CAPSULE. 
grown in the West Indies, is well dried in the 
sunshine, and then put into an earthen or stone 
pot, with a layer of flour alternating with each 
layer of fruit; and then baked in an oven till it 
is thoroughly freed from all interior moisture. 
The fruit is then separated from the flour, and 
ground into fine powder; a mixture is made of 
this powder and fine wheat flour, in the propor- 
tion of an ounce of the powder to a pound of the 
flour; the mixture is baked with leaven into 
small cakes; the cakes are cut into small pieces, 
baked again till they are as hard as biscuit, and 
then ground into powder and sifted; and the 
fine powder thus finally obtained is packed into 
| closely-corked bottles, and sent to Britain as the 
| best prepared cayenne pepper of commerce.— 
| But the prepared pepper is often mixed with 
common salt, and sometimes with the very nox- 
ious pigment, red oxide of lead. To detect the 
presence of the latter ingredient, a decoction of 
| a suspected specimen may be made with vinegar, 
| and filtered; and, if red oxide of lead be present, 
| the adding of some of the solution of sulphuret- 
| ted hydrogen gas will throw down a black pre- 
cipitate, or the adding of a proper proportion of 
sulphate of soda will throw down a white preci- 
| pitate, which, when dried, and afterwards mixed 
with a little charcoal and heated, will evolve a 
globule of metallic lead. 
Capsicum berries have an aromatic odour, and 
are extremely pungent, acrimonious and fiery 
tasted ; and they communicate these properties to 
ether, alcohol, and water. But the odour is con- 
siderably dissipated by the process of drying; 
and the taste is much impaired and exceedingly 
diluted by conversion into prepared cayenne 
pepper. Hither capsicum fruit itself, or cayenne 
pepper, or a tincture of capsicum is a powerful 
stimulant, and has been successfully employed in 
cases of dyspepsia, atonic gout, tympanites, para- 
lysis, dropsy, cynanche, and scarlatina. The pep- 
per is sometimes given, in the form of a ball, in 
doses of from twenty to thirty grains, to horses, for 
flatulency, indigestion, and cold; yet though a 
valuable stimulant, and though said to be a most 
efficient medicine in the veterinary practice of 
India, it is too heating, and makes too great an 
acceleration of the pulse.—Ainslie’s Materia Med- 
tca of Hindostan—Thomson’s London Dispensa- 
tory.—Muller’s Dictionary — Magazine of Domestic 
Economy.—Stevenson’s Medical Botany.—Loudon’s 
Hortus Britannicus.— White's Veterinary.— Youatt 
on the Horse. 
CAPSULE. A dry and membranaceous seed- 
cover. All capsules, when ripe, open in some 
determinate manner. Most are two-valved ; but 
some, as those of the primrose plants, are one- 
valved ; some, as those of the wood-sorrels, are 
many-valved; and some, as those of the ash- 
trees, have no valves. 
CAPSULAR LIGAMENTS. The ligaments 
whica, in large vertebrated animals, surround 
I. 
ih ends of articulated bones, and form the joint 
689° 
CARAGANA. 
into a complete cavity. In the horse, they are 
long, thin, dense, and impervious, and serve both 
to strengthen the joint, and to resist dislocation ; 
and though scarcely observable from the exte- 
rior, they secrete a peculiar mucus, are very vas- 
cular and sensitive, and, when injured, occasion 
very troublesome inflammation in the cavity of 
the joint. See the articles Jornts and Wounps. 
CAPULET, or Capprp-Hocx. A wenny swell- 
ing or bursal enlargement on the heel of the 
horse’s hock, or on the point of his elbow. It 
arises from bruises, kicks, and other causes, and 
has a great diversity of both appearance and 
character. When it is watery, or proceeds from 
indisposition of the blood, it ought not to be 
meddled with, but will, without aid, gradually 
wear away. When it has a thick consistency 
and a stubborn character, and yet appears to 
proceed from a bad state of the blood, it may be 
dispersed by a cautious use of repellers, rowels, 
purges, and diuretics. When it comprises great 
mucous secretion, and is accompanied with a 
thickening of the integuments, and has been 
caused or continues to be aggravated by kicking 
or other abrasion, it may be tried with vinegar 
or other repeller, and may next be repeatedly 
blistered, and may finally, if the case is very bad, 
be reduced by puncturing. But any use of the 
knife or the lancet requires extreme caution. 
CARA. A cultivated variety of the yam,— 
Dioscorea sativa. It is called sometimes the cara 
of Brazil, and sometimes the cara of Rio de Ja- 
neiro. Its root is white-skinned, irregularly 
roundish, and superior in flavour to the tuber of 
any of the long-rooted varieties of the yam. It 
is extensively cultivated in the vicinity of Rio 
de Janeiro, and is generally preferred to the wa- 
tery and bad-tasted potatoes which are usually 
raised for the Brazilian market. The name of 
cara is frequently given to other esculent roots 
of Brazil, particularly to Jatropha manihot. 
CARAGANA. A genus of hardy ornamental 
shrubs and small trees, of the leguminous order. 
Sixteen species have been introduced to Britain ; 
and twelve of these are natives of Siberia. Most 
of the species possess close resemblance to the 
acacia-tree, and five have, by many eminent 
botanists, been actually included in the acacia- 
tree genus. The arborescent species, Caragana 
arborescens—called by Linneeus Robinia caragana 
—was introduced to Britain from Siberia about 
the middle of last century. Its stem usually 
rises to the height of about fifteen feet; its 
branches are covered with a greenish-yellow 
bark ; its leaves are abruptly pinnated, and con- 
sist each of about five or six pairs of oval, spear- 
shaped, pointed leaflets; its flowers grow on 
single footstalks from the sides of the branches, 
and are small and yellowish, and appear in April 
or May ; and its pods are smooth and compressed, 
and ripen in September. An unarmed variety 
of the species, C. a. inermis, grows to only two- 
thirds of the height of the normal plant.—The 
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