1 



^ 



SEMEN FCENI GE^CI. 173 



j' 



om 



testa bursts by the swelling of the internal membrane or endopleura, 

 which like a thick gelatinous sac encloses the cotyledons and their very 



larixe hooked radicle. 



Microscopic Structure — The most interesting structural pecu- 

 liarity of this seed arises from the fact that the mucilage with which it 

 abounds is not yielded by the cells of the epidermis, but by a loose 

 tissue closely surrounding the embryo,^ 



The cells of the testa contain tannin ; 

 the cotyledons a yellow colouring matter, but no sugar. The air-dried 

 seeds give off 10 per cent, of water at 100° C, and on subsequent 

 incineration leave 7 per cent, of ash, of which nearly a fourth is phos- 

 phoric acid. 



Ether extracts from the pulverized seeds 6 per cent._ of a foetid, 

 fatty oil, having a bitter taste. Amylic alcohol removes in addition a 

 small quantity of resin. Alcohol added to a concentrated aqueous 

 extract, forms a precipitate of mucilage, amounting when dried to 28 

 per cent. Burnt with soda-lime, the seeds yielded to Jahns" 3-4! 

 per cent, of nitrogen, equivalent to 22 per cent, of albumin. No 

 researches have been yet made to determine the nature of the odorous 

 principle. 



Production and Commerce— Fenugreek is cultivated in Morocco, 

 in the south of France near Montpellier, in a few places in Switzerlapd, 

 in Alsace, and in some other provinces of the German and Austrian 



'"" Moravia. It is produced on a far larger scale 



Ai-abic name Hulba 



s 



it is exported to Europe and India. In 1873 it was stated that the 

 profits of the European growers were much reduced by the seed bemg 

 largely exported from Mogador and Bombay. 



Under the Sanscrit name of MetU, which has passed, slightly modi- 



grown 



mode 



1872-73 



the quantity of seed exported from Sind to Bombay was 13,G4G cwt., 

 valued at £4,405.' From the port of Bombay there were shipped in 

 the same year 9,655 cwt., of which only 100 cwt. are reported as for 

 the United Kingdom.* 



Uses— In Europe fenuc^reek as a medicine is obsolete, but the 

 powdered seeds are still often sold by chemists for veterinary pharmacy 

 and as an ingredient of curry powder. The chief consumption is, how- 

 eveUn the so-called Cattle Foods. , , , 



^ The fresh plant in India is commonly eaten as a green vegetable 

 whde the seeds are extensively used by the natives in food and 

 inedicine. 



iLl^'^^ by Lanessau in his French ^Annual Statement ^/Jhe Trade a,^d 



&o?P "^ «i« PharmacograpMa, i. Navigation of SmdioT the y^t^x \%i-^^, 



^Tr>345. "^ ^ printed at Karachi, 1873. p. 30. 



t^J'^Pfiments performed in my labora- * Anmal Statement, etc., Bombay, lb- J. 



^^ m 1867. -F. A. F. 80. 



