CHAMOMILE FLOWERS 595 



active than the oil from Mentha viridis, or spearmint, or M. 

 pulegium, or pennyroyal. Diluted solutions arrest the de- 

 velopment of bacilli as effectually as carbolic acid, or 

 eucalyptus oil, and are hence used as dressings for wounds, 

 and as sprays or gargles for ulcerated throat. It destroys 

 vegetable and animal parasites infesting the skin. After 

 stimulating, it paralyses the ends of sensory nerves with 

 which it is brought into contact, and hence relieves gastro- 

 intestinal, neuralgic, and other pains. Painful surfaces are 

 gently rubbed with a cone of menthol, solution being pro- 

 moted by wetting with a little spirit. Increased anaesthesia 

 is secured by diluting the menthol with eight or ten parts of 

 ether, or mixing it with an equal part of thymol, carbolic 

 acid, or butyl chloral-hydrate. Peppermint oil is used to 

 prevent the nausea and spasms sometimes produced by 

 purgatives ; to flavour medicinal preparations or cover their 

 unpalatable taste. It forms a useful addition to drenches 

 for flatulent colic. 



DOSES, etc., of the oil. For horses and cattle, ll\xx. to 

 u\xxx. ; for dogs, Tf[iii. to Tl\v., given on a piece of sugar or 

 in spirit and water. Peppermint water contains one of oil 

 in one thousand of water. The spirit consists of one part 

 of oil to nine of alcohol (90 per cent.). 



CHAMOMILB FLOWERS 



ANTHEMIDIS FLORES. The dried expanded flower-heads of 

 Anthemis nobilis. Collected from cultivated plants 

 (B.P.). Nat. Ord. Composite. 



Chamomile flowers are extensively cultivated in the 

 warmer parts of England, are gathered during dry weather, 

 exposed for a short time on trays in the shade, and carefully 

 stored and kept very dry. Both varieties, but especially 

 the single, have a hot, bitter taste, and a strong aromatic 

 odour. They contain bitter extractive matter, soluble both 

 in water and alcohol ; a small quantity of tannin ; traces 

 of the bitter anthemic acid ; a crystallisable, soluble base, 

 anthemine ; and 0'60 to 0'80 per cent, of volatile oil, 

 obtained by distillation. The oil is of a pale-blue or green 



