p i : 
trumpeters (hall be beard no more in thee. Rev. xviii. 22. 
—A filh, fo called in fotne parts of England, fomewhat 
refembling a gurnet. See Trigla lyra. 
PI'PER, f. [enumerated by Linnaeus, among the Greek 
names of doubtful origin. The Greek is 
generally fuppofed to have been derived from ireirlu, to 
cook, or digeft. But the bed authors give it as a 
primitive word ; and Mr. Profeflor Martyn rightly 
iuggefts, that it is probably of Indian origin. De Theis 
alfo obferves, that, as the Greeks derived the knowledge 
and ufe of pepper from the oriental nations, the fource 
of its name is to be fought in their languages, and its 
appellation in Arabic, babary, is the evident original of 
wwEpi.] Pepper ; in botany, a genus of the clafs diandria, 
order trigynia, natural order piperitae, Linn, (urticae, 
Jvjj.) Generic chara&ers—Calyx: fpathe none perfeft ; 
fpadix filiform, quite fimple, covered with florets 5 
perianthium none. Corolla: none. Stamina: filaments 
none ; antherae two, oppofite, at the root of the germ, 
roundifh. Piftillum : germ larger, ovate; ftyle none; 
ftigma three-fold, hifpid. Pericarpium: berry roundifli, 
one-celled. Seed Angle, globular .—Effential Character. 
Calyx none ; corolla none ; berry one-feeded. 
This is a very extenfive and Angular tropical genus, 
remarkable for the fimplicity of its flowers, which almoft 
vies with that of the Hippuris. The number of flamens 
however is, in fome cafes, more than two ; and in fome the 
ftigma is folitary. Several botanifts have taken the 
flower to be gynandrous, becaufe, at a very early period, 
before the germen is fully formed, the two antherae look 
as if feated on its fummit, clofe to the ftigma; but Juflieu 
well obferves, that they become lateral, or rather inferior, 
as. it advances towards maturity. The fructification of 
this genus, which is the only one in the order, is fully 
exemplified on the Botany Plate XI. fig. 6-10. 
Linnaeus has but 20 fpecies of Piper in the fecond 
edition of his Sp. PI. to which five only are added in Syft. 
Veg. ed. 14. Wildenpw has 52 ; but the molt complete 
botanical view of this genus is found in Vahl’s Enum. 
Plant, where 136 fpecies are defined. Of thefe Mr. 
Profeflor Martyn, whom we follow, has adopted 66 ; and 
we have three more, newly difcovered, in the ixth vol. of 
the Linn. Tranfi The fpecies are moftly natives of the 
Eaft and Weft Indies, a few of the iflands in the South 
Seas, two or three of the Cape of Good Hope, none of 
Europe. 1 
1. Piper nigrum, or common black pepper: leaves 
ovate, commonly feven.nerved, fmooth ; petioles quite 
fimple. Stem flirubby, very long, round, fmooth, 
jointed, fwelling towards each joint, flender, branched, 
fcandent or trailing, rooting at the joints. Leaves 
acuminate, quite entire, equal at the bafe, flattifti, bent 
back a little at the top and edges, alternate, of a dark- 
green colour, at the joints of the branches upon ftrong 
fheath-like footftalks. Flowers feflile, lateral, and ter¬ 
minating in fimple longifh fpikes, oppofite to the leaves. 
Calyx always four-leaved, imbricate : leaflets thick, 
concave, very blunt, unequal. Filaments two, awl-fhaped, 
flat, equal to the calyx, and hid by its leaflets. Anthene 
ovate, prominent above the calyx. Germ globular, 
fuperior. Stigma feflile, commonly four, fometimes but 
feldom three or five, oblong, reflex, fharp. Berry globular, 
of a red-brown colour. 
Black pepper grows fpontaneoufly in the Eaft Indies 
and Cochinchina. It is cultivated with fuch fuccefs in 
Malacca, Java, and efpecially in Sumatra, that it is thence 
exported to every part of the world, where a regular 
commerce has been eftablifhed. It is exported alfo from 
Cochinchina. .White pepper was formerly thought to be 
a different fpecies from the black ; but it is nothing more 
than the ripe berries deprived of their fkin, by fteeping 
them about a fortnight in water; after which they are 
dried in the fun. The berries falling to the ground when 
over-ripe lofe their outer coat, and are fold as an inferior 
fort of white pepper. Black pepper isthe hottefl and ftrong- 
P E R. 495 
eft, and moft commonly ufed for medicinal as well as culi¬ 
nary purpofes. It differs from moft of the other fpices in 
this, that its pungency refides not in the volatile parts or 
effential oil, but in a fubltance of a more fixed kind, which 
does not rife in the heat of boiling water. This fixed 
fubftance is probably the refinous part: the aromatic 
odorous matter feems to depend upon the effential oil. 
