[2327] We have examined numerous herbarium specimens (wild) of J. virginiana and J. Sabina, but except difference of stature and habit, can observe scarcely any characters for separating them as species. The fruit-stalk in J. virginiana is often pendulous as in J. Sabina. Each plant has two forms,—arboreous and fruticose.
[2328] This we ascertained by distilling under precisely similar conditions 6 lbs. 6 oz. of the fresh shoots of each of the two plants, Juniperus Sabina and J. virginiana: the first gave 9 drachms of essential oil, the second only ½ a drachm. The latter was of a distinct and more feeble odour, and a different dextrogyre power. In America the oil of J. virginiana is known as “Cedar Oil,” and used as a taenifuge. It contains a crystallizable oxygenated portion. This oil however is afforded by the wood. Red Cedar wood from Florida is stated by Messrs. Schimmel & Co. (see p. 306) to afford as much as 4 to 5 per cent. of that oil.
[2329] Bonplandia, x. (1862) 55.
[2330] Fig. in Bentley and Trimen’s Med. Plants, part 23 (1877).
[2331] We accept the opinion of Körnicke (Monographiæ Marantaccarum Prodromus, Bull. de la Soc. imp. des Naturalistes de Moscou, xxxv. 1862, i.) that Maranta arundinacea L. and M. indica Tuss. are one and the same species. Grisebach maintains them as distinct (Flora of the British West Indian Islands, 1864, 605), allowing both to be natives of Tropical America; but he fails to point out any important character by which they may be distinguished from each other. According to Miquel (Linnæa, xviii. 1844. 71) the plant in the herbarium of Linnæus labelled M. arundinacea, is M. indica. We have ourselves made arrowroot from the fresh rhizomes of M. arundinacea, in order to compare it with an authentic specimen obtained in Java from M. indica: no difference could be found between them.
[2332] Sloane, Catal. plant. quæ in ins. Jamaica sponte proveniunt, vel vulgò coluntur, Lond. 1696. 122; also Hist. of Jamaica, i. (1707) 253.
[2333] Civil and Natural History of Jamaica, 1756. 112. 113.
[2334] Natural History of Barbados, 1750. 221.
[2335] Hortus Jamaicensis, i. (1814) 30.
[2336] Thus in 1799 there were exported from Jamaica 24 casks and boxes of “Indian Arrowroot.”—Renny, Hist. of Jamaica, 235.
[2337] Since the above was written, the following lines bearing on this question have been received from Mr. Spruce:—“ ... I know not Martius’ derivation of ‘arrowroot.’ On the Amazon it is called ‘ararúta’—plainly a corruption of the English name, and explained by the fact that it was first cultivated, as I was told, from tubers obtained in the East Indies.”
[2338] This was in the German colony of Blumenau in Southern Brazil—Eberhard, Arch. der Pharm. 134 (1868) 257.
[2339] Die Stärkekörner, Zürich, 1858. 4°, also W. Nägeli, Stärkegruppe, etc., Leipzig, 1874.
[2340] Further particulars on this question may be found in my paper Ueber Stärke und Cellulose—Archiv der Pharmacie, 196 (1871) 7.—F. A. F.
[2341] Yearbook of Pharm. (1875) 529.
[2342] Papers relating to H.M. Colonial Possessions. Reports for 1875-76. Presented to both Houses of Parliament, July 1877. 54. 4.
[2343] Statist. Abstr. for the several Colonial and other Possessions of the United Kingdom, 14th number, 1878. p. 60.
[2344] It is commonly stated that the name Tous-les-mois was given in consequence of the plant flowering all the year round. But this explanation appears improbable: no such name is mentioned by Rochefort, Aublet, or Descourtilz, who all describe the Balisier or Canna. It seems more likely that the term is the result of an attempt to confer a meaning on an ancient name—perhaps Touloula, which is one of the Carib designations for Canna and Calathea.
[2345] Fig. in Bentley and Trimen’s Medic. Plants, part 8 (1876).
[2346] Page 102 of the Reports quoted at p. 633, note 2.
[2347] Living roots of the plant used for making this arrowroot at Cochin, have been kindly forwarded to us by A. F. Sealy, Esq. of that place.
[2348] Useful Plants of India, ed. 2. 1873. 168.
[2349] The mode of cultivation is described by Buchanan, Journey from Madras through Mysore, etc. ii. (1807) 469.—Fig. of the plant in Bentley and Trimen’s Medic. Plants, part 32 (1878).
[2350] Vincent, Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients, ii. (1807) 695.
[2351] Recueil des Historiens des Croisades; Lois, ii. (1843) 176.
[2352] Capmany, Memorias sobre la Marina, etc. de Barcelona, Madrid, ii. (1779) 3.
