plies of the extract, which amount to
7,000 or 8,000 cwts. a year, are obtained from Spain and Sicily. The
juice, obtained by crushing the roots in a mill, and subjecting them
to the press, is slowly boiled, till it becomes of a proper
consistency, when it is formed into rolls of a considerable thickness,
which are usually covered with bay leaves. It is afterwards usually
re-dissolved, purified, and, when formed into small quills, is known
as refined liquorice.

In 1839, 1,166 tons of liquorice paste were exported from Naples,
valued at L45 per ton. Mr. Poole, in his Statistics of Commerce,
states that the consumption of liquorice root and paste in this
country averages 500 tons per annum. 110 cwt. of the juice and 100
cwt. of the root are annually brought into Hull from the continent.

Matico--the Peruvian styptic, a powerful vegetable astringent, was
first made known to the medical profession of England by Dr. Jeffreys,
of Liverpool, in the _Lancet_, as far back as January 5th, 1839. A
paper on its history and power was published in May, 1843, in the
"Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association,"
vol. 10. It is stated to be the _Piper angustifolium_ of Ruiz and
Parsons. Dr. Martin believes it to be a species of _Phlomis_. The
leaves are covered with a fine hair.

The powdered leaves of the _Eupatorium glutinosum_, under the name of
Matico, are used about Quito for stanching blood and healing wounds. A
good article on the pharmaceutical and chemical character of matico,
by Dr. J.F. Hodges, appeared in the "Proceedings of the Chemical
Society of London," in 1845. It is stated, by Dr. Martin, that, like
the gunjah, which the East Indians prepare, from the _Cannabis
Indica_, the leaves and flowers of the matico have been long employed
by the sensual Indians of the interior of Peru to prepare a drink
which they administer to produce a state of aphrodisia. The leaves and
flowering tops of the plant are the parts imported and introduced to
notice as a styptic, which property seems to depend on their structure
and not on their chemical composition.

Quassia.--The quassia wood of the pharmacopoeia was originally the
product of _Quassia amara_, a tall shrub, never above fifteen feet
high, native of Guiana, but also inhabiting Surinam and Colombia. It
is a very ornamental plant, and has remarkable pinnate leaves with
winged petioles. This wood is well known as one of the most intense
bitters, and is cons