296 
STRYCHNOS NUX VOMICA. 
out the head being affected by vertigo.* Loureiro has recom 
mended it as a valuable remedy in fluor albus ;t he roasts the nut 
till it becomes black and friable, by which means he says its medi- 
cinal use is rendered safe, without impairing its efficacy. In the 
East Indies the root of this tree is used by the natives to cure in- 
termittent fevers, and the bites of venemous snakes, and the seeds 
are employed in the distillation of spirits, to aid their intoxicating 
effects ; a purpose to which it is said to be sometimes applied in this 
country, in the manufacture of beer. But it is for the cure of para- 
lysis that the Nux Vomica has of late years acquired its chief cele- 
brity ; Dr. Fouquier, of the Hospital de la Charite at Paris has tried 
it very extensively, and in many cases, he says, with perfect success. 
He gives it in the form of powder, or alcoholic extract ; four grains 
of the first, or two of the latter, from two to six times a day. In half 
an hour after administration the paralyzed muscles have, in some 
cases, begun to evince contraction ; sometimes, however, it produces 
a temulent effect, stupor, and a sense of intoxication, and when 
pushed too far, general tetanus, and other distressing symptoms. Dr. 
Good says, " like all other powerful medicines, in their first and in- 
discriminate use, the Nux Vomica appears sometimes to have been 
highly beneficial, sometimes mischievous, and sometimes to have 
produced violent effects upon the nervous system, without an im- 
portant change of any kind." J M. Magendie having, by a series of 
experiments, § ascertained that the whole of the family of plants of 
the Strychni Amari had the singular property of acting immediately 
and powerfully on the spinal marrow, without affecting, except indi- 
rectly, the functions of the brain, thought they might be advanta- 
geously applied to the treatment of disease : he soon put his newly 
discovered remedy boldly to the test, and his conjecture, he says, 
was " verified by numerous experiments made at the bed-side." He 
adds, " I have seen the best effects follow the employment of the 
alcoholic extract of the Nux Vomica, not only in cases of both par- 
tial and general paralysis, but also in many other states of weakness 
* We should imagine, from these facts, that it is a very uncertain remedy, either 
from some accidental difference in the seeds, or from itS acting dift'erently on different 
constitutions, as we bare ourselves known ten grains for a dose to be given to an infant 
only two years old. 
t Vide Flora Cochin. Chin, vol, i. p. 125. 
t Good's Stady of Medicine. 
J Read before the French Institute in 1809. 
