The leader., 1897-02-03
QUEER TROPICAL plA



According to a lecture recently de-
livered before the British association
by DIR. Morris, one of the most eminent
of English botanists, the fruit, the
leaves, the young shoots and even the
seeds of the wild tamarind, or Jumbai
plant, produce depilatory results of an
extraordinary character. The plant in
question IL to be found in all the tropical
portions of Asia, Africa and America;
but IL is especially in the West Indies
that DR.. Morris has the opportunity OF
studying its effects, not only on human
beings, but also on animals and birds.
The latter after prolonged diet OF
Jumbai seeds are described as rapidly
losing all their feathers-the numerous
parrots and cockatoes in particular, no
longer able TO fly, hopping about like
toads in the underground in state OF
most helpless and ridiculous nudity.
Horses, mules, donkeys, pigs and sheep
are affected in a similar manner. Brush
makers would be unable to find even
solitary bristle upon porker who had
been gsrging himself upon the pods of
the wild tamarind. Jackasses which
have been feeding upon its leaves pre-
sent a singularly NANCY aspect, while
the first effect of The plant upon the
horse is to deprive it of any caudal
graces that it may possess, converting
that particular form of equine adorr-
Inent into what is known as ''cigar
tail"
Still more striking are the results Of
the wild tamarind upon the human be-
ing. 1t Immediately diminishes the
growth of hair, and il the diet is con-
tinued not only does it produce CON-
plete badness on the crown of the head,
but even brings about the disappearance
of eyebrows and eyelashes. DIR. Morris
attributes this singular effect to the
presence of some volatile alkaloid in the
Iumbai plant; but this was contested
by some of the other members of the
association in the debate which fol-
lowed his address, and it was pointed
out that meat, which does certainly not
contain any alkaloid properties, pro-
duces similar results when taken in ex-
cess. Dogs that are fed exclusively on
meat almost invariably lose their coats,
while the famous japanese wrestlers,
who feed almost exclusively on raw
beef, present both in their abundance
of fat and in their extraordinary lack
of hair, much the same appearance as a
pig that has been feeding upon the pods
of the wild tamarind.
On the other hand, badness is prac-
tica1Iv unknown among the poorer
classes of Europe, who are compelled
by their poverty to subsist almost eX'
clusiyely upon a vegetable diet. In
deed, some of the most eminent doctors
of the old world who make capillary
conditions a special study, declare that
they frequently succeed in checking
the fall of hair by prescribing milk
rice, eggs, and fruit, meat being strictly
barred. Some of the finest heads of hair
belong to the Jews, who, if they follow
the rules of the Talmud, wash the little
meat that they use SO thoroughly that
few of its original principles of nutri.
ment remain; and when in society one
meets with individuals distinguished
by the abundance and beauty of their
hair one may nearly always take it for
granted that they are descended either
from Jewish or from peasant ancestors
that is to say, from forebears who
subsisted upon a vegetarian diet.-St.
Louis Globe-Democrat.