GOTO 



275 



GOTO BARK 



(True Goto and Paracoto Bark) 



Source, &C. Goto bark was first sent to Europe about 1873 from 

 Bolivia under the name of coto-cinchona. Its botanical source is 

 unknown, but it appears to be derived from a tree belonging to the 

 natural order Laurinece, and probably 

 closely allied to the genus Cryptocarya 

 (Hartwich, 1899). The bark was em- 

 ployed in the form of powder or alcoholic 

 tincture for diarrhoea and for neuralgia, 

 and rapidly gained a reputation in Europe 

 as an astringent. Owing, however, partly, 

 to the difficulty of obtaining the genuine 

 bark, it fell into disuse, and is now seldom 

 prescribed. 



This, the true coto bark, was in com- 

 merce but a very short time. In 1876 it 

 was replaced by a very similar bark, also 

 imported from Bolivia. This later bark 

 was found on examination to yield con- 

 stituents resembling, but not identical 

 with, those of true coto ; one of these 

 was called ' paracotoin,' and the bark 

 that yielded it * paracoto bark.' 



Paracoto bark, as it is properly termed, 

 is at present the current variety of coto ; 

 it is commonly sold as coto bark, and to 

 it the following description refers. 



Description. Paracoto bark occurs in 

 flat or curved pieces commonly up to 

 30 cm. long, 8 or 10 cm. wide, and 10 to 

 15 cm. thick. They are hard, heavy, and 

 of a cinnamon-brown colour ; some of the 



pieces bear on their outer surfaces patches of a thin whitish, others 

 of a brownish cork ; they are frequently nearly smooth, or bear 

 transverse wrinkles, or are irregularly chequered by longitudinal 

 fissures and transverse cracks. The inner surface is brown and 

 distinctly and coarsely striated, this being due to projecting strands 

 of sclerenchymatous tissue. 



The bark breaks with a fibrous, splintery fracture, coarse stiff 

 strands of sclerenchymatous tissue projecting from the fractured 

 surface. The inner part easily separates into coarse longitudinal 

 strips, on the surface of which, especially after they have been exposed 



FIG. 137. Paracoto bark, 

 showing a fissured cork and 

 splintery-fibrous fracture. 

 Natural size. 



