the Piles.’

Confection of Pep′permint. Syn. Confectio men′thæ piperi′tæ, L. Green peppermint, 4 oz.; white sugar, 12 oz. Anti-emetic and anti-flatulent; in colic, diarrhœa, &c.; in the form of a bolus, or made into a mixture.

Confection of Res′in. Syn. Confectio resin′æ, L. Prep. (Dr Watson.) Powdered resin, 1 oz.; balsam of copaiba, ⁄2 oz.; honey, 5 oz.—Dose, 1 to 3 dr.; in piles and gleet. It is best combined with a little confection of orange peel, which effectually covers the taste of the copaiba.

Confection of Ro′ses. Syn. Confection of red roses; Confec′tio ro′sæ (Ph. L. & D.), Conser′va ro′sæ (Ph. E.), Confectio ro′sæ Gal′licæ (B. P.), Conserva r. G. (Ph. L. 1824), L. Prep. 1. (B. P.) Fresh red-rose petals, 1 lb.; white sugar, 3 lbs.; mix as confection of hips.

2. (Ph. E.) Fresh petals, 1 part; sugar, 2 parts.

3. (Ph. D.) a. Fresh petals, 3 oz.; sugar, 8 oz. Or—

b. Dried petals, 1 oz.; water, 2 fl. oz.; macerate for 2 hours; then add refined sugar, 8 oz.; and beat to a mass as before.

Obs. It is astringent and tonic, but is principally used as an elegant vehicle for more active medicines. It keeps well, and does not candy like confection of hips.—Dose, 1 to 2 drs., eaten off a spoon, either alone or combined with chalk; in slight cases of diarrhœa, vomiting in pregnancy, &c. See Conserve.

Confection of Rue. Syn. Conpectio ru′tæ (Ph. L.), L. Prep. (Ph. L.) Fresh rue (bruised), caraways, and laurel berries, of each 1⁄2 oz.; prepared sagapenum, ⁄2 oz.; black pepper, 2 dr.; honey, 16 oz.; water, q. s.; rub the dry ingredients to a flue powder, then add, gradually, the sagapenum, previously dissolved in the water and honey over a slow fire, and mix well. In the Ph. L. 1836 dried rue was ordered. Carminative and antispasmodic. In flatulent colic, and in the convulsions of children, when there is no inflammation.—Dose, 15 to 60 gr.; either by the mouth, or made into an enema with gruel.

Confection of Scam′mony. Syn. Confec′tio scammo′nii (B. P.), Electua′′rum scammo′′nii (Ph. D.). Prep. (B. P.) Scammony, in fine powder, 24 parts; ginger, in fine powder, 12 parts; oil of caraway, 1 part; oil of cloves, ⁄2 part; syrup, 24 parts; clarified honey, 12 parts; rub the powders with the syrup and the honey into a uniform mass, then add the oils and mix.—Dose, 10 gr. to 30 gr.; as a warm cathartic, and in worms, &c.

Confection of Scurvy Grass. (P. Codex.) Fresh leaves of scurvy grass, 1 oz.; sugar, 3 oz. Beat to a pulp and pass through a hair sieve.

Confection of Sen′na. Syn. Len′itive elec′tuary, Elec′tuary of Senna; Confec′tio sen′næ (Ph. L. & D.), Electua′′rium sen′næ (Ph. E.), L. Prep. 1. Senna, 8 oz.; corianders, 4 oz.; rub them together, and by a sieve separate 10 oz. of the mixed powder; also boil figs, 1 lb., and fresh liquorice, bruised, 3 oz., in water, 3 pints, until reduced to one half; press, strain, and evaporate the strained liquor in a water bath to 24 fl. oz.; then add sugar, 2⁄2 lbs.; dissolve, and further add, prepared tamarinds, cassia, and prunes, of each ⁄2 lb.; remove from the heat, and when the whole has considerably cooled, add the sifted powder, by degrees, and stir until the whole is thoroughly incorporated.

2. (Ph. E.) Senna, 8 oz.; corianders, 4 oz.; liquorice root, 3 oz.; figs and pulp of prunes, of each, 1 lb.; white sugar, 2⁄2 lbs.; water, 3⁄4 pints.

3. (Ph. D.) Senna leaves, in fine powder, 2 oz.; corianders (in fine powder), 1 oz.; oil of caraway, ⁄2 dr.; mix, and add them to pulp of prunes, 5 oz.; pulp of tamarinds, 2 oz.; brown sugar, 8 oz.; water 2 fl. oz.; previously brought to a smooth paste by the heat of a water bath.

4. (Ph. B.) Boil figs, 12 oz., and prunes, 6 oz., gently in distilled water, 24 oz., in a covered vessel for hours, then, having added more distilled water to make up the quantity to 24 fluid ounces, add tamarinds, 9 oz., and cassia pulp, 9 oz.; macerate for two hours, and press the pulp through a hair sieve, rejecting the seeds, &c. Dissolve refined sugar, 30 oz., and extract of liquorice, ⁄4 oz., in the mixture with a gentle heat; and while it is still warm, add to it gradually senna in fine powder, 7 oz., and coriander in fine powder, 3 oz., and stir diligently until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined. The resulting confection should weigh 75 oz.

Uses, &c. Confection of senna is a gentle and pleasant purgative, and well adapted for persons suffering from piles, and as a laxative during pregnancy. The dose is 1 dr. to ⁄2 oz., taken at bedtime or early in the morning.

Obs. There is no one pharmacopœial preparation which it is more difficult to obtain of good quality than confection of senna. The absolute cost of an article prepared according to the directions of the Colleges is greater than the price at which many wholesale houses are vending the drug. Dr Paris very truly remarks, that “the directions of the Pharmacopœia are very rarely followed.” Considerable quantities are manufactured, into which unsound and spoilt apples enter as a principal ingredient; whilst the substitution of jalap for the whole, or a portion of the senna, is a very common practice. We have seen the following forms employed in the trade.

5. Powdered senna’ pulp of tamarinds, cassia, and prunes, of each 1⁄2 lb.; powdered corianders, ⁄4 lb.; Spanish juice, ⁄2 lb.; simple syrup, 12 lbs.

6. As the above, but omitting the cassia pulp, and adding 2 lbs. more tamarind pulp. Both these articles are labelled “P. L.” and sent out as genuine, and that when no competition as to price exists. The cheaper article is made as follows:—

7. Common prunes and tamarinds, of each 16 lbs.; treacle, ⁄4 cwt.; species (a compound of senna dust and small senna, mixed with 3 lbs. of coriander seeds, and strengthened with jalap; all ground to a fine powder), 18⁄4 lbs. To this is frequently added, of rotten or inferior apples, ⁄4 cwt., which are pulped with the prunes and tamarinds. This article is commonly labelled “Conf. Sennæ Ver.” by its manufacturer.

Confection of Sponge. Syn. Elec′tuary of burnt sponge; Confec′tio spongii, C. s. us′tæ, L. Prep. 1. Burnt sponge, 3 parts; confection of orange peel and hips, of each 1 part; simple syrup, q. s.

2. (St. B. Hosp.) Burnt sponge, made into a confection with syrup of orange peel. The first form produces the most agreeable confection.—Dose, of either, ⁄2 dr. to 2 dr., twice or thrice daily; in scrofula, &c.

Confection of Steel. Prep. 1. Confec′tio fer′ri sesquiox′idi, L.—a. From confection of orange and sesquioxide of iron (Ph. L.), of each 2 oz.; white sugar, 3 oz.; syrup, 1⁄2 oz.; mix.—Dose, 1 dr. to 3 dr.

b. (St. B. Hosp.) Sesquioxide of iron, 1 oz.; treacle, q. s.—Dose, ⁄2 dr. to 1 dr. Both are given in the usual cases wherein iron is indicated; especially in anæmia, chlorosis, and amenorrhœa.

2. (Confec′tio Fer′ri Tartariza′ti.—St B. Hosp.) Cream of tartar, 1⁄2 oz.; tartrate of iron, 2 dr.; ginger, 1 dr.; treacle, 2⁄2 oz., or q. s.—Dose, 1 dr. to 2 dr., 2 or 3 times daily.

Confection of Sul′phur. Syn. Brimstone and treacle; Confec′tio sulphu′ris, L. Prep. 1. Sublimed sulphur, 2 oz.; treacle, 4 oz.—Dose. A spoonful night and morning for a week or longer, as an alterative or purifier of the blood; in skin diseases, &c.

2. (St. B. Hosp.) Precipitated sulphur, 1 oz.; cream of tartar, 2 dr.; honey or treacle, 2 oz. As the last.

3. (B. P.) Sublimed sulphur, 4 oz.; cream of tartar, 1 oz.; syrup of orange peel, 4 fl. oz.—Dose, 1 to 2 dr.; as a laxative, in piles, gonorrhœa, &c.

Confection of Tin. Syn. Confec′tio stan′ni, L. Prep. (Hosp. Form.) Powdered tin, 1 oz.; confection of roses, 2 oz.; mix.—Dose, 2 to 4 dr., every morning; in worms.

Confection of Turpentine. Syn. Confec′tio terebinth′inæ, L. Prep. (B. P.) Oil of turpentine, 1 fl. oz.; liquorice powder, 1 oz.; triturate together, then add clarified honey, 2 oz.—Dose and use, as the last.

Confection of Worm-seed. Syn. Confec′tio cin′æ, C. s. cinæ. L. Prep. 1. (Ph. Slesvico-Holsat. 1831, and Ph. Suec. 1845.) Worm-seed, 2 oz.; heat it in a pan over a gentle fire, add white sugar, boiled to a low candy height, 4 oz.; and stir together until they become dry; then pick out those seeds which are covered with sugar, and repeat the process with the others.

2. Powdered worm-seed and syrup of orange peel, equal parts.—Dose, 1 to 2 dr., night and morning, followed by a brisk purge; in worms.

CONFEC′TIONERY. See Candies, Drops, Lozenges, Sugar, &c.

CONGELA′TION. The conversion of a substance from the fluid to the solid state by the abstraction of heat. See Ice and Refrigeration.

CONGESTION. “A common condition of disease in an undue flow of blood into any part, or accumulation within it. The vessels seem to lose the power of emptying themselves, which they possess in health. Congestion, although an effect of both visitation and inflammation, may exist irrespective of either. Two forms of it are distinguished, active and passive. The first is when some excitement causes the blood to pass more rapidly into a part than its vessels can transmit out of it; the second when from some inherent debility the vessels cannot get rid of the fluid ordinarily thrown into them. Congestion of organs disturb their functions, and through them the general health.”

CONGLU′TINUM (Bracy Clarke’s). Sulphate of zinc (white vitriol), 4 oz.; dissolved in water, 1 pint. Used as an astringent lotion in veterinary practice, and much diluted with water (a dessert-spoonful to ⁄4 pint or more of water), as a collyrium in chronic inflammation of the eyes.

CO′NIA. C8H15O. Syn. Co′nine, Con′icine. An alkaloid, discovered by Gieseke in hemlock. It exists in every part of the plant, but is present in the largest quantity in the seed.

Prep. (Gieger.) The seeds of hemlock, or their alcoholic extracts, is distilled with water and potassa. The conia passes over into the receiver, and floats on the top of the water, which also contains a little conine in solution. It is purified in the way directed for the volatile bases. (See Alkaloid.) When the alcoholic extract is employed, about half its weight of potassa should be used.

Prop., &c. Pure conia is an oily-looking liquid, smelling intensely of hemlock, or rather of a combination of the odours of tobacco and mice; volatile at common temperatures; reddens turmeric; boils at about 340° Fahr., but readily distils over with water at 212°; sp. gr. ·89; with the acids it forms salts, some of which are crystallisable. Six lbs. of fresh and 9 lbs. of dried seeds yielded 1 oz. of conia. (Gieger.) Forty lbs. of the ripe but green seeds yielded 2⁄2 oz. of hydrated conia. (Christison.)

Conia is remarkably poisonous. 1 drop, placed in the eye of a rabbit, killed it in 9 minutes; 5 drops, poured into the throat of a dog, killed it in less than a minute. It has been employed in some convulsive and spasmodic diseases, but is now seldom used medicinally. “The patient cries, the contortions, and the rigidity of the limbs, which have always preceded death (caused by conia), leave no doubt as to the cruel pains which this kind of poisoning brings on.” (Boutron-Chalard and Henry.) The treatment may be that recommended under Aconite and Hemlock.

CONSERVATEUR FUR HAARBLEINDE. A preventive of hair diseases (Edm. Bühligen, Leipzig). Consists of 10 grammes tinct. arnica, 5 grammes glycerine, 10 grammes spirit, and 60 grammes water. (Schädler.)

CON′SERVE. Syn. Conser′va, L. Recent vegetable matter, as flowers, herbs, roots, fruit, and seed, beaten with powdered sugar to the consistence of a stiff paste, so as to preserve them as nearly as possible in their natural freshness. Conserves are made both by the confectioner and the druggist; by the first as SWEETMEATS; by the other chiefly as vehicles for more active medicines. The London College of Physicians now includes both conserves and electuaries under the general head of CONFECTIONS. The term appears, however, in some cases, scarcely appropriate. The word confection has a more general application, and implies any sweetmeat or composition in which sugar is the principal ingredient. See Confection and Electuary.

Conserve of Ac′etate of Potas′sa. Syn. Conser′va potas′sæ aceta′tis, L. Prep. (Bories.) Acetate of potassa, ⁄2 oz.; sulphate of soda, 1 dr.; juices of scurvy grass, fumitory, and dandelion, of each 2 oz. (reduced to one half by gentle evaporation?; sugar, q. s. to make a conserve. A teaspoonful 2 or 3 times daily, as a diuretic aperient; in obstruction of the bowels, &c.

Conserve of Al′monds. See Confections.

Conserve of Angel′ica. Syn. Conser′va angel′icæ, L. Prep. (Giordano.) Fresh angelica root, 2 parts; water, 16 parts; macerate for a few hours, clarify the liquor, add sugar, 3 parts; cook the root in the syrup, and preserve it in this state (confection), or dry it (to a candy). Used as an agreeable tonic, stomachic, and carminative.

Conserve, Antiscorbu′tic. Syn. Conser′va antiscorbu′tica, L. Prep. (Selle.) Horse-radish, water-cress, and water-trefoil, orange-juice, and radish-juice, equal parts; powdered white sugar, q. s. to make a conserve. In scurvy, &c.

Conserve of A′′rum. Syn. Conser′va a′′ri, C. a. macula′ti, L. Prep. From fresh arum tubers (cuckow-pint or wake-robin), ⁄2 lb.; sugar, 2⁄2 lbs. As a diuretic and attenuant in dropsy, or as an expectorant in chronic coughs.—Dose, ⁄2 teaspoonful, gradually increased.

Conserve of Broom. Syn. Conser′va scopa′′rii, L. Prep. (Van Mons.) Broom flowers, 1 part; sugar, 2 parts.—Dose, ⁄2 to 2 teaspoonfuls, 2 or 3 times a day; in dropsy, gout, rheumatism, &c.

Conserve of Hips. See Confection.

Conserve of Lavender. Syn. Conser′va lavendu′læ, L. Lavender flowers, 1 part; powdered lump sugar, 3 parts; beaten together to a smooth paste. Used to sweeten the breath. In a similar way conserves are made from various other leaves and flowers; but mostly with only twice their weight of sugar, when they are not very odorous or active.

Conserve of Lem′on Peel. Syn. Conserva limo′nis, C. l. cort′icis, L. As Confection of Orange Peel.

Conserve of Mal′lows. Syn. Conser′va mal′væ, L. From the flowers, as Conserve of Lavender.

Conserve of Or′ange Peel. See Confection.

Conserve of Pep′permint. See Confection.

Conserve of Rose′mary. Syn. Conser′va rosmari′ni, L. As Conserve of Lavender.

Conserve of Roses. 1. See Confection.

2. (Acidula′ted Conserve of Roses Conser′va ro′sæ ac′ida, L.) Prep. (Hosp. F.) Confection of roses and powdered gum, of each 1 oz.; sulphuric acid, 1 dr. to 1⁄2 dr.; (diluted with) water, 2 dr. An excellent substitute for tamarinds.

Conserve of Sav′in. Syn. Conser′va sabi′næ, L. Prep. (Ph. Han.) Fresh savin, 1 part; sugar, 2 parts. As an emmenagogue, in amenorrhœa, &c. Three parts of sugar make a better conserve.

Conserve of Scurvy Grass. Syn. Conser′va cochlea′′riæ, C. c. horten′sis, L. Prep. (Ph. Aust. 1836.) Fresh scurvy grass, 1 lb.; sugar, 3 lbs. Stimulant and antiscorbutic.

Conserve of Sea Worm′wood. Syn. Conser′va absinth′ii mariti′mi, L. Prep. (Ph. L. 1788.) From sea wormwood, as the last. As a stomachic bitter and vermifuge; in dyspepsia, &c.

Conserve of Sloes. Syn. Conser′va pru′ni sylves′tri, L. Prep. (Ph. L. 1788.) From the pulp of the fruit, 1 part; sugar, 3 parts. Astringent. Useful in simple diarrhœa, &c.; either alone or combined with chalk.

Conserve of Squills. Syn. Conser′va scil′læ, L. Prep. (Ph. L. 1788.) Fresh squills, 1 oz.; sugar, 5 oz. Diuretic, attenuant, and expectorant; in dropsy, chronic coughs, &c.—Dose, 10 to 20 gr.

Conserve of Tam′arinds. Syn. Conser′va tamarind′orum, L. Prep. (P. Cod.) Tamarind pulp, 2 oz.; white sugar, 3 oz.; evaporate by the heat of a water bath to the consistence of honey.

Conserve of Vi′olets. Syn. Conser′va vio′læ, C. v. odora′tæ, L. Prep. (Soubeiran.) Flowers, 1 part; sugar, 3 parts; beat to a paste. Demulcent and laxative; used as a purge for infants, and by ladies to perfume the breath.

Conserve of Wa′ter-cress. Syn. Conser′va nastur′′tii, L. Prep. (Ph. Græca, 1837.) From fresh water-cresses, as the last. In scurvy; taken ad libitum.

Conserve of Worm′wood. See Conserve of Sea Wormwood.

CONSTIPA′TION. Syn. Constipa′tio, Obstipa′tio, L. Surgeons distinguish between costiveness and constipation. The first applies to that condition of the body in which the bowels act tardily, and in which the fæces are abnormally and inconveniently indurated; the last implies the absence of the proper alvine evacuations. The one rapidly undermines the health; the other destroys life in a period varying from a few days to three or four weeks. In popular language, however, the words are frequently used synonymously. The use of bread containing alum, and water containing much lime (very hard water), and especially the want of sufficient exercise, are common causes of constipation.

Treatment. When the affection is merely accidental or occasional, a dose of some aperient or cathartic is the only treatment necessary; but when it is habitual it calls for further attention. Great benefit may generally be secured by adopting a diet free from astringents, and consisting of a large portion of green vegetables and ripe fruit; particularly avoiding the use of over-cooked, salted, or dried animal food. Brown bread may be eaten, as it acts as a gentle laxative, from the bran it contains. The occasional use of aperient and emollient enemata may be had recourse to; but their habitual administration, as well as that of purgative medicines generally, by the mouth, is not to be recommended. The bowels, accustomed to the continual use of stimulants, act but languidly or scarcely at all without their application. In females, especially of the higher classes, the want of proper exercise is commonly the chief cause of this affection. With such persons a short walk, two or three times daily, will often do wonders, particularly if a little ripe fruit, a few raisins or tamarinds, or, still better, 2 or 3 drum figs, be occasionally eaten. In some cases of obstinate constipation a cold-water dressing, placed over the pit of the stomach or the abdomen, will cause the bowels to act in the course of an hour or two. When the inactivity of the bowels arises from a deficiency of bile (one of the most common causes), no remedy is more natural, or more effective, than inspissated ox-gall. In cases complicated with nervous, hypochondriacal, or hysterical affections, in chlorosis, dyspepsia, depraved appetite, and numerous other ailments, this remedy frequently succeeds, after the most active articles of the materia medica have been tried in vain.

In the treatment of the constipation of infants, castor-oil (⁄2 teaspoonful occasionally), or manna ⁄4 to ⁄2 oz., sucked at will, may be given. The introduction (very gently) of a little slip of writing paper, parsley stalk, or suet, is a method sometimes adopted successfully by nurses. Friction on the stomach and bowels with the warm hand, or a piece of soft flannel, should also be employed. See Gall, Purgative, &c.

Treatment for Animals. Mr Finlay Dun prescribes laxative clysters, aloes, or oils. Calomel for horses; croton and gamboge for cattle. Salts, calomel and jalap, castor oil, linseed oil, and emetics for carnivora. Oil of turpentine by mouth or rectum; clysters of tobacco, nux vomica, electricity.

Treatment for Horses. When the animal is constipated administer 4 dr. of aloes and 1 dr. of calomel, rubbed down with gruel; inject soap and water every hour, taking care to let the horse have walking exercise, and to apply friction to the belly. If, after twelve hours, no effect is produced, let the aloes and calomel be repeated, with the addition of three or four drops of croton oil and a wine-glassful of spirit of nitre, ether, gin, or whisky.

CONSTITUTION BALLS, Vegetable (A. H. Bôldt). Two parallelopiped hard brown balls, each of which weighs 58 grammes, and is made by melting together 2 parts of aloes and 1 part coarsely powdered gentian. (Hager).

CONSUMP′TION. See Phthisis.

CONTA′GION. By ‘contagion’ is usually meant the communication of disease by means either of actual contact or through a medium, such as the air. By some a contagious disease is regarded as one arising from direct contact only, in contradistinction to an infectious one, which is believed to act at a distance. See Disinfectant.

CONTU′SION. A hurt, or injury to the flesh, such as might be caused by a blunt instrument or by a fall, without breach or apparent wound. For treatment, see Bruise.

CONVALESCENCE. Convalescence may be described as the period between the cessation of an attack of serious illness and the restoration, if not to a perfect, to an accustomed state of health. Convalescent patients should particularly guard against excess in eating or drinking, or unnecessary and imprudent exposure to cold or damp weather, during this interval, as well as against premature exertion of the limbs or voice; such and all of which are acts of imprudence that may give rise to a return of the disease. In order to avoid this latter risk, as well as to aid in complete recovery, repose both of body and mind are generally needed, more particularly in the earlier stages of convalescence.

It should be borne in mind that convalescents from many infectious diseases, such as measles, scarlet fever, smallpox, typhus, &c., are much more likely to propagate these diseases than when they are labouring under them in the acute form. During the period of their recovery the skin and other organs are throwing off the poison in large quantities, and thus exposing those in contact with, or in the near neighbourhood of the convalescent, to the great and imminent risk of contagion. Even if not contagious himself, the convalescent’s clothes, if they be the same as those worn by him during his illness, may also convey the disease.

CONVULSIONS. Spasmodic contractions of the muscles producing motions of the limbs, generally accompanied with unconsciousness. Convulsions occur at all periods of life, but in adults they are only symptoms of other diseases. In children they are very common. They are of frequent occurrence in teething; and a swollen and inflamed state of the gums is said to excite them. Dr Gardner, in his very useful work, ‘Household Medicine,’ says they may be brought on by “improper food, e.g. the milk of a nurse suffering from some violent emotion. At the siege of Berlin nearly all the suckling children died of convulsions.” They may also be induced by feverish attacks, hooping-cough, strong purgatives, or suppressed eruptions. In the case of a dangerous attack of convulsion no time should be lost in sending for a medical practitioner. Pending his arrival, the patient should be placed as promptly as possible in a hot-water bath. A better plan is to loosen all the dress, to place the child across the arms, and sway it up and down gently, and to allow cool air to play on the face and chest; give an enema of soap and water, and apply mustard plasters for a few seconds only to the pit of the stomach. If these fail to give relief, apply leeches (number according to the age) to the temples, and cold to the head. Lance the gums if inflamed. When the fit is over keep the head cool. If there have been white stools, give a grain or two of calomel, and repeat it every three or four hours for three or four times until the stools become green or dark. Keep the bowels open by castor oil, and let the patient be put on a milk diet. The latter part of the above treatment is inserted for the benefit of the emigrant or other individual having no means of obtaining proper medical aid.

COPAHINE. Copaiba balsam made into a mass with wax and powdered cubebs, divided into hard egg-shaped pills weighing 5 decigrammes each and sugar coated.

COPAHINE MEGE DE JOZEAU. A fixed quantity of copaiba balsam is mixed with concentrated nitric acid, and constantly stirred as long as effervescence continues. The oxidised balsam is then washed, first with warm then with cold water, till the washings cease to have an acid reaction. From one part of this balsamum copaivæ acido nitrico correctum with ⁄10 part powdered cubebs, ⁄10 part bicarbonate of soda, ⁄16 part calcined magnesia, with some mucilage, a mass is prepared and divided into oval pills, which are afterwards coated with sugar, mixed with gum and carmine.

COPAI′BA. Syn. Copai′va, Copaiva balsam, Capiv′i, Balsam of capiv′i; Copai′ba (Ph. L. E. & D.), L.; Baume de Copahu, Fr.; Cobaiva balsam, Ger. “The oleo-resin, of a brown colour, obtained by incision from the trunk of Copaifera multijuga.” (B. P.) Most of the balsam of commerce is obtained from Para and Maranhao. It is packed in casks containing from 1 to 1⁄2 cwt. each, or in large bottles, or in cylindrical tin boxes.

Prop., Purific., &c. Copaiba, though usually called a ‘balsam,’ is not correctly so named, as it contains no benzoic or cinnamic acid. It is correctly described in the B. P. as an ‘oleo-resin.’ Considerable variation exists in the colour, odour, consistence, and transparency, as well as in the proportion of oil and resin yielded by different samples, scarcely any two of which exactly agree. The sp. gr. varies from ·950 to ·996. Brazilian copaiba is thin, clear, and pale; whilst the West Indian variety is thick, golden yellow, less transparent, and has a less agreeable and somewhat terebinthinate smell. Some varieties are opaque, and continue so unless filtered. This is often a most troublesome operation. The opacity generally arises from the presence of water, which it retains with great tenacity. The following is the plan we have found to answer on the large scale:—Place the casks upon their ends in a warm situation, and leave them so for 10 days or a fortnight, or longer, if convenient. They may then be tapped a little above the bottom, when the contents of some of them will generally be found quite transparent, and may be drawn off and vatted, care being taken to avoid shaking up the bottom. The copaiva that remains foul must be filtered through one or more long Canton flannel bags, sunk in the bottom of a tin cistern, placed over a suitable receiver, in a similar way to that adopted for oils; a few pounds of coarsely powdered charcoal being mixed up with the first 5 or 6 gallons thrown in. This will rapidly fill up the pores of the bag, and make the balsam soon flow clear and pale. The “bottoms” of the casks, containing the water and impurities, may be poured into a large can or jar, and allowed to settle for a few days, when the copaiba may be poured off the top and filtered. A sudden change of temperature will frequently turn a transparent sample of this article opaque or milky; it is not, therefore, deemed fit to send out by the wholesale trade, unless it stands this test. To ascertain this point a common practice is to fill a small bottle with the copaiba, and to leave it out of doors all night in an exposed situation.

Pur., Tests, &c. This substance is frequently adulterated; indeed, fully one half that sold for copaiba does not contain 10% of the genuine balsam. This is particularly the case with that sold in capsules, at low prices, in the shops. Pure balsam of copaiba may be recognised by the following characters:—

1. (Ph. E.) It is transparent; free of turpentine odour when heated; soluble in 2 parts of alcohol; and dissolves one fourth of its weight of carbonate of magnesia with the aid of a gentle heat, and continues translucent.

2. (Chevallier.) A drop of the balsam, placed on a piece of unsized paper, and heated until all the essential oil is expelled, forms a semi-transparent, well-defined spot; but if the balsam has been adulterated with a fatty oil, it is surrounded by an oily areola.

3. (Planche.) 2⁄2 parts of balsam shaken with 1 part of solution of ammonia, sp. gr. ·965, forms a mixture which becomes clear and transparent in a few moments, and may be heated to 212° Fahr. without becoming opaque.

4. (Vigne.) Boiled with 50 times its weight of water for 1 hour, it should lose at least half its weight.

5. (Adder.) By agitating the suspected sample with a lye of caustic soda, and setting the mixture aside to repose, the balsam after a time rises to the surface, and the fatty oil present (if any) forms a soapy, thick mass below.

6. (‘Journ. de Pharm.,’ 1842.) Pure copaiba may be adulterated with 50 per cent. of a fat oil (nut, almond, or castor oil), without it ceasing to give a clear solution with 2 parts of alcohol; but it combines badly with magnesia and ammonia. Excess of alcohol, however, separates the oil in all cases. It was formerly considered that the best test for detecting the fat oils was pure alcohol, to which some caustic potash had been added.

7. (Dr Hager.) Copaiba which is adulterated with Gurgun balsam is not quite clear, and frequently exhibits prisms of gurginic acid under the microscope. The author states that the adulteration may be easily detected by mixing the suspected sample with four volumes of petroleum ether; the mixture at once becomes turbid, and gradually deposits a sediment, which, after half an hour’s settling, occupies the same volume as the copaiba operated upon. A mixture of pure copaiba with petroleum ether is clear at first, and either remains clear upon standing or it deposits after several hours a very slight sediment, which merely covers the bottom of the test tube like a thin film. Benzol may be used in place of petroleum ether.

8. (Muter.) Three to four grams of the sample are weighed into a clean, dry flask, and saponified on the water bath with 50 c. c. of alcohol, and a lump of caustic soda weighing not less than 5 grams. When all is dissolved water is added, and the whole washed into a half-pint basin, so as to nearly fill it, and evaporated to 100 c. c. over a low gas flame. Dilute sulphuric acid is then added till the whole just becomes permanently turbid, and then solution of caustic soda is dropped in till it just clears again. By this means a solution is obtained with the least possible excess of alkali, and with a good amount of sodium sulphate. The whole is now to be evaporated to perfect dryness on the water bath, stirring towards the end, so that the sulphate may mix with the soaps, and produce an easy pulverulent residue. The residue is moved from the basin into a small, wide-mouthed, stoppered bottle, treated with 70 c. c. of ether-alcohol, and well shaken up. As soon as it is fairly settled the fluid is filtered off through a quick filter, and this is repeated with two successive quantities of 70 c. c., making 210 c. c. in all of the solvent used. The residue in the bottle and in the filter now consists of sodium oleate and sulphate if the balsam be impure, and of the latter only if pure, with a little trace of the insoluble resin soap already referred to. The contents of the bottle and filter are then dissolved in warm water, and after heating until all smell of ether is gone the whole is boiled freely acidulated with hydrochloric acid, and set to cool.

If, when cold, nothing but a few specks of brown resin should rise to the surface, the balsam is pure; but if an oily layer be formed it is adulterated, and the smell of the separated oleic acid will at once determine whether it is actually castor oil or not.

In the case of the presence of oil, 2 grams of pure and dry white wax are added, and the whole heated till the wax melts with the oleic acid. On cooling, a solid cake is formed, which is detached from the side of the beaker, and the fluid below passed through a filter. The cake is once more melted in boiling water, cooled, detached, dried by gentle pressure between blotting paper, dried in a water-oven in a weighed platinum dish, and then weighed, and the weight of the wax used deducted. The beaker, filter, rod, &c., used are, if at all dirty, dried, extracted with ether, and the residue left, after evaporation, weighed and added to the total.

The calculation is then performed as follows:—

(1.) To the weight in grams found add ·20 for loss of oleic acid in solvent, and then say as 95 : 100 :: total oleic acid.

