Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume Ii Part 7

2. Beeswax, 3 parts; melt, add of Venice turpentine, 1 part; mix, and further add, of turmeric, 2 parts; orris root (in powder), 1 part; mix well, and form the ma.s.s into peas whilst warm. More irritating than the common pea.

3. (Dr Gray.) Beeswax, 12 parts; verdigris and white h.e.l.lebore, of each 4 parts; orris root, 3 parts; cantharides, 2 parts; Venice turpentine, q. s.

Used to open issues instead of caustic, but their employment requires care.

=ISSUE PLAS'TERS.= See PLASTERS.

=ITCH.= _Syn._ YOUK, SCOTCH FIDDLE; PSORA, SCABIES, L.; GALE, Fr. In _pathology_, a cutaneous disease, caused by a minute insect lodging under the skin, and readily communicated by contact. There are four varieties of itch, distinguished by nosologists by the names--_scabies papuliformis_, or rank itch;--_scabies lymphatica_, or watery itch; _scabies purulenta_, or pocky itch; _scabies cachectica_, a species exhibiting appearances resembling each of the previous varieties. Our s.p.a.ce will not permit more than a general notice of the common symptoms, and the mode of cure which is equally applicable to each species, and will not prove injurious to other skin diseases simulating the itch.

The common itch consists of an eruption of minute vesicles, princ.i.p.ally between the fingers, bend of the wrist, &c., accompanied by intense itching of the parts, which is only aggravated by scratching. The usual treatment is repeated applications of sulphur ointment (simple or compound), well rubbed in once or twice a day, until a cure is effected; accompanying its use by the internal exhibition of a spoonful or more of flowers of sulphur, mixed with treacle or milk night and morning. Where the use of sulphur ointment is objectionable, a sulphur bath, or a lotion or bath of sulphurated potash, or of chloride of lime, may be employed instead.

In the 'Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal' for 1872 is a paper by Professor Rothmund recommending the employment of balsam of Peru in this objectionable disease. The writer states that one application generally effects a cure, and that its use does away with the necessity of baths. He recommends the balsam being rubbed all over the naked body. Carbolic acid is another and much cheaper remedy proposed by the same author. To obviate its caustic action he advises the acid to be mixed with glycerin or linseed oil, in the proportion of one scruple of the acid to two ounces of either excipient. He considers the objection to this remedy may be that it enters too rapidly into the circulation. Another agent employed by Professor Rothmund is a lotion composed of one part of carbolate of sodium dissolved in 12 parts of water. The affected parts of the skin are to be rubbed with this three times a day.

It is further recommended to continue this treatment 8 or 10 days after the cure, in order to kill any acari or their eggs that may have lurked among the clothes or bed-linen. See BATH, LOTION (Itch), OINTMENT, PSORIASIS, &c.

=I'VORY.= The osseous portion of the tusks and teeth of the male elephant, the hippopotamus, wild boar, &c. That of the narwhal or seahorse is the most esteemed, on account of its superior hardness, toughness, translucency, and whiteness. The dust or shavings (IVORY DUST, IVORY SHAVINGS) of the turner form a beautiful size or jelly when boiled in water. VEGETABLE IVORY is the hard alb.u.men of the seed of the _Phytelephas macrocarpa_, one of the Palm family.

Ivory may be dyed or stained by any of the ordinary methods employed for woollen, after being freed from dirt and grease; but more quickly as follows:--

1. BLACK. The ivory, well washed in an alkaline lye, is steeped in a weak neutral solution of nitrate of silver, and then exposed to the light, or dried and dipped into a weak solution of sulphide of ammonium.

2. BLUE. Steep it in a weak solution of sulphate of indigo which has been nearly neutralised with salt of tartar, or in a solution of soluble Prussian blue. A still better plan is to steep it in the dyer's green indigo-vat.

3. BROWN. As for black, but using a weaker solution of silver.

4. GREEN. Dissolve verdigris in vinegar, and steep the pieces therein for a short time, observing to use a gla.s.s or stoneware vessel; or, in a solution of verdigris, 2 parts; and sal ammoniac, 1 part, in soft water.

5. PURPLE. Steep it in a weak neutral solution of terchloride of gold, and then expose it to the light.

6. RED. Make an infusion of cochineal in liquor of ammonia, then immerse the pieces therein, having previously soaked them for a few minutes in water very slightly acidulated with aquafortis.

7. YELLOW. _a._ Steep the pieces for some hours in a solution of sugar of lead, then take them out, and when dry, immerse them in a solution of chromate of pota.s.sa.

_b._ Dissolve as much of the best orpiment in solution of ammonia as it will take up, then steep the pieces therein for some hours; lastly, take them out and dry them in a warm place, when they will turn yellow.

Ivory is etched or engraved by covering it with an etching ground or wax, and employing oil of vitriol as the etching fluid.

Ivory is rendered flexible by immersion in a solution of pure phosphoric acid (sp. gr. 113), until it loses, or partially loses, its opacity, when it is washed in clean cold soft water, and dried. In this state it is as flexible as leather, but gradually hardens by exposure to dry air.

