CRUDE DRUGS. 439 



Constituents. — Starch about 45 per cent. ; proteids labout, 20 

 per cent. : fixed oil about 2 per cent. ; ash about 3 per cent. Sev*- 

 eral alkaloids have been isolated, the most important of which is 

 physostigmine (eserine), which occurs in the embryo to the extent 

 of 0.1 to .25 per cent. It crystallizes in rhomboidal plates; has a 

 strong alkaline reaction, is colored red with alkalies and yellow 

 with sulphuric or nitric acid. With the latter reagent the solu-- 

 tion changes to olive-green. The aqueous solutions of physostigi- 

 mine are easily decomposed and a reddish colored substance, 

 rubreserine, separates. The salicylate and sulphate of physostig^ 

 mine are official, the solutions of the former being ' more stable. 

 Physostigma also contains eseridine (isophysostigmine), an alka- 

 loid resembling physostigmine in its physiological action ; a liquid 

 alkaloid, calabarine, which is physiologically antagonistic to phy- 

 sostigmine, and a crystalline alkaloid, eseramine, which is inactive. 



Allied Plants. — ^The seeds of P. cylindrospermum have been 

 substituted for Calabar bean; they are nearly cylindrical and are 

 said also to contain physostigmine. 



The lenticular, brown, glossy seeds of Entada scahdens have 

 been offered as a substitute for physostigma. Canavalia obtusi- 

 folia, of the East Indies, is also said to have been used as an 

 adulterant of physostigma. 



MYRISTICA.— NUTMEG.— The kernel of the seed of My- 

 ristica fragrans (Fam. Myristicacese), a tree indigenous to the 

 Molucca and neighboring islands, and now extensively cultivated 

 in other tropical regions, including the West Indies. The com- 

 mercial supply is largely derived from the Malay Archipelago, 

 from whence it is shipped to Amsterdam and London. The testa 

 and arillode are removed, the latter constituting mace. With the 

 exception of those from Penang, nutmegs are not infrequently 

 partially coated with lime to protect them from the attacks of 

 insects (p. 277). 



Description. — Ellipsoidal, 20 to 30 mm. long, 15 to 20 mm. in 

 diameter ; externally light brown, usually whitish from a dressing 

 of lime, reticulately furrowed, at one end a white, smooth pro^ 

 jection 3 to 5 mm. in diameter, in the center of which is the micro- 

 pyle, the chalaza indicated near . the other end by a slight, dark 

 depression, from which there extends a more or less distinct, fur4 



