of that acid in combination with lime. The medullary rays contain the substances peculiar to rhubarb, but none of them occur in a crystalline state.

Chemical Composition-The active constituent of the root has long been supposed to reside in the yellowish red contents of the medullary rays. Schrader as early as 1807, prepared a Rhubarb-Bitter, to which he attributed the medicinal powers of the drug. Since then, several substances of the same kind have been separated by various methods, and described under different names: such are the Rhabarberstoff of Trommsdorff, the Rheumin of Hornemann, the Rhabarberin of Buchner and Herberger, the Rhubarb- Yellow or Rhein, and the Rhabarbic Acid of Brandes.

Schlossberger and Döpping in 1844, first recognized among the abovenamed substances, a definite chemical body named Chrysophan or Chrysophanic Acid, C4H8O4, which had been previously found by Rochleder and Heldt in the yellow lichen, Parmelia parietina. It partly forms the yellow contents of the medullary rays of rhubarb, and when isolated, crystallizes in golden yellow needles or in plates. It dissolves in ether, alcohol, or benzol; though scarcely soluble in water, it is nevertheless extracted from the root to some extent by that solvent, probably by reason of some accompanying substances. Alkalis dissolve it, forming fine dark red

solutions.

By precipitating alcoholic solutions of extract of rhubarb with ether, Schlossberger and Döpping obtained together with chrysophan, three resinous bodies which they named Aporetin, Pheoretin, and Erythroretin.

De la Rue and Miller (1857) extracted from rhubarb in addition to chrysophan, an allied substance, Emodin, which crystallizes in orangecoloured prisms, sometimes as much as two inches long. Its composition was found to agree with the formula C40H30O13.

The latest researches on this difficult subject are those of Kubly,' who has obtained from rhubarb the following constituents :

1. Rheo-tannic Acid, C26H26014, a yellowish powder abundantly present in rhubarb, soluble in water or alcohol, not in ether. Its solutions produce blackish-green precipitates with persalts of iron, and greyish ones slowly turning blue, with protosalts of the same.

2. Rheumic Acid (Rheumsäure), C20H1609, obtained as a reddishbrown powder, by boiling rheo-tannic acid with a dilute mineral acid, a fermentable sugar being developed at the same time. Rheumic acid exhibits nearly the same reactions as rheo-tannic acid, but is very sparingly soluble in cold water. It partly pre-exists in rhubarb.

3. Neutral colourless substance, sparingly soluble in hot water, and separating from the latter in prismatic crystals of the formula C10H120*; no name has yet been given to it.

4. Phæoretin, C16H1607, agreeing with the substance thus named by Schlossberger and Döpping. It is a brown powder, soluble in alcohol or in acetic acid, but not in ether, chloroform or water.

5. Chrysophan, described above; it agrees in composition with Alizarin.

A pectic matter, which abounds in rhubarb, has not yet been satisfactorily examined. As to the mineral constituents, their amount is

Pharm. Zeitschrift f. Russland, vi. (1867) 603-627; abstract in Wiggers and Husemann's Jahresbericht for 1867. 40.

exceedingly variable. Two samples of good China Rhubarb dried at 100° C. and incinerated, yielded respectively 12.9 and 13.87 per cent of ash. Another sample which we had particularly selected on account of its pale tint, afforded no less than 43-27 per cent. of ash. The ash consists of carbonates of calcium and potassium. English rhubarb from Banbury (portions of a large specimen) left after incineration 10.90 per cent. of ash.

From a practical point of view the chemical history of rhubarb is far from satisfactory, for we are still ignorant to what principle the drug owes its therapeutic value, or what the pharmaceutical preparations in which the active matter may be most appropriately exhibited. Chrysophan is said to act as a purgative, but less powerfully than rhubarb itself.

Uses-Rhubarb is one of the commonest and most valuable purgatives; it is also taken as a stomachic and tonic.

