A dictionary of materia medica and practical pharmacy; including a translation of the formulæ of the London pharmacopœia / By William Thomas Brande.

  • Brande, William Thomas, 1788-1866.
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dictionary of materia medica and practical pharmacy; including a translation of the formulæ of the London pharmacopœia / By William Thomas Brande. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    weights and measures (which see), when carefully written, are useful ; but it has happened that 3j (one drachm) has been read for 4j (one ounce), and vice versd: it is the duty of the prescriber to write a clear and legible hand, and of the compounder of prescriptions to read them cautiously and considerately. ABIETIS Resina. The resin of the Pinus abies, or Spruce fir. Cl. 21, Ord. 8, Moncecia Monadelphia; Nat. Ord. Coniferee. This tree grows to a height exceeding 150 feet, and flourishes in Europe and the northern parts of Asia. It grows erect and pyramidal, and has a scaly bark: its leaves are of a dingy green, and thickly set upon the branches. The male catkins are ovate, purplish, and scattered in the axils of the leaves; the female are purple and generally terminal: ihe cones are pendent, brownish-red when ripe, long and cylindrical; the scales are pointed, oval, and arranged in eight spiral rows. The resin is usually imported from Germany, in casks of one to two hundred weight each; and is obtained either by spontaneous exudation, or by cutting the wood into billets, and heating them, when it flows out. This is the form of the resin, which is termed in the London Pharmacopeia, Resina abietis. Its only use is as an ingredient in some plasters. It has an aromatic and terebmthine odour; a pale yellowish- brown colour, often intermixed with white streaks ; and is occasionally met with in the form of rounded masses or tears, which have spontane- ously exuded from and dried upon the trees. Burgundy pitch, the Pix abietina of the list of the Materia Medica, is also the produce of the Pinus abies, obtained by incision through the bark, where it gradually concretes in the form of flakes, which are suc- cessively scraped off, fused in boiling water, and cleansed by pressing through canvass cloths. It is largely collected in the vicinity of Neut- chatel. When genuine, it has a very peculiar odour; and although brittle in cold weather, it assumes a tenacious viscidity when gently heated, or kneaded in the warm hand. It therefore forms an excellent adhesive and gently stimulant plaster, exciting some degree of irritation, and often a slight serous exudation from the parts to which it is applied. It will remain adherent to the cuticle for a long time; and is usefully applied to the thorax in catarrhal affections and dyspnoea; and to the loins, in rheumatism and lumbago. These plasters, independent of the cuticular irritation which they excite, are useful as merely keeping the part warm and supported. Apothecaries often keep Burgundy pitch in a ladle, or saucepan, and re-melt the same portion repeatedly, by which it loses its characteristic adhesiveness and irritating quality, and is little more active than common rosin. It should always be applied fresh, and spread upon the leather with the aid of as little heat as possible. Upon some skins a Burgundy pitch plaster, or any similar application, creates incessant itching, or excites a pimply eruption, attended by intolerable irritation, so that it is frequently necessary to remove it within a few hours after its application. In these instances, however, it often does service, especially in chronic rheumatism, where it may thus prove almost as effectual as a blister.