part 26

(1877).

[1985] Halliday, _On the Bebeeru tree of British Guiana, and Sulphate of Bebeerine, the former a substitute for Cinchona, the latter for Sulphate of Quinine_.—_Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journ._ vol. xl. 1835.

[1986] _Hooker’s Journ. of Bot._ 1844. 624.

The very small lumen of the thick-walled cells contains a dark brown mass which is coloured greenish-black by sulphate of iron; the same coloration takes place throughout the less dense tissue surrounding the groups of stone-cells, and may in each case be due to tannic matter.

=Chemical Composition=—Greenheart bark contains an alkaloid which has long been regarded as peculiar, under the name of _Bibirine_ or _Bebirine_. It was however shown by Walz in 1860 to be apparently identical with _Buxine_, a substance discovered as early as 1830 in the bark and leaves of the Common Box, _Buxus sempervirens_ L. In 1869 the observation of Walz was to some extent confirmed by one of us,[1987] who further demonstrated that _Pelosine_, an alkaloid occurring in the stems and roots of _Cissampelos Pareira_ L. and _Chondodendron tomentosum_ Ruiz et Pavon (p. 28), is undistinguishable from the alkaloids of greenheart and box.

The alkaloid of bibiru bark, which may be conveniently prepared from the crude sulphate used in medicine under the name of _Sulphate of Bibirine_, is a colourless amorphous substance, the composition of which is indicated by the formula C₁₈H₂₁NO₃. It is soluble in 5 parts of absolute alcohol, in 13 of ether, and in 1400 (1800, Walz) of boiling water, the solution in each case having a decidedly alkaline reaction on litmus. It dissolves readily in bisulphide of carbon, as well as in dilute acids. The salts hitherto known are uncrystallizable. The solution of a neutral acetate affords an abundant white precipitate on the addition of an alkaline phosphate, nitrate or iodide, of iodohydrargyrate or platino-cyanide of potassium, perchloride of mercury, or of nitric or iodic acid.

Maclagan, one of the earliest investigators of greenheart, has obtained in co-operation with Gamgee[1988] certain alkaloids from the _wood_ of the tree, to one of which these chemists have assigned the formula C₂₀H₂₃NO₄ and the name _Nectandria_. Two other alkaloids, the characters of which have not yet been fully investigated, are stated to have been obtained from the same source.

_Bibiric Acid_, which Maclagan obtained from the _seeds_, is described as a colourless, crystalline, deliquescent substance, fusing at 150° C. and volatile at 200° C., then forming needle-shaped groups.

=Commerce=—The supplies of greenheart bark are extremely uncertain, and the drug is scarcely to be found in the market. It has been imported in barrels containing 80 to 84 lb. each, or in bags holding ½ to ¾ cwt.

=Uses=—The bark has been recommended as a bitter tonic and febrifuge, but is hardly ever employed except in the form of what is called _Sulphate of Bibirine_, which, as we have said, is _crude Sulphate of Buxine_.[1989] It is a dark amorphous substance which, having while in a syrupy state been spread out on glazed plates, is obtained in thin translucent laminæ. We find it to yield scarcely one-third of its weight of the pure alkaloid.

[1987] Flückiger, _Neues Jahrbuch für Pharmacie_, xxxi. (1869) 257; _Pharm. Journ._ xi. (1870) 192.

[1988] _Pharm. Journ._ xi. (1870) 19.

[1989] Mr. W. H. Campbell, of Georgetown, Demerara, has assured me that neither the bark nor its alkaloid is held in esteem in the colony.—D. H.

RADIX SASSAFRAS.

_Sassafras Root_; F. _Bois de Sassafras_, _Lignum Sassafras_; G. _Sassafrasholz_.

=Botanical Origin=—_Sassafras officinalis_ Nees (_Laurus Sassafras_ L.), a tree growing in North America, from Canada, southward to Florida and Missouri. In the north it is only a shrub, or a small tree 20 to 30 feet high, but in the Middle and Southern United States, and especially in Virginia and Carolina, it attains a height of 40 to 100 feet. The leaves are of different forms, some being ovate and entire, and others two- or three-lobed, the former, it is said, appearing earlier than the latter.

