(Aspidium Filix, _Mas._)
Root of the _Male Fern_.
QUALITIES. This root is nearly inodorous; its taste slightly bitter,
sweetish, sub-astringent, and mucilaginous; as it contains no volatile
ingredient, it may be given in decoction, but on account of its
astringency, it must not be conjoined with a _chalybeate_. CHEMICAL
COMPOSITION. According to M. Morin, the Male Fern root owes its
anthelmintic property to a fatty substance, capable of being saponified;
of a nauseous odour quite like that of the root; of a very disagreeable
taste, heavier than water, and distilling with water, and when burnt,
giving a dense aromatic smoke. The root, moreover, contains gallic and
acetic acids; uncrystallizable sugar; tannin; starch; a gelatinous
matter insoluble in water and alcohol; lignine; and various salts. M.
Morin considers the fatty matter as formed of a fixed and a volatile
oil, but farther experiments are required to make the characteristic
principle of this root better understood. (Ann. de Chim. xxvi. 219.)
DOSE, as an anthelmintic,[511] ʒj to ʒiij, followed by a cathartic; its
use however is superseded by more powerful and certain vermifuges. The
root is sometimes boiled in ale to flavour it.