August 26, 1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
1C1 
NIGELLA SEEDS or BLACK CUMMIN. 
BY DB. F. A. FLUCKIGER, 
Professor in the University of Bern. 
Tliese seeds which had a place in the Bengal 
Pharmacopoeia (1844), are included in the Pharma¬ 
copoeia of India (1808) among the “ non-officinal” ar¬ 
ticles. But as they are still of considerable impor¬ 
tance in the East and are even in use in some parts 
of Europe, I have thought that a few particulars re¬ 
garding the experiments I have made upon them 
may not be uninteresting to the readers of the 
Pharmaceutical Journal. 
Name. —In pharmacy they have been termed 
Semen Nigclhe, s. Melanthii, s. Cumini nigri. In 
English the plant bears the name of Nigella , Black 
Cummin , Gitli, or Bishopswort; in German the seeds 
are called Selite arzltiimmel or Nardensame; in 
French Cumin noir , Grainc de Nigelle romaine, or 
Poivrette. Most of the Indian names signify when 
translated Black Cummin. 
Botanical Origin.—Nigella sativa, L. (N. indica, 
Roxb.), belongs to the Order Ranunculacece and is 
an annual herb, 8 to 12 inches high, with leaves cut 
into numerous, narrow, pinnate segments. The 
flowers are solitary, terminal, without an involucre; 
the petals blue and white, with greenish glands. 
The capsule is formed of 3 to C carpels, opening by 
the ventral suture. The plant grows on the Medi¬ 
terranean coasts, in Egypt and Trans-Caucasia, 
whence it has spread to India. Boissier* regards 
the var. /3 brachyloba, occurring in Cilicia and Syria, 
as the original type of the plant in a wild state. 
Nigella sativa is now widely distributed as a corn¬ 
field weed throughout temperate Europe and Ame¬ 
rica, though not in Britain. In Germany it is cul¬ 
tivated to some extent near Erfurt. 
History. —Nigella is thought by some to be the 
kezach of Isaiah (xxviii. 25), translated in the En¬ 
glish Bible fitches. 
Dioscorides described the plant clearly under the 
name of MeXdvdiov. Pliny called it Git, under which 
appellation it is found among the plants which 
Charlemagne ordered to be cultivated on the im¬ 
perial farms of his dominions. This name however, 
was frequently applied in the middle ages to the 
Corn Cockle, Agrostemma Gitliago, L., which is in¬ 
deed termed by Gerarde Bastard Nigella. In his 
time, nigella was commonly sown in gardens, the 
seeds being used medicinally in wine as a spicy 
stimulant, and also as a perfume, for he says “ it 
serveth well among other sweets to put into sweet 
waters, bagges and odoriferous powders.” 
Nigella seeds had a place in the London Pharma¬ 
copoeia as late as the edition of 1721. In the East, 
the seeds have been extensively used from the re¬ 
motest times to the present day. 
Description. —The seeds are about -j-th of an inch 
long, of an irregular compressed pyramidal form, 
3- or 4-sided, with an oblique rounded base, whence 
sharp ridges proceed towards the blunt summit of 
the seed. The surface is black, rough, granular, and 
devoid of polish. The seeds have an aromatic taste, 
and, when crushed, considerable fragrance.f 
* Mora Orientalis, i. G8. 
f Those of the nearly allied N. Damascena, L. are rather 
more ovoid, less sharply ridged, less aromatic, and not pun¬ 
gent. 
Third Series, No. Gl, 
Microscopical Structure. —The albumen consists 
of large polyhedral cells, and is covered b} r a thin 
brown tegmen. The testa presents two or three 
rows of more or less thick-walled cells; the inner 
being elongated in a direction parallel to the surface 
of the seed, the outer vaulted and a certain number 
of them, chiefly those forming the ridges, promi¬ 
nently conical. The whole testa is blackish or dark 
bluish. The embryo is situated near the apex of 
the seed. 
The tissue of the albumen abounds in fat oil and 
in granular albuminous matters; it is not altered by 
a salt of iron. 
Chemical Composition. —Rein sell in 1841 obtained 
from tliis seed 35'8 per cent, of fat oil, 0'8 per cent, 
of volatile oil, and only 0 - 6 per cent, of ash. He 
gave the name of Nigellin to a bitter extract resem¬ 
bling turpentine, yet soluble in water as well as in 
alcohol, though not in ether. 
By submitting 25 lb. of fresh seed to distillation, 
I obtained a nearly colourless essential oil in even 
smaller quantity than Reinscli. It has a slight 
odour, somewhat resembling that of parsley oil, with 
a magnificent bluish fluorescence, as already re¬ 
marked by Reinsch. 
In a column 50 mm. long, tliis oil deviates the 
ray of polarized light 9'8° to the left. Its specific 
gravity is 0’8909. The chief part of it, when dis¬ 
tilled with chloride of calcium in a current of dry 
carbonic acid, comes over at 493° (256° C.) In an 
elementary analysis* it yielded : carbon : 83'3, and 
hydrogen : 1P8 per cent., corresponding to the for¬ 
mula 2 C 10 H 16 + H 2 O. 
The residual portion was almost entirely devoid 
of deviating power ; it yielded carbon : 87\S9, and 
hydrogen: 1172 per cent., after having been rectified 
by means of sodium. This part of the oil conse¬ 
quently belongs to the formula C 10 H 1G . 
I extracted the fat oil, by means of boiling ether, 
from seed grown in Germany, previously finely pow¬ 
dered. The oil thus obtained which necessarily 
included some essential oil imparting to the other 
its fluorescence, amounted to 25’G per cent. It is a 
fluid fat which does not congeal at -f- 5° (— 15° C.); 
it was found to consist chiefly of olein, besides which 
it yielded a considerable amount of a solid fatty 
acid, the crystals of which, after reiterated purifica¬ 
tion, melted at 131° (55° C.). The melting xioint 
did not rise by recrystallization, the acid being pro¬ 
bably a mixture of palmitinic and myristic acids. 
Nigella seeds, powdered and dried over sulphuric 
acid, yielded 3‘3195f per cent, of nitrogen, answering 
to about 214 per cent, of albuminous matter. 
Uses. —It is stated in the Pharmacopoeia of India, 
that nigella seeds are carminative, and they were 
formerly so regarded in Europe. In the East gene¬ 
rally they are used as a condiment to food, and in 
Greece, Turkey and Egypt they are frequently 
strewed over the surface of bread and cakes in the 
same manner as anise or sesame. The fixed oil of 
the seeds is also expressed for use. 
I have no recent statistics indicating the extent to 
which the seed is grown, but may state, on the au¬ 
thority of an official French document, that during 
the year 1854-55, 83 quarters, worth 2592 rupees, 
were exported from Madras to Ceylon. 
* Performed in my laboratory by Dr. Kraushaar. 
I 0n an average of three experiments made in my labora 
tory. 
