172 



THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



this pulp upon both wild and domestic 

 animals is phenomenal. Apparently 

 there is no record of any other vegetable 

 substance whose power in this direction 

 equals that of the one here considered. 

 Although not collected for feeding to 

 domestic animals, yet it is deemed one of 

 the most important sources of food sup- 

 ply for running fowls and pigs. Some 

 farmers even regard the extreme and 

 rapid fattening which results from its 

 consumption as not being compatible 

 with conditions of health and restrict the 

 access of their animals to the supply. No 

 record has been encountered of this fruit 

 being, or having been, extensively or 

 habitually eaten by man, though it is 

 known that it has been eaten to some ex- 

 tent both by the aborigines and the set- 

 tlers. Its taste is characteristic, describ- 

 ed by Dr. Read as at first exceedingly 

 sweet, followed in a few seconds by an 

 acrid and pungent sensation spreading to 

 the fauces, nasal mucous membrane and 

 larynx, and later by a feeling of smooth- 

 ness in all parts as though they had been 

 coated with oil. Some other descriptions 

 of this so-called " smothness " read as 

 though it might proceed from a slight 

 local anaesthesia. 



MEDICINAL USES- 



In standard literature we find very lit- 

 tle reference to the medicinal properties 

 of this fruit. We do not find it mention- 

 ed in any work on medical botany. The 

 last edition of the National Dispensatory 

 does not contain it and the United States 

 Dispensatory gives it a notice of only six 

 lines in extent. The best resume of it 

 will be found in "The Pharmacology 

 of the Newer Materia Medica,"* where 

 it is credited with being sedative, 

 pseudo-narcotic and diuretic, and said 

 to improve digestion, increasing the 

 flesh and strength, remedial of neu- 



*Published by Parke, Davis & Co. 



ralgic disorders and allaying irritation of 

 the mucous membrane of the throat, nose 

 and larynx, used with decided success in 

 phthisispulmonalis, bronchitis, acute 

 and chronic laryngitis > etc. Other uses 

 are mentioned in the clinical reports 

 which this book quotes, but these are not 

 accepted or endorsed in the editoral sum- 

 mary. Apparently the first real intro- 

 duction of the drug to medical literature 

 was by Dr. J. B. Read of Savannah, who 

 reported upon its successful use as a 

 nutrient and catarrhal remedy. Dr. J. 

 U. Goss in 1879 confirmed the reports of 

 its value in catarrhal troubles, and added 

 that it was specially valuable in chronic 

 bronchitis. Dr. Stephen F. Dupon, of 

 Savannah, declared that no remedy had 

 proven so beneficial in pulmonary com- 

 plaints. Reports of its value in connec- 

 tion with diseases of the genital organs 

 appear to have originated with one who 

 was not a physician, Mr. J. M. Dixon, 

 Ph. G. of California. Several medical 

 men followed with confirmations, but we 

 cannot claim to have any important or 

 weighty testimony in this direction, while 

 it may be stated that the nature and 

 language of the claims constitute in 

 themselves a good ground for suspicion. 

 Still it must be noted as upon printed 

 record that the remedy is a sexual tonic 

 and a reducer of prostatic enlargement, 

 and that these claims are built and en- 

 larged upon by various pharmaceutical 

 houses, ethical and non-ethical, almost 

 ad nauseam. 



A review of the above literature was 

 presented at the last meeting of the 

 American Pharmaceutical Association at 

 Asheville by Mr. C. C Sherrard, Ph. C, 

 who accompanied the same by an account 

 of a partial proximate analysis by him- 

 self. The apologies of Prof. Coblentz 

 and myself are perhaps due to Mr. Sher- 

 rard for interfering in a work which he 

 probably still has in hand, but in justice 