=History=—Monardes relates that the French during their expedition to Florida (1562-1564) cured their sick with the wood and root of a tree called _Sassafras_, the use of which they had learnt from the Indians.[1990] Laudonnière, who was a member of that expedition, and diligently set forth the wonders of Florida, observes that, among forest trees, the most remarkable for its timber and especially for its fragrant bark, is that called by the savages _Pavame_ and by the French _Sassafras_.[1991]

The drug was known in Germany, at least since 1582, under the above names or also by that of _Lignum Floridum_ or _Fennel-wood_, _Xylomarathrum_.[1992]

The sassafras tree had been introduced into England in the time of Gerarde (_circa_ 1597), who speaks of a specimen growing at Bow. At that period the wood and bark of the root were used chiefly in the treatment of ague.

In 1610, a paper of instructions from the Government of England to that of the new colony of Virginia, mentions among commodities to be sent home, “_Small sassafras Rootes_” which are “to be drawen in the winter and dryed and none to be medled with in the somer;—and yet is worthe £50 and better per tonne.”[1993] The shipments were afterwards much overdone, for in 1622 complaint is made that other things than _tobacco_ and _sassafras_[1994] were neglected to be shipped.

Angelus Sala, an Italian chemist living in Germany about the year 1610-1630, in distilling sassafras noticed that the oil was heavier than water;[1995] it was quoted in 1683 in the tariff of the apothecary of the elector of Saxony, at Dresden.[1996] John Maud in 1738 obtained crystals of safrol as long as 4 inches;[1997] in 1844 they were examined by Saint-Evre.

=Description=—Sassafras is imported in large branching logs, which often include the lower portion of the stem, 6 to 12 inches in diameter.[1998]

[1990] _Historia medicinal de las cosas que se traen de nuestras Indias occidentales_, (Sevilla, 1574) 51.

[1991] De Laet, _Novus Orbis_, 1633. 215.—René de Laudonnière, _Histoire notable de la Floride_. 1586.

[1992] _Pharm. Journ._ v. (1876) 1023.

[1993] _Colonial Papers_, vol. i. No. 23 (MS. in the Record Office, London).

[1994] _Colonial Papers_, vol. ii. No. 4.

[1995] _Opera medico-chymica_, Francofurti, 1682, p. 83.

[1996] Flückiger, _Documente_ (quoted at p. 404, note 7) 70.

[1997] _Phil. Trans. R. Soc. of London_, viii. (1809) 243.

[1998] The sassafras logs met with in English trade often include a considerable portion of trunk-wood, which, as well as the bark that covers it, is inert, and should be sawn off and rejected before the wood is rasped.

The roots proper, which diminish in size down to the thickness of a quill, are covered with a dull, rough, spongy bark. This bark has an inert, soft corky layer, beneath which is a firmer inner bark of brighter hue, rich in essential oil. The wood of the root is light and easily cut, in colour of a dull reddish-brown, and with a fragrant odour and spicy taste similar to that of the bark but less strong. It is usually sold in the shops rasped into shavings.

The _bark of the root_ (_Cortex sassafras_) is a separate article of commerce, but not much used in England. It consists of channelled, flattish, or curled, irregular fragments seldom exceeding 4 inches long by 3 inches broad and generally much smaller, and from ¹/₁₆ to ¼ of an inch in thickness. The inert outer layer has been carefully removed, leaving a scarred, exfoliating surface. The inner surface is finely striated and exhibits very minute shining crystals. The bark has a short, corky fracture, and in colour is a bright cinnamon brown of various shades. It has a strong and agreeable smell, with an astringent, aromatic, bitterish taste.

=Microscopic Structure=—The wood of the root exhibits, in transverse section, concentric rings transversed by narrow medullary rays. Each ring contains a number of large vessels in its inner part, and more densely packed cells in its outer. The prevailing part of the wood consists of prosenchyme cells. Globular cells, loaded with yellow essential oil, are distributed among the woody prosenchyme. The latter as well as the medullary rays abounds in starch.

The _bark_ is rich in oil-cells and also contains cells filled with mucilage; it owes its spongy appearance and exfoliation to the formation of secondary cork bands (_rhytidoma_) within the mesophlœum and even in the liber. The cortical tissue abounds in red colouring matter, and further contains starch and, less abundantly, oxalate of calcium.

=Chemical Composition=—The wood of the root yields 1 to 2 per cent. of volatile oil,[1999] and the root-bark twice as much. The stem and leaves of the tree contain but a very small quantity. The oil, which as found in commerce is all manufactured in America, has the specific odour of sassafras, and is colourless, yellow, or reddish-brown, according, as the distillers assert, to the character of the root employed. As the colour of the oil does not affect its flavour and market value, no effort is made to keep separate the different varieties of root.

