430 LOGANIACE^. 



object in polarized light. The albumen is made up of large cells, loaded 

 with albuminoid matters and oily drops, but devoid of starch. In water 

 the thick walls of this parenchyme swell up and yield some mucilage ; 

 the cotyledons are built up of a narrow, much more delicate tissue, 

 traversed by small fibro-vascular bundles. 



The alkaloids are not directly recognizable by the microscope ; but 

 if very thin slices of nux vomica are kept for some length of time in 

 glycerin, they develope feathery crystals, doubtless consisting of these 

 bases. 



Chemical Composition — The bitter taste and highly poisonous 

 action of nux vomica are chiefly due to the presence of Strychnine 

 and Brucine. Strychnine, C^^H^'^N^O^ was first met with in 1818 by 

 Pelletier and Caventou in St. Ignatius' Beans, and immediately after- 

 wards in nux vomica. It crystallizes from an alcoholic solution in large 

 anhydrous prisms of the orthorhombic system. It requires for solu- 

 tion about 6700 parts of cold or 2500 of boiling water ; the solution is 

 of decidedly alkaline reaction, and an intensely bitter taste which may 

 be distinctly perceived though it contain no more than eiroVoD o^ ^^^ 

 alkaloid. The best solvents for strychnine are spirit of wine or chloro- 

 form ; it is but very sparingly soluble in absolute alcohol, benzol, 

 amylic alcohol, or ether. The alcoholic solution deviates the ray of 

 polarized light to the left. 



Strychnine is not restricted to the fruit of the plant under notice, 

 but also occurs in the wood and bark.^ It is moreover found in the 

 wood of the root of Strychnos colubrina L., and in the bark of the root 

 of Strychnos Tieute Lesch., both species indigenous to the Indian 

 Archipelago. 



The discovery of Brucine was made in 1819 by the same chemists, 

 in nux vomica bark, then supposed to be derived from Brucea ferruginea 

 Heritier (B. antidysenterica Miller), an Abyssinian shrub of the order 

 Simarubeae. The presence of brucine in nux vomica and St. Ignatius' Bean 

 was pointed out by them in 1824. Brucine, dried over sulphuric acid, has 

 the formula C'^ff^N^O*, but it crystallizes from its alcoholic solution 

 with 4 OH^. In bitterness and poisonous properties, as well as in 

 rotatory power, it closely resembles strychnine, differing however in 

 the following particulars: — it is soluble in about 150 parts of boiling 

 water, melts without alteration a little above 180° C. In common with 

 its salts, it acquires a dark red colour when moistened with concentrated 

 nitric acid. 



The proportion of strychnine in nux vomica appears to vary from 

 ^ to I per cent. That of brucine is variously stated to be 012 (Merck), 

 0-5 (Wittstein), I'Ol (Mayer) per cent. 



A third crystallizable base, called Igasurine, was stated in 1853 by 

 Desnoix to occur in the liquors from which strychnine and brucine 

 had been precipitated by lime. Schiitzenberger's investigations (1858) 

 are far from proving the existence of " igasurine." ^ 



In nux vomica, as well as in St. Ignatius' Beans, the alkaloids, 



1 It is remarkable that parasitic plants of - For further information on igasurine, 



the order LorcmthacecB gro-wing on Strychnos consult Gmelin, Chemistri/, xvii. (1866) 



Nux-vomica acquire the poisonous proper- 589 ; Watts, Dictionary of Chemistry, iii. 



tiesof the latter. —P/tarm. o/'/HtZJa, 1868. (1865)243; Pharm. Joiirn. xviii. (1859) 



108. 432. 



