318 PHARMACOPEIAS DRUGS 



syrup. Until a few decades ago, senega came from the 

 eastern United States and the central hill lands, as a 

 small, wire-like root. Unexpectedly, a large, knotty 

 variety was discovered in Wisconsin, which displaced 

 the older variety. The problem was discussed by Pro- 

 fessor Maisch and this writer in the Am. Journ. of 

 Pharm., (1889), and the Proceedings of the American 

 Pharmaceutical Association, which see, (1889, p. 473 

 and 1891, p. 43). 



SENNA (Senna) 



Official in every edition of the U. S. P., from 1820 to 1910. 

 Senna of the U. S. P., 1910, is the leaflet of Cassia acutifolia 

 (Alexandria Senna of commerce), or of Cassia angustifolia (India 

 Senna). 



Senna leaves are from two species of Cassia, one 

 native to Nubia and other sections of Africa, while the 

 other abounds in Yemen and Southern Arabia, as well 

 as in some parts of India, where it is cultivated for 

 medicinal use. The cultivated plant, originally the 

 product of Arabian seed, furnishes the leaves known in 

 commerce as Tinnevelly senna. The drug was intro- 

 duced into western Europe by the Arabians, in which 

 connection it may be noted that, notwithstanding its 

 present abundance in some parts of Africa, according 

 to Isaac Judseus (336a), a native of Egypt, who lived 

 about 850-900 A. D., senna was brought to Egypt 

 from Mecca. In early Arabian medicine, the pods of 

 the senna were preferred to the leaves. Its price in 

 France, (1542), was about that of pepper or ginger. 

 This writer found senna abundant in the Orient, carried 

 in shops where food and provisions were sold, and in 

 the bazaars of Aden, Arabia, as well as in those of 

 Smyrna and Constantinople, it being everywhere a 



