1G .CERVUS ELAPHUS. 



rectified oil, or oleum an/male, of the old dispensatories. It may- 

 be given to the quantity of twenty or thirty drops, and is regarded 

 as stimulant, antispasmodic, anodyne, and sudorific. Hoffman 

 asserts that it procures a calm sleep and gentle diaphoresis, without 

 heating the body or being followed by languor and debility ; that 

 given in a dose from ten to twenty drops or more, on an empty 

 stomach, six hours before the accession of an intermittent, it has, 

 like opium, had the effect of either shortening and mitigating the 

 paroxysm, or of wholly preventing it ; that it is likewise a very 

 valuable remedy in epilepsy, hysteria, and all convulsive affections, 

 especially when given immediately before the usual time of the 

 attack, and preceded by proper evacuations. It is, however, 

 scarcely ever administered internally, in modern practice. Exter- 

 nally, it is occasionally applied by friction, as a stimulant in para- 

 lysis, and to relieve the pain in cramp and chronic rheumatism. 



In the gall-bladder of the Stag and other ruminantia are occa- 

 sionally found biliary concretions, or bezoars, to which many virtues 

 have been foolishly ascribed, but which have long since been deser- 

 vedly expunged from the list of the materia medica, 



The flesh of the Stag is held in great estimation, and affords a 

 delicious, nutritive, and wholesome article of food. It varies 

 according to the age and sex of the individual : in the young 

 or fawn state, the flesh is tender, nourishing, and gelatinous ; but 

 by no means so savoury as that of the full grown animal, known 

 under the denomination of venison. The best season for killing 

 it is in the month of August ; for in the rutting season, September 

 and October, the Stags become lean, and its flesh rank, tough, 

 and disagreeable. Like that of other animals, the flesh is improved 

 by castration. The flesh of the female is at all times inferior in 

 flavour to that of the male. 



Off. Prep. — Cornu Ustum, L. D. Liquor Volatilis Cornu 

 Cervini, D. Oleum Cornu Cervini Rectificatum, D. 



