Wheaten Flour

Action and Therapy. External. Bread made of wheat flour is an excipient of some pills, and forms the basis of the bread and milk poultice. Wheat-flour paste well thinned is emollient and may be used per rectum for the administration of medicines in colitis.

Action and Medical Uses. Rice is nutritious, and boiled in water until perfectly soft, is very useful in cases of debilitated stomach or bowels, and diarrhoea; it is likewise reputed a valuable article of food to overcome the diarrhoea so common to those who, for the first time, use the river waters of the western states. It is, by some, considered injurious to the eyes when used in any quantity, but this is an erroneous opinion, as many nations employ it almost exclusively as a diet, without any such effects. A decoction of rice (rice-water) is an excellent soothing and nutritive drink in febrile diseases, and likewise in inflammations of the internal organs.

History and Chemical Composition. Rice is supposed to have been originally a native of China, from whence it came to the East Indies; it is at present cultivated in nearly all parts of the world where the soil and climate are favorable.

Botanical Source. Rice is an annual plant, with several jointed culms or stems, from 2 to 10 feet in height. The leaves are long, slender, and clasping. The panicle is terminal, diffuse, and bowing when the seed is weighty. The spikelet is hermaphrodite and 1-flowered. Glumes 2, and small. Paleae 2, and adhering to the ovary. Scales 2, smooth; stamens 6; ovaries sessile; styles 2; stigma feathery. Caryopsis compressed, and inclosed by the paleae (W: G: P.).