definition
A soothing medication used to relieve pain in inflamed tissues.
definition
Soothing or softening.
The finer varieties are used as an emollient and demulcent in medicine, and in the manufacture of confectionery; the commoner qualities are used as an adhesive paste, for giving lustre to crape, silk, &c., in cloth finishing to stiffen the fibres, and in calico-printing.
The poet takes great joy in parsing together seemingly disparate words and evoking a sundry whole, a demulcent of the seemingly incongruent.
Under the name decoctum hordei, a preparation of barley is included in the British Pharmacopoeia, which is of value as a demulcent and emollient drink in febrile and inflammatory disorders.
Gum tragacanth is used in calico-printing as a thickener of colours and mordants; in medicine as a demulcent and vehicle for insoluble powders, and as an excipient in pills; and feltsetting and mending beetles and other insect specimens.
This is the " Iceland moss " of the druggists' shops, which is undoubtedly an excellent demulcent in various dyspeptic and chest complaints.