Santonica. The unexpanded flowers of Artemisia pauciflora Weber (Nat. Ord. Composite). (U. S. P.) Semencine, Fr.; Wurmsamen, Ger.

Composition

Resin, malic acid, essential oil, and a crystallizable principle (santonin).

Santoninum

Santonin. A neutral principle obtained from santonica. A colorless substance, crystallizing in shining, flattened prisms, without smell, and nearly tasteless when first put into the mouth, and afterward bitter. It is not altered by the air, but becomes yellow on exposure to light. Nearly insoluble in cold water, it is dissolved by two hundred and fifty parts of boiling water. It is soluble in forty-three parts of cold or in three parts of boiling alcohol, and in seventy-five parts of ether. Dose, gr. ss—gr. v, according to age.

Trochisci Santonini

Troches of santonin. (Santonin, 3 grm.; with sugar, tragacanth, orange-flower water, to form one hundred troches.) Each troche contains a half-grain of santonin, and from one to three are sufficient as a vermifuge in children.

Antagonists and Incompatibles

We do not possess any satisfactory data in regard to the physiological antagonists of santonin. When a poisonous dose has been taken the stomach should be emptied, and the systemic effects should be treated symptomatically.

Synergists

Therapeutically the action of santonin is aided by cathartics, especially by calomel.

Physiological Actions

In ordinary medicinal doses as used for the expulsion of lumbrici, santonin causes no sensible intestinal disturbance. In considerable doses nausea and vomiting are produced, and are followed by colic and diarrhoea. Santonin enters the blood, probably, in combination with soda, for, although it has no acid properties, it has the power to form such combinations. Santonin, according to Hesse (Flückiger and Hanbury), is the anhydride of a crystallizable acid, which, when heated, is resolved into santonin and water. Vision is affected in a remarkable manner. Usually all objects appear as if viewed through yellow glass; but other colors sometimes appear, as green, blue, or even red (Gelbsehen, Rose). The chroma-topsia is probably due, according to Rose, to the solution of santonin in the alkaline serum, and its action on the perceptive centers (vol. xviii, page 26). In passing out with the urine santonin imparts a yellowish, and, when the amount is large, a reddish-purple, hue to this fluid.

In toxic doses santonin produces very decided cerebral effects: trembling, vertigo, convulsive movements, tetanoid cramps, stupor, cold sweats, dilated pupils, insensibility, etc.

Therapy

Cures of amaurosis have been reported from the use of santonin, but we possess no exact indications for its administration. It is, probably, effective only in functional derangement. The chief use of this remedy is for the expulsion of ascarides lumbricoides. It is the most effective and pleasant remedy which can be employed for this purpose. A convenient form for administration is the troche, or it may be prescribed in a powder with calomel. The following is a successful plan of using this parasiticide: A laxative in the morning, fasting through the day, a dose of santonin and calomel at bedtime, a senna-draught on the following morning.

Authorities referred to:

Brown, Dr. Dyce. Schmidt's Jahrbücher, vol. cl, p. 138. Fluckiger and Hanbury. Fharmacograpkia, p. 347. Hermann, Dr. L. Lehrbuch der exper. Toxikologie, p. 383. Husemann, Drs. Aug. und Theod. Die Pflanzenstoffe, p. 927. Kohler, Prof. Dr. Hermann. Handbuch, vol. ii, p. 1292. Rose, E. Virchow's Archiv, vols, xvi, xviii, xix, xx, xxviii.