104 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. X. 



those who have ever found themselves in the close vicinity of a place 

 where the nut is being roasted. Dr. Dymock and his colleagues quote* 

 the observation of Buchheim who says that the oleo-resin has a very faint 

 and hardly acrid taste, and that three or four drops of it can be swallow- 

 ed without marked effect. They also refer to Dr. Brassac's opinion 

 regarding the quality of the oleo-resin in the following terms : — " Dr. 

 Brassac considers it to be a good, rapid and safe vesicant, producing a 

 copious flow of serum, and notable reduction of hypertrophy in tuber- 

 cular leprosy." The cases which 1 quote below will show that it is 

 not always a safe vesicant in some healthy men, as it produces much 

 constitutional disturbance and affects healthy parts of the human body 

 far removed from the places which originally came in contact with 

 the oleo-resin. This proves the volatile nature of cardol. There is no 

 doubt that it irritates the healthy skin often to a dangerous degree, 

 producing not only vesication but regular eczema tons inflammation of 

 the skin. The anaesthetic skin of the leper is unable to appreciate the 

 irritant property. " Cardol," says Dr. Dymock, " seems to be excreted 

 with the urine, but partially also with fseces." This shows that cardol 

 is a stable compound. The oleo-resin leaves a stain on linen, but it 

 does not appear that the stain has the permanency so characteristic of 

 the marking-nut. The oleo-resinous liquid, which is of a dark brown 

 colour, contains 90 per cent, of auacardic acid and 10 per cent, of cardol. 

 Dr. Lyon says that " the Cashew-nut juice," meaning, I presume, the 

 oleo-resin, " appears to be seldom, if ever, used criminally in India." 

 Dr.Newton, however, in the " Pharmacopoeia of India"! says that native 

 women use the juice to produce abortion, applying it to the os uterV 



Recorded evidence, however, is suflB.ciently strong to prove the vesi- 

 cating properties of the oleo-resin. The Rev. Mr. Nairne seems to 

 doubt this. Observe what he says$ in quoting Kingsley's remark to 

 the eff'ect that the fumes of the acrid oil " will blister the face if the 

 cook bends over the fire." Mr. Nairne emphatically says, " I never 

 heard of this difficulty in India." Mr. Nairne may not have heard of it 

 but the belief is common on this side of India, and not unfounded on 

 actual experience, that the process of roasting the cashew -nuts is 



* Pharmacographia Indica, vol. I, p. 387. 



t Medical Jurisprudence for India, p. 192, 1889. 



X The Flowering Plants of India, p. 68. 



