"VOM1-C NUT. 2t3S 



HusseH ; but it has not yet been cultivated with success in this 

 country. 



The nux vomica, lignum colubrinum, and faba sancti Ignatii, 

 have been long known in the Materia Medica as narcotic poisons, 

 brought from the East Indies, while the vegetables which produced 

 them were unknown, or at least not botanicaliy ascertained. 



By the judicious discrimination of Linnaeus, the nux vomica was 

 found to be the fruit of the tree described and figured in the Hortus 

 Malabaricus under the name Caniram, since called Strychnos. To 

 this genus also, but upon evidence less conclusive, he likewise justly 

 referred the colubrinum. But the faba sancti Ignatii he merely 

 conjectured might belong to this family, as appears by the query an 

 Strychni species ? which subsequent discoveries have enabled us 

 to decide in the negative ; for in the Supp. Plant, it constitutes the 

 new genus Ignutia^ which Loureiro afterwards confirmed, changing 

 the specific name amara to that of philippinica. The strychnos and 

 ignatia are, however, nearly allied, and both rank under the order 

 solanaceae. 



We have thought it necessary to inquire thus far into the bota- 

 nical origin of these productions, from finding that by medical 

 writers they are generally treated of under the same head, and in a 

 very confused and indiscriminate manner. 



The seed of the fruit or berry of this tree is the officinal nux 

 vomica : it is flat, round, about an inch broad, and near a quarter 

 of an inch thick, with a prominence in tl>e middle on both sides, of 

 a grey colour, covered with a kind of woolly matter, and internally 

 hard and tough like horn ; to the taste it is extremely bitter, but 

 has no remarkable smell. It consists chiefly of a gummy matter, 

 which is moderately bitter ; the resinous part is very inconsiderable 

 in quantity, but intensely bitter ; hence rectified spirit has been 

 considered its best menstruum. 



Nux vomica is reckoned amongst the most powerful poisons of 

 the narcotic kind, especially to brute animals, nor are instances 

 wanting of its deleterious effects upon the human species. It proves 

 fatal to dogs in a very short time, as appears by various authorities. 

 Ilillefeld and others found that it also poisoned hares, foxes, wolves, 

 cats, rabbits, and even some birds, as crows and ducks ; and Lou- 

 reiro relates that a horse died in four hours after taking a dram of 

 the seed in an half-roasted state. The effects of this baneful drug 



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