Co


                RESEARCHED

                        ON THE

      CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES

                        OF THE

   ROOT   OF   RAHINCA,


By Messrs. FRANCOIS,  D. M.,  CAVENTOU & PELLETIER.
        PHARMACIENS, MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY
                      OF MEDICINE.


   \ MEMOIR READ AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES,
           (INSTITUTE,) THE 27th DECEMBER,  1829.

      (Extracted from the Journal General of Medicine, May, 1830.)
    4
        TRANSLATED BY JOHN BAXTER, M. D.
MKMBF.R OF THE MEDICAL SOCIETIES OF PHILADELPHIA A*TD NEW-YORK.
NEW-YORK:
I'UINTED FOR F. & N. G. CARNK*.   J">>-
                                   .%.
      Clayton & Van Norden, Printen,
           12 William-strcct.
 
I
I
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
   Chemistry has again  conferred a  scientific favour
on Medicine, by the present of another article, to assist
un important  physiological operation ;  and if the ex-
pectations held out in this paper be fulfilled, will con-
tradict the asserted opinions of many physicians, so te-
naciously held, that the action of the absorbent vessels
could not be increased or accelerated.  That we were
formerly of that number we are free to confess, and still
do not conceive the paradox  resolved ;  but the obser-
vation of several years, and  the respectable testimony
now laid before us, cannot but cause the suspicion, that
articles do  exist, which augment the power and action
of those vessels.   The rapid  diminution of the swelling
in some  of the detailed  cases  of dropsy here given,
would seem to forbid the conclusion that a simple di-
minution of secretion alone could have been the mode
of relief; and must induce  the  belief that the removal
of the effused fluid has  been produced by actual aug-
mentation of  absorption ;  but whether the increased
urinary and other secretions preceded as a  cause, or
merely followed as an effect, of  the increased quantity
of serosity  in the blood vessels, must probably remain
as yet undetermined.  Another  physiological  question
is implicated  in  the  operation of this medicine—one,
too,  in which not a little warmth has been shown occa-
sionally—viz.  : whether it effects its purposes by being
absorbed  into the circulatory system, or sympathetic-
ally, through the medium  of the  nervousf system.   Be-
sides that the  short space of a preface does not allow
the discussion of these questions, so interesting in phy-
siology  and pathology, we would  prefer to watch  the
operation of the medicine in question a little more, be-
fore  taking  for granted all that is  asserted of it.  The
disease  to which the Kahinca seems most applicable,
)s certainly one which baffles  our skill sufficiently often 
4
to make it  worth an experiment with it, and is of a na-
ture sufficiently distressing to justify that experiment.
  We see  by this  new effort of the French chemists,
that Chemistry, beside having removed from our shelves
the quantities of rubbish which burthened our Materia
Medica;  having caused to be laid aside quantities of
inert matter, with  which the  stomachs of our patients
have been  deluged for centuries past;—beside that
medicines, supposed to be beneficial, have, by its means,
been laid aside to make room  for the active principles
of those drugs which observation and experience have
proved useful in the healing art;—beside that its analy-
sis has detected, among the woody fibre, the carbona-
ceous substance, the greasy oleaginous matter of vege-
table growth, the portion to which a shrub or root owes
its medicinal virtues,  and thus reducing to something
like a certainty our professional efforts, simplifying and
facilitating  our  prescriptions,  enabling us better to un-
derstand the effect  of what we prescribe, to vary our re-
medies with a better reliance on the effects by abstract-
ing from among them  those parts calculated to produce
injurious effects, as well as the useless and inefficacious ;
—we say, besides  these benefits, Chemistry, by stand-
ing  porter at the threshold, preventing  the admission
of new remedies without the scrutiny of her analytical
test,  will guard our temple against the continual  impo-
sition of new drugs, whether  herbs, roots, or plants, to
which we are continually liable—making pharmaceu-
tical medicine a vague, varying, and uncertain science,
and committing upon the people imposture after impos-
ture, by which  their confidence in the  means  of the
healing art is shook to its base and destroyed.
  In the Kahincic  Acid and the Extract of Kahinca, an
account of which is here offered to the  Profession, we
have another effort of skill and science.  That  it may
realize all that its friends assert of it in relieving suffer-
ing human nature,  is the sincere wish of the
                          American Translator. 
RESEARCHES
                     ON THE

CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES

                     OF THE

      ROOT OF KAHOTCA.
   Since the spirit of analysis, applied to the sciences,
 has served as a guide to observation, Medicine, enlight-
 ened by pathological anatomy and chemistry, has been   |
 better able to appreciate facts, and the value of therapeu-   *
 tical means. Empiricism, fruit of experience, has become
 rational; we no longer swear on the -word of the mas-
 ter ; we have doubted, examined ; we have chosen, we
 have  created a method : eclectism has  replaced sys-  .
 tems, and conjectural theories have disappeared :  with .
 the habit of observing, the spirit of investigation must \
 awake.  In seeking truth, we  have perceived the ne-
 cessity of science :  and each has directed his labours
 towards the means which he had thought the most pro-
 per to satisfy them.
   Medical matter, submitted to a rigorous examination,
 has appeared very trifling to all good  spirits, notwith-
 standing the immense number of substances furnished
 by the three kingdoms of nature, recognised in books,
 and exposed in abundance in the shops.   How few me-
 dicines enjoy really the  properties according to which
 they have been classed, or deserve yet to be proclaim-
 ed efficacious against such or such diseaseT
   Diuretics, so useful in the treatment of many heavy
 diseases, are very numerous.  If we consult our phar- '*'
 macopeias, we are embarrassed in our choice ;  but in
 practice we soon perceive that some have no other ac.
tion than that of the abundant vehicle in which it is ad-
 ministered, and that others, by their action, more or less 
G
irritating, determine  momentarily a larger emission ot
urine, but that we are soon compelled to abandon their
use, because the stomach can no longer support them.
or that they irritate the urinary apparatus.  All practi-
tioners agree  that until  now  we do not know any sub-
stance which  we can regard as truly diuretic, and the
use of which  can be continued sufficiently long to ar-
rive at the end which it is proposed to  attain, without
fatiguing the digestive organs.   We like to believe that
this gap in the Materia  Medica  will  be  replaced by a
shrub of the family of rubiacae,  a family to which the-
rapeutics  already owe the quinquina and  ipecacuanha.
We flatter ourselves that it will furnish hereafter a good
diuretic in the Kahinca, (chiococca racemosa or angui-
fvga,) which it appears no physician has as yet attend-
ed to.
   In 1826, a  journal  gave a fragment of a  voyage of
Major Langsdo^f, Consul General of Russia at Rio Ja-
neiro, in which the author speaks of the medicinal  vir-
tues of this plant.*    They employ it, he  says, against
intermittent fevers,")"  morbid appetite, amenorrhcea,  and
dropsy.   We spoke of it to Dr.  Clemencon, who arriv-
ed from Brazil, where he had penetrated  into the pro-
vince of Minas Geraes,  and resided for some time in the
district of Diamonds.  He tells  us that  the Kahinca,
called also Kahinana,% but more known at Bahia by the
  ■  Dr. K^pclcr had the complaisance to communicate to us to-
day, 30th October, 1829, a letter written in 1825 to the Marquis
of Pedra Branca, by M. Joaquin Candido Soarez, of Meirelles,
in which this physician  assures him that the knowledge of the
antihydropic property of the kahinca, or cainana, due no doubt to
the  savages, dates from more than an  age;  since his father, his
(rrandfather,and himself, made use of this root, and obtained hap-
py results, not only against dropsy, but  also as anthelmintic. The
father of JV^fSoarez collected several cases on the Congonahas do
Sabera, where it may be said that dropsy is endemic.
  i  We must not cenfound the kahinca with the coutarea scepi-
osa quina  of Rio, the efficacy of which against intermittent fe-
vers is known, although it is inferior to that of the kina of Pern.
(See lleise nach Brasilien durch Spix und Martins, Munchen, 1820,
 Uo.)
  \ The name  of kahinana has been given to this vegetable,
says Dr. Soarez, because formerly it was employed to cure the
bite of a serpent, called in the country  Caintana. 
7
name of Raiz Preta, black root, shrub of the Penlandrie
Dyginie,  grows  in  the part  the most  remote of the
province of the mines, towards the forest of the Virgin.
This plant prefers uncultivated and  sterile places, the
barren earth of which  is hard and compact, as may be
judged by the solidity, the close texture of the fibres of
the  root, and the facility with which the bark is sepa-
rated.  This substance, administered  as a  medicine,
was pointed out to us  by our enlightened brother just
named, as eminently tonic, and of a taste strongly bit-
ter.   He told us that  the natives employ this root by
.maceration and  decoction, in the dose of one to two
ounces in cases of dropsy, dyspepsia, and to cure inter-
mittent fevers, very common on the borders of the river
San Francisco.   M. Clemencon could give us no other
marks.*  Upon  our intimating a desire of procuring a
specimen of the  root of the kahinca, he had the complai-
sance to give us nearly a pound, which, with  some little
which one of us already possessed, was submitted to a
chemical ^lamination.  Afterwards, we  obtained also
about two pounds, from the extreme politeness of Pro-
fessor Dumeril; but tins small quantity was far from
 being sufficient  for our attempt, which took place in
 1827.   To continue them, it was  necessary  to wait for
 M.  Clemencon  to procure 50 kilogrammes, which he
 has obtained from Rio Janeiro.f

   Botanical Character and Natural History of the Root
of Kahinca.—The root of Kahinca, (chiococca racemosa
 anguifnga, fore luteo,) of which we have the honour to
 present to the Academy a  specimen well preserved, is
 a plant  originally from Brazil ;  it grows in the interior
  * It will be asked, perhaps, why M.  Clemencon has not em-
ployed the bark of the kahinca during his  residence in Brazil; it
is that there, as in Europe, the indigenous plants are neglected,
and there, too, the remedies coming from  Europe, and indicated
in  our pharmacopeias, were alone wanted.
  t This was not without expense, and moreover without trouble,
since his correspondent was obliged to  cause the plant to be up-
rooted in places very distant from any habitation, because this root,
not being an object of commerce to the natives, they do not seel:
it but when they have need of it,  and do  not keep it by thej'i. 
8
of the  soil of this vast country: the use of this  plum
having been in general confined until this moment to
the natives, it is only known to the botanists ;  no  work
in medicine or materia medica makes mention of it, and
it is only lately that it has attracted the attention of  the
learned.
   There exist two individuals of this shrub in the Mu-
seum  of Natural History, (greenhouse Buffon;) they
have attained nearly two  feet in height.  We believe
we cannot do better than to quote  here  the description
which M. Achille Richard has given of it in the Journal
of Medical Chemistry of 1826, vol. ii.
   " The  ckiococca racemosa anguifnga, fore luteo,  be-
longs to the family of rubiacea?, and to the pentandria
dyginia.   It is a shrub of  five to six feet in  height, 01
sometimes a tree of moderate size, rising to the height
of thirty  feet.   It is  glabrous in all  its parts :  its twig
is woody, ramified ;  its branches are slender and  thin ;
its leaves opposed, eliptical, acuminous, verywhole, gla-
brous, and of a clear green upon  their tvflttaces, con-
tracted underneath, with sialks quite  short.   Between
each pair of leaves is found  on  each side of the twig a
small caduquous stipula ; the flowers are yellow,  form-
ing at the crotch  of the leaves small simple  clusters,
nearly  of the length  of the leaves.   All these flowers
are pedunculous and straight.   Their chalice is globu-
lar and adherent with the ovary inserted ; it is  termina-
ted above by a limb  spreading out to five small teeth ;
the corollary is regularly monopetal, widening, and  al-
most bell shaped, with  live  reflected lobes.   The five
-tamina are slightly salliant; the fruit are small berries:,
very white, compressed, a  little lenticular,  and umbi-
lical at their summit."
   The  root of kahinca is of a moderate size ;  it is com-
posed of a bark of a brown amber  colour, of an aroma-
tic and nauseous odour ; it is of a very bitter taste  ; this.
bark is hard, brittle, compact, nearly a line thick ;  it co-
versa white meditullium, insipid, inodorous, and which
makes, alone, almost the whole mass of the root.  It  issuf-
ficient to break this between two hard bodies, to produce 
9
easily the separation of the bark from the meditullium,
on which it is only as it were placed.*
  If, as there is reason to believe, the gathering of the
root of the kahinca becomes a new branch of pharma-
ceutic commerce, it will be necessary to attempt to strip
on the spot the bark  from the root, as is practised with
the quinquina ; by which there will be avoided great
expense in the transportation ;  and we shall diminish in
proportion the price ofthe root,  of which the meditullium
constitutes at least two thirds the weight.

