88 IPECACUANHA. 



whole of the root in the section. Only a very minute piece is 

 needed, that will show both the bark and the woody center. 

 Probably several sections will have to be cut before one will be 

 thin enough. Float this little section on the glass slide with a 

 camel's hair brush. Holding the little piece in its place on the 

 slide with a needle the needle should have been wedged into a 

 wooden handle for convenience wash the specimen in w^ter 

 many times with the camel's hair brush, so as to remove as much 

 as possible of the starch. The longitudinal section should be pre- 

 pared in the same way. In cutting the longitudinal section care 

 should be taken to cut near the center, so as to have some of 

 the woody cord in the specimen. After these sections have been 

 thoroughly examined under the microscope, the powdered ipecac 

 can be studied. A drop of water is placed on the glass slide 

 by means of the camel's hair brush and just a little of the pow- 

 der taken on the point of the penknife and dusted over the 

 water only a small amount of the powder is to be taken. After 

 protecting it with the thin glass-cover it is ready to be examined. 

 Any one who has taken these steps, can test for themselves the 

 purity of the powdered ipecac found in the drug stores. 



The following substances are reported as having been found 

 in powdered ipecacuanha: almond meal, licorice, corn meal and 

 potato starch. 



The presence of almond meal can be detected by the devel- 

 opment of hydrocyanic acid upon infusion in water. The pres- 

 ence of the seed coats as well as the central part of the almond 

 may be detected by the microscope. The central part or the 

 cotyledons are composed of thin walled hexagonal cells, smaller 

 than the cells of the bark of the ipecac, and loaded with oil 

 drops. They are entirely free from starch grains. Minute spiral 

 vessels are frequently scattered through these cells. The outer 

 seed coat or the dark brown scurfy part of the almond is made 

 up of large oblong cells, with peculiar pits or dots covering the 

 cell-wall. They are about ^-i-^ of an inch broad and nearly 

 twice as long. By the way, if some of these cells are scraped 

 off from the outer surface of the almond and boiled in a solu- 

 tion of caustic soda they will make beautiful objects for examina- 

 tion with polarized light under the microscope. Almond meal is 

 probably not of very common use for mixing with ipecac. 



