SAVIN PRODUCING ABORTION IN MARES. 
403 
system, the rectum, and the stomach. A drachm of oil of savin was given 
by Hillefield (Wibmer, e Wirk. d. Arzneim. u. Gifte, Bd. iii, H. 1, p. 191), 
to a cat. It caused a flow of saliva, anxiety, frequent discharge of urine, 
dulness, trembling, and, in an hour and a quarter, bloody urine. The animal 
having been strangled, the bladder was found contracted, with some coagu- 
lated blood contained in its cavity. 
On man . — Oil of savin, the active principle of the herb, is a powerful local 
irritant. When applied to the skin, it acts as a rubefacient and vesicant. 
On wounds and ulcers, its operation is that of an acrid (not chemical) 
caustic. Swallowed in large doses, it occasions vomiting, purging, and 
other symptoms of gastro-intestinal inflammation. In its operation on the 
system generally, it is powerfully stimulant. * Savin/ says Sundelin (‘ Heil- 
mittellehre, Bd. ii, S. 180, Auf. 3tte), ‘ operates not merely as irritants 
generally do, as a stimulant to the arterial system, but it also eminently 
heightens the vitality of the venous system, the circulation in which it 
quickens. It next powerfully stimulates the absorbing vessels and glands, 
the serous, the fibrous, and the mucous membranes, and the skin. It 
operates as a specific excitant and irritant on the kidneys, and yet more 
obviously on the uterus. The increased secretion of bile, and the augmented 
volume of the liver, both of which conditions have sometimes been observed 
after the copious and long-continued use of savin, appear to be connected 
with its action on the venous system/ Mohrenheim (Murray, ‘ App. Med.’ 
vol. i, p. 59) mentions the case of a woman, 30 years of age, who swallowed 
an infusion of savin to occasion abortion. Violent and incessant vomiting 
was induced. After some days she experienced excruciating pains, which 
were followed by abortion, dreadful hemorrhage from the uterus, and 
death. On examination, the gall-bladder was found ruptured, the bile 
effused in the abdomen, and the intestines inflamed. The popular notion 
of its tendency to cause abortion, leads, on many occasions, to the improper 
use of savin ; and the above is not a solitary instance of the fatal conse- 
quences thereof. A fatal case of its use as an emmenagogue is recorded 
by Dr. Dewees (‘Compend. Syst. of Midwifery/ pp. 133-4). That it may 
frequently fail to provoke premature labour is shown by the case related by 
Fodere (‘ Med. Leg.’), of a woman, who, in order to produce abortion, took 
every morning for twenty days, 100 drops of this oil, and yet went her full time, 
and brought forth a living child. It ought to be well known that in those 
cases in which it may succeed in causing miscarriage, it can only do so at 
the risk of the woman’s life. Vogt (‘ Pharmakodyn.’) says that it has a 
tendency to induce an apoplectic state in the foetus. The emmenagogue 
power of savin is fully established. Perhaps the observations of Home 
(‘ Clinic. Experiments/ p. 419) are the most satisfactory of any on this 
subject, confirmed as they are by the reports of many other accurate 
observers. 
Uses . — Savin is not much used internally ; but in cases of amenorrhoea 
and chlorosis, depending on or accompanied by a torpid condition or deficient 
action of the uterine vessels, it may be given as a powerful uterine stimu- 
lant. In such cases it proves a most efficient remedy. According to my 
own observation, it is the most certain and powerful emmenagogue of the 
whole materia medica. My experience of it, therefore, confirms the state- 
ments of Home (‘ Clin. Experiments’). Though I have employed it in 
numerous cases, I never saw any ill effects arise from its administration. 
Of course its use is contra-indicated where irritation of the uterus, or 
indeed of any of the pelvic viscera, exists. 
In chronic rheumatism, with a languid circulation in the extreme vessels, 
Chapman (‘ Elem. of Therap.’) speaks in very high terms of it. It has 
been used as an anthelmintic. 
