Si(3 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[Feb. 1, 1887, 



colour as sold ia this country, Chirata, bebeeru and 

 cascarilla did not present any feature worthy of 

 special notice, except that the latter was shown in 

 very slender quills, as if derived from the twigs or 

 small branches only. 



Of sedative or anodyne medicinal drugs the fol- 

 lowing were exhibited :— Opium and pnppyheads, 

 coca leaves, Indian hemp and aconite. With these 

 Oalabar beans may be classed for the sake of conve- 

 nience. Opium was, of course, well represented in 

 the Indian Court, but elsewhere was observed only 

 in the Victoria Court, where excellent specimens 

 were exhibited by Mr. Bosisto. These have been shown 

 by analysis to yield 10 per cent of morphine in the 

 crude state, and 11^ per cent when dried. The Victo- 

 rian-grown opium is protected by a duly of 20s. per 

 pound on imported opium, but the quantity produced 

 in the colony is not at present sufficient to meet 

 the local demand for it- Indeed it appears doubtful, 

 owing to the high price of labour in the colony, 

 whether it could be produced at a sufficiently low 

 price to compete with Turkish opium. It is a sugges- 

 tive fact that the great bulk of the official or medi- 

 cinal opium used in the world is supplied by Turkey, 

 although there can be little doubt that opium of 

 quite as good quality could be prepared in India. 

 As at present made in the latter country opium 

 usually conta ns more narcotine and morphine than 

 Turkish opium. This may be due to the tedious 

 process cf prepiration of the drug for the Chinese 

 market, or to the particular variety of poppy em- 

 ployed (var. V albi'.m) which ditfers from that used 

 in Turkey (/3 g'almcm). In view of the immense increase 

 of opium prod iction in China during the last few 

 years, and the probable growth of a taste for the 

 home-made article in that country, the suggestion 

 naturally occurs, whether the preparation of medicinal 

 opium in India might not yield an important addition 

 to the rfvenue of that country, and at the same 

 time, render this country independent of the Turkish 

 product. 



The poppy heids exhibited in the Victoria Court 

 were born on stems more than six feet in height, 

 which shows the luxuriance with which the plant 

 grows in thit colony. 



Ooca leaves were exhibited from Jamaica and Domi- 

 nica, but as yet are probably grown there only as an 

 experiment. The alkaloid contained in the leaves so 

 readily undergoes decomposition that the greatest care 

 will be necessary in drying and preserving the leaves, 

 if they are intended to compete with the South 

 American drug as recently imported. 



Aconite root and Cannabis iadica were exhibited 

 only from India. Concerning the latter it is impor- 

 tant to note that the strength of the drug appears 

 to vary greatly, according to the distri-it in which 

 it grows. According to Dr. Watt, the flowering tops 

 which are more or less cylindrical are possessed of 

 much greater medicinal activity, and fetch a con- 

 siderably higher price in India, than those which are 

 simply compressed. The tincture made from the 

 former is likely to produce alarming symptoms if 

 given in the same dose as that prepared from the 

 latter. This difference does not appear to be recog- 

 nized in the British Pharmacopoeia. 



The aconite root did not appear to be sufficiently 

 uniform in character for use in medicine in this 

 country, although some good specimens from Nepal, 

 collected by Dr. Grimblett, were exhibited. 



Fine specimens of Calabar beau were shown in the 

 Ceylon Court and also from Lagos and Gambia. It 

 may be here pointed out that a variety of this lipan 

 which contained more alkaloid than the ordinary kind 

 was imported into England a few years ago. It was 

 more oblong in shape and had a longer hilum or 

 scar. In the case of many drugs, and especially 

 poisonous drugs of which a limited quantity is used, 

 the market is often spoiled, so far as the interests of 

 the colonies are concerned, by an over supply being 

 sent at one time, so that the price.«i realized hardly 

 pay for collection, or may even entail a loss. 



