Important: Safety Warning
This page presents medical treatment from an era before modern medicine. The remedies described are ineffective against the conditions named, and some of the ingredients or doses are harmful. Do not use them to treat any illness; consult a qualified medical professional.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
Elaterium
a drug obtained from the fruits of the squirting cucumber, a native of the S. of Europe, common on rubbish in the villages of Greece and the Archipelago. The fruit breaks from its stalk, and violently expels its seeds with the surrounding mucus through the opening thus made. This is not due to any true contractility, but much, in the surrounding mucus through the any true contractility, but much, in opening thus made. This is not due to fact, as ripe gooseberries burst after prolonged rainy weather. It is the thick green mucus surrounding the seeds which yields the elaterium. principle is a body called elaterin, drastic hydragogue cathartic. Its active principle is a body called elaterin, C20H28O5, which is probably the most powerful purgative known, the ordinary dose being only from 1/40 1/4 to 2/10 grain.
Both elaterium and elaterin are officinal in the British pharmacopeia. It is an dropsy. ELBA, a small island belonging to the dropsy.