Chapter XXXI: Part 31

So long as China kept all her ports closed to foreign commerce except Canton in the extreme south, a large supply of fine rhubarb found its way to Europe by way of Russia. But the unpleasant accompaniments of the Russian supervision, which was exercised with unsparing severity,[1825] and the extreme tediousness of the land-transport, made the Chinese very ready to accept an easier outlet for their goods. Accordingly we find that the opening of a number of ports in the north of China exerted a very depressing influence on the trade of Kiachta, which was augmented by the rebellion that raged in the interior of China for some years from 1852.

On these accounts Russia in 1855 removed certain restrictions on the trade, though without abandoning the Rhubarb Office. She withdrew in 1860 the custom-house to Irkutsk, and declared Kiachta a free port, while by the treaty with China of November 1860, she insisted on that country abandoning all restrictions on trade.

But the overland rhubarb trade had already been destroyed: the Chinese, tempted by the increased demand occasioned by the new trading-ports, became less careful in the collection and curing of the root, while the Russians insisted with the greatest strictness on the drug being of the accustomed quality. Hence it happened that from 1860 hardly any rhubarb was delivered at Kiachta, either for the government use or to private traders; and in 1863 the Rhubarb Office was abolished.

[1822] From the German word _Bracke_, the name applied to persons appointed for the examination of merchandize brought to the ports of the Baltic.

[1823] Gauger’s _Rep. für Pharm. und Chemie_, 1842. 452-457; _Pharm. Journ._ ii. (1843) 658.

[1824] Canstatt’s _Jahresbericht_ for 1864. i. 35-42.

[1825] Thus in 1860 the Russians compelled the Chinese to burn 6000 lb. of rhubarb, on the pretext that it was _too small_!

Thus the so-called _Russian_ or _Muscovitic_ or _Crown Rhubarb_, familiarly known in England as _Turkey Rhubarb_, a drug which for its uniformly good quality long enjoyed the highest reputation, has become a thing of the past, which can only now be found in museum collections. It began to appear in English commerce at the commencement of the last century. Alston,[1826] who lectured on botany and materia medica at Edinburgh in 1720, speaks of rhubarb as brought from Turkey and the East Indies,—“and of late, likewise from Muscovy.”

It has been shown (p. 494) that rhubarb was shipped from Syria in the 12th century. Vasco da Gama[1827] mentions it in 1497 among the exports of Alexandria. In fact, the drug was carried from the far east to Persia, whence it was brought by caravans to Aleppo, Tripoli, Alexandria, and even to Smyrna. From these Levant ports it reached Europe, and was distributed as _Turkey Rhubarb_; while that which was shipped direct from China, or by way of India, became known as _China_, _Canton_, or _East India Rhubarb_. The latter was already the more common sort in England as early as 1640.[1828]

As the rhubarb of the Levant disappeared from trade, that of Russia took not only its place but likewise its name, until the term “_Turkey Rhubarb_” came to be the accepted designation of the drug imported from Russia. This strange confusion of terms was not however prevalent on the Continent, but was chiefly limited to British trade.

The risk and expense of the enormous land-transport over almost the whole breadth of Asia, caused rhubarb in ancient times to be one of the very costly drugs. Thus at Alexandria in 1497, it was valued at twelve times the price of benzoin. In France in 1542,[1829] it was worth ten times as much as cinnamon, or more than four times the price of saffron. At Ulm in 1596,[1830] it was more costly than opium. A German price-list of the magistrate of Schweinfurt, of 1614, shows _Radix Rha Barbari_ to be six times as dear as fine myrrh, and more than twice the price of opium. An official English list[1831] giving the price of drugs in 1657, quotes opium as 6_s._ per lb., scammony 12_s._, and rhubarb 16_s._

=Production and Commerce=—The districts of the Chinese Empire which produce rhubarb extend over a vast area. They are comprised in the four northern provinces of China Proper, known as Chihli, Shansi, Shensi,[1832] and Honan; the immense north-western province of Kansuh, formerly partly included in Shensi, but now extending across the desert of Gobi and to the frontiers of Tibet; the province of Tsing-hai inhabited by Mongols, which includes the great salt lake of Koko-nor and the districts of Tangut, Sifan, and Turfan; and lastly the mountains of the western province of Szechuen. The plant is found on the pasturages of the high plateaux, growing particularly well on spots that have been enriched by encampments.

[1826] _Lectures on the Mat. Med._ i. (1770) 502.

[1827] _Roteiro da viagem de Vasco da Gama_, por A. Herculano e o Barão de Castello de Paiva, ed. 2. Lisboa, 1861. 115.—For an abstract of the “Roteiro,” see Flückiger, _Documente zur Geschichte der Pharm._ 1876. 13.

[1828] Parkinson, _Theatrum Botanicum_, 1640. 155.

[1829] Leber, _Appréciation de la fortune privée au moyen âge_, éd. 2. 1847. 308-9.

[1830] Reichard, _Beiträge zur Geschichte der Apotheken_, Ulm, 1825. 208.

[1831] _Book of the Values of Merchandize imported, according to which Excize is to be paid by the First Buyer_, Lond. 1657.

[1832] According to Consul Hughes of Hankow, San-yuan in Shensi (north of Sin-ganfu) is one of the principal marts for rhubarb.

What little we know regarding the production of rhubarb and its preparation for the market, from Catholic missionaries,[1833] is of a rather meagre and unsatisfactory character. The root is dug up at the beginning of autumn when the vegetation of the plant is on the decline, and the operation is probably continued for a few months, or in some districts for the whole winter. It is cleaned, its cortical part sliced off, and the root cut into pieces for drying. This is performed either by the aid of fire-heat, or by simple exposure to sun and air, or the pieces are first partially dried on a hot stone, and then strung on a cord and suspended until the desiccation is complete.

According to F. von Richthofen[1834] the best rhubarb is collected exclusively from plants growing wild in the high alps of western Szechuen, especially in the Bayankara range, between the sources of the Hoang-ho and the rivers Ya-lung-Kiang and Min-Kiang. This variety is chiefly known under the name Shensi rhubarb, although the inhabitants of the province of Szechuen pretend the superiority of the drug of their own country. The important places for the commodity are Sining-fu in the province of Kansu, and Kwan-hien in Szechuen. In the plain of Tshing-tu-fu, according to Richthofen, rhubarb is cultivated in fields, but its product is stated to be much inferior to that of the true plant which is said not to succeed under culture.

