December i, 1884.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



459 



BARTUNG. 



nY W. T. THISELTON DYER, M.A., C.M.I!., F.R.S. 



Iii Dymock's ' Vegetable Materia Medica of Western 

 India ' (p. 538) there is the following account of this un- 

 determined drug : — 



" Plantago sp. ? Local name, Bartung.— These are minute, 

 oblong, brown seeds, marked with waved, slightly elevated, 

 longitudinal ridges of a darker colour ; one side is arched, the 

 other concave, and marked with a scar showing the attach- 

 ment to the ovary. They are insipid and have an oily smell 

 when crushed. Soaked in water they become coated with a 

 transparent mucilage. Bartung, usually pronounced Barhang, 

 is a remedy in great repute in Persia for dysentery. A large 

 quantity is imported into India through Bombay. We have 

 the evidence of Valentine Baker as to its efficacy when he 

 was suffering from the above-mentioned disorder during his 

 travels in Khorasan. "When dysentery is supposed by the 

 hakims to be due to a heated condition of the humours, Is- 

 paghul is preferred. When a cold condition is diagnosed, 

 Bartung is given. It is one of the several kinds of Lesan-ul- 

 Hamal described in Arabic works, and is generally attributed 

 to /'. psyllium." 



Early 'in the year Colonel Beddome, F.L.S., brought to Kew 

 a small sample of the drug which he had received from 

 Persia, where great virtues were attributed to it. At his 

 request we sowed the seed of which it consisted for the pur- 

 pose of identifying the plant. It turns out to be nothing 

 more or less then Plan' ago major. I have since ascertained 

 that I>r. Forbes Watson in his"' Index to Native and Scienti- 

 fic Names ' gives the following identifications of Bartung 

 with various species of Plantago:— P. lanceolata (Irvine), P. 

 major (Honigberger), P. psylttwn (Birdwood). It might at 

 any rate be worth trying the value of seeds of Plantago 

 major in this country in dysenteric affections.— Pharmaceut- 

 ical Journal. 



♦ 



THE OAROB BEAN TREE. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE " AUSTRALASIAN. " 



Sir, — Your columns from time to time have found space 

 in them to call the attention of your readers to the admir- 

 able adaptation the carob tree has for the land we live 

 in. The first special notice of it comes from Adelaide, 

 bnt in reading a work treating principally of South Amer- 

 ican (Gaucho) adventures I came upon the accompanying 

 notice of the carob tree, and its publication will, I think, 

 add another illustration ot the excellent qualities this tree 

 possesses, and, if planted in Australia, the benefits that 

 would be derived therefrom. J. L. E. 



(Copied from Gaspar the Gaucho, page 199, " Under the 

 •Carob Tree." ) 



" And their animals also undergo a like rapid recovery 

 from browsing on the leaves and bean-pods of thealgarobias 

 — a provender relished by all Pampas horses or horned 

 cattle, and nourishing to both. More than this, the fruit 

 of this vegetable tree, when ripe, is fit food for man 

 himself, and so used in several of the Argentine States. 

 . . . . We can make a meal on the algarobia beans if 

 nothing better is to be had. In some parts where I've 

 travelled they grind them like maize, and bake a very fair 



sort of bread out of the meal These very trees, 



or others of a similar genus, are the ones whose fruit was 

 eateu by St. John the Baptist. Some think the locusts 

 he ate were the insects of that name, and it may be so, 

 since they are also eaten by Arabs and certain other tribes 

 of Asiatic and African people. But for my part, I believe 

 the beans of the locust tree are meant, which, like this, 

 is a species of acacia that the Arabs call carob, evidently 

 the root from which we take our word algarobia. ... I 

 do know that algarobia beans are not such bad eating; 

 that is. if properly prepared for it. In the states of Santiago 

 and Tucuman, which are the places I spoke of having 

 travelled through, the people almost live on them— rich 

 anil poor, man as well as beast." 



A SUPPLEMENTARY PAPER UPON ANTISEPTICS, 

 GERMICTDES AND BACTERICIDES. 



BY WILLIAM CREED. 



