Aurantii Cortex. Bitter Orange Peel. The exterior rind of the fruit of Citrus Bigaradia, the Seville or bitter orange tree; Lyn. Syst., Polydelphia polyandria: growing in Southern Europe, Spain, etc. [Aurantii Amari Cortex. Bitter Orange Peel. The rind of the fruit of citrus vulgaris. Aurantii Dulcis Cortex. Sweet Orange Peel. The rind of the fruit of Citrus Aurantium. Aurantii Flores. Orange Flowers. The flowers of Citrus Aurantium and Citrus Vulgaris.]

Aurantii Floris Aqua. Orange Flower Water. Water distilled from the flower of Citrus Bigaradia, and Citrus Aurantium, the sweet orange tree, prepared mostly in France.

Description. The cortex, or rind, is well known; it has an aromatic bitter taste and fragrant odour; the interior white portion should be removed. Aqua Floris Aurantii has the grateful odour of the orange blossoms.

Prop. & Comp. The cortex, or rind, contains a volatile oil (C20 H16), a hitter extractive, and a little gallic acid. Aqua Floris Aurantii contains a little volatile oil differing from that contained in the cortex. The water should be colourless with a fragrant odour. It should not be coloured by sulphuretted hydrogen. Off. Prep. of the Peel: -

Infusum Aurantii. Infusion of Orange Peel. [Not officinal in U. S. P.] (Dried orange peel, half an ounce; boiling distilled water, ten fluid ounces.)

Syrupus Aurantii. Syrup of Orange Peel. (Tincture of Orange Peel, one fluid ounce; syrup, seven fluid ounces.)

Tinctura Aurantii. Tincture of Orange Peel. [Not officinal in U. S. P.] (Bitter orange peel, cut small and bruised, two ounces; proof spirit, one pint. Prepared by maceration and percolation.)

Of the Orange Flower Water: -

Syrupus Aurantii Floris. Syrup of Orange Flower Water. (Orange flower water, eight fluid ounces; refined sugar, three pounds; distilled water, sixteen fluid ounces, or a sufficiency to make the product four pounds and a half. The sp. gr. should be 1.33.)

Orange peel is contained in some other officinal preparations.

Therapeutics. The rind is an aromatic, bitter stomachic, a pleasant adjunct to other bitters in the treatment of dyspepsia; it covers, to some extent, the taste of quinine. Aqua Floris Aurantii, and Syrupus Floris Aurantii, are only used as vehicles, and to give flavour to other medicines.

Dose. Of infusum aurantii, 1 oz. to 2 oz.: of tinctura aurantii, 1 fl. drm. to 2 fl. drm.; of syrupus aurantii, 1 fl. drm. to 2 fl. drm.; of aqua floris aurantii, 1 fl. oz. to 2 fl. oz.; of syrupus floris aurantii, 1 fl. drm. to 2 fl. drm.

Adulteration. Orange flower water may contain lead, derived from the vessels in which it is imported; this can be detected by passing sulphuretted hydrogen through it; when free from metallic impurity, it is not discoloured.

Limonis Cortex. Lemon Peel. The fresh outer part of the rind of the fruit [The rind of the fruit. U. S.] of Citrus Limo-num, the Lemon tree; Lin. Syst.. Polyadelphia polyandria: a tree cultivated in Southern Europe.

Limonis Oleum. Oil of Lemons. The oil expressed or distilled from the fresh lemon peel; imported chiefly from Sicily.

Limonis Succus. Lemon Juice. The expressed juice of the ripe fruit of Citrus Limonum.

Description. The rind, familiar to all, should have the interior white portion removed; it occurs in thin slices of a yellow colour, dotted with numerous vesicles of oil, with a fragrant odour and aromatic, slightly bitter, taste.

The volatile oil is usually obtained by rasping the outer portion of the rind, and pressing it in hair sacks, sometimes by distillation; it is of a pale yellow colour, with the odour and taste of the peel: the purer oil is obtained by distillation.

