IOWA CITY

iowa city, a city and the county-seat of johnson county, iowa, u.s.a., on iowa river, about 120 m. e. of des moines. pop. (1890) 7016; (1900) 7987, of whom 1355 were foreign born; (1905) 8497; (1910) 10,091. it is served by two branches of the chicago, rock island & pacific railroad, and by the iowa city & cedar rapids interurban railway (electric), of which it is a terminus. the ground on which the city is built forms an amphitheatre surrounded for the most part by hills and bluffs. iowa city is the seat of the state university of iowa, of iowa city academy, of the library of the state historical society and of the state sanatorium for the treatment of tuberculosis. the university, organized in 1847, and occupying the old state capitol grounds, is an integral part of the public school system of the state, and is under the control of a board of regents, consisting of the governor, the superintendent of public instruction and eleven members, elected--one from each congressional district--by the general assembly. the university's preparatory department was opened in 1855 and continued until 1879; the first collegiate session was in 1856-1857, but during 1858-1860 the collegiate department was closed. the institution embraces a college of liberal arts (1860), with a school of political and social science (1900)--which offers courses in commerce, administration, modern history and practical philanthropy--and a school of education, first opened in 1907, to train secondary and college teachers and school principals and superintendents; a college of law (1868); a college of medicine (1870), including a training school for nurses (1897); a college of homoeopathic medicine (1877), including a nurses' training school (1894); a college of dentistry (1882); a college of pharmacy (1885); a graduate college; a college of applied science (1903), with courses in civil, electrical, mechanical, mining, municipal and sanitary engineering and courses in chemistry; a summer school for teachers and librarians and a university extension department. affiliated with the university is a school of music. the university's income is derived from the proceeds of invested funds and lands originally given by the united states, from permanent appropriations by the state and from the proceeds of a one-fifth mill tax to be used for buildings alone. in 1907-1908 the institution had 28 buildings (including the old state capitol, built in 1840), a teaching and administrative force of nearly 200 members and 2315 students, of whom 1082 were in the college of liberal arts; the university library had about 65,000 volumes (25,000 were destroyed by fire in 1897), and the university law library, 14,000 volumes; and the total income of the university was about $611,000. in 1908 the library of the state historical society of iowa, housed in the hall of the liberal arts of the university, numbered about 40,000 volumes. iowa city has a considerable variety of small manufacturing establishments. in 1839 iowa city was selected as the site for the seat of government of the newly created territory of iowa. the legislature met for the first time in 1841 and continued to hold its sessions here until 1857, when des moines, on account of its more central position, was made the capital. ipecacuanha.[1] the root used in medicine under this name is obtained from _psychotria_ (or _uragoga_) _ipecacuanha_, a small shrubby plant of the natural order rubiaceae. it is a native of brazil, growing in clumps or patches in moist shady forests from 8 deg. to 22 deg. s., and is also found in new granada and probably in bolivia. the drug of commerce is procured chiefly from the region lying between the towns of cuyaba, villa bella, villa maria and diamantina in the province of matto grosso, and near the german colony of philadelphia, north of rio janeiro. ipecacuanha, although in common use in brazil, was not employed in europe previous to 1672. in france within a few years after that date it formed the chief ingredient in a remedy for dysentery, the secret of the composition of which was purchased by the french government for 1000 louis d'or, and made public in 1688. the botanical source of ipecacuanha was not accurately known until 1800. the root appears to be possessed of very great vitality, for in 1869 m'nab, of the botanical gardens of edinburgh, discovered that so small a portion as 1/16 of an inch of the annulated root, placed in suitable soil, would throw out a leaf-bud and develop into a fresh plant, while lindsay, a gardener in the same establishment, proved that even the leaf-stalk is capable of producing roots and buds; hence there is but little probability of the plant being destroyed in its native habitat. the great value of the drug in dysentery, and its rapid increase in price from an average of 2s. 9(1/2)d. per lb. in 1850 to about 8s. 9d. per lb. in 1870, led to attempts to acclimatize the plant in india, which, however, have not hitherto proved to be a commercial success, owing to the difficulty of finding suitable spots for its cultivation, and to its slowness of growth. like other dimorphic plants, ipecacuanha ripens seeds best when cross-fertilized, and presents various forms. two of these were described by the late professor f. m. balfour of edinburgh, one distinguished by having a woody stem, firm elliptic or oval leaves, with wavy margins and few hairs, and the other by an herbaceous stem, and leaves less coriaceous in texture, more hairy and not wavy at the margins. this diversity of form is most apparent in young plants, and tends to disappear with age. [illustration: ipecacuanha plant (about 1/3 nat. size). 