(2.) Calculate the per-centage from the quantity taken, and from this deduct 6 per cent. for possible altered resin in the balsam. The error, owing to the correction, of course, increases with the amount of oil present; but it is stated to be always an error in the direction of under-estimation, which is the great point for public analysts. When working on 3 to 4 grains with an admixture of not over 25 per cent. the errors due to loss of oleic acid and insoluble resin soap are said to so nearly balance each other, that any correction is unnecessary, and the actual amount of oleic acid found may be taken as correct within a per cent.

9. (B. P.) According to the British Pharmacopœia, copaiba should be soluble in an equal bulk of benzol.

10. (The evaporation test.) Mr Siebold says: “This is an excellent and exceedingly simple test, but is clumsily applied by many. Instead of boiling the balsam with water for many hours, a small quantity (about 1 to 1·5 gram) of the sample should be carefully heated in a watch-glass until all the oil is driven off, which is the case as soon as the residue has assumed a rich brown colour. A few minutes suffice for the experiment.

“If the remaining resin is perfectly brittle and pulverisable there is no fatty matter present, for 1 per cent. of oil would diminish the brittleness of the resin, so that it cannot be reduced to a fine powder. One per cent. of oil is thus readily detected, and with larger quantities of the adulterant (3 to 5 per cent.) the resin feels quite sticky.

“On heating the resin castor oil and linseed oil may be distinguished by the odour. By mixing the adulterated balsam with ten, twenty, forty, and fifty volumes of pure maranham balsam respectively, and testing each dilution in this manner, it is easy to find in which the oil has been reduced to below 1 per cent., and thus to ascertain whether the adulterant amounted to more than 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50 per cent., and this, I think, would be sufficiently near the mark for the purpose of public analysts.”

Uses, &c. Balsam of copaiba is considered detersive vulnerary, diuretic, and astringent; and appears to possess a sort of specific power over diseases of the mucous membranes of the urino-genital organs. It is hence a favourite remedy in gonorrhœa, as soon as the first inflammatory symptoms have subsided, antiphlogistic and soothing measures being previously adopted. Dose, 20 to 60 drops on sugar, floating on water, or made into an emulsion with yolk of egg or gum arabic, 3 or 4 times daily, if the stomach will bear it. The addition of a few drops of sweet spirits of nitre and laudanum have been recommended, to allay the nausea. By adding 1 dr. of oil of orange (ol. aurantii) to each oz. of the balsam, its flavour becomes far from disagreeable, and it sits well upon the stomach. Copaiba is also given in capsules and pills. See Capsules, Emulsion, Oil, Pills, &c.

Obs. Numerous preparations of this article are sold under such names as ‘soluble copaiba,’ ‘specific solution,’ ‘salt of copaiba,’ &c.; none of these appear to possess equal activity and certainty of operation to the natural balsam. As the whole virtue of copaiba as a medicine depends on the essential oil it contains, the value of any of these preparations may be estimated by the quantity of that article which is found in them. In the case of the first two articles above named the quantity is very small indeed, and in the last it is wholly deficient.

The following forms are current in the trade for the reduction (adulteration) of balsam of capivi:—

1. Balsam of copaiba, 4 lbs.; castor oil, 3 lbs.; mix well.

2. Balsam, 7 lbs.; castor oil, 4 lbs; yellow resin, 2 lbs.

3. Equal parts of balsam of copaiba and Canada balsam.

4. To the last add Venice turpentine, 1 lb.

5. Balsams of Canada and copaiba and nut or castor oil, equal parts.

6. Copaiba, 7 lbs.; nut oil, 3 lbs.; yellow resin, 2 lbs.; Canada balsam, 1 lb. Used to fill the cheap capsules; and to sell in the lower parts of London and in the manufacturing districts. See also Copaiba, Factitious (below).

Copaiba, Facti′′tious. Syn. Cobai′ba facti′′tia, Bal′samum copai′bæ facti′′tium, L. Prep. 1. Castor oil (warm), 7 quarts; copaiba bottoms, 1 quart; mix, and filter through flannel.

2. Castor, oil, 1 gal.; yellow resin, 3 lbs.; Canada balsam, 2 lbs.; oil of juniper, 2 oz.; oil of savin, 1 oz.; essences of orange and lemon, of each ⁄2 oz.; powdered benzoin, 1 oz.; melt the resin with the castor oil and benzoin, and when nearly cold add the essences.

3. Canada balsam, 9 lbs.; castor oil, 7 lbs.; yellow resin, 1 lb.; Venice turpentine, 2 lbs.; oils of rosemary, juniper, and savin, of each 1 dr.; essential oil of almonds, 20 drops.

4. Canada balsam, 3 lb.; Venice turpentine, 1 lb.; oils of fennel, juniper, and savin, of each q. s.

Used chiefly to fill capsules. It is readily distinguished from balsam of copaiba by the proper tests. (See above.) Train oil or nut oil is frequently substituted for the castor oil.

Copaiba and Ka′li. Syn. Copaiba cum Potassâ, L. Prep. Carbonate of potassa and water, of each, equal parts; dissolve, and add gradually, transparent balsam of copaiba, until the fluid, at first milky, turns quite clear. Resembles miscible copaiba (see below).

Copaiba, Miscible. Prep. From balsam of copaiba (pure and transparent), mixed with half its volume of solution of potassa made of double the strength ordered in the B. P.

Obs. As different samples of copaiba often require slightly different quantities of the solution of potassa, it is best to mix the two gradually and cautiously together. Should the mixture be opaque, a little more of one or other of the ingredients, as the case may be, will render it clear. No heat must be used. This article is miscible with water, with which it forms a kind of milk; and from containing all the volatile oil of the copaiba, is a very valuable preparation. Its activity is considered equal to that of the balsam itself, and it is given in similar doses.

Copaiba, Sol′uble. Syn. Copai′ba solubil′is, L. Prep. 1. Heat miscible copaiba in an earthen, glass, or bright-tinned copper vessel, to nearly the boiling-point, pour it while still hot in a separator, cover it up, and allow it to cool very slowly. After a few days, draw off the clear portion from a cock or hole placed at or near the bottom of the vessel, observing to reject the first few drops which pass through, and to stop the stream before any of the floating oil (oleum copaibæ) reaches the orifice. A very little concentrated liquor of potassa, added before applying the heat, renders it more soluble. Thick, transparent, soluble in pure water, and resembles the natural balsam in appearance.

2. Balsam of copaiba and solution of potassa (B. P.), equal parts, by volume; mix, boil for a few minutes, and then proceed as before. Thinner than the last.

Prop. Less powerful than miscible copaiba, but it sits better on the stomach, and is about four times as strong as specific solution of copaiba. See Solution.

Copaiba, Res′in of. Syn. Copai′bæ resi′na, L. The residuum of the process of distilling the oil of copaiba from the balsam. It consists principally of copaibic acid. It has been recommended for gonorrhœa, but is nearly inert, even in ⁄2 oz. or ⁄4 oz. doses. See Oil.

Copaiba, Salt of. Syn. Sal copai′bæ, L. There are two preparations sold under this name; the one, crude copaibic acid; the other, copaibate of an alkali. Neither of them possesses the valuable properties of copaiba, which reside almost entirely in its essential oil, “We have taken the ‘sal copaibæ,’ and have watched its action on others, but have not been able to perceive any good effects to result from its administration.” (Cooley.)

COPAI′BIC ACID. Syn. Capiv′ic acid. Yellow resin of copaiba. An amber-coloured, brittle, semi-crystalline, resinous substance, obtained from resin of copaiba, soluble in alcohol, rectified spirit, ether, and oils, reddens litmus paper, and forms salts with the bases, called copaibates.

CO′PAL. Syn. Copal′, Gum copal. A resinous substance, which exudes spontaneously from various trees belonging to the genera Hymenæa, Guibourtia, and Trachylobium. The varieties commonly met with in commerce are East Indian copal, or anine, which is the produce of Hymenæa Courbaril, and West Indian copal, obtained from numerous species.

Prop. When of good quality it is too hard to be scratched by the nail, has a conchoidal fracture, and a sp. gr. ranging from 1·059 to 1·072. Unlike other resins, it is dissolved with difficulty by alcohol and essential oils; and this property, combined with its extreme hardness, renders it very valuable for making varnishes. See Varnish.

COP′PER. Cu. Syn. Cu′′prum, L.; Cuivre, Fr.; Kupfer, Ger.

Sources. Metallic copper (native copper) is found in many parts of the globe, diffused in isolated particles in the form of thin laminæ, in loose grains intermixed with quartz (copper sand, copper barilla), in dendritic pieces, and in solid blocks, occasionally of many tons weight. The richest deposits of native copper are those of Lake Superior, in North America. More frequently and more abundantly it occurs as an ore, e.g. red oxide, black oxide, green carbonate of copper or mal′achite, blue carbonate of copper, vitreous sulphide of copper, purple copper, copper pyrites, or yellow copper ore, with sulphur, antimony, or arsenic, and other metals (true grey copper ore or fah′lerz), as an impure hydrated silicate (chrys′ocolla), and as an impure hydrated oxychloride (atac′amite). The most abundant and important ore is copper pyrites. It is principally obtained from the mines of Cornwall, Devonshire, and Cuba. The carbonates of copper are now largely imported from Australia; the metal produced by smelting them is generally of the best quality.

Prep. We will not attempt to give a minute description of the various complex processes by which the reduction of copper from its ores is effected, but will merely give an outline of the common or Welsh process. This process includes six distinct operations, as follows:—1. The ore (copper and iron pyrites), containing from 8 to 10% of copper, is roasted in a reverberatory furnace, called a ‘calciner,’ by which much of the sulphide of iron is converted into oxide. 2. The calcined ore is melted with ‘metal slag’ (a product of a subsequent operation—No. 3), in a melting furnace called the ‘ore furnace.’ The products are a regulus, termed ‘coarse metal,’ containing about 35% of copper, and ‘ore-furnace slag,’ which is thrown away. Much of the iron, and the whole of the so-called earthy matter of the ore, are thus separated as slag. 3. The coarse metal, having been granulated by causing it to flow from the furnace into water, is calcined with free access of air in a calciner, and a considerable amount of sulphur is expelled. 4. The calcined granulated, coarse metal is melted with the addition of matters rich in oxides of copper, namely, ‘roaster’ and ‘refinery slags’ (from the two remaining operations, Nos. 5 and 6, respectively), and native carbonates of copper, or ores containing oxide of copper. The products are a regulus, termed ‘metal,’ which contains about 75% of copper, and metal slag (see No. 2). The metal should be in the state of ‘white metal,’ compact and brittle, with a feeble metallic lustre and a dark, bluish-grey colour. It is tapped off into sand moulds. 5. The pigs of regulus obtained by the last operation are roasted in a furnace through which air passes. The temperature is so regulated that the regulus may be melted in from 6 to 8 hours. The slag is skimmed off, and after a time the heat is lowered, to allow the regulus to solidify. It is again melted and tapped into sand moulds, the product being called ‘blister copper.’ 6. This, the last operation, is termed ‘refining.’ From 6 to 8 tons of blister copper, in pigs, are melted in a furnace, and kept exposed for about 15 hours to the oxidising influence of the air. The slag is skimmed off through the end opening. When the oxidation has been sufficiently prolonged, anthracite or free-burning coal, as pure as possible, is thrown upon the surface of the metal, and after a short time the thick end of a long birch or oak pole is plunged into the molten mass. This part of the operation is termed ‘poling.’ The wood in contact with the copper is rapidly decomposed; much gas is evolved, which causes the metal to be splashed about, and every part of it to be exposed to the reducing action of the coal. When the refiner finds the metal to be at the state of ‘tough pitch,’ the pole is taken out, and the coal pushed back from the end opening, through which the copper is then ladled out as quickly as possible, and cast into suitable moulds. For full details of this and other processes, the reader is referred to Dr Percy’s work on ‘Metallurgy,’ and Ure’s ‘Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines.’

In the laboratory copper is commonly employed under the following forms:—

1. Bean-shot copper. Produced by simply lading the melted copper from the refining furnace into hot water. In small lumps like peas and beans; hence its name. Used to make alloys, solutions, &c.

2. Electrotype copper. A very pure form, obtained by decomposing sulphate of copper in an electrotype apparatus. It does not contain lead, whereas most varieties of commercial copper do contain that metal.

3. Feather-shot copper, granulated C. Produced by lading the refined copper from the furnace into cold water. In small pieces, with a feathered edge. Used to make calamine, brass, solution of copper, &c.

4. Copper in plates or foil. Those of commerce (best, annealed) are generally employed.

5. Copper in powder.—a. A solution of sulphate of copper is heated to the boiling-point, and precipitated with distilled zinc; the precipitated copper is then separated from the adherent zinc by dilute sulphuric acid, washed with water, and dried by exposure to a moderate temperature.

6. Copper prepared by the hydrometallurgical method.—One of the oldest processes of this kind, is that known as the ‘cementation’ method, and consists in precipitating copper from a solution of the sulphate of the metal, by means of metallic iron. In some mines solutions of the sulphate are met with occurring naturally, in others they are prepared artificially by treating poor ores containing oxide of copper, with sulphurous acid or diluted sulphuric acid, and sometimes by roasting copper pyrites and afterwards washing them with water to extract the resulting sulphate. The copper obtained by any of the above processes is called ‘cementation copper.’ In the Isle of Anglesea the cementation liquid containing the dissolved sulphate of copper, is first run into large vessels where the suspended matters are allowed to subside; from these it is conveyed to tanks containing old scrap-iron, which serves as the precipitating agent. The scrap-iron is occasionally stirred up so as to renew the metallic surface presented to the solution. The muddy liquor which contains metallic copper as a spongy mass, besides impurities, is run into vessels where it deposits the copper, which after the removal of the supernatant fluid, is removed and dried in a furnace.

7. Wet Process. (Henderson’s process.) The ores (Spanish and Portuguese pyrites) treated by this method vary very slightly in composition, rarely containing much more than 3 per cent. of copper, nearly 50 per cent. of sulphur, from 43 to 44 per cent. of iron, with small quantities of lead, arsenic, zinc, lime, &c. The ores are first employed by the vitriol manufacturers, as a source of sulphuric acid. In the process of burning they lose about 30 per cent. of their sulphur. The copper is extracted from the residue by subjecting this latter to the following processes, which are thus described in the ‘Encyclopædia Brittanica.’

I. Grinding. The burnt ore, as received from the acid burners, is first mixed with about 15 per cent. of common salt, and ground to a fine powder by passing it between a pair of heavy cast-iron rolls. As the amount of sulphur left in the burnt ore is apt to vary, it is necessary to ascertain its proportion in each parcel of burnt pyrites. When the sulphur falls short of the proportion necessary for effecting the decomposition which follows, a sufficient quantity of ‘green’ or unburned pyrites is added to produce a proper balance. If, on the other hand, the sulphur has been sufficiently extracted, dead roasted ore is added.

II. Calcination. This operation is accomplished in several kinds of furnaces, that used by the Tharsis Sulphur and Copper Company, being a large muffle or close furnace. By others a patent furnace with a revolving hearth and mechanical stirring arrangement has been adopted with good results; and some use open reverbatory furnaces heated by gas from Siemens’s generators. During the roasting the mixture is frequently stirred, and in the case of hard-worked furnaces, turned with long rabbles, and the completion of the operation is ascertained by test assays. When the copper has been brought into a soluble condition, the charge is raked out of the furnace and permitted to cool under a screen at its mouth. By the calcination the sulphur in the compound is first oxidised, sulphate of sodium is formed, and at the same time the chlorine from the sodium chloride unites with the copper to form cupric chloride. A small proportion of cuprous chloride is also formed, and special precautions have to be taken to prevent the extensive formation of this compound which is dissolved only with difficulty. The hydrochloric acid and other gaseous products evolved during the calcination are condensed as ‘tower liquor’ in ordinary condensing towers, and the product is used in the subsequent process of lixiviation.

III. Lixiviation. The calcined ore is conveyed to tightly caulked wooden tanks, in which it receives repeated washings with hot water, tower liquor, and dilute hydrochloric acid till all the soluble copper is thereby extracted. The product of the latter washings is pumped or drawn up by a modification of Gilford’s injector, to serve as a first liquor for subsequent charges of the lixiviating tanks, and no solution under a definite strength is permitted to pass on to the next stage in the process. The insoluble residue in the tanks consist of “purple ore,” an almost pure ferric oxide, largely used in “settling” blast furnaces, and for smelting purposes; besides which it is available as jewellers’ rouge.

IV. Precipitation. The precipitation of metallic copper from the solution of its chloride is accomplished in large tanks by means of metallic iron in the same way that cementation copper is obtained from solutions of the sulphate. The solution is run into the tanks in which there are miscellaneous heaps of old malleable iron; the chlorine combined with the copper unites with the iron, and metallic copper in the state or fine division is thrown down. The completion of the precipitation is ascertained by dipping a bright steel knife into the solution in the tank, and when no deposit of copper covers the steel, the liquor is run off and a new charge conveyed into the tank. The tanks are drained periodically for removing the precipitate, which is first roughly separated from the small pieces of iron, after which it is more thoroughly freed from iron, &c., by washing in water in a rocking sieve apparatus. The precipitate so obtained should contain 80 per cent. of metallic copper, which is either smelted directly for blister copper, or may be fused with the white metal of the ordinary smelting process, and subsequently roasted. It has been found possible to extract in this process with profit the small proportions of lead, silver and gold, which Spanish pyrites is known to contain. Two processes are in operation for this purpose—one devised by Mr P. Claudet, and the other by Mr W. Henderson, the original patentee of the wet process. The liquors from the first three washings contain practically, all these metals, and they alone are treated. Mr Claudet precipitates them from the solution by means of iodide of potassium. Mr Henderson dilutes his solution from 20° to 25° Twaddell, and adds a very weak solution of lead salt, such as the acetate by which he obtains a cream-coloured precipitate containing 5 or 6 per cent. of silver, and 3 oz. of gold to each ton of the precipitate. The importance of the wet process may be estimated from the fact, that although it originated only in 1860, already 14,000 tons of copper, are annually produced by it in Great Britain alone, out of an annual production for the whole world estimated at from 126,000 to 130,000 tons.

Prop., &c. Copper has a brilliant yellowish-red colour, a nauseous, styptic taste, and emits a disagreeable odour when rubbed; is very malleable and ductile; unchanged in dry air; in damp air it soon becomes covered with a greenish rust (carbonate of copper); slightly soluble in dilute sulphuric and hydrochloric acid; freely soluble in boiling oil of vitriol (sulphurous anhydride being evolved); dilute nitric acid dissolves it readily with copious evolution of nitric oxide; heated to redness in the air, it rapidly becomes covered with a black scale (oxide); it fuses at a full red heat; its crystals are either octahedra or dodecahedra; sp. gr. 8·8 to 8·96; it forms numerous compounds (alloys and salts) with other bodies, all of which are more or less poisonous; its salts are either blue or green, and most of them (when neutral) are soluble in water.

Tests. Metallic copper may be recognised by the above properties; its oxides, salts, &c., by the following characters and reactions:—The solutions of copper possess a blue or green colour, which they retain even when considerably diluted with water:—With caustic potassa they give a light-blue, bulky precipitate, turning blackish-brown or black on boiling the liquid:—Ammonia and carbonate of ammonium produce a bluish-white precipitate, soluble in excess, yielding a rich deep-blue solution:—The carbonates of potassium give a light precipitate, insoluble in excess:—Ferrocyanide of potassium gives a reddish-brown precipitate:—Sulphuretted hydrogen and sulphydrate of ammonium give blackish-brown or black ones:—A polished rod of iron, on immersion in an acidulated solution, quickly becomes coated with metallic copper.

Estim., &c. Copper is generally WEIGHED under the form of black oxide, but sometimes as pure metal:—By throwing it down from its solution by pure potassa, after which it must be carefully collected, washed, dried, ignited in a platinum crucible, and weighed therein as soon as it is cold. Every 5 parts of the ignited precipitate (oxide) represents 4 parts of copper (nearly); or, more accurately, every 39·7 parts are equal to 31·7 of pure metallic copper:—By immersing a piece of polished steel in the solution, and weighing the resulting precipitate of the copper (see above). Less delicate than the preceding.

Copper can be separated from the other metals by means of the following processes:—

From lead. By adding sulphuric acid to the nitric solution, and evaporating to dryness, when water digested on the residuum will dissolve out the sulphate of copper, but leave the sulphate of lead behind. From this solution the oxide of the copper may be thrown down as before.

From tin. By digestion with hot nitric acid, which dissolves out the tin.

From zinc. By sulphuretted hydrogen, which throws down the sulphide of copper from an acid solution.

From silver. By digesting it in the state of filings or powder in a solution of chloride of zinc, which dissolves the first, but leaves the last unchanged.

Copper may be separated, in a state of great purity, from ANTIMONY, ARSENIC, BISMUTH, LEAD, IRON, TIN, ZINC, &c., as it exists in bell-metal, brass, bronze, gun-metal, mosaic gold, and other commercial alloys, by fusing it in a crucible for about half an hour, along with copper scales (black oxide) and ground bottle-glass, or other like flux. The pure metal is found at the bottom of the crucible, whilst the impurities are either volatilised or dissolved in the flux. The proportions for refining commercial copper are, metal, 10 parts; copper scales and bottle-glass, of each 1 part. The Society of Arts conceived this process to be so valuable, that they presented one of their gold medals to its inventor, Mr Lewis Thompson.

Uses, &c. The ordinary uses of copper are well known. In medicine, 3 or 4 gr. of the filings or powder were formerly given in rheumatism, and to prevent hydrophobia. Some of its salts are still used as astringents, emetics, and caustics. Its alloys are of great value. With zinc it forms BRASS; with tin, BRONZE, BELL-METAL, Gun-metal, and SPECULUM-METAL. White copper is formed by the addition of metallic arsenic, and German silver is a mixture of nickel, zinc, and copper.

Ant. Copper in the metallic state is almost inert, but all its compounds are poisonous. The antidotes are—the white of egg, milk, or flour, mixed with water. The hydrated sulphides of iron, iron filings, and ferro-cyanide of potassium have also been strongly recommended, and are exhibited in the same way. Sugar is likewise highly spoken of as an antidote. In all cases a strong emetic should be first given.

Obs. Culinary and pharmaceutical vessels are very commonly made of copper, but too much caution cannot be exercised in their employment. Acid syrups, vegetable juices, aqueous extracts, soups, stews, &c., prepared in copper saucepans, or boilers, receive a metallic contamination proportional to the length of time they are exposed to the action of the metal. Such vessels are frequently tinned, for the purpose of protecting the copper from contact with their contents, but this film of tin is necessarily very thin, and soon becomes imperfect by constant use. When copper vessels are allowed to remain wet or dirty, or, more especially, greasy, a poisonous green rust forms upon the surface, somewhat similar to verdigris. If articles are prepared in them in this state, serious consequences may ensue. Cases of poisoning from this cause are frequently met with, and instances of vomiting following the use of such articles are almost of daily occurrence, without the reason being suspected. We have occasionally seen confections and extracts, prepared in copper pans, deposit a coating of that metal upon the knives used to stir them. The ashes of the inspissated juices of fresh vegetables, and especially the pulps of fruit, prepared in vessels of this metal, have exhibited the presence of copper on the application of chemical tests. Ketchup is frequently rendered poisonous in this way. The most wholesome material for culinary utensils is thin sheet iron, or tinned iron plate (TIN), which is very durable if kept clean and dry when not in use. Copper vessels of every kind should be cleaned out, immediately before use, even though they may not appear to require it, and on no account should they be employed for any fluids that are the least acidulous, or that may have to remain long in them.

The following enamel is recommended in Dingler’s Polytechnic Journal for coating the inside of the copper vessels, used for cooking fruit or vegetables:—12 parts of white fluor-spar, 12 parts of unburnt gypsum, and 1 part of borax, are finely powdered, intimately mixed, and fused in a crucible. The fused mass is then poured out, and after cooling, is rubbed up to a paste. The copper vessel is then coated inside with this preparation, which is applied by means of a brush, and the vessel is placed in a moderately warm place, so that the coating may dry uniformly, when it is subjected to a gradually increasing heat, till at length the preparation fuses. On cooling, the vessel is found to be protected internally by a white opaque enamel, adhering very firmly to the copper, not chipping off by ordinary knocking and rubbing, and impervious to vegetable acids.

Copper may be cleaned by applying a small portion of the following paste, and rubbing it dry by a flannel or leather:—1 oz. oxalic acid, 6 oz. rotten stone, ⁄2 oz. gum arabic, all in powder, 1 oz. of sweet oil, and sufficient water to make a paste.

Copper, Neu′tral Acetate of. Cu(C2H3O2)2. Syn. Nor′mal cupric acetate, Acetate of copper, Crys′tallised ver′digris. Prep. Dissolve common verdigris or cupric hydrate in hot acetic acid, so as to form a highly concentrated solution; filter and place in a cool situation to crystallise.

Prop. Beautiful dark, bluish-green prisms, which dissolve in 14 parts of cold and 5 parts of boiling water.

Copper, Ba′sic Acetates of. Syn. Ba′sic cu′pric acetates, Sub-ac′etates of copper. Common verdigris is a mixture of several basic acetates which have a green or blue colour. One of these (SESQUIBASIC ACETATE) is obtained by digesting powdered verdigris in tepid water, filtering, and leaving the soluble part to spontaneous evaporation. It may also be obtained in a state of purity by adding liquor of ammonia in small portions to a boiling concentrated solution of the neutral acetate till the precipitate is just redissolved, and leaving the solution to cool. It forms a blue, crystalline mass, but little soluble in cold water. The green, insoluble residue of the verdigris, after treatment with tepid water, contains another acetate (TRIBASIC ACETATE); this may be formed by digesting neutral acetate of copper with the hydrated oxide. A third salt (DIBASIC ACETATE, BLUE VERDIGRIS) is prepared on a large scale in France by exposing copper to the air in contact with fermenting wine-lees.

Copper, Ammo′′nio-sul′phate of. Syn. Sulphate of cuprammonium. Cu′pro-sulphate of ammo′′nia; Cu′pri ammo′′nio-sulphas, L.; Cuivre ammoniacal, Fr.; Kupfer salmiak, Ger. Prep. Sulphate of copper, 1 oz.; sesquicarbonate of ammonium, 1⁄2 oz.; rub together until carbonic acid ceases to be evolved, then wrap it in bibulous paper, and dry it in the air.

Pur. Pulverulent; dark blue; at an intense heat it is changed into oxide of copper, at first sesquicarbonate of ammonia, and, afterwards, sulphate of ammonia, being thrown off. It is soluble in water to a splendid purple-blue solution, from which the salt is precipitated by alcohol in blue crystals. This solution has the peculiar property of dissolving CELLULOSE (cotton, paper, &c.). The cellulose may be precipitated from the solution in colourless flakes by the addition of acids.

Uses., &c. It is occasionally employed in pyrotechny. In medicine, it has been given in chorea, epilepsy, hysteria, &c., but is now principally used as an injection, as a wash for foul ulcers, used as a collyrium, in opacity of the cornea.—Dose, ⁄4 gr., gradually increased to 5 gr., twice a day. Great care must be taken in drying, as it is apt not only to lose a large portion of its weight, but to become of an inferior colour. Both the ingredients should be separately reduced to powder before mixing them.

Copper, Ar′senite of. Cu(AsO2)2. See Green Pigments (Scheele’s Green).

Copper, Carbonate of. CuCO3. Syn. Diba′sic carbonate of copper, Dicarbonate of c.; Cupri carbonas, L. Prep. Add carbonate of soda in excess to a solution of sulphate of copper, and warm the mixture till the pale-blue, flocculent precipitate becomes sandy and assumes a green tint. Used as a pigment. See Green Pigments and Verditer.

Obs. As prepared above, the carbonate contains 2 equivalents of water. The beautiful green mineral, MAL′ACHITE, has a similar composition, but contains only 1 equiv. of water. Another carbonate (TRIBASIC C., BLUE C.), occurs as a natural ore in large, transparent crystals, of the most intense blue; it has not yet been artificially imitated.

Cuprous Chloride. CuCl. Syn. Dichloride of copper, Subchloride of copper. Prep. By exposing the neutral chloride of copper to the action of heat.

Prop. White; fusible; slightly soluble in water; and decomposed by exposure to the air.

Copper, Chloride of. CuCl2. Syn. Neutral chloride of copper. Prep. From copper scales or black oxide of copper dissolved in hydrochloric acid, and the solution evaporated and crystallised.

Prop., &c. Green, acicular crystals; deliquescent; soluble in alcohol, the flame of which it colours green. When gently heated it loses water, and assumes the form of a yellowish-brown powder (ANHYDROUS CUPRIC CHLORIDE, or CHLORIDE OF COPPER); at a high temperature it loses half its chlorine, and becomes converted into cuprous chloride.

Cupric Iodide. CuI2. Syn. Iodide of copper, Dini′odide of copper; Cu′pri iodi′dum. L. Prep. By adding iodide of potassium to a solution of sulphate of copper, and washing out with alcohol the free iodine from the precipitate formed. A greenish-white precipitate.

(Commercial.) To a solution of sulphate of copper, 1 part, and protosulphate of iron, 3 parts, add a solution of iodide of potassium, and wash and dry the precipitate. This is the preparation commonly known in trade by the name of ‘iodide of copper.’

Cupric Nitrate. Cu(NO3)2. Syn. Nitrate of copper; Cu′pri ni′tras, L. Prep. By dissolving the copper in dilute nitric acid to saturation; evaporating to dryness; redissolving in distilled water; filtering, evaporating, and allowing to crystallise; or from black oxide of copper and nitric acid in the same manner.

Prop., Uses, &c. Deep-blue prismatic crystals, very soluble in water and deliquescent, soluble in alcohol. Generally used in medicine externally, in injections, or as a caustic, but sometimes given internally, dissolved in mucilaginous liquids.—Dose, ⁄8 to ⁄4 gr.

Cuprous Oxide. Cu2O. Syn. Red oxide of copper, Dinox′ide, Suboxide; Cupri subox′ydum, L. Prep. Add grape sugar to a solution of sulphate or acetate of copper, then further add caustic potassa in excess; the blue solution heated to ebullition deposits the suboxide, which must then be collected, washed, and dried.

A solution of cane sugar, 27 parts, in water, 60 parts, is poured over hydrated oxide of copper (weighed in the compressed and still moist state), 9 parts; a solution of caustic potassa, 18 parts, in water, 60 parts, is then added, and the whole mass well agitated together at the ordinary temperature, and strained through linen. If the dark-blue filtrate is next heated (continually stirring), over a water bath, anhydrous cuprous oxide is disengaged, and the liquor becomes nearly colourless.

Prop., Uses, &c. A superb red powder, with a metallic lustre. It often occurs in beautiful transparent, ruby-red crystals, associated with other ores of copper, and can be obtained in this state by artificial means. It is used as a pigment and a bronze, and as a stain for glass and enamels, to which it gives a rich red colour. By heat it is converted into the black oxide. With ammonia it forms a colourless solution, which rapidly becomes blue from the action of the air.

Cupric Oxide. CuO. Syn. Ox′ide of copper, Black oxide, Protoxide; Cu′pri protox′ydum. Prep. By heating the nitrate or carbonate of copper to redness. When it ceases to lose weight the conversion is completed, and the oxide appears as a heavy, black powder.

By heating in the air the hydrated oxide thrown down from solutions of copper by pure potassa.

By adding caustic potassa, in excess, to a solution of a cupric salt, and heating the whole to a boiling-point; the precipitate is then collected, washed, and dried. A heavy, dark-brown powder.

