NUX VOMICA. 429 



History — Nux Vomica, which was unknown to the ancients, is 

 thought to have been introduced into medicine by the Arabians. But 

 the notices in their writings which have been supposed to refer to it, 

 are far from clear and satisfactory. We have no e\adence moreover 

 that it was used in India at an early period. Garcia de Orta, an observer 

 thoroughly acquainted with the drugs of the west coast of India in the 

 middle of the 16th century, is entirely silent as to nux vomica. 

 Fleming,^ writing at the begining of the present century, remarks that 

 nux vomica is seldom, if ever, emplojxd in medicine by the Hindus, 

 but this statement does not hold good now. 



The drug was however certainly made known in Germany in the 16th 

 century. Valerius Cordus- wrote a description of it about the year 

 1540, which is remarkable for its accuracy. Fuchs, Bauhin and others 

 noticed it as Kux Metella, a name taken from the Methel of Avicenna 

 and other Arabian authors.^ 



It was found in the English shops in the time of Parkinson (1640), 

 who remarks that its chief use is for poisoning dogs, cats, crows, and 

 ravens, and that it is rarely given as a medicine. 



Description — Nux Vomica is the seed, removed from the pulp and 

 shell. It is disc-like, or rather irregularly orbicular, a little less than 

 an inch in diameter, by about a quarter of an inch in thickness, slightly 

 Concave on the dorsal, convex on the ventral surface, or nearly flat on 

 either side, often furnished with a broad, thickened margin so that the 

 central portion of the seed appears depressed. The ovitside edge is 

 rounded or tapers into a keel-like ridge. Each seed has on its edge a 

 small protuberance, from which is a faintly projecting line (raphe) 

 passing to a central scar, which is the hilum or umbilicus ; a slight 

 depression marks the opposite side of the seed. The seeds are of a light 

 greyish hue, occasionally greenish, and have a satiny or glistening aspect, 

 by reason of their being thickly covered with adpressed, radiating 

 hairs. Nux vomica is extremely compact and homy, and has a very 

 bitter taste. 



After having been softened by digestion in water, the* seed is easily 

 cut along its outer edge, then displaying a ma&s of translucent, cartila- 

 ginous albumen, divided into two parts by a fissure in which lies the 

 embryo. This latter is about -^ of an inch long, having a pair of 

 delicate 5- to 7-nerved, heart-shaped cotyledons, with a club-shaped 

 radicle, the position of which is indicated on the exterior of the seed by 

 the small protuberance already named. 



Microscopic Structure — The hairs of nux vomica are of remark- 

 able structure. They are formed as usual of the elongated cells of the 

 epidermis, and have their waUs thickened by secondary deposits, which 

 are interrupted by longitudinally extended pores ; they are a striking 



[Buceros malabarkus); according to Eox- ^ Catalogue of Indian Med. Plants, and 

 burgh by "many sorts of bird." Beddome i^ruz/s, Calcutta, 1810. 37. 

 (Flora Sylvatka, Madras, 1872. 243) says - BM. Stirpium, edited by C. Gesner, 

 the pulp is quite liarmless,and the favourite Argentorat. 1561. lib. iv. c. 21. 

 food of many birds. 3 Qlusius and others held the opinion that 

 In Gamier, Exploration en Indo-Cluna the ^t/x jTie^/tfZ of the Arabs was the fruit of 

 ii. (Paris, 1873) 488, allusion is made to a a Z)a^i;ra, and an Indian species was accord- 

 tree similar to that under notice having ingly named by Linnaeus D. Metel. 

 fruits which are devoid of poison before 

 maturity. 



