AND PHARMACOPCErA. 465 



riatlve of India, China, and other places. Every part of the 

 plant appears to possess medicinal properties ; but the seeds 

 alone are employed in Europe. The seeds are about the size of 

 a small coffee bean, and abound with a fixed acrid oil, which is 

 obtained by expression, constituting the croton oil of commerce. 

 The oil has a briirht straw colour, a faint odour, and a hot acrid 

 taste, creating an uneasy sensation in the throat. It is soluble 

 in alcohol and ether. 



The oil is merely a vehicle for the acrid principle, which is 

 called tigliii and crotonic acid, a portion of which remains in the 

 farina after the oil is extracted. 



I believe that the veterinary profession is indebted to Mr. 

 Field for the introduction of this agent as an article of its ma- 

 teria medica. He emi)loys the farinaceous residue, and has 

 found five grains of it equivalent in action to one drachm of 

 aloes. Should the seed be given, about three grains, or perhaps 

 a little less, may be considered an equivalent. The expressed 

 oil has been said to create considerable irritation. Allowing this 

 to be the case, surely some corrective may be conjoined, and 

 thus a valuable agent be added to the list of veterinary thera- 

 peutics. The great value of croton certainly arises from the 

 capability of administering it when no other cathartic can be 

 given. It may be put into the animal's mash ; or, if it is made 

 into a tincture, as suggested by Mr. Field, it may be mixed 

 with his water. 



A form for this is as follows : — 



Tincture of croton. 



Take of bruised croton seeds 1 oz. 



Rectified spirit IG ozs. 



Digest for seven days, and filter for use. Dose from half an 

 ounce to an ounce. This solution is also an active counter-irri- 

 tant. I am inclined to believe that croton requires nearly the 

 same time to excite the bowels that aloes do, from which it 

 differs in not creating so much nausea, and in producing a 

 greater liquidity of the dejections. It is therefore well suited 

 for anasarcous swellinrrs. As a e:eneral cathai'tic, croton will 

 never supplant aloes, but a combination of the two may be found 

 of advantage.* 



For cattle, the union of croton with the sulphate of magnesia 

 in doses from twenty to thirty grains of the seed is useful in ob- 

 stinate constipation. 



The croton oil, if placed on the tongue of a horse, in quanti- 

 ties from twenty to forty drops, produces purging; but in this 



* I have combined croton oil and aloes wiili good elTect. I find four 

 drops of the oil added to five drachms of Cape aloes render the dose equi- 

 valent to five drachms of Barbadoes aloes. — Ed. 



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