Macerate 6 hours, boil over slow fire till reduced to 500
grams. Strain. Administer fasting, in 3 doses half an hour apart. The
evening before the patient should eat a light meal and take a cathartic
in order that the intestinal canal may contain the smallest possible
quantity of fæcal matter. After taking the third dose of the decoction
the patient should take a mild purgative such as 30 grams of castor oil
to expel the tænia. This preparation has a most disagreeable taste. It
is better to give the "tannate of pelletierine," a compound of tannin
and one of the alkaloids that Tanret discovered in pomegranate root. A
sufficient dose of tannate of pelletierine is 30-40 centigrams in
wafer form, followed by a purge and with the other precautions and
preparatory measures mentioned above. It causes toxic symptoms similar
to those produced by curare, according to the experimental studies
of Dujardin-Beaumetz and Rochenière. Its action is upon the ends
of the motor nerves. A dose of 40 centigrams may cause in man such
symptoms of intoxication as vertigo, inverted vision and muscular
paralysis. Pelletierine should not be administered to children, but
Béranger-Féraud states that the tannate may be safely given them,
as follows:
Tannate of pelletierine 0.30 grams.
Sweetened water 40.00 grams.
A coffee-spoonful of this solution contains 0.03 gram of the tannate,
and this quantity may be given to a child, in a little milk. If no
symptoms supervene within one-half hour give another similar dose and
so on up to 3 or 4 doses or .12 gm. in all. After the last dose give
the purgative as a routine. It is certainly imprudent to trust the
administration of such a drug to any one incapable of recognizing the
symptoms of intoxication, and as no one but a physician can judge the
effects of the alkaloid he himself should remain with the patient until
the efficient dose has been absorbed. This is manifestly impractical
and we therefore maintain that the alkaloid is not suited for the
treatment of children.
An analysis of the root bark made by the French chemist Tanret
revealed the presence of four alkaloids: pelletierine, isopelletierine
(C_8_H_15_NO), pseudo-pelletierine (C_9_H_15_NO), and methylpeletierine
(C_9_H_17_NO).
Botanical Description.--A shrub 6-9° high with branches terminating
in thorns; some of the branches abort and form thorns. Leaves simple,
oval, oblong, without stipules, with short petioles. Flowers axillary,
solitary or in pauciflorous cymes. Calyx, 4-8 sepals, persistent,
fleshy, yellow or red. Corolla, 4-8 petals, imbricated. Stamens
numerous, free. Style 1. Stigma thick. Fruit with leathery rind,
about size of small apple, packed with seeds, each imbedded in a
small amount of crisp, juicy pulp.
ONAGRACEÆ.
Evening Primrose Family.
_Jussiæa suffruticosa_, L. (_J. villosa_, Lam.; _J. erecta_, Blanco.)
Nom. Vulg.--_Malapoko_, Tag.
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