Oleum Tiglii

Croton-oil

Croton-oil. A fixed oil expressed from the seeds of Croton tiglium Linné (Nat. Ord. Euphorbiaceae). (U. S. P.) Huile de Croton, Fr.; Crotonöl, Ger. Dose, gt. j—gtt. ij.

Composition

It contains glycerides of the fatty acid series— stearic, palmitic, myristic, and lauric acids—and the more volatile acids, acetic, butyric, and valerianic (Fluckiger and Hanbury, Husemann). Genther and Fröhlic have discovered a peculiar volatile acid, to which they have applied the name tiglinic acid. By the same chemists the so-called crotonic acid is held to be an artificial product. Schlippe has asserted the discovery of the vesicating principle of croton-oil, but other chemists have failed to find this substance, to which he has assigned the name of crotonol. The purgative principle of the oil appears to exist in all parts of the Croton tiglium, but it has not yet been isolated.

Actions and Uses

Croton-oil is a transparent or semi-transparent viscid liquid, amber-colored, and having a rather rancid smell, and an oily, acrid taste. Applied by friction to the skin, it excites inflammation, and causes an eruption which is at first papular, with rounded summits, and afterward becoming pustular. The eruption is sometimes umbilicated, but is generally rounded. An areola surrounds the pustules, and there are considerable heat and burning in the part. The eruption appears in a few hours after the frictions have been practiced, reaches its maximum in about four days, and then declines by abortion of the pustules and by scabbing. In many subjects permanent, small white cicatrices mark the site of the eruption. All subjects are not equally susceptible to the vesicating action of croton-oil.

The mucous membrane is violently attacked by croton-oil. In the fauces it causes an intensely acrid sensation, and increases the flow of saliva. A sense of heat, pain, and nausea is produced when the oil is received into the stomach, tormina soon follows, and in an hour or two watery stools are passed with some burning and irritation about the anus. The action of the oil continues during the succeeding twelve to twenty-four hours, numerous fluid dejections are passed, and considerable debility is the result. When large doses are taken, if not rejected promptly by vomiting, violent hypercatharsis occurs with great prostration and collapse. Fortunately, when an overdose is swallowed, vomiting quickly ensues, and hence very large quantities have been taken without producing a fatal result. The lesions caused by croton-oil are those of gastro-enteritis, but fatal cases have occurred, with all the objective phenomena of choleraic collapse, without any evidences of local inflammation.

As croton-oil is still purgative after being deprived of its acrid principle by washing with alcohol, it has been held that the oil becomes cathartic only by the action of the alkaline juices of the duodenum. Numerous instances have been reported, and some have fallen under the author's observation, in which croton-oil applied to the integument has produced diarrhoea. It must, therefore, act by absorption into the blood. In some cases, without causing purging, croton-oil affects the nervous system in a peculiar manner. Thus restlessness, palpitation of the heart, headache, giddiness, confusion of ideas, etc., have occurred under these circumstances (Husemann).

Röhrig found that croton-oil stimulated the hepatic function, and increased the flow of bile. Radziejewski found peptones, bile, glycogen, leucin, and tyrosin, in the stools. Rutherford and Vignal have since shown that croton-oil, although it causes great vascular dilatation of the vessels of the intestinal mucous membrane, can not be regarded as a cholagogue.

The principal effect of croton-oil, for which it is administered in medical practice, is that of a hydragogue cathartic. It is, therefore, used in dropsies when it is desired to procure free, watery evacuations. It is inadmissible when there is much debility, or when an irritable or inflammatory state of the intestinal mucous membrane exists.

Notwithstanding its great activity, croton-oil is an easily-managed cathartic for ordinary purposes. It is the most efficient purgative when there is simple impaction, without inflammatory symptoms. The con-stipation from lead maybe overcome by it, when less powerful purgatives will fail. It is the most appropriate of cathartics, when these agents are indicated as revulsives in cerebral congestion. Croton-oil, by increasing the vascular dilatation in the intestines, lowers the intracranial blood-pressure. Per contra, it is harmful when a state of cerebral anaemia exists.

Croton-oil has been used successfully against tamia, but it has no special vermifuge property.

The smallness of the dose required renders croton-oil a very useful purgative in the maladies of children and of the insane. When the patient is unable to swallow from insensibility or paralysis, a drop or two placed on the tongue will act efficiently. It may be given to children, rubbed up with sugar of milk. As washing with alcohol removes the acridity, and does not impair the purgative property, a preparation so treated will be best for administration to children. The unpleasant effects of this remedy may be much modified by combination with other cathartics. Rx Ol. tiglii, gtt. iij; ext. colocynth. com., Э j; ext. belladonnae, grs. iij. M. Ft. pil. no. vj. One of these will usually act efficiently. The following is the formula of Dr. Francis's "triplex pills": Rx Aloes socot., scammonii, pil. hydrargyri, āā ozj ; ol. tiglii, τη xx; ol. carui, τη xc; elix. proprietatis, q. s. M. Ft. pil. no. 400. Dose, as a laxative, one at bedtime. This combination is very popular in New York.