Substitutes-These are found in the roots of the various species of Rheum, cultivated in Europe. In most countries, the cultivation of rhubarb for medicinal use has at some time been attempted. Yet in but few instances has it been persistently carried on; and though the drug produced has often been of good appearance and by no means devoid of the characteristic properties of Asiatic rhubarb, it has failed to gain the confidence of medical men, and to acquire much importance in the drug-market.

These results are doubtless owing in large measure to the species of Rheum cultivated, which has never been that which yields the finest Chinese rhubarb. Now that the true kind has been obtained, a much greater success may be anticipated.1 The European rhubarb most interesting from our point of view is

English Rhubarb-So early as 1535, Andrew Boorde, an English Carthusian monk and practitioner of medicine, obtained seeds of rhubarb, which he sent as "a grett tresure" to Sir Thomas Cromwell, Secretary of State to Henry VIII.; but as he says they "come outt of barbary," we must be allowed to hold their genuineness as doubtful.2

In the following century, namely about the year 1608, Prosper Alpinus of Padua cultivated as the True Rhubarb, a plant which is now known as Rheum Rhaponticum L., a native of Southern Siberia and the regions of the Volga. From this stock, Sir Matthew Lister, physician to Charles I., procured seeds when in Italy, and gave them to Parkinson, who raised plants from them.

4

Collinson obtained rhubarb plants from seeds procured in Tartary, and sent to him in 1742, by Professor Siegesbeck of St. Petersburg.5

About 1777, Hayward, an apothecary of Banbury in Oxfordshire, commenced the cultivation of rhubarb, with plants of Rh. Rhaponticum, raised from seeds sent from Russia in 1762. The drug he produced was so good that the Society of Arts awarded him in 1789, a silver medal and in 1794 a gold medal. The Society also awarded medals about the same time (1789-1793) to growers of rhubarb in Somersetshire, Yorkshire

1 Mr. Usher of Bodicott near Banbury has already (1873) commenced the cultivation of Rheum officinale Baillon.

Boorde's Introduction and Dyetary, reprinted by the Early English Text Society, 1870. 56.

3 Prosper Alpinus, De Rhapontico, Lugd. Bat. 1718.

Theatrum Botanicum, 1640. 157.

5 Dillwyn, Hortus Collinsonianus, 1843. 45. 6 Trans. of Soc. of Arts, viii. (1790) 75; xii. (1794) 225.

G G

and Middlesex, some of whom, it appears, cultivated Rh. palmatum. On the death of Hayward in 1811, his rhubarb plants came into the possession of Mr. P. Usher, by whose descendants, Mr. R. Usher and sons, they are still cultivated at Bodicott, a village near Banbury.

We had the pleasure of inspecting the rhubarb fields of Messrs. Usher on Sept. 4. 1872, and of seeing the whole process of preparing the root for the market.1 The land under cultivation is about 17 acres, the soil being a rich friable loam. The roots are taken from the ground during the autumn up to the month of November. It is considered advantageous that they should be 6 or 7 years old, but they are seldom allowed to attain more than 3 or 4 years. The clumps of root as removed from the field to the yard, where the trimming takes place, are of huge size, weighing with the earth attached to them, as much as 60 or 70 b. They are partially cleaned, the smaller roots are cut off, and the large central portion is rapidly trimmed into a short, cylindrical mass the size of a child's head. This latter subsequently undergoes a still further paring, and is finally sliced longitudinally; the other and less valuable roots are also pared, trimmed, and assorted according to size. The fresh roots are fleshy, easily cut, and of a beautiful deep yellow. All are dried in buildings constructed for the purpose and heated by flues. The drying occupies several weeks. The root after drying has a shrivelled, unsightly appearance, which may be remedied by paring and filing. The finished drug has to be stored in a warm dry place.

When well prepared, Banbury rhubarb is of excellent appearance. The finest pieces, which are semi-cylindrical, are quite equal in size to the drug of China. The colour is as good, and the fractured surface exhibits pink markings not less distinct and brilliant. Even the smaller roots which are dried as sticks, have internally a good colour and afford a fine powder. But the odour is somewhat different from that of Chinese rhubarb; the taste is less bitter but more mucilaginous and astringent, and the root is of a more spongy, soft, and brittle texture. The structure is the same as that of the Chinese rhubarb, except that, as already stated, the star-like spots, if present, are isolated, and not arranged in a regular zone.

