ARISTOLOCHIACE^E. 533 



A. clematitis. A perennial species found in the temperate and warmer 

 parts of Europe ; it at one time enjoyed a high reputation as a febrifuge and em- 

 menagogue, but has fallen into disuse. The part employed was the root, 

 which is long, cylindrical, fibrous, contorted, of a faint and somewhat disa- 

 greeable smell, and acrid, bitter, and astringent taste. According to Orfila, 

 when given in large doses, it exercises an acro-narcotic influence. ( Toxicol. 

 ii. 277.) In Russia, it is stated by Pallas, that the leaves are esteemed in in- 

 termittent fevers. The root formed one of the ingredients of the celebrated 

 Portland powder, once considered as a specific in gout. 



A. pistolochia. — This plant is also indigenous to Europe. The root is 

 formed of numerous slender fibres, and has an aromatic and agreeable odour, 

 and an acrid bitter taste. It is somewhat like Serpentaria in its action on the 

 system, and is given in the same class of cases. 



A. longa and A. rotunda differ from the above in having thick, somewhat 

 succulent roots. They are almost identical in their properties, and are much 

 used by the French and German practitioners as emmenagogues and anti- 

 arthritics, and enter into a great number of officinal preparations. They 

 have an unpleasant odour when fresh, which in a great measure disappears 

 on drying ; their taste is acrid arid nauseous. They are tolerably energetic 

 stimulants, in doses of about two drachms. Cadogan [Treat, on Gout) says 

 that he has seen the longa produce unpleasant consequences, when incau- 

 tiously given, before the reduction of arterial excitement. According to Las- 

 saigne [Jour. Pharm. vi. 565), this root contains much ulmine. 



A. trilobata, a native of tropical America, has the odour of the Prunus 

 padus, and is said to be superior in medical virtues to the Serpentaria. Lin- 

 naeus speaks of it in his Materia Medica as an excellent alexiteric. The 

 part employed is the twigs, which are officinal in some of the foreign phar- 

 macopoeias. The A. anguicida, also a South American species, is said by 

 Jacquin to be eminently alexipharmic, and to exert so powerful an influence 

 on snakes, that a small quantity of the juice of the root introduced into the 

 mouth of a snake, stupefies it to such a degree, that it may be handled with 

 impunity, and in a larger dose will destroy it. Murray says, that the bruised 

 root applied to a snake-bite, or the administration of a decoction of it, will 

 prevent any ill consequences. (Appar. Med. i. 516.) Lindley is of opinion, 

 that this is the celebrated Guaco of the Colombians, of the supposed efficacy 

 of which as an antidote, so much has been said by Humboldt and others, 

 and states, that a leaf of this, or a closely allied species, was given to him 

 by Dr. Hancock as the genuine article. ( Veg. King. 794.) The same pro- 

 perties are attributed to the A. cordifolia in Colombia, of which it is a native. 

 (Humb. Nov. Gen. ii. 149.) 



The A. bilobata, a native of Brazil and the West Indies, is there used as 

 an emmenagogue, and even its root introduced into the vagina to induce a 

 more speedy expulsion of the foetus. (Descourtilz, Fl. Med. AntiU. ii. 5.) 

 An infusion of the dried leaves of the A. bracteata, a native of India, is 

 given by the native physicians, as an anthelmintic, in doses of 3ij. daily; 

 and the fresh plant, bruised and mixed with castor oil, is used as an external 

 application in obstinate psora. (Ainslie, Mat. lnd. ii. 5.) Another Indian 

 species, the A. indica, is stated by the writer just quoted, to be emmena- 

 gogue and anti-arthritic, and Thunberg says, that in Ceylon it is considered 

 to be stomachic and carminative. The A. sempervirens, inhabiting Arabia, 

 is there employed, according to Forskal, in bites of poisonous snakes and 

 wounds of tendons ; the part used is the leaves, of which a decoction is made 

 with milk. (Flor. Egypt. 157.) 



In South America, almost all the numerous species there found have been 



