THE CODEX AND THE BRITISH PHARMACOFCEIA. 
577 
presents an instance, and a very remarkable one, of the culture of an exotic 
plant hitherto only known in a wild state. I do not intend here to survey the 
progress of Cinchona Plantations. Their success however is so promising that 
it should stimulate further enterprise of the same kind, and especially the in¬ 
troduction to India of Ipecacuanha. 
The Ipecacuanha plant, Cephselis Ipecacuanha A. Rich., which belongs to the 
same order as the cinchona, is a native of Brazil, where it occurs in shady humid 
forests, lying between the 8th and 20th parallels of south-latitude. The plant 
is also found in I^ew Granada, in which country, however, its root is not col¬ 
lected to any large extent. The supply of the drug is therefore drawn from 
Brazil, whence in 1862 it was exported to the value of £11,225. 
The consumption of ipecacuanha in India is large, as may be judged from the 
fact that the India Government purchased 3571 lbs, of the drug in the year 
1860, 4011 lbs. in 1859, 2636 lbs. in 1858 and 1386 in 1857. AVe know but 
little as to the susceptibility of the Ipecacuanha plant for cultivation. In the 
hothouses of our botanical gardens, where it is by no means common, it appears 
as a humble plant of slow growth and tender appearance. In attempting its 
culture in India, the first object should be to procure from Brazil a supply of 
recent mature seeds, w'hich should be transmitted to Europe in the most rapid 
manner for distribution, it may be suggested, among the cinchona cultivators 
in our own possessions, as well as those in the Dutch East Indies and in 
Algeria. 
One special advantage that accrues from the cultivation and preparation of 
medicinal plants by civilized and intelligent persons, is the much better condi¬ 
tion in which they are presented to commerce. As an instance of this I may 
cite Tinnevelly Senna., which is but a cultivated form of the senna produced on 
the shores of the Red Sea, and known from its port of shipment to Europe as 
Bombay Senna. How remarkable the contrast between these two drugs! 
AVould not similar advantage be derived from the cultivation in India of Ca- 
lumba Root? This drug as imported is invariably found to be more or less 
worm-eaten and is often in other respects ill-conditioned,—defects attributable, 
as I believe, to the slovenly manner in which it is dried, stored and packed. 
The plant, which is indigenous to IMozambique, flourishes perfectly in Mauritius, 
and would probably thrive with equal luxuriance in Ceylon and continental 
India. 
There are two other drugs which I have often thought it would be advanta¬ 
geous to procure in a better condition than we now usually find them ; and 
these are Hemidesmus Root and Chiretta, both of which are often imported in 
an unsound state. Some of the former kindly collected for me in Madras by 
Dr. Lestock Stewart contrasted most favourably with the Hemidesmus ordina¬ 
rily imported. 
Another drug which it appears to me might be obtained in far better condi¬ 
tion by the exercise of more intelligent skill, is Jalap, but as I have prepared 
some remarks in a separate form upon this drug I will not in this place say 
more. 
Let me in conclusion commend attention to the words with which I com¬ 
menced this paper,—the necessity for a further cultivation of medicinal plants. 
THE CODEX AND THE BRITISH PHARMACOPOEIA, 1864, 
COMPARED. 
BY A. F. HASELDEN. 
It is with no small degree of diffidence that I commence my observations 
upon the Codex, because it has already been noticed, and, in all probability, 
VOL. VIII. 2 Q 
