774 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[March 29, 1873. 
As a question in therapeutics formerly much discussed 
and subsequently abandoned, guarana is once more a sub¬ 
ject of considerable attention. American doctors are care¬ 
fully studying its effects, and English physicians are dis¬ 
cussing its merits in the Lancet. We believe we may with 
some advantage step in, and take part in elucidating the 
subject, by publishing the documents we possess in 
reference thereto. 
Guarana is a substance prepared by the South American 
Indians for commerce, from the seeds of the Paullinia sor¬ 
b'd is, a climber of the family of the Sapindacece, growing in 
Brazil. The cultivation of this plant, called also “ Narana,” 
i.e., a climbing plant, has during the last few years enor¬ 
mously increased, owing to its introduction into Europe 
as a medicinal agent. The exportation of it at the pre¬ 
sent time, according to Brazilian returns, in one year, 
being put down as 30,000 kilos., about 30 tons. 
Paullinia, in a wild state, grows to a height of from 10 
to 12 metres (or about 36 to 40 feet), but its seeds ai’e 
only used by the natives themselves. Those of the culti¬ 
vated plant are reserved exclusively for the preparation of 
guarana intended for sale. The plant is propagated from 
the seed, but still better from cuttings of the plant. It 
produces fruit from the third year after planting, and after 
that period requires to be pruned, exactly as a vine. It 
flowers in July; the fruit is ripe in November. You will 
remember that these are the earliest months of spring in 
that latitude. The fruit, said to be scarcely larger than 
a walnut, contains five or six seeds. By careful cultiva¬ 
tion, each stem will furnish four kilos., or about 9 lbs. 
of seed annually, and will live for forty years. The fruit 
of the plant cultivated in the neighbourhood of Mauhe is 
preferred. Topiriambaranas had for a long time the 
monopoly of the production of guarana, but subsequently 
it was found at Moxos and Chiquitos, and lastly at Villa 
Boa. 
The Mauhees prepare it as follows : they remove the 
seeds from the capsules in November and dry them in the 
rays of the sun. After having slightly roasted them over 
a charcoal fire, they reduce them to a fine powder in stone 
mortars, or in stones hollowed for the purpose ; they then 
moisten the powder with a little water, and expose it to 
the dew by night. In this way they produce a hard paste, 
often increased in bulk by mixing seeds and fragments of 
seeds. They afterwards roll it into cylinders of 12 to 16 
oz. each, rounded at each extremity. 
These cylinders or rolls are dried in the sun or in the 
chimneys of their huts. They measure 10 to 20 centi¬ 
metres (4 to 8 inches) in length and 3 to 5 centimetres (or 
1| to 2 inches) in breadth. 
These cylinders are so hard that they have to be broken 
with an axe, or reduced to powder by means of a rasp. 
The different manipulations by which the mass is ren¬ 
dered hard, conduce to its preservation in a perfect state 
for many years. Eor exportation, the cylinders are en¬ 
veloped in cocoa-nut leaves, and packed in baskets. It is 
in this form that the guarana appears in the European 
markets, though the samples sent from the Province of 
the Amazons to the Paris Exhibition resembled pine 
apples in form. 
In reference to the seeds, they are very difficult to pro¬ 
cure. According to Silva Continho, the mode of prepara¬ 
tion varies a little from that described above, in that the 
Indians previously macerate the fruit in water, in order 
to detach more easily the pericarp from the seed, and of 
which they make a yellow pigment. The fruit also fur¬ 
nishes them with a red colouring-matter, with which they 
dye their teeth. 
Guarana is not generally exported in a state of great 
purity, either being sometimes prepared from seeds in a 
state of fermentation, or mixed with cocoa-berries or 
tapioca flour. All authorities are agreed that seeds in a 
state of fermentation give a product of inferior quality; 
nevertheless, according to the Brazilian catalogue of the 
Paris Exhibition, the mass of “Guarana prepared and 
moistened, ought to be submitted to a slight fermenta¬ 
tion.” I think that the different manipulations to 
which the seeds are submitted, and during which it is 
dried three times, appear, on the contrary, to have for 
their object to preserve the preparation from fermenta¬ 
tion. Peckholt asserts that the substance of the seeds 
alone is not sufficient to produce a firm mass, and that the 
Indians, to obtain this result, are obliged to add tapioca 
flour,—an addition, in this case, which does not constitute 
a fraud. 
Jules Wiesner is not, however, of this opinion, and he 
brings as proof of his views, facts which it is in the power 
of every one to verify. He says, “At first sight one 
might think that the hard compact mass of the cylinders 
of guarana no longer possesses the organic sti'ucture of the 
seeds. It is not so. If we immerse a morsel of guarana 
in distilled water, the mass will give to the water a 
brownish colour, which changes to a kind of light pulp, 
from which the bulkier grains separate. If this matter 
be spread out and examined by the microscope, it will be 
seen clearly that the grains and fractions of grains are 
nothing more than fragments of seeds, readily recognized 
by their alveolar texture, and that the earthy portion of 
the mass represents well-defined histological elements. 
Among all the samples that I have analysed, I have not 
found one mixed ‘with tapioca. It is, then, an error to 
suppose that that substance is necessary for the prepara¬ 
tion of the mass of guarana.” 
We must agree with this conclusion; it carries with it 
not only the force of the authority of Professor Wiesner, 
and that of a microscopic examination, but is confirmed 
by other circumstances of which we shall speak hereafter. 
Guarana, when perfectly pure, has the appearance, 
when fractured, of a piece of mosaic-work, generally of a 
darkish colour. The surface is of a shiny or greasy 
appearance, and the structure amygdaloid. In the middle 
of somewhat uniform masses are embedded smaller mor¬ 
sels of two to three millimetres in diameter (A in. to | in.), 
of which some are of a darker, and others of a lighter 
shade than the mass itself. Almost all of these are 
covered over with a whitish layer, not clearly definable. 
The substance is very hard and is crushed with difficulty 
in a mortar. The powder is of a bright brown or cin¬ 
namon colour, but with very little smell. But when it 
has been closely corked up for some time, or when it has 
been left a few instants in contact with the sides of a hot 
vessel, it acquires a peculiar odour. Heated slightly in 
the open air it has the smell and taste of roasted coffee. 
Guarana in a mass has the bitter styptic taste of the 
cocoa-berry; it softens in water, giving the liquid a 
brownish colour, while the insoluble portions lose little 
by little all their colour in the menstruum. 
True guarana is distinguished from the inferior qualities 
by its greater hardness and specific gravity; the powder 
being of a reddish grey, whilst that of the sophisticated 
product is of a whiter appearance. 
All these details, which appear more minute than use¬ 
ful, are important, as the end in view is to put the phar¬ 
macist on his guard against fraud,—so frequently the 
cause of unfavourable judgment when the merits of a new 
medicine, procurable with difficulty, are in question. 
Guarana is for the Indians, at the same time, an indis¬ 
pensable aliment and a universal remedy. They live 
almost entirely on what is called “ agua branca,” a mix¬ 
ture of the powder and cold water, somewhat resembling 
chocolate. They reduce the mass to powder by means of 
a particular kind of fishes’ bone or by sharp stones. The 
Indians have all the appearance of the freshness and 
vigour of those who live on animal food. They make use 
of it, medicinally prepared, with great success in the cases 
of diarrhoea and dysentery so frequent and so serious in 
their country; and in convalescent stages it is used as a 
tonic and stomachic. 
The Brazilians and the civilized Indians learnt from 
the Mauh6es the value of guarana, and at first bought it 
at very high prices. They employ it for the same pur¬ 
poses, modifying its bitter and styptic taste by means of 
