ENGLISH  MEDICINAL  RHUBARB  AND  HENBANE. 
553 
the  improvement  which  became  apparent  in  the  plant  by  the  en- 
tire exclusion  of  seedlings,  an  important  change  has  been  effected 
in  the  mode  of  drying,  by  exchanging  a  high  artificial  tempera- 
ture for  a  more  gradual  one  ;  the  process  in  the  first  stages  being 
effected  by  the  application  of  a  strong  current  of  atmospheric  air, 
which  has  not  only  greatly  condensed  the  root,  and  rendered  it 
less  porous,  but  has  given  it  an  appearance  approximating  more 
closely  to  foreign. 
The  progressive  but  certain  destruction  of  all  former  preju- 
dices existing  against  the  use  of  English  rhubarb  may  be  adduced 
from  facts  much  stronger  than  theory.  The  first  is  that  as  re- 
cently as  1845,  the  extent  of  land  appropriated  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  plant  did  not  reach  ten  acres,  whereas  now  it  has 
reached  upwards  of  forty  acres,  and  even  this  is  quite  insufficient 
to  supply  the  foreign  demand  for  trimmed  English  rhubarb.  If 
the  home  consumption  of  this  drug  had  remained  stationary,  the 
export  trade  alone  would  have  afforded  every  facility  for  extend- 
ing the  plantation — a  fact  most  strikingly  shown  by  the  article 
being  sent  to  ports,  such  as  Odessa,  from  which  East  India  rhu- 
barb is  sent  to  Great  Britain. 
Even  where  regulations  of  the  most  stringent  character  have 
been  put  in  force  to  prevent  the  use  of  either  inferior  or  adulte- 
rated drugs,  English  rhubarb  has  passed  the  ordeal  in  safety. 
The  following  is  a  portion  of  one  of  the  statutes  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  entitled,  "An  Act  to  prevent  the  Importation 
of  Adulterated  and  Spurious  Drugs  and  Medicines."  Thirtieth 
Congress,  Chapter  70th,  date  1848 ;  Section  1st  provides  : — 
"  That  from  and  after  the  passage  of  this  Act,  all  drugs,  medi- 
cines, medicinal  preparations,  etc.,  imported  into  the  United 
States  from  abroad,  shall,  before  passing  the  Customs-house,  be 
examined,  as  well  in  reference  to  their  purity  and  fitness  for 
medical  purposes,  as  to  their  value  and  identity  specified  in  the 
invoice."  Section  3d  provides : — "  That  if,  on  examination, 
any  drugs,  medicines,  medicinal  preparations,  whether  chemical 
or  otherwise,  are  found,  in  the  opinion  of  the  examiner,  to  be  so 
far  adulterated  or  in  any  manner  deteriorated  as  to  render  them 
inferior  in  strength  and  purity  to  the  standard  established  by  the 
United  States,  Edinburgh,  London,  French,  and  German  phar- 
