“A person swallowed in the morning a scruple of nux vomica in powder, and drank afterwards a few 
glasses of cold water, in order to diminish the bitterness occasioned by this substance. Half an hour after, 
he appeared to be drunk; his limbs, especially his knees, were stiff, and tense; his walk was staggering, and 
he was afraid of falling. He took some food, and the symptoms disappeared.”. 
“The administration of nux vomica, and of the root of gentian, to a woman affected with ague, was 
followed by convulsions, cold and stupor, and almost every part of the body was torpid/’ — Scutter’s Dissert. 
Dissections of those who have died show no organic lesions; proving that it acts directly on the 
nervous system: and those who are anxious to see the result of numerous experiments on dogs, and other 
animals, must consult Orfila’s Toxicology; Wepfer’s Historia Cicutee Aquaticse, p. 248, and Dr. Chapman’s 
American Medical Journal. 
Treatment. — In the treatment of poisoning by nux vomica, keeping up artificial respiration is of the 
utmost importance; ammonia and hot brandy and water should also be given. 
It would seem, too, from the following interesting account, that there exists a plant which is itself an 
antidote against this and some other vegetable poisons: — 
“ M. Drapiez has ascertained, by numerous experiments, that the fruit of the Feuillea cor difolia is a 
powerful antidote against vegetable poisons. This opinion has long been entertained by naturalists, but it 
appears that M. Drapiez has verified the fact by numerous experiments. He poisoned dogs with the rhus 
toxicodendron, hemlock, and nux vomica. All those that were left to the effect of the poison, died ; but 
those to whom the fruit of this plant was administered, recovered completely, after a short illness. To see 
whether this antidote would act in the same way, when applied externally to wounds into which vegetable 
poisons had been introduced, he took two arrows which had been dipped in the juice of manchenille, and 
slightly wounded with them two young cats. To one of these he applied a poultice, composed of the fruit 
of the Feuillea cordifolia, while the other was left without any application. The former suffered no other 
inconvenience except from the wound, which speedily healed; while the other, in a short time, fell into 
convulsions, and died. It would appear from these experiments that the opinion entertained of the virtues 
of this fruit, in the countries where it is produced, is well founded. It loses its virtues, if kept longer than 
two years after it has been gathered.” — Annals of Philosophy, v. 15, p. 389. 
Medical Properties and Uses. — For a century nux vomica has been known as a powerful 
medicine, and employed in a vast variety of diseases, with different degrees of success. Linnaeus, who 
could know but little of pathology, attributed dysentery to irritation of the mucous membrane of the in- 
testines, produced by worms, and recommended these seeds for that disease, in consequence of their intense 
bitter, and narcotic powers. Hagstrom considered, that a scruple dose, given in the morning, was a specific 
for dysentery; and Bergius narrates a case, in which the evacuations were stopped for twelve hours, but 
afterwards returned. Roxburgh says: “the wood is hard and durable, and is used by the natives for many 
purposes. It is exceedingly bitter, particularly the root, which is used to cure intermittent fevers and the 
bites of venomous snakes. The seeds are employed in the distillation of spirits to render them intoxicating. 
The pulp of the fruit seems perfectly innocent, as it is eaten greedily by many sorts of birds.” Nux 
vomica is also occasionally employed by brewers in this country to impart an intoxicating effect to beer. 
Dr. Good was never able to give more than seven grains of the powdered nut for a dose, without the 
head becoming stupid and vertiginous. 
The researches of modern physiologists, especially Majendie, Grfila, &c., have ascertained in a precise 
and definite manner, that nux vomica acts as a direct stimulus to the spinal cord, especially that portion of 
it which presides over the functions of motion ; those of sensation being less evidently under its influence. 
Physicians have taken advantage of this information, and used the drug with much success in certain kinds 
of paralysis. The powdered seed was liable to great variations in strength, from dryness, decay, and other 
causes ; its employment was consequently uncertain and dangerous; but chemists now obtain the active prin- 
ciple of this plant in the form of an alkali, strychnia, definite in its qualities, and manageable in its doses and 
combinations. 
Thus the deadly arrow-poison of the savage is used in the hands of art to repair the overwrought and 
exhausted nerves of the intellectualist and the mechanic. 
