Drugs 



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dried. They are collected when ripe and the thin rind removed with a sharp knife, leaving 

 the white pulp containing a large number of seeds. The drug consists of white balls about 

 two inches in diameter, and generally more or less broken. They are extremely light in 

 weight, and the seeds themselves constitute about three-quarters of the total weight. The 

 "Turkey" and "Spanish" colocynth . are the principal varieties met with, and;:the former 

 commands the highest prices, though there is no reason to suppose that it possesses more active 

 properties. The action of colocynth is due to an intensely bitter substance, colocynthin, 

 occurring only in the pulp which alone is used in medicine. " Mogador " colocynths, from 

 which the rind has not been removed, are also imported, and are . commonly used by 

 druggists for show purposes in window-dressing. 



Nux Vomica. The seeds of Strychnos Nux-vomica have long been known as a valuable 

 drug, though for some time after their introduction into Europe in the sixteenth century 

 they were chiefly used as a poison for dogs, cats, and vermin. The tree is a native of the 

 Coromandel Coast of India and Cochin China, and is also found in Ceylon and North Australia. 

 The fruit closely resembles an orange, and contains usually from three to five seeds embedded 

 in a bitter whitish pulp. The grey, disc-shaped seeds, which are closely covered with fine 

 silky hairs, are about the size of a halfpenny, and somewhat thinner at the centre than at the 

 circumference. They are extracted from the pulp, and then washed and finally dried in the 

 sun. They are exported chiefly from India, the chief ports being Madras, Bombay, Calcutta, 

 and Cochin. The dry seeds possess an intensely bitter taste and are very hard. They are 

 extremely poisonous on account of the presence of two alkaloids, strychnine and brucine. 

 The drug is extensively used in small doses as a valuable tonic and in the treatment of 

 certain forms of paralysis and other nervous diseases. In large doses it is a virulent poison. 



Cola or Kola Nuts. These nuts, also known as Bissy or Gooroo Nuts, have long been 

 highly prized by the natives of tropical Africa and elsewhere on account of their stimulating 

 and sustaining properties when chewed. The white or crimson nuts occur five to fifteen 

 together in large woody fruits ; they are deprived 

 of their seed-coats and masticated while fresh. 

 There are two varieties of Cola nuts on the 

 market, viz., the kernels of Cola acuminata and 

 C. vera. The former nuts possess four cotyledons, 

 while the latter, which are the most valuable, 

 possess only two. The most important consti- 

 tuent of the drug is an alkaloid, caffeine (also 

 found in coffee), and a small amount of theobro- 

 mine is present. It is to these substances, chiefly 

 the former, that the drug owes its stimulating 

 properties, which cause it to be used in medicine 

 to prevent fatigue and as a nerve stimulant. 



Areca or Betel Nuts. Areca or Betel Nuts 

 are the seeds of Areca Catechu, a palm largely cul- 

 tivated in India, Ceylon, and Malaya. The 

 " nuts " are enclosed in the outer fibrous shell of 

 the fruit, which resembles an egg in size and shape. 

 They are bluntly conical, about an inch long, and, 

 in section, exhibit a mottled appearance, the 

 white endosperm being traversed by wavy, dark- 

 brown lines which are due to ingrowths of the 

 seed coat. 



The nuts are used in this country for destroying Photo by Wt G . Freeman< £s(7 . 

 worms in dogs, but by far their most important aloes 



