99 PRUNUS AMYGDALUS 



Medical Properties and Uses. Bitter almonds produce analogous 

 effects to those of hydrocyanic acid ; and may be therefore used 

 medicinally in similar cases, but their administration is not 

 desirable, as the amount of hydrocyanic acid generated is liable to 

 great variation, and their effects, therefore, cannot be relied on 

 with the same degree of certainty as those of hydrocyanic acid. 

 In large quantities bitter almonds have caused serious and even 

 fatal consequences, their poisonous effects being similar to those 

 of hydrocyanic acid. In some persons, even in small quantities, 

 they cause nausea, vomiting, purging, and a peculiar eruption like 

 nettle-rash. The emulsion of bitter almonds is, however, a useful 

 lotion in various skin diseases, as herpes, acne, prurigo, &c. 

 Bitter almond paste is said to destroy the odour of camphor, musk, 

 most volatile oils, creasote, &c., and has therefore been used to 

 free mortars, &c., from the odour of assafcetida and other sub- 

 stances possessing a disagreeable smell. 



Bitter almonds are also sometimes used for flavouring, scenting, 

 &c., but their principal consumption is for expressing the fixed 

 oil of almonds ; the residual cake being also used when mixed with 

 water for the distillation of the volatile oil of bitter almonds (see 

 Oleum Amygdala Amarte). Almond powder is the ground cake; 

 this is employed as a soap for washing the hands and as a lute, &c. 

 The cake after the volatile oil has been distilled may be used as 

 a food for pigs, &c. 



3. OLEUM AMYGDALA. Almond Oil. Although, as already 

 mentioned, both sweet and bitter almonds are official as sources 

 of almond oil in the British and other pharmacopoeias, the oil of 

 commerce is almost exclusively obtained from bitter almonds on 

 account of their less cost and the greater value of their residual 

 cake. The produce of oil is, however, somewhat less from 

 bitter than sweet almonds, for while the latter yield commonly 

 50 per cent, of oil, the former, according to Umney, only yield 

 about 44 per cent. The oil is rarely expressed in the United 

 States, but is usually imported from Europe. The properties 

 and composition of the oil are the same, whether derived from 

 sweet or bitter almonds. Almond oil is a thin, pale-yellow fluid, 



