178 
NAT. ORDER. — CEPH^LIDJE. 
authority of M. Gomez, we must suppose to be yielded by the 
RicJiardsonia Brasiliensis. There is also a third variety, called hlack 
Tpecacuan, which is a native of Peru, and is exported from Cartha- 
genia to Cadiz. It is the root of the PsycJwtria emetica. It is fusi- 
form, striated, articulated, but not annulated. White Tpecacuan is 
externally of a dirty white color, and turns brownish by drying, is 
simple, or little blanched, five or six lines thick, three inches long 
or upwards, attenuated at the extremities, variously contorted, with 
transverse annular rugosities, but larger than those of the brown 
tpecacuan, its back is thick, white, internally softer than the brown, 
the woody part white, hard and fine as a thread. The brown ipe- 
Cacuan is characterized by being contorted, wrinkled, and unequal 
in thickness, having a thick, black, deeply fissured, transversely 
covering a very small, central, woody part, so as to give the idea of 
a number of rings strung upon a thread. Its color varies with dif- 
ferent shades of brown and grey. In St. Domingo several species 
of Ruellia are denominated false ipecacuan. 
Sensible and Chemical Properties. — The root of Ipecacuan is 
inodorous, unless when reduced to powder, in which state it has a 
faint and somewhat unpleasant smell. The taste is nauseous, bitter, 
and slightly acrid. Boiling water takes up eight parts in twenty, 
proof spirit about six and a half, and alcohol four parts. Various 
experiments have been instituted by chemists to detect the particu- 
lar constituent to which Ipecacuanha owes its emetic quality. Ac- 
cording to the analysis of M. M. Pelleties and Magendie, the 
components of Ipecacuanha, are : Oil, 2 : Wax, 6 : Gum, 10 : 
Emetine, 16 : Starch, 40: Wood, 20 : Loss, 6 in 100. They also 
found that the cephaelis Ipecacuanha, Viola emetica, and Psychotira 
emetica contain a common principle which they named emetine ; to 
obtain, they digested the powdered root in double its weight in 
ether, in order to separate any fatty matter; the remainder was 
heated with four times its weight of highly rectified alcohol, until it 
ceased to become colored, even when aided by heat. The solution 
was evaporated to dryness and re-dissolved in water, acetate of lead 
