by treating the seeds with bisulphide of carbon and absolute alcohol;
also less purgative than the seeds themselves, because it contains only
a very small proportion of a drastic principle existing exclusively in
the seeds; this principle is completely dissolved in the oil extracted
by chemical process.
It is pale yellow in color, very viscid, with a characteristic mouldy
odor. The purgative dose is 10-30 grams. A small dose may purge as
actively as a larger one provided that the patient drink abundantly
after the administration of the drug. The best method of disguising its
taste is by giving it in half a cup of very strong, hot coffee. Just
before the dose, take a swallow of coffee to disguise the taste even
more effectually.
Castor oil enters into the composition of elastic collodion (simple
collodion, 30 grams, castor oil, 2 grams). The leaves pounded and
boiled are applied as a poultice to foul ulcers.
Botanical Description.--There are two forms of this variety in
the Philippines, possessing the same properties and known by the
same common name: _R. viridis_, Müll. (_R. communis_, Blanco) and
_R. subpurpurascens_, Müll.; the former is the more common and has
a glabrous, fistular stem. Leaves peltate, palmately cleft in 7 or
9 lobules, lanceolate, serrate. Petioles long. Flowers greenish,
monoecious, the staminate ones in large panicled clusters below the
pistillate. Filaments numerous, subdivided into several anther-bearing
branches. Pistillate flowers, 3 sepals, 3 styles. Seed vessel,
3 prickly capsules, containing solitary seeds.
The _R. subpurpurascens_ is distinguished from the former by bearing
2 glandules at the base of the leaves, the mulberry color of which
latter suggests its common name, _Tangantangan na morado_, Tag., Vis.
Habitat.--Very common in Luzon, Mindanao and other islands.
URTICACEÆ.
Nettle Family.
_Artocarpus integrifolia_, Willd.
Nom. Vulg.--_Nangka_, Tag.; _Jack Fruit Tree_, Eng.
Uses.--The huge fruit of this tree is well known to the Filipinos
and well liked by them as an article of food, eaten fresh or in sweet
preserves. The arils and pulpy envelopes of the seeds are the parts
eaten, also the seeds themselves, boiled or roasted. According to
Padre Mercado the roasted seeds have an aphrodisiac action.
The heated and powdered leaves are applied to wounds and given
internally for congestions. The resin of the trunk is a useful
application to ulcers and in India they give it internally to cure la
melena, the dose, one "tola" mixed with the same amount of _manga_
resin and a little lime water. The same resin if heated makes an
excellent cement for broken china.
Botanical Description.--A tree, 20° or more in height, with abundant
milky sap. Leaves alternate, oval, acute at both ends, slightly wavy
and revolute borders, tough, glabrous and dark green upper surface;
light green, slightly rough under surface. Petioles short. Flowers
greenish, monoecious, growing on root, trunk and branches. Calyx very
small, monophyllous, of about 7 deciduous lobules. Staminate: On a
club-shaped receptacle, 3' or 4' long, bristling with the stamens;
filaments very short, anthers 2-celled. Pistillate: On a common,
oblong receptacle which ripens to the great fruit; style 1, short;
rarely 2 divergent styles; stigmas acute. Fruit about size and shape
of a small watermelon, beset with many sharp eminences, containing
many seeds enveloped in thick arils.
Habitat.--It grows in all parts of the Archipelago and is commonly
known.
_Laportea gaudichaudiana_, Wedd. (_Urtica umbellata_, _U. ferox_,
Blanco.)
Nom. Vulg.--_Lingaton_, _Lipa_, _Apariagua_ (?), Tag., Vis.;
_Lipangdoton_, Pam.
Uses.--The Padre Mercado writes as follows concerning the properties of
this plant: "The leaves, applied with salt in the form of a plaster,
purify dog bites, foul, putrid, malignant and cankerous ulcers;
they cure boils, contusions and all abscesses; mixed with wax
they may be applied for obstruction of the spleen; mashed with the
juice and inserted in the nose they arrest nose-bleed; cooked with
snails they soften the stomach, excite the secretion of urine and
dissipate flatus; the juice given as a gargle aborts inflammation of
the epiglottis. The seeds mixed with wine are a sexual excitant and
"clear out" the womb; taken with syrup they relieve dyspnoea, pain
in the side and inflammation of the lungs and force up the humors
from the chest; it may be mixed with medicines that corrupt the flesh
(sic). The grated root drunk with wine relieves painful flatulence. I
myself (continues the Padre Mercado) have experimented with a woman
who suffered with painful flatulence and this remedy relieved her."
