302 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[May 13,1871. 
to five exceedingly small islands in the Moluccas. 
The culture was transferred to Amboyna by the 
Dutch, who, for the purposes of their monopoly, 
made the most strenuous and barbarous efforts to 
extinguish the growth in all other parts. Even a 
_in 
removal of this small distance had such 
that 
feat 
was 
and 
cess 
an effect 
upon the highly sensitive clove-tree, that it threw 
back the period of bearing from the seventh or eighth 
year of its age in its native islands to the twelfth or 
fourteenth in the Amboyna group. On this account 
Humpliius, who calls the clove “ the most beautiful, 
most elegant and most precious of all known trees, 
says, “ Hence, it appears, that the Great Disposer 
of tilings in His wisdom, allotting His gifts to the 
several regions of the world, placed cloves in the 
kingdom of the Moluccas, beyond which, by no 
human industry, can they be propagated or perfectly 
cultivated.” For many centuries the truth of this 
assertion remained unassailable; and it was only 
about the beginning of this century that the tree was 
successfully grown away from the Archipelago, being 
then introduced to several French colonies in the 
Indian Seas, Guiana and the West Indies, and Zan¬ 
zibar on the East African coast, from which last 
the chief supply of cloves now comes. But this 
against nature, as Humpliius would assert, 
only accomplished after long-continued efforts 
repeated failures, and owed its measure of suc- 
to the bitter monopoly of the Dutch, who, to 
maintain their monopoly prices, were often obliged 
to burn their superfluous stores; and it is on record 
that in two days in 17G0, 8,000,000 florins’ worth of 
cloves were burned at Amsterdam, perfuming the air 
with delicious fragrance, and distilling spicy streams 
of essential oil from the burning mass. 
The following is a fanciful description of the clove- 
tree by Sir Thomas Herbert:—“ ’Tis most part of 
the year green, having leaves long and small dis¬ 
tending into many branches. It blossoms early, 
but becomes exceedingly inconstant in complexion, 
from a virgin white varying into other colours ; for 
in the morning it shows a pale green, in the me¬ 
ridian a distempered red, and sets in blackness. The 
cloves manifest themselves at the utmost end of the 
branches, and in their growing evaporate such sense- 
ravishing odours, as if a compendium of Nature’s 
sv r eetest gums were there extracted and united.” 
It is at the point when the opening flower-bud 
from being first a delicate green has passed through 
a pale yellow to a blood-red that the spice is ready 
for harvesting. If left on the tree after this period, 
the calyx rapidly swells, the fruit ripens, nearly all 
aroma disappears, and what are known as mother- 
cloves are produced. 
The clove-tree is remarkably variable in its yield; 
some years there is ahnost no harvest, and at vary¬ 
ing intervals of from three to six years there is an 
extraordinary crop. Seven pounds is a large average 
for a tree, but some trees have been known to yield 
regularly from 40 to 00 lb. Humpliius mentions a 
remarkable tree, 130 3 T ears old, which one season 
yielded the enormous quantity of 1100 lb., and next 
season half that quantity. At that time the produce 
of this single tree for these two years would yield 
nearly <£'300 ; and that was a much larger sum then 
than it now represents. 
KALA NEMUK, OR BLACK SALT. 
BY M. C. COOKE, M.A. 
This drug is in high esteem amongst the natives 
of India, and appears to be nothing more than an 
impure chloride of sodium containing a little sul- 
phuret of iron. It has the appearance of a brown, 
dirty table salt, discoloured with soot, not by any 
means prepossessing. Under the heading of sodii 
cliloridum, it is briefly alluded to in the Pharma¬ 
copoeia of India. The Hindustani names are Kala- 
niinuk, Bit-loban or Bit-noben, Pud-loon, Nimuch- 
seeyah and Sownchurloon. In Persian and Arabic 
it is named Melk, Melk-nuft, Melk-aswed, Nimue-i- 
nuft, Nimue-i-sed and Nimue-i-hindi. It is probably 
the sal asphaltites and sal sodomenus of Galen and 
other ancient authors. 
The following is the description of this substance 
as given by Dr. Waring. It occurs in large irre¬ 
gular masses, for the most part of a dark brown 
colour. It has a strong saline taste, communicating 
a peculiar sensation diffused over the mouth, which 
is not easily described. At first the taste is dis¬ 
agreeable, but those wdio are in the habit of using it, 
declare that it not only becomes pleasant, but is 
often taken to remove a disagreeable taste from the 
mouth. When the salt is perfectly dry, it has 
scarcely any perceptible smell; but wdien moistened 
it sends forth a strong smell of sulphuretted hy¬ 
drogen. It dissolves readily in a small portion of 
water, forming a solution of a greenish colour, which 
emits a strong sulphureous smell, resembling bilge- 
w r ater, or the foulest gun-scourings. By exposure to 
the air the smell gradually abates, the greenish 
tint disappears, the liquor becoming clear as the 
purest water; when this has taken place, if the solu¬ 
tion has been pretty strong, on pouring out the 
water the inside of the vessel in which it w r as con¬ 
tained is found lined with a crust of a dark brown 
colour—a phenomenon observed in most sulphur 
w r ells; this will be best discovered if the experiment 
is made in a glass vessel. 
It w r as for some time considered doubtful whether 
or not this w r as a natural or artificial product. That 
there is a dark-coloured natural salt to wliich the 
name of Kala-nemuk, or black salt, is applied there 
can be no doubt; but it is equally certain that the 
drug so highly extolled by the natives for its medi¬ 
cinal virtues is an artificial combination of common 
salt with iron and sulphur. It is tins artificial pro¬ 
duct, therefore, which is the subject of these obser¬ 
vations, and .which possesses pharmacological in¬ 
terest. 
The follow-ing analysis and method of preparation 
are given on the authority of Playfair’s translation of 
the ‘ Taleef Sliereef’:—Black oxide of iron, 6 grains; 
sulphur, 14 grains; muriate of lime, 12 grains ; mu¬ 
riate 
grams 
(To he continued.) 
of soda, 444 grains; loss 4 grains = 480 
It is thus prepared:—Take two seers (about 
4 lbs.) of anula (fruit of Emblica officinalis), one seer 
about 2 lbs.) of Ashkhur (iron scoriae ?), bruise both 
and mix them with 20 seers (about 40 lbs.) of rock- 
salt, also bruised; put the whole into a vessel, cover 
the vessel wdtli a cloth, all except the mouth; lute 
this cloth w r ell with soft clay, and place it in the 
sun to dry. When perfectly dry, put it on the fire 
(let the mouth of the vessel be rather small). Keep 
constantly stirring it with an iron spatula or spoon; 
when well boiled and mixed, take it off and allow it 
to cool, then add tinkhar (borax), jawakhar (an im- 
