BULBUS SCILL^. 691 



man's fist or larger, often weighing more than four pounds. It has the 



usual structure of a tunicated bulb; its outer scales are reddish-brown, 



dry, scarious, and marked with parallel veins. The inner are fleshy and 



juicy, colourless or of a pale rose tint, thick towards the middle, very 



thin and delicate at the edges, smooth and shining on the surface. The 



fresh bulb has a mucilaginous, bitter, acrid taste, but not much odour. 



For medicinal use, squill is mostly imported ready dried. The bulbs 



are collected in the month of August, at which period they are leafless, 



freed from their dry outer scales, cut transversely into thin slices, and 



dried in the sun. Thus prepared, the drug appears in the form of narrow, 



flattish or four-sided curved strips, 1 to 2 inches long, and f to | of an 

 • ■> ■ ^ ^ ^- , . ,. n --1- -.1 — —-when 



uiiuu, Luey Decome orittie ana puiverizaoie, out /tr^iuii^ d^^w^^ "«v.- -- 

 the extent of about 11 per cent. Powdered squill by the absorption ot 

 ■\vater from the air, readily cakes together into a hard mass. 



Microscopic Structure— The officinal portion of the plant being 

 simply modified leaves, has tbe histological characters proper to many 

 of those organs. The tissue is made up of polyhedral cells, coverea on 

 hoth sides of the scales by an epidermis provided with stoinata it is 

 traversed by numerous vascular bundles, and also exhibits snialler bund es 

 of laticiferous vessels. If thin slices of squill be ^^^^^^^f ^ /'^'f/^.jth 



alcohol, most of the parencbymatous cells are seen to be [^^^^^^ ^''/J 

 nucilage, which contracts into a jelly on the addition ^^ ^^^^^f . .^ ^^ 



e 

 of 



't^teiior of this jelly, crystalline particles are ^f /?*/°^'^Sin- 

 oxalate of calciun/ This salt is largely deposited m ^^^'J'''^^- 

 either bundles of needle-shaped crystals, or large solitary squaie prism. , 

 frequently a millimetre long! In either case they f e <^?^;;^^°f iurrin ' 

 !««cilaginous matter alread| mentioned. Oxalate of «f ^'^^r .^l?f ?„ thS 

 in other plants has been shown in many instances to ongu 

 Riidst of mucilaginous matter. The fact is remarkably ev ident 

 especially when examined in polarized light. ^j ^re de- 



On shaking thin slices of the bulb with water the crystals 



posited in .sufficient quantity to become visible to ^^^^f^^^.^.y,, add 

 heir weight is actually very small. Direct estimation oUJie ox ^^^^ ^^ 

 (by titration with chamteleon solution) gave «s ('S ^"'^er yielded 

 C^CaOVSH^O from white squil! dried at 100° C. ^hi"^,^^",°jSk crystals 

 only 2 to 5 per cent, of ask It is these ^^f '^^i^Sv n "esick^^ 

 ^^'^ich occasion the itching and redness, and so"?,f ™*'^., ^ gkin. These 

 *hich result from rubbing a slice of fresh ff /l^^" ""^ volatile acrid 

 effects, which have long been known, were attributed to a yo 

 principle, until their true cause was recognized by ^c _^ ^j^^ ^^^^^ge 

 The mucilage also contains albuminous ^^^^'^^^^-^^ bundles are 



" »uiaii number of starch grannies, m ^ ,^„„ cells others being 

 inatter is contained in many of the Pi*«nchymatous cei .^^^ ^^ 



entirely devoid of it. It turns blackish-greea if a persa 



th'e f' ^""^^ ^-^""^^ «'=^t the slimy juice of ^f^-^^^lrU^ redl^^?'^''''""'"^ '''°' ''^'''''^ 

 'filch 13 very rich in spiciilar crystals, also hours. 



