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Show OFFICINAL SQUILL, OR SEA ONION, Taz z <2 FZits. rit so thin, that the root, at first sight, seems to be tunicated. Ee) } \ Gp t iff SZ NY \ 5 SS A MEDICAL USE. Ay ae The recent root is full of a white viscid juice, has scarce ly any smell, but.a very bitter, nauseous, and extremely acrid, taste. Rubbed on the skin, it inflames andblisters. It is more commonly met with in the shops in the form of the dried scales, which should be brittle, semipellucid , smooth, - but marked with lines, and when chewed should fe el tenacious, and taste very bitter, without manifesting acrimony. The active constituent of the squill is the acrid principle; and therefore it becomes almost inert by too much drying, or by being kept too long in the form of powder. It also contains hitter extractive, much mucilage, albumen, and starch. Given internally in large doses it produces purging and vomite ing, sometimes even strangury, bloodyurine, inflammation and fn iN) erosion of the stomach. In smaller doses it:proves an useful exe pectorant and diuretic, and it is said to-lessen the frequency of the pulse. ‘ ‘ ( AWM HA SS Squill is sometimes given as a general stimulant. OFFICINAL SQUILL, orn SEA ONION. SCILLA MARITIMA. Class VI. Hexandria. Order 1. Monogynia. Essent. Gen, Cuar. Corolla six-petalled, deciduous: Filaments filiform. Spec. Cnar. Flower naked: Bracteas refracted. a DESCRIPTION. Ix rises two or three feet. Leaves sword-shaped, radical, of'a deep green. Flowers whitish, produced in long close see upon purplish peduncles, contains many seeds. .Bractea linear, dropping. Capsule HES DT ORY. The squill is a perennial bulbons-rooted plant, which grows wild on the sandy shores of Spain, Portugal, north of Africa, and the Levant. 1 The root is about the size of the fist, pear-shaped, with the apex upwards, and consists of fleshy scales, attenuated at . edges, surrounded by other scales, which are arid, shining, a! But it is much more frequently exhibited as an expectorant, where the lungs are loaded with viscid matter, and as a diuretic in drop- sical cases, for calomel, The dose of aday ; and the When designed liquid formit is which purpose it is commonly conjoined with squill is one or two grains three or four times most commodious formfor its exhibition, unless as an emetic, is that of a bolus, or pill: ina to. most people too offensive, though rendered less disagreeable both to the palate and stoma ch by the addition of aromatic distilled waters. PREPARATIONS. Conserve or Sauitts. (Conserva Scillz. Take of fresh squills, one ounce; “——— double refined sugar, five ounces : Beat them toge ther in a mortarinto a conserve. L.) This is a ve ry uncertain and disagreeable mode of exhibiting this valuable simple. A tea-spoonful is to be taken three times a day, Th € ILondon ° college conclude their Pr sith chapter on conserves with Uesiring all the conserves, especially those of arum and squills, '0 be kept in close vessels. |