  Chemical Researches on the Root of the Kahinca.—An
undeterminate quantity of this root, cut in small rolls,
very fine, was put in maceration in alcohol at 35Q.  It
requires a large number of successive macerations to ex-
haust the root of all soluble matter, and to deprive it of
all sapidity.   The alcoholic tinctures coming from these
macerations were united  and  distilled in a water bath,
in order to separate the alcohol.   When three quarters
of the alcohol was  obtained,  the residue was decant-
ed into a capsule of platina, and  the evaporation conti-
nued at a slow heat, until  there was perceived upon the
sides of the capsule some concrete  zones of matter.—
The evaporation was stopped, and the capsule placed in
a dry place ; in about 24 hours  it  was remarked that the
liquor had formed a  concrete gluey mass, in which was
observed a matter which seemed opposed to a regular
crystallization.  The mass  was then treated with  cold
distilled water, in sufficient quantity to dissolve  all that
was susceptible to be  in  this vehicle.   It  was filtered,
in order to collect a flocculent matter, of a yellow brown,
aromatic,  and which presented all the characters  of  a
greasy matter : it was still bitter  ; but many successive
ebullitions in water, and a  cold solution in sulphuric
ether, was sufficient to bring it to a  convenient state of
purity.  This  greasy  matter is of a green colour, and

  * I have been  favoured with a view of a s • ncimen of this root,
which was sent to Dr. Mitchell from Rio Jaht-iro, by Benj. Leach,
Esq., and an acount of which is published  in the 29th No. of the
N. Y. Medical and Physical Journal, for April,  1829; the cha-
racters are precisely as described above.              A. T. 
10
 the whole virulent matter of the root resides in it;  the
 ether leaves undissolved a pulverulent substance, granu-
 lar, insipid, of the colour of Spanish tobacco, soluble in
 alcohol, and to which we shall return hereafter.
   The  aqueous liquor filtrated  in order to isolate the
 greasy matter and the aforesaid substance, retains all
 the  bitterness of  the root,  and presents the following
 properties: it was very bitter, acid to the tournesol.
 does not give any precipitate by the caustic ammonia,
 is troubled lightly by the alkaline sub-carbonates,  pre-
 cipitates by the acid, and by the tincture of the gall-nut.
 Thus, these simple preliminary attempts show already
 very evidently that there does not exist in the root of
 the  kahinca vegetabls alkaline  matters, insoluble, or
 little soluble in water.
   This aqueous liquor, upon one portion of which we
 have just studied the action of preceding re-agents, was
 evaporated by a slight heat, in order to  see if, left to
 itself at a point of concentration judged proper, it would
 give crystals ;  it  finished by forming, as before, into a
 concrete mass, but without presenting distinct crystals.
 We vainly attempted  to treat it  in divers manners by
 alcohol and by ether, in order to isolate some crystals of
 this  concrete mass:  either these  fluids  have  little
 action, by reason of their great concentration, or  they
 had  too much when they were much extended.   Con-
 vinced,  then,  of  the  impossibility  of  separating the
 substances which composed the bitter extractive matter
 by precipitating agents,  we  had  recourse to chemical
 means, employed with much succ ess in the analysis of
 vegetables, which  consists in employing the liquid sub-
 acetate of lead.  We poured into the aqueous bitter li-
 quor  the subacetate  of  lead, in  sufficient  quantity to
 precipitate all that was susceptible of being by this che-
 mical agent.   We filtrated the liquor,  in order to col-
lect the  very  abundant precipitate which was formed :
the liquor was almost  colourless, and deprived of all
bitternesss; consequently the  principle  in which the
bitterness resides  is found precipitated, in the state of
 combination with the lead.
   The precipitate obtained  by the  salt of lead   wa* 
11
washed in distilled boiling water,  until the washings
were no longer troubled by sulphuric acid.  These wa-
ters of the washing were re-united  to the first liquor in
which the precipitate had been  produced.  The whole
of the liquor was submitted to a current of hydro-sulphu-
ric acid gas, to the effect of isolating all the lead  : se-
parated from the sulphuret of  lead, formed and  eva-
porated to a proper point, it was left to itself.   At the
end of several days, it formed a crystallization, very dis-
tinct in  the midst of a thick visquous matter, with odour
like raw sugar.   These crystals, washed with a  little
spirit of wine, were of a handsome  white, brilliant, and
of a fresh taste ;  it was the acetate of lime : as to the
visquous matter, it had  no sensible taste, and was aban-
doned as worthless.
   All the interest from experience was necessarily spent
upon the precipitate, in which was found fixed the bitter
principle ; and we made all our exertions to examine it.
It was first steeped  in  distilled  water,  and treated  by
sulphuretted hydrogen.  When we judged that all the
lead was converted into sulphuret, the refuse liquid was
poured  upon a cloth covered with  filtering paper, and
left to drop : it  was washed with distilled water; the
liquor was yellow, and a little bitter; it was evaporated,
and an extractive matter obtained in place of crystals, of
a deep yellow, and slightly bitter.
   As to the sulphuret of lead, it was sufficient to put a
few grains in  the  mouth, to perceive, almost immedi-
ately, a sensation  of bitterness very strong.  Well con-
vinced,  after this attempt, that the greatest part of the
bitter principle was  interposed in this mass of sulphur,
and of the little solubility of this principle in water, since
the washings with this liquid only took away some atoms,
perhaps by means of the yellow colouring matter, we
attempted the action of another  vehicle.  Consequent-
ly,  we dried in a water  bath the bitter sulphuret of  lead,
and treated it by different  returns with  boiling alcohol,
until this fluid ceased to bring away the bitterness  ; wo
reunited these alcoholic  tinctures, and distilled  them
with a moderate heat, so as to draw off two thirds of the
alcohol, and the residue was left to cool.  The liquid. 
12
while yet warm, let fall, almost en masse, needle-shap-
ed crystals,very distinct, but coloured by a brown yellow
matter.   We took  up again this mass by new boiling
alcohol, into which we threw animal carbon ;  the liquid
was filtered, and evaporated with  moderate heat;  and
a handsome crystallization  was  obtained of  the bitter
principle.
  Thus, from the whole  of the preceding, we have a
right to conclude that we have separated four  vegetable
substances, very distinct; that is,
  1st. A crystallized bitter principle, and which presents
all the bitterness of the plant ;
  2d. A fatty, green matter, of a  nauseous smell, and
in which resides all the odour of the  root;
  3d. A yellow colouring matter ;
  4th. A coloured visquous matter.
  Of all  the  bodies, the  bitter principle is that which
ought necessarily to offer the most  interest; for,  pre-
senting all  the sapidity  of the root, it is in that equally
we  ought to  find the virtue the most characteristic of
the'plant ;  also it has been the  object of all  our atten-
tion.

  Of the Bitter Principle of the Root Kahinca.—The
bitter principle obtained, as we have just shown, is white,
crystallizable in small thin needles, which are arranged
among themselves in the manner  of muriate of mor-
phine. It has no sensible odour ; its taste, nothing at first,
is not slow  to develope itself in a very marked manner;
it leaves a slight sense of astringency  in the throat,
which is  soon dissipated.   It is neither efflorescent nor
deliquescent, when exposed to the open air.
  Submitted  to the action of heat, it  neither changes in
colour nor form at the temperature of boiling water ; we
have exposed it in a small cup for twenty.four hours at
a temperature  of 100° centigrade,  (212° F.)  and we
have not remarked that it has undergone any alteration
of its properties, or that any portion of  the  substance
had evaporated ;  it merely gave off a little water which
was interposed between its molecules.
   If we heat it in a glass tube, to  the temperature of a 
13
spirit of wine lamp, it softens, carbonizes, and diffuses)
a white vapour, thick and  heavy, which  sublimes and
concretes on the sides of the tube, partly in mass, partly
in very light and small brilliant crystals ;  these crystals,
like the concrete vapour, are deprived of all bitterness,
and appear to be of another nature ;  thus is the bitter
principle affected by fire, like many other principles of
vegetables, which give birth to pyrogenious products of
a  different nature.  Besides, we do not find ammonia
in the products of combustion.
   Calcined in a platina crucible, it leaves no residue,
when it is very pure, and moreover when it is totally
deprived of lime, which it  retains with great energy,
and which it carries even through filtering papers.
   The bitter principle is very little soluble in water, and
it requires more than six hundred times its weight of
that liquid to dissolve it.  It is also very little soluble in
ether, thirty-two grammes (I3 14 grs.) did not dissolve
five  centigrames (not a grain) of this principle.
   Alcohol appears  to  be its  especial  solvent;  it  is
soluble  in  this fluid  in large quantities, but less cold
than hot; it crystallizes on cooling.
   The chemical property the most remarkable in the
bitter principle is, without contradiction, that'which it
possesses, of reddening the paper  of tournsol, in the
manner of acid.
   The action of concentrated acid on the bitter princi-
ple is not less remarkable :  the sulphuric  dissolves it,
and carbon immediately decomposes it;  the hydro-chlo-
ric acid dissolves  it, but at the instant it becomes  a
transparent gelatinous mass ; if we dissolve this jelly in
water, it is separated in the form of white translucent
flakes, which, being washed, are deprived of all bitter-
 ness.  The acid washings reunited, saturated with the
 sub-carbonate of barytes, evaporated with ease to dry-
 ness, and restored  to alcohol, do not abandon  any bit-
 Mess.   Thus, the simple contact of cold hydro-chloric
 acid, concentrated, is sufficient to destroy the bitterne*s
 of this principle, aid to convert it  into a gelatinous
 matter, almost insipid.  The nitric acid acts in an ana-
 logous manner; but the elements of these two bodies are
                           2 
14
 not slow to be  put in action;  it produces nitrous gH9t
 and finally, after an  action for a long while prolonged,
 we find a yellow colouring matter, bitter, without trace
 of oxalic acid.  These two  acids, (hydro-chloric and
 nitric,)  diluted with water, and  put in contact with the
 bitter principle, scarcely dissolve it.
   The  action  of the radical  acetic  acid on the bitter
 principle differs according to the temperature at which
 it is employed : thus, at  the  ordinary temperature,  it
 dissolves it, and if we expose this solution to the open
 air, the acid is evaporated, and leaves the bitter princi-
 ple to crystallize with all  its properties ;  let it be heat-
 ed, the solution colours slightly of a brown ; and if we
 leave it to itself, it leaves a gelatinous matter, similar to
 that  produced  by the preceding  acid, and  we find no
 more trace of bitterness.
   From the  characteristic property  possessed by  the
 bitter principle, of reddening the paper of tournesol, we
 might believe that it  ought to  saturate alkaline bases.*
 If we dilute the bitter principle in water, where we pour
 caustic ammonia, it is dissolved  very well ; the liquor
 reduced, does  not crystallize—it leaves a plaster which
 remains attached to the side of the capsule.  It is suffi-
 cient to triturate this salt with a little potash, to disen-
 gage the ammonia.   The water  of  barytes dissolves
 equally well the bitter principle, but without giving the
 crystals ; it is  the same with the potash ; as to lime, its
 mode of action presents a particularity which deserves
 to  be cited.    Lime water, saturated  with the bitter
 principle,  preserves its transparency, but  if lime be
 added in excess, there is produced,  instantly, a consi-
 derable precipitate, which  is a sub-combination of the
 bitter principle and lime.   This sub-salt dissolves well
in alcohol, but better warm than cold: in the first case
it separates in  part, in form of large white flakes, very
alkaline, which restores to blue the tournsol, reddened
by an acid.f   The neutral solution of lime and the bit.

  * We only giva here a rapid sketch of the  properties which the
bitter principle  presents, when put in contact with salifiable ba-
ses: they will compose the subject of a special work.
  t Analogous combinations have been mistook by  many phar-
rnacieu* for vegetable alkalies ; in  treating  with lime water ve- 
15
ter principle, evaporated, does not crystallize more than
the preceding ;  it separates in the form of  small pelli-
cles, which resemble  very much those we see formed
on many vegetable juices  by their concentration, and
which, at another time, was designated generally by the
name of hydrogenated extract.  It is perhaps  to analo-
gous  combinations  that are owing the most  of  the
phenomena which the evaporation,  by heat, of many ve-
getable decoctions present.
  The property which the bitter principle has, of form-
ing with lime a sub-combination, will present us soon a
means of obtaining more directly this principle.  All
these combinations of the bitter principle with bases are
soluble  in alcohol, and  possess great bitterness;  dis-
solved in waterj they let fall the bitter principle when
we pour in an acid.   It is easy to comprehend, from all
that we have said on the mode of extraction of this pro-
duct, that it  exists in this plant in  the state of sub-salt
with base of lime.
   From the whole of the chemical properities of the
bitter principle of the root of kahinca, it is evident that
we may consider it as a principle immediately new,  and
very distinct from all others known.  If we add to these
chemical  properties that not less important one of being
a powerful diuretic, as the rest of this memoir will prove,
it seems to us useful to designate it by a special name.
We propose  that of Kahincic Acid, which will have the
merit of indicating the origin of this substance.

