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pg 223 The "betel" is not of Asian origin, but due to a Portuguese distortion of a Malayalam word for leaf. It is a highly complex habit, requiring several ingredients, although sometimes, as in North China and Papua New Guinea (PNG), the areca-nut is chewed without it usual accompaniments
therefore the custom of chewing betel is not as easily transplanted to another country as for example tobacco or coffee. \bQuid compositon\b pg 224 There are several ways of mixing the quid. Mention has been made that the custom of chewing areca-nut by itself occurs in northern China and some of the Pacific islands where the betel leaf is not has easily attainable. In India, Burma, Philipines, the nut is equally wrapped in betel-pepper leaf, various spices added (including tobacco), nut, and lime. In Malaysia somtimes cardamon is added, somtimes cloves, and sometimes tobacco. Some of the ethnic groups substitute \iCassia\i and \iGomphia\i leaves for betel-nut when short-handed. \bEarly mention\b in the Sanskrit writings ascribed to Susruta (c.A.D. 600) the chewing of areca-nut with Borneo camphor is mentioned , and the Chinese traveller I-Tsing soon afterwards recorded the chewing of areca-nut, nutmeg, cloves, and Borneo camphor, at a feast in Sumatra. Almos the most most important fact of betel-chewing is that the quid is spat out, relatively little of what is in it going into the system. It is chewed for its taste, and very great efforts aremade to make that taste as agreeable as possible. Yet excessive chewing results in loss of appetite, continual salivation, and general degeneration of the organism. Beginners do not find chewing pleasant, but acquire the taste
at first they feel dizzy, and the throat burns and feels constricted. pg 225 The seeds which are mislabelled "nuts", are chewed in both a ripe and unripe state
butthe necessity of making for the market a preparation which will keep, largely determines the condition in which they are plucked, as naturally the ripe offer advantages in damp climate. \bGetting the seed\b pg 226 There are two ways by which to remove the seed from the husk: 1) by peelin goff the husk with a knife, and then boiling what is left
and 2) by drying the husk, which shrivels, until the seed can be drawn. In India it is usual to boil with a mixture of water and resin extract from the betel palm. As boiling takes something out of the nut, the resin impregates the nut helping to preserve its flavor. Boiled is continued until the tissues have been softened and the embryo drops out. The nut is then removed, sliced or split or left whole and dried. This betel palm resin is called "Kossa" (an Indian word), or the catechu of the \iAreca\i, and is an extract made by boiling nuts with lime until a red-brown paste is obtained, which is allowed to thicken by drying int he sun, andis used to touch up and intensify the flavour of boiled or inferior nuts. The best "Kossa" is made by twice boiling the nuts
they are boiled for a short time and then again in fresh water. This second boiling gives a reddish preparation, whereas the curder way of boiling once for a long time, adding fresh nuts and continuing the boiling, gives a darker preparation. In India the refuse of kossa-boiling is used for varnishing wood and applying to wounds. \bAlkaloids in betel nut\b pg 227 The betel nut contains the alkaloids arecoline, arecaidine (also called arecaine), guvacine, arecolidine, guvacoline, isoguvacine, and choline
the first two are the most importnat. Arecolineis toxic, acting like nicotine on the nervous system, and can produce paralysis, whihc may be preceded by convulsions, and may cause death by arrested repsiration. Tannins are present, along with fat, and some sugars. The fat consists chiefly of glycerides or lauric acid, then oleic and then myristic acid, with small amounts of some others. \bMedicinal\b Arecoline is apparentlt the substance which makes the nuts useful as a vermifuge. The vermifuge properties of arecoline are made use of in medicine in some parts if Asia. In India, the nut is given with milk or ghi for all kinds of worms, intestinal troubles
and for and was primary ingredient for these troubles with European pharmacopoeias. pg 228 The Malays make use of the astingency of the betel nut by giving a decoction to cure diarrhoea. A decoction along with the roots of \iCapsicum\i, \iScleria\i, and a \iPandanus\i, may be given for gonorrhea. The pulp of the young nut is prescribed for pains in the stomach of an infant
a decoction of an old ripe nut for chronic colonic obstruction. External application include the juice of the young nut for external use in the eye for specks on the cornea and dimness of vision, and on the body in various ways for fever, hysteria, and dysentery in children. An unripe nut, with benzoin and a decoction of the leaves of \iGarinia mangostana\i, may be applied to the wound of circumcision. \bTeeth\b pg 228 Betel-chewers maintain that the chewing keeps the gums healthy
and, in India, a tincture of the nuts is used for bleeding gums. To this is due the idea of Areca tooth-paste in Europe. In the dutch Indies ashes of burnt nuts and husks may be used as a tooth-powder, which is believed to make the teeth white and strong.
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