QUALITIES. The medullary part of this fruit, which is alone made use of,
is a light, white, spongy body. _Taste_, intensely bitter and nauseous.
_Odour_, when dry, none. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION. Mucilage, resin, a bitter
principle, and some gallic acid. SOLUBILITY. Alcohol and water alike
extract its virtues, but the active principle resides both in the
portion soluble in water, and in that which is insoluble. MEDICINAL
USES. It is a very powerful drastic cathartic, and was employed by the
ancients in dropsical and lethargic diseases. Many attempts have been
made to mitigate its violence, which is best effected by triturating it
with gummy farinaceous substances, or the oily seeds; the watery
decoction or infusion is much less severe, and has been recommended in
worm cases, but it is rarely employed, except in combination with other
purgatives. Thunberg informs us, (_see his Travels_, _vol._ ii, _p._
171) that this article is rendered so perfectly mild at the Cape of Good
Hope by being pickled, that it is absolutely used as food both by the
natives and colonists. Mixed with paste or other cements, it is used to
keep away insects, which it does by its extreme bitterness. DOSE, grs.
iv. to x. INCOMPATIBLE SUBSTANCES. The infusion is disturbed by
_sub-acetate_, and _acetate of lead_; _nitrate of silver_; _sulphate of
iron_, and by the _fixed alkalies_. OFFICINAL PREPARATIONS. _Extract_.
_Colocynth_. L. _Extract. Colocynth. comp._ L.D. _Pil_. _Aloes cum
Colocynth._ D.E. (=B=) When the fruit is larger than a St. Michael’s
orange, and has black acute pointed seeds, it is not good.