498 MATERIA MEDICA 



The action of this medicine is that of a tonic and a stimulant 

 to the absorbent system. The dose, from 1 to 2 drs. daily, 

 combined with vegetable tonics, and sometimes small doses of 

 cantharides. It has been given successfully by Mr. C. Spooner 

 and ]\lr. Daws for farcy, and is to be recommended for nasal 

 gleets and glanders, its double action being so desirable in these 

 cases. I have employed the sulphate of copper, rubbed down in 

 a mortar with iodide of potassium, with success in cases re- 

 sembling glanders, giving vegetable tonics at the same time. 

 ]\Ir. Morton also recommends, for the same purpose, the iodide 

 of iron, a chemical combination of iodine with iron, in doses of 

 one or two drachms. — Ed.] 



IPECACUAN. — Ipecacuanha. Ipecacuanha is sometimes 

 employed as an expectorant in chronic cough, and asthmatic 

 affections, and I believe with good effect when joined with 

 squills, ammoniacum, &c. (See Expectorants.) According 

 to Vitat, from half an ounce to an ounce given to a horse, makes 

 him snuffle and sneeze for some minutes ; at the end of an hour 

 he appears agitated, the belly tense, but the arteries and flanks 

 beat with violence for four or five hours : these appearances 

 gradually go off. Given to the extent of three ounces, it dis- 

 tresses the horse greatly ; he lies down and soon gets up again, 

 his flanks beat, he sighs and groans, and unless water be given 

 him he dies convulsed. On these symptoms going oft', his dung 

 is a little softened, but it does not purge. I once gave an ounce 

 to a young ass, but it did not produce any perceptible effect. 

 Bourgelat says, it is employed in chronic bowel complaints, in 

 molton grease, and dysentery, with success, either as an infusion 

 or decoction. He also observes, that though it does not cause 

 any sensible evacuation in large animals, it purges the sheep; 

 and in the pig, the dog, and the cat, it causes vomiting or 

 purging, according to the quantity given, and the state of the 

 stomach and bowels. He has given it to broken-winded horses, 

 but without success. He states the dose for a horse to be from 

 72 grains to 1 ounce; for a dog, fi'om 4 grains to 20. 



IRON. — Ferrum. This is one of the most abundant me- 

 tallic productions of nature ; its ores are found in almost every 

 part of the globe, in the soil and often in the water, and as a 

 constituent of vegetable and animal bodies. The only pre- 

 paration of ii'on commonly used in veterinary medicine is 

 sulphate of iron, or salt of steel, a useful tonic in doses of two 

 or four drachms. 



[Latterly the iodide of iron has been added to our Pharma- 

 copoeia by Mr. Morton ; and, in doses of half a drachm to a 

 drachm, has been found useful, as a tonic, in cases of nasal 

 gleet, and also for diabetes. — Ed.] 



JALAP, the Root. — IpomcEa Jalapa. In the human body, 

 the root of jalap is a certain and efficacious pvirgative ; and there 



