556         ENGLISH  MEDICINAL  RHUBARB  AND  HENBANE. 
tion  of  imported  rhubarb  is  of  the  best  quality.  This  fact  did 
not  escape  the  notice  of  Dr.  Pereira.  He  remarked  that  when 
China  or  East  India  rhubarb  arrives  in  London,  it  is  hand-picked, 
tared,  and  sorted  into  three  qualities — bright  and  sound,  dark 
and  horny,  and  worm-eaten.  He  adds  the  following  evidence  on 
this  point: — "In  1840,  when  China  rhubarb  was  very  scarce,  a 
quantity  of  foreign  rhubarb,  imported  from  Calcutta,  was  sold, 
some  at  4d.  and  some  at  Id.  per  pound."  As  the  evidence  aris- 
ing from  dissimilarity  of  price  has  been  used  as  an  argument  to 
show  the  inferiority  of  English  to  foreign,  the  following  facts 
deserve  notice : — In  the  years  1846  and  1847,  there  was  a  very 
large  quantity  of  foreign  rhubarb  disposed  of,  amounting  to  sev- 
eral tons  weight,  and  such  was  its  general  quality  and  condition, 
that  the  terms  made  use  of  to  designate  it,  with  the  prices  realized, 
were  as  follows  : — Old  and  bastard,  at  \d.  to  \\d.  per  pound ; 
old  brown  and  rotten,  \d.  to  4dj  rotten  and  damaged,  3d.  to 
5d.;  brown,  old,  and  perished,  Id.  to  6d.  During  these  periods 
large  quantities  of  English  rhubarb  were  sold  at  from  Is.  to  2s. 
per  pound.  Thus  it  is  seen,  that  if  the  maximum  price  of  foreign 
is  higher  than  English,  the  minimum  price  of  English  is  higher 
than  foreign.  Whatever,  therefore,  may  be  supposed  to  be  the 
relative  difference  between  English  rhubarb  and  the  best  speci- 
mens of  foreign,  it  is  clear  that,  owing  to  the  very  imperfect 
method  of  curing  it  in  those  countries  where  it  is  produced,  there 
is  invariably  that  strict  uniformity  of  character  in  the  one  which 
is  as  invariably  wanting  in  the  other. 
One  leading  question  relating  to  this  most  important  medicinal 
production  yet  remains  to  be  solved  at  some  future  period, 
namely,  whether  the  plant  from  which  foreign  rhubarb  is  pro- 
duced is  the  best  that  could  be  selected  ?  Judging  from  the 
very  great  variety  and  very  interesting  specimens  in  the  pos- 
session of  Dr.  Hooker,  all  of  them  distinctly  differing  from  each 
other,  it  would  appear  doubtful  if  the  foreign  cultivators  have 
made  such  researches  and  instituted  such  experiments  as  would 
lead  to  a  judicious  selection  of  the  best  sorts.  It  is  also  highly 
probable  that,  if  onsets  could  be  obtained  from  a  number  of  the 
several  varieties  of  the  plant  produced  in  Tartary  and  elsewhere, 
we  might  acclimatize  some  yielding  higher  medicinal  properties 
