COLOCYNTHIS. 213 
most countries is peeled, and dried either by the sun or by 
stoves. In commerce it is imported from Spain (Almeria, 
Gibraltar, Cadiz, Malaga, etc.), Trieste, Malta, Smyrna, Alex- 
andretta, Mogadore, etc. The fruit called Colocynth or Colo- 
quintida (Colocynthis poma Colocynthidis) is imported either 
peeled (generally) or sometimes unpeeled. Its pulp (pulpa 
Colocynthidis exsiccata) is nearly white, inodorous, light, 
spongy, porous, tough, intensely and nauseously bitter. The 
seeds (semina Colocynthidis) are smooth, either white or yel- 
lowish-white (white Colocynth seeds), or brownish (black 
Colocynth seeds), bitter, especially the dark-coloured ones, 
and inodorous. Two kinds of Colocynth, distinguished as 
Turkey and Mogadore Colocynth, are known in commerce. 
“ Turkey Colocynth: peeled Colocynth.—This is imported from 
the Levant, Spain, etc. The usual size of each pepo is about 
two or three inches in diameter; the shape is more or less 
globular, according to the evenness with which the rind has 
been removed, and the degree of contraction in drying; the 
colour is white or pale yellowish-white. One hundred parts 
by weight are said to consist of twenty-eight parts pulp and 
seventy-two parts seeds. 
“ Mogadore Colocynth : unpeeled Colocynth.—The pepo of this 
kind is larger than the preceding, and is covered with a 
yellowish, smooth, firm rind. It is imported from Mogadore 
in small quantities only, and is principally used by druggists 
for show-bottles.” 
To prepare it for homeopathic use, the fruit, well dried, is 
reduced to powder without the assistance of heat, according to 
the rules given for the preparation of dried plants; set aside for 
a week, to be shaken twice daily ; then attenuated to the thirtieth 
dilution, and preserved in well-stopped bottles in a dark place. 
Hahnemann (Mat. Med. Pur.) orders the dry fruit to be 
reduced to powder, twenty grains of which are infused for a 
week in 400 drops of alcohol, stirring it twice a day. Twenty 
drops of this tincture contain one grain of the essence. 
