Samuel Thomson (A Narrative of the Life and Medical Discoveries of Samuel Thomson, Eighth Edition, 1832) wrote …

“I have collected about three hundred weight of the golden seal in the year past, and nearly three tons of cayenne from the island of Madagascar.”

According to the same source …

“And here it is proper to remark, that great impositions are practiced with what is called the American cayenne. The doctors have declared it to be poison, and destructive to health, and I think they have made it as bad as they have represented it to be. It appears to be mixed with some red paint or mineral. When burnt, it leaves about two-thirds of the quantity, of the blackest substance. When taken inwardly, it produces a violent vomiting, and ought to be shunned as a mad dog. There is but little or none sold at the groceries for ordinary purposes but of this kind. One way to detect the poison, is to try it by burning. If it be pure, there will be a proportion of ashes as of other vegetables; and of a light color; if it be bad, the ashes will not only be black, but there will be double, and perhaps trible or quadruple the quantity there should be for the quantity burnt.”

“When writing of Chinese literature earlier, a book I failed to mention was the Chin Ping Mei by Hsu Wei. This is a somewhat pornographic novel written by Hsi Men and his six wives, written at about the time of Shakespeare.

“Meeting the censor on the street, the author was asked what he was writing, and was told that the censor wished to see it immediately upon its completion. At the time China was going through one of its periods of strict censorship, so Hsu Wei, according to the story, made plans.

“He had his book printed on extremely thin rice paper and before submitting it to the censor he carefully planted a small dab of poison on the upper right-hand corner of each page.”

“In many instances a root begins to reorient within 10 to 30 minutes of being gravistimulated.”