R O S A C E jE. 



283 



tion of botanists, who found it well known to the Aborigines as a certain and 

 safe emetic. It is a curious fact, connected with the history of our vegetable 

 Materia Medica, that there is scarcely any native plant possessed of remedial 

 powers, with which the Indians were not well acquainted, before any com- 

 munication with the whites, whilst there is scarcely one indigenous remedy 

 that has been the result of sci- 

 entific research. One of the Fig. 143. 

 first writers to notice the Gille- 

 nia was Shoepf, who, as usual, 

 lauds it in the highest terms, 

 and considers it as an excellent 

 substitute for Ipecacuanha. Lin- 

 naeus also notices it as possess- 

 ing properties which were extra- 

 ordinary in a plant belonging to 

 the order in which he placed it. 

 From a well-founded opinion of 

 its active qualities, it has been 

 recognised in our Pharmaco- 

 poeia. 



The root, which is the offici- 

 nal part, as found in the shops, 

 is of a reddish-brown colour, 

 much wrinkled, and composed 

 of an easily separable cortical 

 portion, and an internal ligne- 

 ous cord. This cortical part is 

 readily pulverized. It has a 

 very feeble odour, and a nause- 

 ous, bitter taste. A chemical 

 examination by Mr. Shreeve 

 (Am. Jour. Pharm. i. 28), 

 shows that it contains starch, 

 gum, resin, wax, a fatty matter, 

 a red colouring substance, a vo- 

 latile colouring matter, and a 

 peculiar principle soluble in al- 

 cohol and dilute acids, but inso- 

 luble in water or ether. 



Medical Properties. — Gil te- 

 nia is a safe and efficacious 

 emetic in about the same doses 

 as Ipecacuanha. In smaller 

 quantities it acts as a gentle 

 tonic, especially in the torpid 

 condition of the stomach, ac- 

 companying some forms of dys- 

 pepsia. The only writer that 

 appears to doubt the powers of this article is Dr. Baum (Phil. Jour. Med. and 

 Phys. Sci. v. 15), who, from experiments made with it, is of opinion that it 

 is almost inert ; but on the other hand we have the concurrent testimony of 

 numbers of the medical profession, that not only is the Gillenia possessed of 

 the qualities generally attributed to it, but also that it is a most valuable addi- 

 tion to the Materia Medica. Some years since I examined this question at 



G. stipulacea. 



