278 ANACAHUITE WOOD. 



i86i. have been imported into Bremen and Hamburg, and sold at a 

 high rate, the requirements of purchasers are still far from 

 being satisfied. 



In order to explain the circumstances that have led to the 

 introduction of this new drug and the valuable properties which 

 it is asserted to possess, I will here give the translation of a 

 short paragraph extracted from a popular German journal into 

 the pages of the Archiv der Pharmacie for November last : 



German There grows at Tampico, in Mexico, a tree with the wood of 

 account. w } 1 i c ] 1) called Anacahuite, the Indians cure all chest complaints, 

 especially diseases of the lungs. The inhabitants of Tampico 

 have also used this remedy, and have succeeded in completely 

 curing consumption with it, even in the case of persons in 

 whose families the disease appeared to be hereditary. The 

 Prussian Consul at Tampico has for years past observed the 

 beneficial effects of this wood, and, as in all cases the patients 

 were cured by the use of it, he has been induced to communicate 

 the subject to the Prussian Government, and to send a con- 

 siderable quantity of the wood to Berlin, where experiments 

 are now being made in the hospitals to determine its medicinal 

 efficacy. 



Anacahuite wood is administered in the simple form of 

 infusion, shavings of the wood, previously deprived of its bark, 

 being treated with boiling water, as in the preparation of tea. 

 This infusion is drunk in the morning fasting and again in the 

 evening at bedtime. In cases where the disease has already 

 made considerable progress, the infusion may be used as often as 

 the patient is inclined to drink. Highly seasoned food and 

 strong alcoholic beverages as well as coffee, must be avoided 

 while the medicine is being used. Spitting of blood is removed 

 in a few days ; in all cases, however, it is advisable to continue 

 the use of the medicine for some time even after recovery. 



Anacahuife wood, it will thus be seen, is a production of 

 Tampico, whence, in fact, all the supplies that have reached 

 Europe have been shipped. Its botanical origin is at present 

 unknown. Dr. Otto Berg, who has elaborately described its 

 external character and anatomical structure, 1 thinks that from the 

 organization of the bark and wood it is probably derived from 



1 Bonplandia, 15th Oct., 1860, p. 302. 