[2353] Méry et Guindon, Hist. des Actes ... de la Municipalité de Marseille, i. (1841) 372.
[2354] Revue archéologique, ix. (1852) 213.
[2355] Collection de Cartulaires de France, Paris, viii. (1857) pp. lxxiii-xci., Abbaye de St. Victor, Marseilles.
[2356] Rogers, Hist. of Agriculture and Prices in England, i. (1866) 629.
[2357] Yule, Book of Ser Marco Polo, ii. (1871) 316.—See, however, Heyd, Levantehandel, II. (1879) 601.
[2359] Marinus Sanutus, Liber secretorum fidelium crucis, Hanoviæ (1611) 22.
[2360] Monardes, Historia de las cosas que se traen de nuestras Indias occidentales, Sevilla, (1574) 99.
[2361] Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, 1574-1660, Lond. 1860, p. 4; see also pp. 414, 434.
[2362] Renny, Hist. of Jamaica, Lond. 1807. 154.
[2363] Mr. Garside (Pharm. Journ. April 18, 1874) found both. We have not observed the carbonate to be used.
[2364] Statist. Abstract (as quoted p. 633, note 3), p. 71.
[2365] Curcuma from the Persian kurkum, a name applied also to saffron. The origin of the word Turmeric is not known to us; Terra merita seems to be a corruption of it.
[2366] Fig. in Bentley and Trimen’s Med. Plants, part 9. (1876).
[2367] Flückiger, Die Frankfurter Liste, Halle, 1873. 11.
[2368] Raine, Wills and Inventories of the Archdeaconry of Richmond (Surtees Society), 1853. 277.
[2369] Hanbury, Pharm. Journ. iii. (1862) 206; also Science Papers, 254, fig. 11.—It is not wholly devoid of yellow colouring matter.
[2370] A good deal is exported from Takow in Formosa, but mostly to Chinese ports.—Returns of Trade at the Treaty Ports of China for 1872. p. 106.
[2371] From information communicated by Mr. Binnendyk, of the Botanical Garden, Buitenzorg, Java.
[2372] The following is a striking experiment, showing some of these changes of colour:—Place a little crushed turmeric or the powder on blotting paper, and moisten it repeatedly with chloroform, allowing the latter to evaporate. There will thus be formed on the paper a yellow stain, which on addition of a slightly acidulated solution of borax and drying assumes a purple hue. If the paper is now sprinkled with dilute ammonia it will acquire a transient blue. This reaction enables one to recognize the presence of turmeric in powdered rhubarb or mustard.
[2373] Returns quoted at p. 571, note 2.
[2374] Statement of the Trade and Navigation of Bombay for 1871-72, pt. ii. 95.
[2375] Monandrous Plants of the order Scitamineæ, Liverpool, 1828, especially Zingiber Cossumunar.
[2376] Galanga appears to be derived from the Arabic name Khulanjan, which in turn comes from the Chinese Kau-liang Kiang, signifying, as Dr. F. Porter Smith has informed us, Kau-liang ginger. Kau-liang is the ancient name of a district in the province of Kwangtung.
[2377] Journ. of Linnean Society, Botany, xiii. (1871) 1; also Trimen’s Journ. of Bot., ii. (1873) 175; Bentley and Trimen’s Med. Plants, part 31 (1878).—Dr. Thwaites of Ceylon, who has the plant in cultivation, has been good enough to send us a fine coloured drawing of it in flower.
[2378] Work quoted in the Appendix—tome v. 294.
[2379] Géographie, i. (1836) 51.
[2380] De Rerum gradibus, Argentorati, 1531. 162.
[2381] Macer Floridus (see p. 627), cap. 70, was already acquainted with it.
[2382] Hanbury, Historical Notes on the Radix Galangæ of pharmacy—Journ. of Linnean Society, Bot. xiii. (1871) 20; Pharm. Journ. Sept. 23, 1871. 248; Science Papers, 370.
[2383] Archiv der Pharm. xix. (1839) 52.
[2384] From Elettari, the Mallyalim name of the plant.—Fig. in Bentley and Trimen’s Med. Plants, part 24 (1877).
[2385] The small “Cardamom“ island in the Laccadive group, west of Malabar, is inhabited by Moplahs, known (as we are informed by Dr. King, Calcutta) in the south of India as dealers in cardamoms.
[2386] Thwaites, Enumeratio Plantarum Zeylaniæ, 1864. 318.
[2387] S. Hieronymi Opera Omnia, ed. Migne, ii. (1845) 297, in Patrologiæ cursus completus, vol. xxii.
[2388] In the work quoted in the Appendix, i. (1836) 73, 51.—It is questionable whether Elettaria is intended at p. 51.
