MARVEL OF PERU. 265 



time of Gerard, who tells us, in his work of 1597, 

 that he had then planted it many years in his 

 garden, and that in temperate years he had pro- 

 cured ripe seed. He writes at considerable length 

 on the beauty of the flowers, and says, it ought 

 to be called '' rather the Maruell of the World 

 than of Peru alone." 



Jacobus Antonius Cortusus, a professor of 

 botany at Padua, who died in the year 1593, 

 first discovered the cathartic qualities of the root 

 of this plant ; and it was shortly afterwards sup- 

 posed to be the true Gelapo, or Jalap of the 

 shops, and the plant was accordingly named 

 Mirabilis Jalapa, Dr. James observes, in his 

 History of Drugs, 1745, that the Jalap '' was a 

 root unknown to the ancients, and also in Europe 

 till the discovery of America." He adds, " It 

 usually comes from the Spanish West Indies in 

 transverse slices, about an inch thick, being rug- 

 ged, and of a dark brown colour on the outside, 

 and whitish within, full of black shining resin." 

 This has been believed, by most authors, to be 

 the root of a Convolvulus, Mr. Ray noticing it as 

 Convolvulus Americanus, Jalaphwi Dictus ; but, if 

 we may rely on the account which Father Plu- 

 mier gives of it, it is a species of Mirabilis Peru- 

 viana, or Marvel of Peru. 



Boerhaave, Dale, and most other medical wri- 



