248 ORD. XII. Campanacee. CONVOLVULUS JALAPAN. 
the. year 1610, and teok its name from Xalapa, a province or town 
in New Spain. In. the shops we find this root. both cut into slices, 
and whole, of an oval shape, solid, ponderous, blackish on the 
outside, but grey within, and marked with several dark veins, by 
the number of which, and by its hardness, heaviness, and dark 
colour, the goodness of the root:is to be estimated. It has scarcely 
any smell, and very little taste, but to the tongue and to the throat 
manifests a slight degree of pungency.. The medicinal activity of 
Jalap resides principally, if not wholly, in the resin,. which. though 
given in small doses, occasions violent. tormina. The gummy part 
bears an inconsiderable proportion to the resinous, and is found ta 
have little or no cathariic power, but as a diuretic it is extremely 
active:—That Jalap is an efficacious and safe purgative daily expe- 
rience must evince, but according as the root contains more or less 
resin, its effects. must of course vary. _ Hoffman thought it particu- 
arly improper and unsafe to administer this medicine to, children; 
but Dr. Cullen observes, that if Jalap “ be well triturated before 
exhibition with a hard powder, andthe crystals of tartar are the 
- fittest for the purpose, it will operate in lesser doses than when taken 
by itself, and at the same time very moderately and without griping, 
Except when given in very large doses, I have not found it to be 
heating to the system ; and if it be triturated with a hard sugar, it 
becomes, in moderate doses, a safe medicine for children, which in 
this form they will readily receive, as the jalap itself has very little 
taste.” + Jalap, in large doses, or when joined with calomel, is 
recommended as an anthelmintic and a hydragogue, and from its 
general efficacy ih dropsies was called Panacea Hydropicorum.* For 
the different constitutions and conditions of body in which it is more 
especially indicated, or its use forbidden, we may cite the opinion of 
Geoffroy: “ Observandum tamen Jalapam non convenire in febribus 
acutis, neque calidis & siccis constitutionibus, In his enim, sicué 
cetera purgantia acria & irritantia, calorem intensum & sexpe 
inflammatorium in visceribus accendit, parcioremque imo sxpe¢ 
+ Cullen’s Mat, Med; vol. 2. p, 540, 4 Marcgrave M, M. 
Ps 
cae oa 
Sp a ae 
