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82

ELEMENTS OP MATERIA MEDICA.

of brown sago, undergoes no change of colour on the addition of a tincture ofiodine. But a similar infusion of pearl sago becomes blue with iodine. Thisevidently depends on the latter having been submitted to some process by whichthe starch-globules have become broken. The cold infusion of brown sago isrendered milky by nitrate of silver, diacetate of lead, and protonitrate of mer-cury; but the cold infusions of pulverulent and of pearl sago are searcely af-fected by these tests.

Physiologicai, Effects. —It is nutritive and easy of digestion, and is an im-portant article of food in some parts of the East. " The Malay sago palm,"says Dr. Roxburgh, " is the tree, the pith of which is the staffof life to the in-habitants of the Moluccas."

Uses. —Sago puddings are occasionally brought to table. But the principaluse of sago is to yield a light, nutritious, easily digestible, and non-irritatingarticle of food for the invalid, in febrile and inflammatory cases. For this pur-pose it should be boiled in water (in some cases milk is preferred), the Solutionstrained, and flavoured with sugar and spices, or even with a little white wine,when the use of this is not contra-indicated.

4. ARE'CA CAT'ECHU, Linn. JS.-CATECHU PALM.

Sex. Syst. Monrecia, Hexandria.(Semen.—Extract of the kerneis, E.~ Carbo seminis, Oßc.)

History. —Areca nuts are not mentioned in the writings of the ancientGreeks and Romans. Avicennaspeaks of them under the narae of Fufel. (Lib.ii. p. 306. Venet. 1564.)

Botany. Gen. ciiar.—1. Male : Calyx three-parted. Corolla three-petalled.2. Female : Calyx three-leaved. Corolla three-petalled ; neetary six-toothed.Ovarium superior, one-celled, one-seeded ; attachment inferior. Drupe coria-ceous. Seed single, ruminate. Embryo in the base of the albumen. (Roxburgh.)

Sp. ciiar.— Trunk straight and slender, from forty to fifty feet high Frondspinuate ; leaflets Compound, linear, opposite, premorse. Spathe erect, ramous.Maleßowers hexandrous. Seed of a roundish conic form, and obtuse. [Rox-burgh.)

Ha*.—Cultivated in all the warmer parts of Asia.

Desckiption and Uses of the Seeds. —The fruit of the Catechu palm isabout the size and shape of a small egg, yellowish, and smooth. Within thefibrous pericarp is the seed (Areca mit; Betel nut; Pinang nut). This isabout the size of a nutmeg, roundish conical, flattened at the base, hard, horny,inodorous, externally reddish brown, internally brown with whitish veins. Theprincipal part of the seed is the ruminate albumen, at the base of which is theembryo. (Roxburgh's Plauts of Coromandel, pl. 75.) According to Morin,(Journ. de Pharm, viii. 449,) these seeds are composed aftannin (principally),gallic aeid, glutin, red insoluble matter, fixed oil, gum, oxalate of Urne, lignin,&c. With lime and the leaves of Piper Betel, these nuts form the celebratedmasticatory of the East, called betel. They are usually cut into four equalparts ; one of which is rolled up with a little lime in the leaf of the Piper Betel,and the whole chewed. The mixture acts as a sialogogue, and tinges the salivared. The Indians have an idea that by this means the teefh are fastened, thegurns cleansed, and the mouth cooled. Peron (Voyage aux Terres Australes)was convinced that he preserved his health, during a long and difficult voyage,by the habitual use of the betel, while his companions, who did not use it, diedmostly of dysentery. In this country, areca-nut charcoal is used as a tooth-powder. I know of no particular value it can have over ordinary charcoal, ex-cept, perhaps, that derived from its greater hardness.

Manufacture of Palm Catechu. —From the seeds is obtained an astrin-gent extract, which constitutes two (or perhaps more) kinds of the substance