104 



and care for growing trees, gives a greater yield of larger and more solid 

 nuts. This is shown particularly in Trinidad and some French islands, 

 wdiere attention has been given to cultivation ; the nuts from these 

 sources are from two to five times the size and weight of these grown 

 wild. 



The Bissy gatherer has little knowledge concerning the constituents 

 of nuts or for what uses they are required in far-cff lands. Those 

 gathered for his own or for home medical use are sorted and prepared 

 with considerable care, but those intended for export receive very little 

 attention ; he fixes them so that anything that will pass in the market 

 goes. 



The nuts sent to the market are frequently mildewed, mouldy and 

 partially decomposed. The volatile constituents, glucosides and other 

 principles, have become dissipated and transformed ; the delicate ferment 

 power Las acted to a greater or less degree ; fermentation and bacterial 

 diseases have set in and produced marked changes. Finally, the whole 

 has dried into a lump of vegetable horn, bitter and rank to the taste, 

 and with but little virtue aside from the varying amount of caffeine it 

 contains. 



It is not a matter of wonder to me after living among such collec- 

 tors, that a delicate drug like Kola should prove disappointing when it 

 reached the American practitioner. Bissy Nuts, containing as they do 

 sensitive glucosides, alkaloids and volatile principles, require intelligent 

 handling, if they are to be preserved in their original form without loss 

 of efficiency. 



Some difference of opinion exists among the nati\ es as to the relative 

 value of Kola raised in different localities ; variation in size and form of 

 the flower and seed. There is no actual difference. ^Yhite and red 

 seeds are found in the same pod. The white seeds are often the largest 

 and generally the heaviest. The real mark of superiority is in favour 

 of those which are cultivated, properly gathered and cared for. 



Chemical Constituents of Bissy Nuts. 



On cutting or breaking the skin by even so light a puncture as a pin 

 point so as to admit air, a yellow spot is immediately formed, changing 

 rapidly to brown wherever the air has penetrated. This colouration forms 

 more rapidly in the sunlight ; this change also takes place upon drying 

 the nut, even when care is taken to keep the skin unbroken. This ac- 

 tion is due to a splitting up and oxidation of the glucosidal constituents, 

 and is hastened by the action of the ferment of the Kola. 



Within the nut is a mucilaginous substance, The entire cotyledon is 

 solid and tough, consisting of starch cells surrounded by cellulose 

 walls. Extraction of the fresh Kola with chloroform gives an extract 

 consisting of traces of resinous matter, tannin and fatty matter. Upon 

 diluting with hot water, a faint aromatic odour lesembling cacao butter 

 is evolved, due to the presence of an essential oil. Some colouring mat- 

 ter is found, but only when the operation is not conducted with proper 

 precautions. 



Alkaloidal Contents. 



The amount of alkaloids obtained by direct extraction of fresh Kola 

 by chloroform ranges from five one hundredth to one- tenth of one per 



