T A M 



dtca) ; which grows to a vcr)' large fir.e in the countries 

 where it if a native : the llein being very large, and covered 

 with a hrowli bark, dividing into many branches at tiie top, 

 which fpread wide every way ; the flowers come out from 

 the fide of tiie brandies, five, fix, or more togetlier, in loofe 

 bunches ; the pods being thick and comprefled ; thofe from 

 the Weft Indies from two to five inches in length, contain- 

 ing two, three, or four feeds ; but thofe from the Eaft 

 Indies are almoft twice as long, and contain five, fix, and 

 even fcvcn feeds. The tree is a native of both tlie Indies, 

 and of fome other places. 



Method of Culture. — This is a plant wliich is incrcafed 

 from feeds, which fliould be fown in the fpring on a hot- 

 bed, and when the plants arc come up, each planted in a 

 feparatc fmall pot, filled with light rich earth, plunging them 

 into a hot-bed of tanners' bark to bring them forward, 

 watering and fliading them until they have taken root ; 

 and as the earth in the pots becomes dry, they ir.uil be 

 watered from time to time, and have air given in proportion 

 to the warmth of the feafon, and the bed in which tliey are 

 placed. When tlie pots in which they are planted are filled 

 with their roots, the plants fiiould be fhifted into pots of a 

 larger fize, which niuft be filled up with rich light earth, 

 and again plunged into the hot-bed, giving them air as 

 before, according to the warmth of the ieafon ; but in very 

 hot weather, the glafles (liould be fliaded with mats in the 

 beat of the day, otlierwife tiie fun will be too violent for them 

 through the glafles ; nor will the plants thrive if they are 

 expofed to the open air, even in the warmeft feafon ; fo that 

 they muft be conftantly kept in the bark-ftove both fummer 

 and winter, treating them in the fame maimer as the coffee- 

 tree. Thefe plants have a good effeft in the ftove col- 

 leftions. 



It is the feed-pods of this tree which form and conftitute 

 the preferve called tamarinds, which is fold in the {hops ; and 

 18 of fuch a pulpy acid quality, as to be of great ufe in 

 abating and quenching thirll, and in cooling and allaying 

 exceflive heat. It is brought hither from both the Eaft and 

 Weft Indies ; but though the pods of the trees of the former 

 fituation are much finer and larger, the preferve from the 

 latter is generally confidered better, and of courfe moftly 

 preferred. 



There is nothing peculiar in the making of this fort of 

 preferve, exaftly the fame methods being followed as are com- 

 mon in the preferviiig of other fubftances of fimilar kinds. 



Tamarindus, in the Mntaia Medica. The Eaft India 

 tamarinds are longer than thofe of the Weft ; the former 

 containing fix or feven feeds each, the latter rarely above 

 three or four ; neverthelefs they feem to be the produce of 

 the fame plant : the Oriental fort is drier and darker-coloured 

 than the Occidental, and has more pulp ; the former is fome- 

 times preferved without addition, but the latter has always an 

 admixture of fugar. 



In the Weft Indies, the pods are gathered in June, July, 

 and Auguft, when fully ripe ; and the fruit, freed from the 

 ftielly fragments, is placed in layers in a cafk, and boiling 

 fyrup poured over it till the cafk is filled. When cool, the cafk 

 is headed for fale. When tamarinds are good, they are not 

 in any degree mufty ; the feeds are hard, flat, and clean ; the 

 ftrings rough and entire, and a clean knife thruft into them 

 does not receive any coating of copper. They fhould be 

 pref' n-ed in clofely covered jars. 



We owe the knowledge of tiie ufe of tamarinds, in medi- 

 cine, to the Arabians. The ancient Greeks knew nothing 

 of th-m; and S-rapion, Mefue, and Avicenna, are the firft 

 authors who prefcribe them. 



