Tinctura Corydalis Composita.—Compound Tincture of Corydalis.
Related entry: Corydalis.—Turkey-Corn - Rumex (U. S. P.)—Rumex. - Alnus.—Tag Alder. - Scrophularia.—Carpenter's Square. - Podophyllum (U. S. P.)—Podophyllum.
SYNONYM: Scudder's alterative.
Preparation.—Take of the roots of turkey-corn, yellow dock, bark of tag alder, and leaves and roots of figwort, each, in fine powder, 1 troy ounce; alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Form into a tincture by percolation, and after 10 fluid ounces have percolated through, add water, a sufficient quantity, until 19 fluid ounces of tincture have been obtained.
To mandrake root in fine powder, 1 troy ounce; add boiling water, 4 fluid ounces, and allow it to macerate in a hot place for 2 hours; then express, or obtain 4 fluid ounces of infusion, to which add white sugar, 4 troy ounces. To the syrup thus prepared, add the preceding tincture, and make 24 fluid ounces of the preparation. Prof. Scudder aimed in this preparation to obtain the alterative constituents of podophyllum, free or nearly so, of the cathartic resin.
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—This is an excellent alterative, prepared according to Prof. Scudder's formula. He believed that water extracted more of the alterative properties of mandrake than alcohol. It has been employed with advantage in scrofula, syphilis, cutaneous diseases, hepatic affections, in glandular affections where there is a tendency to hypertrophy and suppuration, and in other cases where an alterative is required. The dose is from 1 fluid drachm to ½ fluid ounce, 3 or 4 times a day (J. King).