We repeat that all the foregoing is copied from the writings of Padre
Mercado and we offer it as a therapeutic curiosity.
P. Blanco states that merely to touch the leaves causes an intolerable
itching.
Botanical Description.--A small tree, 12-15° high, trunk richly
branched. Leaves opposite, bunched at the ends of the branches, notched
at the base, long, ovate, serrate, hairy on both surfaces. Flowers
yellowish-white, dioecious. Staminate: In compound racemes;
calyx 4 parts; corolla none; stamens 4, inserted on the base of the
calyx. Pistillate: Flowers in 2-forked umbel, flat, very large; calyx,
none; stamens none; stigma 1; seed heart-shaped.
Habitat.--Very common in all the fields and in the mountains. Blooms
in June.
CASUARINEÆ.
Beefwood Family.
_Casuarina Sumatrana_, Jung. (_C. equisetifolia_, Blanco.)
Nom. Vulg.--_Agoho_, Tag.; _Malabohok_, _Agoho_, Vis.; _Aro_, _Karo_,
_Agoó_, Iloc.
Uses.--The bark is astringent by virtue of the large quantity of tannin
it contains. Its principal use is in decoction in the treatment of
diarrhoea, dysentery and hæmoptysis; it is also given in amenorrhoea,
though it is apt to increase the pain. Externally it is used as a
wash for contusions and ulcers.
Another species, _C. equisetifolia_, Forst., confounded with the
former species by the natives, has the same therapeutic applications.
Botanical Description.--A tree with stellately arranged straight
branches. Leaves stellate, long, narrow, linear, 4-grooved. They
have been compared to the tail of a horse and the tail of a certain
bird--the casobar. Staminate and pistillate flowers greenish,
on different parts of the same stalk. Staminate, in small
aments. Pistillate on small globose aments; calyx proper of the
floweret, a coarse scale; corolla none; ovary conical; styles 2,
flattened, divergent; stigmas acute. Fruit: Each floweret produces
a woody seed-vessel, bivalved, ovate, glabrous, with a small seed
ending in an oval wing; all these seed vessels joined form a small
cone about 1' long.
Habitat.--Very common in Ilocos, Tarlak, Binangonang of Lampong and
N. Ecija.
MONOCOTYLEDONS.
MUSACEÆ.
Banana Family.
_Musa paradisiaca_, L.
_M. sapientum_, L.
Nom. Vulg. _Plátano_, Sp.; _Saging_, Tag., etc.; _Banana_, Eng.
Uses.--The fruit produced by the various varieties of the banana
plant constitutes one of the most wholesome and delicious of foods,
appreciated by natives and Europeans alike. According to Boussingaul
its nutritive value is greater than that of the potato and it may
be used constantly without ill effects. Bananas contain a large
percentage of sugar and mucilage. In India they dry them in the sun,
as figs and grapes are treated in other countries and thus preserve
them for long voyages by sea or land; eaten in conjunction with animal
food they are a strong preventive of scurvy. If eaten when thoroughly
ripe they have a laxative effect.
The young and tender leaves are used in the Philippines as a
protective dressing for ulcers, dermatitis, burns and cantharidal or
other artificial blisters. Before applying to the affected surface
the leaf is heated to make it more flexible and coated with a thin
layer of cocoanut oil or other fatty substance.
In the dispensaries of India they also use the leaves in this way,
thus protecting and at the same time maintaining the moisture of the
part. Dr. Waring recommends the practice and Dr. Van Someren follows
it in the application of water dressings, having substituted banana
leaves for gutta-percha.
In Mauritius the fruit is used for dysentery, and the flowers,
together with an equal quantity of those of _Spilanthes Acmella_,
are made into a decoction and prescribed for dropsy.
Botanical Description.--The banana plant with its huge waving leaves
and succulent stem is universally familiar. The flower stalk rises
through the center developing a drooping spike, the flowers in short
rows in the axils of its large purplish bracts. According to Blanco
there are 57 varieties of this plant in the Philippines, the following
being the most common edible varieties: _bungulang_, _lakatan_,
_letondang_, _obispo_, _higo_, _morado_, _butuan_, _bentikohol_,
_sabá_, _tampuhing_.
Habitat.--Common everywhere in the islands.
ZINGIBERACEÆ.
Ginger Family.
_Zingiber officinale_, L. (_Amomum zingiber_, L. and Blanco.)
Nom. Vulg.--_Ajengibre_, _Jengibre_, Sp.; _Luya_, Tag.; _Laya_, Bic.;
_Ginger_, Eng.
