PIMPERNEL. 215 



^iness to which that animal is subject. The seeds are much 

 sought after by small birds. 



Qualities. — The plant is inodorous ; to the taste it is some- 

 what acrid, bitter and sub-astringent. The aqueous infusion 

 slightly reddens turnsol, and becomes of a dark grey colour 

 by the addition of sulphate of iron. The expressed juice, 

 depurated by settling, and then inspissated to the consistence 

 of an extract, has a pungent, saline austerity. 



This plant, so far from being inert as some have asserted, is 

 capable of producing very potent effects upon the animal eco- 

 nomy, and Orfila places it among the narcotico-acrids, in the 

 same rank with Birthwort, Rue, &c. He gives the following 

 account of its effects upon animals : — 



" At eight in the morning three drachms of the extract of Pimpernel, pre- 

 pared by evaporating in a water-bath the juice of the fresh plant, were in- 

 troduced into the stomach ef a robust dog. At six in the evening he was 

 dejected, and at eleven sensibility appeared diminished. The next morn- 

 ing at six he was lying down, apparently dead, and might be displaced like 

 'a, mass of inert matter. He expired half an hour after. The mucous mem- 

 brane of the stomach was slightly inflamed ; the interior of the rectum was 

 of a bright red colour ; the ventricles of the heart were distended by black 

 coagulated blood ; the lungs presented several livid spots, and their texture 

 was preternaturally dense. Two drachms of the same extract applied to 

 the cellular texture of a dog's thigh, caused death in twelve hours with the 

 same symptoms as the preceding. M. Gronier gave to horses some tole- 

 rably strong doses of the decoction of this plant, and he observed almost con- 

 stantly a trembling of the muscles of the posterior extremities as well as 

 £hose of the throat, and a copious flow of urine. After death the mucous 

 membrane of the stomach was found inflamed."* 



Medicinal Properties and Uses. — Many of the old prac- 

 titioners considered this plant a remedy for mania and melan- 

 choly f . Quercetanus J, who was celebrated for his treatment of 

 mania, made use of a simple decoction of Pimpernel, having pre- 

 viously administered to the patient emetics and strong purgatives. 

 Others employed the tincture, or the expressed juice either alone 

 or combined with the tincture of St. John's Wort. It was also em- 

 ployed in the low muttering delirium of fevers with reputed suc- 



* Toxicologic, torn. ii. p. 295. 



•f Hartmann. Prax. Chim. in Opera, om. Ed. Johren. p. 16. Willis de 

 anim. brut. cap. xii. Fr. Hoffmann. Meth. Med. p. 290. Maroldi Pract. 

 Med. p. 93. Michaelis Opera, p. 740. 



X Apud Etmuller, Ed. Mang. Opera, torn. i. p. 580. 



