66 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV. 



Dr. Norman Ohevers* quotes a case reported by Morrett of Salem 

 (Madras Presidency), and fully detailed in the Madras Quarterly 

 Journal of Medical Science, p. 37, July 1861. The case was that " of 

 a healthy young English gentleman, who ate fifteen or twenty nuts 

 of Jatropha curcas. The taste did not arouse suspicion. In an hour 

 and-a-half burning sensations in the throat and stomach were felt, 

 attended with great restlessness. There was profuse purging, with 

 great pain and vomiting, by which portions of the nut were rejected. 

 In another hour and-a-half there were severe cramps of the lower 

 limbs. The purging now ceased. The cramps were so violent that 

 frequently the patient sprang in agony out of bed, and stamped 

 his feet with all his force upon the ground as if to flatten them, the 

 cramps distorting them. The cramps affected, with less severity, the 

 muscles of the arms, abdomen and back. Occasionally there were 

 convulsive twitches of the back, almost like those in tetanus. He 

 gradually became perfectly deaf. There was also impairment of 

 sight. The pulse was very small, thready and weak. Skin cold, 

 damp, and clammy. Features sunken and contracted. Treatment — 

 Hot brandy and water, warm bath, anodyne frictions, and hot 

 bottles. In about seven hours reaction set in and he slowly 

 improved. Throughout the following day he remained totally deaf, 

 and had slight cramps. Next day he was awakened by the 

 church bell, and was quite convalescent. Although during his illness 

 he had appeared quito conscious, he had no recollection whatever 

 of what happened later than the profuse purging. Several other 

 young gentlemen were in like manner affected in a less alarm- 

 ing degree, having taken fewer of the nuts, but in none of 

 them was there deafness or loss of memory." In giving this 

 long extract from Chevers my only apology is that his work 

 is out of print now. My quotation, therefore, is likely to be 

 of use to those who do not happen ;to have his work in their 

 library. 



So far as I know, the seeds of Jatropha curcas have never been 

 ixsod for criminal poisoning. Brigade-Surgeon Lyon, CLE., in his 

 Medical Jurisprudence (p. 205, Ed., 1889, Calcutta) says that several 

 cases of accidental poisoning are recorded. My foregoing observations 

 will amply bear him out in his assertion. 



* Xedical Jurisprudence for India, p, 275, Calcutta, 1870. Thacker, Spink it Co. 



