558 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
of ether and alcohol, the residuum taken internally is capable of producing a 
train of symptoms analogous to, and very nearly as powerful as those caused 
by the crude seeds before they have been subjected to any of these exhausting 
agencies. This, it will be remembered, has been shown to be the case with 
regard to castor-oil seeds, by M. Callond and M. Parola, and with regard to 
English Physic Nuts, by Professor Christison, and a similar state of things is 
drawn inferentially with regard to croton seeds. 
If asked then in what light I regard this fixed oil, I reply that I regard it as 
a bland oil, holding the active principle in solution. So far from regarding it 
itself as the active principle, I regard it rather as a safeguard against the too 
violent operation of the active principle, acting mechanically by protecting the 
mucous intestinal surface from the immediate or too irritant contact of the 
acrid active principle,—a mechanical antidote in fact provided by nature ; a 
mode of proceeding which we often unconsciously imitate when we prescribe 
oleaginous fluids in cases of irritant poisoning. 
The question then naturally arises, what is the active principle of these seeds ? 
for, be it what it may, it is evident that it is the same or nearly so, judging 
from the physiological effect produced by each, namely, burning sensations in 
the fauces, oesophagus, and stomach; more or less purging, vomiting, and colic; 
in severe cases, collapse followed by fatal results ; dissection disclosing an inflamed 
state of the intestinal canal,—all evidences of the action of an acrid poison. So 
imperfect are the analyses we possess of these seeds, even of the best known of 
them, as croton and castor seeds, t hat it behoves us to speak on this point with 
much caution ; but it appears probable that the “brownish-yellowresin” found 
by Brandes in croton seeds ; the “acrid principle, probably resinous,” detected 
by Souberain (Journ. de Pharm. 1829, vol. xv. p. 507) in castor seeds; the “ pe¬ 
culiar fixed acrid resin,” detected by the same chemist in the seeds of English 
Physic Nut, and also the “brown acrid oil” and the “brown resin,” which he 
found in the seeds of Euphorbia Lathyris, are but modifications of, or rather 
different modes of describing, an acrid resinous principle common alike to all 
these seeds, and on which, in all probability, their activity depends. It is sin¬ 
cerely to be hoped that this group of seeds may soon undergo a full analysis 
such as they deserve. 
That the acrid principle, be it what it may, is volatile, may in a measure be 
inferred from the statement of Dr. Plamilton with regard to the seeds of ILura 
crepitans. By long keeping they lose the acridity they possess in their fresh 
state, and a quantity which in this latter state would doubtless have produced 
serious consequences was, when old and dry, as in Dr. Hamilton’s case, taken 
with impunity. If this holds good, as it probably does, with regard to the 
other seeds, we may find in it, perhaps, an explanation of the uncertainty in 
operation which we have mentioned, as having been observed in the use of the 
fixed oil of the Physic Nut and Euphorbia Lathyris , and which has also been 
sometimes observed in castor and croton oil. To be uniformly active, it is 
necessary that the oil should be extracted from the freshly-gathered seeds. 
The next point for consideration, and that a very interesting one, is the seat 
of the acrid principle : here opinions differ, some asserting that it lies wholly or 
mainly in the cotyledon, whilst others maintain that no more acridity exists in 
the cotyledon than in the albumen or nucleus. It would be far beyond my 
limits to enter into the particulars of this controversy. I shall therefore content 
myself with mentioning the facts which have induced me to come to the con¬ 
clusion, that in some of these seeds, and, reasoning by analogy, probably in all, 
the cotyledon is essentially the seat of the acrid principle. 
First, then, a few words with reference to the seeds of Curcas purgans, the 
English Physic Nut. You may recall to your mind Dr. Bennett’s statements 
relative to the effect observed by him in his own practice: in all there was 
