115 
stellate form, since the powdering process detaches the hairs in- 
dividually, or in twos or threes, from the rosette. The chestnut 
leaf has been a favorite artiticle for use in adulterating other 
powdered leaves. 
We come next to one of the most interesting cases of adulter- 
ation, or rather of substitution, that I have ever encountered. The 
complete disentanglement of what has become a system of error, 
which I shall shortly undertake, will carry us back nearly two 
centuries, to the early history of Peru. Suffice it to say here 
that the two plants shown side by side have been collected under 
the name of Matico. Surely no botanist present will object to 
my claims that they are distinct species, one Piper angustifolium, 
the other P. Mandonii. The former is the genuine drug, the 
latter the substitute. Yet, different as these are, my decision has 
been criticised in various places. Iam told that botanists at the 
National Herbarium have done so, and an official scientific body 
in Germany has given the foreign shipper a certificate that the 
last named drug is genuine. Mansfield’s examination shows the 
hairs of the genuine, as here shown, single and weak, with thin 
percentage of silica. Its medicinal properties are much weaker. 
The picture of Aspidium, or male fern, here presented is 
unfortunately not characteristic. Among other things, this drug 
is characterized by the presence of glandular hairs, which, instead 
of growing outward upon the surface, grow inward into the inter- 
cellular spaces. This drug should contain no fibers, but its 
powder is frequently loaded with them. Male fern, as a remedy 
for tape-worms, has come to be regarded by physicians as a very 
unreliable medicine. I believe, on the contrary, that it is one of 
the most reliable, and that its bad reputation is due almost wholly 
to the enormous extent to which the drug has been adulterated. 
H USBY 
