(Euphorbia Officinarum.) _Euphorbium._
QUALITIES. This substance is imported from Barbary, in drops or
irregular tears; its fracture is vitreous; it is inodorous, but yields a
very acrid burning impression to the tongue. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION. It is
what is termed a _gum resin_, but its acrid constituent is exclusively
in that portion which is soluble in alcohol, and which might be named
_Euphorbin_; it appears to form as much as 37 per cent. to which are
added of wax 19, malate of lime 20·5, malate of potass 2, and water 5.
SOLUBILITY. Water by trituration is rendered milky, but dissolves only
one-seventh part; and alcohol one-fourth of it. USES. Internally
administered, it proves very violently drastic, but it is never employed
except as an errhine, cautiously diluted with starch, or some inert
powder. The Indian practitioners administer it as a purge in obstinate
visceral obstructions; and in those cases of costiveness which so often
attend an enlargement and induration of the spleen and liver. Farriers
use it for blistering horses, and there is good reason to believe that
it is sometimes fraudulently introduced to quicken the powers of our
Emplastrum Cantharidis. It enters as an ingredient into a plaster, which
has been much celebrated by Cheselden and others, as a stimulating
application, to relieve diseases of the hip-joint, and to keep up
inflammation of the skin in chronic states of visceral inflammation; the
following is its composition. ℞. _Emplast: Picis comp:_ ℥iv.—_Euphorbiæ
gum-resinœ_ ʒss.—_Terebinth: Vulgar, q. s._ CAUTION, in pulverizing this
substance, the dispenser should previously moisten it with vinegar to
prevent its rising and excoriating his face.