498  .  £LEGUMINOSE. 
the seeds with gfir (molasses) in hysteria. In 1868 the seeds 
_were made official in the Pharmacop@ia of India as a tonic 
and antiperiodic, and in the compound powder (also official) 
the native form of administration with black pepper has been 
adopted. From the notes at the end of the Pharmacopeia it 
will be seen that the general tenor of the reports from medical 
officers in India is in favour of the antiperiodic and tonic 
effects of the remedy. The seeds are always kept in the drug- 
gists’ shops, and are much used by native practitioners in the 
‘various ways above descrived. In Gambia, where they are 
called “Coorie seeds,” the expressed oil is used for ear dis- 
charges, and a decoction of the roasted seed for consumption or — 
asthina. The specific name of the plant is derived from the 
word Bunduk, an Arabic form of the Persian Finduk. The 
Arabs also call the seeds Hajar-el-ukab, or “‘ eagle stones.” 
SE pt eee eT a ee Nae eee Te eee ee ee er ee 
ah te, 
. 
Description.—The seeds are nearly globular, } to } of 
an inch in diameter. They are of a dull grey colour, smooth, 
very hard: tbe umbilicus is surrounded by a small, dark | 
brown, semilunar blotch opposite the micropyle; the shell is 
very thick, and contains a white kernel, which consists of two 
cotyledons and a thick radicle having a very bitter taste. The 
bark and wood of the root are hardly at all bitter. A micro- 
Scopic examination shows the presence in the cotyledons of 
mucilage, starch, oil, and albumen. ‘The cells of the testa are — 
blackened by perchloride of iron, showing the -presence of — 
tannin. 
a as al 
_ Chemical composition.—The authors of the Pharmacographia 
isolated a non-alkaloidal bitter principle from the kernels. — 
—— (1886), MM. Ed, Heckel and Fr. Schlagdenhauffen — 
_ found the cotyledons of the seeds to contain oil 25°130, bitter — 
_ principle (resin?) 1-925, sugar 6°830, salts 3791, albuminoid - 
matter, soluble and insoluble, 20-490, starch 35°697, water — 
5:800, loss 0°327, per cent. The bitter principle of the © 
Bonduc-nut is a white, bitter powder, without acridity ; it is 
. entirely s soluble in = acetone, ebloroform and glacial — 
3; very little soh ether i 
Cae si 4 eo pViszin sy uae ks «Sea 
EGR ee eee Tt ee eee ee eee er Ey ee hy Tyee 
