The quantities imported for home consumption were—­

From the East Indies.      Other places.      Total.
lbs.                   lbs.          lbs.
1838          72,576                 69,538        142,114
1839         110,409                 63,766        174,175

In 1840, 211,400 lbs. paid duty, which is now only 1d. per lb.

In 1848, we imported 800,000 lbs. from India; in 1849, the total imports were 541,143 lbs.  The imports into the United Kingdom were, in 1847, 246 tons; 1848, 402 tons; 1849, 240 tons.

Alexandrian senna (Cassia acutifolia).  This species is said by some to constitute the bulk of the senna consumed for medical purposes in Europe.  It is much adulterated with the leaves of Cynanchum Arghel, Tiphrosia apollinea, and Coriaria myrtifolia.

C. lanceolata and C. ethiopica furnish other species of the same article, the greater part of the produce of which find its way to India, through the Red Sea, Surat, Bombay and Calcutta, the imports into Calcutta, in 1849, having been 79,212 lbs. C. obovata furnishes the Aleppo and Italian drug.

At least eight varieties of senna leaf are known in commerce in Europe—­1. the Senna palthe; 2.  Senna of Sennaar or Alexandria; 3. of Tripoli; 4. of Aleppo; 5. of Moka; 6. of Senegambia; 7. the false or Arghel; 8. the Tinnevelly.

In Egypt the senna harvest takes place twice annually, in April and September; the stalks are cut off with the leaves, dried before the sun, and then packed with date leaves.  At Boulka, the drug is sorted, mixed, and adulterated, and passed into commerce through Alexandria.

Alexandrian senna, according to Mr. Jacob Bell ("Pharmaceutical Journal,” vol. 2, p. 63), contains a mixture of two or more species of true senna.  It consists principally of Cassia obovata and C. obtusata, and according to some authorities it occasionally contains C. acutifolia.  This mixture is unimportant, but the Cynanchum Arghel, which generally constitutes a fifth of the weight on an average, possesses properties differing in some respects from true senna, and which render it particularly objectionable.  The Tinnevelly senna, that most esteemed by the profession, is known by the size of the leaflets, which are much larger than those of any other variety; they are also less brittle, thinner and larger, and are generally found in a very perfect state, while the other varieties, especially the Alexandrian, are more or less broken.  The leaves of the Cynanchum are similar in form to those of the lanceolate senna, but they are thicker and stiffer, the veins are scarcely visible, they are not oblique at the base, their surface is rugose, and the color grey or greenish drab; their taste is bitter and disagreeable, and they are often spotted with a yellow, intensely bitter gummo-resinous incrustation.  Being less fragile than the leaflets of the true senna, they are more often found entire, and are very easily distinguishable from the varieties which constitute true Alexandrian senna.