n. o. loganiacejE. 839 



in palsy, relaxation of the muscles and tendons, debility and 

 chronic rheumatism. It may be applied externally and given 

 internally, in doses of from 1 to 2 dangs (Dymock). The 

 Pharmacopceia Indica describes the seed as a valuable nervine 

 tonic and stimulant, and, in overdoses, a virulent poison, and 

 recommends its use in paralytic and neuralgic affections in 

 atonic diarrhoea and chronic dysentery, also in habitual con- 

 stipation, prolapsus of the rectum, spermatorrhoea, &c. It has 

 also been employed in intermittent fevers, epilepsy, diabetes, 

 an£emia, chlorosis and other affections. The bitter taste and 

 highly poisonous action of this substance are chiefly clue to the 

 presence of strychnine and brucine, the proportion of the 

 former varying from \ to \ per cent. 



In the Concan, small doses of the seeds are given with 

 aromatics in colic, and the juice of the fresh wood (obtained 

 by applying heat to the middle of a straight stick, to both ends 

 of which a small pot has been tied) is given in doses of a few 

 drops in cholera and acute dysentery. In some districts small 

 quantities of the seeds are taken, apparently as a stimulant, or 

 in lieu of opium. (Dymock). 



" The leaves when applied as poultice, promote healthy 

 action in sloughing wounds or ulcers, more especially in those 

 cases when maggots have formed. It arrests an}?- further 

 formation of them, and those in the deeper parts perish im- 

 mediately when the poultice is applied. The root -bark is 

 ground up into a fine paste with lime-juice, and made into 

 pills which are said to be effectual in cholera" (Dr. Thompson, 

 in Watt's Dictionary). 



An oil from the seeds is employed medicinally. 



" I have found strychnine, very useful in malarious fevers of 



a low type " (Dr. Hazlitt, in Watt's Dictionary). 



" Strychnine is a valuable drug in the bronchitis of the 

 debilitated. Its action as an expectorant appears to be con- 

 siderable " (Surgeon S. H. Browne, in Watt's Dictionary). 



In modern medicine nux-vomica is prescribed with advantage in the 

 catarrhal dyspepsia, accompanied by flatulence and want of contractile 

 power in the intestines which is so common in India. In such cases it appears 



