Therapeutics.—Externally and Locally.-Chlorine water is still occasionally used as an antiseptic and deodorant in gangrenous or sloughing wounds and for disinfecting foul discharges, etc. It has proved beneficial as a local application in aphthous stomatitis, diņhtheria, and parasitic skin diseases.

Internally. Chlorine water is so seldom employed internally that its use in this respect scarcely requires comment.

Administration.-When given internally the drug should be well diluted. Should poisoning ensue from the ingestion of exces sive amounts, albumen is the best antidote; for the irritation occasioned by the inhalation of chlorine gas steam-inhalations are indicated.

Călx Chlorāta-Călcis Chlorātæ-Chlorinated Lime.

U.S. P.

("CHLORIDE OF LIME.")

Origin.-A compound resulting from the action of Chlorine upon Calcium Hydrate, and containing not less than 35 per cent. of available Chlorine.

Description and Properties.—A white or grayish-white, granular powder, exhaling the odor of hypochlorous acid; of a repulsive saline taste, and becoming moist and gradually decomposing on exposure to air. It is but partially soluble in water or alcohol. The drug should be kept in well-closed vessels, in a cool and dry place. Used externally.

Physiological Action and Therapeutics.-Chlorinated lime is a powerful disinfectant, yielding, when exposed to air, hypochlorous acid, which is resolved into chlorine and chloric acid, the last in turn yielding chlorine.

The effects of the drug are therefore analogous to those of chlorine, yet almost the only use which chlorinated lime serves is in disinfecting cesspools and utensils employed for the dejections of invalids.

Liquor Sōdæ Chloratæ-Liquōris Sōdæ Chloratæ Solution of Chlorinated Lime. U. S. P. (LABARRAQUE'S SOLUTION.)

Origin. An aqueous solution of several chlorine compounds of Sodium, containing at least 2.6 per cent. by weight of available

chlorine.

Description and Properties.—A clear, pale-greenish liquid, having a faint odor of chlorine and a disagreeable alkaline taste. It should be kept in well-stoppered bottles, protected from light. Used externally.

Physiological Action.-The action of the drug resembles that of aqua chlori, although it is feebler than the latter.

Therapeutics.-Solution of chlorinated soda is used as a disinfectant for fetid ulcers, gangrenous sores, and ozena, and as a disinfectant wash in diseases of the uterus, vagina, and auditory canal. Administration.-There are no special directions to be observed in the application of this solution.

AROMATICS.

THE following-named drugs, classed by some authors as aromatics, are not only active antiseptics and antispasmodics, but possess properties very similar to those of the more typical antiseptics, antipyretics, and anesthetics. These antiseptic properties of aromatic drugs are well known to modern science, and, what is of unique interest and significance, were perfectly familiar to the ancients, who could not possibly divine the scientific value of the virtues familiarized only by the crudest empiricism. In the custom of the Egyptians of embalming the dead we have a remarkable example of their divination of antisepsis in the perfumes and spices in which their dead were buried; and in the Christian Gospel we read of Nicodemus that he "brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes," and that they "took the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury" (John xix. 39, 40).

Apart, however, from the remarkable testimony of the foregoing examples, these peculiar properties of aromatic herbs appear to have been established in all succeeding ages. Especially among the Greeks were the medicinal virtues of certain aromas recognized, recipes for celebrated healing essences being inscribed on marble tablets in their temples. Among the Romans, too, the custom prevailed of mingling sacred aromatic ingredients with the ashes of the departed—a usage not wholly to be regarded as a religious ceremony, but rather as a recognition of the properties ascribed to these agents by their Athenian neighbors.

Indeed, the history of perfumes teems with illustrations of the

common faith in their healing power, though from the derivation of the word-per, through, and fumum, smoke-the offering of incense, by burning aromatic woods, spices, and gums, seems to have been the original use suggested by them. This conception. of the sacred and purifying influence of aromas is seen to-day in the censer of the ritualistic churches, as it may be traced from earliest recorded times through the centuries that intervene.

The more secular regard for aromatic herbs, however, rests rather upon a rational, though unscientific, observation of facts than upon hierarchical assumption. It is recorded, for instance, that while cholera raged in Paris and London the gentle office in which they were engaged secured to the perfumers immunity from the plague, and that when the Dutch on the island of Ternate destroyed the clove tree the colony suffered from epidemics and disorders unknown before.

The property of absorbing malaria generally ascribed to the leaves of Eucalyptus globulus is a further illustration of the medicinal uses of aromatic plants, this tree being considered a potent febrifuge. Witness also the beneficial results of planting this tree in the Roman Campagna.

Even the refined taste and delicacy of sense which have perpetuated the "perfumes of Araby" to "sweeten," not the murderous hand of a Lady Macbeth, but milady's dainty finger-tips, have their rationale in a basis of sanitary law. A writer on this subject observes that "the toilet vinegars had their origin in the presumption of keeping those who carried them from the effects of infec tious disease, doubtless springing out of the story of the four thieves' vinegar-reputed freebooters supposed to have plundered the sick and dying, protected by the spell of an enchanted prophylactic composed of rosemary, mint, lavender, calamus, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, etc. macerated in vinegar."

