Extractum Colocynthidis. Lond. Dub. Extract of Colocynth

"Take of colocynth, sliced, a pound; water, two gallons. Mix, and boil with a slow fire for six hours, frequently adding distilled water, that it may always be the same measure. Strain the liquor while it is hot. Lastly, evaporate it to a proper consistence."

Syn. Koloquinthen-extrakt (G.).

This extract is a milder but less powerful cathartic than the pulp from which it is prepared, and with the addition of calomel, forms an excellent purgative pill, which operates without griping. It has however the disadvantage of becoming extremely tough when kept. From grs. v. to 3 ss. is the usual dose.

Extractum Colocynthidis Compositum. Lond. Compound Extract of Colocynth

"Take of colocynth pulp, sliced, six ounces; purified extract of aloes, twelve ounces; scammony, powdered, four ounces; cardamom seeds, powdered, one ounce ,• hard soap, three ounces,- proof spirit, one gallon. Macerate the colocynth in the spirit, with a gentle heat, for four days. Strain the spirit, and add to it the aloes, the scammony, and the soap; then evaporate it to a proper consistence, and towards the end mix in the cardamom seeds."

Dublin.

"Take of the pulp of colocynth, cut small, six ounces; hepatic aloes, eleven ounces; scammony, four ounces; lesser cardamom seeds, husked, an ounce; hard soap, three ounces; proof spirit, a gallon. Digest the colocynth in the water in a covered vessel, with a medium of heat, for four days; express and strain the liquor, and add to it the aloes and scammony, first separately reduced to powder; then evaporate the mixture with a medium heat to a proper consistence for making pills, and towards the end of the inspissation add the gelatinized soap and the powdered seeds, and with frequent stirring mix the whole intimately together."

By this combination of powerful cathartic substances a purgative mass is obtained more manageable and less irritating than any of its components separately taken. It forms a very useful pill for relieving the habitual costiveness of leuco-phlegmatic habits; and in obstinate visceral obstructions, when combined with calomel, which is not decomposed, as might a priori be supposed. The dose is from gr. v. to 3 ss., repeated every eight hours until it operate.2

1 Extractum catharticum, P. L. 1745.

2 Barclay's Antibilious Pills are composed of ext. of colocynth 3 ij., ext. of jalap 3j., almond soap 3iss., guaiac 3 iij., tartarized antimony gr. viij-, oils of juniper, of carraway, and of rosemary, of each, four drops; syrup of buckthorn, sufficient to form a mass, which is to be divided into sixty-four pills.