PEPPERMINT (_Mentha Piperita_). Peppermint is a powerful stimulant, carminative, and antispasmodic. It is used in the treatment of spasms, colic, and hysteria. _Dose_--The infusion may be used freely. The essence may be taken in doses of fifteen to thirty drops in sweetened warm water; of the oil, one to five drops on sugar. SPEARMINT (_Mentha Viridis_). The carminative properties of spearmint are inferior to those of peppermint, and its chief employment is for its diuretic and febrifuge virtues. _Dose_--Same as that of peppermint. COMPOUND EXTRACT OF SMART-WEED. Dr. Pierce's Extract of Smart-weed is a valuable carminative and aromatic stimulant, and has been employed with marked success in all diseases in which this class of remedies is required. CATHARTICS. _Cathartics_, or _Purgatives_ are medicines which act upon the bowels and increase the secretions and evacuations. In many parts of the country, these agents are known as purges, or physics. They have been variously divided and subdivided, usually with reference to the energy of their operations or the character of the evacuations produced. _Laxatives_, or _Aperients_, are mild cathartics. Purgatives act with more energy and produce several discharges which are of a more liquid character and more copious than the former. _Drastics_ are those cathartics which produce numerous evacuations accompanied by more or less intestinal irritation. _Hydragogues_ are those purgatives which produce copious, watery discharges. _Cholagogues_ are those purgatives which act upon the liver, stimulating its functions. Cathartics constitute a class of remedies which are almost universally employed by families and physicians. JALAP (_Ipomoea Jalapa_). The root is used. It is a drastic and a hydragogue cathartic. Formerly it was combined with equal parts of calomel. From this fact it received the name of "ten and ten." _Dose_--Of the powder, five to twenty grains; of the fluid extract, ten to fifteen drops; of the solid extract, two to four grains; of the concentrated principle, Jalapin, one-half to two grains. [Illustration: Fig. 126. Culver's-root. ] GAMBOGE (_Gambogia_). The gum is used. Gamboge is a powerful drastic, hydragogue cathartic, which is apt to produce nausea and vomiting. It is employed in dropsy. It should never be given alone, but combined with milder cathartics. It accelerates their action while they moderate its violence. _Dose_--Of the powder, one-half to two grains. This substance combined with aloes and sometimes with scammony, constitutes the basis of the numerous varieties of large, cathartic pills found in the market.