PIPER CUBEBA, Linn. f. History, Uses, &c.

Cubebs were introduced into medicine by the Arabian physicians of the Middle Ages. Masudi in the 10th century stated them to be a production of Java. The author of the Sihah, who died in 1006, describes Kabábeh as a certain medicine of China. Ibn Sina, about the same time, notices it as having the properties of madder, but a more agreeable taste, and states that it is said to possess hot and cold properties, but is really hot and dry in the third degree, a good deobstruent, and useful as an application to putrid sores and pustules in the mouth; it is also good for the voice and for hepatic obstructions; a valuable diuretic, expelling gravel and stone from the kidneys and bladder. He concludes by stating that the application of the saliva, after chewing it, increases the sexual orgasm. Later Mahometan writers have similar accounts of Kabábeh, and say that it is called Hab-el-arús, “bridegroom’s berry,” and that Greek names for it are Mahilyun (μάχλόν?), and Karfiyun, evidently a corruption of καρπησιον, the name of an aromatic wood mentioned by Paulus Ægineta. It appears that cubebs were at one time known as Fructus carpesiorum in Europe. In the Rája Nirghanta, which was written about 600 years ago, cubebs appear under the name of Kankola, and the same name appears in the Hindi and Marathi Nighantas. Madanpal gives Katuka-kola, “pungent pepper,” as a synonym for it. All the Sanskrit names appear to be of comparatively recent origin. The authors of the Pharmacographia draw attention to the fact that the action of cubebs upon the urino-genital organs, though known to the old Arabian physicians, was unknown to modern European writers on Materia Medica at the commencement of the present century. According to Crawfurd, its importation into Europe, which had long been discontinued, recommenced in 1815, in consequence of its medicinal virtues having been brought to the knowledge of the English medical officers serving in Java, by their Hindu servants. (Op. cit., 2nd Ed., p. 585.) In earlier times cubeb pepper was used in Europe as a spice, as it still is, to some extent, in the East.