ARALIA. 155 



alcoholicum — alcoholic extract of conium ; extractum conii fluidum — fluid 

 extract of conium; tinctura conii — tincture of conium. — United States 

 Pharmacopoeia. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — The literature of few drugs is more un- 

 satisfactory than that of conium, chiefly because inefficient or wholly inert 

 preparations have been so largely employed. The active principle is not 

 only volatile, but also subject to chemical decomposition ; hence the leaves 

 and fruit rapidly deteriorate when carelessly preserved, and hence, also, 

 preparations are not infrequently either spoiled during the process of 

 manufacture or ruined by want of care in keeping. From these causes 

 have resulted many of the conflicting statements regarding the therapeutic 

 activity of the drug. Those observers who, reasoning from the physiolog- 

 ical action of conium, have deduced the indications for its use as a remedy, 

 mainly agree in recommending it in cases of undue muscular excitement, 

 as in acute mania and chorea, where it is desirable to lessen the wear of 

 the system, and in diseases of a spasmodic character, as asthma, whooping- 

 cough, laryngismus stridulus, and tetanus. This deduction is exceedingly 

 plausible, since conium exerts its most decided effects upon the motor 

 nerves, and probably has no direct action upon the sensory filaments. But 

 those observers who have rested their opinions upon clinical experience 

 rather than theoretical deductions, assert quite as positively that conium 

 exerts an alterant and deobstruent influence upon a variety of glandular 

 enlargements and tumors, and that it is capable of relieving the pains 

 of cancer and those of other painful affections. With greater care in the 

 selection of efficient preparations, these differences of opinion will probably 

 grow rapidly less, and soon the true place of the drug will be found. 



ARALIACE/E. 



Character of the Order. — Herbs, shrubs, or trees, having the general 

 characteristics of the Umbelliferaa, but differing in respect to the fruit, 

 which ai^jm^ys consists of more than two carpels and is in the form of a 

 drupe. The order is represented in North America by two genera, name- 

 ly, Aralia and Fatsia, the former comprising medicinal species. 



ARALIA. 



Character of the Genus. — Calyx-tube adherent to the ovary, the limb 

 5-toothed, or entire and almost obsolete. Corolla : petals 5, inserted on 

 the margin of the epigynous disk. Stamens 5, alternating with the petals, 

 epigynous. Styles 2- to 5, mostly distinct, or, in the sterile flowers, short 

 and united. Ovary 2- to 5-celled, with a single pendulous ovule in each 

 cell. Fruit a drupe, with as many seeds as there are cells in the ovary. 



Herbs, shrubs, or trees, with compound or decompound leaves. Flow- 

 ers more or less polygamous, white or greenish, in umbels. 



