Botanic Remedies 303 



SCOPARIUS 



BROOM, Cytisus scoparius. Official in England 

 and in the U. S. P. VIII. 



SPARTEINE, the alkaloidal principle, usually pre- 

 scribed in the form of the sulphate in an average 

 dose of 1-5 grain, belongs to the coniine group; its 

 supposed influence upon the heart has been dis- 

 proven, and it is being abandoned as a remedy. 



SCOPARIN is the diuretic principle in scoparius; 

 but its action is weak. 



The infusion and decoction are definitely diuretic 

 and they are to be preferred, though we have much 

 more certain diuretics. 



The dose of scoparius is 15 grains, of the fl. }/ to 1 

 fluidrachm. 



SENECIO 



LIFE ROOT, Senecio Aureus. Not official any- 

 where, but is listed in the N. F. There are a number 

 of the ragworts, all species of senecio, or allied to 

 it. Cushny, in a paper in The Jour, of Pharmacol. 

 and Exper. Med., July, 1911, attributed hepatic 

 cirrhosis in cattle and horses in New Zealand, 

 "pictou" in cattle grazing in Nova Scotia, and 

 "molteno" in the cattle of South Africa, to the 

 eating of Senecio latifolius and possibly to Senecio 

 jacoboea, the latter called STINKING WILLIE. Other 

 species are thought to be equally poisonous, but 

 S. vulgaris is reported to be harmless. Cushny 

 experimented with senecifoline nitrate and found it 

 to stimulate the upper part of the central nervous 

 axis, and after several days the animal would 

 develop jaundice and die. Post-mortem revealed 

 destructive disease of the liver. 



