A family herbal: or, Familiar account of the medical properties of British and foreign plants, also their uses in dying, and the various arts, arranged according to the Linnaean system / [Robert John Thornton].

  • Thornton, Robert John, 1768?-1837.
Date:
1814
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A family herbal: or, Familiar account of the medical properties of British and foreign plants, also their uses in dying, and the various arts, arranged according to the Linnaean system / [Robert John Thornton]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    14/954
    570 PEPPERMINT. MEDICAL USE. Peppermint is principally nsed as a carminative and antispas, modic. The distilled water is a domestic remedy for flatulent colic, and the essential oil is often given with advantage, in doses of a few drops, in cramps of the stomach. PREPARATIONS. Peppermint Water. (Aqua Distillata Menthae Piperitae.) Take of the herb of peppermint, dried, a pound and a half; -—— water, as much as is sufficient to prevent burning: Distil off a gallon. This has been known to allay sickness when nothing else would succeed, and is used in flatulent colics. A wine-glass may be taken, and often repeated. It is especially ordered with opening medicines, to prevent the gripings that would otherwise accompany them. Spirit of Peppermint. (Spiritus Menthae Piperitae.) Take of the herb of peppermint, dried, a pound and a half; —- proof spirit, a gallon ; -— water, sufficient to prevent burning: Distil off a gallon. This is used for the same purposes as the last, but in a smaller dose. Note. The proof spirit usually met with in the shops is very rarely pure, or free from all unpleasant flavour, which, though concealed by means of certain additions, plainly discovers itself when employed for the preparation of distilled spirits. This nauseous flavour does not begin to arise till after the alcohol has come over, which is the very time that the virtues of the ingre¬ dients begin also to arise most plentifully ; and hence the liquor receives am ungrateful taint. To this cause principally is owing the general complaint, that the cordials of the apothecary are. less agreeable than those of the same kind prepared by the di¬ stiller; the latter being extremely curious in rectifying and puri¬ fying the spirits, which he uses for what he calls flue goods, from all unpleasant flavour. Oil of Peppermint. (Oleum Volatile Menthae Piperitae.) This is made like the other essential oils, and is frequently mixed with water, and this is passed off for the true distilled peppermint water; but it is more pungent and heating, and has less of the virtues of the plant.