446 EXTRACTS 



these extracts are prepared, and the ingredients, vegetable or animal, 

 that enter into them are only imperfectly known. The bark of various 

 species of Strychnos (S. toxifera, Bentham ; 8. Castelncei, Weddel ; 

 S. Gubleri, G. Planchon, S. Crevauxii, G. Planchon, &c.) appear to 

 be essential constituents. In the bark of these plants considerable 

 quantities of poisonous alkaloids are present. 



Description. Curare has been imported in gourds, in small earthen 

 pots, and in bamboo tubes, but gourd curare is now no longer a 

 commercial article. It has the appearance of a very dark brown or 

 nearly black extract resembling black catechu, often containing 

 small cavities. That imported in bamboo is dark brown and granular, 

 the broken fragments frequently exhibiting crystals sufficiently large 

 to be visible to the naked eye. It has little or no odour, but a very 

 bitter taste. 



All these varieties of curare are poisonous when injected 

 subcutaneously, but when administered by the mouth they are 

 harmless, producing, it is said, the effect of a stomachic tonic. The 

 degree of toxicity varies not only in the different varieties but in 

 different specimens of the same variety, and the strength, therefore, 

 of each parcel must be determined before it can be used medicinally. 

 Bamboo curare yields to water about 84 to 88 per cent., gourd curare 

 34 to 75 per cent., pot curare 50 to 87 per cent. (Bohm, 1898). These 

 figures suffice to show the extreme variability of the drug. 



Constituents. Gourd curare contains the alkaloids curarine and 

 curine ; curarine is extremely toxic, but curine is less so. Bamboo 

 curare contains tubocurarine and curine. Pot curare contains 

 protocurarine, protocurine, and protocuridine. Urarine has also 

 been reported ; it is said to possess the typical curare action. 



Uses. Curare has been employed as a remedy for hydrophobia 

 and chorea ; it has also been found useful for tetanus, but it would 

 appear desirable to abandon the use of the crude drug in favour of 

 that of its active alkaloids. 



