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Sahara, and a coarse oil is expressed from them. The pulp contains only about 3.5 % of fixed oil, whilst the seeds contains about 15%. The foliage resembles that of the See also:

CUCUMBER (Cucumis sativus, Fr. concombre, O. Fr. coucombre, whence the older English spelling and pronunciation " cowcumber," the standard in England up to the beginning of the 18th century)

cucumber, and the See also:

root is perennial. The plant has a wide range, being found in See also:

CEYLON

Ceylon, See also:

India, See also:

PERSIA

Persia, See also:

ARABIA

Arabia, See also:

SYRIA

Syria, See also:

North See also:

Africa, the Grecian See also:

ARCHIPELAGO

Archipelago, the Cape Verd Islands, and the See also:

south-See also:

east of See also:

Spain. The See also:

TERM

term pakkuoth, translated "See also:

WILD, JONATHAN (c. 1682-1725)

wild gourds" in 2 See also:

KINGS, FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF

Kings iv. 39, is thought to refer to the fruit of the colocynth; but, according to Dr See also:

Olaf See also:

CELSIUS, ANDERS (1701-1744)

Celsius (1670-1756), a See also:

SWEDISH

Swedish theologian and naturalist, it signifies a plant known as the squirting cucumber, Ecbalium See also:

ELATERIUM

Elaterium. The commercial colocynth consists of the peeled and dried fruits. In the preparation of the See also:

drug, the seeds are always removed from the pulp. Its active principle is an intensely bitter amorphous or crystalline See also:

GLUCOSIDE

glucoside, colocynthin, CaH54O23, soluble in See also:

WATER

water, See also:

ETHER, (C2H5)2O

ether and See also:

ALCOHOL

alcohol, and decomposable by acids into See also:

GLUCOSE (from Gr. - twais, sweet)

glucose and a See also:

RESIN (through O.Fr. resine, modern reline, from Lat. resina, prcbably Latinized from Greek Pirivrt, resin)

resin, colocynthein, C40H54013.

Colocynthein also occurs as such in the drug, together with at least two other resins, citrullin and colocynthiden. Colocynthin has been used as a hypodermic purgative—a class of drugs practically non-existent, and highly to be desired in numberless cases of See also:

APOPLEXY (Gr. arov n i.a, from aroaMvvew, to strike down, to stun)

apoplexy. The dose recommended for hypodermic injection is fifteen minims of a 1 % See also:

SOLUTION (from Lat. solvere, to loosen, dissolve)

solution in See also:

GLYCERIN, GLYCERINE

glycerin. The See also:

BRITISH

British Pharmacopeia contains a See also:

compound See also:

EXTRACT (from Lat. extrahere, to draw out)

extract of colocynth, which no one ever uses; a compound pill—dose 4 to 8 grains—in which oil of See also:

CLOVES

cloves is included in order to relieve the griping caused by the drug; and the Pilula Colocynthidis et Hyoscyami, which contains 2 parts of the compound pill to i of extract of hyoscyamus. This is by far the best preparation, the hyoscyamus being added to prevent the See also:

pain and griping which is attendant on the use of colocynth alone. The See also:

OFFICIAL (Late Lat. QJicialis, for class. Lat. apparitor, from officium, office, duty)

official dose of this pill is 4 to 8 grains, but the most effective and least disagreeable manner in which to obtain its See also:

ACTION

action is to give four two-See also:

GRAIN (derived through the French from Lat. granum, seed, from an Aryan root meaning " to wear down," which also appears in the common Teutonic word " corn ")

grain pills at intervals of an See also:

HOUR

hour or so. In See also:

minute doses colocynth acts simply as a bitter, but is never given for this purpose. In See also:

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary doses it greatly increases the secretion of the small See also:

INTESTINE (Lat. intestinus, internal, usually in neuter plural intestina. from intus, within)

intestine and stimulates its See also:

MUSCULAR

muscular coat. The See also:

gall-See also:

BLADDER (from A.S. blaeddre, connected with bl¢wan, to blow, cf. Ger. blase)

bladder is also stimulated, and the biliary See also:

FUNCTION

function of the See also:

LIVER (O. Eng. lifer; cf. cognate forms, Dutch lever, Ger. Leber, Swed. lefver, &c.; the O. H. Ger. forms are libara, lipora, &c.; the Teut. word has been connected with Gr. i'prap and Lat. jecur)

liver, so that colocynth is both an excretory and a secretory cholagogue. The action which follows hypodermic injection is due to the See also:

EXCRETION (Lat. ex, out of, cernere, cretum, to separate)

excretion of the drug from the See also:

BLOOD

blood into the alimentary See also:

canal. Though colocynth is a drastic hydragogue cathartic, it is desirable, as a See also:

RULE

rule, to supplement its action by some drug, such as aloes, which acts on the large intestine, and a sedative must always be added. Owing to its irritant properties, the drug must not be used habitually, but it is very valuable in initiating the treatment of See also:

SIMPLE

simple chronic See also:

CONSTIPATION (from Lat. constipare, to press closely together, whence also the adjective " costive ")

constipation, and its pharmacological properties obviously render it especially useful in cases of hepatitis and congestion of the liver.

Colocynth was known to the See also:

ancient See also:

Greek, See also:

ROMAN

Roman and Arabic physicians; and in an Anglo-Saxon herbal of the 11th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century. (Cockayne, Leechdoms, &c., vol. i. p.

End of Article: COLOCYNTH, COLOQUINTIDA

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