ON A NEW KIND OF MATICO. 
291 
perty of each kind of matico. It is said, that a Spanish soldier named Matico, 
when desperately wounded, dragged himself into the shade of the plants near 
him, and in his agony plucked some of their leaves, and applied them acciden¬ 
tally to his wound, when to his great surprise and delight, he found in a short 
time that the bleeding was arrested, and the wound soon healed. From this cir¬ 
cumstance Matico has received the Spanish names of “Yerba soldado,” and 
“ Palo del soldado,” signifying “Soldier’s herb,” and “ Soldier’s tree.” Three 
plants have been especially mentioned by authors as having received the name 
of Matico, or Soldier’s herb, namely, Artantlie elongata , Miq.; Eupatorium 
glutinosum , Kunth ;* * * § ** and Walteria glomercita, Presl.f The latter has not as yet 
been noticed in Materia Medica works, and I have seen no specimens of it; in¬ 
deed, was unacquainted with it until my attention was recently directed to this 
kind by Dr. Seemann. Specimens of the two other varieties of matico may be 
seen in the museum of the Pharmaceutical Society, and are now on the table. 
The first, namely, that which consists of the leaves of Artantlie elongata , 
Miq., is the only one that has received any special attention, or the action of 
which has been tested, beyond its native country. This kind of matico is a 
native of Peru, where it is -very highly extolled as a vulnerary, and for its 
aphrodisiac and other properties. J It was introduced to the notice of 
the medical profession in England, as far back as 1839, by Dr. Thomas 
Jeffreys, of Liverpool,§ and it is noticed in a paper by Mr. Morson, enti¬ 
tled “ Observations on certain Plants of the genus Piper,” which was pub¬ 
lished, and the plant well figured, in the third volume of the ‘ Pharmaceutical 
Journal.’|| It was subsequently introduced into the Dublin Pharmacopoeia in 
1850, and formulae therein given for the preparation of “ tincture ” and “ infusion 
of matico.” In England it has not been generally much esteemed as a medicinal 
agent for internal administration, and its action even when locally employed to 
arrest bleeding, has been regarded by some writers of eminence, as simply me¬ 
chanical,—the peculiar structure of the leaves of which it is composed, being- 
supposed to divide the blood, and thus promote its coagulation.^]" The com¬ 
mittee appointed by the Medical Council to frame the forthcoming 1 British 
Pharmacopoeia ’ have however, and as I think properly so, thought matico of suf¬ 
ficient importance to be introduced into the list of Materia Medica to be pub¬ 
lished in that volume, and have also given a formula for the preparation of 
“ Tincture of Matico.” In the States of North America, matico has been much 
employed of late year§, and highly extolled for its power of arresting internal 
haemorrhage and has been introduced into the Primary List of the Materia 
Medica of the new United States Pharmacopoeia, which has been just issued. 
The fact of matico having thus been, or about to be, introduced into the new 
United States and British Pharmacopoeias, makes everything relating to it of 
especial importance at the present time, and hence, I have thought it a desirable 
subject to be introduced to the notice of this meeting. 
From the great demand for matico which has recently arisen, in consequence 
principally of its extensive use in the States of North America, through the 
war which is now unfortunately desolating that enormous tract of country, it 
has become scarce and of high price; and indeed, at the present time, true ma¬ 
tico—that which is to.be officinal in the new British Pharmacopoeia—is scarcely 
to be obtained in any quantity in this country. This scarcity of true matico, 
* lindley’s £ Medical and Economic Botany,’ p. 227. 
f Seemann’s ‘Botany of tlie Voyage of H.M.S. Herald,’ p. 85. 
j ‘Pharmaceutical Journal,’ vol. ii. p. 660. 
§ ‘ Lancet,’ Jan. 5,1839, p. 567. 
|| ‘ Pharmaceutical Journal,’ vol. iii. pp. 472 and 525. 
Pereira’s ‘ Materia Medica and Therapeutics,’ 4th edit. vol. ii. part 1, p. 397, and Wood 
■and Bache’s ‘ United States Dispensatory,’ 11th edit. p. 494. 
** Carson’s American Edition of Pereira’s ‘ Materia Medica.’ 
