236 



NOTES ON CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA. 



186062. 



Chinese 

 Fruits. 



Guibourt's 

 analysis of 

 Boa-tarn- 

 paijang. 



sides. The fruits, as found in commerce (Fig. 4), are from to 

 1J inch long, ovoid, usually somewhat elongated at the lower 

 extremity, which terminates by a large oblique cicatrix. Exter- 

 nally they are of a dark brown, deeply wrinkled, though generally 

 less so at the superior extremity. The pericarp, which is from T V 

 to ^V of an i ncn m thickness, consists of a thin epidermis, beneath 

 which lies a dry, black resinous-looking pulp, surrounding a fragile 

 shell lined with a whitish membrane (the testa of the seed ?). The 



central part of the fruit is 

 occupied by two cotyledons, 

 which in the'ir dried and 

 shrunken state are thin and 

 concave: the radicle is in- 

 ferior, very short and tur- 

 binate. When the fruit is 

 , macerated in water, its outer 



FIG. 4. (The right hand figure represents a 



fruit cut longitudinally.) shell or pericarp increases 



enormously in volume, forming a large gelatinous mass. 1 



It is this mucilaginous property that confers a value on the 

 fruit in the eyes of the inhabitants of China and Siam, in both 

 which countries the jelly is sweetened and eaten as a delicacy. 



Boa-tam-paijang has been analyzed by Professor Guibourt, 

 and found to consist of the following substances : 

 In the pericarp. 



Green oil 1'06 



Bassorine 59*04 



Brown astringent matter . . \ -J^Q 



Mucilage j 



Woody fibre and epidermis . . 3 -20 



In the nucleus. 



Fatty matter 2-98^1 



Saline and bitter extract .... 0*21 {, 



Starch i 31-91 



64-90 



Cellular tissue 



3510 



100-00 



1 Sir R. H. Schomburgk has been told that where the trees grow by a 

 road-side, their fruits sometimes drop to the ground so abundantly, that if 





