THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [July 2, 1888. 
common beverage of the country, " chinguirits " 
(brandy made from the sugar-cane), and that delirium 
tremens is rarely produced by the immoderate use of 
the former, though often by that of the latter. It is 
also affirmed that the pulque-drinker is commonly 
long-lived, whilst the reverse is the case with regard 
to those addicted to chinguirits, and that the former 
beverage, notwithstanding its somewhat acid taste, is, 
probably on aocouut of the fecula contained in it, 
peculiarly beneficial to women stickling their infanta, 
and to those requiring a wholesome stimulant. The 
excesses committed by the lower orders during a riot 
occasioned by the high price of maize in the city of 
Mexico in the year 1692, being attributed to pulque- 
drinking, its use was prohibited altogether ; this pro- 
hibition, however, was afterwards removed, and the 
Grown of Spain allowed its sale again under certain 
restrictions, incorporating the tax upon it with other 
colonial imposts, in which, in course of time, it be- 
came a highly important item, producing in some years 
a sum of more than 1,000,000 dollars to the Treasury. 
During the few years which preceded the war of inde- 
pendence the annual amount of the pulque tax was 
from about 608,000 to 700,000 dollars, but, in the 
year 1810 it fell to about 500,000 dollars, and in 1811 
to 400,000 dollars, and from that time to the present 
it has continued falling, until it has reached the pre- 
sent comparatively low average of about 200,000 dollars, 
annually, the cause of so sensible a diminution being 
alone attributable to the extensive system of smug- 
gling carried on, and to the increasing neglect and 
indifference prevailing amongst public functionaries 
during a long lapse of years of anarchy and 
confusion. 
A spirit called " mezcal" is also made from the sap 
of the maguey plant, heated in a kind of oven which 
is made in the ground, and which is of the simplest 
possible construction ; and after fermentation has taken 
place, it is passed through an alembic two or three 
times until it attains about 60 to 80 degrees of strength. 
It can be made from every description of the maguey 
plant, but the varieties best adapted for its manufac- 
ture are called the " chino," " manso," and " tenemetl." 
The consumption of this product, however, is trifling 
compared with that of pulque. The manufacture of 
this spirit, often erroneou-ly called a wine, " vino de 
mezcal," is almost exclusively carried on in the States 
of Guadalajara and San Luis de Potosi. That manu- 
factured in the former State, generally distinguished 
under the name of " tequilla," from the name of the 
place where it is principally made, is very generally 
consumed throughout the country, but that manufac- 
tured in the latter is almost all sent to Guanaxuato 
and Zacatecas, and is consumed by tbe mining labourers 
of those districts. In the two first named States there 
are extensive traets covered with what is termed 
" maguey verde," or green maguey, which is too poor 
to produce any but the worst quality of pulque, and 
is consequently turned to the manufacture of mezcal. 
The plants, which grow spontaneously, are cut down 
at certain seasons, and are never allowed to flower 
which causes a greater proportion of sap to concen- 
trate within the trunk. 
Besides these spirits the agave yields gum, said to 
be used in medicine, vinegar, sugar, &c. On this point 
we are told that "the belief in the efficacy of the 
medicinal properties of the plant is universal among 
the Mexican peasantry, to whom it has been handed 
down from time of remote antiquity ; thus the juice of 
the leaf is said to boa specific for bruises and contusions, 
the gum which is engendered in the lower part of the 
stem to cure the toothache, whilst various experiments 
upon the curative properties of the plants under dif- 
ferent forms have beeu made by members of the medical 
profession in Mexico with satisfactory results." More 
recently, namely, in 1874, it was stated that General 
Sheridan, the I 'uited States officer, when in charge of 
a small army in Texas, bad the misfortune to have 
an outbreak of scurvy amongst his men, aud having 
heard that the juice of the Mexican agave possessed 
anti-scorbutic properties, aud being entirely without 
lime-juice or any other remedy, started in searoh of 
the Agave plants, and having found a number, the 
juice was expressed, and the men compelled to take it 
in liberal doses, the effect of which was to entirely 
stay the disease. It is stated to have a fetid smell, 
like putrid meat. 
Perhaps some trials may be made in this country 
as to the medicinal value of pulque now that it has 
become introduced to our notice. — Chemist and 
Druggist- 
— 
Cinchona Baric fkom S. America. — There was 
a report current in commercial circles in March 
last that an export duty would be levied upon all 
cinchona exported from Bolivia, South America. 
But the rumour turned out, as all such rumours do. 
to be a canard, for instead of an export duty being 
placed on the bark, the now existing duty will be 
removed by the end of June. This will lead to an 
increased shipment of bark from that country, and 
in consequence the dealers are holding back their 
shipments until that time. — Indian Agriculturist, 
Hemidesmus Hoot. — At a recent drug sale in Lon- 
don there came up for disposal a number of packages 
of hemidesmus, or Indian sarsaparilla, root, which 
comprised the first consignment of the drug received 
here after a rather unusual interval of thirteen 
years. It was perfectly natural, therefore, that before 
these packages came up for sale the drug should 
have been reported to be scarce — indeed, it was 
unobtainable; but as retail druggists are so rarely 
called upon to supply either the root or its preparation, 
the fact that the drug is scarce or otherwise is not 
likely to create much excitement. Yet it happens that 
in St. Bartholomew's Hospital, the largest medical 
institution in the metropolis, Indian sarsapa- 
rilla takes the place of the similax root, so that 
all preparations of sarsaparilla used therein 
are characterised by the absence of what is 
generally known as sarsaparilla, and the hospital has 
the distinction of using more hemidesmus root 
than all other consumers put together. Before the 
last arrival the hospital stock became exhausted, and 
one of th-a customs of the institution appeared to be 
threatened with extinction. The physicians of the 
hospital report that they find the preparations of 
hemidesmus to be as satisfactory as those of sarsaparilla, 
That is perhaps not saying much ; nevertheless, when 
Dr. Ashburner introduced it in this country in 1831 
it was said to increase the appetite, to act as a 
diuretic and improve the general health, plumpness, 
clearness, and strength succeeding to emaciation, 
muddiness and debility. It was also said to be useful 
in affections of the kidneys, scrofula, cutaneous diseases, 
and thrush. It had long been used in India, where 
it is held in high reputation, and is known under the 
names Nannari root and Ananto-imd. It is the root 
of Hemidesmus Indica, which is the same plant as the 
Periploca IndicOj, of AVilldenow and the A sc epics 
pseudosarsa of Roxburgh. The root has a strong odour 
resembling tonka bean, this characteristic being parti- 
cularly marked in the recent consignment. The odour 
is believed to be due to a volatile crystallisable " acid," 
which was separated by Garden in 1837. Some years 
later (1813) Scott obtained a stearoptene from the 
root by simple distillation with water, this body being 
probably identical with Garden's "acid." Garden pro- 
posed to call the "acid" " smilasperic acid," but it 
may, according to Pereira, " with more propriety be 
termed ' hemidesmic acid' or ' hemidesmin.' " The 
comparative unimportance of the drug is probably the 
reason why no pharmacist in these enlightened days 
has att< mpted to clear up the uncertainty regarding 
its active constituents. Mr. Pocklington made a careful 
microscopic examination of it in 1871, and found it to 
possess such characters as entitled him to say that 
"hemidesmus is much more interesting to the micro - 
botanist than to the micro-pharmacist." It was intro- 
duced into the British Pharmacopoeia in 1864. and 
still remains with its preparation, syrupus hemidesmi, 
but no other ptnrmaoopceia has had the hardihood to 
give the drug a place.— Qhtmist and druggist. 