Yet the vinaigrette of a lady's boudoir of to-day has its analogue in the beautiful scent-bottles unearthed among the ruins of Pompeii; for the cultivated tastes which still prompt the utility, as well as beauty, of flowers are fortified by the tradition of loyal centuries, and are, after all, but a tacit tribute to the truth not inaptly stated that “poison and malaria enter the system by neglect ing the warning given it by the nose, that outpost of the animal citadel."

Aromatics owe their virtues chiefly to the volatile oils they contain, which usually possess the characteristic odor and taste of the

plants from which they are derived. Locally, they are stimulant and irritant. Internally, they stimulate, when taken in moderate quantities, the digestive organs in the same manner as vegetable bitters, and increase the activity of the circulation reflexly by stimulating the sensory ends of the vagus distributed to the mucous membrane of the stomach. The impression is conveyed to the center in the medulla, and from there transmitted to the accelerator nerves of the heart. Very large doses depress the heart's action, arresting it in diastole. The poisonous action of aromatics is similar to that of irritant narcotic poisons. Many of them are quite powerful local anesthetics. They first stimulate and then depress and exhaust the nervous system. In diseased conditions they are used to increase peristalsis, to impart tone to the stomach, and to act as antiseptics; to arrest gastric and intestinal fermentation; to relieve pain wherever they are applied; and, by increasing the circulation in the brain and improving the condition of the gastrointestinal tract, to relieve many of the phenomena of hysteria. The chief contraindication for the internal use of these drugs is in inflammation of the stomach and bowels.

The volatile oils and the various preparations of the aromatics should be given diluted in some proper vehicle.

Anisum-Anisi-Anise. U. S. P.

Origin. The fruit of Pimpinella Anisum L., a plant indigenous in Western Asia and Egypt, and extensively cultivated in Europe. Description and Properties.-About - inch (3-6 Mm.) long, ovate compressed laterally, grayish, finely pubescent, consisting of two mericarps, each with a flat face, and five light-brownish filiform ridges, and about fifteen thin oil-tubes, perceptible in transverse section by the aid of the microscope. Anise has an agreeable, aromatic odor, and a sweet, spicy taste. It contains from 1 to 3 per cent. of a volatile oil. It resembles the fruit of the Conium, differing from it usually in being longer and more ovate, and having another odor and taste. The fruit of the Conium has, moreover, but a single smooth mericarp without oil-tubes.

Dose.-8-30 grains (0.5-2.0 Gm.).

Ōleum Anisi-Ōlei Anīsi-Oil of Anise. U. S. P.
Origin. A volatile oil distilled from Anise.

Description and Properties.-A colorless or pale-yellow, thin and strongly refractive liquid, having the characteristic odor of

anise, and a sweetish, mildly aromatic taste; neutral in reaction. It contains a substance known as anethol.

Oil of anise should be kept in well-stoppered bottles, protected from light, and if it has separated into a liquid and a solid portion, it should be completely liquefied by warming before being dis pensed.

Dose.-1-5 minims (0.06–0.3 Cc.).

Official Preparations.

Aqua Anisi-Aquæ Anīsi—Anise Water.-Dose, 4-1 fluidounce (8.0-30.0 Cc.).

Spiritus Anisi-Spiritus Anisi-Spirit of Anise.-Dose, 1-2 fluidrachas (4.0-8.0 Cc.).

Oil of anise is contained in the following preparations:

Spiritus Aurăntii Compositus; Syrupus Sarsaparillæ Compositus; Tinctūra Ōpii Camphorata; Trochisci Glycyrrhizæ et Ōpii.

Physiological Action.-Anise is slightly antiseptic, stimulant, and carminative; Oil of Anise is irritant if applied in full strength to mucous membranes, stimulating both the digestive and circulatory apparatus, improving the appetite, and slightly strengthening and accelerating the heart's action. In very large doses it possesses mildly narcotic properties. It is excreted in the urine, sweat, and by the bronchial mucous membrane, the secretion from which it liquefies.

Therapeutics.-Anise is employed to relieve flatulence in children, as a sedative expectorant, and as a vehicle to flavor

medicines.

Cinnamomum-Cinnamōmi-Cinnamon. U.S. P. Origin. There are three official varieties of cinnamon: 1, the inner bark of the shoots of Cinnamomum Zeylanicum Breyne, a tree about 30 feet high (9 M.), found in the forests of Ceylon (Ceylon Cinnamon); 2, the bark of the shoots of one or more undetermined species of Cinnamomum grown in China (Chinese Cinnamon, Cassia Cinnamon); 3, the bark of an undetermined species of Cinnamomum known as Cinnamomum Saigonicum (Saigon Cinnamon, Saigon Cassia), from Saigon, the capital French Cochin-China, where it is collected and exported.

of

Description and Properties.-Most of the article brought to the United States is the Cassia cinnamon. The varieties differ some