Quassia. Quassia. The wood of Picraena excelsa: [Simaruba excelsa. U. S.] Lin. Syst., Polygamia monoecia; from Jamaica. This forms Jamaica quassia. The wood of Quassia amara was formerly imported as Surinam quassia, but is not met with at present in English commerce. Description. Quassia occurs in cylindrical logs or billets of varying size, seldom thicker than the thigh; externally greyish brown, internally light yellow. The wood is tough, dense, without odour, but intensely bitter; it is generally sold in chips or raspings.

Prop. & Comp. Quassia yields its bitterness to water and spirit; it contains a crystallizable neutral principle, quassine (C20 Hl2 O6), which possesses the bitterness of the wood; it is devoid of tannin or gallic acid.

Off. Prep. Extractum Quassiae. Extract of Quassia. (Prepared by the maceration of wood in water, percolation, and evaporation to proper consistence.)

Infusum Quassiae. Infusion of Quassia. (Quassia in chips, sixty grains; cold distilled water, ten fluid ounces.) [Tinctura Quassias. U. S. Tincture of Quassia. Two pints of tincture are obtained by percolating two troy ounces of Quassia in moderately fine powder with diluted alcohol.]

Therapeutics. Quassia acts as a pure bitter stomachic, devoid of astringency: used in atonic indigestion, such as occurs in gout, from alcoholic abuse and other causes. It is sometimes given as a tonic after acute diseases, and has been employed as an antiperiodic in fevers. It probably acts on the nervous system in large doses.

Dose. Of the powder, 10 gr. to 20 gr.; of the extract, 2 gr. to five gr.; of infusum quassias, 1 fl. oz. to 2 fl. oz; [of the tincture 2 fl. drm. to 4 fl. drm.]

Simaruba. (Not officinal.) The bark of the root of Simaruba amara, or the Mountain Damson; Lin. Syst., Dioecia de-candria: a plant growing in the West Indies.

Description. It occurs in tough fibrous pieces, several feet in length, and folded; pale in colour, epidermis darker and rough: of a very bitter taste.

Prop. & Comp. Resembles quassia in containing quassine: it also contains a little gallic acid and much mucilage.

Therapeutics. It may be used in the same cases as quassia: it gained at one time some repute in the treatment of diarrhoea and dysentery.

Dose. Of the powder, 15 gr. to 30 gr.; it may also be given in the form of an infusion.

Cedron. (Not officinal.)

The seeds of Simaba Cedron, a plant belonging to this order, have been used as a medicine in France. They are concavo-convex in shape, about 1 inch long, £ inch broad, and 1/2 inch thick; of a light yellowish colour; having an intense bitter taste, possibly due to quassine. The seeds have been supposed to be an antidote to the poison of serpents: probably they would be found to possess very useful tonic and stomachic properties in cases similar to those in which quassia and simaruba are administered.

Sub-Class II. Calyciflorae. Rhamnaceae

Rhamni Succus. (Not officinal.) Buckthorn Juice. The juice of the fruit of Rhamnus catharticus; Lin. Syst., Pentandria monogynia; indigenous.

Description. The berries, the juice of which was formerly officinal, are, when ripe, about the size of a pea, black, smooth, and containing four seeds, and a green, juicy parenchyma; the odour of the rhamnus is somewhat nauseous.

Prop. & Comp. The juice has the same odour and is of the same colour as the parenchyma; it becomes of a bright green colour on the addition of lime-water or an alkali; evaporated to dryness with lime-water it forms sap green. It contains sugar, mucilage, and a crystallizable principle called rhamnine, also a principle possessing purgative properties; but it is not certain whether this is identical with the aforesaid Rhamnine.

Prep. Syrupus Rhamni. Syrup of Buckthorn. (In London Pharmacopoeia, 1851.) (Juice of buckthorn, four pints; ginger, sliced, pimento bruised, each, six drachms; sugar, six pounds; rectified spirit, six fluid ounces. Set aside the juice for three days that the dregs may subside, and strain. To a pint of the strained juice add the ginger and pimento, then macerate with a gentle heat for four hours, and strain; boil down the rest of the juice to a pint and a half. Mix the liquors and dissolve the sugar in them; lastly, mix in the spirit.)

Therapeutics. Buckthorn acts as a brisk hydragogue purgative, but its operation is often attended with griping and nausea; formerly it was much employed in dropsical affections, gout and rheumatism, but its use is now almost abandoned, except in the form of the syrup, which is sometimes given to children; it is however more frequently prescribed as a domestic remedy than by the medical practitioner.

Dose. Of syrupus rhamni, 1/2 fl. oz. to 1 fl. oz.; for a young child 1/2 fl. drm. to 1 fl. drm. or 2 fl. drm.