186 LEGUMINOS^. 



partially soluble in ammonia. Small shreds of copper were also visible 

 to the naked eye. The dried juice yielded 6'3 per cent, of ash. 



Corigliano liquorice treated in the same manner gave 71'2 per cent, 

 of extract soluble in cold water; Barracco liquorice 64'9. 



Ponteft 



ommerce — The value of the imports of Liquorice into the United 

 dom has been for the last five 3'ears as follows : — 



1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 



£89,482 £83,832 £70,105 £55,120 £75,991 



The last-named sum represents a quantity of 28,000 cwt., of which 

 11,170 cwt.Avere furnished by Italy, and the remainder by Turkey, 

 France, Spain and other countries. 



The total exports of Liquorice Paste from Smyrna were estimated 



in 1872 as 1,200 to 1,400 toi 

 Uses — Stick liquorice 



«s (24,000 to 28,000 cwt.) per annum. 

 . . is sucked as a remedy for coughs, aud by 

 children as a sweetmeat. It is also used in lozenges, and in some 

 pharmacopoeias is admitted as the raw material from Avhich to prepare 

 soft extract of liquorice. 



The block liquorice, of which a large quantity is imported, is chiefly 

 used m the manuflicture of tobacco for smoking and chewing. 



OLEUM ARACHIS. 



Ground-nut oil, Emih-nut oil, Pea-nut oil, AracMs oil; F. H-'^" 



d'Arachide ou de Pidache de terre ; G. Erdnussol 



Botanical Origin— ^raJtis hypogcea L., a diffuse herbaceous annnal 

 plant, having stems a foot or two lono-, and solitary axillary flowers witn 

 an extremely long filiform calyx-tube. After the flower withers the 

 torus supporting the ovary becomes elongated as a rigid stalk, w ncli 

 bends down to the ground and forces irfto it the young pod, wbicH 

 matures its seeds some inches below the surfiice. The ripe pod is oblong, 

 cylindrical, about an inch in length, indehiscent, reticulated, and contains 

 one or two, or exceptionally even four irregularly ovoid seeds. . 



iiie plant is cultivated for the sake of its nutritious oily seeds m aij 

 tropical and subtropical countries, but especially on the west coast o 

 Atnca. It IS unknown in the wild state. De Candolle^ regards it as .i 

 native of Brazil, to which region the other species of the genus 

 exclusively belong. But the opTnion of one of us^ is strongly in favour 

 of the plant being indigenous to Tropical Africa,- and so is tbat also o 

 Schwemfurth. Arachis is one of the most universally cultivated plant^ 

 throughout Tropical Africa, from Senegambia to lake Tanganyika. -1" 

 J-urope it has not proved remunerative! 



l.^.i^'^i°'"^r^iJ'^ ^'"^^ ^"ter to notice Ground Nut appears to be 

 i^ernandez de Oviedo y Valdes, who lived in Havti from A.D- l^l^J^ 

 lo-o; he mentions in his Cronica de las Indias' that the Indians cuin 



^ mSSr IT''^' % ^}''''> «6^- ' Lib. vii. cap. 5. Fol 1074 f- (l^^I)- - 



figure. [iGW] 70-84, with Anzeiyen dtr bai/emchen AKtuitu 



969. 



