446 VEGETABLE DRUGS 



Description.— White, soft, fine filaments, appearing under the microscope as 

 hollow, flattened and twisted bands, spirally striate and slightly thickened at the 

 edges; inodorous and tasteless; insoluble in ordinary solvents, but soluble in 

 ammonia solution of cupric oxide. 



Uses. — Absorbent cotton is used as a cheap, convenient and cleanly 

 substitute for ordinary sponges ; to make poultices by soaking it in anti- 

 septic solutions (as lysol or creolin, 1-2 per cent.) and placing it betveeen 

 layers of gauze ; and for surgical dressings. 



Oakum, consisting of the fibres of old rope, is often employed as a 

 cheap absorbent material, saturated with tar, in packing horses' feet. 



Tow, — The coarser unbleached fibres of flax; and lint, — the scrap- 

 ings of soft, loosely woven linen, — are also utilized as absorbent sub- 

 stances for surgical purposes. 



Pyeoxyliitum. Pyroxylin. (U. S. & B. P.) 



Synonym. — Gun cotton, soluble gun cotton, colloxylin. 



Derivation. — A product obtained by the action of nitric and sulphuric acids 

 on cotton and consisting chiefly of cellulose tetranitrate Ci2Hio(ON02)<Oo. 

 Pyroxylin is a yellowish-white, matted mass of filaments, resembling raw cotton 

 in appearance, harsh to the touch; exceedingly inflammable, burning when un- 

 confined, very rapidly and with a luminous flame; less explosive than cellulose 

 hexanitrate.- Slowly but completely soluble in 25 parts of a mixture of 3 volumes 

 of ether and 1 volume of alcohol. 



PKEPARATIONS. 



CoUodium. Collodion. (U. S. & B. P.) 

 Pyroxylin, 40; ether, 750; alcohol, 250. Made by solution, agitation, and de- 

 cantation of clear portion. 



CoUodium Oantharidatum. Cantharidal Collodion. (U. S. P.) 

 Synonym. — Blistering collodion. 



Made by maceration and percolation of cantharides, 60; with glacial acetic 

 acid, 5; and acetone, 55; distillation of the acetone, and evaporation of the resi- 

 due until it weighs 15 (Gm.), and solution in flexible collodion, 85. 

 CoUodium Flexile. Flexible Collodion. (U. S. & B. P.) 

 Mix collodion, 950; camphor, 20; and castor oil, 30. (U. S. P.) 



Action and Uses. — Collodion, when painted on dry skin, rapidly 

 dries and leaves a thin, protective coating. It is a useful agent to seal 

 and secure coaptation of small wounds and to keep them aseptic. Also to 

 protect abraded surfaces, as fissures of teats. Flexible collodion is less 

 apt to crack. Collodion contracts the superficial tissues and will often 

 abort boils when applied directly over them. Collodion is employed as a 

 vehicle for the application of many other agents, as salicylic acid (p. 

 corrosive sublimate, carbolic acid, iodoform, etc. 



EuPHOKBiuM. Euphorbium. (Non-ofi5cial.) 



Synonym. — Euphorbe, Fr. 



The dried juice of a cactus-like plant, Euphorbium resinifera, growing in 

 Morocco and regions contiguous to the Atlas Mountains. Obtained by incising ' 

 the stems and branches. 



Description. — In dull yellowish tears, of the size of peas; odorless; taste 

 acrid; powder of a grayish color; insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol, 

 ether and oil of turpentine. 



Constituents. — 1, 'an amorphous, bitter, acrid resin (CmHioOz), 40 per cent., 

 the active principle; 2, euphorbon (C^H^jO), a crystalline resin, soluble in chloro- 

 form and ether (20 per cent, of drug). 



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