Oil of Sassafras has a sp. gr. of 1·087 to 1·094, increasing somewhat by age (Procter). When cooled, it deposits crystals of _Safrol_ or _Sassafras Camphor_. This body, which we obtained in the form of hard, four- or six-sided prisms with the odour of sassafras, often attaining more than 4 inches in length and 1 inch in diameter, belongs to the monosymmetric system, as shown by Arzruni.[2000] Safrol, C₁₀H₁₀O₂, liquefies at 8°·5 C. (47° F.), having at 12° C. a sp. gr. of 1·11; it boils at 232° C., and is devoid of rotatory power, nor is it soluble in alkalis. The researches of Grimaux and Ruotte (1869) show the oil to contain nine-tenths of its weight of _Safrol_ which they observed only in the liquid state.

[1999] According to information obtained by Procter, 11 bushels of chips (the charge of a still) yields from 1 to 5 lb. of oil, the amount varying with the quality of the root and the proportion of bark it may contain.—Procter, _Essay on Sassafras in the Proceedings of the American Pharm. Association_, 1866. 217.

[2000] Poggendorff’s _Annalen_, clviii. (1876) 249, with figures of the crystals.

Another constituent of sassafras oil has been termed by Grimaux and Ruotte _Safrene_; it boils at 155° to 157° C., has a sp. gr. of 0·834 and the formula C₁₀H₁₆. It has the same odour as safrol, but deviates the plane of polarization to the right.

It was further found by the same observers that the crude oil contains an extremely small quantity of a substance of the phenol class, which can be removed by caustic lye and separated by an acid.

We succeeded in obtaining this substance by using that portion of the crude oil from which the safrol had separated. The phenol remains in the mother-liquor after it has again been cooled and has afforded a new crystallization of safrol. The phenol thus obtained assumes a beautiful greenish blue hue on addition of an alcoholic solution of perchloride of iron.

The _Sassarubin_ and _Sassafrin_ of Hare (1837) are impure products of the decomposition of sassafras oil by means of sulphuric acid.

The _bark_ and also to some extent the _wood_, in both cases of the root, contain tannic acid which produces a blue colour with persalts of iron. By oxidation, we must suppose, it is converted into the red colouring matter deposited in the bark and, in smaller quantity, in the heartwood of old trees. The young wood is nearly white. The said red substance probably agrees with that to which Reinsch in 1845 and 1846 gave the name of _Sassafrid_, and is doubtless analogous to cinchona-red and ratanhia-red. Reinsch obtained it to the extent of 9·2 per cent.

=Production and Commerce=—Baltimore is the chief mart for sassafras root, bark and oil, which are brought thither from within a circuit of 300 miles. The roots are extracted from the ground by the help of levers, partly barked and partly sent untouched to the market, or are cut up into chips for distillation on the spot. Of the bark as much as 100,000 lb. were received in Baltimore in 1866. The quantity of oil annually produced previous to the war is estimated at 15,000 to 20,000 lb. There are isolated small distillers in Pennsylvania and West New Jersey, who are allowed by the owners of a “_sassafras wilderness_” to remove from the ground the roots and stumps without charge. Sassafras root is not medicinal in the United States, the more aromatic root-bark being reasonably preferred.[2001]

=Uses=—Sassafras is reputed to be sudorific and stimulant, but in British practice it is only given in combination with sarsaparilla and guaiacum. Shavings of the wood are sold to make _Sassafras Tea_.

In America the essential oil is used to give a pleasant flavour to effervescing drinks, tobacco and toilet soaps.[2002]

=Substitutes=—The odour of sassafras is common to several plants of the order _Lauraceæ_. Thus the bark of _Mesphilodaphne Sassafras_ Meissn., a tree of Brazil, resembles in odour true sassafras. We have seen a very thick sassafras bark brought from India, the same we suppose as that which Mason[2003] describes as abundantly produced in Burma.

The bark of _Atherosperma moschatum_ Labillardière, an Australian tree, is occasionally exported from Australia under the name of Sassafras bark. It has the odour of the true drug, but differs from it by its grey colour.

[2001] Besides this, _the pith of sassafras_ is also there used as a popular remedy; it is entirely devoid of odour and taste, and is very slightly mucilaginous.

[2002] _American Journ. of Pharm._ 1871. 470.

[2003] _Burmah, its people and natural productions_, 1860. 497.

The large separate cotyledons of two lauraceous trees of the Rio Negro, doubtfully referred by Meissner to the genus _Nectandra_, furnish the so-called _Sassafras Nuts_ or _Puchury_ or _Pilchurim Beans_ of Brazil, occasionally to be met with in old drug warehouses.

