204 MALAY POISONS AND GHABM CUBES 



fruit and seeds, but more especially from the leaves 

 (Ref, 9), Merck and others have studied it, and the 

 alkaloid has more recently been investigated by 

 Barger : it ciystallises in monoclinic prisms and has an 

 intensely bitter taste. According to Plugge it depresses 

 the action of the heart and adversely affects the respira- 

 tion (Eef, 10). The action on the heart is said to 

 resemble that of digitalis. The digestive properties of 

 Carica papaya are due to " papain," a proteolytic 

 ferment contained in the milk-like juice of the tree and 

 its unripe fruit. The juice and even the fresh leaves 

 of the papaya tree are said to render the toughest beef 

 tender in the space of two hours. It acts in acid, 

 alkaHne and neutral media, and will digest fibrin even 

 to 200 times its weighj or casein ten times its weight in 

 an horn* (Mar tin dale). Papain is a wliitish amorphous 

 powder in its refined pharmaceutical state, but is more 

 active when in the crude form of brownish gummy 

 granules. 



PEPPER 



Lada hiianij or black pepper (Piper nigrum. Linn. — 

 Piperaceaj), is sometimes used by Malay '^vomen as an 

 abortifacient. For this purpose it is made into pills 

 with honey and the so-called ** black " variety of ginger 

 root {halia hara; Zingiber officinale, Roxb. — Scita- 

 mineae), which are swallowed before meals. Piper 

 nigrum contains an alkaloid called " piperine," which 

 was isolated in 1B19 by Oersted from the fruit : it exerts 

 an action similar to quinine, but is much less active and 

 rather uncertain in effect (Ref. 10). In very large doses 

 it is probably an irritant poison. The pepper vine is 

 extensively grown in the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, 

 Ceylon and Southern India for its fruits (pepper-corns), 

 which are round and gi-eeu when young and red when 

 ripe. On being sun-dried they become black and 



