Medical properties and uses.-Black pepper is stimulant and carminative. Its use, as a condiment, is well known; and although in general it is useful to those who have a weak digestion, yet, even in small quantities, it proves injurious in inflammatory habits, and to those subject to piles.1 As a medicine, pepper is found sometimes serviceable in checking nausea and vomiting, and removing hiccough. It is also used as a stimulant in retrocedent gout, and in palsy. The watery infusion forms a useful gargle in relaxation of the uvula, The piperina which it yields has been employed suc-sessfully by Dr. Meli and several Italian, French, and German physicians, in intermittents and other fevers: and is said to be as efficacious as the preparations of Quina: but this assertion still requires confirmation. A tincture of pepper made with gin, or with rum, has long been a popular remedy for agues.

The dose of black pepper may be from grs. x. to Э j.

Officinal preparations.- Unguentum Piperis nigri D. Emplas-trum Meloes vesicatorii compositum, E.

2. Piper longum.

Officinal. Piper longum, Lond. Edin. Piper longum; semina,

Dub. Long Pepper.

Syn. Poivre longue (F.), Lange pfeffer (G.), Lange peper (Dutch), Long peppar (Swed.), Pepe lungo (I.), Pimienta larga(S'.), Pimenta longa (Port.), Darfilfel (Arab.), Pipel (H.), Tipille ( Tarn.), Pippali (San.), Filfili draz (Pers.), Tabee.(Malay), Chabijawa (Jav.).

This plant is a perennial, a native of Malabar and Bengal. The stems are round, smooth, branched, slender, and scan-dent : the leaves are commonly cordate, pointed, nerved, and of a deep green colour: the flowers are small, in dense, short, terminal spikes, nearly cylindrical. In other cirumstances the fructification agrees with the former species. The fruit consists of a very small one-seeded berries or grains imbedded in a pulpy matter, forming what Mirbel terms "serose."

The fruit is hottest in its immature state, and is, therefore, gathered while green, and dried in the heat of the sun. It is imported in the entire spikes, which are about one inch and a half long, and indented on the surface.

Qualities.-Long pepper has a weak, aromatic odour, an intensely fiery, pungent taste, and a dark grey colour. Its constituents appear to be similar to those of black pepper. Ether, digested on powdered long pepper, takes up two parts and a half in ten parts, and when evaporated on water deposits a resin less hot than that of black pepper, but more permanent, and a smaller proportion of extractive. According to an analysis of Dulong, the constituents of long pepper are piperina, a concrete fatty matter in which the pungency and acrimony reside, a small portion of volatile oil, extractive, a coloured gummy matter, starch, a large quantity of bassorine, a malate, and some other saline substances.1

1 It nevertheless is an ingredient in a nostrum for the cure of piles, namely. Ward's Paste, which consists of lb j. of black pepper and elecampane, lbjss. of fennel-seeds, and of honey and sugar each lb j. beaten together and well mixed in a mortar. The dose is the size of a nutmeg three times a day.

Officinal preparations. - Confectio Opii, L. D. Pulvis Aroma-ticus, L. D. Pulvis Cretce comp., L. D. Tinctura Cinnamomi comp., L. E.

3. Piper Cubeba.

Officinal. Cubeba, Lond. Fructus, Dub. Cubebs.

Syn. Cubebes (F.), Kubeben (G.), Kobebar ( Sued.), Koebeben (Dutch), Cu-bebi(/.), Cubebas(S'.), Cobibas(Port.), Cubab chinie (Hind.), Komuchus (Bata-vian), Val Mellagboo ( Tarn.), Duncke mirchie (Duk.), Komoonkoos (Malay), Salavamirrialoc (Til), Kebabeh (Arab.'), Walgummeris (Cyng.), Srrgandha marichum (Sans.), Kumukus Javan.).

The plant which yields this spice is a native of Java, Nepaul, Batavia, Guinea, and the Isle of France. The younger plants differ from the older: their branches are long, creeping, and rooting; their leaves cordato-lanceolate, attenuated, about one and a half inch in length, and supported on petioles the length of the leaf. In the older plants the branches are flexuose and tetragonous; the leaves are less than an inch in length, unequal at the base, and supported on channelled footstalks half an inch in length. The fruit is a berry growing in clusters.2

Cubebs are brought to this country packed in cases. The best are about the size of a small pea, round, plump, and heavy. They have a short stalk attached to each, which appears to terminate in raised veins on the surface of the berrycorked bottles, and should even be dispensed in stoppered phials, as it quickly loses its active part when it is kept in paper. It is often adulterated with pimenta, which may be detected by the odour.

Qualities.-Cubebs when chewed have a pungent, aromatic, slightly bitter taste; which, however, leaves a sensation of coolness on the palate resembling that which is produced by peppermint. Their odour is fragrant and agreeable. According to Vauquelin, cubebs contain a volatile, almost concrete oil, a resin resembling that of copaiba, another coloured resin in small quantity, extractive, and some saline substances.3 In our analysis we find that there are two volatile oils; one concrete in small quantity, the other fluid. They are readily obtained by distillation. The colour of the powder is darker than that of the berries. It should be kept in well-

1 Journ. de Pharm. Fevrier, 1825.

2 Medical Repository, Dec. 1820, p. 523.

3 Pract. Observ. on the Use of Cubebs in Gonorrhaea. Lond. 1821.

Medical properties and uses.-Cubebs are diuretic and slightly purgative. In gonorrhoea and gleets they have been long used by Oriental practitioners : and the Arabs employ them in seasoning food.1 They have been found beneficial in this country in gonorrhoea, in which they moderate the inflammation, and consequently the discharge; this effect is soon apparent; and unless it be so the remedy is seldom useful.

The following statement of the results of fifty cases treated by Mr. Broughton, gives some idea of the time in which cubebs produce their effects, and of their value as a remedy in gonorrhoea: -

Mr. Jeffrey says that, even when they failed, he found the symptoms afterwards yield readily to copaiba; an observation which is confirmed by our own experience, and that of Mr. Broughton. They have also been lately given with advantage in inflammation of the mucous membrane of the intestines: and M. Velpeau has found them most beneficial in leu-corrhcea.

The powder, which is the best form in which cubebs can be administered, sometimes nauseates : it acts as a diuretic in large doses; imparts an odour to the urine: and gives a cool sensation to the rectum, in passing the faeces. It sometimes, also, produces a quick pulse, a burning heat in the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet, flushing of the face, head-achs, and frequently a slight degree of giddiness; occasionally urticaria; and, according to Dr. Duncan's experience, it has also produced swelled testicles.3 The dose of the powder is from Эj. to 3j. four times in the day. Of the tincture, made by digesting iij. of the bruised pepper in Oj. of rectified spirit in wine, 3j. may be given in a glass of water three times a day. The oil may be administered in doses of

1 Martyn's Gardener's Dict. art. Piper.

2Medico-Chirurg. Trans, vol. xii. 3 Edinburgh Dispensatory, 1830.

xij. as an oleo-saccharum.

Officinal preparation.-Tinctura Piperis Cubebae, D.