MATERIA MEDIC A. 77 



Podophyllum peltatum y L., of Canada and the United 

 States, contains in its rhizome the purgative resin 

 PODOPHYLLIN, admitted to the British Pharmacopoeia 

 from that of the United States in 1864.* 



Canlophyllum thalictroides^ Michx.,t the 'BLUE 

 COHOSH,' Z.K& Jeffersonia diphylla,\ Pers., the 'TwiN- 

 LEAF,' belong to the same order. 



SARRACENIACE^:. 



Sarracenia purpurea, L., ' THE INDIAN CUP,' re- 

 commended as a remedy in small-pox, is valueless. 



PAPAVERACE.E. 



Sanguinaria canadensis, L., the ' BLOOD-ROOT,' or 

 ' PUCCOON,' of North America, is stimulant and 

 diaphoretic. 



Papaver somniferum, L., the OPIUM POPPY, said to 

 be truly wild in the islands of the Mediterranean (P. 

 somniferum t var. setigerwn, Boissier), has been culti- 

 vated from a remote antiquity for its sedative pro- 

 perties. The dried milky ' latex ' obtained from in- 

 cisions in the unripe fruit- capsules constitutes opium, 

 the narcotic property of which depends upon mor- 

 phine, C 17 H 19 NO 3 , and various other related alkaloids. 

 Six distinct kinds occur in commerce, viz., (i) that of 

 Asia Minor or Smyrna, and Turkey or Constan- 



* Bentley, ' Pharm. Journ.,' iii (1862), p. 452 ; ' Pharmacog.,' 

 p. 35 ; Bentley and Trimen, pi. 17. 



f ' Pharm. Journ.,' iv (1862), p. 52. 



J Ibid.) p. 104. 



Ibid., pp. 263-9, an <i G. D. Gibb, c Pharm. Journ.,' i (1860), 

 p. 454 ; Bentley and Trimen, pi. 20. 



