338 The World's Commercial Products 



Coca Leaves, " Folio Cocae " 

 of pharmacy, are the dried leaves 

 of Erythroxylum Coca, a shrub 

 about six or eight feet high, 

 bearing small clusters of white 

 flowers and resembling in- general 

 habit the English blackthorn. 

 Alexandrian senna leaves ft is chiefly cultivated on the 



(Natural size) steep slopes of valleys in the 



Andes, and smaller quantities are 

 grown in other parts of the world, e.g., India, Ceylon, and Java; the market is chiefly supplied 

 from South America. Two varieties are met with in commerce, viz., Huanuco, or Bolivian, and 

 Truxillo, or Peruvian. The former leaves have a brownish-green colour with prominent veins, 

 and are not broken to any great extent ; they further possess a well-marked ridge above the 

 mid-rib. In the Truxillo leaves this ridge is absent, and the fragile broken leaves are pale- 

 green. Coca leaves possess a somewhat bitter taste and have a slight but characteristic odour. 

 They contain several alkaloids, the most important being cocaine, largely used in dentistry 

 and in minor operations as a " local " anaesthetic, e.g., a substance producing insensibility 

 to pain over the immediate area to which it is applied. The proportion of the alkaloid present 

 is less than one per cent., and the Bolivian leaves are richer than the Peruvian variety. Coca 

 is also used as a restorative and stimulant, but its most remarkable property is that of con- 

 ferring remarkable powers of resisting physical and mental fatigue. Comparatively but a 

 small proportion of the coca leaves collected in South America is exported, the bulk of the 

 crop being used by the Indians for the purposes mentioned. The custom is one of great 

 antiquity, and the dried leaves have become almost indispensable to the people. The leaves 

 are chewed, mixed with lime and the ash of a plant closely related to the goosefoots of our 

 fields and waste places. When taken in excess the drug is said to produce an intoxication 

 similar to that of opium in its effects, and slaves to the coca-habit seldom attain to old age. 

 Senna Leaves are obtained from two species of Cassia, a genus belonging to the Legumi- 

 nosae (Pea family). " Alexandrian senna " consists of the leaflets of Cassia acutifolia, a small' 

 bush growing wild in several districts of Egypt. The leaves are collected by the Arabs chiefly 

 between Suakim and Kassala, the most important of the two harvests taking place after, the 

 rains in September. The plants are cut and then spread out in the sun to dry, when the 

 leaflets are removed from their stalks. The drug is then packed in palm-leaf bags and carried 

 down for export either to the Red Sea ports or down the Nile to Alexandria. At one time 

 the trade in senna was a monopoly of the Egyptian Government. 



Indian or Tinnevelly Senna consists of the leaflets of Cassia angustifolia, which is abundant 

 in Southern Arabia. The plant is largely cultivated for medicinal purposes in the Tinnevelly 

 district of Southern India, whence the drug receives its name. The leaflets closely resemble 

 Alexandrian senna, but are larger, somewhat narrower, of a lighter green colour, and less 

 hairy ; an interesting difference between the drugs as they appear on the market is the flatter 

 condition of Tinnevelly senna leaves, due to the fact that the leaves are pressed into bales 

 before being shipped, whereas the Arabs pack the drug comparatively loosely. 



Both, varieties. of- senna are extensively used as a purgative in the form of an infusion, 

 and as an'irigredient of " confection of senna." 



Colocyntii or Bitter Apple. The spongy, intensely bitter pulp of the dried fruit of 

 Citrnllus Colocynihis, a creeping plant belonging to the Cucumber family, is largely used as a 

 powerful purgative". .The plant is regarded as a native of the warmer districts of Asia, but it 

 is now widely "distributed, occurring abundantly in Egypt and Northern Africa ; it is also 

 common on the shores of Portugal and is found in Syria, Persia, and India. The fruits, which 

 resemble an orange in shape and size, are green when fresh, but become yellowish-brown when 



