152 ASARUM CANADENSE, 
dish colour and very bitter. These two constitu- 
ents communicate to alcohol the active properties 
of the plant. 3. Feeula. 4. A gummy mucus. 
These exist in such quantities as to impede the 
filtration of the decoction. Astringency hardly 
exists in this root, as a gelatinous solution gave no 
evidence of tannin, and the sulphate of iron pro- 
duced a green colour hardly bordering on bJack. 
It has been asserted, and the statement copied 
from one book to another, that the Asarum Cana- 
dense is a powerful emetic. I presume that sub- 
sequent writers have taken their opinion from 
_ Cornutus, who, in his plants of Canada, informs 
us, that two spoonfuls of the juice of the leaves of 
the Asarum, ( meaning the European plant, rather 
than the American,) are found to evacuate the 
stomach powerfully. I can hardly doubt, that if 
such an operation has really been produced from 
the Canadian species, it must have taken place 
in irritable stomachs, to whom two spoonfuls of 
any crude vegetable juice would have proved 
emetic. Having seen the root of this plant used 
in the country in considerable quantities as a 
sudorific, I was long since induced to doubt its. 
emetic power. Subsequent experience has satis- 
fied me that the freshly powdered root, given to 
the extent of half'a drachm, and probably in still 
