640 



DHUGS, yAECOTICS, ETC. 



masses. Its composition is as follows : number 1 being an 

 analysis by Professor Christison of a commercial specimen from 

 Cejdon ; number 2 of a fine sample of common ditto : — 



1. 2 



Resin, or fatty acid 78-84 ... 74-8 



Coloring matter 4-03 ... 3-5 



Gum 12:59 ... 16-5 



Eesidue 4-54 ... 5-2 



100- 100- 



The average imports of gamboge into tlie port of London, 

 during the past five or six years, have been from 400 to 500 

 chests of one to two cwt. each. 



GetvttiajS". — The yellow gentian root {Gentiana, luted) is the 

 oflicinal species, and a native of the Alps of Austria and Switzerland. 



The stems and roots of G. amarella and campestris^ British spe- 

 cies, and G. cruciata, 'purpurea, punctata, &c., are similar in their 

 effects, having tonic, stomachic, and febrifugal properties. So 

 has G. Icurroo of the Himalayas. The root is generally taken 

 up in autumn, when the plant is a year old. It is cut longitudinally 

 into pieces of a foot or a foot and a half long. They are im- 

 ported into this country in bales from Havre, Marseilles, &c., 

 and a good deal comes from Germany. In 1839, 470 cwts. were 

 entered for home consumption. 



Chiretta is the herb and root of AgatJiotes Chirayta, Don ; 

 Gentiana Chirayta, Fleming; or Oplielia chirayta, a herbaceous 

 plant, growing in the Himalaya mountains about jN"epaul and 

 the Morungs. 



Ipecacuan. — Ceplicelis Ipecacuanhce, Eichard, yields the ipe- 

 cacuan of the shops. The plant is met with in the woods of 

 several Brazilian provinces, as Pernambuco, Bahia and Rio Janeiro. 

 It is found growing in moist shady situations, from 8 to 20 degs. 

 south latitude. The roots, which are the oflicinal part, are con- 

 torted, knotty and annulated, and about the thickness of a goose 

 quill. 



Besides this brown or gray annulated ipecacuan, there are 

 spurious kinds, such as the striated or black Peruvian, the pro- 

 duce of JPyschotria elliptica, and other species ; and white or 

 amjdaceous ipecacuan, furnished by Richardsonia scal)ra, an her- 

 baceous perennial, native of the provinces of E-io Janeiro and 

 Minas Geraes. Manettia glabra or cordifolia, also furnishes ipeca- 

 cuan in Buenos Ayres. It is imported into this country from 

 Bio in bales, barrels, bags, and serous, and the average annual 

 imports in the eight years ending in 1841 were 10,000 lbs. In 

 1840, the shipments from Rio were as much as 20,000 lbs. 



Castelnau states, that one expert hand can gather 15 lbs. of the 

 ipecacuan root in a day, which will fetch in Eio one dollar per 

 pound. He estimates that, from 1830 to 1837, not less than 

 800,000 lbs. of this drug Avere exported from the province of 

 Mat to Grosso to Eio. 