On the Orinoko and in Guiana an oleo-resin, called _Sassafras Oil_ or _Laurel Oil_, is obtained by boring into the stem of _Oreodaphne opifera_ Nees, which sometimes contains a cavity holding a large quantity of this fluid.[2004] A similar oil (_Aceite de Sassafras_) is afforded on the Rio Negro by _Nectandra Cymbarum_ Nees.[2005]

[2004] _Brit. Guiana_ at the Paris Exhibition, 1878, Sect. C. p. 7.

[2005] Spruce in _Hooker’s Journ. of Bot._ vii. (1855) 278.

THYMELEÆ.

CORTEX MEZEREI.

_Mezereon Bark_; F. _Ecorce de Mézéréon_, _Bois gentil_; G. _Seidelbast-Rinde_.

=Botanical Origin=—_Daphne Mezereum_ L., an erect shrub, 1 to 3 feet high, the branches of which are crowded with purple flowers in the early spring, before the full expansion of the oblong, lanceolate, deciduous leaves. The flowers are succeeded by red berries. It is a native of the hilly parts of almost the whole of Europe, from Italy to the Arctic regions, and extends eastward to Siberia. In Britain it occurs here and there in a few of the southern and midland counties, and even reaches Yorkshire and Westmoreland, but there is reason to think it is not truly indigenous. Gerarde, who was well acquainted with it, did not regard it as a British plant.

=History=—The Arabian physicians used a plant called _Mázariyún_, the effects of which they compared to those of euphorbium; it was probably a species of _Daphne_. The word _mázariyún_ is, we are told by competent Arabic scholars, not of Arabic origin, but in all probability derived from the Greek idiom, in which however we are unable to trace its origin. _D. Mezereum_ was known to the early botanists of Europe, as _Daphnoides Chamælæa_, _Thymelæa_, _Chamædaphne_. Tragus described it and figured it in 1546 under the name of _Mezereum Germanicum_. The bark had a place in the German pharmacy of the 17th century under the name of cortex _Coccognidii_ s. _Mezerei_; the berries were the _Cocca gnidia_ s. _knidia_ of the old pharmacy.

=Description=—Mezereon has a very tough and fibrous bark easily removed in long strips which curl inwards as they dry; it is collected in winter and made up into rolls or bundles. The bark, which rarely exceeds ¹/₂₀ of an inch in thickness, has an internal greyish or reddish-brown corky coat which is easily separable from a green inner layer, white and satiny on the side next the wood. That of younger branches is marked with prominent leaf-scars. The bark is too tough to be broken, but easily tears into fibrous strips. When fresh, it has an unpleasant odour which is lost in drying; its taste is persistently burning and acrid. Applied in a moist state to the skin, it occasions, after some hours, redness and even vesication.

=Microscopic Structure=—The cambial zone is formed of about ten rows of delicate unequal cells. The libre consists chiefly of simple fibres alternating with parenchymatous bundles, and traversed by medullary rays. The fibres are very long,—frequently more than 3 mm., and from 5 to 10 mkm. in diameter, their walls being always but little thickened. In the outer part of the liber there occur bundles of thick-walled bast-tubes, while chlorophyll and starch granules appear generally throughout the middle cortical layer. The suberous coat is made up of about 30 dense rows of thin-walled tabular cells, which examined in a tangential section, have an hexagonal outline. Small quantities of tannic matter are deposited in the cambial and suberous zones.

=Chemical Composition=—The acrid principle of mezereon is a resinoid substance contained in the inner bark; it has not yet been examined. The fruits were found by Martius (1862) to contain more than 40 per cent. of a fatty, vesicating oil, which appears to be likewise present in the bark.

The name _Daphnin_ has been given to a crystallizable substance obtained by Vauquelin in 1808 from _Daphne alpina_, and afterwards found by C. G. Gmelin and Baer in the bark of _D. Mezereum_. Zwenger in 1860 ascertained it to be a glucoside of bitter taste, having the composition C₁₅H₁₆O₉ + 2 OH₂, the same as that of Æsculin, the fluorescing principle occurring in the bark of _Æsculus Hippocastanum_ and the root-bark of _Gelsemium nitidum_ Michaux (_G. sempervirens_ Aiton).—_Coccognin_, isolated in 1870 by Casselmann from the fruits of _D. Mezereum_, appears to be closely allied to if not identical with daphnin.

When daphnin is boiled with dilute hydrochloric or sulphuric acid, it furnishes _Daphnetin_, C₉H₆O₄ + OH₂, described by Zwenger as crystallizing in colourless prisms. By dry distillation of an alcoholic extract of mezereon bark, the same chemist obtained _Umbelliferone_ (p. 322).

