538 VEGETABLE DRUGS 



colored substance. It has a peculiar odor, and a bitter, 

 acrid, nauseous taste. When triturated it readily yields a 

 milk-white emulsion. 



Constituents. — 1, a volatile oil (3-9 per cent.), containing 

 as its most important ingredient oil of garlic, which gives 

 asafoetida its disagreeable odor ; 2, gum, about 25 per cent. ; 

 3, resin, 50 to 60 per cent., containing ferulaic acid (OioH^nOj. 



Dose.—K. & C, § ss.-i. (15.-30.) ; Sh. & Sw., 3 i.-ii. (4.-8.); 

 D., gr.iii.-xii. (.18-.8). 



Administration. — Asafoetida is given in ball to the larger 

 animals or in an extemporaneous emulsion which is readily 

 made — owing to the gum in the drug — by trituration with 

 water. Asafetida is administered to dogs in pill. The drug 

 may also be injected in aqueous mixture per rectum. 



Preparations. — Pilulse asafoetidse (gr.iii. each) ; dose — D., 

 1-4. Tinctura asafoetidse (1-5) ; dose — H., ? ii.-iv. (60.-120.); 

 D., 3 ss.-i (2.-4.). Emulsum (mistura) asafoetidse, milk of 

 asafetida (1-25) ; dose — D., 5 ss.-i. (15.-30.). 



Action and Uses. — Asafetida is of value by reason of its 

 volatile oil, and therefore possesses much the same action as 

 pfcher agents of this class. In experiments on man asafetida 

 caused " stomachache," activity of the bowels, increased 

 pulse rate and respiratory movements, headache, dizziness, 

 and sexual desire. 



Asafetida is chiefly used as a carminative, stimulating 

 expectorant, and nerve stimulant or antispasmodic. Liquid 

 preparations may cause nausea and vomiting in dogs owing 

 to the nauseous taste. The drug is of most service in flatulent 

 colic of horses, when it is combined with ammonium carbon- 

 ate in ball, or is given in this form simultaneously with 

 linseed oil and oil of turpentine. 



In atonic constipation of horses, asafetida is prescribed 

 with aloes in ball. Asafetida is occasionally employed as a 

 stimulating expectorant in chronic bronchitis, and in the 

 later stages of bronchial catarrh, but it is probably inferior 

 to ammoniacum for this purpose. As an antispasmodic 

 agent, asafetida is useful in functional spasmodic affections, 



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