Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1900. 
Substitute  for  Alcohol. 
319 
it  in  the  character  and  quality  of  its  effects,  with  the  advantage  of 
smaller  dose. 
Buckthorn  bears  a  somewhat  similar  relation  to  rhubarb,  but  is 
more  simple  and  mild  in  operation,  is  more  limited  in  application, 
and  required  in  much,  smaller  doses  for  its  best  effects.  All  are 
laxatives  and  produce  feculent  discharges,  whilst  salines  and  min- 
eral waters  are  aperients  and  tend  to  produce  watery  discharges. 
The  two  officinal  varieties  of  Rhamnus  are  simple  laxatives,  and 
if  kept  within  their  scope  and  skilfully  applied  they  seem  well 
adapted  to  the  very  extensive  use  into  which  they  have  grown. 
The  smallness  of  the  dose  in  which  they  are  effective  is  accounted 
for  in  the  circumstance  that  they  give  bilious  discharges,  and  dis- 
charges with  the  color  and  character  of  bile  indicate  stimulation  of 
the  liver,  while  stimulation  of  the  liver  indicates  increased  secre- 
tion of  bile,  which  of  itself  would  give  a  laxative  effect  without 
buckthorn,  just  in  the  way  that  mild  mercurials  are  supposed  to 
act ;  that  is,  a  stimulant  to  the  liver  is  the  excitant  to  increased 
secretion  of  bile,  and  bile  is  the  natural  laxative  of  the  digestive 
process. 
A  very  good  way,  if  not  the  best  way,  to  use  the  fluid  extract 
of  buckthorn  to  correct  a  constipation  is  to  give  0*5  c.c.  diluted 
with  about  30  c.c.  of  water  after  each  meal  for  one  day,  and  for  one 
or  two  meals  of  the  second  day,  or  until  a  mild  laxative  effect  is 
obtained.  Then  to  reduce  the  number  of  doses  to  one  or  two  a 
day  for  one  or  two  days — then  to  one  a  day — then  on  alternate 
days — then  once  or  twice  a  week  until  a  natural  habit  is  established, 
and  no  longer.  But  as  each  case  needs  a  little  special  management, 
it  is  only  practicable  to  give  a  general  plan  of  application,  to  be 
modified  by  the  effects  in  individual  cases,  with  great  caution  not  to 
get  an  evacuant  effect  when  only  a  laxative  effect  is  desired.  In 
many  individuals  a  dose  of  0-5  c.c.  after  the  morning  meal  for  three 
or  four  days  will  give  the  appropriate  laxative  effect  when  2  c.c. 
given  at  one  dose  would  be  evacuant  and  would  leave 'a  condition 
of  costiveness  as  bad  as  the  original  condition  for  which  the  buck- 
thorn was  taken. 
A  fai.se;  cinnamon  has  been  examined  by  Micko.  It  is  the  bark  of  an 
unknown  species  of  Cinnamomum,  but  does  not  contain  the  aromatic  cinnamon 
oil.  It  is  also  exceedingly  mucilaginous. — Zeitschr.  d.  Nahr.  u.  Genuss., 
1900,  p.  306. 
