Medical Botany. ,573 



ployed as a powerful antispasmodic in many nervous diseases, in dyspepsia, 

 &c In India it is used by the natives as a specific for the Guinea worm, 

 and to destroy the parasites which infest the rectum. 



No. XLIV.for August, contains 



170 to 174. — Dryobaianops Camphora; Guttiferse. A lofty tree of 

 Sumatra. " The camphor is found, as already observed, in a solid state, 

 occupying portions of about a foot, or a foot and a half, in the heart of the 

 tree. The natives, in searching for the camphor, make a deep incision in 

 the trunk, about 14 or 18 ft. from the ground, with a billing, or Malay axe ; 

 and, when it is discovered, the tree is felled, and cut into junks of a fathom 

 long, in order to allow of the extraction of the crystalline masses.... Cam- 

 phor is imported into this country in chests and casks, chiefly from Japan, 

 in small granular or friable masses, and is afterwards purified by sublima- 

 tion, in low flat-bottomed glass vessels, placed in sand for that purpose.... 

 Camphor, or a substance analogous to it, exists in several other vegetables 

 besides the iaurus and Dryobaianops ; as mint, thyme, marjoram, and many 

 other plants, and is held in solution by the essential oils obtained from 

 them.. ..There is still some difference of opinion respecting the action of 

 camphor on the animal system : by some it has been regarded as a stimu- 

 lant ; while others have maintained it to possess considerable sedative 

 powers. Its primary operation is that of an excitant, but its stimulant 

 action is not very considerable. In moderate doses it increases the heat 

 of the body, softens and increases the fulness of the pulse, and excites 

 diaphoresis. In a large dose it diminishes the force of the circulation, in- 

 duces sleep, and sometimes produces delirium, vertigo, convulsions, or coma j 

 effects which are best counteracted by wine and opium." 



Quassia Simaricba. A tree of Jamaica, which yields the valuable tonic 

 and astringent bark termed Simariiba Quassia. — Quassia aroara. A shrub 

 of Surinam, named in honour of a negro, Quassi, who, Stedman observes, 

 was a drunken doctor, but had discovered the virtue of the wood in curing 

 the malignant fevers of that hot marshy country. All parts of this shrub are 

 intensely bitter. — Quassia excelsa. A tree in Jamaica, the bark of which is 

 used as a tonic. — Piper nigrum. A ligneous climbing perennial of the East 

 Indies, where it is extensively cultivated, and supported by living trees, up 

 which it climbs, instead of posts. These trees are most commonly the 

 Areca palm, the Erythrina indica, the Mango, and the Jack tree. The 

 plants, or pepper vines, as they are called, begin to bear about the third 

 year, and are in their prime about the seventh ; in which state they continue 

 for three or four years, and then decline. Two crops are produced annually, 

 the first in December, the second in July. " As soon as any of the berries 

 redden, the bunch is reckoned fit for gathering, the remainder being gene- 

 rally full grown, although green. When gathered, they are spread on mats 

 in the sun : in this situation they become black and shrivelled ; and, as the 

 pepper dries, it is rubbed occasionally between the hands, to separate the 

 grains from the stalks." The pepper countries extend from long. 96° to 

 115° E., and from lat. 5° to about 12° N. " The pepper of Malabar is 

 esteemed the best ; next, that of the east coast of the Gulf of Siam ; then 

 follow those of Calantan, Borneo, the coast of Sumatra ; and, last of all, 

 the pepper of Rio, which, through the avidity of the cultivators and 

 dealers, is plucked before it is ripe, and hence is hollow and ill coloured. 

 There are two sorts of pepper in commerce. The best black pepper is that 

 which is well garbled and clean, having the stalks, bad grains, and other 

 impurities, taken out, and is denominated heavy pepper; it is the sort 

 usually brought to Europe. This pepper, when dry, assumes a dark appear- 

 ance, and is called black pepper : divested of its external coat, by steeping 

 the grains in water, and afterwards drying them in the sun, rubbing between 

 the hands, and winnowing, it is termed white pepper." Pepper yields its 

 virtues to ether and alcohol, and partly to water. Piperin, a new principle 



