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NATA, THE BONDUC NUT, AND ITS PROPERTIES. 



Attention has recently been drawn in some of the continental and 

 English periodicals, to the medical uses of these seeds, the produce of 

 Guilandina Bonduc, Linn. ; Ccesalpinia Bonduc, Roxb. Flor. Ind. II. 362, 

 C.Bonducella, Fleming. Rheede II. t. 22. As. Researches II. 159, " The 

 Societe d'Acclimatation," so the paragraph runs " has just received a letter 

 from India, accompanied with a box containing a quantity of seeds of 

 the Ccesalpinia Bonducella, a plant which, according to Mr. Hayes, the 

 writer of the letter, is much used there as a specific for intermittent 

 fevers. The Bengalee name for this plant is Nata. It is a small 

 creeper producing a nut, the kernel of which is exceedingly bitter, and 

 possesses the quality of Jesuit's bark in an eminent degree, with this 

 exception that it is aperient rather than the contrary, a valuable pro- 

 perty in a tropical climate where the bilious system is so generally 

 affected. It is singular that the remarkable properties of this plant 

 should have remained so long unnoticed, offering as it does a cheap and 

 powerful substitute for Jesuit's bark, which, as every one knows, com- 

 mands a high price. As the plant thrives in Egypt, Mr. Hayes thinks 

 that it might prosper in Algeria, and even ki the south of France." 



Thus far the paragraph. Now, let us see how far it may be relied 

 on. There is certainly nothing new in the statements put forth ; for 

 so far from being unnoticed, the properties pointed out have been 

 alluded to by almost every leading writer. Lindley (Vegetable 

 Kingdom, 550) says, " Some (of the Ccesalpiniece) are reported to pro- 

 duce powerfully bitter and tonic effects. The bark and seeds of 

 Guilandina Bonduc are of this class ; the latter are very bitter ; when 

 pounded small and mixed with castor oil, they form a valuable ex- 

 ternal application in incipient hydrocele. The leaves are a valuable 

 discutient, fried with a little castor oil in cases of hernia humoralis." 

 But he adds that the seeds are emetic. 



Our correspondent, Mr. Jackson, of the Kew Museum, in his papers 

 "On the Products of the Pea Family," in Technologist, vol. II., p. 310, 

 pointed out some of the uses of the plant. 



Dr. O'Shaughnessy, {Bengal Dispensatory, Calcutta,) so far back as 

 1842, states, " The seeds are a powerful tonic, and very valuable febri- 

 fuge. The kernels are very bitter, when reduced to powder and mixed 

 with black pepper, they are used in 3 to 6 gr. doses in ague, with the 

 best results ; powdered small with castor oil, they are applied externally 

 in hydrocele. The seeds yield oil, starch, sugar, and resin. Mr. Piddington 

 published an analysis in the Trans. Medical and Physical Society of 

 Calcutta, in which these principles were described. Nitric acid reddens 

 the nut, and subsequently gives it a yellow colour. The root is de- 

 scribed in Amboyna to be a good tonic." 



Dr. Hogg in his " Vegetable Kingdom " (London, 1858,) and Major 



