AMYGDALA DULCIS 15 



AMYGDALA AMARA (Bitter Almond) 



Amygdalus communis official from 1820. Variety amara 

 first recognized in 1840. Continued thereafter till 1900. Dropped 

 from Pharmacopeia of 1910. 



The seeds of bitter almonds, Prunus Amygdalus, 

 var. amara, known in the days of antiquity to be poi- 

 sonous, were yet used medicinally throughout the Middle 

 Ages. Valerius Cordus (169) employed them as an 

 ingredient of trochisci. They are referred to by Scri- 

 bonius Largus (589) in the century preceding Christ. 

 Their poisonous qualities were shown by Bohm of 

 Berlin to depend on hydrocyanic acid, at the beginning 

 of the last century. Bitter almonds have never been a 

 favorite in domestic medicine, although, as above 

 stated, they were originally used in that direction., 

 They have been scarcely more a favorite with licensed 

 physicians. 



AMYGDALA DULCIS (Sweet Almond) 



Official, as Amygdalus communis, in the first edition of the 

 U. S. Pharmacopeia, 1820. The variety dulcis was first recog- 

 nized in the New York edition of 1830, but was not named in 

 the Philadelphia edition of that year. Following 1830, both 

 sweet and bitter almonds were official in all editions until 1910, 

 when Amygdala Dulcis became alone official, excepting in such 

 preparations as the oil, spirit, or water of bitter almonds. 



The almond, Prunus Amygdalus dulcis, was one 

 of the trees mentioned in the Old Testament, it being 

 one of the fruits mentioned, Genesis 43:11, which the 

 patriarch Israel commanded his sons to carry from Pales- 

 tine as a present to Egypt. Theophrastus (633) makes 

 copious references to the almond, and its name threads 

 the stories of the Arabian Nights, as illustrated by the 

 following : 



"O dear son, .be not like the almond-tree which 

 leafeth earlier than eveiy growth and withal is ever of 



