deprived of the flower-bud. This fraud used to be extensively practised in Holland; for more effectual concealment, the drawn cloves being mixed with others of good quality, and even in some cases being rubbed over with some common oil.

The volatile oil itself, as imported into this country from India, has been found adulterated. Mr. M'Culloch, on the authority of Milburn, states that it contains nearly half its weight of an insipid expressed oil, which is discovered by dropping a little into spirits of wine; on shaking it the genuine oil mixes with the spirit and the insipid oil separates.

Cloves readily imbibe moisture, their weight becoming thereby increased, of which dishonest dealers have not failed to avail themselves.

There is reason to believe, according to the Commission of the Lancet,' that the clove-stalks, deprived of their essential oil, are occasionally ground up and mixed with the powder of genuine cloves. As the stalks are provided with an epidermis or coating of cells having a peculiar stellate character, this structure, when found to exist in considerable abundance in any sample of powdered cloves, shows beyond doubt that a proportion of ground stalks has been introduced. (Dr. Hassall.)

From the analysis of cloves by the Commission of the Lancet,' and reported in Dr. Hassall's book, it appears that they are not usually deprived of any portion of their essential oil. There is little doubt, however, that this fraud is practised in some cases, but it does not prevail to any considerable extent. The whole of the powdered cloves examined by the Commission of the Lancet' were free from adulterations; one of the samples contained, however, a proportion of ground clove-stalks.

PIMENTO, OR ALLSPICE.

Pimento, Jamaica berry, or allspice, is the berry or fruit of the Eugenia pimento, one of the Myrtacea. It grows in the West Indies, principally in Jamaica, and forms a beautiful tree, which attains some thirty feet in height. It is planted in regular walks, called pimento walks. A single tree has been known to yield 150 lb. of the raw fruit, or 100 lb. of the dry spice.

The name of "allspice" is derived from its flavour, which is considered to be a mixture of that of several of the other spices; it differs, however, from them all in its greater astringency. Pimento is imported generally from Jamaica in bags or hogsheads. The West Indies yield another kind of pimento, which is distinguished from the common allspice by the ovate form of the berries. The properties of the two kinds are nearly identical. This spice consists of lignine or woody fibre, a volatile oil, an astringent extract, a green oil, and a colouring matter, with a small quantity of uncrystallizable sugar and of malic or gallic acid. Braconnot detected, moreover, the presence of starch in these berries, in the proportion of 9 per

cent.

By distillation with water, allspice yields two volatile oils, the one lighter and the other heavier than water. The pimento oil of the shops is a mixture of them; except in odour, its properties are almost identical with those of oil of cloves. Mr. Whipple estimates that pimento seed yields about 4.37 per cent. of oil.

The allspice berry can be divided into husk, seed, and seed proper. A vertical section of the husk, viewed under

the microscope, presents the following structures: 1. Large cells or receptacles for the essential oil. 2. More internally, numerous stellate cells, attached to and imbedded in cellular tissue. 3. Bundles of woody fibre and delicate spiral vessels. 4. The deepest and innermost part of the section consists of cellular tissue only.

The structure of the seed proper, as displayed in vertical sections, is as follows: 1. A thin layer of large receptacles, running round the outer part of the section. 2. Angular

and transparent cells, making up the remaining of the thickness, their cavities being filled with well-developed starch granules.

In powdered pimento the whole of the above structures become disunited and variously intermixed.

Adulterations of pimento. According to the Commission of the 'Lancet,' this spice is very seldom adulterated. In one sample a small quantity of mustard was detected.

MIXED SPICE

Consists, as its name implies, of a mixture of the spices above described. Out of twenty-six samples examined by the Commission, no less than sixteen, or considerably more than one half, were found adulterated; the foreign substances added being sago meal (p. 15), ground rice (p. 15), wheat flour (p. 15), a substance resembling linseed (p. 48), and potato flour (p. 15).

CURRY POWDER.

Curry powder consists of a mixture of several ingredients; good genuine curry powder is usually composed of Turmeric, Black pepper, Coriander seeds, Cayenne, Fenugreck, Cardamoms, Cumin, Ginger, Allspice, and Cloves. Turmeric, Coriander seeds, and Black pepper, form the larger proportion of the powder.

Having previously described and illustrated turmeric, black pepper, cayenne, ginger, cloves, and allspice, I now beg to give a brief account of coriander seeds, cardamoms, fœnugreck, and cumin.

Coriander seeds (Coriandrum sativum, Umbelliferæ), an annual plant of a foot and a half in height, is cultivated in Essex, and frequently met with growing wild in the neighbourhood of Ipswich. The fruit or seed-vessel is globular, about twice the size of white mustard seed, and of a light brown colour; it consists of two hemispherical portions, each of which is a seed.

The fruit possesses an outer covering, epidermis, or husk, which is thick and brittle; it is seen with the microscope to consist of narrow fibres, which cross each other, and are

disposed in a wavy manner; it is united to the seed by loose cellular tissue, which is torn on the removal of the husk. Underneath this cellular tissue is a delicate fibrous membrane, and to this succeeds a layer of deeply coloured cells, merging into the cells which form the substance of the seed; these are angular, with well-defined parietes, their cavities enclosing oil in a molecular condition. The mature seed does not contain starch.

Coriander seeds possess the property of a mild aromatic and stimulant; they yield, upon distillation, a volatile oil, upon which these properties depend.

Cardamom seeds (Elettaria cardamomum, Zingiberatiæ), a native of the mountainous parts of the coast of Malabar.

The seeds are contained in pods, which have a triangular form, and consist of three valves; the seed-vessel is thick, tough, and fibrous, consisting of cellular tissue and bundles of woody fibre. The seed-vessel is divided into three com partments, each of which contains several hard seeds of a reddish-brown colour, and exhibiting upon the surface peculiar markings; the seeds are united together by a substance which presents under the microscope delicate tubules filled with oily and granular matter.

The cells, which constitute the principal part of the seed, resemble closely the cells of pepper, being very angular; but they differ in their more delicate and transparent appearance and in being minutely dotted. The presence of cardamom seeds in curry powder is most easily determined by means of this structure. Cardamom seeds have a warm, sharp, aromatic taste, and very like camphor. They contain a fixed and volatile oil, to which their properties are chiefly due.

Cumin seeds, from the plant Cuminum cyminum, nat.