IPECACUANHA. 83 



with those drugs and spices commonly reported impure. The 

 substances which were found to be mixed with the ipecac were 

 of the simplest kind and can be detected under the microscope by 

 persons having had no experience in this line of work before. 

 But to understand what belongs to the pure powder one should 

 become acquainted with the physical appearance as well as the 

 structure of the root itself. 



The botanical name is Cephcetis ipecacuanha while the common 

 name is ipecac. It belongs to the natural order Rubiaceae. It. is 

 indigenous to the damp forests of Brazil, New Granada, and the 

 north-eastern portion of Bolivia between about 8" and 22 south 

 latitude. So it is entirely an imported drug. 



a 



ft- 



Fig. 2. Cross section of Ipecacuanha root, x 10 diameters. 



The roots are numerous, spreading horizontally from their 

 origin. At first slender and white, but when fully grown about 

 1-5 of an inch in diameter. In preparing the drug for market 

 the- smaller roots are discarded, only those of an average thick- 

 ness being used. They are long, seldom branched, of an orange- 

 brown, or of a dull gray-brown occasionally almost black, irreg- 

 ularly bent and twisted and covered with a very thick bark. 

 There are numerous deep longidutinal furrows running the en- 

 tire length of the root, transversely marked by ring-like furrows 

 closely packed together. The depressions between the rings be- 

 ing sometimes as deep as the woody cord. These corrugations 



