558 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
J  Am.  Joyr.  Pharm. 
I      Nov.,  1885. 
Oranges  as  a  galadagogue.  A  case  is  reported  in  the  ^^N.  C.  Med. 
Jour/'  in  which  the  eating  of  oranges  proved  beneficial  in  deficient- 
mi  Ik  secretion,  causing  a  plentiful  flow  of  milk. 
Capparis  eoriacea,  Burch,  is  a  South  African  shrub,  without  spines 
and  with  oblong  obtuse  and  glabrous  leaves.  The  fruit  of  a  Chilian 
plant  to  which  the  same  name  is  applied  by  Dr.  Larrea  y  Quesada 
(Boletin  Medico)  is  recommended  in  nervous  complaints,  hysteria,  epi- 
lepsy, etc.,  the  powder  being  given  in  wine  in  doses  of  about  45  Gm. 
taken  twice  a  day. 
Similar  properties  have  long  been  attributed  to  Capparis  cynophallo- 
phora,  Lin.,  which  is  a  shrub  or  small  tree  with  very  variable  coriaceous 
leaves  either  orbicular,  oblong  or  linear,  and  a  linear  silique-shaped  fruit. 
This  plant  grows  in  the  West  India  Islands  and  from  Panama  south- 
ward to  Guayaquil  and  Bahia.  The  root  of  another  West  Indian 
shrub,  Capparis  siliquosa,  Lin.,  now  regarded  as  a  variety  of  C.  jamai- 
censis,  Jacquin,  has  likewise  been  used  as  an  anti-hysteric,  but  also  as- 
an  aperitive  and  anthelmintic ;  its  leaves  are  silvery  tomentose  or  pale 
rusty  beneath,  glossy  above,  elliptic  or  lance-oblong  in  shape  and  pointed 
while  the  variety  emarginata  has  obtuse  or  emarginate  leaves.  These 
and  some  other  West  Indian  species  are  stated  by  Baillon  to  be  acrid 
and  even  vesicant. 
C.  spinosa  Lin.,  which  yields  the  well  known  capers  and  is  indi- 
genous to  the  Mediterranean  basin,  is  stimulant,  antiscorbutic,  diuretic 
and  aperient,  and  similar  properties  are  ascribed  to  several  Egyptian 
and  East  Indian  species. 
Andira  inermi^,  Kunth.  The  bark  of  this  West  Indian  tree  is 
again  recommended  as  an  anthelmintic  by  Midy  (Nouv.  Rem^des.)  For 
use  an  ounce  of  the  bark  is  boiled  in  a  quart  of  water  until  the  decoc- 
tion has  become  of  a  wine  color,  the  average  dose  for  an  adult  being 
two  ounces.  It  should  be  administered  in  small  doses  gradually 
increased,  the  occurrence  of  nausea  being  regarded  as  proof  that  the 
maximum  dose  has  been  attained  ;  in  overdoses  it  is  said  to  be  narcotic. 
The  active  principle  is  said  to  be  a  glucoside  andirin. 
This  bark  has  been  known  and  occasionally  medicinally  employed 
since  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Hiittenschraidt' (1824) 
isolated  from  it  an  alkaloid  which  was  named  jamaicine,  but  was  by 
Gastell  (1866)  shown  to  be  identical  with  berberine.  The  name 
andirin  was  given  by  Peckolt  [Archiv  d.  Phar.,  1858,  vol.  146,  p.  38) 
to  a  brown-yellow  coloring  matter,  which  may  perhaps  be  identical 
