JUNIPERUS COMMUNIS. 
they are filled with a blackish pulp, each containing three irregular, 
angular seeds. 
Sensible and Chemical Properties, &c. Juniper berries* 
are aromatic, with a peculiar odour; when chewed they are sweetish, 
somewhat bitter and pungent; the sweetness appears to reside in 
the juice, or soft pulpy part of the berry; the bitterness in the 
seeds ; and the aromatic flavour in oily vesicles, spread throughout 
the substance of the pulp and the seeds. The fresh berries yield, 
on expression, a rich, sweet, honey-like, aromatic juice ; but if previ- 
ously powdered, so as to thoroughly break the seeds, it proves tart 
and bitter. They give out nearly all their active properties both to 
water and alcohol; the watery infusion, made with the berries 
slightly bruised, is limpid, yellowish, sweet and aromatic ; that with 
the berries powdered is of a deeper colour and resinous. By distil- 
lation with water they jield a volatile terebinthinate oil, of a greenish 
colour, on which their virtues chiefly depend ; the oil is obtained 
in the proportion of about one-fortieth of their weight ; by long 
keeping it deposits a resinous sediment of a brown colour. The 
principal constituents of the berries appear to be mucus, saccha- 
rine matter, and volatile oil. The watery infusion made with the 
tops of juniper is slightly bitter, of a golden yellow colour, limpid, 
aromatic both ui smell and taste ; by the addition of sulphate of 
iron it changes to a brown colour. 
Medical Properties and Uses. Juniper berries have been 
long esteemed for their diuretic effects ; they are also considered 
cordial, carminative and diaphoretic. They have been chiefly 
employed in hydropic aftections, but notwithstanding we have 
various relations of their good effects in dropsical cases by Hoff- 
mann, Boerhaave, Baron Van Swieten, and others, they cannot be 
depended upon alone for the cure: but the watery infusion often 
proves an efficacious adjunct, and also an agreeable vehicle, for 
more powerful diuretics, as the squill, foxglove, &c. Juniper has 
also been recommended in uterine obstructions, nephritic caser, 
scurvy, and cutaneous diseases; and it is asserted by Rosenstein, 
that a strong decoction of the berries soon clears the hands in 
scabies. As the virtues of the berries chiefly depend upon the 
essential oil which they contain, and as this also resides in the wood 
* The markets are chiefly sapplied with berries from Holland, Germany, and Italy ; 
the Italian are generally preferred on account of the fine bloom with which they are 
eovered, giving them a fresher appearance. 