Rhubarb is now purchased for the European market chiefly at Hankow on the upper Yangtsze, whither it is brought from the provinces of Shensi, Kansu, and Szechuen. From Hankow it is sent down to Shanghai, and there shipped for Europe. The exports from Hankow are stated in official documents[1835] to have amounted to the following numbers of peculs (one pecul = 133⅓ lb. = 60·479 kilogrammes):

1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872
2985 3425 2866 3398 3370 3859 3167

In 1877 there were exported by way of Hankow 2096 peculs from Shensi and 3385 peculs from Szechuen.—From all the Chinese ports, 5124 peculs of rhubarb were shipped in 1874.

Much smaller quantities (554 peculs in 1872, 1055 peculs in 1874) are shipped from Tientsin; and there are occasional exportations from Canton, Amoy, Foochow, and Ningpo. The imports of rhubarb into the United Kingdom in 1870 amounted to 343,306 lb., the estimated value of which was £62,716.[1836]

We have no information about the rhubarb which is stated by Bellew[1837] to grow on the hills near Kayn or Ghayn in eastern Persia (about 32½° N. lat.).

[1833] Chauveau, Vicar Apostolic of Tibet (1870), and Biet, a French missionary, both quoted by Collin in his thesis _Des Rhubarbes_, Paris, 1871. 22. 24.

[1834] _Petermann’s Geograph. Mittheilungen_, viii. (1873) 302.

[1835] _Reports on Trade at the Treaty Ports of China for 1870_; _Commercial Reports_ from Her Majesty’s Consuls in China, 1872. No. 3. p. 57, and 1874 (1875) No. 5.

[1836] _Annual Statement of the Trade and Navigation of the United Kingdom for 1870._ 79.

[1837] _From the Indus to the Tigris_, London, 1874. 321.

=Description=—China Rhubarb as imported into Europe[1838] consists of portions of a massive root which display considerable diversity of form, arising from the various operations of paring, slicing and trimming, to which they have been subjected. Thus some pieces are cylindrical or rather barrel-shaped, others conical, while a large proportion are plano-convex, and others again are of no regular shape. These forms are not all found in the same package, the drug being usually sorted into _round_ and _flat rhubarb_. In dimensions we find 3 to 4 inches the commonest length, though an occasional piece 6 inches long or more may be met with. The width may be stated at 2 to 3 inches. The outer surface of the root is somewhat shrivelled, often exhibiting portions of a dark bark that have not been pared away. Many pieces are pierced with a hole, in which may be found the remains of a cord used to suspend the root while drying. The drug is dusted over with a bright brownish-yellow powder, on removal of which the outer side of the root is seen to have a rusty-brown hue, or viewed with a lens to be marked by the medullary rays, which appear as an infinity of short broken lines of deep brown, traversing a white ground.

The character which most readily distinguishes the rhubarb of China is that well-developed pieces, broken transversely, display these dark lines arranged as an internal ring of _star-like spots_. Although this character is by no means obvious in every piece of Chinese rhubarb, it is of some utility from the fact that in European rhubarb, such spots are generally wholly wanting, or at most occur only sparingly and in an isolated manner.

In judging of rhubarb, great stress is laid upon the appearance of the root when broken, and the circumstance of the fractured surface presenting no symptoms of decay, discoloration, or sponginess.[1839] In good rhubarb, the interior is found to be compact, and beautifully veined with reddish-brown and white, sometimes not unmixed with iron-grey. The root when chewed tastes gritty, by reason of the crystals it contains of oxalate of calcium; but it is besides bitter, astringent and nauseous. The odour is peculiar, and except by the druggist, is mostly regarded as very disagreeable.

_Microscopic Structure_—The tissue of rhubarb is made up of a white parenchyme, brown medullary rays and a few irregularly scattered very large fibro-vascular bundles, which are devoid of ligneous cells.

On a transverse fracture of specimens, which are not too much peeled, a narrow dark cambial zone may be distinguished. In that part of the root, only the medullary rays display the usual radial arrangement, and in the interior of the root no regular structure is met with. There is no well-marked pith, but the central portion of the tissue shows a mixture of white parenchyme and brown medullary rays running in every direction. In full-grown roots, the central part is separated from the cambial zone by the band of stellate patches[1840] already mentioned.

[1838] It is now often trimmed by wholesale druggists to simulate the old Russian rhubarb.

[1839] The quality and appearance of rhubarb are far more regarded in England than on the Continent. To ensure a fine powder of brilliant hue, the drug is most carefully prepared, each root being split open, and any dark or decayed portion removed with a chisel or file, while the operator is not allowed to handle the drug except with leather gloves.

[1840] Their formation has been investigated by Schmitz, Proceedings of the “_Naturforschende Gesellschaft zu Halle_”; the author also shows that the drug is chiefly afforded by the rhizome.—An abstract of the paper will be found in Just’s _Botanischer Jahresbericht_, 1874. 461.

As to the contents of the white cells, they are loaded either with starch or tufted crystals of oxalate of calcium, the amount of the latter being especially liable to variation. Scheele, after having discovered the oxalic acid, pointed out in 1784 that the crystals under notice consist of that acid in combination with lime; he was the first to point out the true composition of those crystals which are of so wide a distribution throughout the vegetable kingdom. The medullary rays contain the substances peculiar to rhubarb, but none of them occur in a crystalline state.

=Chemical Composition=—The active constituent of the root has long been supposed to reside in the yellowish-red contents of the medullary rays. Schrader as early as 1807 prepared a _Rhubarb-Bitter_, to which he attributed the medicinal powers of the drug. Since then several substances of the same kind have been separated by various methods, and described under different names: such are the _Rhabarberstoff_ of Trommsdorff, the _Rheumin_ of Hornemann, the _Rhabarberin_ of Buchner and Herberger, the _Rhubarb-Yellow_ or _Rheïn_, and the _Rhabarbaric Acid_ of Brandes.

Schlossberger and Döpping in 1844 first recognized among the above-named substances a definite chemical body named _Chrysophan_ or _Chrysophanic Acid_,

{CH₃ }
C₁₄H₅ { }O₂,
{(OH)₂}

which had been found in 1843 by Rochleder and Heldt in the yellow lichen, _Parmelia parietina_. It partly forms the yellow contents of the medullary rays of rhubarb, and when isolated crystallizes in golden yellow needles or in plates. It dissolves in ether, alcohol, or benzol; though scarcely soluble in water, it is nevertheless extracted from the root to some extent by that solvent, probably by reason of some accompanying substance. Alkalis dissolve it, forming fine dark red solutions. Chrysophan, C₁₅H₁₀O₄, is a derivative of anthracene, C₁₄H₁₀, and closely allied to alizarin, C₁₄H₈O₄.

