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SQUILL

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 747 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SQUILL , the name under which the bulbous See also:

root of Urginea Scilla is used in See also:medicine. It belongs to the natural See also:order See also:Liliaceae. The name of " squill " is also applied by gardeners to the various See also:species of Scilla. The medicinal squill is a native of the countries bordering the Mediterranean, and grows from the See also:sea-level up to an See also:elevation of 3000 ft. The bulbs are globular and of large See also:size, often weighing more than 4 lb. Two varieties are met with, the one having See also:white and the other See also:pink scales. They are collected in See also:August, when they are leafless, the membranous See also:outer scales being removed and the fleshy portion cut transversely into slices and dried in the See also:sun. These are then packed in casks for exportation. They are chiefly imported into the See also:United See also:Kingdom from See also:Malta. When reduced to See also:powder and exposed to the See also:air the See also:drug rapidly absorbs moisture and cakes together into a hard See also:mass. Squill has been used in medicine from a very See also:early See also:period. The See also:ancient See also:Greek physicians prescribed it with See also:vinegar and See also:honey almost in the same manner as it is used at See also:present.

The See also:

composition of the drug, first efficiently studied by See also:Merck in 1878, is very complex. The See also:chief constituent is scillitoxin, a See also:bitter and intensely irritant principle. A somewhat similar substance, scillipiain, is also physiologically active. The bitter See also:glucoside scillin, or scillain, is unimportant. The bulb also contains See also:mucilage, and a considerable quantity of an irritant See also:resin. It has been shown that a definite See also:action on the See also:heart is not obtainable unless so large a dose of squill is given that some astro-intestinal irritation or even inflammation is set up by this resin. The dose of squill is from I to 3 grains. Of the numerous pharmacopoeial preparations only three are of any importance: the See also:syrup of squill, composed of one See also:part of squill, eight of dilute acetic See also:acid and four of See also:sugar; the Piinla Ipecacuenhae cum Scilla, in which See also:ipecacuanha and See also:opium are the chief constituents; and the See also:tincture of squill, which is still widely used, made by macerating one part of squillwith five of See also:alcohol. The action of the drug is that of a cardiac stimulant, with three important further properties all dependent on its irritant constituents. Even in small doses, such as will not affect the heart, it is a gastro-intestinal, a bronchial and a renal irritant. The two latter properties constitute it a powerful expectorant and a fairly active diuretic. The drug must not be given alone, owing to its irritant action.

It is very frequently given as a diuretic in cardiac cases in the See also:

form of a pill containing one See also:grain each of See also:mercury, See also:digitalis and squill. Combined with a sedative, such as opium, it may be given in chronic See also:bronchitis. It must not be given in acute bronchitis, which it only aggravates; nor in See also:phthisis, which is invariably accompanied by a hypersensitive See also:state of the alimentary See also:tract. For similar reasons squill should not be given in any form of See also:Bright's disease. The textbook See also:prohibition against its use in acute Bright's disease should certainly be extended to chronic nephritis in all its forms. The use of this irritating drug, while still extensive, is yearly diminishing. It does not accomplish anything that may not otherwise be achieved at less cost to the secreting surfaces of the patient. An allied species, Urginea indica, is used in See also:India in the same manner as the See also:European species. The true squills are represented in See also:Great See also:Britain by two species, Scilla autumnalis and S. verna. The former has a racemose inflorescence and leaves appearing in autumn after the See also:flowers; the latter has the flowers arranged in a corymbose manner, leaves appearing in See also:spring, and is confined to the sea-See also:coast. Several species are cultivated in gardens, S. bifolia and S. sibirica being remarkable for their beautiful See also:blue flowers, which are produced in early spring; See also:Chinese squill is S. cltinensis, a See also:half-See also:hardy species; See also:Roman squill is a popular name for species of Bellevalia, a genus now generally included in See also:Hyacinthus; striped squill is Puschkinia scilloides, a liliaceous plant resembling the squill in See also:habit.

End of Article: SQUILL

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