SCAMMONY, properly so called, is, in the present day, the produce of Conrolrulus scammonia, a plant growing in Greece and the countries along the Levant. The scammony of the ancients was in all proba bility yielded by C. sagitlifolius (Sibthorp), C. Sibilscepii (Romeretsch), from which it is conjectured that the scammony called of Samos or Trebizond is obtained. The best comes from Aleppo ; the next from Smyrna. The French scammony, called Montpellier S., is the pro duce of Cgnandum 3loarpeliacuns, en aselepiadaceous plant, endowed with most of the acrid and poisonous properties of that tribe, and therefore a dangerous substance. But even of the products of con volvulaceous plants the qualities are so various, either from' natural inferiority, or, far more frequently, from carelessness in collecting it, or intentional adulteration, that no drug is more unequal in its consti tution or more uncertain in its operation. Strictly speaking, it is a gum-resin ; but the proportion of gum is at all times small, while the resin in different specimens varies from 81 per cent. in the best to 16 in tho worst. Besides mechanical impurities, such as sand, fragments of the stem or roots, owing to the manner of collecting. chalk, and flour of wheat or barley, or dextrine, are purposely mixed with it to bring it down to the market price. The latter sophistimtiona are not
objectionable, further than they necessitate a Larger and more bulky dose. But a most pure preparation can now be obtained by extracting the resin from the root itself, according to the patent plan of Prof. Williamson, suggested by Mr. Clark of Sockia, Asia Minor. (See Phartu. Journ., voL p. 37; and vol. :viii., pp. 449 and 546.) For an account of the mode of collecting scammony in the north-west of Asia Minor, see the same Journal, vol. L, p. 522, new series, April, 1860. Perfectly pure scammony is, In a very small dose, a very efficacious purgative, clearing away mucous accumulations, more espe cially from the bowels of children, which are the favourite resort of worms. To expel these, scammony is often associated with calomel ; but this is generally needless, as extract of rhubarb, from its bitter and tonic properties, is in every way more to be commended. By giving bitartrate or tartrate of potasa, with carbonate of soda, its properties are heightened, and it may be rendered a useful bydrogogue cathartic. It should not be too frequently repeated, as it is apt to abrade the mucous covering of the intestines ; nor should it be given in inflammation of these.