621. Fel Bovis.—Ox Gall. 622. Sanguis.—Blood. 623. Lac.—Cow's Milk.
621. Fel Bovis.—Ox Gall
The fresh bile of Bos taurus Linné (Fam. Bovidae).
DESCRIPTION.—The fresh bile of the ox is a brownish or dark green, viscid liquid, with a characteristic, unpleasant odor, and a nauseous, bitter taste. It is neutral or faintly alkaline. Pettenkofer's test for this liquid is as follows: Two drops in 10 mils of water, when treated first with a drop of freshly prepared solution of one part of sugar and four parts of water, and afterward with sulphuric acid cautiously added until the precipitate first formed is redissolved, gradually acquires a brownish-red color, changing successively to carmine, purple, and violet.
PREPARATION.—Fel Bovis Purificatum. The method by which this medicinal preparation of the crude ox-gall is made, according to the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, is as follows: Fresh ox-gall 300 mils; alcohol 100 mils. Evaporate ox-gall in tared porcelain capsule on water-bath to 100 Gm.; add to it the alcohol. When precipitation has occurred and the solution cleared, the clear liquid is decanted, the remainder filtered, and the filtrate evaporated to a pilular consistence.
Purified ox-gall is a yellowish-green, soft solid, having a peculiar odor and a sweetish, bitter taste.
Extractum Fellis Bovis U.S.P. IX.
ACTION AND USES.—The purified ox-gall only is used in medicine. It is tonic and laxative, at one time much used to increase the secretion of bile. Dose: 3 to 10 gr. (0.2 to 0.6 Gm.).
622. Sanguis.—Blood.
SOURCE.—The ox (Bos taurus Linné) furnishes this liquid from the arterial circulation of the vascular system.
DESCRIPTION.—A red, opaque fluid, slightly heavier than water (sp. gr. 1.05), containing corpuscles in suspension, and coagulating on exposure.
CONSTITUENTS.—Chiefly water (78 per cent.), with albumen 7 per cent., salts 9 per cent., fibrin 4 per cent., and corpuscles and other constituents 13 per cent. Haemoglobin is a peculiar coloring matter made up of globulin and haematin, which gives blood its red appearance.
MEDICAL PROPERTIES.—Desiccated blood has enjoyed some reputation as a nutritive or restorative, the dose being about 15 gr. (1 Gm.), but it has not been very generally adopted as an agent among therapeutists for treatment of debilitated conditions.
623. Lac. Vaccinum, Cow's Milk, N.F.
SOURCE.—The mammary glands of the cow (Bos taurus), the well-known domestic animal.
DESCRIPTION.—A white, opaque liquid or emulsion, made up of butter and casein, and having a pleasant taste and slight odor; specific gravity about 1.030. When allowed to stand for a few hours, the oily globules rise to the surface on account of their lower specific gravity. Under the microscope these globules are seen to be separate, and each surrounded by an albuminous envelope, but when a caustic alkali is added, this envelope is destroyed, so that the globules are released and accumulate as pure butter. When exposed for a considerable time in a warm place, milk changes from sweet to sour on account of the development of an acid by chemical action between the constituents.
CONSTITUENTS.—A large percentage (about 87 per cent.) of milk is represented by water, 4 per cent. by butter, 5 per cent. by sugar and soluble salts, and only about 3.6 per cent. by casein and insoluble salts.
Butter is composed of olein (about 30 per cent.), palmitin, and stearin (68 per cent.), and about 2 per cent. of glycerides of butyric and other acids.
Casein, which is soluble in a solution of the alkalies, is a modification of albumen, and is precipitated from solution by the action of rennet or acetic acid.
Lactic acid (Acidum Lacticum, U.S.), which is developed by the action of heat, is said not to be a normal constituent of milk, but is always present in sour milk. Syrupus Calcii Lactophosphatis employs this acid. Dose: 8 Mils (2 fl. dr.).
PREPARATION: LAC FERMENTATUM, N.F.
623a. SACCHARUM LACTIS.—SUGAR OF MILK. LACTOSE. Forms about 5 per cent. of milk and is obtained from the whey by evaporation and recrystallization. A hard, somewhat gritty, slightly sweet powder, almost inodorous. Soluble in about six parts of water. For Tests see U.S.P. It has been recommended as a dietetic in wasting diseases, but in pharmacy is merely a diluent for triturations of various kinds.
ACTION AND USES.—Milk is nutritious, and its value as an article of diet is well known. In addition to this use, milk may be satisfactorily employed as a vehicle for the administration of certain remedies having an unpleasant taste.
