166 PROPERTIES OF GARLIC. 



more delicate flavor. A. scolonicum, or shallot, is the mildest of cul- 

 tivated Aliums. It is propagated by the clove planted in the spring. 



Garlics differ from onions chiefly on account of their greater pun- 

 gency. The leaves are grass-like and not fistulous, as with the onion. 

 It acquires its fulness, in the middle states, about the last of Aug. It 

 forms an excellent expectorant and is otherwise like the onion, valua- 

 ble in many diseases. Snails, worms, and the larvae of insects, as 

 well as moles and other vermine are driven away by placing prepara- 

 tions of the garlic or onion in their paths, or upon vegetables. Their 

 virtues are extracted by spirits of wine. Their composition is acrid, 

 volatile oil, extractive, gum, woody fibre, albumen, water, starch, sul- 

 phur and saccharine, matter. Their ashes contain alkaline and earthy 

 salts. The oil of garlics has a very acrid taste, strong smell and yel- 

 low color. It is heavier than water. 20 pounds of the garlic yield 

 6 drachms of the oil. With oxide of iron it strikes a black color ; 

 it is a powerful irritant. The Hindoos prepare a stimulating oil from 

 it which they give internally for the ague and apply externally for palsy 

 and rheumatism. 



Garlics when eaten, operate as a tonic and stimulant to the stom- 

 ach, and they impart their well known odor to the secretions. Their 

 volatile oil becomes absorbed, quickens the circulation, occasions 

 thirst and is thrown off by the excretories, the activity of which 

 it promotes. Eaten in large quantities, they occasion nausea, vomiting 

 and purging; and the expressed juice has proved fatal. They are used as 

 a stimulant in enfeebled digestion, as a diuretic in atonic dropsies, in 

 chronic catarrhs and as an anthelmintic. Externally it is a resolvent 

 in indolent tumors ; a local irritant, or rubefacient applied to the 

 feet to cause a revulsion from the head or chest ; an antispasmodic 

 as a liniment made of oil and garlic juice in infantile convulsions ; 

 a remedy for ear ache or deafness a clove wrapped in muslin, or a 

 few drops of juice being introduced into the ear. It is taken inter- 

 nally as a bolus or in pills. A dose of the fresh bulbs is 1 or 2 

 drachms ; or the expressed juice, mixed with sugar, or the infusion of 

 garlic may be employed. Its use, and even its smell, is said to be valua- 

 ble in the cure of vapors and other nervous diseases of females, in 

 spasmodic asthmas, for a languid circulation, catarrhs, &c. 



The syrupus alii of the shops is, 6 oz. of fresh garlic, a pint of 

 distilled vinegar and 2 pounds of sugar macerate the garlic in the 

 vinegar in a glass vessel 4 days, express the liquor, and set it by to 

 subside. Add the sugar to this clear liquor and use the syrup as 

 stated. Onions are substituted for garlics and they answer the above 

 purposes, (which see) except that they are not so efficient, or strong. 



The cultivation is on rich dry soil, not recently manured. It being 

 very hardy, it is not particular as to climate. It is propagated by the 

 cloves planted in march and pulled in Aug. The wild garlic of Rus- 





