QUALITIES. _Form_, tears or small brittle masses: _Odour_, very fragrant when burning. It has all the chemical properties of a _Resin_, and is used only for external purposes: see _Pix Arida_. OFFICINAL PREPARATIONS. _Empl: Aromatic:_ D. _Empl: Galban: comp:_ L. _Empl: Opii_ L. _Empl: Thuris._ D. ABSINTHIUM. (Artemisia Absinthium) _Common Wormwood._ QUALITIES. _Odour_, strong and peculiar. _Taste_, intensely bitter, slightly pungent, and very unpleasant, as its name[320] implies. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION. Extractive, a small portion of resin, and a green essential oil; in the first of which its bitterness resides, in the last, a narcotic principle; hence the watery extract is not possessed of the nauseous flavour of the plant but retains its bitterness almost entire; the narcotic principle is therefore dissipated by decoction, but its tonic and anthelmintic properties are not impaired by that process. MEDICAL USES. The whole plant is powerfully antiseptic; and its bitterness renders it stomachic. Infused in ale it forms the beverage known by the name of _Purl_. Its powers as a vermifuge has bestowed upon it the name of _Wormwood._ DOSE, ℈j, ℈ij; and of the infusion, (made in the proportion of ℥j of the plant to oj of water,) f℥i-f℥iss. INCOMPATIBLE SUBSTANCES. Precipitates are produced in the decoction or infusion by _Sulphate of Iron_, _Acetate of Lead_, and some other metallic salts. Tartarized Antimony is not in the least affected by it. OFF: PREP: _Extract: Absinth:_ D. ACACIÆ GUMMI. L. (Acacia vera.) Mimosa. Nilotica. E. D. _Gum Arabic._