Semen Nucis Vomicæ; Nux Vomica; F. Noix vomique; G. Brechnuss.
Botanical Origin—Strychnos Nux vomica L., a moderate sized tree with short, thick, often crooked stem, and small, greenish-white, tubular flowers ranged in terminal corymbs. It is indigenous to most parts of India, especially the coast districts, and is found in Burmah, Siam, Cochin China and Northern Australia.
The ovary of S. Nux vomica is bilocular, but as it advances in growth the dissepiment becomes fleshy and disappears. The fruit, which is an indehiscent berry of the size and shape of a small orange, is filled with a bitter, gelatinous white pulp, in which the seeds, 1 to 5 in number, are placed vertically in an irregular manner. The epicarp forms a thin, smooth, somewhat hard shell, which at first is greenish, but when mature, of a rich orange-yellow. The pulp of the fruit contains strychnine,[1591] yet it is said to be eaten in India by birds.[1592] The wood, which is hard and durable, is very bitter.
History—Nux Vomica, which was unknown to the ancients, is thought to have been introduced into medicine by the Arabians. But the notices in their writings which have been supposed to refer to it, are far from clear and satisfactory. We have no evidence moreover that it was used in India at an early period. Garcia de Orta, an observer thoroughly acquainted with the drugs of the west coast of India in the middle of the 16th century, is entirely silent as to nux vomica. Fleming,[1593] writing at the beginning of the present century, remarks that nux vomica is seldom, if ever, employed in medicine by the Hindus, but this statement does not hold good now.
The drug was however certainly made known in Germany in the 16th century. Valerius Cordus[1594] wrote a description of it about the year 1540, which is remarkable for its accuracy. Fuchs, Bauhin and others noticed it as Nux Metella, a name taken from the Methel of Avicenna and other Arabian authors.[1595]
It was found in the English shops in the time of Parkinson (1640), who remarks that its chief use is for poisoning dogs, cats, crows, and ravens, and that it is rarely given as a medicine.
Description—Nux Vomica is the seed, removed from the pulp and shell. It is disc-like, or rather irregularly orbicular, a little less than an inch in diameter, by about a quarter of an inch in thickness, slightly concave on the dorsal, convex on the ventral surface, or nearly flat on either side, often furnished with a broad, thickened margin so that the central portion of the seed appears depressed. The outside edge is rounded or tapers into a keel-like ridge. Each seed has on its edge a small protuberance, from which is a faintly projecting line (raphe) passing to a central scar, which is the hilum or umbilicus; a slight depression marks the opposite side of the seed. The seeds are of a light greyish hue, occasionally greenish, and have a satiny or glistening aspect, by reason of their being thickly covered with adpressed, radiating hairs. Nux vomica is extremely compact and horny, and has a very bitter taste.
After having been softened by digestion in water, the seed is easily cut along its outer edge, then displaying a mass of translucent, cartilaginous albumen, divided into two parts by a fissure in which lies the embryo. This latter is about ³/₁₀ of an inch long, having a pair of delicate 5-to 7-nerved, heart-shaped cotyledons, with a club-shaped radicle, the position of which is indicated on the exterior of the seed by the small protuberance already named.
Microscopic Structure—The hairs of nux vomica are of remarkable structure. They are formed as usual of the elongated cells of the epidermis, and have their walls thickened by secondary deposits, which are interrupted by longitudinally extended pores; they are a striking object in polarized light. The albumen is made up of large cells, loaded with albuminoid matters and oily drops, but devoid of starch. In water the thick walls of this parenchyme swell up and yield some mucilage; the cotyledons are built up of a narrow, much more delicate tissue, traversed by small fibro-vascular bundles.
The alkaloids are not directly recognizable by the microscope; but if very thin slices of nux vomica are kept for some length of time in glycerin, they develop feathery crystals, doubtless consisting of these bases.
Chemical Composition—The bitter taste and highly poisonous action of nux vomica are chiefly due to the presence of Strychnine and Brucine. Strychnine, C₂₁H₂₂N₂O₂, was first met with in 1818 by Pelletier and Caventou in St. Ignatius’ Beans, and immediately afterwards in nux vomica. It crystallizes from an alcoholic solution in large anhydrous prisms of the orthorhombic system. It requires for solution about 6700 parts of cold or 2500 of boiling water; the solution is of decidedly alkaline reaction, and an intensely bitter taste which may be distinctly perceived though it contain no more than ¹/₆₀₀₀₀₀ of the alkaloid. The best solvents for strychnine are spirit of wine or chloroform; it is but very sparingly soluble in absolute alcohol, benzol, amylic alcohol, or ether. The alcoholic solution deviates the ray of polarized light to the left.
