DISCOVERY  OF  THEINE  IN  KOLA-NUTS. 
149 
at  intervals,  the  pulp  being  spat  out,  and  the  soluble  part  only 
swallowed.  The  seeds  have  been  supposed  to  possess  the  quali- 
ties of  Peruvian  bark  ;  but  the  most  prominent  physiological 
effect  of  their  use  is  insomnia,  or  want  of  sleep,  and  on  this 
account  they  are  used  by  the  natives  to  prolong  their  orgies. 
The  Portuguese  have  made  a  yellow  dye  from  the  seed.  With 
regard  to  the  name,  it  would  seem  that  the  seeds  were  originally 
called  44  Goro,"  or  "Guro;"  but  the  tribes  of  Western  Africa, 
from  a  physical  defect,  are  unable  to  pronounce  the  letter  »  r," 
for  which  they  substitute  "J,"  and  among  them  the  nuts  are 
called  "Kola,"  or  "Gola,"  a  name  which  has  been  adopted  by 
the  Portuguese.  Dr.  Daniell  then  gave  extracts  from  the  ear- 
lier African  travellers,  which  showed  that  they  had  heard  or 
become  acquainted  with  the  use  and  properties  of  the  Kola 
seeds.  Lastly,  he  stated  that  when  on  the  Gold  Coast  in  1850 
he  suffered  from  a  severe  diarrhoea,  for  which  the  inhabitants 
were  in  the  habit  of  employing  a  decoction  of  fresh  seeds.  He 
tried  the  remedy,  and  found  that  it  deprived  him  of  sleep.  This 
led  him  to  suspect  the  presence  of  theine  in  the  seeds,  and, 
when  in  Jamaica  some  years  afterwards,  he  made  some  experi- 
ments to  determine  the  presence,  if  possible,  of  this  alkaloid. 
He  did,  in  fact,  obtain  some  crystals,  which  later  researches 
have  decided  to  be  theine. 
The  reading  of  this  paper  was  followed  by  a  verbal  account, 
by  Dr.  Attfield,  of  the  results  of  his  analysis  of  the  seeds. — 
Chem.  News,  Feb.  10,  1865. 
DISCOYEEY  OF  THEINE  IN  KOLA  NUTS. 
Professor  Bentley  said  that  he  had  been  requested  by  Dr. 
Daniell  to  announce  to  the  meeting  that  evening  the  important 
and  interesting  discovery  of  theine  in  the  Kola  nuts  of  com- 
merce (Sterculia  acuminata).  Dr.  Daniell  had  written  to  him 
as  follows : — "  My  attention  was  directed  to  the  peculiar  stimu- 
lant effects  resulting  from  taking  a  decoction  of  the  seeds,  in 
the  permanent  loss  of  sleep,  which  led  me  to  infer  from  physi- 
ological induction  that  these  seeds  contained  an  alkaloid  analo- 
gous to  theine,  and  on  a  chemical  examination  with  a  view  to 
