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ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEIUCA.

Hah. —Cultivated in the tropical regions of Asia and America. Nativesoil doubtful, probably Asia .

Preparation. —The young shoots put forth every spring by the peren-nial rhizome, are used in the manufacture of the delicious preservedginger {condition zingiberis). These shoots are carefully picked, washed,scalded, scraped, peeled, and then preserved in jars with syrup. (lb'-P. Browne, Hist, of Jamaica )

The ginger-root of the shops is prepared when the stalks are whollywithered, and the rhizomes are about a year old. In Jamaica this hap-pens in January or February. The rhizomes are dug up, picked?cleaned, and scalded. Black ginger is dried, after being scalded, withoutbeing scraped: white ginger, on the contrary, requires to be carefullyscraped. Both kinds are dried in the sun in the open air.

The differences between the black and white ginger of the shops areascribed, by Dr. P. Browne ( op. cit. p. 120) and others, to different me-thods merely of curing the rhizomes; but this is scarcely sufficient toaccount for them, and we cannot help suspecting the existence of somedifference in the plants themselves. That this really exists is proved b)'the statement of llumphius [Herb. Arnboin. lib. viii. cap. xix. p. l 5(i )’that there arc two ginger plants, the white and the red. Moreover*Dr. Wright ( Lond. Med. Journ. vol. viii.) says, that two sorts are culti-vated in Jamaica ; viz. the white and the black-, and he adds, “ blm*ginger has the most numerous and largest roots.”

AY hen brought to this country, the common kinds of ginger arebleached by washing them in a solution of chloride of lime, and som etimes by exposing them to the fumes of burning sulphur. This treat-ment, though it may improve the colour, must injure the acridity aI1aromatic qualities of the rhizomes.

Description. —The rhizome, called in commerce ginger-root (red^zingiberis), occurs in flattisli, branched or lobed, palmate pieces, cah eraces, which do not exceed four inches in length. 'The unscraped pi eceare covered with a wrinkled epidermis; but those which have beescraped (as the Jamaica variety) are without it. Ginger breaksrately short, but the fractured surface presents numerous project 111 ®pointed fibres, imbedded in a mealy or farinaceous tissue. A transvemsection of the larger and more perfect pieces shows an outer, homy’resinous-looking zone, surrounding a farinaceous centre, which hasspeckled appearance from the cut extremities of fibres and ducts. -■taste of ginger is aromatic, hot, and biting; the odour of a fresh brok^piece is peculiar and pungent, though aromatic. In commerce sever 11varieties, distinguished by their colour and place of growth, are met with-a. White ginger. {Radix Zingiberis albi.)— The finest is that broug^from Jamaica. Jamaica white ginger occurs in larger, rounder, a 11thinner races than the other kinds. Its epidermis has been careffb7removed by scraping. Externally it is yellowish-white or very P^ tbuff': internally it has a pale buff tint: inferior kinds have an ash 11externally. It forms a beautiful bright straw yellow, somewhat bjWpowder. A great part of the Jamaica ginger of the shops has bewashed in whiting and water (or white-washed, as it is technic,termed), under the pretence of preserving it from insects. (Brande, ,of Mat. Med.) The dark-coloured kinds are frequently bleached ' ^chloride of lime. Barbadoes ginger is in shorter, flatter races