Mentha viridis.

Related entry: Mentha under diaphoretics - Mentha piperita under stimulants - Mentha viridis under diuretics

Dose.—The infusion may be taken ad libitum. Of the oil the dose is from two to five drops.

Therapeutic Action.—This agent is described as stimulant, carminative, diuretic, diaphoretic, touic, emmenagogue, anthelmintic, and antispasmodic. It is employed to expel flatus, check nausea and vomiting, and alleviate spasmodic pains in the stomach and bowels, but for these purposes it is not as good as the peppermint. It is, however, much more efficient as a diaphoretic, and the warm infusion may be used with advantage in colds, the early stages of fever and acute inflammation. It is especially applicable in cases attended with nausea, or an irritable state of the stomach.

Spearmint is useful as a diuretic in cases of suppression or retention of urine, and in irritation of the genito-urinary organs.

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