330 MATER i A MEDIC A AND THERAPEUTICS. 



act as remote local stimulants of the circulation and nutrition 

 in the urethra and rectum. Pepper is occasionally used in 

 gleet ; but much more extensively for haemorrhoids and other 

 diseases of the rectum. 



Cubeba CUBEBS. The dried unripe fruit of 

 Cubeba officinalis. Cultivated in Java. 



Characters. The size of black pepper, globular, wrinkled, 

 blackish, supported on a stalk of rather more than its own 

 length ; has a warm camphoraceous taste and characteristic 

 odour. 



Substances resembling Cubebs : Pimento and Black Pepper, 

 which have no stalk. 



Composition. Cubebs consists of 6 to 15 per cent, of the 

 officinal volatile oil ; 2 per cent, of a neutral, odourless, and 

 tasteless body, insoluble in water, cubebin, C 10 H 10 3 ; 6 per 

 cent, of a resin containing cubebic acid; a fatty oil; and gum. 

 Volatile oil of cubebs, C 15 H24, is colourless or pale greenish- 

 yellow, smelling of cubebs. 



Dose. 30 to 120 gr. 



Preparation s. 



1. Oleum Cubebss. The oil distilled in Britain from Cubebs. 



Dose, 5 to 20 min., with mucilage and syrup. 



2. Tinctura Cubebse. 1 in 8. Dose, % to 2 n.dr. 



ACTION AND USES. 

 1. IMMEDIATE LOCAL ACTION AND USES. 



The action of cubeb pepper closely resembles that of 

 common pepper, but different parts of the body are affected 

 in different degrees. 



Cubebs is an aromatic stomachic, in small doses ; in large 

 doses it is apt to derange the digestion ; and in very large doses 

 it is a gastro -intestinal irritant. It is sometimes applied to 

 the pharynx in chronic inflammation, and very rarely it is 

 given in chronic dyspepsia. 



2. ACTION ON THE BLOOD, AND SPECIFIC ACTION. 



The active principles of cubebs enter the blood, and thence 

 the tissues. Large doses probably have an action similar to 

 turpentine, but no use is made of it on this account. 



3. REMOTE LOCAL ACTION. 



The principal effects of cubeb pepper are produced when 

 it is leaving the body by the kidneys and urinary passages, 



