24 MENISPERMACEiE. 



Eastern Africa who call it Kalumb, and use it for the cure of dysentery 

 and as a general remedy for almost any disorder. 



It was brought to Europe by the Portuguese in the l7th century, and 

 is first noticed briefly in 1671 by Francesco Redi, who speaks of it' 

 as an antidote to poison deserving trial. 



No further attention was paid to the drug for nearly a century, when 

 PercivaP in 1773 re-introduced it as " a medicine of considerable eflicacy 

 . . . not so genercdly knovjn in 'practice as it deserves to be." From this 

 period it began to come into general use. J. Gurney Bevan, a London 

 druggist, writing to a correspondent in 1777 alludes to it as — " an article 

 not yet much dealt in and subject to great fluctuation." It was in fact 

 at this period extremely dear, and in Mr. Be van's stock-books is valued 

 in 1776 and 1777 at 308. per lb., in 1780 at 28s., 1781 at 64s., 1782 at 

 15s., 1783 at 6s. Calumba was admitted to the London PharnMcopoeia 

 in 1788. 



Collection — As to the collection and preparation of the drug for 

 the market, the only account we possess is that obtained by Dr. Berry,'' 

 which states that the roots are dug up in the month of March, which is 

 the dry season, cut into slices and dried in the shade. 



Description — The calumba plant produces great fusiform fleshy 

 roots growing several together from a short head. Some fresh speci- 

 mens sent to one of us (H.) from the Botanic Garden, Mauritius, 

 in 1866, and others from that of Trinidad in 1868, were portions of 

 cylindrical roots, 3 to 4 inches in diameter, externally rough and brown 

 and internally firm, fleshy, and of a brilliant yellow. When sliced 

 transversely, and dried by a gentle heat, these roots exactly resemble 

 imported calumba except for being much fresher and brighter. 



The calumba of commerce consists of irregular flattish pieces of a 

 circular or oval outline, 1 to 2 inches or more in diameter, and ^ to ^ an 

 inch thick. In drying, the central portion contracts more than the 

 exterior : hence the pieces are thinnest in the middle. The outer edge 

 is invested with a brown wrinkled layer which covers a corky bark 

 about f of an inch thick, surrounding a pithless internal substance, from 

 which it is separated by a fine dark shaded line. The pieces are light 

 and of a corky texture, easily breaking with a mealy fracture. Their 

 colour is a dull greenish yellow, brighter when the outer surface is 

 shaved oflf with a knife.^ The drug has a weak musty odour and a 

 rather nauseous bitter taste. It often arrives much perforated by in- 

 sects, but seems not liable to such depredations here. 



Microscopic Structure — On a transverse section the root exhibits 

 a circle of radiate vascular bundles only in the layer immediately con- 

 nected with the cambial zone ; they project much less distinctly into the 

 cortical part. The tissue of the whole root, except the cork and vascular 

 bundles, is made up of large parenchymatous cells. In the outer part 

 of the bark, some of them have their yellow walls thickened and are 



^ " Sono ancora da farsi nuove esperienze ^ Adatick Researches, x. (1808) 385; 



intomo alia radice di Calumbe, creduta un Ainslie, Mat. Med. of Hindoostan, 298. 



grandissimo alessifarmaco. "— ^ispene/izc, p. * Wholesale druggists sometimes waah 



125. (See Appendix, R. ) the dnig to improve its colour. 



''Essays Medical and Experimental, Lond. 

 ii. (1773) 3. 



