CUBEBiE. 585 



they ai'e enumerated with almonds, saffron, raisins, white pepper, grains 

 [of paradise], mace, galangal, and gingerbread, and entered as costing 

 2s, per lb. In 1285 — 2s. Of?, to 3s. per lb.; while in 1307, 1 lb. purchased 

 for the King's Wardrobe cost 9.s.^ 



From the journal of expenses of John, king of France, while in 

 England during 1359-60, it is evident that cubebs were in frequent 

 use as a spice. Among those Avho could command such luxuries, they 

 were eaten in powder with meat, or they were candied whole. A 

 patent of pontage granted in 1305 by Edward I., to aid in repairing and 

 sustainino- the Bridge of London, and authorizinsr toll on various articles, 

 mentions among groceries and spices, cubebs as liable to impost.- Cubebs 

 occur in the German lists of medicines of Frankfort and Nordlingen, 

 about 1450 and 1480;^ they are also mentioned in the Confecthuch of 

 Hans Folcz of Nuremberg, dating about 1480.* 



It cannot however be said that cubebs were a common spice, at all 

 comparable with pepper or ginger, or even in such frequent use as grains 

 of paradise or galangal. Garcia de Orta (1563) speaks of them as but 

 seldom used in Europe ; yet they are named by Saladinus as necessary 

 to be kept in every apotheca.^ In a list of drugs to be sold in the 

 apothecaries' shops of the city of Ulm, A.D. 1596, cubebs are mentioned 

 as Fructus carpesiorumi vel ciihehain*rii, the price for half an ounce being 

 quoted as 8 kreuzers, the same as that of opium, best manna, and amber, 

 v/hile black and white pepper are priced at 2 kreuzers.^ 



Although it was always well known that the cubebs were a product 

 of Java and that island is stated to have exported in 1775 as much a.s 

 10,000 lb. of this spice,'' its mother plant was made known only in 1781 

 by the younger Linnaeus. 



The action of cubebs on the urino-genital organs was known to the 

 old Arabian physicians. Yet modern writers on materia medica even at 

 the commencement of the present century, mentioned the drug simply as 

 an aromatic stimulant resembling pepper, but inferior to that spice and 

 rarely employed,* — in fact it had so far fallen into disuse that it was 

 omitted from the London Pharmacopoeia of 1 809. According to Crawfurd, 

 its importation into Europe, which had long been discontinued, recom- 

 menced in 1815, in consequence of its medicinal virtues having been 

 brought to the knowledge of the English medical officers serving in 

 Java, by their Hindu servants." 



Cultivation and Production^" — Cubebs are cultivated in small 



^ Rogers, Hist, of Agriculture and Prices ^ In Duncan's Edinhuryh Neic Dispensa- 



in England, i. 627-8, ii. 544. — To get some tory, ed. 2. 1804, Piper Cubeba is very 



idea of the relative value of commodities briefly described, but with no allusion to its 



then and now, multiply the ancient prices possessing any special medicinal properties, 



by 8. In the 6th edition of the same work (1811) 



^ Liber niger Scaccarii, Lond. 1771, i. it was altogether omitted. See also Mur- 



*478. — A translation may be found in the ray's System of Mat. Med. and Pharm. i. 



Chronicles of London Bridge, 1827, 155. (1810) 266. 



3 Archiv der Pharmacie, 201 (1872) 441 » Dictionary of the Indian Islands, 1856. 



and 211 (1877) 101. 117. — Mr. Crawfurd himself communicated 



* Choulant, Macer Floridus, etc.. Lips. to the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical 



1832, 188. Journal of 1818 (xiv. 32) a paper making 



^Compendium aromatariorum, Bonon., known the "wonderful success "with which 



1488. cubebs had been iised in gonorrhoea. 



6 Richard, Beitrdge zur Geschichte der i" We are indebted for some particulars 



Apothel-en, 1825. 124. under this head to our friends Mr. Binnen- 



' Miquel, Commentarii phytographici, i. dyk, of the Buitenzorg Botanical Garden 



(Lugd. Bat., 1839). near Batavia, and Dr. De Vry. 



