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GUAIACUM , a genus of trees of the natural See also:- ORDER
- ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
- ORDER, HOLY
order Zygophyllaceae. The guaiacum or lignum-vitae See also:- TREE (0. Eng. treo, treow, cf. Dan. tree, Swed. Odd, tree, trd, timber; allied forms are found in Russ. drevo, Gr. opus, oak, and 36pv, spear, Welsh derw, Irish darog, oak, and Skr. dare, wood)
- TREE, SIR HERBERT BEERBOHM (1853- )
tree (Ger. Guajakbaum, Franzosenbaum, Pockenholzbaum; Fr. Gayac, Gayac), G. officinale, is a native of the See also:West Indies and the See also:north See also:coast of See also:South See also:America, where it attains a height of 20 to 30 ft. Its branches are numerous, flexuous and knotted; the leaves opposite and pinnate, with See also:caducous (falling See also:early) stipules, and entire, glabrous, obovate or See also:oval leaflets, arranged in 2 or, more rarely, 3 pairs; the See also:flowers are in axillary clusters (cymes), and have 5 oval pubescent sepals, 5 distinct See also:pale-See also:blue petals three times the length of the sepals, to stamens, and a 2-celled See also:superior ovary. The See also:fruit is about 4 in. See also:long, with a leathery pericarp, and contains in each of its two cells a single See also:seed (see fig.). G. sanctum grows in the See also:Bahamas and See also:Cuba, and at See also:Key West in See also:Florida. It is distinguished from G. officinale by its smaller and narrow leaflets, which are in 4 to 5 pairs, by its shorter and glabrous sepals, and 5-celled and 5-winged fruit. G. arhoreum, the guaiacum tree of See also:Colombia, is found in the valley of the Magdalena up to altitudes 800 metres (2625 ft.) above See also:sea-level, and reaches considerable dimensions. Its See also:wood is of a yellow See also:colour merging into See also:green, and has an almost pulverulent fracture; the flowers are yellow and conspicuous; and the fruit is dry and 4-winged.
The lignum vitae of See also:commerce, so named on See also:account of its high repute as a medicinal See also:agent in past times, when also it was known as lignum sanctum and lignum Indicum, lignum guaycanum, or simply guayacan, is procured from G. officinale, and in smaller amount from G. sanctum. It is exported in large logs or blocks, generally divested of bark, and presents in transverse See also:section very slightly marked concentric rings of growth, and scarcely any traces of See also:pith; with the aid of a magnifying See also:glass the medullary rays are seen to be equidistant and very numerous. The See also:outer wood, the sapwood or See also:alburnum, is of a pale yellow See also:hue, and devoid of See also:resin; the inner, the heartwood or See also:duramen, which is by far the larger proportion, is of a dark greenish-See also:- BROWN
- BROWN, CHARLES BROCKDEN (1771-181o)
- BROWN, FORD MADOX (1821-1893)
- BROWN, FRANCIS (1849- )
- BROWN, GEORGE (1818-188o)
- BROWN, HENRY KIRKE (1814-1886)
- BROWN, JACOB (1775–1828)
- BROWN, JOHN (1715–1766)
- BROWN, JOHN (1722-1787)
- BROWN, JOHN (1735–1788)
- BROWN, JOHN (1784–1858)
- BROWN, JOHN (1800-1859)
- BROWN, JOHN (1810—1882)
- BROWN, JOHN GEORGE (1831— )
- BROWN, ROBERT (1773-1858)
- BROWN, SAMUEL MORISON (1817—1856)
- BROWN, SIR GEORGE (1790-1865)
- BROWN, SIR JOHN (1816-1896)
- BROWN, SIR WILLIAM, BART
- BROWN, THOMAS (1663-1704)
- BROWN, THOMAS (1778-1820)
- BROWN, THOMAS EDWARD (1830-1897)
- BROWN, WILLIAM LAURENCE (1755–1830)
brown, contains in its pores 26% of resin, and has a specific gravity of 1.333, and therefore sinks in See also:water on which the alburnum floats. Owing to the See also:diagonal and oblique arrangement of the successive layers of its See also:fibres, the wood cannot be split; and on account of its hardness, See also:density and durability it is much valued for the manufacture of See also:ships' pulleys, rulers, skittle-balls, mallets and other articles.
