10 



material, the subject-matter of which Idler lias been already 

 quoted. These chemists, Messrs. Heckel and Schlagdenhauffen, 

 published their account of the fraud in a French medical 

 journal, Nbuveaux Remedes, in March aud April last (18x7,) 

 and in their description they consider the substitution lobe 

 an intentional adulteration, due to the increasing demand for 

 kola-nuts. Under the microscope the adulteration can be 

 detected by the smaller size of the polygonal starch grains, 

 which arc only half the size of those of the true kola-nut. In 

 the entire state the kernel is easily distinguished by the fact 

 that one of the cotyledons is hardly half the size of the other, 

 fitting into the substance of the larger 'one. and that the shape 

 of the seed is orbicular and flattened. Chemical analysis of 

 the false kola-nut shows it to be destitute of that which gives 

 the principal \\luc to the true product; that is to say, it con- 

 tains not a trace of caffeine, and therefore it is utterly value- 

 less to the chemical manufacturer. When I first read of the 

 introduction of a substitute for the kola-nut, I felt not a little 

 concern that it might injure the prospects of kola cultivation 

 in Jamaica, which had been advocated by Mr. Morris and 

 myself, but the denouement of the fraudulent attempt leaves 

 kola in its unique position as the easiest and best source of 

 caffeine. Thus, therefore, the medicinal value of the kola- 

 nut is securely established against this rival. The tree 

 bearing the false kola-nut is the Heritiera Uttoralis, belonging 

 to the same family as the kola, and described as common on 

 African river-banks, and in the East-Indian Islands and the 

 Phillipines. Had it proved a useful substitute, it could have 

 been abundantly supplied, and the new cultivation of our 

 naturalized kola trees would have had to encounter compe- 

 tition from the start. 



It will be seen from what has preceded that there is still 

 an unsatisfied demand for the kola product, mostly for the 

 purpose of manufacturing into the salts of caffeine employed 

 in medicine. I shall hereafter have something to say about 

 the valuable properties of these salts when discussing the 

 therapeutical properties of the kola-nut; but at this stage I 

 wish simply to remark that these preparations of caffeine are 

 almost quite new, but that their use is extending among the 

 medical profession, and that, from their special value in par- 

 ticular cases, their use bids fair to become still more extended. 

 Caffeine and citrate of caffeine were only included in the last 

 edition of the British Pharmacopoeia, of September, 1885, as 

 official drugs, consequently their authoritative recognition 

 is quite recent, and as a medicine caffeine is simply at the 

 beginning of its useful career. To satisfy the requirements 

 of the manufacturing chemists, which are sure to increase, 

 would of itself justify an extended cultivation of the kola, 