By precipitating alcoholic solutions of extract of rhubarb with ether, Schlossberger and Döpping obtained, together with chrysophan, resinous bodies which they named _Aporetin_, _Phæoretin_ and _Erythroretin_.

De la Rue and Müller (1857) extracted from rhubarb, in addition to chrysophan, an allied substance, _Emodin_, which crystallizes in orange-coloured prisms, sometimes as much as two inches long. Its constitution was subsequently found to agree with the formula

{CH₃ }
C₁₄H₄ { }O₂.
{(OH)₃}

Kubly (1867) has obtained from rhubarb the following constituents:—

1. _Rheo-tannic Acid_, C₂₆H₂₆O₁₄, a yellowish powder abundantly present in rhubarb, soluble in water or alcohol, not in ether. Its solutions produce blackish-green precipitates with persalts of iron, and greyish ones slowly turning blue, with protosalts of the same.

2. _Rheumic Acid_ (_Rheumsäure_), C₂₀H₁₆O₉, obtained as a reddish-brown powder, by boiling rheo-tannic acid with a dilute mineral acid, a fermentable sugar being developed at the same time. Rheumic acid exhibits nearly the same reactions as rheo-tannic acid, but is very sparingly soluble in cold water. It partly pre-exists in rhubarb.

3. Neutral _colourless_ substance, sparingly soluble in hot water, and separating from the latter in prismatic _crystals_ of the formula C₁₀H₁₂O₄; no name has yet been given to it. A “white crystalline resin” (and a dark brown crystalline resin) has been isolated in 1878 by Dragendorff.

4. _Phæoretin_, C₁₆H₁₆O₇, agreeing with the substance thus named by Schlossberger and Döpping. It is a brown powder, soluble in alcohol or in acetic acid, but not in ether, chloroform or water.

5. _Chrysophan_, described above.

According to Dragendorff (1878) _mucilaginous matters_ occur in the different varieties of rhubarb to the amount of from 11 to 17 per cent. He states them to consist of mucilage (properly so called), arabic acid, metarabic acid and pararabin, and moreover enumerates also pectose among the constituents of the drug.

Small quantities of albuminoid substances, malic acid, fat and sugar have also been met with in rhubarb. As to its mineral constituents, their amount is exceedingly variable. Two samples of good China Rhubarb dried at 100° C. and incinerated, yielded us respectively 12·9 and 13·87 per cent. of ash. Another sample, which we had particularly selected on account of its pale tint, afforded no less than 43·27 per cent. of ash. The ash consists of carbonates of calcium and potassium. English rhubarb from Banbury (portions of a large specimen) left after incineration 10·90 per cent. of ash.

From a practical point of view the chemical history of rhubarb is far from satisfactory, for we are still ignorant to what principle the drug owes its therapeutic value, or what are the pharmaceutical preparations in which the active matter may be most appropriately exhibited. Chrysophan is said to act as a purgative, but less powerfully than rhubarb itself.

=Uses=—Rhubarb is one of the commonest and most valuable purgatives; it is also taken as a stomachic and tonic.

=Substitutes=—These are found in the roots of the various species of _Rheum_ cultivated in Europe. In most countries, the cultivation of rhubarb for medicinal use has at some time been attempted. Yet in but few instances has it been persistently carried on; and though the drug produced has often been of good appearance, it has failed to gain the confidence of medical men, and to acquire much importance in the drug-market. The European rhubarb most interesting from our point of view is

_English Rhubarb_—So early as 1535, Andrew Boorde, an English Carthusian monk and practitioner of medicine, obtained seeds of rhubarb, which he sent as “_a grett tresure_” to Sir Thomas Cromwell, Secretary of State to Henry VIII.; but as he says they “_come owtt of barbary_” we must be allowed to hold their genuineness as doubtful.[1841]

In the following century, namely about the year 1608, Prosper Alpinus of Padua cultivated as the True Rhubarb a plant which is now known as _Rheum Rhaponticum_ L., a native of Southern Siberia and the regions of the Volga.[1842] From this stock, Sir Matthew Lister, physician to Charles I., procured seeds when in Italy, and gave them to Parkinson,[1843] who raised plants from them.

[1841] Boorde’s _Introduction and Dyetary_, reprinted by the Early English Text Society, 1870. 56.

[1842] Prosper Alpinus, _De Rhapontico_, Lugd. Bat. 1718.

[1843] _Theatrum Botanicum_, 1640. 157.

Collinson obtained rhubarb plants from seeds procured in Tartary, and sent to him in 1742 by Professor Siegesbeck of St. Petersburg.[1844]

About 1777 Hayward, an apothecary of Banbury in Oxfordshire, commenced the cultivation of rhubarb with plants of _Rh. Rhaponticum_, raised from seeds sent from Russia in 1762. The drug he produced was so good that the Society of Arts awarded him in 1789 a silver medal, and in 1794 a gold medal.[1845] The Society also awarded medals about the same time (1789-1793) to growers of rhubarb in Somersetshire, Yorkshire, and Middlesex, some of whom, it appears, cultivated _Rh. palmatum_. On the death of Hayward in 1811, his rhubarb plants came into the possession of Mr. P. Usher, by whose descendants, Mr. R. Usher and sons, they are still cultivated at Bodicott, a village near Banbury.

The authors of this book had the pleasure of inspecting the rhubarb fields of Messrs. Usher on Sept. 4, 1872, and of seeing the whole process of preparing the root for the market.[1846] The land under cultivation is about 17 acres, the soil being a rich friable loam. The roots are taken from the ground during the autumn up to the month of November. It is considered advantageous that they should be 6 or 7 years old, but they are seldom allowed to attain more than 3 or 4 years. The clumps of root as removed from the field to the yard, where the trimming takes place, are of huge size, weighing with the earth attached to them as much as 60 or 70 lb. They are partially cleaned, the smaller roots are cut off, and the large central portion is rapidly trimmed into a short, cylindrical mass the size of a child’s head. This latter subsequently undergoes a still further paring, and is finally sliced longitudinally; the other and less valuable roots are also pared, trimmed, and assorted according to size. The fresh roots are fleshy, easily cut, and of a beautiful deep yellow. All are dried in buildings constructed for the purpose, and heated by flues. The drying occupies several weeks. The root after drying has a shrivelled, unsightly appearance, which may be remedied by paring and filing. The finished drug has to be stored in a warm dry place.