[2389] A long and curious article on cardamoms, by a pharmacist of Cairo, 13th century, named Abul Mena, is quoted by Leclerc, Histoire de la Médecine arabe, ii. (Paris, 1876) 215.
[2390] Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar, Hakluyt Society, 1866. 59. 64, 147. 154. etc.
[2391] In the work quoted at p. 547, note 8.
[2392] Hortus Malabaricus, xi. (1692) tab. 4-5.
[2393] Report on the Administration of Coorg for the year 1872-73, Bangalore, 1873. 44.
[2394] Elliot, Experiences of a Planter in the Jungles of Mysore, Lond. ii. (1871) 201, 209.
[2395] Col. Beddome, Conservator of Forests, Madras. We have likewise to acknowledge information on this head from Dr. Brandia, Inspector-General of Forests in India, and Dr. King, Director of the Botanic Garden, Calcutta.
[2396] Report quoted at p. 645. note 1.
[2397] Elliot, op. cit., chap. 12.
[2398] Thus 202 lb. shelled at various times during 10 years, afforded 154½ lb. of seeds. (Information from the laboratory accounts of Messrs. Allen and Hanburys, Plough Court, Lombard Str.).
[2399] Pharm. Journ. iii. (1872) 208.
[2400] Statement of the Trade, etc. of Bombay for 1872-73. ii. 58. 90.
[2401] Ceylon Blue Book for 1872, Colombo, 1873. 543.
[2402] For additional information on the various sorts of Cardamom, consult Guibourt, Hist. des Drog. ii. (1869) 215-227; Pereira, Elements of Mat. Med. ii., part i. (1855) 243-263; Hanbury in Pharm. Journ. xiv. (1855) 352. 416; Science Papers, 93-15.
[2403] Exoticorum Libri, 377. Yet it already occurs in the Dispensatorium of Valerius Cordus.
[2404] Hill, Hist. of the Mat. Med., Lond. (1751) 472.
[2405] Thus 43 bags, imported direct from Bangkok, were offered for sale in London, 26 March, 1857, and bought in at 1s. 6d. per lb.
[2406] Fig. in Guibourt, l. c. 215.
[2407] Commercial Report of H.M. Consul-General in Siam for 1871.
[2408] Science Papers, 102-103.
[2409] Moodeen Sheriff, Supplement to Pharmacopœia of India, Madras, 1869. 44. 270.
[2410] See figures in Pharm. Journ. xiv. (1855) 418; also Science Papers, 1876, p. 101-103.
[2411] As by Pereira, Elem. of Mat. Med. ii. (1850) 1135.
[2412] According to Dr. King, in Sir Joseph Hooker’s Report on the Royal Gardens at Kew, 1877. 27.
[2413] Account of the Kingdom of Nepal, Edin. 1819. 74-75.
[2414] As the Tesaurus Aromatariorum, printed at Milan in 1496, in which it is called Heil or Gardamomum majus.
[2415] Figured in Pereira, Materia Medica ii. part i. (1855) 250, and already in Mattioli’s Commentar. in Dioscorid. lib. i. (1558) 27.
[2416] So named by Forskal in 1775 (Materia Medica Kahirina, 151. n. 41) who says “frequens in re culinariâ et medicâ, loco piperis.”
[2417] Letters on the commerce of Abyssinia, etc., addressed to the Foreign Office, 1852; 4. 16. 20.
[2418] Reise nach Abessinien, Jena, 1868. 223.
[2419] Journal of the discovery of the source of the Nile, 1863. 648.
[2420] Fig. in Bentley and Trimen’s Medical Plants, part 30 (1878).
[2421] Rolandini Patavini Chronica—Pertz, Monumenta Germaniæ historica; scriptores, xix. (1866) 45-46.—Yet qâfala, occurring in Edrisi, probably means grains of paradise.
[2422] De Compositione Medicamentorum; de antidotis, cap. xxii.
[2423] Clavis Sanationis, Venet. 1510. 19. 42.
[2424] Bibliothek d. lit. Vereins, Stuttgart, xvi. p. xxiii.
[2425] Meddygon Myddfai (see Appendix) 283. 286.
[2426] Sartorius and Lappenberg, Geschichte der Deutschen Hansa, ii. 448.
[2427] Doüet d’Arcq, 219, 266—see p. 533, note 2.
[2428] G. di Barros, Asia, Venet. 1561. 33 (65).
[2429] De componendorum miscendorumque medicamentorum ratione, libr. iv. Lugduni, 1556. 50.
[2430] Quoted at p. 589, note 4.
[2431] Hakluyt, Principal Navigations, ii. pt. 2.—First Voiage of the Primerose and Lion to Guinea and Benin, a.d. 1553.
[2432] Remedia Guineensia, Upsaliæ, p. 71.
