Mentha piperita.

Related entries: Mentha under diaphoretics - Mentha viridis under stimulants

Dose.—The infusion of Peppermint may be freely taken. The dose of the oil, which is used for the same purposes, is from two to five drops; of the spirit of Peppermint, fʒss. to fʒij.; of the essence, gtt. x. to gtt. xxx.

Therapeutic Action.—Peppermint is an aromatic stimulant, carminative, antispasmodic, and diaphoretic. It is one of the most grateful of the aromatic stimulants, and is much used to expel flatus, obviate nausea, and relieve spasmodic pains in the stomach and bowels, and to disguise the taste and correct the nauseating or griping effects of other medicines. For purposes of this kind, few articles equal and none surpass it. It is an efficacious carminative and stomachic, and as such is employed with benefit in gastrodynia, flatulent colic, spasmodic and griping pains in the stomach and bowels, etc. As an adjuvant or corrigent, it is highly esteemed for rendering less pleasant medicines acceptable to the stomach.

In cases of extreme irritability of the stomach, an infusion, or a few drops of its essence, often abates the nausea, and hence its use in cholera morbus, cholera infantum, and even in spasmodic cholera. The green herb bruised and applied over the epigastrium at the same time will prove a valuable auxiliary; its action is much aided by wetting it with spirits, or in some cases with laudanum. A strong infusion, taken warm, constitutes an excellent stimulating diaphoretic in colds and the early stages of febrile and inflammatory diseases.

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