=Uses=—Mezereon taken internally is supposed to be alterative and sudorific, and useful in venereal, rheumatic and scrofulous complaints; but in English medicine it is never now given except as an ingredient of the Compound Decoction of Sarsaparilla. An ethereal extract of the bark has been introduced (1867) as an ingredient of a powerful stimulating liniment. On the Continent, the bark itself, soaked in vinegar and water, is applied with a bandage as a vesicant.

=Substitutes=—Owing to the difficulty of procuring the bark of the root of _D. Mezereum_, the herbalists who supply the London druggists have been long in the habit of substituting that of _D. Laureola_ L., an evergreen species, not uncommon in woods and hedge-sides in several parts of England. The _British Pharmacopœia_ (1864 and 1867) permits _Cortex Mezerei_ to be obtained indiscriminately from either of these species, and does not follow the London College in insisting on the _bark of the root_ alone. That of the stem of _D. Laureola_ corresponds in structure with the bark of the true mezereon, but wants the prominent leaf-scars that mark the upper branches of the latter; it is reputed to be somewhat less acrid than mezereon bark. The mezereon bark of English trade is now mostly imported from Germany, and seems to be derived from _D. Mezereum_.

In France, use is made of the stem-bark of _D. Gnidium_ L., a shrub growing throughout the whole Mediterranean region as far as Morocco. The bark is dark grey or brown, marked with numerous whitish leaf-scars, which display a very regular spiral arrangement. The leaves themselves, some of which are occasionally met with in the drug, are sharply mucronate and very narrow. As to structural peculiarities, the bark of _D. Gnidium_ has the medullary rays more obvious and more loaded with tannic matters than those of _D. Mezereum_; but the middle cortical layer is less developed. The bark, which is called _Ecorce de Gaoru_, is employed as an epispastic.

ARTOCARPACEÆ.

CARICÆ.

_Fructus Caricæ_, _Fici_; _Figs_; F. _Figues_; G. _Feigen_.

=Botanical Origin=—_Ficus Carica_ L., a deciduous tree, 15 to 20 feet in height, with large rough leaves, forming a handsome mass of foliage.

The native country of the fig stretches from the steppes of the Eastern Aral, along the south and south-west coast of the Caspian Sea (Ghilan, Mazanderan, and the Caucasus), through Kurdistan, to Asia Minor and Syria. In these countries the fig-tree ascends into the mountain region, growing undoubtedly wild in the Taurus at an elevation of 4,800 feet.[2006]

The fig-tree is repeatedly mentioned in the Scriptures, where with the vine it often stands as the symbol of peace and plenty. The fig was not known in Greece, the Archipelago, and the neighbouring coasts of Asia Minor during the Homeric age, though both were very common in the time of Plato. The fig-tree was early introduced into Italy, whence it reached Spain and Gaul. In the opinion of palæontologists the fig-tree was originally indigenous to the last named Mediterranean regions.

Charlemagne, A.D. 812, ordered its cultivation in Central Europe. It was brought to England in the reign of Henry VIII. by Cardinal Pole, whose trees still exist in the garden of Lambeth Palace. But it had certainly been in cultivation at a much earlier period, for the historian Matthew Paris relates[2007] that the year 1257 was so inclement that apples and pears were scarce in England, and that _figs_, cherries, and plums totally failed to ripen.

At the present day the fig-tree is found cultivated in most of the temperate countries both of the Old and New World.[2008] It is met with in the plains of north-western India, and in the outer hills of the north-western Himalaya as high as 5,000 feet; also in the Dekkan, and in Beluchistan and Afghanistan.

[2006] Ritter, _Erdkunde von Asien_, vii. (1844) 2. 544.

[2007] _Eng. Hist._, Bohn’s ed., iii. (1854) 255.

[2008] Introduced into Mexico by Cortez about A.D. 1560.

=History=—Figs were a valued article of food among the ancient Hebrews[2009] and Greeks, as they are to the present day in the warmer countries bordering the Mediterranean.[2010] In the time of Pliny many varieties were in cultivation. The Latin word _Carica_ was first used to designate the dried fig of Caria, a strip of country in Asia Minor opposite Rhodes, an esteemed variety of the fruit corresponding to the Smyrna fig of modern times.

