1 
108  Notes  on  Pareira.  l%S\*?m! 
tard  vine," — the  translation  of  the  name  Pareira  Brava, — it  is  hardly- 
possible  that  the  markets  should  have  always  been  supplied  from  the 
same  plant,  even  after  its  botanical  source  was  determined,  and  hence 
the  varying  descriptions  of  different  authorities  may  be  accounted  for. 
The  writer  has  been  familiar  with  it,  both  in  its  use  and  in  its  market 
character,  for  more  than  twenty-five  years,  and  for  the  last  half  of 
this  period  supposed  he  knew  the  substance  with  some  degree  of  ac- 
curacy, as  its  appearance  was  more  uniform  than  that  of  most  drugs. 
It,  however,  never  had  more  than  a  very  general  agreement  with  any 
of  the  descriptions  given  of  it ;  and  the  almost  universal  testimony  of 
those  physicians  who  knew  it  best  was,  that  although  very  efficient  in 
the  treatment  of  chronic  diseases  of  the  mucous  membranes  of  the 
urinary  passages,  it  was  only  useful  when  given  in  doses  very  much 
larger  than  those  prescribed  by  the  books. 
It  has  sp  happened,  that  in  the  New  York  market  the  trade  in  this 
drug  has  been  largely,  though  not  exclusively,  confined  to  one  drug 
house,  and  its  appearance,  as  met  with  here,  is  identical  with  oc- 
casional samples  seen  from  other  cities.  Some  ten  years  ago,  the 
annual  sales  did  not  exceed  three  or  four  hundred  pounds,  and  the 
price  was  fifteen  to  twenty  cents.  A  Portuguese  merchant,  stimulated 
by  this  high  price,  imported  a  lot  of  some  ten  thousand  pounds,  and 
unable  to  sell  it  except  in  small  lots  at  the  expected  prices,  stored  it 
for  a  year  or  two.  This  was  found  to  be  expensive  management  of 
so  bulky  an  article,  and  the  lot  was  finally  sold  at  eight  cents,  and 
supplied  the  market  for  years.  Another  lot  of  about  half  as  much 
shared  the  same  fate,  and  fell  into  the  same  hands.  The  fate  of  these 
two  lots  and  the  glut  of  the  market  seems  to  have  stopped  importation 
entirely,  and  by  1871,  when  the  annual  sales  had  reached  three  to 
four  thousand  pounds,  the  supply  became  exhausted.  .  In  resorting  to 
foreign  markets  it  was  found  scarce,  and  to  be  had  only  in  small  lots, 
and  these,  on  arriving  here,  were  held  at  seventy-five  cents  to  a  dollar 
a  pound.  In  looking  critically  through  one  of  these  small  lots  as  a 
purchaser,  the  writer  was  surprised  to  find  nearly  one-half  of  it  so. 
entirely  different  from  any  hitherto  seen,  that  he  rejected  it,  and  at 
once  pronounced  it  a  fraudulent  adulteration  or  substitution,  made  in 
the  interest  of  the  scarcity  and  high  price,  and  carefully  selected  out 
for  purchase  that  only  which  he  had  seen  before.  Some  specimens  of 
this  supposed  fraudulent  pareira  were,  however,  taken  for  examination,, 
and  were  found  to  agree  well  with  some  of  the  older  descriptions.  A 
