APPENDIX. 203 



place of productioia is very little over this amount. (Fharm. Jotcrn, 



June ISth, 1891.) 



EUPHORBIACE^. 



Phyllanthus Niruri* 



The bitter principle of this plant, which we pi'ovisionally named 



Tijds. 



examin 



9:oor Phann.^ 1891, 3, 128), who calls it phyllanthin and gives its 

 chemical composition as C^^H^^O', It crystallizes in colourless 

 needles or flakes, possesses an intensely bitter taste, and is almost in- 

 soluble in watei'j but easily soluble in alcohol, petroleum ether, 

 ether, chlorofoi'm, benzene, and glacial acetic acid. At 200° C. it is 

 volatilized and condenses in the "upper part of the vessel as an amor- 

 phous mass, but in a few days this amorphous deposit changes to . 

 the crystalline state. 



Manioc or Cassava. 



^^ r 



From the brief allusions to this substance by wiiters on JIateria 

 Medica, one would get but a slight idea of its importance as an arti- 

 cle of diet in tropical countries, being the staple-food for unnumbered 

 millions of human beings — the staff of life in the West Indies, Brazil, 

 and on the Continent of Africa. 



The plant from which this food is derived is known to botanists as 

 Janipha Manihot^ and is a shrub six to twelve feet high and one or two 

 inches in diameter. Except for the young leaves, which are used as 

 greens, its whole value consists in its tuberous roots, which sometimes 

 reach the enormous weight of thirty pounds, but usually range from 

 one to three inches in diameter and from six to eighteen inches in 

 length. The shrub is said to be a native oi 

 as Mandioca or Tapioca, Cassada (or Cass£ 



Brazil 



West 



Indies, It is not grown from the seeds, but from cuttings, having 

 surpiising vitality ; for a cane of it, like Aaron's rod, wiU bud and 

 grow leaves in your hand. Hence, it is only necessary to cut the 

 stick into pieces of six to twelve inches in length, and thrust them 



'oun 



first broken for it or not. In eiglit to eighteen montlis the tnbci. 

 are in their best state to produce the nutritiousfood— seventy per cent. 

 gluten and thirty of starch ; but, at a later period, the gluten bczac*. 



