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, it has failed to gain the confidence of medical men, and to acquire much importance in the drug-market. 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 owtt of barbary” we must be allowed to hold their genuineness as doubtful.[1841]
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.[1842] From this stock, Sir Matthew Lister, physician to Charles I., procured seeds when in Italy, and gave them to Parkinson,[1843] who raised plants from them.
Collinson obtained rhubarb plants from seeds procured in Tartary, and sent to him in 1742 by Professor Siegesbeck of St. Petersburg.[1844]
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.[1845] The Society also awarded medals about the same time (1789-1793) to growers of rhubarb in Somersetshire, Yorkshire, 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.
The authors of this book 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.[1846] 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 lb. 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[1847] 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.[1848]