570 



MEDICAL BOTANY. 



Fig. 247. 



or more species of Pothomorpha, are deemed efficacious in the removal of 

 the various forms of venereal diseases. 



Another plant of this order has lately attracted much attention for its 

 remedial powers, this is Artanthe elongata, Miquel (Piper angustifolium), 

 a native of Peru, where it has long enjoyed much reputation as a hsemastatic, 

 being called " Yerba del Soldada," or Soldier's Weed, from its reputed effi- 

 cacy in arresting the flow of blood from wounds. It was first brought 



before the profession by Dr. 

 Ruschenberger of the U. S. 

 Navy, who obtained a know- 

 ledge of it during 1834, whilst 

 on duty on the Pacific coast of 

 South America, and it has more 

 recently been noticed by several 

 practitioners in England and 

 this country. It is generally 

 supposed to be the plant men- 

 tioned above, figured by Ruiz 

 and Pavon, and of whose repre- 

 sentation the accompanying cut 

 is a copy. The first specimens 

 brought by Dr. Ruschenberger 

 were so much broken that it 

 was difficult to ascertain more 

 than the fact of their being 

 fragments of a species of the 

 Pepper tribe. The article at 

 present. in our market, being in 

 a more perfect state, permits no 

 doubt of its belonging to this 

 order, at the same time the 

 leaves are much less elongated 

 and proportionally broader than 

 those of the specimen figured 

 by the authors of the Flora 

 Peruviana, and the spikes or 

 catkins are more cylindrical 

 throughout their length. Dr. 

 Scrivener in a letter to Dr. 

 Ruschenberger states, there are 

 three kinds of Matico, distin- 

 guished by the colour of their 

 stems ; as red, white and brown, 

 the former of which is esteemed the most efficacious. Dr. Lindley (Veg. 

 King. 518,707) says, "In Peru the plant is called Moho Moho, and is 

 extensively used for the same purposes as Cubebs, which this Pepper much 

 resembles in smell." And in another place, " The famous vulnerary called 

 Matico, and said to be derived from Artanthe elongata, is really, according 

 to Mr. Hartweg, the Eupatorium glutinosum ;" to this he subjoins the fol- 

 lowing in a note, as derived from that gentleman. " Matico is the vernacular 

 name applied by the inhabitants of Quito to Eupatorium glutinosum, or the 

 Chussalonga, in the Quichua language. It forms a shrub 3 — 5 feet high, 

 and is common in the higher parts of the Quitinian Andes, where its pro- 

 perties have been discovered some years back by a soldier named Mateo, 



A. elongata. 



