390. SAPONARIA officinalis. SOAPWORT. The Herb and Root.--The roots
taste sweetish and somewhat pungent; and have a light smell like those
of liquorice: digested in rectified spirit they yield a strong tincture,
which loses nothing of its taste or flavour in being inspissated to the
consistence of an extract. This elegant root has not come much into
practice among us, though it promises, from its sensible qualities, to
be a medicine of considerable utility: it is greatly esteemed by the
German physicians as an aperient, corroborant, and sudorific; and
preferred by the College of Wirtemberg, by Stahl, Neumann, and others,
to sarsaparilla.
391. SAXIFRAGA granulata.--Linnaeus describes the taste of this plant to
be acrid and pungent, which we have not been able to discover. Neither
the tubercles of this root, nor the leaves, manifest to the organs of
taste any quality likely to be of medicinal use; and therefore, though
this species of Saxifraga has been long employed as a popular remedy in
nephritic and gravelly disorders, yet we do not find, either from its
sensible qualities or from any published instances of its efficacy, that
it deserves a place in the Materia Medica.--Woodville's Med. Bot. p.
551.
392. SCABIOSA succisa. DEVIL'S BIT. The Leaves and Roots.--These stand
recommended as alexipharmics, but they have long given place to
medicines of greater efficacy.
Pages:
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190