Chapter XXI: Part 21

It is indigenous to the Mediterranean region, Southern Russia and the Caucasian provinces, but is found as a cornfield weed in many other countries, and is frequently cultivated in gardens. It succeeds in Norway as far north as Throndhjem.

Dill, under the Hindustani name of _Suvā_ or _Sōyah_, is largely grown in various ports of India, where the plant though of but a few months’ duration, grows to a height of 2 to 3 feet. On account of a slight peculiarity in the fruit, the Indian plant was regarded by Roxburgh and De Candolle as a distinct species, and called _Anethum Sowa_, but it possesses no botanical characters to warrant its separation from _A. graveolens_.

=History=—Dill is commonly regarded to be the Ἄνηθον of Dioscorides, the _Anethum_ of Palladius and other ancient writers, as well as of the New Testament.[1246] In Greece the name Ἄνηθον is at present applied[1247] to a plant of very similar appearance, _Carum Ridolfia_ Benth. et Hook (_Anethum segetum_ L.). By the later Greeks, the term Ἄνηθον was also used for dill.[1248]

Dill, as well as coriander, fennel, cumin, and ammi, was in frequent requisition in Britain in Anglo-Saxon times.[1249] The name is derived according to Prior[1250] from the old Norse word _dilla_, to _lull_, in allusion to the reputed carminative properties of the drug. However this may be, we find the word occurring in the 10th century in the Vocabulary of Alfric, archbishop of Canterbury.[1251] The words _dill_ and _till_, undoubtedly meaning this drug, were also used in Germany and Switzerland as early as A.D. 1000.

=Description=—The fruit, which has the characters usual to _Umbelliferæ_, is of ovoid form, much compressed dorsally, surrounded with a broad flattened margin. The mericarps about ⅒ of an inch wide, are mostly separate; they are provided with 5 equidistant, filiform ridges, of which the two lateral lose themselves in the paler, broad, thin margin. The three others are sharply keeled; the darkest space between them is occupied by a vitta and two occur on the commissure. In the Indian drug, the mericarps are narrower and more convex, the ridges more distinct and pale, and the border less winged. In other respects it accords with that of Europe. The odour and taste of dill are agreeably aromatic.

=Microscopic Characters=—The pericarp is formed of a small number of flattened cells, which in the inner layer are of a brown colour; the ridges consist as usual of a strong fibro-vascular bundle. The vittæ in a transverse section present an elliptic outline ¹/₁₄₀ of an inch or less in diameter. The margin of the mericarp is built up of porous, parenchymatous tissue. The albumen as in the seeds of all umbellifers, consists of thick-walled, angular cells, loaded with fatty oil, and globular grains of albuminous matters which present a dark cross when examined by polarized light.

[1246] Matt. xxiii. 23,—where it has been rendered _anise_ by the English translators from Wicklif (1380) downwards. But in other versions, the word is correctly translated.

[1247] Heldreich, _Nutzpflanzen Griechenlands_ (1862) 40.

[1248] Langkavel, _Botanik d. späteren Griechen_, Berlin, 1866. 39.

[1249] _Leechdoms_, &c., edited by Cockayne, 1864-66,—see especially _Herbarium Apuleii_, dating about A.D. 1050, in vol. i. pp. 219. 235. 237. 281. 293.

[1250] _Popular Names of British Plants_, 1870.

[1251] _Volume of Vocabularies_, edited by Wright, 1857. 30.

=Chemical Composition=—Dill fruit yields from 3 to 4 per cent. of an essential oil, the largest proportion of which was found by Gladstone (1864-1872) to be a hydrocarbon, C₁₀H₁₆, to which he gave the name _Anethene_. This substance has a lemon-like odour, sp. gr. ·846, and boils at 172° C. It deviates a ray of polarized light strongly to the right. Nietzki (1874) ascertained that there is, moreover, present another hydrocarbon, C₁₀H₁₆, in a very small proportion, which boils at 155-160°. A third constituent of oil of dill is in all probability identical with carvol (see page 307); we prepared from the former immediately the crystals (C₁₀H₁₄O)₂SH₂.

=Uses=—The distilled water of dill is stomachic and carminative, and frequently prescribed as a vehicle for more active medicines. The seeds are much used for culinary and medicinal purposes by the people of India, but are little employed in Continental Europe.

FRUCTUS CORIANDRI.

_Semen Coriandri_; _Coriander Fruits_, _Coriander Seeds_, _Corianders_; F. _Fruits de Coriandre_; G. _Koriander_.

=Botanical Origin=—_Coriandrum sativum_ L., a small glabrous, annual plant, apparently indigenous to the Mediterranean and Caucasian regions, not known growing wild, but now found as a cornfield weed throughout the temperate parts of the Old World. It is cultivated in many countries, and has thus found its way even to Paraguay. In England the cultivation of coriander has long been carried on, but only to a very limited extent.

=History=—Coriander appears to occur in the famous Egyptian papyrus Ebers; it is also mentioned, under the name of Kustumburu, in early Sanskrit authors, and is also met with in the Scriptures.[1252]

The plant owes its names Κόριον, Κορίαννον, and Κοριάνδρον, or also in the middle ages, Κλάνδρον, to the offensive odour it exhales when handled, and which reminds one of bugs,—in Greek Κόρις. This character caused it to be regarded in the middle ages as having poisonous properties.[1253] The ripe fruits which are entirely free from the fœtid smell of the growing plant, were used as a spice by the Jews and the Romans, and in medicine from a very early period. Cato, who wrote on agriculture in the 3rd century B.C., notices the cultivation of coriander. Pliny states that the best is that of Egypt. It is of frequent occurrence in the book “De opsoniis et condimentis” of Apicius Cœlius, about the 3rd century of our era. Coriander is also included in the list of Charlemagne, alluded to pages 92, 98, etc.

Coriander was well known in Britain prior to the Norman Conquest, and often employed in ancient Welsh and English medicine and cookery.

[1252] Exod. xvi. 31; Num. xi. 7.

[1253] Petrus de Abbano, _Tract. de Venenis_, Venetiis, 1473. capp. 25. 46.

=Cultivation=—Coriander, called by the farmers _Col_, is cultivated in the eastern counties of England, especially in Essex. It is sometimes sown with caraway, and being an annual is gathered and harvested the first year, the caraway remaining in the ground. The seedling plants are hoed so as to leave those that are to remain in rows 10 to 12 inches apart. The plant is cut with sickles, and when dry the seed is thrashed out on a cloth in the centre of the field. On the best land, 15 cwt. per acre is reckoned an average crop.[1254]

[1254] R. Baker, in Morton’s _Cyclopædia of Agriculture_, i. (1855) 545.

