104 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



Still the female flower and fruit were unknown until 1820, when Dr. Hooker 

 was enabled to describe both sexes, from information and drawings received 

 from Mr. Telfair, of the Mauritius. 



From the accounts of this gentleman, and of M. Fortin, it appears that it 

 grows abundantly in the forests of Mozambique, where it is known under the 

 name of Kalumb. The roots are dug during the dry season, and only the 

 offsets taken, as the main root is too fibrous; they are sliced, strung on 

 cords, and dried in the sun. It is deemed good when it breaks short, and of 

 a bad quality when it is soft and dark-coloured. The plant has been suc- 

 cessfully cultivated in the Mauritius and Isle of Bourbon, as well as in other 

 parts of the East. 



Medical Uses, fyc. — Columbo, as found in the shops, is in round pieces, 

 about a quarter of an inch thick, externally of a brown, wrinkled appear- 

 ance, and internally yellow. When good, it breaks with a starchy fracture, is 

 bright and solid, somewhat aromatic, and very bitter. It is very liable to 

 decay and to attacks of worms. It is said to be adulterated in the European 

 markets with roots of some .species of Bryony from Barbary, and also with 

 those of the Frasera from the United States. Both falsifications are readily 

 to be detected ; the first, by not striking a blue colour with iodine, and the 

 latter by giving no precipitate with the infusion of galls. 



Columbo is an excellent bitter tonic, as it is free from any unpleasant taste, 

 and generally agrees well with the stomach. It may be employed with ad- 

 vantage where the digestive functions are weakened, and in the convalescent 

 stages of most of the acute disorders of the bowels. From its slight exciting 

 powers, it has been found useful in hectic fever, and Denman recommends it 

 as preferable to Cinchona in the low stage of puerperal fever. In its native 

 country it is much employed in the treatment of dysentery. It is usually 

 given in the form of infusion, which should be used at once, as it is very 

 liable to spoil. It may be combined with the aromatics, or with iron and the 

 alkalies. The officinal preparations of the United States Pharmacopoeia are 

 the infusion and tincture. 



From the analysis of M. Planche, this root is found to contain a peculiar 

 azotized substance in large quantities, a bitter yellow substance, and much 

 starch. This bitter yellow substance is considered by Wittstock, of Berlin, 

 to be a peculiar principle, which he terms Colombin. It exists, how- 

 ever, in too small proportions to be the sole medicinal principle in the root, as 

 but one drachm was furnished by sixteen ounces of the root. {Journ. Phil. 

 Coll. Pharm., iii. 173.) 



Some other species of Cocculus possess analogous properties to the Co- 

 lumbo, though it is difficult, in the present state of confusion that exists in 

 the species of this genus and that of Menispermum, to speak with absolute 

 confidence, or to say to which they absolutely belong. Among these may 

 be noticed the C. crispus, De C, (M. tuberculatum, Lam., and M. verruco- 

 sum, Rox.) .The extract from the root is employed in India as a tonic in 

 intermittent fevers and in the convalescent stage of dysentery and other dis- 

 eases of the bowels, in doses of five or ten grains. • Ainslie, in his Materia 

 Indica, states that every part of this plant is extremely bitter, but particularly 

 the stalk, and is much used among the Malays in the treatment of intermit- 

 tent fever, and is esteemed as powerful as Peruvian Bark. Wight states that 

 the C. eordifolius, De C, is equally active, and that its young shoots are 

 powerfully emetic. Under the name of Gulancha, it is much used in Bengal, 

 in febrile disorders, especially of a low type. C. bakis has a bitter and diu- 

 retic root, which is used by the negroes of Senegal in diseases of the urinary 

 passages, and also in the treatment of intermittent fever. (Guillem and 