When well prepared, Banbury rhubarb is of excellent appearance. The finest pieces, which are semi-cylindrical, are quite equal in size to the drug of China. The colour is as good, and the fractured surface exhibits pink markings not less distinct and brilliant. Even the smaller roots, which are dried as sticks, have internally a good colour, and afford a fine powder. But the odour is somewhat different from that of Chinese rhubarb; the taste is less bitter but more mucilaginous and astringent, and the root is of a more spongy, soft, and brittle texture. The structure is the same as that of the Chinese rhubarb, except that, as already stated, the star-like spots, if present, are isolated, and not arranged in a regular zone.

The drug commands but a low price, and is chiefly sold, it is said, for exportation in the state of powder. It is not easily purchased in London.

[1844] Dillwyn, _Hortus Collinsonianus_, 1843. 45.

[1845] _Trans. of Soc. of Arts_, viii. (1790) 75; xii. (1794) 225.

[1846] No use is made of the leaves.—Some further particulars are given by Holmes, _Pharm. Journal_, vii. (1877) 1017.

_French and German Rhubarb_—The cultivation of rhubarb was commenced in France in the latter half of the last century, and has been pursued with some enthusiasm in various localities. The species grown were _Rheum palmatum_ L., _Rh. undulatum_ L., _Rh. compactum_ L., and _Rh. Rhaponticum_ L. The first was thought by Guibourt[1847] to afford a root more nearly approaching than any other the rhubarb of China; but it is that which is cultivated the least readily, the central root being liable to premature decay. Both this plant and _Rh. undulatum_ were formerly cultivated by order of the Russian Government on a large scale at Kolywan and Krasnojarsk in Southern Siberia, but the culture has, we believe, been long abandoned.[1848]

As to France, it appears from inquiries we have lately made (1873), that except in the neighbourhood of Avignon and in a few other scattered localities, the cultivation has now ceased.

_Rheum Rhaponticum_ is the source of the rhubarb which is produced at Austerlitz and Auspitz in Moravia, and at Ilmitz, Kremnitz and Frauenkirchen in Hungary. Some rhubarb is also produced in Silesia from _Rh. Emodi_ Wall. (_Rh. australe_ Don.).

MYRISTICEÆ.

MYRISTICA.

_Nuclei Myristicæ_, _Semen Myristicæ_, _Nux moschata_; _Nutmeg_; F. _Muscade_, _Noix de Muscade_; G. _Muskatnuss_.

=Botanical Origin=—_Myristica fragrans_ Houttuyn (_M. moschata_ Thunb., _M. officinalis_ Linn. f.), a handsome, bushy, evergreen tree,[1849] with dark shining leaves, growing in its native islands to a height of 40 to 50 feet. It is found wild in the very small volcanic group of Banda, from Damma to Amboina, in Ceram, Bouro, Jilolo (Halmahera), the western peninsula of New Guinea, and in many of the adjacent islands, but it is not indigenous to any of the islands westward of these, or to the Philippines (Crawfurd).

The nutmeg tree has been introduced into Bencoolen on the west coast of Sumatra, Malacca, Bengal, the islands of Singapore and Penang, as well as Brazil and the West Indies; but it is only in a very few localities that the cultivation has been attended with success.

In its native countries the tree comes into bearing in its ninth year, and is said to continue fruitful until 60 or even 80 years old, yielding annually as many as 2000 fruits. It is diœcious, and one male tree furnishes pollen sufficient for twenty female.

=History=—It has been generally believed that neither the nutmeg nor mace was known to the ancients. C. F. Ph. von Martius[1850] however maintains that mace was alluded to in the comedies of Plautus,[1851] written about two centuries before the Christian era.

[1847] _Histoire des Drogues_, ii. (1849) 398.

[1848] Twelve chests of this rhubarb, said to be of the crop of 1793, which had been lying in the Russian Government warehouses, were offered for sale in London, Dec. 1, 1853. Samples of the drug now 80 years old are in our possession, and still sound and good.

[1849] Most beautifully figured by Blume, “Rumphia” i. (1835) tab. 55; _Myristica fatua_, ii. 59.

[1850] _Flora Brasiliensis_, fasc. 11-12. 133; also in Buchner’s _Repertorium für Pharmacie_, ix. (1860) 529-538.

[1851] _Pseudolus_, act. iii. scena 2.

The words _Macer_, _Macar_, _Machir_ or _Macir_, occurring in the writings of Scribonius Largus, Dioscorides, Galen, and Pliny are thought by Martius to refer in each instance to mace. But that the substance designated by these names was not mace, but the bark of a tree growing in Malabar, was pointed out by Acosta nearly three centuries ago, and by many subsequent writers, and, as we think, with perfect correctness.[1852]

Nutmegs and mace were imported from India at an early date by the Arabians, and thus passed into western countries. Aëtius, who was resident at the court of Constantinople about the year 540, appears to have been acquainted with the nutmeg, if that at least is intended by the term _Nuces Indicæ_, prescribed together with cloves, spikenard, costus, calamus aromaticus and snadal-wood, as an ingredient of the _Suffumigium moschatum_.[1853]

Masudi,[1854] who appears to have visited India in A.D. 916-920, pointed out that the nutmeg, like cloves, areca nut and snadal-wood, was a product of the eastern islands of the Indian Archipelago. The Arabian geographer Edrisi, who wrote in the middle of the 12th century, mentions both nutmegs and mace as articles of import into Aden;[1855] and again “_Nois mouscades_” are among the spices on which duty was levied at Acre in Palestine, _circa_ A.D. 1180.[1856] About a century later, another Arabian author, Kazwini,[1857] expressly named the Moluccas as the native country of the spices under notice.

The Sanskrit name of the nutmeg tree most commonly in use, also with Susruta, is Jātī (Dr. Rice).

One of the earliest references to the use of nutmegs in Europe occurs in a poem written about 1195, by Petrus D’Ebulo,[1858] describing the entry into Rome of the Emperor Henry VI., prior to his coronation in April 1191. On this occasion the streets were fumigated with aromatics, which are enumerated in the following line:—

“Balsama, thus, aloë, _myristica_, cynnama, nardus.”

