Ficus. The Fig; the prepared fruit of Ficus Carica; Lin. Syst., Polygamia dioecia; a native of Asia; imported from Smyrna.

Description. The part usually known as the fruit of the fig, when dry, consists of the fleshy compressed pear-shaped receptacle, soft, tough, brown, and covered with a saccharine efflorescence, containing numerous small hard seeds in the interior, inclosed in a viscid pulp. These are quite shut in, except at the apex, where a small orifice exists. When nearly ripe the fresh figs are dried and exported largely to this country and other parts of Europe.

Prop. & Comp. They contain chiefly saccharine and mucilaginous matters.

Off. Prep. Figs are used in the preparation of Confectio Sennae.

Therapeutics. Demulcent, nutritive, and laxative; used sometimes as an article of diet for this latter property. Heated and split open, they are sometimes used as a cataplasm.

Dose. Ad libitum.

Mori Succus. Mulberry Juice [Not officinal in U. S. P.]; the juice of the ripe fruit of Morus nigra; Lin. Syst., Monoecia tetandria; native of Persia, cultivated in Britain.

Description. The fruit from which the juice is obtained is of a dark purple colour, and consists of numerous small berries united together, each containing a single seed, attached to a common receptacle; the fleshy covering of the seeds being formed by the sepals. The juice is of a deep red colour.

Prop. & Comp. The juice has a faint odour and a sweet and acidulous taste; the latter property is said to be due to the presence of tartaric acid.

Off. Prep. Syrupus Mori. Syrup of Mulberries. (Mulberry juice, twenty fluid ounces; sugar, two pounds and a half; rectified spirit, two fluid ounces and a half. Dissolve the sugar in the juice, by a gentle heat, and set by for twenty-four hours; then remove the scum, and pour off the clear fluid from any dregs, if present; lastly add the spirit.)

Therapeutics. The juice is refrigerant, and may be used as a drink in febrile diseases. The syrup is also used as a colouring matter.

Dose. Ad libitum.

Cannabis Indica. Indian Hemp; Cannabis Sativa; Lin. Syst.,

Dioecia pentandria; the flowering tops of the female plant from which the resin has not been removed, dried; cultivated in India.

Description. The tops, with the remains of the flowers, fruits, and small leaves are met with in bundles, about 2 inches long.

of a greenish colour, and with a peculiar odour. In commerce Indian hemp is seen in three principal forms. The resinous exudation of the leaves and flowers is known as the Churrus; the plant itself, consisting of the stems, leaves, and flowers, packed together lengthwise in long bundles, Gunjah; and lastly, a mixture of the leaves and capsules, without the stem, Bang. The Hashish of the Arabs is another form of Indian hemp, sometimes occurring in coils.

Prop. & Comp). The resin of the Indian hemp, upon which the peculiar properties depend, is soluble in alcohol and ether, but separates from its solutions on the addition of water. The resin mentioned above has received the name Cannabin, and has a bitterish taste and peculiar odour; the plant also contains a little volatile oil.

Off. Prep. Extractum Cannabis Indicae. Extract of Indian hemp. (Prepared by maceration of the hemp in rectified spirit, and subsequent separation of the spirit by distillation and evaporation to a proper consistence.)

Tinctura Cannabis Indicae. Tincture of Indian hemp. (Extract of Indian hemp, one ounce; rectified spirit, twenty fluid ounces. Prepared by solution of the extract in rectified spirit.

Therapeutics. Indian hemp produces a peculiar kind of intoxication, attended with exhilaration of the spirits and hallucinations, said to be generally of a pleasing kind. These are followed by narcotic effects, sleep and stupor. In its anodyne and soporific action it resembles opium, but its after-effects are considered less unpleasant; it does not produce constipation and loss of appetite.

Indian hemp possesses antispasmodic and anodyne powers, for which it has been chiefly employed in medicine. It has been administered in the different forms of neuralgia, in spasmodic coughs, as pertussis and asthma, also in tetanus, hydrophobia, and other anomalous spasmodic and painful diseases. Sometimes, but very seldom, it has been used to procure sleep. Much further experience of this drug is required before its real action and value can be fully decided upon; it certainly has disappointed the expectations formed of it when it was first introduced into this country; a circumstance, perhaps, in part due to very inferior hemp having been employed. The urine of patients under its influence sometimes acquires a peculiar odour not very unlike that of the Tonquin bean.