Of purgative drugs, aloes, jalap, Cassia Fistula and 

 senna were exhibited. Aloes was very poorly repre- 

 sented, a solitary gourd of Barbadoes aloes, apparently 

 of inferior quality, being shown in that Court, while 

 in those of Natal aud the Cape of Good Hope no spe- 

 cimens were noticeable. It may be here mentioned 

 that the botanical source of the opaque aloes known 

 in commerce as "Natal" or " Hepatic Cape" has not 

 been accurately determined aud that the cause of 

 its opacity is also unknown. Barbadoes or Cura^oa 

 aloes is sometimes translucent at lirst and becomes 

 opaque on keeping, but there is no evidence that 

 this is the case with Natal aloes. Fine pods of the 

 Cassia FistuJa were shown in the St. Lucia Court, 

 Senna leaves were shown in the India Court and 

 in that of the Cape of Good Hope. That from the 

 Cape had beeu collected in the Hopetown district, 

 where the plant is exceedingly abundant. The 

 leaves appeared to be those of Cassia obovata, a 

 species the leaves of which were formerly mixed 

 with those of C. acutifolia in Alexandrian senna, 

 but are now rarely found in it. This kind of senna 

 is stated to be less active than the leaflets of C. 

 acutifolia and G. anyustifolia. Some very large leaflets 

 from plants cultivated at Barcelona were offered in 

 the London market a year or two since and some 

 has this year been sent from Tinnevelly, but neither, 

 I believe, were purcha,sed; nevertheless, comparative 

 experiments concerning the relative strength of these 

 species might be useful to confirm or otherwise pre- 

 vious statements ; iu any case it might serve as a 

 substitute for senua at the Cape. Indiau bael is 

 intermediate in character between the purgatives and 

 astringents and may be mentioned here as occurring 

 iu the Indian Court. The fresh fruit has so delicate 

 aud pleasant a flavour that a conserve or syrup of 

 the fruit might possibly meet with acceptance as a 

 laxative in this country. 



Of astringent official drugs there were exhibited 

 catechu, kino, logwood, galls, and arecanuts. 



Pale catechu was shown in the Straits Settlements 

 Court iu two or three forms, viz., in large and small 

 cubical pieces and in the form of flattened discs ; 

 the latter were of a pale colour and intended for 

 chewing with betel nut. In this connection it may 

 be useful to recall the fact noticed by Dr. Haygarth 

 Addison that pale catechu produces a tonic effect on 

 the nervous system entirely apart from its astringent 

 action {Pharm. Joum., [3,] xvi., p. 720.) It has not 

 yet beeu determined whether this action is due to 

 quercetin or to catechin, or to some other constituent 

 of the drug. Kino was represented by several dif- 

 fernent preparations. The official drug was exhibited 

 only in the Indian Court. From the .Seychelles an 

 elegant product ob1»ined from Pterocarpus indicus was 

 sho^vn by Dr. Brooks, and iu the Victoria Court Mr. 

 Bosisto exhibited an Australian kino, entirely and 

 readily soluble in cold water, side by side with the 

 crude insoluble product obtained from the red gum 

 tree, E. roxtrata. Iu the Queensland Court several 

 products of the kino class obtained from various 

 species of eucalyptus were shown by Dr. Bancroft ; 

 of these I have been unable to obtain specimens from 

 tlie Executive Commissioner. 



It is remarkable that the original kino, which is 

 a product of gambler and which affords a satisfactory 

 tincture, is not represented in the West African 

 Court, although the tree that yields it (Pterocarpus 

 erinaceuA, Poir.) is a native of West Africa, from 

 Senegambia to Angola. A product intermediate in 

 character between kino and catechu was shown by 

 Mr. Bosisto in the Victoria Court. It resembled kino 

 in appearance, but was styled Australian catechu. 

 It was an extract made from the waste chips of wattle 

 bark, and could doubtless be made on a scale suffi- 

 ciently large for tanning purposes if required. 



Logwood may be noticed under the head of astrin- 

 gents, beiug used in medicine for that purpose. It 

 is of interest also on account of its use for staining 

 microscopical preparations. It does not appear to be 

 generally known that microscopists distinguish differ- 

 ent varieties pf logwood, one of which gives a bluish 

 and another a purplish -red stain; whether thisdue is 



