Saffron.

The stigmas of Crocus sativus.

Dose.—Of the powder, grs. x. to grs. xx.; of an infusion of one drachm to a pint of boiling water, two to four ounces.

Therapeutic Action.—Saffron is diaphoretic, stimulant, emmenagogue, and antispasmodic. Its medical virtues have been variously estimated; while some have ascribed great importance to it as a stimulant, antispasmodic, or narcotic, others have assigned to it a prominent place among emmenagogue and diaphoretic agents, while by many at the present day it regarded as an agent devoid of any active properties.

It is a popular remedy in domestic practice, especially in exanthematous diseases; and inasmuch as it is more frequently used as a diaphoretic than for any other purpose, we have thought proper to arrange it under this class.

The American Eclectic Materia Medica and Therapeutics, 1898, was written by John M. Scudder, M.D.