of North American Indians. 17 



Pouskus signifies an infant or child. 



Nan-ta-ha . . . what is it. 



Sub-un-nah ... I want some. 



Babeshela ... a friend. 



Knockfish ... a half brother. 



Tobobesa ... an own brother. 



Tale ... metal. 



Taleholiso ... silver or money 



Nanichehaw ... mountain or hill. 



Luac ... fire 



Pene-luac ... steam-boat, fire-boat. 



Ouka-homa ... whisky, or strong water. 



Koupissa . . . winter, or cold weather. 



Chickamaw . . . good. 



Fena ... very. 



Mahoba ... I think. 



ART. V. 0bservatt07is on the Roots which yield the Ipecacuanha 

 of Commerce. By John S. Bushnan, Esq. President of the Pli- 

 nian Society, Member of the Royal Medical, Caledonian Horti- 

 cultural, and Royal Physical Societies of Edinburgh. 



The discovery of this valuable medicine is due to the Brazilians, 

 who ascribe it to the agency of a species of dog infesting the envi- 

 rons of Guaratingueta, said to feed on the root and stalks of the 

 plant when not in health. MarcrafF and Piso were the first who 

 made it known to Europeans, but it is to Helvetius, who flourish- 

 ed under the patronage of Lewis XIV. that we are indebted for 

 bringing it into general use. Previous to him, however, a Brazilian, 

 Michael Tristam, speaks of its medicinal virtues, and probably from 

 his essay Helvetius obtained his knowledge. A translated copy is 

 to be found, among other curious papers, in Purchas's Pilgrims, a 

 very rare and valuable work. 



To this plant many synonymes have been given, as the Ipecacu- 

 anhoB Radix, Radix Brasiliensis sen antidysenterica, the Ameri- 

 can or Peruvian antidysenteric, Beconquille, Mine d'or, t^-c. De- 

 candolle states that the word ipecacuanha, implies, in South Ame- 

 rica, vomiting root. But M. Aug. de Saint Hilaire asserts that it 

 implies the bark of an odorous, and, to use his own expression, a 

 rayee plant, derived from ipe bark, ca a plant, cua odorous, nha 

 rayee. 



General History. — The accounts and figures of the plant, pub- 

 lished by Marcraff in the Historia rerum naturalium Brasilice, 

 and Pison in his work, De Medicina Brasiliensi, were too vague 

 and uncertain to enable the botanist to determine either the genus 

 or the species to which it belonged. Ray thought it to be a spe- 



