ANACARDIUM OCCIDENTALE 85 



forming a colorless oil ; it is not vesicant, burns with a dark 

 flame, and has the odor of rancid oil. A tincture of the 

 pericarp has been made (1 part to 10 of alcohol) and given in- 

 ternally as a vermifuge in doses of 210 drops. Cardol, ac- 

 cording to some authors, does not exercise a vesicant action in 

 the gastro-intestinal canal, because it is not dissolved by the 

 gastro-intestinal juices ; I am sure, however, that I have seen a 

 choleraic diarrhoea brought on by swallowing, in fun, the peri- 

 carp of one nut and a half. Cardol is eliminated by the urine. 



The kernel is edible and has a very agreeable taste when roasted. 

 By expression it yields a sweet, yellowish oil, density 0.916. 



The trunk exudes a gum resin in masses varying in color 

 from red to yellow. 



The fleshy part, called the fruit, is edible but contains a cer- 

 tain quantity of cardol not only evidenced by the odor but by 

 the smarting of the mouth and throat after eating. It is very 

 juicy and the expressed liquid is fermented in Bombay and dis- 

 tilled to make a very weak alcohol which sells for the very low 

 price of 4 annas (5 cents gold) a gallon. This alcohol is again- 

 distilled and a stronger obtained which sells for 1J rupees a 

 gallon. The Portuguese of India make a sort of wine from 

 the fermented juice of the fruit, which, like the weak alcohol we 

 have mentioned, is a well-known diuretic and is used as a liniment. 



The gum resin of the trunk contains 90J& of anacardic acid 

 and 10J6 cardol. Wood soaked in it is preserved from the 

 ravages of insects, especially of white ants, for which purpose 

 it is used by bookbinders also. Therapeutically it is used ex- 

 ternally in leprosy, old ulcers and to destroy corns, but on ac- 

 count of its rubefacient and vesicant qualities it is necessary 

 to use it cautiously. 



BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION. A tree, 18 high, with leaves 

 cuneiform, glabrous, stiff, short-petioled. Flowers polygamous 

 in terminal panicles. Calyx with 5 erect segments, imbricated, 

 caducous. Corolla, 5 linear, lanceolate petals, curved and im- 