Strychnine is not restricted to the fruit of the plant under notice, but also occurs in the wood and bark.[1596] It is moreover found in the wood of the root of Strychnos colubrina L., and in the bark of the root of Strychnos Tieute Lesch., both species indigenous to the Indian Archipelago.
The discovery of Brucine was made in 1819 by the same chemists, in nux vomica bark, then supposed to be derived from Brucea ferruginea Héritier (B. antidysenterica Miller), an Abyssinian shrub of the order Simarubeæ. The presence of brucine in nux vomica and St. Ignatius’ Bean was pointed out by them in 1824. Brucine, dried over sulphuric acid, has the formula C₂₃H₂₆N₂O₄, but it crystallizes from its alcoholic solution with 4 OH₂. In bitterness and poisonous properties, as well as in rotatory power, it closely resembles strychnine, differing however in the following particulars:—it is soluble in about 150 parts of boiling water, melts without alteration a little above 130° C. In common with its salts, it acquires a dark red colour when moistened with concentrated nitric acid.
The proportion of strychnine in nux vomica appears to vary from ¼ to ½ per cent. That of brucine is variously stated to be 0·12 (Merck), 0·5 (Wittstein), 1·01 (Mayer) per cent.
A third crystallizable base, called Igasurine, was stated in 1853 by Desnoix to occur in the liquors from which strychnine and brucine had been precipitated by lime. Schützenberger’s investigations (1858) are far from proving the existence of “igasurine.”[1597]
In nux vomica, as well as in St. Ignatius’ Beans, the alkaloids, according to their discoverers, are combined with Strychnic or Igasuric Acid; Ludwig (1873), who prepared this body from the latter drug, describes it as a yellowish-brown amorphous mass, having a strongly acid reaction and a sour astringent taste, and striking a dark green with ferric salts. We have ascertained the correctness of Ludwig’s observations.
Nux vomica dried at 100° C. yielded us when burnt with soda-lime 1·822 per cent. of nitrogen, indicating about 11·3 per cent. of protein substances. By boiling ether, we removed from the seeds 4·14 per cent. of fat; Meyer[1598] found it to yield butyric, capronic, caprylic, caprinic and other acids of the series of the common fatty acids, and also one acid richer in carbon than stearic acid. Nux vomica also contains mucilage and sugar. The latter, which according to Rebling (1855) exists to the extent of 6 per cent., reduces cupric oxide without the aid of heat. When macerated in water, the seeds easily undergo lactic fermentation, not however attended with decomposition of the alkaloids. The stability of strychnine is remarkable, even after ten years of contact with putrescent animal substances.
Commerce—Large quantities of nux vomica are brought into the London market from British India.[1599] The export from Bombay in the year 1871-72 was 3341 cwt., all shipped to the United Kingdom.[1600] Madras in 1869-70 exported 4805 cwt.; and Calcutta in 1865-66, 2801 cwt. The quantity imported into the United Kingdom in 1870[1601] was 5534 cwt.
Nux vomica is stated by Garnier (l.c. page 429, note) to be largely exported from Cambodja to China.
Uses—Tincture and extract of nux vomica, and the alkaloid strychnine, are frequently administered as tonic remedies in a variety of disorders.
Faba Sancti Ignatii; St. Ignatius’ Beans; F. Fèves de Saint Ignace, Noix Igasur; G. Ignatiusbohnen.[1602]
Botanical Origin—Strychnos Ignatii Bergius[1603] (S. philippensis Blanco, Ignatiana philippinica Loureiro), a large climbing shrub, growing in Bohol, Samar, and Çebu, islands of the Bisaya group of the Philippines, and according to Loureiro in Cochin China, where it has been introduced. The inflorescence and foliage are known to botanists only from the descriptions given by Loureiro[1604] and Blanco.[1605] The fruit is spherical, or sometimes ovoid, 4½ inches in diameter by 6¾ long, as shown by Ray and Petiver’s figure. It has a smooth brittle shell enclosing seeds to the number of about 24. G. Bennett,[1606] who saw the fruits at Manila sold in the bazaar, says they contain from 1 to 12 seeds, imbedded in a glutinous blackish pulp.[1607] According to Jagor[1608] the shrub is abundant near Basey, in the south-western part of the island of Samar, on the straits of San Juanico; its seeds are met with as a medicine in many houses in the Philippines.
