CORTEX GRANATI FRUCTUS. 280 



Pimentw. We have found it to deviate the ray of polarized light 2° to 

 the left, when examined in a column of 50 mm. 



Oeser (18G4), whose experiments have been confirmed by Gladstone 

 (1872), has shown that oil of pimento has substantially the same 

 coiiiposition as oil of cloves ; salicylic acid has not been found. Pimento 

 is rich in ^tannin, striking with a persalt of iron an i nicy black. Its 

 decoction is coloured deep blue by iodine, showing the presence of 

 starch. Dragendorff (1871) pointed out the existence in alLpice of an 



extremely small quantity of an alkaloid, having somewhat the odour of 



coniine. 



Uses — Employed as an aromatic clove ; a distilled water (Aqua 

 Pimentce) is frequently prescribed. The chief use of pimento is as a 

 culinary spice. 



Substitute — The Mexican spice called Pimienta de Tabasco (Pimeni 

 Tabago Guibourt) is somewhat larcrer and less aromatic than Jamaica 



allspice. Aiialo 



3 



Pimento Griscb. The oil of bay-berry consists o£ eugenol and a hydro- 

 carbon, possibly identical with the " light oil of clo\x'S " (p. 284), but 

 present in a largci' amount. Bay rum, much used in the United 



States by the perfumers, is an alcoholic tincture flavoured witli oil of 

 bay-berry. 



GRANATE^. 



CORTEX GRANATI FRUCTUS. 



Cortex Granati; Pomegranate Peel; F. Ecorce de Grenades; 



G. Granatsclmlcn. 



Botanical Origin— P mnica Granatum L., a shrub or low tree, with 

 small deciduous foliage and handsome scarlet flowers. It is indigenous 

 to North-western India, and the counties south and south-west of the 

 Ca^spian to the Persian Gulf and Palestine, and grows wild in the hills of 

 ^\ extern Sindh in elevations of 4000 feet, in Bahitchistan to GOOO feet, 

 also in the east flank of Soliman range. The trunk is short, rarely over 

 20 feet high. The tree has long been cultivated, and is now found 

 throughout the warm parts of E\irope, and in the subtropical regions of 

 both hemispheres. 



History— The pomegranate has been highly prized by mankind 

 trom the remotest antiquity, as is shown by the references to it m the 

 ^criptures,"'^ and by the numerous representations of the fruit m the 

 sculptures of Persopolis and Assyria,' and on the ancient monuments of 

 ^ypt.** It was probably introduced into the south of Italy by^ Greek 

 colonLsts, and is named as a common fruit-tree by Porcius Cato in the 

 •^rd century B.C. The peel of the fruit was recognized as medicinal 



3 Lay aril, Nineveh and itsRemaini*, ed. 5, 



9a l^^"^^^ "» Bentley and Trimen, part ' Layanl, ^ 



^".-The fruit of this species is easily dis- ii. (1849) 296. •• /^<;•J-^ 



iS' ' ^''"'g crowned by 5-calyx i^V;i\^imon,AncmrtL<jypUam,xi.[\hZi) 



' Krodm xxviii. 33, .34; iV«m/>er.s xx. 2; '"xisard's edition, Paris, 1S77, capp. 7. 



^cut. vm. 8 ; Cant. iv. 13 ; viii. 2. 127- 133. 



T 



