232 
CROTON ELUTERIA. 
Islands, where it forms a principal export ; it comes packed ia 
chests and bales; and consists of pieces in quills, from six to eight 
inches long, and about one-eighth of an inch thick, and covered 
with a thin whitish epidermis. 
Sensible and Chemical Qualities, &c. Cascarilla bark 
is warm, aromatic, spicy, and somewhat bitter, the bitterness in- 
creasing as it is chewed. The colour of the inside of the pieces is a 
reddish cinnamon hue ; they break with a close fracture and short. 
It takes fire readily and burns vividly, but when taken from the fire 
or candle it soon goes out, and emits a very grateful odour, resem- 
bling musk or amber. The watery infusion is of a reddish brown, 
fragrant, bitter, and becomes of a darker brown with sulphate of 
iron. It gives out its active constituents completely to proof spirit; 
thirty pounds of bark yield nearly sixteen ounces of essential oil.* 
Ether takes up one and a half part in ten, and when evaporated on 
the surface of water, leaves a thick pellicle of bitter resin. Accord- 
ing to the analysis of TromsdorfF, it contains 18 per cent, of muci- 
lage and bitter principle, 15 of resin, 1.5 of volatile oil, 1 of water, 
and 64.5 of woody fibre. 
Medical Properties and Uses. Cascarilla bark is both tonic 
and aromatic. It was first introduced into practice by Professor Stis- 
ser, in the year 1690, who recommended it as a powerful diuretic 
and carminative, having used it with success in calculous, phthisical, 
scorbutic, and other complaints. Soon afterwards it was sold in 
Germany as a species of Peruvian bark, and was much used by the 
German physicians in intermittent and remittent fevers with great 
success ; but although its virtues have been much over-rated as a 
febrifuge, yet its tonic and astringent powers are not inconsiderable, 
and it has been successfully employed in dyspepsia, and debility of the 
digestive organs, in the latter stage of dysentery and diarrhoea; it 
may also be given with much advantage in most cases requiring the 
aid of a gentle tonic and corroborant. The late Dr. Underwood re- 
commended it in the gangrenous thrush of infants. It may be given 
in substance, (powdered) from fifteen grains to one drachm several 
times a day ; or in infusion, one ounce bruised, to one pint of boiling 
water, of which a wine-glassful may be taken three times a day. 
It is also given in the form of extract and tincture. 
Off. The Bark. 
Off. Pp. Extractum Cascarillae, D. 
Infusum Cascarillae, L. 
Tinctura Cascarillue, L. D. 
* Graft's Elements. 
