Balsamum Copaibæ. D.
_Copaiba_, _Copaiva_, or _Capivi Balsam_.
QUALITIES. _Consistence_, that of oil, or a little thicker. _Colour_,
pale golden yellow. _Odour_, fragrant and peculiar. _Taste_, aromatic,
bitter, and sharp. _Sp. Grav._ 0·950. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION. It is
improperly denominated a balsam, for it contains no benzoic acid, but
consists of resin and essential oil. SOLUBILITY. It is insoluble in
water, but soluble in ten parts of alcohol, and in expressed and
essential oils; with the pure alkalies it forms white saponaceous
compounds which are soluble in water, forming opaque emulsions.
MEDICINAL USES. Stimulant, diuretic, and laxative; it seems to act more
powerfully on the urinary passages than any of the other resinous
fluids; hence its use in gleets and in fluor albus. Its use gives the
urine an intensely bitter taste, but not a violet smell, as the
turpentines do. By referring to the Synoptical arrangement of Diuretic
remedies, it will appear that _Copaiba_ is referred to Class I, 1. _b._
for there is reason to believe that its active principle undergoes
absorption, and by coming in contact with the urinary organs, produces
the medicinal effects for which it is so highly valued. FORMS OF
EXHIBITION. Diffused in soft or distilled water by yolk of egg, or by
twice its weight of mucilage, fʒss to every f℥j of water, forms an
elegant mixture, or it may be given dropped on sugar, and in this latter
form it is certainly more disposed to act on the urinary organs, than
when exhibited in that of an emulsion. (_Form. 156._) Dr. Chapman has
proposed a new mode of exhibiting this medicine; he advises us to pour
the Copaiba on half a wine-glassful of water, and afterwards to add
slowly a few drops of a common bitter tincture, by which means the
Copaiba will be collected in a small globule that may be easily
swallowed, while its taste, so nauseous to most patients, will be
entirely masked by the bitterness of the vehicle. In whatever form,
however, this medicine is administered, it is extremely apt to derange
the digestive organs, if long continued, and the unpleasant effects thus
occasioned remain, in some cases, for a very long period.[480]
ADULTERATIONS. A considerable quantity sold in London is entirely
_factitious_. A curious trial took place some time since, between the
owner of certain premises that were burnt down, and the Governors of the
Sun Fire Office, in consequence of the latter refusing to indemnify the
proprietor for his loss, because the fire had been occasioned by his
_making_ Balsam of Copaiba. This article is also adulterated with
mastiche and oil; M. Bucholz asserts that if it does not dissolve in a
mixture of four parts of pure alcohol, and one of rectified æther, we
may infer its adulteration; _rape oil_ is also frequently mixed with it,
in which case if dropped into water, the drops will not retain their
spherical form, as they invariably will, if pure.
CORNUA. L.E.D. Cervus Elaphus.
_Stag’s_, or _Hart’s Horn_.
The horns of the stag differ only from bone, in containing less of the
phosphate of lime, and a larger proportion of gelatine; by boiling, they
yield a clear, transparent, and flavourless jelly, in quantity about
one-fourth of the weight of the shavings employed; to obtain which we
should boil ℥iv in f℥vij of water, until reduced to f℥vi. ADULTERATIONS.
This article is often sophisticated with the shavings of mutton bone;
the fraud is detected by their greater degree of brittleness. They were
formerly so much used for the preparation of ammonia, that the alkali
was commonly called _Salt_, or _Spirit_, _of Hartshorn_.