=Description=—The fruit of coriander consists of a pair of hemispherical mericarps, firmly joined so as to form an almost regular globe, measuring on an average about ⅕ of an inch in diameter, crowned by the stylopodium and calycinal teeth, and sometimes by the slender diverging styles. The pericarp bears on each half, 4 perfectly straight sharpish ridges, regarded as secondary (_juga secundaria_); two other ridges, often of darker colour, belonging to the mericarps in common, the separation of which takes place in a rather sinuous line. The shallow depression between each pair of these straight ridges is occupied by a zigzag raised line (_jugum primarium_), of which there are therefore 5 in each mericarp. It will thus be seen that each mericarp has 5 (zigzag) so-called _primary ridges_, and 4 (keeled and more prominent) _secondary_, besides the lateral ridges which mark the suture or line of separation. There are no vittæ on the outer surface of the pericarp. Of the 5 teeth of the calyx, 2 often grow into long, pointed, persistent lobes; they proceed from the outer flowers of the umbel.

Though the two mericarps are closely united, they adhere only by the thin pericarp, enclosing when ripe a lenticular cavity. On each side of this cavity, the skin of the fruit separates from that of the seed, displaying the two brown vittæ of each mericarp. In transverse section, the albumen appears crescent-shaped, the concave side being towards the cavity. The carpophore stands in the middle of the latter as a column, connected with the pericarp only at top and bottom.

Corianders are smooth and rather hard, in colour buff or light brown. They have a very mild aromatic taste, and, when crushed, a peculiar fragrant smell. When unripe, their odour, like that of the fresh plant, is offensive. The nature of the chemical change that occasions this alteration in odour has not been made out.

The Indian corianders shipped from Bombay are of large size and of elongated form.

=Microscopic Structure=—The structural peculiarities of coriander fruit chiefly refer to the pericarp. Its middle layer is made up of thick walled ligneous prosenchyme, traversed by a few fibro-vascular bundles which in the zigzag ridges vary exceedingly in position.

=Chemical Composition=—The essential oil of coriander has a composition indicated by the formula C₁₀H₁₈O, and is therefore isomeric with borneol. If the elements of water are abstracted by phosphoric anhydride, it is converted, according to Kawalier (1852), into an oil of offensive odour, C₁₀H₁₆.

The fruits yield of volatile oil from 0·7 to 1·1 per cent.; as the vittæ are well protected by the woody pericarp, corianders should be bruised before being submitted to distillation. Trommsdorff (1835) found the fruits to afford 13 per cent. of fixed oil.

The fresh herb distilled in July when the fruits were far from ripe, yielded to one of us (F.) from 0·57 to 1·1 per mille of an essential oil possessing in a high degree the disagreeable odour already alluded to. This oil was found to deviate the ray of polarized light 1·1° to the right when examined in a column 50 mm. long. The oil distilled by us from ripe commercial fruit deviated 5·1° to the right.

=Production and Commerce=—Coriander is cultivated in various parts of Continental Europe, and, as already stated, to a small extent in England. It is also produced in Northern Africa and in India. In 1872-73, the export of coriander from the province of Sind[1255] was 948 cwt.; from Bombay[1256] in the same year 619 cwt. From Calcutta[1257] there were shipped in 1870-71, 16,347 cwt.

=Uses=—Coriander fruits are reputed stimulant and carminative, yet are but little employed in medicine. They are however used in veterinary practice, and by the distillers of gin, also in some countries in cookery.

FRUCTUS CUMINI.

_Fructus vel Semen Cymini_; _Cumin or
Cummin[1258] Fruits_, _Cummin Seeds_; F.
_Graines de Cumin_; G. _Mutterkümmel_,
_Kreuzkümmel_, _Langer oder Römischer
Kümmel_, _Mohrenkümmel_.

=Botanical Origin.=—_Cuminum Cyminum_ L., a small annual plant, indigenous to the upper regions of the Nile, but carried at an early period by cultivation to Arabia, India and China, as well as to the countries bordering the Mediterranean. The fruits of the plant ripen as far north as Southern Norway; but in Europe, Sicily and Malta alone produce them in quantity.

=History=—Cumin was well known to the ancients; it is alluded to by the Hebrew prophet Isaiah,[1259] and is mentioned in the gospel of Matthew[1260] as one of the minor titheable productions of the Holy Land. Under the name Κύμινον, it is commended for its agreeable taste by Dioscorides, in whose day it was produced on the coasts of Asia Minor and Southern Italy. It is named as _Cuminum_ by Horace and Persius; Scribonius Largus, in the first century of our era, mentions Cuminum æthiopicum, silvaticum and thebaicum.

During the middle ages, cumin was one of the spices in most common use. Thus in A.D. 716, an annual provision of 150 lb. of cumin for the monastery of Corbie in Normandy, was not thought too large a supply.[1261] Edrisi mentioned cumin as a product of Morocco (see article Fructus Carui, p. 305), Algeria and Tunisia. It was in frequent use in England, its average price between 1264 and 1400 being a little over 2_d._ per lb.[1262] Cumin is enumerated in the _Liber albus_[1263] of the city of London, compiled in 1419, among the merchandize on which the king levied the impost called _scavage._ It is mentioned[1264] in 1453 as one of the articles of which the Grocers’ Company had the weighing and oversight, and was classed in 1484 in the same way in the German warehouse in Venice.[1265]

[1255] _Statement of the Trade and Navigation of Sind for the year 1872-73_, Karachi, 1873. 36.

[1256] Ditto for Bombay, 1872-73. ii. 90.

[1257] _Annual Volume of Trade, etc. for the Bengal Presidency_, 1870-71. 121.

[1258] _Comyne_ in Wicklif’s Bible (1380), _Commen_ in Tyndale’s (1534), _Commyn_ in Cranmer’s (1539), _Cummine_ in the Authorised Version (1611), _Cumin_ in Gerarde’s _Herbal_ (1636) and Paris’s _Pharmacologia_ (1822), _Cummin_, Ray (1693) and in modern trade-lists and price-currents.

[1259] Ch. xxviii. 25-27.

[1260] Ch. xxiii. 23.

[1261] Pardessus, _Diplomata_, etc., Paris, 1849. ii. 309.

[1262] Rogers, _Hist. of Agriculture and Prices in England_, 1876. i. 631, ii. 543-547.