Uses.--The rhizome is used principally as a condiment in the
Philippines. Its flavor is extremely agreeable, much appreciated
in Europe by the English who are the greatest consumers of the
condiment. In the Philippines a decoction is made of ginger and
brown sugar, called _tahu_ by the Chinese who drink it regularly as
we do coffee in the early hours of the morning. It is an excellent
drink, aromatic, tonic, stomachic and stimulant, and would probably
be highly useful as well as economical as a part of the ration of
European and native troops in the field. Hot _tahú_ or _tahu_ is an
active diuretic; and during the last epidemic of cholera in Manila
some physicians used it with very satisfactory results.
Ginger is a good carminative and is official in the pharmacopoeias of
Europe, America and India. It is used with good effect in flatulent
colic, atonic diseases of the intestines so common in the Philippines
and in chronic rheumatism.
The tincture is given in doses of 2-4 grams. The official infusion
30-60 grams.
The rhizome contains a volatile oil [10] (25 per cent.), a pale yellow
liquid, specific gravity 0.878, the odor like that of the rhizome
but lacking its strong and piquant taste. Its reaction is not acid;
it dissolves slowly in alcohol. The burning taste is due to a resin
that produces protocatechuic acid when melted with potassa.
Botanical Description.--The only part employed is the rhizome, well
known all over the islands and found in all their pharmacies and shops.
Several stems rise 2-3° directly from the peculiar, branched rhizome;
long-lanceolate, acuminate, entire, glabrous, alternate leaves diverge
stiffly from the sides of the stem; petiole proper very short, its
broader extension ensheathing the stem; general appearance of a single
stem is much like that of the Solomon's seal so familiar in the U. S.
_Curcuma longa_, L.
Nom. Vulg.--_Dilaw_, Tag.; _Dulaw_, _Kalawaga_, _Kinamboy_, Vis.;
_Angay_, Pam.; _Turmeric Plant_, Eng.
Uses.--The yellow rhizome called by some _azafrán_ (saffron), is
used as a condiment; its odor is remotely suggestive of vanilla. The
Philippine herb-doctors give it internally for hæmoptysis, externally
as a plaster or in infusion for acute dermatitis. The juice is
prescribed in doses of 30-60 grams in bronchial catarrh. In India
they inhale the fumes of burning turmeric paper for coryza, and with
good effect according to the testimony of Dr. Waring.
The drug is official in the Pharmacopoeia of India. It is carminative,
stimulant and probably antiseptic. Its decoction is used as an eye-wash
in catarrhal and purulent conjunctivitis. The Mohammedans of Deccan
use it for jaundice upon the theory that the yellow color of the skin
in that disease is an indication for a remedy of the same color. The
juice is also used in many parts of India to stain the face, nails
and other parts of the body.
The tincture is prepared by macerating 30 grams of bruised rhizome
in 200 cc. alcohol for seven days, then filtering. Turmeric paper is
prepared by impregnating unsized paper with this tincture, and then
drying. Both tincture and paper are used to test for alkalies.
The rhizomes contain a pigment called curcumin, an essential oil and
fæcula. Curcumin (C_14_H_14_O_4_) is crystalline, yellow by direct
light and blue by reflected light; it was studied by Jackson and Menke.
In the Philippines it is used extensively as a diaphoretic and
emmenagogue and in icterus, intestinal colic and dysmenorrhoea;
externally for skin diseases, contusions and atonic ulcers.
Gubler regards it as a diffusible stimulant. Its use is more extensive
in England than in France and Spain; in India it forms an ingredient of
_curry_, called _carí_ in Manila. Curcumin is eliminated by the urine,
which it colors yellow, and if at the same time an alkali be taken by
the patient, especially a salt of calcium, the urine becomes red and
may communicate this stain to the clothes. This fact should be borne
in mind to avoid embarrassing mistakes in diagnosis or prognosis. Dose
of powder, 2-5 grams.
Botanical Description.--Leaves 2-4° long, rising in bush-like bunches
directly from the rhizome, broad-lanceolate, acuminate, gradually
tapering down the long petioles; numerous prominent nerves give
a ribbed appearance to the blade. Rhizome cylindrical, irregular,
bright yellow within.
_Elettaria Cardamomum_, White.
Nom. Vulg.--_Langkuas_, _Langkawas_, Vis.; _Cardamon_, Eng.
Uses.--This plant, though official in several pharmacopoeias, is not
used as a medicine in the Philippines, probably on account of its
scarcity here. The seeds are used as a condiment; they are stimulant
and carminative and yield good results in atonic dyspepsia, nervous
depression and spasmodic or flatulent affections of the intestine. The
dose of the powdered seeds is from 0.60-1.50 grams in pill form;
the tincture is, however, more convenient and is given in doses of
from 4 to 8 grams.