Dose. Of the extract, 1/4 gr. to 1 gr. or more; of the tincture, 5 min. to 30 min.

Incompatibles. - The tincture, when added to water, becomes turbid, from the precipitation of the resin, and hence it should be rubbed up with mucilage, to suspend it, or have a few drops of an alkaline liquid added, as aromatic spirit of ammonia, in order to keep it in solution.

Lupulus. [Humulus. U. S.] Hop. The dried catkins of the female plant of Humulus Lupulus, the common Hop; Lin. Syst., Dioecia pentandria; cultivated in England, and found in many parts of Europe.

Description. The catkin or strobile of the hop is composed of membranous scales, each of which contains at the base two small seeds, surrounded by a yellow granular powder. The scale is covered with numerous superficial glands; it is thin, semi-transparent, veined, and of a yellowish colour when dry, with a peculiar fragrant odour and bitter taste. Lupuline is the name given to the fine resinous powder secreted by the scales, and obtained by rubbing and sifting the strobiles; it occurs as a golden yellow powder, and has the peculiar flavour of the hop: under the microscope it appears to resemble the pollen of plants.

Prop. & Comp. Hops contain a volatile oil, and a peculiar bitter principle, soluble in alcohol, slightly so in water, but insoluble in ether, called Lupulite or Humulin; these constitute the chief active ingredients. The volatile oil when freshly prepared by distillation of the hops, is green, but is made colourless when redistilled; by exposure to the air, it becomes a resinous mass. It contains a hydrocarbon (C20 H16) with valerol (C12 H10 O2), the latter by the action of caustic potash is converted into valerianic acid, as shown in the following equation, C12 H10 O2 + 3 (KO, HO)+ 2 HO = 2 (KO, Co2) + (KO, C10 H9 O3) + H6, and thus the hydrocarbon may be separated from the valerol. The volatile oil was formerly thought to contain sulphur; this, however, has been lately disproved. The scales of the hop contain some adherent lupuline, though in a small proportion. Lupuline yields about 11 per cent. of the bitter principle.

Off. Prep. Infusum Lupuli. Infusion of Hop. (Hops, half an ounce; boiling distilled water, ten fluid ounces.) [Infusum Humuli. U. S. Hops, half a troy ounce; boiling water, a pint]

Tinctura Lupuli. Tincture of Hop. (Prepared by maceration and percolation. Hop, two ounces and a half; proof spirit, twenty fluid ounces.) [Tinctura Humuli. U. S. Hops, five troy ounces. Two pints of tincture are made by percolation with diluted alcohol.]

Extractum Lupuli. Extract of Hop. [Not officinal in U. S. P.] (Prepared by maceration of the hop, first in rectified spirit, and afterwards boiling with water, mixing the two products, and evaporating at a temperature not exceeding 140° to a proper consistence.

[Tinctura Lupulinae. Tincture of Lupulin. U. S. Lupulin, four troy ounces. Two pints of tincture are obtained by percolation with alcohol.]

[Extractum Lupulinae Fluidum. Fluid Extract of Lupulin. U. S. Thirty-two fluid ounces of tincture obtained by percolating sixteen fluid ounces of lupulin with stronger alcohol are evaporated to sixteen fluid ounces.]

Therapeutics. Hops are tonic and stomachic, diuretic and narcotic. In the form of bitter beer, taken with meals, they form a useful aid to digestion in some cases of atonic dyspepsia. In the form of a pillow, they have been found anodyne and narcotic. The preparations of hop are not much employed, except as adjuncts.

Dose. Of lupulin, 5 gr. to 10 gr.; of the infusion of hops, 1 fl. oz. to 2 fl. oz.; of the extract, 5 gr. to 20 gr.; of the tincture, 1/2 fl. drm. to 2 fl. drm.