American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy

irritation. Eruption resembling eczema, from insufficient menstruation.
Dr. Watkins gives as its further indications, delayed or suppressed
menstruation in young girls, irregularity at the beginning of
menstruation, amenorrhea in very young girls. It will certainly allay
sensitiveness of the sympathetic nervous system to irritations caused by
disorders of the womb and ovaries. The remedy must be given in full
doses, to accomplish these results. From five to ten grains of the extract is
necessary three or four times a day, and persisted in. The writer has been
using it as suggested, and has been very well satisfied with it.
In one most severe case of acne, with discoloration of the skin, due to
uterine irritation, the results were satisfactory, both to the patient and
physician. I am satisfied that it relieves hyperesthesia of the sympathetic
nervous system and prevents many of the results of reflex irritation from
uterine or ovarian disorder.
TURPENTINE. OLEUM TEREBINTHINAE.
Synonyms—Long-leaved Georgia, Swamp, or Pitch Pine.
Occurrence—Turpentine is obtained from the Pinus palustris and from
other species of the pine in the form. of an oleoresin.
The oleoresin is distilled, and the product is the Oil of Turpentine or the
Spirits of Turpentine. The residue is Resin (colophony) .
Description—The oil is a thin, neutral, colorless liquid, with a specific
gravity of 0.87, soluble in three volumes of alcohol. It boils at about 330
degrees Fahrenheit.
PREPARATIONS—
The oil distilled with six volumes of lime water, produces the
Rectified oil of Turpentine (Oleum Terebinthinae Rectificatum). This is
the form which should always be used in medicine. Dose, from one to ten
minims. It should be given in an emulsion for gastric and intestinal
disorders. For respiratory disorders, drop from two to five drops on a
square of loaf sugar to be dissolved slowly on the tongue, and swallowed
with the saliva.
Terpene hydrate is formed by the action of nitric acid upon the rectified
oil of turpentine, and alcohol. The product is distilled; it is crystalline,
Ellingwood’s American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy - Page 441