9B0 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [June 8,1872. 
bern. Dr. Darlington * mentioned, twenty years ago, 
that it was formerly frequent in Chester county, Pa., 
and it is probable that the plant is now of rarer occur¬ 
rence yet. 
Another species, which, like the one mentioned, hears 
.flowers with yellow lips, is Cypripedium parviflorum , 
Salisbury, which appears to he most common west; 
though usually smaller than the former, it attains the 
height of 1 to 2 feet, the two species appearing to pass 
into each other (Gray). Cypripedium candidum , Muhlen¬ 
berg, and C. spectabile, Swartz, both with white-lipped 
flowers, occur mainly in the Alleghanies and west thereof, 
and it is not impossible that they may furnish a portion 
of the commercial root, while C. arietinum , R. Brown, 
the smallest species, occuuring in Canada and the northern 
border States, is probably not collected. 
For a number of years past I have been endeavouring 
to procure the four species first mentioned, with root 
and flowers, but have been unsuccessful. Mr. F. C. 
Weber, while at New Albany, Ind., last year, tried to 
aid me in my endeavours, and obtained from an old her¬ 
balist there the information that C. pubescens and parvi- 
tflorum, both of which plants he described correctly, are 
'collected there indiscriminately. At Mr. Weber’s re- 
<quest, he collected one plant with the roots and the 
:green fruit, the only one, he stated, he could find, which 
he palmed off as the first-named species, but which was 
^promptly recognized by me as TJvularia perfoliata , L. 
This deception was doubtlessly purposely attempted. 
No better success attended my inquiries of dealers in 
indigenous drugs, who appear to sell these goods without 
questioning their identity, relying upon the statements 
of the Western collectors. The only way to arrive at 
correct results is to have complete specimens of the dif¬ 
ferent species collected, so that their roots may be com¬ 
pared with the commercial article. 
Cephalanthus occidentalism L., Pubiacece, button-bush, 
or pond-dogwood, is a shrub 5 to 10 feet high, common 
throughout Canada and the United States in swamps 
and on the margin of ponds and brooks. The bark has 
been repeatedly recommended as an expectorant useful 
in consumption, but I believe has been abandoned, 
though it may be used yet as a domestic remedy. Last 
fall a sample of the bark, with a flowering branch, was 
received from Texas, where a gentleman claimed that 
the bark had wonderful curative properties; of what 
character was not stated. If we may judge from the 
slight bitter taste, which is destitute of acridity, it 
may probably possess tonic properties. 
Ilex Cassine, L., Aquifoliacece , grows near the coast 
from Virginia southward, and is known there under the 
names of cassena, yeopon, yupon or yaupon. It appears 
to have been held in'high repute by the aborigines, and 
to be still used to a considerable extent near the North 
Carolina coast. 
Dr. Porcherf states that the Creeks employed it, 
according to Elliott, at the opening of the councils send¬ 
ing to the seacoast for a supply ; they considered it one 
of their most powerful diuretics. The inhabitants of 
North Carolina purify brackish water by boiling in it 
cassena leaves. In North and South Carolina much 
use is made of the leaves for making tea. The leaves 
act as a powerful diuretic, and are employed in calcu¬ 
lous, nephritic diseases, diabetes, gout and small-pox. 
The so-called black drink of the Indians, which in its 
effects resembled opium, was believed by some to have 
been made from these leaves, but by other writers is 
referred to various unknown roots. 
In a letter written three years ago, Mr. Chas. K. 
Gallagher, of Washington, N.C., to whom I am in¬ 
debted for some of the leaves, states that they are used 
extensively along the eastern coast of that State, and 
that they are cured for use by heating in ovens with 
* ‘ Flora Cestrica, 3rd. edition, 1853, p. 316,’ 
t ‘Southern Fields and Forests/ p. 431. 
heated stones, and constantly stirring during the pro¬ 
cess, as practised by the Indians. . 
The cassena is an evergreen shrub, attaining a height 
of 10 to 15 feet; the leaves are alternate, coriaceous, 
short petiolate, about an inch long, varying in shape 
from roundish oval to lanceovate, obtuse and slightly 
emarginate, crenate with a minute spine inserted near 
the base of each crenature, smooth on both sides and 
shining above; their taste is mildly astringent and tea¬ 
like, scarcely bitterish. 
It would be very interesting to ascertain whether 
cassena contains caffeine, like the so-called Paraguay 
tea, which is obtained from Ilex paraguayensis , Lamb. 
Artemisia Ludoviciana, Nuttall, Composite, was sent 
to me two years ago, from Kansas, where a package of 
it had been received by an army officer from Colorado, 
with the statement that it would “ make the hair grow,” 
if applied in a state of infusion. The plant is indige¬ 
nous to North America, and grows from the shores of 
Lake Huron and Michigan south-westward, to Missouri 
and westward to the Pacific Ocean. It.is from two to 
four feet high, branched ; leaves lanceolate, sessile and 
entire above, the lower variously toothed, canescent on 
both sides, with a dense, closely adpressed wool; heads 
small, ovoid, nearly sessile, crowded in dense, somewhat 
leafy panicles ; receptacle smooth. The odour reminds 
of wormwood, but is much weaker; the taste is similai, 
though but slightly bitter. 
The plant has probably tonic properties, but appears 
not to deserve a place alongside the numerous bitter 
aromatic tonics at the present time medicinally em¬ 
ployed. 
Pycnanthemum linifolium , Pursh., Labiates, in some 
places called Virginia thyme, was sent to me a year or 
two ago, as the remedy successfully used by an empiric 
in Montgomery county, Pa., in cases of hydrophobia. 
It is hardly credible that this plant could be of any 
value in this fearful disease, possessing, as it apparently 
does, merely somewhat stimulating and diaphoretic 
properties, like most species of this order, in consequence 
of the small quantity of volatile oil which it contains. 
It is smooth throughout, about lj to 2 feet high, with 
the linear and sessile leaves | to 2 inches long, rigid, 
entire, three-nerved, often crowded in small axillary 
fascicles; the branches are erect and form a rather 
dense corymb ; the flowers terminate the branchlets and 
are crowded into hemispherical heads, supported by 
imbricated ciliate bracts, which, like the awl-shaped 
calyx teeth, are rigid and sharply pointed; corolla 
whitish or pinkish, dotted on the inside. 
Pycnanthemum incanum, Michaux, mountain mint or 
wild basil, is also called horsemint in some countries of 
Pennsylvania where Monarda punctata , L., does not 
occur, in place of which it is used. The two plants are 
easily distinguished, the bracts of the former being 
linear, almost subulate, while those of the Monarda are 
leaf-like, and of a yellow and reddish colour.. The 
medicinal properties of both are probably identical.— 
American Journal of Pharmacy. 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HISTORY OF THE 
OPIUM ALKALOIDS. 
BY C. R. A. WRIGHT, D.SC. 
Lecturer on Chemistry in St. Mary’s Hospital Medical 
School. 
{Continued from page 922.) 
II. Action of Hydrochloric Acid on the Polymerides 
of Codeia. 
(a). Tetracodeia .—Tetracodeia hydrochlorate was 
boiled for six hours with a large excess of strong HC1; 
no perceptible evolution of methyl chloride took place ; 
and on examining the resulting product no change was 
found in the ratio of carbon to chlorine. Hence no 