Immersion in hot water, however, restores its softness and pliancy.

According to Dr Ure, the necks of some descriptions of INFANTS' FEEDING BOTTLES are thus made.

Ivory is whitened or bleached by rubbing it with finely powdered pumice-stone and water, and exposing it to the sun whilst still moist, under a gla.s.s shade, to prevent desiccation and the occurrence of fissures; observing to repeat the process until a proper effect is produced. Ivory may also be bleached by immersion for a short time in water holding a little sulphurous acid, chloride of lime, or chlorine, in solution; or by exposure in the moist state to the fumes of burning sulphur, largely diluted with air. Cloez recommends the ivory or bones to be immersed in turpentine and exposed for three or four days to sunlight.

The object to be bleached should be kept an eighth or a fourth of an inch above the bottom of the bath by means of zinc supports. For the preparation of ivory intended for miniature painting Mr Ernest Spon in his useful work, 'Workshop Receipts,' says: "The bleaching of ivory may be more expeditiously performed by placing the ivory before a good fire, which will dispel the wavy lines if they are not very strongly marked, that frequently destroy the uniformity of surface."

Ivory may be gilded by immersing it in a fresh solution of proto-sulphate of iron, and afterwards in solution of chloride of gold.

Ivory is wrought, turned, and fashioned in a similar manner and with similar tools to those used for bone and soft bra.s.s.

_Obs._ Bone for ornamental purposes is treated in a similar way to ivory, but less carefully, owing to its inferior value. The bones of living animals may be dyed by mixing madder with their food. The bones of young pigeons may thus be tinged of a rose colour in 24 hours, and of a deep scarlet in 3 or 4 days; but the bones of adult animals take fully a fortnight to acquire a rose colour. The bones nearest the heart become tinged the soonest. In the same way logwood and extract of logwood will tinge the bones of young pigeons purple. (Gibson.)

=1.= =Ivory, Artificial.= Let a paste be made of isingla.s.s, egg-sh.e.l.l in very fine powder, and brandy. Give it the desired colour, and pour it while warm into oiled moulds. Leave the paste in the moulds until it becomes hard.

=2.= (L'Union Pharmaceutique.) Two parts of caoutchouc are dissolved in 36 parts of chloroform, and the solution is saturated with pure gaseous ammonia. The chloroform is then distilled off at a temperature of 85 C.

The residue is mixed with phosphate of lime or carbonate of zinc, pressed into moulds and dried. When phosphate of lime is used the product possesses to a considerable degree the nature and composition of ivory.

=IVORY BLACK.= See BLACK PIGMENTS.

=JABORANDI.= _Syn._ IABORANDI, JAMBORANDI. The above names are given by the natives of Brazil, Paraguay, and other parts of South America to any indigenous plants possessing strongly stimulant, diaph.o.r.etic, and sialagogue properties, which are princ.i.p.ally employed in those countries as antidotes for the bites and stings of venomous snakes and insects.

As far as they have been examined, all the plants known under the generic name 'jaborandi' have been traced to the two natural orders, _Rutaceae_ and _Piperaceae_. Those exercising the most marked physiological effects appear to belong to the former or the rutaceous division, and are very probably different species of _Pilocarpus_. The drug was first introduced into Europe by Dr Coutinho, of Pernambuco, who some four years since sent a sample of it to Dr Gubler, of Paris, by whom it was administered to some of the patients of the Beaujon Hospital there. The jaborandi with which these experiments were made was identified by Professor Baillon, of Paris, as belonging to the _Pilocarpus pinnatus_ (_pinnatifolius_). Four to six grams of the bruised leaves and twigs were infused in a cup of water, and the patient being put to bed, in ten minutes after taking the draught, finds himself bathed in a perspiration lasting for four or five hours, this being so profuse as to render several changes of linen necessary during the time. Accompanying the diaph.o.r.esis are great salivary and bronchial secretions, which sometimes will not permit the patient to speak without his mouth becoming filled with water.

The quant.i.ty of saliva is stated to have sometimes equalled a litre in measure. These experiments have been repeated in this country with a.n.a.logous effects; in one case reported with jaborandi obtained from the Beaujon Hospital, and in another from London; results the similarity of which strongly point to a corresponding composition in the two specimens of the plant used, if, as seems not improbable, they may have belonged to different species. A case of impaired vision following the administration of jaborandi is also recorded; but this seems evidently to have been the effect of an overdose of the drug.[6]

[Footnote 6: 'Pharm. Journal,' 3rd series, V, 364 and 561.]

When jaborandi is administered in divided doses instead of producing salivation or sweating, it acts as an active diuretic only, increasing the flow of urine to nearly double the usual amount. M. Albert Robins says:--"The effect of jaborandi on animals is very marked; guinea-pigs are seized with salivation, weeping and diarrha, true ecchymoses being found in the intestines, and dogs become instantly salivated, their gastric secretion being also much increased."[7]

[Footnote 7: 'Medical Times and Gazette.']

Drs Coutinho and Gubler affirm they have employed jaborandi in dropsy, bronchitis, diabetes, and various other diseases, and that they have found it fully answer their expectations; and in one case of alb.u.minuria it is narrated that a permanent diminution of alb.u.men from 1440 to 12 grammes followed its use.

