70 



OK PEPPER, 



Ih Sarcocoll 



m. Qum 



IV. Gluten 



V. Starch 



■I 

 -( 



1. Manna 



2. Liquorice 



3. Common farcocoll 



4. Saccharine of malt. 



1. Mucilage of roots 



2. Cherry-tree gum 



3. Gum-Arabic 



4. Gum of barks. 



Gluten of barley 

 Gluten of wheat 

 Cafeous principle. 

 Gum tragacanth 

 Gum of lichens. 

 Common ftarch. 



Sabjeft intro- 

 duced : 

 Fej>per, 



Defcrlption. 



Thefe terms arc The terms gum, jiarch, f agar f &c. in vegetable chemiftry 

 generic. ^^.g ^^^ j.^ ^g underftood as the riames of peculiar fubftances, 



nor even 2l% /pedes ; but merely as ge/^era, and nearly fimilar 

 to the terms metals, acids, alkalies. Sic. in the other depart- 

 ments of chemiftry. 



The preceding obfervations will ferve, I truft, as an apology 

 for the imperfe^ion of the following remarks on pepper, I 

 offer them to the public not as an analyfis of that vegetable fub- 

 flance, but as an account of forae of the properties of its moft 

 remarkable conflituents. 



I. Black pepper is the fruit of an Eaft Indian plant, the 

 piper nigrum, and is too well known to require any particular 

 defcription. The outer coat of the pepper-corn is brown, 

 and a good deal fl^rivelled. Its tafte is not nearly fo pungent 

 as the inner part ; of courfe it contains lefs of the peculiar prin- 

 ciplt; to which pepper owes its tafte and fmell. 



II. When pepper is macerated in cold water it does not 

 Jofe its (hri veiled appearance; a proof that the corns are im- 

 pregnated with an oily fuhflance, which prevents them from 

 abforbing water. The liquid very foon acquires a fine deep 

 reddifli brown colour, but retains its tranfparency, Whiiepep- 

 pert which is known to want the outer coat, communicates no 

 fuch colour to water; the colouring matter then muft refide in 

 the outer coat. 



The watery irifufion thus obtained pofleffes the fmell and 

 tjifle which are peculiar to pepper. Like moft other extrads, 



Maceration in 

 cold water. 