In a diploma granted by Chilperic II., king of the Franks, to the monastery of Corbie, A.D. 716, mention is made of “_Karigas_” in connection with dates, almonds and olives, by which we think dried figs (_Caricæ_) were intended.[2011] Dried figs were a regular article of trade during the middle ages, from the southern to the northern parts of Europe. In 1380 the citizens of Bruges, in regulating the duties which the “Lombards,” _i.e._ Italians, had to pay for their imports, quoted also figs from Cyprus and from Marbella, a place south-west of Malaga.[2012]

In England the average price between A.D. 1264 and 1398 was about 1¾_d._ per lb., raisins and currants being 2¾_d._[2013]

=Description=—A fig consists of a thick, fleshy, hollow receptacle of a pear-shaped form, on the inner face of which grow a multitude of minute fruits.[2014] This receptacle, which is provided with an orifice at the top, is at first green, tough and leathery, exuding when pricked a milky juice. The orifice is surrounded, and almost closed by a number of thick, fleshy scales, near which and within the fig, the male flowers are situated, but they are often wanting or are not fully developed. The female flowers stand further within the receptacle, in the body of which they are closely packed; they are stalked, have a 5-leafed perianth and a bipartite stigma. The ovary, which is generally one-celled, becomes when ripe a minute, dry, hard nut, popularly regarded as a seed.

[2009] See in particular 1 Sam. xxv. 18 and 1 Chron. xii. 40; where we read of large supplies of dried figs being provided for the use of fighting men. Also Num. xx. 5; Jer. xxiv. 2; 2 Reg. xx. 7.

[2010] On the Riviera of Genoa dried figs eaten with bread are a common winter food of the peasantry.

[2011] Pardessus, _Diplomata_, _Chartæ_, etc., ii. (1849) 309.

[2012] _Recesse und andere Akten der Hansetage_, ii. (Leipzig, 1872) 235.

[2013] Rogers, _Hist. of Agriculture and Prices in England_, i. (1866) 632.

[2014] Albertus Magnus, in allusion to the peculiar growth of the fig, remarks that the tree “fructum autem profert sine flore.” Page 386 of the work quoted in the Appendix.

As the fig advances to maturity, the receptacle enlarges, becomes softer and more juicy, a saccharine fluid replacing the acrid milky sap. It also acquires a reddish hue, while its exterior becomes purple, brown, or yellow, though in some varieties it continues green. The fresh fig has an agreeable and extremely saccharine taste, but it wants the juiciness and refreshing acidity that characterize many other fruits.

If fig is not gathered its stalk loses its firmness, the fruit hangs pendulous from the branch, begins to shrivel and become more and more saccharine by loss of water, and ultimately, if the climate is favourable, it assumes the condition of a _dried fig_. On the large scale however, figs are not dried on the tree, but are gathered and exposed to the sun and air in light trays till they acquire the proper degree of dryness. They can only be preserved in those regions where the summer and autumn are very warm and dry.

Dried figs are termed by the dealers either _natural_ or _pulled_. The first are those which have not been compressed in the packing, and still retain their original shape.[2015] The second are those which after drying have been made supple by squeezing and kneading, and in that state packed with pressure into drums and boxes.

Smyrna figs, which are the most esteemed sort, are of the latter kind. They are of irregular, flattened form, tough, translucent, covered with a saccharine efflorescence; they have a pleasant fruity smell and luscious taste. Figs of inferior quality, as those called in the market _Greek Figs_, differ chiefly in being smaller and less pulpy.

=Microscopic Structure=—The outer layer of a dried fig is made up of small, thick-walled and densely packed cells, so as to form a kind of skin. The inner lax parenchyme consists of larger thin-walled cells, traversed by vascular bundles and large, slightly branched, laticiferous vessels. The latter contain a granular substance not soluble in water. In the parenchyme, stellate crystals of oxalate of calcium occur, but in no considerable number.

=Chemical Composition=—The chemical changes which take place in the fig during maturation are important, but no researches have yet been made for their elucidation. The chief chemical substance in the ripe fig is grape sugar, which constitutes from 60 to 70 per cent. of the dried fruit. Gum and fatty matter appear to be present only in very small quantity. We have observed that unripe figs are rich in starch.

=Production and Commerce=—Dried figs were imported into the United Kingdom in 1872 to the amount of 141,847 cwt., of which 91,721 cwt. were shipped from Asiatic Turkey, the remainder being from Portugal, Spain, the Austrian territories and other countries. In 1876 the imports were 163,763 cwt., valued at £318,717.

Kalamata, in the Gulf of Messenia, Greece, and Cosenza in the Italian province of Calabria citeriore, are also particularly known as supplying figs to some parts of continental Europe. In 1876 the exports of Kalamata to Trieste were 9½ millions of kilogrammes.

