260 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



those used for adulteration, are well represented in the annexed cut from Dr. 

 Royle's Materia Medica, which gives a better idea of their differences of form 

 than any description. 



Senna has a faint, sickly odour, and a bitter, nauseous, and somewhat mu- 

 cilaginous taste. It gives out its properties to cold and hot water, and to 

 alcohol ; long boiling impairs its purgative powers in a great degree. It has 

 often been analyzed ; the fullest examination of it is by MM. Lassaigne and 

 Fenuelle (Ann. de Chim. xvi. 16). These chemists found it to contain a 

 peculiar bitter principle, which is called Cathartin; yellow colouring matter, 

 volatile oil, albumen, mucus, several salts, &c. It owes its properties to the 

 cathartin ; this is a yellowish-red, uncrystallizable substance, of a peculiar 

 odour, and a bitter, nauseous taste, very soluble in water and alcohol. It is 

 stated by Pereira to cause nausea, griping, and purging, in doses of three 

 grains ; but Royle says that M. Heelein, who has recently experimented upon 

 it, states that it is not the active principle ; and that he has taken four doses, 

 of 9j. each, at an interval of an hour and a half, without any effect. 



Medical Uses. — Senna is an active and certain purgative, and is well 

 adapted for all cases where it is wished to make a decided, but not very vio- 

 lent impression on the bowels. It is contra-indicated where there is an in- 

 flammatory condition of the digestive canal, hsemorrhoids, prolapsus ani, &c. 

 The great objections to its use, are its tendency to gripe, its nauseous taste, 

 and the large dose in which it must be administered to produce the desired 

 effect. The griping may be much lessened or obviated by combining it with 

 one of the neutral salts and with aromatics ; the latter addition also tends to 

 disguise its unpleasant taste. Its purgative powers are increased by com- 

 bining it with one of the bitters, but as the cathartin is precipitated by gallic 

 acid and tannin, the bitter to be selected should be one containing but little 

 of either of these principles. The decoction of guaiacum is said to answer 

 the same purpose. 



Senna is seldom given in powder, the bulk of the dose rendering this form 

 inconvenient. The general mode of administration is in infusion, made with 

 an ounce of the leaves to a pint of water, with the addition of an aromatic, as 

 coriander or aniseed. The dose of this is about four fluid ounces. It is also 

 frequently prescribed in the form of tincture, especially when combined with 

 other ingredients, as the Tincture of Rhubarb and Senna, or Warner's Cordial, 

 so well adapted to cases of constipation, with gastric distress, in persons of 

 gouty diathesis, and accustomed to the use of alcoholic drinks. 



Section 3. CHAMiESENNA, De Candolle. — Sepals obtuse. Anthers oblong-, with* two 

 pores. Legume compressed, dehiscing by somewhat tumid sutures, and having nume- 

 rous internal partitions ; cell pulpless. Seeds vertical, ovate, or somewhat quadrate. 



7. C. Marilandica, Linn. — Leaflets 8 — 9 pairs, ovate, oblong, mucronate; petiole with 

 an obovate gland at base. Legume narrow, arcuated, sparsely hispid. 



Linn., Sp. Fl. 541 ; Torrey & Gray, Fl. 1 ; Barton, Veg. Mat. Med. i. 

 137; Rafinesque, Med. Fl. i. 93; Lindley, Fl. Med. 261. 

 Common Names. — Wild Senna; American Senna, &c. 

 Foreign Names. — Senne de Maryland, Fr. ; Marilandische Cassie, Ger. 



Description. — The Wild Senna is about three or four feet high, with many stems aris- 

 ing from a woody, perennial root. The leaves are alternate, rather long, not numerous, 

 and composed of eight to nine pairs of ovate, lanceolate, entire leaflets, which are smooth, 

 of a green colour above, and a yellowish-green beneath ; the common petiole is fur- 

 nished with an ovate, stipitate gland at base. The flowers are bright yellow, in axillary 

 racemes, on furrowed peduncles; tho pedicels arc long, glandular, and bractcate. The 