[1263] _Munimenta Gildhallæ Londoniensis_, edited by Riley, i. (1859) 224.

[1264] Herbert, _Hist. of the Great Livery Companies of London_, 1834. 114.

[1265] Thomas, _Fontego dei Todeschi in Venezia_, 1874. 252.

=Description=—The fruit, the colour of which is brown, has the usual structure of the order; it is of an elongated ovoid form, tapering towards each end, and somewhat laterally compressed. The mericarps, which do not readily separate from the carpophore, are about ¼ of an inch in length and ⅒ of an inch in greatest breadth. Each has 5 primary ridges which are filiform, and scabrous or muriculate, and 4 secondary covered with rough hairs. Between the primary ridges is a single elongated vitta, and 2 vittæ occur on the commissural surface. A transverse section of the seed shows a reniform outline. There is a form of _C. Cyminum_ in cultivation, the fruit of which is perfectly glabrous.

Cumin has a strong aromatic taste and smell, far less agreeable than that of caraway.

=Microscopic Structure=—The hairs are rather brittle, sometimes ½ mm. in length, formed of cells springing from the epidermis. The larger consists of groups of cells, vertically or laterally combined, and enclosed by a common envelope; the smaller of but a single cell ending in a rounded point. The whole pericarp is rich in tannic matter, striking with salts of iron a dark greenish colour.

The tissue of the seed is loaded with colourless drops of a fatty oil; the vittæ with a yellowish-brown essential oil. But the most striking contents of the parenchyme of the albumen consist of transparent, colourless, spherical grains, 7 to 5 mkm. in diameter, several of which are enclosed in each cell. Under a high magnifying power, they show a central cavity with a series of concentric layers around it, frequently traversed by radial clefts. Examined in polarized light, these grains display exactly the same cross as is seen in granules of starch, although their behaviour with chemical tests at once proves that they are by no means that substance; in fact iodine does not render them blue, but intensely brown. Grains of the same character, assuming sometimes a crystalloid form, occur in most umbelliferous fruits, and in many seeds of other orders. All these bodies are composed of albuminous and fatty matters; the more crystalloid form as met with in the seeds of _Ricinus_ and in the fruit of parsley, is the body called by Hartig _Aleuron_.

=Chemical Composition=—Cumin fruits yielded to Bley (1829) 7 per cent. of fat oil, 13 per cent. of resin (?), 8 of mucilage and gum, 15 of albuminous matter, and a large amount of malates. Their peculiar, strong, aromatic smell and taste, depend on the essential oil of which they afford as much as 4 per cent. It contains about 56 per cent. of

_Cuminol_ (or _Cuminaldehyde_), C₆H₄ {CHO,
{C₃H₇

a liquid of sp. gr. 0·972, boiling point 237° C. It has also been met with, in 1858, by Trapp in the oil of Cicuta virosa. By boiling cuminol with potash in alcoholic solution,

cuminalcohol, C₆H₄ {CH₂OH,
{C₃H₇

as well as the potassium salt of cuminic acid,

{COOH
C₆H₄ { , are formed.
{C₃H₇

The oil of cumin, secondly, contains a mixture of hydrocarbons. That which constitutes about one-half of the crude oil has been first obtained in 1841 by Gerhardt and Cahours, just from the oil under notice, and therefore called _Cymene_ (or also _Cymol_). It is a liquid of 0·873 sp. gr. at 0° (32° F.), boiling at 175°; neither cymene nor cuminol have the same odour and taste as the crude oil. Many other plants have been noticed as containing cymene among the constituents of their essential oils. Thus for instance _Cicuta virosa_ L., _Carum Ajowan_ (page 304), _Thymus vulgaris_ (see art. Folia Thymi), _Eucalyptus globulus_ Labill.

Cymene, C₆H₄ {CH₃ (Propylmethyl-benzol),
{C₃H₇

may also be artificially obtained from a large number of essential oils having the composition C₁₀H₁₆, or C₁₀H₁₄O, or C₁₀H₁₆O, or C₁₀H₁₈O. It differs very remarkably from the oils of the formula C₁₀H₁₆, inasmuch as cymene yields the crystallizable cymen-sulphonic acids when it is warmed with concentrated sulphuric acid.

Lastly, there is present in the oil of cumin a small amount of a terpene, C₁₀H₁₆, boiling at 155·8° C., as stated in 1865 by C. M. Warren, and in 1873 by Beilstein and Kupffer.

The dextrogyrate power of cuminol is a little less strong than that of cymene; artificial cymene is optically inert.

=Commerce=—Cumin is shipped to England from Mogador, Malta and Sicily. In Malta there were in 1863, 140 acres under cultivation with this crop; in 1865, 730 acres, producing 2766 cwt.[1266]

The export of cumin from Morocco[1267] in 1872 was 1657 cwt.; that from Bombay in the year 1872-73 was 6766 cwt.;[1268] and 20,040 cwt. from Calcutta[1269] in the year 1870-71.

=Uses=—Cumin is sold by druggists as an ingredient of curry powders, but to a much larger extent for use in veterinary medicine.

CAPRIFOLIACEÆ.

FLORES SAMBUCI.

_Elder Flowers_; F. _Fleurs de Sureau_; G. _Holunderblüthe_, _Fliederblumen_.

=Botanical Origin=—_Sambucus nigra_ L.—a large deciduous shrub or small tree, indigenous to Southern and Central Europe (not in Russia), Western Asia, the Crimea, the regions of the Caucasus and Southern Siberia. It is believed to be a native of England and Ireland, but not to be truly wild in Scotland. In other northern parts of Europe, as Norway and Sweden, the elder appears only as a plant introduced there during the middle ages by the monks.[1270]

[1266] _Statistical Tables relating to the Colonial and other possessions of the United Kingdom_, xi. 618. 619.

[1267] _Consular Reports_, Aug. 1873, 917; in 1876 only 380 cwt.

[1268] _Statement of the Trade and Navigation of the Presidency of Bombay for 1872-73._ pt. ii. 90.

[1269] _Annual Volume of Trade, etc. for the Bengal Presidency for 1870-71._ 121.

[1270] Schübeler, _Pflanzenwelt Norwegens_ (1873-75) 253.

=History=—The Romans, as we learn from Pliny, made use in medicine of the plant under notice as well as of the _Dwarf Elder_ (_S. Ebulus_ L.) Both kinds were employed in Britain by the ancient English[1271] and Welsh[1272] leeches, and in Italy in the medicine of the school of Salernum.

