PIPER LONGUM, Linn. History, Uses, &c.

As we have already stated, we think it highly probable that long pepper was the kind of pepper first known to the ancient inhabitants of Western Asia and Europe. (See P. nigrum.) In Sanskrit works on medicine, P. longum is described under the name of Pippali, and bears the synonyms of Chapalá, Pála, Mágadhi “growing in South Bihar,” Kaná, Shaundi, &c. It is considered to be digestive, sweet, cold, bitter, emollient and light; useful in rheumatism, asthma, cough, abdominal enlargements, fever, leprosy, gonorrhœa, piles and spleen. Old long pepper is to be preferred to fresh. A mixture of long pepper, long pepper root, black pepper and ginger in equal parts, is prescribed by several writers as a useful combination for catarrh and hoarseness. As an alterative tonic, long pepper is recommended for use in a peculiar manner. An infusion of three long peppers is to be taken with honey on the first day, then for ten successive days the dose is to be increased by three peppers every day, so that on the tenth day the patient will take thirty at one dose. Then the dose is to be gradually reduced by three daily, and finally the medicine is to be omitted. Thus administered, it is said to act as a valuable alterative tonic in paraplegia, chronic cough, enlargements of the spleen and other abdominal viscera. Long pepper and black pepper enter into the composition of several irritating snuffs; boiled with ginger, mustard oil, buttermilk and curds it forms a liniment used in sciatica and paralysis. In the Concan the roasted aments are beaten up with honey and given in rheumatism; they are also given powdered with black pepper and rock salt (two parts of long pepper, three of black, and one of salt) in half tolá doses for colic. Mahometan writers, under the name of Dárfilfil, describe long pepper as a resolvent of cold humours; they say it removes obstructions of the liver and spleen, and promotes digestion by its tonic properties; moreover, it is aphrodisiacal, diuretic, and emmenagogue. Both it and the root (Filfil-muiyeh) are much prescribed in palsy, gout, lumbago, and other diseases of a similar nature. A collyrium of long pepper is recommended for night blindness; made into a liniment it is applied to the bites of venomous reptiles. We learn from Roxburgh (Flora Indica, I., p. 155) “that it is in Bengal only that Piper longum is cultivated for its pepper. When the ament is full-grown, it is gathered and daily exposed to the sun till perfectly dry; after which it is packed in bags for sale. The roots and thickest part of the creeping stems, when cut into small pieces and dried, form a considerable article of commerce all over India, under the name of Pippali-mula, for which purpose it is particularly cultivated in many of the valleys amongst the Sircar mountains. This sort is more esteemed, and bears a higher price than that of Bengal, where by far the largest portion is cultivated. It, as well as the pepper, is chiefly employed medicinally, and the consumption of both these drugs is very great.” Piper longum was formerly cultivated at Poway, near Bombay; it appears to grow well in gardens in Bombay, but requires plenty of manure.