Am  May as9b2arm* }  Microscopical  Characters  of  Spurious  Pareira.       2  5 1 
a  hundred  years.  He  established  beyond  doubt  that  the  drug  which 
was  first  brought  to  Europe  from  Brazil  by  Portuguese  missionaries 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  which  appears  to  have  been  that 
upon  which  the  reputation  of  Pareira  Brava  was  originally  founded 
consisted  of  the  root  of  Chondodendron  tomentosum  (Ruiz  et  Pav.)- 
Nothing  was  known  of  the  botanical  origin  of  the  commercial  drug, 
which  was  possessed  of  a  certain  amount  of  medicinal  activity, 
beyond  the  fact  of  its  belonging  to  the  natural  order  Menispermacae, 
but  even  this  variety  had  become  rare,  and  was  being  replaced  by  a 
drug  completely  devoid  of  medicinal  power. 
Since  the  publication  of  the.  original  paper  the  true  drug  has 
come  again  into  general  use  and  was  made  official  in  the  British 
Pharmacopoeia,  1885.  The  stems  of  chondodendron  frequently 
appear  in  commerce  mixed  with  the  root.  The  confusion  that  had 
reigned  so  long  was  not  dissipated  all  at  once,  and  from  time  to  time 
parcels  of  spurious  pareira  make  their  appearance  in  the  market. 
The  structure  of  the  wood  of  various  menispermaceous  plants  shows 
a  great  similarity,  so  that  it  is  not  much  to  be  wondered  at  if  other 
species  are  occasionally  offered  as  the  true  drug.  By  a  careful  com- 
parison, however,  of  the  characteristics  of  genuine  pareira  the  sub- 
stitution may  be  detected. 
In  a  paper  on  "The  Relation  of  Geography  and  Materia  Medica," 
Mr.  E.  M.  Holmes  draws  attention  to  a  spurious  variety  of  Pareira 
Brava  from  Bahia,  which  entered  into  commerce  about  the  end  of 
1890.  At  his  request  I  had  already  undertaken  to  examine  the 
microscopical  characters  of  this  drug,  and  to  see  if  it  were  possible  to 
point  out  any  differences  of  practical  value,  by  which  pharmacists 
might  with  tolerable  certainty  recognize  the  spurious  from  the  gen- 
uine drug.  Mr.  Holmes  has  furnished  me  with  the  following  par- 
ticulars concerning  the  history  of  the  drug. 
"  The  Pareira  Brava  sent  to  you  came  to  this  country  under 
somewhat  peculiar  circumstances,  for  a  knowledge  of  which  I  am 
indebted  to  one  of  the  leading  firms  of  London  drug  brokers. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  year  1889  a  consignment  of  bird  skins 
came  from  Bahia,  in  the  north  of  Brazil,  the  cases  being  filled  in 
with  pieces  of  wood,  some  of  which  were  sent  to  the  brokers  for 
inspection.  This  '  turned  out '  to  be  Pareira  Brava.  The  whole  of 
the  wood,  about  two  hundredweight  in  all,  was  packed  in  a  case  and 
readily  sold  at  a  public  sale  for  \oos.    This  price  evidently  pleased 