=Description=—The elder produces in the early summer, conspicuous, many-flowered cymes, 4 to 5 inches in diameter, of which the long peduncle divides into 5 branches, which subdivide once or several times by threes or fives, ultimately separating by repeated forking into slender, furrowed pedicels about ¼ of an inch long, each bearing a single flower. In the second or third furcations, the middle flower remains short-stalked or sessile, and opens sooner than the rest. In like manner, on the outermost small forks only one of the florets is usually long-stalked. The whole of this inflorescence forms a flattish umbelliform cyme, perfectly glabrous and destitute of bracts.

The calyx is combined with the ovary and bordered with 4 or 5 small teeth. The corolla, which is of a creamy white, is monopetalous with a very short tube and 5 spreading ovate lobes. The stamens which are about as long as the divisions of the corolla and alternate with them, are inserted in the tube of the latter. The yellow pollen which thickly powders the flowers, appears under the microscope 3-pored. The projecting ovary is crowned by a 2-or 3-lobed sessile stigma.

For use in pharmacy, the part of the flower most desirable is the corolla, to obtain a good proportion of which the gathered cymes are left for a few hours in a large heap; the mass slightly heats, the corollas detach themselves, and are separated from the green stalks by shaking, rubbing, and sifting; they require to be then rapidly dried. This done, they become much shrivelled and assume a dull yellow tint. When fresh, they have a sweet faint smell, which becomes stronger and somewhat different by drying, and is quite unlike the repulsive odour of the fresh leaves and bark. Dried elder flowers have a bitterish, slightly gummy flavour. On the Continent they are sold with the stalks, _i.e._ in entire cymes.

=Chemical Composition=—Elder flowers yield a very small percentage of a butter-like essential oil, lighter than water, and smelling strongly of the flowers; it is easily altered by exposure to the air.[1273] The oil is accompanied by traces of volatile acids.

=Uses=—Elder flowers are only employed in British medicine for making an aromatic distilled water, and for communicating a pleasant odour to lard (_Unguentum Sambuci_). The flowers of _Sambucus canadensis_ L.[1274] indigenous in the United States, which are extremely similar to those of our species, appear to be more fragrant. The _leaves_ of the latter are sometimes used for giving a fine green tint to oil or fat, as in the _Oleum viride_ and _Unguentum Sambuci foliorum_ of the shops. The bark, once much employed, is now obsolete.

[1271] _Leechdoms, etc. of Early England_ edited by Cockayne, iii. (1866) 324. 347. According to the Rev. Edward Gillett (p. xxxii.), _S. Ebulus_ is believed to have been brought to England by the Danes and planted on the battlefield and graves of their countrymen. In Norfolk it still bears the name of _Danewort_ and _blood hilder_ (blood elder).

[1272] The Physicians of Myddfai (see Appendix) used sage, rue, mallow, and _elder flowers_ as ingredients of a gargle. _Meddygon Myddvai_, 219. 403.

[1273] For further information, see Gmelin, _Chemistry_, xiv. (1860) 368.

[1274] Fig. in Bentley and Trimen, _Med. Plants_, part 21 (1877).

RUBIACEÆ.

GAMBIER.

_Catechu pallidum_, _Extractum Uncariæ_;
_Gambier_, _Pale Catechu_,
_Gambier Catechu_, _Terra Japonica_;
F. _Gambir_, _Cachou jaune_; G.
_Gambir_.

=Botanical Origin=—1. _Uncaria Gambier_ Roxb. (_Nauclea Gambir_ Hunter) a stout climbing shrub, supporting itself by means of its flower-stalks which are developed into strong recurved hooks.[1275] It is a native of the countries bordering the Straits of Malacca, and especially of the numerous islands at their eastern end; but according to Crawfurd[1276] it does not seem indigenous to any of the islands of the volcanic band. It also grows in Ceylon, where however no use is made of it.

2. _U. acida_ Roxb.,[1277] probably a mere variety of the preceding, and growing in the Malayan islands, appears to be used in exactly the same manner.

=History=—Gambier is one of the substances to which the name of _Catechu_ or _Terra Japonica_ is often applied; the other is _Cutch_, which has been already described (p. 243). By druggists and pharmaceutists the two articles are frequently confounded, but in the great world of commerce they are reckoned as quite distinct. In many price-currents and trade-lists, _Catechu_ is not found under that name, but only appears under the terms _Cutch_ and _Gambier_.

Crawfurd asserts that gambier has been exported from time immemorial to Java from the Malacca Straits. This statement appears highly questionable. Rumphius, who resided in Amboyna during the second half of the 17th century, was a merchant, consul and naturalist; and in these capacities became thoroughly conversant with the products of the Malay Archipelago and adjacent regions, as the six folio volumes of his _Herbarium Amboinense_, illustrated by 587 plates, amply prove.

Among other plants, he figures[1278] _Uncaria Gambier_, which he terms _Funis uncatus_, and states to exist under two varieties, the one with broad, and the other with narrow leaves. The first form, he says, is called in Malay _Daun Gatta Gambir_, on account of the bitter taste of its leaves, which is perceptible in the lozenges (_trochisci_) called _Gatta Gambir_, so much so that one might suppose they were made from these leaves, which however is not the case. He further asserts that the leaves have a detergent, drying quality by reason of their bitterness, which is nevertheless not intense but quite bearable in the mouth: that they are masticated instead of _Pinang_ [Betel-nut] with _Siri_ [leaf of _Piper Betle_] and lime: that the people of Java and Bali plant the first variety near their houses for the sake of its fragrant flowers; but though they chew its leaves instead of _Pinang_, it must not be supposed that it is this plant from which the lozenges _Gatta_ are compounded, for that indeed is quite different.

[1275] Fig. in Bentley and Trimen, _Med. Plants_, part 7 (1876).

[1276] _Dictionary of the Indian Islands_, 1865. 142.

[1277] Beautifully figured in Berg und Schmidt, _Offizinelle Gewächse_, xxx. c. 1863.

[1278] _Herb. Amb._ v. 63. tab. 34.

Thus, if we may credit Rumphius, it would seem that the important manufacture of gambier had no existence at the commencement of the last century. As to “_Gatta Gambir_,” his statements are scarcely in accord with those of more recent writers. We may however remark that that name is very like the Tamil _Katta Kāmbu_, signifying _Catechu_, which drug is sometimes made into little round cakes, and was certainly a large export from India to Malacca and China as early as the 16th century (p. 241).

