150 FLORA HOMCEOPATHICA. 



D 



placed in a triple row, and a terminal one at the end ; and at 

 the base of each flower is a broad oval scale, fixed laterally to a 

 columnar pedicel. There is no corolla. The f laments in the 

 terminal flower are three, awl-shaped, and united at the base 

 with roundish anthers ; but in the lateral flowers the filaments 

 are scarcely distinguishable, and the anthers are sessile. In the 

 female flowers, the calyx is composed of three minute scales, 

 united with the germen. The petals are three, rigid, acute, and 

 permanent, and the germen supports three styles, with simple 

 stigmas. The fruit is a roundish, fleshy berry, of a blackish- 

 purple colour, marked with tubercles, and containing three 

 small, irregular-shaped, hard seeds. 



Geographical Distribution. — Native of the south of 

 Europe and the Levant. It has been cultivated in this country 

 from a very early period. 



Parts used in Medicine, and Mode of Preparation 

 The Fresh Leaves, which are to be pounded in an iron mortar, 

 adding half its quantity of alcohol, rubbing the mixture for a 

 time, then expressing the juice, and afterwards adding two- 

 thirds of its weight of alcohol; the clear liquid is drawn off 

 after the whole has stood a few days. 



Physiological Effects. -On Animals. Savin acts on ani- 

 mals as an acrid poison. Orfila (op. cit.) applied two drachms of 

 the powder to an incised wound in the leg of a dog ; inflamma- 

 tion and infiltration of the limb took place, and death occurred 

 in about thirty-six hours. Four drachms introduced into the 

 stomach of a dog, and the oesophagus tied, caused death in 

 fifteen hours ; the stomach was bright red. Orfila infers that 

 its effects depend principally on its absorption, and its action 

 on the nervous system and the stomach. A drachm of the oil 

 of Savin was given to a cat ; it caused a flow of saliva, anxiety, 

 frequent micturition, dullness, trembling, and, in an hour and a 

 quarter, bloody urine. The animal having been strangled, the 

 bladder was found contracted, and some coagulated blood con- 

 tained in its cavity (Percira, op. cit.) 