The juice, made by pressing the fruit and straining, forms a slightly turbid, almost colourless mucilaginous acid liquid, possessing a sharp acid taste and grateful odour.

Prop. & Comp. The rind contains the volatile oil, a bitter extractive and. a little gallic acid; also a principle, Hesperidine, which crystallizes in fine white needles.

The volatile oil, Limonis Oleum, sp. gr. 0.85, consists of two isomeric oils (as is the case with most volatile oils). Composition (C20 Hl6).

The juice, Limonis Succus, contains citric acid (3 HO, C12 H5 O11), described under acids, in the inorganic department, and mucilage, with small quantities of malic acid, and acid salts, especially those of potash.

Off. Prep. - Of the Peel. Syrupus Limonis. Syrup of Lemons. (Fresh lemon peel, two ounces; lemon juice, strained, twenty fluid ounces; sugar, two pounds and a quarter.) The product should weigh three pounds and a half, and should have the sp. gr. 1.34.

Tinctura Limonis. Tincture of Lemon Peel. [Not officinal in U. S. P.] (Fresh lemon peel, sliced thin, two ounces and a half; proof spirit, one pint. Prepared by maceration and percolation.)

Oil of lemons is contained in Spiritus Ammoniae Aromaticus.

Of the Juice. Syrupus Limonis. Syrup of Lemons. (Fresh lemon peel, two ounces; lemon juice, strained, one pint; refined sugar, two pounds and a quarter. The product should weigh three pounds and a half, and should have the sp. gr. 1.34.) 14

Therapeutics. The peel is an aromatic stomachic; the volatile oil a stimulant and carminative when given internally, and stimulant and rubefacient externally applied; the juice is refrigerant, resembling a solution of citric acid, and may be used for making effervescing draughts, in lieu of that acid. It possesses some powers besides, which render it antiscorbutic, which citric acid certainly is not; the author attributes this power to the potash salts contained in it. The juice has been proposed as a remedy in rheumatism.

Dose. Of the syrup, 1 fl. drm. to 2 fl. drm. or more; of the tincture, 1 fl. drm. to 2 fl. drm.; of the oil, 1 min. to 5 min.; of the juice, 1 fl. drm. to 4 fl. drm. or more.

Adulteration. Oil of lemons is liable to admixture with oil of turpentine, difficult to detect except when in large quantities. Lemon juice is frequently mixed with lime juice, which has the same properties; and that used in the navy has a tenth part of brandy added to it to prevent decomposition. A mixture of sugar and water, acidulated with sulphuric acid, has often been substituted for lemon juice.

Bela. Bael. The half ripe fruit, dried, of AEgle Marmalos. [Not officinal in U. S. P.]

Description. A round fruit about the size of a large orange, with a hard rind of a woody consistence. It is usually met with in dried slices or fragments, consisting of the rind, with some adherent dried pulp and seeds; the rind is about a line and a half thick, externally covered with a smooth greyish epidermis, and internally brownish orange or red. The moistened pulp is mucilaginous.

Prop. & Comp. The chemical composition of bael has not been accurately determined; it contains some astringent principle, probably more or less allied to tannic acid.

Off. Prep. Extractum Belae Liquidum. Liquid Extract of Bael. (Made by exhausting one pound of bael by repeated macerations in water, evaporating the solution to fourteen fluid ounces, and then adding two fluid ounces of rectified spirit.)

Each fluid ounce of the extract represents one ounce of bael.

Therapeutics. Indian bael has obtained much reputation in India in the treatment of diarrhoea and dysentery. From the author's limited experience of its powers in diarrhoea, he is not disposed to consider it superior to some other vegetable astringents. The fruit, when ripe, yields a pulp which can be made into jelly, and acts as a mild aperient.

Dose. Of extractum belae liquidum, 1 fl. drm. to 1/2 fl. oz.