That gambier was unknown to Europeans long after the time of Rumphius, is evident from other facts. Stevens, a merchant of Bombay, in his _Compleat Guide to the East India Trade_, published in 1766, quotes the prices of goods at Malacca, but makes no allusion to gambier. Nor is there any reference to it in Savary’s _Dictionnaire de Commerce_ (ed. of 1750), in which Malacca is mentioned as the great entrepôt of the trade of India with that of China and Japan.

The first account of gambier known to us, was communicated to the Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences in 1780, by a Dutch trader named Couperus. This person narrates[1279] how the plant was introduced into Malacca from Pontjan in 1758, and how gambier is made from its leaves; and names several sorts of the drug and their prices.

In 1807, a description of “the drug called _Gutta Gambeer_,” and of the tree from which it is made, was presented to the Linnean Society of London.[1280] The writer, William Hunter, well known for scientific observations in connection with India, states that the substance is made chiefly at Malacca, Siak and Rhio, that it is in the form of small squares, or little round cakes almost perfectly white, and that the finer sorts are used for chewing with betel leaf in the same manner as catechu, while the coarser are shipped to Batavia and China for use in tanning and dyeing.

=Manufacture=—The gambier plant is cultivated in plantations. These were commenced in 1819 in Singapore, where there were at one time 800 plantations; but owing to scarcity of fuel, without an abundant supply of which the manufacture is impossible, and dearness of labour, gambier-planting was in 1866 fast disappearing from the island.[1281] The official Blue Book, printed at Singapore in 1872, reports it as “_much increased_.” It is largely pursued on the mainland (Johore), and in the islands of the Rhio-Lingga Archipelago, lying south-east of Singapore. On the island of Bintang, the most northerly of the group, there were about 1,250 gambier-plantations in 1854.

The plantations are often formed in clearings of the jungle, where they last for a few years and are then abandoned,[1282] owing to the impoverishment of the soil and the irrepressible growth of the _lalang_ grass (_Imperata Königii_ P. de B.), which is more difficult to eradicate than even primæval jungle. It has been found profitable to combine with the cultivation of gambier that of pepper, for which the boiled leaves of the gambier form an excellent manure.

[1279] _Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap_, ii. (derde druk) 217-234.

[1280] _Linn. Trans._ ix. (1808) 218-224.

[1281] Collingwood, _Journ. of Linn. Soc._, Bot., x. (1869) 52.

[1282] This abuse of land has been repressed in Singapore.

The gambier plants are allowed to grow 8 to 10 feet high, and as their foliage is always in season, each plant is stripped 3 or 4 times in the year. The apparatus and all that belongs to the manufacture of the extract are of the most primitive description.[1283] A shallow cast-iron pan about 3 feet across is built into an earthen fireplace. Water is poured into the pan, a fire is kindled, and the leaves and young shoots, freshly plucked, are scattered in, and boiled for about an hour. At the end of this time they are thrown on to a capacious sloping trough, the lower end of which projects into the pan, and squeezed with the hand so that the absorbed liquor may run back into the boiler. The decoction is then evaporated to the consistence of a thin syrup, and baled out into buckets. When sufficiently cool it is subjected to a curious treatment:—instead of simply stirring it round, the workman pushes a stick of soft wood in a sloping direction into each bucket; and placing two such buckets before him, he works a stick up and down in each. The liquid thickens round the stick, and the thickened portion being constantly rubbed off, while at the same the whole is in motion, it gradually sets into a mass, a result which the workman affirms would never be produced by simple stirring round. Though we are not prepared to concur in the workman’s opinion, it is reasonable to suppose that his manner of treating the liquor favours the crystallization of the catechin in a more concrete form than it might otherwise assume. The thickened mass, which is said by another writer to resemble soft yellowish clay, is now placed in shallow square boxes, and when somewhat hardened is cut into cubes and dried in the shade. The leaves are boiled a second time, and finally washed in water, which water is saved for another operation.

From informations obtained in 1878 it would appear that now the prevailing part of gambier is made by means of pressure into blocks.

A plantation with five labourers contains on an average 70,000 to 80,000 shrubs, and yields 40 to 50 catties (1 catty = 1⅓ lb. = 604·8 grammes) of gambier daily.

=Description=—Gambier is an earthy-looking substance of light brown hue, consisting of cubes about an inch each side, more or less agglutinated, or it is in the form of entirely compact masses. The cubes are externally of a reddish-brown and compact, internally of a pale cinnamon hue, dry, porous, friable, devoid of odour, but with a bitterish astringent taste, becoming subsequently sweetish. Under the microscope, the cubes of gambier are seen to consist of very small acicular crystals.

=Chemical Composition=—In a chemical point of view, gambier agrees with cutch, especially with the pale variety made in Northern India (p. 242). Both substances consist mainly of _Catechin_,[1284] which may be obtained in the hydrated state as slender colourless needles, by exhausting gambier with cold water, and crystallizing the residue from 3 or 4 parts of hot water, which on cooling deposits nearly all the catechin. Ferric chloride strikes with the solution of catechin, even when much diluted, a green tint. If it is shaken with ferrous sulphate and an extremely small quantity of bicarbonate of sodium, a violet colour makes its appearance. The same reactions are produced by various substances of the tannic class.

[1283] We borrow the following account, which is the best we have met with, from Jagor’s _Singapore, Malacca, und Java_, Berlin, 1866. 64.

[1284] Gautier (1877) suggests that it is not identical with catechin from Acacia Catechin (p. 244).

The yellowish colouring matter of gambier was determined by Hlasiwetz (1867) and Löwe (1873) to be _Quercetin_, which is also a constituent of cutch. Quercetin is but very sparingly soluble in water, yet it is nevertheless found, in small quantity, in the aqueous extract of cutch, from which it may be removed by means of ether. As many species of _Nauclea_ contain, according to De Vry,[1285] _Quinovic Acid_, it is probable that that substance may be detected in gambier.

Some fine gambier in regular cubes which we incinerated left 2·6 per cent. of ash, consisting mainly of carbonates of calcium and magnesium.

=Commerce=—Singapore, which is the great emporium for gambier, exported in 1871 no less than 34,248 tons, of which quantity 19,550 tons had been imported into the colony chiefly from Rhio and the Malayan Peninsula.[1286] In 1876 the export had increased to more than 50,000 tons of pressed block gambier and 2,700 tons of cubes. In 1877 it diminished to 39,117 tons, owing to difficulties which had arisen between the Chinese dealers, who supplied the drug in a rather wet state, and the European exporters. Of the above quantity 21,607 tons were shipped for London, 7,572 for Liverpool, 2,345 for Marseilles. Gambier usually fetches a lower price[1287] in the London market than cutch.

