150-2 
at Crosswick, N. J., claimed small doses, repeated if necessary at hourly intervals, 
act as a pleasant cathartic; but says that in his own experiments doses of from. 
six to twelve drops invariably produced nausea and vomiting. The bark of the 
root has been found to produce emesis and catharsis. Rafinesque states that the 
pickling of the capsules as a substitute for capers in England was due to mistaking 
them for Capparis spinosa, the true caper; other authors, however, claim that the 
use of the fruit in this manner is intentional, and that the substitution is a passable 
one. 
. PART USED AND PREPARATION.—The whole plant, when half is in fruit, is 
treated as in the preceding species. The resulting tincture is bistre by transmitted 
light ; it has an odor somewhat resembling spoiled oysters; a sweetish then bitter- 
ish, nauseous taste; and an acid reaction. 
CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS.—No analysis has yet been made of this species 
that isolated an active principle. The seeds are said to yield about 44 per cent. 
of a clear, yellowish, heavy oil, that deposits a crystalline mass on standing. The 
activity of the oil seems to vary much with the locality in which the plant grows, 
it being far more active from seeds produced in this country than from those of 
England or France. 
. 
PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION.—The following symptoms occur after ingestion 
of a number of the seeds: Brilliant, staring, wide-open eyes, dilated pupils; death- 
like pallor of the countenance; retching and vomiting ; violent purgation, stools 
frequent, copious, and in some cases bloody; irregular pulse; whole body cold 
and rigid,* followed by heat and perspiration. MM. E. Sudour and A. Caraven- 
Cachin state+ that emesis always precedes purgation, and that the seeds have an 
irritating action upon the mucous membrane of the intestinal canal, principally in 
the larger intestines. They divide the effects into three stages: a, the cold stage, 
including vomiting and diarrhcea; 3, the stage of excitation, including nervous- 
ness, vertigo, and delirium; y, the stage of reaction, including heat and copious 
sweat, | 
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE 150, 
1. A portion of the inflorescence in flower and fruit, from near a garden, Sept. 27th, 1885. 
2. Summit of stem at the base of the inflorescence. 
3. Involucre and contents, 
4. Outer view of an involucral lobe. 
5. Inner view of same. — 
6. Abortive stamen. 
7- Sterile floret. 
8. A stamen. 
g. Fruit. . 
_ ro, Under surface of a capsule separated from the axis, 
t1. A carpel. es, : 
_ 12. Longitudinal section of a seed. 
_ 13. Horizontal section of a seed. 
__ * Bennewitz, 4. H. Z., 7, 257 : Jacob, Am. F. Med. Sey Jan., 1845; Phar, Four., 1861, 435; from Allen, Ency. Mat, Med. 
1 Rep. de Phar., 1881, pp. 526-75 Maisch, in 4, % Phar., 1882, p. 72, 3 | ; 
