SEMEN TIGLII. 505 



SEMEN TIGLII. 



Semen Croton'm; Croton Seeds; F. Graincs de Tilly on des Moluqiies, 

 Pctits Pif/ncms d'liide ; G. Purgirk&rnev, Gvaaatill. 



Botanical Origin — Groton Tigliwn^ L. (Tiglium ojfficinaleKlotzsch), 

 a small tree, 15 to 20 feet high, indigenous to the Malabar Coast and 

 Tavoy, cultivated in gardens in many parts of the East, from Mauritius 

 to the India Archipelago. The tree has small inconspicuous flowers, 

 and brown, capsular, three-celled fruits, each cell containing one seed. 

 The leaves have a disagreeable smell and nauseous taste. 



History — In Europe, the seeds and wood of the tree were first 

 described in 1578 by Christoval Acosta — the former, with a figure of 

 the plant, appearing under the name of Pi hones de Malucor The plant 

 was also described and figured by Rheede (1679)' and Rumphius (1743).* 

 The seeds, which were ofiicinal in the 17th century, but had become 

 obsolete, were recommended about 1812 by English medical ofiicers in 

 India,^ and the expressed oil by Perry, Frost, Conwell and others about 

 1821-24. The oil then in use was imported from India, and was often 

 of doubtful purity, so that some druggists felt it necessary to press the 

 seeds for themselves.^ 



Description — Croton seeds are about half an inch long, by nearly 

 f of an inch broad, ovoid or bluntly oblong, divided longitudinally into 

 two unequal parts, of which the more arched constitutes the dorsal and 

 the flatter the ventral side. From the hilum, a fine raised line (raphe) 

 passes to the other end of the seed, terminating in a darker point, 

 indicating the chalaza. The surface of the seed is more or less covered 

 with a bright cinnamon-brown coat, which when scraped shows the thin, 

 brittle, black testa filled with a whitish, oily kernel, invested with a 

 delicate seed-coat. The kernel is easily split into two halves consisting 

 of oily albumen, between which lie the large, veined, leafy cotyledons 

 and the radicle. The taste of the seed is at first merely oleaginous, but 

 soon becomes unpleasantly and persistently acrid. 



Microscopic Structure — The testa consists of an outer layer of 

 radially arranged, much elongated and thick-walled cells ; the inner 

 parenchj^matous layer contains small vascular bundles. The soft tissue 

 of the albumen is loaded with drops of fatty oil. If this is removed by 

 means of ether and weak potash lye, there remain small granules of 

 albuminoid matter, the so-called Alenron, and crystals of oxalate of 

 calcium. 



Chemical Composition — The principal constituent of croton seeds 

 is the fatty oil, the Oleum Crotonis or Oleum Tiglii of pharmacy ot 



^ Fig. iu Bentley and Trimen'a Medic. * Herbarium Amboinense, iv. tab. 42. 



Plants, part 1 (1875). » Ainslie, Mat. Med.o/Hindoostan, 1813. 



- Tractado, etc., Burgos, 1578. c. 48. — 292. 



After speaking of the virtues of the seeds, * The oil was very expensive. I tind by 



he adds — " tambien las buenas mugeres de the books of MeS^srs. AUen and Hanburys, 



aquellas partes, amigas de sns maridos, les that the seeds cost in 1824, \0s., and in 1827, 



da hasta quatro destos por la boca, para 18?. per lb. The oil was purchased in 1826 



embiar a los pobretos al otro mundo " ! by the same house at 8.s. to 10s. per ounce. — 



^ Hortua Malabaricus, ii. tab. 33. D. H. 



