38 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



The name of the genus Jateorhiza was finally created 

 in 1849 by Miers. (Hooker, Niger Flora, p. 212). 

 Chasmanthera columba is another synonym for this 

 plant proposed by Baillon (33), (Nat. Hist, of Plants, 

 Vol. Ill, London, 1874). This record condenses much 

 of a study contributed by Dr. Sigmund Waldbott and 

 the present writer, to the Western Druggist, Chicago, 

 1898. 



CAMBOGIA or GAMBOGIA 



(Gamboge, Pipe Gamboge) , 



Mentioned in all the U. S. Pharmacopeias, from 1820 to 1910. 

 The early editions used the spelling (rambogia, with the exception 

 of the New York edition of 1830, which uses Cambogia. Begin- 

 ning with 1880, the later Pharmacopeias all spell the name Cam- 

 bogia. 



Gamboge is the product of a Siamese tree, Garcinia 

 Hanburii, from Camboja, from whence it derives its 

 name. Chinese travelers over a thousand years ago 

 mentioned it, describing the method of obtaining it by 

 an incision in the stem of the tree, whilst the Chinese 

 herbal "Pun tsao" includes it in its pages. The Chinese, 

 however, regarded the drug as poisonous, its use by 

 them being chiefly as a pigment. Clusius (153) de- 

 scribed in 1605 a specimen of gamboge brought from 

 China in 1603, after which the drug drifted into Eu- 

 ropean medicine as a purgative. It was one of the arti- 

 cles of commerce of the East India Company, and in 

 the shops of the city of Frankfort it was recognized 

 pharmaceutically as early as 1612. The date of the 

 introduction of gamboge into Chinese art and medicine 

 antedates the records of established history. 



