304 EUPHORBIA CEJ3. 



by boiling is more active, and, as it is not always carefully 

 prepared, it may contain the acrid principle of the seed and 

 give rise to disagreeable symptoms. The alleged antirheumatic 

 properties of the plant so insisted upon by Hindu and Maho- 



_ „ ^.^ „^*v^ v,^ „^^^ ^^ ^ - ilinical 



observation. 



M. H. Meyer {Pharnh Zeiisch. / JRitssland, xxx., p. 282, 

 1891), in order to decide the question as to the purgative 

 properties of ricinoleic acid, prepared that substance perfectly 

 pure, also its glyceride, and ricinelaidic acid- All these 

 preparations were administered to cats, and acted as purgatives. 

 The author concludes that there is no reason to suppose that 

 Castor oil contains any purgative principle other than 

 ricinoleic acid. 



Dr. H- Stillmark has discovered in the seeds an albuminoid 

 body which he has named ''Ricin.^' This, however, does not 

 appear to be the purgative principle. Its action, whether given 

 by the mouth or hypodermically, is to produce hsemorrhagic 

 inflammation of the gastro-intestinal tract, affecting primarily 

 the small intestines, and probably obstructing the bile duct, 

 since there is usually extreme fullness of the gall bladder ; the 

 inflammation also extends to the vesical mucous membrane. 

 Diarrhoea is by no means constant. The drowsiness and 

 convulsions which occurred in some of his experiments on 

 animals he attributes to possible thrombosis of the cerebral 

 vessels. The lethal dose of ricin for man he calculates to be 

 6*0 milligrams for a man weighing 60 kilograms, this generally 

 being equal to about ten ordinary seeds, although Christison 

 once had a fatal case, where only three seeds had been swallowed, 

 and, on the other hand, a case is on record in which a person 

 who had eaten 17 seeds, recovered. 



Ricin appears to have a peculiar effect upon blood, causing 

 a rapid conglomeration of the red corpuscules, together with 

 the formation of a substance Hke fibrin. One part of ricin to 

 60,000 of defibrinated blood is sufficient to cause a separation of 

 the serum, so that the latter is capable of being passed through 



