USE OF GRAINS OF PARADISE. 401 composition as the oils of turpentine, lemons, and orangepeel or neroli. Alcohol extracts from the pepperworts several resinous substances, which possess the acrid properties of pepper in great perfection. But they all contain, besides these, a solid white crystallisable substance known by the name of Piperin, which is said to equal quinine in its influence over intermittent fevers. All the three constituents, indeed, which I have mentioned-the oil, the resin, and the piperin exercise a beneficial action in cases of intermittent fever; and to this action we are safe, I think, in ascribing a portion at least of their salutary influence in tropical regions. While in betel-chewing the astringent principle of the nut checks the tendency to internal relaxation, the feverchasing principles of the pepper leaf preserve the health amid the steaming vapours which the hot sun draws forth from swamps and jungles and irrigated paddy-fields. 3°. GRAINS OF PARADISE.-Guinea grains of Malagueta pepper are the seeds, not of a pepperwort, but of a species of Cardamum (Amomum melegueta). They are imported from the coast of Guinea, where they are used by the natives as a spice for seasoning their food, and are held in great esteem. The seeds are small and angular, and consist of a glossy dark-brown husk, enclosing a perfectly white kernel, which has a hot, pungent, peppery taste. In Africa they are considered to be exceedingly wholesome. Grains of paradise were also very anciently in use as a spice in English cookery. The ancient fee-favour of the city of Norwich is twenty-four herring pies, each containing five herrings, to be carried to court by the lord of the manor of Carleton! In 1629 these pies were described as being seasoned with half a pound of ginger, half a pound of pepper, a quarter of a pound of cinnamon, one ounce of cloves, one ounce of long pepper, half an ounce of grains of paradise, and half an ounce of galangals. I am not aware that they are now in use anywhere in England for the seasoning of food. About forty thousand pounds of this seed are at present imported yearly into England. With the exception of what is used in veterinary medicine, all this is said to be employed for the purpose of imparting a fictitious appearance of strength to malt and spirituous liquors. By 56 Geo. III. c. 58, "no brewer or dealer in beer shall have in his possession or use grains of paradise, under a penalty of £200 for each offence; and no druggist shall sell the substance to a brewer under a penalty of £500 for each offence. Nevertheless, it is both sold and used, principally along with capsicum and juniper berries, to give a hot strong flavour to London gin; and along with Cocculus indicus and other bitters, to give a relish and warmth to country beer. In passing through Staffordshire some time ago, I was assured by a person connected with a large manufactory, that he had himself seen, in a druggist's shop, as much as ten pounds of grains of paradise sold to a single customer, for putting into beer. The effect of hot substances like this in giving to liquors the appearance of strength, is illustrated by the qualities of a drink prepared in some of the Turkish provinces. A greatly esteemed liquor is there made by digesting mint and pimento in water. This liquor possesses so much of what is taken for alcoholic strength, that the person who drinks it for the first time supposes he has swallowed "the most ardent alcohol." No wonder the iron smelters and puddlers of Staffordshire drink beer three whole days out of the fortnight, if their thirst be provoked by grains of paradise, so that the more they drink, the thirstier they become! It is satisfactory to think, however, that though a provoker to drunkenness, this adulteration is not known to be poisonous in itself. USE OF GRAINS OF PARADISE. 403 It has But the chemistry of this seed is still unknown. not hitherto been chemically examined, so that we do not know either what peculiar principles it contains, or what special physiological action it exercises upon the system. CHAPTER XX. THE NARCOTICS WE INDULGE IN. COCA. Coca, the narcotic of the Andes; description of the plant; mode of cultivation.-Ancient use of the coca leaf; its necessity to the Indian of Peru; how he uses it; its remarkable effects.-Melancholy temperament of the Indian.-Testimony of Von Tschudi and Dr. Weddell.--General effects of the coca leaf.-Intolerable craving of the confirmed coquero.-Evil effects of the coca leaf.-Testimony of Poppig and other travellers.-Opinions of old Spanish writers.-Indian reverence for the plant its characteristic effects.-Lessens the necessity for ordinary food.-Prevents difficulty of breathing in ascending hills-Experience and testimony of Von Tschudi.-Its introduction into Europe recommended.-Chemical history of the coca leaf. The odoriferous resin.-The bitter principle.-The tannic acid.-How the coca leaf acts.-Difficulties as to its action.-How it resembles tea, the hop, hemp, and opium.-Like opium, it sustains and inclines to retirement-Consumption of coca.-Probable extent and money value of the yearly growth of coca. COCA, the narcotic of the Andes, is not less interesting than the narcotics of the East, either in its social or in its physiological relations. It is little known in Europe-its use as an indulgence being in a great measure confined to the native Indians of Bolivia and Peru. The Erythroxylon coca is a bush which attains the height of six or eight feet, and resembles the black thorn in its small white flowers and bright green leaves (fig. 72). It is a native of the tropical valleys which occur on the THE COCA OF COMMERCE. 405 eastern slope of the Andes, in Bolivia and Peru, and it still grows wild in many parts of these countries. That Erythroxylon coca-The Coca-leaf plant. Coca leaf, natural size, showing the upper and under sides of the leaf. which is used by the people, however, is chiefly the produce In the inhabited parts of the above valleys of cultivation. |