538  Commercial  Varieties  of  Mux  Vomica.  {  lu'^usl^^g^: 
STUDIES  ON  COMMERCIAL  VARIETIES  OF  NUX  VOMICA. 
By  H.  W.  Youngken,  Ph.D..  and  C.  F.  Blotter.  B.Sc. 
philadelphia,  pa.  ■ 
It  is  thought  that  Nux  Vomica  was  introduced  into  medicine  by 
the  Arabians,  but  the  records  in  their  writings  which  have  been 
supposed  to  refer  to  it  are  far  from  clear  and  satisfactory.  Neither 
is  there  evidence  that  the  drug  was  used  in  India.  But  it  was  cer- 
tainly made  known  in  Germany  during  the  sixteenth  century,  for 
Valerius  Cordus^  wrote  a  remarkably  accurate  description  of  Nux 
\^omica  about  the  year  1540.  However,  it  was  not  until  1770  that 
it  came  into  use  as  an  article  of  medicinal  value.  That  value  has 
since  increased,  owing  to  the  discoveries  of  Pelletier  and  Caventou, 
who  isolated  the  alkaloids,  strychnine  and  brucine,  first  in  Strychnos 
Ignatii  and  later  in  S.  Nux-Vomica,  until  to-day  we  find  the  drug  an 
article  of  considerable  importance. 
The  seeds  are  yielded  by  Strychnos  Nux-Vomica  (fam.  Logania- 
ceae) ,  a  small  tree  growing  wild  in  the  forest  of  India,  from  the  eastern 
seaboard  far  into  the  interior,  and  also  in  the  forests  of  Ceylon, 
Burmah,  Siam,  Cochin  China  and  northern  Australia.  According 
to  Zornig^  and  Fliickiger^  they  are  collected  and  dried  and  sent  into 
the  market  through  Bombay,  Cochin,  Madras,  and  Calcutta,  and 
thence  to  London.  However,  Calcutta  is  merely  a  collecting  and 
grading  center  and  does  not  furnish  any  distinctive  variety  of  Nux 
Vomica,  since  there  are  no  trees  of  that  kind  anywhere  near  Cal- 
cutta. 
The  problem,  then,  confronting  us  was  to  determine  some  means 
of  distinguishing  between  the  present  true  varieties  of  the  drug. 
Consequently  the  Tellicherry,  Madras,  Cochin,  and  Ceylon  varie- 
ties were  examined  as  to  the  macroscopic  and  microscopic  charac- 
teristics. Owing  to  the  small  amount  of  authentic  material  ob- 
tainable for  consideration,  it  is  our  purpose  to  present  at  some  later 
date  a  continuation  of  these  studies. 
The  macroscopic  examination  included  a  consideration  of  the 
following  physical  characteristics:  outline  and  shape,  prominence 
of  the  ridge,  hilum  and  micropyle,  color  and  appearance,  thickness, 
diameter  and  specific  gravity.  The  specific  gravity  was  determined 
by  selecting  two  representative  seeds  for  each  variety.,  noting  their 
weight  in  air  and  loss  of  weight  in  water. 