Uses, &c. Protoxide of copper is unchanged by heat unless combustible matter is present, when it readily parts with its oxygen; hence its general use in ORGANIC ANALYSIS as a source of that element. It communicates a beautiful green colour to glass and enamels. With the acids it produces the ordinary salts of copper.

Cupric Sulphate. CuSO4.5Aq. Syn. Sulphate of copper, Blue cop′peras, B. vit′riol; Cu′pri sul′phas, L.; Sulfate de cuivre, Fr.; Kupfer vitriol, Ger.; Neela tootia, Hind. Prep. (Commercial.) The sulphate of copper of commerce is obtained by the oxidation of native sulphide of copper (COPPER PYRITES); by the joint action of air, heat, and moisture, the copper is converted into an oxide, and the sulphur into sulphuric acid. The resulting salt is washed out, and the solution evaporated and crystallised. The water found in and issuing from copper mines often furnishes such a solution ready to the hands of the manufacturers. A large quantity of sulphate of copper is also obtained as a secondary product in the refining of silver, and is occasionally prepared by dissolving in sulphuric acid an oxychloride of copper, made for the purpose by exposing sheets of copper to the joint action of air and hydrochloric acid.

(Pure.) By the direct solution of the metal, or preferably, of its oxide or carbonate in sulphuric acid, or by purifying the commercial salt by recrystallisation, &c.

Prop., Uses, &c. Fine blue crystals, slightly efflorescent, having an intensely styptic and metallic taste. By heat the blue salt loses its water of crystallisation, and becomes a white, anhydrous powder. It dissolves in 4 parts of water at 60° Fahr., and in 2 parts at 212°; is insoluble in alcohol and ether; and is decomposed at an intense heat into protoxide of copper, sulphurous acid, and oxygen. It has been used to prevent the dry rot in timber and in dyeing. It is largely employed as a source of metallic copper in the ELECTROTYPE. Grain is steeped in a weak solution of it by the farmer, to prevent the ‘smut,’ As a medicine, it is employed chiefly as a styptic (in solution) and caustic (in substance) to destroy ‘proud flesh,’ and, less frequently, as an astringent or tonic (from ⁄4 gr. to 2 gr.), and an emetic (3 or 4 gr. to 10 or 12 gr). It is exceedingly poisonous.

COP′PERAS. This is a generic name for the CRUDE METALLIC SULPHATES. When used without a qualifying adjective, it generally means sulphate of iron.

Copperas, Blue. Crude sulphate of copper. See Copper (above).

Copperas, Calcined′. From green copperas, heated in an unglazed earthen pot until it becomes white and dry. Used as an astringent and ‘drier,’ and in making ink and dyeing.

Copperas, Green. Syn. Copperas. Crude sulphate of iron. See Iron.

Copperas, White. Crude sulphate of zinc. See Zinc.

COP′PERING. Iron may be covered with a thin film of copper by merely immersing it (previously scoured clean) in an acidulated solution of sulphate of copper, after which it must be rinsed in clean water. This film soon rubs off, but still it lasts long enough to deceive the travelling tinker’s customers, who imagine that their copper kettles are properly repaired. Metals may be conveniently coated with compact copper to any desired thickness by means of voltaic electricity. See Electrotype.

COP′ROLITE. Syn. Dung′stone, Fossil manure. This mineral is the petrified dung of carnivorous reptiles. (Buckland.) Coprolites are found in all the secondary and tertiary strata. They contain a considerable proportion of phosphate of lime, for which reason they are largely employed in the manufacture of artificial manures. They form the bases of Lawes’ SUPERPHOSPHATE OF COPROLITE MANURE. The nodules, after being washed, are ground to powder in a mill, and mixed with an equal weight of oil of vitriol.

COPTIS TEETA. (Ind. Ph.) Syn. Coptis, or Mishmi tita. Hab. Mishmel mountains, east of Assam. Officinal part. The dried root (Coptidis Radix), imported into Bengal from Assam in small rattan baskets, each containing from 1 to 2 ounces of the drug. This consists of pieces of a woody rhizome, of the thickness of a small goose-quill and from 1 to 2 inches in length, often contracted at one extremity into a short woody stem; the surface is usually rough, irregular, more or less annulated, and marked with the remains of rootlets in the shape of short spiny point. Externally, yellowish-brown; internally, much brighter, frequently of a golden-yellow colour, exhibiting on fracture a radiated structure. Taste, persistently bitter, and when chewed tinges the saliva yellow. Contains neither tannic nor gallic acid, but abounds with a yellow, bitter principle, soluble in water and alcohol.—Prop. Pure bitter tonic.—Therapeutic uses. In debility, convalescence after fevers, and other debilitating diseases, atonic dyspepsia, and in mild forms of intermittent fevers.—Dose, 10 to 15 gr. of the powdered root, thrice daily.

Tincture of Coptis (Tinctura Coptidis). Take of coptis root, in coarse powder, 2⁄2 oz.; proof spirits, 2 pints. Macerate for 7 days in a closed vessel, with occasional agitation; strain, press, filter, and add sufficient proof spirit to make 1 pint.—Dose. ⁄2 to 2 fl. oz.

Infusion of Coptis (Infusum Coptidis). Take of coptis root, in coarse powder, 5 dr.; boiling water, 1 pint. Infuse in a covered vessel for 2 hours, and strain.—Dose, 1 to 2 fl. oz., thrice daily.

COR′AL. Syn. Coral′lium, L. The comprehensive term for all calcareous or stony structures secreted by the marine asteroid polypes, or zoophytes. The RED CORAL of commerce, which is so largely employed for beads, earrings, and other ornaments, may be described as the internal skeleton of Corallium rubrum.

Coral, Red (Facti′′tious). Syn. Coral′lium ru′brum facti′′tium, L. Prepared chalk, coloured with a little sesquioxide of iron or rose pink, and passed through a sieve. Sold by the druggists for powdered coral.

Coral, Prepared’ Red. Syn. Coral′lium ru′brum prepara′tum. Levigated coral was formerly used in medicine as an antacid or absorbent, and is still occasionally employed as a dentifrice. It consists almost entirely of carbonate of lime, coloured with red oxide of iron, and possesses no advantage over good chalk. It is prepared in a similar manner as chalk.

CORAL, to Bleach. Immerse the coral in a mixture composed of one part of hydrochloric acid, and thirty parts of water; and keep it in this liquid until it becomes quite white. It should then be taken out, washed well in cold water, and allowed to dry.

COPPER, CYANIDE (CuCy2). This salt is much used in electro-coppering. It may be obtained by adding to a solution of a copper salt, a solution of ferrocyanide of potassium; when a precipitate is obtained, which dried, is of a brown colour, and is cyanide of copper.

CORALLINE. See Tar Colours.

CORD′IALS. Syn. Cardi′aca, L. Warm, stimulating, restorative medicines, that tend to raise the spirits and promote the circulation. The principal cordial medicines are noticed under the heads Tincture and Syrup. See also Patent Medicines.

Cordials. Aromatised and sweetened spirits used as beverages. See Liqueur.

CORIAN′DER. Syn. (Coriander fruit, Coriandri fructus, (B. P.); Corianders, C. seed; Coriandrum (Ph. L. E. & D.), L. “The ripe fruit of the Coriandrum sativum, dried.” (B. P.) Coriander is chiefly used by confectioners and distillers as a flavouring ingredient. In the East it is much employed as a condiment, being an ingredient in CURRY POWDER. It is aromatic, carminative, and stimulant; and more effectually covers the taste of senna than any other substance.—Dose, 20 to 60 gr.; chiefly used as a corrective or adjuvant in compound medicines.

CORK. The outer bark of the Quercus Suber or cork oak, a tree common in southern France, Italy, and Spain. The bark obtained from the younger branches of the same tree is employed for tanning. See Alcornoco.

Cork. A stopple or plug for a bottle or jar cut from the above substance. The common practice of employing inferior corks for the purpose of stopping the mouths of bottles is often productive of considerable loss, from the air being only partially excluded, and the contents suffering in consequence. Many a large bin of valuable wine has become, from this cause, in less than a year, little better than sour ‘Cape.’ Chemical preparations often suffer from a similar cause. The best corks are those called ‘velvet corks,’ and of these the finest qualities are imported from France. No pains should be spared to obtain sound and soft cork for connecting the combustion- and drying-tubes used in organic analysis.

Ruschhaupt gives the following process for preparing corks for corking bottles containing alcoholic or caustic liquids:—Paraffin is fused in a suitable vessel, the dry corks are added, and immersed in the paraffin by means of a perforated coon or disk. The air is now easily expelled from the pores of the corks, which after about five minutes, are removed and cooled; they may now be cut and bored like wax, are easily driven into the necks of bottles, and readily removed, retain their smoothness and are gas-tight throughout.

Several attempts have been made to introduce cork-cutting by machinery, but they have hitherto failed to supersede hand labour.

Cork-bo′′rer. A thin brass tube, filed to a cutting edge, used for piercing holes through corks. Several tubes of different sizes, which fit into each other, are generally sold together. This simple and convenient instrument was introduced into the laboratory by Dr Mohr.

CORN. Syn. Cla′vus, L. A horny induration of the skin, with a central nucleus, very sensitive at the base. The common cause of corns is continued pressure over the projection of the bones, from tight or stiff boots or shoes. They are of two kinds, hard and soft. The first grow on the exposed portions of the joints; the last, between the toes.

Preven. This consists in keeping the feet clean, by frequent ablution with warm water, and in the use of easy, soft boots and shoes. Without the latter precaution, corns will generally return, even after they appear to have been perfectly removed.

Treatment. After soaking the feet in warm water for a few minutes, pare the corns as close as possible with a sharp knife, taking care not to make them bleed. They may now be touched over with a little lunar caustic, or nitric acid, or a little concentrated acetic acid or aromatic vinegar. The last two do not stain the skin. The first is used by merely rubbing it on the corns, previously slightly moistened with water; the others, by moistening the corns with them, by means of a small strip of wood, or, preferably, a rod of glass; due care being taken not to allow the liquid to touch the neighbouring parts. This treatment, adopted every 3 or 4 days for 10 days or a fortnight, accompanied by the use of soft, loose shoes, will generally effect a cure. It has been recommended to remove large corns by ligatures of silk, applied as close to their base as possible, and tightened daily until they drop off; but this plan is tedious, and often inconvenient, and is not always successful. Another mode of extirpation is, the application of a small blister, which will frequently raise them with the skin out of their beds. In this case the exposed surface must be dressed with a little simple ointment. Soft corns may be removed by applying ivy leaf, previously soaked in strong vinegar changing the piece every morning; or by placing a dressing of soap cerate, spread on a bit of lint or old rag, between the toes. One of the simplest and best remedies for hard corns, and which has received the sanction of high medical authority, is to wear upon the toe or part affected a small, circular piece of soft leather, or, still better, a piece of amadou, spread with diachylon, or some other emollient plaster, and having a hole cut in the centre, corresponding to the size of the corn. (Sir B. Brodie.) By this means the pressure of the boot or shoe is equalised and the apex of the corn protected from injury. The following are among the most useful of the POPULAR REMEDIES FOR CORNS:—

Corns, Caus′tic for. Prep. From tincture of iodine and chloride of antimony, of each, 1 dr.; iodide of iron, 3 grs.; mix. It is applied with a camel-hair brush, after paring the corn. 2 to 4 applications are said to effect a cure.

Obs. Most of the remedies noticed below really act as caustics.

Corns, Lo′tion for. Prep. 1. A solution of sal-ammoniac, 1 part; in proof spirit, 4 parts.

2. A concentrated aqueous solution of sulphate of copper. To be applied night and morning.

Corn Plasters. Prep. 1. From white diachylon, 3 parts; yellow resin, 2 parts; verdigris, 1 part; melted together, and spread on leather.

2. From galbanum plaster, 1 oz.; verdigris, 1 dr.; as the last.

3. From resin plaster, 2 oz.; black pitch, 1 oz.; verdigris and sal-ammoniac, of each ⁄2 dr.

4. To the last add powdered opium, 1 dr. Recommended to allay pain, &c.

5. (W. Cooley.) A piece of spread adhesive plaster is placed upon a table, and a piece of card paper having a round hole cut in it the size of the central portion of the corn is laid upon it; the exposed part is then softened by holding a piece of heated iron for a second or two near it; the card paper is then instantly removed, and nitrate of silver, in fine powder is sprinkled over the part which has been warmed. As soon as the whole is cold, the loose powder is shaken off, and the plaster is ready for use. Very cleanly and convenient. Two or three applications seldom fail to effect a cure.

6. (Mechanical Corn Plasters.) From common adhesive plaster spread on buckskin, amadou, or vulcanised india rubber, cut into pieces, and a circular hole corresponding to the size of the corn punched in each.

Corn Sol′vent. Prep. 1. Carbonate of potassa or pearlash, contained in an open jar or bottle, set in a damp place, until it deliquesces into an oil-like liquid (oil of tartar). Applied by means of a feather, or a small piece of rag dipped in it is bound on the corn.

2. Hydrate of potassa, 1 dr.; rectified spirit 1 oz.; dissolve. As No. 1.

3. Carbonate of potassa, with smalts, ochre, or bole, q. s. to give it the required colour. It must be kept dry, in a well-corked bottle. A pinch is placed on the corn, and confined by means of adhesive plaster or rag.

4. Carbonate of soda, 1 oz., finely powdered and mixed with lard, ⁄2 oz. Applied on linen rag every night.

5. (Sir H. Davy’s.) Carbonate of potassa, 2 parts; salt of sorrel, 1 part; each in fine powder; mix, and place a small quantity on the corn for four or five successive nights, binding it on with a rag.

Obs. Care must be taken, in all cases, to pare the corn moderately close before applying the remedy; but in no case should any of the above be applied to a raw surface.

Corns, Pomade’ for. Prep. 1. Powdered verdigris, 1 dr.; savine ointment, 7 dr.

2. Dried carbonate of soda, 3 dr.; lard, 5 dr.; verdigris or smalts, q. s. to give a slight tinge of green or blue. Applied on a piece of rag.

Treatment for Horses.—“Pare out carefully the seat of corn, removing all reddened and diseased horn; reduce the crust of the quarter slightly, where it is unduly strong, but leave the bars and frog untouched. They must be religiously preserved, especially in weak feet, to afford a wide bearing for the bar shoe that should afterwards be used. To soften the parts, apply, in bad cases, a poultice for a day or two, and a few drops of nitric acid, when the horn is dry and scurfy; keep the hoof soft with soft soap and lard, or any emollient dressing, and pare out the corn every fortnight. In horses subject to corns, shoe and pare out frequently; and along with leather pads, use a bar shoe made with a wide heel on the inside quarter, and nailed only on the outside, or with one nail toward the inside toe.”

CORRO′SIVE SUBLIMATE. See Mercury.

CORUN′DUM. See Emery.

CORYZA. Cold in the head. See Catarrh.

COSMET′ICS. Syn. Cosmet′ica, L.; Cosmetiques, Fr. External applications employed for the purpose of preserving or restoring personal beauty. The term is generally understood to refer to substances applied to the cuticle, to improve the colour and clearness of the complexion; but some writers have included under this head every topical application used with the like intention. Hence cosmetics may be divided into—CUTANEOUS COSMETICS, or those applied to the skin; HAIR COSMETICS, or such as are employed to promote the growth and beauty of the hair; and TEETH COSMETICS, or such as are used to cleanse and beautify the teeth. See Baldness, Cosmetique, Dentifrices, Depilatory, Hair-Dye, Pomade, Tooth Powder, &c.

COSMETIC VINEGAR (Acetum cosmeticum) is a mixture of tinct. benz., 60 parts; bals. Peruv., 10 parts; eau de Cologne and bals. vitæ Hoffm. ph. bor. āā 150 parts; aceti puri, 300 parts; allowed to precipitate and filtered clear.

COSMETICUM (Dr Henry’s):—For scalp diseases and an application for the hair. Spirit, 180 parts; oil of lemon, 3 parts; oil of bergamot, oil of rosemary, and oil of lavender, of each 1 part. (Hager.)

Cosmeticum (Siemerling) for skin affections, freckles, &c. Sweet almonds, 30 grammes; bitter almonds, 15 grammes; blanched and emulsified with 330 grammes of water; the emulsion strained and mixed with 25 grammes tinct. benzoin and 15 grammes lemon juice. (Wittstein.)

COSMETIQUE. [Fr.] Hard pomatum, formed into a cake or stick for the toilet. It is sometimes coloured black or brown, the pigments being added in the state of an impalpable powder.

1. (Black—Cosmetique Noir.) From good lard, 5 parts; wax, 2 parts; (or, hard pomatum, 7 parts;) melt, stir in levigated ivory black, 2 parts; and pour it into moulds of tinfoil; which are afterwards to be placed in paper sheaths.

2. (Brown—Cosmetique Brun.) As the last, but using levigated umber for ‘plain brown,’ and levigated terra di Sienna for ‘auburn’ and ‘chestnut.’

3. (White, or Plain—Cosmetique Blanc.) The same, without colouring matter.

Obs. They are generally scented with musk, ambergris, or cassia.

Use. The above are used to colour moustaches, eyebrows, whiskers, &c., as well as to keep the hair in its place. The labels on the packets before us have—“pour fixer et lisser les cheveux.” The application must be renewed daily, as the cosmetique is gradually removed by friction, and perfectly so by soap-and-water.

COSMOLINE. Syn. Cosmolin. Under the names of Cosmoline and Vaseline some fatty substances melting at 32° to 85° or even 95° C. have lately appeared in commerce. They are very variable mixtures of solid paraffin with paraffin oil, neutral oil, lubricating oil, &c., and are the residues left after the distillation of petroleum slightly purified by means of charcoal. (Miller.)

Cosmoline has been examined by Mr Naylor, who states his belief that it consists of a mixture of paraffins. Comparing Mr Naylor’s results with those obtained by Mr Moss, in an analysis made of a body imported from America, and called “Vaseline,” there seems little reason to doubt that if this latter and “Cosmoline” are not the same substance, they differ from each other only in a very minute degree, this difference not improbably being due to the varying temperature employed in producing them. Cosmoline was found to have the composition:—

Hydrocarbons (paraffins?) 98·59

Moisture 0·69

Ash 0·04

99·32

It melts at 40°C., and has a sp. gr. of 0·866 at 45°C. The composition of Vaseline is as follows:—

Hydrocarbons (paraffins?) 97·54

Moisture 0·50

Ash 0·05

98·09

It melts at 37° C., and has a sp. gr. of 0·840 at 55° C.

Both bodies are pale yellow in colour, translucent, slightly fluorescent, and semi-solid, and both are alike insoluble in water, slightly soluble in alcohol, and freely so in ether, whilst they are unaffected by hydrochloric acid and solution of potash. The processes by which it is believed cosmoline and vaseline are obtained, consist in separating the various volatile hydrocarbons from crude petroleum by distillation, the residuum is then brought into contact with superheated steam, and finally purified by filtration through animal charcoal. Vaseline has been also named “petroleum jelly.” Professor Otto, of New York, says that vaseline is very extensively used throughout the United States, as a substitute for lard in the preparation of ointments, a purpose for which the freedom from smell, the negative properties and unalterable qualities when exposed to the air, of both substances, seem highly to commend their superiority to lard for this purpose. They have also been employed very successfully for lubricating surgical instruments, and we believe are, when properly scented, used largely as the basis of hair pomades, whilst their suitability for the preparation of suppositories and pessaries has been urged.

This has been demonstrated by the much greater length of time during which certain ointments made by them remain fresh and undecomposed when compared with those in which lard was used.

The ‘American Journal of Pharmacy’ for March, 1877, gives the following formula as a substitute for cold cream, by E. J. Davidson:—Cosmoline, 24 oz.; white wax, spermaceti, of each 12 oz.; glycerin, 3 fl. oz.; oil of geranium, 1 fl. dr.

COSMOS POMADE (J. Pohlmann, Vienna), 1⁄2 parts white wax, 3 parts spermaceti, 2 parts castor oil, 8 parts almond oil, 2 parts glycerine, 9 parts extract of mignonette, ⁄2 part eau de Cologne. (Hager.)

COTARN′INE. A crystallisable substance obtained from the mother-liquors of opianic acid. It is basic, very soluble, and bitter. Hydrochlorate of cotarnine is soluble and crystalline.

COTO BARK. A bark said to be imported from the interior of Bolivia, and thought by Dr Wittstein to belong to a lauraceous or a terebinthinaceous plant. In one specimen examined by Jobst was found a yellowish-white crystalline substance with the biting taste of the bark, which Jobst believes to be its active principle, and to which he gives the name Cotoin. Another sample, however, analysed by Jobst in conjunction with Hesse, failed to yield any cotoin, but gave instead a crystalline mass which consisted principally of three crystalline bodies, to which these chemists purpose applying the names paracotoin, oxyleucotin, and leucotin. Dr Gietel reports that he made trial of the bark therapeutically with some patients in the general hospital of Munich, and the results he obtained were such that he regards it as a specific against diarrhœa in all its varieties. Sometimes he administered it in the form of powder, and at others in that of tincture, the latter being made in the proportions of one part of bark to ten of spirit. He gave of the powder ⁄2 grain four to six times a day, and of the tincture 10 minims every two hours. Herr Burkhart, similarly making trial of the cotoin and paracotoin instead, was equally successful as far as regarded its anti-diarrhœic action, paracotoin, however, exercising a slighter effect than the cotoin. Herr Burkhart administered paracotoin either in powder ⁄10th of a gram, with ⁄6th of a gram of sugar every three hours, or ⁄2 a gram rubbed up as an emulsion.

COT′TON. Syn. Gossypium, L. The cotton of which textile fabrics are made consists of hairs covering the seeds of certain plants belonging to the natural order Malvaceæ, or the Mallow family. Our commercial cotton appears to be derived from four distinct species, viz.—

Gossypium arboreum. The tree cotton, an Indian species. Unlike the other cotton plants, it has the dimensions of a small tree. The cotton-hairs are remarkably soft and silky, and are woven by the natives into very fine muslin, used for turbans by the privileged classes only.

Gossypium Barbadense. The ‘Barbadoes’ or ‘Bourbon cotton plant.’ This is the species which yields all our best cotton. In the small American islands which fringe the coast from Charlestown to Savannah, this plant has produced the celebrated ‘sea-island cotton,’ which is unrivalled for the length of its ‘staple,’ its strength, and silkiness.

Gossypium herbaceum. The common cotton plant of India. It produces the Surat cotton of commerce.

Gossypium Peruvianum or acuminatum. A species supposed to be indigenous to America. It furnishes the South American varieties of cotton, as Pernambuco, Peruvian, Maranham, and Brazilian.

Identif. See Linen.

Dyeing. The fibres of cotton have nearly the same affinity for mordants and the colouring matter of dyed stuffs as linen, and may be treated in the same manner. See Dyeing, Linen, &c.

Cotton Cake. The cake remaining after the expression of the oil from the seeds of the cotton plant (Gossypium) is used as a cattle food. The decorticated is preferred to the undecorticated variety, as the latter is said to occasionally set up dangerous internal irritation amongst the animals partaking of it.

Composition of cotton-cake (decorticated).

Moisture 9·18

Oil 16·05

Albuminous compounds 41·25

Non-nitrogenous principles 16·45

Phosphates and insoluble earthy matters 8·15

Woody fibre 8·92

100·00

COTTON, GUN-. See Pyroxylin.

COUGH. Syn. Tus′sis, L. The sudden and violent expulsion of air from the lungs. It is generally symptomatic of other affections, but is sometimes idiopathic, or a primary disease. Many cases of cough depend upon the extension of catarrh to the trachea and bronchiæ, which thus become loaded with mucus or phlegm, which they endeavour to throw off by the convulsive effort called coughing. In some cases it is caused by a vitiation and inspissation of the secretions, arising from the imperfect action of the absorbents; this is the common cause of the dry cough of old people. Idiopathic cough is not considered dangerous in itself, or while running its regular course, but it is often productive of most serious consequences, by superinducing the inflammation of some organ, or laying the foundation of phthisis.

Cough is sometimes attended by copious expectoration, and at other times exists without any; it has hence been distinguished into moist or mucous cough, and dry cough.

Treatment. That of common catarrhal cough consists in allaying the irritation as much as possible, by demulcents and expectorants, as mucilaginous drinks and lozenges, which act upon the glottis, and sympathetically upon the trachea and bronchiæ. Among the first may be mentioned almond milk, barley water, refined Spanish juice, gum Arabic, and a mixture of the last two made into lozenges; among the second, the most innocent and convenient is ipecacuanha, in the shape of lozenges, 2 or 3 of which maybe sucked whenever the cough is troublesome. A light diet should be adopted, the bowels kept slightly relaxed by the use of gentle aperients, and a mild and equable temperature sought as much as possible. When this plan does not succeed, recourse may be had to an emetic, followed by small doses of Dover’s powders, and extract or tincture of henbane or squill pill. When a cough is troublesome at night and unattended with fever, a small dose of laudanum, or tincture of henbane, taken on going to rest, will generally procure sleep. In the treatment of dry cough the more stimulating expectorants are useful, as garlic, ammoniacum, styrax, and benzoin, combined with narcotics and sedatives, as henbane, hemlock, and opium. A diaphoretic opiate is also very useful, especially in the cough of old people. See Draught, Emulsion, Mixture, Pills, &c.

COU′MARIN (kōō). Syn. Cu′marin. The odorous principle of the fruit or bean of Dipteryxodorata (tonquin bean). It exists in several other plants, as Melilotus officinalis, Asperula odorata, and Anthoxanthum odoratum.

Prep. From the sliced tonquin beans, by macerating in hot alcohol; straining through cloth, and distilling off the greater part of the spirit. The syrupy residue deposits, on standing, crystals of Coumarin, which must be purified from fat oil by pressure, and then crystallised from hot water.

Prop. Slender, brilliant, colourless needles; fusible at 122° Fahr., and distilling at a higher temperature without decomposition. It has a fragrant odour and burning taste; it is very slightly soluble in cold water, more freely in hot water, and also in alcohol.

COUNTER-IR′RITANTS. In medicine and pharmacy, substances applied to the surface of the body to establish a secondary morbid action, with the view of relieving one already existing. In painful and spasmodic affections, as neuralgia, spasms, and cramp; in rheumatism, lumbago, swelled and painful joints; in headache, sore throat, sprains, languid glandular tumours, and many other cases, this class of medicine often proves extremely valuable. The counter-irritants which are best known are blisters, mustard poultices, hartshorn-and-oil, and liniment of ammonia.

COURT PLAS′TER. See Plaster.

COW DUNG. This substance was formerly employed in large quantities by the calico printers. Recently a mixture of sulphate, carbonate, and phosphate of lime and soda, with British gum or bran, has been successfully tested as a substitute for it, and has the advantage of cleanliness and economy.

COW′HAGE. Syn. Cow′itch; Mucun′a (Ph. L. E. & D.), L. “The hairs of the fruit Mucuna pruriens” (Ph. L.). “The hairs from the pods” (Ph. E.). “The hairy down” (Ph. D.). It occasions violent itching when it comes in contact with the skin, which can only be allayed by a solution of green vitriol, or by oil. It is frequently administered as a vermifuge, made into a confection, by scraping the hair off a pod into treacle, syrup, or honey, for a morning dose, which is repeated for 3 or 4 successive days, followed by a brisk purge. It acts more effectually if its administration has been preceded by a gentle emetic.

COW-POX. [Variola Vaccina.] A disease affecting the udder in cows. The treatment consists in fomenting the udder and applying poultices of spent hops, giving laxative and saline medicines, and in drawing off the milk with a teat-syphon.

COWS. See Dairy.

CRAB. See Shell-fish.

CRACKNELS. Small, brittle cakes or biscuits, made by first boiling and then baking paste. Prep. To flour, 1 pint, add a little grated nutmeg, the yolks of 2 eggs, 2 or 3 spoonfuls of rose-water, and cold water, q. s. to make a paste; then roll in butter, ⁄2 lb., and make it into shapes. In one hour put them into a kettle of boiling water, and boil them until they swim, then throw them into cold water; take them out; and when dry, bake them on tins. Those of the shops contain less butter, and the rose-water is omitted.

CRACK′NUTS. Thin and sweet cakes or wafers. Prep. 1. Flour, 1 lb.; sugar, ⁄4 lb.; melted butter, ⁄2 lb.; 6 or 7 eggs, well beaten; make a paste with a glassful of raisin wine and a little water; add caraways, roll it out as thin as paper, cut it into shapes with a tumbler, wash the pieces with the white of egg, and dust them over with powdered sugar.

2. As the last, but using ⁄2 lb. more flour.

CRAMP. See Spasms.

CRAPE is cleaned by rinsing it in ox-gall and water, to remove the dirt; afterwards in pure water, to remove the gall; and lastly, in a little gum-water, to stiffen and crisp it. It is then clapped between the hands until dry.

CRAY-FISH. See Shell-fish.

CRAY′ONS. Colouring substances made up into small cylinders or any other convenient form for use in writing or drawing.

Crayons, Draw′ing. Prep. 1. Spermaceti, 3 oz.; boiling water, 1 pint; agitate together till they form a species of emulsion; add bone ash, 1 lb. (or more, previously reduced to an impalpable powder), and colouring matter, q. s. to give the proper tint; reduce the whole to a perfectly homogeneous paste, and form it into crayons.

2. Pipeclay and the finest prepared chalk, equal parts; or pipeclay alone, q. s.; colouring, a sufficient quantity; make them into a paste with pale mild ale.

3. White curd or Castile soap, cut into thin shavings, 1 oz.; boiling water, 1 pint; dissolve, and when cold, add gradually as much rectified spirit of wine as will render the liquid barely transparent. With this fluid make equal parts of the finest elutriated clay and chalk into a stiff paste, adding colouring matter, q. s., as before. For common qualities, the spirit of wine may be omitted, but the mass will then dry more slowly.

4. Curd soap, 1⁄2 oz.; gum Arabic, ⁄2 oz.; boiling water, 1⁄4 pint; dissolve, and use it as the last. General Lomet uses a similar mixture to work up the softest varieties of hematite, with which he thus forms superior red crayon.

5. (Process of the Brothers Joel, of Paris.) Shell-lac, 3 parts; spirit of wine, 4 parts; oil of turpentine, 2 parts; dissolve, add pure clay, 6 parts; colouring matter, q. s.; form the mass into crayons, and dry them by a stove heat.

6. Pale shell-lac, 5 parts; wood naphtha, 12 parts; dissolve, and with this fluid mix up the colouring powder, previously stirred up with an equal weight of fine pale-blue clay; dry by a stove heat, as before. When this process is well managed, it produces crayons equal to those of the best Parisian houses.

Obs. The composition may be formed into crayons by simply rolling it on a slab; but to ensure their solidity the manufacturers generally employ a metallic cylinder of 2 or 3 inches in diameter, with one end open and the other firmly secured to a perforated plate, having holes of the same size as the intended crayons. The crayon composition, in the state of a stiff paste or dough, is introduced into the open end, and is forced down and through the holes, by means of a small plug or piston, that exactly fits the inside of the cylinder, and which is driven by the equable motion of a small screw. The pieces that pass through the holes are then cut into lengths and dried.

The substances employed as colouring matters for crayons are very numerous, and their choice offers a wide field for the skill and fancy of the artist. The pigment having been selected, it may be reduced to any shade or tint by admixture with other pigments, and by ‘dilution’ with a proper quantity of elutriated or prepared chalk. As, however, crayon colours do not admit of being mixed together at the time of using them, like liquid colours, it is usual to make 3 to 6 different shades of each colour, so as to enable the artist at once to produce any effect he chooses.

