SUMBUL 335 



more generally agglutinated into a more or less hard mass by means of a darker, 

 yellowish-brown, sometimes greenish, substance. In winter this mass has the 

 consistence of firm wax, but in the heat of summer it becomes soft and sticky; 

 odor balsamic; taste acrid and bitter. 



CONSTITUENTS. Besides gum and resin, it contains the interesting principle, 

 umbelliferone (common to many umbelliferous plants), acicular crystals, 

 producing a brilliant blue fluorescence on the addition of an alkali. 



ACTION AND USES. Stimulant, expectorant, and antispasmodic. Dose: 5 to 8 

 gr. (0.3 to 0.5 Gm.). 



399. AMMONIACUM. GUM AMMONIAC. A gum-resin exuding from Dpre'ma 

 ammoni'acum Don. Off. U.S.P., 1890. Roundish tears varying in size 

 from 1.5 to 12 mm. (^fe to ^ in.) in diameter, externally yellow or pale 

 yellowish-brown. When warm it is of the consistence of wax, but it becomes 

 brittle when cold, breaking with a milk-white, waxy fracture, translucent 

 at the edges; odor balsamic, stronger on heating; taste acrid, bitter, and nau- 

 seous. Lump ammoniac is an inferior quality in which the tears are agglu- 

 tinated. Cake ammoniac is a very impure, dark-colored, resinous mass exud- 

 ing from the roots; imbedded in it are a few tears and much vegetable and 

 earthy trash ; it is not used internally. Constituents: Volatile oil, gum resem- 

 bling acacia, resin (about 70 per cent, composed of two, one acrid resin and one 

 indifferent resin); it yields no umbelliferone. By fusing with KOH, yields 

 protocatechuic acid and resorcin, CeHeC^. Among the derivatives of the 

 acid resin are salicylic acid, ammoresinotannol, etc. Similar to asafcetida 

 stimulating expectorant, antispasmodic and laxative but less powerful. 

 Dose: 10 to 30 gr. (0.6 to 2 Gm.). 

 Emulsum Ammoniaci (4 per cent.), 



U.S.P. 1890, Dose: Y^ to i fl. oz. (15 to 30 mils). 



Emplastrum Ammoniaci cum Hydrargyro (72 per cent., with mercury, 



oleate of mercury, dilute acetic acid, and lead plaster), U.S.P. 1890. 



400. SUMBUL. SUMBUL 



MUSK ROOT 

 The rhizomes and roots of Feru'la sum'bul (Kauff mann) Hooker filius. 



BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS. Root fusiform; perennial stem 8 to 10 feet high. 

 Fruit oblong-ovate, monocarpous. When punctured, the branches yield an 

 angelica-flavored milk-juice. 



HABITAT. Regions north and east of British India. 



DESCRIPTION or DRUG. Transverse segments about 10 to 50 mm. (% 

 to 2 in.) long, and 25 mm. (i in.) thick. They have a dusky-brown, 

 wrinkled bark, just beneath which is a whitish, spongy, parenchy- 

 matous layer, under the microscope dotted with brown, translucent, 

 resinous exudations from large resin-ducts. The brownish-yellow 

 interior is a spongy mass consisting of coarse fibers, easily separ- 

 able, and indiscriminately mixed and twisted with the .medullary 

 rays; fracture short and fibrous. Odor musk-like ; taste sweetish 

 at first, becoming bitter and balsamic, and leaving a sensation of 

 warmth in the mouth and throat. E. M. Holmes recommends that 

 the true root be cultivated, which he thinks possible in temperate 

 and mountainous districts in the colonies or in ordinary gardens 

 and fields of England. The true root has a strong, persistent, 

 musky odor. 

 Powder. Characteristic elements: See Part iv, Chap. I, B. 