By the end of the 12th century, both nutmegs and mace were found in Northern Europe,—even in Denmark, as may be inferred from the allusion to them in the writings of Harpestreng.[1859] In England, mace, though well known, was a very costly spice, its value between A.D. 1284 and 1377 being about 4_s._ 7_d._ per lb., while the average price of a sheep during the same period was but 1_s._ 5_d._, and of a cow 9_s._ 5_d._[1860] It was also dear in France, for in the _Compte de l’exécution_ of the will of Jeanne d’Evreux, queen of France, in 1372, six ounces of mace are appraised per ounce at 3 sols 8 deniers, equal to about 8_s._ 3_d._ of our present money.[1861]

[1852] Mérat et De Lens, _Dict. de Mat. Méd._ iv. (1832) 173.—The tree is, we think, _Ailantus malabarica_ DC., order of the Simarubeæ.

[1853] Aëtius, tetrabiblos iv. serm. 4. c. 122.—It must however be admitted that _Nux Indica_ in mediæval authors usually signifies the Coco-nut, but also sometimes _Nux vomica_ or even _Areca nut_. For particulars see Flückiger, _Documente zur Geschichte der Pharm._ 1876. 18.

[1854] _Les prairies d’or_, i. (1861) 341.

[1855] _Géographie_, i. (1836) 51.

[1856] In the work quoted at p. 282, note 3.

[1857] _Kosmographie_, übersetzt von Ethé, i. (1869) 227.

[1858] _Carmen de motibus siculis_, Basil., 1746. 23.—A new edition of this work, by Prof. Winkelmann, was published in 1874.

[1859] _Danske Laegebog_, quoted by Meyer, _Geschichte der Botanik_, iii. (1856) 537.

[1860] Rogers, _Hist. of Agriculture and Prices in England_, i. (1866) 361-362. 628.—It is remarkable that _nutmegs_ are not mentioned, though _mace_ is named repeatedly.

[1861] Leber, _Appréciation de la fortune privée au moyen âge_, éd. 2, 1847. 95.

The use of these spices was diffused throughout Europe long before the Portuguese in 1512 had discovered the mother plant in the isles of Banda. The Portuguese held the trade of the Spice Islands for about a century, when it was wrested from them by the Dutch, who pursued the same policy of exclusiveness that they had followed in the case of cloves and cinnamon. In order to secure their monopoly, they endeavoured to limit the trees to Banda and Amboyna, and to exterminate them elsewhere, which in fact they did at Ceram and the small neighbouring islands of Kelang and Nila. So completely was the spice trade in their hands, that the crops of sixteen years were said to be at one time in their warehouses, those of recent years being never thrown on the market. Thus the crop of 1744 was being sold in 1760, in which year an immense quantity of nutmegs and cloves was burned at Amsterdam lest the price should fall too low.[1862]

During the occupation of the Spice Islands by the English from 1796 to 1802, the culture of the nutmeg was introduced into Bencoolen and Penang,[1863] and many years afterwards into Singapore. Extensive plantations of nutmeg-trees were formed in the two islands last named, and by a laborious and costly system of cultivation were for many years highly productive.[1864] In 1860 the trees were visited by a destructive blight, which the cultivators were powerless to arrest, and which ultimately led to the ruin of the plantations, so that in 1867 there was no such thing as nutmeg cultivation either in Penang or Singapore.[1865]

Though so long valued in Europe and Asia, neither nutmegs nor mace seem to have been employed in former times as a condiment in the islands where they are indigenous.[1866]

=Collection and Preparation=—Almost the whole surface of the Banda Isles, observes Mr. Wallace,[1867] is planted with nutmeg-trees, which thrive under the shade of the lofty _Canarium commune_. The light volcanic soil, the shade, and the excessive moisture of these islands, where it rains more or less every month in the year, seem exactly to suit the nutmeg tree, which requires no manure and scarcely any attention.

In Bencoolen[1868] the trees bear all the year round, but the chief harvest takes place in the later months of the year, and a smaller one in April, May and June. The fruit as it splits is gathered by means of a hook attached to a long stick, the pericarp removed, and the mace carefully stripped off. The nuts are then taken to the drying house (a brick building), placed on frames, and exposed to the gentle heat of a smouldering fire, with arrangements for a proper circulation of air. This drying operation lasts for two months, during which time the nutmegs are turned every second or third day. At the end of this period, the kernels are found to rattle in the shell, an indication that the drying is complete. The shells are then broken with a wooden mallet, the nutmegs picked out and sorted, and finally rubbed over with dry sifted lime. In Banda the smaller and less sightly nutmegs are reserved for the preparation of the expressed oil.

[1862] Valmont de Bomare, _Dict. d’Histoire Nat._ iv. (1775) 297.—This author writes as an eye-witness of the destruction he has recorded:—“Le 10 Juin 1760, j’en ai vu à Amsterdam, près de l’Amirauté, un feu dont l’aliment étoit estimé huit millions argent de France: on devoit en brûler autant le lendemain. Les pieds des spectateurs baignoient dans l’huile essentielle de ces substances....”

[1863] How tempting the cultivation must have appeared, may be judged from the price of mace, which we find quoted on the 3rd January 1806, in the _London Price Current_ (which gives only _import prices_), as 85_s._ to 90_s._ per lb.;—to these rates must be added the duty of 7_s._ 1_d._ per lb.

[1864] Seemann, _Hooker’s Journ. of Bot._ iv. (1852) 83.

[1865] Collingwood in _Journ. of Linnean Society_, Bot., x. (1869) 45.

[1866] Crawfurd, _Dictionary of the Indian Islands_, 1856. 304.—Much additional information will be found in this work.

[1867] _The Malay Archipelago_, i. (1869) 452.—See also Bickmore, _Travels in the East Indian Archipelago_, 1868. 225.

[1868] Lumsdaine, _Pharm. Journ._ xi. (1852) 516. For further information on the management of nutmeg plantations in Sumatra, consult the original paper.

The old commercial policy of the Dutch originated the singular practice of breaking the shell, and immersing the kernel of the artificially dried seed in milk of lime,—sometimes for a period of three months. This was done with a view to render impossible the germination of any nutmegs sent into the market. The folly of such a procedure was demonstrated by Teijsmann, who proved that mere exposure to the sun for a week is sufficient to destroy the vitality of the seed. By immersion in milk of lime many nutmegs are spoiled and the necessity is incurred of a second drying. Lumsdaine has also shown that even the _dry_ liming process is, to say the least, entirely needless. Nutmegs are well preserved in their natural shell, in which state the Chinese have the good sense to prefer them.

The process of liming nutmegs is however still largely followed; and the prejudice in favour of the spice thus prepared is so strong in certain countries, that nutmegs not limed abroad have sometimes to be limed in London to fit them for exportation. Penang nutmegs are always imported in the natural state,—that is, _un-limed_.