   Different Means of obtaining the Kahincic Acid,  and
Reflections on this Subject.—The procedure which we
have described above, and by which we are enabled to
extract the kahincic acid, is without contradiction the
most exact which  can be  followed ; but it will become
very long and very expensive,  if it  be necessary to ap-
ply it in the manufacture ;  therefore we have  sought to
obtain the same result by as exact and more  economical
getable decoctions, and retaking the calcareous precipitate with
boiling alcohol:  it was thus that we thought to have extracted an
Alkali from rhubarb, as M. Caventou shewed, some time since, in
• memoir, read to the Royal Society of Medicine. 
16
way.  Thus, having remarked that boiling water caii dev
prive the root of the whole bitterness, we had recourse
to decoction :  the decoction water, reduced what  was
necessary, we precipitated  by the subacetate of lead ;
the precipitate, obtained in quantities  and well strained,
through a cloth  treated  directly by diluted sulphuric
acid, in order to  avoid the use of sulphuretted hydrogen.
Independent of the bitter principle, the sulphuric  acid
eliminated, in this manner, a remarkable quantity  of
brown  colouring matter, as well as  acetic acid, which
had been released by the  precipitation.   Having no-
thing more to do than to bring in the action of the alco-
hol upon the mass thus divided, we  would  previously
expose it to the heat of a water bath, in order to expel
the exceeding humidity, and not weaken the dissolving
power  of the spirit of wine.  It  required several hours
to arrive at this  result, and that but imperfectly : how-
ever, we treated it with boiling alcohol, and we obtain-
ed tinctures highly charged with colour ; but, scarcely
thrown upon filters, they became a gelatinous mass,
when we  were much astonished to  find it completely
deprived of bitterness. All the sulphate of lead, formed
and interposed with this matter, was  thus exhausted by
the alcoholic decoctions, without our finding the least
trace of bitterness.
  A result so unexpected could not be produced but by
two causes : the first, in  consequence of the volatility,
not yet proved,  of the kahincic acid ; the second, by
the decomposition of this  principle.    We paused,  at
first, at the first cause, because it appeared the most
probable.   How, in fact, could we presume that a vege-
table principle had undergone decomposition at the tem-
perature of boiling water ? but, however, it was esta-
blished afterwards, when we had understood better the
action  of chemical agents upon the bitter principle, that
this acid had been decomposed.  It was sufficient,  in
fact,  from the quantity of acetic acid released  by the
action of the sulphuric acid upon the precipitate obtained
Tom the lead, to determine a chemical re-action in the
ilementary constitution of the kahincic acid, and to oc-
casion  a change  so remarkable in  its physical proper-
ies, chemical and medical ; for the  new body, formed 
17
in consequence of this  reaction, is neither crystalliza-
ble, bitter, nor diuretic, as we are well assured.
   If it be recollected that we have said, on the subject of
the action of acetic acid on the kahincic, that that acid
dissolved it, when cold, and left it to crystallize, without
alteration—while, when hot, it decomposed it, and trans-
formed it into a gelatinous matter deprived of all bitter-
ness,* we shall explain very well the result  preceding.
We did not know then the mode of action, so singular, of
the acetic acid upon the bitter principle of  the root
which occupies us, and we  avow frankly that it  de-
ceived us so  far as to  regard  the matter  obtained
 n the new  operative proceeding  as having escaped
 is in  the  chemical  examination  of the  plant.   We
have  thought  that we ought  to go further  into a phe-
nomenon so little foreseen  at the period of our labour
when it was remarked, because it proves, in a conclusive
manner, the difficulties  of organic analysis, and at what
point certain bodies can easily be  altered by the action
of chemical agents and re-agents, which we employ to
extract and study them with.
   If, instead of decomposing the  bitter principle, still
moist by the dilute sulphuric acid, as  we have just done
with no unfavourable result, we dry it immediately in a
water bath, then we boil it with the alcohol  into which
we havo poured the sulphuric acid, we  obtain the bitter
principle easily ;  because it is dissolved in proportion to
its elimination in the alcohol, without the acetic  acid,
also released, but too diluted, being able to  alter it;  it
is sufficient,  then, to filter these solutions,  and to leave
them to  evaporate, to obtain  the  crystallized  kahincic
acid ;  still there is formed always a little gelatinous mat-
ter, if the liquors have been too concentrated by means
of heat.
  * This new matter may make the object of a particular exami-
nation : it is white, uncrystallizable, of a taste slightly styptic, ino-
dourous, insoluble in  water, and very soluble  in alkaline liquors,
from which the acids precipitate it  in the state of jelly, resembling
pectic acid;  but it differs essentially from this in its solubility in
alcohol.  The body it approaches the most  will be the acid kino-
vic, discovered  by Messrs. Pellatier &  Caventou, in the bark of
the kina-no-va.
                          2* 
18
  Thu9,  this proceeding, upon which  we  thought to
have dilated, does not appear to us susceptible of gene-
ral application ;  for, independently of this, that it gives
products much coloured,and purification long and difficult,
its execution may cause to run the risk of  loss, which
must always carefully be avoided in the  manufacture.
  Having remarked the property which  the  kahincic
acid possesses, of forming, with lime, a salt with excess
of base, insoluble in water, we attempted to precipitate
the aqueous decoctions of the root of the kahinca by
that base in  excess.  We attained  effectively to extract
all the bitterness of the decoctions,  by fixing it  upon the
lime ; but the precipitate dried, and treated with alco-
hol, charged with oxalic acid, in abandoning the kahin-
cic acid, separated itself at the same time from a quan-
tity of colouring matter, which rendered so difficult and
long the obtaining the kahincic  acid in a fit state of
purity.   We could,  it is true, modify this proceeding.
in treating,  at first, the dried calcareous precipitate, by
boiling alcohol, which dissolves the subkmeate of lime,
and leaves  the major part of the  combination of lime
and colouring matter undissolved ;  but it is necessary to
employ in this case  a  quantity of  very strong alcohol,
which would destroy tke desired economy.
  The procedure which appears  to  us to deserve the
preference,  consists in dissolving the alcoholic  extract
of the root  in water, and  to  filter  and  precipitate with
lime in excess, until the liquor is deprived  of bitterness ;
to collect the precipitate, and to decompose it by oxa-
lic and boiling alcohol.
  Finally, there remains yet a means of procuring more
directly the kahincic  acid.  This means  consists in
pouring, by drops, the hydrochloric or acetic acid into an
aqueous decoction of the bark of the root of the kahinca.
The kahincic is deposited slowly during several days,
and in the  state  of small crystals;  but it is much co-
loured, and  there remains besides  a notable quantity in
solution in the liquor,  in consequence of the colouring
matter,  which bind and retain it.  Not having examined
the root of the kahinca chemically, but with  the view to
discover to which of its principles belonged the diurectic
property, we thought our principal task fulfilled when 
19
we had separated this principle, and  established Us
characteristic property.  We propose, hereafter, to re-
turn to some necessary details, which seemed to us of a
nature to fatigue the  attention  of the academy.   We
believe, also, that examined as a therapeutic agent, the
kahincic acid, by reason of its feeble solubility in water,
ought to be administered under the same circumstances
in which it is found in the plant;  that is to say, in the
state of sub-kineate of lime.

   Of the Employment of the Root of the  Kahinca in the
Treatment of Diseases.—It would perhaps be temerity
to wish to draw from a chemical examination of this sub-
stance rigorous inductions for therapeutics.  The action
of medicaments can neither be purely chemical nor me-
chanical ;  it is entirely determined by the particular vi.
tality proper to each of our organs ;  it is also modified
by the morbid state. We know effectively that in the dis.
eased state our organs have a true tolerance* for certain
remedies,  which they will not support  in  the state  of
health ;  and that, on the other hand, some diseases ex-
hibit  a susceptibility so great, that the slightest medi-
cinal doses carry irritation to the highest degree.   All
that we  can say is, that there is reason  to  believe that
the double action of the extract of kahinca, is due to a
bitter principle, which has no analogy with  any other
known ; it is this principle which we present under the
name of acid kahincic.
   It  is difficult to establish the doses of a  medicine on
the use of which we can procure but general and varia-
ble evidence.   This was the case in which  we found
ourselves,  when it  was necessary to try  the root of the
kahinca.  Dr. Clemencon informed us that it was em-
ployed in the dose of one or two ounces, in infusion and
decoction.  Dr.  Soarez, cited by Richard, prescribed
it in decoction, from one to two drams, and in powder,
from  20 to 30  grains.f   It is  presumable that the

  * Example: an emetic in acute  pulmonary phlegmasia;  mer-
cury in puerperal peritonitis, tetanus, &c.
  t The patients who took the Cainana infused in white »ine,
were saved in greater number than those who used it infused is
tafia.  (See letter cited note 1, page 2.) 
20
Brazilian physician only used the bark, and  that Dr,
Clemencon  had intended the dose of the whole root.
However that may be, it was prudent to commence in
small quantities, which would not  produce any effect.
No doubt we  shall be pardoned the uncertitude,  the
changings, the timidity, of our first essays, especially,
when we know that a physician to whom we sent a cer-
tain quantity of the powder of the bark of kahinca,  ha-
ving given two drachms to a hydropic patient despaired
of, caused a  super-purgation  which frightened him, but
which had no bad effect for the patient.*  It was neces-
sary,  then, to proceed with the greatest caution, that no
accident might happen.   We obtained no effect at the
first trial.   The increase of the doses produced variable
results,  which, however, sufficed to obtain a knowledge
of the properties of this substance.   The patient did not
take it voluntarily ; in the form of powder, its extreme
bitterness, as well as the quantity of powder to swallow,
was fatiguing ;  we thought it more advantageous toad-
minister it in aqueous extract; thenceforth, all was po-
sitive in its action, and each new fact proved to us still
more  the innocuity of this  remedy,  as well as its double
property of purging, and  of  exciting diuresis, without
fatiguing  the stomach,  or irritating the urinary appa-
ratus.
   We shall  report all the facts—many only summarily.
It is not the  histories of dropsy that we wish to collect;
we have not wished to speak in  detail of the treatment
of this disease,  the causes of which are so variable, af-
ter the Nestor of French Medicine, who sits in this Aca-
demy.  We have only thought to  have established the
medical virtues of the root of kahinca, and then to indi-
cate  it to our brethren, as one of  the means the most
powerful which we know of to combat dropsy ;  we say
to combat, because, too often, this disease is incurable :
but if it do not always cure,  we  can at least solace the

  * M Vesey informed us to-day, 28th October, that a Prussian,
M. Albert Samuel Lceveinstein, published at Berlin, in 1828, a
dissertation in Latin on the botanico-medical and anti-hydropic
properties of the root of the kahinca;  if we had known it, the do-
cuments which it contains would have spared us much research. 
21
patient, and prolong  his  existence.   In order better to
judge of the effect of the  kahinca, every time we  have
prescribed it, it was  given pure, without mixture.   W e
prescribed at the same time, a regimen appropriate to
the state of the patient,  in abstaining  from  employing
any other analogous medicine, to which could be  attri-
buted in part the results obtained.
   Independent of our own  observations, we shall give
several which our honourable brethren have laboured to
collect, on the request which we have made them.
   It is possible that the collection of facts which we pre-
sent may appear monotonous and prolix;  but  notwith-
standing all our efforts to avoid this  fault, we have been
obliged to enter into details, fastidious perhaps, but
which have appeared to us indispensable to the proper
making  known  the manner to administer the kahincic
preparations, their effects on the patients, and the diffe-
rent results obtained from day to day.

   Observations on the immediate effects of the Bark  of the
                  Root of Kahinca.

