MUSTARD. 



09 



brings out a pustular eruption. The pitch plaster, made by spread- 

 ing the melted pitch on soft leather, is used in chronic pulmonary 

 and rheumatic complaints, &c. 



Canada Pitch. — (Pix Canadensis, U. S.) 



Product of the Abies Canadensis or Hemlock spruce, a native of 

 Canada and the Northern States. The pitch, sometimes called hem- 

 lock gum, is a spontaneous exudation on the old trees ; it is scraped 

 off, boiled in water, and strained. It is hard and brittle, of a dark 

 brownish colour, and feeble odour ; heat softens and renders it ad- 

 hesive. Uses, and mode of application, the same as the former. 



Solution of Ammonia. — (LiauoR Ammonite, U. S.) 

 Prepared by saturating water with gaseous ammonia ; found in 

 the shops of different strengths. Applied to the skin, it produces a 

 rubefacient, or even epispastic effect very speedily ; usually em- 

 ployed in combination with olive oil, in the form of Liriimentum 

 amnionicE or Volatile liniment, — made in the proportion of half an 

 ounce of aq. ammonia to two ounces of oil ; an excellent mild rube- 

 facient in rheumatism and catarrh, especially of children ; may be 

 farther diluted if too powerful. 



Granville'^s antidynous lotion, made by mixing the strongest 

 liquor ammonia with oil of rosemary and tinct. camphor ; it is a 

 very powerful application, and will cause vesication in a few mi- 

 nutes ; used in neuralgia, &c. 



Mustard. — (Sinapis, U. S.) 



Product of two different species, viz.: Sinapis alba dindi Sinapisnigra 

 (figs. 25, 26), natives of Europe. Two kinds of seeds are found, the 

 white and the black; the former are of a light yellowish colour, and 

 globular ; the latter are smaller, of a dark brown colour, externally, 

 and whitish within. They have no odour when whole ; yield a 

 yellow powder, which is decidedly odorous when moistened; taste, 

 hot, pungent, and bitter ; strongest in the black ; the outer coating 

 of both is mucilaginous ; both yield a mild fixed oil, on pressure. 

 The active principle of the black mustard is a volatile oil, which 

 does not pre-exist in the seed, but is developed by the reaction of 

 water upon two organic principles, named sinapisi7i and myrosyne. 

 In the white mustard, the active principle is a fixed acrid substance, 

 which does not pre-exist in the seed, but is generated by the reaction 

 of water on sulpho-sinajnsin and myrosyne. 



Swallowed whole, the seeds are stomachic and laxative, and are 

 used in dyspepsia. The powder, in small doses, is stimulant ; in 

 large quantities, 6mctic. Externally applied, it is an active rubefa- 

 cient, and is much used under the form of mustard poultice, or 

 sinajnsm, — made by simply stirring up the powder with warm 



