ZINGIBER OFFICINALE. 
61 
Ginger, when good, is firm, somewhat heavy, and free from 
worm holes ; those pieces thai are light, soft, friable, and fibrous, 
are of an inferior quality, and should be rejected. 
Sensible and Chemical Qualities, &c. Ginger has a 
peculiar spicy odour, which depends upon the essential oil it con- 
tains; its taste is hot and pungent; both water and spirit extract 
these qualities. Ginger root contains a very large proportion of 
starch, combined with fecula and resin. From the analysis of gin- 
ger by MM. Morin and Rouen,* it is composed of resin soluble in 
ether, resinous matter insoluble in ether, vegeto-animal matter, a 
substance analogous to osmazome, acetic acid, a blueish green oil, 
acetate of potass, starch, gum, sulphur, several oxides, and lignin. 
The distilled oil is of a red colour, limpid, with the taste and odour 
of the root. We are told by Rheede, that it swims on water, but 
that sold in the shops sinks, and has a smell of turpentine. The pun- 
gency of ginger resides in a resino-extractive matter, which is com- 
bined with fecula, but may be obtained separate by evaporating the 
ethereal tincture on the surface of water. 
Medical Properties and Uses. Ginger is stimulant and 
carminative. It is seldom given but in combination with other medi- 
cines, when it forms an useful adjunct. The cases in which it is 
more immediately serviceable, are flatulent colics, debility and laxity 
of the stomach and intestines, gout when it attacks the stomach,f 
and in torpid and phlegmatic constitutions, to excite brisker vascular 
action. We are informed by Dr. Aiuslie, that the Europeans in 
India, of delicate nerves, frequently use an infusion of ginger in 
place of common tea ; this is either prepared with dry ginger, or 
the green root cut into thin slices. From the considerable flow of 
saliva it excites when chewed, it has been found an useful sialogogue 
in relieving the pain of tooth-ache, and also in relaxations of the 
uvula and tonsils, and in paralysis of the muscles of the tongue. 
Ginger is given in substance, when powdered, in doses of from ten 
to twenty grains. It enters into many of the ofiicinal preparations 
of our pharmacopoeias. 
Off". The Root. 
OflF. Pp. Syrupus Zingiberis, L. E. D. 
Tinctura Zingiberis, L. D. 
* Jour, de Ptiarm. June 1823. 
+ In Sir J. Sinclair's Code of Health, we are informed of the virtues which ginger 
possesses in keeping off the gout, as instanced in the case of Lord Rivers, who took it 
in large doses for more than thirtj years with the happiest effects. Vol. i. p. 233. 
