RADIX IPECACUANHA. 371 



Piso and Marcgi'af ^ in their scientific exploration of Bmzil met 

 with two kinds of ipecacuanha; the one provided with a brown 

 root is Cephaelis Ipecacuanha, which they figured. The root of 

 the other variety, which they called Ipecacuanha hlanca, is that 

 of Richardsonia scabra (see page 376 below). Piso and Marcgraf 

 described the virtues of these roots, apparently supposing them to be 

 much the same as to their action. Although in common use in Brazil, 

 ipecacuanha was not employed in Europe prior to the year 1672. At 

 that date, a traveller named Legras brought from South America a 

 quantity of the root to Paris, some of which came into the possession of 

 the " maitre appoticaire " Claquenelle.^ It would appear that the root 

 was prescribed from the latter by Legras (said to have been himself 

 acquainted with the practice of medicine *), and also by Jean Adrien 

 Helvetius, a young Dutch physician, then living in Paris. Yet no 

 success at first was obtained, the drug being administered in too large 

 doses. In 1680, a merchant of Paris named Gamier became possessed 

 of 150 lb. of ipecacuanha, the valuable properties of which in dysentery 

 he vaunted to his medical attendant AfForty, and to Helvetius. Gar- 

 nier on his convalescence * made a present of some of the new drug to 

 Aiforty, who attached to it but little importance. Helvetius, on the 

 other hand, was induced to prescribe the root in cases of dysentery, 

 which he did with the utmost success. It is stated by Eloy that 

 Helvetius even caused placards to be alfixed to the comers of the 

 streets (about the year 1686), announcing his successful treatment with 

 the new drug, supplies of which he obtained through Gamier from 

 Spain, and sold as a secret medicine. The fame of the cures eflfected 

 by Helvetius reached the French Court, and caused some trials of 

 the drug to be made at the Hotel Dieu. These having been fully suc- 

 cessful, Louis XIV. accorded to Helvetius the sole right of vending his 

 remedy.^ Subsequently several great pei-sonages, including the Dauphin 

 of France, having experienced its benefit, the king consulted his physi- 

 cian, Antoine d'Aquin, and the well-known Jesuit Pere Fran9ois de 

 Lachaise, who had become the King's confessor in 1675. Through them 

 was chiefly negotiated the purchase from Helvetius of his secret, for 

 1000 louis-d'or, and made public in 1688. The right of Helvetius to 

 this payment was disputed in law by Gamier, but maintained by a 

 decision of the Chatelet of Pai'is.^ 



The botanical source of ipecacuanha was the subject of much dispute 

 until finally settled by Antonio Bernardino Gomez, a physician of the 

 Portuguese navy, who brought authentic specimens from Brazil to 

 Lisbon in the year 1800.^ 



^ Hist. nat. Brasil. 1648. Piso, p. 101, in Ephemerid. Acaclem. Ccesareo-Leopold, 



Marcgraf, p. 17. 1696, AppendLx, p. 6, miscalled the mer- 



' Pomet, Hintoire girUrale des Drogues, i. chant Grenier. 



(1694) 47. 5 ^j^ abstract of the royal patent is 



^ Merat and De Lena, Diet, de Mat. Mid. given by Leibnitz, l.c. 20 (date not added), 



iii. (1831) 644, call Legras a physician, and " On the history of ipecacuanha, consult 



say that Gamier brought himself the 150 also Sprengel, Geschkhte der Arzneykunde, 



lb. from abroad, iv. (1827) 542.— We have not seen the 



■* Eloy, Histoire g4n6rale de la MMecine. pamphlet quoted by Haller, Bibl. hot. ii. 



Mods. ii. (1778) 485, mentions a dck drug- 17 : Helvetius, Usage de V Hipecacoanha. 



gist, who presented Helvetius with the 4° (no date). 



ipecacuanha. Gamier, according to Eloy, ^ Trans, of Linn. Soc. vi. (1801) 137. 

 was a "Marchand chapelier." — Leibnitz, 



