Prunes

The dried fruit of the plnm, or prunus domestica, of thenatural order rosaceae. Prunes possess much mucilaginousand saccharine matter. They abate heat, and gently open thebowels, which they perform by lubricating the passages andsoftening the excrement. They are of great service in costiveness, accompanied with heat and irritation, which the more active cathartics would tend to aggravate.

Where prunes are not sufficiently purgative of themselves, their action is promoted by combining with them a little rhubarb, or by putting them in an infusion of senna, adding a little ginger to prevent flatulency. They form a part of the lenitive electuary; and even taken alone, gently, in some constitutions, open the body. The french prunes are the best.