202 Dr. Hodges oti the Pharmaceutical and Chemical 



•a 



The grass oil consists, therefore, of a carburetted hydrogen, 

 having the same composition, C5 H4, as the numerous other 

 oils of which oil of turpentine is the type, together with a 

 small quantity of one or more oxygenated oils. The affinity 

 which this grass oil has for oxygen appears to be very con- 

 siderable; for even after being purified, the carburetted hy- 

 drogen part of the oil cannot be distilled without a little of it 

 being converted into a resin. The resinous matter, of which 

 the oil contains such a large quantity, is, 1 should think, 

 therefore most probably the effect of oxidation. 



XXXIII. Observations on the Pharmaceutical and Chemical 

 Characters of the Peruvian Matico. By John F. Hodges, 



A BOUT five years ago I received a parcel of the leaves of 

 -^^ the Matico from a friend who had resided many years 

 in Peru. He informed me that they were universally re- 

 garded by the native practitioners of that country as a most 

 valuable remedy in various diseases, and also related several 

 marvellous stories, current among the Indians and European 

 settlers, of their power in arresting the most violent hae- 

 morrhages, particularly those connected with the bladder and 

 urinary organs. At the time I made a few experiments with 

 the leaves, which however I was only lately able to pursue, 

 and as they have not been subjected, so far as I can in this 

 remote district ascertain, to a careful chemical examination 

 either in this country or on the continent, the following ob- 

 servations may be interesting. It is, I believe, to Dr. Jef- 

 freys of Liverpool that we are indebted for the first notice in 

 this country of the medicinal virtues of the Matico. Its ac- 

 tion, when applied externally as a styptic, has been established 

 in the practice of Dr. Munro of Dundee, and Dr. Lane of 

 Lancaster has also lately communicated the results of his ex- 

 perience regarding its internal administration, which are con- 

 firmatory of its South American reputation. On the conti- 

 nent, a short notice of it has appeared in the Pharmaceutische 

 Central Blatt, Jan. 1843, by Dr. Martius, and a brief and 

 imperfect account of it is also given in the Dictionnaire of 

 Merat and Lenz. It is stated by Dr. Martius, that like the 

 Gunjah, which the East Indian prepares from the Cannabis 

 Indica, the leaves and flowers of the Matico have been long 

 employed by the sensual Indians of the interior of Peru to 

 prepare a drink which they administer to produce a state of 

 aphrodisia. 



• Communicated by the Chemical Society j having been read April 1, 

 1844. 



