POISONS OF VEGETABLE OEIGIN 203 



tion of the mucous membrane of the stomachy with con- 

 sequent nausea and vomiting, owing to their peculiar 

 chemical properties. Blume stated (" Rumphia/* 

 Vol. IV., p. 21) that Pangium edule is useful as an 

 anthelmintic. 



PAPAYA 



Carica papaya, Linn. — Papayaceae, the papaw fruit 

 tree, introduced from South America, is cultivated and 

 grown freely in villages and gardens throughout 

 Malaya ; it is called foliun hetek or papaya. There are 

 thi'ee Malay varieties. It fi'uits all through the year 

 and is sometimes called " tree-melon." The romid 

 black or olive-coloured seeds are beheved by Malays and 

 Indians to be abortifacient if eaten in the early months 

 of pregnancy. In Brazil the seeds, with their pungent 

 cress-hke taste, are used as a vermifuge ; and, according 

 to Peckholt (Ref. 18), the milky juice of the unripe fruit 

 is given in small doses against round worms with excel- 

 lent results : it is said to cause intestinal inflammation, 

 and is slightly caustic and irritating to the skin. As a 

 cosmetic in Brazil it is apphed for freckles and for 

 making the skin smooth and delicate. It is used in 

 Kelantan as a poison mixed with the juice of the 

 immatm*e capsules of the horse-radish tree (Moringa 

 pterygosperma, Gsertn. — Moringacefe) and the white of a 

 lizard's egg. When taken internally this is said to be 

 followed by great abdominal pain and the presence of 

 blood in the m-ine. 



The use of germunga (the horse-radish tree) as a 

 poison is also referred to under section Datura ; 

 powdered gSrmunga bark combined with pepper-corns 

 is used as an abortifacient in Bengal, sometimes with 

 fatal results, but I have not met with this in Kelantan. 

 Greshoff obtained the alkaloid carpaine " from the 



