cOccULUS. 185 
porter in low public-houses ; for this purpose it was in great 
request some years since, notwithstanding the severe prohibi- 
tory laws against its use. Morrice (Treatise on Brewing) orders 
**three pounds of Cocculus indicus to be added to ten quarters 
of malt. It gives an inebriating quality, which passes for 
strength of liquor; it also prevents the second fermentation of 
beer, and the bursting of the bottles in warm climates.” It is 
the ingredient used by thieves and other bad characters for the 
purpose of hocussing their victims. 
Description.—The Anamirta Cocculus is a strong climbing 
plant, with a corky bark. eaves more or less cordate, ovate, 
leathery, striped, large, from eight to twelve inches long. 
Petiole a little shorter than the leaves. Fru roundish, umbi- 
cular, somewhat larger than a large pea, and with the structure 
of a drupa. The officinal part is the berry which is met with in 
commerce ; it resembles the berry of the bay-tree (bacca lauri). 
It consists of a dry, roundish, thin, blackish-brown, rugous, 
acrid, and bitter layer, which involves a thin, bivalved, white, 
ligneous shell (endocarp). In the middle of this shell rises a 
central placenta, which is contracted at its base, but enlarged 
and divided into two cells superiorly; between the placenta 
and the shell is an oleaginous, yellow, very bitter nucleus (seed), 
of asemilunar form. This nucleus never wholly fills the cavity 
of the shell, at least in the Cocculus indicus of commerce, for 
by keeping, it gradually becomes atrophied, and in old samples 
' it is not uncommon to find the shell almost empty: this change 
is observed also in other oleaginous seeds. By this character 
alone, Cocculus indicus may be instantly distinguished from the 
bay berry (Pereira, Elem. of Mat. Med., p. 1325). The active 
principle exists in a substance termed Picrotoxine (Picrotoxic 
acid). 
GrocRAPHICAL Distripution.—The coast of Malabar, and 
the Indian Archipelago. 
Parts UsED 1N Mepicine, AND Mop or PREPARATION.— 
The Seeds. One part of the seeds, bruised to powder, is mixed 
