Colocynthis. Colocynth. The dried decorticated fruit, freed from the seeds, of Citrullus (Cucumis) colocynthis, or Colocynth Gourd; Lin. Syst., Moncecia monadelphia; a plant growing on the shores of the Mediterranean and India; imported chiefly from Smyrna, Trieste, France, and Spain.

Description. The fruit was formerly imported from Mogador unpeeled, now only from the Mediterranean ports peeled. It consists of a globular pepo, about the size of an orange; the rind is hard and yellow, the pulp very light yellow, porous or spongy, tough, and enclosing the seeds, which form about 72 per cent. of its weight, and are ordered to be removed, as seen in the definition.

Prop. & Comp. Intensely bitter; contains a glucoside, colo-cynthin (C56 H42 O23 ?), capable of being crystallized; soluble in water and alcohol, but insoluble in ether; decomposed by boiling with acids into a resin and glucose.

Off. Prep. Extractum Colocynthidis Compositum. Compound Extract of Colocynth. (Colocynth, free from seeds, six ounces; extract of Socotrine aloes, twelve ounces; scammony or resin of scammony, in powder, four ounces; hard soap, in powder, three ounces; cardamoms, in fine powder, one ounce; proof spirit, one gallon. Prepared by macerating the colocynth in proof spirit, mixing the solution thus made with the extract of aloes, scammony, hard soap, and cardamoms, and reducing by evaporation to a pilular consistence.) [Extractum Colocynthidis Alcoholicum. U. S. Alcoholic Extract of Colocynth. U. S. Made by evaporating a tincture of Colocynth obtained by maceration and percolation to dryness.

Extractum Colocynthidis Compositum. U. S.

Alcoholic extract of colocynth, three troy ounces and a half; socotrine aloes, twelve troy ounces; resin of scammony, three troy ounces; cardamom, a troy ounce; soap, three troy ounces; all in fine powder, are mixed thoroughly and kept in a well stopped bottle.]

Pilula Colocynthidis Composita. Compound Colocynth Pill. [Not officinal in U. S. P.] (Colocynth, in powder, 1 oz.; Barbadoes aloes, 2 oz.; scammony, 2 oz.; sulphate of potash, 1/4 oz.; and oil of cloves, 2 fl. drm.)

Pilula Colocynthidis et Hyoscyami. Pill of Colocynth and Hyoscyamus. [Not officinal in U. S. P.] (The same as the compound colocynth pill, with the addition of 3 oz. of extract of hyoscyamus.)

[Pilulae Catharticae Compositae. Compound Cathartic Pills.

Compound extract of colocynth, half a troy ounce; extract of jalap, mild chloride of mercury, each one hundred and eighty grains; gamboge, forty grains. Mix and form a mass with water, to be divided into one hundred and eighty pills. U. S.]

Therapeutics. Colocynth is a powerful drastic purgative, producing watery evacuations; when given alone, it is apt to gripe; useful as an adjunct to other purgatives, to give briskness. It is employed in obstinate constipation, febrile conditions, and to relieve the portal system in dropsical effusions, and uterine obstructions; also as a derivative in head affections.

Dose. Of the powdered pulp, 2 gr. and upwards; rarely used; of the compound extract, 2 gr. to 10 gr.; of pil. coloc. comp., 5 gr. to 12 gr.; of pil. coloc. et hyoscyami, 5 gr. to 15 gr.; [of Pil. Cathart. Comp. 2 to 4.]

Adulteration. The extract is not unfrequently made with the pulp and seeds, which yields a larger, but a less active product; the use of the pulp free from seeds should be strictly adhered to in making the officinal preparations.

Elaterium. Elaterium. A sediment from the expressed juice of the fruit of Ecbalium Officinarum or Squirting or Wild Cucumber [a substance deposited by the juice of the fruit of the Mo-mordica Elaterium, Ecbalium Agreste. U. S.] Lin. Syst., Mo-noecia syngenesia; growing in Greece and Southern parts of Europe; also cultivated in England.

Description. The fruit of Ecbalium officinarum is a small elliptical pepo, about 11/2 inch long, covered with soft prickles, containing the seeds surrounded by a juicy tissue: these, when ripe, are expelled forcibly, hence the English name of the plant. Elaterium itself occurs in the form of thin flattened or slightly incurved pieces about 1 line thick; light, friable; of a green colour when fresh, becoming grey on exposure to light. The fracture is finely granular.

Prep. Elaterium is prepared by cutting the fruit lengthwise, and lightly pressing out the juice, which is strained through a hair sieve; the expressed juice is set aside to deposit; the sediment poured on a linen filter and dried on porous bricks at a gentle heat. This was formerly called the extract.

Prop. & Comp. Elaterium contains an active principle, elate-vine or momordicine (C20 H14 O5), which forms silky prisms, soluble in alcohol, but very slightly so in water or ether, forming in good elaterine from 20 to 30 per cent.; also a green resinous matter, soluble in ether, probably chlorophyl, together with woody fibre, etc.

Therapeutics. A drastic hydragogue purgative used chiefly in dropsical affections, especially those connected with cardiac disease: sometimes causes nausea and great depression, hence it should be carefully administered; also apt to produce gastro-enteritis.

Dose. Of elaterium (good), 1/12 to 1/2 gr.; of crystallized elaterine or momordicine, 1/24 gr. to 1/6 gr.

Adulteration. Elaterium is often very inferior, containing starch or flour, also chalk, and but little elaterine, often not more than 4 or 6 per cent. Elaterium should not give a blue colour with iodine, nor effervesce when an acid is added. 100 grains should yield 50 grains to boiling rectified spirit; and when this solution is concentrated and added to a warm solution of potash, at least 20 grains of crystallized elaterine should be precipitated on cooling. The green colouring matter is soluble in the alkaline solution, but the elaterine is insoluble.