P S Y 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



PS Y 



421 



ceolate, acute, nerved ; racemes three-parted, erect, in their 

 fruiting state nodding. Native of Hispaniola, in open spots, 

 in a cretaceous soil. 



19. Psychotria Speciosa. Arboreous: leaves oblong, lan- 

 ceolate ; involucre terminating, subtriflorous. Native of the 

 island of Otaheite. 



20. Psychotria Involucrata. Stipules two-toothed ; leaves 

 lanceolate, ovate, shining; racemes terminating, corymbed ; 

 pedicels three-flowered; flowers involucred. Native of Ja- 

 maica and Guiana. 



21. Psychotria Flexuosa. Stipules two-toothed; leaves 

 ovate, attenuated to both ends; panicle divaricating, flexuose. 



22. Psycliotria Racemosa. Stipules two-lobed; leaves 

 oblong, acuminate ; raceme terminating, simple ; flowers 

 involucred. Native of Guiana, in the woods of Orapu, flow- 

 ering and fruiting in August. 



23. Psychotria Violacea. Stipules oblong, blunt, deci- 

 duous; leaves oblong, acuminate; flowers, panicle coiymbed, 

 involucred. Native of Guiana in woods, flowering in July. 



24. Psychotria Brachiata. Stipules ovate, bifid ; raceme 

 terminating, compound ; branches brachiate ; flowers aggre- 

 gate, sessile. It flowers in May and June, on high moun- 

 tuins, in the southern parts of Jamaica. 



25. Psychotria Grandis. Stipules deltoid, revolute at the 

 edge, awl-shaped at the tip ; leaves cuneiform, obovate ; 

 stem angular. Native of mountain-coppices in th.e interior 

 of Jamaica, flowering in April. 



26. Psychotria Patens. Stipules two-toothed ; leaves dis- 

 tich, lanceolate-ovate, membranaceous ; branches spreading; 

 panicles directed one way. This is a singular species, the 

 branches of the panicle divaricating, and being all directed 

 one way. Native of Jamaica, on the Blue Mountains. 



27. Psychotria Uliginosa. Stipules connate, acute, con- 

 vex; leaves lanceolate-oblong; seeds compressed, crested; 

 stem subherbaceous, simple, erect. It flowers in spring, and 

 is a native of Jamaica, in wet places upon the mountains. 



28. Psychotria Serpens. Stem subherbaceous, creeping ; 

 leaves ovate-acute at both ends. Native of the East Indies. 



29. Psychotria Herbacea. Stem herbaceous, creeping; 

 leaves cordate, petioled. It produces flowers and ripe fruits 

 in December. Native of Jamaica, and various parts of the 

 East and West Indies. 



30. Psychotria Emetica ; Ipecacuanha Plant. Herbaceous, 

 procumbent : leaves lanceolate, smooth ; stipules extrafolia- 

 ceous, subulate ; heads axillary, peduncled, few-flowered. 

 Root perpendicular, roundish, somewhat branched ; leaves 

 crowded ; stipules deciduous ; flowers axillary, white, stalked, 

 from two to five on each stalk ; berry nearly ovate. Native 

 of the warmest parts of North America. This plant is sup- 

 posed to be the genuine Ipecacuanha : there are three sorts 

 of the root in our shops ; the ash-coloured or gray, the 

 brown, and the while. The .sh-coloured is brought from 

 Peru, and is a small wrinkled root, bent into a great varijty 

 of figures, brought over in short pieces full of wrinkles, and 

 deep circular fissures, down to a small white woody fibre 

 that runs in the middle of each piece ; the cortical part is 

 compact and brittle, and looks smooth and resinous on 

 breaking : it has very little smell ; the taste is bitterish and 

 subacrid, covering the tongue as it were with a kind of muci- 

 lage. The brown is small, somewhat more wrinkled than the 

 above, of a brown-blackish colour without, and white within; 

 this was brought from Brazil. The white sort is woody, has 

 no wrinkles, and no perceptible bitterness ; the ash-coloured 

 is that usually preferred for medicinal use ; the brown, even 

 in a small dose, has been sometimes observed to produce 

 violent effects ; but the white, though taken in large quan- 



tities, has scarcely any effect at all. Dr. Irving has ascer- 

 tained by experiments, that this root contains a gummy and 

 resinous matter, and that the gum is in much greater propor- 

 tion, and is more powerfully emetic, than the resin ; that the 

 cortical is more active than the woody part; and that the 

 whole root possesses an antiseptic and astringent quality. 

