Am.  Jour.  Pbarru.) 
February,  1901.  J 
Chemistry  of  Ipecacuanha. 
The  ipecacuanha  then  employed  for  medicinal  purposes  in  France 
was  probably  the  officially  recognized  drug  imported  from  Brazil, 
under  the  name  of  Rio  ipecacuanha,  the  product  of  a  plant  belonging 
to  the  genus  Cephaelis,  and  growing  in  the  province  of  Mato  Grosso, 
situated  in  the  basin  of  the  river  Paraguay.1  The  Codex  of  1758 
enumerated  three  kinds  of  the  official  drug2 — ipecacuanha  fusca, 
ipecacuanha  cineriia  and  ipecacuanha  candidior — which  would 
probably  correspond  with  the  three  varieties,  brown,  gray  and 
white,  mentioned  by  Pelletier  in  his  memoir  as  being  the  kinds 
most  used.3  The  botanical  source  of  these  varieties  is  uncertain,  for 
Pelletier's  statement  that  the  brown  ipecacuanha  examined  by  him 
was  the  product  of  Psyclwtria  emetica  was  subsequently  corrected  by 
Guibourt.4  In  addition  to  the  varieties  attributed  to  the  genus 
Cephaelis,  two  other  kinds  of  ipecacuanha  appear  to  have  been  official 
at  that  time,  the  "  striated  "5  and  "  undulated."6  Other  kinds  of 
ipecacuanha  were  imported  from  Para  and  Bahia,  under  names  taken 
from  the  provinces  of  Brazil  whence  they  were  collected.  Some  of 
them  no  doubt  were  derived  from  plants  of  the  genus  Cephaelis  and 
others  from  species  of  Ionidium,  etc. 
The  gradually  increasing  scarcity  and  high  price  of  the  Brazilian 
drug,  as  well  as  the  success  attending  the  importation  of  cinchona 
bark  from  New  Granada,  subsequently  led  to  the  introduction  of  a 
drug  from  that  part  of  South  America,  under  the  name  of  Cartha- 
gena  ipecacuanha,  obtained  from  a  plant  growing  in  great  abund- 
ance on  the  banks  of  the  Magdalena  River,  and  considered  by  Gui- 
bourt  to  be  a  different  and  botanically  undetermined  species  of 
'  Cephaelis  J  In  1869  Lefort  directed  attention  to  this  drug,8  point- 
ing out  that,  although  differing  in  appearance  from  Brazilian  ipe- 
cacuanha, it  might  be  equally  useful  medicinally,  and  could,  in  that 
case,  be  recognized  officially  as  a  valuable  supplement  to  the  Bra- 
zilian drug.    But  before  its  use  in  pharmacy  could  be  adopted, 
1See  Weddell,  Ann.  des  Sciences  Naturelles,  II,  193. 
2  Codex  Med.,  1758,  p.  63. 
*Jdurn.  de  Pharm.,  Ill,  148. 
4  Guibourt,  "  Histoire  abrege  des  Drogues  Simples."    Second  edition.  I,  298. 
5  Described  by  Guibourt  as  Radix  Psychotricc.    Ibid.,  p.  301. 
6 Referred  by  Guibourt  to  a  species  of  Richardsonia.    Ibid.,  p.  302. 
7  "Histoire Naturelle  des  Drogues  Simples,"  III,  82,  1850. 
8Carthagena  ipecacuanha  was  imported  into  France  in  boxes  or  casks  by  way 
of  Havre,  while  the  Brazilian  drug  was  imported  in  serons  by  way  of  Bordeaux. 
