128 
COMMERCIAL VARIETIES OF GINGER. 
cover new methods to facilitate, and consequently lessen the 
expense of its preparation ; and should any be so fortunate as 
to succeed in such attempts, and the price be sufficiently re- 
duced, to warrant its general employment, we have every rea- 
son to believe, that it will eventually become an important 
article to the pharmaceutist, independent of its usefulness in the 
cause of afflicted humanity. 
ART. XXXIII.— ON THE COMMERCIAL VARIETIES OF 
GINGER. 
By Jonathan Pereira, M. D. ? F. R. S. 
In the preparation of a third edition of my Elements of 
Materia Medica, I have had my especial attention drawn 
to the different commercial varieties or sorts of the several 
articles of the Materia Medica, amongst many others to 
those of ginger. Perhaps the following notice of the varie- 
ties of ginger now met with in the English market may not 
be uninteresting to some of the readers of the Pharmaceu- 
tical Journal. 
I have met with ginger in three different states in the 
English market, namely, in the fresh state, forming what 
was termed green ginger ; secondly, in the state called pre- 
served ginger ; and, lastly, dried ginger, the usual form in 
which it is sold by grocers and druggists. 
1 . Green Ginger. 
Small parcels of this have been brought over from Jamai- 
ca. The samples which I have met with were soft, and had 
the character of rhizomes which had been recently taken 
out of the ground. I am informed that in a commercial 
point of view they were worthless, most of them having 
perished on the journey. Recently none has been imported. 
2. Preserved Ginger. 
As this is chiefly used as a condiment and desert, it will 