[2433] I have repeatedly raised Amomum Melegueta from commercial Grains of Paradise, and have cultivated the plant for some years, obtaining not only flowers, but large well-ripened fruits containing fertile seeds.—D. H.
[2434] This oil was obtained and tried in medicine in the beginning of the 17th century.—Porta, De Distillatione, Romæ, 1608, lib. iv. c. 4.
[2435] Blue Book for the Colony of the Gold Coast in 1871.
[2436] Tchihatcheff enumerates 36 species of Orchis as occurring in Asia Minor.—Asie Mineure, Bot. ii. 1860.
[2437] The Indian species of Eulophia have been reviewed by Lindley in Journ. of Linn. Soc. Bot. iii. (1859) 23.
[2438] See Appendix, Porta.
[2439] Salep is the Arabic for fox, and the drug is called in that language Khus yatu’s salab, i.e. fox’s testicle; or Khus yatu’l kalb, i.e. dog’s testicle. The word Orchis, and the old English names Dogstones, Foxstones, Harestones and Goatstones have all been given in allusion to the form of the tubers.
[2440] Mém. de l’Acad. des Sciences for 1740. 99.
[2441] Heldreich, Nutzpflanzen Griechenlands, Athen, 1862. 9.
[2442] Powell, Economic Products of the Punjab, Roorkee, i. (1868) 261; Stewart, Punjab Plants, Lahore, 1869. 236.
[2443] As powdered salep is difficult to mix with water, many persons fail in preparing this decoction; but it may be easily managed by first stirring the salep with a little spirit of wine, then adding the water suddenly and boiling the mixture. The proportions are powdered salep 1 drachm, spirit 1½ fluid drachms, water ½ a pint.
[2444] Diminutive of the Spanish vaina, a pod or capsule.
[2445] Beautifully figured in Berg and Schmidt’s Offizinelle Gewächse, xxxiii. tab. a and b (1862).
[2446] Exotica (1605) lib. iii. c. 18. 72.
[2447] Rerum Medicarum Novæ Hispaniæ Thesaurus, Romæ, 1651. p. 38.—The original drawing was one of a series of 1200, executed at great cost in Mexico by order of the King of Spain during the previous century.
[2448] Ann. of Nat. Hist. iii. (1839) 1.
[2449] In Réunion it was introduced in 1839 by Perrottet, the well-known botanist. See Delteil, Etude sur la Vanille, Paris, 1874. 54 pages, 2 plates.
[2450] De Vanielje, Leyden, 1856. 22, with figures.
[2451] This juice like that of the squill has an irritating effect on the skin, a fact of which the cultivators in Mauritius are well aware.
[2452] Vanilla grown in Europe is devoid of such cells. We can fully corroborate this statement (first made by Berg) from the examination of very aromatic pods produced in 1871 at Hillfield House, Reigate. We have even failed in finding those cells in any vanilla of recent importation (1878).
[2453] Culture du vanillier au Mexique, in the Revue Coloniale, ii. (1849) 383-390; also J. W. von Müller, Reisen in ... Mexico, ii. (Leipzig, 1864) 284-290.
[2454] Documents Statistiques réunis par l’Administration des Douanes sur le Commerce de la France, année 1872, p. 64.
[2455] From observations made at Florence in the spring of 1872, I am led to regard the three species here named as quite distinct. The following comparative characters are perhaps worth recording:—
I. germanica—flower-stem scarcely 1½ times as tall as leaves; flowers more crowded than in I. pallida, varying in depth of colour but never pale blue.
I. pallida—bracts brown and scariose; flower-stem twice as high as leaves.
I. florentina—bracts green and fleshy; flower-stem short as in I. germanica; is a more tender plant than the other two, and blossoms a little later.—D. H.
[2456] For further information, consult Blümner, Die gewerbliche Thätigkeit der Völker des klassischen Alterthums, 1869. 57. 76. 83.
[2457] Flora Dalmatica, i. (1842) 116.
[2458] Dante, Divina commedia, cant. xvi.
[2459] De omnibus agriculturæ partibus, Basil. 1548. 219.
[2460] Dispensatorium, Norimb. 1529. 288.
[2461] Groves, Pharm. Journ. iii. (1872) 229.—We have also to thank him for information communicated personally.
[2462] The produce of some previous operations, in which 23 cwt. of orris was distilled, afforded but little over one-tenth per cent.
[2463] Pharm. Journ. vii. (1876) 130.
[2464] Consular Reports, 1876. 1416.
[2465] The word Saffron is derived from the Arabic Asfar, yellow.
[2466] Chappellier has pointed out that Crocus sativus L. is unknown in a wild state, and that it hardly ever produces seed even though artificially fertilized; and has argued from these facts that it is probably a hybrid.—Bulletin de la Soc. bot. de France, xx. (1853) 191.