THE 
AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
SEPTEMBER,  1  8  6  8. 
ON  SOME  PREPARATIONS  OF  ASSAFCETIDA. 
By  J.  B.  Moore. 
In  many  nervous  affections,  both  in  adults  and  children,  there 
is  perhaps  no  remedy  in  the  materia  medica  more  potent  or  valu- 
able than  assafoetida,  and  no  medicine  would  be  more  frequently 
prescribed  by  physicians,  were  it  not  for  its  extremely  repulsive 
odor  and  taste.  These  qualities  alone  deprive  this  invaluable 
old  remedy  of  its  popularity  and  usefulness  to  a  very  great  ex- 
tent. It  is  now  being  occasionally  prescribed  by  a  few  of  our 
best  physicians,  both  alone  and  in  conjunction  with  other  medi- 
cines, in  the  form  of  suppository,  and,  I  understand,  with  very 
satisfactory  results.  If  prepared  from  pure  and  fresh  tears,  I 
cannot  see  why  it  would  not  exert  its  therapeutic  effects  upon 
the  system  when  administered  in  this  form,  as  well  as  many 
other  remedies  which  have  been  proved  by  experience  to  mani- 
fest their  full  effects  when  administered  in  this  way.  It  would 
certainly  be  a  very  convenient  and  desirable  form  in  which  to 
employ  this  excellent  but  offensive  remedy,  when  it  cannot  be 
taken  by  the  stomach.  To  test  the  excitant  and  anti-spasmodic 
power  of  this  medicinal  agent  in  suppository  should,  I  think, 
claim  the  attention  of  medical  men,  as  there  are  many  cases  of 
nervous  diseases,  hysteria,  &c,  in  which  it  is  so  highly  useful, 
and  there  are  some  persons  to  whom  it  seems  to  be  so  peculiarly 
adapted,  that  no  other  remedy  can  be  satisfactorily  substituted  ; 
and  yet  the  sensitive  and  fastidious  palate  of  the  patient  will  not 
tolerate  its  use.    I  believe  it  will  be  found,  when  employed  in 
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