450 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
DONATIONS. 
T S . 0 .. | U 6*. ( 1 . 
Atkins, Francis Thos., Deptford 2 2 0 Holt, Wm. Henry, Altrincham... 5 5 0 
Bailey, Delamore J., Conduit St. 5 5 0 Horner and Sons, Bucldersbury 10 10 0 
Gamble, Kichard, Grantham. 5 5 0: Newbury, Francis and Sous, 
Goddard, Joseph, Leicester . 5 5 0 St. Paul’s Churchyard . 10 10 0 
PHAPcMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
Wednesday , January Ath, 1865. 
MR. T. II. HILLS, VICE-PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR. 
The following papers were read:— 
ON .THE KOLA-NUT OF TEOPICAL WEST AFEICA. 
(HIE GURU-NUT OF SOUDAN.) 
BY IV. F. DANIELL, M.D., F.L.S., 
HON. MEMBER OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
It would probably'prove a futile task, to attempt the discovery throughout the 
vegetable kingdom of tropical West Africa, of any analogous product that occu¬ 
pies such an exalted position in the social, or dietetic economy of the negro tribes, 
or constitutes such an important article of traffic in Soudan, as the seeds of the 
Kola-tree (Cola acuminata , E. Br.). With the majority of the aboriginal races 
populating that vast extent of territory, comprehended between Senegambia to 
the north, and the province of N’gola southward of the equator, these fruits 
have from time immemorial been held in inestimable value, and their virtues 
so highly prized, that their employment has become an indispensable and per¬ 
manent luxury. Within the last few centuries, however, their use has been 
even still more extensively diffused, and to such a degree as to excite a large 
eommercial intercourse to spring up, between the coastal districts, and the regions 
of Central Africa, or Soudan. This profitable trade has been carried on both by 
Pagan and Mahomedan merchants, by the latter especially into more remote 
countries beyond the Sahara, so that for many years these valuable commodities 
have been offered for sale in the markets of Fez, Tripoli, and other local depots, 
on the shores of the Mediterranean. 
The first Portuguese adventurers, in their exploration of the coasts of Western 
Africa, were soon made aware of the great repute in which this produce was re¬ 
garded, and taking advantage of the circumstance, they without delay com¬ 
menced collecting considerable quantities of these seeds, from their stores in the 
Congo, and Isle of St. Thomas, and supplying various trading factories in other 
portions of the coast; and thus by retailing them at a great increase of price, 
managed to secure a monopoly for a long succession of years, which perhaps, of 
all the indigenous products of local commerce, proved to be the most lucrative. 
Implicitly crediting the assertions of the natives that their usage was viewed 
as a luxury, exclusively reserved for the chiefs, and richer classes of people, 
and merely as a means for rendering water sweet, and palatable, when drunk 
before, or after meals, (a fact confirmed from their being observed masticating 
the seeds, more or less throughout the day), they («. e. the Portuguese) never 
•entertained the most remote idea, of investigating the causes of this extraordinary 
uniformity of demand, or rather special craving of the human system, for a ni¬ 
trogenous substance, that would tend to compensate for the void caused by the 
deficiency of animal food ; for in West Africa, as in other countries, the flesh of 
animals is scarce, and difficult to procure. Heiufb the induction of a peculiar in- 
