448 MATERIA MEDICA 



The essential oil, wliich contains all the virtues of the seed in a 

 concentrated state, is the most convenient for veterinary pur- 

 poses, the dose of which is from half a drachm to a drachm : it 

 may be mixed eitlier with ale, milk, or water, into a drench ; 

 or formed into a ball with liquorice powder, ginger, and honey. 

 When the seeds are made use of they should be powdered, but 

 never boiled in any liquid, according to the practice of farriers, 

 as their virtues are thereby in a great measure evaporated : nor 

 should they be purchased in powder ; for by being kept in that 

 form, their essential oil is gradually dissipated. 



In whatever form it may be used, caraway is certainly an 

 useful cordial and carminative. The dose of the seed is about an 

 ounce ; to which may be added a drachm or two of powdered 

 ginger. It may be useful to observe, that from twenty to tliirty 

 drops of uil of caraway are an useful addition to aloes, in making 

 a purgative ball ; or, as it is commonly termed, a dose of physic. 

 See Cordials, Carminatives, and Cathartics. 



Thou2;h the essential oil is the most convenient form for ffivlno; 

 caraways, it is not j^erhaps so grateful to the stomach, or likely 

 to produce so gradual or durable a stimulus as the recently pow- 

 dered seeds. Caraways, though unpowdei'ed, lose much of their 

 power by long keeping, especially in damp places. When the 

 essential oil is employed, that which is pure should be chosen, 

 as it is often adulterated wath spirits of wine. The best manner 

 of mixing the oil is to rub it in a mortar with sugar and treacle, 

 and to add the ale or water gradually. Or it may be mixed in 

 the proportion of one part of the oil to three of spirit of wine, 

 and kept as an essence of caraway: this, when mixed with ale or 

 water, will be more uniformly diffused through the liquor than 

 the oil alone, which will immediately float on the surface. 



CARBON. CharcoaL Carbo Ligni. Recently prepared 

 charcoal is an antiseptic, and may be made into a poultice with 

 linseed meal, and applied to foul, offensive ulcers, for the purpose 

 of correctino; their foetor. 



CARBONATES. Combinations of alkalies, earths, or me- 

 tallic oxides, with carbonic acid, such as carbonate of potash, 

 carbonate of lime, carbonate of lead, &c. (See Potash, Lime, 

 Lead, &c.) The carbonates always preserve their alkaline 

 ])roperties in some degree, and are decomposed by all the acids, 

 forming a brisk and colourless effervescence. 



CARBONIC ACID GAS, is transparent, colourless, with- 

 out any odour, irrespirable and incapable of supporting com- 

 bustion. In medical practice this air has been employed, on 

 account of its antiseptic quality, in foul and foetid ulcers, or in 

 gangrenous wounds.* It is generally applied by means of a 



* It has been applied by way of fumigation to the ulcers of the nostrils in 

 glanders with good effect. — Ed. 



