Page:Illustrations of Indian Botany, Vol. 2.djvu/79

Rh confirmed by M. CHARPENTIER COSSIGNI, as mentioned in the Asiatic Researches, by DR. FLEMING (vol. ii. p. 162). A single dose, that gentleman says, is sufficient to cure the disease, however abundant the worms may be. Another French writer (POUPEE DESPORTES) recommends the use of the powder of the seed instead of the juice.

But the most extraordinary property of the Papaw Tree, is that which is related, first I believe by BROWNE, in his Natural History of Jamaica ; namely, that " water impregnated with the milky juice of this tree is thought to make all sorts of meat washed in it very tender ; but eight or ten minutes steeping, it is said, will make it so soft that it will drop in pieces from the spit before it is well roasted, or turn soon to rags in the boiling." Mr. NEILL mentioned this circumstance more fully in his interesting Horticultural tour through Holland and the Netherlands ; and it has repeatedly been confirmed to me by gentlemen of this country who have been long resident in the West Indies, and who speak of the employment of the juice for such a purpose as of quite general occurrence; and more, that old hogs and old poultry, which are fed upon the leaves and fruit, however tough the meat they afford might otherwise he, it is thus rendered perfectly tender; and good too, if eaten as soon as killed, but that the flesh very soon passes into a state of putridity.

Whether this power of hastening the decay of meat be attributable to the animal matter or fibrine contained in the juice of the Papaw or not, I will not pretend to say, but the presence of such is a fact scarcely less wonderful than the property just alluded to. Two specimens of the juice were brought from the Isle of France ; in the one the juice had been evaporated to dryness, and was in the state of an extract; in the other, the juice was preserved by being mixed with an equal bulk of rum. " Both were subjected to analysis by VAUQUELIN. The first was of a yellowish-white colour, and semitransparent. Its taste was sweetish. It had no smell, and was pretty solid ; but attracted moisture when kept in a damp place. The second was reddish -brown, and had the smell and taste of boiled beef. When the first specimen, was macerated in cold water, the greatest part of it dissolved. The solution frothed with soap. The addition of nitric acid coagulated it, and rendered it white ; and when boiled, it threw down abundance of white flakes. When the juice of the Papaw is treated with water, the greatest part dissolves ; but there remains a substance insoluble, which has a greasy appearance. It softens in the air and becomes viscid, brown, and semitransparent. When thrown on burning coals it melted, let drops of grease exude, emitted the noise of meat roasting, and produced a smoke which had the odour of fat volatilized. It left behind it no residue. The substance was fibrine. The resemblance between the juice of the Papaw and animal matter is so close, that one would he tempted to suspect some imposition, were not the evidence that it is really the juice of a tree quite unquestionable."

This fibrine had been supposed, previously, to belong exclusively to the animal kingdom : but it has since been found in other vegetables, especially in Fungi.

" The effects of the juice of the Carica Papaya, or Papaw Tree, whether of the fruit, stem, or leaves, or even of the exhalation from the plant, in lessening the cohesion of the muscular fibre, and acting on the fibrin of the blood, are matters of common observation in the Island of Barbadoes ; the inhabitants availing themselves of this property, to render more delicate, when thought necessary, the beef, mutton, pork, and poultry of their tables. If the milky juice, which is readily procurable by incision into the tree, or unripe fruit, be thoroughly rubbed on the flesh of a tough or old animal, and the animal be cooked by roasting, the fibres so completely lose their cohesion, that the flesh will fall from the bones, or be separated by the slightest force. If a smaller quantity of the juice be used, the flesh will be rendered tender; but so great is the effect, and so difficult is it to ascertain the degree to which it may be carried, if the milky juice be directly applied to the flesh, that another and more certain mode has been resorted to, tor procuring the inteneration of the flesh of different animals. By simply suspending the animal to a bough of the tree, for a space of time proportioned to the size of the animal, or of the joint of meat, the flesh is found to be sufficiently intenerated. A particular friend of mine, was in the constant habit of having his meat so prepared for his table, and was particular enough (or thought it necessary), to use his watch to regulate the time of suspension.

This quality of destroying the cohesion of the muscular fibre, probably resides chiefly in the milky juice, or in the vapour, which, I conjecture, is exhaled from the tree, since the boiled fruit, when given to animals, does not produce this effect to such a degree as to be sensible. The