This section is from the book "Recent Materia Medica: Notes On Their Origin And Therapeutics", by F. Harwood Lescher. Also available from Amazon: Recent materia medica.
Two sorts; the true, from interior of Bolivia, contains Cotoin; it is reddish-brown, resembling some Cinchonas, flat, heavy, and also in quills; the interior layers are the darkest. The flowers, fruit, and bark have been considered by Dr. Karl Schumann, of Berlin, to be those of Drimys Winteri, var. Granatensis, a native of Venezuela. "A bark of unknown origin obtained from Bolivia. In flat or curved pieces about 1 centimetre in thickness, and of variable length. The taste is aromatic and very biting. The transverse section is of a cinnamon brown colour externally, and darker towards the inner surface." - B. P. C. Formulary. Another sort produces an inferior crystalline body, Paracotoin.
Therapeutics. Coto is valuable in diarrhoea, rheumatism, and gout; also in night sweats of phthisis. Dose of powder, 5 grains; of fluid extract, 5 to 15 drops, four times a day; of tincture (rect. 1 in 10), 10 to 60 drops. Cotoine. C22 H18 06 Alkaloid of Coto.
Pale yellow powder, with sharp taste, and easily soluble in alcohol and chloroform.
Therapeutics. Specific against diarrhoea or catarrh of the intestinal mucous membrane, without unpleasant effects. Dose, for adults, 1/2 to 1 grain per diem, hypodermically injected, in a solution of 1 part in 4 of acetic ether, or internally, 1/2 to 1 grain in syrup every three hours, in diarrhoea, especially that of phthisis and cholera. By dilating the intestinal blood vessels, it recuperates the mucous membrane of the intestines.
 
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