"Bruise the seeds of common flax, and afterwards express the oil, without heat."

Syn. Huile de graine de lin (F.), Leinohl (G.), Olio de Lino (I.), Azeyte, de Laxoe (S)..

The proportion of oil thus obtained is about 20 per cent. of the seed employed. It is combined with a considerable portion of mucilage3, has a strong, disagreeable odour, and a nauseous taste; is not congealed, except by a cold, below 0° of Fahrenheit; and boils at 600° of the same scale. Its colour is a high yellow; and its specific gravity .932.4 Four ounces of alcohol are required to dissolve one drachm of it: but the same quantity of aether takes up a fluid ounce and a half. One hundred weight of seeds yields from 18 to 20 lbs of oil.5

Medical properties and uses. - Linseed oil is emollient, demulcent, and slightly laxative. On account of its nauseous taste, it is seldom used as an internal remedy, although it has been given with advantage in ileus when purgatives have failed. It is chiefly employed in the form of glyster in flatulent colic, attended with costiveness, and in abrasions of the

1 About iij. more may be obtained by impregnating the marc with the steam of boiling water.

2 Fabroni.

3 The oil usually prepared on a great scale is more free from mucilage, the seeds being roasted before they are subjected to the press.

4 Shaw's Boyle, ii. 346. 5 Brande's Manual, p. 336.

rectum; and is an useful application to burns, especially when combined with lime-water. The dose when taken by the mouth, is from f ss. to f j.; but f vj. may be given at once per anum.

Officinal preparation. - Linimentum Aquae Calcis, E.