The diftilled oil fmells ftrongly of the pepper, but has 
very little acrimony; the remaining decoftion infpifiated 
yields an extract of confiderable pungency. A tinCture 
made in rectified fpirit is extremely hot and fiery. Some 
have fuppofed pepper to be lefs heating to the fyftem than 
other aromatics. It is generally ufed as an aromatic and 
ftimulant; and has been fuccefsfully employed in fome 
cafes of vertigo, in paralytic and arthritic diforders. 
Given in large dofes, it has been found a remedy for 
intermittent fevers. Dr. Reidmiller, of Nuremberg, like 
Dr. L. Frank, was led, by mere chance, (fee vol. xix. 
p. 55.) to ufe the black pepper in intermittents. His firft 
cafe was that of a young man, whofe fever had baffled the 
moft powerful remedies, (fuch as bark, opium, See.) for 
the fpace of fourteen weeks. Having learned, from an old 
woman, that fhe had derived the greateft benefit, in a 
fitnilar cafe, from the ufe of black pepper, of which fhe 
had fwallowed 332 grains, he was induced to try the drug 
on his patient, whom he thus fucceeded in a fhort time 
to cure. In the courfe of more than twenty years, the 
author ftates to have adminiftered the black pepper to 
upwards of five hundred patients, and to all with equal 
fuccefs. He, however, cautions practitioners to be certain, 
ere they have recourfe to this remedy, that the inflam¬ 
matory and gaftric fymptoms, attending the dileafe, have 
wholly fubfided. The form in which he has adminiftered 
the black pepper, is that of pills made up with mucilage. 
London Med. Journal, May 1822. 
Pipeline, or the adtive principle of pepper, is a new ve¬ 
getable fubftance, extracted from black pepper by Mr. 
Pelletier. To obtain it, black pepper was digefted in al¬ 
cohol repeatedly, and the folution evaporated, until a 
fatty refinous matter w r as left. This, on being w'afhed in 
warm water, was left of a good green colour, and had a 
hot and burning tafte; it diffolved readily in alcohol, and 
lefs readily in fulphuric ether; concentrated fulphuric 
acid gave it a fine fcarlet colour. A folution of this fub¬ 
ftance in hot alcohol, being left for fome days, depofited a 
number of fmall cryftals. Thefe were purified by re¬ 
peated folution and cryftallization in alcohol and ether, 
and from the mother-liquors frefti portions were obtained, 
which, on purification, were like the firft. It is to be re¬ 
marked, that the pepper-tafte they poflefied when impure, 
gradually left them as they became more and more pure ; 
fo that the white cryftals fcarcely had any tafte, while it 
feemed to accumulate in the fatty matter,as the cryftalline 
portion was feparated from it; and alfo that, the purer 
the cryftals, the finer the tint produced in them by ful¬ 
phuric acid. The fatty matter left alfo reddened by ful¬ 
phuric acid; but it is a queftion whether it would do fo 
when pure. The cryftalline matter forms colourlefs four- 
fided prifms, with Angle inclined terminations ; they have 
fcarcely any tafte. Boiling water diflolves a fmall portion, 
but it is infoluble in cold water; it is very foluble in al¬ 
cohol, lefs fo in ether; it is foluble in acetic acid, and 
cryftallizes from it in feathery cryftals. Weak fulphuric, 
nitric, and muriatic, acids, do not diflolve or aCt on it; 
the ftrongacids decompofe it. Strong fulphuric acid gives 
it a blood-red colour, which difappears on adding water; 
the fubftance does not feem altered if the acid has not re¬ 
mained long on it. Muriatic acid abls in the fame way, 
producing a deep yellow colour. Nitric acid makes it 
greenifli yellow, orange, and then red ; the ultimate aCtion 
of the acid produces oxalic acid, and yellow bitter prin¬ 
ciple. It melts at about 212 0 . DeftruCtive diftillation 
converts it into water,acetic acid, oil, and carburetted hy¬ 
drogen gas : no ammonia is formed. Oxyde of copper 
converts it into carbonic acid and water. After compar¬ 
ing 