The drug commands but a low price, and is chiefly sold, it is said, for exportation in the state of powder. It is not easily purchased in London.

French and German Rhubarb-The cultivation of rhubarb was commenced in France in the latter half of the last century, and has been pursued with some enthusiasm in various localities. The species grown were Rheum palmatum L., Rh. undulatum L., Rh. compactum L. and Rh. Rhaponticum L. The first was thought by Guibourt to afford a root more nearly approaching than any other, the rhubarb of China; but it is that which is cultivated the least readily, the central root being liable to premature decay. Both this plant and Rh. undulatum, were formerly cultivated by order of the Russian Government on a large scale at Kolywan and Krasnojarsk in Southern Siberia, but the culture has, we believe, been long abandoned.3

1 No use is made of the leaves. 2 Histoire des Drogues, ii. (1849) 398. 3 Twelve chests of this rhubarb said to be of the crop of 1793, which had been lying in the Russian Government warehouses, were

offered for sale in London, Dec. 1, 1853. Samples of the drug now 80 years old, are in my possession and still sound and good. -D. H.

As to France, it appears from inquiries we have lately made (1873), that except in the neighbourhood of Avignon and in a few other scattered localities, the cultivation has now ceased.

Rheum Rhaponticum is the source of the rhubarb which is produced at Austerlitz and Auspitz in Moravia, and at Ilmitz, Kremnitz and Frauenkirchen in Hungary. Some rhubarb is also produced in Silesia from Rh. Emodi Wall. (Rh. australe Don.)

MYRISTICEÆ.

MYRISTICA.

Nuclei Myristica, Semen Myristica, Nux moschata; Nutmeg; F. Muscade, Noix de Muscade; G. Muskatnuss.

Botanical Origin-Myristica fragrans Houttuyn (M. moschata Thunb., M. officinalis Linn. f.), a handsome, bushy, evergreen tree, with dark shining leaves, growing in its native islands to a height of 40 to 50 feet. It is found wild in Jilolo, Ceram, Amboyna, Bouro, the western peninsula of New Guinea, and in many of the adjacent islands, including the very small volcanic group of Banda, south of Ceram; but it is not indigenous to any of the islands westward of these, or to the Philippines (Crawfurd).

The nutmeg-tree has been introduced into Bencoolen on the west coast of Sumatra, Malacca, Bengal, the islands of Singapore and Penang, as well as Brazil and the West Indies; but it is only in a very few localities that the cultivation has been attended with success.

In its native countries, the tree comes into bearing in its ninth year, and is said to continue fruitful until 60 or even 80 years old, yielding annually as many as 2000 fruits. It is dioecious, and one male tree furnishes pollen sufficient for twenty female.

History-It has been generally believed that neither the nutmeg nor mace was known to the ancients. C. F. Ph. von Martius however maintains that mace was alluded to in the comedies of Plautus,2 written about two centuries before the Christian era.

The words Macer, Macar, Machir or Macir, occurring in the writings of Scribonius Largus, Dioscorides, Galen, and Pliny are thought by Von Martius to refer in each instance to mace. But that the substance designated by these names was not mace, but the bark of a tree growing in Malabar, was pointed out by Acosta nearly three centuries ago, and by many subsequent writers, and as we think, with perfect correctness.3

Nutmegs and mace were imported from India at an early date by the Arabians, and thus passed into western countries. Aëtius, who was resident at the court of Constantinople about the year 540, appears to have been acquainted with the nutmeg, if that at least is intended by the term Nuces Indica, prescribed together with cloves, spikenard, costus, calamus aromaticus and sandal wood, as an ingredient of the Suffumigium moschatum.*

1 Flora Brasiliensis, fasc. 11-12. 133; also in Buchner's Repertorium für Pharmacie, ix. (1860) 529-538.

2 Pseudolus, act. iii. scena 2.

3 Mérat et De Lens, Dict. de Mat. Méd. iv. (1832) 173.

4 Aëtius, tetrabiblos iv.serm. 4. c. 122.-It must however be admitted that Nux Indica in mediæval authors usually signifies the Coco-nut.