The fruit of the tamarind, which is what we ufe, is only 



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the piftil of the flower fwcUed into a pOd ; this is greenifh at 

 firft, but grows brownifti or reddifli as it ripens; its com- 

 mon fize is four inches in length, and one in breadth ; and it 

 is undulated on the back, and deeply notched in three or four 

 places at the front, which is terminated by a large rib, that 

 runs from the pedicle on which it grows, to the end of the 

 pod, and there frequently terminates in a fort of hook. 



This fruit \% properly fpeaking, compofed of two pods, 

 the one inclofcd witliin the other ; the outer pod is flefhy, 

 and of the twelfth of an inch in thicknefs when frefh, and 

 the inner one is as thin as a line piece of parchment : between 

 thefe two there is an intermediate fpace of about a quarter of 

 an inch all the \vay ; and this fpace is filled up with a very 

 foft and pulpy fubftance, of a tart but very agreeable tafte, 

 which is what we ufe in medicine. This is blackifh, and ot 

 a vifcous texture, and is traverfed by three laige veiTels, or 

 rather bundles of veflels, one of which runs all along the 

 b.ick of the pod, and the two others are placed on the oppo- 

 fite fide, and often there are feveral rainifications of vefTels, 

 which run off different ways from thefe. Thefe veffels 

 carry the vinous juice, which afterwards hardens into the 

 vifcous matter of the pulp ; but this is not all their office, 

 for they alfo convey nouriihmcnt to the feeds in the inner 

 pod. 



We ufe the tamarinds only in medicine ; but the Africans, 

 and the people of many of the Oriental nations, where they 

 are common, make them into a fort of confection with fugar, 

 which they eat as a delicacy, and which cools them in the 

 violent heats of their climates ; and at the fame time keeps 

 their bowels in a proper ftate of laxity. The four tafte of 

 this fruit proves, that acid particles abound greatly in it ; 

 and a chemical analyfis of it gives further proof of tiiis. 



According to the analyfis of Vauquclin, the pulp contains, 

 independently of the fugar with which it is mixed, fuper- 

 tartrate of potafs, gum, jelly, citric acid, tartaric acid, malic 

 acid, and a feculent matter. The acid tafte chiefly depends 

 on the citric acid, as its quantity exceeds that of the others 

 Jxvj of the prepared pulp, containing Jifs of citric acid, 

 but only :;ij of tartaric acid, 3fs of fupertartrate of potafs, 

 and ^fs of malic acid. Annales de Chimie, vol. v. p. 92. 



The effential fait of tamarinds, as Beaume obferves, may 

 be obtained more expeditioufly, by clarifying tlie decodlion 

 of the tamarinds with whites of eggs, than by filtering and 

 evaporating it to a proper confiftence, and fett'ing it to cool : 

 the fait ftioots into cryiials of a brown colour, and very acid 

 tafte, but in diffolving and cryftallizing them again, or barely 

 walliing them with water, they lofe almoit all their acidity ; 

 the acid principle of the tamarind feeming not to be truly 

 cryftallizable. 



The pulp of tamarinds is an agreeable laxative acid, of 

 common ufe in inflammatory and putrid diforders, for 

 abating thirft and heat, correfting putrefaction, and loofen- 

 ing the belly. The dofe, as a laxative, is two or three 

 drachms ; an ounce or two prove moderately cathartic. It is 

 an ufeful addition with this intention to the purgative fweets, 

 cafGa and manna, in increafing their adlion, and rendering 

 them lefs liable to produce flatulencies : the refinous ca- 

 thartics are faid to be fomewhat v.'eakened by it. Lewis. 



This pulp is an ingredient in confectio caffis, confeftio 

 fennas, and in the infufum tr.marindi cum fenna. 



TAMARISCUS, in Botany. See Tamarix. 



TAMARISK Plant, in Agriculture, is a plant of the 

 large fhrubby kind, which has lately, it is faid, been era- 

 ployed in fome louthern fituations which are much expofed 

 to the fea air, and other effefts of it, with great utihty. It . 

 is capable of being readily railed and propagated by means 

 of cuttings of the lall year's growth, as they take root with- 

 out 



