388. SAMBUCUS Ebulus. DWARF ELDER, OR DANEWORT. The Root, Bark, and
Leaves.--These have a nauseous, sharp, bitter taste, and a kind of acrid
ungrateful smell: they are all strong cathartics, and as such are
recommended in dropsies, and other cases where medicines of that kind
are indicated. The bark of the root is said to be strongest: the leaves
the weakest. But they are all too churlish medicines for general use:
they sometimes evacuate violently upwards, almost always nauseate the
stomach, and occasion great uneasiness of the bowels. By boiling they
become (like the other drastics) milder, and more safe in operation.
Fernelius relates, that by long coction they entirely lose their
purgative virtue. The berries of this plant are likewise purgative, but
less virulent than the other parts. A rob prepared from them may be
given to the quantity of an ounce, as a cathartic; and in smaller ones
as an aperient and deobstruent in chronic disorders: in this last
intention, it is said by Haller to be frequently used in Switzerland, in
the dose of a dram.
389. SANICULA officinalis. SANICLE. The Leaves.--These have an
herbaceous, roughish taste: they have long been celebrated for sanative
virtues, both internally and externally; nevertheless their effects, in
any intention, are not considerable enough to gain them a place in the
present practice.
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