PIPER NIGRUM. 
161 
to their degree of maturity ; they are then trodden to separate tbe 
frwit from the stalk* 
The root of this plant is perennial ; the stems are climbing, slen- 
der, round, smooth, jointed, swelling towards each joint, bii'anched, 
and from eight to twelve feet iu length ; the leaves are ovate, entire, 
smooth, seven-nerved, of a dark green colour, and stand at the 
joints of the branches upon sheathing petioles ; the flowers are 
dioecious, and produced in terminal spikes ; there is no regular calyx 
nor corolla ; the filaments are two, sometimes wanting, small, flat, 
awl-shaped ; the two anthers are roundish, and placed opposite^ at 
the base of the germen which is ovate, and support three rough 
stigmata ; the fruit is a globular berry, containing one round seed. 
Sensible and Chemical Properties. Black pepper is hot 
and pungent to the taste, and its smell slightly aromatic. The prin- 
ciple On which its pungency depends is soluble both in alcohol and 
vrater. The watery infusion is brown, and reddens vegetable blues. 
The decoction forms a precipitate with infusion of galls, which is 
redissolved if the fluid be heated to 120*. By distilling the alcoholic 
infusion, a portion of green volatile oil is obtained, having the whole 
flavour and pungency of the pepper. Ether digested upon powdered 
pepper takes up three parts in ten : this ethereal tincture, when eva- 
porated upon water, leaves an intensely pungent, oily resin, of a 
yellowish colour, with the odour of the pepper, and some insipid 
extractive matter. 
M. Pelletier has ascertained that the fatty oil obtained by dis- 
tilling the alcoholic tincture of pepper, when washed in warm water, 
and redissolved in hot alcohol, deposits, after a few days, small cry- 
stals, which when purified, are insipid to the taste, and have the 
peculiar property of imparting a blood red colour to strong sulphuric 
acid. This substance M. Pelletier has named Piperincf to this. 
* White pepper is the ripe and perfect berries stripped of their outer coat, by steep- 
ing in a preparation composed of lime water and oil, called Chinara j in about fourteen 
days the outer coverings burst, and are easily separated, after which the pepper is dried 
by exposure to the sun. Pepper which has fallen to the ground, from becoming over 
ripe before it is gathered, loses its outer coat: this is sold as an inferior kind of white 
pepper. 
t Pure Piperin may be obtained, according to Dr. Meli, (Ann. Univ. di Med. torn, 
xxvii.) by digesting one pound of black pepper, powdered, in one pint and a half of al- 
cohol at 36<», in a gentle heat. Then raise it to ebullition, after which leave it to cool, 
tb^fi pour off the fluid, and repeat the operation with a fresh quantity of alcohol ; mix 
the tinctures, and add one ounce and a half of hydrochloric acid, and one pint of dis- 
