April 2G, 1873.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
855 
Another plant, largely cultivated, is the Tacca pinnati- 
fida, Forster, which is indigenous to the sandy shores of 
the South Sea Islands, and is known in Oceanea, hut 
especially in Tahiti, under the native name of Pia. This 
plant is, however, now widely diffused. It is met with 
in China and Cochin China, according to Loureiro. It is 
cultivated in the Moluccas, Arracan, and other parts of 
India, and at Zanzibar. It is found in large quantities in 
Cook’s Archipelago, the Hervey Islands, at Raiatea, 
Huahine, Bora-Bora, Maupiti, the Hawaiian Islands, the 
Samoas, Tonga, the Feejee Islands, etc. The tubercles 
have much resemblance to the potato, but unlike that 
root the fecula is found chiefly in the centre and not 
towards the exterior. The proportion of starch yielded is 
30J per cent. 
There is a large consumption of this starch in Tahiti, 
especially for children and invalids, and a considerable 
export of it under the name of arrowroot. The principal 
part of that which enters into commerce is made in the 
islands of the adjoining archipelago, Raiatea, Huahine, 
Bora-Bora, and Maupiti, where it can be purchased for 
3d. to 3 \d. per lb. In the Hervey Islands it is sold at 2 d. ; 
and Tubuai and Raratonga produce it even cheaper. At 
Tahiti it retails, or did a few years ago, at 4 \d. to 5d. 
per lb. 
From it the main supply of the Feejee arrowroot is 
prepared. The Tacca starch is much valued in medicine, 
and particularly esteemed in cases of dysentery and 
diarrhoea. Its characteristics are readily recognized under 
the microscope. A Tacca occuring on the Sandwich Is¬ 
lands yields a large quantity of the so-called arrowroot 
exported from there. Other species, including those of 
Ataccia {Tacca) integrifolia, occur in India, Madagascar, 
Guinea, and Guiana, all deserving tests in reference to 
their value as starch plants. 
Starch is made from several species of yam ( Dioscorea 
sativa and bidbifera), but it is difficult to extract, owing to 
the ligneous character of the roots, which require to be 
soaked in water for two days before rasping, and the bitter 
principle has to be removed by washing and torrefication. 
A few other starches are obtained. The cassava or 
manioc is never sold or cultivated, although its starch used 
to form a common aliment mixed "with that of the Tacca. 
From the bread fruit ( Artocarpus incisa ) about 17 per 
cent, of fecula is obtained. 
African Arrowroots. 
On many parts of the West African coast arrowroot 
and cassava are grown and prepared. The Canary Islands, 
Liberia, Lagos, Sierra Leone, and other districts produce 
it, but not in any quantity for shipment. 
The Cape Colony and Natal—especially the latter— 
have given much attention to arrowroot production. 
Maranta arundinacea is the species grown. I have not 
the recent statistics of the acreage under arrowroot in 
Natal, but in 1864, from 226 acres, the quantity obtained 
was 2,347 cwt. It is chiefly in the counties of Durban, 
Victoria, and Tugela that the cultivation centres, but the 
quantity varies considerably, for 61 acres in Tugela, 
yielded 1,220 cwts.; 66 acres in Victoria, 639 cwts. ; and 
98 acres in Durban, 488 cwts. In 1866, 2,835 cwts. were 
produced. 
The prices ruling in the colonial market in 1867 were 
305 . to 405 . per cwt., but it realised 67s. Qd. in some in¬ 
stances. The freight to London was 45s. per ton. 
I was a little puzzled for some time at the incidental 
mention of Madagascar arrowroot in this country, as it is 
scarcely an article of commerce, but I have traced out 
that 7 cwt., valued at 35s., were sent from the east coast 
of Madagascar to the Mauritius in 1868, and 552 cwts. 
2 qs. 17 lbs. of starch of other kinds, valued at £286. 
Canna indica, a native of India, has been introduced and 
naturalised in the Mauritius, and the Maranta arundinacea 
is also grown there, exhibitors of this arrowroot having 
sent samples to the Baris Exhibition in 1867. 
I have thus skimmed over the surface of this wide and 
interesting field of inquiry, contributing my mite towards 
the general fund of information which is so useful on com¬ 
mercial topics, and I trust it will lead to some discussion' 
and added information on the character, quality, and uses, 
of the various starches touched upon. 
CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 
Thursday, 17th April, 1873 ; Dr. Odling, F.R.S., Pre¬ 
sident, in the chair. 
When the usual business of the Society was completed, 
the President called upon Dr. Debus, F.R.S., to deliver 
a lecture “On the Heat produced by Chemical Action.” 
During his discourse the speaker considered the relation 
existing between the chemical affinity of the metals and 
the amount of heat they develop during oxidation or 
combination with chlorine, iodine, etc., and also the vari¬ 
ous interesting conclusions which may be drawn from the 
thermic results obtained by the solution of salts, especially 
noticing that, in double decomposition taking place. in 
solution, those compounds are always produced which 
develop the greatest amount of heat. 
The meeting finally adjourned until Thursday, 1st May,, 
when papers will be read “On Zirconia, by Mr. J. B. 
Hannay, and “ On a New Class of Explosives, by Dr. H.. 
Sprengel. 
parliamentary uni fitto protetbinos. 
Misuse of a Liniment. 
In a reference to a report published last week at p. 837 
under the above head, and taken from a provincial news¬ 
paper, we are requested by Dr. John Lonie to state that 
“the liniment was taken about midnight on February 
24th, and the person’s death took place on Saturday, 
March 29th, 1873.” 
Charge of Embezzlement against a Druggist. 
At the Wincanton (Somerset) petty sessions, on Monday, 
April 14, John Robinson, chemist and druggist, who for 
many years had acted as postmaster at Bruton, was com¬ 
mitted for trial on a charge of embezzlement. The hearing- 
of the case occupied a considerable time, but the facts are 
briefly as follow:—A young woman named Jane Hill 
deposited £6 in the Post Office Savings Bank at Bruton 
last December. As her book was not returned in the 
usual manner, after repeated applications to prisonei, she 
wrote to the Comptroller of the Savings-bank department, 
and an inquiry was set on foot. This resulted in prisoner s 
apprehension on the charge named above. When he was- 
first confronted by the Government inspector, he was pie- 
paring some medicines, and at once mixed up and drank 
some" chemicals, which were supposed to have been of a 
poisonous character, and he became seriously ill. He was 
committed for trial. Defendant has been a tradesman in 
Bruton many years, and had brought up a large family most 
respectably.— Fulmars Weekly Neivs. 
Prosecutions under the Adulteration Act. 
At the Glasgow Central Police Court, on Friday, April 
18 Daniel Gibson, butter merchant, was charged wth 
ha’ving in his shop sold two half-pounds of American, 
butter, which butter was knowingly mixed with other 
matters so as to increase its weight, contrary to the pro¬ 
visions of the Act to prevent the Adulteration of Food, 
and Drink. The sanitary inspectors proved seeing the 
butter in Gibson’s window, and, suspecting something 
wrong, bought two separate half-pounds, at 5d, per pound, 
which were handed, sealed up, to Dr. Thorpe, the city 
analyst, for examination. Dr. Thorpe said that he had 
