440

TILI

posed by the late Mr. Pope, of Oxford-street, and now pursued byhis successor. Mr. Pope discovered that the oil may be deprived ofits acrid and griping qualities, by carefully decorticating the seedsbefore expressing the oil.

Genuine croton oil, as imported, is yellow, and has a faint smell, andacrid taste. It contains 45 parts of tiglin, soluble in alcohol andether, and 55 of a fixed oil like that of olives, possessing no purga-tive property. The oil, as prepared by Mr. Nocks, is of a deepclaret-wine colour, and is devoid of acrimony.

Adulterated most extensively with fixed oils, the hitherto high price ofcroton oil being a great temptation to fraud. Mr. Pope's oil beingcomparatively cheap will in some degree prevent this. Olive oil iseasily detected by its insolubility in alcohol, but castor oil cannot soreadily be detected by digesting it with rectified spirit.

A substitute for croton oil has lately been proposed in the oil of theEup/iorbia lathyris, procured by expression from the seeds. Fromfour to eight drops in eau sucre, are a dose; and as it is mild, andwithout acrimony, it is likely to become valuable. (Caldebini inGiorn. di Farmada.)

Medicinally croton oil is perhaps the most powerful purgative yetknown, at least in respect to the quantity of the dose, and it conse-quently has become valuable in obstinate constipation, as in cases ofhydrocephalus, apoplexy, mania, hysteria, hypochondriasis, dropsy,&c. The dose is from one to two drops, which act in many cases bymerely rubbing them on the tongue, or externally on the umbilicalregion. It has been usual to give it in form of pill, but in this formit is apt to concentrate in one place in the stomach, and may do mis-chief. Dr. Nimmo, of Glasgow, proposes a tincture made with twodrops of the oil to ^j of rectified spirit, digesting, and filtering in theusual way: 3j of this contains about wi jss of the oil. In form ofsoap, made by triturating two parts of the oil with one part of soap-boiler's ley (Soda caustica liquida. P.) till the combination acquireconsistence; and given in doses of gr. ij to gr. iij, in water or sugar,it has lately been prepared by Caventou, and prescribed by Bally.All the preparations must be given with caution, as even two dropshave produced alarming hypercatharsis.Tiglin. New. The acrid principle of the croton seeds, which issoluble in alcohol, sulphuric ether, and in expressed essential oils.

Medicinally it has not been used, and its acrid properties do not offerany advantages for experiment.Tilia Europ^ia. P. Lime Tree. The flowers are aromatic, anodyne,and antispasmodic, and are given in form of infusion, and of the dis-tilled water, in doses of jj to Jij, or more. The young shoots furnish