=Description=—The fruit of _Myristica fragrans_ is a pendulous, globose drupe, about 2 inches in diameter, and not unlike a small round pear. It is marked by a furrow which passes round it, and by which at maturity its thick fleshy pericarp splits into two pieces, exhibiting in its interior a single seed, enveloped in a fleshy foliaceous mantle or arillus, of fine crimson hue, which is _mace_. The dark brown, shining, ovate seed is marked with impressions corresponding to the lobes of the arillus; and on one side, which is of paler hue and slightly flattened, a line indicating the raphe may be observed.

The bony testa does not find its way into European commerce, the so-called _nutmeg_ being merely the kernel or nucleus of the seed. Nutmegs exhibit nearly the form of their outer shell with a corresponding diminution in size. The London dealers esteem them in proportion to their size, the largest, which are about one inch long by ⁸/₁₀ of an inch broad, and four of which will weigh an ounce, fetching the highest price. If not dressed with lime, they are of a greyish brown, smooth yet coarsely furrowed and veined longitudinally, marked on the flatter side with a shallow groove. A transverse section shows that the inner seed-coat (_endopleura_) penetrates into the albumen in long narrow brown strips, reaching the centre of the seed, thereby imparting the peculiar marbled appearance familiar in a cut nutmeg.

At the base of the albumen and close to the hilum, is the embryo, formed of a short radicle with cup-shaped cotyledons, whose slit and curled edges penetrate into the albumen. The tissue of the seed can be cut with equal facility in any direction. It is extremely oily, and has a delicious aromatic fragrance, with a spicy rather acrid taste.

=Microscopic Structure=—The testa consists mainly of long, thin, radially arranged, rigid cells, which are closely interlaced and do not exhibit any distinct cavities. The endopleura which forms the adhering coat of the kernel and penetrates into it, consists of soft-walled, red-brown tissue, with small scattered bundles of vessels. In the outer layers the endopleura exhibits small collapsed cells; but the tissue which fills the folds that dip into the interior consists of much larger cells. The tissue of the albumen is formed of soft-walled parenchyme, which is densely filled with conspicuous starch-grains, and with fat, partly crystallized. Among the prismatic crystals of fat, large thick rhombic or six-sided tables may often be observed. With these are associated grains of albuminoid matter, partly crystallized.

=Chemical Composition=—After starch and albuminoid matter, the principal constituent of nutmeg is the _fat_, which makes up about a fourth of its weight, and is known in commerce by the incorrect name of _Oil of Mace_ (see p. 507).

The volatile oil, to which the smell and taste of nutmegs are chiefly due, amounts to between 3 and 8 per cent.,[1869] and consists, according to Cloëz (1864), almost entirely of a hydrocarbon, C₁₀H₁₆, boiling at 165° C., which Gladstone (1872), who assigns it the same composition, calls _Myristicene_. The latter chemist found in the crude oil an oxygenated oil, _Myristicol_, of very difficult purification and possibly subject to change during the process of rectifying. It has a high boiling point (about 220° C.?) and the characteristic odour of nutmeg; unlike carvol with which it is isomeric, it does not form a crystalline compound with hydrosulphuric acid.

Oil of nutmegs, distilled in London by Messrs. Herrings and Co., examined in column 200 mm. long, we found to deviate the ray of polarized light, 15°·3 to the right; that of the Long Nutmeg (_Myristica fatua_ Houtt.), furnished to us by the same firm, deviated 28°·7 to the right.

From the facts recorded by Gmelin,[1870] it would appear that oil of nutmeg sometimes deposits a stearoptene called _Myristicin_. We are not acquainted with such a deposit; yet we have been kindly furnished by Messrs. Herrings with a crystalline substance which they obtained during the latter part of the process of distilling both common and long nutmegs. It is a greyish greasy mass, which by repeated crystallizations from spirit of wine, we obtained in the form of brilliant, colourless scales, fusible at 54° C., and still possessing the odour of nutmeg. The crystals are readily soluble in benzol, bisulphide of carbon or chloroform, sparingly in petroleum ether; their solution in spirit of wine has a decidedly acid reaction, and is devoid of rotatory power. By boiling them with alcohol, sp. gr. 0·843, and anhydrous carbonate of sodium, we obtained a solution which, after removal of the alcohol, left a residuum perfectly soluble in boiling water, forming a jelly on cooling. By adding hydrochloric acid to the warm aqueous solution, the original crystallizable substance again made its appearance, yet almost devoid of odour. It is in fact nothing else than _Myristic Acid_ (see page 508).[1871]

[1869] Messrs. Herrings & Co. of London have informed us, that 2874 lb. of nutmegs distilled in their laboratory afforded 67 lb. of essential oil, _i.e._ 2·33 per cent. But Messrs. Schimmel & Co., Leipzig, state (1878) that they obtain as much as from 6 to 8 per cent.

[1870] _Chemistry_, xiv. (1860) 389.

[1871] _Yearbook of Pharmacy_, 1874, 490.

=Production and Commerce=—The nutmegs and mace now brought into the market are to a large extent the produce of the Banda Islands,[1872] of which however only three, namely Lontar or the Great Banda, Pulo Ai, and Pulo Nera, have what are termed _Nutmeg Parks_. According to official statements of the Dutch, the first-named island possessed in 1864 about 266,000 fruit-bearing trees; Ternate on the western coast of Jilolo, 46,000; Menado in the island of Celebes, 35,000; and Amboyna, only 31,000. The nutmegs of the Banda Islands are shipped to Batavia. The quantity exported from Java in 1871 (all, we believe, from Batavia, and therefore the produce of the Banda Islands) is stated as 8107 peculs (1,080,933 lb.), of which 2300 peculs (306,666 lb.) were shipped to the United States, and a rather large quantity to Singapore.[1873] The last named port also shipped in the same year a very large quantity (310,576 lb.) of nutmegs to North America,[1874] and in 1877 the total export of nutmegs and mace from Singapore was 5323 peculs (709,733 lb.).

[1872] Some idea of the extremely small area of these famous islands may be gathered from the fact that the Great Banda, the largest of them, is but about 7 miles long by 2 miles broad; while the entire group occupies no more than 17·6 geographical square miles.

[1873] _Consular Reports_, Aug. 1873. 952-3. In 1875, 8990 peculs were exported from Java.

[1874] _Blue Books for the Colony of the Straits Settlements for 1871_, Singapore, 1872.

