Quassia

(from a slave of the name of Qua i, who first used it with uncommon succe in the malignant endemic fevers which frequently prevail at Surinam.) Qua ia. botany, a genus of the cla dec and ria monogynia. Calyx five-leaved; petals five; nectary five-leaved; drupes five, distinct, two-valved, one-seeded, inserted on a fleshy receptacle. Three species. 1. Q. simarouba. Simirouba. A high and bulky tree, common to the woodlands of Jamaica; the trunk of the old trees black and a little furrowed; the bark of the young smooth and grey, interspersed with yellow spots; inner bark white, fibrous, tough, with a slightly bitter taste: branches alternate, spreading; flowers moncecous, panicled, ofa beautiful yellow; leaves abruptly pinnate; leaflets alternate, slightly petioled; petiole naked. The simarouba of the shops is the bark of the branches, for the medical properties of which see SIMAROUBA. 2. Q. amara. Jitter qua ia. A tree le tall than the preceding, branchy; wood of a white colour and light; bark thin and grey; leaves unevenly pinnate, entire, elliptic, glabrous; leaflets opposite, se ile; petiole joints ed, winged; flowers racemed, hermaphrodite, of a bright red colour. A native of Surinam, and of South America generally. The root, bark, and wood of this tree‘are all eae in the catalogues of the Materia Medica. Its botanical character was known Jong before that of the simarouba, as it is noticed in its proper place in the Sp, Plant arum, upon the authority of Dahlberg, when it was thought peculiar to Surinam. Afterwards, Linnéus, in his Materia Medica, referred it to the Nux American a, foliis alatis bifid is of Commelin, The roots are perfectly ligneous; they may be medically considered in the same light as the wood, which is now most generally employed, atid seems to differ from the bark in being le intensely bitter; the latter is therefore thought to be a more powerful medicine. Qua ia has no sensible odour; its taste is thai of a pure bitter, more intense and durable than that of almost any other known substance; it imparts its virtues more completely to watery than to ‘spirituous menstrua, and its infusions are not blackened by the addition of martial vitriol. The watery extract is from a sixth to a ninth of the weight of the wood, the spirituous about a twenty-fourth. _ Qua ia, as before observed, derived its name from a negro named Qua i, who employed it with uncommon succe as a secret remedy in the malignant endemic fevers which frequently prevailed at Surinam. consequence of a valuable consideration, this secret was disclosed to Daniel Rolander, a Swede, who brought specimens of the qua ia. wood to Stockholm, in the year 1756; and, since then, the effects of this drug have been generally tried in Europe, and numerous testimonies of its efficacy published by many respec table authors, Various experiments with qua ia have likewise been made, with a view to a certain its antiseptic powers; from which it appears to have considerable influence in retarding the tendency to putrefaction; and this, Profe or Murray thinks, cannot be attributed to its sensible qualities, as it po e es no adstringency whatever; nor can it depend upon its bitterne , as gentian is much bitterer, yet le antiseptic. ‘The medicinal virtues ascribed to qua ia are those of a tonic, stomachic, antiseptic, and febrifuge. It has been found very effectual in restoring digestion, expelling flatulencies, and removing habitual costivene , produced from debility of the intestines, and common to a sedentary life. Dr. Lettsom; whose extensive practice gave him an opportu nity of trying the effects of qua ia in a great number of eases, says ‘‘ In debility, succeeding febrile diseases, the Peruvian bark is most gene= rally more tonic and salutary than any other vegetable hitherto known; but in hysterical atony, to which the female sex is so PROREs the qua ia affords more vigour and relief to the system than the other, especially when united with the vitriol am album, and still more with the acid of some absorbent.” In dyspepsy arising from hard drinkings, and also in diarrhzeas, the doctor has exhibited the qua ia with great succe . But, with respect to the tonic and febrifuge qualities of qua ia, he says, ‘I by no means subscribe to the Linnéan opinion, where the author declares me quidem judtce chinch in am longe super at.” It is very well known, that there are certain peculiarities of the air, and idiosyncrasies of constitution, unfavourable to the exhibition of Peruvian bark, even in the most clear intermi ions of fever; and writers have repeatedly noticed it, But this is comparatively very rare. About midsummer 1785, Dr. L. met with several in stances of low remittent and nervous fevers, wherein the bark uniformly aggravated the symptoms, though given in intermi ions the most favourable to its succe , and wherein qna ia, or snake-root, was succe fully substituted. In such cases, he mostly observed, that there was great congestion in the hepatic system, and the debility at the same time discouraged copious evacuations. And in many fevers, without evident remi ions to warrant the use of the bark, whilst, at the time, increasing debility began to threaten the life of the patient, the Doctor found that qua ia, or snake-root, singly or combined, upheld the vital powers, and promoted a critical intermi ion of fever, by which an opportunity was offered for the bark to effect acure. It may be given in infusion, or in pills made from the watery extract; the former is generally preferred, in the proportion of three or four drachms of the wood to twelve ounces of water. 3. Q., excels a, or polygam a. Common to the woods of Jamaica; beautiful, tall and stately; a hundred feet high, ten feet in circumference three yards from the ground: trunk straight, smooth, tapering; branches ascending; outside bark smoothish, light grey or ash-colour, from various lichens; bark of the root yellowish; wood yellow, tough, hardish, takes a good polish; leaves unevenly pinnate; leaflets opposite, petidled; petiole naked; flowers polygamous, panicled, small, yellow-green, with a minute calyx; fruit a smooth black drape, round-shaped, size of a ‘ In taste and medical virtue nearly resembling the last; and very largely employed in Jamaica for the same purposes. 48