56 MEDICAL BOTANY. 
three or four inches long, about the thickness of a quill, contorted and twisted. It is called annulated, because each 
piece is knotty and presents the appearance of rings; these annulations are irregular, not only as regards the con- 
tiguous ones, but in each distinct one, the sides being unequal. It is composed of a cortical portion, breaking with a 
waxy fracture, and an internal ligneous cord (meditulum). It has an aromatic, acrid, somewhat bitter taste, and a 
nauseous peculiar smell. 
Among other principles, it contains an odorous fatty matter and emetia, which is the active principle ; this is capa- 
ble of union with acids. 
Ipecacuanha is an emetic, mild and safe in its operation; in small doses it is alterative and sudorific. 
The history of the introduction of this root into practice is as curious as its botanical history. Although known 
in 1648, it did not attract attention in Europe until 1672, when it was carried to Paris by Legras, a medical traveller, 
who disposed of it to an apothecary ; being administered in too great a dose, some prejudice was created against it. 
In 1680, a merchant named Garnier obtained 150 pounds weight of it, from whose hands it came into those of Helve- 
tius. This Dutch physician, experimenting with it, proclaimed that he had an invaluable remedy in dysentery, was 
permitted to use it in the hospitals, and finally curing the Dauphin, sold his secret to Louis XIV. for a thousand 
louis d’or, and public honours, when it became public. The rewards were disputed by his colleague Garnier. Since 
that time the popularity of the medicine has been established. The pulvis helvetii was constituted of ipecacuanha as 
the basis. 
There are a great number of modes of employing ipecacuanha, well calculated to bring out its peculiar effects; 
the powder, pill, syrup, wine, are most employed. It is given constantly in combination with other substances. 
Prate XLVI.—Represents the plant in flower, and fruit, with a dissection of the flower magnified. 
-VALERIANACER. 
LINDLEY. 
THE VALERIAN TRIBE. 
VALERIANEE.—De Candolle. 
___ Essenrian Cuar.—Tube of the calyx adnate to the ovary; limb various, either dentate or partite, or changed 
into a pappus, which is first involute, afterwards expanded. Corolla tubular, funnel shaped ; usually five lobed, rarely 
three or four lobed; lobes obtuse; tube equal or gibbous, or calcarate at base. Stamens adnate by their filaments to 
be tube of the corolla; free at the apex; alternate with the lobes of the corolla, five (the type), four, three, two, or 
solitary. Anthers ovate, bilocular. Style filiform. Stigmas two or three, free or cohering. Fruit membranous, oF 
somewhat mucamentaceous, indihiscent, crowned, at least when young, with the limb of the calyx; either three-celled 
(two cells being empty), or one-celled. Seeds, in the fertile cell or fruit, solitary, pendulous, exalbuminous; embryo 
crest, with a superior radicle and two flat cotyledons. (De Candolle and Perera.) ae 
Th The valerian tribe is composed of annual or perennial plants, herbaceous and rarely shrubby, occasionally twining: 
he leaves are collected in rosettes at the root, or distributed on the stem, opposite, entire, or variously divided m a 
dieateese without stipules. The flowers are sometimes male or female by abortion. The medical_ properties 
are stimulating, tonic and antispasmodic, in many of them to an inordinate extent; they are highly odorous. yen 5 
psy “sat due to volatile oil and resin, with respect to the generation of which Fee (Cours @ Histotre pie yr 
re » “we have already remarked, that the duration of plants was necessary to permit the development 0 pros 
ee ee family which now occupies us, presents a remarkable example of this truth. 
an Valerianee are inodorous in all their parts, while the perennial have slightly odorous flowers, and roots per 
a n a a oil of _very strong odour, upon which their medical virtues depend.” They are natives of m 
perate climates, sometimes at considerable elevations 
: d South 
i : : . They are abundant in the north of India, Europe an 
ner ae — a common in Africa and North America. (Lindley, Veg. King.) 
