CRUDE DRUGS. 435 



Description. — Closely resembling the Bitter Almond but giv- 

 ing no odor of hydrocyanic acid when treated with water, or of 

 benzaldehyde when old ; taste bland and sweet. 



Constituents. — Resembling bitter almond, but containing, 

 slightly more fixed oil (about 50 per cent.), and being free from 

 amygdalin. 



COLA. — KOLA. — The kernel of the seed of Cola acuminata 

 (Fam. Sterculiacese), a tree indigenous to Guinea, and now 

 extensively cultivated in the West Indies and South America. 

 The commercial supplies come principally from Western Africa 

 and the West Indies. The seed obtained from the West Indies 

 is known commercially as Bichy or Bissy-bissy nut. The ker- 

 nels are used in a fresh condition or the cotyledons are separated 

 and dried (p. 333). 



Description. — Anatropous, plano-convex, polygonal, three to 

 six-sided, 18 to 35 mm. long and 5 to 20 mm. in diameter; exter- 

 nally yellowish or yellowish-red when fresh, but becoming darker 

 with age and on drying, with a shallow furrow indicating the line 

 of union of the two cotyledons, micropyle forming a distinct cleft 

 at one end, otherwise nearly smooth; easily cut when fresh, but 

 hard when dry ; without reserve layers, cotyledons unequal and 

 varying from two to five in number, the hypocotyl small ; odor 

 distinct ; taste astringent, somewhat sweet. 



Constituents. — Starch 35 to 40 per cent., the grains resem- 

 bling those of potato starch but uniformly smaller; caffeine' 1.5 

 to 3.6 per cent.; theobromine 0.02 to 0.09 per cent.; 1.5 to 4 per 

 cent, of a tannin which gives a greenish reaction with iron salts, 

 and is in part combined with the caffeine. 



Caffeine or theine (trimethyl xanthine or methyl theobro- 

 mine) also occurs in coffee (p. 380), tea (p. 334), cacao (p. 332) 

 and Paraguay tea (p. 322). It separates in the form of acicular 

 crystals having a bitter taste, is soluble in water and alcohol, the 

 solutions being neutral ; and may be sublimed without decomposi- 

 tion on heating. On treating a small quantity of caffeine with a 

 few drops of nitric acid or chlorine water and evaporating the 

 solution to dryness on a water bath the reddish-yellow residue 

 is colored purplish by ammonia. A similar reaction is also ob- 

 tained by treating the alkaloid with hydrochloric acid and a crystal 



