THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 230 
most accomplished Medical Graduates of the Bombay University. 
He is as careful a clinical observer as he is a skilful and facile 
operator. I cannot, therefore, do better than give in full, with his 
kind permission, the abstract of his notes as published by the Grant 
College Medical Society :--“ A child, about five years of age, was 
brought one morning into the Hospital in an insensible condition, the 
parents stating that the child had eaten some of the kernels of the 
nut the previous evening. The parents were dyers and used the nuts 
for dyeing clothes black ; the pericarp was used by them while the 
kernels were thrown away. The Natives are well aware of the 
effects produced by the eating of the kernels, About half a pound 
of the nuts will be eaten before they produce narcotic effect in an 
adult ; the effect is not rapid but takes several hours before it is 
exhibited. The child had apparently gone to bed all right and in the 
morning was found quite insensible. When seen she was totally 
unconscious, the pupils were of natural size, the cornea was insensible 
to touch, breathing was stertorous, body of natural temperature, pulse 
somewhat frequent, jaws partially locked.’’ Hmetics, stimulants and 
other remedies were administered. The child, however, died of 
convulsions within half an hour from the time they set in. A post 
mortem examination was made two hours after death. Herein lies 
the value of this paper. The stomach was found somewhat congested 
and contained some greenish black grumous fluid ; the intestines and 
all the other organs were found natural. 
The question that strikes me is :—Is it that the symptoms of intoxi- 
cation or narcotism may be due to small quantities of Hydrocyanic 
acid developed in the kernel of some of the fruits of Behedd? I 
leave the question to be solved by practical Pharmacologists and 
Chemical Analysers. 
Descriprion oF Puate H, 
1. The tender branchlet of T. bellerica with flower-spikes in bud 
and blossom. 
2. The fruit of 7. bellerica on the previous year’s apical branchlet 
3, A transverse section through the middle of the fruit. The 
outermost brown line showing the downy epicarp ; the green layer 
indicating the mesocarp which contains tannin, and which alone is 
used medicinally ; the next yellowish layer represents the irregular 
hard nut. The central white mass represents the kernel. 
