MATERIA MEDICA AND THERAPEUTICS.
Practical Remarks upon Ipecacuanha, with a formula for a more
uniform and efficient preparation of the syrup, than that laid down in
the Dispensatories. By Edward Jenner Cone, M. D., New Orleans.
—Before noticing the main object of these remarks, it may prove
neither uninteresting nor unprofitable to direct attention to some of those
diseases in which this medicine, or some of its preparations and combi-
nations, may be employed. The value and efficacy of ipecacuanha, as
an emetic or expectorant in many affections of the respiratory organs,
more particularly of children, are too generally conceded and acted upon
to require an extended notice.
In dysentery, ipecacuanha has been and continues to be much
used.
By Mosely who held it in high repute, ipecacuanha was given in
doses of half a drachm to two scruples, and by the late Professor B. S.
Barton, it w’as regarded as almost a specific, particularly in cases of a
typhoid character. In chronic diarrhoea, small doses of the powder re-
peated several times a day, either alone, or preferably in conjunction
with opium or Dovers powder, will be found of great value and fre-
quently, with strict attention to a proper regimen, will succeed in curing
many most unpromising cases.
In these last cases, when dependent upon, or connected with derange-
ment of the biliary secretion, additional power will be given to the
above by uniting with them two or three grains of blue mass to be re-
peated every night for three or four nights, and subsequently every
third or fourth night as long as may be deemed requisite or advisable
for the individual case. In hemorrhage from the lungs, or uterus, small
doses of ipecacuanha, combined with sugar of lead and opium are used
with decided benefit.
In hemorrhage from the stomach,large doses of ipecacuanha have been
strongly recommended, more particularly by Dr. Condie who has pub-
lished some valuable practical remarks upon the subject.
In the early stages of the bowel affections of children, no less than in
adults, an emetic of ipecacuanha, will often succeed in arresting the pro-
gress of the disease, and rarely fail to prove beneficial.
Combining from one fourth to half a grain of ipecac, with a minute
portion of opium, and two or three grains of blue mass, the alterative
properties of this last are materially enhanced, and will be found of great
benefit in most of the mild cases of biliary and bowel derangements so
prevalent in this region, at different seasons of the year.
With the exception of that sudden and often fatal disease, croup or
hives, there are perhaps none of the pectoral diseases of children, in
which the syrup of ipecacuanha may not be resorted to with advantage;
but in croup, no little experience, and an almost uniform success in its
treatment, authorize the confident belief, that we possess no one remedy
or combination of remedies comparable or equal to the well known
Coxe’s hive syrup, provided it be properly prepared. Dr. Good has
remarked, that the ipecacuans concur in operating very generally upon
the skin, at the same time that they excite the stomach, increasing in a
slight degree the discharge of mucus from the lungs, and adding a little
to the peristaltic motion of the bowels, while the antimonials act more
violently upon the stomach, bowels and skin, but less upon the mucous
secernents.
To recur to the syrup of ipecacuanha, I may remark, that being
the United States Dispensatory attended with unnecessary trouble, and,
without constant care, great probability of a want of uniformity in the
preparation, I adopted, after many trials, the following formula, which
can be depended upon at the bed side, and which has been found to
keep well in this climate.
R.—Ipecacuan. Rad. Contus. giv.
Aqua	O.ij.
Sp. Vin. Rect.	§x.
Sacch. Alb.	lbs. iij.
Macerate the bruised ipecac in one pint of boiling water for 12 hours,
then add the remainder of the water and alcohol, and continue the ma-
ceration for five or six days. Place the whole in a small displacement
apparatus, returning the fluid that passes until it becomes perfectly clear,
and then continue to pour a small quantity of water occasionally upon
the surface, until two pints and ten ounces by measure shall have pass-
ed. Now add the sugar, and with a gentle heat, evaporate until the
syrup shall be of a proper consistence, readily ascertained by occasion-
ally taking out a small portion and allowing it to cool. When of a
proper consistence, pass it through a small quantity of fine tow placed
in the tube of a funnel to render the syrup clear and transparent. Three
pints and ten ounces of syrup is the quantity obtained, and is in point
of strength nearly double of that prepared by the usual formula, which
I consider an additional recommendation.
JV*. 0. Med. and Surg. Jour.