   No. 1.  A man thirty-five years old, strong and robust,
convalescent from a  bronchites, had need of a laxative :
we gave him thirty grains of the powder of the bark of
the root of the kahinca: he had two  stools without a
cholic.
   No. 2. A man nearly of the same age, having under-
gone a dieting, and fatigued by several  bleedings, which
had been made with  the intention of relieving him from
the megrims, which  had  lasted six weeks, having shown
symptoms of gastric uneasiness, took  thirty grains of
the powder of the root of kahinca ;  he had three  stools
without cholic.
   No. 3. A German  nurse, Madam Mangin, living in
street Montorgueil, No. 35, a brunette, and robust, having
had occasion to be purged, took at 7 o'clock in the morn-
ing 3j. of the powder of the bark of the root of the ka-
hinca.   At 1 o'clock in  the afternoon,  as she had only
experienced sowie borborygmes, she took  thirty grains
more.  She bad three copious  stools and frequent de. 
22
 sires to urinate, but without the result.   In  the  night,
 the  urine flowed in abundance ;  the nurse was purged
 without cholic.
   No. 4. A man fifty years old, afflic ed with pedionalgy,
 experienced no effect from forty grains of the powder of
 kahinca which had been given him.
   No. 5.  A young girl  of Noisy-le-Sec, near Pantin,
 aged eighteen years,  scrofulous, irregular courses, took
 as a laxative twelve grains of the extract of kahinca ;
 there were six  stools ; the urine  was not remarkably
 augmented.  It should be noted that the extract of ka-
 hinca did not cause any  cholic in this young girl, who
 always experienced it by the most mild  purgatives.—
 Some weeks after, and for a similar cause, Ave gave her
 again twelve grains of the extract, which she swallowed
 with her soup ;  she had no purging, but a copious eva-
 cuation of urine,

 Observations on  Anasarca, treated by the Root of Kahinca.  ,

  No. 6. (Edema of the lower extremities. The widow
 Chemin, aged sixty-eight years, of a feeble constitution,
 worn out with fatigue and misery, living in  the  street
 Feronnerie, No. 29, had her legs swelled, so that she
 could not  quit her chamber.   The administration of a
 drachm of powder of kahinca produced no stool,  but
 determined for  twenty-four hpurs the flow  of a very
 large quantity of clear urine ;  the limbs diminished in a
 great measure : the next day she went to the  Hospital.
  No. 7. Riblier, aged fifty-nine years,  an old soldier.
 a porter for fifteen years,  having passed from  a very ac-
 tive life to one of the most complete inaction, in a habi-
tation damp, narrow, and  where the light never penetra-
ted.   This man was seized with an habitual catarrh, and
 an anasarca  of the lower extremities, which kept him
confined to his chair;  however, his digestion  was good ;
he only was constipated, and the urine was  small, but
 natural.  In this state of things, he lost  his  place, and
 went to lodge in sixth story, street of Petit-Lion, No. 7.
It was thus we saw him the 17th July.   Sixteen grains of
 extract;  no  stools—a little more urine.   The 19th, 
23
twenty-four grains ;  no sensible effect.  The 21st, thir-
ty grains in two doses : evacuation of a greater quantity
of coloured urine ; the articulation of the knees are di-
minished, and allow, the movement of flexion.   The
23d, thirty grains in  two doses.   The 25th, twenty-four
grains in one dose ;  continuation  of amelioration ; but
each of  these days he had only one passage,  and the
urine was more abundant, but coloured.    Seeing the
little action of the extract, we tried the medicine in form
of powder.  The 26th, two drachms of powder ; trouble
of the intestines, borborygma ; no stools, plenty of urine;
evident diminution of the swelling of the limbs.  The
28th, sixteen ounces of the wine of kahinca, to take in
four days :  a stool every day, urine high coloured.  Au-
gust 2d,  the feet alone are swelled ; the patient can de-
scend  and mount to his  sixth  story.  The 6th, thirty
grains of the  extract;  no sensible  effect.  The  7th,
the  feet are so  diminished as to support a roller bandage.
August 20th, he took again forty grains of the  extract
in several doses.  After the 22d, he goes out and works
at his business.
  The kahincic extract only acted with this patient as a
bitter and tonic, in stimulating  absorption, and in aug-
menting the action of the lymphatic vessels.  Notwith-
standing the strong doses of the medicine, the organs of
digestion never showed the least sign of irritation.
  No. 8. Taken at the Hotel Dieu, Hall St. Martin, No.
23.   Helen Gabot, washerwoman of a boat, aged forty-
nine years, was  seized with anasarca, after an inter-
mittent fever of several months, a short time after this
woman had closed up an issue which she had in her left
arm.   To cure  her anasarca, she had already taken,
at home,  several active purgatives.   The 24th July, six
grains of extract; two stools, three times the  quantity
the  urine of the night before.   The 25th, eight grains
in two doses ;   four stools, abundant urine.   The 26th,
we began to perceive^a diminution of the size of the legs.
The patient having  eaten too much, a diarrhoea came
on:  anodyne  injection, rice water, julap  with sixteen
grains of thridace:  the looseness having ceased, 29th,
we gave six grains of extract; four stools, much urine ; 
24
ihe legs are almost natural.   The 30th July and 1st
August, eight grains in two doses.  The 3d, ten grains ;
the urine flowed in abundance ;  there was no more
swelling.  The patient was discharged on the 9th.
   No. 9. Collected at Hotel Dieu,* same Hall, No. 74.
Clement Brunet, aged thirty-four years, washerwoman,
is  affected with anasarca of the  inferior extremities.
The skin is distended, and there is perceived here and
there, particularly on the calf,  swellings  containing a
red serosity.   The patient complains of a continual
coldness of the extremities, and of vivid pain extending
from  the  great trochanter to the  external maleolus of
the left side : she  has  little appetite,  no  thirst; other-
wise the belly is free, and the digestive passages are in
a good state.  The cause of these affections is  attri-
buted by the woman  to  this :  that, being  in a SAveat
after a painful labour, she was obliged to  go  into the
cellar, and remain there some time.   Several modes of
treatment have been fruitlessly put in operation, for the
six months that the disease has lasted.  The 29th July,
twenty grains  of the  extract :  the pills having been
taken with  extreme repugnance, and vomited almost
instantly, we thought that since the kahinca acted par-
ticularly on the large intestines, we might administer it
in a glyster.  Thirty grains, dissolved in  a pound  of
warm  water, Avere  then  injected, and produced seven
stools, accompanied with intestinal cholic, and follow-
ed with much urine during the following  night.   We
thought we remarked  that the swelling of the left thigh
softened.  In fact, during the two first days of August,
 the urine having continued to flow very abundantly,  the
 thigh and right leg were very much diminished ;  this
 extremity was soon reduced to its usual size, as well as
 the left, Avhich only preserved  a  slight  oedema around
 the knee and maleolus.  In consequence of a quart in-
 jection, with the  addition of thirty grains of extract,
 which was taken  the  3d August,  ten waters and stools
 took place Avithout cholic, and the urine flowed in such
  * Dr.  Clemencon visited  with us all  the patients which we
treated at the Hotel Dieu, and assisted us often with his advice. 
25
abundance that the patient was obliged every minute to
resort to a vessel.  However, the pain of the left extre-
mity continued always :  happily, she was then covered
with a moisture which  exhaled  an azotic odour, very
strong, which did not cease but with the entire cure of
the anasarca.   The  5th, thirty grains of the extract in
glyster :  seven watery stools, no  colic ;  the patient
having ceased Avalking, the neuralgic pain became very
acute, and the skin coloured red at the joints.  We ob-
served that the swelling of the limb did not diminish by
the repose of the 6th and 7th August.  The 8th, thirty
grains were injected ; six stools, urine very abundant,
disappearance of the swelling; diminution of the  pain,
as well as of the azotic exhalation.    The following day
the state of the  patient  continued to amend, so that no
more kahinca  was given.  The  anasarca has entirely
disappeared, and we are only employed in treating the
neuralgia after the method of Contugno.  The  7th Sep-
tember, the patient began to Avalk, had no more pain, and
may go out of the hospital  in a few days.  The 20th
March, 1830, Ave saAV the Avoman Brunei, entirely cured
of her dropsy, but  yet  suffering Avith  her  neuralgia,
which tormented her at  the time of her residence at the
Hotel Dieu, in September, 1829.
  No.  10. Henrietta Troublain, an old olothes woman,
living in Perdue street, No. 11, aged forty-five years,
courses  irregular,  is affected with  anasarca of the
lower extremites, which prevents  her  from walking.
She experiences an  habitual feeling of cold  in her feet
and legs;  she has an appetite,  sometimes  thirst ; di-
gestion often painful, the passages  difficult, the urine
rare, red, and  burning :  this state has lasted six months.
l?ortAAro years, this Avoman has found herself in a similar
state, but not so distinct; she has been treated for four
months, she says, with  very costly  drugs.   Notwith-
standing an  attentive examination, it has been  impossi-
ble for us to assign sufficient  cause for the develope-
ment of the existing disease ;  the  viscera of the abdo-
men and of the chest appearing in a normal state. The
11th May, a drachm of the powder of kahinca, in two
doses;  no sensible effect. The 12th and 13th, adraclun
in one dose.   The first day, the  patient urinates more
                         3 
26
 easily  and more abundantly;  the same the folloAving
 night, which had never happened  to her.  The second
 day, the urine continued to flow : a first stool took place:
 the legs appeared less heavy, and the thighs less swelled.
 The 12th, two drachms of powder, in one dose :  three
 copious stools  Avithout colic; augmentation of the  uri-
 nary secretion ;  diminution of the swelling of the legs ;
 facility in the movements of the hams.   The 17th, 18th,
 20th, and 22d, two drachms each : continuation of the
 evacuations, Avithout fatigue of the digestive organs ; the
 swelling  of the thighs  and legs continues to diminish.
 The 24th, twenty grains of the extract of kahinca : ten
 Avatery  stools, urine very abundant;  the patient  can
 walk easily enough, the feet alone being yet swelled.
 The 26th, the menses, which had been wanting for se-
 veral months, appeared for a moment; the woman Trou-
 blain came on foot to inform us of it.  The 27th, twelve
 grains of extract; the menses again appeared for seve-
 ral hours ; the  patient having made a long tour, the
 swelling, which had totally disappeared, returned again
 around the ancle and knees ; sixteen grains of extract ;
the swelling again went doAvn ;  to prevent its return, we
 prescribed the use of the roller bandage to the knees :
 The 14th June, Henrietta Troublain came to thank us,
 and.to inform us that she was doing well.
   No.  11.  Recorded by Dr. Prost, Physician at Vienne,
 in Dauphiny.   " A man  of St. Sorlin, aged forty-two
 years, strong and robust, was affected  Avith anasarca  of
 the lower extremities, without  being  able to give  any
 positive reason for the origin of the complaint.  I sent
 him twenty-eight pills of tAvo grains each, that is to say,
 fifty-six grains of extract of kahinca, to make use of  in
 four days, and in a progressive manner.  The unfortu-
 nate man, thinking to hasten the cure, took the fifty-six
 grains,  in  several doses, the  first day, between  four
 o'clock in the morning and noon.  Fortunately, nothing
resulted but a super-purgation, which lasted  forty-eight
hours, and Avhich diminished the swelling considerably.
 He found himself so well, that, seventeen days after,
 being at  a  fair, he bought of  a charlatan I  knoAV not
 what drastic, in  powder, Avhich purged  him  so that he
 expired the next  morning." 
27
 (Hase of Anasarca, complicated with Affection of the Heart,
           and treated with Root of Kahinca.

