washings being put together, will deposit a mealy sediment; which, after pouring off the water, should be dried in a gentle heat; but the fibrous residuum on the sieve can be used only as fuel. Thus, the purest tapioca may be extracted from the cassava, and similar granulated masses may be obtained from European vegetables; many of which we have already mentioned in pp. 232 and 235, of our work, under the article Bread.
CASSIA, in botany, a genus of plants, comprising thirty species, the most remarkable of which are:
1. The cassia fistula, L. or purging Cassia of Alexandria. It is indigenous in Egypt, and both Indies, and bears a cylindrical pod, containing a soft, black pulp, of a sweetish taste, which dissolves, for the most part, both in water and rectified spirit. This pulp is a gentle laxative, and frequently given, in doses of several drams, to persons of costive habits. In inflammatory complaints, it is sometimes administered in much larger doses, from one to two ounces, when acrid purgatives are improper; though it is apt to nauseate the stomach, to produce flatulency, and griping: especially if the pulp be of an interior kind, or spoiled by long keeping: these effects may, however, be obviated by the addition of aromatics, and by taking it in a liquid form.
2. The Cassia Senna. See Senna.
Cassia-bark. See Laurus Cassia, p. 201.
Castor. See Beaver.
CASTOR-OIL is extracted from the castor nut, or the seed ot the Ricinus communis, a native of the West Indies. These seeds are about the size of small beans, which, in their brittle shells, contain white kernels, of a sweet, oily, but somewhat nauseous taste. Nor is the expressed oil quite free from the acrimony of the nut; though it is, in general, one of the mildest, and safest purgatives; so that half a tea-spoonful for a dose has been given, with success, to new-born infants, for lubricating the first passages, and expelling the meconium. It is also one of the best vermifuges, and a most efficacious remedy for the dry belly-ach, and iliac passion, when administered in proper doses, to children and adults; viz. the dose for the former, from one to two tea-spoonfuls; and the latter, a table-spoonful, repeated every two or three hours.
As patients generally have a great aversion to this oil, in its pure state, it may be taken swimming either in a glass of pepper-mint, or simple water, or in the form of an emulsion, with mucilage, or with the addition of a small quantity of rum. The greatest precaution, however, is necessary with respect to the quality of this oil, as there are two modes of preparing it, namely, by decoction and expression: the former is of a brown colour, has a rancid, disagreeable taste and smell, and consequently unfit for internal use; whereas that obtained by expression, is more limpid, rather verging to a green colour, and almost tasteless; but, when spoiled by long keeping, it is likewise an improper medicine.
Externally, castor-oil warmed, and rubbed on the parts affected, has been successfully applied in that painful spasmodic contraction, and rigidity of the muscles, called the tetanus; as likewise mixed with opium and camphor, in the
