PIMENTÆ BACCÆ. L.E. Pimento. D.
Myrtus Pymenta. Baccæ.
Pimenta Berries. Jamaica Pepper. All-spice.
Qualities. Odour, aromatic and agreeable, combining that of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmegs; hence the term all-spice. Taste, warm and pungent, resembling that of cloves. These qualities reside principally in the cortical part of the berry. Chemical Comp: It contains a volatile oil, very like that of cloves, resin, extractive, tannin, and gallic acid. Solubility. Water, alcohol, and æther, extract its virtues. Med. Uses. Principally to cover the disagreeable taste of other remedies; it is also a very useful adjunct to dyspeptic medicines. Officinal Prep. Aq. Piment. L.E.D. Ol. Piment. L.E.D. Pil. Opiat. E. Syrup. Rhamni. L. (E)
PIPERIS LONGI BACCÆ. L.E.D.
Long Pepper.
The chemical and medicinal properties of this substance are similar to those of black pepper; which see. The varieties in the market are distinguished by the names short long pepper, and long long pepper. The native practitioners of India prescribe it in infusion, mixed with a little honey, as a remedy in catarrhal affections, when the chest is loaded with phlegm.
PIPERIS NIGRI BACCÆ. L.E.D.
Black Pepper.
Chemical Composition. An oily matter, fecula, and extractive; the acrid principle of Pepper has been separated by Oersted in an alkaline form. The following was the process by which it was procured. The pepper having been digested in alcohol, muriatic acid and afterwards water were added to the tincture, by which the resin was precipitated, while a muriate of Pipera remained in solution. The solution was then, after having been submitted to a certain evaporation, decomposed by pure potass, when a precipitation of Pipera took place. This salifiable base is nearly insoluble in cold, and only very slightly soluble in boiling water. It dissolves in alcohol, and the solution has a greenish-yellow colour, which by the addition of nitric acid is rendered green. The capacity of the base for saturation appears very small. Solubility. The virtues of pepper are entirely extracted by æther and alcohol; and partially by water, 550 pints being required to extract all the sapidity of ℔j of pepper. Med. Uses. It appears to be a more general and permanent stimulus than other species of equal pungency on the palate; it may be combined with bitters, and exhibited in nausea, dyspepsia, retrocedent gout, or as a stimulant in paralysis; it is also a valuable coadjutor to bark, in obstinate intermittents. An infusion made with black pepper that has been toasted, is often prescribed by the natives of India in cases of cholera morbus; and I have known it, says Dr. Ainslie, put a stop to the vomiting when many other remedies had failed. Dose, grs. v to ℈j, or more. Officinal Preparations. Emplast. Meloes vesicat. comp. E. Unguent. piper. nig. D. White pepper is made by separating the first skin of the berry, by soaking it in salt and water. Adulterations. The powdered husk of the mustard seed is universally mixed with powdered pepper, and is regularly sold for this purpose by the mustard manufacturer, under the technical title of P.D. (Pepper Dust;) there are besides other admixtures less innocent.—Whole Pepper is also frequently factitious; artificial pepper-corns, composed of peas-meal, both white and black, are mixed with real pepper-corns, and sold as genuine pepper; the method of detecting the fraud is very simple; throw a suspected sample into water; those that are artificial will fall to powder, or be partially dissolved, while the true pepper-corns will remain whole.