584 PIPERACEiE. 



of pipciin; 8 pounds of the drug were not sufficient to afford us an 

 appreciable quantity of the volatile oil. The resin and volatile oil 

 reside exclusively in the pericarp. Long pepper, according to Blyth 

 (1874), yields 8|- per cent of ash. 



Commerce — Long pepper is at present exported from Penang and 

 Singapore, whither it is brought chiefly from Java, and to a much 

 smaller extent from Rhio. The quantity exported from Singapore in 

 1871 amounted to 3,366 cwt., of which only 447 cwt, were shipped to 

 the United Kingdom, the remainder being sent chiefly to British India.^ 

 The export from Penang is from 2,000 to 3,000 peculs annually. There 

 is also a considerable export of long pepper from Calcutta, 



Uses — Long pepper is scarcely used as a medicine, black pepper 

 having been substituted in the few preparations in which it was formerly 

 ordered, but it is employed as a spice and in veterinary medicine. 



(whence the modern name pijM-inul), is a favourite remedy of the 

 Hindus and also known to the Persians and Arabs. 



Fructus vel Baccca vel Piioer Cuhehw^; Cuhehs; F. Cuhebes; 



G. Cuhebcn. 



Botanical Origin 



# 



> 



a climbing, woody, dioecious shrub, indigenous to Java, Southern Borneo 



and Sumatra.^ 



History— Cubebs have been introduced into medicine by the 

 Arabian physicians of tlie middle ages, who describe them as having 

 the form, colour, and properties of pepper. Masudi^ in the lOta 

 century stated them to be a production of Java. Edrisi," the geographer, 

 in A.D. 1153 enumerated them among the imports of Aden. 



Among European writers, Constant! nus Africanus of Salerno was 



d in the 



acquainted with this drug as early as the 11th century; and ni tn« 

 beginning of the 13th its virtues were noticed in the writings oi tlie 

 Abbess Hildegard in Germany, and even in those of Henrik Harpestreng 

 in Denmark.'' „-, 



Cubebs are mentioned as a production of Java ("grcmt isle de Javv^.^ } 

 by Marco Polo; and by Odoric, an Italian friar, who visited the is ana 

 about forty years later. In the 18th century the drug was an artic^ 

 of European trade, and would appear to have already been ^^^^r^^^^^ 



miported into London.' Duty was levied upon them as .^"^ .% 

 ailvestres at Barcelona in 1271." They are mentioned about this peii 

 as sold in the fairs of Champagne iu France, the lu'ice being 4 s^'''!|g^ 

 Ib.io They were also sold in England: in accounts under date i-^ 



^^Blue Book of the Straits Settlements for ' Meyer, GeschicMe der ^^'ff^jl'^nsl^'i 



* Mtiiiimonta G'ddh(M<^ __\ 030. 



1871. 

 2 



3 



Already in the Ilamayana. IJher albus, i. (1859, State papers; - ^ .^^^^^ 



Cubeba from the Arabic Kahdhah. » Capmany, Memorias ^^obre la ^ ^^ 



Fig. m Beutley and Trimen'a Med. c^c, </e i;<uce/o?m, i. (Madrid, i/'^'^^ /rt 



Plants, part 27 (1877). lo Bourquelot, Etudes sur lesp^' ^. 



6 ^? ^'•"^'■^■<^« d'or, i. 341. C/tamparjne, Mimoins etc. de I J^"' 



Odofjraphie, trad, par Jaubert, i. 51. 89. (18(55) 28S. 



