120 
NEW  KIND  OF  MATICO. 
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  Pharma- 
copoeia— is  scarcely  to  be  obtained  in  any  quantity  in  this 
country.    This  scarcity  of  true  matico,  and  the  impossibility 
of  immediately  supplying  the  demand,  has  probably  led  to  the 
recent  large  importation  of  the  leaves  of  another  plant  under 
the  same  name  ;  and  the  object  of  this  paper  is,  more  especial- 
ly, to  direct  attention  to,  and  to  describe  that  substance. 
My  attention  was  at  first  called  to  this  matico  about  six 
weeks  since,  in  consequence  of  receiving  from  a  well-known 
herbalist,  in  extensive  business  in  London,  a  sample  of  a  drug 
which  had  been  recently  imported,  and  which  consisted  of 
dried  broken  leaves,  some  small  pieces  of  branches  and  a  few 
spikes  of  flowers.    I  was  requested  to  inform  him  as  to  its  na- 
ture, and  the  name  of  the  plant  which  yielded  it.    Upon  ex- 
amination, I  saw  directly,  from  the  odor  and  botanical  charac- 
teristics of  the  drug  that  it  had  been  derived  from  a  plant  of 
the  Order  PiPERACEiE,  and  most  probably  from  a  species  of 
the  same  genus  as  that  yielding  the  officinal  matico.  Further 
examination  clearly  exhibited  that  my  first  conjecture  was  cor- 
rect, and  that  it  had  been  obtained  from  a  species  of  Artanthe. 
Upon  further  inquiry  I  found  that  some  genuine  matico,  and 
some  of  the  present  drug  also  under  the  name  of  matico,  had 
recently  arrived  in  the  '  St.  Thomas,'  from  Colon,  a  port  situa- 
ted at  the  terminus  of  the  Panama  railroad,  on  the  Atlantic 
side.    The  drug  had  been  consigned  to  a  merchant  in  this  city, 
and  was  afterwards  offered  for  sale  as  matico,  by  a  highly  re- 
spectable firm  of  brokers.    The  respectability  of  all  the  par- 
ties concerned  in  this  country,  and  elsewhere,  who  had  know- 
ledge of  the  transaction,  and  the  public  manner  in  which  the 
drug  had  been  offered  for  sale,  showed  that  no  fraud  was  in- 
ended,  but  that  it  was  supposed  to  be,  either  true  matico,  or 
