4'U GENTIANEiE. 



(1823) asserts that the drug yields a little essential oil. The experi- 

 ments of Bureau^ show that spigelia acts on rabbits and other animcals 

 as a narcotico-acrid poison. 



Uses — Spigelia has long been reputed a most efficient medicine for 

 the expvdsion of Ascdvifi Itiinhrieoides, but according to Stille,"-^ its real 

 value for this purpose has probably been over-estimated. This autlior 

 speaks of it as possessing alterative and tonic properties. In England, it 

 is rarely prescribed by the regular practitioner, but is used as a honsehoM 

 medicine in some districts. It is much employed in the United States. 



GENTIANE^. 



RADIX GENTIANiE. 



Gentian Root; F. Racive. de Gentiane ; G. EnzUmiviirzd. 



Botanical Ovigm— Gent land lutea L., a handsome perennial herl«, 

 growing .3 feet high indigenous to open grassy places on the mountains 

 of Middle and Southern Europe. ■ It occurs in Portugal, Spain, the 

 Pyrenees, in the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, in the Apennines, the 

 mountains of Auvergne, the Jura, the Vosges, the Black Forest, and 



throughout the chain of the Alps as far as Bosnia and the Danubian 

 Principalitie.s. Among the mountains of Germany, it is found on the 

 Suabian Alps near Wlirzburg, and here and there in Thuringia, but not 

 further north, nor does it occur in the British Islands. 



History— The name Gentlana is said to be derived from Gentius a 

 king of the Illyrians, living B.C. 180-1G7, by whom, according to botn 

 Pliny and Dioscorides, the plant was noticed. Whether the species 

 thus named was Gemtiana lutea is doubtful. Durinir the middle ages 



gentian was commonly employed for the cure of disease, and as /in 

 antidote to poison. Tragus in 1552 mentions it as a moans of dilutin„ 

 wounds, an application whicl\ has been resorted to in modern medical 

 practice. 



Description— The plant has a cylindrical, fleshy, simple root, o 

 pale colour, occasionally almost as much as 4 feet in length by 11 i»cnt 

 m thickness, producing 1 to 4 aerial stems. . ^^1 



The dried root of commerce is in irregular, contorted pieces, se\ 

 inches in length, and J to 1 inch in thickness; the pieces are m 

 wrinkled longitudinally, and marked transversely, especially m ^^ 

 upper portion, with numerous rin<^s. Very often they are sp 

 to facilitate drying. They are of a yellowish brown; internally « 

 more orange tint, spongy, with a peculiar, disagreeable, heavy oa - 

 and intensely bitter taste. The crown of the root, which is f ."'^" |, 

 thickened, is clothed with the scaly bases of leaves. The root is to ., 

 and flexible-brittle only immediately after drying. We ^^']^'\'\. 

 lose in weight about 18 per cent, by complete drying in a water-u.i , 

 It regained 10 per cent, by being afterwards exposed to the air. 



1 De la famille des Lorjaniacies, 1S56. ^ Therapeutics nnd Maf^'''" 



Philadelphia, ii. (1868) 6ol. 



iffl/iffl, 