   No. 12. Madam Giraud, mantua-maker, aged  forty-
 four years, living in the street  Beaurepaire, No.  16,
 brunet and strongly  made, became  leucophlegmatic
 five years since.   She was cured, then, by a number
 of scarifications :  since that ti.ne, she is subject to nu-
 merous and  violent palpitations.  It is three months
 since the  menses  scarcely flowed, and  that infiltration
 has returned.   There has existed every evening a fe-
 brile action, followed  with  a  moisture  which does not
 yield : the belly was continually bound ; the urine was
 sometimes clear, sometimes cloudy, but always rare ;
 the patient has been bled, and leeches have been applied,
 without any amendment. The  19th February, a drachm
 of the powder of the bark of kahinca, in tAvo doses, dis-
 solved in  half a glass of white wine, produced no effect.
 The 20th, the same quantity of powder, in one dose, had
 also no effect during the day ;  but the  following night,
 which  never happened, even in  the state of health, the
 patient urinated copiously, and the next day, there was
 scarcely any  infiltration.  The 22d,  two  drachms of
 powder, in two doses, infused this time  in water,  deter-
 mined two stools, and abundance of Clear urine, during
 the evening and night ; there  is no more thirst;  swell-
 ing of the legs considerably diminished ;  the palpitations
 alone continued ; Ave stopped seeing the patient.  The
 11th March, Ave were again called, being in the same
 state as formerly : the  use  of the same medicine in-
 creased still considerably the urinary secretion, and dis-
 sipated in a great measure the neAv infiltration.   How-
 ever, Madam G., whom the  remedy nauseated, refused
 to continue it.   Some days after, having passed  the
 night at  work with her needle,  an inflammation came
 on, and the legs swelled considerably ; pain in the loins,
 and abundant  leucorrhoca took place:  two drachms of
 powder in one dose determined two stoolsand agreat flow
of urine.   The next day, the menses appeared, the legs
diminished rapidly, and were in a healthy state in a few
days.  This time, a relapse, as regards the infiltration,
did not again appear ; for Madam Giraud came, the 27th 
28
 August following, to consult us for the  disease of the
 heart; but there was no more question of anasarca.
   No. 13.  Felix Cholet, aged twenty-six years, coach
 painter, living in street of Sevres, No. 66, had not Avork-
 ed for three months, on account of an affection of the
 heart, and general oedema.  During three days that he
 took, morning and evening, a half drachm of poAvdered
 kahinca, he had  no  stool ; the urine only was a little
 more abundant, and from red, which it had been, became
 of a natural colour, besides which, there Avas no sensible
 diminution of infiltration.
  No. 14. The  woman Darblin,  aged seventy-eight
 years, tormented, for a long while, Avith an affection of
 the heart to the highest degree  ; began, a year since, to
 be affected with anasarca, which came  on, she  says,
 after the applieation of forty leeches.  Besides the swell-
 ing  of the extremities, the face  is puffed ;  there is
 cough and mucous spitting ;  neither sleep nor appetite ;
 urine small;   however, the thirst is moderate, and the
 pulse very good.  The 21st July, twelve grains of  ex-
 tract : the patient took her soup  an hour  after.   In
 the evening, she  experienced agitation,  uneasiness, to
 which succeeded six stools and abundant urine ;  weak-
 ness of the patient forbids the continuance of the re-
 medy.
  No. 15. Maria Magdalen  Bidaut, aged sixty-five
 years, lodged at Hotel Dieu, Hall  St. Martin, No. 81,
 gardener, entered the hospital, being  affected Avith hy-
 pertrophy of the heart: the thighs,  legs,  and feet, were
 so infiltrated, that she could not bend the ham.   There
 was  little thirst, appetite, or  sleep;  the  pulse beat 125
times a minute.   This state, which commenced three
 months since, has made very rapid progress.  The 29th
July, sixteen  grains of extract,  in two doses, procured
three stools, and urine double the quantity of the even-
ing before.   The 30th and  31st,  tAventy grains each
 day  : the urine surpassed in quantity very much the
 liquid taken  in ;  the swelling begins to soften.  The
 2d August, twenty grains produced three  stools  and
 much urine ;   the knees diminish,  and the  patient can
 easily move her legs.  The 4th August,  twenty-four
 grains, two strong  stools ;  more than  tAvo pounds of
 urine; a little  moisture during the  night;   the pulsa- 
29
tions of the radical artery vary singularly.  The 5th,
tAventy-four grains ; continues to improve;  the patient
complains that a too frequent desire to urinate interrupts
her sleep.   Three  stools took place during the day, but
there is neither fatigue, nor irritation of the organs of
digestion;  the number  of  pulsations has diminished:
the beating of the heart  is less violent; the patient her-
self remarked it.*   From 6th to 15th, leaving a day of
rest, we gave the extract in dose often to twelve grains.
The  thighs and legs gradually  diminish ;  which  is
OAving to the stools and the more  considerable evacua-
tions of urine, which continue to take  place.  The pulse
has varied from 112 to 116.   The 15th August, as there
is nothing  more than a slight oedema of the feet, a roll-
er  bandage  Avas applied and kept on for  three days.
The patient was discharged, cured, the 25th of the same
month.

                Cases of simple Ascites.

   No. 16. Madam Lefebvre, living in street  St. Den-
nis, No. 256, is affected with ascites.  Two drachms of
the poAvder  of the root of kahinca  having produced
tAvelve stools, abundant  urine, and relieved the patient,
she came  herself to request a neAV dose ; but we could
not find any more ; we were assured that there was  no
more in Paris.
   No. 17.  The Avoman Fontaine, lodged at the Hotel
Dieu,  Hall St. Manin, So. 58, aged  thirty-three years,
is affected with ascites,  which came on two years since,
after a miscarriage,  and for  Avhich she has undergone,
five times, the operation of paracentesis.   She is sub-
jected to  frequent  palpitations, to cough, and to vomit-
ings.  OtherAvise,  the appetite and thirst have nothing
particular ; the urine is clear, but not abundant.   For
fifteen days, the woman has been under the use of the
  * M. Bally gave the opinion that it might be possible that, in
this patient, the  root of kahinca may ha\*e acted like  digitalis,
by a sedative principle ;  we had already observed the same effect
on the subjects of cases 24 and 25, and moreover with Madam Gi-
raul, (case 12.)   But it requires a series of observations«to be
re -'.ihi that this  substance possesses this precious property.
                          3* 
30
wine of colchicum and digitalis.   The  24th  July, we
administered to her sixteen  grains of the extract of ka-
hinca, which produced eight large stools, but little urine.
The 26th and 27th, twelve grains each day, which pro-
duced,  each time, six watery stools, but still very little
urine ;  there is, however, a little diminution in the swell-
ing of the belly, which appears less hard and voluminous.
The 28th, the patient  refused to take the remedy, pre-
tending to have a stitch in the side.   We ceased our at-
tendance.

           Cases of Ascites and Anasarca.

  No.  18. An  hydropic,  aged fifty-five years, having
the belly large and hard, the extremities infiltrated, took
thirty grains of kahinca ; he had seven  stools, and the
urine floAved well.   The patient disappeared ; without
doubt he entered an hospital.
  No.  19.  Collected  by  Dr.  Prost, already  mentioned.
'•' A woman, Marin, aged sixty years, living in the com-
mune Isigny, affected for a long time with ascites, with
considerable swelling of the legs, Avas brought to me as
soon as it was known I had  returned from  Paris.  I
made her take, in my presence, a  half drachm of pow-
der of  kahinca, dissolved in  half a glass of wine.   It
having been rejected,  almost  wholly, five minutes after
it was  taken, I  made her swalloAv, two hours after, the
same dose, which this time Avas retained.   Three hours
after, she had, without colic, three abundant stools;
towards evening, the patient commenced voiding a great
quantity  of clear  urine, less red,  and very foaming.
The next day, a drachm of powder, taken in three doses,
produced  three stools during the day and the evening,
and during the  night,  a quantity of urine  more
than double that VA'hich the patient could render in the
state of health.  After a day of rest,  the remedy Avas
continued with the same  success.  The swelling of the
legs, the thighs, and the belly, having still considerably
diminished, this woman thought herself cured, and re-
turned to her  village;  having no  more poAvder at my
ilisposal, I did not keep her."
  No. 20.  Collected by the same Physician. "The Avoman 
31
Bourdier, aged fifty-nine years, a washer in lye, of a
lymphatic temperament, borne down with fatigue and
misery, sent for me the 7th of July.  The ascites  and
anasarca kept her fixed to  her truckle bed.  The sto-
mach was  painful to the  touch, the tongue white and
humid, the  face pale, the pulse apyretic, feeble and re-
gular.  There  was neither appetite nor thirst.   The
urine which the patient rendered was acrid and abun-
dant.  The mind, as much cast down as the body, was
without energy.  The 8th,  I gave her twelve grains of
extract of kahinca to take, in four grains every hour ;
she had* pains of the stomach, spasm, and oppression.
At  noon, one only stool, quite abundant, took place :
the urine was less deep, less burning, and  rendered in
greater abundance.  The  9th, sixteen grains of the ex-
tract determined two stools, and  colic,  Avhich lasted
until evening,  and did not  cease but with an oily glys-
ter ; much discharge of urine.  The patient slept five
hours,  Avhich had not happened to her for a long time.
On awakening, she felt uncommonly well, which reliev-
ed  her mind.  During the day of the 10th, and the fol-
lowing night, the urine continued ;  it  was clearer, but
deposited upon the sides of the vessel a brick-dust sedi-
ment.  The 11th, fourteen  grains passed well, and pro
duced four stools without appreciable colic.  The belly
was prodigiously diminished in volume.   The patient
found  herself happv,  and  did not  doubt of her cure.
The 12th, eighteen grains did not produce any remarka.
ble result.   At the third dose, given the 18th, there was
a vomiting, but almost Avithout effort, of a large quantity
of thick liquid, yelloAv and very bitter.   The urine con-
tinued  to flow, without the quantity being enormous.
However, the action of the remedy is visible, for the
belly  diminishes  much ;   the extremities  have  be-
come soft,  and the  articulations can accomplish their
movements  easily.  The  21st and 22d, after seve-
ral days  of rest, I renewed the use of the pills:  there
was no  stool, but the urine  flowed  abundantly.
The pills being exhausted,  I sought to supply the  ex
tract of kahinca with the decoction of UA'a ursi.  To-day
30th July,  the  patient  slept and ate sufficiently :  the
tongue is clean, the digestion good ;  the urine flows well 
32
 the patient can raise herself; the feet only have pre
 served the swelling which they had at the commence-
 ment  of the treatment ; there remains, also, the same
 infiltration in the abdominal integuments ;  but I hope
 the cure will be complete.
  No. 21. Widow Honore, aged sixty years, has been
 affected with a serous leucorrhcea for six years, during
 which she was not regular in her menses.  She said,
 also, that she had been treated for scirrhus uteri, Avhich
 came on after floodings and long sorrow.   However that
 may be, at the time we saw her, tho belly was  swelled,
 as in  the state of pregnancy; it was hard, and  a  liquid
 was easily felt by percussion ; the  legs  and feet Avere
 cedematous.    here Avas cough, oppression ; the appe-
tite was whimsical ;  the  urine  not  abundant,  red  and
 acrid; the stools difficult.   The 25th, 28th, and 30th
 June, we administered from twelve ro sixteen grs. of ex-
 tract of kahinca ; the purgative and diuretic effects of the
 medicine  Avere remarkable, and without irritation.  Al-
 ready the swelling of the legs and feet were  so much
 diminished, that the  patient could  put on her garters,
 and come to our dwelling ;  the volume of the belly was
 no longer considerable.   Towards the 2d of July, the
 mouth having become bitter,  and the tongue  mucous,
 Ave suspended the kali men  until  the 7th of the same
 month ; however, the effecs of ihis medicine continued
 to be  manifest, for the beliv sfill  diminished,  the  leu-
 corrhcea dissipated, and the throat  became better. Six-
 teen grs.  of  extract administered  again, rendered the
 abdomen entirely supple, and reduced it to its  ordinary
 state.  The  patient  considered herself as completely
 cured—her health, in fact, continued until 25th  Septem-
 ber, when Ave lost sight of her.
  No. 22.  One  named Francois,  commissioner,  aged
 thirty-three years, of a strong constitution, living in the
 street Montorgueil, No. 22, was, after a fright, seized Avith
jaundice, of which he Avas cured by the aid of  diluents.
 Hardly  convalescent, he  sawed wood all  day.   Tor-
 mented by an ardent thirst, he drank several  pints of
 sugared water, and Avas taken with  fever and pain in the
 side,  probably from acute hepatitis, to Avhich soon sue.
 ceeded  a  green jaundice.   Having  come out of the 
33
 hospital, Avithout being cured, he saAV an ascites deve-
 lope itself, and the lower extremities become infiltered.
 The 11th May, the period at which we were consult-
 ed, his state was frightful;  the leanness was  extreme ;
 there Avas thirst,  oppression, constipation ;  no  sleep.
 The patient did not render,  in twenty-four hours, but a
 glass of thick urine, red, and burning the passage.  He
 prayed  us to make him urinate.  Twelve grains of the
 extract  of kahinca gave place, really, to a  black and
 fishy stool, and to a great quantity of urine,  of a deep
 brownish yellow.  The unfortunate man thought  him-
 self in the Avay of cure, and asked for a new dose.  We
 refused it,  under the  pretext  that  it  Avas necessary to
 have an interval in  taking them.   We did well.  He
 expired forty-eight hours after.
   No. 23.  Hotel Dieu, Hall St. Martin, No. 64, Marga-
 rite  Gauthier,  aged fifty-seven years, a  loy-Avasher,
 living  at  Gros-Caillon, street St. Domhuo," No. 41,
 complained, for two year-^ of a stoppage or the menses,
 of an habitn^; catarrhal cough, which incommoded her
 « utile,   It  is eighteen months since she was first a.?.
 fected with ascites and anasarca of the inferior extremi-
 ties, Avithout being able to assign the cause of these
 complaints.   Notwithstanding a  long use of digitalis,
 nitre, and squills, during eight months past, in hopitals,
 her state has not been improved.   No appetite or thirst.
 Some developement which the abdomen has  acquired,
there may be perceived,  in feeling it,  a considerable
indolent tumour, which,  proceeding  from the pelvis,
 mounts  obliquely backward, and  appears to  belong  to
the right ovary.   Otherwise, the patient only complains
of an obstinate constipation, and of passing  but  little
urine.   Her sufferings are supportable.  The 20th Au-
gust, eighteen grains  of extract;  augmentation of the
secretion of urine  ; no stools.   The 21st, six  grains  of
the kahincic acid ; much urine—no alvine evacuation,
Thirty grains of extract; abundant urine ;  borborygmi ;
useless strainings.   We proposed  to inject the extract
of kahinca into the bowels ;  but the patient obstinately
 refused, pretending that she never could take injections ;
 neither  would she swallow pills.   The 25th, she deter.
 mined,  nevertheless,  to take ten  grains of  kahinoio 
34
 acid, Avhich only had  a diuretic effect.  26th, Ave gave
 a drop of the oil of croton tiglium : the patient vomited
 a little after taking it ;  five moderate stools ; little urine.
 The 27th, twelve grains of kahincic acid:  discharge of
 Avind ; very strong desire to evacuate, but without ef-
 fect ;  the right thigh  and  leg are nearly abated ; the
 left  extremity softens  very much.   The 28th,  thirty
 grains of the extract Avere taken with extreme repug-
 nance, swallowed with  much pain, and rejected a quar-
 ter of an hour after.  There were then two bilious vomit-
 ings, then a  stool of black matter.   The 29tb,  -colic,
 tenesmus, tongue red at the borders,  thirst.   Diet, bar-
 ley water; potion with fifteen grains of thridace ;  two
 emollient clysters, which were refused.  The 30th* the
 same state ;  same prescripiion :  at night, fever.   Sept.
 1st, the state  of the paaent yets  worse ;  overcome by
 pain, she consented to take a glister,which, received with
 much difficulty, produced two stools, watery and foetid ;
 soon after, there  was  bilious vomiting, with blackish
 brown strie.    The patient died in the evening.  Necro-
psy was practised twenty-four hours after death.   The
 right peivitic extremity was only of the size which it could
 have been in health.  The  left had lost much of its swell-
 ing ; the abdomen, much jdistended, contained a large
 quantity of liquid, of a limpid lemon colour.   The integu-
 ments  being cut through, a tumour, as large as the head
 of an infant ten or twelve  years old, was discovered oc-
 cupying the right iliac  fossa ;  its thin walls contained a
 fluid entirely  similar to that  which filled the belly.   The
 cyst, which appeared to owe its  existence to the disor-
 ganization of the right  ovary, pressed upon the intesti-
 nal mass, which it compressed with its weight.  It was
 borne  up by two other  pouches,  full of  the  same
 fluid, and situated in the pelvis.  These last cysts were
 formed, and  acquired a great developement at the  ex-
 pense of the left ovary and uterus ; this last was  only a
 spheroid ; the  neck had disappeared; the opening of
 the mouth was obliterated, and had the appearance of
 a cicatrix   The bladder and the  loins, the  heart, and
 lungs, were sound.  The  stomach offered, on the  exte-
 rior, near the pylorus, a cancerous tumour, which pro-
jected inwards.  A carcinomatous, lardaceous substance 
1*5
Embraced and  compressed the rectum at its inferior
part;  the  liver, softened, offered  several  cancerous
points ; and the glands of the mesentery presented a
mass of the  same nature ; the most  part were red ; the
epiploon was covered with masses of tubercles, soft and
white.

