270 
y goy it to ie to some extent that drug which has now become 
arce an 
" n time ago we received from Mr. J. H. Hart, F.L.S., Superin- 
tendent of the Botanic Gardeus at Trinida j specimens of the roots and 
leaves of Cephaelis tomentosa, W. e found these were in use in 
Trinidad as an emetic, and hoped that their physiological action might - 
be due to the same principle as that existing in the true Ipecacuanha. 
The plant is a tall shrub, with the younger parts of the stem sog 
leaves covered with a shaggy tomentum. 1e 
elliptical oblong, acute. The stipules are prominent, two on each side, 
not very good, appears in Aublet Plantes de la Guiane Françoise, 
t.61. A more recent drawing appeared in the Botanical Magazine, 
t. 6696; from a iind grown by “Messrs. Veitch at Chelsea. The species 
is described “as a very singular plant, congenerie with that yielding 
* medicinal Tpecacuanha, but of very different appearance, a native of 
* tropi merica, where it extends from Mexico through British 
* Honduras, Nicaragua, United States of Columbia, British Guiana, 
* to equatorial Brazil on the east, and to Peru on the west side of the 
* Andes. It is found in Trinidad, but in no other of the West India 
zs Islands.’ 
The —— of stems and roots (but apparently not the leaves) 
meet 2: r. Hart have prp been investigated by Mr. Francis 
note giving his results was re es l befor re the Pharma- 
ceutical Conference held at Bath in y Sootna las 
It was found ihat traces of an alkaloid were a present resembling 
aai ia ee the quantity was so inappreciable that the Eom — = 
be ut = zed commercially as a source of Ipecacuanha. 
ansom's paper, as it pe in the Phurstmitival ouis, 
[3], ns xix., p. 187, is as follows :— 
* Mr. R read a note on the examination of the root and stem 
of Cephaelis a said to be used in Trinidad for the same 
purposes as the ro C. Ipecacuanha, though the root is totally pro 
that drug, both ~ Perera! appearance and internal structure, 
senc ascertained of traces of an alkaloid which gave a reaction 
with mercuric ee resembling that of e tine. But the 
physiological action of G0 grains of the root was ibápptesisble: the 
amount of alkaloid present must be very small.” 
"d 
3 
4 
LXVIL—TREATMENT OF VINES IN FRANCE. 
The Vice Office has agente ser the ett letter addressed 
o Her Majesty's Ambassador at Paris by Mr. J. A. 
ea, Attaché for Europe, he the ihe condition of the 
Vine-culture in France :— 
Mx Lonp, Paris, Oetober 18th, 1888. 
Ty August last Mr. Viette, Minister of Agricultu ure, paid a visit to the 
wine-growing di distriets of France; and he is understood to have returned 
with a very hopeful report on the prospeets of ANS year’s vintage. Th 
