136 
SCILLA MARITIMA. 
analysis of Vogel : tannin 24, woody fibre 30, saccharine matter 6, 
bitter principle or scillitina 34,* gum 6, in 100 parts dried squill. 
Medical Properties and Uses. Orfila classes squill among 
the acrid poisons; to many animals it manifests a poisonous quality, 
and in large doses produces death. f The recent root is so acrid, 
that if much handled it excoriates the skin. The general effects of 
squill in large doses are, vomiting, hypercatharsis, stranguary, bloody 
urine, convulsions, inflammation, and erosion of the stomach and 
bowels, gangrene and death. 
In small doses squill operates as an useful expectorant and 
diuretic ; it is also sometimes given as a general stimulant in typhus 
and other disorders. As an expectorant it is one of the most 
valuable drugs in the Materia Medica, and it proves particularly 
useful where the primee vIjb are loaded with mucous matter, and the 
lungs are oppressed with viscid phlegm. In dropsy it proves an 
excellent diuretic, either alone or in combination with calomel, in 
which case it is usually given in the form of pill or powder, as it is 
then less liable to excite nausea. Squill is also an useful medicine 
in many pulmonic affections when accompanied by active inflam- 
mation, ulcer, or spasms. The usual dose of squill in powder is 
from one to two or three grains three or four times a day. The 
officinal preparations are given in various doses according to the 
effects we wish to produce ; most of the liquid compositions in doses 
of from half a drachm to two or three drachms ; of the spirituous 
tincture from ten to twenty drops. 
Off. The Root. 
Off. Pp. Acetum Scill«, L. E. D. 
Oxymel Scillae, L. D. 
Pilulae Scillae comp. L. E. D. 
Syrupus Scillae Maritimie, E. 
Tincturae ScilliE, L. D. 
* Scillitina is white, transparent, breaks with a resinous fracture, and is pulveru- 
lent, but it attracts moisture rapidly from the atmosphere until it becomes fluid ; its 
taste is intensely bitter, with some degree of sweetness, and it is very soluble both 
in water and alcohol. 
t Orfila's Toxicology, vol. ii. p. 73, 74. 