Botanical Description.--A plant with a scaly rhizome and adventitious
roots from which spring the stems, some of which bear leaves and
others flowers. The leaves are alternate, in pairs; extended,
lanceolate blade, with a short petiole. Branches bearing flowers,
short, flexible and scaly. The flowers spring from the sheaths of
the leaves. Calyx tubular, 3-toothed; second calyx with limb divided
into 3 unequal lobules. Stamens 3. Ovary inferior, 3 many-ovuled
compartments. Style simple. Stigma rounded. Fruit an oblong, ovoid
capsule, 3-celled, trivalvate. Seeds blackish, albuminous.
Habitat.--Visayan Islands.
AMARYLLIDACEÆ.
Amaryllis Family.
_Crinum Asiaticum, L._ (_C. giganteum_, Blanco.)
Nom. Vulg.--_Bakong_, Tag.
Uses.--The decoction of the leaves is used in the Philippines as an
expectorant. The plant is official in the Pharmacopoeia of India as
an emetic and in small doses is nauseant and diaphoretic. As an emetic
the dose of the fresh juice of the root is 8-16 grams every 10 minutes
till vomiting occurs. Dr. W. O'Shaughnessy, writing from Bengal, states
that this is the only indigenous and abundant emetic plant of which
he has experience, which acts without producing griping, purging, or
other unpleasant symptoms. In a communication to Dr. Waring he remarks
that it is a good emetic and diaphoretic whenever ipecacuanha is not
at hand but that it should be regarded not so much as a substitute
for that article as a resource in case of need.
The leaf juice is used in India to drop into the ears for disease of
these organs.
One of the infinite remedies used by the Filipinos under the name
of "contrapoisons," without specifying or knowing what poison,
is the powdered root of _Crinum_, given internally with a little
water. They also use the leaves locally for the itch, bruising them
and rubbing the affected parts energetically with them. I may note
here in passing, what I have written before: that the Filipinos have
from time immemorial been familiar with the sarcopt of scabies (Kahaw)
which they pick out with a needle or spine of some fish or vegetable.
Botanical Description.--A plant with globose, scaly root. Leaves
keeled or ridged. Flowers white, on a flattened stalk, on a spathe
of 2 leaflets and several dry threads enclosing 4 flowerets. Corolla
funnel-form, tube long and triangular; limb cut in 6 horizontal
lanceolate lobes. Stamens 6, shorter than corolla. Anthers long. Stigma
with 3 points. Seed vessel inferior, 3-celled, each cell containing
a seed.
_Habitat._--Very common on the seashore and in groves of mangrove
trees. Blooms in July.
LILIACEÆ.
Lily Family.
_Aloes Barbadensis_, Mill. (_A. humilis_, Blanco; _A. vera_, L.;
_A. vulgaris_, Banck.; _A. Indica_, Royl.)
Nom. Vulg.--_Sabila_, Tag.; _Dilang boaya_, Vis.; _Aloes_, Eng.
Uses.--This species is one of those which produce the substance known
in pharmacy as _aloes_, which is the juice of the leaf evaporated to
the consistency of an extract. It is official in all pharmacopoeias
and its properties are known to the Filipino herb-doctors. They
use the fresh juice of the leaves as a stimulant of the scalp in
baldness and locally in contusions. Aloes is a slow purgative and
its irritating action on the lower portion of the large intestine
extends to the genito-urinary organs. It is, therefore, an emmenagogue
and its prolonged use causes hemorrhoids, especially in man. It is
contraindicated where there is disease of the genito-urinary organs
or rectum. As it increases the secretion of bile it is useful in
certain hepatic diseases. It is used in small doses as a tonic in
dyspepsia. The tonic dose is 1/2-20 centigrams; purgative, 15-50 of
the extract, preferably in pill form. It is customary to associate
it with other purgatives.
Botanical Description.--A stemless plant, the leaves springing
immediately from the root as in the pineapple, joined at the base,
straight, ligulate, very fleshy and becoming thinner toward the end,
with stiff thorns along the edges. Flowers between yellow and red
outside and straw-colored inside, in racemes on a cylindrical scape
3° or more high, sometimes ramose, peduncles very short. Corolla
cylindrical, somewhat incurved, cleft to the middle in 6 parts, 3
external, acute and superposed on the others, obtuse at the apex and
of different color. Stamens 6, inserted at the nectiferous base of
the ovary and of the same length as the corolla. Anthers erect. Ovary
cylindrical with 6 furrows. Stigma obtuse, with raveled edges. The
seed vessel ovoid, 3-valved, 3-celled, with 2 seeds in each, furnished
with 3 spongy wings.
