CROTON OIL, an oil prepared from the seeds of Croton Tiglium, a tree belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae, and native or cultivated in India and the Malay Islands. The seeds resemble those of the castor-oil plant, but have not their polished and mottled surface. The kernels contain from So to 6o% of oil, which is obtained by pressing them, when bruised to a pulp, between hot plates. Croton oil is a transparent and viscid liquid of a brownish or pale-yellow tinge, and acrid, peculiar and per sistent taste, a disagreeable odour and acid reactions. It is soluble in volatile oils, carbon disulphide and ether, and to some extent in alcohol. It contains acetic, butyric and valeric acids, with glycerides of acids of the same series, and a volatile body. tiglic acid, metameric with angelic acid, and identical with methyl crotonic acid, (CH3) The odour is due to various volatile acids, which are present to the extent of about 1 %. A substance called crotonal appears to be responsible for its external, but not its internal, action. The latter is probably due to crotolinic acid, which has active purgative properties. The maximum dose of croton oil is two minims, one-fourth of that quantity being usually ample.
Applied to the skin, croton oil acts as a powerful in itant, inducing so much inflammation that definite pustules are formed. Taken internally, even in minute doses, croton oil very soon causes much colic and a fluid diarrhoea. In larger doses it produces severe gastroenteritis. The same result may follow absorption of Croton oil by the skin.
The minuteness of the dose, the certainty of the action, and the large amount of fluid drained away constitute this the best drug for administration to an unconscious patient, especially in apoplexy, or to insane patients refusing to take any drug. One drop of the oil, placed on the back of the tongue, must inevitably be swallowed by reflex action. A dose should never be repeated. The characters of this drug obviously contra-indicate its use in all cases of organic disease or obstruction of the bowel, in pregnancy, or in cases of constipation in children or the aged.