SAVINE.

Description:

Juniperus Sabina. It rises two or three feet high. Its leaves arc numerous, and firmly pointed. The flowers are very small, of a yellowish colour, producing a blackish purple berry. It is a native of the south of Europe, and of the Levant; but grows in English gardens.

Herbal Remedies and Medicinal Uses of Savine:

It has powerful cathartic, emmenagogue, and stimulant properties, acting especially on the uterus of the female. Those who take it for the purpose of abortion greatly endanger their lives; in many cases it has ruined the constitution, and in some produced instant death; for taking large doses for that purpose, it is an irritant poison, proving fatal.

The herb powdered, and mixed with honey, makes a good dressing for all kinds of sores, carbuncles, ringworms, scrofulous runnings at the ears, neck, etcetera. Dr. Cullen observes, "Savine is a very acrid substance, and I have often, on that account, not employed it in the quantity to render it emmenagogue. Yet it indicates a more powerful determination to the uterus than any other plant I have employed. But it requires a great deal of caution. Dr. Home had great success with it; for in five cases of amenorrhoea at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, four were cured by Savine, which he gave in powder from a scruple to a drachm twice a day. He says it is well suited to the weak, but improper in plethoric habits. It makes an excellent drawing ointment for issues, as under :— fresh Savine leaves separated from the stalks, and bruised, quarter of a pound; hog's lard, I pound; yellow wax, quarter of a pound. Boil the leaves in the lard until they become crisp, then filter, with expression; add the wax, and melt them together.