HADIX BELLADONNiE. 455 



which is confirmed by the somewhat offensive smell given off by our 

 stearoptene if it is heated in a glass tube. 



Buchheim's " Capsicol"^ is in our opinion a doubtful substance. 



Thresh (187C-1877) succeeded in isolating a well defined,^ bighly 

 active principle, the Capsaicin, from the extract which he obtained by 

 exhausting Cayenne pepper with petroleum. From the red liquor 

 dilute caustic lye removes capsaicin, which is to be precipitated in 

 • minute crystals by passing carbonic acid through the alkaline solution. 

 They may be purified by recrystallizing them from either alcohol, ether, 

 benzine, glacial acetic acid, or hot bisulphide of carbon ; in petroleum 

 capsaicin is but very sparingly soluble, yet dissolves abundantly on 

 addition of fatty oil. The latter being present in the pericarp is the 

 tause why capsaicin can be extracted by the above process. 



The crystals of capsaicin are colourless and answer to the formula 

 C'ff'O-; they melt at 59° C. and begin to volatilize at 115° C, but 

 decomposition can only be avoided by great care. The vapours of 

 capsaicin are of the most dreadful acridity, and even the ordinary 

 manipulation of that substance requires much precaution. Capsaicin 

 is not a glucoside ; it is a powerful rubefacient, and taken internally 

 produces very violent burning in the stomach. 



Commerce— Chillies or Pod Pepper are shipped from Zanzibar, 

 Western Africa and Natal, but no general statistics of the quantity 

 imported into Great Britain are accessible. 



The exports from Sierra Leone in 1871 reached 7258 lb. ihe 

 colony of Natal, which produces Cayenne Pepper in the county ot 

 Victoria, where sugar-cane and coffee are also grown, shipped m tlie 



same year 9072 Ib.^ . , , , ^^i t- 



Official returns^ show that in 1871 Singapore imported 1071_ cwt. 

 (119,952 lb.) of chillies, chiefly from Fruang and Pegu. The spice is 



largely consumed by the Chinese. ^, , .-^^ i 



Bombay imported of dried chillies in the year 18^2-,3, ooO/ c\m. 

 (023,504 lb.) princi])ally from the Madras Presidency, and exported 

 •3323 cwt.^ 



Uses-Capsicum on account of its pungent properties is oft^n ad- 

 inistered as a local stimulant in the form of gargle, ^nd occasional y 



as a liniment ; and internally to promote digestion, 

 countries it is much employed as a condiment. 



In all warm 



RADIX BELLADONN/E 



BMadonna Root; F. Racine de BcIIadone ; G. Belladonnuivurzd. 



Botanical Origin-^fro^.a Belladonna L., a tall £^brous ()r 

 •slightly downy herb, with a perennial stock, native of ''-"tral an 

 Southern Europe, where it grows in the cjoarnigs of woo b. 1 M^^^^^^^ 

 extemls eastward to the Crimea, Caucasia and Northern Asia Alinor. 



;8j3. 06/ ; also Yearbook of Phctrvu lS/6. „ J^^^^/" ^^ o/ ^/«' Tr.uh and^ynri'jotioa 



"' ''lihe Book of the Colony of Sierra Leone of Bomhanfor 1872-73, pt. ii. 58. 'Jl. 

 ^or 1871. 