Chips or turnings of the heartwood of G. officinale (guaiaci lignum) are employed in the preparation of the liquor sarsae compositus concentratus of See also:British See also:pharmacy. They may be recognized by being either yellow of greenish-brown in colour, and by turning bluish-green when treated with nitric See also:acid, or when heated with corrosive sublimate, and green with See also:solution
From See also:Bentley & Trimen's Medicinal See also:Plants, by permission of J. & A. See also:Churchill.
Guaiacum or Lignum Vitae,Guaiacum officinale shoot-bearing leaves and flowers. i, Fruit; 2, See also:Vertical section of fruit, showing the solitary pendulous seed in each chamber. All about t natural See also:size.
of chloride of See also:lime. They are occasionally adulterated with See also:boxwood shavings. Lignum vitae is imported chiefly from St Domingo, the Bahamas and See also:Jamaica.
The bark was formerly used in See also:medicine; it contains much See also:calcium oxalate, and yields on incineration 23 % of ash. Guaiacum resin, the guaiaci resina of pharmacopoeias, is obtained from the wood as an exudation from natural fissures or from incisions; by See also:heating billets about 3 ft. in length, bored to permit of the outflow of the resin; or by boiling chips and raspings in water to which See also:salt has been added to raise the temperature of ebullition. It occurs in rounded or oval tears, commonly coated with a greyish-green dust, and supposed to be the produce of G. sanctum, or in large brownish or greenish-brown masses, translucent at the edges; fuses at 85° C.; is brittle, and has a vitreous fracture, and a slightly balsamic odour, increased by pulverization and by See also:heat; and is at first tasteless when chewed, but produces subsequently a sense of heat in the See also:throat. It is readily soluble in See also:alcohol, See also:ether, See also:chloroform, See also:creosote, oil of See also:cloves and solutions of See also:caustic alkalies; and its solution gives a blue colour with See also:gluten, raw See also:potato parings and the roots of See also:horse-See also:radish, See also:carrot and various other plants. The alcoholic See also:tincture becomes green with See also:sodium hypochlorite, and with nitric acid turns in See also:succession green, blue and brown. With See also:glycerin it gives a clear solution, and with nitrous ether a bluish-green gelatinous See also:mass. It is blued by various oxidizing agents, e.g. See also:ozone, and, as See also:Schonbein discovered, by the juice of certain See also:fungi. The See also:chief constituents are three distinct resins, guaiaconic acid, C19HsoOs (7o%), guaiac acid, which is closely allied to benzoic acid, and guaiaretic acid. Like all resins, these are insoluble in water, soluble in alkalies, but precipitated on neutralization of the alkaline solution.
Guaiacum wood was first introduced into See also:Europe by the Spaniards in 1508, and Nicolaus See also:Poll, See also:writing in 1517 (see Luisinus, De morbo gallico, p. 210, Ven., 1566), states that some three thousand persons in See also:Spain had already been restored to See also:health by it. The virtues of the resin, however, were not known until a later See also:period, and in See also:- THOMAS
- THOMAS (c. 1654-1720)
- THOMAS (d. 110o)
- THOMAS, ARTHUR GORING (1850-1892)
- THOMAS, CHARLES LOUIS AMBROISE (1811-1896)
- THOMAS, GEORGE (c. 1756-1802)
- THOMAS, GEORGE HENRY (1816-187o)
- THOMAS, ISAIAH (1749-1831)
- THOMAS, PIERRE (1634-1698)
- THOMAS, SIDNEY GILCHRIST (1850-1885)
- THOMAS, ST
- THOMAS, THEODORE (1835-1905)
- THOMAS, WILLIAM (d. 1554)
Thomas Paynel's See also:translation (Of the Wood called Guaiacum, &c., p. 9, ed. of 1540) of See also:Ulrich von See also:Hutten's See also:treatise De morbi gallici curatione per administrationem ligni guaiaci (1519) we read of the wood: " There foloweth fro it, whan it bourneth a gomme, which we yet knowe not, for what pourpose it serueth." Fluckiger and Hanbury (Pharmacographia, p.