Crayons, Black. From prepared black-lead, ivory-black, lamp-black, &c. Black chalk and charcoal are frequently made into crayons by simply sawing them into suitably sized pieces. They may then be put into a pipkin of melted wax, and allowed to macerate for an hour; after which they should be taken out, drained, and laid on a piece of blotting paper to dry. Drawings made with these crayons are very permanent, and if warmed slightly on the wrong side, the lines will adhere, and become almost as durable as ink.

Crayons, Blue. From indigo, smalts, Prussian blue, verditer, &c.

Crayons, Brown. From umber (raw and burnt), terra di Sienna (raw and burnt), Cullen’s earth, brown ochre, &c.; and some peculiar shades, from a mixture of black, carmine, and either of the above colours.

Crayons, Green. From a mixture of king’s yellow, or yellow ochre, with blues.

Crayons, Purple. From any of the more brilliant blues, mixed with carmine, lake, or vermilion.

Crayons, Red. From carmine, carminated lakes, vermilion, hematite, and any of the earthy or mineral colours commonly used as pigments. Crayons of red chalk may be prepared in the manner pointed out for crayons of black chalk.

Crayons, White. From pure clay and chalk.

Crayons, Yellow. From king’s yellow, Naples yellow, orpiment, yellow ochre, &c.

Crayons, Lithograph′ic. Prep. 1. Tallow-soap, 7 parts; white wax, 6 parts; melt by a gentle heat, and add lamp-black, 1 part; keep it melted with constant stirring, for 20 or 30 minutes, then let it cool a little, and cast it into moulds.

2. White wax, 4 parts; shell-lac and hard tallow-soap, of each 2 parts; lamp-black, 1 part; as last.

3. Spermaceti, white wax, and hard tallow-soap, of each equal parts; lamp-black, q. s. to colour.

Obs. Some makers melt the soap, wax, and lamp-black in an iron ladle, over a brisk fire, and allow the mixture to blaze for a few seconds before adding the shell-lac, which is no sooner thoroughly incorporated than the heat is increased until the mass again kindles, when it is at once removed from the fire and stirred until it is cool enough to be poured into the moulds. This method leads to trouble and loss, without any corresponding advantage. These crayons are used to draw designs upon lithographic stones.

Crayons for Writing on Glass. Prep. 1. From French chalk, cut into suitable pieces. Marks made with these crayons, when obscured or rubbed out, may be several times revived by simply breathing on the glass.

2. (Brunquelle.) Spermaceti, 4 parts, tallow, 3 parts, wax, 2 parts, are melted together in a cup; and red lead, 6 parts, and carbonate of potassa (in fine powder), 1 part, stirred in; the mass is kept melted and stirred for about half an hour longer, then poured into glass moulds (tubes) of the thickness of a common pencil, and cooled as rapidly as possible. The mass may be screwed up and down in the tube, and cut to a point with a knife. A crayon is thus obtained which will readily write upon clean, dry glass.

CREAM. Syn. Crem′or, C. lac′tis, Flos lac′tis, L. The oleaginous portion of milk, which collects in a thin stratum upon the surface, when that fluid is left undisturbed for some time. By violent agitation, as in the process of churning, the fatty globules unite together, forming butter; whilst the liquid portion, consisting of caseum, serum, and a little butter, constituting the residuum, is called butter-milk. This separation is effected the most readily when the cream has become partially sour and coagulated by being kept a few days, a change which occurs in consequence of the conversion of some of the sugar of the serum into lactic acid, which precipitates the caseous matter contained in the small portion of the milk with which the cream is mixed. On these simple facts chiefly depend the successful manufacture of butter. The cream intended for churning should therefore be kept until it turns slightly sour, and assumes the condition above referred to, as then the butter will readily ‘come.’ If churned while quite sweet the operation will be tedious, and will frequently fail. When this happens the dairy maids declare the milk is ‘charmed’ or ‘bewitched,’ and reluctantly proceed with the operation. The addition of a little rennet or vinegar is the proper remedy in this case, and will cause the almost immediate separation of the butter.

When cream is suspended in a linen bag, and allowed to drain, it gradually becomes drier and harder, by the separation of the liquid portion, and then forms what is known by the name of cream cheese. By the application of slight pressure the separation of the whey is more completely effected, and the product is not only better, but will keep longer.

Qual. Cream, in a dietetic point of view, may be regarded in the same light as butter, as it is converted into butter in the process of digestion. On this account much cream should never be taken at once by persons of delicate stomachs. In eating cream with fruit persons are hardly aware of the large quantity they consume, until they find it disagree with the stomach, when the condiment is blamed for the indiscretion of those who take it.

Mr Wanklyn gives the following as the composition of six different samples of cream:—

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Water 72·20 71·2 66·36 60·17 53·62 50·00

Fat 19·00 14·1 18·87 33·02 38·17 43·90

Milk, Sugar, Casein, and Ash. 8·80 14·7 14·77 6·81 8·21 6·10

A quart of good cream generally yields from 13 oz. to 15 oz. of commercial butter.

Mr Blyth says: “The analysis of cream is conducted on exactly the same principle as that of milk; but the cream must be weighed, not measured; and smaller quantities may be evaporated to dryness in order to estimate the water, if the ratio of water to the solids not fat is such that adulteration may be suspected; for this ratio, although occasionally disturbed by some of the casein rising with the fat, is practically the same as in milk.” Mineral adulterations, such as carbonate of magnesia, will be detected, if present, in the ash. See Milk, Butter, &c.

Cream, Al′mond. Prep. From sweet almonds, 2 oz.; bitter almonds, 4 in no.; blanched and beaten in a mortar to a smooth paste, adding a teaspoonful of water to prevent oiling; and afterwards a pint of cream, and enough powdered lump sugar to sweeten; the whole is then whisked to a froth, the glasses filled with the liquor, and some of the froth placed on the top of each. Some persons add the juice of a lemon.

Cream, Bran′dy. Prep. To the last add the yolks of 6 eggs; heat it gently over the fire until it thickens, keeping it well stirred, then farther add two or three glassfuls of brandy, and pour it into small cups or shallow glasses.

Cream, Burnt. Prep. Cream, 1 quart; cassia, a small stick; peel of half a lemon; boil for 5 minutes, cool a little, take out the spice, and add the yolks of 9 eggs, and sugar, q. s. to sweeten; stir until cold, put it into a dish, strew pounded sugar over it, and bake it until brown.

Cream, Choc′olate. Prep. Chocolate, scraped fine, 1 oz.; thick cream, 1 quart; sugar (best), 6 oz.; heat it nearly to boiling, then remove it from the fire, and mix it well; when cold, add the whites of 8 or 10 eggs; whisk rapidly, and take up the froth on a sieve; serve the cream in glasses, and pile up the froth on the top of them.

Cream, Cof′fee. Prep. 1. As the last, omitting the chocolate, and using a pint of the strongest made coffee.

2. Add a teacupful of very clear, concentrated, made coffee to 1 pint each of clarified calf’s feet jelly and good cream; sweeten with lump sugar, give it one boil up, and pour it into shapes or glasses when nearly cold.

Cream, Cold. See Cosmetic, Cerate and Granulated Cream (below).

Cream, Costorph′in. After a village near Edinburgh, where it is commonly made. Prep. The milk of 3 or 4 consecutive days, together with the cream, are allowed to remain until sour and coagulated; the whey is then drawn off, and fresh cream added. It is eaten with sugar and fruit, especially with strawberries and raspberries.

Cream, Dev′onshire. Prep. 1. (Devonshire raw cream.) From sour cream mixed with an equal quantity of fresh cream, and sweetened with sugar. Eaten with fruit.

2. (Devonshire scalded cream, D. clouted c.) The milk of yesterday is set in a polished, shallow, brass pan, over a clear fire free from smoke, and gradually heated until very hot, care being taken not to let it boil; when the undulations on the surface look thick, and form a ring round the top of the fluid, the size of the bottom of the pan, it is removed from the fire and allowed to cool; the next day it is skimmed off for sale. Used with either tea or coffee, and excellent with both; it is also eaten with sugar and fruit, and is made into butter. See Cream (above).

Cream, D’Illotte’s. Syn. Crystallised cream, Vegetable c. The ingenious manufacturer whose anagrammatic powers have converted his patronym of Elliott into one less familiar to vulgar English ears, prepares this really elegant hair cosmetic as follows:—Oil of almonds, 3 oz., and spermaceti, ⁄2 oz., are melted together; and bergamot, neroli, and verbena, of each 5 drops, and huile au jasmin, 10 drops, are then stirred in, and the mixture is at once poured into small, wide-mouthed bottles, to crystallise. If preferred harder, ⁄2 dr. more spermaceti may be used, but the precise quantity to produce the best crystalline appearance depends greatly on the season of the year, more being required in winter than in summer.

Cream, Facti′′tious. Syn. Mock cream. Prep. 1. Beat 3 eggs, with 2 oz. of sugar, and a small piece of butter, until the combination is complete; then add warm milk, 1 pint; put the vessel into another containing hot water, and stir it one way until it acquires the consistence of cream.

2. Arrowroot, 1 spoonful; wet it with a little cold milk, then add, gradually, boiling milk, ⁄4 pint; mix well, and further add, of fresh butter, 1 oz.; sugar, 1⁄2 oz.; cold milk, ⁄4 pint; and continue stirring until the whole is quite cold.

Cream, Ice. See Ice.

Cream, Fruit. Prep. From pulped or preserved fruit, 1 lb.; cream, or good raw milk, 1 quart; sugar q. s.; boil for 1 minute; cool, and add a glassful of brandy. A froth is raised on these creams with a chocolate mill. It is taken off and placed on a hair sieve, and some of it, after the glasses are filled with the cream, placed on the top of each. The expressed juice of raspberries, of currants, and several other kinds of fruit, also make delicious creams. In winter, raspberry jelly, jam, or syrup may be used. A glass of good brandy improves these creams.

Cream, Fur′niture. See Polish.

Cream, Gran′ulated. Syn. Granulated cold cream. Prep. (Owen.) Almond oil, 6 oz., white wax and spermaceti, of each 2 oz., are melted together, and a little otto of roses added; the liquor is then poured into a large Wedgwood-ware or marble mortar, previously warmed, and containing 1⁄2 to 2 pints of warm water; brisk agitation with the pestle is then had recourse to, until the oleaginous portion is well divided, when the whole is suddenly thrown into a vessel containing a gallon or two of clean cold water; lastly, the granulated cream is thrown on a muslin filter; and as much water as possible is shaken (gently) out of it; after which it is put up for use.

Cream, Lem′on. Prep. From cream, 1 pint; yolks of 3 eggs; powdered sugar, 6 oz.; the yellow rind of 1 lemon (grated), with the juice; mix, apply a gentle heat, and stir until cold. If desired white, the whites of the eggs should be used instead of the yolks.

Cream, Or′ange. Similar to lemon cream, but using oranges.

Cream, Pis′′tachio. From the kernels of pistachio nuts, as almond cream.

Cream, Rasp′berry. See Cream, Fruit.

Cream, Sat′urnine. Syn. Crem′or plum′bi Aceta′tis, L. Prep. (Dr Kirkland.) Cream, 1 oz.; solution of diacetate of lead, 1 dr.; mix. Cooling, sedative, and astringent; a useful application in certain cases to irritable ulcers, sore nipples, &c. It is poisonous.

Cream, Scotch Sour. Prep. (Gray.) Skimmed milk is put over night into a wooden tub, with a spigot at the bottom, and this tub is put into another filled with hot water; in the morning the small tub is taken out and the thin part of the milk (‘wigg’) drawn off until the thick, sour cream begins to come. This process requires practice as to the heat of the water; when it succeeds, skimmed milk yields nearly one half of this cream, which is eaten with sugar as a delicacy; it is only distinguishable from cream by its taste, and sells for double the price of fresh milk.

Cream, Stone. Syn. Cream blancmange. Prep. From isinglass, ⁄2 oz., dissolved in boiling water, a teacupful, adding cream, 1 pint, and sugar, 4 oz.; stirred until nearly cold, and then poured over fruit or preserves, placed on the bottom of glass dishes.

Cream, Tarax′acum. Syn. Crem′or tarax′aci, L. Prep. (Dr Collier.) From washed dandelion roots (sliced), sprinkled with spirit of juniper, and then pressed for their juice.—Dose. A table-spoonful twice or thrice daily, as a stomachic and tonic, in dyspepsia, &c.

Cream, Vanil′la. Prep. 1. Boil a stick of vanilla (grated), and isinglass, ⁄2 oz., in milk, 1 pint, until the latter is dissolved; strain, add sugar, 6 oz., and cream, 1 pint; stir till nearly cold, then pour it into moulds like blancmange.

2. Cream and strong isinglass jelly, of each 1 pint; sugar, 6 oz.; essence of vanilla, ⁄4 oz.; mix as before.

Cream, Vel′vet. Prep. As the last, but, instead of vanilla, flavour with the rind and juice of a lemon, and about a teacupful of white wine.

Cream, Whipped′. Prep. From the whites of 12 eggs; cream, 1 quart; pale sherry, ⁄2 pint; essence of musk and ambergris, of each, 10 drops; essences of lemon and orange peel, of each, 3 or 4 drops; whisk to a froth, remove the latter on to a sieve, fill the glasses with the cream, and then pile the froth on the top of them.

CRE′ASOTE. See Kreasote.

CRE′ATINE. See Kreatine.

CREAT′ININE. See Kreatinine.

CRÉME. [Fr.] Syn. Cream. This name is applied to several compound spirits and cordial liquors, especially by the French liqueuristes, who pride themselves on the superior quality and cream-like smoothness of their manufactures. Like the cordials of the English, they are mostly dilute spirit, aromatised, and sweetened. See Liqueurs.

CREME DE BEAUTÉ. A cosmetic consisting of an emulsion of bitter and sweet almonds.

CREN′IC ACID. A brown substance discovered by Berzelius in certain mineral waters. It is a modification of HUMUS, and is produced by the decay of vegetable matter.

CRESYLIC ACID. C7H8O. Syn. Cresol, Kresylic acid, Kresol. One of the homologues of carbolic acid, found in coal tar. Cresylic, like carbolic acid, is a useful disinfectant.

CRIB-BITING.—The use of deal or any unseasoned wood for the manger may induce this habit in horses. To remedy it the stable fittings should be of iron. As the habit very frequently arises from acidity of stomach in horses, the administration of chalk or other antacids has been recommended.

CRICK′ETS. These insects may be destroyed by putting Scotch snuff into their holes, or by placing some pieces of beetle wafers for them to eat.

CRINUM ASIATICUM. (Ind. Ph.) Habitat. Low humid localities in Bengal, the Concans, and other parts of India; also cultivated in gardens; Ceylon, the Moluccas, and Cochin China.—Officinal part. The fresh root (Crini Radix); bulbous, with a terminal stoloniferous fusiform portion issuing from the crown of the bulb; emits an unpleasant narcotic odour; readily dried in a stove, and reducible to powder after desiccation.—Properties. Emetic; in small doses nauseant and diaphoretic.—Therapeutic uses. Analogous to those of squill.

Juice of Crinum (Succus Crini; Infusum Crini, Beng. Ph.). Take of the fresh root of crinum, ⁄2 an ounce; cold water, 2 ounces. Bruise the root in a stone mortar, gradually adding the water. Strain, with pressure, through calico.—Dose. From 2 to 4 fluid drachms, every twenty minutes, until the desired effect is produced.

Syrup of Crinum (Syrupus Crini). Take of the fresh root of crinum, sliced, 8 ounces; boiling water, 1 pint; refined sugar, 1 pound. Macerate the root in the water for two hours, bruise in a mortar, press through calico, add the sugar, and dissolve with the aid of gentle heat.—Dose. About 2 fluid drachms, repeated as required. Used as a nauseant and emetic for children.

CROTON CHLORAL. Syn. Butyl chloral. A colourless oleaginous liquid, having an odour somewhat like that of ordinary chloral; insoluble in water. Croton chloral may be prepared by the process of Krämer and Pinner, who were the first to obtain it. A current of chlorine gas is passed into aldehyd during twenty-four hours. At the commencement of the operation the action is very energetic; so much so that it is necessary to surround the vessel containing the aldehyd with a refrigerating mixture, and it is only towards the end that the temperature is raised to 100° C. Large quantities of hydrochloric acid are generated during all the time the chlorine is acting on the aldehyd. The resulting product is submitted to fractional distillation, and the liquid passing over between 163° and 165° C. is croton chloral. Croton chloral is the hydride of trichlorcrotonyl (C4H2Cl3OH), or the aldehyd of crotonic acid (C4H5OOH) in the radical of which three atoms of hydrogen have been replaced by three atoms of chlorine. Like ordinary chloral, croton chloral combines with water to form a crystallised hydrate which is the substance used in medicine. Croton chloral hydrate occurs in white nacreous spangles. It is very slightly soluble in cold water, more so in warm, and extremely soluble in alcohol. A convenient solvent for it is glycerin, in which it dissolves much more easily than in water. The dose of the hydrate as a hypnotic is from 8 to 15 grains, for neuralgia 5 grains are given three times a day. Dr Liebreich, who first introduced croton chloral to the notice of the medical profession, says he has failed to discover that it exercises any hurtful effects on the stomach and other organs. On the contrary, Dr Worms asserts that he finds it not so generally tolerated as ordinary chloral, and Gay affirms that it is more uncertain in its narcotic effects.

CRO′TON OIL. Syn. Oleum croto′nis (B. P.), O. tiglii (Ph. L. & D.), L. The “oil expressed from the seeds of Croton tiglium” or purging croton. This oil is a drastic purgative, and a powerful local irritant and rubefacient. Rubbed on the skin, it produces a pustular eruption, and frequently purges. In this way (diluted with thrice its weight of olive oil) it is occasionally used as a counter-irritant.—Dose (as a purge), 1 to 2 drops; in obstinate constipation, lead colic, &c.

The residuum from which the oil has been expressed is sometimes used in veterinary practice under the name of croton cake, or croton farina; but as the amount of oil it contains varies greatly, it is irregular and uncertain in its effects.

CROUP. Syn. Cynan′che laryn′′gea, C. suffoca′tiva, C. trachea′lis, L. An inflammatory disease affecting the larynx and trachea.

Symp. A permanently laborious and suffocative breathing, accompanied by wheezing, cough, a peculiar shrillness of the voice, and more or less expectoration of purulent matter, which continually threatens suffocation. There are two varieties, acute croup and chronic croup. The latter is very rare.

Treat. Bleeding by leeches or cupping, over the region of the trachea, should be immediately had recourse to, when the symptoms are urgent; or violent local irritants, as pieces of lint dipped in strong acetic acid, or blisters, may be applied to the same part. In weakly subjects of irritable constitution bleeding should be avoided. Dr Larroque recommends repeated vomiting in the croup of children; and M. Marotte and M. Boudet have adopted this plan with great success. The treatment consists in making the patient attacked with croup vomit a great number of times within the day, so as to detach the pseudo-membrane from the larynx nearly as fast as it is formed. For this purpose M. Marotte employs one or other of the following formulæ:—

1. Tartar emetic, 1⁄2 gr.; syrup of ipecacuanha, 1 oz.; water, 2 oz.

2. Impure emetine, 3 gr.; syrup of ipecacuanha and water, of each 1⁄2 oz.

These draughts are administered by spoonfuls every ten minutes, until there has been a sufficient number of vomitings. In this manner he says he has been always able to make the patient expectorate a certain quantity of false membrane. This treatment is accompanied by the use of small doses of calomel, leeches to the throat, and blisters to the nape of the neck; but it is the opinion of M. Marotte that the vomitings alone effect the cure. Out of 25 cases that occurred at the Hôpital des Enfans[Enfants], the only authenticated case of cure among all these was effected by emetics. (M. Boudet.)

The croup is a very dangerous disease, and medical aid should be immediately sought wherever it can be procured. It is principally confined to infancy, or to children under 9 years of age; but occasionally attacks adults. One of our early friends, a young medical practitioner of great promise, died of it prematurely, after only about 20 hours’ illness.

CROWDIE. Mix the liquor in which a leg of mutton has been boiled with half a pint of oatmeal, and two onions cut very fine; and add pepper and salt. Make the oatmeal into a paste with a little of the liquor over the fire, stir in the remainder of the ingredients, and let them boil gently for twenty minutes. This forms a very nutritious and cheap dish.

CROWING, IN CHILDREN. Syn. Childcrowing. Spurious croup. Spasmodic croup. This very formidable disorder almost always occurs during teething. It comes on in paroxysms. In the intervals between the spasms the respiration is quite natural; but during the attack there is great difficulty of breathing accompanied with a crowing noise, and with violent struggling on the part of the little sufferer. Convulsions and faintness also sometimes occur. In his ‘Advice to a Mother’ Mr Chavasse prescribes the following treatment:—

“The first thing, of course, to be done is to send immediately for a medical man. Have a plentiful supply of cold and hot water always at hand, ready for use at a moment’s notice. The instant the paroxysm is on the child, plentifully and perseveringly dash cold water upon his head and face. Put his feet and legs in hot salt-mustard-and-water, and if necessary place the child up to his neck in a hot bath, still dashing water upon his face and head. If he does not quickly come round, sharply smack the back and buttocks. As soon as a medical man arrives, he will lose no time in thoroughly lancing the gums, and in applying appropriate remedies. During the intervals, great care and attention must be paid to the diet. If the child be breathing a smoky, close atmosphere, he should be immediately removed to a pure one. Indeed in this disease there is no remedy equal to a change of air—to a dry bracing neighbourhood. Even if it be winter, change of air is the best remedy, either to the coast or to a healthy farmhouse. In a case of this kind where it is not practicable to send a child from home, then let him be sent out of doors during the greater part of every day; let him, in point of fact, almost live in the open air. I am quite sure from an extensive experience that, in this disease, fresh air, and plenty of it, is the best and principal remedy.”

CRU′CIBLE. Syn. Melting Pot; Crucibulum, L.; Creuset, Fr. A vessel used by metallurgists and chemists for holding substances whilst they are exposed to a high temperature. The crucibles commonly used for fusing metals are formed of clay, or a mixture of plumbago and clay. For certain purposes, crucibles of platinum, gold, silver, iron, porcelain, and lime, are employed.

Crucibles, Earth′en. Syn. Clay crucibles. From fire-clay, mixed with silica, coke, burnt clay, or other infusible matter.

Manuf. The materials, having been ground and kneaded, are generally moulded by hand upon a wooden block of the shape of the cavity of the crucible. Another method of shaping a crucible consists in ramming the ingredients into a suitable mould, formed of steel or gun-metal. (See engr.)

a a. External steel mould.

b b, Clay or composition for forming the crucible.

c, Internal steel mould.

d d, Wooden stand.

e, Cord or chain to withdraw the internal mould or plug.

Small crucibles are sometimes formed by pouring ‘slip,’ that is, clay mixed with sufficient water to give it the consistence of cream, into porous moulds, made of a species of stucco. A series of these moulds are placed upon a table and filled with the semifluid composition. By the time the whole (say 50 or 60) are filled, the ‘slip’ may be poured out of the one first filled, leaving only a very small quantity behind to give the requisite thickness to the bottom. The second and third may then be treated in the same way, until the whole number have been attended to. In each mould a perfect crucible is formed, by the abstraction of the water of that portion of the ‘slip’ in immediate contact with the stucco, and the crucible is either thicker or thinner in proportion to the time this absorbent action has been allowed to go on. 70 or 80 crucibles may thus be easily made in less than 15 minutes. The moulds and their contents are next placed in a stove or slow oven. In a short time, from the contraction of the clay in drying, the crucibles may be removed, and the moulds, as soon as they have become dry, may be again filled; by care they will last for years.

Earthen crucibles are used both in the burnt and unburnt state. Small crucibles are generally kiln-burnt before they are used, but the large Stourbridge clay ‘casting-pots,’ which are extensively employed in brass foundries, are never previously burnt.

The following kinds of earthen crucibles are much used in the arts:—

Crucibles, Cornish. From Teignmouth clay, 1 part; Poole clay, 1 part; sand from St. Agnes’s Beacon, Cornwall, 2 parts. When smaller and less refractory crucibles are needed, the same mixture is employed, with the addition of an eighth part of China clay, or Kaolinite from St. Austell. These crucibles are generally made round, and of two sizes, of which one fits into the other; the larger being 3 inches in diameter at the top, and 3⁄2 inches high outside measure. They are coarse in grain, and of a greyish-white colour, spotted with dark specks. They are always kiln-burnt. Of all crucibles, none are more generally useful for metallurgical experiments.

Crucibles, Hessian. From a mixture of equal weights of Almerode clay and sand. They are generally triangular in shape, so that the melted metal may be conveniently poured out from each corner. They are usually sold in ‘nests’ of six crucibles, fitting one in another. In the character of their body, and in composition and qualities, they closely resemble the Cornish.

Crucibles, London. From a very refractory clay. They have a reddish-brown colour, and are close in grain. They are exceedingly useful in assaying, as they resist the action of fused oxide of lead much better than most clay crucibles. Being very liable to crack, they require to be used with care.

White Fluxing-pots. From a peculiar kind of foreign clay. They are manufactured by the Patent Plumbago Crucible Company, and are much esteemed by metallurgists, being well moulded and very refractory. They have a smooth surface, and withstand the action of fluxes satisfactorily.

Crucibles, Stourbridge-clay. From Stourbridge clay, 4 parts; burnt clay, obtained by pounding and grinding old glass pots, 2 parts; pipe-clay and coke-powder, of each 1 part.

Anstey’s Patent. From Stourbridge clay, 2 parts; hard gas-coke (previously ground and sifted through a sieve of ⁄8th-inch mesh), 1 part.

Obs. These crucibles of Stourbridge clay are made large enough to hold forty pounds or more of melted brass. They are only dried, and not baked. For use they are warmed, placed on the furnace, bottom upwards, the burning coke gradually heaped round them, and the firing continued until they acquire a fully red heat. They are then quickly taken out of the furnace, and put in again with the mouth upwards. If placed in the furnace with the mouth upwards at first, they are sure to crack. After they have been once used and allowed to become cold they are worthless.

Crucibles, Plat′inum. These are indispensable instruments in the laboratory of the analytical chemist. They are chiefly employed in the ignition of precipitates, and in the fusion of silicates with carbonated alkalies to render them soluble, a preliminary step to their analysis. The most ordinary form of the platinum crucible is that of a cup with a flat bottom. They are always provided with lids, which are sometimes so constructed that they may be used, when separated from the crucibles, as capsules for ignitions and evaporations. Platinum crucibles are not acted on by carbonated alkalies at a high temperature, but they are liable to be seriously damaged by the caustic alkalies. Precipitates of the more reducible metals must never be ignited in these crucibles, as the reduction of the metals would infallibly destroy the vessels.

Crucibles, Gold, are exceedingly useful for many operations, on account of the way which they stand caustic and carbonated alkalies, and nitric acid, which destroy platinum or silver crucibles respectively. Their drawbacks are their great expense and ready fusibility.

Crucibles, Silver. These are much used for fusions of alkalies, being much less acted on than platinum crucibles, and also for water analyses, from their cheapness and light weight. They are easily destroyed, however, by acids.

Crucibles, Plumba′go. Syn. Graphite c., Blacklead c., Blue pots. From graphite, ground and sifted, mixed with sufficient refractory clay to render it plastic. They are shaped by hand on an ordinary potter’s wheel, or by moulds of metal like that figured above under the head of Crucibles, Earthen.

Prop., &c. Good blacklead crucibles, even when of the largest size, support the greatest and most sudden alternations of temperature without cracking, and may be used after repeated heating and cooling. Their surface, within as well as without, may be made very smooth, so that particles of melted metal will not hang about the sides. They are now almost universally used for melting the precious metals.

Crucibles, Por′celain. These beautiful vessels are now made in Germany and France of all shapes and sizes. They are formed of the most exquisitely white, thin, and hard porcelain, which does not crack when heated, and which is but little acted on by the most energetic chemical reagents. For some operations they supersede platinum crucibles, particularly in the ignition of the precipitates of the more reducible metals. They do not retain colouring matter, and are not porous. Their covers are excellently adapted for delicate cases of testing, the whiteness of the porcelain showing the changes of colour in a single drop of liquid most distinctly.

Crucibles, Iron. Used chiefly for preparing common reagents, as sulphide of iron, calcic chloride, &c., and also for preparing pure caustic potassa from the nitrate.

CRUMP′ET. A sort of muffin or tea-cake, very light and spongy. Prep. From flour, 2 lbs., made into a dough with warm milk-and-water, adding a little salt, 3 eggs (well beaten), and 3 teaspoonfuls of yeast, mixed to the consistence of thick batter; after standing before the fire for a short time, to rise, it is poured into buttered tins, and baked slowly to a fine yellow. For the table, crumpets are toasted lightly on both sides, buttered, piled on a hot dish, and cut into halves.

CRUST. The paste with which pies, tarts, &c., are made, or covered.

1. (Fine.) From flour, 1 lb.; sugar, ⁄4 lb.; melted butter, ⁄2 lb.; 3 eggs; milk, q. s. Requires little baking.

2. (Raised crust, for meat pies, &c.) As the last, but using 6 oz. of lard for the butter, and 2 instead of 3 eggs.

3. (Short.) From flour, 1 lb.; butter and sugar, of each 2 oz.; eggs, 2 in no.; made into a stiff paste.

Obs. The quality is improved if the whole or a portion of the butter is employed in the way directed under Puff paste. For further information hereon, consult the cookery books of Acton, Beeton, Rundell, and Soyer.

CRY′OLITE (3NaF1AlF3). A native double fluoride of aluminium and sodium, found in large quantities in Greenland, employed in the manufacture of alum, and also as a source of metallic aluminium.

CRYOPH′ORUS. See Refrigeration.

CRYS′TAL. A solid body, having a regular geometrical form. The plane surfaces by which a crystal is bounded are termed faces; these intersect in straight lines or edges; and these again meet in points, and form angles. The axis of a crystal is an imaginary line passing through its centre, and terminating either in the middle of two faces or of two edges, or in two angles; and axes terminating in similar parts of a crystal are named similar axes. When the axes of a crystal are properly chosen, and placed in a right position, the various faces are observed to group themselves in a regular and beautiful manner around these axes, and to be all so related to them as to compose a connected series, produced according to definite laws. The multitudinous forms of crystals have been distributed by mineralogists and chemists into six primary classes or systems, distinguishable from one another by the relative positions and lengths of the three axes about which the planes or faces are arranged; while the different figures of any particular system are distinguishable by the arrangement of the planes in respect to the axes. Thus, the cube or hexahedron, the rhombic dodecahedron, and the octahedron all belong to the regular system, which is characterised by 3 equal axes cutting one another at right angles. But in the cube each plane cuts 1 axis, and is parallel to 2 axes; in the dodecahedron each plane cuts 2 axes, and is parallel to a third; while in the octahedron each plane cuts the 3 axes. The names and definitions of the six crystalline systems are given below:—

1. Regular system. The 3 axes equal and rectangular.

2. Square prismatic s. 2 equal axes. The 3 axes unequal, and rectangular.

3. Right prismatic s. All unequal.

4. Rhombohedral s. The 3 axes equal, but not rectangular.

5. Oblique prismatic s. 1 axis rectangular to 2. The 3 axes not equal, and not rectangular.

6. Doubly o.p.s. None rectangular.

CRYSTALLISATION. The act or process by which crystals are formed. The frequent reference to this subject in the pages of this work, and the constant employment of the process of crystallisation in the manufacture of salts, &c., in the laboratory, seem to point out the necessity of a few explanatory remarks thereon under this head. When fluid substances are suffered to pass with adequate slowness to the solid state, or when solutions of solids are slowly concentrated by evaporation, or the solvent powers of the menstruum, gradually lessened by cooling, the ultimate particles of matter frequently so arrange themselves as to form regular geometrical bodies, familiarly known by the name of crystals. This wonderful property, which is possessed by a great variety of substances in the mineral kingdom, and by nearly all saline bodies, is resorted to for many useful and important purposes in the chemical arts. It is by means of crystallisation that the majority of salts are obtained in a state of purity; for in the act of passing into the crystalline state, the foreign substances with which they are united are left behind in the mother-liquor.

