July 8, 1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
23 
Liquor Arsenicalis et Liquor Arsenici Hydro- 
chloricus. —The former is a solution of white ar¬ 
senic in carbonate of potash, the latter in hydro¬ 
chloric acid, both containing 4 grains to the fluid 
ounce. The volumetric test has been explained 
under Acidum Arseniosum. 
Liquor Bismuthi et Ammonle Citratis.—A so¬ 
lution containing citrate of bismuth and ammonia 
and nitrate of ammonia. Three fluid drachms, pre¬ 
cipitated by an excess of sulphuretted hydrogen, 
give 992 grains of sulphide of bismuth, correspond¬ 
ing to 8'99, or practically 9 grains of oxide of bis¬ 
muth. A fluid drachm therefore contains 3 grains 
of oxide. 
THE SEEDS OF TWO SPECIES OF 
STRYCHNQS. 
BY J. M. MAI SCI!.* 
Last fall, I was informed that a vessel, which had 
arrived at the port of New York from the East 
Indies, had brought, as ballast, a quantity of seeds 
of a species of stiyclmos. To the kindness of Dr. 
Fr. Hoffmann I owe some small sample of the same, 
and subsequently Messrs. MTvesson and Robbins 
very kindly went to the trouble of hunting up for 
me a few pounds of the same seeds, which, under 
the name of Indian gum-nuts, were offered for sale 
in New York, without finding a purchaser. I felt 
interested to ascertain whether, like the seeds of 
some other stryclineie, they contain strychnia. I ex¬ 
hibited the seeds at the Pharmaceutical Meeting in 
February, and showed, at the same time, from my 
cabinet, some seeds of Stryclmos Tieute, Leschenault. 
This plant grows in the mountainous districts of 
Java, and its juice is used by the Malays to prepare 
the poison called upas radja, or upas tieute tjettek. 
The tieute seeds are orbicular or somewhat oblong, 
disk-like, resembling in shape nux vomica, five- 
eighths to three-quarters of an inch in diameter, 
yellowish-grey in colour, and covered with soft, ap- 
pressed hairs, having a silky lustre; the disk is 
rather sharp-edged, with a slightly-projecting point, 
indicating the hilum, and covering the somewhat 
club-shaped radicle of the embryo. As in nux 
vomica, the white horny albumen lias the shape of 
the seed, and is composed of two disks united near 
the circumference, thus enclosing a hollow space, 
into which the cotyledons project, occupying one- 
quarter to one-tliird the diameter of the cavity. The 
cotyledons are broadly oval, scarcely cordate, rather 
acute, three- to five-nerved. 
Spacli f describes the tieute seeds as follows:— 
Elliptic, oval or sub-orbicular, velvety, brownish 
( brundtre ), lenticular, or plano-convex; embryo pro¬ 
jecting from the hilum, marginal, about one-third 
shorter than the perisperm; cotyledons heart-shaped, 
acuminate, nerved, foliaceous; radicle club-shaped, 
as long as the cotyledons. The description cor¬ 
responds closely with the tieute seeds in my posses¬ 
sion, the colour excepted. 
The so-called Indian gum-nuts are subglobose, of 
an appearance as if composed of two unequally- 
convex halves, with an elevated line surround¬ 
ing the largest circumference; they are of a dirty, 
* Read at the Pharmaceutical Meeting of the Philadelphia 
College of Pharmacy, May 16. 
t ‘ Ilistoire Naturelle des Yegetaux.’ Phancrogames, viii. 
4S5. Taris, 1839. 
somewhat brownisli-grey colour, with very short, 
closely appressed hairs; the largest diameter is 
tliree-eighths to one-lialf inch. A rather thin, but 
hard integument covers a horny albumen, which 
encloses, as in nux vomica, an orbicular cavity, into 
which the embryo reaches to about one-third the 
diameter. The radicle is marginal, short, cylindri¬ 
cal ; the cotyledons are broadly oval, somewhat 
acuminate, and about three-nerved. Notwithstand¬ 
ing the horny texture of the albumen, the seeds are 
readily broken in an iron mortar, but are difficult to 
powder; their taste is insipid, not bitter. 
When the seeds are boiled with dilute muriatic 
acid, they become very soft, so that they are readily 
mashed between the fingers; the acid decoction, 
which is not precipitated by iodohydrargyrate of 
potassium, was treated with an excess of lime, the 
precipitate washed with cold water, dried, exhausted 
with boiling alcohol, and the clear filtrate evapo¬ 
rated ; a yellowish mass was left without the slightest 
tendency to crystallize. It had an insipid taste, and 
did not show the colour reactions of either brucia or 
strychnia; concentrated sulphuric acid decomposed 
it rapidly. The seeds, therefore, contain no alkaloid. 
In the East Indies, the seeds of Stryclmos pota¬ 
torum, Linn. fil. are used for clearing muddy water, 
under the name of tettan-kotta, or clearing-nut. 
Spacli* describes them as greyish, suborbicular, 
about five lines in size. Dr. Waring-f- says that 
they are of a flattened, spherical form and yellowish- 
grey colour, having the testa covered with short, 
close hairs; albumen horny and tasteless. As far 
as they go, these descriptions agree with the Indian 
gum-nuts, which I believe to be derived from Strych - 
nos potatorum , Linn. fil. 
According to the Pharmacopoeia of India, these 
seeds are also used hi native x>ractice as an emetic 
(Ainslie), as a remedy in diabetes (Kirkpatrick), 
gonorrhoea (Taleef Shereef), etc. On what principle 
the clearing action depends is a matter of specula¬ 
tion. Dr. O’Sliauglinessy, at one time, thought it 
was due to an astringent principle, while Pereira]; 
supposed it to depend on the presence of albumen 
and casein, and Guibourt attributes it to mucilage 
or pectin. The seeds are free from tannin, contain 
but little albumen, while, in the few experiments 
instituted by me, I could not ascertain the presence 
of casein or pectin. A considerable proportion of a 
peculiar mucilage is present, which does not yield a 
very ropy solution, and is not precipitated by alcohol, 
acetate of lead or sesquichloride of iron. If vegetable 
matter is suspended in water, the turbid liquid put 
into two glass vessels, and solution of this mucilage 
added to one, the latter liquid will settle the sus¬ 
pended matter in a short time, while the other re¬ 
mains turbid much longer. 
The testa appears to offer obstructions to the ab¬ 
sorption of water by the albumen; for, if the testa 
be unbroken, the seeds may be immersed in cold 
water for twenty-four hours, and still retain their 
hardness ; but, if the testa is partly removed, or the 
seeds are broken, the albumen, after twelve hours’ 
immersion in cold water, becomes soft enough to be 
readily split by the finger-nail .—American Journal 
of Pharmacy. 
* Loc. cit. 
f Pharmacopceia of India, p. 146. London, 1868. 
J Piiarm. Journ. and Trans., ix. 478. 1850. 
