Conium. Hemlock. The fresh leaves and branches of Conium maculatum, Hemlock (the wild herb); Lin. Syst., Petandria digynia; gathered when the fruit begins to form; indigenous, growing in hedges and wild places. The leaves should be dried either in the sun or at a temperature not above 120°.

Conii Fructus. Hemlock Fruit. [Not officinal in U. S. P.] The ripe dried fruit of the same plant.

Description. The leaves are deep green, shining, tripinnate, with pinnatifid leaflets, petioles furrowed and sheathing at the base; the stem is smooth and purple-spotted. The seeds, or rather fruit, are broadly ovate, compressed laterally, and distinguished from other umbelliferous fruits by having undulating crenulated ridges and no vita.

Prop. & Comp. The leaves, when fresh, have a peculiar odour. All parts contain Conia (Cl6 H15 N), a liquid volatile alkaloid, with a powerful odour; colourless when pure; lighter than water; but slightly soluble in water; soluble in ether and alcohol, producing a greasy stain on paper, it is united with coniic acid, and a trace of volatile oil. The vapour is inflammable. When potash is added to any part of the plant the conia is set free, and can be detected by its odour and the fumes which it gives with hydrochloric acid.

Off. Prep. - Of Conium (leaves). Cataplasma Conii. Hemlock Poultice. [Not officinal in U. S. P.] (Hemlock leaf in powder, one ounce; linseed meal, 3 ounces.)

Extractum Conii. Extract of Hemlock. (Prepared in the same manner as the other green extracts.)

[Tinctura Conii. Tincture of Conium. U. S. Two pints of tincture are procured from four troy ounces of recently dried hemlock leaves by percolation with diluted alcohol.]

[Extractum Conii Fluidum. U. S. A tincture is obtained by percolating sixteen ounces of recently dried hemlock leaves with diluted alcohol, to which half a fluid ounce of acetic acid has been added. The tincture is evaporated at a temperature not exceeding 150°, so as to form sixteen ounces of fluid extract.]

Succus Conii. [Not officinal in U. S. P.] (The expressed juice of the fresh leaves with one part of rectified spirit added to every three parts of the juice.)

Of the Conium Fruit. Tinctura Conii Fructus. Tincture of Hemlock Fruit. [Not officinal in U. S. P.] (Hemlock fruit, bruised, two ounces and a half; proof spirit, twenty fluid ounces. Prepared by maceration and percolation.) At least twice the strength of the tincture of conium of the London Pharmacopoeia.

[Extractum Conii Alcoholicum. Alcoholic Extract of Conium. U. S. Made by evaporating at a low heat, a tincture procured by percolation with dilute alcohol.]

Therapeutics. Conium seems to act as a direct sedative, especially on the spinal cord, and in very large doses causes paralysis; it is used to allay cough in bronchitic affections, pertussis, and phthisis; formerly thought to be curative of cancerous diseases; it often alleviates in such cases, allaying pain and improving general health. Conium may also be applied externally to ease pain.

Dose. Of the powdered leaf, 3 gr. to 10 gr. or more; of the extract, 2 gr. to 5 gr. or more; of succus conii, 30 min. to 1 1/2 fl. drm.; of the tincture, 20 min. to 1 fl. drm. or more. [Of the fluid extract, 5 min.]

Assafoetida. The gum resin exuding, after incision, from the living root [The concrete juice of the root. U. S.] of Narthex assafcetida; Lin. Syst., Pentandria trigynia; a native of Persia, Affghanistan, and the Punjaub.

Description. Generally in masses of agglutinated tears, some-times in separate tears; moist or dry. The masses, when cut, are amygdaloid in appearance, consisting of the harder whitish tears, with softer and brownish-red uniting matter; assafoetida becomes pink, then dark red on exposure; its odour is very strong, and alliaceous, taste bitter, and rather acrid.

Prop. & Comp. Assafoetida dissolves almost entirely in rectified spirits. It contains volatile oil, about 4 per cent., consisting of sulphurets of allyl (C12 H11 S + C12 H11 S2), resin 65 per cent., gum 25 per cent., and some saline matters. When rubbed with water, the gummy matters dissolve, and the resin and volatile oil are suspended, and hence an emulsion is formed.

Off. Prep. Enema Assafoetidae. Enema of Assafoetida. [Not officinal in U. S. P.]

Synonym. Enema Foetidum. Edin., Dub. (Tincture of assafcetida, six fl. drms.; mucilage of starch, six fl. ounces.)

Pilula Aloes et Assafoetida. Pill of Aloes and Assafoetidae. (Socotrine aloes in powder, one ounce; assafoetida, one ounce; hard soap, in powder, one ounce; confection of roses, one ounce.) [Socotrine Aloes, Assafetida, hard soap, all in fine powder, of each, half a troy ounce. Beat with water, to form a pilular mass, and divide into one hundred and eighty pills. U. S.]

Pilula Assafoetidae Composita. Compound Pill of Assafcetida. [Not officinal in U. S. P.] (Assafoetida, two ounces; galbanum, two ounces; myrrh, two ounces; treacle by weight, one ounce.) [Pilula Assafetida. Pills of Assafetida. U. S. As-safetida, a troy ounce and a half; soap, in fine powder, half an ounce. Beat with water to form a pilular mass; to be divided into two hundred and forty pills.]

Tinctura Assafgetidae. Tincture of Assafoetida. (Prepared by maceration. Assafoetida, in small fragments, two ounces and a half; rectified spirit, twenty ounces.) [Assafetida, four troy ounces; alcohol, two pints. U. S.]

Therapeuiics. Assafoetida acts on the nervous system as a stimulant and powerful antispasmodic, and is especially useful in hysterical convulsive affections; likewise in pertussis, asthma, and other nervous diseases; in tympanitis it may be administered as an enema. It is useful also in some forms of chronic bronchitis, from the expectorant powers it possesses.

Dose. Of the gum resin, 5 gr. to 30 gr. or more; of the tincture, 1/2 fl. drm. to 1 fl. drm. or more. Of pil. aloes et assafoetidae, 4 gr. to 10 gr.; of pil. assafoetidae com., 5 gr. to 15 gr.