Pf 
. : 
ie ae Piarcotic’ are: i Spevpenanes oil and ‘the ae of Pimpinella Penn, By Chejaphyllis 
, aromaticus, L., Ruta graveolens, L., Thymus vulgaris, L., Achillea millefoliwm, i, Eucalyptus 
rs Globulus, Labill., Myrtus communis, L., Laurus headin: 1 Melaleuca Lencnontpon Ly, 
= Valeriana Pricinale, ce Matricaria RS cvnoaindily fa Auphemse nobilis. L., Ledum palustre, 2p 
dre Juniperus communis. i 
= _ “Exitonarcotic” are Peru balsam and the oils of Carwm Carvi, L., Myristica fragrans, 
‘Hout, Cinnamomum Cassia, Blume, and Tolwfera Perewre, Baill. 
_ The representatives Of the first group especially are most widely used as aborte- — 
- facients, according to Spinner, and it is desirable to draw up a list of the constituents | 
3 of the oil, to which the toxic effect is due. The thujone and the sabinol groups must 
be placed first. Thujone is the strongest. and most widely spread of all poisons contained 
in essential oils, and is found in the thuja Species, in wormwood, sage and tansy. The 
toxic effect of wormwood has long been known; it led to the absinthe prohibition in 
. Switzerland and France. The use of tansy as a worm-remedy-has also caused many 
cases of poisoning. Sabinol, the most effective constituent of savin oil, approaches 
_ thujone very closely in poisonous qualities; t this widely spread abortefacient has quite 
similar deleterious effects as those of thujone-containing oils. Although these remedies 
are everywhere abused for purposes of abortion, most authors consider them of little 
worth for this purpose. Abortion in these cases is to be looked upon as a secondary 
_ effect of the general and severe damage done to the health. ie, 
- - The other groups — somewhat. less poisonous — of the convulsion-producing oils 
a are, that of the pulegone the myristicin group, the isomyristicin group, the apiole 
o 
P;: 
Seibel 9h, 3 Aer as 
st A0F * 
fog ’ . 
. - group, and the safrole group. All these compounds cause fatty degeneration of the 
J parenchymatous organs, especially the liver. The myristicin-containing nutmeg, which. 
BRS in now used in its native place, Java, for the preparation of love potions and aborte- 
3 - facients just as the apiole freely sold by the chemists, are by no means harmless bodies, 
; and have often caused death when taken in larger quantities than usual. _ Spinner also 
mentions that according to Zernik, myristicin is present in apiole capsules instead of 
oii} es 7 fy a ae USL ig i oe ee aa oee "e 
parsley camphor. We may say that this fact is not surprising and easily explained, for 
z 
_ according to Thoms*) French parsley oil consists for the most part of myristicin?). 
‘ 3 
‘ 
According. to J. Jacobson, cultures of the Bacillus tuberculosis were dissipated by 
benzyl alcohol and partly bleached. After the action of the alcohol the bacilli are ~ 
s less easily colored with carbolfuchsine (1:100). Benzyl alcohol liquefies the excretion, 
and causes, when subcutaneously injected in quantities of 0.02 g. into tuberculous 
guinea-pigs, no local or general reaction*) within a period of 10 days. 
Benzylbenzoate has a sedative effect on spasms according to D. I. Macht‘), especially 
_on the involuntary muscles, less on the voluntary. In convulsive dysmenorrhoea, in — 
intestinal and stomach spasms, in threatening miscarriage, in kidney- and gall stone 
_ colic, the ester has proved to be of-service. Its efficacy as the blood-pressure reducing . 
__ agent is more lasting than that of the nitrates. TY alcohol is especially valuable 
fas a local anzsthetic and in the treatment of venereal diseases. Both the remedies 
2 are only slightly poisonous. : 
BE. A bibliography on the effects of natural and artificial camphor is to be found in 
= the Digest of Comments on the Pharmacopeia of the U.S. A. for 1915, 211. 
% 4 1) Cf. Report April 1904, 67. —. *) Formerly the French designated as apiole thé alcoholic extract of 
____ parsley seeds, as well as apiole itself. — %) Compt. rend. Soc. de bdiologie 82 (1919), 1246. As per Chem. 
Zentralbl. 1920, 1. 537.. — *) Journ. Pharmacol. Proc. 13 (1919), 509. As per Chem. Abstracts 14 (1920), 1387, 