An alkaloid has been obtained from the piperaceous jaborandi by Parodi, and named by him _jaborandine_. Some short time afterwards Mr A. W.

Gerrard succeeded in separating the alkaloid from the rutaceous jaborandi, to which, in accordance with Mr Holmes' suggestion, and because Parodi had antic.i.p.ated him in the adoption of the previous t.i.tle, he gave the name _pilocarpine_.

Mr Gerrard recommends the following process for the preparation of _pilocarpine_:--"Prepare a soft extract either with leaf or bark, with 50 per cent. alcohol. Digest this with water, filter and wash. Evaporate the filtrate to a short extract, cautiously add ammonia in slight excess, shake well with chloroform, separate the chloroform solution, and allow it to evaporate; the residue is the alkaloidal pilocarpine with probably a small amount of impurity." Mr Gerrard has also succeeded in preparing a crystalline nitrate and hydrochlorate of the alkaloid, both of which possess the medicinal powers of the jaborandi.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pilocarpus pinnatifolius._ _a_, flower; _b_, flower with the petals removed; _c_, carpels.]

The abridged description of a sample of jaborandi from Pernambuco is from Mr Holmes' paper in the 'Pharmaceutical Journal.'[8] The cut is from the last edition of Royle's 'Materia Medica.' "The specimens of the plant examined appear to belong to a shrub about 5 feet high. The root is cylindrical, hardly tapering at all, nearly 3/4 inch in diameter for the first 12 inches, and very sparingly branched. Bark of root of a pale yellowish brown, about a line in thickness, and has a short fracture. The root has an odour like a mixture of bruised pea-pods and orange-peel. Its taste is first like that of green peas; this soon disappears, and gives rise to a tingling sensation. The stem is 1/2 inch in diameter near the root, narrowing to 1/4 inch in the upper branches. The bark is thin, greyish-brown, longitudinally striated, and in some specimens sprinkled over with a number of white dots. The wood of the stem is yellowish-white and remarkably fibrous. The leaves (one of which is represented in the drawing) are imparipinnate, about 9 inches long, with from 3 to 5 pairs of opposite leaflets, which are articulated to the rachis, and have very short, slightly swollen petiolates. The rachis of the leaf is swollen at the base.

[Footnote 8: 3rd series, V, 581.]

The pairs of leaflets are usually about 1-1/4 inch apart, the lowest pair being about 4 inches from the base of the rachis. The leaflets are very variable in size, even on the same leaf. Their general outline is oblong-lanceolate. They are entire, with an emarginate or even retuse apex and an unequal base, and texture coriaceous. The veins are prominent on both sides of the leaf, and branch from the midrib at an obtuse angle in a pinnate manner. When held up to the light the leaflets are seen to be densely pellucidly punctate. These pellucid dots, which are receptacles of secretion, are not arranged, as in another kind of jaborandi, in lines along the veinlets, but are irregularly scattered all over the leaf, and appear equally numerous in every part. The whole plant is glabrous."

Mr Holmes says there appear to be two varieties, if not species, of this _Pilocarpus_, the one being perfectly smooth in every part, as above described, and the other having the stems, petioles, and under surface of the leaves covered with a dense velvety p.u.b.escence composed of simple hairs.

=JAG'GERY.= _Syn._ PALM SUGAR. A coa.r.s.e brown sugar made in India by the evaporation of the juice of several species of palms. The following are the princ.i.p.al varieties of this product:--

1. COCOA JAGGERY. From the juice of the Cocoa-nut palm (_Cocos nucifera_).

2. MALABAR JAGGERY. From the juice of the Gummuti palm (_Saguerus saccherifer_).

3. MYSORE JAGGERY. From the juice of the wild Date-palm (_Phnix sylvestris_); 17 galls. yields 46 lbs.

4. PALMYRA JAGGERY. From the juice of the Palmyra palm (_Bora.s.sus flabelliformis_); 6 pints yield 1 lb.

=JA'LAP.= _Syn._ JALAPae RADIX, JALAPA, B. P. (Ph. L. & D.) CONVOLVULI JALAPae RADIX (Ph. E.), L. The dried tubercles of the _Exogonium purga_, _I. jalapa_--(Royle.) Jalap is a powerful stimulant and drastic purgative, producing copious liquid stools; but when judiciously administered, both safe and efficacious. It appears to be intermediate in its action between aloes and scammony.--_Dose_, 10 to 30 gr., in powder; in constipation, cerebral affections, dropsies, obstructed menstruation, worms, &c. Owing to its irritant properties, its use is contra-indicated in inflammatory affections of the alimentary ca.n.a.l, and after surgical operations connected with the abdomen and pelvis. It is usually administered in combination with sulphate of pota.s.sa or bitartrate of pota.s.sa and ginger; with mercurials, as the case may indicate. The powder is very generally adulterated.

=Jalap Biscuits.= 1. An ounce of jalap mixed with 16 ounces of the materials for gingerbread or other kind of cake.