Gentiana. Gentian. The dried root of Gentiana lutea, or Yellow Gentian; Lin. Syst., Pentandria digynia; growing chiefly in the European Alps and Pyrenees; imported from Marseilles and other French ports.

Description. The root occurs in lengthened cylindrical pieces, from 1/2 inch to 1 inch in diameter, and several inches long; wrinkled longitudinally, and often twisted; brown externally; yellow and spongy, yet tough, within. Of a sweet odour, and bitter and sweet taste.

* Spigelia has no purgative action, and it very rarely produces any decided effect on the nervous system. - Ed.

Prop. & Comp. Gentian yields to water and spirit its bitter principle, gentianite, which has not been crystallized; geniianin (C14 H5 O5), which can be crystallized in yellow needles, but is not bitter, its colour is deepened by alkalies; formerly it was supposed to be the active principle. Sugar, gum, and pectin, etc, are also present in gentian root.

Off. Prep. Extractum Gentianae. Extract of Gentian. (Prepared by maceration and subsequent decoction, and reduction by evaporation to a proper consistence.) [Prepared by percolation, and the percolate afterwards boiled to three-fourths its bulk, and then reduced to a proper consistence by evaporation. U. S.]

Infusum Gentianae Compositum. Compound Infusion of Gentian. (Gentian, a quarter of an ounce; bitter orange peel, thirty grains; coriander, thirty grains; proof spirit, two fluid ounces; cold distilled water, eight fluid ounces. Prepared by maceration, first in proof spirit and afterwards in the proof spirit and cold water.) [Prepared by percolation. U. S.]

Tinctura Gentianae Composita. Compound Tincture of Gentian. (Gentian, one and a half ounce; bitter orange peel, three quarters of an ounce; cardamoms, one quarter of an ounce; proof spirit, twenty fluid ounces. Prepared by maceration and percolation.) [Gentian, two troy ounces; bitter orange peel, a troy ounce; cardamom, half a troy ounce, all in moderately fine powder; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Two pints of tincture are prepared by percolation. U. S.]

[Extractum Gentianae Fluidum. Fluid Extract of Gentian. Sixteen ounces of fluid extract are prepared by percolation with diluted alcohol, and subsequent evaporation, from sixteen troy ounces of Gentian.]

Therapeutics. Gentian is a simple bitter, or stomachic tonic, improving the appetite and giving tone to the stomach; hence useful in convalesence from acute disease, and in cases of dyspepsia attended with an atonic condition of that viscus.

Dose. In substance, from 10 gr. to 30 gr.; of extract, 5 gr.

and upwards; of infusion, 1 fl. oz. to 2 fl. oz.; of compound tincture, 1 fl. drm. to 2 fl. dim; [of fluid extract, 1 fl. drm.]

Chirata. Chiretta. Lin. Syst., Pentandria monogynia; the entire plant, Ophelia Chirata, grows in the northern parts of India.

Description. As imported, it is in bundles consisting of the stems of the plant, about three feet long, about the size of a goose quill; smooth, pale brown, with numerous small flowers, and part of the roots attached; the stems have a yellow pith.

Prop. & Comp. The plant is very bitter, and yields to water and alcohol a bitter extractive, similar to that obtained from gentian.

Off. Prep. Infusum Chiratae. Infusion of Chiretta. (Chiretta, a quarter of an ounce; distilled water, at 120°, ten fluid ounces.)

Tinctura Chiratae. Tincture of Chiretta. (Chiretta, two and a half ounces; proof spirit, twenty fluid ounces. Prepared by maceration and percolation.)

Therapeutics. Exactly the same as gentian.

Pose. Of the infusion, 1 fl. oz. to 2 fl. oz.; of the tincture, 1 fl. drm. and upwards.

Other plants belonging to this order, as Erythraea Centaurium, the Common Centaury, and Menyanthes trifoliata, the Common Buck-bean, contain a similar bitter principle, and have been occasionally employed in the place of gentian root.