432 



LOGANIACEiE. 



from the descriptions given by Loureiro ^ and Blanco.^ TBe fruit is 

 spherical, or sometimes ovoid, 4| inches in diameter by Of long, as 

 sho-\\;n by Ray and Petiver's figure. It has a smooth brittle shell en- 

 closing seeds to the number of about 24. G. Bennett,^ who saw the 

 fruits at Manila sold in the bazaar, says they contain from 1 to 12 

 seeds, imbedded in a glutinous blackish pulp.^ According to Jagor' 

 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^ 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 mis- 

 sionary at Manila, to Ray and Petiver, and by them laid before the 

 Royal Society of London in 1699.^ Camelli proclaimed the seed to he 

 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.^ 

 Camelli states that the seed, which he calls Nux Fepita sen Faha Sandi 

 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. 



lo-natius' Bean w^as 



9 



made known about the same 



period by Bohn of Leipzig. 



The drug is found in the Indian bazaars under a name which is 



It is met with in the 



corrupted from the Spanish pepit 



fi 



Description— St. Ignatius' Beans are about an inch in length; 

 their form is ovoid, yet by mutual pressure it is rendered very irre- 

 gular, 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 adpresscd hairs : portions of a shaggy brown epidermis 

 are here and there perceptible on those found in commerce, but m 

 the majority the seed shows the dull avey, oranular surface of the 

 albumen itself. ^ J' ^ 



Notwithstanding the different outw^ard appearance, the structure of 

 St. Ignatius' Beans accords with that of nux vomica. The radicle how- 

 ever is longer, thicker, and frequently somewhat bent, and the cotyle- 

 dons are more pointed. The horny brownish albumen is translucent, 



/i-n^"^? C'oc/ifncAmensjs, ed. WiUd. i. 

 (irJj) loo. 



I Flora de FlUpinas, ed. 2. 1845. 61. 



London Med. and Phys. Journ. 

 January 1832. 



* The only specimen of the fruit I have 

 S/m Z^^'"" possession of my late 

 Tt^Xl ■■ ^V""- ^^ measured exactly 

 (1 - li. '" <|,'amcter, and when opened 



^JuT^JuF-'^ ^^« f«™'^ to ^""tain 17 



S dS It T^ "if' ^''^ '"^^""^*^ 



oneintliP Tnvr V'^, ^ "^^'^ ^^^n another 



s piilJ^^V '^^^ Plantes, Paris. -F A F 



213. "'" "' '''" ^'-i^PPinen, Berlin; itil' 



® Apparatus 3fedicammum,yi- (JJ^-^ ' 



•^F/uL Travis, xxi. (1699) 44. 87; W' 

 IlisL Plant, iii. lib. 31. 118. ,i 



« The rhilippiiies were unknown to u 

 Europeans of the Middle Ages, ^l^ their 

 discovered by Magellan in 1521, but 

 conquest by the Spaniards was not e^^^ 

 tually commenced until li)00. J-^ ^ 

 to the Spanish occupation, they 

 governed by petty chiefs, and were 

 mientcd for the purposes of conimerct; j 

 Japanese, Chinese, and Malays. .^^,..,i. 



^Martiny, Ennjklopddie der Bohcaaien 



hinde, i. (1843) 570. 



