-  THE 
AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
JULY,  1864. 
PHARMACEUTICAL  NOTES. 
By  Ferdinand  F.  Mayer. 
Japanese  Lovage-Root. — A  year  or  two  ago  the  New  York 
College  received  from  one  of  its  members  a  specimen  of  a  so-called 
lovage-root,  reputed  to  be  of  Japanese  origin.  A  large  quantity 
of  this  drug  had  been  brought  here  from  San  Francisco,  wmere  it 
had  been  received  as  a  shipment  from  Japan.  No  more  informa- 
tion could  be  obtained  of  the  dealers  in  regard  to  its  origin ;  the 
house  who  purchased  it,  however,  found  considerable  difficulty  in 
disposing  of  the  article,  as  a  substitute  for  the  ordinary  lovage- 
root,  and  the  greater  part  of  it  still  remains  unsold. 
Lovage  is  employed  to  a  considerable  extent  in  the  form  of 
candy,  or  the  root  itself  is  chewed,  principally  for  its  aromatic 
properties,  and  also  for  its  diuretic  and  emmenagogue  virtues,  es- 
pecially by  our  colored  population.  Besides,  the  German  apothe- 
caries have  occasional  calls  for  it,  as  it  preserves  among  their 
customers  its  ancient  reputation  for  like  purposes. 
There  are  ordinarily  to  be  found  in  the  market  the  common 
Radix  Levistici  from  Levisticum  officinale,  Koch  (DeC.  Prod.*  iv. 
p.  164.  Hayne,  Arzn$ygewa?chse,  vii,  t.  6.  Woodville,  Med. 
Botany,  i.  p.  141,  t.  55,)  which  is  imported,  and  an  American 
root  which,  I  have  been  informed  by  the  dealer,  is  the  same  spe- 
cies cultivated  in  this  country.  In  its  general  properties  and 
anatomical  structure  this  American  root  appears  to  be  identical 
with  the  foreign ;  both  are  cut  into  longitudinal  slices,  have  the 
same  sponginess,  caused  by  the  empty  vessels  of  the  bark,  and 
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