used. The former is said to act without producing nausea, and the latter is frequently taken on the c o 
nent, the dose being from 12-15 of its seeds. The cathartic properties of the seeds reside in an oil which 
is abundant in their fleshy albumen, and which, when expressed, exhibits the same qualities as the entire 
seeds, but in a more concentrated form, the dose being from 4-8 drops : so that it might become a cheap 
substitute for the oil of the Croton Tiglium. The seeds yield from 44-52 per cent, of this purgative oil, 
and, according to Merat and Lens, it may be prepared at so moderate an expense that enough might be 
bought for five sous to cleanse the primes vice of about 100 patients. Notwithstanding their acridity the 
seeds of E. Lathyres are not unfrequently pickled instead of capers, and eaten as a sauce with meat, whence it 
has been called the caper-spurge. Such diet can scarcely be considered safe or wholesome, although the 
process of pickling will lessen, and perhaps may remove, the more active principles : indeed, the ancients 
were accustomed to steep the Euphorbia in vinegar, and to expose them to heat, in order to moderate their 
acrimony. 
E. didcis and edulis are less acrid than most of their allies, and in Cochin-china the leaves of the latter 
are dressed and eaten with other green vegetables ; and we are told that formerly it was the practice to 
mix the leaves of Euphorbia with common potherbs, in order to render them cathartic, and thus to take 
physic and food together. 
Sensible and Chemical Properties, &c. Euphorbium is brought to us immediately from Bar- j 
bary, in packages containing from 100 to 150 lbs. weight. It is in small drops of an irregular form, of a 
pale yellow colour externally, but somewhat white within, and breaks easily between the fingers. It is in- 
odorous; when first chewed it has little taste, but soon gives a very acrid, burning sensation to the mouth 
and fauces, which is very permanent. It is soluble in ether, alcohol, oil of turpentine, oil of almonds, and 
partially so in acids and alkalies. When the ethereal tincture is evaporated on water, it leaves on the side 
of the glass a pellicle of transparent resin, resembling an officinal plaister. When triturated with water 
it renders it milky, but only one part in seven of the Euphorbia is dissolved. Alcohol takes up about one { 
part in four, and forms a clear straw-coloured solution, which is rendered milky by the addition of water. 
It burns with an agreeable smell and a bright flame; its specific gravity is 1.124. Braconnot makes 100 
parts of Euphorbium to contain 37-0 of resin, 19.0 wax 20.5 malate of lime, which was mistaken for gum, 
2.0 malate of potass, 5.0 water, 13.5 woody matter, and 3.0 loss. 
Medical Properties and Uses. Euphorbium is powerfully cathartic and emetic, hence it was 
formerly given as a hydragogue in dropsies, &c. but its effects are so violent even when exhibited in small 
doses, that it is now very seldom given internally. It is also a powerful errhine, but requires dilution, for 
if used alone its action is so violent as to produce inflammation and haemorrhage. When properly diluted 
with starch or some other inert powder, and used with discretion, it has been found an excellent errhine in 
lethargy, deafness, paralysis, amaurosis, palsy, &c. 
Poisonous Effects. Euphorbium is ranked by toxicologists, among the acrid poisons. Orfila made 
many experiments on dogs to ascertain the effects of Euphorbium on the animal economy, and from them 
has drawn the following conclusion : First, That Euphorbium exerts a local action extremely violent, ca- 
pable, of producing acute inflammation Secondly, That its fatal effects depend rather on sympathetic irrita- 
tion of the nervous system than on its absorption. Thirdly, That it acts on the human species as on | 
dogs. 
In the Philosophical Transactions for 1760. a case is recorded of a Mrs. Willis, who took by mistake 
two ounces of the tincture of Euphorbium, prepared with two drachms of camphor and two of Euphorbium ! 
to two ounces of rectified spirit. Immediately after she experienced a violent suffocation, attended with a 
burning pain in the mouth and stomach; large draughts of warm water were immediately exhibited, which 
produced vomiting ; the burning pain at the stomach continuing, she was ordered to drink oil and water 
alternately ; the sickness continuing, an ounce of ipecacuanha wine was administered, after which an opiate 
and mild diluents soon produced tranquility. The violent effects produced by the tincture of Euphorbium 
in this case must be partly attributed to the camphor. 
Professor Taylor tells us that in one instance a teaspoonful swallowed by mistake produced burning j 
heat in the throat and stomach, with vomiting. The individual died in three days. (Christison, 588.) It j 
is used in veterinary medicine, and may thus occasion poisoning by mistake. The seeds and root of several 
varieties are equally poisonous. The following is a case of poisoning by the Euphorbium Peplus (Petty | 
Spurge). A boy aet. 6, ate the plant by mistake. He was seized with vomiting, spasms, small pulse, inability I 
to swallow, insensibility and cold extremities. He sank under these symptoms, and on inspection, the 
tonsils, fauces, pharynx, and larynx were found much inflamed, and containing a green coloured mucus. The 
mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines was very red, but the large intestines were healthy, with the I 
exception of the muscular coat, which was vascular. The bladder was contracted : the lungs healthy as well 
as the substance of the brain. The veins of the dura mater were distended. (Beck’s Med. Jur. 832; and 
Med. Chir. Rev. vii. 275). Orfila quotes what appeals to be a somewhat doubtful case, in which a woman | 
died in half an hour from about twenty-five grains of the root. (Toxicol, ii. 104.) There is no doubt j 
that euphorbium is a very acrid substance and that in all its forms, it possesses a strong local irritant action. 
At Aurillac, in France, sixteen persons were seized with violent sickness after having drunk the milk 
of a goat. The animal became indisposed in two days, and died on the third day, with symptoms of irrita- 
tion of the alimentary canal. This poisonous action of milk has been often referred to the animal having 
eaten the Euphorbia esula, but nothing certain is known on the subject. It is singular that the animal poison i 
of rabies should be sometimes transmissible by the milk. 