Masudi1 who appears to have visited India in A.D. 916–920, pointed out that the nutmeg, like cloves, areca nut and sandal wood, was a product of the eastern islands of the Indian Archipelago. The Arabian geographer Edrisi, who wrote in the middle of the 12th century, mentions both nutmegs and mace as articles of import into Aden; and again" Nois mouscades" are among the spices on which duty was levied at Acre in Palestine, circa A.D. 1180.8 About a century later, another Arabian author, Kazwini, expressly named the Moluccas as the native country of the spices under notice.

One of the earliest references to the use of nutmegs in Europe, occurs in a poem written about 1195, by Petrus d'Ebulo describing the entry into Rome of the Emperor Henry VI., prior to his coronation in April, 1191. On this occasion, the streets were fumigated with aromatics, which are enumerated in the following line:

"Balsama, thus, aloë, myristica, cynnama, nardus."

By the end of the 12th century, both nutmegs and mace were found in Northern Europe,-even in Denmark, as may be inferred from the allusion to them in the writings of Harpestreng." In England, mace though well known, was a very costly spice, its value between A.D. 1284 and 1377 being about 4s. 7d. per lb., while the average price of a sheep during the same period was but 1s, 5d., and of a cow 9s. 5d. It was also dear in France, for in the Compte de l'exécution of the will of Jeanne d'Evreux, queen of France, in 1372, six ounces of mace are appraised per ounce, at 3 sols 8 deniers, equal to about 8s. 3d. of our present money.8

The use of these spices was diffused throughout Europe long before the Portuguese in 1512 had discovered the' mother-plant in the isles of Banda. The Portuguese held the trade of the Spice Islands for about a century, when it was wrested from them by the Dutch, who pursued the same policy of exclusiveness that they had followed in the case of cloves and cinnamon. In order to secure their monopoly, they endeavoured to limit the trees to Banda and Amboyna, and to exterminate them elsewhere, which in fact they did at Ceram and the small neighbouring islands of Kelang and Nila. So completely was the spice trade in their hands, that the crops of sixteen years were said to be at one time in their warehouses, those of recent years being never thrown on the market. Thus the crop of 1744 was being sold in 1760, in which year an immense quantity of nutmegs and cloves was burned at Amsterdam lest the price should fall too low.9

During the occupation of the Spice Islands by the English from 1796 to 1802, the culture of the nutmeg was introduced into Bencoolen

51.

1 Les Prairies d'or, i. (1861) 341. Géographie, trad. par Jaubert, i. (1836)

3 In the work quoted at p. 250, note 8. 4 Kosmographie, übersetzt von Ethé, i. (1869) 227.

5 Carmen de motibus siculis, Basil., 1746. 23. A new edition of this work by Prof. Winklemann is now (1874) in the press.

6 Danske Lacgebog, quoted by Meyer, Geschichte der Botanik, iii. (1856) 537.

7 Rogers, Hist. of Agriculture and Prices in England, i. (1866) 361-362. 628.-It is

remarkable that nutmegs are not mentioned, though mace is named repeatedly.

8 Leber, Appréciation de la fortune privée au moyen âge, éd. 2, 1847. 95.

9 Valmont de Bomare, Dict. d'Histoire Nat. iv. (1775) 297.-This author writes as an eye-witness of the destruction he has recorded:-"Le 10 Juin 1760, j'en ai vu à Amsterdam, près de l'Amirauté, un feu dont l'aliment étoit estimé huit millions argent de France on devoit en brûler autant le lendemain. Les pieds des spectateurs baignoient dans l'huile essentielle de ces substances..