 The same physician observes, that its emetic property is most 

 effectually counteracted by means of the acetous acid, inso- 

 much that thirty grains of the powder, taken in two ounces 

 of vinegar, produced only some loose stools. This medicine 

 was first publicly noticed in the middle of the seventeenth 

 century, but did not enter into the general practice till Hel- 

 vetius employed it in the Hotel de Dieu, at Paris. Expe- 

 rience has proved it to be the mildest and safest emetic with 

 which we are acquainted ; having this peculiar advantage, 

 that if it does not operate by vomit, it discharges itself by 

 the usual evacuations. It was at first introduced with the 

 character of an almost infallible remedy in dysenteries and 

 other inveterate fluxes, and also in disorders proceeding from 

 obstructions of long standing ; nor has it since lost much of 

 its reputation. In the spasmodic asthma, Dr. Akensidc re- 

 marks, that where nothing contiaindicates repeated vomiting, 

 he knows no medicine so effectual. In violent paroxysms, a 

 scruple procures immediate relief; where the complaint is habi- 

 tual, from three to five grains every other morning, may be 

 given for a month or six weeks. It has also been employed 

 with success in hseinorrhages. Several cases of menorrhagia 

 are mentioned Ly Dahlberg, in which one-third or half a 

 grain was given every four hours till it effected a cure. These 

 small doses are likewise found of great use in oatarrhal and 

 even consumptive cases, as well as in various states of 

 fever. Cullen informs us, that he knew;, a practitioner who 

 cured intermittents by giving five grains of Ipecacuanha, or 

 enough to excite nausea, an hour before the accession of 

 the fit was expected ; and, that another proposed to cure 

 agues by emetics given at the time of accession, or at the end 

 of the cold stage, and was also successful. In short, Pringle, 

 Lewis, Motherby, and Akenside, agree that this vomit may 

 be ventured on in almost every case where the stomach re- 

 quires to be unloaded of its contents. The common dose, 

 when it is intended to vomit, is from ten grains to a scruple 

 for a grown person, and in proportion for others. As a spe- 

 cific in the bloody flux, repeated experiments have established 

 its reputation, and confirmed its efficacy, not only when 

 given as an emetic, but in such small doses as scarcely pro- 

 duce any visible effect. In the slighter kinds of the disease 

 it commonly performs a cure in a very short time, not by act- 

 ing as an astringent, but apparently by promoting a gentle 

 perspiration, which is here for the most part obstructed. 

 Most of the common sudorifics, or sweating medicines, in 

 these cases pass off without producing any effect. But if, 

 after taking a puke of Ipecacuanha, the patient is covered up 

 warm in bed, a gentle sweat soon succeeds, by which the 

 disease is often terminated at once. But though in the putrid 

 or malignant kinds of this disease it is not so speedily effica- 

 cious, it should by no means be omitted, either in small doses 

 by itself, or joined with such other medicines as the case may 

 require. This root, in its powdered state, is now, in fact, 

 advantageously employed in every disease where vomiting is 

 indicated, and, combined with opium, under the form of 

 Pulvis Sudorificus, it furnishes us with the most useful and 

 active sweating medicine which we possess. It is also given 

 with good effects in those very small doses which produce 

 no sensible operation. The full dose in substance is one 

 scruple. The officinal preparation, sold by the druggists, is 

 Vinum Ipecacuanha, or Ipecacuanha Wine. 



