432 VEGETABLE DRUGS 



Properties. — White, hard, dry crystals, or as a white, crystalline powder, 

 odorless, and having a sweet taste. Permanent in the air. Soluble in 0.5 part of 

 water; in 0.2 part of boiling water, and in 170 parts of alcohol. Insoluble in 

 ether or chloroform. 



PREPARATION. 



Syrupus. Syrup. (U. S. P.) 



Synonym.— Simple: syrup, E.; sirop de Sucre, Fr.; weisser syrup, G.; syrupus 

 simplex, P. G. 



Made by solution of sugar, 850; with heat in distilled water, straining, and 

 addition of distilled water to make 1000. (U. S. P.) 

 Molasses. (Non-official.) 



Synonym. — Theriaca, B. P.; sacchari faex, syrupus fuscus, treacle, E.; 

 mSasse, Fr. ; melasse, G. 



The brown, uncrystallizable syrup that drains away from the crystals of raw 

 sugar in the refining process. 



Action and Uses. — Sugar, syrup and molasses are demulcents, and 

 are sometimes employed in medicated syrup or electuary, for their sooth- 

 ing action on the throat in catarrh of the upper air passages. They are 

 liable to ferment in the alimentary canal if given continuously, with the 

 production of acidity and indigestion, so that they are not suitable for 

 general use as demulcents. Sugar, syrup and molasses are mainly useful 

 as vehicles, corrigents, preservatives, and excipients in pharmacy. Sugar 

 is utilized as a constituent of powders, and syrup and molasses are excip- 

 ients in the preparation of balls and electuaries. Sugar increases the 

 solubility of calcium salts (see Syrupus Calcis, p. 126) and protects fer- 

 rous compounds from oxidation (see Ferri Carb. Sacch., p. 153). 



Sugar is an antiseptic, and, in syrup, prevents the fermentation of 

 active medicinal substances. Brown sugar and molasses are laxative 

 (withdraw water from the tissues), in large doses, and are prescribed in 

 veterinary practice, with ginger, to aid the action of salts on cattle 

 (Oss-i) and sheep (§ii-vi). (See Epsom salt, p. 131.) Molasses and 

 milk, equal parts, form an excellent enema for stimulating peristalsis, 4 

 to 6 ounces of each for dogs, and 2 quarts of each for horses or cows. 



SECTION XIV.— VEGETABLE DRUGS KILLING PARASITES. 

 Class 1 . — ^Used to Destroy Tape-Worms. 



AspiDiuM. Aspidium. (U. S. P.) 



Synonym.- — Filix: mas, B. P.; radix filicis maris, male fern, male shield fern, 

 E.; fougfire male, Fr.; wurmfarn, waldfarn, johanniswurzel, G. ; rhizoma filicis, 

 P. G. 



The rhLsome and stipes of Dryopteris Filix-mas (Linnfi) Schott, or of Dryop- 

 teris marginalis (Linn6) Asa Gray (Fam. Polypodiacece) , collected in the autumn, 

 freed from the roots and dead portions of rhizome and stipes and dried at a 

 temperature not exceeding 70° C. 



Habitat. — D. filix-mas, Europe; D. marginalis, U. S. 



Description. — Usually with the blackish-brown outer layers removed; rhi- 

 zome 1 to 3 cm. in thickness, cylindraceous and nearly straight, or curved and 

 tapering toward one end, usually split longitudinally, roughly scarred with re- 

 mains of the stipe-bases, or bearing several coarse longitudinal ridges and 

 grooves; odor slight; taste sweetish, astringent, bitter, acrid. 



The chaflF, together with the dead portions of the rhizome and stipes, should 



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