498      OBSERVATIONS  ON  SOME  PRODUCTIONS  OF  MEXICO. 
the  Journal  de  Pharmacie  to  an  account  of  some  Mexican  pro- 
ductions, which  we  propose  to  give  a  notice  of  in  a  condensed 
form.  Ever  since  the  French  expedition  to  Mexico,  occasional 
articles  have  appeared  throwing  light  on  the  products  of  that 
country.  M.  Guibourt  had  received  a  little  work  on  Mexican 
Materia  Medica,  published  in  1832  by  M.  Cal,  of  Puebla,  and 
had  corresponded  and  inquired,  but  owes  his  ability  to  write  the 
present  memoir  to  an  accidental  visit  to  the  Laboratory  of  the 
MM.  Merck,  of  Darmstadt,  in  1865,  on  the  occasion  of  his  at- 
tendance on  the  International  Pharmaceutical  Congress  at  Bruns- 
wick. These  gentlemen  exhibited  a  collection  of  Mexican  drugs, 
received  from  M.  Schaffner  as  early  as  1851 ;  that  gentleman,  who 
is  a  pharmaceutist  and  botanist,  residing  in  that  country,  wrote 
to  M.  Guibourt  in  1854,  asking  his  opinion,  of  a  variety  of  pro- 
ductions that  he  was  about  sending  him,  and  giving  considera- 
ble information  about  them.  The  specimens  never  came  to  hand, 
and  of  course  M.  Guibourt  could  not  give  his  opinion  of  them, 
and  laid  the  letter  of  M.  Schaffner  aside,  until  his  attention  was 
recalled  to  it  by  his  visit  to  M.  Merck,  which,  in  his  communica- 
tion, he  offers  as  a  reason  why  M.  Schaffner  was  never  replied  to. 
We  propose  to  notice  the  subject  in  a  different  order,  placing 
the  more  important  first. — Editor.  Amer.  Jour.  Phar.] 
Cevadilla. 
CebadUla  or  Cebolleja,  Veratrum  Sabadilla.  L.  According  to 
M-  Cal,  this  plant  grows  in  Terra  Caliente,  the  hot  region  of 
Mexico.  The  root  is  acrid,  and  sternutatory  as  the  seeds,  and 
enters  into  the  composition  of  the  powders  of  Sandoval.  The 
seeds  are  acrid  and  irritating ;  applied  externally  they  cause  in- 
flammation of  the  skin,  and  taken  internally  they  produce  pain 
in  the  stomach,  and  vomiting.  They  are  employed,  however,  to 
destroy  lice,  and  for  intestinal  lumbrici,  and  have  been  pre- 
scribed for  taenia,  but  it  is  needful  to  use  great  circumspection. 
In  the  letter  of  M.  Schaffner  (1854,)  he  criticises  me  for  sup- 
posing that  the  Veratrum  sabadilla  of  Retz  did  not  grow  in 
Mexico,  and  for  this  reason,  that  this  plant  could  not  yield  the 
cavadilla  of  commerce.  He  announced  that  he  had  sent  speci- 
mens (which  I  did  not  receive,)  and  closes  his  letter  by  a  memoir 