The quantity imported into the United Kingdom in 1872 was 21,155 tons, value £451,737, almost the whole being from the Straits Settlements.

=Uses=—Gambier, under the name of _Catechu_, is used medicinally as an astringent, but the quantity thus consumed is as nothing in comparison with that employed for tanning and dyeing.

[1285] _Pharm. Journ._ vi. (1865) 18.

[1286] _Blue Book of the Colony of the Straits Settlements for 1871._

[1287] 17_s._ per cwt., March 1879; see Catechu, page 242, note 3.

CORTEX CINCHONÆ.

_Cortex Peruvianus_, _Cortex Chinæ_; _Cinchona Bark_, _Peruvian Bark_; F. _Ecorce de Quinquina_; G. _Chinarinde_.

=Botanical Origin=—The genus _Cinchona_ constitutes together with _Cascarilla_ (including _Buena_ and _Cosmibuena_), _Remijia_, _Ladenbergia_, _Macrocnemum_, and about 30 other nearly allied genera, the well-characterized tribe _Cinchoneæ_ of the order _Rubiaceæ_. This tribe consists of shrubs or trees with opposite leaves, 2-celled ovary, capsular fruit, and numerous minute, vertical or ascending, peltate, winged, albuminous seeds.

(=A.=) _Remarks on the genus._—The genus _Cinchona_ is distinguished by deciduous stipules, flowers in terminal panicles, 5-toothed superior calyx, tubular corolla expanding into 5 lobes fringed at the margin. The corolla is of an agreeable weak odour, and of a rosy or purplish hue or white. The fruit is a capsule of ovoid or subcylindrical form, dehiscing from the base (the fruit-stalk also splitting) into two valves, which are held together at the apex by the thick permanent calyx. The seeds, 30 to 40 in number, are imbricated vertically; they are flat, winged all round by a broad membrane, which is very irregularly toothed or lacerated at the edge.

The Cinchonas are evergreen, with finely-veined leaves, traversed by a strong midrib. The thick leafstalk, often of a fine red, is sometimes a sixth the length of the whole leaf, but usually shorter. The leaves are ovate, obovate, or nearly circular; in some species lanceolate, rarely cordate, always entire, glabrous or more rarely hirsute, often variable as to size and form in the same species.

Among the valuable species, several are distinguished by small pits called _scrobiculi_, situated on the under side of the leaf, in the axils of the veins which proceed from the midrib. These pits sometimes exude an astringent juice. In some species they are replaced by tufts of hair. The young leaves are sometimes purplish on the under side; in several species the full-grown foliage assumes before falling, rich tints of crimson or orange.

The species of Cinchona are so much alike that their definition is a matter of the utmost difficulty, and only to be accomplished by resorting to a number of characters which taken singly are of no great importance. Individual species are moreover frequently connected together by well-marked and permanent intermediate forms, so that according to the expression of Howard, the whole form a continuous series, the terminal members of which are scarcely more sharply separated from the allied genera, than from plants of their own series.

As to the number and value of the species known, there is some diversity of view. Weddell, in 1870, enumerated 33 species and 18 sub-species, besides numerous varieties and sub-varieties. Bentham and Hooker, in 1873, estimated the species as about 36.

Kuntze, in the book quoted at the end of the present article, proposed to reduce all the species to the four following:

1. _Cinchona Weddelliana_ O. Kuntze, nearly answering
to _C. Calisaya_ Weddell.

2. _C. Pavoniana_ O. Kuntze, including _C.
micrantha_ Ruiz and _Pavon_ and several allied
plants.

3. _C. Howardiana_ O. Kuntze, constituted of _C.
succirubra_ Pavon and a few other species of former
authors.

4. _C. Pahudiana_ Howard.

Kuntze, who has examined the living Cinchonæ as cultivated in India, is of the opinion that all the numerous forms hitherto observed, both in the wild plants and in cultivation, are merely either belonging to the above four species or deriving from them chiefly by hybridation. Though much in favour of a reduction of the species, we are not yet prepared to accept Kuntze’s arrangement.

(=B.=) _Area, Climate and Soil._—The Cinchonas are natives of South America, where they occur exclusively on the western side of the continent between 10° N. lat. and 22° S. lat., an area which includes portions of Venezuela, New Granada, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.

The plants are found in the mountain regions, no species whatever being known to inhabit the low alluvial plains. In Peru and Bolivia, the region of the Cinchona forms a belt, 1300 miles in length, occupying the eastern slope of the Cordillera of the Andes.[1288] In Ecuador and New Granada, the tree is not strictly limited to the eastern slopes, but occurs on other of the Andine ranges.

The average altitude of the cinchoniferous region is given by Weddell as 5,000 to 8,000 feet above the sea-level. The highest limit, as noted by Karsten, is 11,000 feet. One valuable species, _C. succirubra_, occurs exceptionally as low as 2,600 feet. Generally, it may be said that the altitude of the Cinchona zone decreases in proportion as it recedes from the equator, and that the most valuable sorts are not found lower than 5,000 feet.

The climate of the tropical mountain regions in which the Cinchonas flourish, is extremely variable,—sunshine, showers, storms, and thick mist, alternating in rapid succession, yet with no very great range of temperature. A transient depression of the thermometer even to the freezing point, and not unfrequent hail-showers, may be borne without detriment by the more hardy species. Yet the mean temperature most favourable for the generality of species, appears to be 12 to 20° C. (54 to 68° F.)

Climatic agencies appear to influence the growth of Cinchona far more than the composition of the soil. Though the tree occurs in a great variety of geological formations, there is no distinct evidence that these conditions control in any marked manner either the development of the tree or the chemical constitution of its bark. Manure on the other hand, though not increasing perceptibly luxuriance of growth, has a decided effect in augmenting the richness of the bark in alkaloids.[1289]

(=C.=) _Species yielding officinal barks._—The Cinchona Barks of commerce are produced by about a dozen species; of these barks the greater number are consumed solely in the manufacture of quinine. Those admitted for pharmaceutical use are afforded by the following species:—

1. _Cinchona officinalis_ Hooker[1290]—A native of Ecuador and Peru, existing under several varieties. It forms a large tree, having lanceolate or ovate leaves, usually pointed, glabrous, and shining on the upper surface, and scrobiculate on the under. The flowers are small, pubescent and in short lax panicles, and are succeeded by oblong or lanceolate capsules, ½ an inch or more in length.

