304 VEGETABLE DRUGS 



4. There is no more convenient or humane agent for destroying 

 small dogs and cats and other small animals than strychnine injected into 

 the gluteal muscles (gr.ss to gr.i) . 



Death occurs usually without struggling^ pain or convulsions, and in 

 less than a minute in many cases. But in others convulsive movements 

 may persist for a time. For large dogs, and for the larger animals gen- 

 erally, a well directed bullet is the most rapid, effective and humane 

 method of accomplishing euthanasia. 



6. Strychnine is useful in sexual asthenia as a stimulant to the 

 spinal centres and reflexes, and as a general nervous tonic. 



Class 2. — Depressing the Inferior Cornua. 



Physostioma. Physostigma. (U. S. P.) 



Synonym. — Physostigmatis semina, B. P.; Calabar or ordeal bean, faba 

 physostigmatis, S. faba Calabarica, E. The dried ripe seed of Physostigma vene- 

 nosum Balfour (Fam. Leguminosw), yielding not less than 0.15 per cent, of the 

 alkaloids of physostigma. 



Habitat. — Calabar and the region of the mouth of the Niger, in Western 

 Africa. 



Description. — Oblong or ellipsoidal, somewhat compressed reniform, 15 to 30 

 mm. long, 10 to 15 mm. thick; externally reddish- or chocolate-brown, smooth, 

 somewhat wrinkled near the brownish-black groove which extends almost the 

 entire length of the convex edge; taste at first starchy, afterwards acrid. 



Constituents. — The principal constituent is the alkaloid physostigmine, or 

 eserine. There are also the alkaloids calabarine (resembling strychnine), a prod- 

 uct resulting from the decomposition of eserine, and eseridlne, similar to action 

 in eserine, but weaker; and a neutral principle, physoterin, resembling cho- 

 lesterine. 



Calabar Bean Dose. — H., gr.xv-xxx, (1-2) ; D., gr.%-i, (.015-.06). 



The official preparations are the extract and tincture of physostigma, but 

 physostigmine is solely used in veterinary medicine, since it is more certain and 

 generally free from calabarine, which produces, in toxic doses, a tetanic condition 

 followed by paralysis. 



PHYsosTiGMiifjE Salicylas. Physostigmine Salicylate. 

 Ci,NaO,NAH„03. (U. S. P.) 



Synonym. — Eserine salicylate; salicylate d'feserine, Fr. ; physostigmin- 

 salicylat, G. The salicylate of an alkaloid obtained from physostigma. 



Derivation. — Physostigmine is obtained from the alcoholic extract of Calabar 

 bean by dissolving the extract in water, adding sodium bicarbonate, shaking the 

 mixture with ether, and evaporating the ethereal liquid. Che salicylate of the 

 alkaloid — the most stable salt — is made by adding physostigmine to a solution of 

 salicylic acid in boiling distilled water, when the salt crystallizes on cooling. 



Properties. — Colorless, or faintly-yellowish, shining, acicular, or short, colum- 

 nar crystals; odorless, and having a bitter taste. Soluble in 75 parts of water, 

 and in 16 parts of alcohol; in 6 parts of chloroform. It acquires a red tint when 

 long exposed to the air and light. Great caution must be used in tasting it. 

 (U. S. P.) 



Dose.—n. & C, gr.iss-iii, (.09-.18) ; D., gr. 1/100-1/30, ( .0006-.002) . 



Given usually subcutaneously, intravenously or intratracheally to horses. 

 Physostigminve Sulphas. Physostigmine Sulphate. (B. P.) 



Synonym. — Eserine sulphate, E.; sulfate d'6s6rine, Fr.; physostigminsulfat, G. 



Properties. — A white, or yellowish-white, micro-crystalline powder, odorless, 

 and having a bitter taste. It is very deliquescent when exposed to moist air, 

 and gradually turns reddish by exposure to air and light. Very soluble in water, 

 chloroform and in alcohol. 



Pose.— H. & C, by the mouth, gr.iss-iii, (.09-.18) ; D., gr. 1/60-1/10, (.001- 



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