1Q0 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



by a small 5-lobed stigma. The fruit is a fleshy berry, of an ovoid shape, about the size 

 of a cherry, and containing an elongated nut, which is 5-celled and 5-seeded. 



The Pride of India is a native of many parts of Asia, but has long been 

 naturalized in the southern parts of Europe, where it was probably intro- 

 duced from Syria, after the conquest of that country by the Romans. Pliny 

 speaks of it as not being uncommon, and was apparently acquainted with its 

 properties. It is also naturalized in the warmer parts of the United States ; 

 it is said to have been introduced into Georgia and Carolina soon after the 

 settlement, and has now become as common as if originally a native. It 

 succeeds perfectly well as far north as Virginia, and will sometimes survive 

 for a few years in Pennsylvania ; but is most generally destroyed by the 

 severity of the winters, even when, by care and attention, it may have 

 attained some size. 



Rafinesque states that it is a native of Arkansas and Texas, but does not 

 give any authority for the assertion ; and Dr. James found it on the Canadian 

 apparently in a wild state. All other writers on American plants unite in 

 declaring it to be of foreign origin ; and it is probable that the plants found 

 in a wild state owe their origin to the seeds having been dispersed by birds, 

 as some species feed eagerly on the berries. 



The early medical history of this plant is involved in much uncertainty ; 

 for although it appears to have been used in India for a long time, the first 

 certain account of it is given by Avicenna, who notices its narcotic proper- 

 ties. It does not seem, however, to have attracted much attention in Europe, 

 being only valued for the hard nuts contained in its berries, for the purpose 

 of making rosaries, for which they are extensively used in Roman Catholic 

 countries ; hence its name of Bead-tree, &c. The writers of the middle ages 

 allude to it very briefly, and chiefly on account of the pulp of its fruit, as the 

 basis of an ointment for the destruction of lice and other parasitic insects. 

 In this country it appears to have been used as an anthelmintic very soon 

 after the settlement, and was at one time in considerable repute, though at 

 present but seldom employed. 



Medical Properties, fyc. — The most efficient part is the bark of the root, 

 which has a bitter, nauseous taste, and an unpleasant, virose smell. Its 

 active principle appears to be volatile, as it is much more efficient in a fresh 

 than in the dried state. It is endowed with marked anthelmintic powers, and 

 in large doses is narcotic and emetic. Dr. B. S. Barton says that it is one 

 of the most valuable articles of its class ever discovered ; and Dr. Kollock, 

 of Georgia, uses the following language with regard to it. " It is a vermifuge 

 of efficacy. Its use is, in some measure, general among the planters, and 

 with many supersedes the use of all others. I have given it with success, 

 where all others in common use have failed of relieving. But when given in 

 the months of March and April, when the sap is mounting into the tree, it 

 has been followed by stupor, dilatation of the pupil, stertorous breathing, &c. ; 

 but these symptoms, like those sometimes produced by spigelia, pass off, 

 without any perceptible injury to the system." Other writers speak in the 

 same high terms of it. Ainslie (Mat. Ind., ii*. 453) says, that in Cochin 

 China it is well known to native practitioners, and used as an anthelmintic, 

 but given with great caution, from fts liability to induce vertigo and con- 

 vulsions. This bark is given in substance, in doses of twenty grains; but 

 the usual form is in decoction, made with two ounces of the root to a pint of 

 water, boiled down to a half. Of this a tablespoonful is given every few 

 hours, till it produces the desired effect, to be followed by an active cathartic. 



The leaves are also endowed with some activity. Merat and De Lens 