The object of this additional paper is to keep the mind 



directed to the bacterian hypothesis of disease, as previously 

 suggested in the Gardeners' Monthly, and linked with pear 

 blight and peach yellows. With this recognition in view, I 

 will proceed with a retrospective glance upon a limited 

 number only of long-known and still highly-prized remedies, 

 and which the present generation of investigators consider 

 reliable agents, either as antiseptics, germicides or bacteria- 

 cides. Originally it was my intention to have presented a 

 tabulated form of many experiments made by the most re- 

 nowned men engaged in these valuable researches ; this, how- 

 ever, would have taken up too much of your valuable space, 

 so I will substitute it with concise comparisons of the 

 remedies before us, as most worthy of special notice and con- 

 sideration. 



As 1 am a thorough believer in the prevention of disi as . 

 rather than the alternative of allowing disease to " set in " 

 ancrbecome uncontrollable, I will first proceed to mention 

 carbolic acid as being probably for many reasons, and in 

 many cases, the ne plus ultra remedy as an antiseptic, and 

 very useful as a germicide and bacteriacide. Antiseptics as 

 such are known by their action in destroying all sources of 

 decay and decomposition, and preventing the formation of 

 germs without acting upon the mineral or vegetable matters 

 present, and their value depends upon their power to pr 

 the multiplication of bacteria, though this is not necessarily 

 connected with germicide potency; for some re-agents which 

 fail to kill micro-organisms are nevertheless valuable anti- 

 septics. Carbolic acid has been prominently before the public 

 for many years as a successful antagonist to bacterial in- 

 fluence. As far back as 1866-67 I tested this article in a 

 series of experiments upon certain substances of organic 

 origin, and also those of an albuminous nature, the object 

 mainly being to prevent fermentation, decomposition and 

 putrefaction, which are corresponding conditions to the well- 

 known bacterian theory. The intermingling of carbolic acid 

 in the above cases, in proportion of one part to one thousand, 

 was then amply sufficient for the purpose. 



In 1868, Dr. F. Grace Calvert, in a lecture before the 

 Society for the Encouragement of National Industry of 

 France, said that carbolic acid was then the hope of the 

 textile manufacturer as an antiseptic in the various glues, 

 sizes, &c, inseparable from this special manufacture, and 

 today we have the very highest authority in stating that 

 it takes the lead for the same purpose, though chloride 

 and sulphate of zinc are valuable and reliable, and frequently 

 used. When we keep in view the fact that thirty-one 

 species of fungi are found growing upon the cotton tissue, 

 and this naturally arising from the use of organic sub- 

 stances, that without the precautionary aid of antiseptics 

 great losses sometimes would be inevitable, why not, then, 

 utilize the same philosophy as a cautionary measure agaiust 

 the spread of bacterian influence upon any vegetable struct- 

 ure to which it may be exposed. Any ODe having any 

 interest in the matter should secure a proper and off. ctual 

 syringe or force pump and try the antiseptic principle upon 

 their trues in their own particular districts and at a time 

 at least two weeks previous to any known case of pear 

 blight or peach yellows having been detected, the syringing 

 being repeated occasionally during any anticipated preval- 

 ence of the disease. 



Dr. Oalvert, in his lecture previously mentioned, stated 

 that carbolic acid had the advantage over all other antisept- 

 ics inasmuch that it could not be used for any illegal 

 purpose, as may be the case of corrosive sublimate and 

 some others then on trial; but the well-known investigator 

 and experimenter, Koch, considers corrosive sublimate at 

 the present date the disenfectant and germicide par excel- 

 lence, as from his own experience it destroys spores in a 

 solution of one part tr> 20,000, and solutions of om pari 

 to 1,000, and even 5,000 are capable of destroying spores in 

 a few minutes when applied as a spray. The same strong 

 opinion is held by the editor of the Druygist 'Cm ■ 

 wdio boldly asserts in the June number of the present 

 year that no agent can compare with corrosive sublimate 

 for the destruction of fungoid growths or bacteria so far 

 as power and reliability are concerned, and ado tloit 

 carbolic acid is far behind it as a destroyer of I 

 upon animal tissues; he has however no experience to 

 offer of its effects upon vegetation ; but admits thai c: 

 olic acid is one of our most precious antiseptics. One 

 caution may be mentioned concerning the latter, and that 

 is, from full and comparatively receut investigation it is 



