248 A COMPENDIUM OF 
form of an infusion. Principally used as acon- - 
diment. The name is supposed to be a corrup- 
tion of the Spanish word pzmento, pepper. 
Piper Nigrum, Black Pepper.—Natural order 
Piperacexe. The pepper-plant or vine is a peren- 
nial climber, a native of India and cultivated in 
many tropical countries of the world. The 
stem of the pepper-plant is jointed and reaches 
a height of 8 or 12 feet, adorned with very 
dark-green leaves, broadly ovate in form, acutely 
pointed, seven-nerved and opposite; flowers 
white, small and in spikes; these are succeeded 
by sessile fruits or berries which, when ripe, 
are red in color. The pepper of commerce is 
the unripe fruit of the plant, which is globular 
in form, much wrinkled, of a dark-brown or 
grayish-black color, a little lighter in color in- 
ternally, and hollow, with the exception of an 
undeveloped seed within the cavity. The hot, 
Spicy taste of pepper is well known to everyone, 
as itis a universal condiment. Piper Nigrum 
coutains resin, fat, ash and a colorless volatile 
oil, not the oil of the stores, for this is an oil 
holding in suspension resin (oleoresin), also an 
acid, piperine and pipiridine. In its action 
pepper and its radical are stimulant, tonic and 
febrifuge, and given in form of its active prin- 
ciple, piperine, which occurs in small crystals 
the oleoresin is also prescribed. Dose of the 
alkaloid from 1 to 5 grains. The white pepper 
is the fruit denuded of its epidermis and is less 
strong. Some authors assert that it is the 
ripened fruit of the Piper Nigrum. 
Prunum, Prune. The fruit of the Prunus 
Domestica. Natural order Rosacez, or Amyg- 