95) See also:state that the first edition of the See also:London See also:Pharmacopoeia in which they find the resin mentioned is that of 1677. The decoction of the wood was administered in See also:gout, the See also:- STONE
- STONE (0. Eng. shin; the word is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Stein, Du. steen, Dan. and Swed. sten; the root is also seen in Gr. aria, pebble)
- STONE, CHARLES POMEROY (1824-1887)
- STONE, EDWARD JAMES (1831-1897)
- STONE, FRANK (1800-1859)
- STONE, GEORGE (1708—1764)
- STONE, LUCY [BLACKWELL] (1818-1893)
- STONE, MARCUS (184o— )
- STONE, NICHOLAS (1586-1647)
stone, palsy, leprosy, See also:dropsy, See also:epilepsy, and other diseases, but principally in the " morbus gallicus," or syphilis, for which it was reckoned a certain specific, insomuch that at first " the physitions wolde not allowe it, perceyuynge that theyr profite wolde decay therhy " (Paynel, op. cit. p. 8). See also:Minute instructions are given in old See also:works as to the mode of administering guaiacum. The patient was confined in a closed and heated chamber, was placed on the lowest possible See also:diet, and, after liberal purgation, was made twice a See also:day to drink a See also:milk-warm decoction of the wood. The
See also:GUALEGUAYCHU 647
use of salt was specially to be avoided. A decoction of 1 lb of guaiacum was held to be sufficient for the four first days of the treatment. The earlier opinions as to the efficacy of guaiacum came to be much modified in the course of See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time, and Dr See also:Pearson (Observations on the Effects of Various Articles of the See also:Mat. Med. in the Cure of Lues Venerea, c. i., 2nd ed., 1807) says:—" I never saw one single instance in which the See also:powers of this medicine eradicated the venereal See also:virus." He found its beneficial effects to be most marked in cases of secondary symptoms. Guaiacum resin is given medicinally in doses of 5-15 grains. Its important preparations in the British Pharmacopoeia are the mistura guiaci (dose a-i oz.), the ammoniated tincture of guaiacum (dose 1-1 drachm), in which the resin is dissolved by means of See also:ammonia, and the trochiscus or See also:lozenge, containing 3 grains of the resin. This lozenge is undoubtedly of value when given early in cases of sore throat, especially of rheumatic origin. Powdered guaiacum is also used.
Guaiacum resin differs pharmacologically from other resins in being less irritant, so that it is absorbed from the bowel and exerts remote stimulant actions, notably upon the skin and kidneys. It affects the bronchi but slightly, since it contains no volatile oil.
The See also:drug is useful both in acute and chronic sore throat, the mixture, according to See also:Sir See also:Lauder See also:Brunton, being more effective than the tincture. The aperient See also:action, which it exerts less markedly than other members of its class, renders it useful in the treatment of chronic See also:constipation. Sir See also:Alfred Garrod has urged the claims of this drug in the treatment of chronic gout. Both in this disease and in other forms of chronic See also:arthritis guaiacum may be given in See also:combination with iodides, which it often enables the patient to tolerate. Guaiacum is not now used in the treatment of syphilis.
The tincture of guaiacum is universally used as a test for the presence of See also:blood, or rather of haemoglobin, the red colouring See also:matter of the blood, in urine or other secretions. This test was first suggested by Dr See also:John Day of See also:Geelong, See also:Australia. A single drop of the tincture should be added to, say, an See also:inch of urine in a test-See also:tube. The resin is at once precipitated, yielding a milky fluid. If " ozonic ether "—an ethereal solution of See also:hydrogen peroxide—be now poured gently into the test-tube, a deep blue coloration is produced along the See also:line of contact if haemoglobin be See also:present. The reaction is due to the oxidation of the resin by the peroxide of hydrogen—such oxidation occurring only if haemoglobin be present to See also:act as an See also:oxygen-See also:carrier.
End of Article: GUAIACUM
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