Salts are crystallised, either by allowing their hot and saturated solutions to cool slowly, or by simply evaporating the menstrua as long as crystals form. In the first case the liquid is commonly evaporated until a pellicle appears on the surface, when the vessel is set aside in some sheltered situation until cold, at which time the crystals are collected, and the process repeated for fresh crystals. In the second case the crystals are usually removed from the liquid as soon as they are deposited. The first method is adopted for those salts that are considerably more soluble in hot than in cold water, as carbonate of soda, Epsom salts, &c.; the last method, for those that possess nearly equal solubility in both cases, and also for many salts which are not required in handsome crystals; thus common salt and chromate of potash are crystallised in this way. Many of the alkaloids, and their salts, are obtained in crystals, by allowing their solutions (generally alcoholic or ethereal) to evaporate spontaneously. By repeating the processes of solution and crystallisation two or three times with the same body, the crystals obtained by the last operation will usually be found to be quite pure.

Many solids may be readily obtained in a crystalline state by melting them and allowing them to cool very slowly. Thus, iodide of sulphur is crystallised by melting it in a flask placed in a salt-water bath, and allowing it to remain in the water until the whole becomes cold. Sulphur and many metals are crystallised by pouring them, in a state of fusion, into a hot vessel having a plug in the bottom, which is withdrawn as soon as the surface becomes cool, when the liquid portion runs out, and leaves the under surface in the form of a mass of agglomerated crystals. Perfectly pure wax, stearine, and spermaceti have a very pleasing appearance when treated in this way.

CRYS′TALLOID. See Dialysis.

CU′BEBIN. A peculiar substance obtained from cubebs.

Prep. From cubebs (from which the oil has been expelled by distillation), by digestion in alcohol, evaporating the resulting tincture to one fourth, filtering, and then evaporating the remaining fluid almost to dryness. The residuum is left in a cold place until it assumes a semi-crystalline appearance, when it is thrown on a filter, and the fluid portion (the ‘cubebine’ of M. Cassola) allowed to drain off. In 24 hours the substance left on the filter is dissolved in 4 times its weight of boiling alcohol (sp. gr. ·90), the solution allowed to deposit its undissolved resin (still maintaining it near the boiling temperature), after which the clear portion is decanted. The crystals deposited as the liquid cools are cubebin. It is purified by redissolving it in boiling concentrated alcohol, and the addition of a little boiling water and animal charcoal, when long, white needles will be deposited if the solution is allowed to cool very slowly.

Prop., &c. It is insoluble in water, and nearly so in cold alcohol, but very soluble in boiling alcohol. It strikes a fine crimson colour with sulphuric acid, which remains unaltered for some hours; a property which distinguishes it from piperin. Its physiological action has been but little studied. According to Dr Görres, this for the most part resembles that of cubebs.

CU′BEBS. Syn. Cubeb pepper; Cubeba (B. P. & U. S.), Cubebæ (B. P.), L. The immature and stalked fruit of Piper cubeba or Cubeba officinalis. Cubebs are stimulant, stomachic, and aromatic, like the other peppers; they are also diuretic, and appear to possess a specific influence over the urino-genital organs.—Dose, 10 to 20 gr., in affections of the bladder and prostate gland, and in gleet and leucorrhœa; 1 to 3 dr., in the early and inflammatory stages of gonorrhœa, in piles, &c. They may be taken in water, milk, or bitter ale.

CU′CUMBER. The fruit of the Cucumis sativus (Linn.). Used as a salad vegetable. It is somewhat indigestible, but when properly dressed, with plenty of oil, it may be eaten without the slightest fear of evil consequences. The practice of pouring off the natural juice extracted from the cucumber by salt cannot be too strongly condemned. See Elaterium.

CUD′BEAR. Syn. Persio. A dye-stuff obtained from Lecanora tartarea and other lichens, by a process nearly similar to that used in making ARCHIL. The lichen is watered with stale urine or other ammoniacal liquor, and suffered to ferment for 3 or 4 weeks, after which the whole is poured into a flat vessel, and exposed to the air until the urinous smell has disappeared, and it has assumed a violet colour. It is then ground to powder. Its use is confined to a few cases of silk dyeing, where it is employed to yield shades of ruby and maroon; upon wool it gives deep-red shades. The colours produced by it are very fugitive. Like archil, there are two varieties of this dye-stuff—BLUE CUDBEAR and RED CUDBEAR. See Archil.

CULM. In mineralogy, a slaty kind of ANTHRACITE, occurring in Wales and North Devon. The term is also applied to any impure, shaly kind of coal.

CU′MARIN. See Coumarin.

CU′MIN. Syn. Cymini semina, Cyminum, L. The fruit (seed) of Cuminum cyminum. It is carminative and aromatic, like the caraway and anise. See Plaster.

CU′MINOL. A colourless, transparent oil, of powerful odour. It exists with CYMOL in OIL of CUMIN. See Cymol.

CU′PELLATION. The process of assaying gold and silver and their alloys by means of the CUPEL. See Assaying.

CUP′PING. This method of topical bleeding is performed as follows:—

The skin being softened by means of a sponge and warm water, and the hair and other extraneous substances being previously removed, one of the small bell-like glasses (CUPPING-GLASSES; CUCURBITU′LÆ), having the air contained in it rarefied by being passed over the flame of a spirit-lamp, is immediately applied to the part. From the formation of a partial vacuum beneath the cup, the pressure of the air on the surrounding surface causes that portion immediately under the cup to swell, and the vessels to become turgid. When this has taken place the cup is removed, and several incisions are instantly made by means of a scarificator, an instrument containing numerous lancets, which, by means of a spring, make a number of incisions at the same moment; the depth of these incisions being regulated by means of a screw which protrudes or withdraws the lancets, according to the vascularity of the part, or the quantity of blood to be abstracted. The cupping glass is now again applied. When a sufficient quantity of blood has been collected in the cup, it is removed by gently introducing the nail of one of the fingers under the upper edge, by which means, air being allowed to enter, the cup becomes detached. The part being washed with warm water to remove any clots of blood, another cup is applied as before, and the operation continued until a sufficient quantity of blood is withdrawn. Sometimes, especially when applied to the scalp, the cups fill so rapidly with blood as to become detached almost immediately on being applied. This method of local bleeding is frequently called ‘CUPPING WITH SCARIFICATIONS,’

When cupping-glasses are applied without the use of the lancet or scarificator, the operation is called ‘DRY CUPPING,’ and is much used to cause a speedy irritation of the skin and reaction, for the relief of oppressive breathing, local pains, &c. To obtain the full benefit from this operation, the cups should be suffered to remain upon the part until they cause an exudation of a small quantity of serum, or a considerable amount of irritation of the part. Dry cupping has been found extremely beneficial in poisoned wounds; as it acts not only by abstracting the poison, but also, by the pressure the glasses exercise on and around the part, in preventing the absorption of it.

Obs. For the operation of cupping, a basin of hot water, sponges, and clean, soft towels, should be provided. In clumsy hands, cupping is occasionally a severe and painful operation; but this is not the case with the skilful operator. A good cupper does not exhaust much of the air in the cup before applying it, but simply passes its mouth rapidly over the flame of the lamp. When it is held over the flame even for a few seconds, the compression of the edge of the cup upon the skin is so great, that it checks the flow of the blood to the scarified part. A good cupper also removes the cup without spilling the contents, and completes the whole operation quickly and neatly. There are, however, few persons, who are not professional cuppers, who are sufficiently expert to exhaust the air in the cup by means of the common lamp; although it is by far the best. A good plan is to rarify the air in the cup by means of a small cone of paper, dipped in spirits of wine, or strong brandy; this is ignited and thrown in the cup, which is instantly to be applied to the proper spot. Where cupping-glasses and the scarificator are not to be had, wine-glasses, or any very small tumblers, may be substituted for the first; and small incisions by means of a thumb lancet will answer the purpose of the other.

The cicatrices of the scarification leave permanent marks on the skin; on which account, when blood is to be drawn from the head or neck, the glasses should be applied behind the ears, and a portion of hair removed in such a manner that the part may be covered by what remains.

A most convenient cupping apparatus is manufactured by Mr Bigg, the eminent surgical instrument maker of Leicester Square, consisting of cups and an exhausting syringe, so arranged that the use of the spirit-lamp is rendered unnecessary, and the operation of cupping may be performed nearly as expertly by an inexperienced nurse as by the most accomplished professional operator. It is invaluable in places remote from town.

CURAR′INE. Syn. Curaria. The vegeto-alkaline base of curara, urari, woorara, woorali, or wourali, the arrow-poison of Central America.

In physiological effects curarine is antagonistic to strychnia, a fact which has led to its being proposed as an antidote for the latter poison. Curarine is also said to have been employed in Germany in the treatment of hydrophobia with such success that the patient to whom it was administered recovered. It is a most potent poison, and should not be allowed to come into contact with the fingers.

CURB. In horses. An enlargement at the back of a horse’s hock caused by injuring a ligament in this region. See Sprain.

CURCU′MIN. The yellow colouring matter of turmeric, obtained by digesting the alcoholic extract of the powder in ether, and evaporating the clear ethereal solution to dryness. A brownish-yellow mass, yielding a bright-yellow powder. It is scarcely soluble in water, but very soluble in both alcohol and ether. Boracic and hydrochloric acids redden it; alkalies turn it reddish brown.

CURD. Coagulated casein. See Cheese.

CUR′RANTS. The currants of our garden are varieties of the Ribes rubrum and Ribes nigrum. (Linn.) The first includes RED CURRANTS and WHITE CURRANTS; the fruit of both of which are gently acidulous, cooling, and wholesome. The juice makes excellent wine. The fruit of the last (BLACK CURRANTS, QUINSY-BERRIES) is aperitive, and has been used in calculous affections; the juice is made into wine, jellies, jams, lozenges, &c. The young leaves are used as a substitute for tea; one or two buds, or half a small leaf, impart to black tea the flavour and fragrance of green. The currants of the grocers (Zante currants) are a small variety of dried grapes. The word “currant” is a corruption of Corinth, whence the fruit originally came.

CUR′RY. Syn. Currie. A noted dish in Indian cookery, much esteemed throughout the East. Curries are simply stews, of which rice usually forms a characteristic ingredient, highly flavoured with fried onions and curry powder, to which sliced apples and lemon juice are sometimes added. They are made from every variety of fish, meat, poultry, game, &c., according to the fancy of the parties.

To make a Dish of Curry.—Cut an onion into slices and fry it with an apple, finely chopped, in two ounces of dripping; then add slices of cold meat; mix a dessert-spoonful of curry powder and one of flour in half a pint of water; pour it over the meat, and shake the whole over the fire till it boils.

Cur′ry Powder. Prep. (Kitchener.) From coriander-seed, ⁄4 lb.; turmeric, ⁄4 lb.; cinnamon-seed, 2 oz.; cayenne, ⁄2 oz.; mustard, 1 oz.; ground ginger, 1 oz.; allspice, ⁄2 oz.; fenugreek-seed, 2 oz.; all dried thoroughly, pounded in a mortar, rubbed through a sieve, and mixed together.

The famous Ceylon curry powder is said by Dr Balfour to have the following rather indefinite composition:—A piece of green ginger, two fragments of garlic, a few coriander and cumin seeds, six small onions, one dry Chili, eight peppercorns, a small piece of turmeric, half a dessert-spoonful of butter, half a cocoa-nut, and half a lime. For it to be in perfection the powder should be made the day on which it is cooked.

Obs. The above must be regarded as merely a substitute for Indian curry powder, which contains many ingredients not to be obtained in England. It should be kept in a bottle closely corked or stoppered. The curry powder sold at the present time consists of coriander-seed, turmeric, cayenne, fenugreek-seed, and a large proportion of sago-flour.

CUS′CONINE. See Aricine.

CUSPA′′RIA. Syn. Cusparia bark (B. P.), Angostu′′ra b.; Cor′tex angostu′′ræ, C. cuspa′′riæ, Cusparia (Ph. L. and E.), L. “The bark of Galipea cusparia” (Ph. L.), or Galipea officinalis (Ph. E.). A valuable drug, imported directly or indirectly from South America.—Dose, 10 gr. to 30 gr., as a tonic, stomachic, and febrifuge, in similar cases to those in which Cascarilla, Calumba, and Cinchona, are commonly given.

Characters. False Angostura. True Angostura.

Form Thick, rugous, rolled upon itself. Edges cut perpendicularly. Flat or rolled up, little wrinkled, edges bevelled.

Colour Brown, or greenish-yellow, presenting protuberances or excrescences, produced by the great development of the corky layer, which has a still more yellow colour. Greyish-yellow.

Taste Very bitter. Bitter.

Reaction with Nitric Acid. Red colour when dropped upon the bark. Yellow colour.

Angostura or cusparia bark has fallen into comparative disuse, in consequence of nux vomica or false angostura bark having formerly, in several instances, been mistaken for it, and administered with fatal results. The leading characteristics of these two barks have been pointed out by M. Gibourt. (See previous table.)

CUSPAR′IN. Syn. Angostu′′rin, Angostu′′ra. The bitter principle of Cusparia-bark. It is neutral; crystallises in tetrahedrons; is easily fusible; soluble in rectified spirits, in acids, and in alkaline solutions. It is precipitated of a whitish colour by tincture of galls.

CUS′TARD. A composition of milk, or cream, and eggs, sweetened with sugar, and variously flavoured. Custards may be cooked either in the oven or stew-pan.

Prep. 1. (Soyer.) Milk (boiling), 1 pint; sugar, 2 oz.; thin yellow peel of half a lemon; mix, and set it aside for a short time; then take eggs, 4 in no., beat them well in a basin; add, gradually, the milk (not too hot), pass the mixture through a colander or sieve, and fill the custard cups with it; these are then to be placed over the fire in a stew-pan, containing about one inch of hot water, and left there for 12 minutes, or till sufficiently set. The above is for PLAIN CUSTARDS; but it forms a good basis to receive any of the usual flavouring ingredients, as fresh or stewed fruit, peels, essences, orange-flower water, brandy, or other spirits, &c.

2. (Rundell.) As the last, but using cream instead of milk, or equal parts of the two, with 2 additional eggs. Very rich; like the last, any suitable flavouring matter may be added to it.

3. (Almond Custards,—Rundell.) As either of the above, adding blanched sweet almonds, 4 oz.; bitter do., 6 in no.; beaten to a smooth paste.

4. (Baked Custards,—Rundell.) From cream, 1 pint, with 4 eggs; flavoured with mace, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and add a little white wine, rose-water, and sugar; bake in cups.

5. (Coffee Custards,—Soyer.) Hot milk and strong-made coffee, of each ⁄2 pint; sugar, 2 oz.; dissolve, and add it, gradually, to 4 eggs (well beaten), and proceed as in No. 1. Chocolate custards and cocoa custards are made in the same way.

6. (Cold Custard, for invalids,—Dewees.) 1 egg; sugar, a tablespoonful; beat well together; and add, gradually, constantly stirring, cold water, ⁄2 pint; rose water, 2 teaspoonfuls; and a little grated nutmeg. An agreeable and nutritious demulcent. A wine-glassful every 2 or 3 hours, or ad libitum.

7. (Lemon Custards,—Rundell.)—a. As No. 1 (nearly), using a little more lemon peel. In the same way orange custards are made, but using orange peel.

b. From candied lemon peel and lump sugar, of each 2 oz., beaten in a mortar quite fine, and added to either No. 1 or No. 2. Orange and citron custards may be made in the same manner. A little orange-flower water, or marsala, or sherry, may be also added at pleasure. They are best baked.

8. (Orange Custards.) As above, No. 7, a and b.

9. (Rice Custards,—Rundell.) Boil ⁄2 a cupful of the best ground rice in a pint of milk until dissolved, then mix it with a quart of cream; flavour with nutmeg, mace, and a little brandy, and put it into a cup or a dish.

CUTCH. See Catechu.

CUTTLE-FISH. The bone or skeleton of the Sepia officinalis of Linnæus, or common cuttle-fish (CUTTLE-FISH BONE; OS SE′PIÆ), is used by the law-stationers to erase ink-marks from paper and parchment, an application familiar to most schoolboys of the present generation. Reduced to powder (PUL′VIS SE′PIÆ), it forms a valuable dentifrice and polishing powder, and is used for forming the moulds for small silver castings.

The Sepias, which inhabit the seas of all quarters of the globe, like the other cephalapoda, are carnivorous. They are able to exercise considerable locomotive powers, by means of their tentaculæ or arms which surround the mouth, and which are usually provided with numerous suckers. Head downward, they walk on these arms at the bottom of the ocean. The sepias are also fleet swimmers; effecting their progress through the water either by making the expansion of their skin perform the same office as fins; or by the forcible projection of water from the cavity of their mouths, the reaction accompanying which operation drives them rapidly through the water in a different direction. They are provided sometimes with eight, and sometimes with ten tentaculæ, and have naked bodies. The black fluid which the animal is capable of ejecting from its ink-sac, when pursued by its enemies, was formerly employed in the manufacture of the pigment called from its source “sepia.”

CUTS. These are incised wounds of greater or less extent, and must be treated accordingly. The divided parts should be drawn close together, and held so with small pieces of strapping or adhesive plaster stretched across the wound. If the part is covered with blood, it should be first wiped with a damp sponge. When the wound is large and it is much exposed, a good method is to sew the parts up. The application of a little creasote or a spirituous solution of creasote will generally stop local bleeding, provided it is applied to the clean extremities of the wounded vessels. A good way is to place a piece of lint, moistened with creasote, on the wound, previously wiped clean, or to pour a drop or two of that liquid on it. An excellent method is to cover the part with a film of collodion. Friar’s balsam, quick-drying copal varnish, tincture of galls, copperas water, black ink, &c., are popular remedies applied in the same way. A bit of the fur plucked from a black beaver hat is an excellent remedy to stop the bleeding from a cut produced by the razor in shaving. A cobweb is said to possess the same property.

CY′ANATE. Syn. Cy′anas, L. A salt in which the hydrogen of cyanic acid is replaced by a metal or other basic radical.

CYAN′IC ACID. HCNO. Syn. Acidum cyan′icum, L. Prep. 1. Cyanuric acid, deprived of its water of crystallisation, is distilled in a retort, and the product collected in a well-cooled receiver.

2. (Liebig.) A current of sulphuretted hydrogen gas is passed through water in which cyanate of silver is diffused, the process being suspended before all the cyanate of silver is decomposed.

Prop., &c. Cyanic acid is a limpid, colourless liquid; it reddens litmus; is sour to the taste; possesses a modified sulphurous odour, similar to that which is always perceived when any of its salts are decomposed by an acid; it forms salt with the bases called CYANATES; when in contact with water it suffers decomposition in a few hours, and is converted into bicarbonate of ammonia; it cannot be preserved for any time, as shortly after its preparation it spontaneously passes into a white, opaque, solid mass, to which the name CYAMELIDE has been given. By distillation this new substance is reconverted into cyanic acid.

CY′ANIDE. Syn. Cyan′uret; Cyan′idum, Cyanure′tum, L. The compound formed by the union of cyanogen with a metal or other radical. See Cyanogen, Hydrocyanic Acid, and the respective bases.

Cyanide, Al′kaline. Syn. Crude cyanide of potassium and sodium. Prep. (R. Wagner.) Dry ferrocyanide of potassium, 4 parts, dry carbonate of soda, 1 part, are melted together in an iron crucible at a red heat, and continually stirred until the iron rod comes out covered with a white crust, when the heat is withdrawn, and after a few moments’ repose the supernatant liquid portion is poured out on a clean iron slab. This crude mixed cyanide is quite as useful as the more expensive one of Liebig, and is equally fit for technical applications, as electrotyping, gilding, silvering, &c. See Potassium, Cyanide of.

CY′ANINE. A base discovered by Mr G. Williams in CHINOLINE BLUE. See below.

Cyanine, I′odide of. Syn. Chin′oline blue. The action of iodide of amyl upon chinoline gives rise to iodide of amylchinoline. Addition of excess of soda to an aqueous solution of this iodide produces a black resinous precipitate, which dissolves in alcohol with a magnificent blue colour. This precipitate is the IODIDE OF CYANINE, or CHINOLINE BLUE. Many attempts have been made to use it in dyeing; they have, however, failed on account of the instability of the colour.

CYAN′OGEN. CN or Cy. A highly important compound radical or quasi element, discovered by M. Gay Lussac in 1815.

Best obtained by carefully igniting dry cyanide of mercury in a small retort, and collecting the gas over mercury.

Prop., &c. A colourless gas, possessing a pungent and peculiar odour, resembling that of peach-kernels or prussic acid; under a pressure of about 4 atmospheres, at a temperature of 45°, it assumes the liquid form (Faraday), and this fluid again becomes gaseous on withdrawal of the pressure; water absorbs nearly 5 times its bulk of cyanogen at 60° Fahr., and alcohol about 23 times its volume; with hydrogen it forms hydrocyanic acid, and with the metals a most interesting and important class of bodies called cyanides or cyanurets; when kindled, it burns with a beautiful purple flame, carbonic acid and nitrogen being evolved. Sp gr. 1·806. See Hydrocyanic acid, &c.

Forms a bromide and iodide when the cyanide of mercury is distilled with bromine or iodine, and which are colourless, volatile, highly poisonous solids; and two isomeric chlorides, one a very volatile liquid, prepared by passing chlorine over moist cyanide of mercury, and the other in white volatile needles, prepared by exposing aqueous hydrocyanic acid to chlorine in sunshine.

CYANU′′RIC ACID. H3C3N3O3. Syn. Pyro-u′′ric acid†. A peculiar acid, discovered by Scheele. It is a product of the decomposition of the soluble cyanates by dilute acids, or of urea by heat, &c.

CY′DER. See Cider.

CY′DONINE. The peculiar gum of quince seed. It resembles bassorin in most of its properties.

CY′MIDINE. An oily base, homologous with aniline, obtained by the action of iron filings and acetic acid on nitro-cymol.

CY′MOL. A peculiar hydrocarbon found in oil of cumin, in admixture with cuminol. The two bodies are separable in a great measure by distillation, cymol being the most volatile portion of the oil.

CYNAPINE. An alkaloid obtained from Æthusa cynapium, or fool’s parsley. It possesses no practical interest.

CYSTICERCI. These parasites are embryo tænia or tapeworm, infesting the bodies of men and different animals. One variety of the cysticerci has its habitat in the organisms of men, pigs, oxen, horses, camels, sheep, and roe-deer; another in the muscles and internal organs of cattle; a third is found in cattle, sheep, horses, the reindeer, squirrels, certain kinds of monkeys, and occasionally in man; whilst a fourth—the Cystercus cellulosæ—is more especially met with in measly pork. Professor Gamgee believes that probably 5 per cent. of the pigs in Ireland are affected with this last cystercus.

The following figure represents a piece of measly pork infested with cysticerci. Professor Leuckart seems to have shown pretty conclusively that man may become infested with a certain form of tapeworm by partaking of imperfectly cooked veal or beef, infested with the second variety of the parasite.

CYST′INE. C3NH7SO2. Syn. Cyst′ic oxide. Obtained from cystic oxide calculi (in powder) by digestion in solution of ammonia. By spontaneous evaporation the ammoniacal solution deposits small, colourless crystals of cystic oxide. It forms a saline compound with hydrochloric acid, and is decomposed by the strong alkalies.

CY′TISINE. A purgative bitter principle, extracted from the Cytisus Laburnum (Linn.), or common laburnum, and some other plants.

DAGUERRE′OTYPE. See Photography.

DA′′HLIA DYE (dāle′-y′ă). The shade of colour which is commonly termed ‘dahlia’ is a reddish lilac. It is produced by combining a blue or purple with red when a compound colour is used. Upon wool and silk it can be obtained directly by means of archil or cudbear, either alone or ‘blued’ by a small quantity of sulphate of indigo. Upon cotton indifferent shades of dahlia are obtained by macerating in sumac liquor, working in tin solution, and dyeing in logwood mixed with some red wood.

DA′′HLINE. A species of fecula obtained from the tubers of the dahlia. It is identical with inuline. It is not employed in the arts.

DAIR′Y. The place where milk is kept, and cheese and butter made. The best situation for a dairy is on the north side of the dwelling-house, in order that it may be sheltered from the sun during the heat of the day. Ample means should be provided to ensure ventilation, and at the same time to exclude flies and other insects. The temperature should be preserved, as much as possible, in an equable state, ranging from 45° to 55° Fahr. To lessen the influence of external variations of temperature, the walls should be double, or of considerable thickness, and the windows provided with shutters or doors. In summer the beat may be lessened by sprinkling water on the floor, which will produce considerable cold by its evaporation. Dairies built of mud or ‘cob’ are preferred in the West of England; and this preference arises from the uniform temperature they maintain, on account of the great thickness of the walls, and their being very bad conductors of heat. In large dairy-farms, where butter and cheese are made, the dairy is generally a separate building, and divided into 3 or 4 apartments; one of which is called the ‘milk-room,’ a second the ‘churning-room,’ a third the ‘cheese-room,’ containing the cheese-press, &c.; and a fourth the ‘drying-room,’ where the cheeses are placed to dry and harden. To these may be added a scullery, furnished with boiler, water, &c., for scalding and cleaning the dairy utensils.

Cleanliness is very essential in all the operations of the dairy, and in none more so than in the milking of the cows. The hands and arms of the milkmaid should be kept scrupulously clean, and should be well washed with soap and water after touching the udder of a sick cow, as without this precaution the sores may be conveyed to the healthy ones. The milk-cans should be scalded out daily, and, as well as all the other dairy utensils, should be kept clean and dry. Before placing the milk on the shelves of the dairy it should be strained through a hair sieve or a searce covered with clean cheese-cloth, as by this precaution any stray hairs that may have fallen into the milk-pail will be taken out.

The average produce of a milch cow, supplied with good pasturage, is about 3 gallons daily from Lady-day to Michaelmas, and from that time to February about 1 gallon daily. Cows of good breed will be profitable milkers, to 14 or 15 years of age, if well fed. See Butter, Cheese, Cream, &c.

D’ALBESPYRE’S BLISTERING TISSUE. Lard and ship’s pitch, of each 1 part; resina flav. and yellow wax, of each, 4 parts; finely powdered cantharides, 6 parts; melted together, and spread over taffety.

DAMAS′CUS BLADES. See Steel.

DAMENPULVER—Ladies’ Powder (J. Pohlmann, Vienna). A face powder composed of 14 parts white lead, 7 of talc, 1 of magnesia, coloured with carmine and perfumed with volatile oil.

DAMMAR. A resin employed in mounting many microscopic objects; such as teeth, hair, hard bone, and most tissues which have been previously hardened by treatment with alcohol and chromic acid. Dammar is prepared for use as follows:—

a. Gum dammar, ⁄2 oz.; oil turpentine, 1 oz.; dissolve and filter.

b. Gum mastic, ⁄2 oz.; chloroform, 2 oz.; dissolve and filter. Add solution a to solution b. (Dr Klein.)

If allowed to become thick by drying, dammar may be used as luting.

DAMP, under any form, should be avoided. A humid atmosphere or situation is one of the commonest causes of agues, asthmas, rheumatism, and numerous other diseases.

Damp Linen is very injurious, and should be especially avoided. In travelling, when it is expected that the bed has not been properly aired, a good plan is to sleep between the blankets. To ascertain this point the bed may be warmed, and a cold, dry, glass tumbler immediately afterwards introduced between the sheets, in an inverted position. After it has remained a few seconds, it should be examined, when, if it is found dry, and undimmed by steam, it may be fairly presumed that the bed is well aired; but if the reverse should be the case, it should be avoided. When it is impossible to prevent the use of damp linen, as articles of dress, the best way to obviate any ill effects is to keep constantly in motion and avoid remaining near the fire, or in a warm apartment, or in a draught of cold air until sufficient time has elapsed to allow of the escape of the moisture. The effect of evaporation is the reduction of the temperature of the body; hence the depressing action of damp linen.

Damp Walls. Ivy planted against the sound wall of a house is said to exclude dampness. If a wall is already damp, ivy planted against it will, when grown up, cause it to become dry, provided the brickwork is sound and the dampness does not arise from moisture attracted upwards from the foundation. Sometimes, when ivy is propagated from flowering branches, it will not adhere to a wall at all; the way to get over this difficulty is to cut it back to near the surface of the ground. The young wood which will then form will take hold and cling immediately to almost anything.

The following is said to be a good application for damp walls:—Dissolve ⁄4 lb. of mottled soap in 1 gallon of water. This composition is to be laid over the brickwork steadily and carefully with a large thick brush, but not in such a manner as to form a froth or lather on the surface. It must be allowed 24 hours to dry on the walls. Now mix ⁄2 lb. alum with 4 gallons of water; let it stand 24 hours, and then apply it over the coating of soap. The operation must be performed in dry weather.

DAM′SON. A species of small black plum, much used in the preparation of tarts, &c. Damsons are rather apt to disagree with delicate stomachs, and also to affect the bowels. See Plum.

DAN′CING. The practice of dancing as an amusement or exercise must be almost as old as the human race itself. Yet, notwithstanding its antiquity and prevalence amongst all nations, both barbarous and refined, the propriety and advantages of its cultivation are of a very questionable character. In a hygienic point of view it can claim no preference, as an exercise, over the more simple ones of walking and running; whilst, from the associations it frequently induces, and the heated and confined atmosphere in which its votaries commonly assemble to indulge in it, it becomes the fertile parent of immorality and consumption. A celebrated cyclopædist has, perhaps harshly, but truthfully, defined dancing to be “a silly amusement for the idle and thoughtless.”

DANDELI′ON. Syn. Piss-a-bed; Tarax′acum (Ph. L. E. & D.), L. A common British plant of the natural order Compositæ. It is known among botanists by the names Taraxacum officinale, T. dens leonis, and Leontodon Taraxacum (Linn.). Its root (Taraxaci Radix, B. P.) is employed in medicine, being diuretic and tonic. It is roasted and used as coffee, and when mixed with an equal weight of foreign coffee constitutes the article once so much puffed under the name of ‘dandelion coffee.’ A similar mixture prepared with chocolate forms the ‘dandelion chocolate’ of the shops. The blanched leaves are used in salads, and the inspissated juice, extract, and decoction are employed in medicine, and are considered as detergent, aperitive, and deobstruent. Ground roasted dandelion root cannot now be sold under the name of ‘dandelion coffee’ or mixed with coffee unless it has previously paid the chicory duty. See Decoction, Extract, &c.

DANDRIFF. This is a scaly disease affecting the head, and giving rise to the formation of the small troublesome particles known as scurf. A serviceable application is two drachms of borax dissolved in a pint of camphor water; the head to be washed with this lotion once or twice a week, or much benefit may also be derived by washing the head with tepid water, agitated with a piece of quillar bark until a strong lather is produced; or with water containing salt of tartar, in the proportion of two drachms of the salt to a pint of tepid water. As a general rule, the use of soap is to be discountenanced.

DAN′IELL’S BATTERY. See Voltaic Electricity.

