IGNATIUS BEANS 173 



to Europeans through a Jesuit, Father Camellus, towards the end of 

 the seventeenth century, and the seeds were called Fabae Sancti 

 Ignatii, in honour of Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the order. The 

 large ovoid or nearly globose fruit contains about twelve seeds em- 

 bedded in a pulp, from which they are separated and dried. When 

 fresh they are covered with greyish satiny hairs, resembling those 

 of the nux vomica ; these, however, are very easily rubbed off, and 

 in the commercial drug are mostly lost, together with much of the 

 thin seed-coats. 



Description. Ignatius beans are dull, dark grey, irregularly ovoid 

 and about 25 mm. long. Frequently there is one large curved side 

 and three or four smaller flattish surfaces with rounded angles, but 

 some seeds are irregularly sub-angular. Here and there are patches 

 of the dull, ash-grey seed-coat, which under a lens is seen to be 

 covered with appressed hairs, but these, unlike the hairs of nux 



FIG. 94. Ignatius Beans. Natural size. (Bentley and Trimen.) 



vomica, are not so regularly arranged and are destitute of any satiny 

 sheen. Usually, however, the seed-coat, which is very thin, has been 

 removed by the friction of the seeds against one another, exposing 

 the surface of the dark, translucent, horny endosperm. The hilum 

 is generally distinguishable with ease at one extremity of the seed. 



After soaking in water, the large endosperm can be divided into 

 two portions, between which, in a cavity, lies the embryo with its 

 small radicle and leafy cotyledons. The seeds are inodorous, but 

 have an extremely bitter taste. 



The student should observe 



(a) The irregular shape, 



(b) The dark endosperm with patches of seed-coat. 



Constituents. Ignatius beans contain strychnine and brucine to 

 about the same extent as nux vomica, viz. 2-5 to 3 per cent, of total 

 alkaloid, of which from 46 to 62 per cent, is strychnine. 



5. The drug possesses a medicinal action similar to that of 

 nux vomica, over which it has no evident superiority. 



