The dried fruit of Ficus Carica, Smyrna. Ficus, U.S.P. Fig

The fleshy receptacle of Ficus Carica, bearing fruit upon its inner surface.

Characters. - Compressed, of irregular shape, fleshy, covered with an efflorescence of sugar; of a sweet, fruity odour, and a very sweet, mucilaginous taste. "When softened in water, figs are pear-shaped, with a scar or short stalk at the base, and a small scaly orifice at the apex; hollow internally; the inner surface covered with numerous, yellowish, hard achenes.

Composition. - Grape sugar (about 70 per cent.), a little gum, and fatty matter.

Preparations

Use. - Figs are used locally as poultices, by splitting them and applying them to the inflamed part, as in gum-boils, dental abscesses, inflamed tonsils, etc.

Figs are chiefly employed as a domestic laxative. They are useful, given in large quantities, when a person has swallowed a hard sharp substance, by forming a bulky mass which will sheath the substance and protect the intestines from injury. In such cases purgatives are to be avoided.