300 SUBTERRANEAN ORGANS 



The drug has no marked odour, but a bitter acrid taste. 

 The student should observe 



(a) The numerous stout branches curving upwards, 



(b) The structure of the rhizome, and of the root, exhibited by 



the transverse section ; 



and should compare the drug with 



Black hellebore rhizome, which is tortuous and provided with 

 irregular branches not exhibiting a prominent curve 

 upwards ; the section of the rhizome exhibits a thicker 

 bark and few wood-bundles ; hi that of the roots the wood 

 is much less distinctly cruciate. 



Constituents. The drug contains three crystalline substances, iso- 

 ferulic (hesperetic) acid, sugar, tannin, phytosterol, etc. ; it yields 

 about 7 per cent, of ash. The crystalline substances have not yet 

 been sufficiently investigated. The name racemosin has been applied 

 to a crystalline bitter principle ob tamed from the drug. The term 

 cimicifugin, macrotin, or macrotyn is applied to a mixture of resinous 

 substances obtained by pouring a concentrated alcoholic tincture into 

 water 



Uses. Cimicifuga influences the gastric secretion, like any other 

 bitter, and, to a slight extent, depresses the rate but increases the 

 force of the pulse. It has been used as a stomachic in diseases of the 

 heart, but is more frequently employed as a remedy for rheumatism, 

 neuralgia, dysmenorrhcea, dyspepsia, &c. Its value is questionable. 



PAREIRA BRAVA 



(Pareira Root, Radix Pareirae) 



Source, &C. The drug formerly official in the British Pharmaco- 

 poeia under the name Pareira Root is derived from Chondrodendron 

 tomentosum, Ruiz and Pa von (N.O. Menispermacece), a climbing 

 plant with a stout woody stem, growing to a considerable height. It 

 is a native of Peru and Brazil, and is regarded by the Brazilians as 

 a valuable medicine. Its botanical origin remained long in an 

 obscurity that was increased by Linnaeus, who founded a species of 

 Cissampelos (C. Pareira) and quoted it as the source of Pareira brava. 



Description. True Pareira brava occurs in long, woody, nearly 

 cylindrical pieces averaging 2 to 4 cm. in diameter, but attaining 

 5 cm. or even more. It is nearly black in colour, tortuous and knotty, 

 and marked externally with longitudinal furrows and transverse ridges 

 and fissures. It is hard and heavy, breaking with a coarsely fibrous 

 fracture ; internally it is yellowish or brownish grey. The fractured 



