MENYANTHES TRIFOLIATA. 
5 
the tenderest age ; giving speedy relief in those griping pains, to 
which young children are so suhject. As we have been much in the 
habit of ordering this oil for infants, we have invariably found thai 
besides its purgative properties, it acts upon them as an anodyne, a 
fact which we believe has hitherto escaped observation. la dysen- 
tery, in which castor oil is particularly indicated, the stomach will 
seldom retain it, but it may be efficaciously exhibited in an enema, 
or the seeds may be carefully separated from their shells and the 
inner white membrane, and formed into an emulsion, which will prove 
an agreeable substitute for the oil. Castor oil is an useful medicine 
in many febrile complaints, in bilious cholic, nephritic cases and 
worms, especially the tape worm, and it is particularly suited to 
cases of costiveness and spasmodic cholic. The dose of the oil is 
from 3iv to ^iss, and of the seeds, from 31 to 5ij ; the oil may be 
taken floated on a little cinnamon or peppermint water, when it will 
seldom be found to disagree with the stomach, or it may be diffused 
in these cordial waters by means of mucilage, the yolk of an egg, or 
almond emulsion. 
Off. The Seeds, and Expressed Oil. 
MENYANTHES TRIFOLIATA. 
Common Buck-bean, Marsh Trefoil.^ 
Class Pentandria.— OrJer Monogynia. 
Nat. Ord. Precis, Linn. Lysymachi^, Juss. 
Gen. Char. Calyx 5-c\e{t. Coro//a funnel-shaped, 5-lobed, 
hairy within. Stigma cloven. Capsule I -celled. 
Spec. Char. Leaves ternate. 
This is a perennial plant, and one of the most beautiful of indi- 
genous growth ; it is found in watery situations in many parts of 
Europe, delighting in a black, boggy, or marshy soil ; and according 
* Fig. a. The corolla spread open to shew the anthers and pistillum. 
