May 20, 1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
923 
yet green and flourishing nutmeg-trees, marking the 
place where not long ago, with great care and trouble, 
the precious plants were eagerly tended. 
Pepper stands on a somewhat different footing 
from any of the already noted spices. These are, at 
most, of the luxuries of this life; pepper we are al¬ 
most warranted in putting in the higher category of 
necessities. While the consumption of the first de¬ 
scribed is chiefly confined to the wealthy and luxu¬ 
rious, and for many causes has been steadily declin¬ 
ing, pepper is eagerly sought for by all classes, is in 
constantly increasing demand, and now of much 
greater commercial importance than all the rest 
combined. 
Under the generic name pepper, are included the 
products of more than one species of plant. There 
is first and chiefly the black pepper plant, Piper 
nigrum, of the Natural Order Piperaceee, from which 
the common white and black pepper of commerce are 
derived. Secondly, the long-pepper plant, Chavica 
lioxburgliii, allied to and used like the former, but not 
largely imported to this country. And thirdly, Cayenne 
pepper, yielded by several species belonging to the 
Solanacece, or Deadly Nightshade Order, an Order 
most important, both for its dietetical and medicinal 
products. 
The common pepper plant is a native of the Ma¬ 
labar or Western Coast of India, where it is found 
growing wild, and from thence it has long been na¬ 
turalized in the western islands of the Archipelago, 
chiefly in Sumatra, and from these localities the 
supplies of the world are drawn; for though intro¬ 
duced to the TV est Indies, the product of the west 
has not been able to compete with that of the east. 
The pepper plant or vine, as it is called, from its 
appearance, is a twining plant, growing to a height 
of 25 feet, with dark green heart-shaped leaves, short 
brittle branches, and spiked fruit, which is first green, 
then red, and finally black. Our ordinary black 
pepper is produced from the berries in their red or 
not quite ripe state ; white pepper, on the other hand, 
is prepared from the black or ripe seeds, by soaking 
in water for some days, and peeling off the dark 
husk. There is a likely enough story that instruc¬ 
tions were at one time sent to the East India Com¬ 
pany’s servants to cultivate the white pepper plant 
rather than the black, as white pepper always com¬ 
manded the best market. Two harvests are gathered 
yearly from the vines, an average yield per plant 
being scarcely half a pound. The Malabar pepper 
always commands the highest price in European 
markets. 
We can only name the other spices which have 
their homes in the far East, and which have at one 
time or another figured in European commerce. Cap¬ 
sicums or chillies are the fruit of various species of 
Capsicum, and are now cultivated for both spices and 
pickles in all tropical regions. Singularly, notwith¬ 
standing the richness of the Indian Archipelago in 
rare and delicate spices, it is only the capsicum that 
is cared for and consumed by the natives. Ginger, 
turmeric and cardamoms all belong to the Order 
Zingiber acece. Ginger is now extensively cultivated 
in the West Indies and in tropical Africa, as well as 
in its widely extended native regions in the East. 
Turmeric, as a spice, we know chiefly through its 
share in the composition of curry-powders ; and car¬ 
damoms, though anciently much appreciated by the 
Greeks and Romans, and still used as a spice in the 
East, have been by us entirely relegated to the pro¬ 
vince of a medicine. Various umbelliferous seeds 
have also always held a place among spices, several 
of them being peculiar to the East, but of these we 
may take no note in the meantime. 
The following figures represent the imports and 
estimated value of the spices of 1809 in Britain:— 
Cassia, 527,000 lb*, value £25,000. 
Cinnamon, 2,700,000 lb., value £327,000* 
Pepper, 18,000,000 lb., value £343,000. 
Cloves, 4,800,000 lb., value £72,049. 
Mace, 70,000 lb., value £10,550. 
Nutmegs, 800,000 lb., value £57,000. 
[To be continued.) 
SOLUTION OF GUAIAC RESIN FOR 
MEDICINAL USE.f 
BY JAMES T. SHINN, OF PHILADELPHIA. 
There are two officinal liquid preparations of 
guaiac, the tincture and ammoniated tincture, both 
of which are perfect solutions of the drug, but are 
very disagreeable in taste when given alone, or even 
when diluted with four or five parts of water. The 
great desideratum is to find a menstruum which is a 
good solvent, readily miscible with water and palat¬ 
able ; and, although unsuccessful in this attempt, I 
will give some results of the experiments made. 
Alcohol dissolves all the resinous portion of com¬ 
mercial guaiac, leaving from 20 to 25 per cent, of 
impurities, chiefly chips of the wood and sand; and 
the purified guaiac obtained by evaporating the 
alcohol from this solution is readily dissolved % its 
weight of that fluid. The officinal tincture (three 
ounces to a pint), will bear an equal volume of water 
or syrup and remain clear, and is miscible in any 
proportion with glycerine and liquor potassse without 
producing turbidity. 
Thinking a reduction in the amount of spirit 
might be an advantage, the following formula was 
tried:— 
Take of Purified Guaiac £ij 
Alcohol f^iij 
Solution of Potash f ^ij 
Glycerin f^xj. 
Dissolve the guaiac in the alcohol, and add the so¬ 
lution of potash and glycerin. 
- This forms a clear and permanent solution, of 
pleasanter taste than the tincture when given alone, 
but when mixed with water producing about the 
same turbidity, and leaving the same acrid taste in 
the fauces. Glycerin does not mask this acridity 
so well as sugar, but the substitution of part syrup 
produced a precipitate of the resin. 
Decidedly the most agreeable manner of adminis¬ 
tering guaiac in liquid form, so far as tried, is that 
of a syrup prepared as follows:— 
Take of Guaiac 
Solution of Potash f^ss 
Sugar S^iv 
Water sufficient. 
Macerate the guaiac in the solution of potash r 
* Ceylon, cinnamon entered at 2s. 6<i. per lb.; cinnamon 
from other parts at 3 d. per lb. 
•f Paper read at the meeting of the American Pharmaceu¬ 
tical Association, in answer to the query, “ hat is the best 
and most eligible liquid form for the preparation and admi¬ 
nistration of guaiac resin ?” 
