Volume 1

General therapeutics and materia medica adapted for a medical text-book with indexes of remedies and of diseases and their remedies / by Robley Dunglison.

Dunglison, Robley, 1798-1869.

Date:: 1857

Credit: General therapeutics and materia medica adapted for a medical text-book with indexes of remedies and of diseases and their remedies / by Robley Dunglison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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$O'lEUM mmm PIPERI'TiE, oil of PEP'PERMINT, obtained by distilling the fresh herb with water, is prepared in considerable quantity in this country; the amount juelded by the plant varying according to the season,—a warm and dry season being the most favorable. The largest produce in Great Britain is said to be three drachms and a half of oil from two pounds of the fresh herb;—the smallest about a drachm and a half from the same quantity. (Braude.) It has a strong odor like that of the plant; an acrid, very hot, and biting taste, with a peculiar sensation of coldness ; is of a greenish-yellow color; and of a sj)ecific gravity, according to some, from 0-907 to 0*920 ; according to others, 0-899. As an excitant aromatic and carminative, it is taken in the dose of one to five drops, on sugar dissolved or not in water. TIXCTU'RA O'LEI fflENTHJl PIPERFTJ, TINCTURE OF OIL OF PEP'PERMINT.— {01. menth. pijjerit. foij ; Alcohol Oj.) This tincture—long known, and used, under the name of Essence of Pe'p'permint—is prescribed in the same cases as the volatile oil. Dose, 10 to 20 drops on sugar. AQUA MENTHE PIPERI'TJ, PEP'PERMINT WATER.—This water may be dis- tilled from the herb, fresh or dried ; but in the United States Phar- macopoeia, it is directed to be made, like Aqua cinnamomi (p. 474), by rubbing half a fiuidrachm of the oil with half a drachm of carbonate of magnesia, adding gradually two pints of distilled water ; and filter- ing. Peppermint water possesses, to a certain degree, the properties of the plant. It is chiefly used as a vehicle for other remedies. Dose, f oi to fsiij. TROCniS'CI MENTHJ PIPERI'T^, TROCHES OF PEP'PERMINT.—(OZ. menth. pi perit. f5i; Sacchar. pulv. fbj ; Mucilag. tragacanth. q. s., to be divided into troches weighing ten grains each.) Peppermint lozenges are used as a gentle carminative, but they are rarely prescribed by the physician. 9. MENTHA VIR'IDIS.—SPEARMINT. Spearmint, occupying botanically the same place in the Sexual System and the same Natural Order as the last, has similar medi- cal virtues and composition ; but it is not so agreeable, although by some considered more so. It is cultivated in the gardens of this country for its oil; and flowers in August. O'LEUM MENTHiE VIR'IDIS, OIL OF SPEARMINT.—TINCTU'RA O'LEI MENTIIAil VIR'IOIS, TINCTURE OF OIL OF SPEARMINT {Essence of Sqoearmint), and AOU^E MENTHvE VIR'IDIS, SPEARMINT AVATER, are officinal in the Pharmaco- poeia of the United States. 10. MONAR'DA.—IIORSEMINT. Monarda Punctata ; Sexual System Diandria Monogynia ; Nat. Ord. Labiatse, is an indigenous plant, which grows on light gravelly or sandy soils, from New Jersey to Louisiana, and flow-crs from June to September. The -whole herb is officinal in the Pharmacopoeia of VO!,. I. .^1$