Fart II.

The Materia Medic a.

grey, brown, and white. The a(hcoloured, or Peruvian ipecacuanhaof the (hops, is a fmall wrinkledroot, bent and contorted into agreat variety of figures, broughtover in fiiort pieces, full of wrink-les, and deep circular Allures,quite down to a fmall white woodyfibre that runs in the middle of eachpiece : the cortical part is compact,brittle, looks fmooth and refinousupon breaking : it has very littlefmell ; the tafte is bitterifti andfubacrid, covering the tongue, asit were, with a kind of mucilage.The brown is fmall, and fomewhatmore wrinkled than the foregoing,of a brown or blackifh colour with-out, and white within 5 this isbrought from Brazil. The whitefort is woody, has no wrinkles,and no perceptible bitternefs intafte. The firft fort (the afh-colouredor grey ipecacoanha) is that ufuallypreferred for medicinal ufe. 7 hebrown has been fometimes obferv-ed, even in a fmall dofe, to pro-duce violent effefts. The white,though taken in a large one, hasfcarce any effect at all: Mr. Geof-froy calls this fort baftard ipeca-coanha, and complains that it is animpofition upon the public. Towhat fpecies of plant the ipecaco-anha belongs, has not as yet beendetermined. Geoffrpy, Neumann,Dale, and Sir Hans §loane, informus, that the roots of a kind of apo-cynum (dogs bane) are too fre-quently brought over inilead of it:and inilances are given of ill confe-quenccs fpljowing from the ufe ofthefe roots : if the marks abovelaid down, particularly the alia co-lour, brittlenefs, deep wrinkles,.and bitterifh talle, be carefully at-tended to, all miftakes of this kindmay be prevented.

Ipecacuanha was firft brought in-to Europe about the middle of laftcentury, ajid an account of it pub-

157

lifhed about the fame time by Pifoj.but it did not come into generalufe till about the year 16S6, .whenHelvetius, under the patronage ofLewis XIV. introduced it intopraftice. This root is one of themildell and fafeft emetics we areacq.uain.ted with; and h-as this pe-culiar advantage, that if it fhouldnot operate by vomit, it paffes ofFby the other emunttories. It wasfirft introduced among us with thecharacter of an almoii infallibleremedy in dyfenteries, and otherinveterate fluxes ; as alfo in dis-orders proceeding from obltructions.of long Handing : nor has it loftmuch of its reputation by time. Indyfenteries, it almoft always pro-daces happy effeits, and often per-forms a cure in a very fliort fpace-of time. In other fluxes of thebelly, in beginning dyfenteries, andfuch as are- of a malignant kind, orwhere the patient breathes a taintedair, it has not been found equallyfuccefsful; in thefe cafes it is ue-cefl'ary to continue the ufe of thismedicine for feveral days, and tojoin with it opiates, diaphoretics,and the like. This root, given infubftance, is as effeftual, if notmore fo than any of the prepara-tions of it: the pure ref*n ads asa ftrong irritating emetic, but is ofliitle fervice in %fenteries •, wfiilltan e;;tra& prepared with water isalmolt 'of equal fervice in thefecafes with the root itfelf, thoughit has little effect as an emetic.Geofrroy concludes from hence,that the chief virtue of ipecacuanhain dyfenteries depends upon itsgummy fubftance, which lining theinteftines with a foft mucilage,when thpir own mucus has been,abraded, occalions their exulcera-tions to heal, and defends them,from the acrimony of the juices :and that the refinous part, in whichthe emetic quality refides, is re-quired.