Elaterium

B. P. Syn. Extract of elaterium , E. of squirting cucumber ; Extractum elater i i (Ph. L.), Elaterium (Ph. E. & D.,) L. The feculence of the juice of the above fruit. Prep. 1. (Ph. L.) Slice wild cucumber before it is quite ripe in the long direction, and strain the juice, very gently expre ed, through a fine hair sieve; then set it aside for some hours, until the thicker part has subsided. The thinner supernatant fluid being rejected, dry the thicker portion with a gentle heat. The proce es of the other colleges are e entially the same. [272] [272] At the Mitcham Gardens, elaterium is manufactured in much the same way, only that considerable force is used in the expre ion of the juice, and the product therefore le potent, though more in quantity. The manufacture usually commences about the second week in September. (Dr Royle). 2. (Dr Clutter buck.) The cucumbers (fully ripe) are cut longitudinally, and sprinkling with cold water, and the juice allowed to strain through a fine sieve into an earthenware ve el. The seeds and surrounding pulp are next placed on the sieve, with the split fruit, and washed repeatedly with cold water. The washings being received in the same ve el with the juice, the whole is allowed to repose for a few hours, when the clear portion is decanted and the sediment spread thinly on fine linen, and dried by exposure to the air and a gentle heat avoiding the sunshine or a bright light. Quality very fine. Forty fruits, by this proce , yield only 6 gr. of elaterium. 3. (Apothecaries’ Hall.) The fruit, slit into halves, is placed in hempen or horsehair bags, and submitted to slight pre ure in a tincture pre . The juice, as it runs off, pa es through a fine hair sieve into a cylindrical gla jug or jar, where it is allowed to remain for two hours, when the clear supernatant liquor is poured off, and the thick portion containing the sediment is poured on a paper filter, supported on linen, and allowed to drain, after which it is dried by a gentle heat in a stove. The product has a green colour, and constitutes the finest elaterium of commerce. A darker and inferior article is obtained from the liquor, poured from the first sediment by placing it in shallow pans, and allowing it again to deposit. Prop., . Elaterium is sold in thin cakes, and when pure has a pale-gray or greenish-gray colour, floats on water, is easily pulverised by pre ure, and forms with rectified spirits a rich, green-coloured tincture. Elaterium obtained as a second deposit ( ELATERIUM NIGRUM ), is dark and inferior. Alcohol di olves from 50% to 60% of good elaterium. “When exhausted by rectified spirit, the solution, concentrated, and poured into hot dilute solution of pota a, deposits, on cooling, minute silky, colourle crystals (of ELATERIN ), weighing from 1 ⁄ 7 th to 1 ⁄ 4 th of the elaterium operated on.” (Ph. E.) Obs. To procure a fine sample of elaterium it is nece ary to remove it as soon as it is deposited, as a heavy mucilage falls down soon afterwards, which materially injures its quality and appearance. English elaterium is the best. The foreign is uniformly adulterated with chalk or starch, and coloured with sap green. Dose , 1 ⁄ 16 gr. to 1 ⁄ 2 gr., formed into a pill with extract of gentian and liquorice powder; as a hydragogue and cathartic in dropsies, twice a day, repeated every other day for a week or ten days. Its use must be avoided when there is much debility or any inflammatory symptoms. Larger doses than 1 ⁄ 2 gr. of pure elaterium are poisonous. The antidotes are emetics, followed by demulcents, opium, and stimulants.