Habitat.--Common in gardens.
_Allium sativum_, L.
Nom. Vulg.--_Ajo_, Sp.; _Bawang_, Tag.; _Garlic_, Eng.
_Allium Cepa_, L.
Nom. Vulg.--_Cebolla_, Sp.; _Lasuna_, _Sibuyas_, Tag.; _Onion_, Eng.
Uses.--The garlic and the onion are used to excess as condiments
in Philippine as well as Spanish cooking. Both are difficult of
digestion and communicate a very disagreeable odor to the breath,
intolerable to those who are unaccustomed to it. Garlic possesses
the singular property, familiar to many students and soldiers,
of inducing a transient fever if introduced within the anus. When
bruised and applied to the skin it has a counter-irritant action which
makes it useful in the treatment of rheumatism, but the odor is so
disagreeable that it is not worth while to use it for that purpose
when we have so many other medicines which produce the same effect
without being objectionable. It is also used locally for the bites
of venomous animals.
The onion is used cooked as a poultice over the bladder and internally
for various catarrhs. It is better to abstain from the therapeutic
and culinary use of products so indigestible and so malodorous.
Botanical Description.--These plants are so well known in all parts
of the world that a description of them would be superfluous.
PALMÆ.
Palm Family.
_Areca Catechu_, L.
Nom. Vulg.--_Bonga_, Tag.; _Betel-nut Palm_, _Areca_, Eng.
Uses.--The seeds form part of a masticatory very common throughout
the extreme Orient, known as _Buyo_ and composed of a betel leaf,
a little slaked lime, and a slice of the fruit of the bonga, known
as _Siri_ in Indo-China and among the Malays. It is so common that
it is hard to find a man or woman who does not use it. The saliva
of those who use it is red and of a strong odor, and its careless
use in time blackens the teeth and makes the breath extremely
disagreeable. Habitual chewers consider it a tonic of the mouth and
stomach and a general stimulant as well. It probably does possess
these properties but they are reversed in the case of persons who
use it immoderately for they lose appetite, become salivated, and
the whole organism degenerates. The carbonized and powdered fruit
is used as a dentifrice but its virtues are doubtless identical with
those of any vegetable charcoal, _i. e._, absorbent and antiseptic.
One unaccustomed to the use of bonga and chewing it for the first time,
usually experiences a most disagreeable combination of symptoms;
constriction of the oesophagus, a sensation of heat in the head
and face, the latter becoming red and congested; at the same time
dizziness and precordial distress are experienced. The same phenomena
occur in certain persons after eating palmito salad or the tender
central portion of the bonga and of other palms.
The flowers are eaten in salad like the above-mentioned _palmito_. The
seed is astringent and tænifuge; for the latter purpose it is given
internally as a powder in a dose of from 16 to 24 grams. Its action
is uncertain. The catechu which is obtained in India from the Bonga
differs from that obtained from the _Acacia Catechu_ and is a tonic
analogous to rhatany and cinchona.
The seeds contain about 14% of a fatty crystalline material which
melts at 39°, and after saponification yields a crystalline, fatty acid
that may be regarded as a mixture of lauric and muriatic acids. They
also contain about 14% of a red, amorphous tonic material which,
after drying, is but slightly soluble in cold or hot water.
The lower part of the petiole of the leaves is thin and broad,
ensheathing the trunk, is as tough as pasteboard when dry and is used
in the Philippines as wrapping paper; Dr. Bholanauth Bose and other
physicians of India use it as a material for splints in fractures,
a practice which might well be imitated in Manila and especially in
the country.
Botanical Description.--A well-known palm with slender stem, surrounded
by many circles; it grows to about the same height as the coco-nut palm
or less. The flowers spring in bunches of long, thread-like spikes from
the trunk a little below the crown of leaves at the base of the long,
smooth, green, sheath-like petioles which clasp the trunk; each spike
bears many staminate and a few pistillate flowers. The fruit is about
the size and shape of a hen's egg, the husk tow-like or filamentose,
the kernel pinkish or light red.
Habitat.--Grows throughout the islands.
_Cocos nucifera_, L.
Nom. Vulg.--_Coco_, Sp.-Fil.; _Niog_, Tag.; _Coco-nut Palm_, Eng.
Uses.--This plant is, perhaps, the most useful in the
Philippines. Without it and the bamboo plant the people of the
Archipelago would not know how to live. It produces vinegar, an
alcoholic drink called _tuba_ or _coco-wine_, an oil, an edible nut,
and its leaves are used instead of nipa to roof the huts.