Sinapis.

Flower of seeds of Sinapis nigra, Sinapis alba.

Dose.—As a stimulant, from grs. x. to grs, xx.; as an emetic, from ʒj. to ʒij.

Therapeutic Action.—Mustard is stimulant, stomachic, emetic, diuretic, laxative, rubefacient, and vesicant. It is an acrid, pungent stimulant, and if taken into the stomach in large quantities it produces a violent burning pain, with purging, and sometimes gastro-enteritis. It acts as a general excitant to the vascular system, and also upon the organs of secretion. Taken in small quantities with the aliment, it exerts a healthful influence over the organs of digestion, promotes the appetite, and aids in the assimilation of articles difficult of digestion.

The whole seeds, either before or after they have been softened by maceration in hot water, may be taken in doses of a teaspoonful once or twice a day as a laxative in torpidity of the bowels; especially if this malady is accompanied with dyspepsia. In the disease last named, we have seen much benefit derived from the use of the white mustard seed whole, one half teaspoonful being taken two or three times a day. In headache arising from torpidity of the stomach, they likewise prove beneficial.

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