AMYGDALUS communis. ORD. XXVIII. Pomacee. . 509 
each other, and ofthe Almond-tree this difference is principally 
confined to the fruit, which is larger or smaller, the shell thicker 
or thinner, and the kernel bitter or sweet; hence the distinction 
‘into bitter Almonds and sweet Almonds, though the same species 
of tree affords both. Sweet Almonds are more used as food than 
medicine, but they are said to be difficult of digestion, unless 
extremely well comminuted;* their medicinal qualities depend 
upon the oil which they contain in the farinaceous matter, and 
which they afford on expression nearly in the proportion of half 
their weight. The oil thus obtained is more agreeable to the 
palate than most of the other expressed oils, -and is therefore pre- 
ferred for internal use, being generally employed with a view to 
obtund acrid juices, and to soften and relax the solids; in tickling 
coughs, hoarseness, costiveness, nephritic pains, &c. externally in 
tension and rigidity of particular parts. The. milky solutions of 
-Almonds in watery liquors, usually called emulsions, possess, in 
a certain degree, the emollient qualities of the oil, and have this 
advantage over the pure oil, that they may be given in acute or 
inflammatory disorders, without danger of the ill effects which the 
oil might sometimes produce, by turning rancid.* The officinal 
preparations of Almonds are the expressed oil and the emulsion; 
to the latter the, London College directs the addition of gum 
arabic, which renders it a still more useful demulcent in catarrhal 
affections, stranguries, &e. 
Bitter Almonds yield a large quantity of oil, perfectly similar to 
that obtained from sweet Almonds; but the matter remaining after 
the expression of the oil, is more powerfully bitter than the 
* The Nuces oleose are not always easily digested: ‘‘ but it appears that this 
inconvenience may be in a great measure obviated by a very diligent triture, 
uniting very intimately the farinaceous and the oily part.” See Cullen’s Mat. Med. 
vol. z. p. 298. 
* Several substances of themselves, not miscible with water, may, by trituration 
with Almonds, be mixed with it in this form, and thus fitted for medical use, as 
camphor, and yarious resinous and unctuous substances. __ 
No. 43.—vo1, 4. ON 
