1031 
Macabuhay must therefore be classed with the “bitters,” the value of 
which as tonics, if they have any, is in some way intimately related to 
their bitter taste. 
ARGEMONE MEXICANA Linn.” (Papaveracee). 
This weed is a native of tropical America, but has been introduced into 
the Philippines and British India. It is common about towns in these 
Islands. The native names are diluario, cachwmba, casumbang-aso. 
Padre Blanco states that the yellow juice of this plant is used by the 
natives to heal “fissures of the corners of the eyes,” and indeed, the name 
Argemone is derived from that of a small ulcer of the eye, for which this 
plant is supposed to be a specific. The seeds yield a yellowish, fixed oil 
which is laxative and is supposed to relieve the pain of cholera.*’ It is 
a drying oil, and in the future may be in demand as a medium for paints. 
The Spaniards in these Islands considered the seeds more narcotic than 
opium. The oil has been used in India as a purgative and it has been 
highly praised by the physicians of that country, but they have not been 
able to detect the narcotic properties which are so widely believed in by 
the natives here.** The dose is 2 to 4 grams. The plant is officinal in 
the Mexican Pharmacopoeia, and it has always been in great repute 
among Spanish American peoples. Tavera says: “The flowers are nar- 
cotic by virtue of a principle resembling morphine, perhaps identical with 
that alkaloid.’ Charbonnier ** made a chemical study of Argemone 
mexicana and claimed that he found morphine; Dragendorff *° states that 
it is supposed to contain that substance. This belief seems to have 
crept into many works of reference, as even very recent ones give the 
statement that the alkaloid found in this plant is morphine.*° As 
Argemone mexicana is in the same family with the poppy (Papaver som- 
niferum) it seemed likely that these statements might be correct, although 
I have been unable to find any later chemical investigations on this plant. 
In view of the literature on the subject it was very desirable to 
discover whether the alkaloid in this plant really is morphine or not, 
especially as an opium law has recently been passed in the Philippines. 
In a country where morphine is heavily taxed, it should be known if 
there is a weed along the roadside which may possibly become a source 
for the supply of this drug. 
Several kilos of the plants, in all stages of growth, were collected, 
together with several hundred grams of seeds. Preliminary tests showed 
the presence of an alkaloid. 
31 Hook. f. et Thoms. in Hook. f. Brit. Ind., 1, 117. 
% Tavera; Loc. ctt. 
38 Watts: Dict. Econ. Plants of Ind., 1, 307. 
4 Journ. de Pharm. (5) (1868), 7, 348. 
*® Heilpflanzen (ed. 1898). 
“% See Pictet-Wolfenstein, Die Pflanzenalkaloide (ed. 1900), 238. 
eek, 
