CORTEX GRANATI FRUCTUS. 289 



PimenUe. We have found it to de^^ate the ray of polarized light 2° to 

 the left, when examined in a column of 50 mm. 



Oeser (1864), whose experiments have been confirmed by Gladstone 

 (1872), has shown that oil of pimento has substantially the same 

 composition as oil of cloves ; salicylic acid has not been found. Pimento 

 is rich in tannin, striking with a persalt of iron an inky black. Its 

 decoction is coloured deep blue by iodine, showing the presence of 

 starch. Dragendorff (1871) pointed out the existence in allspice of an 

 extremely small quantity of an alkaloid, having somewhat the odour of 

 coniine. 



Uses — Employed as an aromatic clove ; a dLstilled water {Aqua 

 Pimeiitce) is frequently prescribed. The chief use of pimento is as a 

 culinary spice. 



Substitute — The Mexican spice called Pirtiienta de Tabasco (Pimeni 

 Tahago Guibourt) is somewhat larger and less aromatic than Jamaica 

 allspice. Analogous products are aflbrded by Pimenta acris Wight ^ 

 (Myrcia acris l3C, Arnomis acns Berg), the Bay-berry tree, and P. 

 Piviento Griseb. The oil of bay-berry consists of eugenol and a hydro- 

 carbon, possibly identical with the " light oil of cloves " (p. 284), but 

 present in a larger amount. Bay rumi, much used in the United 

 States by the perfumers, is an alcoholic tincture flavoured with oil of 

 bay-berry. 



GRANATE^. 



CORTEX GRANATI FRUCTUS. 



Ccyrtex Granati; Pomegranate Peel; F. Ecorce de Grenades; 

 G. Granatschalen. 



Botanical Origin — Piinica Granatvjm L., a shrub or low tree, with 

 small deciduous foliage and handsome scarlet flowers. It is indigenous 

 to North-western India, and the counties south and south-west of the 

 Caspian to the Persian Gulf and Palestine, and grows wild in the hills of 

 Western Sindh in elevations of 4000 feet, in Balutchistan to 6000 feet, 

 also in the east flank of Soliman range. The trunk is short, rarely over 

 20 feet high. The tree has long been cultivated, and is now found 

 throughout the warm parts of Europe, and in the subtropical regions of 

 both hemLspheres. 



History — The pomegranate has been highly prized by mankind 

 from the remotest antiquity, as is shown by the references to it in the 

 Scriptures," and by the numerous representations of the fruit in the 

 sculptures of PersepolLs and AssjTia,^ and on the ancient monuments of 

 Egypt.* It was probably introduced into the south of Italy by Greek 

 colonists, and is named as a common fruit-tree by Porcius Cato ^ in the 

 3rd century B.C. The peel of the fruit was recognized as medicinal 



^ Figured in Bentley and Trimen, part ^ Layard, Ninevdi and its Remains, ed. 5, 



20. — The fruit of this species is easily dis- ii. (1849) 296. 



tinguished, being crowned by' 5-calyx * VfiiiaTasan, Ancient Eijyptians,u. (liZl) 



lobes. 142. 



- Exodus xxviii, 33, 34; Numbers xx. 2; ' Nisard's edition, Paris, 1877, capp. 7. 



Deut. viiL 8 ; Cant. iv. 13 ; viii. 2. 127. 133. 



