BARK OF THE BE-LAHE. 
47 
tube filled with sulphate of mercury properly heated, will 
yield sulphurous and carbonic acids, of which the proportions, 
should there be any change in them, will correspond with the, 
different products which have been formed during the distilla- 
tion. 
Jourji. de Chimic Med. 
ART. IX.— NOTE ON THE BARK OF THE BE-LAHE, OR 
COSTUS AMER. By M. Guibourt. 
A resident of the Isle of Bourbon sent to Paris a certain 
quantity of bark, much used as ant i- dysenteric in that island, 
whither it is brought from Madagascar. This substance having 
been presented to me, I recognised it as the bark of the bela- 
aye, or rather, be-lahe, coming, in fact, from Madagascar; 
and, moreover, I assured myself of its identity with a bark 
which a long time ago I found in commerce, under the name 
of Costus amer, — an inconvenient name, but one I was obliged 
to adopt for want of a better. So, the bark to be found 
described in the Histoire Mrigee des Drogues Simple, under 
the name of Costus amer, is the bark of the be-lahe of Son- 
nerat, Maudyt, and Murray. 
This bark, such as I received it, is in large cylindrical 
rolls, quite light and thin, and of a grained, rather than fibrous, 
fracture. 
The epidermis is often thin, grayish, marked with large 
spots, and at other times white and spongy. The internal 
surface is as if coated with a pellicle of a somewhat fibrous 
appearance,, and deeper in color than the substance of the bark 
itself, which is of a clear yellow. Its taste, but little sensible 
at first, becomes extremely bitter by mastication, accompa- 
nied with a nauseous taste. The aqueous maceration is bitter, 
and presents the same properties as that of the Costus amer. 
