The greatest portion of our supplies 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 considered an effectual remedy in any disorder where pure bitters are required.  Surinam quassia is not, however, to be met with now.  That sold in the shops is the tough, fibrous, bitter bark of the root of Simaruba (Quassia) excelsa and officinalis, very large forest trees, growing in Cayenne, Jamaica, and other parts of the West India Islands, where they bear the local name of bitter-wood.  Its infusion is used as a tonic. 23 tons of bitter-wood were shipped from Montego Bay, Jamaica, in 1851.  Quassia acts as a narcotic poison on flies and other insects.  Although prohibited by law, it is frequently employed by brewers as a substitute for hops.  The duty of L8 17s. 6d. per cwt., levied on quassia, is intended to restrict its use for such a purpose.