378 VIOLET. 



is a delicate test for acids and alkalies, changing the former to a red and 

 the latter to a green colour. 



M. Boullay has discovered in the root, leaves, flowers, and seeds of this 

 plant, an alkaline principle, not unlike the emetine of Ipecacuanha, and 

 which he proposes to name Emetine of the Violet, or Violine. It is found 

 combined with malic acid, and is sufficiently active to be poisonous. 



Medicinal Properties and Uses. — The odorous principle 

 of the Violet, like that of the lily and the rose, by the produc- 

 tion of mephitic gas, is capable of inducing poisonous effects ; 

 and Triller* mentions a case in which it proved fatal. It is, 

 however, by virtue of this property that the recent flowers 

 derive part of their efficacy ; thus Dioscorides f recommends 

 them in the epilepsy of children, and Baglivi J in nervous and 

 convulsive diseases, and they are used in the present day for 

 their slightly anodyne effects in inflammatory diseases of the 

 chest and of the mucous membranes, and in some exanthemata. 

 Whether recent or dried they are slightly bitter and mucilagi- 

 nous ; hence their purgative quality mentioned by various au- 

 thors, and which Pechlin § ascribes to them when eaten as a 

 salad; Mesue|| to the juice; Poterius^f to a drachm of them 

 in powder. The syrup of the flowers is recommended as a 

 suitable laxative for children, and when properly prepared as 

 gently anodyne, and pectoral, by no means a useless medicine 

 in irritating coughs and in heat and difficulty of urine. 



The herb is emollient, and consequently useful in cataplasms, 

 clysters, and fomentations, as a substitute for Marsh Mal- 

 low, &c. 



The seeds in emulsion, are accounted diuretic, and have been 

 in some repute for expelling gravel and urinary calculi. They 

 are praised by Scholzius * *, Ray -f-f, Lauremberg J J, and others, 

 but are not used in the present day. 



The root is similar in its properties to Ipecacuanha, and has 



* Diss, de morte subita ex nimio violarum odore. Vitembergce, 1762. 



f Mat. Med. I. c. 



$ Opera, p. 114. 



§ De purgantibus, &c, p. 51. 



j| Simpl. i. c. 11. 



% Tourn. Hist.des PI. de Paris, t. i. p. 291. 



** InEpist. 192. p. 310. 



•f f Needham in Raii Hist. PI. t. i. 1050. 



XX Oiss. epist. ad Hoierum de calculo, p. 31. , 



