TAMARINDUS INDICUS, ORD. XXV. Zomentacee. ASL 
found to correct the figure of the Tamarind, given by the justly 
celebrated botanist Jacquin. | 
The pulp of the Tamarind, with the seeds, connected together 
by numerous tough strings or fibres, are brought to us freed from 
the outer shell, and commonly preserved in syrup. According to 
Long, Tamarinds are prepared for exportation at Jamaica, in the 
following manner. ‘“ The fruit or pods are gathered (in June, 
July, and August) when full ripe, which is known by their 
fragility or easy breaking on small pressure between the finger 
and thumb. The fruit, taken out of the pod, and cleared from the 
shelly fragments, is placed in layers in a cask, and boiling syrup, 
just before it begins to granulate, is poured in, till the cask is 
filled: the syrup pervades every part quite down to the bottom, 
and when cool the cask is headed for sale.”* He observes, that 
the better mode of preserving this fruit is with sugar, well clarified 
with eggs, till a transparent syrup is formed, which gives the fruit 
a much pleasanter flavour: but as a principal medicinal purpose 
of the pulp depends upon its acidity, which is thus counteracted 
by the admixture of sugar, it would therefore be of more utility if 
always imported here in the pods.£ The fruit produced in the 
East Indies is more esteemed than that of the West, and easily to be 
distinguished by the greater length of the pods, and the pulp 
being dryer, and of a darker colour. 
This fruit, the use of which was first learned of the Arabians, 
contains a larger proportion of acid, with the saccharine matter, 
than is usually found in the fructus acido-dulces, and is therefore 
not only employed as a laxative, but also for abating thirst and 
heat in various inflammatory complaints, and for correcting putrid 
disorders, especially those of a bilious kind; in which the cathartic, 
antiseptic, and refrigerant qualities of the fruit have been found 
equally useful. When intended merely as a Jaxative it may be of 
advantage to join it with manna, or purgatives of a sweet kind, 
by which its use is rendered safer and more effectual. Three 
.L, ¢. * Cullen, M. M. vol. i¢. p. 507. 
