_Juniperus Sabina._ (Diæcia Monadelphia—_Nat. Ord._ Coniferæ.)
This shrub is a native of the south of Europe and the Levant; but has
been long cultivated in our gardens. The leaves and tops of the plant
have a strong, heavy, disagreeable odour, and a bitter, hot taste, with
a considerable degree of pungency; qualities which depend upon the
presence of an essential oil. Upon the animal system it acts as a very
powerful stimulant, and has been received into the list of the materia
medica, as an active emmenagogue; while it has long enjoyed, amongst the
vulgar, the reputation of being capable of producing abortion.[411] Upon
this point we have only to observe, that it does not exert any specific
action on the uterus; but as a violent medicine, acting upon the general
system, it might, in common with other stimulants, produce so much
disturbance as to be followed by abortion. The experiments of _Orfila_
have shewn that savine exerts a local action, but that its effects
depend principally on its absorption, through which medium it acts on
the nervous system, the rectum, and the stomach.