ARROWROOT 211 



volatile oil, oil of Arnica; and an alkaline bitter principle, Arnicine. It is used 

 occasionally in medicine. 



AROMATIC VINEGAR. (Acetum aromaticum.) This is a compound of strong 

 acetic acid with certain powerful essential oils or aromatic herbs. The ' Edinburgh 

 Pharmacopoeia' orders it to be made with concentrated acetic acid, l pints ; rosemary 

 and thyme dried, of each 1 oz. ; lavender, also dried, oz. ; cloves, bruised, ^ drachm. 

 Macerate for seven days, strain, and express strongly, and filter the liquor. Henry's 

 aromatic vinegar is prepared by dissolving oils of cloves, lavender, rosemary, and the 

 like, in concentrated acetic acid. Camphorated acetic acid is sometimes substituted for 

 the acetum aromaticum. These preparations have been in great repute as prophy- 

 lactics in contagious fevers. The name of ' Le vinaigre des quatre voleurs ' has been 

 given to aromatic vinegar in France it is said from the confessions of four thieves 

 who, during the plague at Marseilles, plundered the dead bodies with perfect impunity 

 after protecting themselves with aromatic vinegar. 



ARQUERITE. A silver amalgam from the mines of Arqueros, near Coquimbo. 

 It occurs crystalline. Domeyko finds it to consist of silver 86'49, mercury 13'51. 



ARRACK. A spirituous liquor from the East Indies. This term, or its corrup- 

 tion, rack, is applied to any spirituous liquor in the East. The true arrack is said to 

 be distilled from toddy the fermented juice of the cocoa-nut tree. It is, however, 

 frequently distilled from rice and sugar, fermented with the cocoa-nut juice. 



ARROBA. A measure of capacity and weight in general use throughout all 

 those parts of South America which ever belonged to Spain. It is also used in 

 Manilla and the East. According to Spanish standard weight it should be 25'36 Ibs. 

 English. As a wine measure it is equal to 3'54 imperial gallons ; as an oil measure 

 it is but 2'78 imperial gallons. 



ARROPE. Sherry boiled to a syrup ; used for colouring other wines. 



ARROWROOT. (Racine fleckiere, Fr. ; Pfeilwurz, Ger.) The rhizome of the 

 Maranta arundinacea, a plant which grows in the West Indies, and furnishes, by 

 pounding in mortars, and elutriation through sieves, a peculiar species of starch, com- 

 monly, but improperly, called arrowroot. It is reckoned more nourishing than the 

 starch of wheat or potatoes, and is generally also freer from peculiar taste or flavour. 

 The fresh root consists, according to Benzon, of 0'07 of volatile oil; 26 of starch (23 

 of which are obtained in the form of powder, while the other 3 must be extracted 

 from the parenchyma in a paste by boiling water); T58 of vegetable albumen ; 0'6 

 of a gummy extract ; 0'25 of chloride of calcium ; 6 of insoluble fibrino ; and 65'5 of 

 water. This plant was brought from the Island of Dominica, by Colonel James 

 Walker to Barbadoes, and there planted. From thence it was sent to Jamaica. The 

 root appears to have been used by the Indians to yield a poison with which to smear 

 their arrows, and hence its name. 



This plant has been lately cultivated with great success, and its root manufactured 

 in a superior manner, upon the Hopewell estate, in the Island of St. Vincent. It 

 grows there to the height of about 3 feet, and it sends down its tap roots from 12 

 to 18 inches into the ground. Its maturity is known by the flagging and falling 

 down of the leaves, which takes place when the plant is from 10 to 12 months old. 

 The roots being dug up with the hoe, are transported to the washing-house, where 

 they are thoroughly freed from all adhering earth, and next taken individually in 

 the hand, and deprived by a knife of .every portion of their skins, while every 

 unsound part is cut away. This process must be performed with great nicety, for 

 the cuticle contains a resinous matter which imparts colour and a disagreeable flavour 

 to the fecula which no subsequent treatment can remove. The skinned roots are 

 thrown into a large cistern, with a perforated bottom, and there exposed to the action 

 of a copious cascade of pure water till this runs off quite unaltered. The cleansed 

 roots are next put into the hopper of the mill, and are subjected to the powerful 

 pressure of two pairs of polished rollers of hard brass, the lower pair of rollers being 

 set much closer together than the upper. (Soefig. 74.) The starchy matter is thus 

 ground into a pulp, which falls into the receiver placed beneath, and is thence trans- 

 ferred to large fixed copper cylinders, tinned inside, and perforated at the bottom with 

 numerous minute orifices, like a kitchen drainer. Within these cylinders, wooden 

 paddles are made to revolve with great velocity, by the power of a water-wheel, at 

 the same time that a stream of pure water is admitted from above. The paddle-arms 

 beat out the fecula from the fibres and parenchyma of the pulp, and discharge it in 

 the form of a milk through the perforated bottom of a cylinder. This starchy water 

 runs along pipes, and then through strainers of fine muslin, into large reservoirs, 

 where, after the fecula has subsided, the supernatant liquid is drawn off, and 

 fresh water being let on, the whole is agitated and left again to repose. When 

 the water ceases to remove anything from the arrowroot, all the deposits of fecula 

 are collected into one cistern, covered, and agitated with a fresh charge of water, and 





