QUALITIES. _Odour_, aromatic and agreeable; _Taste_, warm and pungent,
but unlike the peppers, they do not immoderately heat the stomach.
SOLUBILITY. Water, alcohol and æther extract their virtues; the two
latter most completely, and the result is transparent, whereas the
watery infusion is turbid and mucilaginous. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION.
Fecula, mucilage, and essential oil. MEDICINAL USES. They are
carminative and stomachic, and prove grateful adjuncts to bitter
infusions; they are principally employed to give warmth to other
remedies. DOSE of the powder, gr. vj to ℈j. OFFICINAL PREPARATIONS.
_Extract: Colocynth: comp:_ (=E=) L.D. _Tinct. Cardamomi_, L.E.D.
_Tinct. Cardamom: comp:_ L.D. _Tinct: Cinnamomi, co._ (=B=) L.E. _Tinct.
Gentian, co._ (=G=) L. _Tinct. Rhei_, (=E=) L.E.D. _Tinct. Rhei cum
Aloe_, (=G=) E. _Tinct. Sennæ_, (=E=) L.D. _Spir. Ether. Aromat._ (=B=)
L. _Vinum Aloes Socot._ (=G=) E. _Confect. Aromat._ (=B=) L. _Pulv.
Cinnamom. co._ (=B=) L.E.D. _Pil. Scilliticæ_, (=E=) E. _Infus. Sennæ._
D. (=E=.)
Cardamom seeds should be kept within their husks, or their virtues will
soon be considerably impaired; they are frequently mixed with _grains of
paradise_, which are much hotter and more spicy, but less aromatic in
their flavour.
CARICÆ FRUCTUS, L.D. Fici Caricæ Fructus, E.
_The preserved Fruit of the Fig._
QUALITIES of the dried fig are too well known to require description.
The fig consists almost entirely of mucilage and sugar. USES. It has
been already stated that the most ancient cataplasm on record was made
of figs, (2 Kings, chap. xx. 7.) they are employed medicinally in many
demulcent decoctions, as _Decoctum Hordei comp:_ L.D. They are gently
aperient; it is curious to learn that they constituted the chief part of
the food of the ancient Athletæ.