ON THE SEEDS OF PHAUBITIS NIL. 
497 
Almost every country, at least in the warmer portions of the globe, in which 
ConvolvulacecB are found most abundantly, has its peculiar purgatives derived 
from plants belonging to this Natural Order. Thus, North America has its 
C. panduratus, Linn., which has a place in the secondary list of the United 
States’ Pharmacopoeia; Mexico, the officinal Jalap plant; Brazil, Ipomcea. 
operculata , Mart., the root of which, according to Guibourt, constitutes 
part of the Mecoliacan of pharmacologists. In addition to this, Martius 
enumerates eight other Convolvulaceous plants of Brazil possessed of purgative 
properties ; Jamaica has its Ipomcea tuberosa, Linn., which Barham (Hort. 
Amer. p. 177) considered, from the strongly purgative action of its juice, would 
yield scammony; Martinique, its C. macrocarpus; St. Domingo has its Ipomcea, 
cathartica; Bourbon, its Ipomcea Quamoclit; Greece and the Levant, its 
Convolvulus Scammonia , the Scammony plant; and Europe its C. sepium , 
C. arvensis, and C. Soldanella, a full account of the purgative properties Qf 
which is furnished by Dr. Cazin in his erudite work on indigenous European 
plants; China and Cochin China has its C • tomentosus , for an account of which 
we are indebted to Loureiro. 
It the above list it may be remarked there is no notice of India, yet from this 
country was derived the once-celebrated Turpith, or Turpeth Boot, the produce 
of Ipomcea Turpethum , B. Br., often in old works designated Vegetable Turpeth 
in contradistinction to Mineral Turpeth (the Yellow Sulphate of Mercury). 
It is a remedy of extreme antiquity, being spoken of as the most excellent of all 
purgative roots in the great sacro-medical work of the Hindus, named ‘ Susruta.’ 
The date of this work is uncertain, but Turpeth Boot is described by Bhazes, 
who flourished in the ninth century; it was subsequently introduced into 
Europe, and after enjoying much repute as a safe and efficient purgative, it 
appeared as officinal for the last time in the French Codex of 1887. It may, 
without exaggeration, be affirmed that for a thousand years, this Turpeth Boot 
held a respectable place amongst the ranks of purgatives. It, however, fell 
into disfavour, and its death-blow was dealt by Sir W. O. Shaughnessy, who, 
after trials with it in Calcutta, pronounced it, from the uncertainty of its action, 
unworthy of a place in the pharmacopoeia. Some medical men, however, in 
India, hold a different opinion, and still regard it with favour. I have no 
personal experience with it myself, but I think it extremely probable that if it 
were desirable to increase the number of our purgatives, an efficient extract 
might be prepared from this root. 
From what has been said,—and I fear that to some of you the previous re¬ 
marks may have seemed rather tedious and extraneous,—you will perceive, 
gentlemen, that the individual drug, the JPharbitis Nil , which I now beg leave 
to introduce to your notice, comes of a good family of purgatives, is derived 
from a Natural Order which for ages has supplied some of our best and most 
renowned purgatives ; whilst other members of the same family in different por¬ 
tions of the globe, have found favour in the eyes of the inhabitants as safe and 
efficient purgatives, though they have achieved no such successes as to entitle 
them to a place amongst officinal drugs. 
Pharbitis Nil , Choisy ( Convolvulus ccerideaoi Boxburgh) is a common plant 
in most parts of India, but is more abundant in Bengal and the northern dis¬ 
tricts than in the southern portions of the Madras peninsula; indeed, in Tra- 
vancore, in which I spent the last ten years of my Indian life, it was rare; the 
only specimens that I am aware of existing there being from seeds obtained by 
myself, and raised in my own garden. Boxburgh furnishes us with the follow¬ 
ing description of it:— 
Stems and branches twining, annual, round, hairy, 6 to 12 feet long, as 
thick as a crow’s quill; leaves stalked, broad, cordate, 3-lobed, downy, acute, 
2 to 4 inches long; peduncles axillary, round, hairy, from 2- to 3-flowered; 
