IV 
CLOVES 
195 
In medicine clove oil is now but little used, except 
as a flavouring, and in making pills. Cloves are 
aromatic, carminative, and stimulant, and are used in 
cases of dyspepsia, gastric irritation, and in cases of 
vomiting in pregnancy. The oil is used in decayed 
teeth, and for toothache generally. 
In microscopy it is commonly used for clearing 
sections. 
For these purposes the mixed oil is generally used, 
but it is also largely used in the form of eugenol, the 
lighter oil being removed. The amount of eugenol in 
crude oil of cloves varies from 76 to 85 per cent, and 
especially flne samples contain as much as 90*64 per 
cent. 
By the addition of permanganate of potash eugenol 
can be converted into vanillin, and several patents 
have been taken out for the processes of this nature. 
Vanillin is the artificial vanilla used now largely as 
a substitute for the more expensive natural vanilla 
(see Vanilla). 
OTHER PARTS OF THE TREE USED 
The flower stalks, separated from the cloves when 
drying, are in some places not wasted. They are dried 
and exported, chiefly from Zanzibar and Pemba to 
Bombay and New York, and from the former port are 
exported to England for adulterating powdered cloves, 
and for making clove oil. They are moderately 
aromatic, and yield 5 to 6 per cent of oil of cloves on 
being distilled, as against 15 to 19 per cent from 
ordinary clove buds. The stalks are known in Zanzibar 
as Vihunia ; in French as Griffes de Girojie and 
PMoncules de Girojie\ in Italian as Fusti and Bastaroni\ 
in German as Nelhenstiel. They always fetch a low 
price, only a few pence a pound. In 1873, 4,200 
packages of clove-stalks were sold in London at 3d. to 
4d. per lb. 
Oil from stalks was distilled as early as the sixteenth 