1, 2, flowers cut open, showing short-styled (1) and long-styled (2) forms; 3, flower after removal of corolla, showing the inferior ovary (o), the small toothed calyx (c), and the style (s) with its forked stigma; 4, ovary cut lengthwise showing the two chambers with the basally attached ovules; r, annulated root.] ipecacuanha root occurs in pieces about 2 or 3 lines in thickness, of a greyish-brown or reddish-brown tint externally, having a ringed or annulated surface (see _r_ in fig.), and exhibiting a white or greyish interior and a hard wiry centre. it has a faint rather musty odour, and a bitterish taste. it is usually mixed with more or less of the slender subterranean stem, which has a very thin bark, and is thus easily distinguished from the root. the activity of the drug resides chiefly in the cortical portion, and hence the presence of the stem diminishes its value. the variety imported from colombia and known as cartagena ipecacuanha differs only in its larger size and in being less conspicuously annulated. ipecacuanha owes its properties to the presence of rather more than 1% of the alkaloid emetine, which, with the exception of traces, occurs only in the cortical portion of the root. it is a white amorphous substance, with the formula c20h30no5. it has a bitter taste, no odour, and turns yellow when exposed to air and light. there are also present a volatile oil, starch, gum, and a glucoside, which is a modification of tannin and is known as ipecacuanhic acid. the dose of the powdered root is 1/4 to 2 grains when an expectorant action is desired, and from 15 to 30 grains when it is given as an emetic, which is one of its most valuable functions. the pharmacopoeias contain a very large number of preparations of this substance, most of which are standardized. a preparation from which the emetine has been removed, and known as "de-emetized ipecacuanha," is also in use for cases of dysentery. when applied to the skin, ipecacuanha powder acts as a powerful irritant, even to the extent of causing pustulation. when inhaled it causes violent sneezing and a mild inflammation of the nasal mucous membrane, resembling a common cold in the head. it has feeble antiseptic properties. small doses of ipecacuanha act as a stimulant to the secretions of the mouth, stomach, intestine and liver. the drug, therefore, increases appetite and aids digestion. toxic doses cause gastro-enteritis, cardiac failure, dilatation of the blood-vessels, severe bronchitis and pulmonary inflammation closely resembling that seen in ordinary lobar pneumonia. in this respect and in its action on the skin, the drug resembles tartar emetic. ipecacuanha is very frequently used as an expectorant in cases in which the bronchial secretion is deficient. its diaphoretic properties are employed in the _pulvis ipecacuanhae compositus_ or dover's powder, which contains one part of ipecacuanha powder and one part of opium in ten. other plants to which the name of ipecacuanha has been popularly applied are american ipecacuanha (_gillenia stipulacea_), wild ipecacuanha (_euphorbia ipecacuanha_), bastard ipecacuanha (_asclepias curassavica_), guiana ipecacuanha (_boerhavia decumbens_), venezuela ipecacuanha (_sarcostemma glaucum_), and ipecacuanha des allemands (_vincetoxicum officinale_). all these possess emetic properties to a greater or less degree. the term _poaya_ is applied in brazil to emetic roots of several genera belonging to the natural orders rubiaceae, violaceae and polygalaceae, and hence several different roots have from time to time been sent over to england as ipecacuanha; but none of them possesses the ringed or annulated appearance of the true drug. of these the roots of _ionidium ipecacuanha_, _richardsonia scabra_ and _psychotria emetica_ are those which have most frequently been exported from brazil or colombia. footnote: [1] the name is the portuguese form of the native word _i-pe-kaa-guene_, which is said to mean "road-side sick-making plant" (skeat, _etym. dict._ 1898). ipek (slav. _petch_, lat. _pescium_), a town of albania, european turkey, in the vilayet of kossovo and sanjak of novibazar, 73 m. e.n.e. of scutari, near the eastern base of the mokra planina, the montenegrin frontier, and the headwaters of the ibar and white drin. pop. (1905), about 15,000, principally albanians and serbs. a small stream bearing, like several others in the balkan peninsula, the name of bistritza (the bright or clear), flows through the town. on one of the neighbouring heights is situated the monastery of ipek, founded by archbishop arsenius in the 13th century, and famous as the seat until 1690 of the patriarchs of the servian church. the buildings are surrounded by thick walls, and comprise a large central church (our lady's), and two side chapels (the martyrs' and st demetrius'), each surmounted by a leaden cupola. the church dates from the 16th and 17th centuries. among its numerous objects of interest are the white marble tombs of arsenius and other chiefs of the servian church, and the white marble throne on which the patriarchs were crowned. ipek has been incorrectly identified by some writers with doclea or dioclea (dukle in montenegro), the birthplace of diocletian, and the capital of a small principality which was overthrown by the bulgarians in the 11th century. see barth, _reise durch das innere der europaischen turkei_ (berlin, 1864); a. p. irby and g. m. m. mackenzie, _travels in the slavonic provinces of turkey_ (1877); m. e. durham, _through the lands of the serb_ (london, 1904).