Pulvis Aromaticus. U. S. (Br.) Aromatic Powder. Pulv. Arom.
Related entries: Aromatic Fluidextract - Myristica - Cardamom - Ceylon cinnamon - Ginger
Pulvis Cinnamomi Compositus, Br.; Compound Powder of Cinnamon; Poudre des Epicea, P. des Aromates, Poudre aromatique, Fr.; Aromatisches Pulver, Gewürzpulver, G.
"Saigon Cinnamon, in No. 60 powder, thirty-five grammes [or 1 ounce av., 103 grains]; Jamaica Ginger, in No. 60 powder, thirty-five grammes [or 1 ounce av., 103 grains]; Cardamom Seed (deprived of pericarps), fifteen grammes [or 231 grains]; Myristica, freshly grated, fifteen grammes [or 231 grains], to make one hundred grammes [or 3 ounces av., 231 grains]. Triturate the cardamom seed and the myristica with a portion of the saigon cinnamon, until they are reduced to a fine powder; then add the remainder of the cinnamon and the ginger, and rub them together until they are thoroughly mixed." U. S.
"Cinnamon Bark, in powder, 25 grammes; Cardamom Seeds, in powder, 25 grammes; Ginger, in powder, 25 grammes. Mix." Br.
Properties.—"Light reddish-brown; with a strong, distinctive, aromatic odor; when examined under the microscope it exhibits characteristic starch grains of ginger, being ellipsoidal or ovoid, slightly beaked and from 0.005 to 0.06 mm. in diameter; numerous yellowish-brown, brownish-red and occasional blackish fragments, the cellular structure of which is not distinct; occasional stone cells, the lumina being filled usually with a reddish-brown amorphous substance or containing air; occasional fragments with sclerenchymatous fibers; calcium oxalate crystals, in short raphides, few." U. S.
The Aromatic Powder of the U. S. P. IX does not differ essentially from that formerly official. The British and American powders now closely resemble, each other. The U. S. process contains nutmeg and the British does not. The cardamom seeds should always be deprived of their pericarps before being weighed, and the powder, when prepared, should be kept in well-stoppered bottles.
Uses.—The aromatic powder is stimulant and carminative, and the U. S. preparation may be given in the dose of from ten to thirty grains (0.65-2.0 Gm.), in cases of enfeebled digestion with flatulence; but it is chiefly used as a corrigent and adjuvant of other medicines. A mixture of aromatic powders in the form of a cataplasm is much used as a mild rubefacient, especially in nausea and vomiting, being applied over the epigastrium. Such a mixture is commonly called spice plaster and will be found in the N. F. IV (Part III), under the title Pulvis Aromaticus Rubefaciens. It contains clove, cinnamon, ginger, and capsicum, and the mixed powder may be distributed in a thin flannel bag, quilted in position, and the whole wet with bathing whisky when applied and covered with oiled silk.
Aromatic Sugar.—Wm. L. Turner proposed a mode of obtaining the effects of the aromatic powder in certain cases where the use of the powder itself would be inconvenient. He prepared an aromatic sugar by submitting eight ounces of the freshly prepared powder to percolation with. stronger alcohol to exhaustion, pouring the percolate over eight ounces of sugar, and evaporating at a low heat. The sugar thus prepared may be added to mixtures, solutions, etc., requiring aromatic addition. (A. J. P., 1869, p. 118.)
Dose, ten to twenty grains (0.65-1.3 Gm.).
Off. Prep.—Fluidextractum Aromaticum, U.S.
