588 PIPERACEiE. 



Commerce — Cubebs were imported into Singapore in 1872 to the 

 extent of S062 cwt., of which amount 2348 cwt. were entered as from 

 Netherhinds India. The drug was re-shipped during the same year to 

 the amount of 2766 cwt., the quantity exported to the United Kingdom 

 being 1180 cwt., to the United States of America 1244 cwt,, and to 

 British India 104 cwt.^ In the previous year, .a larger quantity was 

 shipped to India than to Great Britain. 



Uses — Cubebs are much employed in the treatment of gonorrhoea. 

 The drug is usually administered in powder; less frequently in the form 

 of ethereal or alcoholic extract, or essential oil. 



Bernatzik and Schmidt, whose chemical and therapeutical experi- 

 ments have thrown much light on the subject, have shown that the 

 efficacy of cubebs being dependent on the indifferent resin and cubebic 

 acid, preparations which contain the utmost amount of these bodies and 

 exclude other constituents of the drug, are to be preferred. They would 

 reject the essential oil, as they find its administration devoid of thera- 

 peutic effects. 



The preparations which consequently are to be recommended, are the 

 berries deprived of their essential oil and constituents soluble in water, 

 and then dried and powdered ; an alcoholic extract prepared from the 

 same, or the purified resins. 



Adulteration — Cubebs are not much subject to adulteration, though 

 it is hy no means rare that the imported drug contains an undue pro- 

 portion of the inert stalks (rachis)' that require to be picked out before 

 the berries are ground. Dealers judge of cubebs by the oiliness and 

 strong characteristic smell of the berries when crushed. Those which 

 have a large proportion of the pale, smooth, ripe berries, which look dry 

 when broken, are to be avoided. 



We have occasionally found in the commercial drug a small, smooth 

 two-celled fruit, of the size, shape, and colour of cubebs, but wanting the 

 long pedicel. A slight examination suffices to recognize it as not being 

 cubebs. We have also met with some cubebs of larger size than the 

 ordinary sort, much shrivelled, with a stouter and flattened pedicel, one 

 and a half times to twice as long as the berry. The drug has an agree- 

 able odour different from that of common cubebs, and a very bitter taste. 

 From a comparison with herbarium specimens, we judge that it may 

 possibly be derived from Pijjer crassipes Korthals {Cuheha cras8ii)€s 

 Miq.), a Sumatran species. 



The fruits of Pij)er Lowong Bl. {Cuheha Lowong Miq.), a native of 

 Java, and those of P. rihesioides Wall. (Cuheha Wallichii Miq.) are 

 extremely cubeb-like,^ Those of PijJer canhium A. Dietr. (Cuheha 

 canina Miq.), a plant of wide distribution throughout the Malay Archi- 

 pelago as far as Borneo, for a specimen of which we have to thank Mr. 

 Binnendyk of Buitenzorg, are smaller than true cubebs, and have stalks 

 only half the diameter of the berry. 



In the south of China the fruits of Laurus Cuheha Lour, have been 



1 Sfraits Settlements Blue Book for 1872. ^ Figured in Nees von Esenbeck, Plantm 



294. 338.— There are no statistics for show- medicinales, Ulisseldorf, i. (1828), tab. 22. 



ing the total import of cubebs into the A different figure is given by Miquel, Com- 



United Kingdom. ment. phytogr. (1839), tab. 3. 



- They yielded to Schmidt 1 "7 per cent, 

 of oil and 3 per cent of resin. 