History—It is stated by Murray[1609] and later writers that this seed was introduced into Europe from the Philippines by the Jesuits, who, on account of its virtues, bestowed upon it the name of Ignatius, the founder of their order. However this may be, the earliest account of the drug appears to be that communicated by Camelli, Jesuit missionary at Manila, to Ray and Petiver, and by them laid before the Royal Society of London in 1699.[1610] Camelli proclaimed the seed to be the Nux Vomica legitima of the Arabian physician Serapion, who flourished in the 9th century; but in our opinion there is no warrant whatever for supposing it to have been known at so remote a period.[1611] Sancti Ignatii, is much esteemed as a remedy in various disorders, though he was well aware of its poisonous properties when too freely administered. In Germany, St. Ignatius’ Bean was made known about the same period by Bohn of Leipzig.[1612]
The drug is found in the Indian bazaars under a name which is evidently corrupted from the Spanish pepita. It is met with in the drugshops of China as Leu-sung-kwo, i.e. Luzon fruit.
Description—St. Ignatius’ Beans are about an inch in length; their form is ovoid, yet by mutual pressure it is rendered very irregular, and they are 3-, 4-, or 5-sided, bluntly angular, or flattish, with a conspicuous hilum at one end. In the fresh state, they are covered with silvery adpressed hairs: portions of a shaggy brown epidermis are here and there perceptible on those found in commerce, but in the majority the seed shows the dull grey, granular surface of the albumen itself.
Notwithstanding the different outward appearance, the structure of St. Ignatius’ Beans accords with that of nux vomica. The radicle however is longer, thicker, and frequently somewhat bent, and the cotyledons are more pointed. The horny brownish albumen is translucent, very hard, and difficult to split. The whole seed swells considerably by prolonged digestion in warm water, and has then a heavy, earthy smell. The beans are intensely bitter and highly poisonous.
Microscopic Structure—The hairs of the epidermis are of an analogous structure, but more simple than in nux vomica. The albumen and cotyledons agree in structural features with those of the same parts in nux vomica.
Chemical Composition—Strychnine exists to the extent of about 1·5 per cent.; the seeds also contain 0·5 per cent. of brucine. Dried over sulphuric acid and burnt with soda-lime, it yielded us an average of 1·78 per cent. of nitrogen, which would answer to about 10 per cent. of albuminoid matter.
Commerce—We have no information as to the collection of the drug. The seeds are met with irregularly in English trade, being sometimes very abundant, at others scarcely obtainable.
Uses—The same as those of nux vomica. When procurable at a moderate price, the seeds are valued for the manufacture of strychnine.
Radix Spigeliæ Marilandicæ; Indian Pink Root, Carolina Pink Root, Spigelia.[1613]
Botanical Origin—Spigelia marilandica L., an herbaceous plant about a foot high, indigenous in the woods of North America, from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin and southward. According to Wood and Bache, it is collected chiefly in the Western and South-western States.
History—The anthelminthic properties of the root, discovered by the Indians, were brought to notice in Europe about the year 1754 by Linning, Garden, and Chalmers, physicians of Charleston, South Carolina. The drug was admitted to the London Pharmacopœia in 1788.
Description—Pink root has a near resemblance to serpentary, consisting of a short, knotty, dark brown rhizome emitting slender wiry roots. It is quite wanting in the peculiar odour of the latter drug, or indeed in any aroma; in taste it is slightly bitter and acrid. Sometimes the entire plant with its quadrangular stems a foot high is imported. It has opposite leaves about 3 inches long, sessile, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, smooth or pubescent.
Microscopic Structure—The transverse section of the rhizome, about ²/₁₀ of an inch in diameter, shows a small woody zone enclosing a large pith of elliptic outline, consisting of thin-walled cells. Usually the central tissue is decayed. In the roots, the middle cortical layer predominates; it swells in water, after which its large cells display fine spiral markings. The nucleus-sheath observable in serpentary is wanting in spigelia.
Chemical Composition—Not satisfactorily known: the vessels of the wood contain resin, the parenchyme starch; in the cortical part of the rhizome some tannic matters occur, but not in the roots. Feneulle (1823) asserts that the drug yields a little essential oil. The experiments of Bureau[1614] show that spigelia acts on rabbits and other animals as a narcotico-acrid poison.
Uses—Spigelia has long been reputed a most efficient medicine for the expulsion of Ascaris lumbricoides, but according to Stillé,[1615] its real value for this purpose has probably been over-estimated. This author speaks of it as possessing alterative and tonic properties. In England, it is rarely prescribed by the regular practitioner, but is used as a household medicine in some districts. It is much employed in the United States.