Case of Ascites and Anasarca, with disease of the heart.

  No.  24.   A  woman, Charles Bruxelles,  aged thirty-
three years,  lived in the street of Clichy, No. 24, hau
enjoyed a good constitution,  now exhausted by three
years of suffering, the cause of which must be attributed
to a manifest hypertropy of the heart, and to the state
of the abdominal  visceral.  The  physicians, who  had
attended her, had made her take much digitalis, squills,
and nitre, which had so  fatigued her, that  they thought
it best  to cease the use of them, and abandon the woman
to the sole resources of nature, after having established
several issues  by caustic.    For  seven   months, in
fact, the patient  has taken  no other medicine  than
a tisane made  of the inner  bark of the elder.  Here
is the sequel, her state the 15th of June : the legs enor-
mously SAvelled ;  discharged some by the issues, which
made her suffer considerably ;  the belly extremely disten-
ded ; the loins and haunches were cedematous ; the heart
beat Avith force and fully : th* patient could only remain
sitting; and  the  palpitations  became frightful, at the
least movement.  There was constipation, little thirst,
no sleep ;  the appetite  was tolerable ; the tongue  was
moist and  clean ; the urine Avas red, seldom, and burn-
ing. A sentiment of cold existed in the loAver extremi-
ties ; the courses have not appeared  for two years. The
16th. tAvelve grains of the extract of kahinca ; two small,
black,  fishy  stools ; the next day, the urine commen-
ced flowing  with greater facility,  without  burning, and
in greater abundance ; the colour was less deep.  The
19th, twenty grains : dejection of hard and black mat-
ter.  The patient estimated that the quantity of urine
Avhich she rendered during the night, was six times Avhat
she had evacuated before in  tAventy-four  hours.  The
21st, twentv grains :  evacuation of very black and very 
36
hard matter ;  more than two pints of urine ;  the belly
softens, and appears to diminish in volume ; the cede-
matous swelling of the loins and  haunches is  less hard
and less thick.  The patient experiences neither colic
nor fatigue ; the appetite is good ; no thirst—and there
would be some sleep, without the pains produced by the
issues of the legs, which appear to discharge more sero-
sity than  before she used  the  medicine.   The 22d,
twelve grains :  useless strainings ; two pints of urine.
The  23d, an  ounce and  a  half of the marmelade of
Tronchin :  seven copious stools ; less urine; uneasi-
ness.    The next day, two  spontaneous  stools;  the
wound in the  legs much swelled, discharge an acrid,
burning serosity, which produces  painful  erythemia
around  them.    For three days, the Aveather has been
stormy, the wind south  and south-west, which oppresses
the patient.  The 25th, twenty grains; one stool ; the
urine  rendered easy  and plenty;  the  SAvelling of the
loins and haunches has disappeared ; that of the thighs
has diminished; the patientcan bend her enormous limbs.
The weather, warm, humid, and stormy, continues to
fatigue her.  We  thought it best to suspend  the doses
of kahinca, and to replace it by thridace.  Four grains
of this last medicine  procured four hours of very good
sleep.   The diminution of dropsy continues.  The 2d
July, we renewed the use of the kahinca ; the purgative
and diuretic effect took place, producing a still more re-
markable relief; also,  the thighs  are nearly reduced,
the articulations of the  knees are free; the belly dimi-
nished ; the Avounds  in the legs discharge still  abun-
dantly ;  it was remarked that the beating of the heart
diminished in frequency, and that the palpitations are
much  less violent Avhen the  patient rises from her arm-
chair to go to bed by aid  of one arm.  The 4th July,
twenty grains : three stools  ; much urine.  The gene-
ral recovery is such, that the Avoman Charles said  that
she could Avalk but for the pain caused by a deep wound,
large as a 20  sous piece, situated at  the bottom of the
calf.   The weather continuing to be unfavourable, the
patient Avould not take medicine.  The 13th, sixteen
grains : two stools ;  urine plenty.  The 19th, tAA'enty-
four grains, prescribed in two doses, but swallowed in 
37
the first spoonful of soup, produced bilious eAracuations,
without colic  or fatigue ;  always much  urine.   The
belly, reduced to its ordinary state, allows a tumour to be
felt, quite voluminous, w hich we believed to be the right
ovary, become scirrhous.  The 23d, twenty-four grams
in two doses, taken in soup  : twelve stools ; urine plen-
ty.  The patient went out  into the court without ex.
periencing those terrible palpitations which made her
fear the least movement ; she also no longer  doubts of
her cure.  We think otherwise ;  however, we thought
it best to accede to the wishes of the patient, in ceasing
to administer the kahinca.   We saw her  again the 6th
of August; the belly is free, and has not again enlarged;
the appetite good, and she  has sleep.  This woman is
satisfied at the very great amelioration of her state, and
only concerns herself with the issues in her legs, which
discharge a large quantity of serosity.  We have recom-
mended  her to foment them with  a decoction of trefoil
and elder.  The 27th August, the Aveak ulcers of the
legs have made terrible progress, and the patient enter-
ed the hospital Beaujon.   Since the  24th July, the wo-
man Charles  ceased to make use of the kahinca, and
all the time she took it, she experienced  all the benefit
which it was  possible  to expect from the remedy.  In
fact, she had no colic ;  the gastric organs experienced
no irritation, and the affection of the heart has been per-
haps moderated.   We thought, then, that this  case is
one the most proper to be made known well, to  appre-
ciate the properties of the extract of kahinca.  We can-
not finish it without saying, that  we perceived that  the
woman Charles was affected with pica, and ate cinders;
we had been told that this medicine cured the depraved
taste ;  we can affirm that  this affection  has not been
changed in this patient.
   No. 25. William Lagny, aged six years and  a half,
6on of a chimney-doctor, street of the Three Gates Mau-
bert, No. 14, fell sick more than a year since, after a vis-
cous eruption  of the  head,  suppressed  imprudently.
 He has at times an access of fever, sometimes  of diar-
rhoea.   Otherwise, here is the state of the patient at the
 moment when we saAV him for the first time, at the  be-
 ginning of June.  The teint is a  dirty yellow, the eyes 
38
 saliant, the conjunctiva blue, the skin dry and hot, the
 pulse frequent, accelerated, without hardness ;  the re-
 spiration deep  and laborious.   There  was observed a
 sensible swelling in the superior and middle of the left
 side of the thorax : the full and regular beatings of the
 heart were  perceptible through  the  vestments.  The
 belly large, hard, and much distended, contrasted  with
 the leanness of the rest of the body ;  the column of wa-
 ter was very sensible to percussion.   The feet and the
 lower part  of the legs are  cedematous ; there exists  a
 light cough which is exasperated in the morning.   The
 appetite  is  fantastic, the sleep  long and  peaceable ;
 there is constipation, at times thirst ;  the  urine is  red,
 foetid, and burning ; the quantity rendered in 24 hours,
 equals, at most, a full drinking glass.   The child seeks
 solitude, and scarcely answers to questions put to him.
 The  24th June, six grains :  four stools, abundant, green
 and viscous, withqut colic.   The  quantity  of  urine  is
 more than double, but is still red and foetid.   The  tAvo
 following days, it is rendered easily, and without smart-
 ing.   The 27th, six grains ; two yellow, viscous stools;
 urine still more abundant, of natural colour, has lost its
 fcetidity ;  there is already a sensible  diminution in  the
 volume of the belly;  the appetite is  better; the thirst
 more moderate.  The 30th, eight grains  ; seven yelloAV
 liquid dejections ; the urine became so abundant that the
 child wet the bed, which had never happened to it.  The
 belly is scarcely any more distended ; the  legs and the
 feet are nearly in a healthy state ; the beating of  the
 heart appears less violent and  more regular; the face
 is better ; the child speaks rather more, and eats with
 pleasure.   But the heat of the skin, the cough, the  op-
 pression and alteration remains the same. The 2d July,
 the belly, become very soft, makes perceptible a tumour
 as large as an egg, which appears to suspend from  the
inferior edge of the liver.  The 3d, four grains in two
doses;  a stool,  urine sufficient, groanings during  the
night  ; in the day, the child  appears Avell ;  he has  ap-
petite, and a little  less oppression.  The 5th, after a long
and very violent cough, there came a very abundant ex.
pectoration of white and thick matter, after Avhich the
oppression  disappeared, but Avhich gave  rise to a pain 
39
in the left side of the thorax, in full and  deep inspira.
trons.  Otherwise, the amendment continues, and the
urine Aoavs abundantly.  We let the child rest a  feAV
<lays.   The 12th, four grains: three stools, ordinary
diuretic effect.  Tl>e belly is reduced to  its ordinary
size.   The  little patient complains no more;  is  less
melancholy, and eats well.   However, there is a febrile
action every  evening.  We  left giving  the kahinca.
Nevertheless, we still saw the patient the 18th, the 20th,
and the 24th ^  the  cough and fever became  intense.
The 26th, the child discharged a vomica, and Ave ceased
to visit it, because the kahinca could not be appropriate
to its state.

Case of Ascites and Anasarca, complicated  with Neural-
             gia and Disease of the Heart.

