SANTONINUM. 275 



Hydrochloric Acid, to precipitate the santonin ; (3) washing this 

 with Ammonia and water, and drying ; and (4.) dissolving it in 

 spirit, purifying with charcoal, and crystallising out. 



Characters. Brilliant, white, four-sided flat prisms, he- 

 coming yellow hy exposure to light; odourless, tasteless or 

 feebly hitter ; scarcely soluble in cold water. 



Dose. 1 to 4 gr. for a child ; 2 to 6 gr. for an adult. 



ACTION AND USES. 

 1. IMMEDIATE LOCAL ACTION AND USES. 



Santonin acts as a poison to the Ascaris lumbricoides, or 

 round worm, which infests the intestine ; decidedlyTess so to 

 the oxyuris vermicularis, or thread- worm. It is used as our 

 most vahuiblo anthelmintic against the former parasite, either 

 combined with a purgative vermifuge, such as Pulvis Seam- 

 monii Compositus, or followed in a few hours by a laxative, 

 such as castor-oil. 



2. ACTION IN THE BLOOD, AND SPECIFIC ACTION. 



Santonin is absorbed into the blood as sodium santonate ; 

 enters the tissues ; and produces peculiar disturbances of vision 

 and the cerebral faculties. Objects appear first as blue, and 

 then as yellow (chromatopsia), and finally colour vision is 

 almost lost. Consciousness is disturbed, with a kind of intoxi- 

 cation, tremors, debility, and convulsions after large doses. 

 Respiration is enfeebled, and the pulse reduced in frequency. 

 These effects must be carefully avoided in ordering santonin as 

 an anthehnintic. 



3. REMOTE LOCAL ACTION. 



Santonin is excreted by the kidneys as an obscure product 

 of its oxydation in the system, which colours the (acid) urine 

 greenish-yellow, alkaline urine red -or purple, and causes some 

 diuresis. 



Anthemidis Flores CHAMOMILE FLOWERS. 

 The dried single and double flower-heads of the 

 common chamomile, Anthemis nobilis. Wild and 

 cultivated. 



Characters. The single variety consists of both yellow 

 tubular and white strap-shaped florets ; the doable, of white 

 strap-shaped florets only; all arising from a conical scaly 

 receptacle ; both varieties, but especially the single, are bitter 

 and very aromatic. 