2. _C. Calisaya_ Weddell—Discovered by Weddell in 1847,[1291] although its bark had been an object of commerce since the latter half of the previous century.

[1288] That is to say the _eastern_ Cordillera, the western and lower range being called the _Cordillera of the Coast_; no Cinchonas grow on the latter.

[1289] Broughton, in _Pharm. Journ._ Jan. 4, 1873. 521.

[1290] Figured in _Bot. Magazine_, vol. 89 (1863) tab. 5364, including _C. Condaminea_ Humb. et Bonpl. and _C. Uritusinga_ Pavon.

[1291] _Ann. des Sciences nat._, Bot. x. (1848) 6, and _Hist. nat. des Quinquinas_, 1849, tab. 3, figured in _Botanical Magazine_, 1873. 6052, and 1879. 6434.

The tree inhabits the warmest woods of the declivities which border the valleys of Bolivia and South-eastern Peru, at an altitude of 5000 to 6000 feet above the sea-level. More precisely, the chief localities for the tree are the Bolivian provinces of Enquisivi, Yungas de la Paz, Larecaja or Sorata, Caupolican or Apolobamba, and Muñecas: thence it passes northward into the Peruvian province of Carabaya, suddenly ceasing on the confines of the valley of Sandia, although, as Weddell observed, the adjacent valleys are to all appearance precisely similar.

When well grown, _C. Calisaya_ has a trunk often twice as thick as a man’s body, and a magnificent crown of foliage overtopping all other trees of the forest. It has ovate capsules of about the same length (½ an inch) as the elegant pinkish flowers, which are in large pyramidal panicles. The leaves are 3 to 6 inches long, of very variable form, but usually oblong and obtuse, rarely acute.

A variety named after Joseph de Jussieu who first noticed it, β. _Josephiana_, but known in the country as _Ichu-Cascarilla_ or _Cascarilla del Pajonal_, differs from the preceding in that it is a shrub, 6 to 10 feet high, growing on the borders of mountain meadows and of thickets in the same regions as the larger form.

Other forms known in Bolivia as _Calisaya zamba_, _morada_, _verde_ or _alta_, and _blanca_, have been distinguished by Weddell as varieties of _C. Calisaya_.

Towards the middle of the year 1865, _Charles Ledger_, an English traveller, obtained seeds of a superior Cinchona, which had been collected near Pelechuco, eastwards of the lake Titicaca, about 68° W. long. and 15° S. lat., in the Bolivian province of Caupolican. In the same year the seeds arrived in England, but were subsequently sold to the Dutch government, and raised with admirable success in Java, and a little later also in private plantations in British India. The bark of “_Cinchona Ledgeriana_” has since proved by far the most productive in quinine of all Cinchona Barks. The tree is a mere form of C. Calisaya.[1292]

3. _C. succirubra_ Pavon,[1293]—a magnificent tree, 50 to 80 feet high, formerly growing in all the valleys of the Andes which debouch in the plain of Guayaquil. The tree is now almost entirely confined to the forests of Guaranda on the western declivities of Chimborazo, at 2,000 to 5,000 feet above the level of the sea.

The bark appears to have been appreciated in its native country at an early period, if we may conclude that the _Red Bark_ mentioned by La Condamine in 1737 was that under notice. It would seem, however, to have scarcely reached Europe earlier than the second half of the last century.[1294] The tree has broadly oval leaves, attaining about a foot in length, nearly glabrous above, pubescent beneath, large terminal panicles of rosy flowers, succeeded by oblong capsules 1 to 1¼ inches long.

The other species of _Cinchona_, the bark of which is principally consumed by the manufacturers of quinine, will be found briefly noticed, together with the foregoing, in the conspectus at page 355.

=History=—The early native history of Cinchona is lost in obscurity. No undoubted proofs have been handed down, to show that the aborigines of South America had any acquaintance with the medicinal properties of the bark. But traditions are not wanting.

[1292] Ledger’s Calisaya is beautifully figured and exactly described in Howard’s _Quinology of the East Indian Plantations_, parts ii. and iii.

[1293] Figured in Howard’s _Nueva Quinologia_, art. _Chinchona succirubra_.

[1294] Howard, _l.c._ p. 9.

William Arrot,[1295] a Scotch surgeon who visited Peru in the early part of the last century, states that the opinion then current at Loxa was that the qualities and use of the barks of Cinchona were known to the Indians before any Spaniard came among them. Condamine, as well as Jussieu, heard the same statements, which appear to have been generally prevalent at the close of the 17th century.

It is noteworthy, on the other hand, that though the Peruvians tenaciously adhere to their traditional customs, they make no use at the present day of Cinchona bark, but actually regard its employment with repugnance.

Humboldt[1296] declares that at Loxa the natives would rather die than have recourse to what they consider so dangerous a remedy. Pöppig[1297] (1830) found a strong prejudice to prevail among the people of Huanuco against Cinchona as a remedy for fevers, and the same fact was observed farther north by Spruce[1298] in 1861. The latter traveller narrates, that it was impossible to convince the _cascarilleros_ of Ecuador that their _Red Bark_ could be wanted for any other purpose than dyeing cloth; and that even at Guayaquil there was a general dislike to the use of quinine.

Markham[1299] notices the curious fact that the wallets of the native itinerant doctors, who from father to son have plied their art since the days of the Incas, never contain cinchona bark.

Although Peru was discovered in 1513, and submitted to the Spanish yoke by the middle of the century, no mention has been found of the febrifuge bark with which the name of the country is connected, earlier than the commencement of the 17th century.

Joseph de Jussieu,[1300] who visited Loxa in 1739, relates that the use of the remedy was first made known to a Jesuit missionary, who being attacked by intermittent fever, was cured by the bark administered to him by an Indian cacique at Malacotas, a village near Loxa. The date of this event is not given. The same story is related of the Spanish corregidor of Loxa, Don Juan Lopez Canizares, who is said to have been cured of fever in 1630.

Eight years later, the wife of the viceroy of Peru, Luis Geronimo Fernandez de Cabrera y Bobadilla, fourth count of Chinchon, having been attacked with fever, the same corregidor of Loxa sent a packet of powdered bark to her physician Juan de Vega, assuring him of its efficacy in the treatment of “_tertiana_.” The drug fully bore out its reputation, and the countess Ana was cured.[1301] Upon her recovery, she caused to be collected large quantities of the bark, which she used to give away to those sick of fever, so that the medicine came to be called _Polvo de la Condesa_, i.e. _The Countess’ Powder_. It was certainly known in Spain the following year (1639), when it was first tried at Alcala de Henares near Madrid.[1302]

[1295] _Phil Trans._ xl. for 1737-38. 81.