   No. 26. (Hotel Dieu, No. 52.) Adelaide Dode,  aged
fifty-two years, a sutler Avasher, coming  from  the  hos-
pitals of Abbeville and Amiens, Avas sick for three years,
at the period of the stoppage of the menses.  This woman
is subject to palpitations of the heart, which are, at times,
very violent ; the left A'entricle appears highly hyper-
trophic ;  the pulse beats 88 in a minute ; there is a
little cough.   The belly is voluminous, and the column
of water is readily perceptible on pereussion ;  the thighs
aTe cedematous, but less than the legs and feet, which
are enormous.  Except habitual costiveness, the diges-
tive canals are in a good state, and all the functions are
executed regularly.  The 14th August, sixteen grains
of extract;  a stool without colic ; much urine,  contain-
ing flocculent clouds.   The  15th, four grains of kahin-
cic acid : no stools ;  some light colic ; abundant urine.
The 16th, the pitient complains of rheumatismal  pain,
which occupies the face, and part of the hairy scalp.
Potion  with twelve  grains of thridace :  relief of the
pain.  The 17th, sixteen grains of extract: three stools;
little colic; less palpitation; the pulse only gives 80
pulsations.    The belly softens, and makes perceptible
a tumour, of the size of the fiet, appearing to belong to
the right ovary.   The  patient thinks the tumour was
developed iu consequence of a fall which she experien. 
40
ced a little time after a laborious delivery.  The 20th,
six grains of kahincic acid :  much urine, and abundant
sweat.  A window near her bed having been left open
during the night, the neuralgic pains re-appeared. Fu-
migation,  infusion  of maiden's hair and chamomile, po-
tion with six grains of thridace.  The 22d, general ame-
lioration ;  the  belly is almost  in its natural  state; the
thighs and legs are much reduced. The patient is pleas-
ed to repeat that, since she has taken our pills, the pal-
pitations h ».ve  left her very tranquil.  This state conti-
nues, and improved, the 23d, 24th, and 25th.   In the
night  of this  last  day, exasperation of the neuralgia,
pains  intolerable, eyes weeping, face  flushed;  fever:
ten leeches behind the ears ;  diet :  the pains are ap-
peased.  The 27th, ten grains of kahincic acid : one
stool,  and plenty of urine.   A window, left open again,
renewed the neuralgia. The  26th, blister to the neck ;
the legs, especially the left,  begins to renew the swell-
ing.   The 30th, thirty grains of extract: twentv stools,
rather violent  colic, attributed, with reason, to the cold
which this patient took, when she quit her bed to go to the
out-house.  To-day, the temperature was in fact notably
cold and humid ; the season  is, besides, little favourable
to the cure of hydropic and rheumatismal affections.
However it may be, the palpitations sleep—(expression
of the  patient.)  The 2d  September, the vesicatory
having been reneAved by an oil tment strongly charged
with cantharidts, there is difficulty in passing the urine.
The 3d, twelve  grains of  kahincic acid :  no dejection,
urine easy, and in sufficient quantity ; the legs conlinue
to be choked up.  The 4th,  fifteen grains of kahincic
acid : there does not  result much urine ; it is passed
easily.  The belly is  supple :  its volume varies in con-
sequence  of flatuosities ;  tlrere  is constipation.  The
8th, fifteen grains of extract in three doses: three stools ;
little urine.    The  patient complains  of pains, which
go, she  says, from the nose,  eyes, and ears, traverse the
stomach, and  come to twist the  boAvels.  It  appears
that the neuralgic affection, which occupied the face,
is displaced, after the last dose of kahinca, to be carried
to the intestines.  In consequence, we thought it best
to stop  giving this medicine, which this patient  cannot 
41
 take any more without repugnance.   We are otherwise
 persuaded  that, without the  neuralgic  complication,
 which has so often forced us to interrupt the use of the
 kahinca for four and five  days together, the Avoman
 Dode would be completely cured, and have returned to
 her work.   She went out a few days after, and came
 on foot from Gros-Caillon, to request of us a certificate
 of the kind of disease for which she  had been  treated :
 her state appeared satisfactory.

                Cases of Hydrothorax.

   No. 27.  Blanchard, plumber, aged thirty-four years,
 living in the street of Seine, is affected with hydrotho-
 rax in an advanced state ;  his urine  is scarce, red, and
 burning.   Two drachms of powder  were taken in two
 doses, and  produced three stools with tenesmus; the
 urine is easy, and  flows naturally.    The  next day,
 Blanchard Avas taken Avith  an  access of fever  quite
 strong, which determined him to enter an hospital.
   No. 28.  Collected by Dr. Prost.  "  A woman of a ner-
 voso-bilious temperament, very  irritable, thin and tall,
 tormented  formerly with muscular rheumatism, which
 has fallen,  in certain circumstances,  upon the thoracic
 organs,  presented actually all the signs of a serous col.
 lection in the left cavity of the thorax.   This woman has
 already consulted many practitioners in Lyons as well
 as in Vienna, but folloAved none  of their advice ; hoAV-
 ever, she decided to try the remedy  which  I received
 from Paris.   The 20th July,  I gave her sixteen grains of
 extract of kahinca,  to take in four grains, from hour to
 hour.  Quarter of an hour after the last dose, she filled
 in a little time, three quarters  of a  night vessel with
troubled  urine,  frothing  and burning ; an  evacuation
 which continued in the same  abundance until evening •
three aqueous stools, and  some colic, terminated  the ac!
tion of the medicine.  There followed a very sensible
relief.   After a day's repose, I gave twenty-four grains
to be taken in four  doses, every hour.  This time the'
purgative action took place first, and continued until six
o'clock of the evening, when diuresis was established •
the uwne was rendered without smarting, and the colour
                        4* 
42
became natural.  The digestive tube appeared to me
not to have suffered from the action of the kahinca ; the
tongue was well; there was no thirst; the belly supple ;
the respiration infinitely easier ; the  cough very mode-
rate;  but the strength has so diminished, that, notwith-
standing the notable improvement obtained, the patient,
who otherwise believed herself cured, refused to take a
new dose.   I did not wish to insist, regretting, however,
not to be able to finish the cure ; for the diseased and
dilated cavity of the chest had evidently diminished un-
der the use of the kahinca.    Afterwards, this woman,
naturally inconstant, gave herself up, for a long time,
to the first that came, and left me."
   No. 29. Hotel Dieu, Hall  St. Martin, No.  18.  The
woman Housset, aged thirty-six years, was delivered,
two months since, in the seventh month of  her preg-
nancy ; three months before, she was  taken with a loose-
ness,  after Avhich the legs and thighs  swelled considera-
bly.  Now, 22d July, there is ascites,  and complete ana-
sarca of the lower extremities.  The legs are enormous;
the skin is red and shining ; the hands and face are
cedematous ; state of general languor ;  pulse slow and
soft;  the patient speaks with a kind of difficulty ; there
is at  times cough ;  the chest does not sound Avell ; the
patient cannot lie down but upon her back ; from time
to time she experiences some abdominal pains, not last-
ing long.  Appetite very variable ; no thirst; the tongue
good; the urine clear, and very small  in quantity; she
does  not pass more than a glass a day. 22d July, twelve
grains of the extract of kahinca : one stool, double the
quantity of urine.   23d, eight grains  in two doses :  one
stool, and during the night, she filled two thirds of the
night vessel. 24th,  rest; the urine Aoavs, but  rather
less; no stool.  26th, sixteen grains of extract; three
stools, urine as the  night before.  26th and 27th, no ka-
hinca ; each day two stools,  urine enough ; diminution
 of the puffiness of the face and hands.  28th, tAventy
 grains :  three stools, and half a pot of urine.   29th,
 twelve grains in two doses:  one stool,  three glasses  of
 urine.   30th,  twenty-four grains in two  doses :  she
 went four times to stool ;  there is urine sufficient;
 the  feet are diminished;  the belly appears a little 
43
softened.   The  patient assorts that she  does not  take
her drink of  dog's grass and liquorice ;  that she takes
no liquid but  her soup and wine.  Since she has used the
kahinca, the  quantities of ur<ne are much more consi-
derable than the fluids SAvallowed.  The digestive organs
continue to be in a good state.  The 30th, there has
been a little agitation and no sleep.   During the night,
which  was stormy,  the pulse  Avas raised,  hard,  and
quicker than ordinary.   The kahinca Avas not given :
Ave prescribed a potion  Avith sixteen grains of thridace.
The following night Avas good.  Four watery stools and
abundant urine ; the belly appears to soften ; the red
teint of the legs has disappeared ;  but the sAvelling has
not diminished.   The 31st and 1st of August, the patient
experiences  aneAv, agitation, nausea, pains of the loins,
a flying head-ache ;  the pulse is hard,  and quicker than
common ;  the tongue is good ; no thirst.  The food she
takes tastes good, and she attributes the trouble she ex-
periences to  the approaching appearance of the menses,
which  she  has not had  since her delivery, and the arri-
val of  which corresponded Avith the very moment.  In
the intention  of favouring the effort which  nature ap-
peared to make to re-establish this evacuation, we gave,
the 3d, tAventy grains of extract :   a stool ;  quantity of
urine triple the  quantity that  passed the night before.
The 4th,  no kahinca.   The  5th, twenty-four grains ;
three fishy and  black stools ; a little cloudy urine;  there
has been sleep, no thirst, no  appetite, face better  ; the
pain of the  loins has disappeared ; the pulse has recover.
ed its ordinary calm and sloAvness.   The day of the 6th
Avas passed astonishingly.   The folloAving night, agita-
tion, no sleep, difficult respiration ;  the pulse only  gives
56 pulsations.   The 7th, morning, there has been little
urine ; it is very clear.  The 8th, the night was better ;
a little more urine.   The 9th, nocturnal agitation; no
pain, no thir9t,  no gastric irritation ; the tongue is fine.
The 10th,  thirty grains of kahinca in a glister; two 6tool?,
enough urine.  The 11th, thirty-six grains were inject-
 ed in the  same manner:  four  abundant stools;  urine
 sufficient.   The 12th, twenty.four grains of extract,
 swallowed in two doses : four stools ;  urine more co-
 loured ; fills one third of the  night vessel;   swelling of 
44
 the legs softened ;  the knee is emptied, the patient bends
 the limb.   The 14th, three grains of kahincic acid : tA\o
 stools, urine more abundant than last night.   The 15th,
 four grains: three stools, urine as last night;  sAvelling
 of face and hands disappeared.   Continuation of the
 remedy in different doses, with the  same result, until
 the 22d, Avhen we began to perceive a diminution of the
 swelling of the legs ;  but the belly continues to preserve
 all its volume and hardness ;  the patient complains of
 not being able to breathe.  The 25th, having remarked
 a little moisture on the lower extremities, we prescribed
 a julep, with a drachm of acetate of ammonia; the legs are
 enveloped with flannel,and an infusion of chamomile; no
 sweat or urine, but much agitation and  want of sleep.
 M. Bally insists that punctures should  be made prompt.
 ly ; it Avas performed the 25th, and  discharged eight
 pints  of limpid Avater ; the belly remains quite volumi-
 nous  from infiltration of the  integuments,  so that Ave
 could not be assured of the state of the boAvels.   The
 26th, no fever of reaction ; the patient only has frequent
 desires to urinate, Avhich  produces only some drops of
 red, cloudy, and acrid urine.  Ten grains of kahincic
 acid : the urine flows easily, and  without burning ;  the
 quantity has been, during the night, nearly a vessel full.
 The 28th,  there is some  febrile action:  less urine than
 last night.   The legs having been measured before the
 puncture, it Avas found that the  left has diminished an
 inch  in the circumference; the  swelling of the right
 is less hard, and not so shining, but has preserved its vo-
 lume.   The 30th and 31st, no  medicine  : nevertheless,
 four stools each day; she only urinates Avhen she goes
 to stool.  September 1st, the patient, Avho has slept well,
 experiences no pain, is content with her state,  and as-
 sures  us that she deprives herself of drink, for fear, she
 says,  of aggravating her complaint.   Nine  grains of
 kahincic acid, in three doses  :  six watery dejections ;
 urine  in proportion ; the tongue appears a little  red at
the borders.  Potion Avith  16 gr&lns of thridace.  The
2d, 3d, and 4th, the urine flows well ; and each day, se-
veral  watery stools Avithout colic.  Same state until the
9th, Avhen the number of stools diminished ;  the  swell.
ing of the legs was much less; but the  abdomen is so 
45
filled that M. Bally advises to renew the puncture :  we
think that the use of the preparations of kahinca will be
sufficient to effect a cure, seeing that the diarrhoea esta-
blished does not fatigue the patient, quo natvravergitdu-
cendum.   The 13th, she took eighteen grains of the  ex-
tract : three stools, and urine very considerable.   It was
the same until the 19th :  the belly is soft, less volumi-
nous ; M the  legs, measured the 7th of this  month,  has
lost two inches in circumference.  Since  this  period,
the woman Housset has continued to have daily, three,
four, and five watery dejections, renderingurine enough.
We Avere satisfied not to give  the kahincic acid but at
longer periods, to  stimulate the kidneys.  The days
when she took it, the quantity of fluid evacuated was not
less than double the drink.   The state of the patient
continued to be satisfactory in all respects.  She expe-
rienced  no other  pain than the strainings which  prece-
ded the alvine evacuations ; the sleep is jjood, the tongue
fair; no thirs*;  little appetite.   The 7th October,  the
legs are entirely reduced ;  the  belly, reduced to its  na-
tural state, discovers the inferior edge of the ltver fold-
ed, and  a tumour of the size of a turkej''s egg, which
appeared  to belong to the right  ovary.  The 9th,  she
left the Hotel Dieu in consequence of the evacuation of
the hall  ;  but we  sent her to pass her convalescence at
the hospital St. Antoine.
  The cure of this woman was remarkable ; of a  soft
temperament, Avithout energy, it Avas necessary to take
a large quantity of extract of kahinca, and its diuretic
principle, before  producing a sensible  effect ; she was
no wise fatigued, and seemed, on the contrary, to have
more life.  Nourishment and proper care would  insure
her cure, as much as could be expected, from the state
of the abdominal viscera.  Would it have been the same,
if, instead of a medicine as mild as the preparations of
kahinca, Ave  had employed Avine of Colchicum, squills,
sirup  of nerprun or digitalis ?  We must be alloAved to
doubt it  :  for, from the 13th September to the 19th Octo-
ber, we thought it useless to prescribe either the Avatery
extract, or the kahincic acid ;  and  M. Bally ordered
her several times, juleps of squills, Avhich  produced no
sensible effect. 
46
   No- 30. By M. Gaillardot, Physician  at  Luncnillc.
 " A woman, 53 years old, mother of eight children,
 not having had her courses for six years, was subject,
 during that time, to frequent attacks of erysipelas in the
 face.  In 1828, she had all the symptoms of the disease
 said to  be epidemic in Paris, (pedionalgia.*)  At the
 beginning of  this  year she experienced pains  in the
 limbs, then a swelling of the articulations.  In the month
 of August, the feet and  legs  Avere cedematous  ;  she
 scarcely could move or raise them ; the respiration Avas
 difficult, and  the  patient coughed  frequently, without
 expectorating.   The 15th September, after having made
 use of veal soup for several days, she took twelve grains
 of the extract of kahinca, Avhich produced no stool, but
 the urine was  more abundant than usual.  The  16th,
 it is  six days  since the patient Avent to stool: sixteen
 grains of extract produced eight stools, no colic ; the
 urine was less abundant during the day, but the patient
 urinated several times during the following night, which
 had  not  happened before ;  the  respiration  is visibly
 more free ; the right  foot is diminished.  The  18th,
 twenty  grains  ; four stools ; the urine does not Aoav
 more abundantly than usual; but the quantity Avas no-
 tably increased the two  following days.   The  22d,
 twenty-four grains :  ten dejections:  urine  copious.
 The patient finds herself entirely relieved.   The left
 leg and foot have  diminished.  It may be  remarked,
 that,  from that time to  this day, 13th October, the
 urine has continued in the same  abundance  as though
 the diuretic property of the extract of kahinca conti-
 nued its action.
   We owe to the politeness of M. Kapeler the commu-
 nication  of two cases of dropsy,  treated  by him  at the
 hospital St.  Antoine, by means of  kahinca.   We avi'i!
give  here a summary view of them.
  Case 1. The woman Bizaut, (Margueret,) aged 40 years.
 amantuamaker, after along stay at the hospital of Midday,
 Ayhere she had undergone already, several times,  the opera-
 tion of paracentesis, entered the hospital of St. Antoine, loth
 July,1829; there remained then no other syphilitic symptoms
* A nervous affection of the leg and foot. 
47
than an engorgement of the glands, which have since sup-
purated.  Her belly was enormous, and the emaciation of
the rest of the body extreme, as well as weakness and diffi-
culty of breathing ; very little sleep ; no  appetite; finally,
a serous diarrhoea filled up the measure of the unfortunate.
The 14th, we drew off, by puncture, a pailful  of yellow,
viscous, inodourous liquid.   The next day, the belly com-
menced again to augment its volume.   The progress was
so rapid that, on the  21st, the patient desired to repeat the
operation.  M. Kapeler refused,  and tried the use of the ka-
hinca;  he prescribed fifteen grains of the watery extract.
The 23d, the same quantity : neither one or the other dose
produced any sensible effect.  The 26th, a new puncture.
The 31st, fifteen grains of the extract:  two stools; the flow
of urine is re-established.  The 2d August, same dose : no
stools ; the Aoav of urine continues, but is  in small quantity.
Theglandulous abscess is re-opened ; the state of the patient
requires that Ave recur to an anti-syphilitic  treatment: we
ordered the  esquine   sarsaparilla.    From 2d to  5th of
August, 13  grains of extract everyday;  two stools, urine
as usual ; abdominal paius less intense and less  frequent.
New puncture the 7th; death the 8th.   Autopsy,  the next
day, showed no trace of inflammation either iu the stomach
or intestines  ; the ccecal appendix is bluish, but not ulcera-
ted ; this blue colour must be attributed to  the  same cause
which  produced the ecchymosis which appeared, the 5th of
August, on the right wrist.
   Cask 2d.  Dubois, (Hyacynthe,) aged sixty-eight years, a
mender of stockings, mother of  three children,  having lost
them at 40, without trouble to the general economy has been
subject, for five years, to some colic, Avhich did not prevent
her from following her daily labours.   Three years  since,
she had a fall, which produced an acute paiu in the  right
hypocondnuin, and which stopped in a few days ; butthere
remained a  draAving and  constant state  of anguish.  The
symptoms soon aggravated ; the abdomen increased  in vo-
lume ;  the colic became stronger, accompanied with  fever,
and avu* dissipated.   The woman Dubois  continued her
labours ; finally, she entered the hospital St. Antoine, the
30th of  May, affected Avith ascites, very voluminous; she
complained  of an inconvenient heat in the bladder;  emission
of uriue  very seldom and difficult; the stools are no less so ;
bitterness of the mouth, nausea, some vomitings, red tongue,
thirst,  extreme leanness, legs swelled.   The 14th  June, M.
Kapeler prescribed  fifteen  grains of  extract of kahinca :
abundant alviue and urinary evacuations.  The 15th, same
dose, same result. Continuation until 19th;  Ave began then 
4S
to recognise a general amelioration ; the belly visibly dimi-
nished.   It was the same until  the 23d, although the pills
of kahinca had been suspended since the 19th.  The evacu-
ations are not accompanied Avith any intestinal pain.  From
23d to 27th, fifteen grains a day.  The 30th, the belly resu-
med its natural size; a light deep pain continues in the re-
gion of the liver.  Until 7th July, the amelioration is main-
tained, the appetite augments, the strength returns, and the
patient often walks out.   The 8th, she experienced a vio-
lent indigestion.  The 10th, all  the symptoms of enteritis
are developed, and are relieved rapidly.  The 16th, we per-
ceive that the abdomen has increased a little in volume; the
fever is renewed ; the abdominal pains are intolerable. The
20th, a bleeding calms them.  A colliquative diarrhoea ap-
pears, and death takes place the  26th.  The 27th, on open-
ing the  body, there flowed out two pounds of water; the
gastro-intestinal mucous membrane, examined with care in
all its extent, was pale,  and Avithout softening.

