QUALITIES. _Taste_, moderately bitter, and acrid, leaving in the mouth a painful sensation of heat and roughness, followed by numbness in the gums and lips which continues for two or three hours. _Odour_, faint and narcotic; their peculiar properties are considerably deteriorated by drying. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION. M. Brandes has ascertained that the narcotic principle of this plant is a peculiar alkali, to which he has given the name _Aconita_.[356] SOLUBILITY, water and alcohol only imperfectly extract their virtues. MEDICINAL USES. It is narcotic, and occasions, in over-doses, nausea, vomiting, vertigo, hyper-catharsis, cold sweats, convulsions, and death; effects which entirely depend upon its action on the brain. It was first administered in 1702, by Stöerk, of Vienna, in chronic rheumatism, gout, schirrus, and paralysis; more lately it has been employed in scrofula, cancer, and intermittents, and it is said with much effect. On account of the variable strength of the leaves they can hardly be given with safety and effect; the extract (_which see_,) presents the more eligible form of exhibition. The leaves are, however, sometimes given in the form of powder, generally combined with some mercurial alterative, or with antimonials, camphor, and other diaphoretics. DOSE gr. i-x. OFFICINAL PREP: _Extractum Aconiti._ L.E. ADEPS PRÆPARATA. L. ADEPS SUI SCROFÆ, _vulgo_ Axungia Porcina. E. ADEPS SUILLUS PRÆPARATUS. D. _Prepared Hog’s Lard. Fat. Axunge._[357] QUALITIES. _Consistence_, soft or nearly semifluid. _Odour and Taste_, none; at 97° it melts. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION. It consists of two distinct bodies which appear to exist together in a state of mechanical mixture, viz. _Stearin_, (from στεαρ tallow) which is white, brittle, and in appearance somewhat resembling wax; and _Elain_ (from ελαὶον, oil) very similar to vegetable oil in appearance, and is liquid at 59°. According to the experiments of Braconnot, the proportion of _Elain_ is to that of _Stearin_, in hog’s lard, as 62:38. SOLUBILITY. It is insoluble in water and alcohol; with the alkalies it unites and forms soaps. INCOMPATIBLE SUBSTANCES. _Extracts_, _Spirituous Preparations_, _Tinctures_, and _Infusions_, are incapable of uniting perfectly with lard, without some intermedium; the following substances on the contrary are capable of contracting with it a most intimate union. 1. _All dry powders_, whether of a vegetable or mineral nature. 2. _Fixed and Volatile Oils._ 3. _Balsams._ 4. _Camphor._ 5. _Soaps._ It is principally employed in the formation of ointments, plasters, and liniments. ÆRUGO. L. D. (Sub-acetas Cupri _Impura._) SUB-ACETIS CUPRI. E. _Verdigris._