86-2 
the infusion as being almost narcotic, soothing nervous restlessness and often 
producing quiet sleep.* The hot infusion has also been considered diuretic and 
diaphoretic, and found useful in dropsy. A fomentation of the leaves is often 
used with salutary effect in swellings, tumors, local inflammations and dysmenor- 
rhoea. The oil, in doses of from 10 drops toa drachm or more, is one of the 
most frequently-used abortives by ignorant people—a practice at all times serious 
and often dangerous; even if desisted in, after one or more attempts, the develop- 
ment of the foetus is very liable to be interefered with; hemorrhage also often 
occurs—not so dangerous generally as that following the use of nutmegs, but 
very often serious. 
The leaves and tops are officinal in the U. S. Ph.—in the Eclectic Materia 
Medica the preparation relied upon is /zfusum Tanaceti; it is also a component 
of Tinctura Laricis Composita.+ 
—— 
t 
oo it 
PART USED AND PREPARATION.—Equal parts of the fresh leaves and 
blossoms are to be treated as directed under Inula (page 81-2). The resulting 
tincture, after filtration, should have a clear greenish-orange color by transmitted 
light; it should retain the peculiar odor and taste of the plant to a high degree; 
and show an acid reaction. : 
CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS.— O2/ of TZansy. This peculiar yellow, or 
greenish-yellow volatile oil, possesses fully the odor and taste of the plant; it 
is lighter than water, its sp. gr. being 0.952; it.is soluble in alcohol, and will de- 
posit a camphor on standing. 
Zanacetin, C,,H,,O,{—This bitter,amorphous principle is found principally 
in the flowers; it is soluble both in alcohol and water—most readily, however, in 
the latter. 
Tanacetumtannic Acid, C,,H,,O,,.— This specific tannin has also been iso- 
lated by Leppig ;§ of its characteristics | am unacquainted. 
Leppig § also found in this species: a resin and gallic, citric, malic, oxalic and 
meta-arabinic acids. 
PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION.—Many serious, and not a few fatal, cases of 
poisoning, by oil of tansy, are reported, among which the following will show the 
sphere of toxic action held by this drug: A young woman had been in the 
habit of using tansy tea, made from the herb, at nearly every menstrual period, 
for difficult menstruation. . . On this occasion about two and a half drachms 
of the oil was poured into half an ordinary tin cupful of water; this, with the ex- 
ception of a small portion of the water containing about one-half drachm of the 
oil, was taken at one dose. Convulsions were almost at once produced, and when 
Dr. Bailey was sent for the patient was unconscious, foaming at the mouth, and in 
* Catalogue, 800. 
+ See foot-note, p. 33-3. 
: O. Leppig, Chem. Zeitung, 1862, 328 (Am. Four. Phar., 1885, 288). 
lbid, 
