64 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[July 23, 1870. 
Pasteur’s explanation of the fermentation of yeast 
alone, with production of alcohol and carbonic acid 
from its own substance, is still more obscure. If 
the yeast-cell sprouts like a seed, and bears shoots 
at a suitable temperature and moisture, the substance 
of the old cell may be used for the production of 
new cells; this is intelligible, but it still remains 
unexplained whence come the alcohol and carbonic 
acid. The action of the new cells can only be the 
action of the substance constituting the old ones 
which they have consumed in their formation. 
{To be continued.) 
BAOBAB. 
Adansonia digitata, L. 
BY M. C. COOKE. 
The introduction of the baobab as a secondary 
article of materia medica into the Pharmacopoeia of 
India, will be sufficient excuse for directing atten¬ 
tion to this somewhat new remedial agent. The 
baobab-tree is a native of Senegal and Sierra Leone, 
and has been introduced into India, where it has be¬ 
come well established in several districts. Humboldt 
states that “ the oldest description of the baobab is 
that of the Venetian Aloysius Cadamosto in 1454. 
He found at the mouth of the Senegal trunks whose 
circumference he estimated at 17 fathoms, or 112 feet. 
Perottet says that he had seen monkey-breadfruit- 
trees (baobabs) which had a diameter of about 32 feet, 
with a height of only from 70 to 85 feet. The same 
dimensions had been given by Adanson hi his voyage 
(1748). The largest trunks of the monkey-bread¬ 
fruit-trees which he himself saw in 1749, some on 
one of the small Magdalena Islands, near Cape de 
Verd, and others at the mouth of the Senegal, were 
from 26 to near 29 feet in diameter, with a height of 
little more than 70 feet, and a top measuring up¬ 
wards of 180 feet across. Adanson, however, makes 
the remark, that other travellers had found trunks 
having a diameter of about 32 feet. French and 
Dutch sailors had carved their names on the trunks 
in characters six inches in length. One of these 
inscriptions was of the fifteenth centuiy, while all 
others were of the sixteenth. From the depth of the 
cuts, which are covered with new layers of wood, 
and from a comparison of the thickness of trunks 
whose various ages were known, Adanson computed 
the age of trees having a diameter of 32 feet at 5150 
years. In the village of Grand Galarques, also in 
Senegambia, the negroes have adorned the entrance 
of a hollow baobab with carvings cut out of wood 
still green. The inner cavity serves as a place of 
general meeting, in which the community debate 
their interests.” While, however, the bold calcula¬ 
tions of Adanson and Perottet assign to the Adan- 
sonias measured by them an age of 5150 or even 
6000 years, which would make them coeval with the 
builders of the Pyramids, or even with Menes, these 
calculations must be accepted with doubt. 
“ In appearance Adansonia is unlike any other 
known tree; the enormous dimensions of its trunks 
bear a striking disproportion to the other parts. It 
is not unusual to find a trunk not more than 12 or 
15 feet from the root to the branches, with a circum¬ 
ference of 75 or 78 feet. The lower branches are 
very long, and at first horizontal, extending perhaps 
60 feet; the consequence of which is that they bend 
down to the ground, entirely hiding the trunk, and 
giving the tree the appearance of a huge mass of 
verdure. The wood is very soft, even when in per¬ 
fection, and is subject to a disease which may be 
compared to the very malady of which its celebrated 
discoverer died,—a sort of softening of all the hard 
parts, so that the least storm is sufficient to over¬ 
throw and dismember its enormous bulk. A curious 
practice prevails among the negroes, of hollowing 
its trunk out into chambers, and therein depositing 
the bodies of malefactors, or of persons to whom the 
usual rites of sepulture are denied. In this situation 
the bodies become dried up, and soon acquire the 
state of perfect mummies.” 
The fruit of the'baobab is a large, oblong, downy 
pericarp, from 6 or 8 to 10 or 12 inches in length, 
and in shape somewhat resembling that of the cacao- 
tree, but even, and -without the longitudinal furrows 
of that species. It is from 8- to 10-celled, but in a 
chy state the partitions seem to be only formed by 
tough stringy fibres. Each cell is filled with a pulpy 
substance, which, when old and dry, becomes pithy, 
and in this the seeds are immersed. They are 
kidney-shaped, brown, sliining, hard, with a few 
pale dots. 
Baobab has obtained some repute as a remedy in 
dysentery, for which Dr. Louis Frank has affirmed 
its efficiency. The part employed is the acid farina¬ 
ceous pulp surrounding the seeds. The rind of the 
fruit, beaten up into a paste with water, is also re¬ 
commended. Dr. R. F. Hutchinson considers that 
the action of the farinaceous pulp is due, not to its 
astringency, but to its virtues as a refrigerant and 
diuretic. The bark has been proposed as a substi¬ 
tute for quinine in intermittent fevers by Dr. Duchas- 
saing, in decoction, one ounce of the bruised bark to 
a pint of water boiled to a third. Although not 
mentioned in the Indian Pharmacopoeia, the dried 
leaves are said to have been found serviceable in 
diarrhoea, fevers, and other diseases. Amongst the 
African negroes the fruit is a common article of con¬ 
sumption. 
It must be confessed that confirmation is required 
of the value of all the forms of this drug, but there 
seems to be no doubt of its possessing some virtue, 
and being worthy of more systematic and extensive 
experiment. A good figure is given in the ‘ Botanical 
Magazine,’ plates 2791 and 2792. 
PURE CAUSTIC SODA. 
For some time past pure caustic soda, prepared 
from metallic sodium, has been an article of manu¬ 
facture. The method by which the metal is made 
to yield caustic soda is as follows:—A deep silver 
vessel, of a hemispherical form, and capable of 
holding about four gallons of water, is employed. 
Into tliis vessel, which is cooled externally with a 
current of cold water, is placed a very little water, 
and upon the water is placed a cube of metallic 
sodium of about half an inch hi diameter. The 
vessel is made to revolve so as continually to bring 
fresh portions of liquid into contact with the metal, 
and by this means explosion is avoided. When the 
first cube of metal has dissolved, and yielded a thick 
syrupy liquid, a little more water and a second cube 
of metal are added, and the reaction allowed to take 
place as before, the vessel being kept in motion all 
the time. In tliis manner several pounds of sodium 