=Uses=—Dried figs are thought to be slightly laxative, and as such are occasionally recommended in habitual constipation. They enter into the composition of _Confectio Sennæ_.

[2015] The word _Eleme_ applied in the London shops to dried figs of superior quality (“Eleme Figs”) is probably a corruption of the Turkish _ellémé_, signifying _hand-picked_.

MORACEÆ.

FRUCTUS MORI.

_Baccæ Mori_, _Mora_; _Mulberries_; F. _Mûres_; G. _Maulbeeren_.

=Botanical Origin=—_Morus nigra_ L., a handsome bushy tree, about 30 feet in height, growing wild in Northern Asia Minor, Armenia, and the southern Caucasian regions as far as Persia. In Italy, it was employed for feeding the silkworm until about the year 1434, when _M. alba_ L. was introduced from the Levant,[2016] and has ever since been commonly preferred. Yet in Greece, in many of the Greek islands, Calabria and Corsica, the species planted for the silkworm is still _M. nigra_.

The mulberry tree is now cultivated throughout Europe, yet, excepting in the regions named, by no means abundantly. It ripens its fruit in England, as well as in Southern Sweden and Gottland, and in Christiania (Schübeler).

=History=—The mulberry tree is mentioned in the Old Testament,[2017] and by most of the early Greek and Roman writers. Among the large number of useful plants ordered by Charlemagne (A.D. 812) to be cultivated on the imperial farms, the mulberry tree (_Morarius_) did not escape notice.[2018] We meet with it also in a plan sketched A.D. 820, for the gardens of the monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland.[2019] The cultivation of the mulberry in Spain is implied by a reference to the preparation of _Syrup of Mulberries_ in the Calendar of Cordova,[2020] which dates from the year 961.

A curious reference to mulberries, proving them to have been far more esteemed in ancient times than at present, occurs in the statutes of the abbey of Corbie of Normandy, in which we find a _Brevis de Melle_, showing how much _honey_ the tenants of the monastic lands were required to pay annually, followed by a statement of the quantity of _Mulberries_ which each farm was expected to supply.[2021]

=Description=—The tree bears unisexual catkins; the female, of an ovoid form, consists of numerous flowers with green four-lobed perianths and two linear stigmas. The lobes of the perianth overlapping each other become fleshy, and by their lateral aggregation form the spurious berry, which is shortly stalked, oblong, an inch in length, and, when ripe, of an intense purple. By detaching a single fruit, the lobes of the former perianth may be still discerned. Each fruit encloses a hard lenticular nucule, covering a pendulous seed with curved embryo and fleshy albumen.

Mulberries are extremely juicy and have a refreshing, subacid, saccharine taste; but they are devoid of the fine aroma that distinguishes many fruits of the order _Rosaceæ_.

=Chemical Composition=—In an analysis made by H. van Hees (1857) 100 parts of mulberries yielded the following constituents:—

Glucose and uncrystallizable sugar 9·19 Free acid (supposed to be _malic_) 1·86 Albuminous matter 0·39 Pectic matter, fat, salts, and gum 2·03 Ash 0·57 Insoluble matters (the seeds, pectose, cellulose, &c.) 1·25 Water 84·71

[2016] A. De Candolle, _Géogr. botanique_, ii. (1855) 856.

[2017] 2 Sam. v. 23, 24.

[2018] Pertz, _Monumenta Germaniæ historica_, Leges, iii. (1835) 181.—Consult also Hehn, _Kulturpflanzen_, 1877.

[2019] F. Keller, _Bauriss des Klosters S. Gallen_, facsimile, Zürich, 1844.

[2020] _Le Calendrier de Cordoue de l’année_ 961, publié par R. Dozy, Leyde, 1873. 67.

[2021] Guérard, _Polyptique de l’Abbé Irminon_, Paris, ii. 335.

With regard to the results of researches on other edible fruits, made about the same time in the laboratory of Fresenius, it would appear that the mulberry is one of the most saccharine, being only surpassed by the cherry (10·79 of sugar) and grape (10·6 to 19·0).[2022] It is richer in sugar than the following, namely:—

Raspberries, yielding 4 per cent. of sugar and 1·48 of (malic) acid. Strawberries ” 5·7 ” ” 1·31 ” ” Whortleberries ” 5·8 ” ” 1·34 ” ” Currants ” 6·1 ” ” 2·04 ” ”

The amount of free acid in the mulberry is not small, nor is it excessive. The small proportion of insoluble matters is worthy of notice in comparison, for instance with the whortleberry, which contains no less than 13 per cent. The colouring matter of the mulberry has not been examined. The acid is probably not simply malic, but in part tartaric.