DAPH′NIN. A peculiar bitter principle, discovered by Vauquelin in the Daphne mezereum or mezereon. It is procured by separating the resin from the alcoholic tincture of the bark by evaporation; afterwards, diluting the residue with water, filtering, and adding acetate of lead. A yellow substance falls down, which, when decomposed by sulphuretted hydrogen, yields daphnin, under the form of small, colourless, transparent, radiated needles. It is bitter; volatile; sparingly soluble in cold water; freely soluble in hot water, and in alcohol and ether. It possesses basic properties. See Mezereon.

DARNEL. The powder of the seed of the Lolium temulentum, a poisonous grass, is not unfrequently found mixed with the flour of wheat, oats, and other cereals, and when these latter, under these circumstances, are partaken of as food, they give rise to more or less alarming symptoms of poisoning, which are thus enumerated by Dr Pareira:—Headache, giddiness, languor, ringing in the ears, confusion of sight, dilated pupil, delirium, heaviness, somnolency, trembling convulsions, paralysis, and great gastro-intestinal irritation. One of the most specific signs of poisoning by darnel seeds is said by Seeger to be the trembling of the whole body. Dr Taylor mentions a case in which thirty persons who had partaken of bread containing darnel seeds were violently attacked with the above symptoms; and another case is on record of sixty persons in a prison at Cologne being similarly attacked from the same cause. Hassall states that the flour of the darnel seed presents the following appearance under the microscope:—“The starch corpuscles are polygonal, and resemble in this respect those of rice. They are, however, much smaller, and frequently united into compound grains of various sizes, the larger grains consisting of some fifty or sixty starch corpuscles.” The structure of the testa is very different from that of either rice or oat, or indeed any of the other cereal grains. It is formed of three coats or membranes. The cells of the outer coat form but a single layer, and, contrary to the arrangement which exists in the oat, their long axes are disposed transversely, in which respect they resemble rice. The fibres of the husk of rice and the cells of the testa of Lolium are, however, very distinct in other respects. In the former the cells are long and narrow, forming fibres, while in the latter they are but two or three times as broad.

The cells of the second coat, which are ranged in two layers, follow a vertical disposition, an arrangement which is contrary to that which obtains in all the other cereal grains with the exception of rice. The cells of the third coat form but a single layer, and resemble those of other grains.

DATU′RA. Syn. Thorn-apple; Stramo′nium (Ph. L. E. & D.), L. A genus of plants belonging to the nightshade order, or ‘Atropaceæ,’ The species Datura Stramonium is an important medicinal plant, the leaves and seeds being officinal in B. P. It is anodyne and sedative, but not hypnotic, though it will often induce sleep by relieving pain. It affects the constitution in much the same way as belladonna.—Dose, 1 to 4 or 5 gr., in asthma, gout, headache, neuralgic and rheumatic pains, &c. In spasmodic asthma smoking the leaf often gives instantaneous relief, but must be exhibited with care, as the whole plant is intensely poisonous. No antidote is known. Another species, namely, Datura tatula, is now preferred for cigars or cigarettes. Cigars are made from Datura Stramonium more frequently than from Datura tatula. They are recommended for asthma. See Asthma, Cigars (Stramonium), Daturia (below).

DATU′RIA. Syn. Datu′rine, Daturin′a, Hyoscy′amine. An organic alkali, discovered by Geiger and Hesse in Datura Stramonium or thorn apple. It occurs also in Hyoscyamus niger or henbane. It is best obtained from the seeds. Daturia dissolves in 280 parts of cold and 72 parts of boiling water; it is very soluble in alcohol, less so in ether. It tastes bitter, dilates the pupil strongly, and is very poisonous. It may be sublimed unaltered, and may be obtained in prismatic crystals by the addition of water to its alcoholic solution. With the acids it forms salts, which are mostly crystallisable.

DAVIDS-THEE—David’s Tea (B. Fragner, Prague). Recommended as a domestic remedy for chronic catarrh of the lungs and air passages, and especially for tuberculosis. A mixture of equal parts of great centaury, hyssop, chervil (Scandix odorata), white horehound, milfoil, Iceland moss, and carduus benedictus.

Davids-Thee, Echter Karolinenthaler—Genuine Karolin’s Dale David’s Tea (Kràl). Recommended for the same diseases as the preceding. A mixture of white horehound, milfoil, Iceland moss, great centaury, and ground ivy. According to a communication from a Bohemian apothecary the original prescription reads thus:—Herba cerefolii (Scandicis, chervil), hb. centaurii minoris (lesser centaury), hb. marrub. (horehound), flor. millefol. (milfoil flowers), lichen. Isl., of each 6 parts; hb. hyssopi, 3 parts; hb. cardui benedicti, 2 parts. (A. Selle.)

DEAD, DISPOSAL OF. As every dead body during the process of the decomposition it undergoes gives rise to products that are not only in the highest degree offensive, but in an especial sense dangerous to the health and lives of a community, the disposal of the dead in a manner best calculated to ensure, with the removal of the corpse from amongst the survivors, the least injurious consequences of its subsequent decay, becomes a problem of supreme importance to the sanitarian.

Probably amongst the nations of antiquity the Romans, with their eminently practical minds, and as we may infer from their other enlightened sanitary arrangements, were the only ancient people who were not guided either by superstitious or religious ideas in the disposal of their dead, at one time burned, but afterwards buried them. The Greeks practised cremation, the Egyptians embalmment (previously disembowelling the body), under the belief that after the lapse of many thousands of years the soul would return to its earthly mansion. The Hebrews sometimes burned their dead, and sometimes interred them. Amongst the ancient Hindoos the body was got rid of sometimes by cremation, sometimes by being cast into the Ganges, or other sacred river, and sometimes by exposure, until eaten by vultures. The Icthyophagi, or fish-eaters, appear to be the only people of antiquity who disposed of their dead by throwing them into the sea.

Amongst modern civilised nations interment is the method almost universally adopted for disposing of the dead.

Embalmment has been of late years occasionally practised in America, and was frequently adopted during the late civil war in many cases, since it afforded the means of sending the bodies of the slain to surviving relatives at long distances. Sir Henry Thompson’s advocacy of cremation was the means of causing the establishment in England a few years back of a society for its introduction; but neither here nor in Germany, where it has occasionally been employed, has the practice being adopted, save in a very few instances, most of which seem to have been merely experimental. In Calcutta cremation is still practised to some extent by the native population; the process being very effectively carried out by a French company, which has been established for some years. We may mention here an important modification of the ordinary form of interment proposed by Mr Sydney Hadden. Mr Hadden’s proposal is to dispense with the coffin, and to place the corpse instead in a large wickerwork receptacle filled with flowers, then inter it.

Of the three modes of disposal of the dead, viz. by burial, by burning, and by consignment to the sea, the first, as we have already said, is the almost invariably prevalent custom amongst civilised communities. That in a sanitary point of view it is less to be commended than either of the other methods is, we think, not difficult of demonstration. When a body is burned the resulting gaseous products of combustion, which most probably consist mainly of carbonic acid, carbonic oxide, and nitrogen, diffuse harmlessly into the atmosphere, and there remains behind only the calcined bones which formed the skeleton. An experiment by Sir Henry Thompson has shown that cremation may be performed without giving rise to odour of any kind at a comparatively small expense, and within a very moderate space of time. He burned a body weighing 227 lbs. in fifty-five minutes by placing it in a cylindrical metallic vessel seven feet long and six feet in diameter, previously heated to incandescence. The evolved gases were made to pass over a large surface of strongly heated fire-bricks, which formed part of the furnace in which the metallic vessel was placed. The furnace and its fittings were designed by Dr Siemens. The remaining ashes weighed about 5 lbs. In his pamphlet ‘On Cremation,’ Sir Henry Thompson has proposed that the custom, if adopted, should be carried out in the following manner: “When death occurs, and the necessary certificate has been given, the body is placed in a light wood shell, then in a suitable outside receptacle preparatory to removal for religious rites or otherwise. After a proper time has elapsed it is conveyed to the spot where cremation is to be performed. There nothing need be seen by the last attendant or attendants than the placing of a shell within a small compartment, and the closing of the door upon it. It slides down into the heated chamber, and is left there an hour until the necessary changes have taken place. The ashes are then placed at the disposal of the attendants.” Sir Henry suggests that, previous to the burning of any corpse, proper officers appointed for the purpose should examine into and certify as to the cause of death, and if satisfied that it has resulted from natural events, that they should give the certificate he alludes to.

Sir Henry Thompson proposes that the functions of the officers appointed for this purpose should be the same as those of the medicins verificateurs, who are medical inspectors appointed by the municipality of Paris and the other large cities, whose duty consists in visiting each house where a death occurs, in assuring themselves that the person is really dead, and that there are no suspicious circumstances attending the demise.

In Paris alone there are more than eighty of such medical functionaries.

Burial by casting the corpse into the depths of the sea possesses the great advantage over ordinary interment of removing it from near the habitation of man, whilst the sea water, by its antiseptic properties, would be as little favorable to the dissemination of noxious putrescent compounds as cremation is. On the contrary, if the dead are disposed of by the ordinary method of burial, the objectionable effects arising from their decomposition in the earth are, under the most favorable conditions, only partially overcome; and the reason is obvious, since whilst deep-sea burial prevents animal decay altogether, and burning destroys the body, which, if not got rid of, would become putrid; burial in the earth permits its slow and lengthened decomposition to go on unchecked, and to thus very frequently become a source of contamination and danger to health.

The atmosphere in the vicinity of graveyards and cemeteries is notoriously unhealthy, whilst water taken from wells situated near them is often so impure as to be wholly unfit for drinking. Several instances are on record in which the disturbance of an old graveyard has frequently been the means of disseminating disease. But although the disposal of the dead by means either of cremation or by consignment of the body to the deep caverns of the ocean are methods, in a hygienic point of view, immeasurably superior to earth-burial, there are, we think, certain obstacles to their adoption, even to a limited extent, by civilised communities, at any rate, for many years to come.

“Both cremation and deep-sea burial are open to the objection, that should the proposed officers appointed to inquire into the circumstances attending death have been mistaken in their verdict, as for instance in overlooking, or not suspecting a case of secret poisoning, not only would the murderer escape detection, but a sense of possible immunity from punishment might act as an encouragement to others who were equally guilty minded. The proposal that the stomach should be preserved, and kept for a certain time, and, in case of suspicion justifying it, examination, would in many instances fail to lead to detection, since, if certain alkaloids had been employed, they would have to be searched for, not in the stomach, but in the tissues of the dead body. Again, an obstacle to the universal adoption of deep-sea burial would be, in the case of vast continents, the difficulty of transmission from their interior, of the corpse, to the shore. But even if these objections against cremation and sea-burial could be overcome (and possibly they may be eventually), there would still remain the invincible repugnance of the survivors to what sentiment and feeling will persist in regarding as cruel indignity and irreverence toward the dead.

“Yet the eventual disposal of our frames is the same in all cases; and it is probably a matter merely of custom which makes us think that there is a want of affection, or of care, if the bodies of the dead are not suffered to repose in the earth that bore them.

“In reality, neither affection nor religion can be outraged by any manner of disposal of the dead which is done with proper solemnity and respect to the earthly dwelling-place of our friends. The question should be placed entirely on sanitary grounds, and we shall then judge it rightly.

“What is the use of preserving for a few more years the remains which will be an object of indifference to future generations? The next logical step would be to enshrine these remains in some way so as to ensure their preservation, and we should return to the vast burial mounds in Egypt.

“At present the question is not an urgent one, but if peace continue, and if the population of Europe increase, it will become so in another century or two.

“Already in this country we have seen, in our own time, a great change; the objectionable practice of interment under and round churches in towns has been given up, and the population is buried at a distance from their habitations. For the present that measure will probably suffice, but in a few years the question will again inevitably present itself.”

Since however, for the reasons above specified, earth-burial seems to be the only means of disposing of the dead likely to prevail for many years to come, the question arises as to how its attendant evils can be as much as possible minimised. The following suggestions, that may assist to effect this, are offered:—As quickly as possible after death the body should be covered with sawdust, to which carbolic acid has been added, a precaution which not only prevents the escape of fetid gases, but also of putrescent fluids from a badly jointed coffin. Charcoal, although an excellent disinfectant, from its colour, could not out of consideration for the feelings of the relatives or friends, be used until the coffin with its contents had been screwed down.

It is always desirable (save for some special reason) that the corpse should be interred within three or four days of the demise. If a body has to be kept above ground for some time, Mr Herbert Barker recommends a thin layer of sawdust and sulphate of zinc to be placed over it, in the proportion of two parts of the former to one of the latter. The coffin should be made of a material impervious to the air, and of such strength as to withstand the pressure of the overlying earth.

Mr Wynter Blyth, in his ‘Dictionary of Hygiène,’ recommends a coffin described by Mr Baker in his evidence before the sanitary commission. “The body being first of all placed in a common shell, this shell is placed in the coffin; the interval between the two is filled with common pitch, and then the outside coffin is coated over with pitch; so that it is as perfectly air-tight as a leaden shell. If desired a glass can be placed so as to leave the face exposed to the view of a jury when necessary with regard to the interment.

“The advantages of deep over shallow burying are obvious. The greater the mass of superincumbent earth into which the gaseous products of decomposition diffuse, the better the chance of their absorption and removal by the soil, and the less risk of their consequent escape into the contiguous atmosphere, as well as of the danger of contamination to the water of wells, &c. The depth of the grave varies in different countries. In Austria it is 6 ft. 2 in.; in Hesse Darmstadt, from 5 ft. 7 in. to 6 ft. 6 in.; Munich, 6 ft. 7 in.; Stuttgard, 6 ft. 6 in.; Russia from 6 ft. 10 in. In our country the practice is generally to make the depth about 6 feet, but then coffins may be placed one on the other, so that, as an actual fact, they often very closely approach the surface. The regulations followed at Stuttgard are much to be commended. In the cemeteries there the space allotted for each grave is an oblong piece of land 10 feet in length and 5 feet broad. In France the graves vary in depth from 1⁄4 metres (4·921 feet) to 2 metres (6·561 feet). They are 8 decimètres (2·264 feet) in breadth, and distant the one from the other from 3 to 4 decimètres (11·911 inches to 1·132 feet.)” (Blyth.)

To render a cemetery therefore as little prejudicial as possible to a community, not alone should deep burial be enforced, but only one body should be permitted to be deposited in a grave, at least, till after the lapse of some years. Some sanitary authorities recommend the use of quicklime or charcoal, advising them to be thrown into the grave previous to its being closed. Of the two, charcoal is the preferable disinfectant, although it does not entirely prevent putrefaction, nor the evolution of bad-smelling gases. No more efficient means of absorbing organic matters, and carbonic acid given off by the decaying corpse in the earth, can be devised than that of rapidly growing trees and shrubs in abundance around the graves.

For the funereal cypress and yew, which are slowly growing trees, why should a needless sentiment prevent the substitution of the much more sanitary and less sombre-looking eucalyptus in countries where this plant will flourish?

Old burial-grounds which have become offensive may be best disinfected by covering the ground with fresh earth to the depth of several inches, and by planting it with trees and sowing it with grass seed. Twenty-six city graveyards covering a superficial area of about 48,000 square yards, and in which, according to moderate calculation, there were not less than 48,000 tons of human remains, were successfully dealt with in this manner.

In the case of church vaults they should be first opened, a quantity of quicklime thrown into them, and thus freely exposed to the external air. The coffins should then be rearranged crossways like bricks in a building, and filled in with dry earth or masons’ rubbish, mixed with about 5 or 10 per cent. of vegetable charcoal. The vaults should next be ventilated by means of an upcast and downcast shaft of the size of a rain-water pipe, and the whole should then be closed in. In 1860, two hundred and fifty vaults in seventy-one city churches were thus disinfected. These vaults contained the coffins and remains of at least 11,000 dead bodies, which, previous to the adoption of the above measures, were very offensive. When bodies are removed from the vaults to other places, Dr Letheby recommends them to be in closed coffins and in cases containing an abundant supply of carbonate of lime powder.

The disposal of the dead frequently becomes a matter of considerable difficulty in time of war or during a siege. Under these circumstances cremation may be found the most desirable method of getting rid of them. If the bodies are buried they should always be at as great a distance as possible from one another, and as deep as they can be. If procurable, charcoal should be thrown over them; if it cannot be obtained sawdust and sulphate of zinc, or carbolic acid, may be employed. Quicklime is also commonly used, but it is less useful.

At Metz, in 1870, the following plan was adopted:—A pit of about 17 feet in depth was filled with dead disposed of as follows:—A row of bodies was laid side by side; above this a second row was placed, with the heads laid against the feet of the first row; the third row were placed across, and the fourth row in the same way, but with the heads to the feet of the former; the fifth row was placed as No. 1, and so on.

Between each layer of bodies about an inch of lime, in powder, was placed. From 90 to 100 bodies were thus arranged on a length of 6⁄2 feet, and reached to about 6 feet to the surface; the pit was then filled up with earth, and though 8400 bodies were put in that pit there were no perceptible emanations at any time.

Around Metz the graves of men, horses, and cattle were disinfected with lime, charcoal, and sulphate of iron. Immense exertions were made to clean and disinfect the camps and battle fields, and in the month of May, 1871, from 1200 to 1600 labourers were employed by the Germans. Wherever practicable the ground was sown with oats or barley or grass. The hillocks formed by the graves were planted with trees.

In many cases at Metz bodies were dug up by the Germans, when there was any fear of water-courses being contaminated, or if houses were near. On account of the danger to the workmen, graves containing more than six bodies were left untouched, and the work was always done under the immediate superintendence of a physician. The earth was removed carefully, but not far enough to uncover the corpse; then one end of the corpse was uncovered, and as soon as the uniform or parts of the body were seen, chloride of lime and sawdust, or charcoal and carbolic acid, put in; the whole earth round the body was thus treated, and the body at length laid bare, lifted and carried away. The second body was then treated in the same way.

Near Sedan, where there were many bodies very superficially buried, burning was had recourse to. Straw mixed with pitch was put into the graves, and was lighted; one ton of pitch sufficed for from 15 to 20 bodies. Opinions as to this practice were divided, and it is not certain how many graves were thus dealt with. It seems probable that only the surface of the body was burnt, and when many bodies were together in the grave, some were not touched at all. On the whole the experiment appears to have been unsuccessful.

The Belgian experience at Sedan was in favour of employing chloride of lime, nitric acid, sulphate of iron, and chlorine gas. Carbolic acid did not answer so well. The sulphate of zinc and charcoal, which Barker found so useful, was not tried.

Various statutes have been framed for the burial of the dead and for the management and selection of the burial-grounds. In the carrying out of these enactments the local authorities have only an indirect voice, exception being made in the case of a local government district in which the vestry determines to appoint a burial board. The vestry then has power to constitute the local board so appointed the burial board of such district or parish, and to rule that the expenses of such burial board shall be met by a rate levied on such parish, after the manner of a general district rate.

Vict. 21 and 22, c. 90, s. 49, enacts that if such parish has been declared a ward for the election of members of the local board, such members are to form the burial board for the parish.

By Vict. 24 and 25, c. 61, s. 21, it is enacted that a sanitary authority may provide a proper place for the reception of dead bodies, as well as for those which are to be subjected to a post-mortem examination.

A sanitary authority is also empowered to make arrangements for interment. Any urban sanitary authority has the power of regulating these matters by by-laws. When once constituted a burial board, a sanitary authority has to see to the carrying out of the Burial Acts, to repair the fences of disused burial grounds, and generally to keep in proper order and regulate all burial grounds within its jurisdiction.

The law enacts that the proper sanitary authority shall close any burial ground which is detrimental to the health of those living in its neighbourhood, or of persons frequenting any church; and throws upon such sanitary body the duty of providing a proper place of interment elsewhere.

It may be well to know that by common law it is incumbent upon any person under whose roof a death has taken place to provide the corpse with interment. Such person may neither cast the body forth, nor carry it uncovered to the grave, but he must give it decent burial. This obligation is imposed upon public bodies as well as on private persons.

Upon presentation of a certificate signed by a properly qualified medical practitioner, a justice of the peace may order, under certain circumstances, the removal of the dead body to a mortuary.

Interment within the walls, or underneath the pavement or floor of any church, or other place of public worship, built in any urban district, has since August 31st, 1848, been interdicted under a penalty of £50.

DEAF′NESS. An imperfection or absence of the sense of hearing. When deafness is present in infancy and childhood, it is accompanied with dumbness, or imperfect articulation, in consequence of the impossibility of conveying a knowledge of the sounds necessary for the exercise of the imitative faculty of speech. Deafness frequently arises from some imperfection or obstruction of the passage leading to the membrane of the tympanum or drum of the ear. In some cases this passage is totally closed by a membrane, or some malformation of the tube, which may frequently be removed by a surgical operation. Even instances of partial obliteration of this passage have occurred, which have been successfully treated. The researches of Mr Yearsley have established the fact, that enlarged tonsils are a very common cause of deafness; and when such is the case, their excision will generally effect a cure. To this form of the affection Mr Yearsley applies the term ‘throat deafness.’ Another cause of deafness is the presence of foreign bodies in the aural passages or the accumulation of hardened wax. In these cases the best treatment is to inject warm water into the ear by means of a proper syringe. When deafness arises from imperfection of the tympanum or drum of the ear, the effects of the application of the artificial membrana tympani invented by Mr Yearsley (moistened cotton wool) are generally immediate and truly wonderful. By its aid persons previously so deaf as to be incapable of bearing their share in conversation have been enabled to hear an ordinary whisper. Insects may be destroyed by pouring a spoonful of warm olive oil, or camphorated oil, into the ear over night, retaining it there until the next morning by means of a piece of cotton wool, when it may be washed out with a little mild soap and warm water. When there is a deficiency of the natural secretion of wax, or a dryness of the aural passage, mild oleaginous stimulants may be employed. For this purpose a little olive oil, almond oil, to which a few drops of oil of turpentine, oil of juniper, or camphor liniment, have been added, may be used with advantage. A piece of cotton wool moistened with glycerin is an excellent application in such cases. When deafness is accompanied with continued acute pain, or a discharge of purulent matter, inflammation of the tympanum, or some other portion of the internal ear, probably exists, and medical advice should be sought as soon as possible. The deafness that frequently accompanies a violent cold is generally caused by obstructions in the Eustachian tubes, and goes off as soon as the secretions return to a healthy state. In some forms of deafness blisters behind the ears are useful. A clove of garlic wrapped in cotton or gauze, or a few drops of the juice introduced into the ear, is extremely efficacious in nervous deafness. When imperfect hearing depends upon obtundity of the auditory nerve, or an extensive obliteration or malformation of the internal ear, it scarcely admits of cure.

Deafness, Taylor’s Remedy for. Prep. From oil of almonds, 1 lb.; garlic, bruised, 2 oz.; alkanet root, ⁄2 oz.; digest for a week, and strain. A little is poured into the ear in deafness.

DEATH. In cases of sudden death interment should be deferred till signs of putrefaction begin to appear, especially when no gradation of disease has preceded, as in cases of apoplexy, hysterics, external injuries, drowning, suffocation, &c. No sooner has breathing apparently ceased, and the visage assumed a ghastly or a death-like hue, than the patient, after his eyes are closed, is too often hurried into a coffin, and the body, scarcely yet cold, is precipitated into the grave. So extremely fallacious are the signs of death that the semblance has been frequently mistaken for the reality. By prompt means and judicious treatment, many persons, when in such a condition, have been happily restored to their families and friends. The effects of sound upon animal life is astonishing. The beat of a drum, for instance, has had a very beneficial effect upon persons in a state of suspended animation. At one time a scream, extorted by grief, proved the means of resuscitating a person who was supposed to be dead, and who had exhibited the usual recent marks of the extinction of life. In cases of catalepsy or trance, having the semblance of death, the action of the lungs and heart continues, though in a nearly imperceptible degree. By placing a cold mirror or piece of highly polished metal immediately over the mouth of the patient, symptoms of moisture will appear upon the surface if the most feeble respiration takes place.

DEBIL′ITY. Syn. Debil′itas, L. Weakness; languor; feebleness. When this arises from a diseased action of the stomach, the occasional use of mild aperients, followed by bitters and tonics, may be had recourse to. When from a general laxity of the solids, and there are no symptoms of fever, nor a tendency of blood to the head, a course of chalybeates generally proves advantageous. See Anæmia, Atrophy, &c.

DECANTA′TION. The operation of pouring or drawing off the clear portion of a liquid from the impurities or grosser matter that has subsided. It is commonly performed, either by gently inclining the vessel, or by the use of a syphon or pump. In the laboratory it is much resorted to in the purification of precipitates, or other similar operations, where repeated edulcoration or washing is required, for which purpose it is preferable to filtration, from being less troublesome and more economical. In these cases, after a sufficient time having been allowed for the subsidence of the precipitate or powder, or for the clearing of the supernatant fluid, the latter is decanted, and its place supplied by a fresh portion of water, which, after sufficient agitation, is similarly treated, and the whole operation repeated as often as necessary.

DECANT′ERS. There is often much difficulty experienced in cleaning decanters, especially after port wine has stood in them for some time. The best way is to wash them out with a little pearlash and warm water, adding a spoonful or two of fresh-slaked lime, if necessary. To facilitate the action of the fluid against the sides of the glass, a few small cinders or pieces of raw potato may be used. A spoonful of strong oil of vitriol will also rapidly remove any kind of dirt from glass bottles. Decanters which have become furred by holding hard water may be cleaned with a spoonful of hydrochloric acid (‘spirits of salt’), diluted with 3 or 4 times its weight of water. See Stoppers.

DECARBONISA′TION. This operation is performed on cast iron, to convert it into soft iron. The articles to be decarbonised are packed in finely powdered hæmatite, or native oxide of iron, to which iron filings are often added, and exposed for some time to a strong red heat, by which the excess of carbon is abstracted or burnt out. The process somewhat resembles annealing or cementation.

DECAY′. See Eremacausis.

DEC′IMALS. Syn. Decimal fractions. Fractions which have for their denominator 10, or some power of ten; as 100, 1000, &c.; the number of ciphers in the denominator being always equal to the number of figures in the numerator. Thus, ·2, ·25, ·125, respectively represent ⁄10, ⁄100, ⁄1000. The denominator of decimals is never written, the dot placed before the first figure of the numerator expressing its value. Ciphers placed on the right hand of a decimal fraction do not alter its value; for ·5, ·50, ·500, are each equal to ⁄2; but ciphers placed on the left hand of a decimal diminish its value in a tenfold proportion; thus, ·3, ·03, ·003, respectively answer to the common fractions ⁄10, ⁄100, and ⁄1000. Every figure on the left-hand side of the dot or decimal sign is a whole number.

Addition and SUBTRACTION OF DECIMALS are performed in the same manner as with common numbers, care being taken to place the numbers under each other according to their several values; as, tens under tens, hundreds under hundreds, &c.

Multiplication of decimals is performed in precisely the same manner as with whole numbers, merely pointing off as many figures in the product as there are decimals in the multiplier and multiplicand put together.

Division of decimals. As the last, but pointing off as many figures in the quotient as the decimal places in the dividend exceed those of the divisor. If there are not figures enough in the quotient, the deficiency must be supplied by prefixing left-hand ciphers. Ciphers are also added to the right hand of the dividend, or to a remainder, where there are more figures in the divisor than in the dividend, by which the quotient may be carried on to any extent.

A vulgar fraction is reduced to a decimal by dividing the numerator (increased sufficiently with ciphers) by the denominator. Thus, ⁄2 = ·5, ⁄8 = ·125, &c.

The value of a decimal, of any denomination, is found by multiplying it by the number of parts in the next less denomination, and cutting off as many places to the right hand as there are decimals, and so on until the terms are exhausted. Thus, ·634 oz. is =

·634
8
——
5·072 drachms.
60
——
4·320

or, 5 dr. 4⁄3 gr. (nearly).

The constant use of decimals in the laboratory, in the surveys of the Excise, and in numerous chemical calculations, induces us to press the subject on the attention of operatives and others of neglected education. An attentive perusal of the above, and a few hours’ application, will make the matter familiar to them.

DECOC′TION. Syn. Decoct′um, L. An aqueous solution of the active principles of any substance obtained by boiling; also the process of preparing such solutions.

The effect of decoction in water differs greatly from that of infusion. At the temperature of 212° Fahr., the essential oils and aromatic principles of vegetables are dissipated or decomposed; while by infusion in hot water, in covered vessels, they remain for the most part uninjured. The solvent powers of boiling water are, however, much greater than those of hot water; and many vegetable principles scarcely acted on by the one are freely soluble in the other. This is the case with many of the alkaloids, on which the medicinal virtues of several vegetables depend. On the other hand, the solutions of many substances, though more readily made by boiling, are speedily weakened or rendered inert by ebullition, in consequence of the active principles being either volatilised along with the steam, or oxidised or decomposed by exposure to the atmosphere. This is particularly the case with substances abounding in extractive or astringent matter. When the medicinal properties of vegetables are volatile, or are injured by a strong heat, infusion should be had recourse to, in preference to boiling; but when a solution of the fixed constituents is alone sought, decoction is preferable.

The substances employed for making decoctions should be well bruised, or reduced to a very coarse powder, or, if fresh and soft, they should be sliced small. In the former case, any very fine powder or adhering dust should be removed with a sieve, as its presence tends to make the product thick and disagreeable, and also more troublesome to strain. The vessel in which the ebullition is conducted should be furnished with an accurately fitting cover, the better to exclude the air; and the application of the heat should be so conducted that the fluid may be kept simmering, or only gently boiling, as violent boiling is not only quite unnecessary, but absolutely injurious to the quality of the product. In every case the liquor should be strained whilst hot, but not boiling, and the best method of doing this is to employ a fine hair sieve, or a coarse flannel bag. In general it is found that, as decoctions cool, a sediment is formed, in consequence of the boiling water dissolving a larger portion of vegetable matter than it can retain in solution when cold. This deposit for the most part consists of the active principles of the solution, and, unless when otherwise ordered, should be mingled with the clear liquid by agitation, when the decoction enters into extemporaneous compositions, or when the dose is taken.

The length of time occupied by the ebullition is another point demanding some attention. Long boiling is in no case necessary, and should be avoided, especially in decoctions prepared from aromatic vegetables, or those abounding in extractive. The Colleges, in such cases, direct the ingredients “to be boiled for a short time,” or “for ten minutes;” or they limit the period of the ebullition by stating the quantity that must be volatilised, as—“boil to a pint, and strain.” The last method is generally employed for those substances that do not suffer by lengthened boiling.

In preparing compound decoctions those ingredients should be boiled first which least readily give up their active principles to the menstruum, and those which most readily part with them should be added afterwards. In many cases it is proper simply to infuse the more aromatic substances in the hot decoction of the other ingredients, by which means their volatile principles will be better preserved.

Distilled water, or perfectly clean rain water, should alone be used for decoctions, extracts, and infusions. Spring and river water, from containing lime, have much less solvent matter.

The aqueous solutions of organic matter, from the nature of their constituents, rapidly ferment or putrefy, at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere. Neither decoctions nor infusions are fit to be used in dispensing, unless made the same day. They should, consequently, be only prepared in small quantities at a time, and any unconsumed portion should be rejected, as it would be imprudent for the dispenser to risk his own reputation, and the welfare of the patient, by employing an article of dubious quality.

