683 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April f, 1895. 
VEGETABLE PEPSI NK. 
Vegetable Pepsine is the name very aptly 
given to the juice of the unripe fruit of the 
Papaw [Carlca Papaya), a plant fairly well dis- 
tributed throughout the tropics. The papaw is 
a handsome tree, .and would well serve a- an 
ornament to gardens; but it would leave \<-iy 
little room for the growth of shrubs .and bushes, 
as it absorbs an incredible quantity of moisture. 
When not topped, its cylindrical stem attains 
a height of ten to twenty feet, crowned by a 
number of large leaves. It is a very quick 
grower indeed, and the llower unfailingly be- 
comes a fruit, so that almost, daily every period 
of growth from the bud to full ripeness may be 
observed on the tree. The useful properties of 
the papaw plant have long been known to the 
various natives, and have been taken advantage 
of by them, as can be seen by reference to the 
works of travellers who can themselves vouch 
for the accuracy of the accounts they narrate. 
Thus Drury, in The Useful Plants <>/ India, 
states that old hogs and poultry w hich are fed 
upon the leaves and fruit, however tough the 
meat they afford might otherwise be, are thus 
rendered perfectly tender and good, it eaten 
as soon as killed. Browne, too, in his Pfctturetl 
History of Jamaica says that meat becomes 
tender after being washed with water to which 
the juice of the papaw tree has been added ; and 
if let in such water ten minutes, it will fall 
from the spit while roasting, or separate into 
shreds while boiling. In his History of Jiarbatloes 
Griffith Hughes mentions that the juice of the 
papaw tree is of so penetrating a nature that if 
the unripe peeled fruit be boiled with the toughest 
old salted meat it ijuickly makes it soft and 
tender. Karsten also tells us that boiling meat 
with the juice of the papaw is quite a con uwu 
thing in Quito. Captain »S. P. Oliver, writing 
in Nature, July 10, 1879, says : " In Mauritus, 
where we lived principally on ration beef cut 
from the tough flesh of the Malagasy oxen, we 
were in the habit of hanging the ration under the 
leaves themselves ; and if we were in a hurry for a 
very tender pieces of fillet, our cook would w rap 
up the under cut of the sirloin in the leaves, 
when the newly-killed meat would be as tender 
as if it had been hung for a considerable times." 
It is not surprising that the attention of 
medical men abroad was drawn to the wonderful 
solvent action exercised by the leaves and fruit 
of the papaw tree. They soon commenced using 
the juice from the fruit in simple cases of 
indigestion ; and when they found good results 
follow, they extended their experiments to more 
complex disorders. Surgeon B. Evers, writing 
upon Indian Medicinal Plants in the TndianMedical 
Gazette in 1875, mentions some cases in which 
he used it satisfactorily in enlarged spleen and 
enlarged liver. Out of sixty cases which he treated, 
thirty-nine were cured ; in eighteen the results 
were not reported ; and in three cases of enor- 
mously enlarged spleens, relief was afforded, 
The juice was administered as follows : a tea- 
spoonful was mixed with an equal quantity of 
sugar, and the mass divided into three boluses, 
of which one was taken morning, noon, and 
evening. For children, a single drop of the 
juice was given as a close mixed with sugar. 
The juice of the papaw has been used with very 
great success in many other complaints. In 
Mauritius it is regarded as one of the most 
successful remedies for intestinal worms, a single 
dose being usually sufficient for a cure. 
Attention was first drawn to the remedy in 
this country about 1879. Dr. T. Peckolt, who 
made a thorough study of the plant when he 
was abroad in Brazil, succeeded in extracting the 
active principle from the juice of the fruit, to 
which lie gave the name of Papayotin. Ib 
the following year Drs. Houchut and W'urte 
investigated the plant, and Mj>;. rated the a- live 
principle, to which they gave the iiihii - of 
I'apaine. This proved to be id'.-ntical with Dr. 
Peckolt's Papayotin, so that the two terms may 
be regarded as synonymous. Dr. Bouehut al»o 
made a very important discovery which opened 
an entirely new held for the u.-e of papaw. He 
found that both the diluted juice and Papaiue 
had the property of digs* tin;: living tissues, normal 
or pathological, such a* adenomata and cancer, 
ana converting them into peptones in exactly tlm 
same way as dead ones. This knowledge wa» 
very soon tin ned to account. Surgeons commenced 
to treat abnormal growths with Papaine, and lound 
it most efficacious in removing the !alse mem- 
branes of croup and diphtberi. . As ;i rule -olu- 
tioi.s of one in ten weie e ,,| i . . ,1 i.>r panning 
the throat, and in some UiMBtUMttt Papaine wan 
also given internally. 
About the same time, a well-known London 
surgeo/l, a specialist in skin diseases, tried its 
effect 141011 an obstinate case of eczema with 
marked success. His pieseiiptiou was composed 
of twelve grains of papaiue and live K'' a ' ns of 
powdered borax in two drachms of distilled 
water ; this was painted on the parts twice daily ; 
md in less than a month the hardy horny 
masses of hcaped-up epidermi- had entirely dis- 
i, ••■eared from the skin, and ti texture was left 
quite normal. 
We ought not to conclude thi- notice of papaw 
without mentioning that the natives and resid- 
ents abroad lind the ripe fruit a dei.< ions des- 
*rt. Dr. Peckolt, whom we have ah cad y re- 
ferred to, has given us some interesting data from 
an alimentary point of view in a paper he pub- 
lished upon the Papaw Plant some few years back. 
He says : ''This herbaceous tree is in Brazil a 
constant companion of the banana, and is never 
wanting near the huts of the natives. And 
rightly do the Indians honour this useful and 
most grateful tree, specially selected by Provi- 
dence for people averse to any cultivation, for 
without the slightest care or labour after a few 
months' growth it yields harvests the whole 
year through. Notwithstanding that in respect 
to nutritive value the fruit cannot compete with 
the banana, its use makes a refreshing change." 
There are three varieties known, and of these the 
"Mamao melao" is regarded as the best. 
In Brazil, Dr. Peckolt says, "the tree is 
scarcely cultivated, or with but little care, its 
continual planting, like that of the banana, being 
self-effected, but with this difference, that in- 
stead of shoots from the roots, it is done by the 
seeds of the fruit falling on the ground. The 
tree is simply left to stand where the seel has 
been planted, either by the use of the fruit as 
manure, or by the agency of bird ; the 1 ender 
young plants brave all weathers, and are very 
tenacious of life, are not eaten by animals, and 
after becoming ten inches high, aie not pre- 
vented by injury to leaf or bark from growing 
luxuriantly and almost perceptibly to the eye, 
even more rapidly than the banana. The fruit, 
like the banana, is collected in the full-^rown 
but still green condition, so as to ripen in the 
house. If perfectly ripe when taken from the 
tree, the flesh, especially in the neighbourhood 
of the skin, is bitter; moreover, the ripe fruit 
is difficult to secure against destruction by birds," 
— Chamber 's Journals 
