LOUANTSA QEM. 229 



ten years* experience of it as an oxytocic, arrived at the conclu- 

 sion that it is superior to ergot- He ^sed it also in the fomiff 

 of infusion^ tincture, decoction and fluid extract in many cases 

 of menorrhagia and post-partum h^morrliage with gratifying 

 tesults. He conceived that it incited the natural, rather than 

 the tonic, contraction of the uterus* A physician in South 

 Carolina refers to three cases of ahortion in negroes produced 

 by this plant- {3Ied. Rec, xvii., 276 ; Stille and Mmsch., NaL 

 Disj)., 1884, p. 1617.) Br. K. Park speaks cf a tincture pf 



Viscum album as* a valuable substitute for Digitalis ; the ecbolic 

 action of the plant, he says, is more energetic than that of 



ergot. Dose, 10 — 60 grains. 



J 



Description, — The dried berries are about | of an inch 



in diameter, soft, brown, and shrivelled ; they contain a small 

 seed about the size of a poppy-seed. When crushed they are 

 very sticky. 



Chemical composition. — M* Pavlevsky {BttlL Sac. CMm. (2), 

 xxxiv.^ 348) has obtained from the leaves of V* album a 

 crystallizable acid corresponding to the formula CH*0* or 

 (CH^O^) HO. It forms large prisms insoluble in alcohol 

 and ether, slightly soluble in water, and fusing at 101—103^0. 

 It is obtained by boiling the leaves with water acidulated with 



acid- and allowino' the decoction to cool- The silver salt 



nitric 



of this acid is explosive. ( Year- Book of 



Viscin 



obtained 



90 per cent, alcohol as long as it coloured that liquid yellow, 

 after which it was boiled repeatedly with alcohol to remove 

 wax. The remaining yellowish- brown mass, when treated five 



SIX 



woody fibre remained undissolved. The ethereal solution was 

 then evaporated, and the viscid yellow mass thus obtained 

 kneaded with alcohol so long as it gave off colouring matter. 

 It was then kneaded under water, and heated to 120°, without 

 access of air, until the whole of the water was expelled. 

 Viscin is a clear transparent mass, of the consistence of honey 



