22 ON THE ASCLEPIAS CURASSAVICA. 
elderly gentleman, who had been labouring under thi s ln * 
firmity for years, an infusion of the blossoms of the Bastard 
Ipecacuanha, in place of his ordinary tea at the usual hours, 
for a month, at the expiration of which time he found him- 
self perfectly recovered, and declared, to use the doctor's 
own words, " that it was worth its weight in gold," adding 
that " he believed if a man could make it known in Europe, 
he would get an estate by it." Dr. Barham speaks of 
having used it with equal success in a multitude of other 
cases of the like nature ; and suggests a trial of it in leucor- 
rhcea and other disorders of females. 
A syrup prepared from the expressed juice, in doses vary- 
ing from a teaspoon to a table-spoonful, is employed as a 
powerful vermifuge after other anthelmintics have failed. 
It operates frequently, as Grainger remarks, both as an 
emetic and a purgative, and he says, he has seen the most 
surprising effects from its exhibition. Dr. Wright also 
speaks favourably of its properties, and recommends the 
juice of the leaves, to the extent of from a teaspoonful to 
an ounce taken on an empty stomach, in worm cases ; and 
says, that he can vouch for its powerful and salutary effect 
when administered in this manner. He objects, however, 
to the powdered root as unsafe, no doubt from the uncer- 
tainty of its operation and the difficulty of ascertaining, in 
consequence, the proper dose to produce the desired effect. 
This is an objection, however, which might perhaps be ob- 
viated in a great degree, if not altogether, by attending to 
the suggestions already given. Besides its emetico-cathartic 
operations in worm fevers, Dr, Wright says it acts on the 
urinary organs and the skin. 
In the unpublished manuscripts of the late Dr. Anthony 
Robinson, the following instances of its styptic and antisep- 
tic properties are given, and preserved by Lunan in his 
Hortus Jamaicensis, vol. l.,p. 65. 
"Mr. Thomas Nicol, a practitioner in physic, informed me, upon my 
telling him of the styptic virtues of the Pseudo-Ipecacuanha, whichBar- 