   The beginning of November,  M.  Bally was called to M.
     , affected with, chronic  laryngitis;  he had his legs cede-
matous ;  the urinary secretion was very much diminished;
the patient only passed  a few drops of dirty urine, and ex-
perienced great inquietude.   Eight grains  of kahincic ex-
tract were given in two doses, one in the morning, the other
at night;  from ths second day, the Aoav of urine was com-
pletely established.  3d, no more medicine was given.  Since
that time, this function  experienced no more trouble, and
the oedema diminished in a  very sensible manner.
   Dr. Lefort, Physician of the King at Martinique, now at
Beauvais, wrote us, under date of 3d October, thathe treat-
ed a lady, thirty-seven years old,  dropsical  for four years,
by means of kahincic acid, and that the results obtained sur-
passed his hopes.  This case offered a remarkable particu-
larity, it Avasthat almost every dose produced repeated vo-
mitings of thick viscous matter, Avhich, far from  fatiguing
the patient, procured hor visible relief.  The alvineand uri-
nary evacuations were not any less abundant.*

               General Recapitulation of Facts.

   From the cases Avhich precede, it is established, that the
bark of the root of kahinca, given in poAvder, has very va-
  * This patient has been operated on several times by paracen-
tesis; the first cause of the disease appealed to be a suppression
of the menses. 
49
riable results; the aqueous extract, on the contrary, possess-
ing all the properties of the bark,  and deprived of what is
useless, acts very Avell and constantly, in the dose of 12, 15,
and 20 grains.   The action of this medicine is long to be
perceived; it is necessary to continue the use of  it a long
while.  Often there is an advantage in making an impres-
sion by a large quantity; the effect of which is prolonged by
then prescribing it in small doses,  three or four times in 24
hours.  It is  very easy to administer, since we can, without
diminishing its  efficacy, eat a litt.  . while after having taken
it.   Given in injection, its purgative virtue is more ener-
getic.   (See case No. 9.)  As  to  the effects  of the  kahincic
acid, they are more evident in an inferior dose.  When Ave
propose to administer the kahincic acid to any one to \vhom
has been  administered, previously, some violent medicine,
either a hydragogue, colchicum,or some other, it is best to
leave the patient in repose for some days, in order to loose
the habit of the organs to the action of a stimulant so ener-
getic ; otherwise, the kahinca  will produce no effect.
   It is  impossible to contest the diuretic and purgative  pro-
perties of the kahinca bark;  for  there  has  been no single
patient upon whom this  result has not been produced, ma
manner more or less marked.   The variations observed in
the urinary or alvine evacuations have seemed to  us to de-
 pend on the organ upon Avhich the medicine spent, in pre-
 ference, all its action: if it acted with force on the intestinal
 tube, the diuretic properties were scarcely sensible, and the
 purgative effects took place  in  a  remarkable manner.—
 When  the contrary effects took place, then  the unuary ap-
 paratus received  principally  the influence  of the  remedy.
 We have several times observed this alternative of action, in
 the same  person.   When it developes  its  two properties,
 the diuresis does not come on  but a few hours after the ces-
 sation  of the effect on the intestines.—(See  cases 3,25,  and
 31 )  But it is remarkable that,  in  almost all the cases, the
 urine was modified in its qualities;  from  rare, red or dirty,
 acrid or  foetid, it returned quickly to its normal  state, arid
 flowed in abundance, and with facility.  We ought to ob-
 serve that, with some individuals, there  occurs uneasiness,
 nausea ami even colic.   These effects can  only be attribu-
 ted to a  real and particular  irritability of  the subject;  for
 there are those who have experienced these symptoms after
 Tht dose, who have perceived nothing after a dose much
 iP£"er.-(See case No. 7.)   Otherwise,  the mnocuity of
 t  is substance is proved  by the fact of the man  of Bt bor-
 ! n Nee case  No. 2,) who took, in one  morning,  what  had
   ceiprescribed for four  days.   If some persons have  re- 
52
                    ADDITION.
                                       1st May, 1830.

   The patient Avho is the subject of case No. 6, entered, pa-
 ralytic, the 8th of January,  1830, the hospital of Salpetriere,
 entirely cured of the anasarca.
   The Medical Review, of January, 1830, contains, (pp. 13
 and 14,) the analysis of a thesis sustained at Berlin, in 1828,
 upon the properties of  kahinca root, by M. A. S. Lceven-
 stein.   We think Ave should give here the most  important
 passages.  We should have spoken of it in the body of the
 Memoir, if we had had earlier knowledge of it.
   "Kahinca, kainana,  cruzidinha, rah preta, chiococca an-
 guifhga, flore luteb.  This plant grows in the forests occu-
 pied by the Coroatos Indians, as well as in that called Vir-
 gin."  M. Lcevenstein thinks that it ought to be distinguish-
 ed from chiococca racemosa flore albo, which Messrs. Hum-
 boldt and Bonpland have found in the environs of Caraccas.
 Patrick Brown affirms that this kind has been administered
 writh great success in obstinate rheumatisms.
   " As to the medical history of kahinca, the author reports
 the obserA'ations and opinions of Messrs. Langsdorf, Martius,
 Eschwegge,  Julius, Gerson,  Hufelaud,  Spitter, Soarez de
 Mairelles, and his own.  It results from the  union and com-
 parison of all these, that the root of kahinca exerts stimulant
 aetion on the digestive caual, that it promotes its peristaltic
 motion, that it provokes the antiperistaltic motions, that it
 occasions numerous stools, and often,  also, vomiting; and
 that, moreover, it ought  to be considered as possessing the
 diuretic and diaphoretic power; and that, giving its impres-
 sion to the lymphatic system, it augments absorption;  that
 it acts but feebly upon the circulating system, but, neverthe-
 less, that  it augments  often  the number of  pulsations ;
 that, finally, it acts as an emmenagogue, and that it calms
 the nervous system, Avithout exerting an  influence on  the
 sensorium commune."
   We cannot be of the opinion of M. Lcevenstein, relative
 to the vomitive  action of the  kahinca.  Upon more than
 fifty patients, to Avhom the medicine was given, Ave cannot
 count but four or five hysterical women in whom  it excited
 vomiting: such, for example, was one of the patients treated
 by M. Lefort, and one other by M.  Prost:  these facts are
 cited in the Memoir.   M. Gendrin saw the same effect in a
 female,  affected with dropsy of the ovary, and extremely ir-
 ritable.   The extract of kahinca, administered in twelve
grains, produced three times a vomiting,  at several days
 interval.