1PECACUAN. 201 



by Professor Brotero of Coimbra, from observations made on living 

 specimens in Brazil, by Dr. Gomes, and from dried specimens sent 

 to Europe. 



Piso divides this root into two sorts, the white and the brown, or 

 according to Geoffrey, the Peruvian and Brazilian ipecacuanha*; 

 but three sorts are evidently distinguishable iu our shops, viz. ash- 

 coloured or grey, brown, and white. 



The ash-coloured is brought from Peru, and " is a small wrinkled 

 root, bent and contorted into a great variety of figures, brought 

 over in short pieces full of wrinkles and deep circular fissures, down 

 to a small white woody fibre that runs iu the middle of each piece : 

 the cortical part is compact, brittle, looks smooth and resinous upon 

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

 covering the tongue as it were with a kind of mucilage. The brown 

 is small, somewhat more wrinkled thau the foregoing; of a brown 

 or blackish colour without, and white within ; this is brought from 

 Brazil. The white sort is woody, has no wrinkles, and no percep. 

 tible bitterness in taste. The first, the aoh-colourcd or grey ipe- 

 cacuan, is that usually preferred for medicinal use. Tiie brown has 

 been sometimes observed, even in a small dose, to produce violent 

 effects. The white, though taken in a large one, has scarce any 

 effect at allf." Dr. Irving has ascertained by experiments $, that 

 this root contains a gummy and resinous matter, and that the gum 

 is in much greater proportion, and is more powerfully emetic than 

 the resin : that the cortical part is more active than the ligneous, 

 and that the whole root manifests an antiseptic and astringent power. 

 He also found its emetic quality to be most effectually counteracted 

 by means of the acetous acid, insomuch, that thirty grains of the 

 powder taken in two ounces of vinegar, produced only some loose 

 stools. 



The first account we have of ipecacuan is that published by Piso, 

 in 1649 ; but it did not come into general use till thirty years after- 

 wards, when Helvetius , under the patronage of Louis XIV. em- 

 ployed it at the Hotel de Dieu, and introduced this root into com- 



* Pison. ind. res. Med. et Nat. p. 231. 

 + Edinb. New Dispens. p. 211. 



J See the Dissertation which obtained the prize medal of the Harveian So- 

 ciety of Edinburgh, for 1784. 



S See Recueil des Methodes, p. 280. 



