292 CUCURBITACE^. 



honour of Pelletier, is readily soluble in water, alcohol or chloroform, 

 and has a somewhat aromatic odour. Several of its salts are crystal- 

 lizable, yet extremely hygroscopic. The yield of the root bark was 

 about ^ per cent, of the alkaloid, or about 2 per cent, of crystallized 

 sulphate from trees grown near Troyes, in the Champagne. 



Uses — A decoction, followed by a purgative, is stated by Waring^ 

 and others to be most efficient for the expulsion of the tape-worm. 

 The fresh bark is said to be preferable to the dried. 



Adulterations — The commercial drug frequently consists partly 

 or entirely of the bark of the stem or branches, characterized by its 

 less abundant cork-formation, which exhibits longitudinal bands or 

 ridges of light brownish cork, but not conchoidal exfoliations. The 

 middle cortical layer is somewhat more developed, and contains in 

 the outer cells deposits of chlorophyll. The cambial zone is not dis- 

 tinctly observable. Such bark is reputed to be less active than 

 that of the root, but we are not aware that the fact has ever been 

 proved. 



The bark of Buxus sempervirena and of Berheris vulgaris are 

 somewhat similar to the drug under notice, but their decoctions are not 

 affected by salts of iron. 



CUCURBITACEJE. 



FRUCTUS ECBALLII. 



Fructus Elaterii ; Elateriwm Fruit, Squirting Cucumber, Wild 

 Cucumber ; F. Concombre purgatif ou sauvage ; G. Springgurke. 



Botanical Origin — EcballiuTn^ Elaterium A. Richard (Momordica 

 Elaterium L.), a coarse, hispid, fleshy, decumbent plant without ten- 

 drils, having a thick white perennial root. It is common throughout 

 the Mediterranean region, extending eastward as far as Southern 

 Russia and Persia, and westward to Portugal. It succeeds well in 

 Central Europe, and is cultivated to a small extent for medicinal use 

 at Mitcham and Hitchin in England. 



History — Theophrastus mentions the plant under notice by the 

 name of 1,1 kvo? aypiog. It is also particularly noticed by Dioscorides, 

 who explicitly describes the singular process for making elaterium 

 (eXaTt'ipiov), which was almost exactly like that followed at the 

 present day. 



The Wild or Squirting Cucumber was well known and cultivated 

 in gardens in England as early as the middle of the 16th century.^ 



Description — The fruit is ovoid-oblong, nodding, about 1| inch 

 long, hispid from numerous short fleshy prickles terminating in white 

 elongated points. It is attached by a long scabrous peduncle, is fleshy 

 and green while young, becoming slightly yellowish when mature; it is 



^Indian Annals of Med. Science, vi. allusion to the expulsion of the seeds: often 

 (1859); Pharmacopoeia of India, 1868. 93. erroneously written ii'cia'iMW. 



^ Ecballium from i(c/3d\\co, I expel, in ^ Xurner's i/eriaW, 1568, part i. ISO. 