Nutmegs were exported from Padang in Sumatra in the year 1871, to the extent of 2766 peculs (368,800 lb.), chiefly to America and Singapore. The quantity annually imported into the United Kingdom ranges from 500,000 to 800,000 lb.

=Uses=—Nutmeg is a grateful aromatic stimulant, chiefly employed for flavouring other medicines. It is also in constant use as a condiment, though less appreciated than formerly.

Oleum Myristicæ expressum.

_Oleum Macidis_, _Balsamum vel Oleum Nucistæ_; _Expressed Oil of Nutmegs_, _Nutmeg Butter_, _Oil of Mace_; F. _Beurre de Muscade_; G. _Muskatbutter_, _Muskatnussöl_.

This article reaches England chiefly from Singapore, in oblong, rectangular blocks, about 10 inches long by 2½ inches square, enveloped in a wrapper of palm leaves. It is a solid unctuous substance of an orange-brown colour, varying in intensity of shade, and presenting a mottled aspect. It has a very agreeable odour and a fatty aromatic taste.

In operating on 2 lb. of nutmegs, first powdered and heated in a water-bath and pressed while still hot, we obtained 9 ounces of solid oil, equivalent to 28 per cent. This oil, which in colour, odour and consistence does not differ from that which is imported, melts at about 45° C.; and dissolves perfectly in two parts of warm ether or in four of warm alcohol sp. gr. ·800.

Nutmeg butter contains the volatile oil already described, to the extent of about six per cent., besides several fatty bodies. One of the latter, termed _Myristin_ C₃H₅(O·C₁₄H₂₇O)₃, may be obtained by means of benzol, or by dissolving in ether that part of the butter of nutmeg which is insoluble in cold spirit of wine. The crystals of myristin melt at 31° C. By saponification they furnish glycerin, and _Myristic Acid_, C₁₄H₂₈O₂, the latter fusing at 53°·8 C. Playfair in 1841 was the first to isolate (in Liebig’s laboratory at Giessen) myristic acid. Myristin also occurs in spermaceti, coco-nuts, as well as, according to Mulder, in small quantity, in the fixed oils of linseed and poppy seed. Nutmegs according to Comar (1859) yield 10 to 12 per cent. of myristin.

That part of nutmeg butter, which is more readily soluble in spirit of wine or benzol, contains another fat, which however has not yet been investigated. It is accompanied by a reddish colouring matter.

MACIS.

_Mace_; F. _Macis_; G. _Macis_, _Muskatblüthe_.

=Botanical Origin=—_Myristica fragrans_ Houttuyn (see p. 502). The seed which, deprived of its hard outer shell or testa, is known as the _nutmeg_, is enclosed when fresh in a fleshy net-like envelope, somewhat resembling the husk of a filbert. This organ, which is united, though not very closely, at the base of the stony shell both with the hilum and the contiguous portion of the raphe, of which parts it is an expansion, is termed _arillus_,[1875] and when separated and dried constitutes the mace of the shops. In the fresh state it is fleshy, and of a beautiful crimson; it envelopes the seed completely only at the base, afterwards dividing itself into broad flat lobes; which branch into narrower strips overlapping one another towards the summit.

[1875] On the nature and origin of this organ, see Baillon, _Histoire des Plantes_, ii. (1870) 499; also _Dictionnaire de Botanique_.

=History=—Included in that of the nutmeg (see preceding article).

=Description=—The mace, separated from the seed by hand, is dried in the sun, thereby losing its brilliant red hue and acquiring an orange-brown colour. It has a dull fatty lustre, exudes oil when pressed with the nail, and is horny, brittle, and translucent. Steeped in water it swells rather considerably. The entire arillus, compressed and crumpled by packing, is about 1¾ inches long with a general thickness of about ¹/₂₀ of an inch or even at ⅒ the base. Mace has an agreeable aromatic smell nearly resembling that of nutmeg, and a pungent, spicy, rather acrid taste.

=Microscopic Structure=—The uniform, small-celled, angular parenchyme is interrupted by numerous brown oil-cells of larger size. The inner part of the tissue contains also thin brown vascular bundles. The cells of the epidermis on either side are colourless, thick-walled, longitudinally extended, and covered with a peculiar cuticle of broad, flat, riband-like cells, which cannot however be removed as a continuous film. The parenchyme is loaded with small granules, to which a red colour is imparted by Millon’s test (solution of mercurous nitrate) and an orange hue by iodine. The granules consequently consist of albuminous matter, and starch is altogether wanting.

=Chemical Composition=—The nature of the chemical constituents of mace may be inferred from the following experiments performed by one of us:—17 grammes of finely powdered mace were entirely exhausted by boiling ether, and the latter allowed to evaporate. It left behind 5·57 grm., which after drying at 100° C. were diminished to 4·17. The difference, 1·40 grammes, answers to the amount of _essential oil_, of which consequently 8·2 per cent. had been present.

The residue, amounting to 24·5 per cent., was a thickish aromatic _balsam_, in which we have not been able to ascertain the presence of _fat_; it consisted of resin and semi-resinified essential oil. Alcohol further removed 1·4 per cent. of an uncrystallizable sugar, which reduced cupric oxide.

The drug having been thus treated with ether and with alcohol, yielded almost nothing to cold water, but by means of boiling water 1·8 per cent. of a mucilage was obtained, which turned blue by addition of iodine, or reddish violet if previously dried. This substance is not soluble in an ammoniacal solution of cupric oxide; it appears rather to be an intermediate body between mucilage and starch.[1876] The composition of mace is therefore very different from that of nutmeg.

As to the _volatile oil_, of which several observers have obtained from 7 to 9 per cent.,[1877] it is a fragrant colourless liquid which we found, when examined in a column 200 mm. long, deviated the ray 18°·8 to the right. Its greater portion consists according to Schacht (1862) of _Macene_, C₁₀H₁₆, boiling at 160° C., and distinguished from oil of turpentine by not forming a crystalline hydrate when mixed with alcohol and nitric acid. Koller (1865) states that macene is identical with the hydrocarbon of oil of nutmeg (myristicene), yet the latter is said by Cloëz to yield no solid compound when treated with hydrochloric gas. Macene on the other hand furnishes crystals of C₁₀H₁₆·HCl. Crude oil of mace contains, like that of nutmeg, an oxygenated oil, the properties of which have not yet been investigated.

