G3() CANNACEiE. 



says that the root "washed, pounded Jine and bleached, makes a finejloitr 

 and starch," — sometimes used as food when provisions are scarce.^ 



Hughes, when writing of Barbadoes in 1750, describes arrowroot as a 

 very useful plant, the juice mixed with water and drunk being regarded 

 as "a "preservative against any 'poison of an hot nature" ; while from 

 the root the finest starch is made, far excelling that of wheat.^ The pro- 

 perties of Maranta arundinacea as a counter-poison are insisted upon 

 at some length by Lunan,'^ who concludes his notice of the plant by 

 detailing the process for extracting starch from the rhizome. 



Arrowroot came into use in England about the commencement of 

 the present century, the supplies being obtained, as it would appear, 

 from Jamaica.^ 



The statements of Sloaiie, which are confirmed by Browne and 

 Lunan, plainly indicate the origin and meaning of the word arrowroot, 

 and disprove the notion of the learned C. F. Ph. von Martius (1867) 

 that the name is derived from that of the Arnac or Aroaquis Indians 

 of South America, who call the finest sort of fecula they obtain from 

 the Mandioc Aru-aru. It in tx\\Qi\iSut Maranta ariindinacea\s,^\\o\fn 

 at the present day in Brazil as Araruta, but the name is certainly a 

 corruption of the English word arroiuroot, the plant according to general 

 report having been introduced,^ 



Manufacture — For the production of arrowroot, the rhizomes are 

 dug up after the plant has attained its complete maturity, which in 

 Georgia is at the beginning of winter. The scales which cover them 

 are removed and the rhizomes washed ; the latter are then ground in a 

 mill, and the pulp is washed on sieves, or in washing machines con- 

 structed for the purpose, in order to remove from it the starch. This is 

 allowed to settle down in pure water, is then drained and finally dried 

 with a gentle heat. Instead of being crushed in a mill, the rhizomes 

 are sometimes grated to a pulp by a rasping machine. 



In air stages of the process for making arrowroot, nice precautions 

 have to be taken to avoid contamination with dust, iron mould, insects, 

 or anything which can impart colour or taste to the product. The 

 rhizome contains about 08 per cent, of water, and yields about a fifth of 

 its weight of starch.® 



Description — Arrowroot is a brilliant white, insipid, inodorous, 

 powder, more or less aggregated into lumps which seldom exceed a pea 

 in size ; when pressed it emits a slight crackling sound. It exhibits the 

 general properties of starch, consisting entirely of granules which are 

 subspherical, or broadly and irregularly egg-shaped ; when seen in water 

 they show a distinct stratification in the form of fine concentric rings 

 around a small star-like hilum. They have a diameter of 5 to 7 mkm. 

 when observed in the air or under benzol. If the water in which they 



^ Civil and Natural History of JuniaUa, Martins' derivation of ' aiTowrooi.' On the 



1756. 112. 113. Amazon it is called 'arariita' — plainly a 



- Natural History of BarbiulO'i,\lo0.2'2\. corruption of the English name, and ex- 



' Hortii« Jamaicensis, i. (1814) 30. plained by the fact that it was first culti- 



"• Thus in 1799 there were exported from vated, as I was told, from tubers obtained in 



Jamaica 24 casks and boxes of " Jtidian the East Indies." 



Arrow-root." — Renny, Hist.ofJamaica,235. '• This was in the German colony of Blu- 



* Since the above was written, the follow- menauin Southern Brazil — Eberhard, Arch. 



ing lines bearing on this question have been (Jfr Pharm. 1,34 (1868) 257. 



received from Mr. Spruce :— ". .1 know not 



