Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
October,  1898.  / 
Gillenia  Trifoliata. 
505 
services.  At  these  times,  the  pounded  root  of  this  plant  was  the 
chief  emetic.  Clayton  to  Gronovius,  in  his  report  on  Virginian 
plants,  says  it  is  "  Ipecacuanha,  or  Indian  Physic."  As  Ipecacuanha 
is  believed  to  be  a  Brazilian  term,  signifying  a  "  sick-making " 
plant,  it  is  probably  an  application  by  the  white  settlers  to  this 
plant.  It  would  be  a  connecting  link  between  the  Virginia  Indians 
and  those  of  South  America,  if  this  term  were  common  to  both. 
In  noting  its  properties,  Griffith  says,  in  "  Medical  Botany,"  "  It 
early  attracted  the  attention  of  botanists,  who  found  it  well  known 
to  the  Aborigines  as  a  certain  and  safe  emetic.  It  is  a  curious  fact, 
connected  with  our  Materia  Medica,  that  there  is  scarcely  any  plant 
having  remedial  powers  with  which  the  Indians  were  not  well  ac- 
quainted before  any  communication  with  the  whites ;  while  there  is 
scarcely  one  indigenous  remedy  that  has  been  the  result  of  scien- 
tific research " — a  remark  that  may  be  applied  to  many  things 
besides  medical  knowledge.  In  regard  to  its  worth,  Dr.  Griffith 
says  that,  after  Baum  had  regarded  it  as  of  no  merit,  he  examined  it 
carefully,  and  concluded  that  there  could  be  no  doubt  of  its  value. 
The  dose  given  is  thirty  grains,  persisted  in  till  vomiting  takes 
place. 
Besides  Indian  Physic,  a  popular  name  is  "  Bowman's  Root " — not 
from  any  individual  of  that  name,  but  as  synonymous  with  Indian — 
the  man  who  uses  the  bow. 
When  growing  in  large  masses,  as  it  is  occasionally  found,  it  does 
not  present  the  same  pretty  effect  as  when  individual  plants  are 
growing  among  sedge-grasses,  ferns  and  other  green  vegetation. 
The  light  color  of  the  flowers,  amidst  so  much  verdure,  then  shows 
to  great  advantage.  This  is  the  condition  in  which  it  is  generally 
found.  It  occurs  sparingly  beyond  the  Alleghanies.  It  seems  most 
at  home  in  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  thence  to  Virginia,  becom- 
ing scarcer  till  Northern  Alabama  is  reached,  which  seems  its  south- 
ern limit. 
A  New  Morphine  Derivative. — Merck  prepares  benzyl  morphine  by  the 
action  of  benzyl  chloride  on  morphine  in  the  presence  of  alkali  in  alcoholic 
solution.  The  resultirg  benzyl  morphine  is  converted  by  HC1  .into  the  hydro- 
chloride. This  new  salt  forms  shining  prisms,  soluble  in  most  organic  solvents. 
Its  formula  is  CnH18N02.O.CH2C6H5HCl.  It  is  suggested  as  a  substitute  for 
codeine  (methyl  morphine ).=Bri t.  and  Col.  Drug.,  1S9S,  p.  773. 
