LACTUCARIUM 43 1 



obovate, undivided, those of the stem lobed, auricled, and partly clasping. 

 Flower-heads panicled, with small heart-shaped bracts; flowers all ligulate, 

 perfect, light yellow. 



SOURCE. Europe; chiefly produced in Scotland, France, and Prussia. 



DESCRIPTION or DRUG. In sections of plano-convex circular cakes, or 

 angular pieces, of a grayish or reddish-brown color, breaking with a 

 waxy, yellowish- white fracture; odor opium-like and disagreeable, 

 characteristic; taste bitter and acrid. It is partly soluble in alcohol 

 and ether. When triturated with water it yields a turbid solution; 

 boiling water dissolves about 50 per cent., forming a brown infusion. 



Powder. Grayish-brown to dark brown, consisting almost entirely of irregular, 

 angular masses, without any cellulose structure; when mounted in hydrated chloral 

 T.S. the fragments become clear, showing a granular ground mass; from this 

 separated rod-shaped crystals, monoclinic prisms and rosette-shaped crystal-like 

 masses. 



To powder lactucarium, the crude drug should be dried at a tem- 

 perature not exceeding 7oC. 



CONSTITUENTS. Lactucin, lactucopicrin (very bitter and acrid), lactucic 

 acid, O44H3aO2i (very bitter, probably an oxidation product of lactu- 

 copicrin), lactucerin (lactucone), and wax. Ash, not more than 10 

 per cent. 



Preparation of Lactucerin, Lactucone. Boiling alcohol extracts it in almost 

 pure state from lactucarium, which has been deprived of resin and caoutchouc. 



ACTION AND USES. Anodyne, hypnotic, and sedative, resembling opium 

 in its action, but much feebler and without the depressing after- 

 effects. Dose: 5 to 60 gr. (0.3 to 4 Gm.). 



OFFICIAL PREPARATIONS. 



Tinctura Lactucarii (50 per cent.) Dose: 10 to 60 ITR (0.6 to 4 mils). 



Syrupus Lactucarii (10 per cent, of Tinc- 

 ture), K to 2 fl. dr. (2 to 8'mils). 



595. LACTUCA SATIVA. GARDEN LETTUCE. Popularly used as a mild anti- 

 spasmodic to allay nervous irritability and mental worry. It yields a lac- 

 tucarium during flowering, but before that period the juice is pellucid and 

 insipid. 



596. LACTUCA CANADENSIS. WILD LETTUCE. Used as a mild soporific for 

 children. Dose: 20 gr. (1.3 Gm.). 



597. PARTHENIUM. FEVERFEW. The herb of Matrica'ria parthe'nhim Linn6. 

 Habitat: Europe; cultivated in this country. Resembles chamomile in odor 

 and taste, in medical properties, and also in the appearance of the flowers, 

 which differ, however, in their peculiar odor, their rounded and somewhat 

 flattened receptacle, and the numerous large and long disk-florets which they 

 bear. 



