SEMEN AREC^. 669 



Another adulteration of late much practised, and not always easy to 

 detect by the eye, consists in coating genuine saffron with carbonate of 

 lime, previously tinged orange-red. If a few shreds of such saffron be 

 placed on the surface of water in a wineglass and gently stirred, the 

 water will immediately become turbid, and the carbonate of lime will 

 detach itself as a white powder and subside. Saffron thus adulterated 

 will freely effervesce when dilute hydrochloric acid is dropped upon it. 

 We have examined Alicante Saffron, the weight of which had been 

 increased more than 20 per cent, by this fraudulent admixture. The 

 earthy matter employed in sophisticating saffron is said to be some- 

 times emery powder, rendered adherent by honey. We have found 

 that adulterated with carbonate of lime to leave from 12 to 28 per cent, 

 of ash.^ 



PALM^. 



SEMEN ARECiE. 



Nuces Arecce vel Betel ; Areca Nuts, Bet^l Nuts ; F. Semence ou Noix 

 cVArec ; G. Areka^niisse, Betelnilsse. 



Botanical Origin — Areca Caiechu L., a most elegant palm,'^ with a 

 straight smooth trunk, 40 to 50 feet high and about 20 inches in circum- 

 ference. The inflorescence is arranged on a branching spadix, with the 

 male fl.owei's on its upper portion and the female near its base. The 

 tree is cultivated in the Malayan Archipelago, the warmer parts of the 

 Indian Peninsula, Ceylon, Indo-Chiha and the Phillippines. It is pro- 

 bably indigenous to the first -named region. 



History — The Areca palm is mentioned in the Sanskrit writings as 

 Guvdca. It is called in Chinese Fin-lang, a name apparently derived 

 from Pinang, a designation for the tree in the Malay Islands, whence 

 the Chinese anciently derived their supply of the seeds. The oldest 

 Chinese work to mention the pin-lang is the San-fu-huang-tu, a 

 description of Chang-an, the capital of the Emperor Wu-ti, B.C. 140-86. 

 It is there stated that after the conquest of Yunnan, B.C. Ill, some re- 

 markable trees and plants of the south were taken to the capital, and 

 among them more than 100 pin-lai^ g,vrhich were planted in the imperial 

 gardens. Bretschneider,^ to whose researches we are indebted for this 

 infonnation, cites several other Chinese works, from the first century 

 downwards, showing that areca nuts were brought from the then un- 

 subdued provinces of Southern China, the Malayan Archipelago and 

 India. The custom of presenting areca nut to a guest is alluded to in 

 a work of the 4th century. 



The Arabian writei-s, as for instance Ibn Batuta, were well acquainted 

 with the areca nut, which they called Fofal, and with the Indian custom 

 of masticating it with lime, 



Areca nut, though held in great estimation among Asiatics as a masti- 

 catory, and supposed to strengthen the gums, sweeten the breath and 



^ Science Papers, 368. ^ On the siitdy of Chinese botanical works, 



- Bentley and Trimen, Medic. Plants, Foochow, 1870. 27. 

 part 21 (1877). 



