CHEMICAL  EXAMINATION  OF  CUBEBA  CLUSII.  267 
This  substance,  for  which  the  author  proposes  the  name  of 
calcitrapic  acid,  is  obtained  in  the  following  manner  : — The 
coarse  powder  of  the  entire  plant,  collected  during  the  time  of 
flowering,  is  exhausted  with  alcohol  in  a  displacement  apparatus, 
and  the  fluid  thus  obtained  is  agitated  with  a  sufficient  quantity 
of  purified  animal  charcoal  to  remove  the  green  color.  The  fluid 
is  then  filtered,  and  eight-tenths  of  the  alcohol  distilled  from  it. 
On  cooling,  oily  drops  are  formed  on  the  surface  of  the  fluid.  It  is 
then  evaporated  on  the  vapor-bath,  when  new  drops  are  formed; 
these  are  gradually  collected,  and  finally  dissolved  in  ether.  By 
the  evaporation  of  the  etherial  solution,  the  substance  is  obtained 
with  the  properties  already  described. — London  Chemical 
Gazette,  from  Archiv  der  Pharm.  2nd  series,  Ixxx.  p.  186. 
CHEMICAL  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  CUBEBA  CLUSII  OF  MIQUEL; 
THE  BLACK  PEPPER  OF  WESTERN  AFRICA. 
By  John  Stenhouse,  LL.D*.,  F.R.S. 
A  few  months  ago  Frederick  Desnaux,  Esq.,  African  mer- 
chant, kindly  presented  me  with  a  quantity  of  these  cubebs, 
imported,  I  believe,  from  Abbeocouta,  in  Western  Africa. 
As  considerable  doubt  has  long  existed  respecting  the  true 
nature  of  these  African  cubebs,  most  botanists  regarding  them 
as  a  peculiar  species  of  cubebs,  while  others  believe  them  to  be 
a  kind  of  pepper  to  which  they  have  given  the  name  Piper 
caudatum,  or  tail-pepper,  I  was  induced  to  take  up  the  subject  in 
order  to  see  if  Chemistry  could  throw  any  light  upon  the  matter. 
The  smell  of  these  African  cubebs  is  very  similar  to  that  of 
ordinary  cubebs,  but  their  taste  approaches  very  closely  that  of 
common  pepper. 
The  powdered  cubebs  were  digested  with  wood-spirit,  and  the 
spirit  drawn  off  by  distillation.  The  residuum  obtained  in  this 
way  dissolved  in  alcohol,  to  which  a  strong  solution  of  caustic 
potash  was  added.  The  addition  of  the  potash  lye  precipitated 
a  brown  colored  oil,  which,  on  standing  for  some  time,  vielded 
crystals.  The  mother-liquor,  when  treated  with  a  new  quantity 
of  potash-lye,  furnished  a  second  precipitate,  from  which  crystals 
were  also  obtained. 
The  crystals,  after  being  collected,  were  dried  by  being  strongly 
