QUALITIES. _Form_, small irregular masses, adhering together, of a
variegated texture, and containing many little shining tears of a
whitish, reddish, or violet hue. _Taste_, bitter and sub-acrid. _Odour_,
fœtid and alliaceous, but this latter property is very much impaired by
age. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION. Gum (or according to Brugnatelli,
_extractive_) 60, resin 30, and essential oil 10 parts. SOLUBILITY. It
yields all its virtues to alcohol and æther; if triturated with water it
forms a milky mixture, but which is not permanent, unless some intermede
be employed for the suspension of the gum-resin; for this purpose egg
may be added, in the proportion of one yolk to a drachm of assafœtida,
or a permanent mixture may be effected by carefully triturating the gum
resin with double its weight of mucilage. If ʒvj of assafœtida be
triturated with ʒss of camphor, a mass results of a proper consistence
for a plaster; if triturated with carbonate of ammonia, it is easily
reduced to powder, but undergoes no other change. FORMS OF EXHIBITION;
in mixture or in pills. The Indian physicians have an idea that on
account of its stimulating powers, it will, if administered to a
pregnant woman, produce abortion. DOSE, gr. v. to ℈j. _Form. 23, 29._
MEDICINAL USES, stimulant, antispasmodic, expectorant, and anthelmintic;
in coughs, attended with pulmonary weakness, and a tendency to spasm, it
is very beneficial; in cases of flatulent cholic, it has, in the form of
enema, acted like a charm; in habitual costiveness it often proves an
invigorating aperient, and may be advantageously combined with resinous
purgatives in torpor of the bowels connected with nervous symptoms.
OFFICINAL PREP. _Mist: Assafœtid:_ L.D. _Tinct: Assafœtid:_ L.E.D.
_Spir: Ammoniæ fœtid:_ (=B=) L.E.D. _Tinct: Castori, comp:_ (=B=) E.
_Pil: Aloes cum Assafœtid:_ (=G=) E. _Pil: Galbani: comp:_ (=B=) L.
_Enema Fœtid:_ D. IMPURITIES. Its characteristic odour should be
powerful, and when broken, its fracture ought to exhibit a bluish-red
appearance. It ought not to be brittle.