=Uses=—The sole use in medicine of mulberries is for the preparation of a syrup employed to flavour or colour any other medicines. In Greece, the fruit is submitted to fermentation, thereby furnishing an inebriating beverage.

CANNABINEÆ.

HERBA CANNABIS.

_Cannabis Indica_; _Indian Hemp_; F. _Chanvre Indien_; G. _Hanfkraut_.

=Botanical Origin=—_Cannabis sativa_ L., Common Hemp, an annual diœcious plant, native of Western and Central Asia, cultivated in temperate as well as in tropical countries.

It grows wild luxuriantly on the banks of the lower Ural and Volga near the Caspian Sea, extending thence to Persia, the Altai range, and Northern and Western China. It is found in Kashmir and on the Himalaya, growing 10 to 12 feet high, and thriving vigorously at an elevation of 6000 to 10,000 feet. It likewise occurs in Tropical Africa, on the eastern and western coasts as well as in the central tracts watered by the Congo and Zambesi, but whether truly indigenous is doubtful. It has been naturalized in Brazil, north of Rio de Janeiro, the seeds having been brought thither by the negroes from Western Africa. The cultivation of hemp is carried on in many parts of continental Europe, but especially in Central and Southern Russia.

The hemp plant grown in India exhibits certain differences as contrasted with that cultivated in Europe, which were noticed by Rumphius in the 17th century, and which (about A.D. 1790), induced Lamarck to claim for the former plant the rank of a distinct species, under the name of _Cannabis indica_. But the variations observed in the two plants are of so little botanical importance and are so inconstant, that the maintenance of _C. indica_ as distinct from _C. sativa_ has been abandoned by general consent.

[2022] The fig excepted, which is much more saccharine than any.

In a medicinal point of view, there is a wide dissimilarity between hemp grown in India and that produced in Europe, the former being vastly more potent. Yet even in India there is much variation, for, according to Jameson, the plant grown at altitudes of 6000 to 8000 feet affords the resin known as _Charas_, which cannot be obtained from that cultivated on the plains.[2023]

=History=—Hemp has been propagated on account of its textile fibre and oily seeds from a remote period.

The ancient Chinese herbal called _Rh-ya_, written about the 5th century B.C., notices the fact that the hemp plant is of two kinds, the one producing seeds, the other flowers only.[2024] In Susruta, Charaka and other early works on Hindu medicine, hemp (_B’hanga_) is mentioned as a remedy. Herodotus states that hemp grows in Scythia both wild and cultivated, and that the Thracians made garments from it which can hardly be distinguished from linen. He also describes how the Scythians expose themselves as in a bath to the vapour of the seeds thrown on hot coals.[2025]

The Greeks and Romans appear to have been unacquainted with the medicinal powers of hemp, unless indeed the care-destroying Νηπενθές should, as Royle has supposed, be referred to this plant. According to Stanislas Julien,[2026] anæsthetic powers were ascribed by the Chinese to preparations of hemp as early as the commencement of the 3rd century.

The employment of hemp both medical and dietetic appears to have spread slowly through India and Persia to the Arabians, amongst whom the plant was used in the early middle ages. The famous heretical sect of Mahomedans, whose murderous deeds struck terror into the hearts of the Crusaders during the 11th and 12th centuries, derived their name of _Hashishin_, or, as it is commonly written, _assassins_, from _hashísh_ the Arabic for _hemp_,[2027] which in certain of their rites they used as an intoxicant.[2028] In 1286 of our era, the Sultan of Egypt, Bibars al Bondokdary, prohibited the sale of hashish, the monopoly of which had been leased before.[2029]

The use of hemp (_bhang_) in India was particularly noticed by Garcia de Orta[2030] (1563), and the plant was subsequently figured by Rheede, who described the drug as largely used on the Malabar coast. It would seem about this time to have been imported into Europe, at least occasionally, for Berlu in his _Treasury of Drugs_, 1690, describes it as coming from Bantam in the East Indies, and “_of an infatuating quality and pernicious use_.“

[2023] _Journ. of the Agric. and Hortic. Soc. of India_, viii. 167.

[2024] Bretschneider, _On Chinese Botanical Works_, 1870. 5. 10. Part of the _Rh-ya_ was written in the 12th cent. B.C.

[2025] Rawlinson’s translation, iii. (1859)