ZINGIBER OFFICINA'LE (GINGER), Medical. Properties of. The native country of this plant seems unknown, though Goebel asserts that it is Guinea. It is however extensively cultivated in China, Java, and the East and West Indies. From the cultivated plant alone is the ginger of commerce procured. Of this there are two varieties, the black and white ; but some writers affirm that these are the produce of two distinct species, while others ascribe the difference of appearance to diversity of treatment after the rhizome is dug up. The rhizome, or root-stock, is perennial, but it is only that of a young plant, or the annual shoots from an old one, which are met with in commerce. When first dug up, the colour internally is red. Those procured the first year are used fresh, or preserved in sugar, and constitute the sweetmeat known as preserved ginger. This, when sent from the West Indies, is in small, round, tender pieces ; when from the East, larger, flat, and stringy portions : the former is preferred.
Black ginger is stated to be the rhizome dug up, scalded in hot water, and dried in the sun. White ginger is also scalded, and then scraped to free it from the rind before it is dried, which last operation is said to be effected by artificial heat, but probably mostly by the sun. Both kinds are very liable to the attacks of an insect. To prevent these attacks the rhizomes are dipped in a solution of lime, the white particles of which often adhere to the surface. To cause black ginger to resemble the white, it is bleached, after its arrival in this country, in a solution of chloride of lime, or exposed to the fumes of burning sulphur. This impairs the activity of the article.
Ginger occurs in commerce in pieces termed races, of various shapes, but generally flattish, branched, lobed, or palmated, rarely more than four inches long. The unscraped has a wrinkled epidermis ; the scraped is devoid of this covering. Jamaica ginger, which is most esteemed in this country, occurs in races larger, rounder, and thinner than the other kinds ; externally of a yellowish white, internally of a yellower hue. The taste is agreeably aromatic and pungent, but this is lost with age, so that old pieces arc worthless, as are also portions which have been digested in alcohol to form essence of ginger. Ginger, when chewed, excites a flow of saliva; the powder applied to the nos trils causes sneezing. The quantitative analysis of 100 parts of ginger have been given by Bucholz Morirea analysis yields also acetic, acid, acetate of potash, and sulphur, and a resin insoluble in ether and oils; while the ashes give numerous metallic salts and alkaline salts.
The volatile oil is of a pale yellow, lighter than water ; taste at first mild, then hot. The soft resin, obtained by digesting the alcoholic extract of ginger first in water, then In ether, and evaporating the etherial tincture, is not quite analogous to the principle zingiberin, procured by Beral, and by him termed peperoid. This last is got by submitting ginger directly to the action of sulphuric ether. Beral recommends many preparations of this principle, but, except from their smaller bulk, it is difficult to perceive what advantage they possess over common ginger and its preparations. Ginger is an aromatic stimulant of considerable power. The effects are greater on organs with which it comes into direct contact than on remoter ones. Thus, when chewed, it is a powerful sialogue, and relieves toothache, rheumatism of the jaw, and also relaxed uvula. When received into the stomach, it pro. motes digestion in languid habits, and relieves flatulent colic. Gouty subjects are much benefited by it, and for such persons no form is more beneficial than that of preserved ginger taken at dessert after a mixture of viands. But It has the disadvantage of Impairing the flavour of the wine taken at the same time.
The action of ginger on remote organs is greatest on the mucous membranes. Hence the lungs are markedly excited in the relaxed and suffocative catarrh of old people. The mucous membranes of the urino-genital organs are also excited by it in languid habits. Many feeble females receive much advantage from the domestic preparation termed ginger-tea. Some headaches of a sympathetic) kind, originating in irritation of the intestinal canal, are often relieved by it. A poultice of scraped ginger, to which warm water has been added, forms a sub stitute for a mustard poultice, and often relieves headache when applied to the forehead. Ginger-beer is often a grateful beverage in summer heat, but with some persons it disagrees ; this is owing to the sugar, for if made without it, it agrees with such persons well. Lemon-julee, when taken with sugar, often disagrees, as for example with pancakes. The lemon-juice alone is most wholesome.