[1296] _Der Gesellsch. naturf. Freunde zu Berlin Magaz._ i. (1807) 60.

[1297] _Reise in Chile, Peru_, etc. ii. (1836) 222.

[1298] Blue Book—_East India Chinchona Plant_, 1863. 74. 75.

[1299] _Travels in Peru and India_, 1862. 2.

[1300] Quoted by Weddell in his _Hist. des Quinquinas_, p. 15, from De Jussieu’s unpublished MS.—The town of Loxa or Loja was founded by the Spaniards in 1546.

[1301] The circumstances are fully narrated by La Condamine (_Mém. de l’Acad. royale des Sciences_, année 1738). But the cure of the countess was known in Europe much before this, for it is mentioned by Sebastiano Bado in his _Anastasis, Corticis Peruviæ, seu Chinæ Chinæ defensio_ published at Genoa in 1663. When Bado wrote, it was a debated question whether the bark was introduced to Europe by the count of Chinchon or by the Jesuit Fathers.

[1302] Villerobel, quoted by Bado, _op. cit._ 202.

The introduction of Peruvian Bark into Europe is described by Chifflet, physician to the archduke Leopold of Austria, viceroy of the Netherlands and Burgundy, in his _Pulvis Febrifugus Orbis Americani ventilatus_, published at Brussels in 1653 (or 1651?). He says that among the wonders of the day, many reckon the tree growing in the kingdom of Peru, which the Spaniards call _Polo de Calenturas_, i.e. _Lignum febrium_. Its virtues reside chiefly in the bark, which is known as _China febris_, and which taken in powder drives off the febrile paroxysms. He further states, that during the last few years the bark has been imported into Spain, and thence sent to the Jesuit Cardinal Joannes de Lugo at Rome.[1303] Chifflet adds, that it has been carried from Italy to Belgium by the Jesuit Fathers going to the election of a general, but that it was also brought thither direct from Peru by Michael Belga, who had resided some years at Lima.

Chifflet, though candidly admitting the efficacy of the new drug when properly used, was not a strong advocate for it; and his publication started an acrimonious controversy, in which Honoratius Faber, a Jesuit (1655), Fonseca, physician to Pope Innocent X., Sebastiano Bado[1304] of Genoa (1656 and 1663), and Sturm (1659) appeared in defence of the febrifuge; while Plempius (1655), Glantz, an imperial physician of Ratisbon (1653), Godoy, physician to the king of Spain (1653), René Moreau (1655), Arbinet and others contended in an opposite sense.

From one of these disputants, Roland Sturm, a doctor of Louvain, who wrote in 1659,[1305] we learn that four years previously, some of the new febrifuge had been sent by the archduke Leopold to the Spanish ambassador at the Hague, and that he (Sturm) had been required to report upon it. He further states, that the medicine was known in Brussels and Antwerp as _Pulvis Jesuiticus_, because the Jesuit Fathers were in the habit of administering it gratis to indigent persons suffering from quartan fever; but that it was more commonly called _Pulvis Peruanus_ or _Peruvianam Febrifugum_. At Rome it bore the name of _Pulvis eminentissimi Cardinalis de Lugo_, or _Pulvis patrum_; the Jesuits at Rome received it from the establishments of their order in Peru, and used to give it away to the poor in Cardinal de Lugo’s palace. In 1658 Sturm saw 20 doses sent to Paris which cost 60 florins. He gives a copy of the handbill[1306] of 1651 which the apothecaries of Rome used to distribute with the costly powder.

[1303] The cardinal belonged to a family of Seville, which town had the monopoly of the trade with America.

[1304] Bado in his _Anastasis_, lib. 3, quotes the opinion of many persons as coinciding with his own.

[1305] _Febrifugi Peruviani Vindiciarum pars prior—Pulveris Historiam complectens ejusque vires et proprietates ...exhibens_, Delphis, 1669. 12°.

[1306] It is in these words:—_Modo di adoprare la Corteccia chiamata della Febre_.—Questa Corteccia si porta dal Regno di Peru, e si chiama China, o vero China della febre, laquale si adopra per la febre quartans, e terzana, che venga con freddo: s’adropra in questo modo, cioè:

Se ne piglia dramme due, e si pista fina, con passarla per setaccio; e tre hore prima incirca, che debba venir la febre si mette in infusione in un bicchiero di vino bianco gagliardissimo, e quando il freddo commincia à venire, ò si sente qualche minimo principio, si prende tutta la presa preparata, e si mette il patiente in letto.

Avertasi, si potrà dare detta Corteccia nel modo sudetto nella febre terzana, quando quella sia fermata in stato di molti giorni.

L’esperienza continua, hà liberata quasi tutti quelli, che l’hanno presa, purgato prima bene il corpo, e per quattro giorni doppo non pigliar’ niuna sorte di medicamento, ma auvertasi di non darla se non con licenza delli Sig. Medici, acciò giudicano se sia in tempo à proposito di pigliarla.

The drug began to be known in England about 1655.[1307] The _Mercurius Politicus_ one of the earliest English newspapers, contains in several of its numbers for 1658,[1308] a year remarkable for the prevalence in England of an epidemic remittent fever, advertisements offering for sale—“_the excellent powder known by the name of the Jesuit’s Powder_”—brought over by James Thomson, merchant of Antwerp.

Brady, professor of physic at Cambridge, prescribed bark about this time; and in 1660, Willis, a physician of great eminence, reported it as coming into daily use. This is also evidenced, with regard to the continent, by the pharmaceutical tariffs of the cities of Leipzig and Frankfurt of the year 1669, where “_China Chinæ_” has a place. ⅛ of an ounce (a “quint”) is quoted in the latter at 50 kreuzers (about 1s. 6d.), whereas the same quantity of opium is valued at 4 kreuzers,[1309] camphor 2 kreuzers, balsam of Peru 8 kreuzers.

Among those who contributed powerfully to the diffusion of the new medicine, was Robert Talbor _alias_ Tabor. In his “Pyretologia” (see Appendix, T.) he by no means intimates that his method of cure depends on the use of bark. On the contrary, he cautions his readers against the dangerous effects of Jesuit’s Powder when administered by unskilful persons, yet admits that, properly given, it is a “noble and safe medicine.”