368 VALERIAN. 



spatulate radical leaves, and lyrato-pinnatifid cauline ones : it seldom reaches 

 a foot in height. 



The leaves of V. Officinalis are eaten by cows, but are not relished by 

 sheep. Cats are well known to be delighted with the roots ; rats are said 

 to be equally fond of them, and they have hence been used for the purpose 

 of enticing those animals to their destruction. 



Qualities. — The root * has a peculiar, strong, penetrating, to most per- 

 sons disagreeable odour, and a warm, bitter, sub-acrid and slightly saline 

 taste, compared to that of newly tanned leather, or of Asarabacca root. 

 The saturated watery infusion is of a red colour, and has the odour and 

 taste of the root ; it is rendered black by sulphate of iron. The spirituous 

 extract has more of the qualities of the root than the aqueous. Spielmann, 

 Bergius, and Lewis obtained no volatile oil by distillation, but Neumann and 

 others have procured it in small quantity. From Trommsdorff's analysis it 

 appears to be of a very liquid kind, has a greenish -white colour, and in odour 

 and taste much resembles camphor : its specific gravity at 77° Fahr. is 

 0.9340 ; when exposed to light it becomes yellow ; a small portion of nitric 

 acid converts it into resin, and a larger quantity into oxalic acid. The 

 expressed juice of the root contains starch, a peculiar extractive matter, and 

 gum ; while the residue affords a portion of black-coloured resin, but consists 

 chiefly of woody fibre. 



Medicinal Properties and Uses. — Valerian root, when 

 ingested, increases the action of the digestive apparatus even so 

 as to produce in a large dose, vomiting, purgation, and the ex- 

 pulsion of intestinal worms. Consecutively it excites perspir- 

 ation, the secretion of urine, and the menstrual efflux; but it is 

 especially remarkable for its action on the nervous system, and 

 for its powerfully antispasmodic and slightly anodyne effects. 

 It appears to have been given with most success in epilepsy, for 

 which Fabius Columnaf first recommended it, having ex- 

 perienced its beneficial effects in his own person. Subsequently 

 it has attracted the attention of numerous observers, as Cruger J, 



* Valerian root is cultivated in some parts of England for the market, but 

 that which grows wild in dry calcareous soil is the best. Jt should be dug 

 up early in the spring, or in autumn before the leaves wither, and dried in 

 a warm well ventilated room. It should be kept in clesely stopped bottles 

 till required for use. One of the best tests of its goodness is the effects it 

 produces upon cats ; they will generally roll on it with extatic delight, and 

 gnaw it to pieces. 



f Phytobusanos. Neapol 1592. p. 97- 



X Eph. Nat. Cur. Dec. 2. A. 4 & 7- 



