MENISPERMA CE®. . / 47 
MENISPERMACES, 
_ JATEORHIZA CALUMBA, Miers. — 
q Fig. —Bentl. and Frim., ‘. » 13 Calan (Eng), Colombo 
4 (Fr.). 
| Bet—o%6: Moisttigut: The root. 
—  Vernacular.—Kalamb-ki-jer (Hind.), Kalamb kaehri (Bomb. a 
_.Kalamba ver (Tam.), Kalamba-veru (Tel.). 
d History, Uses, &c <(ahimba grows in the escusie of 
_ Fast Africa, along the Mozambique Coast, in the Zambesi 
country, and Madagascar; the Arabs call it Sék-el- hamém, * 
‘dove’s foot,’ from the resemblance of the hairy ovaries 
with their three-parted stigmas to the leg and foot of a 
dove. - The drug appears to have been first introduced’ into 
ndia by the Portuguese, In Africa it would seem to have 
been long used as a medicine in dysentery, and other affections 
of the bowels. Fltckiger and Hanbury’s researches have 
traced its introduction into Europe to the Portuguese, as far — 
back as 167]. - Shortly after this date, Francisco Redi noticed 
it as an alexipharmic. It would then appear to have been 
' neglected until re-introduced by Percival in 1773; since then _ 
it has been in constant use in Europe as a mild tonic. The 
_ older English physicians in India probably became acquainted 
_ with it through-the Portuguese. The plant was introduced 
_ into Madras i in 1805, and subsequently into Bengal and Bombay, 
bat it appears now to have died’ out. Calumbin, the non- ~ 
‘ nitrogenous: crystalline bitter principle occurring in Calumba- 
_ root together with berberine is usually. represented as not 
possessing much physiological activity. Dr: Lauder Brunton - 
says (Pharmacology, p. 757), it seems to have less action than 
7 berberine. But-some experiments made with the separated 
_ crystalline principle, and reported by M, Houdé (Repértoire, 
- March, 1886, P. 113), point to it being a somewhat pe 
_ substance, giving rise to vomiting and diarrhea. In small — 
4 doses it appeared to augment the secretion of bile, of the § lands ‘ 