It has of late years become a general practice for the wholesale houses to vend preparations under the name of ‘Concentrated Decoctions,’ which, with the exception of the compound decoction of aloes, are stated to be of 8 times the pharmacopœial strength; so that one drachm of these liquids added to seven drachms of water forms extemporaneous decoctions, professedly resembling those of the pharmacopœia. The decoction of aloes is made of only four times the usual strength, as the nature of its composition would not permit of further concentration. Such preparations are, however, very imperfect substitutes for the freshly made decoctions. The extreme difficulty of forming concentrated solutions of vegetable matter with bulky ingredients too often leads to the omission of a portion of the materials, or to the practice of concentrating the liquid by long evaporation. In the first case the strength is, of course, less than it should be; and in the second, the quality is injured, and perhaps the preparation is rendered nearly inert by the lengthened exposure to heat, and the consequent volatilisation or decomposition of its active constituents. The common practice of adding a considerable portion of spirit to these preparations, which is absolutely necessary to preserve them, is also objectionable, as, in many of the cases in which decoctions are prescribed, this article, even in small quantities, exerts a prejudicial action. Some concentrated decoctions have been recently offered for sale which do not contain alcohol, being preserved by the addition of sulphurous acid, or sulphite of lime.

Decoction of Alconorque. Syn. Decoctum alconorco. American alconorque bark, ⁄2 oz.; water, 16 oz,; boil to 8 oz., and strain.—Dose, 1 oz. two or three times a day, in phthisis.

Decoction of Alder. Syn. Decoctum alni. Bark of common alder, 1 oz.; water, 20 oz.; boil to 16 oz.

Decoction of Alder, Black. Syn. Decoctum Rhamni Frangulæ. Black alder bark, dried, 1 oz.; water, 1⁄2 pint; boil to 1 pint, and strain.

Decoction of Al′oes. Syn. Compound d. of a., Balsam of life; Baume de vie, Fr.; Decoctum al′oës (Ph. E.), D. a. compos′itum (B. P. and Ph. D.), L. Prep. 1. (B. P.) Extract of liquorice, 1 oz.; extract of socotrine aloes, 2 dr.; powdered myrrh and saffron, of each, 1⁄2 dr.; carbonate of potassa, 1 dr.; tincture of cardamoms, 8 oz.; water, a sufficiency. Coarsely powder the extract of aloes and myrrh, and put them, together with the carbonate of potash and extract of liquorice, into a covered vessel, with a pint of distilled water; boil gently for five minutes, then add the saffron; let the vessel with contents cool, then add the tincture of cardamoms, and, covering the vessels closely, allow the ingredients to macerate two hours, finally strain through flannel, pouring as much distilled water over the contents of the strainer as will make the product measure 30 oz.

2. (Ph. E.) Aloes, myrrh, and saffron, of each 1 dr.; extract of liquorice, ⁄2 oz.; carbonate of potassa, 40 gr.; water, 16 fl. oz.; boil to 12 fl. oz.; strain, and add of compound tincture of cardamoms 4 fl. oz.

3. (Ph. D.) As No. 1 (nearly), but using hepatic aloes.

A warm cathartic.—Dose, ⁄2 to 1⁄2 oz.; in habitual costiveness, dyspepsia, jaundice, &c.

Obs. By boiling the saffron as ordered by the Dublin and Edinburgh Colleges, nearly the whole of its fragrance is dissipated. A better plan is to macerate it in the tincture for a few days, previously to adding the latter to the decoction of the other ingredients. After the tincture has been strained off from the saffron, the latter may be washed with a little water, to remove any adhering colour and odour, and this may be added to the decoction. The addition of the tincture produces a deposit of mucilaginous and feculent matter, which has been dissolved out of the liquorice, for which reason some houses omit the latter altogether, and supply its place with an equal quantity of sugar or treacle, and a little colouring. By this method the liquid, after being once obtained clear, will continue so for any length of time.

4. (Wholesale.) Solazzi juice, 1⁄2 lb.; kali (carbonate of potassa), 4 oz.; hepatic aloes, 5⁄2 oz.; myrrh (small), 5 oz.; water, 4⁄2 galls.; boil to 3 galls., strain through flannel, cool, and add, of compound tincture of cardamoms, 10 pints; previously digested for 10 days on saffron, 2⁄2 oz.; mix well, and add essential oil of nutmeg, 15 drops; oils of cassia and caraway, of each 10 drops; and oils of cloves and pimento, of each 5 drops; in a week decant the clear portion from the sediment, and preserve it in a cool place.

5. (Concentrated; D. a. concentra′tum, L.)—a. Lump sugar, 8 oz.; colouring, ⁄4 pint; carbonate of potash, 2 oz.; aloes, 3⁄2 oz.; myrrh and saffron, of each 2⁄2 oz.; compound tincture of cardamoms, ⁄2 a gall.; water, 3 pints; boil the first five in the water, until reduced to nearly one half; cool, and add the tincture, previously digested for a week, on the saffron; and proceed as above. 14 oz. of extract of liquorice may be used instead of the sugar and colouring.

b. Aloes, myrrh, liquorice, and potassa (all in powder), and saffron as last; compound tincture of cardamoms, 5⁄4 pints; digest a fortnight, and filter. In this way a very odorous and beautiful preparation is produced, which has been much admired. The above are said to possess four times the strength of the College preparation.

Decoction, Anticol′ic. Syn. Anticolic ap′ozem, Degland’s colic mixture; APOZ′EMA ANTICOL′ICUM, L. Prep. Senna leaves, 2 oz.; boiling water, 1 pint; simmer gently to 16 fl. oz.; press out the liquor, add sulphate of soda, 1 oz.; syrup of buckthorn, 2 oz.; and strain through flannel. Used by glassfuls in lead colic, or after poisoning by lead.

Decoction, Antidar′trous. Decoction of Bitter Sweet (see below).

Decoction of Apocynum. Syn. Decoctum apocyni. Root of Apocynum cannabinum, 1 oz.; juniper berries, 1 oz.; water, 3 pints. Boil to 2 pints. A wine-glassful frequently. In dropsy.

Decoction of Ar′nica. Syn. Decoctum arnicæ, L. Prep. 1. (Swediaur.) Flowers of Arnica montana, 1 oz.; water, 3 pints; boil to a quart; filter, and add of syrup of ginger, 3 oz.—Dose, 1 to 2 fl. oz. every two or three hours; in aphonia, paralysis of the voluntary muscles, rheumatism, &c.; and as a substitute for bark in putrid fever, agues, &c.

2. (Ph. Cast. Aust., 1841.) Arnica root, 2 dr.; water, 9 oz.; boil to 6 oz., and strain.—Dose, 1 oz.; as the last.

Decoction of Asparagus. Syn. Decoctum asparagi. Roots of asparagus, 1 oz.; water, 2 pints; boil for 10 or 15 minutes; diuretic.

Decoction, Astrin′gent. Syn. Decoctum astrin′gens, L. Prep. (Swediaur.) Oak-bark, pomegranate peel, and tormentil root, of each 2 dr; water and milk, of each 1 lb.; boil 12 minutes, add of cinnamon, 2 dr.; boil 2 or 3 minutes longer, and strain.—Dose. A wine-glassful.

Decoction of Avens Root. Syn. Decoctum Gei. (Dr A. T. Thompson.) Avens root, 1 oz.; water, 1 pint; boil for 15 minutes, and strain.

Decoction of Baobab Tree. Syn. Decoctum Adansoniæ. Bark of the baobab tree, 6 dr.; water, 1⁄2 pint; boil to a pint, and strain. Used as a substitute for decoction of bark.

Decoction of Bark. Syn. Decoction of cincho′na; Decoctum cincho′næ, L. Prep. 1. Ph. L.:—a. (D. of yellow b.; D. cinchonæ, B. P.) Yellow cinchona or calisaya bark (bruised), 1⁄4 oz.; distilled water, 1 pint; boil for 10 minutes in a lightly covered vessel; when cold, strain and pour on the marc sufficient water to make up 1 pint.

b. (D. of pale b.; D. c. pallidæ, Ph. L.) From pale cinchona or loxa bark, as above (a.)

c. (D. of red b.; D. c. rubræ, Ph. L.) From red bark, as above (a).

2. (Ph. E.) Brown, grey, yellow, or red cinchona (bruised), 1 oz.; water, 24 fl. oz.; boil for 10 minutes; when cold filter the liquor, and evaporate it to 16 fl. oz.

3. (Ph. D.) From pale or loxa bark, similar to the ‘Decoctum cinchonæ pallidæ’ of Ph. L. (1. b. above).

Dose, &c. 1 to 2 fl. oz., 3 or 4 times daily, as a tonic, stomachic, and febrifuge, when the stomach will not bear the administration of bark in powder; in fevers, dyspepsia, convalescence, &c. The plan recommended by the Edinburgh College of filtering the decoction when cold is absurd. According to Soubeiran, 146 gr. of the deposit thus removed contained 86 gr. soluble in alcohol, and rich in the cinchona alkaloids. This liquid should, therefore, be well shaken before pouring it out for use, instead of being filtered. The addition of a few drops of either sulphuric or hydrochloric acid to the water greatly increases its solvent power, and also, consequently, the medicinal value of this preparation. (See below.)

Decoction of Bark (Acid′ulated). Syn. Decoctum cinchonæ acidula′tum, L. Prep. 1. To the water for any one of the above, add dilute sulphuric acid, 1⁄2 fl. dr.; boil 10 minutes, and strain whilst hot.

2. (Sir J. Wylie.) Cinchona bark, 1 oz.; water, 16 fl. oz.; diluted sulphuric acid, 1 dr.; as last.

Decoction of Bark (Facti′′tious). Syn. Decoctum cinchonæ factitium, L. Prep. (Ph. Bor.) Willow bark and horse-chestnut bark, of each ⁄2 oz.; calamus root and cloves, of each ⁄4 oz.; water, 16 fl. oz.; boil to one half. Used as a substitute for decoction of cinchona bark, but is vastly inferior.

Decoction of Bark and Ser′pentary. Syn. Decoctum cinchonæ cum serpenta′ria, L. Prep. (Sir J. Pringle.) Peruvian bark, 3 dr.; water, 1 pint; boil to one half, and infuse in the hot decoction, serpentaria root, 3 dr. As a diaphoretic stimulant, and tonic, in fevers, and as a gargle in sore throat.

Decoction of Bar′ley. Syn. Barley-water; Decoctum hor′dei (B. P.), L. Prep. 1. (B. P.) Pearl barley, 1 oz. (washed clean); boil for 20 minutes in 15 oz. of water, and strain.

2. (Ph. D.) Similar to above. (See Obs. below.)

Decoction of Barley (Compound.) Syn. Pec′toral decoction, Fe′ver drink; Decoctum pectora′le, Ptisan′a commu′nis, Dec. hor′dei compos′itum (Ph. L.), Mistu′ra hor′dei (Ph. E.), L. Prep. 1. (Ph. L.) Decoction of barley (simple), 1 quart; figs (sliced) and raisins (stoned), of each 2⁄2 oz.; fresh liquorice (sliced), 5 dr.; water, 1 pint; boil to a quart, and strain.

2. (Ph. E.) Pearl barley, 2⁄2 oz.; water, 4⁄2 pints; boil to 3 pints; add figs and raisins, of each 2⁄2 oz.; liquorice root, 5 dr.; water, 1 pint; and boil to 2 pints, as before.

Obs. The above are used as demulcents in fevers, phthisis, strangury, &c., taken ad libitum. They are slightly laxative, and when this would be an objection to their use, a few drops of laudanum may be added. Mixed with an equal quantity of decoction of bark, barley-water forms an excellent gargle in cynanche maligna (ulcerated sore throat), and, with a like quantity of milk and a little sugar, a good substitute for the breast in dry nursing infants. It is, also, often acidulated with lemon juice or sulphuric acid, and sweetened (Decoctum hordei acidulatum). Gum Arabic, 4 dr., and nitre, 1 dr., to each pint, is a common addition in gonorrhœa. Cream of tartar, 1 dr., is occasionally added to render it more aperient.

Decoction of Bistort. Syn. Decoctum bistortæ. Bistort root, 2 oz.; water, 1⁄2 pints; boil 15 or 20 minutes, and strain.—Dose, 1 oz. to 2 oz.; astringent.

Decoction, Bit′ter. Syn. Decoctum ama′rum, L. Prep. 1. Dried tops of lesser centaury and wormwood, and leaves of germander, of each 3 dr.; water, 1⁄4 pint; boil to a pint.

2. Gentian root, ⁄2 oz.; water, 1⁄2 pint; boil 10 minutes, take out the root, slice it, and add it again to the decoction with dried orange peel, ⁄4 oz.; boil to 1 pint, and strain.

Decoction of Bitter Sweet. Syn. Antidar′trous ap′ozem; Apozema dulcama′′ræ, L. Prep. (Trousseau and Reveille.) Dulcamara, 1 dr.; water, 16 oz.; boil to 9 oz., and strain. To be taken in three doses during the day. Every other day the quantity is to be increased until 12 dr. or even 2 oz. are taken daily, “so that the patient may begin to feel dryness of the throat, and some disorder of vision and digestion;” and “continue at this quantity for several weeks in succession.” In obstinate skin diseases. See Decoction of Dulcamara.

Decoction of Blue Cardinal Flowers. Syn. Decoctum lobel′iæ, D. l. syphilit′icæ, L. Prep. 1. (P. Cod.) Root of Lobelia syphilitica, 1 handful; water, 12 lb.; boil to 7 lb., and strain.

2. (Swediaur.) Dried root, 5 oz.; water, 12 lb.; as last. Alterative, purgative, and diuretic.

Obs. This decoction was strongly recommended by Swediaur in certain complaints. He gave half a pint at first, twice daily, and afterwards 4 times a day, unless it acted too strongly on the bowels, when the frequency of the dose was diminished, or it was discontinued for 3 or 4 days, and then had recourse to again, until the cure was effected.

Decoction of Bran. Syn. Decoctum furfuris, L. Prep. 1. From bran, ⁄4 lb.; water, 1⁄4 pint; boil to a pint. In diabetes; and sweetened with sugar, as a demulcent and laxative in cough and sore throat.

2. Bran, 1 quart; water, 1⁄2 gall.; boil 5 minutes, and add cold water, q. s. to bring it to the proper temperature. As an emollient foot-bath.

Decoction of Broom. Syn. Decoctum spar′tii cacumin′ium; D. scopa′′rii (Ph. D.), L. Prep. (Ph. D.) Broom-tops (dried), ⁄2 oz.; water, ⁄2 pint; boil 10 minutes, and strain.

2. (Ph. B.) Broom-tops (dried), 1 oz.; distilled water, 1 pint; boil for 10 minutes, and strain. (See below.)

Decoction of Broom (Compound). Syn. Decoctum spar′tii cacuminium c., D. scopa′′rii (Ph. E.), D. s. compos′itum (Ph. L.), L. Prep. 1. (Ph. L.) Tops of broom (recent and dried), juniper berries (bruised), dandelion root (bruised), of each ⁄2 oz.; distilled water, 1⁄2 pint; boil to a pint, and strain.

2. (Ph. E.) Tops of broom and juniper, of each ⁄2 oz.; cream of tartar, 2⁄2 dr.; water, 1⁄2 pint; boil to a pint, as last. The above are diuretic and laxative.—Dose, ⁄2 to 1 wine-glassful, 3 or 4 times a day; in dropsy, especially of the belly (ASCITES).

Decoction of Buckbean. Syn. Decoctum menyanthis. Buckbean, 1 oz.; water, 1⁄2 pint; boil to a pint.

Decoction of Burdock. Syn. Decoctum arc′tii, D. barda′næ, L. Prep. 1. Bardana root, 6 oz.; water, 5 pints; boil to 3 pints, and strain.

2. (Wood.) Dried root, 2 oz.; water, 3 pints; boil to 2 pints, and strain. As an alterative; a pint or more daily, in all those cases in which sarsaparilla is recommended.

Decoction of Cabbage-tree Bark. Decoctum Geoffroyæ (Ph. E. 1817), D. g. inermis (Ph. D. 1826). Prep. (Ph. D.) Bark of the cabbage tree (bruised), 1 oz.; water, 1 quart; boil to a pint, and strain. Cathartic, narcotic, and anthelmintic.—Dose, 2 to 4 table-spoonfuls for an adult; 1 to 2 teaspoonfuls for a child, followed by demulcents and castor oil; in worms, &c.

Decoction of Calumba (Compound). Syn. Decoctum calum′bæ compos′itum, L. Prep. (Ph. U. S. 1831.) Calumba and quassia, of each 2 dr.; orange peel, 1 dr.; rhubarb, 20 gr.; carbonate of potassa, 30 gr.; water, 20 fl. oz.; boil to 16 fl. oz., strain, and, when cold, add of compound tincture of lavender, ⁄2 fl. oz. Bitter, tonic, and stomachic.—Dose, 1 to 2 table-spoonfuls 3 or 4 times daily.

Decoction of Centaury. Syn. Decoctum cimicifuge, F. H. Lesser centaury, 2 oz.; water, 2 pints; boil for a few minutes, and strain.

Decoction of Cey′lon Moss. Syn. Decoctum fu′′ci amyla′cei, D. ploca′′riæ candi′dæ, L. Prep. From Ceylon moss, 2 dr.; water, milk, or whey, 1 pint; boil to 16 fl. oz., and strain. It may be sweetened and flavoured. In irritation of the mucous membranes and in phthisis.

Decoction of Cham′omile. Syn. Decoctum anthe′midis, D. chamæmeli, L. From chamomiles, 1 oz.; boiling water, 1 pint; digest for 10 minutes, simmer gently for 2 or 3 minutes longer, and strain with pressure. (See below.)

Decoction of Chamomile (Compound). Syn. Decoctum chamæmeli compositum, L. Prep. (Ph. D. 1826.) Chamomile flowers (dried), ⁄2 oz.; fennel seed, 2 dr.; water, 16 oz.; boil a short time, and strain. Both the above are bitter, stomachic and tonic; the last is vermifuge. They are chiefly used as fomentations and clysters.

Decoction of Cherry Laurel Bark. Syn. Decoctum lauro-cerasi corticis. (Dr Kastner.) Cherry laurel bark, 2 oz.; water, 2 pints; boil, and strain.

Decoction of Chiret′ta. Syn. Decoctum Chiraytæ, L. Prep. From chiretta or chyrata, 5 dr.; water, 1 pint; boil 8 or 10 minutes and strain.—Dose, ⁄2 to 1 wine-glassful 2 or 3 times daily, as a stomachic tonic; in flatulency and acidity, especially in the dyspepsia of gouty persons.

Decoction of Cincho′na. See Decoction of Bark.

Decoction of Coffee. Syn. Decoctum caffei. Boil 10 dr. of raw coffee berries in 8 oz. of water to 5 oz. To be given in 3 doses during the intermissions of intermittent fever.

Decoction of Col′ocynth. Syn. Decoctum colocynth′idis, L. Prep. (Ph. Bat.) Colocynth pulp, 1 dr.; water, 8 oz.; boil 10 minutes, and when quite cold, add of syrup of orange peel, 1 oz.; sulphuric ether, 1 dr.—Dose, 2 to 6 dr., 2 or 3 times a day; in dropsy, &c.

Decoction of Colts′foot. Syn. Decoctum tussilag′inis, L. Prep. (Pereira.) Fresh leaves of coltsfoot, 2 oz. (or flowers, 1 oz.); water, 2 pints; boil to a pint and strain. A popular remedy in chronic coughs and chest diseases. It is emollient and demulcent.—Dose. Half a teacupful, ad libitum. (See below.)

Decoction of Coltsfoot (Compound). Syn. Decoctum tussilaginis compositum, L. Prep. (Taddei.) Coltsfoot flowers, 6 oz.; figs, raisins, and jujubes, of each 2 oz.; water, 12 pints; boil down to 4 pints; add liquorice root, 2 oz.; again boil and strain. As the last.

Decoction, Com′mon. See Decoction of Mallows.

Decoction of Cor′sican Moss. Syn. Decoctum helminth′ocorti, L. Prep. From the moss, 5 dr.; water, 1⁄2 pint; boil to a pint.—Dose. A wine-glassful, three times a day; as a vermifuge. In 1822, Mr Farr brought it forward as a remedy for cancer.

Decoction of Cot′ton Root. Syn. Decoctum gossyp′ii, L. Prep. (Dr Bouchelle.) Inner part of the root of the cotton plant, 4 oz.; water, 1 quart; boil to a pint.—Dose. A wine-glassful, occasionally, as an emmenagogue; or, every 30 or 40 minutes, to produce uterine contractions, for which purpose it is said to be as effectual as ergot of rye.

Decoction of Dandeli′on. Syn. Decoctum tarax′aci (B. P.), L. Prep. 1. (B. P.) Fresh dandelion root (bruised), 1 oz.; water, 1⁄2 pint; boil to a pint, and strain.

2. (Ph. E.) Herb and root (fresh), 7 oz.; water, 1 quart; boil to a pint. Aperient, stomachic, and tonic.—Dose, 1 to 2 fl. oz., or more, 2 or 3 times daily.

Decoction, Diaphoret′ic. Syn. Decoctum diaphoreticum, L. Decoction of bark, 1 pint; liquor of acetate of ammonia, 4 oz.; aromatic confection, 1 oz.—Dose, 2 or 3 table-spoonfuls every 3 hours.

Decoction of Dog-grass. Syn. Decoctum gramin′is, L.; Ptisane chiendent, Fr. Prep. From dog-grass root (Triticum repens), 1 oz.; liquorice root, ⁄2 oz.; water, 1 quart; boil 20 minutes, and strain. Aperient and pectoral; by cupfuls, ad libitum. (See below.)

Decoction of Dog-grass (Ioduret′ted). Syn. Decoctum graminis iodure′tum, L. Prep. (Magendie.) Decoction of dog-grass, 32 fl. oz.; syrup of peppermint, 2 oz.; iodide of potassium, ⁄2 dr.; mix. By cupfuls, ad libitum.

Decoction of Dog-wood. Syn. Decoctum cor′nus floridæ, L. Prep. (Ph. U. S.) Dog-wood bark (bruised), 1 oz.; water, 1 pint; boil 10 minutes, and strain whilst hot. Tonic and astringent; recommended as a substitute for bark.—Dose. A wine-glassful.

Decoction of Dulcama′ra. Syn. Decoction of bitter sweet, D. of woody nightshade; Decoctum dulcama′′ræ (Ph. L. E. & D.), L. Prep. 1. (Ph. L.) Woody nightshade or bitter sweet (the new shoots), 10 dr.; water, 1⁄2 pint; boil to a pint, and strain.

2. (Ph. E.) Dulcamara (chopped small), 1 oz.; water, 24 fl. oz.; boil to a pint, and strain.

3. (Ph. D.) Twigs of woody nightshade, 1 oz.; water, 1 pint; boil 10 minutes in a covered vessel, and strain. It should measure about 16 fl. oz. Alterative, diaphoretic, and diuretic.—Dose. A wine-glassful, or more, 2 or 3 times a day; in chronic coughs and chronic skin diseases, and in most of those cases wherein sarsaparilla proves useful. See Decoction of bitter sweet, also below.

Decoction of Dulcama′ra (Compound). Syn. Decoctum dulcama′′ræ composi′tum, L. Prep. 1. (Augustin.) Dulcamara (bitter sweet), 4 dr.; burdock root, liquorice root, sassafras chips, and guaiacum wood, of each, 2 dr.; water, 2 lbs.; boil to 16 fl. oz., and strain.—Dose, 1 to 2 wine-glassfuls 2 or 3 times a day.

2. (Foy.) As the last, but using dulcamara, 2 oz.—Dose, ⁄2 to 1 wine-glassful; in similar cases to those in which the simple decoction is given, especially in chronic rheumatism and venereal affections.

Decoction of El′der Bark. Syn. Decoctum sambu′′ci, D. s. corticis. L. Prep. 1. (Sydenham.) Inner bark of elder, 1 oz.; water and milk, of each 1 pint; boil to one half, and strain.

2. (Collier.) Bark, 1 oz.; water, 16 fl. oz.; boil to ⁄2 pint, and strain.

3. (Pereira.) Bark, 1 oz.; water, 1 quart; boil to one half.—Dose. One wine-glassful 2 or 3 times a day; as an aperient and resolvent in various chronic disorders, in dropsy, and in certain cutaneous affections; or, 2 wine-glassfuls, as before, as a hydragogue cathartic in dropsies.

Decoction of Elecam′pane. Syn. Decoctum helen′′ii, D. inu′læ, L. Prep. (Ph. U. S.) Elecampane root, ⁄2 oz.; water, 1 pint; boil a few minutes and strain. Tonic and expectorant, and, in some cases, diuretic and diaphoretic.—Dose. A wine-glassful every hour or two. (See below.)

Decoction of Elecampane (Compound). Syn. Decoctum heleni compositum, D. inulæ c., L. Prep. (Rotier.) Elecampane, 1 oz.; hyssop and ground ivy, of each 2 dr.; water, 1 pint; boil 15 minutes, strain, and add of honey, 2 oz.—Dose, 1 to 3 table-spoonfuls; as the last.

Decoction of Elm Bark. Syn. Decoctum ul′mi (B. P.), L. Prep. Elm bark (cut in small pieces), 1 oz.; distilled water, 16 oz.; boil to 8 oz., and strain.—Dose, 2 to 4 oz., three or four times a day, as a cheap substitute for sarsaparilla in scaly skin diseases. (See below.)

Decoction of Elm Bark (Compound). Syn. Decoctum ulmi Compositum, L. Prep. (Jeffrey.) Simple decoction of elm bark, 8 pints; liquorice root, sassafras and guaiacum chips, of each 1 oz.; mezereon root, 3 dr.; boil for one hour, and strain. More active than the last.

Decoction of Er′got. Syn. Decoctum ergot′æ, D. seca′lis cornuti, L. Prep. (Pereira.) Ergot of rye (bruised), 1 dr.; water, 6 fl. oz.; boil 10 minutes, and strain.—Dose. One third at intervals of half an hour, until the whole is taken; as a parturifacient.

Decoction of Fern Root. Syn. Decoctum filicis; D. radicis f., L. Prep. (Dr Wood.) Dried fern-root, 1 oz.; water, 1 pint; boil to 16 fl. oz., and strain. By wine-glassfuls, fasting, until it excites slight nausea; as a vermifuge, more particularly for tapeworm.

Decoction of Figs. Syn. Decoctum fici, L. Prep. (Cadet.) Figs (chopped), 1 oz.; water, 1 pint; boil, and strain. Demulcent and pectoral; taken ad libitum. (See below.)

Decoction of Figs (Compound). Syn. Decoctum fici compositum, L. Prep. (Foy.) Figs and raisins (chopped), of each 2 oz.; liquorice root, ⁄2 oz.; boiling water, 1 quart; boil 15 minutes, and strain. As the last.

Decoction for Ene′mas. Syn. Decoctum pro enema′te, L. Barley-water, or thin gruel, is commonly used under this name. See Decoction of Mallows, &c.

Decoction for Fomenta′tions. Syn. Decoctum pro fomento, L. Prep. (Ph. L. 1788.) Dried leaves of southern wood, tops of sea wormwood, and chamomile flowers, of each 1 oz.; laurel or bay leaves (dried), ⁄2 oz.; water, 1 pint, boil a few minutes, and strain.

Decoction of Galls. Syn. Decoctum gal′læ, (Ph. L.) Prep. From galls (bruised), 2⁄2 oz.; water, 1 quart; boiled to one half, and strained. As an astringent, fomentation, enema, or injection, in prolapsus ani, piles, and leucorrhœa.

Decoction of Guaiac′um. Syn. Decoctum guaiac′i (Ph. E.), D. g. compositum (Ph. D. 1826), L. Prep. 1. (Ph. E.) Guaiacum shavings, 3 oz.; raisins (chopped), 2 oz.; water, 8 pints; simmer down to 5 pints, adding towards the end, sassafras (rasped or sliced), and liquorice root (bruised), of each 1 oz.

2. (Ph. D.) Guaiacum wood, 3 oz.; sassafras, 10 dr.; liquorice root, 2⁄2 oz.; water, 10 pints, as the last; to strain 5 pints.

Obs. The above form the once celebrated ‘Decoction of the Woods,’—Dose. A teacupful 3 or 4 times daily, or oftener, in chronic rheumatism, cutaneous diseases, after a course of mercury, &c. Although its virtues are of a very dubious kind, there is no doubt that it frequently does good, especially when persevered in with a sudorific regimen.

Decoction of Hairy Horehound. Syn. Decoctum ballotæ lanatæ, L. Prep. (Rehmann.) Siberian or woolly horehound (Ballota), 1⁄2 oz.; water, 1 quart; boil to one half.—Dose. A tumblerful, or more, twice a day; in rheumatic, gouty, and dropsical affections, especially the latter. See Decoction of Horehound.

Decoction of Harts′horn. See Mixtures.

Decoction of Hel′lebore. 1. (Decoction of Black hellebore; Decoctum hellebori nigri, L.) Prep. 1. (A. T. Thomson.) Black hellebore root, 2 dr.; water, 1 pint; boil 15 minutes.—Dose, 1 fl. oz., every 4 hours; in dropsy, worms, chronic skin diseases, &c., occurring in non-irritable habits.

2. (Decoction of white hellebore; Decoctum veratri, Ph. L. & D.) Prep. (Ph. L. 1836.) White hellebore (bruised), 10 dr.; water, 1 quart; boil to a pint, and when cold, add of rectified spirit, 3 fl. oz. Used as a lotion, in itch, lepra, psoriasis, scald-head, &c.; and to destroy pediculi. In most cases it should be diluted with water, and should never be applied to the unsound skin.

Decoction of Holly Leaves. Syn. Decoctum ilicis. (Foy.) Holly leaves, ⁄2 oz.; water, 16 oz.; boil to 12 oz. For three doses.

Decoction of Horehound. Syn. Compound decoction of horehound; Decoctum marubii compositum, L. Prep. (Dr R. E. Griffith.) Dried horehound (Marrubium vulgare), 1 oz.; liquorice root and flax seed (bruised), of each ⁄2 oz.; boiling water, 1⁄2 pint; macerate for 3 or 4 hours (boil a minute), and strain. An excellent demulcent and pectoral.—Dose, 1 to 2 fl. oz., as required, in coughs, &c.

Decoction of Horse-chest′nut Bark. Syn. Decoctum hippocastanei, L. Prep. (Dr Wood.) Horse-chestnut bark (coarsely powdered), 10 dr.; water, 1 pint; boil 10 minutes, and strain. Used for decoction of cinchona bark. A little liquorice root is frequently added. (See below.)

Decoction of Horse-chest′nut Bark (Compound). Syn. Decoctum hippocastanei compositum, L. Prep. 1. (Phœbus.) Horse-chestnut bark, 1⁄2 oz.; water, 18 fl. oz.; boil to one half, strain, and when quite cold, add of sulphuric ether, 1 to 2 dr.; syrup of orange peel, 1 oz. To be used during the intermission of an ague in wine-glassfuls at a time.

2. (Spielman.) Horse-chestnut bark and willow bark, of each ⁄2 oz.; calamus aromaticus and root of water avens, of each 2 dr.; water, 16 fl. oz.; boil to one half. As the last.

Decoction of Iceland Moss. Syn. Decoction of liverwort; Decoctum cetrariæ (Ph. L.); D. lichenis Islandici (Ph. D.); D. lichenis (Ph. L. 1824.) Prep. 1. (Ph. L.) Liverwort (Iceland moss), 5 dr.; wecm 1⁄2; pint; boil to a pint, and strain.

