564 ‘SOLANACEA. 
a promoter df the regilar action of the bowels: externally 
they use it asa rubefacient. The irritant properties are fre- 
quently taken advantage of to inflict torture upon prisoners 
and’ refractory children. In. European medicine capsicum is 
used in the form of a plaster, or liniment, made with the 
ethereal tincture, in rheumatic-and neuralgic affections ; it pre- 
duces warmth and redness of the part. Pads dipped in a strong 
infusion of -the crushed pods may also be used ; they should 
be covered with paraffin paper or oil silk, and may be kept on 
for several hours; as a gargle, or in the form of lozenges, it. 1s 
used in baneaiitis, pharyngitis and relaxed sore-throat. In 
the West Indies it is used in infusion with cinnamon and 
sugar to relieve the sinking at the epigastrium felt by drunk- 
ards, and forms a most valuable diet drink for patient suffer- 
ing from . delitiam tremens, as it satisfies the craving for 
stimulants. ‘Large: doses taken internally by persons who 
are not in. the habit of using capsicum may produce gastro- 
enteritis. om 
~ Description,—The ‘ey is very Marin biei in size a 
shape, and many-seeded. The fleshy pericarp-is composed 
‘of two layers, an outer consisting of thick-walled cells, and an 
inner, which is a soft and spongy parenchyme traversed by 
fibro-vascular bundles. Most of the: colouring matter is con- 
tained in the outer layer, which also: contains some: fatty oil. 
The — are discoid, — or F sub-seabrous the embryo 
4 Panic! Bicoded | in ee a a soivaenics dow: i belive 
_ principle, Capsaicin (C°H"0*),. from the extract, which he 
Canal by exhausting the fruit of C. minimum with petro- 
Jeum ¢ ether. From the red liquor dilute caustic lye removed 
ca apsaicin, » ‘ich’ ot | precipitated in minute crystals by eet 
a ough t the alkaline bape and. which may be 
ae them” om either aleohol, _ether, 
i ee 
