THE GOUED FAMILY. 



881 



part of the fruit is poisonous and highly purgative ; the 

 seeds are nutty and nutritious, and used as food in some 

 parts of North Africa. The Colocynth is in all probability 

 the " wild gourds" spoken of in 2 Kings, chap. iv. ver. 39 — 

 40 ; as also the vine of Sodom, Deuteronomy, chap, xxxii. 

 ver. 32 ; as well as the apples of Sodom, described by Jose- 

 phus, " as resembling edible fruit in colour, but on being 

 plucked by the hand, are dissolved into smoke and ashes." 

 (See Solanum.) It is also supposed to be the fruit that 

 poisoned the soldiers of Xenophon. 



Squirting Cucumber (Ecbalmm agreste). This plant has 

 the same habit and appearance as the cucumber, trailing on 

 the ground but devoid of tendrils. It is a native of the 

 South of Europe, and has long been cultivated in Botanic 

 Gardens as a curiosity. The fruit is about 2 inches in 

 length, and when ripe hangs down at an acute angle with the 

 footstalk ; on touching it, it immediately parts from the foot- 

 stalk, and ejects, with considerable force, a number of seeds 

 and a liquid, to a distance of two or three yards, often striking 

 the unwary toucher in the face, and making him start with 

 surprise. The juice is of a highly poisonous nature, and 

 when concentrated forms the powerful drug called elaterium, 

 which is obtained by pressure of the seeds. 



Snake Gourd [Trichosanthus anguina). The fruit of this 

 is cylindrical, and about 3 feet in length ; but in the Serpent 

 Cucumber or Viper Gout d^Trichosanthus colubrina), the length 

 attained is often from 5 to 6 feet, and about 1 inch in dia- 

 meter, having the appearance of a rope. If the young fruit 

 be inserted in a large glass jar or bottle, the latter will be- 

 come filled by a succession of coils, exactly resembling a 

 museum specimen of a snake in a bottle. 



Cocoon Antidote (Feuilloea cordifolia), A native of Ja- 

 maica, having palmate leaves, and climbing to a great height 

 over trees. The fruit is globular, 4 or 5 inches in diameter, 

 and contains flat seeds, larger and thicker than broad beans, 

 and is used for the cure of snake-bites. An oil is also 