2. (Ph. D.) Iceland moss, 1 oz.; water, 1⁄2 pint; boil for 10 minutes in a covered vessel, and strain. Nutritious, demulcent, pectoral, and tonic.—Dose, 1 to 4 fl. oz., every 3 or 4 hours; in chronic affections of the chest and stomach, especially pulmonary consumption, old coughs, dyspepsia, chronic diarrhœa, and dysentery. It may be flavoured and sweetened; milk is frequently added to it. The bitter matter may be removed by steeping the moss for some time in pretty warm water, or in cold water, to which a very little carbonate of potash has been added. Without this is done, it is intensely bitter and nauseous.

Decoction of Indian Ba′el. Syn. Decoction of Ægle marmelos; Decoctum bael, L. From the dried unripe fruit of Ægle marmelos (Indian bael), 2 oz.; water, 1 pint; boil to one third, and strain.—Dose, 2 fl. oz. two or three times a day; in dysentery, diarrhœa, and English cholera.

Decoction of Indian Pink. Syn. Decoctum spigeliæ, L. Prep. Indian pink root, 5 dr; water, 1 pint; boil 5 minutes; add senna, 4 dr.; digest 15 minutes, strain and add of manna, 1 oz.—Dose. A small teacupful, 3 times a day, for an adult; ⁄2 oz. to 1 oz., or less, for children; as an anthelmintic purge.

Decoction of Indian Sarsaparil′la. Syn. Decoctum hemedes′mi, L. Prep. (Pereira.) Root of Indian sarsaparilla (Hemedesmus Indicus), 2 oz.; water, 1⁄2 pint; boil to a pint. Diuretic, alterative, and tonic.—Dose. By wine-glassfuls, as decoction of sarsaparilla.

Decoction of I′′rish Moss. Syn. Decoctum chon′dri. Prep. (Pereira.) Carrageen or Irish moss, 1 oz.; macerate in lukewarm water for 10 minutes, take it out and drain it, and then boil it in water (or milk), 3 pints, for 15 minutes, and strain through linen.

Obs. If twice the above weight of moss is employed, a mucilage (mucilago chondri) is produced, which may be flavoured with lemon juice, spices, &c., and forms a most nutritious article of spoon diet. It is taken in the same cases as decoction of Iceland moss; and is frequently employed in cookery, as a substitute for animal jelly, in the preparation of blancmanges, soups, &c.

Decoction of I′′singlass. See Lisbon Diet Drink.

Decoction of Jamaica Dogwood. Syn. Decoctum Cornus Floridæ. (U. S. Ph.) Bark of Jamaica dogwood, 1 oz.; water, 16 oz. o.m.; boil 10 minutes and strain, and make up to 1 pint o.m. As a substitute for cinchona, but is more astringent.

Decoction of Jujubes. Syn. Decoctum Jujubarum. Boil 2 oz. of jujubes (stoned), for an hour, in a sufficient quantity of water to produce 2 pints of decoction.

Decoction of Ju′niper Berries (Compound). Syn. Decoctum juniperi compositum, L. Prep. (St. B. Hosp.) Juniper berries, 2 oz.; cream of tartar, 3 dr.; water, 4 pints; boil to a quart, strain, and add compound spirit of juniper, 2 fl. oz. Diuretic.—Dose, 2 or 3 wine-glassfuls, 3 times a day, warm.

Decoction of Linseed (Compound). Syn. Decoctum li′ni compositum (Ph. D.), L. Prep. (Ph. D.) Linseed, 1 oz.; liquorice root (bruised), ⁄2 oz.; water, 1⁄2 pint; boil for 10 minutes in a covered vessel, and strain whilst hot. Emollient and demulcent.—Dose. A wine-glassful ad libitum; in gonorrhœa, dysentery, pulmonary affections, &c. It may be flavoured with lemon peel, and sweetened. See Infusions.

Decoction of Liquorice. Syn. Decoctum glycyrrhizæ, L. Prep. (Ph. D. 1826.) Liquorice root (sliced), 1⁄2 oz.; water, 16 fl. oz.; boil 10 minutes and strain. A mild demulcent; it is taken either alone, by wine-glassfuls, or is used as a vehicle for more active remedies.

Decoction, Lisbon. See Lisbon Diet Drink.

Decoction of Liv′erwort. See Decoction of Iceland moss.

Decoction of Log′wood. Syn. Decoctum hæmatoxyli (Ph. L. E. & D.), L. Prep. 1. (Ph. L.) Logwood chips, 10 dr.; water, 1⁄2 pint; boil to a pint, and strain.

2. (Ph. E.) Logwood, 1 oz.; water, 1 pint; boil to 10 fl. oz., adding towards the last, cinnamon (in powder), 1 dr.

3. (Ph. D.) Logwood, 1 oz.; water, ⁄2 pint. Astringent and tonic.—Dose, 1 table-spoonful to a wine-glassful; in diarrhœa, as required.

4. (Ph. B.) Logwood in chips, 1 oz.; cinnamon in coarse powder, 60 gr.; distilled water, 1 pint. Boil for 10 minutes, and strain to make up 1 pint.

Decoction of Mad′der. Syn. Decoctum rubiæ, D. r. tinctoriæ, L. Prep. 1. (Dewees.) Powdered madder, 1 oz.; boiling water, 1 pint; simmer for 15 minutes, and add of cloves (bruised), 1 dr.; when cold, strain.—Dose. A wine-glassful, 2 or 3 times daily; in amenorrhœa, chlorosis, &c.; or every 3 hours, a short time previous to the expected menstrual discharge.

2. (W. Cooley.) To the last add ammonio-citrate of iron, 3 dr.

3. (St. Marie.) Powdered madder, ⁄2 oz.; hops, 1 dr.; English walnut leaves, 3 dr.; water, 1 quart; boil to 1⁄2 pint, strain, and when cold, add of tincture of tartrate of iron, 1 dr.—Dose, 2 fl. oz., night and morning; in scrofula, &c.

Decoction of Mal′lows. Syn. Common decoction; Decoctum com′mune, D. pro enema′te (Ph. L. 1787), D. malvæ compositum (Ph. L. 1836), L. Prep. (Ph. L. 1836.) Common mallows (dried), 1 oz.; chamomile flowers (dried), ⁄2 oz.; water, 1 pint; boil 15 minutes, and strain. Used chiefly for fomentations and enemas.

Decoction of Malt. Syn. Decoctum bi′næ, D. bynes, D. malti, L. Prep. (Swediaur.) Ground malt, 3 oz.; water, 1 quart; boil to a pint, and strain. An oz. of syrup of lemons, or of saffron, may be added to the cold decoction; or, a little liquorice root, with the malt. Demulcent and laxative. A cupful ad libitum. Infusion of malt (sweet wort) is a more convenient and elegant preparation.

Decoction of Marshmal′low. Syn. Decoctum althæ′æ (Ph. D. 1826 and Ph. E. 1813), L. Prep. (Ph. D. 1826.) Dried root and herb of marshmallow, 4 oz.; raisins (stoned), 2 oz.; water, 7 pints (wine measure); boil down to 5 pints, strain, allow it to deposit the sediment and decant the clear liquid. Demulcent.—Dose. A cupful ad libitum, in coughs, colds, calculous affections, and other diseases of the urinary organs. See Mixtures.

Decoction of Matico. Syn. Decoctum matico′nis, L. Prep. (Dr Jeffreys.) Matico leaves, 1 oz.; water, 1 pint; boil 12 minutes, and strain. Astringent.—Dose, 1 fl. oz., 2 or 3 times a day; in hæmorrhagic and other discharges.

Decoction, Mercu′′rial. Syn. Decoctum hydrargyri, D. mercuriale, L. Prep. 1. Quicksilver, 4 oz.; water, 1 pint; boil in a glass or earthen vessel for an hour, adding water to replace that lost by evaporation.—Dose. A teacupful.

2. Mercurial pill, 1 oz.; water, 1 quart; boil to a pint.—Dose. A wine-glassful. Both were formerly taken for worms and the itch.

3. Corrosive sublimate, 1 gr.; (dissolved in) spirit of wine, 30 drops; extract of sarsaparilla, 3 dr.; decoction of sarsaparilla, 8 fl. oz.; mix.—Dose. One large table-spoonful, 3 times a day; in syphilis and obstinate skin diseases.

Decoction of Mezere′on. Syn. Decoctum mezerei (Ph. E. and Ph. D. 1826), L. Prep. (Ph. E.) Root-bark of mezereon, 2 dr.; liquorice root, 4 dr.; water, 1 quart; simmer to 1⁄2 pint, and strain. Stimulant and sudorific.—Dose. A wine-glassful, or more, three or four times a day; in chronic rheumatism, scrofula, secondary syphilis, lepra, and some other cutaneous affections. Much boiling injures the virtues of mezereon. (See below.)

Decoction of Mezere′on (Compound). Syn. Decoctum mezerei compositum, L. Prep. (Van Mons.) Mezereon, 2 dr.; bitter sweet, 4 dr.; burdock, 2 oz.; water, 2 quarts; boil to 3 pints, add of liquorice root, 2 dr., and strain. As the last, and in obstinate diseases of the skin.

Decoction of Mugwort. Syn. Decoctum artemisiæ vulgaris. Mugwort root, 1 oz.; water, 24 oz. Boil for half an hour. In epilepsy.

Decoction of Myrrh. Syn. Decoctum MYRRHÆ. (Ph. D.) Myrrh, 2 dr.; water, 8⁄2 oz.; triturate the myrrh with the water gradually added; then boil for 10 minutes in a covered vessel, and strain.

Decoction, Narcotic. Syn. Decoctum anodynum, D. narcoticum, L. Prep. (Hosp. Form.) Common nightshade (dried), 1 oz.; poppy heads, 3 in no.; water, 1 pint; boil 10 minutes, and strain. As an anodyne fomentation, used warm.

Decoction of Ni′tre. Syn. Decoctum nitrosum, D. nitratum, D. potassæ nitratis, L. Prep. 1. Nitre, ⁄2 oz.; white sugar, 2 oz.; cochineal, 20 gr.; water, 1⁄2 pint; boil a few minutes, and strain.

2. (Hosp. Form.) Barley-water, 1 pint; nitre, 5 dr.; dissolve. Diuretic, diaphoretic, and refrigerant. A wine-glassful, frequently; in gonorrhœa, sore throat, acute rheumatism, scurvy, &c.

Decoction of Oak Bark. Syn. Decoctum quercûs (Ph. L. E. & D.), L. Prep. 1. (Ph. L. & E.) Oak bark (bruised), 10 dr.; water, 1 quart; boil down to a pint, and strain.

2. (Ph. D.) Oak bark, 1⁄2 oz.; water, 1⁄2 pint; boil 10 minutes, and strain. Astringent. Used as a gargle in ulcerated sore throat, relaxation of the uvula, &c., and as a wash, and as an injection in piles, leucorrhœa, hæmorrhages, prolapsus ani, &c.

3. (Ph. B.) Oak bark bruised, 1⁄2 oz.; distilled water, 1 pint; boil for 10 minutes, and strain.

Decoction of Oats. Syn. Water gruel; Decoctum avenæ, L. Prep. 1. (Cullen.) Oatmeal, 1 oz.; water, 3 quarts; boil to a quart, strain, and when cold, decant the clear liquid from the sediment.

2. (A. T. Thomson.) Washed groats, 4 oz.; water, 4 pints; boil to a quart. Nutritious and demulcent. Taken ad libitum, to promote the action of purgatives, and as an enema, either alone, or as a vehicle for more active substances. It is too thin for food. See Gruel.

Decoction of Parei′ra. Syn. Decoctum pareiræ (Ph. L.), L. Prep. 1. (Ph. L.) Pareira brava root (sliced), 10 dr.; water, 1⁄2 pint; boil to a pint, and strain.

2. (Sir B. Brodie.) Pareira, 4 dr.; water, 3 pints; boil to a pint, as last. The above are given in gonorrhœa, leucorrhœa, and chronic inflammation of the bladder.—Dose. Of the first, ⁄2 to 1 wine-glassful, 3 or 4 times a day; of the second, about twice that quantity, or more. It is commonly combined with some tincture of hyoscyamus; and when the triple phosphates are present in the urine, dilute hydrochloric or nitric acid may be added. See Pareira.

Decoction, Pec′toral. See Decoction of Barley.

Decoction of Pel′litory. Decoctum pyre′′thri, L. Prep. (Guy’s Hosp.) Pellitory root, 1 oz.; water, 1⁄2 pint; boil to a pint, and strain. Used as a gastric stimulant, and as a gargle in the relaxation of the uvula.

Decoction of Pome′granate. Syn. Decoctum grana′ti (Ph. L.), L. Prep. (Ph. L.) Pomegranate rind (fruit-bark), 2 oz.; distilled water, 1⁄2 pint; boil to a pint, and strain. Astringent. Used as a gargle and injection, in sore throat, leucorrhœa, &c.; and internally, in diarrhœa, dysentery, &c.—Dose, 1 fl. oz., or more.

Decoction of Pomegranate Root. Syn. Decoctum granati radicis (Ph. L.), L. Prep. 1. (Ph. L.) Root-bark of pomegranate (sliced), 2 oz.; water, 1 quart; boil to a pint, and strain.

2. (Collier.) Bark of the root, 2 oz.; water, 1 pint; boil to one half. This is the common form used in India.

Dose, &c. A wine-glassful, half-hourly, until the whole is taken, a light diet and a dose of castor oil having been taken the day previously. In tapeworm, Dr Collier recommends the whole of the last preparation to be given at 2 doses, at the interval of 2 hours. It purges, and in 5 or 6 hours frequently expels the worm; if this does not take place, it should be persevered in. “Look for the head of the tænia (tapeworm); for if that is not expelled, you have done nothing.” (Collier.) Oil of turpentine and kousso are now more frequently given in tænia in this country.

Decoction of Poppies. Syn. Decoction of poppy-heads, Fomentation of p.-h.; Decoctum papaveris (Ph. L. E. & D.), L. Prep. 1. (Ph. L.) Poppy-heads (bruised), 4 oz.; water, 2 quarts; boil for 15 minutes, and strain.

2. (Ph. E. & D.) As the last, but using only 3 pints of water. Used as an emollient fomentation, in painful swellings, excoriations, &c. The addition of a ⁄4 pint of vinegar is said to promote its efficacy.

3. (Ph. B.) Poppy-heads bruised, 2 oz.; distilled water, 1⁄2 pint. Boil for 10 minutes and strain. The product should measure a pint.

Decoction of Quas′sia. Syn. Decoctum quassiæ, L. Prep. From quassia chips (small). 1 dr.; water, 1⁄4 pint; boil to a pint, and add syrup of orange peel, 2 oz.—Dose. A wine-glassful, occasionally, as a stomachic tonic. See Infusions.

Decoction of Quince. Syn. Decoction of quince seed, Mucilage of q. s.; Decoctum cydonii (Ph. L.), L. Prep. From quince seeds, 2 dr.; water, 1 pint; boil for 10 minutes, and strain. Used as an emollient and sheathing application to abraded or wounded surfaces, as cracked lip, nipples, &c.; and to the skin in erysipelas, to painful hæmorrhoidal tumours, and the like. Prepared with a little less water, it is used by the hairdresser as ‘bandoline’ or ‘fixateur.’

Decoction of Red Gum. Syn. Decoctum Gummi Rubri (Mr Squire.) Red gum, 1 oz.; water, 2 pints; boil 10 minutes, and strain.

Decoction of Rice. Syn. Rice water, Rice drink; Decoctum ory′zæ, L. Prep. Rice, 2 oz.; water, 1 quart; boil to one half, and strain. Demulcent. A good drink in fevers, coughs, &c., either alone or sweetened and flavoured with a little lemon peel.

Decoction of Sarsaparil′la. Syn. Decoctum sar′zæ (Ph. L. & E.), D. sarsaparillæ (Ph. D.), L. Prep. 1. (Ph. L.) Sarsaparilla (sliced), 5 oz.; water, 2 quarts; boil to a quart, and strain.

2. (Ph. E.) Sarsaparilla, 5 oz.; boiling distilled water, 4 pints; macerate for 2 hours, in a vessel lightly covered, and placed in a warm situation; then take out the root, bruise it, return it again to the liquor, boil down to a quart, and strain.

3. (Ph. D.) Sarsaparilla, 2 oz.; boiling water, 1⁄2 pint; digest an hour, boil 10 minutes, cool, and strain.

4. (Ph. B.) Digest 2⁄2 oz. of Jamaica sarsaparilla cut transversely in 1⁄2 pint of boiling water for an hour, boil for 10 minutes, cool, and strain. Make up to one pint.

Obs. The medicinal virtues of sarsaparilla root reside wholly in the bark, or cortical portion; it is therefore quite unnecessary to bruise it, as directed in the Ph. E. By those houses which do largely in decoction of sarsaparilla, the root is seldom split or cut; the bundles in which it is made up being simply untied and spread open, to allow of the free exposure of every part to the solvent action of the water. By this plan the whole of the soluble portion of the bark is extracted, whilst the feculent matter that pervades the wood is only partially dissolved out. According to Soubeiran, a mere infusion is preferable. The dose is a teacupful to half a pint, 3 or 4 times a day.

An extemporaneous decoction of sarsaparilla is made by dissolving ⁄4 oz. of the simplest extract in 1 pint of hot water. See Sarsaparilla, and below.

Decoction of Sarsaparilla (Concentrated). Syn. Decoctum sarzæ concentratum, L. Prep. 1. (Wholesale.) Sarsaparilla (Jamaica) 10⁄2 lbs., is placed in a large and well-cleaned copper boiler, and enough boiling water added to cover it; it is then left to macerate, without boiling, for 3 or 4 hours, after which it is boiled for about an hour, and the clear liquor drawn off into another clean copper pan; the root (after it has well drained) is then washed or ‘sparged’ with boiling water, until the latter runs off scarcely coloured; the washings are added to the decoction, and the whole evaporated as quickly as possible to 6⁄2 pints; it is then set to cool, and rectified spirit of wine, 1⁄2 pint, further added; after agitation, the whole is set aside in a well-corked bottle, in a cool place, for a week. In a few days it is usually found as clear and brilliant as brandy, with very little sediment, and will keep for any length of time uninjured. Some manufacturers, instead of washing the root, give it a second and third water, boiling it each time and evaporating the mixed liquors.

2. (Extemporaneous.) Extract of sarsaparilla, 6⁄2 oz.; water, 12 fl. oz.; dissolve, add rectified spirit, 2⁄2 fl. oz., and water, q. s. to make the whole exactly measure a pint.

Obs. 1 drachm of this decoction, mixed with 7 drachms of water, forms a similar preparation to the Decoctum Sarzæ of the Ph. L., and is now very frequently substituted for it in dispensing. See Sarsaparilla, Extracts, and below.

Decoction of Sarsaparilla (Compound). Syn. Decoctum sarzæ compositum (Ph. L. & E.), D. sarsaparillæ c. (Ph. D.), L. Prep. 1. (Ph. L.) Decoction of sarsaparilla (boiling), 4 pints; sassafras chips, guaiacum wood (rasped), and fresh liquorice root (bruised), of each 10 dr.; mezereon (root-bark), 3 dr.; boil for 15 minutes, and strain.

2. (Ph. E.) As the last, but using 4 dr. of mezereon.

3. (Ph. D.) Sarsaparilla (sliced), 2 oz., sassafras, guaiacum turnings, and liquorice root (bruised), of each 2 dr.; mezereon root-bark, 1 dr.; boiling water, 1⁄2 pint; digest for an hour, then boil for 10 minutes, cool, and strain.

4. (Extemporaneous.) Compound extract of sarsaparilla, 7⁄2 dr.; boiling water, 1 pint; dissolve.

5. (Ph. B.) Jamaica sarsaparilla, cut transversely, 2⁄2 oz.; sassafras, guaiacum turnings, bruised liquorice root, of each ⁄4 oz., mezereon root bark 60 grains; digest them with 1⁄2 pint of boiling water in a covered vessel for an hour, then boil for 10 minutes, cool, and strain. Make up to 1 pint.

Obs. This decoction is an imitation of the once justly celebrated ‘Lisbon Diet Drink.’ It is an alterative and diaphoretic.—Dose. A teacupful, or more, 3 or 4 times a day, either along with, or after, a mercurial course; and in syphilis, scurvy, scrofula, chronic rheumatism, lepra, psoriasis, and several other skin diseases, and especially in cachexia, or general bad habit of body. During its use the skin should be kept warm. See Sarsaparilla and below.

Decoction of Sarsaparilla (Concentrated Compound). Syn. Decoctum sarzæ compositum concentratum, D. sarsaparillæ c. c., L. There is a very considerable trade done in this article, in consequence of compound decoction of sarsaparilla being taken in large doses, both alone and in combination with other remedies, and the pharmacopœial preparation spoiling if kept longer than about 12 hours, in warm weather. Like the concentrated simple decoction, it is said to be of 8 times the usual strength, so that when mixed with 7 times its weight of water, it forms a similar preparation to the Decoctum Sarzæ Compositum,—Ph. L., for which it is very generally substituted in dispensing.

Prep. 1. (Wholesale.) Sarsaparilla (red Jamaica), 96 lbs.; mezereon root (not root-bark), 9 lbs.; liquorice root (bruised), 16 lbs. The mezereon and liquorice are first laid (loosely) on the bottom of a clean copper pan, and the bundles of sarsaparilla (untied and loosened) packed over them, in horizontal layers, alternately at right angles with each other. Three or four boards, with as many iron ⁄2-cwt. weights, are next placed on the top of the whole. Water is now run in, to about ten inches higher than the ingredients, and heat is applied until ebullition commences. The materials are now allowed to macerate, without boiling, for 3 or 4 hours, after which the liquor is gently boiled for about an hour, care being taken to add fresh water from time to time, so as to keep the whole well covered. The decoction is next run off, and set evaporating as quickly as possible. The ingredients are then washed with successive portions of boiling water, by allowing it to descend from a species of shower-bath, after the manner of ‘sparging,’ described under Brewing. This is repeated until the water runs off nearly colourless, the smallest quantity being employed that will effect the object in view. The whole of the liquid is now evaporated without delay, until reduced to 8⁄4 galls., when, after cooling, 2 dr. of essential oil of sassafras, dissolved in 2 galls. of rectified spirit of wine, are added, and afterwards 1 pint of essence of guaiacum. The liquid is then placed in a suitably sized barrel, set upon its head, and fitted with a small cock (not placed too near the bottom), and allowed to repose for a week, by which time it becomes clear and brilliant, and fit for sale. This is the form adopted by the large metropolitan drug-houses most celebrated for this preparation. The product that may be drawn off fit for sale is something over 10 galls. The residuum, forming the ‘bottoms,’ consists chiefly of fecula. The latter is well stirred up with 3 or 4 galls. of cold water, and allowed to settle. The clear decanted ‘washings’ are used as water or liquor in making the next batch of decoction.

2. (Extemporaneous.) Compound extract of sarsaparilla, 7⁄2 oz.; boiling water, 12 fl. oz.; dissolve, then add of rectified spirit of wine, 2⁄2 fl. oz.; mix well, and further add of water, q. s. to make the whole measure a pint.

Obs. To conduct this process successfully, several large copper pans are required; one of which (to boil the ingredients in) must be capable of containing from 140 to 150 gallons at the least, and the others must be sufficiently large to receive the liquors as they are drawn off. Those for the evaporation should be very shallow, in order that it may proceed rapidly; and the whole should be heated by steam. An excellent plan is to employ large wooden vats, and to apply the heat by means of pipes laid along the bottom, and supplied with high-pressure steam. This method is less expensive than the use of double steam pans, as above. When essence of guaiacum is not used, 24 lbs. of guaiacum shavings, from which the dust has been sifted, are boiled with the other ingredients, instead. Those desirous of using the proportions of the ingredients ordered by the Colleges may do so by taking eight times the given quantities, and proceeding as above. The following are special preparations:—

Feltz’s Decoction of Sarsaparilla. Syn. Ap′ozem of Feltz; Decoctum sarzæ cum ichthyocol′la, L.; Ptisane de Feltz, Fr. Prep. From sarsaparilla (sliced), 3 oz.; isinglass and crude antimony (in powder), of each ⁄2 oz.; water 5 pints; boil to one half, and strain. Used in skin diseases.

Jauperand’s Decoction of Sarsaparilla. Syn. Decoctum sarzæ cum radice Chinâ, L.; Ptisane de Jauperand, Fr. Prep. (Bories.) Sarsaparilla and China root, of each 2 oz.; senna and sassafras chips, of each ⁄2 oz.; carbonate of potassa, 1 dr.; water, 2 galls.; simmer, gently, for several hours, and strain 12 pints; when cold, decant the clear.—Dose, 2 fl. oz., two or three times daily; in scrofula, &c.

Vinache’s Decoction of Sarsaparilla. Syn. Decoctum sarzæ cum sennâ, L.; Ptisane de Vinache, Fr. Prep. (Foy.) Sarsaparilla, China wood, and guaiacum wood, of each 1⁄2 oz.; crude antimony (tied in a rag), 2 oz.; water, 6 pints; macerate for 12 hours (7 in hot weather), boil to one half, add sassafras chips and senna, of each ⁄2 oz., infuse 1 hour longer, and strain; when cold, decant the clear. Recommended in scrofula, secondary syphilis, and various cutaneous affections.

Zittmann’s Decoction of Sarsaparilla. Syn. Decoctum Zittmanni, L.; Ptisane de Zittmann, Fr. Prep. 1. (Stronger decoction; D. Z. Forte, Ph. Bor. 1847.) Sarsaparilla, 12 oz.; water, 72 lbs. (say 5⁄4 galls.); digest 24 hours, then add (suspended in a bag), white sugar and alum, of each 6 dr.; calomel, 4 dr.; cinnabar, 1 dr.; boil to 24 lbs., adding towards the end of the process, senna, 3 oz.; liquorice root, 1⁄2 oz.; aniseed and fennel seed, of each ⁄2 oz.; finally strain, with pressure and after some time decant the clear portion. The formula in the ‘Ph. Suec.’ 1845 is similar; that in the ‘Hamburg Codex’ directs only 24 lbs. of water to be used, and the whole to be reduced to 16 lbs.

2. (Weaker decoction; D. Z. Tenue.—Ph. Bor. 1847.) Add to the residuum (waste) of the last preparation sarsaparilla, 6 oz.; water, 72 lbs. (say, 5⁄4 galls.); boil to 24 lbs.; adding towards the end of the process, lemon peel, cinnamon bark, liquorice root, and cardamoms (all bruised), of each 3 dr.; press, strain, &c., as before. In the ‘Ph. Suec.’ 1845 double the above weights of lemon peel and liquorice root are ordered, and in the ‘Hamburg Codex’ (1845) 24 lbs. of water only are ordered, and the whole is to be boiled down to 16 lbs.

Obs. Both the above are used in Germany and on the Continent generally, in the same cases as those in which compound decoction of sarsaparilla is administered in England. They may be drunk almost ad libitum. A trace of mercury may be detected in the stronger decoction, when properly prepared. See Sarsaparilla.

Decoction of Sen′ega Root. Syn. Decoction of American snake root, D. of rattlesnake root; Decoctum polygalæ, D. senegæ (Ph. L.), L. Prep. (Ph. L.) Senega or seneka root, 10 dr.; water, 1 quart; boil to a pint, and strain.—Dose, ⁄2 to 2 wine-glassfuls three or four times daily; in humoral asthma, chronic cough, dropsy, &c. It is stimulant, expectorant, and diuretic, and, in large doses, emetic and cathartic. It is frequently conjoined with ammonia. It is the antidote employed by the Senega Indians against the bite of the rattlesnake. (Dr Tennant.)

Decoction of Simaru′ba Bark. Syn. Decoctum simaru′bæ, L. Prep. (Dr Wright.) Simaruba bark, 2 dr.; water, 24 fl. oz.; boil to one half, and strain. Tonic.—Dose, 1 to 2 fl. oz.; in chronic dysentery and diarrhœa.

Decoction of Squills (Compound). Syn. Decoctum scillæ compositum, L. Prep. (Ph. U. S. 1841.) Squills, 3 dr.; juniper berries, 4 oz.; snake root, 3 oz.; water, 4 lbs.; boil to one half, strain, and add of sweet spirits of nitre, 4 fl. oz. In chronic coughs and other chest affections, unaccompanied with active inflammatory symptoms.—Dose, 1 to 3 fl. oz., twice or thrice daily.

Decoction of Starch. Syn. Decoctum am′yli (Ph. L.), Mucila′go am′yli (Ph. E. & D.), L. Prep. (Ph. L. & E.) Starch, ⁄2 oz.; add, gradually, water, 1 pint, and boil for a short time. The Dublin preparation is nearly twice as strong. Used as an enema in dysentery, diarrhœa, and excoriations of the rectum.

Decoction, Sudorif′ic. Syn. Decoctum sudorif′icum, L. The old name of the compound decoctions of sarsaparilla and guaiacum.

Decoction of Su′et. Syn. Artificial goat’s milk; Decoctum se′vi, L. Prep. Suet, 1 oz.; tie it loosely in a piece of muslin and simmer it in cow’s milk, 1⁄4 pint; adding towards the last, white sugar, ⁄2 oz. In scrofulous emaciation and phthisis; taken ad libitum.

Decoction of Tam′arinds. Syn. Decoctum tamarind′orum, L. Prep. Tamarinds, 1⁄2 oz.; water, 1 pint; boil for 5 minutes, and strain. A pleasant drink in fevers, asthma, chronic coughs, &c.

Decoction of Tamarinds and Sen′na. Syn. Dec. tamarindorum cum sennâ (Ph. E. 1744), L. Prep. Tamarinds, 6 dr.; cream of tartar, 2 dr.; water, 1⁄2; pint; boil in a glazed earthen vessel until reduced to 16 oz.; then infuse therein for 12 hours, senna, 4 dr.; strain, and add of syrup of violets, 1 oz. A gentle aperient.—Dose. A wine-glassful, or more.

Decoction of Tar. Syn. Tar water; Decoctum pi′cis liq′uidæ, L. Prep. Tar, 1 oz.; water, 1⁄2; pint; boil to 1 pint.—Dose. A pint or more daily; in chronic catarrh; and as a wash in chronic skin diseases, especially those of the head, in children.

Decoction, Ton′ic. Syn. Strengthening decoction; Decoctum roborans, L. Prep. 1. Peruvian bark (bruised), ⁄2 oz.; Virginian snake root, 2 dr.; water, 1 pint; boil to one half, strain whilst hot, and add, spirit of cinnamon, 1⁄2 fl. oz.; diluted sulphuric acid, 1⁄2 dr.—Dose, 2 oz. two or three times a day.

2. Decoction of bark, 5 oz.; tincture of bark, 6 dr.; aromatic confection, ⁄2 dr.; salvolatile, 1 dr.—Dose, 1 or 2 table-spoonfuls night and morning; especially in diarrhœa.

Decoction of Tor′mentil. Syn. Decoctum tormentil′læ (Ph. L.), L. Prep. (Ph. L.) Tormentil root (bruised), 2 oz.; water, 1⁄2 pint; boil to a pint, and strain. Astringent.—Dose, 1 to 2 fl. oz., in chronic diarrhœa, &c.

Decoction of Tur′meric. Syn. Decoctum curcu′mæ, L. Prep. From turmeric root (in powder), 1⁄2 oz.; water, 1 pint; boil for 5 minutes, and strain. A mild aromatic stimulant and stomachic.—Dose. A wine-glassful ad libitum. It is principally used as a test for alkalies, which turn it brown. Unsized paper dipped into it and dried forms the turmeric test-paper of the chemist.

Decoction of Verbe′na. Syn. Decoctum verbe′næ, L. From verbena (vervain), 2 oz.; water, 1⁄2 pint; boil to 1 pint, and strain.