PAPAYACEJE. 



rather large, compressed. Radicle inferior. Hooker. — The milky 

 juice a powerful vermifuge ; the powder of the seeds has the same 

 property. Fibrine is contained in the juice in such abundance that 

 the latter bears a most extraordinary resemblance to animal matter. 

 Water impregnated with the milky juice makes meat washed with it 

 tender : the same effect is produced when meat is suspended among 

 the branches of the tree ; it first becomes tender and then passes into 

 a state of putridity. Vauqelin says that a sample of the juice which he 

 examined had the smell and taste of boiled beef. The leaves are 

 used by negroes to wash linen instead of soap, and the fruit is eaten as 

 a vegetable. 



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