AM.  Jouii.  Phaem.  ) 
March  1,  1872.  J 
Notes  on  Pareira. 
109 
plate  given  by  Pouiet  in  his  History  of  Drugs,  published  in  1737,  and 
a  close  examination  of  the  structure,  &c,  convinced  the  writer  that 
this  was  the  true  pareira  root,  and  that  what  he  had  heretofore  seen 
was  the  stem. 
In  a  critical  review  of  the  descriptions  of  Wood  and  Bache,  and 
Pareira,  these  descriptions  were  found  to  apply  to  both,  as  nearly  as 
such  descriptions  generally  do  to  foreign  drugs,  but  that  they  applied 
much  better  to  the  ligneous  woody  stem,  which  is  comparatively  in- 
sipid and  probably  inert.  The  root  is  very  much  darker,  almost  black 
externally,  and  both  the  annular  and  vertical  wrinkles  are  very  much 
larger  and  more  prominent.  It  occurs  in  shorter  sections  than  the 
stem,  and  knarled  pieces  are  found  eight  inches  to  a  foot  in  diameter. 
The  texture  is  far  less  compact  than  that  of  the  stem,  while  the  beau- 
tiful arrangement  of  the  consecutive  rings  seen  in  a  cross  section, 
which  requires  a  glass  in  the  compact  stem,  is  well  seen  with  the  naked 
«ye  in  the  root.  The  sweetish  and  afterward  bitter  taste  of  the  woody 
stem  is  very  feeble,  and  even  when  in  the  finest  powder,  it  yields  very 
little  extract  to  any  menstruum.  The  taste  of  the  root  is,  however, 
very  much  strongerT  and  yields  at  least  twice  as  much  extractive  mat- 
ter to  the  menstrua.  Specimens  illustrate  the  difference  between  the 
root  and  stem  much  better  than  any  description,  and  will  render 
further  explanation  unnecessary. 
It  thus  appears  that,  for  some  twelve  or  fifteen  years  past,  this 
market  has  been  supplied  with  the  comparatively  inert  stem,  instead 
of  the  root  of  pareira  ;  and  that  the  ideas  of  at  least  one  careful  pur- 
chaser had  become  so  fixed  upon  the  intractable  woody  stems,  that 
when  the  roots  did  appear,  they  were  very  nearly  rejected  as  a  fraudu- 
lent substitution.  The  importations  of  this  year  thus  far  have  come 
from  the  European  markets  in  small  lots,  and  have  been  a  mixture  of 
root  and  stem,  but  less  of  the  root  than  stem,  and  the  chief  object  of 
this  note  is  to  attract  attention  to  the  drug,  and  create  such  a  demand 
for  the  proper  root  portion,  that  after  the  present  scarcity  is  over, 
and  the  market  comes  to  be  again  supplied  direct,  the  stem  may  be 
rejected, 
There  is  no  doubt  whatever  as  to  the  peculiar  efficacy  and  utility 
of  this  drug  within  its  legitimate  sphere  in  therapeutics,  and  the  won- 
der is  that  it  has  been  able  to  sustain  its  well-tried  and  time-honored 
reputation  upon  the  feeble  medicinal  properties  of  the  stem. — Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Amer.  Phar.  Assoc.  1871.] 
Brooklyn,  Sept.,  1871. 