=Commerce=—Mace, mostly the produce as it would appear of the Banda Islands, was shipped from Java in 1871 to the extent of 2101 peculs (282,133 lb.); and from Padang in Sumatra (excluding shipments to Java) to the amount of 457 peculs (60,933 lb.).[1878] The spice is exported principally to Holland, Singapore, and the United States; Great Britain receives about 60,000 to 80,000 lb. annually.

=Uses=—Mace is but rarely employed in medicine. It is chiefly consumed as a condiment.

[1876] See my paper: _Ueber Stärke und Cellulose in Archiv der Pharm._ 196 (1871) 31.—F. A. F.

[1877] In an actual experiment (1868) in the laboratory of Messrs. Herrings & Co., London, 23 lb. of mace yielded 23 oz. of volatile oil, which is equivalent to 6¼ per cent.; but Messrs. Schimmel & Co., Leipzig, obligingly inform us (1878) that they observed a percentage of from 11 to 17.

[1878] _Consular Reports_, August 1873. 952-3.

LAURACEÆ.

CAMPHORA.

_Camphor_,[1879] _Common Camphor_, _Laurel Camphor_; F. _Camphre_; G. _Campher_.

=Botanical Origin=—_Cinnamomum Camphora_ Fr. Nees et Ebermaier (_Laurus Camphora_ L., _Camphora officinarum_ C. Bauh.), the Camphor tree or Camphor Laurel is widely diffused, being found throughout Central China and in the Japanese Islands. In China it abounds principally in the eastern and central provinces, as in Chekiang, Fokien and Kiangsi; but it is wanting, according to Garnier (1868), in Yünnan and Szechuen. It is plentiful, on the other hand, in the island of Formosa, where it covers the whole line of mountains from north to south, up to an elevation of 2000 feet above the level of the sea. It flourishes in tropical and subtropical countries, and forms a large and handsome tree in sheltered spots in Italy as far north as the Lago Maggiore. The leaves are small, shining, and glaucous beneath, and have long petioles; the stem affords excellent timber, much prized on account of its odour for making clothes’ chests and drawers of cabinets.

_Dryobalanops aromatica_, the camphor tree of Borneo and Sumatra, yields a peculiar camphor, which we shall describe further on.

=History=—The two kinds of Camphor afforded by the two trees just named have always been regarded by the Chinese as perfectly distinct substances, and in considering the history of camphor this fact must be borne in mind.

On perusing the accounts of Laurel Camphor given by Chinese writers,[1880] the remarkable fact becomes apparent, that although the tree was evidently well known in the 6th century, and probably even earlier, and is specially noticed on account of its valuable timber, no mention is made in connexion with it of any such substance as _camphor_.

Le-she-chin, the author of the celebrated herbal _Pun-tsao-kang-muh_, written in the middle of the 16th century, was well acquainted with the two sorts of camphor,—the one produced by the camphor laurel of his own country, the other imported from the Malay islands; and he narrates how the former was prepared by boiling the wood, and refined by repeated dry sublimations.

Marco Polo, towards the end of the 13th century, saw the forests of Fokien in South-eastern China, in which, says he, are many of the trees which give camphor.[1881] It would thus appear that Laurel Camphor was known as early as the time of Marco Polo, yet it is certain that the more ancient notices which we shall now quote have reference to the much valued Malay Camphor, which remains up to the present day one of the most precious substances of its class.

[1879] The word _Camphor_, generally written by old Latin authors _Caphura_, and by English _Camphire_, is derived from the Arabic _Káfúr_, which in turn is supposed to come from the Sanskrit _Karpūra_, signifying _white_.

[1880] Passages from several have been translated and kindly placed at our disposal by Mr. A. Wylie. Dr. Bretschneider of Pekin and Mr. Pauthier of Paris (see p. 494, note 7,) have also been good enough to aid us in the same manner.

[1881] Yule, _Book of Ser Marco Polo_, ii. (1871) 185.

There is no evidence that camphor reached Europe during the classical period of Greece and Rome. The first mention of it known to us occurs in one of the most ancient monuments of the Arabic language, the poems of Imru-l-Kais,[1882] a prince of the Kindah dynasty, who lived in Hadramaut in the beginning of the 6th century. Nearly at the same period, Aëtius of Amida (the modern Diarbekir) used camphor medicinally, but from the manner in which he speaks of it, it was evidently a substance of some rarity.[1883]

In fact, for many centuries subsequent to this period, camphor was regarded as one of the most rare and precious of perfumes. Thus, it is mentioned in A.D. 636, with musk, ambergris, and snadal-wood, among the treasures of Chosroes II., of the Sassanian dynasty of kings of Persia, in the palace at Madain on the Tigris, north of Babylon.[1884]

Among the immense mass of valuables dispersed at Cairo on the downfall of the Fatimite Khalif Mostanser in the 11th century, the Arabian historians[1885] enumerate with astonishment, besides vast quantities of musk, aloes wood, snadal-wood, amber, large stores of _Camphor of Kaisur_, and hundreds of figures of _melons in camphor_, adorned with gold and jewels, which were contained in precious vessels of gold and porcelain. One grain (crystal?) of camphor is mentioned as weighing 5 mithkals, one melon of the weight of 70 mithkals, was contained in a golden box weighing no less than 3,000 mithkals (1 mithkal = 71·49 gr. Troy = 4·63 grammes). It is also on record that about A.D. 642, Indian princes sent camphor as tribute or a gift to the Chinese Emperors;[1886]—further, that in the Teenpaou period (A.D. 742-755), the Cochinchinese brought to the Chinese court a tribute of Barus camphor, said by the envoy to be found in the trunks of old trees, the like of which for fragrance was never seen again.[1887] Masudi,[1888] four centuries later, mentions a similar present from an Indian to a Chinese potentate, when 1,000 _menn_[1889] of aloes-wood were accompanied by 10 _menn_ of camphor, the choice quality of the latter being indicated by the remark that it was in pieces as large or larger than a pistachio-nut.

Again, between A.D. 1342 and 1352, an embassy left Pekin bearing a letter from the Great Khan to Pope Benedict XII., accompanied by presents of silk, precious stones, _camphor_, musk, and spices.[1890]

Ibn Batuta, the celebrated traveller, relates that after having visited the King of Sumatra, he was presented on leaving (a.d. 1347) with aloes-wood, _camphor_, cloves, and sandal-wood, besides provisions.

[1882] In the description of Arabia by Ibn Hagik el Hamdany, fol. 170 of the MS. at Aden (Prof. Sprenger).

[1883] He directs two ounces of camphor to be added to a certain preparation, provided camphor is sufficiently abundant.—Tetr. iv. sermo 4. c. 114